We Bought a Mac!

Yes, our household did get another computer, and that’s just one of the many things that have been going on since the last time either one of us posted 2 months ago. I’d like to say I was writing this blog post on our new Mac, but Cindy’s using it. :)

Although the weather hasn’t been summerlike for most of this year, we’ve almost been too busy to really notice. I won’t even begin to mention everything that’s happened lately, but I’ve been working a second job that has really started to pay off now.  In what little free time we’ve had outside of that, we had to leave town twice for a family emergency, had one closer to home, went downtown to see the fireworks at Grant Park, and went to the 2nd annual Chicago Blackhawks convention at the Hyatt. I wasn’t kidding, busy, busy, busy.

On top of all of that, I managed to find time to launch a new website, Maui by Photo. If you know how much we love Maui, you’ll certainly want to check it out.

Upcoming Stuff
We have sort of a little break right now, but we’re hoping things will pick up again shortly.  Cindy’s birthday is in 2 weeks, so we figuring out what we wanna do for that (I’ll let her fill you in).  After that, we’re targeting a trip to Maui in September for the Maui Photo Festival and Workshops. It’s a 4-day event, but the super low rate on the rooms at the Hyatt are available up to 3 days before and 3 days after, so we’re going to try and stretch it out into a longer trip.  It will be great if we can meet up with some of the folks we met last time, and if airfare dropped a little bit more, we’d be all set.

We’re hoping to have that booked in about 2 weeks, so be sure to see a post here with us kicking our heels in excitement (at least figuratively).

The good news with that trip is that we’ll be spending another anniversary (our 6th) on Maui.  The first anniversary we celebrated there was in ‘07, and there isn’t a better place we’d want to be for it.

More Stuff
After our September trip to Maui, we want to go back to Door County for at least 4 days (more if possible) sometime in October when the leaves are changing their colors in full force. On the getaway front, we’re also trying to save for a trip back to the Door in December as well.  As we learned last winter, there really isn’t much to do when it’s that cold outside and half of the peninsula is the closed, but also as we learned, that’s the point.

I’m also on a new kick to get back to selling my photos again. That’s part of the reason we’re trying to go to the photo festival in September and why I’ve been starting to look into some of the local arts shows in the area. I’ll need to carve out more time to make all that happen, but from what I’ve seen so far, it won’t make me rich but it is definitely doable.

New Blog, Someday
Back to the new website, Maui by Photo, for a second. That was my first blog/website created with WordPress, which is totally awesome.  This blog, and my other existing blogs, are all managed with Blogger, which has it’s pros and cons.  At some point (soon I hope) I’m hoping to migrate over my Maui blog over to WP because it’s getting too big for Blogger, and I want to move this blog over so that I can … well, make it look much better using one of the awesome templates out there.  All I need now is time.

That’s about it for now, since I have other work to do.  Sorry for a lot of text without any photos, but one of us will get back into the habit of blogging here and sharing photos, too.

Thanks,
- Kris

weekend review 6/1/09

It may be the beginning of June, but it doesn’t feel that way by the looks of the weather… 

I had a three day weekend… but it’s been a good and a bad weekend for me..

 

Friday….

Friday morning I had my nail appointment.  My  husband had meeting downtown ( John Hancock Building), while he was in the meeting, I took the opportunity, to walk downtown, and enjoy the beautiful sites, and landscapes of downtown.

The evening consisted of dinner out and relaxing.

 

Saturday….

During the early afternoon we ran some errands, then we went over to my Aunt and Uncles house, to visit, and answer any computer questions that my Uncle had.  We had dinner at Curragh it’s a small Irish restaurant.  ( this is where the bad part of my weekend comes in) while having dinner, I received a phone call from my mom, telling me my sister is in the hospital. 

after dinner we went home and relaxed for the evening

 

Sunday…..

 

We ran the rest of our errands, did some more computer tech work, with my uncles computer.  Found out my Mother in law wasn’t feeling good( bad news number two), and sister is still in critical condition.

We had a family birthday party that we attended in the evening.

Finally we came home, and relaxed before I had to go to work..

 

Like I mentioned it was a good and bad three day weekend.  hopefully next weekend will be better, but the week isn’t starting out that way.

Downtown 5/29/09

My kind of town Chicago is..............

I live 15 minutes from downtown Chicago, and don't get downtown as often as I like. If you ever come visit Illinois, I recommend you going downtown. You have miles and miles of and miles of shops, restaurants, great landscapes, great architecture, for example Victoria Secret, Nine West, Coach, New York & Company.. If y0u like indoor shopping , Water Tower Place is the place to go. It has 7 floors of your favorite shops from, Macy's Forever 21, Limited, White and Black.. and for the kids American Girl Place..

While my husband (Kris), had a meeting at the John Hancock Building, on Michigan Avenue, I took the opportunity to enjoy the sites of Downtown.. It was nice to walk around and take pictures of our beautiful city.. I walked around Water tower Place. , then headed south along Michigan ave and kept walking and walking, you get beautiful picture perfect views of the River, WGN Studio, the Chicago Tribune Building, and couple of my personal favorites, Blackhawks head quarters, Chipotle, and Millennium Park

Beautiful scenery + nice day= great time downtown:):)

thanks Cindy

weekend highlights 5/25/2009

" Wishing everyone a happy Memorial Day......

Another weekend that has come and gone, but this time it was a three day weekend.. (pretty soon I"m going to have a series of three day weekends, but that is a story for a different time.)

Weekend consisted of enjoying the weather, babaysitting. running errands etc, but it was a nice weekend..

Friday... Consisted of me working till 3:00pm I love Friday's because they are my short days. After work going to get my oil changed. came home and did laundry, before we met up with Kris's mom at Buffalo Wild Wings. where we cheered the Blackhawks to victory. Well that victory was short lived.. More details to come later..

