Look Away

Oh..hello

Sorry for the absence in posting. I was a little overwhelmed by all of the photos I wanted to post, so I kept procrastinating. Well, the holidays were good. There was much eating and gathering of family. Because John is a teacher and I am freelancing now, we were able to spend a good chunk of time in Illinois visiting friends and my family. Then it was back to Nebraska to celebrate with John's family. It was a much needed break for both of us, and getting back to work is hard. Enough of that, you want pictures!!

My brother Ryan and his wife Haley (They live on the west coast)


My mom and I (wow, we kind of look alike don't we?)

John and I

John and Ryan trying to act cool...

and failing


My dad opening a cool calendar from Ryan and Haley


Lucy

Back in Nebraska...

Our nephew Paul



Paul sporting the new pajamas we got him for Christmas






Our nephew Joey


John's sister Julie


Self-portrait in an ornament

(idea stolen from my friend Michelle's awesome Christmas card. Hers was way better and quite hilarious)

 

Well...that was interesting

John and I went to Kansas City this weekend for a little weekend getaway. We stayed in a little shopping district in which we had visions of a relaxing trip where we would stroll along merrily and get all of our Christmas shopping done. Hmmm, not exactly.

The trip started out with freezing rain. weeee!

The defrost couldn't keep up so John had to stop and scrape a few times. Weee!

When we finally got to KC we turned onto a side street and slid right into a curb (and then onto the curb I believe).  We checked out the damage and the wheel rim was bent, but the tire didn't seem to be punctured. So we headed to the hotel, checked in, and then tried to find a tire shop. Ha! Nice try silly tourists! After about 1.5 hours of calling and driving around looking for someone who would fix our rim John dropped me off to shop while he went to a Honda dealership. They told him they could fit him in on Tuesday and that the suspension was messed up too so it would take a few days to fix. Obviously that wouldn't work for us so he left and we decided we would just try to drive it home on Sunday. By the time John met up with me it was about 3pm.

BUT! We did not let it ruin our time! We skated around to some stores and stopped for some coffee.

(We were a little tired and cold at this point. But still having fun!!)

We checked out the lights

After buying approximately 0 Christmas presents and some paper (for Christmas cards) we headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours.Then we braved the icy weather again and went to dinner.

We drove back this morning without incident, although the roads were pretty slick. The trip wasn't exactly what I pictured but, in the end, we had a good time and just enjoyed each other's company.

I leave you with this thought...always make sure your goose is wearing a scarf before he goes outside.

(all photos courtesy of our little Canon point and shoot.)

New Do

My hair has been annoying me lately. When it gets too long it starts to get stringy and loses it's curl. Normally I would just trim it (myself) when it gets to this stage but this time I was fed up. So I made an appointment and had her chop it. About 4 inches I think.

I love it. It's so much curlier and bouncier and it's not in my way when I put my coat and scarf on. It might not seem that drastic to most of you but the last time it was this short I was in 1st grade. I kid you not.

Maybe I should have asked her to give me some feathered bangs to complete the look!

11-4

John's birthday was Sunday and I think my family is trying to tell him something. My brother and my mom and step-dad both got him donkey themed birthday cards without consulting each other. Inside the cards both make a joke like " Party your ass off" or something similar. They are both funny, but I still think it's a little suspicious.

We went out to dinner on Saturday night and then listened to some live music. I took these with the timer.

After I was dressed and ready to go out I realized I looked like I was ready to go horseback riding. All I need is a black helmet and a little whip. Like this girl:

Anyway, here's a closeup so you can see the cool shirt I got John.

Hmm, well it's way cooler in person but you get the idea. I got it at Urban Outfitters which instantly makes it hip and urbany. I also got him some classic Adidas Sambas that he had been wanting and another hip and urbany shirt from UO.

Visitors!

Our friends Mitch and Kathleen came to visit us this past weekend from Chicago. They were the first in a string of 3 visitors we will have in a row. We were so excited to see them because we were starting to feel a little disconnected. It was a gray, rainy weekend but we didn't care.

We went downtown to the Old Market on Saturday and walked around. There was a little farmer's market that was very cute and, as Kathleen put it, "wholesome".

