Day 163

today i traveled to nantucket island, off the coast of massachusetts, for my cousins brian's wedding. this is a picture of the cockpit of the "puddle jumper" i took from providence to the island. i had never been on a plane this small before nor sat this close to the cock-pit. it was actually pretty cool, very loud but pretty cool.

my family flew in as well and we all went to dinner. i don't care what anyone says, my nephew is seriously the cutest baby ever! i love him :)

Day 162

today i had lunch with colleen, we do this almost every thursday. we ate at karyn's, a vegan restaurant that is surprisingly awesome. it is always a blessing spending time with her - isn't she cute :)

Day 161

whistler, BC (august 2006)

a friend shared this with me today - what she has been learning over the past few weeks/months. she had no idea how much this blessed me.

"one thing i've learned (am learning) in this whole process is trust and really, genuinely walking in faith. not a faith in a particular outcome, but faith in God. every time i've tried to 'help things along' in one direction or another, its stalled out. something always comes up, so clearly the timing and outcome really is in God's hands. now that i'm understanding that, i'm beginning to really understand the peace that comes with it. "

that is my prayer, to trust my God and let Him take control of every situation in my life. in all honesty, the God who created the scene in that picture, created me, i think i should trust Him. he seems to know what he is doing. praise the Lord for women of faith.

Day 160

i took the day off work to spend time with my sister (that's her and ben above). she was driving through town on her way from california to connecticut. i took them to some of my favorite restaurants in chicago, nookies for lunch (although they serve an awesome breakfast as well) and heartland cafe (below with catia) for dinner. it was a beautiful day and so nice to have time together.

Day 159

tracy was sitting on the couch just eating her cornbread when all of a sudden she looks at me with doe eyes and says, "i can't eat bread!" she was so sad, i just had to laugh. she's on a low-carb diet for the wedding and totally forgot for about 10 minutes - quality.

Day 158

this sunday tracy gave her testimony during our church's choir concert. it was so powerful! i tried to get a good pic of her without being distracting, this was the best i could do. it is amazing when you have the privilege of seeing God's transforming power in action. her life and walk are an inspiration to me and so many others.

Day 157

we went to valparaiso, in today for a shower thrown by tracy's aunt. my friend pamela got this pic for me, i thought it was cute. not sure what was so funny about muffin tins, but apparently they are hilarious.

this morning i got up early to go on a bike ride before we began a day of wedding festivities for tracy. i thought i was going to be up early enough for the sun rise, but apparently i was way off.. who knew the sun was this high by 6am :)

Day 156

i don't have a picture for today...

Day 155

beware of mary kay! when i used to work in the illinois center downtown, there were three times that random women came up to me to tell me they liked my coat, my purse or my hair... each time they were trying to "talk" to me to get their foot in the door for me to buy their mary kay products... well today was tracy's turn and this is the pic of the card - haha

Day 154

this is tonight's dinner. looking at it you might think, wow, she might be a healthy eater... oh, don't be fooled friend - i ate this for dinner knowing full well that when tracy and i were done cleaning the house we were going to head to dairy queen for blizzards. yum!

Day 153

tonight we went to valparaiso, in for tracy's final fitting. she looks so wonderful in her dress. it was like it was made specifically for her :)

Day 152

almost every monday ashley and i get together and run. it is such a blessing for both of us :)

Day 151

today we went to evanston, tracy's boss rebecca hosted a shower for her. it was so nice and we all had a good time mixing her worlds :) she will be married in one month - i can't believe it! i think this whole month will be bitter sweet, so excited to see her marry this amazing man but i sure will miss the best roommate, friend and sister in Christ anyone could ever be blessed with :) she will be an amazing wife as she already is an amazing woman of God.

Day 150

this morning was my first ride with some friends and they pushed me like crazy! these girls can ride, that is for sure. i know that if i keep riding with them i will be in great biking shape in no time :) it is so cool how the Lord works. when i first came to my church, i needed a running partner and right away he provided my friend ashley. she and i have the same determination, running speed and commitment. and he has provided again with these girls! they have the same drive and determination as i do. such a blessing :)

shelly, me and mandy

Day 149

today my roommate, tracy, and i took the day off and headed to the burbs to run some errands for her wedding. she had her practice hair done today and it turned out perfect. praise the Lord! we started off the day by heading to a local coffee shop where they make a leaf design in every latte. pretty cute.

this picture was taken by a bored tracy as we sat in traffic on our way back to the city. she took quite a few more but i thought this was the best.

after traffic and getting our nails done, we headed to mystic celt for dinner. i don't know what happened, but at some point this piece of metal started to fall off the bottom of my car. we drove through the lakeview southport neighborhood making the loudest noise ever! it sounded like we had tied 3 dozen tin cans to the back of the car. needless to say we were cracking up! especially as we noticed the looks we were getting from people. tracy still had her hair done so she was sticking her head out the window yelling just married - hilarious! this is me at a stop sign, laughing and trying to talk at the same time...

this is the piece that was dragging on the street the whole way home!

