Naperville Triathalon

I have always wanted to do a triathlon. Not a real Iron man one, just a small sprint one to test the waters. My friend from work, Holly, and her sister-in-law Michelle and I decided to sign up for the US Women's Triathlon Series in Naperville IL. The event was scheduled for June 14th, a Sunday. I had a difficult time with the training due to my getting bronchitis halfway through. This put a bit of a damper on my training, but still I was psyched to complete this. Considering I already signed up and couldn't get any refunds, there wasn't an option! The course was a 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. Now, I am an exerciser to begin with, but just that. I typically would work out 3 times per week, and usually run and lift weights. The swimming was going to throw me, but I would muddle through it. My normal swimming is this...I don't! But since I was going to have to swim a 1/2 mile, I figured I'd better practice. So, I went to the WAC about 1 or 2 times each week and just swam my half mile. This usually took me about 25 minutes or so. A week or so before the tri, Holly and I looked at last years times for each event, and noticed that nobody took longer than 30 min to swim....WHAT?????? SERIOUSLY???? I was a bit worried, but would somehow have to swim faster than that. On top of that, we were "highly suggested" to wear wet suits, since it had been like 60 degrees out for the past week and rainy.
Jeff and Maddy came with to cheer me on, that was the best part. It was fun to look for them at each transition. Overall, it was an awesome experience. I did SOOOO much better than I thought...and now am compelled to "tri" another sometime down the road. I guess I should better wait until I feel better. I now am stuck at home with mono, that SUCKS!

This is a picture of the day before the event. We had to pick up our race numbers, get our arms and legs marked with our numbers! It was fun.





The next few are on the bike! It was quite hard to get a good picture, since I was going sooooo fast....hahaha







This is where we swam. It was a man-made quarry, but more like a pool. Which made for an easier swim than an open lake!



Hooray! We made it!



Thanks for cheering me on Maddy!

Wedding time!!

Oh how I miss weddings! There was a period of our lives when I swear we had a wedding to attend a few times each month. That might be a slight exaggeration, but still, there was a lot! Now we are heading into work-friends weddings. These sometimes make me feel old, but I still have tons of fun none-the-less. I classify myself in the mid-range category. No longer single, but my kids aren't quite out of the house yet. So, i am not really THAT old. Only in how you perceive yourself I guess. My friend Michelle asked me to do her flowers for the wedding. Just the wedding bouquet, bridesmaids, and table decorations. I was really excited, and a bit nervous, maybe a lot nervous, but I was excited! For those who do not know, I have taken a few floral design classes, and done a few arrangements for work, but never a wedding. This was all laid out on the table, but still we agreed:)
It is crazy how much florists make for weddings, it obviously takes a lot of time to do all the arranging, but still, its a lot of $$$. I was able to order the flowers for about $300, which under normal circumstances, a florist would likely charge 1000-1200 or so. The bouquet was a red color, made up of red roses, Burgundy calla lilies, black baracarra roses, and red hypercium berries. I was happy with the turn out, would change a few things for next time, if there is a next time, but otherwise I was happy! And Michelle too! I will have to get some pics of her with her dress. She looked like a princess!!








The bridesmaids arrangements were very simple, 9 white spider mum, with a lemon leaf border. They were cute and fit well with the dresses.



The table arrangements were very simple, but elegant. A single long-stemmed red rose, with white daisies surrounding it. At the bottom of each vase, were red stones that complemented the roses and rose petals. 3 votives were on each table with red rose petals strewn around (courtesy of Jeff). He was a HUGE help with the table decorations. Thanks sweetie!!



The wedding itself was a blast, lots of dancing and fun! I don't think I sat down for 15 whole minutes. It was a lot if fun, and I look forward to being "those girls" at the next work wedding. Good Luck Alyssa!!!

