CAR-STACHE, Amazing.

There is not much more to say about this except that I saw it with my own two eyes this morning (not this exct truck). And the best part was the guy driving the truck that I saw was wearing a coyboy hat and had a visible 'stach from the other side of the road. I am in love with this....obviously.....and want to buy it for everyone I know. I call this the perfect Christmas gift!!! They come in some lovely colors! http://www.carstache.com/ If only they sold this hat as well!

I am Thankful......

This was the glorious sunset in West Branch, Iowa on my drive back from Iowa to Chicago...concluding my delightful Thanksgiving Break......a true reminder of all things I have to be thankful for!!! Thank you!!!

4th Annual Tacky Sweater Party.....2010

I am sad to say...it has come and gone...the 4th annual Tacky Sweater Party is over. It was the best one yet in my book and just to prove this....here is a quote from me-from the night...."This feels like what I envision my wedding night to feel like...I just don't want it to end." We had over 50 people show up and as you can see there were some wonderfully tacky sweaters that made a visit as well!!! Cheers until next year!

29 and bbsitting

Some people might wonder if I am crazy, hard up or a sucker......I like to think that none of those are true and that I just appreciate how important it is for all of us to be a positive part of a child's life and speak to the inner child in our hearts. For this reason, I find myself taking bbsitting jobs that cut into my social and sleep hours. To me, it is worth it. Here are a few pics of my little buddies....how could you not get paid to hang out with these cuties?! They tell it like it is, act like they feel and can eat anything they want(because bbsitters make special exceptions to keep everyone happy)!

You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta

Friday night it was requested that I put my cooking skills to the test. As many of you know...I love to bake, but cooking is just a little different. A few reasons I don't do it often include 1. I eat cereal often for dinner (and love it) 2. have a sweet tooth 3. by the time I finish cooking I am either not hungry (because I ate too many tid bits) or buzzed from drinking a little too much wine and.... 4. most portions are too large for just me and having the same thing for 7 meals in a row is just not that exciting. So.....after asking my dear cooking pals what they would make if they were put to the test....I decided on this one....because it sounded oh, so yummy to me...and it WAS!!!! I added some spicy sausage and mushrooms in the mix and topped it with some fresh parmesan...delicious!

Don't fret.....I was not that hungry when it came time to eat it because I had done a little bit of #3 listed above....oh well, I think I passed the test for now!

If you have any must try recipes please let me know!!!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/you-wont-be-single-for-long-vodka-cream-pasta-recipe/index.html#

It is a small world....

You are NOT going to believe this! It is true, since you are all active followers of my famous blog I am sure you remeber the lady who was grilling hamburgers on my street at 7am back in August on a Sunday morning?! Yeah, I knew you'd remember....so earlier this week I was in my morning hustle off to work and jumped on the famous Halstead #8 bus. I looked up to see my two dear friends and co-workers (Liz and Julie). As I was bus surfing (standing up on the bus, holding on for dear life as our driver over applied the breaks in a short time frame) I heard a voice that I knew I recognized. It took a moment, but then it came to me.....that deep (for a woman), smokey voice.....it was the hamburger lady from a few months back. She was on the bus with the cutest little boy. My first thought was omg, who was with the little dude while she was grilling those hamburgers?! But, with some detective skills and my bionic ears.....it was discovered that he was her godson and she was taking him to the Shedd Aquarium for the day. I can't wait to run into her again in some funny way....just you wait! I know it will happen!

don't you want this!!!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/53968234/too-legit-laptop-graphic-item-40006
Don't you want this!?!?! Maybe when my computer gets home from being fixed (her mother board wasn't working, sounds serious) I will purchase this for her so she is really happy and feels all snazzy?!

Don't you just L-O-V-E this time of year? It is the perfect time to me. and this delightful picture is just a few minutes from my house. I try to get on as many walks down by the lake as I can right now to REALLY soak it all up! I wish I could just hang in the air on a string and soak this up for awhile! Instead, I posted this pic so we can all soak it up and swallow this beauty down!

Enjoy.

