I told you I was going to see lumberjacks!

I was not kidding when I told some of you that I was going to Wisconsin to see a lumberjack show. It was a very rainy weekend but it let up just long enough for us to sit in the bleachers for 45 minutes and watch the lumberjacks do there thing.

There was sawing...

There was throwing of sharp things...

There was chopping...
And more chopping...

And more sawing...

And some climbing...

And more climbing...

Log rolling...

And more log rolling...

It was actually a very entertaining 45 minutes or so. There were lots of bad jokes and plenty of amazing arm muscles. After the show, we treated ourselves to some cheese curds and a strawberry smoothie sample at The Taste of Whitewater (which was about 10 booths set up by various restaurants in the area).
Aren't you sad you didn't go with me?

Enunciate, Please

Imagine if you will, that you are reading Psalm 34 to a small group of people. You get to verse 8 and read:
"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him."

I suggest that you enunciate very clearly so that when you say 'refuge' it does not sound like you are saying 'refuse'. (Ref-use, as in garbage). Kind of makes the meaning of the verse a little different.

Again, this is just a suggestion. If it ever happened to you. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Splurge

Sometimes a girl just needs to treat herself to something a little decadent for lunch. So, today, I treated myself to this:

This is the French Melt from The Grind Cafe in Lincoln Square. It is a croissant toasted up with brie, almonds, honey and cranberries and served with some mixed greens. It's totally low calorie, I promise.
Oh, and if you have not stopped in at The Grind, I very much recommend it if you are in the area. Good coffee, good food, friendly people.

I cheated

Yup, that's right. I cheated on my own challenge. Right now there is a Starbucks coffee on my desk. I bought it with my own money. I'm a bad person. I had to go to the dentist for a filling today and there is a Starbucks nearby. I figured that since one side of my face is completely numb and I had just had someone drilling a hole in my tooth, I deserved a little treat. And you know what? It tastes good!!

What IS that?

This morning, I was handed this. It is a shining example of the high quality of the Chicago postal system. If you can't tell what it is, it is an envelope that was delivered to us in a plastic bag because apparently a postal worker decided to stuff their exhaust pipe with it first or something. Actually, we cannot tell what on earth they did to this poor envelope to make it like this. When we opened this up, inside was a donation that someone had sent in. Amazingly, the check was still in decent condition and we are pretty sure we can still deposit it without any problems.

Bump, Set, Spike!

A couple of weeks ago my fabulous friend Kelly Ry headed to the lake front with me to observe our weekly (mostly) Monday night volleyball game. There's a group of us that have done out best to hit Montrose Beach once a week after work to hone our skills so that we are ready to compete in the 2012 Olympics (we have a LOT of work to do!). Some weeks our games are great and other weeks they are not so great. Either way, we always manage to have fun and get a little exercise. On this particular case, Kelly was kind enough to document our evening and she did a fabulous job!

Below you will see my friend R ducking and covering as the ball comes near. She cracks me up!
This week happened to be the last week that our friend J (who we all refer to as 'Pookie') would be playing with us as he decided to move back to the land of tourists and old people (also known as Florida).

So much vacation, so little time

I was fortunate enough to receive and invitation to join some friends in Michigan over Labor Day weekend this year for fun and relaxation on the lake. The timing was perfect because I was needing some time out of the city. Unfortunately, my time on the lake was short because I had to be in church on Sunday and couldn't leave until after the service. But, I was able to take Tuesday off of work so I could stay just a little longer.
My friend P also had to be at church on Sunday so we drove out together and arrived just in time for dinner and an evening boat ride before everyone retired for the evening. Monday morning I woke up and sat outside and drank my coffee. This was my view.

I was joined by these lovely ladies (I am sure that they are going to love me for posting this picture).

There was a lot of fishing (not a lot of fish).
.



The girls took the boat out for a little tubing and swimming. Baby Brother was not so sure about the boat.

Big Sister put on a brave face before getting in the tube with mom.


This is me holding on for dear life. Upon falling off I think I managed to swallow about half the lake.
A little relaxing swim.
Again, Baby Brother is not so sure about all of this.
After dinner it was off in the boat again to see the Sprinkler Show and get some ice cream.
It was a little windy.
Ah, sunset.
The Sprinkler Show was pretty much a giant fountain. The water and the lights were choreographed to music. My camera was not able to do the show justice but we had a good time watching the lights and singing along to the musical stylings of Catherine Zeta Jones (as heard in 'Chicago') and Queen.
After the show it was back to the house for a glass of wine and some girl talk (or fishing for the guys). My time there was way too short but still a ton of fun. We were blessed with fabulous hosts that didn't mind 10 of us taking over their home and always had the M&M bowl full.