going down to NC

Bill and I leave for the first of our BBQuest 2009 spots. We will have tee shirts in hand and I am sure we will take pictures, but here are the two graphics that we have for the tees:

This is on the front of the shirt

This is on the back

_____

In other news we had a nice weekend. I went to Ran's bridal shower, which was very nice, while Bill weeded in the rain. It rained on and off all day Saturday. Sunday we went to a gardening store after church and got all the do-dads to make a new and improved rabbit fence. We also picked up a few seedlings and exchanged some pots. Then we went home and took out the old fence (wood post had already rotted in the ground) tilled all the soil and mixed in some peat moss transplanted some plants to increase the size of the garden and made one of the two fenced in areas. last year we ran out of chicken wire and had extra wood posts. this year we ran out of metal posts and have a whole extra thing of chicken wire.

I have changed the design of my garden a bit from last year and wanted to give people and idea of what we did. The first picture is last year. notice the blocks representing the brick "wall" i used to finish out fence because we ran out of wire. in the second picture, notice the path making it easier to get to the food, the trellis that i will grow my cucumbers on and the bump out in size (i took the other plants and put them in other parts of my yard.) Oh and a got i big soaker hose that i will wind through and be able to connect my hose to water better with less wasted water.

Obviously i am very excited about this year's garden. I hope everything grows as good as last year.

85

its supposed to reach 85 hear today !!

Not much going on with me. I attended the funeral for my co-worker's daughter Christie yesterday. If life isn't fair, cancer is really not fair. If you are the praying type keep Christie's Family especially her little daughter Faith in your prayers.

This weekend I have a wedding shower to attend and other than that its studying and working in the yard. there is a lot of work to be done on both fronts.

oh an bug season has started. bill killed a 2.5 inch centipede this morning. sigh.

Shop with Alanna: Win an HP Photosmart All-in-One Printer

Shop with Alanna: Win an HP Photosmart All-in-One Printer

I registered did you?

SIGH....

this is because you twisted my arm... and you actually read my blog....

1. 8 Favorite Shows: Lost, Chuck, Heroes, The Unusuals (b/c i know someone working on it and it seems to have potential), The no. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, True Blood ...I don't know if these two count as they aren't on the air anymore Pushing Daisies, Everwood

2. 8 Favorite Restaurants: hmmm so very many and it changes with the seasons.... Merlot on Maple, The Gage, Osteria Via Stato, Redstone, Antico Posto, Wildfire, Aurelio's, and this last one is for Bill... Smoque

3. 8 Books I'd Recommend: This is totally dependant on what I am reading, and since I haven't' been reading much lately I think I will give some books and some of my favorite series: The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Twilight Series(yes I am 13 sometimes), Eat Love Pray, Water for Elephants, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Harry Potter Series, all of Jane Austen's works, and since it is the authors birthday today Jane Eyre

4. 8 Things That Happened Yesterday: Hmm received the bad news of the death of my co-worker's daughter, worked on some tedious things, went to class, got very close to the last reading in my last review book, watched the you tube video Uncle Jeff sent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FaNzrtu0KM like 15 times and cracked up each time, tried a new restaurant for dinner, watched Heroes, chatted with an old HS friend online about our up coming reunion.

5. 8 Things I Look Forward To: the weekend!, visiting Billick in a week and a half, Ran's shower, finishing this last review book, 86 degrees on Friday, 5pm June 6th, planting my garden, going home to see my doggie tonight

6. 8 Things on my Wish List: um in the bigger picture less conflict in the world, a stabilization of the global markets, a cure to breast cancer (all cancer really) in the smaller picture an immersion blender, a bigger yard for a bigger garden, solar power for my house, more sleep

7. 8 Things I Love About Spring: green! everywhere! all the time!, daffodils, planning my garden, planting my garden, leaving the windows and screen door open, day light savings time, 80 degree days, return of the farmers markets

8. 8 People I Tag: I refuse to do this as most readers have already done this type of thing, but feel free to do it again if it suits your fancy.

Springtime in Chicago

This weekend it was 70, Tuesday there is a chance of snow, Friday they are predicting high of 83.

That is Chicago weather for you.

We got back our car this weekend, it is running well with the new transmission. Saturday was so beautiful, Bill and I were able to enjoy the weather playing with the dog and then walking around the outdoor mall.

Sunday was gray rainy and very gloomy as is today.

Not much else going on.

Happy Easter

I hope you all had a wonderful day.

Bill and I had a 3 day weekend which was really nice to spend around our house. We had his family over for Easter Brunch on Sunday after we went to mass. It was a really nice day out side and we were able to take a short walk with the dog.

This week is back to the hecticness of work. We have a busy schedule filling up between now and July and this will be one of our few event-less weekends, so I hope to get to the nursery for some flowers. ...That might depend on our car which is now getting a "spinal transplant" (new transmission) luckily it is covered by "America's Best Warranty".

Finally,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to:

Bobby (8th)
Mom (13th)
Carolyn (14th)

Palm Sunday and such

Yesterday was Palm Sunday the final week leading up to Easter has begun. and what better way to recognize the Easter season than a sleet/snow storm. Yup we got over 2 inches of heavy wet snow after having both hail and sleet earlier in the day. Needless to say, Palm Sunday mass did not start out side of the church like the organizers had hoped.

Even though it is buried under snow, on Saturday I spent an hour or two raking and trimming leftovers from last fall. If the weather had cooperated I would have started tilling my garden and maybe transplanted some of the plants that needed moving.

Saturday we celebrated Bill's birthday (it was last Monday) with friends and family at Smoque. We had a decent turn out of Brian, Christie, Faisal, Mitul and Christy. We also got to see Brian's fabulous new place.

Friday, we had dinner with some neighbors as a local Mexican place.

That was another busy weekend. and this week Bill and I will have to get the house ready for an Easter meal.