“Ultimate” Wife?

Well, maybe. I had good intentions this weekend to watch Adam play Ultimate in Atlanta, to take lots of pictures and be the “Ultimate” wife. Ya, that didn’t happen.

We did go to Atlanta.  And I did drive the first 3 hours (something I NEVER do).  Adam was so excited he brought his photography book to read, but after 20 min ended up like I (deny) usually do.

While in Atlanta we stayed with my old roommate, Richy.  He was so sweet and had our guest room all set up complete with a basket of toiletries, fresh towels and a 6 pack of Oberon. (Do my friend know me or what?)  Adam had to get up pretty early to head to the fields on Saturday so we didn’t stay out too late on Friday night, but I slept in and had a nice breakfast with Richy at Ihop, then we did some shopping (I scored a deal at BR!) and touring around Atlanta. Finally I said we should head down to see Adam play.  We showed up just before his LAST game at 3 o’clock.

It was hot; hike up your sundress hot. So we found a spot on a bench under a non existent shade tree to watch Adam’s game. Well from our ‘cool’ location we really couldn’t see his game through all the players on the side line and being distracted by the cute puppy next to us we kinda lost track to when Adam was actually on the field. Oh, and I forgot to mention… I forgot his camera. The one I said to bring so I could get some pictures of Atlanta and him playing…oops.  They play tomorrow, I thought, I’ll make it up then.

After they won and Adam “poached” (his word not mine) a shower at the team hotel, we headed out to dinner and afterward found Atlanta’s oldest (1922) and 2nd oldest (1948?) bars.  By 9:30 we realized we were tired and full and ready to head home. (how lame are we) But in our defense we’ve come to the conclusion that they don’t use A/C in Atlanta restaurants/bars.

Sunday Adam again got up early to be at the fields by 8 am.  I slept in. Richy brought me Dunkin Donuts – which I ordered via text from my bed (talk about 5 star accommodations!) and we settled into a movie “Limitless” for the next two hours.  Finally we decided we should get moving.  Bringing all my stuff, I couldn’t forget the camera.  I was going to get some good shots of Adam.  Or so I thought.

We got to fields around 1:30 and I saw his teammates hosing off. They were done. For the day. Game over.

oops.

So much for being the “Ultimate Wife”.

He packed up his stuff and we headed out for lunch before hitting the road.  I asked Adam if he was tired, but he said no, so I let him slip into the driver seat and stay there until we pulled into his spot 6.5 hrs later.

It was a nice weekend-Adam didn’t have as much fun as I think he’d have hopped – due to some team issues, but I had a great time with Richy and checking out his new life in the “south”

I did snap some pictures with Richy’s camera-so hopefully we’ll have some better memoirs outside of my two crappy phone pictures.   We hope you all had a fun and safe weekend as well.

An “Ultimate” - Bachelorette Weekend

Adam and I were in different states this weekend; he was in Orlando for a Ultimate tournament while I was in Traverse City for Felicia’s Bachelorette.

I have been planning this weekend, along with the other bridesmaids since February.  It was well worth all the time/effort/expense and energy.  Felicia is a wonderful & kind women, So I was happy that we could do this for her-and keep it a surprise! Until around 2 on Friday she had no idea where she was going.  And I was glad she was happy and excited about our choice.

I arrived late (midnight) after the girls had spent the afternoon wine tasting.

But as soon as I got there…we headed down to the “club” in the hotel.  I felt like I was 22 again…it’s been a long time since I’ve gone out and danced until they kicked us out. (I called it a night around midnight at my own bachelorette!!)

(on a side note: I was confirmed of the fact that I can never go to TC w/o running into someone I’m somehow connected too. That guy knows Stan Pasch-an old family friend)

Saturday we spent the afternoon at the beach and I even got into the chilly bay. But it was HOT-so it felt pretty good.  After giving Felicia her gifts and quizzing her on how well she knows Ryan (her fiancé) we headed out for a fabulous dinner and after…you guessed it, more dancing.

