Chicago, Here We Come!!

I am really excited about going to Chicago...I have never been that far north in the U.S.! The closest I've been to Chicago is Oklahoma when I visited Mel and Riss...so this will be pretty exciting. Brad and I are leaving the house tomorrow around 5:30 am and our plane leaves at 7:30 am. We are going to pack everything in our carryons so WISH ME LUCK!!!

If you guys know me, you know that I pack WAY TOO MUCH EVERYWHERE I GO!!!! And that is no understatement. I always hear Brad saying "Why do you need all this stuff?", "Do you have to bring this to work {school, CBS, etc.}?", "We don't need this much stuff to spend the night at your parent's house." I reply "I know, I know" but make him haul it the car every time anyway.

We will only be there from Monday through Wednesday. Anyone think I can do it?!??? Yeah, I don't know either.

We will be hanging out with Gene, Linda, and Alicia while we are there. We will be looking at a lot of outdoor patio furniture, talking to a lot of people, and hopefully drinking some Starbucks! :) I hear Gene is going to take us to the Navy Pier while we are there...sightseeing and shopping...always nice. I hope I can get some good pictures of the family while we are there and we are all fancy.

I am sad to say that I had never thought about the fact that Oprah's studio is in Chicago until Vicki reminded me this morning before church! Perhaps I will try to find the Harpo Studios sign and take a picture by it. lol Alicia said she would go with me...too bad we hadn't thought about this before!! Alas, no Oprah for us. (That is unless we just happen to run into her while cruising around Chicago! Ha!).

I have had a large shoe debacle over the last two days. I have been advised that it is a little bit of walking and a lot of standing and that comfortable shoes are a must. Gene has shot down my staple shoes…flip flops. I am very uneasy about standing that long in non-flipflop shoes!!

I went to Target with Amanda and Vicki yesterday to pick up some "professional looking" shoes for the furniture market. We went home with some penny loaferish shoes. I bought some dress socks and gel insoles as well.

We went home, Amanda and I ran outside to buy ice cream from the ice cream man (“Hello!” I finally bought ice cream from the ice cream truck that rolls through the neighborhood periodically!! YAY!), stunk horribly from the exhaust of the nasty ice cream truck, washed some laundry, I showered, put the insoles in the new shoes (thanks for the help, Vick!), and I enrolled in Vicki’s Shoe Camp to break the new shoes in.

Boy, were those shoes a terrible purchase! I wore the shoes around the house for a few hours. A blister on the back of my right foot is all I have to show for my hard work at Shoe Camp. I told Vicki that it was painful and that I couldn’t do it anymore and she said

“PUT ON A BANDAID ON AND PUT THE SHOES BACK ON, NOW!!.”

I woke up this morning and slipped the shoes on…intense pain, once again. I needed a plan B!

After church we all headed to the Village Inn to eat and while we were waiting for a table, Brad, Vicki, and I headed over to DSW Shoes (WOW! Is all I have to say!). I got to see one of my awesome CBS girls!! She was in my group in 2003 and last year!! That was really exciting! I ended up adopting some Aerosoles shoes with no backs and no heels. They are not the cutest shoes I have ever seen but I think they will look nice with black pants. We shall see how they do!!



I should go pack so that we can get to bed early!! 5:30 will come early!!!!!!! Please pray that I can find my little camera so that I don’t have to pack the honkin’ camera in my carryon!!

Edited: God always helps me find my lost items!! :) We found the small camera, wooooo hooooo!!! I even charged my batteries and cleaned out the memory sticks!! I can take {lots of} pictures! :) YAY!