Ten on Thursday

1 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDPA PHIL!!!

Hope you got a great round of golf in...or maybe a good book. Happy Birthday to the Hippest guy in Cali. See you in a few weeks!!

2 Maybe it is just me and my overweight thumbs, but when I type, my right thumb drags on the mouse 'pad' on the laptop and does crazy things...my cursor ends up in weird places, and I occasionally click on the ENTER or OK buttons when I really don't mean to.

3 Billy and Lisa are both curled up on the bed with me right now. They have been fighting lately for the coveted sleeping spot on the chair and a half. When Billly is occupying and Lisa wants it, she whines. When Lisa is occupying and Billy wants it, he stands over her like the Eiffel Tower and just waits. It is hilarious.

4 I have a total obsession with the Party Rock Anthem.

Every day I'm shufflin'....

5 My mom, who has been using the same plates for 25 years, has apparently turned a new leaf. She has been agonizing over kitchen decisions for the past umpteen months during the stressful kitchen remodel. I was recently informed that she bought all new plates....and napkins....and, wait for it....napkin RINGS!!! This isn't a new leaf. This is a new forest. Ems sent me a sneak preview of the plates. I can't wait to see the rest, and of course, which cabinet she decides to store them in ;). Grandma Rue...are you reading this??

5 Wrinkles. I had a 'wow, I'm aging' moment while talking to Miranda a few weekends ago. Wrinkle cream came up in normal conversation. It wasn't the conversation that starts with, "One day we will need wrinkle cream..." or the one that ends with, "...at least we don't have to worry about wrinkle cream, yet." We are there, girls. We are there.

6 I have an unhealthy love of footwear.

7 Grant and I are planning a trip out East to Boston and to see my godmother in Maine. On the drive between, I plan on hitting every little hole in the wall there is. ;) I can not wait to see all of the trees in full color and hope to snag a couple snapshots to inspire a painting or two!

8 Fall is here! We have a fun pumpkin farm day planned this weekend with the Ondo kids, along with apple picking on Sunday! I love fall activities, though it does mark the approach of my least (by far) season.

9 The dog park on Sleepy Hollow reopened after weeks of construction 'improvements'. The side yard that the pups loved to run, that allowed them to reach full (ish) speed is now 20 yards less. To give them room to run, we brought them into the 4 acre yard adjacent to it. Here they can mingle with their friends and run freely. There is a patch of new grasslings sectioned off with bright orange snow fence, which was previously where the owners sat and chatted. Lil Miss Lisa came tearing out of the forest area headed straight for it. Grant and I were watching with wide eyes and open mouths as she failed to slow down and tore right through the fence. Remember the days of sledding...losing control and then busting through the fence? Like that, except she was probably running at about 25 mph. Everyone was worried and asking if she was OK. Little do they know, these dogs have less spatial awareness than I do, and run into, turn into and step on to random things every day. She left a gaping hole in the fence, but it fell back into place once she wiggled her way out. No dogs were harmed in the ripping of this fence. ;)

10 I will close with the fact that I was behind my favorite license plate of all time again this week on the way to work. Makes me smirk every time we commute in the same lane.

OB I KNOB

Five on Friday

Found them both curled up on the bed when I got home this week. Awww ♥

Billy Baldwin and William Stallworth: Everyone eventually develops nicknames for their pets. These are Billy's. It is normal for a greyhound to reveal a strange and unexplained balding pattern on their butt cheeks and the backs of their thighs. (I will save him the embarrassment of posting a picture of his butt....) Hence, Billy Baldwin. What is NOT explained anywhere is the random stalling when walking. This stalling usually takes place in the most inconvenient time...being swarmed by mosquitoes, or getting stuck in the rain for example. William Stallworth.

Make new friends but keep the old: Had dinner this week with five old friends. It was so heartwarming to sit with these girls, reminisce and learn about their new lives. I cannot wait for the next one!

Weekend with the Bug: Started off this weekend with a nail-biting game of Mystery Date. When is the last time you played this game? On the agenda this weekend? Museum of Science and Industry, water park, Build a Bear, friendship bracelets, crafts...recap next week.

Work front. Hosted 24 business professionals in our city studio this week for a working breakfast. The presentation included an informational talk about the iPad in the home by Grand Home Automation. It was a wake up call to see that you can monitor your energy usage from the iPad, and save 10-15% in energy savings just be becoming more aware.

Magic Bullet. I just love this thing. Made my own ketchup this week (Thanks, Jenny McCarthy, I know you are reading this!). Made smoothies and fluffy french toast batter, also. Delish. I'm going to try spice blends and soup this week!

Five on Friday

Rice: I walked out of the shower Wednesday to find Billy's head buried in the bed covers. After hearing his name, he quickly turned his head towards me, licking his lips. There was rice stuck all over his lips and nose. I then remembered I had used a hot rice pillow that night. I ran over to the bed, eyes wider by the step. Rice. Everywhere. I tried to start piling the rice, forgetting my hand was still wet from the shower. Sticky rice. I locked the pups out of the room and got the vacuum. I vacuumed all the rice I could find (found out that I missed a few the next night). It is so hard to vacuum bed sheets. I then had to pick up the rice pillow, while trying to plug all of the holes he had made. Rice made Billy's tummy crazy for awhile...and led to a late night clean up that both Grant and I do not want to remember ;) This is my second incident with rice in a week, if you remember the phone in rice last week.

Maybe all that rice is why Billy (or Lisa; not sure who did this) is against the Low Carb cookbook?

