Go Cubs Go

We've (me and my Mister) kind of started a tradition. This will be our third year going to opening day at Wrigley together. So far, we have 2 losses and 1 win under our belt, today being one of the losses :-( Oh well, there is still a full season ahead of us. It was a GREAT day though. We were blocked from the rain, it was amazing, considering we weren't completely covered by the awning. The wind was in our favor though and blowing out, away from us. The temperature was even comfortable and not cold at all. Thanks to my Dad, we got awesome seats, yet again! We were one section up behind home plate and over a teeny bit. It was great! There was a little rain delay but not too bad. What a great way to end the weekend!

GO CUBBIES!!!

P.S. we took plenty of pics

I'm doing pretty well with that. I told Ryan we have to for the blog! ha!

I caught the sign as we were going in
This is the view from our seats, the picture doesn't do it justice

Would have been a great pic, had my eyes been open...

Not as great a background as the last, but a cute one

Did I mention my Grandma is an usher at Wrigley? We found her with the zoom on the camera (note, she is not waving to us...we didn't quite realize that right away!)

Ernie Banks had an unveiling of a memorial statue to him, this is the ceremony with various honorable mentions (i.e. Fergie Jenkins, Jesse Jackson, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks and unknown)

The scoreboard

A band that started to play in the walkway right up from our seats

So far a great weekend

So far, so good...it's been a good weekend! My Zizi Nikki came in from New Jersey and on Friday after work, we went to Kaiser's for some pizza. I let Ava take the pictures that are posted below. She said it herself, she loves to take pictures!

my dad and mum
Ryan and me

My cousin Cody

Cody's roommate Dennis and Cody's dad's wife Kathy

Cody and Zizi Nikki (his mum)

Me and Ava (she lost a tooth! can you tell?!)

The whole table (minus Ava and Ryan - he got cut off...oops!)

Then on Saturday the crew came over to our house to hang out for a bit. I bought a DVD Recorder about 2 years ago and could never get it to work and burn shows to a dvd. Well guess what?! This little techy (yes, that's me I'm referring to) got it to work yesterday! Yay! How exciting...well it is for me :-) Today, me and my Mister are just hanging out at home and relaxing. What a great day. Tomorrow...here we come Wrigley! It's the Cubs home opener, and as we have in the past 2 years, we are going to OPENING DAY!!! It's supposed to be in the mid 50s but thunderstorms :-( hopefully they don't come or they come in the early morning and then stop! I'll post pics after the game tomorrow! Hope your weekend is as nice as mine!

In case you didn't know...

I'm a magazine freak!

Magazines I subscribe to:

Glamour

Cosmopolitan

Women's Health

Health

Hallmark

All You

Newsweek

Magazines I buy but don't subscribe to (don't ask me why):

US Weekley

InTouch

Rachel Ray Mag

First

Women's Day

Family Circle

Yep...I said it before...I'm a magazine JUNKIE!!! Seriously...can't you tell? I was getting to the point where it was annoying and I'd feel like I always had a magazine or so laying around. So I bought these two cute little square baskets and tucked them away on the bottom of our bookshelf. Now the magazines stay 'hidden' until I decide to take one out and read it. Which, by the way...I have a problem with that too. I buy magazines and don't read them all. Eventually I have to go through them and remind myself that I have to read them! It's a never ending battle people! Ha!

H A P P Y F R I D A Y !!!!

Random

I thought I'd share this lovely Halloween picture from 2 Halloweens ago. Do you love my Marilyn Monroe get-up?! The wig wasn't exactly quite right...I kind of thought it made me look like a cracked-out version of her...I guess that would have gone as well though! Jenny was a cute little firegirl!

On another note: we watched AWAKE last week. PLEASE listen to me and save your money. I didn't think it was very good. I won't go into details...just in case you plan on watching. It wasn't horrible, but again, I wouldn't necesarily reccomend it. And on that note...where the heck are all of the good movies?! I mean, has there been a decent movie out lately? And by lately, I mean in the past xx years?! Seriously!

This is what I feel like we are enclosed in right now. Note: it is currently in the season of SPRING people!!! Luckily it's not sticking to the ground much. WTF?! Where is the sunshine? Where is the (at least) 50 degree weather? Where is that smell of Spring that I should be smelling right now?

On another note, I have agreed to do a little weight loss group thingy. I thought it would give me a little motivation to know that others were doing it too. My goal is not too high. I would LOVE to lose 10 pounds. FYI...I have gained a total of 12 pounds since I've moved in with my honey. I guess there is just more temptation around and the comfort of being with that one person.