After the game we came home and relaxed..

Saturday!!........

Kris worked... and I babysat the cutest 2 year old in the world.. The weather was nice, so we played and played and played (well you get the idea) outside.. Then we walked around Streets of Woodfield.. which is located in Schaumburg by Woodfield Mall.. It is outdoor strip mall that consistes of stores From Dicks Sporting goods to Carsons, Gameworks and of course Starbucks.. If you like to be outside, walk around and shop, Streets of Woodfield is a place to go...

We came home and relaxed, before we went out to dinner and ran some of our errands ( Target).

Sunday>>>>>>

We started off by putting out my patio furniture.. and staying home to watch the hockey game, well that was a mistake and short lived:( I ended up watching the rest of The Indy 500... Helio Castronevas won the race. and Danika Patrick came in 3rd... I couldn't watch the game anymore so Kris and I decided to go bike riding. We headed North on the trails, passing Dempster, Beckwith, Golf Rd, I got as far as Glenview Rd and had to turn around, but I rode a total of 12 miles.:):):)

The evening consisted of dinner at Panera Bread, and had to stop at Jewel. Who would have thought going to Jewel on a Sunday night would be an adventure. As we were walking in one of my pharmacy customers were checking out, and instead of just saying," hello," she made a big production. she said," Is that your husband," he's so cute, and she said to one of the cashiers, she works for your competition, " Dominick's," normally I would be surprised, but I wasn't..

We came home and Kris and I spent a nice romantic night together, before we turned in for the night.

Monday (Memorial Day)...........

Traditionally on Memorial Day we go by Kris"s aunts house for a BBQ.. This year we still went by his aunts house, but the weather didn't corporate for the BBQ. We stilled grilled, but since it was, cold, cloudy, and rainy the BBQ went from outdoors, to indoors. It was still nice to get together. Finally we came home and relaxed, before we have to go back to work.

Till next week, have a good week everyone:)

my weekend highlights 5/16/09

Another weekend that has come and gone... where do the weekends go???

Friday... I work till 3:45
had a nail appointment
came home did the laundry.

for dinner Kris and I went to GIGIO'S for dinner... it is this small little family owned Italian
restaurant on Oakton in Des Plains, IL they have everything from pizza, pasta dishes, to meatball
sandwiches.. They used to be for years in the shopping center in Niles by Home Depot, on the corner of Oakton and Waukegan.

After dinner we went to Jewel and did our grocery shopping. then we came home.


Saturday...
Saturday was a productive day.... I had a hair appointment at 10;00am
lunch at Potbelly
followed by dessert at Jamba Juice ( my first time having anything there:))
yes I'm a Jamba Juice virgin.
then we drove to Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee IL, it was time to get my wedding ring inspected and that's where my jeweler is.

went to Woodfield mall.. able to find my gym shoes.. ( Sketchers Shape Ups) great shoes for people who love to walk.. when you are walking the form of the shoe is suppose to help you with your posture,and your leg and stomach muscles.. When walking you are suppose to feel like you are walking on sand..

Kris was misssing Hawaii so he got a little taste of Hawaii.. He has been looking for a bracelet and he found one at Na Hoku.:)

Got to enjoy the sun before it set. Kris and I went walking. We parked at one of the groves along Harms and walked North just passed Lake Cook Rd. It was a nice walk.

After we went walking we went to dinner followed by going to Target. Finally we came home for the evening.

Sunday....

We watched game one of the Western Conference Finals Hawks vs Redwings at BWW in Skokie.
An old friend joined us.. Even though we didn't like the outcome of the game, it was nice to see her. Side note It wasn't a good day in sports for the people of Chicago. the Cubs,Sox's and Hawks all lost.. AS far as the hawks Redwings series it's only game one and we will get them on Tuesday..

Tomorrow starts the Eastern Conference finals. The Pittsburgh Penguins vs The Carolina Hurricanes.. this should be a good series.. Divide and conquer in The Nelson household and who is going to come out on top.. that is TBA:):)

Overall it was a productive weekend for me... Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend which means a 3 day weekend:) Till then have a good week:)

Weekend Highlights In Review ……. 4/25-4/26

It was a busy weekend for the Nelson family…..

Friday night, Kris and I went dancing, with friends of his from work.  The Dance Club of choice was The Level Nightclub on Rush.  It is a small nightclub which featured dance and top 40.  We had a good time.  (It’s been along time since we been out that late)

 

Saturday…..  Since we new it was going to be nice out.. our plan was to go to Busee Woods, go skating, then go to Woodfield, but the weather put a damper on that plan, , therefore we went to Potbelly and Jamba Juice for lunch, and then Woodfield.   After Woodfield we went to the grocery store where it poured and the temp dropped 40 degrees within a half hours time.  In the evening we picked up Kris’s mom and Went to Buffalo Wild Wings dinner and watched the Blackhawks become victorious over the Calgary Flames.  It was  a great playoff game to watch.

 

Sunday…..  Today was a day of running errands, and a family dinner…   Temp wise it went from 40 lows to rainy cloudy morning…  to temps in the lower 70’s in the afternoon.   In the afternoon we ran our errands, then we picked up Kris’s mom, and went to Maggiano’s  for a family dinner.  After dinner we came home and relaxed before we have to get ready for the work week.

 

Till next week,  have a good week………..Cindy

Rainy Lazy Sunday Morning

Good morning from Niles, IL where the sun isn’t shining, there isn’t blue sky’s , not nice outside, but it is damp and rainy….  A day where you want to stay inside and do nothing, or you could try out new software for your computer like I’m doing…