Busy Weekend!!

This was a busy, fun weekend! Saturday night I met up with some of the other Chicago area ladies from the YSC Bulletin Boards. This BB has been a life saver for me. If not for the women on there, this would have been a much tougher journey. It is wonderful to be able to "talk" to ladies my age that are going through the same thing. I wouldn't have known some of the questions to ask, or that something is unusual (i.e. the plastic surgeon only wanted to place one expander at a time) without them.

The girls spent the night at Grandma's Saturday night. After dropping them off, I headed to Chicago. I made pretty good time. Of course my Mapquest directions were wrong, so it took me another 15 minutes after I got into the area to find the restaurant. I wasn't really worried about not finding it, I knew I would eventually, I was worried about being late. I hate to be late. (although with kids, it seems I always am!) I was there right on time. They have valet parking for $4. I figured this was worth, trying to park can take forever! As I pull up, there is a young guy on the sidewalk in a white zip up hoodie talking on the phone. As I was gathering up my things, he walked around the car, ended his phone conversation, and opened my door. Now at this point I am thinking of the movies where someone pretends to be the valet and steals the car. He told me the valet fee, and I asked him for the ticket. He said they didn't use tickets, just tell him which car it is and he would have it parked close by. So the first thing I did when I walked into the bar, is ask the bartender if that was their valet. It was. Ok, now I could breathe again! And he did have it parked close-right in front of the restaurant!

One of the ladies was there when I walked in, although I missed her, b/c she had a guy sitting next to her, so I just kind of assumed they were together. Ooops. Others started showing up soon after. There were 7 of us total-one of the ladies brought her sister.

We sat down and started talking. I don't even know how long it was before we ordered appetizers. One of the ladies used to go to this place all the time and knew the owner, so he gave us a bottle of wine. Too bad I don't like wine! After we finally ordered and got our appetizers, it again took us forever to order our food (our fault). All in all we were there for about 5 hours. The food was served family style, so we got to try alot of different things. Found out I still don't like fish. The food was okay I thought--but I still have that funny taste in my mouth, so nothing tastes right. The food wasn't the important thing though. We never stopped talking. There was never an awkward silence. I really had a wonderful time. We will definitely do this again. Maybe even at some point with the kids.


John and I picked up the girls Sunday and headed off to Haley's Banquet. I really had no idea of what to expect. It was pretty much a reception, minus the dancing. As we walked in, Sari (the owner) handed Haley a rose and told her to take one of the picture cds on the table. We found our table, John and Jenna went for drinks and Haley and I walked around. They had some snacks set out. Dinner itself was pretty good--but again the taste thing. Haley received a participation award and she also got the spirit award for her level (this is the bigger one in the picture). One was given in each of the 9 levels. I don't remember the exact words used to describe who they give the spirit award to, but it was something along the lines of hard working and good attitude. I do have to say I never have to push Haley to go. Maybe to get out the door on time, but not to go. If she says she doesn't want to go--she is really sick!

The girls don't know about this blog--there is stuff here they don't need to know or read. So if you are talking to Haley, please don't tell her the pic is on here!! If you say something about seeing the award, tell her I emailed the picture to you. Thank you!

I am a little tired today. I do have a few things to get done today however since I will be tied up all day tomorrow at the drs. Speaking of drs. I have to pick the girls up early from school today. I absolutely hate to do this, but I have to get them their 5th grade physical, and the only time they had was 3 today. And I set this up like a month ago! The shots they have to get are a series, which is why we need to get started now.