Birthday Weekend in Chicago!

Every year, without fail, I feel the need to do something significant on or around my birthday, even though I don't necessarily want to actually celebrate my actual birthday. Just do something significant... concert, ballgame, general travel. Whatever.

This year, is was a pretty standard trip to Chicago to see the Cubs. In case you haven't heard, the Cubbies are actually doing good this year. Fingers crossed. But keeping the 'hopes' in check. We left yesterday morning for the afternoon game. If it's one thing I've learned from all the games I've gone to, it's that you want seats under the upper deck, not in the sun. However, with lake winds sometimes blowing in, being in the shade can get chilly, even on a warm summer day. As was the case yesterday. Eric did a double-check before we left, and the temps were the low 80's, which was low enough to adjust my apparel for the day to jeans. And I was glad I did. Everyone around us was either covering up in a blanket they brought, or running to the souvenir shop to buy a sweatshirt. So good call on that!

This was inter-divisional play against the Texas Rangers, so while the game didn't count, it counted. Clear as mud? LoL It was actually a well matched game on paper, though the Cubs ultimately dominated. Made for a good game to watch, with an even better outcome. Once of the better games I've been to in a few years (not that any were bad games). And the win was a nice birthday present.

After we checked into our hotel, we walked down to Eataly for dinner. If you can't tell by now, we love that place. Good for dinner, good for shopping, good just to visit for inspiration. I had some stuffed shells that I hope they have on the menu next time I go. Ah-Mazing!! Funny how all of our other normal go-to dinner spots have fallen off the radar since we discovered Eataly... and they were all equally as amazing. But they have other locations is cities we like to visit, where Eataly only has NYC.

This morning, we had a quick bite at the hotel and then walked out to the 'beach' of Lake Michigan. (I will always have problems considering this a beach w/o saltwater and consistent waves) No sooner did our feet hit the sand, did it start to drizzle on us. So we went back to the hotel and got inside just in time for a torrential downpour. It didn't last long, and we probably could have went back out to the beach for a bit, but we decided to head back to Eataly and do a little shopping before heading back home. Of course, the thought being that we'd get some good food to make some good dinner tonight. Which we did, and we made and ate, since we got home so early (relatively). And a happy birthday to me, it was.

Family Meet-Up in PA

So this was a somewhat last minute trip for Eric and I. My Mom, Sister, and her kids had it planned for awhile, though... so I think it was a little easier for them.

I haven't mentioned it on here yet, but my grandmother, Nan, moved to an Assisted Living campus near my parents' in Jacksonville. But her house in Pennsylvania is still very much full from her 60+ years living there. She won't be going back there, but someone needs to go through things and either salvage, sell, or trash. And with this weekend being the only long weekend that my sister and kids truly had off, they decided to spend a few days before and after, making it a full week there. Eric and I were just driving out Saturday, and back home today. A lot of driving for a short period of time, but considering I knew this may be our only chance, I thought it was a good idea. We had no big plans for the 4th of July weekend, anyway. So there's your background.

We had great weather driving out on Saturday. And most of the day was spent driving, with us getting into the area around 5pm or so. The family was already done at the house for the day, and we decided to meet them out at Knoebel's Grove. Oh, the memories I have from that place. Even with my sister's kids, Kris and Darian - it's been about 13 years, but none the less, memories were made. Eric and I had just a couple of hours here a few years back, as well... but most of the memories are from my summers up in PA. I wish Knoebel's was a little closer for me to try to get there once a year or so - it's such an awesome park! They were actually celebrating 90 years this year! We spent the last few hours they were open, trying to catch all the new rides, and of course, ride a couple of the old favorite coasters. I so wish I had the entire day there - I always feel like I leave and realize later I wanted to go on another ride.

Sunday was a day of work. And wow, what a task ahead of us. I feel like we only scraped the surface, and that frustrated the hell out of Eric. I think he thought we'd be leaving with the house cleared out and ready for the next step (whatever that is). Unfortunately, cleaning out the house will be a multi-trip, LONG process for the family to tackle. I think my family would be happy to just have it done by the end of the year! But after a day of sorting and throwing some things out, we managed to leave with our car packed with some things to keep. My main goal was to get the old metal porch glider, which I did, but it's going to take some work to get it ready for our own porch. But I'm up for it.

Finally, today was all driving. We tried to leave early, but didn't get on the road nearly as early as we had hoped. We made a short lunch stop in Columbus, OH (which was actually well past 'lunchtime' for us), and we were lucky enough to NOT have rain up until there. But then those last few hours on I-70 had a light rain. No big deal, since we were about done with our long weekend. We got home, unloaded, and then Eric had to run to the office.

