bowling. bowling?!

yep, bowling! i went bowling. couldn't tell you the last time i went bowling. but this was for the junior league and for the kids of OTS (off the streets). ots is a cool program for kids of all ages up to 18 to help keep them well, of the streets, and out of trouble as well as doing productive stuff - such as homework with mentors, sports, games, and making friends. the junior league paired up with ots to host a bowling outing for about 40 of the kids one saturday in jan. it was so much fun!

ok, so this isn't bowling, but it is a junior league get together! so i decided to add it in here... this is a group called chicago explorers that my friends started - we go to various places all over the city and explore! it's a great group and great people... this is a happy hour - the group has like 70 members, but the ones there that night all happened to be my friends - it was great to be able to catch up with people just after the new year!

at lucky strike... fun colors and music... and a bar, which no, we did not have open! there is a whole area that is raised up and set aside for parties just like this. the kids (and us!) all got to bowl. i was pretty terrible, but it didn't matter. the kids were great and the whole group was pretty amazing.

some of the kids had bowled before and some hadn't... but it didn't matter - these kids were all about high fives and way to gos and that's ok - you'll get more pins next ball! and all kinds of positivity - that didn't sound fake. we all got pizza and soda for lunch. yum!

this was my group - us ladies in blue are the junior league. when the kids arrived, every single one gave us a hug - every kid gave every league member a hug. and when they left, they did the same - a hug from everyone to everyone! i left that day feeling so happy and so smiley! it was truly an awesome experience and i'm so glad i got to be part of it!

lunch with hoda!

i love the bas as it is known... or the book author series for those who have no idea what bas stands for. i've written about this series before... i love them. in fact, i've got two more coming up this week! can't wait.

nicole joined me for the lunch - she drove in from ohio and made it just in time for lunch! we had originally planned to go to lunch on that day, but then i found out hoda was coming and when i asked nicole if she wanted to join me at this for lunch she readily agreed. yay! the other ladies were taking pics with their books at the table and so we clearly had to have one of our own!

the way these things work is that everyone eats lunch including the author and then they speak. they had a professional photographer there taking pics and this is one of the ones they took. i thought it totally captured hoda's personality: so friendly, outgoing, and personable.

this is denny introducing hoda. usually the club has assigned tables for guests. and this time it was choose your own seat. i found a fabulous one! front and center. and at the table over from where hoda sat. 

 

hoda was there to talk about her new book about 6 people looking at an event from 10 years later that profoundly had effected their lives and it was pretty fascinating. she's really engaging!

the photographer took this of me while i asked a question. first, look at the claw hand! scary!! second, i told her that i had watched her and kathie lee that morning and knowing that we would all be at this lunch and she had to be there at 11:30, even with the time change and a private plane, i just had to try and figure out if it could be done or if they had taped... and if they had taped, do they always tape cause i thought it was live?! and further, not to be weird and normally i wouldn't pay that close attention, but b/c i was trying to figure out the whole 'can she do both things' i really looked at what she was wearing... and she was definitely wearing the same dress! she told me that they are live mon-thurs and always tape on fridays. they get three day weekends which hoda says it just awesome. she explained that she had spilled something on the dress she'd planned to wear and since she flew out after the taping finished, she had that dress with her and basically she had packed lightly!

another photographer captured image.

gosh! the photog must've liked me. i'm just not a fan of my profile... never have been. and under my chin... drives me crazy... i have such a long face and jaw that i'll never have that strong jaw... i love a strong jaw! oh well! but truly, my biggest insecurity has always been my nose... since i was a kid... and so, yes, i'm a harsh critic of myself - aren't we all?!

getting my book signed by hoda. i got to chitty chat for a minute and i asked her for a pic and she said of course! yay! some of the authors are too important or too whatever to let people take pics with them. but not hoda!

nicole got a picture with hoda too!

the pic taken on my phone- i love that cardigan i wore - it's fun and funky and i threw a red shirt under it... turns out it's quite memorable and truly stands out - which i didn't mean to do, but ended up being pretty sweet - i will definitely remember that! hoda made a comment about me being in the front at lunch and a couple other things. now maybe it is my stand out personality (!) but the loud cardigan definitely helped!

the pic the photographer took. i like the head on photo from my phone, but the lighting is clearly better here. so you get to see both!

hoda signing a book. not mine cause this was taken by the photographer... but still, i thought it was a great pic!

such a fun lunch! i am so glad nicole could join me and that hoda came to the club. she is every bit as personable and funny as she is on the today show. but she is also adventurous and smart and can be serious as a reporter (she also does 20/20) and she started as a news reporter who has traveled the world and interviewed some pretty amazing people in crazy places. love her!

scrippsie meet up!

 last sunday, three of us chicagoland scrippsies got together for some girly time plus kiddos. i wish i could say it was easier for the three of us to all find time to get together, but alas our schedules don't all seem to sync up. so we make the most of it when we can!

 

we chose to go to bake. one of dev's favorite places. it's super cute!

and apparently model friendly! these two gals were super duper skinny and talllllllllll. they made me feel short. and that's the photographer to the right. it was rather bizarre walking in and seeing a photo shoot going on! the gal directing the shoot said they were ford models and that it was for a chicago blog website. they made me feel short. and large.

i love the wall of various papers - at least i think it's paper covered boxes or canvases, in my best pinterest craftiness abilities.

this would be us scrippsies: dev, me, and nicole with the bay-bays: dev has a red graham and a piper on her side of the table.

i just love this one. and dev's face. and piper's fork. and graham's adorbs hat and red cheek. we snacked on tasty treats like an cinnamon muffin and pumpkin bread. piper had a cookie... and then kept wanting to try mom-mom's treats!

such cute kiddos. bake has bins of toys for the kids and no one minded piper making herself at home.

when it was time for piper and graham to go home, piper tried to be helpful and open the door. she can juuuuust reach the knob, but the door is quite heavy.

but she looked so cute all bundled up and trying so hard to open it!

we saw patrick for a brief minute as he came to collect the kiddos. devon was off to her next get together with some champagne and no kiddos!