MoJo's Wedding

My nephew Jordan tied the knot September 20th.  Adding another Morgan to our lives... we have Erica's Morgon, Adam's Morgen, and now Jordan's Morgan.  All spelled differently.

The wedding and reception was located at my sister and brother in law's home in Rochelle, Illinois.  

While the day started out rainy, the skies cleared and the sun came out just in time for them to say their "I DO's."  They wrote their own vows which was pretty awesome.  It had to have made even the most stoic person give a smirk, a smile, and maybe even a tear.

They each had their siblings stand by their sides, and their parents walked them down the aisle.  

Ryan, Rachael's husband, was the officiant and did a great job.

Afterward, cocktail hour started and this was the first time Adam got to see and hold his great nephew Elliot.

the cake

Can you tell these two are related?

"Hey, Erica, hold Elliot for a minute.  I'll be right back."-Rachael

  Half an hour later she comes back, after I already handed him off to Dad, bottle finished, but too afraid to burp him myself.

Have you seen a cuter couple?

These are my siblings... shockingly, together for the 3rd time in less than 2 years.

And that's me and my very own Maid of Honor.

I couldn't be happier adding Morgan to our family.  I know I am just the Aunt in the whole scheme of things, and no one cares what I think, but Morgan adds a special flare to any gathering.  She's cheerful, warm, and caring.  The two really complement each other quite nicely, and I am just genuinely happy for them.  

Cheers to many many years of LOVE and HAPPINESS, Mr. and Mrs.!

The Day We Saw a Legend

I begin this story on a summery July 25th day, as I was joyfully dropped due to a low census at work.  It gave me just the right reason to stay home and get my computer all ready to go to purchase Garth Brooks tickets.   I headed to Ticketmaster feeling confident, and waited till the 10 o'clock hour.  I clicked right as the clock struck 10.  And then waited for 2 hours before I finally gave up.  We weren't going to see a legend after all.

Garth heard about this, and added more shows to his first stop on his world tour. Since the first 4 concerts sold out in a jiffy, he added 7 more, the man does what he wants.  It's good to be Garth.  It was too good to be true.

Garth is cool in a way that he charges the same exact price per seat whether you are in row 4 or row 104.  It's quite the concept, that first come first serve business.  Because all the tickets to the further shows were sold out AGAIN, I wasn't aware at the time he added more shows, I was like a mouse who didn't get the cheese.  We resorted to Stub Hub, paid a little more, and chose his last show in Chicago.  Secretly, my top three picks to go would have been his first show, his 9/11 show, or his last one.  I was pleasantly happy.

Garth caused quite the commotion on Interstate 90 for all his concerts.  Backing up traffic for miles with people trying to get in and then get out again on the nights he did double shows.  So, we took that into account and showed up early, getting parking right away and actually waiting to enter the building.

So we walk in, and find our seats, get up, walk around again, grab beer and sit back down in our seats, trying to kill time.  We were perfectly happy with our seat choice as we had an easy out to run to the bathroom if need be, totally saying "you know, I wouldn't want to sit that close," as we pointed and squinted our eyes to the front rows.  I made Adam take the forced picture once and then twice because the first lady who took it had no idea what the heck she was doing.  We sat back down, getting excited.  The crowd was starting to form.

In a strange turn of events, this man sits down in front of us, and promptly turns around and says, "Hi, My name is Aaron."  ...great... we have a talker in front of us... "Yah, I'm Aaron and I work for Garth.  What's your name?"  ... holds hand out to shake it...  ....heart beating... oh my... he works for Garth... I'm going backstage... I'm going to meet him...  "So I have two tickets to the second row if you guys want them... you just have to promise to stand and dance and sing the whole time."  "Wait, whatttttttttttt???? Are you for real?"  Aaron said he wasn't joking, showed us the tickets and we crossed our hearts and promised we would have a good time.  He gave us the tickets and then he was off.  Adam and I stared at each other like we were doing something wrong, got up and went to find whatever gate one walks thru to get to the 2nd row.