There always seems to be some crisis for him there. But alas, until we got home, things stayed calm for him on the work front. We did manage to catch the fireworks here. It was a little foggy and/or low clouds, though, so we only could see about half of them. And then more drizzle started. But at least we can say we DID see fireworks on the 4th of July.

Make-A-Wish Walk for Wishes

This morning was one of my favorite event to volunteer at. Who am I kidding? I love volunteering at any/ALL Make-A-Wish events that I can. But it's been a couple of years since I've been able to do this one, as it kept falling on weekend when I was going out of town. But I was able to go again this year, and to add to the excitement, they moved it downtown, so it was even easier for me to get to!

As I have volunteered at a number of these since is started, it's actually kind of cool to see how it's grown. Which is part of the reason it's now downtown. But my favorite part is still seeing all the Wish Kids walking around with big smiles on their faces. This year, they even gave out these cut capes for the wish kids to wear. After all, if a sick kid isn't a superhero, then I don't know what is.

I think most of you know that this is my big philanthropy. Yes, I do Race for the Cure every year, in honor of my Mom. But at the end of the day, Make-A-Wish is the organization that is close to my heart. They get both time and money from me, though I with I could give more on both fronts. Even though I didn't walk, I still tried to raise as much money as I could. And while I fell short of my goal (I started late), it still felt good to give something. Hopefully next year, I can give more.

So next year, be on the lookout for donation requests again - hopefully quite a few weeks early, so I can hit my goal!

100th Running of the Indy 500

"Start your engines!" was heard for the 100th time for the Indy 500 yesterday. And I can say I was there... which I was. But I can't say I saw much of the race. More on that shortly.

But first, let's talk about this historic race. 100 years of anything is kind of a big deal. So often, things just don't pan out for that long of a period of time. There's an entire history that I won't go into about this race, but I will say a lot has changed over the years. And they promoted the hell out of this running, so much that they actually sold out for the first time in decades! Even general admission. Kind of crazy when you think about how big this track is, and how many people it can hold (300,000-ish with general admission).

So how was my experience? Let's start with the fact that Eric and I decided to ride our bikes to the track - we really didn't want to deal with the traffic. Honestly, I've yet to go to any event in Indy that has good traffic control. They suck at it here, quite frankly. But I digress. The end of May can have unpredictable weather, and it can be cold and rainy, or hot and sweltering. This year, it was the later of the two. Which made for a steamy ride to the track, even if it was at 9am. But we got there, and tried to cool down as best as we could.

Now as to the reason why we didn't see much of the race... well, we were in the Snake Pit, not the stands. Which essentially meant we went to an EDM concert that happened to be going on in the middle of IMS during the race. Which is what we chose to do. Eric love EDM, and can't site still, anyway, so it made no sense for us to pay a premium for seats we wouldn't be able to sit in too long before he got antsy. This allowed us to wander, and see some big name EDM DJs. Win Win. They did broadcast the pre-race festivities and the first few laps on our big screens over the stage... but then it was all EDM music. Which was fine by us.

And then we have a very sweltering bike ride back home. But that was okay, because we were going home. First thing I did was jump in the shower! Reflecting back, though, I'm glad we went. We can say we were there, and being part of the Snake Pit was a pretty cool experience on its own, that 250k+ people didn't get to know.

Bubba's a High School Graduate!!

I can honestly say that this day came up on me fast! I swear, just a couple of years ago, he was falling asleep in my arms. And didn't he just come up here for 'summer camp' at ISU just recently??

Kristopher graduated from Bayside High School on Friday. I'm still in disbelief that this day has come. Not that I'm surprised... it just seems like time flew by. I was happy I was able to make it down for his ceremony - unfortunately, Eric had a prior/bigger commitment, so he couldn't make it. So it became a 'me' trip (aside from the family stuff), which was fine. I flew down late Thursday night, since the ceremony was on Friday. I flew into MCO, so I stayed near the airport, rather than drive over to the Space Coast. Worked out well.

Friday morning, after a quick breakfast at the hotel, I was off to the east coast. I had no commitment to be anywhere until later, which was fine by me. I had places to see on my one day in town on my own. But first, along the way, I went by the bookstore of Kris' future college, Florida Tech. I bought a few small token additions to his graduation gift. Just for fun. From there, it was the beach!

Like that surprises you.

I only actually stayed at the beach for about 2 hours. For starters, it was hot. I'm not used to that anymore, even with the water right there. Besides, the water was still really cold. Secondly, the standard afternoon storm blew in, so I took that as my cue to head to the hotel, settle in, and get ready for the family time.

