Play ball!

As the summer begins to wind down I realized I hadn't gone to nearly enough baseball games. I even started off so well. There was the first Cubs game back in April. And then I went to another one in June. And then we dragged Mike and his son to country night in July.



But I had only made it to Miller Park once with my dad. So to remedy that I called up all my friends here in Illinois. (Yes all 4 of them, and yes they all at some point worked at TJ's with me) We went to see the Cubs play the Brewers in Milwaukee.


Me, Stefan, David, Rob


Rob and Shannon


David and I. I stole his broke down Braves hat to mock him and his Thug Look


He then pulled out a stylish 80's sweatband.


Stefan remembered why he'll miss us so much now that he's living in Boston. We're just more fun than anyone else :D


It was quite the outing and well worth the fact that I think only Stefan paid me for his ticket.... By the end my voice was completely hoarse and I was ready to pass out.

Say goodbye

This is Shadow:



When we first got her she was 4 months old and as you can see had huge ears and paws, but was pretty skinny. Everyone kept telling my mom that she looked adorable, but wow was she going to get big. This didn't really help me out any, seeing as I had told her that she probably was as big as she'd get already.





She loved Christmas because of the tree and the wrapping paper. Every year we'd get her a new toy, but she was always far more interested in the paper and ribbon that went everywhere as gifts were unwrapped.



Shadow was an obedience school drop out. She barked too much. She only learned two or three tricks. Sit, Wait and Don't just run out the door first. The last she learned at school when she was the "example dog" and the trainer squashed her head in the doorway. It wasn't as horrible as it sounds. It was actually pretty funny. She learned Wait as the first step in me trying to teach her to balance food on her nose. She never actually made it to step two. But she got pretty good at step one.



The first time I went away for more than a few days she didn't know what to do and camped out in the doorway of my bed room. When I went to college she didn't really understand that either and I think it confused her all the more when I'd come home for a day or two.



The last couple weeks she had been deteriorating fast. Her back right leg started to give out and she'd sway every few steps. She also couldn't really do stair anymore. Up or Down. I'm glad we didn't drag it out. The decision was made. The next day it was over. She was 12 and a half. Big dogs usually only live to be 9 or 10. Doesn't make it hurt less.



Now it just hurts when I forget that she's gone. Like I wake up and go to take her outside. Or I get home at 2 am and expect to see her at the top of the stairs. Her food and water dishes are gone. The toys too. At least I got the chance to say good bye.

Take a mini-vacation

Since I had already taken a few days off work for the wedding, I figured it was a good time to go back to Iowa City. It's still nice to go and see everyone I miss so much and the city that was home for so long. It was pretty low key and relaxing. I had been hoping to play some sand volleyball but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead I did get to see some pretty amazing clouds when the storm passed through. So I guess it's an ok trade off.

Get Married!

Jess and Eli got married! and the wedding was pretty great. I would post pictures, but I didn't take any so instead I'll just post links to Angie's blog. She took lots of pictures and gives a pretty great summary.



Pre-Wedding



Those bouquets were crazy, and heavy, and amazing. It was my job to arrange them so that the bead sphere looked as nice and uniform as possible. It was ridiculous and tedious, but bizarrely enough Jess's dad ended up taking over for me. I think he just felt like Finally! something he could help with.



Those bug sprayer things Tim's got worked surprisingly well. I didn't feel any mosquito bites until about 10:30... 6 hours after he sprayed... just like the cans said.



After the bouquets were done Marissa and I played with the left over art supplies (aka wire, beads and hot glue). This is the awesome hot air balloon I made. I was pretty impressed that I could hot glue the balloon without it popping.


The Wedding

The Wedding itself was short, due to a bit of rain. I think it worked though. It was raining lightly so Jess and Eli didn't get wet, just the rest of us. And unfortunately I think I'm on the wedding video running up the aisle with an umbrella for Jess's parents. oh well. The best part about rain at a wedding is the rainbow afterward.






I really like the way the lights turned out. And Angie was definitely wrong about Tim just doing what he was told because it was his idea to drape them that way at the front. Which I think looks pretty cool. And the lights probably wouldn't have gotten done without his help. At the very least I may have killed Eli's uncle and that would have put a damper on the whole day.
When Tim got there I was happy to have someone else around who was useful and creative in a non-artsy sort of way. If that makes sense. Because that's what I am. And I don't mean to imply everyone else there wasn't useful or creative. It's just the difference between having to explain what your doing step by step to someone and being able to tell them the general plan and have them not only get it, but be able to make suggestions.
Hopefully I didn't just put my foot too deeply into my mouth.



And while we're on the subject, when did I become the useful friend? Not that I have a problem with it, I just realized lately that I'm the go to for anything practical. Like, algebra quesitons, lighting, furniture assembly.... just curious.

Like I said before, Angie's got lot's of great pictures, so you should really go look at the rest of them there. After the wedding we had to take everything down and return it to the Laug's in Carol Stream. While Angie and I did this, Tim was in charge of going out to buy beer. He didn't succeed, but he got points for picking up some grape soda instead. The three of us went back to the hotel and flipped channels before fianlly settling on the leaving the spanish channel up and watching YouTube videos on Angie's laptop.



Nice and relaxing after lots of wedding craziness.



The next day we went to Arby's for lunch and then caravanned back to Iowa. We had to stop at the Dekalb Oasis so I could get new velcro strips for my IPASS and Tim could get gas and Angie could get coffee. Right before we hit I-80 Angie took some random exit... and I never did find out why or where she went..... Angie?