(We found the only gay bar in TC, hence the disco male torso hanging from the ceiling)

It was an extremely quick trip (36 hrs in TC 16 Hrs travel time.) but I did get to see my parents, my dogs and two of my cousins-who by the way have great husbands and helped Felicia out with her Photo Scavenger hunt! 

I was happy to get home and to see Adam, but I really did enjoy my time with the girls-it seems time like that is far and few now and as much as I love Adam I miss girl time. Note to self: plan more girls weekends .

So while I was relaxing, drinking, dancing and having fun Adam was sweating and running and sleeping on the floor.  His team was 1-3 the first day and 1-1 the second day.  Not the best outcome, but he’s confident that the team will do better (as a whole) this weekend in Atlanta. I am making the trip with him to go see my friend Richy…and watch him play.

Here are a few shot I stole off someone from Facebook since Adam didn’t take any and I wasn’t there!

Finding his ‘man’…

I think this would be a back hand or a flick throw…

He’s taught me point where you want it to go when you let go…

And always make a tough face!

He was dirty and tired when he picked me up, but he too had a fun time.  Even though we enjoyed our weekends separately we were glad to curl up with Popcorn on the couch and FINALY watch Little Fockers together.

The Great “Chair” Debate

With table top firmly in place and the sides being constructed I am now pondering the big decisions of which chairs to buy.

I have found TONS of chairs I love, but (there is always a but) they (the TONS of chairs I love) are WAY too much money (for me that is).

I would like to keep it to under $50 a chair. So if you figure we’re starting with 6 that’s $300.  That’s $100 more than my current dining set cost out the door. It’s just a lot for me to swallow. Especially when I’m looking at molded plastic chairs!  But we have to be able to sit down and I want it end up like my vision.

Remember my inspiration for this whole thing?…over a year ago!

Alright-back to the chairs.  I’ve been going back and forth Black or White Black or White.  And I think I’ve decided White-even though there are more (affordable!) options in black.  Most of the furniture in that room is Black…so I feel like we need some more white.

So with out further ado…these are the contenders.

Nils from Ikea-$70

He also comes with arms-$80 (he might be a “future” purchase)

Wal-mart choice-$35 (might be disqualified due to bad reports)

Amazon find – set of 2 for $99 (solid wood)

Gilbert-Ikea-$40 (He stacks-so that’s a plus)

Erland-Ikea-$60 (molded plastic-looks a little too scholastic)

Boujan-Overstock-$118 for the pair

Quindel –Vive Décor- $122 for the pair (might leave weird marks)

And the overpriced dream chairs:

CB2-$120 for 1 chair

Meijer-$80 (I’m going to watch for a sale!)

And the evil dark chairs…with their good deals, sleek designs and taunting sets of four!

Overstock-4 for $136 – Stackable-scratch proof-hose down-able

Meijer-4 for $156- stackable-padded!

Target-2 for $70 Stackable-oh so cute

So there you have it…now it’s decision time. We’ll be buying 6 chairs to start, either in pairs or singles.  Any that you think rock more than others?  Who knows-you might be sitting in one someday-so choose wisely!

New Toys

Sunday was a project day around the Young House.  And with the help of a couple new toys our projects were a success!!
First off my new toy is this contraption:

I was reading a blog where in the lady was making a quilt and was cutting it using a cutting mat and a straight edge. GENIUS! I have both a cutting mat and a straight edge (what’s up 3 years of MAarch program!) and a boat load of exacto knifes. So while making a quilt for baby Wilson I pulled out the beat up mat and grabbed my exacto.  It worked pretty     good. 