The ceremony was your standard fair high school graduation. Well, by FL standards, which means on the football field, rather than in a gym or auditorium. At least his was after sunset, unlike mine, at the peak heat of the day. Pretty good size class, and Kris was a little more than halfway through the list. But finally, they called his name and we all cheered for him. He graduated with a couple of honors - AP and BETA. So he looked all snazzy in his special cap and gown. Took awhile to find him afterward, amongst all the people, but we finally did, and snagged a few pictures before he headed out with friends to celebrate. We headed back to Wanda's to catch up a bit. But then I headed back to my hotel... on the beach.

This was the big 'me' weekend item. I rarely get to stay on any beach, let along an east coast beach. So, while it is way early, I set a little alarm so I could see the sunrise (with full intentions of going back to bed afterward). When it went off Saturday morning, I looked outside and I thought it was going to be a little disappointing, as far as sunrise shots go. While I had a decent view from my balcony, I was missing some good foreground. So I threw on some shorts and a tee, and went downstairs to the actual beach. Finally... with some dunes in the foreground and the sunrise spectrum bounding off the clouds, I got what I wanted. Yay! Back to bed for a couple of hours before the family cookout back at Wanda's.

Saturday was pure family time. Caught up some with Nan and my parents as well as with Wanda, whom I hadn't seen since Larry passed away. Finally got to catch up with the graduate, as well, and even met Darian's boyfriend. Gregg did some grilling, and we had some cake and gifts for Kris. It was a nice day. But alas, I had an early flight this morning, so I had to head back towards Orlando, since I wisely chose to stay at a close hotel again.

That alarm went off early this morning. And while I got home an early hour, I took a nap. While is was, indeed, a nice weekend of family time,it still wore me out. But I'm so proud of Kris. Can't wait to see where his college career takes him!

100 Women Strong

I haven't ever really talked about this, and I'm not sure why. But for a little over two years now, I'm been part of a really cool program, 100 Women Strong, which is an Auburn Engineering Alumnae subset to help recruit, retain, and reward female students in engineering at Auburn. Being in Indiana, I haven't been able to do much but donate some money. But on Friday, I was finally able to take part in one of the events down at Auburn.

It was a quick down and back trip for me, but as soon as I stepped foot on that campus, I felt at home... even if it has changed a ton since I was there probably 5 years ago! There's a new Engineering building now, which is very prominent on campus - almost looking over the campus from where it sits. Beautiful building! I spent the say there, starting with the annual meeting for the 100 Women Strong members. It's really cool to see that many female engineers in a room, all with the connection back to Auburn. After the meeting, we headed to a lunch, which was the beginning of a Leadership Development conference for girls on campus. We had an Alumni keynote speaker from NASA (yes, a women engineer form Auburn), and it was even inspirational for me to hear. From here, there were some break-out sessions, depending on the year the girls were in school (anywhere from class choices to networking for a job) and then a 'speed mentoring' session, where for an hour, the girls rotated around to different alumni there, and asked whatever questions they wanted in a five minute period of time. These girls... wow. I don't know if I was thinking like that when I was in school. But it's great to see the next generation coming up like this.

After the mini-conference was done, I had some time to walk around campus a bit. It was a drizzly, dreary day, but nothing an umbrella couldn't handle. I checked out the new student center, visited Toomer's corner to see the new trees, and, in general, just wandered to see what all had changed. My little corner of the campus is pretty much the same... but so much of the rest of the campus has changed.

But it's still home to me. And the changes, while some of them shocking (both on campus, and off), I know are for the betterment of the experience at Auburn. As I drove back to ATL to catch my flight home, all I could think about was the fact that I just need to get back to Auburn more. And this trip made me realize that it's doesn't even have to be a game weekend. So maybe, just maybe, I can get Eric do do a detour with me on one of our drives south. Then he, too, can fall in love with Auburn.

Duck, Duck... in the City?

So... we did something crazy over the weekend. And no one who knows us well will believe it, so there is photographic evidence here. But, here's the crazy thing we did... we bought a couple of ducks.

No... not to eat. To raise. As pets. Just because. Maybe we'll get eggs. Maybe not. But for now, they're just damn cute!!

So here's how it went down. Eric started going to Rural King a couple of months ago because he found out they sell things he needs for work (the maintenance side), in bulk form, pretty cheap. Think weed killer, grass seed, etc. I guess they like to keep things low cost for farmers, which makes sense (not to stereotype). Of course, he makes these runs on the weekend, so he takes me with him 'for company' on the drive. I never mind, really. Some of these trips to wherever he goes can be interesting.

So back to Rural King. If you've ever been there, or a place similar (like Tractor Supply Company), you know they sell baby chicks and ducks, as well as rabbits on occasion. As you walk through the store, you can hear the chirping. So naturally, the first time we went, we had to check it out. The chicks and ducks were so cute!! (I don't think there were bunnies this first time we went) We didn't think much, but after cooing over them for a few minutes, Eric dragged me away to finish getting what he needed.

