I get by with a little help from my friends

Some good 'ole fashion fun with the Alumni from the best softball team in the world!!!! We had a lot of Alumni nights before, when we just graduated, but everyone is going their own ways and moving and all that jazz so this was really fun being able to see everyone again, finally. Shockingly we were not drunk! Usually it's a big drunken goofy bash...but now 2 people are pregers, 1 IS a mommy, 2 don't drink (really) 1 actually can't anyways...so we did what we do 2nd best (1st being softball people) which was EAT! HA!






Here are a few pics of the pre 4th of July party at Beth's townhome. This is Mia...Beth's little girl...I mean dog :) hehe, Mia looks like a stuffed animal she is soooo cute!



As you can probbaly see...we are getting a bit saucey here :) Jennifer is going to kill me!! ha!

This one was actually "pre kick out"...well almost. We got in a big fight with this "I think I am cool because I hang out at 18 yr old bars and I am 45 with a tupee(sp)" guy...ugh he was annoying...and I was NOT in the mood. Still a sexy pic though, huh!

Jason's visit to Chicago!

So this is "the orb" or "the bean" as Annie called it. Not sure what the REAL name for it is, but it's definition is FUN! haha, i'm a nerd. Anyways, we spent like 2 hours just taking crazy fun pictures at this orb of each other and others, and different angles and pretty much anything you can imagine...well almost :) dirty minds. Enjoy!


This one is my personal favorite...I think it came out really really well. The placement is perfect...must be my art director eye.


These next two made up look SUPER skinny...I'll just say, its was niiiice :)







The Navy Pier! Jason didn't know this was "the place to be"...duh. Right when we got there, we were greated by an old friend :) I think I do the whole Pirate thing better.


This time the camera is propped on a cement flower pot...yes, the Rebel has seen and been propped on it all folks :)

Very cold sitting outside, but NO WAIT...2 hour wait inside...so we sucked it up and had us some Shrimp :) OH, and we played the tivia game with Forrest Gump...not too shabby if I do say so myself.



The Chicago Blues Festival. It was fun, but really expensive...everything was bought with tickets, and buying tickets was a rip off because the amount was not the same as the ticket...oh well, we met this crazy retired bird lady whom loved to feed the birds for 9 hours at a time...and OF COURSE, when we were eating and trying to have a conversation...but go ahead crazy bird lady, those birds are more important, duh!

On the catwalk, oooo yea on the cat walk...ok, not walking, nor posing, but the lighting was so awesome there that we had to get some good pics of ourselves...god, is that vain? HAHAHH!!!




love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a house and carriage...you know the rest...here is the fountain!

Yet another picture taken by my timer while my camera is balancing on something such as a rock, trash can, possibly even a small animal :) hehe.

J's first major league baseball game! He still thinks the sausage sandwiches are better at the Iowa Cubs games, HA!

Most of the people behind us got kicked out for throwing peanuts at the Cleveland fans, BUT we did find one person still behind us that could take a picture of our cute selves!

As you can tell, we have to take pictures of ourselves a lot...they are always to the side and crooked...but still pretty damn good.

AhhhhhhAAhhhhhhh...(imagine the music that always plays when you have discovered something holy!)

We decided to strike a few poses with the man himself...or his metal counter part :) hehe


The camera was on timer on top of a trash can!

I played some good defense, but Jordan prevails as always!

A Farewell from Captain Jim

So our teacher Jim Dyer, held our last class on his 30 ft boat out on Lake Michigan. It was amazing! We went out through the river and then on to Lake Michigan from about 630 to 1030 at night...and didnt even talk about advertising!!!! (well Ian did, but then again, if you know Ian, he did really good..only talked about it 2 times!) WE had a blast. Navy Pier had fireworks at 945 that night and they were awesome...Ill get some pics from Annie of those, she went all Pro Photo Girl on us at that time so there are some bad ass shots. Renee and I "manned" the boat through the locks and push off and docking it again. We were the only 2 that knew what to do...from our old boating days....well..my parents sold our boat when I was 7 b/c I started getting too expensive...lol
This is me manning the boat...you have to lean over the bow of the boat and grab onto this long rope, HOLD IT, ripping my nadns open...ok ok, not open, but red as hell...then hold the boat there until the lock fills up and you can move on....whew!

I might have just yelled at Ian for talking about advertising....lol

The Captain and his frist mate!

