It's been a long, long time....

Hello everyone. There has been so much that has happened, I don't know where to begin! First of all, two weeks ago today, we were headed into Chicago to pick-up Madeline and her roommate. With Aunt Mary, Hannah, and Sarah following us, we were going to drive to Milwaukee and see Genevieve in Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale". It was fun, fun, fun! Anyway, we were on I-94 and Stoney Island and our van quit running. Yes, indeed, it just STOPPED. I couldn't believe it. John was able to coax the van to the shoulder and there we sat. Luckily for us, Aunt Mary was right behind. Emma and I got into her Toyota and we went ahead to Milwaukee. Madeline and Ashley couldn't go....and John had to stay with the van. We were all sad that our plans didn't go as we had hoped, but at least Em and I got to go....Thank heavens that Aunt Mary was right behind us...

We got to Milwaukee, grabbed a bowl of soup, and headed to the theater. We enjoyed the play very much - Gen was awesome...even made some of us (who shall remain nameless) cry! The play was very, very good. Afterward, we took Gen to dinner and then headed home. It was a a quick visit but it was nice to see my oldest Biscuit! Here is a picture of Gen and I at the restaurant:

John was towed by IDOT to a less congested and safer spot...where he waited for 1.5 hours for a tow truck to show up. The van was towed and for nine days they worked on it. Many dollars later, the van is running better than ever. We debated fixing it but decided that we would go ahead because we will eventually pass it on to John and purchase something newer for me. For now, I have wheels again and all is right with the world!

The next weekend (which was last weekend), I was supposed to head to Milwaukee to see Gen receive an award. Missed it. Emma and I decided to head to Chicago and have a late birthday celebration with Madeline. We had a blast!! First of all, it was raining. SO, I decided not to take my camera with me. BIG mistake. It may have rained Saturday afternoon, but it was beautiful on Sunday and I missed many photo ops! boo-hoo. But we sure had fun!

On Saturday, late evening, we headed to the Grand Luxe Cafe for dinner. We got a window seat which, according to the girls, is no easy feat. It was a blast!!! The food was good but the company was the best! We laughed our heads off - about what? I don't know. We just laughed the evening away. We headed over to Borders for a magazine run and then went back to Madeline's dorm/apartment. We watched The X-Files in total darkness and scared ourselves silly...at least some of us were scared - EMMA! We passed out into comas about 1AM.

When we woke up the next morning, we visited for a bit and then headed out "on the town". The weather was wonderful! It was cool but not too cool...and SUNNY!!! We ran a few errands and then headed over to a few stores that we rarely get to visit - Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and Paper Source to name our three favorites. We had soup at the Soup Box. It's the place where Rachel Ray went for Under $40 a Day, her food network tv show. Yummy soup and reasonable, too. I recommend you go there if you haven't yet had a chance. Em and I thought we'd be home by 3 or 4PM but we never made it home until 8PM that evening. It was so much fun...We were both up until 1AM working on our school work, but it was worth every sleep-deprived moment the next day. The only thing that would have made the weekend perfect was having Genevieve there with us.

Well, that's what's been happening over the last two weeks. This past weekend was Prom Central - first TF South's prom and then Munster's. Emma was invited to go this year and she looked lovely...but I'll save that for my next post. It will not take me so long to update next time, I promise! Thanks for looking!