We went back a few more times, and it seemed like the routine was for us to check out the baby animals before doing our actual shopping. Well, this past weekend, not he way down, Eric said, "Let's get a duck." I thought he was joking. Turns out, he wasn't. We talked to the 'bird keeper' on shift, and he said we really needed two duck -they're very social animals and need someone (or another duck) to interact with constantly. So, we bought two ducks. We couldn't have a lonely duck, now could we?!?

While this generally seemed spontaneous, we did, at least, gather supplies take care of them. Turns out, ducks are pretty cheap, in general - way cheaper than dogs! Each duck was $7, and a 50lb. bag of food was only $15. Which will likely last for months! We got them a little bins to bed them in until they get bigger, but it should do for awhile. I've been reading all about ducks since we got them - it should be interesting. Won't know the sex for awhile (unless I want to take them to a vet), and apparently, predators are everywhere.

But they sure are cute!!

Stay tuned for this adventure!

Valentine's Weekend... Oy!

Eric and I seem to always have issues when we try to do things for Valentine's Day. If we stay in, we're usually okay. But if we try to do anything outside of out house, we seem to fail. Well, in the practical sense, anyway. This year was no different. Our plan this year was to go too our favorite place in Chicago, Eataly, for a nice dinner they were doing, and try to have a relatively easy weekend up there. We should've just went back to bed, instead.

It started out with us getting on the road late Saturday morning because Eric had a hiccup to take care of at the office 'quickly' in the morning. Well, wasn't so quick. We got no the road, with time to spare to make our dinner reservation, at least, and the hits just kept on coming. In the literal sense. It was really windy, and as I was driving (the rental car) up I-65, I was passing a semi when a piece of hard plastic debris shot out (from the wind) from under the truck. I had no where to go, it hit at a weird angle, but I kept driving. Didn't feel like a tire was damaged, or anything much, for that matter, and we were getting off in a couple of exists to grab a drink, anyway, so I drove another 20 miles or so. We get into the parking lot, and check to see if there was damage... there was. Shattered lower grill (damn plastic cards!) and punctures radiator. Awesome. With it being a Saturday afternoon, all the Hertz Local Editions were closed, so Hertz had to get us towed all the way back to Indy to the airport (almost a hour away) to exchange the car. Plus, the wait time for the tow truck to even get to us. There went us making our dinner reservation.

But we pushed on, anyway, figuring we'd make the best of it. We'd do a later dinner somewhere and still have a chill evening at the hotel, since we had that all set up. So we get there, and while we didn't get the special dinner we made reservations for, we still had a good dinner at Eataly. We were finally calming down a bit... well, Eric was calming down. I was over the mishap before we were even half-way to Chicago. Meh. Life happens, right? Our hotel was right around the corner, so we went to check-in. They couldn't find our reservation. And to top it off, Eric couldn't find a confirmation email. So now we're in Chicago as, like 10pm, with no hotel. Awesome. This just sets Eric off again, and he's ready to drive home. But he saw the thought of that upset me, so we jumped on the Hilton Honors site to see what we could find. As you can imagine, there wasn't much. But there was the Waldorf Astoria... and we could get in with points Eric had. So, with few choices, we went with it.

Well, turned out to be the best thing we could've done. Because it's located off the main drags through Chicago, it was quite peaceful. And if you can believe it, Eric was actually able to calm down and relax, and we both got a great night's sleep! We woke up the next morning completely refreshed, and over the tragedy that was Saturday. And even though some nasty, snowy weather was on the way, we were ready for it. But first, the other reason to be in Chicago this weekend... the Chicago Auto Show.

Eric has talked about the Chicago Auto Show quite a few time. He'd go with his dad when they lived in Laporte, and it was always just a memorable day for him. So I was looking for ward to it. And it was quite cool, actually! There were concept cars, next year's new model cars, test tracks inside, test drive outside... I can see how you could spend an entire day here... but we were only there for a few house. We did do one of the test tracks, and I gotta say, even if I couldn't be the one to drive, it was still really cool! I would've loved to stay longer, honestly - I feel like we only got to see about 1/3 of what was there to be seen. I'd love to go back up there next year maybe... hopefully not on Valentine's Day.

So as we headed out, the snow really started to come down for our drive home. Thankfully, there were no more fubars for the weekend, and we got home safely. Even with time to return the car on-time. So we salvaged the weekend, I guess. But just nothing planned went well. Maybe that's the trick... don't plan. Or maybe just stick to what we know works, which is don't leave the house for Valentine's!