St Paddy's Day with pictures galore!

I never used to celebrate St Paddy's Day until I met Steve and then I realized you really don't have to be Irish to enjoy this day!
Some girls and I decided to hit up Chicago this year! We got there Friday night and had a nice dinner and went to bed early to be rested up for the big day!
By 9 am shots were being taken and drinks were being sipped!

We got to see some of the city on our way to see the green river and parade! I have never really been to Chicago, so I loved it all!

We got a lot of comments on our shirts too!

and finally we got to see the river! It was way more green than I imagined it would be! It was awesome, no wonder it draws the HUGE crowd that was there!
Near Millienium Park we saw the Art Institute of Chicago, thank you Ferris Bueller....I would've never taken this picture otherwise!

and we saw the 'bean'. I had seen pictures of this on other peoples blog and thought it was so cool! I was excited to get to take some pictures of it!

We totally missed the parade, which was fine with us, we had lunch at a great pizza place where we had patio side seating, (in which we got to watch a passed out drunk girl get carted off in an ambulance, good entertainment for us but I'm sure scary for her and her friends.) It's so crazy to be sitting on patios in March it's awesome since the weather was so nice! Amazing 80 degrees in March, we are so lucky!

We found a nice Irish bar, OCallaghans where we spent most of the afternoon. We met some new friends (who liked to buy too many shots!)....
.......and missed some old friends. RIP Brendan. We love you and miss you.
and all the pictures after this bar and inappropriate! The shots took their toll, we went to dinner about 7 and headed back to the hotel room about 8:30! It was nice to get to bed early to let any hang overs work their way out of us before the drive home!
Overall, great girls weekend away! and now I want to plan a family trip there....My life list has seeing a Cubs game at Wrigley Field on it, so I might have to work on this trip soon!

Five Question Friday

1. Will you run to the store or to pick up a kid looking a mess? Depends on what you think is a mess. I will not leave the house without makeup and rarely do I leave wearing my glasses.....ponytail and sweats, yes!

2. Do you finish a book if it's boring or you don't like it? I really don't like to stop reading books, but I have stopped in the middle of a book before and not necessarily b/c it was boring but b/c I stopped reading it for so long that I don't remember what happened which means I would have to start it all over again (like the really fat Harry Potter books that I never finished)

3. Beach or mountain vacations? Beach preferably. But I do love the mountains too, I spend more time on beach vacations (which is odd considering my love/hate relationship with the sun). Hoping for another Colorado trip soon (as in the next 5 years).

4. What thing/event says "winter will end and spring is right around the corner" to you? January I begin to think that spring is right around the corner and so far this year, that has come true! I deny winter all winter long. I refuse to think it is ever winter.

5. Would you prefer couples or family vacation? I think as our family grows and gets older, family vacations would be a blast...however, they are more expensive and you have to get away as a couple right? So we won't be giving up our time away either. Maybe we are selfish that way and I'm ok with that. I think too many couples don't enjoy time away or vacations together. Many mom's think they are being bad parents by leaving their kids, I'm not one of those mom's. So I'm off to Chicago for the weekend! Bye Steve and Presley have fun and see you Sunday! XOXO

We'll see!

So Steve called me at work about 1 pm and said that a realtor had called him b/c he had buyer interested in our house and they wanted to come look at it at 5:30! Yikes, we don't get home until almost 5 and NO, we had not kept our house clean from this weekend (I know, it's been 2 days....don't judge). Presley had gymnastics at 5:15 so we all got home and cleaned (it's amazing what Steve can get done in 30 minutes! Now I know what he is capable of and will be expecting record breaking cleaning around here more often!). P and I went to gymnastics, she did good again. Even getting into some trouble with another girl b/c they wouldn't sit still (so proud)!

making sure that I'm watching!

making sure the other girls are watching

We got home about 6:30 and they were still looking at the house! P and I played outside and they finally left about 7! An hour and a half of looking at the house? Are you serious? Does it normally take people that long or do we have a crazy on our hands? Sounds like she could be a little demanding and a pain in the ass. But the realtor said he has other potential buyers and would like to bring them by b/c we have the house priced right. So I guess that is good.....however, we still have no place to go if we did sell it! LOL!