Sister Time: Spent the weekend with Anna. We crammed shopping, the dog park, Lacey's Birthday party, Scrapmania, and a 5k with all the sisters into a teeny little weekend. Not to mention the car concerts. Love you, Na!

Bug turns 10: Our little Lacey Bug turned 10 on the 28th, and Anna and I celebrated with her at her kids' party on Saturday. One forgets how dramatic a boy/girl party can be at that age! A water balloon fight (boys vs. girls, of course) turned into a scratching war....it was unbelievable to have to separate 10 year olds! We also tye-dyed (forgot how fun this was!). I can't believe how much more mature she is each time I see her...and more and more beautiful.

Stress: Ive been a little bit of a stress ball this week. I am learning to TRY to take a breath when needed.

Friends: Have to give a little love to Miss Trish. Hope you are settling in down there! Leann, thanks for all the talks recently and be strong! Boss, give that little man a kisseroo for me!

Five on Friday

Back to Blogging: Yes, it is Saturday. I’m already off to a late start! I am starting to blog again to share with those who I can’t talk to everyday and my grandparents out in California who may find some of this amusing. Also, I have a bit of a bet with a friend that is lighting a fire under my butt to write. Thanks to Bridget for letting me steal her Ten on Tuesday blog concept. I told her 10 was way too many for my lackluster life. Maybe with a few crazy dogs in our house now, I will be able to come up with more to say.

Phone diving: Speaking of the dogs, I came home from a walk with the pups on Thursday to find my new Droid Pro swimming at the bottom of the dogs’ water bowl upstairs. I am typically very conscious in the morning, and definitely do not remember tossing into the bowl myself. When it happened, and which of the two hounds did it remains a mystery. After staring at it with my jaw hanging for a few seconds, I frantically rescued it and threw it in a coffee mug with some Arborio rice…the only kind I had in the cabinet (note to self: keep instant rice on hand for this particular instance). It seemed to work, as the rice was wet and clumpy…so I tried to turn DP back on. There were bright sporadic lights coming from the flash light and the screen was blinking…I disassembled it, took out everything I could and buried it back in the mug. It then was thrown in the front seat of the car, as I had to leave for a meeting downtown, not before grabbing the trusty old Blackberry Curve and the car charger on the way out.

Separation anxiety: I really didn’t realize how much of my life is spent on that phone. Couldn’t call, couldn’t check the calendar or email, didn’t have the settling feeling of calling in the case of an emergency…I may have suffered a minor panic attack. Made it downtown, through a meeting and back, but the worst was yet to come.

Verizon Brainless: Wasted 40 minutes of my life talking to the most worthless excuse for an employee at the Verizon store, attempting to reconnect the Blackberry to the exchange server. Grant (waiting for me outside) said I “didn’t look too happy.” This is an understatement. My frustration level has not hit that high for quite some time. I told Brainless I was wasting my time after he starting writing “tech support 1-800- “ on a post-it note. I wonder how many times a day he does that. I walked out and discovered on the way home that the phone must have automatically restored the connection to the server. Makes me wonder how that man is still employed.

Ovo: I finally got the last part of my Christmas gift, when Grant and I went under the bug top in the United Center parking lot to see Cirque du Soleil’s Ovo. It was amazing, as evidence by the fact that I thought intermission was the conclusion. We both had a good laugh at my confusion as we waited for the amazing second half to commence. I would, of course, recommend this show to anyone. Cirque du Soleil has truly created shows that amaze and captivate without overcomplicating entertainment. Simply amazing.

Eat Korean: Are you counting? This is 6…I made myself come up with one more for being late. We spent last night with a good friend and his girlfriend at his parents’ house for a traditional Korean meal. It was the first time I have experienced this form of dining, in which dishes are kept in the center of the table, not passed. There must have been 20 different dishes to try…I could try to remember their Korean names, but it would be entirely inaccurate. Seaweed, raw veggies, marinated chicken, pork and beef, dumplings, sauces, noodles…so yummy! Chris and Se Young, thank you!!

Just Pictures

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the last few months...enjoy!

NUMBERS

All about the numbers these days. Deadlines, timelines, bottom lines, financial analysts on every media outlet…

…but here are some numbers to be happy about and proud of!!!


Ash turned 1 on April 16th…

Grant and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on April 23rd…

Celebrated Mom’s 50th on May 2nd…

Went to the zoo with the family to celebrate my Mom’s 29th Mother’s Day…

…and met little Miss Maddy Mac on May 10th when she was 1 day old…Awww!

Trying to get things in order at work and home to prepare for our trip to Europe…we leave in 9 days!!!! One countdown I couldn't be more excited about.

Easter Weekend

Another action-packed weekend for the Ondo's! Saturday morning I painted in the room of my new cousin-to-be...Here are some pics. I can't wait to see it finished with all of the cute furniture and bedding!

I went in to work after that....met Grant for a nice dinner, then I searched creation (or Algonquin, more specifically) for Easter candy. Note to self: do not procrasitinate Easter candy buying. The ONLY Reeses egg I could find was a GIANT one that cost $5. According to Grant, it didn't have the right chocolate to peanut butter ratio as the normal sized ones. After returning with the sub-standard candy, we stuffed it into eggs, made up baskets for the god-children and went to bed. Grant did a HUGE amount of housework while I was gone. He is amazing. Thanks, baby!

Easter morning we listened to a wonderful message from Dave at church and then drove up to the Ondo's for lunch. Grant and I hid eggs at his parents' house for the kids. Here are a few shots~

Grandma wearing Sarah's hat!
This reminds me of our family taking photos when all of the kids were little!
Grant and the boys in their new gear~

Hope you all enjoyed Easter with your families!!