How cute is this guy organizing his tomatoes? Dressed up like a conductor.

My brother told me that it looked like nobody ever hung out in the Old Market. The last time I took pictures down there it was like 6:00 on a weeknight and I avoided getting people in my shots. So this time I tried show that the Old Market is not a ghost town. It's actually very lively and there are always street musicians and people eating outside.

I had to have them

Farewell Chicago

Last Saturday night was our last night in Chicago. We packed all day and most of the evening, but snuck out for a little bit for one last time in the city as residents. We headed downtown at about 9pm to go watch some fireworks on the lake front. On the way back we stopped at the fountains in Millennium Park and I got some cool photos there.

They blocked off some streets after the fireworks so the massive amounts of people could exit.

Millennium Park Fountains

Sunday

No, I do not have time to be posting this right now. Yes, I should be packing. Leave me alone.

Yesterday John and I spent equal amounts of time working and playing. When we woke up John informed me that he "needed a big breakfast." So we walked about 5 blocks to a nearby diner.

On the way there , we saw this. Someone filled their entire yard with one of those bouncy things. I'm pretty sure they had to measure to find out if it would fit because it filled every square inch of their yard.

Dogg on a porch

Breakfast awaits

Smile courtesy of coffee, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and pancakes

On the way home. Posing by a cool brick wall.

After breakfast we went home and packed like hell for about 4 hours and decided that we deserved to go to dinner and a movie. So we went and grabbed some Thai food and saw the movie "Once".

We sat at the front of the restaurant at Joy's Noodles and Rice by the open doors and the light was really beautiful (if not blinding).

Wow, that was a lot of photos to post in one, but I don't know when I'll have a chance to post in the coming days. But I'll try my best!

At the Lake

John's sister Lori visited us from Omaha this weekend. On Saturday Kaido, Laura, and Julia invited us up to their family's lake house for the day. We had a great time and I took a million photos of the beautiful Julia. Here are some favorites:

On the boat

Camping Trip

As you know from my last post, John and I went on a camping trip this weekend. We didn't plan it out too much because it was kind of a last minute trip. We intended to spend two nights camping in Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin, but we had to change plans a little. The campsites were full so we headed north a about 30 minutes to Buckhorn State Park. They had some open sites so we decided to spend one night there and try our luck at Devil's Lake the next morning (they put us on a waiting list). Buckhorn was nice and we had a great time, but it wasn't exactly what we had been envisioning. First of all, they didn't have showers and second, the sites were "cart-in". This means you have to park your car, put all your gear in a cart and walk about 100 yards on a trail to your site. It wasn't bad, but just a little inconvenient.  However, we did get a nice shoreline site on a little lake. IT was verrry buggy though.

The next day we went back to Devil's Lake, but again, they were full. So we decided to just spend the day there and head back that evening. Of couse I have pictures for you! We brought both cameras and used them both. I'll post a few of my favorites and you can check out the whole bunch on my Flickr Set.

Old Town

Yesterday John and I headed down to the Old Town neighborhood for the Old Town Art Festival. Mitch and Kathleen took a break from their bike ride and met up with us for a while. I had my camera and John had our little point-and-shoot and we had a "camera-off" at John's request. The results:

Mine:

Serious Cyclists

Corn

John's:

Boomer the Bird

Potato Pancakes

John was attempting to get a nice "street scene" photo of this girl. But he didn't notice that she is totally showing her...um...undergarments until I downloaded it and showed it to him on-screen. I think she's had a few too many. Whoops!

This little pug was completely asleep and apparently didn't care that she was being carried like a rag doll.

That's all! I think John has a great eye (I taught him everything he knows) and took some really good shots. I call it a tie.

Spirit of Chicago

I have quite a few pictures to post from the weekend, but I'll start with Friday. On Friday night John and I went on a cruise on the Spirit of Chicago. We went for a little end-of-the-school-year party with about 25 of his co-workers and their significant others.

The view of the skyline was gorgeous from Lake Michigan.

Oh, and there were entertainers...

