A Tribute To Nascar & Dale Earnhart Jr.

The Brickyard was today and I couldnt ask for a better day to be 'busy' and not be able to make it to the race! Opps, dont tell Jake I said that -he never reads this anyways! He did get a chance to make it down there again for the tailgate party. The group he went with didn't actually have tickets so they tailgated until the race started and then drove back home-don't ask, I don't understand either! After that 5:30 am wake up call and a morning of tailgating he took a nap while I was doing a spa at Natalie's house. After his nap he woke up to actually watch the race with DVR so he could just fast forward the less entertaining parts of the race and watch the wrecks, etc in a shorter more enjoyable environment.

Last year we had tickets and went to the Brickyard, but because of the tire problem the cars were pitting every other lap which extended the race way too much for me. I don't really like being smashed up against other people, sweating with the sun beating down on me while I watch LOUD cars go by every other minute. Just not my thing! I'd rather stay home and clean the house! But that's just me. Jake on the other hand can watch any 'sport' on TV including golf, racing, bowling, UFC, and curling-all of which I can't stand to watch in person, let alone on TV.

Striking Similarities? Jake or Dale...darn it the uniform gave it away!

Serious before a big event...

Enjoying life after a hard day of work!....Isnt this hilarous?!

Shopping

Today I went shopping with my mom for some new clothes for her. She's been doing Weight Watchers since May and has lost ~30 lbs!! She met her goal last week, and has actually lost a little more than she wanted too. So, none of her clothes fit her anymore-or they do, but are extremely too big. We went to Target because I love it and figured we could find some good deals in the clearance section. We didnt actually find anything in the clearance, but we did find a bunch of other things not for sale. We started out with size 8 stuff which were too big, she ended up buying 6's and small shirts!! WHAT!? I better start working out harder or shes gonna be smaller than me! I'm proud of her for losing weight and she actually gets that its a life long deal which really makes a future RD excited :) We ate at McAllisters and then visited Jake at Sam's just before they closed. All in all a good time.

Austin, TX also known as ATX

Last Wednesday we left to spend the rest of the week with Rach & Brad down in Austin! We absolutely loved it...the only problem is there aren't any jobs in that area in the fields that Jake and I are specialized in and that is huge. Despite 100 degree temperatures throughout our vacation, we found tons of other things we really enjoyed. Including, duh, the warm weather all year round, IKEA & the outlet mall right down the street, the fly-overs, bar-b-q pork ribs, awesome views from hill country, the freezing cold natural spring pool, trailer park eatery, Peter Pan putt putt, H-E-B or pronounced "Heeb", 6th street, bat bridges, the lakes, the everythings bigger in Texas mentality including water glasses at restaurants, cowboy hats & rodeos, etc. Here are a few pictures from our trip!

The guys after dinner...Aaron, Jake & Brad.

Me, Rach, & Shauna

The gigantic water glass....tried to give a size scale with the shaker, but it really didnt do it! But, the glass holds like 36-48 oz. I just thought it was at the first restaurant we went to, but it happened to be the same way at the other ones too.

Jake and I with the nice sunset.

One of the lakes

Over looking downtown in the very far distant.

At Pure...a bar on 6th street...we really liked the way it looked and seemed to blow the most cold air as we walked down the street. It gave us time to cool off a bit before heading to the next stop.

The well fed pool that was 68 degrees! But it felt awesome since it was 104 that day.

One of the Trailers at the Trailer Park Eatery...This one had gourmet smores with different flavored marshmallows, but we didnt try any of them.

The taco trailer we ate at for lunch one day! Interesting business plan I must say! We hope to someday re-visit, move to, or vacation in Austin again. We had an awesome time- thanks to our great friends Brad and Rachael for letting us stay in their awesome house :)

Possibility of Moving?!