Upon arriving to the second row, we stared up at our original seats.  All the stress of trying to buy the tickets a distant memory.  "How many rows do you think we moved up?" -Adam.

Life was good in the 2nd row.  Garth started and I thought we were just going to shred apart our vocal cords.  I never screamed so loud, sang so loud, stomped my feet so loud, in my life.

There were times where Mr. Brooks was looking at me.  In my eyes, and mine only.  He worked the crowd like it was no one's business.  Grabbing a girl in the first row's camera, giving it to his band mate, then proceeded to lie on the ground to get in a picture with her and her friends, that his band mate took ALL while singing Friends in Low Places.  What a charmer.  He sang all the hits.  He thanked the crowd over and over.  He was high energy.  He was fun, He was genuine.  Amazing.  I probably would have thought that sitting in one of the last rows like we were originally in as well... but perhaps him flicking his sweat down and being able to see it hit the stage enhanced that a tad.  Adam and I kept to our promise.  We sang, we danced, we saw, we conquered.  We were within feet of a legend.

Erica Day

I declared one Saturday earlier this month Erica Day.  We did what I wanted to do.  I always say that we live in a beautiful city full of wonderful things to do, but do we ever do them, NO.  The sun was shining the weather was crisp, so we headed down town for the day to be tourists in the city I love so much.  The day started off with a donut at a place Adam tells me he goes to frequently.  How I have never heard of it before that day is crazy to me... but we went, we ate, and our stomachs hurt after.  ONWARD.... to da BEAN.

Because you can't walk by it without taking the millionth picture.  It really just marks the occasion.

ONWARD... to da LAKE.

There is nothing like being by Lake Michigan on a beautiful day.  It's just so pretty... to look out and see the beautiful boats, and water, and then to turn around and see the gorgeous skyline.  Each position you place your feet in Chicago, you get a new look.  I am totally convinced that if I lived downtown... taking up a daily run along the lake would not be that hard to do. 

Last December I bought a Groupon for a hotel which included two tickets to the Field Museum.  Now while I didn't want to spend all day inside with the weather being so nice... I do know that Adam and I are not much into museums.  And we were done walking through it in about 1.5 hours.  

Dinosaurs and mummies, really, what else is there to see!!!!???  

ONWARD: Back to da Lake.  So now I have us walking all the way out to the planetarium.  I had never been out there and I demanded that today be the day.  We ended up finding a nice patch of grass and laid down with some other people resting.  Our view was this skyline.  Not too shabby and now, my new place to take people who visit!!!

MENTAL NOTE: We must go back to the Planetarium.

Our next destination was Wrigley Field.  I haven't been to a game in about 2 years, and thought now is the time.  When the Cubs are about the worst they can be... let's go.  And so we did.  We took the Red Line.  And got to Clark and Addison, (I repeat and say that loud and clear just for my favorite reader, Adam, Clark and Addison) in a jiffy.  It's always fun being in Wrigleyville.  People are crazy. 

We ended up having to watch 3 innings of the game from the day before since it got rained out and they had to finish it.  In the end, we didn't see one run scored by the Cubs.  Seriously... the only thing that could make this better... BBQ food.  I want BBQ food!  And onward... BBQ FOOD.

With permission from my mom who was dog sitting while we were lolly gagging in Chicago, we then made one last minute stop at Bub City.  A country bar/restaurant.  My kind of place.  We were seated right away with some last minute Open Table reservations.  The food was delicious and we will certainly be back.  I had ribs, Adam had beef brisket.  I wish I ordered the beef brisket.

After that we headed home.  I plan great days.  Don't you think?

Coraline is ONE!

One of my favorite little ladies turned ONE earlier this month!!!  Isn't she totally adorable?  Coraline's birthday party was a week before her actual birthday at Dave's mom and dad's house in Bartlett.  Decked out completely in Hello Kitty, despite the recent allegations that Hello Kitty is actually a human, it was as cute as can be.   Coraline had a very good time once she woke up and joined her party.  This girl is loved so so much!