Cousin Lisa And The Baby Shower

My cousin Lisa and her husband Jeremy just adopted a little girl, Ka'Mya. We went down to Momence for a baby shower and then we got to go over to Lisa's and hang out with my other cousins, Tammy and Shelly, my Aunt June and Tammy's daughter Jenny and Lisa's other daughters, Gabby and Olivia.

Grace And The Yellow Brick Road OR All Good Things Come From Minnesota...

Last week I was back up in Minneapolis working at my account there. I drove in on Monday and had appointments all through Friday. However, I did finish early on Thursday and, as my BFF was 3 hours away up in Grand Rapids, I HAD to drive up to see her. I debated as I knew I had a 7 a.m. appt back in St Paul and would have to leave early, but, its just what you do for your BFF.

I got up on Thursday afternoon and Melissa had someone watching the kids so we got to roam around, kid-like it was the good old days...

Judy Garland was originally from Grand Rapids and so they have a little museum and her house there. Mel had never seen it and neither had I so - we had to check it out!

Mel pitches in at the Garland homestead.... actually - she just couldn't afford admission, so in lieu of dishes...

As Mel mows... I take a little trip on down the yellow -- laminated -- hallway....

Google it... the ruby slippers were stolen from the Garland Museum....

According to the signage in the museum, we must presume that this is a replica of the original Glade Plug-In that the Garlands used back in the early 1900s... who knew!

Its hard to read, but, in essence, Judy's mom was a little freaked by lightning and thunder so they had to run to the basement alot.... Here's the funny story...

Mel's mom is very creative, love her, and when Judy Garland died, she told the 4 Overbo girls that she died by being struck by lightning in the bathtub! If thats not funny enough -- they had a window in their bathroom shower area!

So now - we know that there actually was a little history with lightning and the Garlands.. maybe mom wasn't wrong?


Don't ask me....they were there... we had to do it.....

Does this look familiar??? The picture that hung in our kitchen for decades was actually taken in Bovey, MN

This is the original "Grace" picture and here's a link to the story
http://www.gracebyenstrom.com/history.html

We still had a little more "goof" in our systems so we headed to the nearest antique store for some good old-fashioned fun....

Moose and ... girl?

You gotta love how much fun you can have in Minnesnowta! Land of 10,000 lakes and 10,000 laughs - if you have the right friends :)!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

I had to work downtown last Friday. I was at Northwester, had a few things happen and we had to call another service rep to come.

I had found out while on the way down that, because of the Blackhawks Standley Cup win, they were doing a HUGE parade and celebration. So - while I was waiting for the rep to come, I meandered down Michigan to the river and snapped a few shots. I'm not a huge hockey fan, but I'm a Chicago fan so - anytime anyone in Chicago wins -- I'm there! :)

You've never seen such a sea of red! They closed quite a few streets and from where I was standing, I could look across the river and see solid red packed all up and down upper Wacker. There were boats all over on the river with red clad crazies. They were all waiting for the 4 double decker buses with all the Blackhawks and their families and the trophy. It was crazy - there were about 2 million people there.

A Weekend With the Cousins

This is a little behind, but two weekends ago, my cousin Tammy and her husband Don came from Indy to Chicago. They asked me to meet them downtown and so I brought my friend Jodi, who was visiting from Hungary, and my new friend :) Sarah.

We ate at Bistro 110 and then went up to the lounge in the Hancock Building for dessert. It was pretty funky as it was pretty rainy, but up in the tower, you were totally in the clouds. There were these sections of clouds that just literally came "running" by the window and covered everything in heavy gray/white and then ran right by and the sky was clear. It was pretty amazing.

For The Census

This is for all the census workers out there who read my blog :) :) :)
http://www.hulu.com/watch/147972/saturday-night-live-census

Happy Memorial Day!

Here are some pictures to enjoy from Memorial Day. We grilled steaks out at mom's house and the whole family came over. Andy and Liz had to work so they were the only ones (who are in the area) that had to miss.

Calvin waits excitedly with his new friend :)

The men hard at work at their "men" job...

Joe and Unc makin' ice cream :)