Davelanta 2

He came, He saw, He conquered....the city, that is!

We had a great Saturday with Dave2 and the opportunity to meet some great new bloggers! The festivities began with lunch at SAVAGE Pizza. YUMMY, and they have the coolest bathrooms ever! Completely wallpapered in comics - awesome!

We also went to the High Museum of Art where we saw many interesting paintings and works of art. This one was my favorite. A kitty (well, lion) crafted from wood, sawdust, epoxy, marbles and hemp. The consensus was that we should light and smoke him. :)

Then it was over the Black History Celebration to watch some traditional dancing and some wickedly awesome break(?) dancing.

Next is was time to introduce Dave2 to the NAKED DOG, but he's a vegetarian and it was almost dinnertime....so we all settled for some Frosted Orange goodness at The Varsity. It was sublime happiness, until Dave's iPhone camera decided to stop working and he went completely postal. He purged his rage by screaming "What'll Ya Have?" repeatedly while shooting off his Uzi. He's going to have quite a reputation in Atlanta between this episode and the World of Coke fiasco.

At the Hard Rock Cafe we had a priority seating at 5:40, luckily the priority seating meant waiting for 45 minutes for a table which gave everyone a chance to arrive. Atlanta has lovely traffic issues!! Anyhoo, there was much fun and food with Dave2, Coalminer's Grandaughter, Mentally Rehearsed and Geeky Tai Tai (& Way Hot Husband). The funniest thing was that not only did we realize that I lived in the same dorm at the same time as Coalminer's Grandaughter, she also had a few classes with my husband in college. To go even further, she lived adjacent to the property that we now live on for 5 years and we never knew it. There's something to be said for knowing your neighbors! Here we have "known" each other for probably 17 years and it took Dave2 to get us to talk to one another!! Crazy!!

I did take some great advice from the Reverend Howard Finster. His art is on permanent display at the High and it is very interesting indeed. While I don't agree with some of his ideas there are many wonderful messages to be found by sorting through his works. The ending says it ALL! This is a small section of a large work depicting the Reverend riding a mule.

You meet the good.....

Engaged!

First off - did you realize there was a category in the Emmy's for a REALITY SHOW HOST??!! That is just LAME! Really, an Emmy? Seriously, what have we come to......?

While on our Lake Michigan shoreline tour (yes, one day I will stop talking about Chicago and how I love thee....) we got an amazing view of the city. It is truly incredible. We also puttered out to check out the old lighthouse in the harbor. Just as we pulled up to the lighthouse a guy next to us falls to his knee and proposed to his girlfriend. Awwww, it was so cute and she said YES!! and the whole boat cheered. It was sweet.

My engagement was a little bit low key. I was working at a mega-mart during my college summer break and Kevin came to pick me up after work. There was this "feelings" chart at the store and as we walked past it he stopped. "Lovestruck" was his choice, which I thought was so sweet - I had no idea what I was in for that evening!! We then went to our favorite restaurant, parked and he asked me to get him a Kleenex out of his glove compartment. When I opened the glove box I immediately saw a ringbox and panicked. I pulled out a tissue and shut the glove box!! Ha ha ha!!! I was just in total shock that this was happening right here, right now. Kevin did not find this funny. He asked for another Kleenex and, after I had a moment to compose myself, I was all casual like "oh, what's this?". And I opened it and he asked me - right there in his car. Of course, I said YES and the rest is history. Kevin constantly laments that he didn't choose a location more romantic than his car, but I have no regrets or complaints. I'm a no frills kind of girl and I was ecstatic that he actually wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. All that stalking had finally paid off!!

The best part was that earlier in the day Kevin was at my parents' house, along with me. He asked my dad to help him check out something in his car for repair. I told him it was useless and could not be fixed, "Dad, really, it isn't even worth a look....", but Kevin INSISTED and I got really irritated. This was all his way to get my dad alone and to 'ask' him about the engagement. Funnier than that, my dad said, "well, she might not say yes...." ROTFL...... Way to go, Dad!! Shoot that boy right out of the lovestruck mood! I have no idea what my dad was thinking, why he said that, or why he actually thought that, but it's a good thing it did not stop Kevin. Otherwise, I might be a homeless lady with a pet rat.

Please share your story, or if you aren't married/committed do you already have it planned out? Are there guys who actually spend a few years thinking about it, or have engagement fantasies the way we girls spend most of our lives picturing our wedding?