...who volunteered John to join the Village People for a rendition of YMCA (that's him in the back wearing a cowboy hat).

Oh. What's that you say? You want video evidence of it?
Click Here: Download MVI_5255.AVI

Well done Johnny

More to come tomorrow on how the rest of the weekend panned out.

The Other Side

John and I went to the lake on Sunday for a little while. I shared the camera a couple of times so John could get me on the "other side"

Sweet Quin

On Saturday we went to a cookout at Tim and Mary's place with 2 other couples. Tim and Mary have an adorable 7 month old baby named Quinlan and he was nice enough to model for me a little.

This next one was taken by Kathleen because I was lifting him up in the air to get that smile!

John and I

His Girls

I'm Back!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks so I apologize for not posting much. I just got back from a trip to Disney World with my friend Michelle but I didn't take my new camera. I still took lots of pictures with the little one though!

Here are some of my favorites:

I'll be back soon with some more pictures from my new camera.

Birthday Eve

I had a great 26th birthday. I celebrated on Saturday by going shopping during the day with John and meeting up with friends that night. And the weather was great! What more could a girl ask for? It was also my friend Michelle's (D.) birthday but for some reason I didn't get a picture with her on my camera.

John and I

Michelle (E.) and I

Leslie, Amy and I

The birthday girls' cute shoes. Mine on the left, Michelle's on the right.

Self Portrait While Driving

Okay...It's Cold

It's cold outside and cold at my desk. Cold cold cold.

Cold

*Update - this was my pick for "My Best Shot Monday" over at Picture This.

New Year's Eve

A large group of our closest friends got together on New Year's Eve and we had a great time.

Dancin Fool

John and I went to the wedding of one of John's colleagues last Saturday and, you guessed it, John danced his little butt off.

Haircut

Curly:

Straight:

Come As You Are

I was browsing my usual blogs today and came across this post which urges bloggers to stop what they are doing, take a photo of themselves and post it. No primping first. It's called "Come As You Are Blog Party". So I participated and you should too! I know a lot of you don't have blogs but if you want to participate you can e-mail me a picture and I'll post it here or you can upload it to Flickr.com and link to it in a comment.

Tracey at Picture This is a professional photographer and obviously very photogenic so her photo is gorgeous. But don't let that intimidate you. You can see mine here.

Day-After-Thanksgiving Hike

Platiyo

My dad came to visit this weekend and because he has an interest in Mexico and Mexican food we ate at Platiyo. The food was good and the staff is super friendly, but the ambience makes it even more memorable.

Saturday was John's birthday and we went to dinner at Nacional 27, a Latin restaurant downtown.

Happy Birthday Johnny!

Circus Freaks

Behold, the Bearded Lady and the Four-Armed Man!

Wanna see an adorable 5 day old baby girl? I thought so.

She's even cuter in person, if that's possible. Congratulations Kaido and Laura!

Michigan Trip

This past Sunday, John and I took a little road trip to Michigan. We planned to visit an apple orchard and a winery and just enjoy the fall weather and colors. Neither of us had been to Michigan (not that I remember anyway) and it turned out to be a very nice day. Unfortunately, the orchard that I had researched and planned our morning around is CLOSED ON SUNDAYS.

Their website does not list their days or hours of operation anywhere. I was pretty annoyed by that, but luckily the winery we planned on visiting was open, and wine makes everything better. So does brie cheese and crackers. The winery is called The Round Barn Winery. It was given that name because, guess what, there's a round barn on the property.

The tasting room was in a different building, but the cute round barn is used for weddings and events. When we went inside to look at it, there were still some decorations from the previous day's wedding. So I stole a program. Is that wrong? Maybe. But it was cute and there were about 20 extras!

We walked around the vineyard for a while and enjoyed the nice weather and scenery.

And then we saw a snake. Aaaah Snakes on a Vine!

(he's right above the leaf in the bottom center of the photo)

If you'd like to view more photos from our Michigan day trip, go here.

This weekend we hosted some wayward travelers from "the heart of Illinois" . On Saturday night we went to a bar called Carnivale. Although we didn't eat there, I would highly recommend it to any Chicago folks based on decor alone.