A Woman I Met

So!

Yesterday was super cool.

I participated in the Chicago "Principal for A Day" program.

Myself, Stacy and Erin headed out to Schiller Elementary School and shadowed the school's principal, and we ourselves did various principal-y duties.

This school is located "IN" Cabrini Green,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrini-Green

So needless to say it was an eye-opening experience and heartwarming as well.

There were teachers there working SO hard, and really changing the lives of some of these young kids. We will continue working with this school by implementing reading and tutoring mentors from our organization!

As part of this "Principal for a Day" program, we attended a luncheon to meet and network with other "Prinicipals" from the city.

We heard a rousing and energetic speech from the Mayor,

Saw various local celebrities, one of which was David Schwimmer, also know as Ross, from Friends,

But the woman that will stick in my memory the most was one Margaret Burroughs,

http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=39

This woman just sat down at our table, but she was awesome. 91 years old and just living life.

I think what I liked the most about her was her unabashedly amazing sense of self. I think that must just come with being 91 years old. You most likely get to that point in your life where you really and TRULY don't care too much what people think of you.

She:

1) Had a FANTASTIC outfit of wild prints, large baubles on her hands, a cool hat, etc.

2) Stashed the rest of her sandwich in her purse! Good thinking

3) She clapped, made drumming sounds and was HIGHLY spirited when the color guard and drums presented the American flag (by the way, I was doing all of these things in my head, but not in public, surrounded by roughly 1,000 super important Chicagoans, but why not?)

4) With no hesitation, she cleaned her teeth at our table, it needed to be done I guess! So just go for it.

I loved her.

You can see from her Bio that she has been really active with the DuSable Museum...she has written children's stories, she does art. We will certainly need her to visit us when we get the store open.

It was a really good day.

More tomorrow on our Halloween Hijinx!

Firsts!

Here is another installation of Finnegan Firsts!

Feeding himself!

I must admit, selfishly I was a little saddened by this milestone!

Already he can do things on his own, with no help from his mama.

We had a good weekend. Finn spent an overnight with Nana, Papa, the newly engaged Auntie Erin and uncles Mike and Matt while Mama and Daddy cleaned and cleaned and CLEANED the condo after all of our old windows were replaced.

Man do they look nice! It's quieter, warmer, and we can actually SEE the outside world.

Totally worth all the work.

Looking forward to Halloween! Eating all of Finn's candy and our Open BOOks Haunted Open House on Wednesday.

My sister is in HAWAII, she's been calling, it's nice to hear that they are having such a great time.

I miss them!

Have a GREAT week everyone!

Greta's Wedding!

So this weekend was my sister's wedding!!!!

It was incredibly fun, gorgeous, special and unforgettable.

The weather totally cooperated, it was BEAUTIFUL out, the leaves were showing off their amazing colors and the sun was a shining.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend. I'm sure I will be posting more as other people share....

My Dad is Stronger than Your Dad

This weekends activities included Mama heading to Madison for her weekend of drill and Nick and Finnegan heading up to Viroqua.

Nick had a Strongman Competition on Saturday in LaCrosse.

So while I wasn't there, it apparently was a gorgeous day, Nick was suprised by all the people that showed up to cheer him on.

My Mom, Grandpa, Uncle Arthur and Aunt Janet, and my other Uncle Tom and his girlfriend Nancy.

This competition was a 'practice' for the National competition that Nick had already qualified when he won the Chicago competition back in April. Here he is flipping an 800 lb tire.

Nick also was very successful with his deadlift! He and this other guy below were tied for 1st place and Nick won the tie breaker by deadlifting 630 lbs on an axel! And just to show the "crowd" that he was worthy of the win, he added another 50 lbs. for a 680 lb. total which was a national record for the axel deadlift.

Unfortunately, Nick hurt his leg pretty seriously on the tire flip.

So there is a good chance he won't be able to compete at Nationals this year.

What a bummer. But he did amazing, we're very proud of him!

Firsts!

Well, here it is, the FIRST installment of FIRSTS!

Finnegan's FIRST hairstyle

So, I have been listening to the "Now WHO does he look like?" question for about 5 months now. Most people say Nick....as he's getting a little older, some say me. But I can say this! His first hairstyle! Taking after his Momma :-)

Two Weddings, A Marathon and A Dinner Date

WHEW!
This weekend was amazing. I'm exhausted and it was totally worth it.

We started out on Saturday night with a wedding. Nick's best friends little sister got married, it was a beautiful ceremony and the party was grand! Surrounded by great people and celebrating an amazing couple.

Sunday morning we were up early and headed out to cheer on Nick's cousins who were running the Chicago Marathon. Unfortunately the day was a disaster..... You can read about cousin Kristen's experience in her letter to the Editor of the Sun Times here:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/letters/594469,CST-EDT-vox09a.article

It was so messed up. A thirty five year old man died! There were ambulances everywhere. People passing out left and right. NO water! or Gatorade! Just total chaos.

I felt really bad for Colleen as this was her first marathon experience. I know how hard she trained and I'm sure it was a huge disappointment for her. But they were really good sports. Just watching the marathon was SO motivating and inspiring. I have always wanted to do one. I ran my last race, a half marathon, when I was 2 months pregnant with Finnegan! And I'm eager to get back at it. So maybe next year Colleen can train me.

Then from the marathon, we ran home, showered, got into our finest duds to attend what I am sure will be the most extravagant wedding I will ever attend.

My old boss Gen got married this weekend to Dan, my new boss Stacy's brother...kind of confusing I know. The wedding was at Cafe Brauer, in the Lincoln Park Zoo, right downtown.

The Bride came to the "altar" in a GONDOLA.....complete with a striped shirted man rowing and the whole bit. It was very extravagant. The roses.....size of a desssert plate, honestly and all just beautiful. Here are a few pics.

Then! Monday night we dashed off to the northside to visit with our dear friend Megan. She showed us her awesome new condo, and we ordered pizza in and hung out and caught up. Megan was the one to give Finnegan a onesie that is in HIGH rotation at our house, the pirate ship, and I squeezed him in it so she could see him wearing it for what might be the last time.

And then there was dancing and general drunkeness

The photos are self explanatory :-)
Only 17 more days until the WEDDING!

WOO WOO

And then there was drinking

A drinking game actually -

Jerry's Kids....if you think about it you can figure it out..

Not too PC but it is an accurate description.

SO MUCH FUN.

Bachelorette Party for Greta - in 3 parts

As promised, here are a few photos from this weekend's festivities.

It was a "Race-y" theme as Greta has really gotten into running, and we had a blast.

All of Greta's friends are amazing.
MAN was I tired the next day trying to keep up with all these "youngsters"

Pictures of Finnegan

So!

This weekend was awesome.

Spent lots of good quality time with my sister and had a GREAT bachelorette party.

I'm working on getting photos together to blog about our "celebrations"

To tide everyone over, here are a few nudie pics of Finn!

Happy Monday!