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| Michigan Ave River View |
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| Second City |
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| Gospel Brunch |
Monday, May 30, 2011
Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!
Aaron has really been wanting to go to Chicago lately for a weekend and of course I'm not going to turn down a trip to Chicago, we had been lingering with the idea for a few weeks and decided to go. We got to Aurora just after noon on Friday and we love the outlet mall there. Aaron really likes this outlet because there is a lot of men stores here for him. In fact, I was ready to go a good hour before he was, I sat and waited for him and go figure it was a shoe store that he was in for 40 minutes and I just sat and painfully waited, knowing how often he does it for me... I guess it shouldn't be surprising that I married a man who tried on shoes for almost an hour and ended up with 2 more pairs for his collection, I guess this is just a taste of my own medicine for being a shoe lover myself.
We then headed off to IKEA, another favorite stop of ours. What we were looking for though, they don't sell anymore! We had a particular window blind we've had our eye on and surprisingly they don't sell them anymore. That was a disappointment! So we ended up with a few random purchases, nothing major.
Our hotel was a great location! Just a block off of Michigan Ave right on the river, very easy to get to every place we needed. Saturday was a full day of shopping. We had lunch at Gino's East. Amazing! I don't like Chicago style pizza but their thin crust pizza and spinach artichoke dip was amazing, a new favorite place!
We took a break from our shopping excursion for a show at Second City. We've been here before and we just love this sketch comedy club, I was lucky enough to grab tickets earlier that week because I found out all shows were sold out for the weekend. Great show! Then we headed out for a delicious Italian dinner at Dinotto's. I had my all time favorite meal, chicken marsala and tiramisu. Yummers! Then we headed back out for more shopping. We literally shopped till we dropped.
Sunday morning we headed out to the House of Blues for the Gospel Brunch. Again glad we got our tickets early, it was another full show. The food was really good and the southern Baptist style choir was full of energy and soulful. They had so much food to choose from and endless mimosas, I was SO full.
We had a great weekend. Great food, great shopping. Aaron said I've turned him into a shopper, he's a actually a really great shopping partner. He's pretty honest at telling me if something looks good or not and I really appreciate his input.
On our way home, as we were approaching the Williamsburg Mall, he asked if we should stop and walk thru there... I was like whoa... you aren't shopped out yet? The trunk was so full our luggage was in the back seat and he wanted to do more shopping?!?!! Wow did I marry the man of my dreams or what! We were out of luck though, the outlet was already closed and really we did plenty of shopping in Chicago, we got some really good deals and we don't need to go shopping for awhile now.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Chris's Memorial
Aaron has been coordinating this project for MONTHS now and it was finally installed a few weeks ago. The stain cathedral glass window was installed in the UNI SAE Fraternity House in memorial of Christopher Roberts. Chris really cherished his memories in the fraternity so Aaron felt it was appropriate for a memorial to be installed in the library at the house.
This is what Aaron posted in regards to the memorial:
The creed of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is The True Gentlemen. As the great friend Chris is to many of us, he is a true gentleman. Below are the words:
The True Gentleman
The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company; a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.
- John Walter Wayland
Thank you to all who contributed to this memorial.
This is what Aaron posted in regards to the memorial:
The creed of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is The True Gentlemen. As the great friend Chris is to many of us, he is a true gentleman. Below are the words:
The True Gentleman
The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company; a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.
- John Walter Wayland
Thank you to all who contributed to this memorial.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Bye Bye STUFF
This past weekend we finally had the motivation to get rid of some stuff. The most daunting task was our closets. The rest of the house there isn’t much to go thru, I don’t like clutter but when it comes to the closet… well that’s a different story. Aaron is just as bad in this area. Most guys only have a few pairs of shoes…. My husband actually got rid of 4 pairs of shoes and STILL has twice as many shoes than the average guy. And I thought I was bad when it came to shoes!
I finally let go of some items I haven’t worn in years. Why is it hard to part with things I haven’t worn in years? It helped I was in a mood to get rid of stuff. I still have items that I’m holding onto even though I shouldn’t but I think I made some great progress, I got rid of a bunch of stuff! Why hold onto it? I haven’t worn it in over a year and someone else could probably really use this item so why let it collect any more dust in my closet?
By the end of the day BOTH Aaron and I were able to store our winter sweaters in the same storage tub. Now that is impressive compared to where we were before.
There is actually some really good stuff in our Goodwill pile! Aaron has 3 suits in there, I have a Columbia coat in very good condition, shoes and purses worthy of reuse, and Aaron has some nice button up shirts in there too. It makes it a lot easier to get rid of stuff when you keep in mind that there is a somebody who really needs these items far more than we do.
I finally let go of some items I haven’t worn in years. Why is it hard to part with things I haven’t worn in years? It helped I was in a mood to get rid of stuff. I still have items that I’m holding onto even though I shouldn’t but I think I made some great progress, I got rid of a bunch of stuff! Why hold onto it? I haven’t worn it in over a year and someone else could probably really use this item so why let it collect any more dust in my closet?
By the end of the day BOTH Aaron and I were able to store our winter sweaters in the same storage tub. Now that is impressive compared to where we were before.
