Brian's First Comedy Gig

So one of my best friends, Brian, has decided to pursue his hobby as a stand up comedian. I think that he is pretty funny!

I am posting his video of his first open mic night. Enjoy. His Myspace page is: http://www.myspace.com/brianekiley



Click on the link below to watch his video. Very funny.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2025041621

What the heck??

So last night we had a bit of a storm blow through. Causing blizzard conditions in the mountains, not so much here just blowing snow. We had about two inches total last night, it is melting away this morning with the sunshine. However we are expecting rain and snow tonight and snow again tomorrow! WHAT??? Why did we come home to this!?!?!?!?! We should have stayed in Chicago, at least we could have delightful pizza in Chicago!



So our tulips never stood a chance this spring I am afraid! We have had such wishy washy weather the flags started coming up before the first cold snap and the leaves were damaged, then it got warm and they looked like they were recovering, then cold then warm. And now this, so the few flowers that it looked like we might have gotten don't look like they will bounce back now. So sad! I love our tulips, I planted a bunch of them this time last year crawling along the ground with my crutches since I was casted up. So disappointing!
But at least we don't have to water the lawn I thought. But then I see my not so smart neighbors! Two inches of snow in the yard and they turn their sprinklers on! Are they crazy! We are expecting 3 days of wettish weather and you turn your sprinklers on! UGH! Oh well that is minimal considering what is going on in the world today and this week. So we have much to be grateful for.

Want a good charity to contribute to?

My good friend Linda has breast cancer. She has fought it for almost 2 years.

Anyway her daughter Bailey who is 11, 12 in July. Is running the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this year, it is a 5k I think? I think that she is a remarkable young girl for doing this.
Linda is also walking the 1 mile walk.

So if you feel so compelled to support a good cause like Breast Cancer Research, follow this link to Bailey Pledge site and make a pledge of any amount. Thank you!

http://race.komenlasvegas.com/site/TR?px=1198306&pg=personal&fr_id=1020&et=nMm2ZsCwGlFZEt7cG6XUEg..&s_tafId=2872

Vacation Part 4 - Friday our first day with SUN!!

Another blissfully lazy morning. We stayed in our hotel until check out. Wanted to get our money's worth. When we left the hotel it was sunny! The first sunshine that I had seen in a week! Ah to feel the sun on your skin! So it we decided to try Navy Pier again. It was so much nicer this time around! The rides were operating, we were able to go on a few of them.

Brooklyn wanted to go on the swing rides, well I can't do them anymore, or I would have, I enjoy them. Don decided to be a girl and hold Brooklyn's doll so she could go on by herself because he was a scaredey cat! Hahahahaha We went on the ferris wheel next. It is over 150 feet tall and moves very slowly, and never stops you have to get on and off while it's moving. Well I am not a huge fan of heights, and at one point near the top I thought it had stopped moving and that we were stuck so I started to freak a bit and wouldn't let them talk...tee hee. But we got down safely. They went on the lighthouse drop. That looked fun! Then the we went on the merry go round. Fun and not high off the ground. We also went on a river boat architecture tour. It was awesome going up the Chicago River looking at all the building and hearing their stories.

A few of my favorites were the scary round open parking garage.

The Wrigley Building

The Tribune Building

And the Sears Tower from the water side

Last but not least, I left out the Water Tower building, it is on the Mag Mile. It is one of the oldest buildings in Chicago and was one of the only buildings to survive the fire. So there is a bit of our vacation. Maybe I will post more random pictures later, but you have a pretty good idea of what we spent our time doing.

Walking, eating, riding buses, sight seeing and freezing! We didn't gain any weight from all of our eating because we balanced it with all of our walking!

Vacation Part 3 - Our Big Day At Wrigley Field

We bought Cubs beanies so we could keep our heads warm in the cold of outside the night before. Well I bought a Cubs beanie while Don bought a Wrigley Field beanie, he said that he couldn't betray his team! So he can support the field.
We woke up Wednesday morning and it was snowing! I called the Cubs hotline and the game had been called due to rain and snow. The field had a few inches of snow in the morning! Oh no! Devastaing for Don, he was mostly excited about seeing the historic Wrigley Field. Oh so sad! We were both bummed but Don mostly.
So instead we went to the Adler Planetarium and saw the Mercury Capsule. It is so small! I can't even believe that NASA had 2 adult men in this small capsule.
This was an interesting we did a bunch about how the ancient people used astrology and star mapping to predict planting patterns and so forth. Brooklyn got to dress up like she was a student of Galieo and a Syria King. She also got to make a crater using a "meteor" it was a paint ball machine that shot into "moon dust" it was all inclosed in bullet proof glass so no one gets hurt.

After that we went to the Aquarium, I wasn't allowed to take pictures there because it harms the animals. So I have very few of that. We drove past Soldier Field - it looks weird with the bleachers extending up the top. But we got to see it!
Before, during and after we tried to keep warm waiting at bus stops and what nots. Don said I looked a bit muslim. Notice the dark circles under my eyes....this is going going going for days with little sleep. That is why I tried to stay behind the camera and not infront of it.

This is Lake Michigan - through the reflections you can see the waves crashing against the shore.
For dinner we went down to Portillos it is the home of world famous Chicago dogs. Now I don't eat hot dogs, but luckily for me there is also Barnelli's, a pasta place in the same building.
I am so very proud of Brooklyn and Don for trying the dogs Chicago style. Chicago dogs are all beef dogs with mustard, sweet relish, sport peppers, chopped onion, and tomato slices and a Claussen pickle (dill) and celery salt . They loved them! No ketchup on these dogs! I on the other hand had spaghetti.

This is Brooklyn sleeping, with all of her dolls she sleeps with and her trying not to wake up as I was trying to wake her up.
Thursday we had a lazy day. Pretty wiped out and it was very cold and very windy, so we stayed pretty close to home. We went to the Hancock Building again hung out there to stay warm. We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory, Don had never been there before, he enjoyed it so much we went back, and it is in the Hancock Building so we didn't have to brave the cold.

Me shopping at the Hancock.

Sleeping on the job. Guess I am not the only one that looks tired!

That afternoon Stacie, Brooklyn and I had an appoitment for tea with Niki, Brooklyn's American Girl Doll, at the American Girl Place Cafe. It was soo cute! Everything is decorated so cute! So girly! We ate sweet treats and Brooklyn had hot cocoa, I had pink lemonade and Stacie had hot green tea. It was so cute! So enjoyable!

Stacie drove us around a bit, up Lake Shore Parkway, and then dropped us off. We laid around for a while, we called Dinner in to Portillo's. Brooklyn and Don needed another Chicago Dog. We learned that while we are in the mid-west if you say "DON" like we say Don they think that you are saying "Dawn" even Stacie's friend Kelley asked why his name was "Dawn" and not "Daaaaaan". The accent is hard to portray here, but call me and I will say it for you! :)

Anyway when we ordered dinner under for Don to pick up, he got there and it was held for "Dawn"! hahaha we had a good laugh!

To be continued....Friday....the first day with Sun!