Theres a slight chance that we may be opting out of our apt in Plainfield (We havent signed a lease there yet) to jump states! Jake has applied for several positions in TX, FL, TN, SC, NC so we will see what happens! I haven't heard anything on the job hunt-and am up for anything. As you can see they are all in the southern part of the US...we are sort of trying to get rid of that horrible fourth season...winter! Not that we dont enjoy a little snow every now and then, but it would be nice to forget about for a while :)

Ellen's Bachelorette Party!

Ellen's Bachelorette Party was 2 weeks ago in Chicago! I rode up Saturday with Tom and went to her shower that afternoon then rode the Metra to the city to her aunts condo. After changing into our "golf" attire for the bachelorette bar golf we headed to the Wrigleyville bars. Ironically enough, T-Mac was out for his bachelor party that night in Chicago as well-and whats funny is they are both getting married on the same day! I thought it was sort of neat-Jackie and I ended up meeting up with T-mac and Special J before we headed back to the hotel that night. All-in-all a good night of fun, but holy cow are drinks expensive in Chicago!

Here we are in our Arglye, polos, and kahki!

Jackie and I

The big day is still over a month away-Aug 29th, but rapidly approaching! Jake and I are very excited for the wedding which reminds me that he still needs to be measured for his tux! Thats all for now, more on our trip to Austin, TX later on!

P.S. Happy 2nd Anniversary Jason & Tab!!

Good Bye CPD!!

Today was my last day in the CPD, aka my internship! It was a long morning of more nonsense wrap up things to do that could've really been done any one of the other days we met this week, but why not stretch it out til Friday? However, it feels great to be finished! We celebrated with a group lunch at Harry's and then took this fabulous picture behind the bar!

We had several events this week, including lunch everyday and a Wednesday night at El Rodeo. I'm really going to miss everyone-but I'm also ready for the next step....A JOB (scary)!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy late 4th of July...even though it rained all day! Jake had to work 1-7, so I was a lazy bum and stayed in all day watching TV and catching up on some much needed rest. I'm usually a 8 hour per night sleeper, but here lately its been less than 6-7 hours per night which starts to add up! We had chicken quesadillas to celebrate Independence Day and then took a trip to Meijer-not a traditional 4th, but it worked. Along our shopping tour through Meijer, we decided to buy Yahtzee and Jenga. For some reason I've been really wanted to play both games lately. Side note: I played Yahtzee with Jordan and Darlene, and schooled them so I thought I bring that kind of game when I played Jake last night...3/4 isnt bad! I found myself "teaching" him where to put his scores, and then the last game we played he beat me! We also played a game of Jenga, but if anythng gets you heart rate up its hoping the tower doesnt fall on you. Well, it fell on me, but I couldnt take it anymore! After games we watched Borne Ultimatum-where Jake had to fill me in on the first 2 movies of the series. I just can't remember movies that well. And I have a hard time following them, needless to say I enjoyed the movie and then wondered if that ever happens in real life!

Today, we woke up and went for a long walk around 9th street park, then decided to check out the flea markets at the fairgrounds and go to Big Lots. The flea markets were basically an addition to our prior walking trip because we didnt really stop to look at any of the "stuff" the people had to sell, but we found a huge mirror for $30 at Big Lots and figured that was enough spent for a day. Back at home we organized the spare bedroom and got rid of a bunch of useless stuff that just needed to be thrown away. We are moving to Plainfield in September and the thing I hate worst is moving junk that we eventually throw away! Throughout that whole process we decided to paint a bookshelf and re-purpose it as a storage unit/seating area. I saw it on the HGTV channel once and thought it was a good idea. Jake left for work about an hour ago-hes working the overnight shift tonight and tomorrow so his schedule will be a little screwy until he gets back to his regular hodge-podge day time schedule.

As for me, I finished up my last week at the Weight Loss Center on Thursday and have 1 more week left of school-like class at Purdue and them I'm finished for good! Still in the job hunting process, but I could have some promising news on Wednesday, but I dont want to get too detailed if things dont happen to settle right.

Well, I need to finish my mini-workout on the ball...until next time!