Today is just a lot of random things that I can think of. My mind is all sorts right now because of the weather and just because :-)

I was talking with my co-workers (and friends, come to think of it via email) about plants and the fact that I can't seem to keep them alive. I have this huge plant (no flowers) that my mom has grown and repotted. I CAN seem to keep that alive, but I think it's only because it's older and not so young and able to die easily. My main problem is....I FORGET TO WATER THEM. I don't even necesarily forget to water them...I think about it and either a) I'm not at home and CAN'T water them or b) I tell myself I'll do it tomorrow and, well, tomorrow comes and goes. Seriously, I have killed an Easter Lilly in a matter of 1 1/2 weeks...WOW! I did remember and ACTUALLY did it...to water the plants this morning....so I give myself brownie points for that!

What else do I have to share...oh, we signed our 'contract' for our reception site for the wedding. We also picked out all of our flowers and met with a photographer (man are they expensive...but I guess I'm also cheap!).

Have to get going....trying to work and blog...doesn't work all too well :-)

They come in three's

3 nicknames you go/have gone by:
Bells, Bella Burpee (my dad), Bebe




3 screennames you have had:
buteefull143, bellahitzke, something with sun in it (don't remember!)




3 things you like about yourself:
my eyes, my sometime sense of style (ha!), my giving personality




3 things you don't like about yourself:
my ocd when it comes to cleaning, my love for sweets, my BAD willpower




3 of your ethnicities:
italian, german, unfortunately polish (no offense)




3 things that scare you:
snakes, death, losing the ones i love




3 of your every day essentials:
coffee, tylenol, blowdryer




3 of your favorite clothing articles:
my comfy green hoody, pretty much anything black :-)




3 of your favorite songs:
such great heights (postal service), have you ever really loved a woman (brian adams), rubella (smoking popes)




3 things your love about your significant other:
his willingness to help me clean even though he knows how i am, he tries (and can) to make me laugh when i'm in a bad mood, his love for all things politics




3 truths about yourself:
i love the color green (and black), i had 2 hernias (and surgery) when i was 3, i want to work with animals




3 of your favorite hobbies:
going for walks in nice weather, reading magazines, baking




3 things you want really badly right now:
a laptop, photoshop, to win the lottery and not work




3 careers you are considering/have considered:
animal shelter owner (wouldn't that be the best!), nurse, stylist




3 places you want to go on vacation:
australia, jamaica, the bahamas




3 kids names you like:
jack ryan, madison (maddy for short), Kayla




3 things you want to do before you die:
have a family, find a career that i truly enjoy, understand politics :-)




3 things that make you a steriotypical girl:
i have to have my nails painted, i have to do my hair, i like to decorate

Some day

Clearly we will not be having kids any time soon. But some day when that time does come around, it will be the most amazing thing to share with my future hubby. It will be a great thing when it happens. We went to Dave & Busters awhile back and they have THE GENE MACHINE. This photobooth type thing scans you and your parters faces and makes you a kid! I wish my hair wasn't died super dark in this...I want a blondey! Isn't she cute though?! I can SO see Ryan's eyes in her! I thought I'd post it for your viewing pleasure. It's cute! We've been talking about our future family and we think we have a pretty good boys name picked out. What fun, huh?!

I hope you had a Happy Easter

I hope you all had a very HAPPY EASTER!!! Mine was very nice. I thought I'd post some pics (mainly for Zizi (aunt in italian) Nikki...I know you like when you get to see pics of everyone). First...a little Easter 'Toon! I've seen it before and just think it's cute :-)

My cousin Cody and me mum

Ryan and muah

The pups - Campbell and Cheech (we thought they ought to have their 'couples' picture too! Ha!

Today is Good Friday. I thought I'd do a little blurb about to remind us all of what happened on this day.





"Good Friday is the Friday within Holy Week, and is traditionally a time of fasting and penance, commemorating the anniversary of Christ's crucifixion and death. For Christians, Good Friday commemorates not just a historical event, but the sacrificial death of Christ, which with the resurrection, comprises the heart of the Christian faith."





I hope you all have a great Easter Weekend

Bebe is home sick :-(

Bebe is me...in case you didn't know! I don't feel good! It started out a couple of days ago. I had a headache (well, I suppose when don't I?!) and a runny nose. Then yesterday, I started to feel my breathing getting worse. Then last night, I kept waking up and sweating and getting cold. So here I am. I wish it would go away. I feel SO congested and achey. My head will NOT stop hurting! Ick! I thought I'd take some pictures (in my boredom) for your blogging pleasure.