There is actually some really good stuff in our Goodwill pile! Aaron has 3 suits in there, I have a Columbia coat in very good condition, shoes and purses worthy of reuse, and Aaron has some nice button up shirts in there too. It makes it a lot easier to get rid of stuff when you keep in mind that there is a somebody who really needs these items far more than we do.
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| One pile that is ready to go! It's nearly as tall as I am! |
Monday, May 16, 2011
Blog Changes
Bear with me while I make changes to my blog. I can only handle so long with Blogger before I am out of patience! My patience is maxed out for today. I have been trying to figure out a slideshow on my blog for months now and am getting closer to how I want it to look and feel. I realize that even though it is playing, it isn't quite perfect yet. I'd love to have a cool border around the slideshow but that may just be asking too much of my time and patience right now. This may take me awhile to figure out kids so bear with me!
If you see that my blog has changed back to the original picture, that means I've probably given up! If anyone has any expert advice, let me know or else I will continue to google in the help options.
And this is why my homepage picture has never changed before... this stuff drives me batty!!!
If you see that my blog has changed back to the original picture, that means I've probably given up! If anyone has any expert advice, let me know or else I will continue to google in the help options.
And this is why my homepage picture has never changed before... this stuff drives me batty!!!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Picture Perfect Weekend
I really don’t have much to blog about so I’ll tell you about our GREAT weekend!
It was productive but yet restful. My parents came to visit. Friday night we grabbed dinner out and then played some cards.
Saturday morning my mom and I went down to the Farmer’s Market. It was the first one of the year and the weather was picture perfect! I love going to the Downtown Farmer’s Market and according to the Des Moines Register, so does 20,000 other people! It was packed but yet we were able to weave in and out of people fairly easily. It’s always packed so I’m use to it, didn’t bother me. Between Mom and I, we picked up some bread, wine, dried pasta, a hanging flower basket arrangement and cheese.
After that, my mom and I went over to Lowe’s. I really wanted to plant some flowers in a few planters I had but am clueless when it comes to picking out what type of flowers work best in a planter and the care. I knew my Mom had a really good green thumb and was knowledgeable in this area so she helped me pick them out and get them all planted.
Then we just relaxed on the deck and watched Aaron and my Dad unload 1200 lbs of dirt, we were good supervisors! :) It was great to get to hang out and spend time with my parents.
Aaron used all that dirt later in the day to fill some patchy areas of our lawn and planted grass seed. I finished up laundry; we grilled out then relaxed and watched a movie.
Sunday morning was church, then I picked up a topsy turvy tomato plant, well see how that goes…. crossing my fingers it will be successful. It was really easy to plant, my concern is if I waited too late in the season to do this. Then we finished up house chores, I put up my winter sweaters and got out my shorts, we sat on the deck and did some reading and then I made up dinner and we invited Mark to join us. Well it was really nice Sunday night and we ended up on the deck for 3+ hours and went thru 4 ½ bottles of wine between the 3 of us, a bit too much wine for a ‘school night!’
Overall it felt like a weekend that was productive but yet relaxful. We’ve had a few weekends so far this year with awesome weather and this was the first one we actually got to enjoy. Getting the deck furniture out and walking thru the downtown market really gets me in the mood for summer!
(P.S. sorry, I don’t have any pictures; I will try to get better at taking more pics to share…)
It was productive but yet restful. My parents came to visit. Friday night we grabbed dinner out and then played some cards.
Saturday morning my mom and I went down to the Farmer’s Market. It was the first one of the year and the weather was picture perfect! I love going to the Downtown Farmer’s Market and according to the Des Moines Register, so does 20,000 other people! It was packed but yet we were able to weave in and out of people fairly easily. It’s always packed so I’m use to it, didn’t bother me. Between Mom and I, we picked up some bread, wine, dried pasta, a hanging flower basket arrangement and cheese.
After that, my mom and I went over to Lowe’s. I really wanted to plant some flowers in a few planters I had but am clueless when it comes to picking out what type of flowers work best in a planter and the care. I knew my Mom had a really good green thumb and was knowledgeable in this area so she helped me pick them out and get them all planted.
Then we just relaxed on the deck and watched Aaron and my Dad unload 1200 lbs of dirt, we were good supervisors! :) It was great to get to hang out and spend time with my parents.
Aaron used all that dirt later in the day to fill some patchy areas of our lawn and planted grass seed. I finished up laundry; we grilled out then relaxed and watched a movie.
Sunday morning was church, then I picked up a topsy turvy tomato plant, well see how that goes…. crossing my fingers it will be successful. It was really easy to plant, my concern is if I waited too late in the season to do this. Then we finished up house chores, I put up my winter sweaters and got out my shorts, we sat on the deck and did some reading and then I made up dinner and we invited Mark to join us. Well it was really nice Sunday night and we ended up on the deck for 3+ hours and went thru 4 ½ bottles of wine between the 3 of us, a bit too much wine for a ‘school night!’
Overall it felt like a weekend that was productive but yet relaxful. We’ve had a few weekends so far this year with awesome weather and this was the first one we actually got to enjoy. Getting the deck furniture out and walking thru the downtown market really gets me in the mood for summer!