Annie and I on the front of the boat...we all rode up there mostly, it was awesome out...perfect..little chilly, but the beer kept us warm...and getting delirious from beer :)


Goof ball...Jim told her to put it on...she wore it for a while, but I think she wore it backwards, LOL!!!! So fun.

Nothing like a Chicago Skyline Sunset....seriously, someone needs to propose with this in the background. :)


I'll miss Chicago...a lot...I'll be back, live and work...I can guarantee it. :)

Minne girls in Chi-town...finally!

So we had some visitors the other weekend and I am a slow poke to get this all up on here but we had sooooo much fun and we took Annie to her first Karaoke bar and I think got her addicted. I wish it could have lasted longer, but I guess the world hates people and makes everyone work for 5 days and only play for 2....but I think we got enough playing in those 2 to equal 10! I miss them!!!!! Oh and we drunk dialed Anne to tell her little bum Happy Bday :)

Now picking someones nose you dont know is always fun.

We stopped by the cloning center and got ourselves some body doubles...god that was a lame caption.

Yeah right


Geoff was singing "Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash and I mean singing...Annie and I got up and started dancing to the song and I think we pissed him off a little it, he takes his karaoke seriously, hehe...I walk the line...

Might have to be a little bit modest here but damn this camera makes my eyes look good! Giiiiirl, i look goooooooood. :)



The girls met Geoff, a co-worker of mine...he is canadian so it shocking that he is cool (ok ok, thems just jokes)


Cheers! Damn Dayna was looking all vixen like the whole night!

It's a really bright house here in chicago, many florescent lights and leather bound books...smells of mahogany...


You know, I have a feeling Anna does not remember why I am upset with her in this picture...well let me tell you a little story...not only did she STEAL the mic away from Annie while we were singing Sweet Caroline, she kicked me in the face with the bathroom door...and not slightly, HARD...so hard that i flew back on to the toilet bowl...yes, lol REEEEAL funny...then she proceeded to giggle...I know, anna giggle?? what??? any who, I was about to cry but i sucked it up and walked out of the bathroom acting as if nothing happened...so if you forgot girl, there you go! hehe...dont worry I only had a bruise on my forehead for like 4 days.

Our beautiful reminission of either "If I could turn back time" from Cher or "Sweet Caroline" from good ole Neil.

Cubbies!

So its 1045, just got home form work at about 930 and still have a BUTT load to do...probbaly b/c one of my bestest friends came into town yesterday and had some FREE CUBS TICKETS...here is the story. :)
Get a text that they are free and we should come...FREAK OUT and one of our bosses hears me who will remain nameless (Steve) and says "bet you wish you could go huh?" and smirks and walks out the room. So a little freaked out...Renee and I start emailing back and forth...probably about 18 emails in a row trying to get enough courage to ask Kevin, the other main man. I secretly write a note to Geoff, a guy we work with starting out the note "Shhhhh...." and he laughs at us telling us to ask Kevin. While I am doing this, Renee is texting Elizabeth asking her what she thinks. She responds with "He is a Gentle Giant, ask him!" and so we muster up the guts....even get what we want to say ready and ask. It should have gone "Kevin, would you be ok with Renee and I going to the cubs game and coming back after wards to finsh up work?" but this is not a perfect world and this is how it went "Keeeevvvin?....ummm, ok, so do you think ,I mean would it be ok...well we have these tickets, umm, Ok, can we go to the game? We will come back." and then I think I threw up. Anyways, he answer was (amazing might I add) "I dont care where you work or when you work as long as you do good work" then told us to go have fun. Seriously, I respect this man so much.
So, we go home, get our t-shirts and flip flops on and even sun screen as you know what happened at the sox game... and we get there...NOT NEEDED. Our seats were in the shade, lol and we were FREEZING! BUT, we the tickets were free...free free free and I dont care how cold it was, I loved it!
Here are some quick pics from the game.



Harry Carry (sp) statue honoring him, it was cool except these idiots were blocking the writing, grrrrrrr.






Thanks Jennifer!!!! I had so much fun :) We got our pic taken in front of the, wait, whats it called again? What did you say it was? Oh yeah, the Baseball Court. HAHHAAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAAH LOVE YOU!!!!

