Little Pink Houses...

Oh but ain't that America for you and me

Ain't that America somethin' to see baby

Ain't that America home of the free

Little pink houses for you and me

<3

 

 

Bread & Butter

Nothin' says lovin' like mowing grub with my bestie & Godbabies

 

Give us Lord, a bit o' sun,
A bit o' work and a bit o' fun;
Give us all in the struggle and sputter,
Our daily bread and a bit o' butter.

My Kind of Town

Yesterday brought the loving husband and I toWrigley for a 1:20 game.  We went with some besties and had a totes fab time.  My gf Brianne & I work super close to one another, so we met at noon and took the Red Line over to Addison while the boys met us at the park.  We got there early and decided to partake in some icy cold beverages (a Land Shark for me, and a tall ice water for her) at the Captain Morgan club on Sheffield while waiting for the rest of our posse.  Our tix were from the annual Resurrection game in May that was called (see How Did That Happen? for a refresher on this) and in true Res game fashion, the Cubs suffered a humiliating loss.  That minor detail, however, did not put a damper on our fun:

All in all, we had an abfab afternoon.  Upon returning home I immediately took a face nap, only to awake at 9:30pm, fully clothed and with nothing done for the next day.  Awesome.  After loading the dish washer and making lunch for today, I got undressed and crawled back into bed, only to get one of the best night's sleep in, like, for-ev-er.  Score!  I should day drink more often!

Since it's another gorge day in the Chi, I'm meeting another gf after work and we're going to walk over to the Taste.  Summer's in my beloved town are the.best.ever and I plan to soak it all in!  After all, Chicago is one town that won't let you down.  It's my kind of town ;)

Feel The Love

best.family.ever.

xoxo

It May Be Cloudy & It May Be Rainy...

...but it's Friday & I got a promotion! After accepting my current position (just about a year ago), I've worked super hard & it's paid off :) While this weekend already has us committed to a birthday party & baby shower, certainly we'll manage to squeeze some celebrating in...I mean, after all...

Now we're up in the big leagues,
Gettin' our turn at bat,
As long as we live, it's you & me baby,
There ain't nothin' wrong with that.

Well we're movin' on up...

Well of Strength

What a cah-ray-zee couple of days!  By far, yesterday was one of the most stressful days of my existence.  For realz...I know oftentimes I overexaggerate (okay, maybe all the time), but this is no joke. 

So, Tuesday night we lose power.  A pretty major storm (by Chi standards) ripped through the North/Northwest side, and in it's wake, left thousands of people without power.  On the up side, there were no fatalities, only a bunch of grumpy peeps without any electricity - us included.  Yesterday morning I woke up at the crack ass to be at the doctor by 6:30am.  Fun!  The appt in and of itself was stressful enough to give an elephant heart palpitations, but then to return home to start working (I worked from home yesterday), to find out that it was unlikely power would be restored anytime soon.  As such, yours truly managed to get a generator hooked up (thanks Rena & Danny), whilst working and running around like a complete a-hole in the dark.  As of noon yesterday, we had minimal light and power to the fridge.  Success.  By the time 5 pm rolled around and I signed off for the day, I was ready to have a nervous breakdown.  Not only was I absolutes beat as a result of my day-from-hell, I was not feeling all warm and fuzzy to the not-so-loving husband as a result of a teensy tinesy argument we had the night before.  So, I called one of my true blue besties, Kiki, to vent.

I was overwhelmed and while I can honestly say I did not feel "sorry" for myself, I was sad because I was scared.  I am scared.  There is so much requiring my strength and only so much of it to go around.  What if I can't deal?  What if I can't cope?  What if, what if?

Then I thought of so many people I have the privilege of knowing and calling friends.  People who I vow to think about and draw strength from when I'm fearful that I won't be able to face the unknown.  I will think of my dear friend Amber who I honestly think is the strongest person I know, or my newest pal Billie who seems to be a kindred spirit.  My pal JJ who knows me sometimes better than I know myself, and understands what "unfairness" is all about.  Or Kiki who is my encouragement when I seem to have lost it for myself.  My bestie Rena is the strongest single mother I know with the hugest heart and a fearless attitude, and mostly, my sister, whose strength is limitless and who reminds me, when things are at it's bleakest, to look to a higher power and live one day at a time.  I will look to tomorrow and meet it with all I've got; all of the amazing women I look to for strength who have done it in their own life, whatever their story, and I draw strength and inspiration from them.

So, I will prevail.  Things are already looking up - the power was restored last night during dinner and after we celebrated electricity, I went to bed early to catch some much needed z's.  I scheduled myself for a massage after work tonight and will be calling the salon to get in for a touch up this weekend.  Like Kiki says, what good is it to get through the challenges in life if we don't learn from them?  So, learn I will, and along the way, I'll remind myself of all you who have set the standard.

Let That Igloo Cooler Mark Your Piece of Paradise...

It's the first day of summer cuties, show your spirit!