Spring is Coming!

here's Ryan from game on sun, note the bottle caps stuck to his forehead, i though it was hilarious!

wed afternoon was beautiful, and mia and i took full advantage of it by driving around and going to clinton lake. the pic with the building in it is the new UM church being built near clinton lake, what a great view for a church!

my weekend

so this weekend, i went to camp gaea for the spring equinox, took pictures of alan (a remarkable acheivement since he's worried about losing part of his soul), and hung out with Mel and derek's parents. i did all of this (and more!) with a hideous cold! ta-dah!

my weekend

so this weekend, i went to camp gaea for the spring equinox, took pictures of alan (a remarkable acheivement since he's worried about losing part of his soul), and hung out with Mel and derek's parents. i did all of this (and more!) with a hideous cold! ta-dah!

would that we had such a hero!

St Patrick's day

so last night was St Patty's day and we had people over for a little shindig. the guest list included: Yuka, Sam, Daniel, Alan, Ryan, Cybil, Tuck, Mia, Heather, Jose, Derek, and myself. we grilled: hot dogs, turkey steaks, hamburgers, bell peppers, and asparagus. mia brought a chocolate mocha cake, and ryan brought some really smooth whiskey. all-in-all it was a good evening.

new toys call for desperate measures

so this is my dad's new truck.

ahh, penny-arcade, how i love thee!

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2006/20060118h.jpg

pics of kansas (Lawrence is a beautiful place!)

we do have some skies around here, huh?

Chicago Trip, Part II

here we are again. this cathedral pic is from when i wandered around while derek napped. after dinner we decided to go try to get tickets to Wicked, which was sold out but the borders next to the theater had a give away drawing two hours before the show. so we take a taxi down there (it's about 13F, burrh!) and we do the drawing thing, but we didn't win. we decide to walk back to the hotel (that's from the middle of the loop to the top end of downtown) it takes about an hour, and it's really cold, but we had a good time taking-in the city. unfortunately, there was a bronze bull on the loose, it was going to ram a bus full of children; luckly derek wrestled it to the ground, and the city rewarded us by letting us discover Crate & Barrel (an awesome store of awesomeness!) it was four stories of goodness, and i here tell that there's one in KC, i can't wait to go! we spent the rest of the night drinking a bottle of wine, then waking up with blue lips (whoot! hey, we're not driving). the next morning is -30 (omg, yes, i'm serious), but we only have a few hours before we leave for the airport, so i get derek up and we check out of the hotel by 9am, check our bags at the desk for later, and hit the street. we head for the handcock building which is only three blocks away, and we actually stop halfway to by a scarf for derek. we finally get there and go up the 94 stories to a great view of the city on a crystal clear morning. that building in the middle with the curved top is our hotel. this other is a nice shot (i thought) of part of the skyline with lake michigan. after that we walked back to the hotel and grabbed some hot cocoa till the sushi resturaunt that we wanted to go to opened. it was very good, and it was right next to the thai




consolate (consolates are everywhere!). look, you can see derek's new scarf! after a tasty lunch we grabbed the bags and had scott (the car guy) take us to the blue line station so that we could hop the train to the airport for $4 total, instead of the taxi which was $40. it was really cold waiting for the subway cause there was a breeze and no heat at all (and still -30!) i think that these shots of us bundled up are hilarious! iwas wearing three tops and two pairs of pants!
derek had a good time sporting kansas pride with that had. the night we walked back to the hotel, a couple of punks yelled at us about "the farm" or something. we seriously discussed if we should "keep it real" and go kick their asses and show them that you don't mess with kansas, but we decided to be nice. anyway, the train came and we went to the airport and headed home. all in all we had a fine time, and derek and i definately love to travel! we're thinking about going in the summer for the taste of chicago.

Chicago Trip, Part I

This is the hotel room in chigago. we stayed at the Omni, it's 4stars, and it was awesome!

that's me in the bed, trying to not be so sick after really bad plane ride!













hey, that TV's the same size as the one at home, it's like we never left. derek ate a snickers bar. was it good derek, cuz the little paper here says that it's $4!

This is the Japanese Consolate, which we went to right after we checked into the hotel and i changed my clothes. it was really rainy, but i think that i looked really good, and everyone knew who i was and kept asking how i was feeling.

after my JET interview we went back to the hotel to change clothes, again. it had been raining badly when we went to the consolate, but it had stopped by the time we left. we decided to go see a sketch comedy show called "immaculate deception". we catch a ride to the second city theater, but we have a little less than 2 hours till the show, so we scope out a place to eat, we end up at this classy irish resturaunt. derek actually orders fish and i have chicken, and it's very good. we donate our leftovers to the girl at the ticket counter and kick back with a few drinks. it was a really good show and we had a great time. it was snowing (light and dusty) when we left and took a cab back to the hotel.

it was a beautiful and clear day on fri morning, and derek and i get ready for our day out sight-seeing. we have the complimentary car service booked to take us to the aquarium at 10am, so at 9 we head down to the hotel's resturaunt and eat a very nice, all-be-it pricey, breakfast.

then we rode with Scott, the car driver, in the nice towncar and have a nice conversation about the city. he dropped us off at the aquarium, and we proceeded to dodge small children and take many photos, all of which i will not bother to post. we saw the coral reef exhibit and the oceanarium.

yes, love the balugas! then we walked over to the planetarium and watched to shows, one more historical and the other was for identifying stars in the sky for that night in chicago. hehe, extreme penguin close-up!




after that, derek was totally tired. we ride the bus back to the hotel, and derek lays down for a nap. i find out where a good place for chicago deep-dish pizza is, and order take-out for dinner. i walk around downtown for about on hour till it's ready then go back to the hotel to wake up derek with pizza. he was pleased.

the beginning?

ok, so this is me on my birthday in January. my bf and I went to Chicago last month, and i've been wanting to find a way to share our trip pics. also, i love my digi cam and i love to show off my general pics that i take all the time. let's see if i can figure this out...