Cockroach!

This is what my Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice little 7 year old finds amusing. While at the Nature Center in Chicago we visited the gift shop and this is what nice little souvenir my cute little girl chose. These things are so frickin' disgusting and I have no mind control as I can't even touch the little abominations. Everytime I see one I jump out of my skin. And we have THREE of these.....they are popping up in every room of the house. And EVERYTIME I have a small heart attack. ICK. And they are just plastic. How pathetic am I?

It is pretty genius - a very real bug with a sticky wheel on the bottom. When you stick it to the wall it begins to scurry down. Blarrrrrghhhhhhh. Who needs boys??

Responsibility

I looked so forward to going on vacation last week, I usually do. I generally will pack for vacation no less than a week in advance. Last year, we took the kids on a cruise and I packed for the cruise over a period of 6 months - I kid you not. I will set up an area in the house and when I see something that would be great for wherever we are going I put it in the box. Ok, so it isn't truly "packing", but I guess preparing. The point is that I REALLY look forward to vacations.

I'm back to reality now and, as usual, I'm having a hard time getting back into the groove of things. I don't want to cook or plan meals, I don't want to work, I don't want to exercise and I definately don't want to get up early. I'm lucky in the respect that I don't have a 'real' job where I have to get up (God Bless You, Kevin, for having a real job!!), but I have a ton of other responsibilities that I just don't want to face. I'm just so tired of having so many things to worry about and attend to that I have a paralysis of effort and can't do anything. A week is not enough of a break. I often wonder if I'd be happier if I just got a job where I was more of a minion instead of being the owner, worker, buyer, salesperson, CEO, CFO and janitor all at once. I doubt I'd be happy long, but I wonder.....

I'm not sure how long of a break would deem enough, probably no amount of time is truly enough. Perhaps I just need change. I'm the kind of person that can't stand a routine and I get stir crazy and need things to go differently or to have something new to do. Unfortunately for me, I keep adding new things to do or to be responsible for and I don't seem to retire anything else. Therefore, I am constantly overloaded with responsibilities. It also has to do with my need to be in control of everything around me - I am getting better with that, but still...


I'm in a post-vacation slump. Wouldn't it be nice if you could go on vacation and have someone attend to everything for you while you're away. What I would give to come home to no laundry, a week's worth of dinners, no bills or activities and definately not a pile of work and related messages & emails to return!! If only there were a Bathroom Monkey to do it all while I'm away!!



Side note - what kind of person does it take to enjoy exercise? Seriously, it must be genetic because no matter how hard I try to enjoy it I count the milli-seconds until it is over. And I can never motivate myself to push an extra few minutes/lbs/whatever. I absolutely hate every moment of it, no matter what kind of mood I'm in. It must be my intense aversion to routines and that I feel this is something that I have to do regularly. Is it just me?

Awe

No matter how many times, or how often I see it my heart always skips a beat at the realization of the epic beauty of our earth. Not that a camera can capture it through a dirty plane window, but none the less it is a reminder.

Surely there is divine power.

Home

We finally made it home from Chicago - and boy is it HOT in Atlanta! I'm ready to move! We walked out of the airport and it hit like a firey wall.....oh yes, we are home. My hair began to curl immediately - that's humidity for you.

I wanted to blog all week while in Chicago, but for some reason (likely my blondeness) I could only get my blog title in when trying to blog from my iPhone. I finally just gave up, so now I need to cram an entire week into one post. I also fear I've "lost" some of the magic since I've had time to let things settle in. We did have an immensely wonderful week and I've got loads of fond memories, but here are a few highlights.....

Navy Pier - always fun for the kids, the Crystal Garden, the giant anchor and all the carnival-ish fun.

Lou Mitchell's Diner - two words "free donuts".

Notebaert Nature Center - not quite what we expected, but the kids had fun none the less. They list a Butterfly Cafe with natural and organic lunch choices so we held out to eat there. BAD choice, the cafe was an upright cooler with a few pre-made sandwiches and some hotdogs. Luckily we found an ice-cream cart on the street.