Me looking oh so attractive

Mason sure is happy that his mommy is home with him today

This is our cute little Roxy

And this is one of my dilemmas. I have her food on the counter in our kitchen (note the microwave next to her dishes). I have nowhere else to put them. If I put them on the floor, Mason will eat the food and there is nowhere else in the house where they would go. Any suggestions? I was trying to think of 'solutions' that I could make or something like that that would work AND keep the food off of the ground. I cannot find anything whether it be scouring the internet or racking my brain!

Happy First Day Of Spring

(I'm so happy it's technically not winter anymore!)

Goodbye winter, Hello spring!

EDIT: The SUN came out! HALLELUJAH! It's not super sunny out, but it's also not dark and gloomy out! Woo hoo!

Did you know that today is OFFICIALLY the last day of Winter?!

Well, if you didn't, now you do!!! I am SO happy! Although, I'm sure it doesn't mean much around here. Apparently, we are supposed to get a possible six inches of snow on Friday. Eek! I hope that doesn't happen, just in time for Easter, right?!



It's been SO gloomy around here lately. Yesterday it was rainy and dark and today it's not raining, but there is NO sunshine. Frankly, I'm not really digging it. I need some sunshine! For my own sanity! Ha!



I have nothing much to report, except that I'm starting to feel ill :-( My throat hurts, my nose is runny and my head is achey. I hope this goes away...soon!




Happy Last Day of Winter!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of Saint Patrick's Day, I decided to give you some luck with my very own leprechaun! Here he is! What a sport! Ha! I had home put on my green jacket so I could take a picture for the blog! Ha! Isn't he cute though, I mean seriously?!






In one year from now, I'll be Irish. Well, my last name will be!








We had a very eventful day today. I had a doctor's appointment this morning. Then we went to meet with a photographer and a florist. We still have some shopping to do on the photographer aspect of things, but we found our florist! Yay! I'm am SO excited. Every time we do something that has to do with the wedding, I want it to be sooner. Time will fly from now until then though, I'm pretty sure of that! I feel like we accomplished so much today! The flowers will be gorgeous!




*I just realized that I like to use the exclamation mark and the ... (dot, dot, dot) thing quite often*






In honor of St. Patty's Day made some corned beef and cabbage in the crockpot this morning, so it is smelling up the house, in a good kind of way! Mmm...can't wait for dinner!

The day of rest

Today is a day of rest! I got up this morning and worked out (yay! I actually did it! ha!). Once Ryan woke up, we decided to go out to breakfast. We went to Grandma V's. It was delish. The rest of the day, we plan on doing...NOTHING! Other than the movie Awake, a few dvr'd shows (Celebrity Apprentice, Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and Rock of Love) we are doing nothing but lazing around all day long. And guess what...I LOVE IT! We have a list of appointments for tomorrow, so I feel no guilt whatsoever about today!

Do you like the 'food angle'?!?!

I caught him right in the middle of a bite! Sorry?!

Dips, brownies and babies

Whew! It's only Saturday night and it's already been an eventful weekend! Last night, we had our usual PIZZA FRIDAY! Then we went grocery shopping for some of the fun stuff we were going to make this weekend. I did some cleaning and then made a homemade spinach and artichoke dip for today. Two of the girlfriends came over to just hang out and have an appetizer day. This morning, Ava (the little niecey) came over at eight o'clock in the mornin'. We made some brownies and then the girls came over. One of my friends has a little girl who is a little over 1 year old (she is SO darn cute!). We just hung out and it was really a great day! Now...I'm just blogging :-) and watching a Lifetime movie. The Mister had a show tonight. I was just so exhausted after today that I had no energy to socialize (ha!). I am getting good at remembering to take pictures. I have always wanted to have more pictures but never remembered to take any...so I'm trying to be aware!

Hope your weekend is great so far!

These are my ingredients for the SPINACH AND ARTICHOKE DIP. I don't like when recipes have too many ingredients (I don't know why, it's weird, I know, but it just bothers/annoys me :-). This recipe is really very simple. For the recipe click here.

This is the finished product. I forgot to take a picture of it while it was heated in the crockpot...mmm...SO deliscious! Seriously, it was even better than getting it at a restaurant, so fresh! We also had bread with spinach dip and a veggie tray and some brownies (can't forget the chocolate!).

As I had mentioned before, we made some brownies this morning. I, being the good aunt that I am, had to let Ava lick the beaters...