Day 148

this is my friend ashleigh. she was such a sport tonight to let me take a picture of her. she came to prayer meeting with me tonight and we got to catch up for the first time in a long time. i love her persistent optimism in life - i am hoping it will rub off on me :)

at prayer meeting tonight pastor armand spoke about living faith and how if we possess living faith we have nothing to fear. living faith produces godly living, knowing that even if the Lord does not give us anything again, we have everything we need because we have him. how peaceful life would be if we could live life like that.

Day 147

cicely's butter cookies- some of the best cookies i have ever had and a great fundraiser for her mission trip to kenya. she is going back to africa for her second trip with the buckner orphan foundation. this time though she is leading a group of three people and essentially interning for them. i am so excited for her, although i am afraid she might come home with a few children (haha!). i truly admire cicely's faith and her obedience to the Lord's call on her life. he has great things in store for her :)

Day 146

cicely and mandy - this is why they are youth leaders! on our way to the park to play softball tonight, cicely and mandy jumped on this seesaw and had a blast. gotta love them :)

Day 145

tonight i painted my toe nails, so there they are... who puts their feet on their own blog?!?! so wierd! oh well, at least i can laugh at myself - haha!

Day 144

tonight tracy and i had some much needed, although i don't think i realized how much it was needed, roommate time. we drove to southport to get DQ and the line was out the door and half way down the block, so we decided to drive to another one. we got there and it was closed :( so we settled on mcflurries, so not as good as a blizzard!

Day 143

this is my friend jenn, she is originally from queens and was sporting a yankees hat, as was i, so we had to get a pic. today was the women's book club at church where i am a facilitator (so is jenn). this is one of the most challenging things i have ever done but one of the most rewarding as well. i am not gifted in this area, by any means, but the Lord continues to bless each group i facilitate. it is amazing how when you are desperate fro him, recognizing you can't do it without him, he comes in, blesses it and makes it happen. i am so grateful and thankful to know that with or without me, the Lord will meet these ladies. what a relief :)

tonight i had a few girlfriends over and made this dessert, cheese blintzes with fruit salsa. it was actually pretty good, but you would have no idea by looking at these little things they would be so filling. besides the dessert, it was such a blessing to have my girlfriends over: dawn, helen and cicely are such a blessing, so encouraging and women i really do admire.

Day 142

these are my cranberry-orange scones, i made them for the book club tomorrow morning. one problem, i forgot that i needed to double the recipe - oops! my brain is elsewhere these days.

Day 141

these are a few of my projects... sure, they have been projects for almost the entire time i have lived here (it'll be one year at the beginning of july) but they will get done... i hope :(








i will get the last piece i need to put the glass bowl on this light fixture AND i will take more black and white photos to replace the others... who wants to place bets on how long this will take me??





i need to buy an actual entertainment center, the trunk will be leaving with the roommate

Day 140

the above picture is of the sky, in case you couldn't tell :)

i went on a bike ride after work today and i can totally see why people get addicted to this! there is something so freeing about riding super fast and being able to go for miles. the below pic is the view of north avenue from ohio street beach. that's about 8 miles from my home. it would take quite a while to get to the point where i was running 16 miles, but riding is a totally different story... and i love it. i think i'll try 20 this weekend :)

Day 139

this is my car. we are beginning to have a love-hate relationship. and today was one of those days when i hated it. i didn't have the best nights sleep but decided to meet with katie, my trainer, anyway. i got to the gym for my 6 am session and was greeted by one of the staff telling me i needed to call katie because she overslept. surprisingly, i wasn't mad at all. i guess since i wasn't really sleeping anyway it wasn't like i would have slept longer...

now, at this point most people would say, ok, i'm here so i might as well work out. well, not me! i hate the gym and the only reason i go is to work out with katie. so i promptly headed back downstairs to the locker room and decided to shower and get ready for work.

after i showered and finished getting ready i did my usual, headed to starbucks and then got in my car and drove to a side street to read my bible and pray before work. well, while reading and praying, my lights must not have gone off so when i was done, ready to get to work, my car wouldn't start :( and of course, it was one of those days, who i am kidding it is one of those weeks, where i just started to cry.

thankfully my friend dawn answered her phone, didn't mind driving to me and had jumper cables. it was definitely one of those divine appointments that morning. there was definitely a reason my trainer overslept and my car died. dawn was the blessing i needed that morning.

1 Peter 5:10: And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Day 138

today was the chicago tabernacle's annual church picnic. i'd like to call this photo, right before the fall :)

Day 137

this is my new goal - well the bike isn't the goal. i bought the bike to accomplish my goal. i need to challenge myself physically, its a weird obsession i have and since i have run three marathons, one a year for the past three years, i thought i would try something different. so hopefully i will stay determined and by septmeber i'll be in good enough shape to do a century ride in evanston :)

Day 136

after a run and errands i headed to the toledos to celebrate suzie's graduation and birthday party. i got to see her artwork for the first time, very impressive - no wonder she is heading to the art institute for college!

armand, jamie and suzie