(P.S. sorry, I don’t have any pictures; I will try to get better at taking more pics to share…)
Friday, May 6, 2011
Coupon Panic Attack!
Yep I had one the other day...a coupon panic attack!
So last week’s paper had some awesome deals in it and I had planned out my coupons so I would be buying everything for a substantial discount or free. I spent an hour at Target buying stuff we don’t even need because it was such a good deal and making sure I was pairing up my coupons appropriately and getting the right kind of product specified on the coupon.
I normally always shop at the same Super Target; aka ‘My Home Base Target.’ But this time, it was more convenient for me to shop at a different Target because I had dinner plans closer to this particular Target. Well that always causes issues because every Target is different in the layout and that throws me off. Another problem is I don’t know any of the cashiers. So I do my profiling and pick a cashier that I think will not hassle me with my coupons. Well I picked the wrong cashier that day!
What caused my irregular heart beat was the fact that the register said too many manufacturer coupons, cannot accept anymore. WHAT?!?! You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve never heard of such thing! Well the cashier thinking she was being helpful decided to delete off some of my coupons and use the higher value coupons instead. Well that is all great and dandy but when I’ve done all this preplanning for stuff I don’t really even need just because I thought I was getting it for free, it’s crucial to use all the coupons or it’s not worth it to me. Well being in shock, I just paid and left, I still received over 50% off on my entire order solely with the use of coupons.
Well after dinner, I returned back to Target, but this time I went to my ‘Home Base Target’. Ahhh… felt like home! I was able to find everything but one thing that perturbed me was I realized that my Home Base Target prices were higher than the other Target. I was like what the heck!?!? That’s not fair! Why is the Target down the street charging 50 cents less on the same product! So I now have this disgruntled thought in the back of my head that I shop at the ‘expensive’ Target. Grrr.
When I went to check out this time, everything was smooth sailing. The girl didn’t even hardly look at my coupons (good profiling this time). Every time the register beeped, she just hit a button and continued on. Not that any of my coupons were invalid for what I was buying or shifty, but it’s just nice to get thru checkout quickly and not be the one who is holding the line up.
So… that being said I think I still got a good deal in the end despite not being able to use all of my coupons. My total plus tax for all of these products was $16.31. Without any coupons my cost would have been $48.47. My cost averages to .91 cents per item! Now what am I going to do with 6 bottles of shampoo/conditioner, 2 bottles of body wash, 5 tubes of toothpaste, 3 canisters of Lysol wipes, and 2 jars of facial moisturizer? Aaron’s not picky, he will use whatever brand and the extras I will donate to church, that makes the trip all worth it to me!
So last week’s paper had some awesome deals in it and I had planned out my coupons so I would be buying everything for a substantial discount or free. I spent an hour at Target buying stuff we don’t even need because it was such a good deal and making sure I was pairing up my coupons appropriately and getting the right kind of product specified on the coupon.
I normally always shop at the same Super Target; aka ‘My Home Base Target.’ But this time, it was more convenient for me to shop at a different Target because I had dinner plans closer to this particular Target. Well that always causes issues because every Target is different in the layout and that throws me off. Another problem is I don’t know any of the cashiers. So I do my profiling and pick a cashier that I think will not hassle me with my coupons. Well I picked the wrong cashier that day!
What caused my irregular heart beat was the fact that the register said too many manufacturer coupons, cannot accept anymore. WHAT?!?! You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve never heard of such thing! Well the cashier thinking she was being helpful decided to delete off some of my coupons and use the higher value coupons instead. Well that is all great and dandy but when I’ve done all this preplanning for stuff I don’t really even need just because I thought I was getting it for free, it’s crucial to use all the coupons or it’s not worth it to me. Well being in shock, I just paid and left, I still received over 50% off on my entire order solely with the use of coupons.
Well after dinner, I returned back to Target, but this time I went to my ‘Home Base Target’. Ahhh… felt like home! I was able to find everything but one thing that perturbed me was I realized that my Home Base Target prices were higher than the other Target. I was like what the heck!?!? That’s not fair! Why is the Target down the street charging 50 cents less on the same product! So I now have this disgruntled thought in the back of my head that I shop at the ‘expensive’ Target. Grrr.
When I went to check out this time, everything was smooth sailing. The girl didn’t even hardly look at my coupons (good profiling this time). Every time the register beeped, she just hit a button and continued on. Not that any of my coupons were invalid for what I was buying or shifty, but it’s just nice to get thru checkout quickly and not be the one who is holding the line up.
So… that being said I think I still got a good deal in the end despite not being able to use all of my coupons. My total plus tax for all of these products was $16.31. Without any coupons my cost would have been $48.47. My cost averages to .91 cents per item! Now what am I going to do with 6 bottles of shampoo/conditioner, 2 bottles of body wash, 5 tubes of toothpaste, 3 canisters of Lysol wipes, and 2 jars of facial moisturizer? Aaron’s not picky, he will use whatever brand and the extras I will donate to church, that makes the trip all worth it to me!
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