Then I got the Joann’s flier.
I don’t normally look at it, I just cut out the coupons.  But there was this picture of a cutting mat and this rolling razor blade thingy. 
Light bulbs went off!
So on Sunday when we headed to Joann’s to get fabric for baby Young’s quilt I ventured into the scissor aisle and picked up my very own Rotary Cutter…for $7 @ 40% off of course
Back at home I pressed the fabrics then pulled our the cutting mat.  I counted 4” lined up my straight edge and rolled away. 
I yelled to Adam “This thing is AWESOME! It’s SO easy!  I can do 4 layers of fabric at a time!!”
I was excited.  Why oh why have I been cutting by hand for the last 11 years??? I beamed as I stacked my PERFECT little squares of fabric and even more so when I laid them all out.

Oh! and check out the cute fabric Uncle Adam chose:

The man goes crazy over monkeys and penguins. What can say…?
Now I have to note that just because I had perfect 4” squares my ability to sew them all perfectly lined up did not improve. Blame it on D'nealian ha ha or my entry level sewing machine, It didn’t come out perfect, but it is super duper cute and will hopefully coordinate well with their jungle themed nursery. Now if we just knew what baby was!!!?

Ok-On to Mr. Adam…
Adam's new toy is a Orbital Sander. 

He informed me that we had to get one to sand the table between layer of Lacquer and that he NEEDED this fancy schmancy $100 sander. Gulp. But being the thrifty deal searching wife I found one for him at Sears for .. $35. No it’s not the fancy one he wanted with it’s own generator-but it would do what we needed.
So while I was busy sewing my squares Adam was out on the patio sanding down the table top.  It worked pretty well and removed most of the groves/buildup from the lacquer. 

When he finally applied the last coat we w.a.i.t.e.d hours to touch it, but when finally we could it is nice and smooth (in most spots).  The table looks great! We decided to keep with the gloss finish instead of the satin.  It is so pretty and shiny and ..seriously folks we can’t stop ooing and ahhing.  It’s still in pieces…and not 100% done, but I’ve informed a few friends that there will be a dinner party in August.  I can’t wait to share the final reveal with you. It’s been a long time coming…but it will be worth the wait.
We hope you all had a splendid weekend.  Back to the Grind…(not)Happy Monday.

The Vaca Post-Finally

We’ve been back a few weeks now, but I still we’re stuck on Central time.  Lagging and dragging ourselves out of bed…still behind on the laundry…but I think that’s just life.  Our trip to Illinois proved to be a fun much needed break from reality. 

First order of business-Luke’s Wedding!

You might remember Luke from our wedding…

He’s Adam’s 1st cousin and they were born just a month or so apart. (Adam’s older in case you wondered)  Anyway, back to Luke. Luke married Leanne, not to be confused with his sister Leanne.

Bride on the Right Sister on the left.

It was a very heartfelt ceremony-very personal and very sweet.

They got married at a botanical garden and the surroundings were very pretty. 

Of course we all had a good old time at the reception dancing drinking and eating the night away until the bus came and took us back to the hotel or if you’re name is Adam onward to the bars downtown.  (Yes I went to bed-I haven’t changed a bit)

The next day we headed north to Rockford where we stayed all week at Adam’s Grandmas.  Visiting from California was his Aunt Carol, cousin Jessica, and 3 2nd cousins-all of whom I’d never met.  The week consisted of a lot of card playing and eating and of course a lot of Kylie time .  The weather wasn’t the greatest but we did make it Magic Waters (The local water park) on the one nice-ish day. 

At the end of the week we packed up and headed into Chicago where we met up with Jonathan and spent 2 days traipsing around the city.  We were able to go see my Junior High best friend’s exhibit, Red Sky @ Night, at a local gallery.  Her work is amazing.  Check out her website here.

Another thing on my list was go to the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio.  It was interesting and I do think Adam and Jonathan both enjoyed it too.  We also made it up to the top of the Sears Tower and down to Millennia Park. 

It was fun hanging out with Jonathan one on one (two) we don’t get much time w/o the rest of the family.  He (who is working non stop this summer) said it was the most fun he’s had in a long time.  So I left Chicago feeling pretty good, but ready to be back home…in my own bed.

It was a nice vacation.  Relaxing and getting to see lots of family is always good.  But it is true-you always need a vacation AFTER your vacation!!