My home little Idaho

Terri- I hope you of all people appreciate the title of this post!
We had a GREAT trip to Boise ID for the first and second round of the NCAA tournament. Jeff's parents, us, and the Ig's all took the trip out west to follow MU (and WI...ok). When we were watching the selection show, we were pretty much thinking that we would maybe end up in KC, or Dayton or someplace a bit closer. I was secretly hoping that if we were going to be sent to a land far, far away, then let it be warm MIAMI... NO, no, no, silly little MU fans, let's send you to Boise Idaho. I had to ask Jeff if that was a dry state (?????), the answer was an eye-roll and no. So we scrambled, along with the Ig's, and booked our flight to Boise, with one stop along the way. Now I don't travel that often, but I should have known that when you really want to get somewhere, that is where the trouble happens. We were stuck on the tarmac for approximately 3 hrs in Denver. The flight from Milw to Denver was great, so what could I expect?? We finally arrived in Boise around 6:30 and tired as hell, but we were on vacation right?? After dinner at a fantastic little pizza place, FLying Pie Pizza, Iggy, Jeff and I went out for a beer at yippe applebee's. We still hadn't got the lay of the land, and we were tired, so we wanted somewhere close. We got there to watch the end of the first night of BB games and asked the server to turn on the volume. And his response, was "It is against the law" Some sort of copyright nonsense. So, this is how Boise is....hmmmmmm.
Next day, we were up and ready for some great basketball, and that is exactly what we saw. MU and WI brought a victory, so we were set for games on Sunday. The worst would be sitting in BOISE, with your team losing in the first round.
In between the MU and WI game, there was a big break. We met up with the Serb's at a micro brew called the The Ram. It was across the street from the Taco Bell Arena (note to those that were wondering, they do not sell taco's inside...seriously) IT happened to be the nicest day in Boise (milw for that matter), about 70 degrees, I could be lying, but it was THAT nice. We sat out on the patio which was awesome, and had some beer and fish and chips. Note/Quote: we are traveling with the Pope (ie. Jeff's dad) so we had to abide by the no meat on Friday, with the exception of out counterparts, the IG's, who ate triple meat. No, I did not sneak any chicken.....It really was a fun time there, Portland State and XU had their pep rallies there, so that was a lot of fun. I am not sure who noticed this, but we happend to see Jerry Glanville, who is the head FB coach at Portand State. Now, for those not football saavy, Jerry dresses like Johnny Cash and was the head coach for the Falcons 1990-1993...yes, he is the one that let Favre go...yiippee) So, we have a picture with him, which is amusing in itself.
Saturday we headed south to Jackpot, NV Cactus Pete's for a little gambling and road trip. It was about 2.5 hours away and it was well worth any time that it would have taken to get down there. We played Blackjack for most of the time, and I was down to my final 5 dollars of my allotted $100. I had to reach in my pocket for some singles to double down and from that point I think I may have lost 10 hands. I ended up coloring up $750, so that was great. Jeff won in blackjack too, but his claim to fame is sticking some random money into a slot and somehow winning $400. This happens EVERYTIME we go to Vegas, I swear!!
Sunday was the second round of the tourney. MU was playing Mizzou (who is now on my 5 yr hate list) and they lost, no need to get into the sucky details. WI lost also, however, they won us some $ at Cactus Pete's.
All in all, we had a great time. It was a lot of fun just packing up and heading out, not sure really where you are going until a few days before. My parents watched the kids for this long 5 day trip. We do owe them big time, as I was reminded!!

Here is a slide show of some of the pics from out west!!

Life's Love's Tag

Life's Love's Tag

Instructions: "It's the simple things in life!"
List 20 simple things you love about life!

1. Daisy's
2. The kids giggling
3. The smell of campfires
4. Going to work out
5. Chocolate shakes and french fries
6. NCAA BB tournament time
7. Going grocery shopping...by myself
8. Licking the beaters off the mixer
9. Getting a real live letter in my mailbox, not my inbox
10. Girls night out
11. Snuggling
12. Hearing leaves crunching under my feet in the fall
13. Reading a good book
14. with a good cup of tea
15. Summer in WI
16. Sleeping with the windows open
17. Thunderstorms
18. Pickle chips
19. Friends and family
20. Memories

GO MU

So tonight is the BIG game...MU vs UCONN, #10 vs #2. I am so excited for this game, T minus 4 hours. I am convinced this is the year for MU to go big or go home this coming NCAA tourney. Jeff, I, his parents, and Ig and Anne are planning on following MU for the first and second round of the NCAA tournament. Now obviously we do not know where they will end up playing until selection sunday. But, they could end up in one of eight places; Boise (yuk), Minneapolis, Miami, KC, Dayton (Jeff's Alma mater), Miami (nice), Greensboro, Portland, and one more place that I cannot remember. We are really hoping for MN, it is drivable which is a huge plus, also they have a casino, which makes everyone in our group happy. Ig just sent me an e-mail about potential sites MU could end up, all based on the seed they receive. I am sure most people don't really care about this, but I am super psyched. We will see, its a tough schedule ahead, still have to make it through Louisville and Pitt. We will see, but for now...GO WARRIORS!!!!

I love Wednesday's...not

Does everyone know that I hate Wednesday's???? I swear, the kids know that I don't like Wednesday's, and they know how to push every button. Jeff bowls on Wednesday, which makes for a really long day, because he doesn't come home before bowling. On another note, I love having the evening (once kids go to bed), to myself. I can actually use the GUIDE on the TV to find out what is on. The aforementioned post notes the channel surfing nonsense. My Wednesday nights are pretty much the same. Clean up mess from kids, maybe exercise (usually wed is my off day), get jammies on, throw a load of laundry in, pour myself a glass of wine, and watch some TV. I should probably read a book, like the book club book I should be reading, or maybe studying for my personal training exam. I do enjoy the Wednesday's after Maddy and Winn are sleeping! I enjoy then when they are awake too...but in a different way:)

Book Club

I am bound and determined to make the next book club, unless I am down for the count like last time. I just purchased the new book, Revolutionary Road, which is now a movie with Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio (did I spell that right). No, Jeff, its not TITANIC, which I think is Jeff's least favorite movie. There are a number of movies that when Jeff is channel surfing (lets touch on that later), that he tries to quickly pass up as though I never saw them. But I do! I few are Footloose, any Die Hard movies, Oceans Eleven or 12 or 13 or 14 or 15, Fried Green Tomatoes, and the list goes on. I could watch any of these movies at any given time and not be tired of them. So...I got the book and will start my read. First I have to catch up on my Tivo shows...priorities you know!