getting my craft on!

yep, i got crafty the other day.... and i actually like how it all turned out! of course i totally found the idea on pinterest... but i actually executed it too!

i found a cute iron table and chairs set on craigslist for 80 bucks and thought "sold!"project time!! i forgot to take a before photo as i was just so excited to get going on my project.... but the cushions were old and ugly and faded. i bought outdoor fabric online - and without really knowing how much i needed for covering them, i actually guessed pretty darn well! and the fabrics actually coordinated surprisingly well! it's always hard to tell online the exact colors... but i really like how they coordinate and look together!

the first big project was actually shoving the whole set in my car. which i eventually accomplished. then the next big ordeal was hauling it up all five flights of stairs to the roof. not so easy, but i did it in many trips over a period of a few days. that iron stuff is heavy!! a few big deep bruises later, it was all up on my roof.

when my fabrics came, i realized i needed a staple gun. hmmm. didn't have one of those and didn't feel like going to get one right then... but i did wanna work on my project.... so i thought, wonder if a regular stapler will work?! ummm, the answer is no. so off to home depot to get a staple gun.

ok, so it doesn't quite look like an "after" shot yet ... but they don't sell spray paint in the city of Chicago.... so i have to go to the burbs which i haven't gotten around to yet. aaaaand, i need to haul the glass table top allllll the way up the stairs and i've sorta kinda been too lazy to do so. but! but! i have successfully re-covered all four of the chair cushions!

while it is hard to see, and it's a rather dark photo - the moon (see that little white thing in the sky?!) looked stunning that evening and it was a lovely night temp wise too. i felt quite proud of myself!

next up: bringing up the glass for the table, getting the chairs and table spray painted and enjoying a lovely drink up there!

botanical gardens

the culver club of chicago is pretty active here and since culver has a lot of alum in the area, we usually get a pretty good turnout. recently i joined the club's committee of planners and thus continue to take on a random assortment of commitments. for our latest culver get together, we held it back in june at the chicago botanic gardens. it was a gorgeous day!

we had a private room for a lunch of pizza, salad and soft drinks. the pizza was surprisingly delicious!

after lunch, we boarded a tram and took a guided tour of the grounds. we had the cutest older gentleman driving/giving us the tour. i'm pretty sure his name was elmer - or something very similar. 

pretty flowers!

the above pictures were taken by one of our alum. i also took some great pictures - but i can't find them right now. and i've been looking. it's driving me a bit crazy... so i hope to eventually find them and post some!

back to work...

I'm back! in the securities industry... i joined Moody National Companies in April and have been super busy ever since. Since my licenses had expired, I had to re-take them all which meant ridiculous hours of studying and preparing! The biggie was the series 7 - 300 questions and 6 hours to take it. Talk about stress... but I passed!

These pictures were from my first conference as a Moody rep and I had a blast. I love conferences and exhibit halls and meeting all the financial advisors. This one was in Iowa. Coraville. I'd never heard of it, but it's right next door to Iowa City which is where the U of I is (which I also learned while there).

The photographer told me to do my best Vanna White... so I did. He made me pose with the bowl of tchotckes too. It was WAY better than his original idea: laying across the table top. Um, no. Not happening at a WORK event!!

My old coworker, Michelle. She works for a different company and it was so great to see her! This was at casino night - where we got to play with fake money. It was a lot of fun.

So the guy on the far left is Logan - he's with Moody too and he's awesome. The others are mixture of folks and then there is me.

The photographer really wanted a "money" shot... so there is all my gobs and gobs of fake money!

Some more fine reps and myself. Chatting, drinking, wearing our awesome name badges... 