HOTTIE Potato

I just love that this is the actual name of some place. It is near my work. I think it is a food distributor. It is perfect! LOVE.

Mary Found Me Again

It was a Monday morning. And I had been awake since 3:50am....flew back to Chicago on the "early girly" from Des Moines, was home for a wedding that weekend(it was a great wedding and weekend). I took the El-(blue line) from O'Hare down to the Milwaukee and Grand stop, where I hop off the train and pop up from under ground. There I catch the grand old #8 bus a few blocks to my usual stop and cross the beloved bridge to work (all while dragging my suitcase behind me professionally). The funniest part is that I am usually early for work and travel so much further than a typical day.

I haul my suitcase and shoulder bag up the stairs as people are bustling around in the morning chaos. I pop up the last step and realize it is a truly gorgeous morning. The sun is shining, the air is perfect and the chocolate factory near by is "making brownies" or so it smells.

In the distance, I notice this very nicely dressed girl (about my age) walking towards me. She is so put together and I think, wow-I do not look like that today. I do not see a bus in sight. It is then, I realize, shit. I know this girl....I have seen her before and if I pop my sunglasses down now she will "know". Before I know it.....here we are, best friends reacquainted. It was her....the Mary Kay girl from the cheese isle....I was brief, I was blunt, and then the bus came!!! God Bless the # 8.

Just another day, in the "Big City".

a job well done....

A few weeks ago, the girls that I work with and I were out on an adventure to try out something quite unique, HOT DOUGS (see earlier post)... on our way back, we were driving in a neighborhood that we typically don't venture when we saw something that was almost better than an ice cream sundae.

Sitting in the back seat, I looked over and saw this woman carrying a Junior Achievement of Chicago bag (for those of you that don't know...that is where I work!). We give these away at the bowl-a-thons and I was extra excited to see this bag because I designed what is printed on the bag (hard to see on the pics- but it is a bunch of words that describe Junior Achievement).

The best part was, our cat-like reflexes allowed us to grab our camera and catch her using her bag and also busting it to catch the bus! As you can see above...we got some good action shots! I would also like to mention that earlier this year I saw this bag being used by a Streetwise (www.streetwise.org) seller to hold his magazines outside of a CVS. I could not be more proud to see this creation used in so many different ways in our local community.

Get after it JA bags, get out there and make me proud!

a Monday in the Cheese department......

Well it is Monday, today is not just any Monday...it is September 13th, my little bro's 24th bday!! Shout out to ALEX! Love ya! I was so pumped to get a little bro!!

Ok- so getting on with it.....today I busted over to the grocery store to grab some lunch items.

While admiring the cheese special (3 cheese blocks/$5) I got a compliment from a very friendly girl on my shoes (see pic to the left, yeah I love these shoes!). I politely said, thank you and went on choosing the best three cheeses I could uncover. To my surprise she kept on finding something to chit chat about. In the matter of a few moments we covered everything from how cold it is in the grocery store to how great it is to pull out some end of summer outfits...before I knew it I had a new best friend on my hands...and I hadn't even picked out my final cheese selection. I was kinda like geez....if making friends on the first day of kindergarten would have been this easy...

At this moment my friend Liz discovered me and quietly looked for an item of choice in the background. And then it happened...the red flag went up and I realized...........OH, NO...........I am getting picked up by a MARY KAY LADY!!!!!!!!!!!! CRAP.........

Don't you worry. I got out alive....and didn't give her any of my info......but I will say, it was a close call!

I guess that is what ya get for wearing cute shoes on a Monday in the cheese department......seriously!

Really? REALLY REALLY?!

I just had to recap some recent moments that pretty much inspired and speak to the purpose of this blog for me......

This morning I was walking from where the bus drops me off, over the bridge and to work....and looked over and driving down the street was a totally 1980's convertible with the top down and literally about 50 boxes of bananas spewing out the top of the car. The best part was....there was someone in the backseat with their hair blowing all around......very glamourous- really!!