Weekend fun

Friday night we went out to dinner with the family and then we went home and started cleaning. We got a call Friday afternoon that a lady wanted to come look at our house, however she hasn't called back yet....but we have a clean house now!
Saturday was so nice out for Iowa in March, we spent the afternoon outside enjoying the nice weather and even met Jackie and Ava at the park for an hour!
It is so good for her to run off her energy outside!
Today we did our normal shopping and then played inside since it was kind of rainy. Presley loves to wrestle with daddy! She takes it very seriously, but they paused for a quick, cute pic.


We made cookies so she could load them up with sprinkles. She won't eat them b/c they have frosting on them (WEIRD child!), so I guess that leaves more for me! (We won't talk about my sugar addiction right now. It's out of control, like a drug....I want sugar all the time!)
We'll have another busy week, Holly starts her new job downtown! In the same building as me, but a different department. I hope she likes it, I think this company will give her many opportunities to grow, learn and work her way up the corporate ladder! :)
Friday I get to leave for Chicago and have fun with my girls Holly, Nicky and Angie! Can't wait, should be a great time!

Books

Two more books complete! I am on a roll with 6 books so far this year!!
1) Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? One of the writers of The Office wrote this book. I personally am NOT an Office fan, but this book was funny! Easy to read and good for a quick laugh.
2) Hunger Games. GREAT! If you think the previews to the movie look good, this is way better than I had expected. I thought it was going to be hard to follow or difficult to read, wrong! It was detailed, easy to follow, interesting and intense! I'm going to start the second book tonight b/c I'm hooked!

Five Question Friday

1. Are you looking forward to the time change this weekend? Yes and no. Yes b/c it means the days will be getting longer and summer is almost here! No b/c Presley won't want to go to bed as early.

2. Are you getting the new iPad/would you want a iPad? There is another 'new' one? I mean really, how many versions do we need? How about when you have it perfected and there won't be another 'new' one....then I'll buy one.

3. If money was not a problem, what is the one thing you would splurge on? Probably more traveling. Presley will finally get to go on her first airplane ride this summer to Houston! We have always driven, but figured this one time (with one kid) we can afford to fly. But being able to take long, tropical vacations as a family...a little Disneyworld trip...that's what I want. I'll save my pennies.

4. How did you and the Mr. (or Mrs.) meet? Von Maur. I was the asst mgr of shoes and Steve was one of the lucky sales people in shoes. It was definietly a love/hate relationship while we worked together. I would NEVER recommend that you work with your spouse in a fast-paced commission environment!

5. Summer is right around the corner. Bikini or one-piece? Yikes, with the way my weight is increasing I'm thinking my tankini will be in order this summer. Not that I'm ever in a swim suit that often anyway.....I'm happy in my capris (no shorts) and a tank top all summer long.

This and that

- I'm finally beginning to feel normal after having this cold for a week! Monday I went to work feeling like doo-d00 and then I got the email with my merit increase for this year. 0%. What? Really? Please explain. ** breakdown by me**. I worked my butt off, was the top producer all year, got the highest rating I could for the year....and I get 0%? Exactly how does that work? Finally, after talking with our site manager today it was explained in further detail. The fact that I did get a mid-year raise and a promotion during 2011, was a much larger increase than if I would've only rec'd a year end raise. I guess, whatever. I shouldn't complain, I know that. There are people that haven't rec'd a raise in years. I have a job, I should be thankful.
- Presley went to gymnastics again Tuesday night. Another successful night, she participated the whole time. She gets so proud of herself! I love it!
- Today she had her first dentist appointment! I was very nervous, we never know how she will react to things. She sat in the chair, hesitantly....opened her mouth and let the dentist count her teeth! They said next time they'll do more actual cleaning but the first visit is to see how her teeth are doing and get her used to the tools and stuff. It was short and sweet and she did great!
- Does anyone else find it ironic that for years we wanted to have the smallest cell phones possible? So they would fit in your pocket. And now we all have these big, smart phones that we carry around with us. Heck, people carry their Ipads around with them!....so much for convenience!
- If anyone needs any home improvements done, my brother-in-law is looking for some side jobs to do. Right now he is retiling Holly's kitchen floor! Let me know!
- I love donuts. Just saying.