Hard Rock Cafe - two words "free SOCKS!" Thanks to Kapgar, I got some free Wii socks. I also got to meet some fantastic blogging friends for dinner. Kapgar & Kilax (plus her husband, Steven) came into the city to meet me for dinner and they even tolerated my kids. Luckily, Kapgar is a total dork and made my kids laugh, he was also game to letting them slap him around, so they definately thought he was cool. My little one found him ,"dorky, like Daddy". I hope Kapgar took that as the highest honor possible because NO ONE tops Daddy. Poor Kim (Kilax) lost her ears as she patiently listened to my oldest child talk them right off her head - these two clicked like legos and who knows what they talked about. I'm certain that Kim probably knows some things that I would not have likely divulged. Kim was so sweet and we even met up with her again later on in the week - and she brought my kids presents! How cool! My girls can't stop talking about her, and I like her a lot, too!! Thank goodness I didn't get cold feet and back out on this meet up - I'm usually introverted and I was thisclose to cancelling because I'm still new at all of this. What a loss it would have been to me!! *photo*

Millenium Park - my kids played in the fountain and had a blast, we took a picnic and towels and had a nice rest in the shade. My little one was so exhausted she actually fell asleep under her towel and almost wasted an entire bowl of icecream - now that's tired - luckily she has an awesome mom to help her out, and I ate it for her. I'm a giver like that. *photo*

FREE STUFF - on just about any given day that we were in Chicago there was a truck giving out free samples on Michigan Avenue at the river. The best was Burn Notice - free ice cream. They had Blue Bunny ice cream sandwiches and Bomb pops. Awesome. I also ran into rollerbladding Burn Notice chicks later in the day and got a ton of free chapstick. Eh.

American Girl - can any girl go to Chicago without a visit here? We went and spent - it was later in the evening, after happy hour, and there was a mom there with her little girl and she was stone cold DRUNK (the mom). She could barely talk, kept falling over and bent over far too many times in her short skirt. It was sad to watch. Even my kids noticed she was acting weird. People were just staring, it was embarrassing to no end. The upside is that the little girl convinced her to buy a TON of stuff, so she definately took advantage of the situation.

The Hancock Observatory - we chose Hancock over Sears Tower by suggestion from our Frommer's guide. We were not disappointed. It is AMAZING and the screened in area is wickedly windy. We spent a LONG time up there listening to the headset tours and then a HUGE storm rolled in and we were literally IN the lightening. Crazy and amazing and an incredible view. I haven't been to Sears Tower and I don't believe I'm missing out.

Rainforest Cafe - eh, nothing new there. It was late and we were all tired, but we ate.

Shakespeare Theatre - we took the kids to see Willy Wonka and it was a blast. The entire performance was done by 8 actors, all playing multiple roles. I wasn't expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. Patrick Andrews was sooo good as Charlie Bucket - I just loved him! The kids' favorite was George Andrew Wolff as Augustus Gloop - he was hilarious. I can't say that anyone wasn't good in this show. It was really good for the kids and Kevin and I enjoyed it as well, we think this is a great family show, but we are completely wrapped up in Willy Wonka which is an all time favorite book and movie for my kids. We all love the original and the remake and all of their differences.

Buckingham Fountain - my kids were amazed to find out that all of the marble used to build this gigantic fountain came from our home state of Georgia - also that running the jets and the light show for this fountain in downtown Chicago is all operated and monitored 700 miles away in Atlanta! It is also extremely close to the building used in the movie GHOSTBUSTERS, who ya gonna call??

River & Lake Tour - we decided to 86 the Science & Industry Museum and go for a boat tour. Nice choice, we learned tons about the architecture of the city and a lot of historical facts. We also got to go through the lock and out into the lake. It was definately a highlight. The kids loved watching the water cannon shoot over the river - they would have loved more if the boat captain would have taken us under it!! *photo*

Billy Goat Tavern - this is what makes my husband happy - a giant bacon cheeseburger. This place cooks it up and hands it to you in waxed paper - no plates, no trays and no messing around. *photo*

And as you can see, Bad Monkey got around quite a bit while we were in Chicago.....though that doesn't surprise me one bit.

From top:

Kapgar and Wii socks - THANKS, KEVIN!

Sleeping in Millenium Park - spare change anyone?

Burn Notice Bomb Pops - I'm soooo cool

Kilax looking all professional and me looking like a crazed tourist

A happy, happy man (that's MY Kevin) at the Billy Goat

River Canon - and kids wanting to get wet

I wanna blog but iPhone will only let me title it. CRAP!!