...and lick the bowl! We were all kids once and remember that being the BEST part! I still like doing it today!

This is the finished product. Aren't they so cute! I found these little heart shaped tins, so we decided to make individual brownies.

This picture didn't really turn out too well, which brings me to another subject...we need a new camera!

I think Mason was kind of bored today. I caught him not caring much here, just laying there, probably wishing that a) someone would just give him some scraps or b) he wishes everyone would leave so he could have some peace and quiet. Although, he was all tuckered out after they all left!

Oh and p.s. I did gather up the energy to go out and do some shopping tonight. When I got there, I asked myself what the heck I was doing?! The mall was SO crowded and it was just very unpleasant and stinky in there. Oh well, I got some cute shirts :-)

A treadmill in an apartment

fyi...this is not our apartment (it looks cute though!)

I'm sorry if you're getting sick about hearing about the treadmill. I know I can't be sick of it...seeing I've used it a total of 4 times in the past 2 weeks that we've had it! It's just that, I feel bad when I use it. We are on the third floor in our apartment building and there are people living under us. I'm not thumping on the treadmill when I use it, but I feel like they can hear everything that we do! I work from 10:30am - 7:00pm, so I have to REALLY motivate myself if I want to use it in the morning. I have energy (most of the time) after work...but here is my question. IS THAT TOO LATE TO USE THE TREADMILL? I mean, in terms of being respectful of others?

I thought this was cute and funny...so I put it on here for you!

Bridal Registry

Okay, so I know not that many people really read my blog...and well, those of you that do, I may have already said something to regarding this. The subject today is THE BRIDAL REGISTRY!!! Woo hoo...aren't you SO excited?! Seriously, though, obviously we have to register...and come on, that'll be fun, I'm so looking forward to holding that scanner and running it over anything that we want! On the other note, we don't want China and nice dishes. So that is what this post is all about...DO YOU HAVE TO PUT CHINA AND ALL THAT FANCY SCHMANCY STUFF ON YOUR REGISTRY??? I mean, we are perfectly happy with our dishes from Walmart. Don't get me wrong, they aren't cruddy cheap looking dishes. And we'd be more than happy to go back to Walmart and get some more if we ever break them...or if we choose to change our dishes.

My point here is, we don't want to waste our registry on Fine China and stuff like that. I have also read, recently, that you can put mountain bikes and stuff like that on there. Which seems a little greedy to me...but I would do it!!! :-) I mean, think about it, people put camping gear and other stuff like that on theirs...what if we want to go biking?! I don't know...I just ordered us a Club Wed catalog from Target (which is where we will most likely be registering), so we'll see what happens after that comes!

A fun weekend!

I know this is a little bit late, but hey, better late than never right?! So I think we had a GREAT weekend. On Saturday Ryan works, so I decided to make this day either my rest and relaxation day or a girls day. On Satuday I had a girls day with THIS friend. We went shopping and also went to House of Brides. I believe I found THE wedding dress. I know I may have thought I found THE one before, but I know for sure I didn't, because I know I was settling. I don't think I could possibly be settling with this dress. I'm not going to go into details though...the Mister may read this, and well, we don't want anything getting out!!!

Then after we went on our little shopping trip, we came back to my house and Jenny got to see the new set up! Woo hoo...I just love showing off new things, don't you?! Then, Jen did my hair. Don't I look fabulous?! She is AWESOME!!!

You like?

We went over to my future BIL and SIL's house on Saturday afternoon to just hang out and have some dinner. We ended up going to TGIFridays...of course everything had a wait...but we sat next to a guy that looked exactly like Larry David...that was the SECOND time Ryan and I have seen someone who looked like him! I wish we could see the real thing...he is something else...at least that's what I gather from Curb Your Enthusiasm!!! Love that show! We brought Mason with...becuase he LOVES his 'kissing cousin'. That is Mason and his cousin the pug, Bella (yes...we both have the same name!!! I personally think it's ironic...not offensive!). Anywho...aren't they so cute together?! They were playing but laying in her bed together. It looks like he has his arm wrapped around her...too cute!!!

This is Little C ( I know I said we could use names on here now...but for his sake, we'll keep him undercover!). He is just SO darn cute!!! Don't you think?!


As you can see from this...Sunday was our lazy day! I woke up earlier than the Mister and decided to go shopping. I went to Target and got one of those cool triple bag laundry organizer thingys (can you tell I don't know exactly what to call it?!). We just lounged around all day and got to hang out together. Those are my favorite kind of days :-)