I also recently was trying to catch an early train on a Sunday morning and started busting down my street to look up and see a cloud of smoke rising from the sidewalk across the street.... low and behold a woman was, no joke, grilling some hamburgers on a mini, charcol grill at 7am on a SUNDAY! She then came across the street and was telling me about how someone called the cops on her.....and how she lived on the street etc., etc., etc., just at that moment the COPS showed up....and I ran away to catch my train!

Oh...yes...the fun doesn't stop there.....literally in the last week I was at Walgreen's in the card aisle looking at a wedding cards and this girl said, "It is really hard finding a card...when you dont' agree with the marriage....um.....yea! So then for literally 25 mins she tells me how she doesn't agree with the fact that her brother is marring this girl and that he called and asked her why she was coming if she didn't agree......and that she was going to see all her relatives who live all over the world........and YIKES.......at the end I had to get a new gallon of milk because mine was no longer cold......uh! No use crying over warm milk......

more on these random life experiences as they come! Cherio!

Baxie the puppy- DOG!

I normally think that most dog "clothes" are kinda over the top.....but I saw this doggie "polo" and had to give it a go! I have to say....I am pretty sure Baxie didn't end up loving it....she even had a get this off me ASAP look at one point. And to prove her disinterest in my attempt to make her a sporty dog...she ran through a the hose and a bunch of mud....making this little polo a thing of the past! Oh, well....at least we know where my dog and I stand on dog clothes.

She is getting SO big SO fast....she was only born in Feb....and now 6 months later she is a strong and wild puppy DOG! Just ask Vic!

Do you need to send a fun, funky or festive card, invitation or announcement?

I just love SNAIL mail and there is almost nothing more fun you can pull out of a mailbox (this does not apply if you win the lotto and they send you the winning check) than a hand addressed fun letter! The funny thing is....I also love writing up these fun, funky and festive cards....I was telling my friend how I think it would be so cool to start a business where I could do this as a job....you know the whole do what you love......

...in my mind this was totally a dream because I was envisioning having to quit my job, find a space to work, buy a million markers and address until my hand fell off. BUT WAIT....she said....just take some pictures of the letters you address and START SMALL.....what a novel idea....really.....just start small.

So, here I am starting small.....if anyone has a little batch of cards (of any kind) they'd like me to address let me know....I am starting small so even if it is just one letter....I can do it.....fee is starting small as well.....

Here is an example of a card I recently sent for a friend's birthday!

Suitcase rainbow

Can you believe I held up this entire stack of suitcases with my little anchor weekender?! I know.......crazy!

Jump for July Blueberries

In order to support the name of my blog...I dedicate this post to the title of my blog...Are You Kidding Me?!

I found as I entered the front office at work today three cartons of blueberries for the VPs in my office. They were from the office building management. Is it just me...or is this such a random act of kindness?! No, I mean more random...than act of kindness...

Anyway...I did some quick research on trying to find this lovely picture you see and found out that July is National Blueberry month. http://www.blueberry.org/USDA%20Proclamation.htm and it jogged my memory of a wondeful children's book called...

HOT DOUGS

I can't believe it. Today the heat index is near 110 degrees....just crazy! Even crazier is that the girls at work and I planned for over a week to head to this hot dog place in the city that is to be the sausage superstore and the encased meat emporium. We arrived....and MUCH to our dismay the line was out the door and literally around the corner. I don't even LOVE hot dogs but if you check this link out and see the array of "encased meat" that you can choose from; including some very delicate options! PS- ya'll know how much I love funny t-shirts....and you better believe I was eyeing the ones at Hot Dougs...if I ever get in the door!

http://www.hotdougs.com/

Backpacking CAT

Simple enough...last night I was waiting with my friends for the bus. Crazy enough...we saw this man wearing a backpack for his CAT!! Enough said.....

P.S. THE CAT WAS IN THAT BACKPACK!

SAIL AWAY....

Anyone who knows me knows....I LOVE BAGS. Yes, I am a bag lady of sorts (this includes purses).

I especially loves the ones that help you save the crummy plastics bags you get loads of at stores. It is no doubt that these plastic things end up straight in the landfill, even if you try to reuse them a couple of times, and once they end up there...our great-great-grandchildren are going to find them...and think dang...