As an added bonus for my friend Heidi's wedding, I wanted to add a few more fun photos that were taken by the professional photographer. She had a phenomenal photographer and seriously, all of the pics were awesome. sorry, they are out of order, but eh, i was too lazy to change that...

during the toast at the wedding - that'd be me in the green dress

heidi's dad having a great time dancing!

loved all the fun dancing and love this guy's face!

me, the bride, and her sister blair

those are some moves! seriously, loved the action shots!

sparklers as their exit - Sam's parents on the left and Heidi's on the right

at the rehearsal oyster shuck - loads of yummy oysters were eaten

fun rehearsal - casual, but elegant and super tasty

i was at table 6 :)

and then it down poured. i mean let loose - luckily there were tents and a covered area - but there were so many people and it rained so hard and it blew under! everyone got muddy and wet and nobody cared!!

hovering under the covered area - near the bar and trying to stay dry!

park right on the water - gorgeous!

cute fans with the ceremony and wedding party

Me and Grant - I had a blast dancing with him all night! the band was amazing and so much fun!

seriously, the band was awesome.

blair, heidi's sister and matron of honor, giving her toast

heidi's dad, taylor, giving his father of the bride toast

me. watching all the toasts. with grant to my left in this pic.

so hot dancing! must get hair off face! gra

more dancing... me and grant on the left and heidi and her dad to the right.

the front of heidi's folks' gorgeous place in SC. it's in the golf community where the club house and wedding were all held.

a shot from above standing in the loft. there was the sunday brunch held there before departing.

grant showing off a few of the bracelets with heidi and sam and their wedding date on them. they were used for beers and admission to the karaoke funfest after the rehearsal dinner.

before the ceremony - everyone was getting bug sprayed up due to the "noseeums" which are ridiculous bugs that sting and itch like mad but you never see them and seriously, i thought i was going crazy b/c the bites don't show up til like 12 hours later. when i woke up i swore that my back and shoulders were covered in zits which has never happened minus the odd random one popping in to existence... but phew, i was slightly relieved to realize they were just bites. until they started itching worse than anything i've ever had itchy and then they started popping up on my arms and legs too. nasty suckers! but that's me in green to the far right. that shade was rather popular it seems.

Hannah (one of my roommates for the weekend) and my torso. i think it's an odd pic, but i like the colors!

yummmm - mini mac and cheese pots!

yummmm! stuffed mushrooms - so good... and i managed to squirt some juice down the front of me which complements the bug spray i'd already stained myself with earlier.... btw, bugspray on silk turns in to white spots.

so on the left are two of the girls I stayed with and on the right, i have absolutely no idea. but the photog thought we'd all make a great pic!

pretty center pieces!

dancing! love all the faces and poses... .me in the background.

the band. they came together just for heidi's heidi. i forget the whole story, but i know they had never played all together before this weekend. i told heidi that someday i'd have to steal her band and her photographer!!!

so friends were supposed to be the subject (two of my roommates and heidi) and then there i am dancing and spinning away drunkenly in the background!

me, the lovely bride and grant

at some point grant and i thought it'd be an awesome idea to photobomb some pics! i think it's a hilarious pic!

and then the midnight food came out - burgers! yum!

and fries! and some other food too. totally needed after all that awesome dancing!

Copy Cats!

A post dedicated to my boys! Since I have no baby or baby bumps to post.... I thought I'd share a few of my ridiculously cute and sweet boys.

Otis has always loved his tub water fountain. Sam is getting more and more curious about what the heck is so great about it!

Sammy Cat loves to curl up in my legs while Otis generally likes to be next to me on my left or just close by. But look at this! Perhaps the boys are teaching each other something and there is something to the whole copy cat thing!

Awww, brotherly love. So sweet!

Awww, love time!

And now play time! I love the "almost whack" of the paw in action!

And a phwap by Sam and lovey dovey time is over.

Snuggles! Sometimes I am just full in front and behind of the boys. It's quite relaxing and I love those fluffers.

Assuming the position on another day...

And then the cuddling is over and it's brother's play/fight... love that I have two boys fighting for my love! Now... only to have them be real men...instead of cats.... hmmm....

And back to being sleepy sweethearts....

I mean, check out that tummy!!!

Why helllllllllo there!