Farewell All My Children

It's been nearly a week since All My Children went off the air, and I have been wanting to post about it.

I am sad.

41 years is a long time.  I have been around for about 18 of it.

My 12 o'clock hour is now filled with a show called The Chew.

Really, how can that be any better than the daily lives of those in Pine Valley?  

The last few weeks of AMC have been pretty eventful.  There were many cameos from past stars, Eva La Rue, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Josh Dumel (be still my heart), Carol Burnett, the returns of Babe, Jamie, Adam, Brooke, Dixie... shall I go on....  I just loved every minute no matter how twisted, and how much it didn't make sense.  If you are a fan of soaps, you learn to be "open minded" about certain things.  For example, even if you bury the person, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are dead.  Hmm.  

Adam/Stuart played by David Canary

 While living in Florida I was able to go to Super Soap Weekend.  I had a great time, and was so glad I got the chance.  It was the best day ever, and I got to see many of the cast, as well as the people from other ABC shows.  My very special moment however was below with Michael E. Knight.  I waited and waited and he came right up to me, thanked me for watching and kissed me on the cheek.  That's right.  Now Tad the Clad may not be that handsome nowadays, but my mom said he was once a heart throb.  Either way, he was extremely sweet and thankful to his fans. He offered to take this picture with my camera, as I was all by myself, and in my excitement I forgot to take the zoom off.  A moment I will never ever forget.

Tad Martin played by Michael E. Knight

Erica Kane played by Susan Lucci
My Daytime Hero

So this is my farewell to All My Children.

You have brightened my days and I will miss you.

The Great and the Least,

The Rich and the Poor,

The Weak and the Strong,

In Sickness and in Health,

In Joy and Sorrow,

In Tragedy and Triumph,

You are ALL MY CHILDREN.

-Agnes Nixon

sweet surprise

About 2 weeks ago, my very sweet husband, sent me these to work.  No one has ever sent me flowers to work before so I was super excited.  Multiplied by the fact that he did nothing wrong and these were flowers sent to me purely because he thinks I am, well, the best.  I couldn't have a better husband.

Baby S's Baby Shower

My cousin Marta's Baby Shower was September 18th.  She is due to have the baby girl October 30th, and she couldn't be more glowing.  Seriously, I know they say a woman always glows when they are pregnant, but she really is... Mike and Marta are so excited to have Baby S.  It's so exciting to see THEM excited.

 Besides a lovely salad and chicken lunch, we each dined on one of these amazing cupcakes.

Here's my place setting.

 I didn't get the yearbook picture of Mike and Marta looking at the camera, but I got this one and I love it.

Not to mention the pink Converse!

Best present of them all, in my opinion!

The shoes come in with a close second, Baby Girl's first bikini, in which Mike said...

"She will not be wearing a bikini!!"

And then there's us.  

My mom, Jennah (who was kindly included in the excitement of Baby S), Me and Camille

Cheers to Mike and Marta!!!

Can't wait to meet your lil' one!

Gabe and Jennah

 Now, normally I only see a Flosser every now and then.  Sometimes none in a year, sometimes multiple in a year.  I have been blessed to have the opportunity to see Jennah twice this year.  The first was in April when I tagged along on Adam's business trip to San Francisco, and the second was last week when Jennah did the same on her hubby's business trip to Chicago.  

It's a lot of fun hanging with J and Gabe.  It's starting to seem that our visits only end up with the wish that San Fran and Chicago were neighbors.  We only had a short time with them, and so we did what any good Chicago-en would do.  Food and Baseball!

 J and Gabe must have brought some good luck to Chicago cause the Cubs won!  I don't think I have been to a winning game in a good 5 years!  

Ron Santo Statue

 We took them to Five Guys.  This was their first visit.  And I have a strong feeling it won't be their last.  There was a lotta talk about assets and how much money Gabe and Adam would need to come up with to follow thru in the 5 Guys franchise.

Now, sadly we tried Al's Beef in Wrigleyville after the Cubs game and we were quite disappointed.  Adam and I had to redeem ourselves.  We just had too... so about 15 minutes after 5 Guys we stopped at Portillos where we split a beef sandwich 4 ways.  Don't judge.  It was worth it.

We had milkshakes too.  

9/11, 2011

It was a crisp, sunny morning, and I was driving to school.  I turned my radio on and it was dead silence.  Cursing my radio, I thought it was broken.  

I got to school, I walked in, and everyone was gathered around the main television in the student lounge.  Curious as to why, I stood with them, and watched with horror as the second plane went into the tower.  

CONFUSION, GRIEF, RAGE, DEATH, VIOLENCE, TERROR, DISBELIEF

Knowing that life would never ever be the same.

I realized then that the radio didn't work, because they evacuated the Sears Tower, and many Chicago stations are broadcast in it.  

I walked in a daze to my Biology class, where all together we were consoling a girl who's best friend worked in the Pentagon.  She could not get thru to her by phone.  My professor, let us sit as a group and speak about what was happening in our country and not a word of Biology.  I spoke of my friend Cassie who was going to  school at NYU.  Worried because I couldn't get a hold of her.  In the days following, she sent a detailed mass email of her witness to the event, one that I printed out and have to this day.

Today marks 10 years and we are still 

CONFUSED, we are still full of GRIEF and RAGE, VIOLENCE is still prevailing, and we are a nation in constant worry when the next terrorist attack will occur.  All while moving forward and trying to live our lives.  

At work, at the chapel we have a basket filled with all the names of those who lost their lives that day.  Those who wanted too in the last week were to pick a name from the basket and pray for that person.  I chose, Garth, he was 28 years old, on 9/11.  I prayed for him and for his family that they have found some sort of PEACE with all the RAGE, the GRIEF, the VIOLENCE, and the CONFUSION that they had endured these past 10 years.

Where were you when the world stopped spinning, that September day?

I'll always remember.

Is it Halloween Yet?

 Cause we are ready!

Carrie Underwood

I made my way to Ravinia two weeks in a row, this time to see Carrie Underwood over Labor Day Weekend.  On a whim, I bought four tickets when they went on sale months ago, without asking anyone before hand.  3 fabulous ladies were able to attend, Andrea, Alisa, and Ashley.  

Needless to say the grounds were packed, I'm not sure there were many blades of grass left.  But alas, we found ourselves a little spot, we settled in, dining on fruit and wine, hummus, cookies, cheese and crackers.

Carrie's voice was amazing.  She sang with the orchestra and she did not disappoint.  

Us and our FeAsT

I was able to see Carrie between the arms of two people.

Ashley was able to fly in all the way from O-town to be at the show, and to hang out for Labor Day weekend. Our weekend was fun, catching up, manicures, pedicures, shopping, and seeing Crazy Stupid Love!

I am so glad that she was able to fly in and enjoy Midwest livin' for a bit.