I have seen these little suckers....I mean seersuckers a few times...and just found the website where I could purchase my very own... www.seabags.com

Someday I shall splurge on the lovely anchor bag...so I can double time my recycling efforts...taking home my sales in a reused sail!

Flying Cats!

This morning I drove to work...yeah- I know. $9 to drive and park in the lot...but here's the best part. The bus is like $2.25 each way. So in all actuality I am only spending $4.50 more than if I were to take the bus. And on HOT, summer days.....honey I will pay that extra cost in a heart beat!

So- today I drove. And...when I parked I saw this glorious billboard...can you imagine...anything better than a flying cat in 3-D?!?! Some of you know my love for cats so this makes the whole thing that much better!

I also love the top of the AD that says...

"PURRR-FESSIONAL SPY.

Iowa...the land of corn!

It was about one month ago now that I had the glorious opportunity to spend a whole week back in the land of corn...I-O-W-A! It was an amazing week as I enjoyed the unmatched comforts of HOME! One of the nights my dad and I went to an IOWA Cubs game. It ended up being the perfect weather night! It was there that I found this special little treat...see photo below!

Just this week I had my first ear of summer, sweet corn...and it was delicious! Cheers to all the yummy sweet corn to be had the remainder of this summer...just remember to keep some floss close at hand!

Enjoy.

I am rich now...

I came back from my Tahoe excursion to a small pile of mail. If you know me, I love getting mail. Let me clarify. I love getting special/hand written/personal mail. There was only one of those pieces in this pile. I started opening the letters in this pile so that I could toss the massive pile of junk. I got to the last one and it was something that appeared to be from a bank. It was....I HAVE NO IDEA WHY...but something connected to my GAP VISA...entitled me to a .18 cent check....YEP YOU GOT IT...a whole .18 cents coming my way...guess it is my first step towards winning the lotto!

I love this time of year, the heighth of SUMMER!

Last night I had the pleasure of being invited to dinner at the wonderful and glorious Hinchman family's house! We sat on their gorgeous screened in porch and enjoyed the breeze, the lucious green grass/trees and sipped some fantastic wine! Thank you Hinchman's!

Just take a minute and look at how ALIVE everything is right now! I LOVE IT!

LIVE IT UP! LIVE OUT LOUD!

Turbo Trip to Tahoe

So....last Wednesday I texted my friends who live in SD, CA (San Diego, CA) and asked if they made it through the EARTHQUAKE (they laughed as it was only 5.4).

I then got a text from my dear pal....Lindsay asking if I wanted to come to Lake Tahoe to her family's cabin THAT weekend?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME.....YES!

Lets just say that lead me into the a massive search on how I could affordably get my bootie out to CA. After some searching and finding nothing less than a $900 plane ticket....Linds once again extended her generous hand and donated one of her FREE Southwest round-trip tickets to ME! THANKS LINDS. You will be rewarded in your next life (at least that is what Julie told me- when I gave her my last M&M).

So my Rapid Rewards flight was finalized at 7:04 a.m. on Friday and I departed from Chicago, Midway at 12:00 noon. Direct flight to Sacramento Airport where I waited for the Linds and Beltz to arrive and start our adventure. Lets just say...the rest and best was still to come...a day at the BEACH!

Have you ever been to one of those little small town festivals celebrating blueberries or the day the town was founded? If so, you probably have seen that "ride" where some ponies are attached to a thing that goes around in a circle?! I was recently at the Old Town Art Fair in Chicago and they had this little ride. It took me back....to the West Branch, IA Hometown Days - circa 1985. I totally rode one of those little ponies, right after I participated in the big wheel race. AHHH....those were the days.

**Don't forget lemonade and iced tea will make any day seem like a summer day! Cheers.

Today is a new day...oh yes it is.

Today is a new day...it is the Tuesday after the 4th of July holiday. I am not going to lie, I DID have a diet coke at 9:45am...I needed to make sure my blood was pumping into my heart and then into my head!