Wedding Love :)

So this weekend was filled with family galore in Des Moines. Jason's older brother, Shane got married. It was a great wedding. J was in it, but I was practically in it too, I was the babysitter, the discipliner, the errand runner, the candid photographer, the electric slide leader, and then finally, the cute girlfriend to the best boyfriend in the world :)

Anyways, enough with the mushy stuff, it was a great time. The wedding was about 40 minutes away from our hotel so after the reception this 20 passenger limo picked us all up and drove us around for about 90 minutes and back to the hotel. It was amazing, we were all tanked, and yes...Jasons little 14 yr old brother, Jimmy ended up having his first beer and his first glass of Champagne...it was cute. I asked him if he was feeling tipsy, but he said no...but he stomach was starting to hurt, lol...we told him to stop, btu he wanted to so thats good! The bride and groom were too tired to hang out anymore so we ended up going to Racoon River Brewing Co. and drinking more, eating wonderfully horrible fried foods and playing pool until 2 am...I cheated 2 times while no one was looking, yet we still lost...damn! OH, and at the hotel, we had a KING size bed...oh god I loved it...this school housing single just isnt cutting it! lol. The flight was hell, I think I was tipsy when I got up, hung over after the 1st flight, and just outright still DRUNK when I landed in Chicago...it was a weird progression.

I have 2 weddings on Memorial Day weekend, my sister and my friend Rachel. J is going fly to my home town to come with me to all of them and then off to go fishing with dad on Monday...nice little jaunt. I guess I should work sometime :) hehe, Im working....oh yea and find a job, J and I are officially moving to New Jersey this end of August. Fun :)!!! I cant wait...we even talked about getting a dog...an Alaskan Husky! Ok, well enjoy :)

Anything more precious? Yea, I dont think so. This is Jasons neice, Addy (Adrian) and those curls are natural...jealous, I know. She is to die for. Her older sister Jackie is too, shes coming up...


Jackie getting to have curlers in, look at those eyes...seriously, these girls are going to break some hearts!

The flower girls. They did such a good job, I was proud...and they already call me their aunt Stefenie...but then wonder why I am always gone...awwww, tear.

Smoochie smoochies!

Jason's family and the bride...little bro Jimmy, Dad Gene, Mom Debbie, Older bro Shane, new sis in law Nikki, older sis JJ, Jason, then the three kids are JJ's...names are Jackie, Adrian, and Dristan.

Jason and Grandma & Grandpa...they call me Sesame, lol, because Grandpa acted like he didnt hear my name when he met me and said "youre dating a girl named sesame!?!?" it was cute and stuck, so I am known as Sesame. hahahaha, I love it.





How did I get so lucky?! :) Damn hes fine, hehe!


Awww, Naly and Paul...so cute!

The flowers girls were spinning so I decided to put my photo 1 skills in motion and take an action shot...gold medal Darryl!

This morning after...hehe, I dont think he wants this on here, but its going to be anyways cuz I think its cute! We were both still drunk...awww, good times, great oldies.


These next two are just me being goofy before we went to the movie Silent Hill (weird by the way, but good) because I wanted some cute pics of us not in wedding attire too :)

White Sox 4 Blue Jays 2 MLB baseball gms for me 2

Annie and Renee on the way into the bad ass stadium with many names :)


SO CUTE!!!!!!!

LOVE IT!!!!!!



Annies 1st Baseball game hot dog (althought she DID get a Kosher one...nerd)!!!!

We had seats in left center bleachers, seriously awesome




AND...the end result of the GREAT day!!!! Considering I have not seen sun in 6 months, this burn is not that bad. It did turn purple and peal like crazy and I have a wedding to go to this weekend...but ya know...I got me some aloe!

Home sweet temporary home

Here are a bunch of random photos of Chicago. There are a few of our house, our neighborhood and then our house warming party. We invited our agency people and had a pretty big turn out. We decorated like nerds and Renee even made this AMAZING mango salsa. I would have to say, YES Hadrian's Wall did not represent in the beginning, we only had 1 person come to the party, but I will tell you, we CLOSED the night out! It was everyone else...gone or alseep, Renee, Geoff and I staggering home from the bar, ha! The Wall prevails!




Oddly enough, Chicago's neighborhoods look a lot like Amsterdam...besides the Kmart's, lol.

Our house warming party! We decorated with the Brazilian Reindeer and the mini shopping cart!! LOVED IT!


Cool, but a little scary. Yes, a wonderfully new way of Guerilla advertising, but seriously...Background check!?!?!?


This is known as Heroine Triangle or Viagra Triangle...sooooo many homeless live here, that is an oxymoron :)

Our home!!!!!