la cucaracha, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar...

So, I really hate cockroaches. I have cucaracha PTSD from the mission. Not cool. However, since my trusty friend Melanie has moved away I have become the "Cockroach Killer". I'm a local hero in my house. Nevertheless, cockroaches give me the heebie jeebies. They are vile little buggers that just don't die. In SC we have cockroaches called Palmetto Bugs. They are really ginormous tree roaches just a bit smaller than the puppy sized ones I faced as a missionary in Venezuela. Thank goodness for Raid.

chi town

So my trip to Chicago was a whirlwind one (or if you're Gov. Sanford that would be "world wind"). Trip to Chicago you say? Yes, that's right. A few months ago my old mission comp and dear friend "Griffs" contacted me and begged me to come nanny for what would be by then her 8 month old nursing daughter while she attended a conference for her job as a Pampered Chef director. After she twisted my arm by showing me cute pics of the baby I accepted. Her dear mother provided airline miles for a ticket and Griffs provided the hotel accommodations. Love them! So, here's my itinerary:

1. Sunday night: I flew out, spent a glorious 7.5 hours in a layover in ATL thanks to some spontaneous thunderstorms, and made it to my hotel in the heart of Chicago somewhere around 2am. Nice. Here is a view from the room, 29 floors up:


2. Monday: I woke up to an empty hotel room and sleeping baby. Showered and got ready in time for baby to wake up to a stranger. We hit it off instantly of course... and have been BFFs ever since. We spent most of the day at the conference center so mom could nurse. Early afternoon we headed back and took a long walk around a few of the blocks in front of the hotel. Across the street from our hotel is the NBC studio where Oprah is filmed. I gave her a shout out. Monday night was pizza from Giordano's. Deep dish is tasty!!


3. Tuesday: Pretty much the same as Monday. More Aimee and baby bonding time. So fun. I did manage to squeeze in some solid chat time with my dear Griffs while baby nursed and slept. I even got to sneak into the back of the PC training. The auditorium was packed with a lot of wild women, fog machines, glitter outfits, hand clappers, noise makers, and other unmentionables. What happened there is top secret. If you want to know more you are gonna have to talk to Griffs. Here are some fun pics of me and baby on the bus rides:

Oh, and here is a view of the Chi Town skyline from the bus:


4. Wednesday: A short trip to the conference center for the morning. Griffs and I then took a nice speed walk through downtown Chicago under construction in order to catch a lift to the airport aboard the "El" train. I kept expecting to see the one armed man... or better yet a little Harrison Ford. We made it through security... it only took about a hundred hours.. and then we inhaled our lunch... for Griffs.. that is almost literal. We said our goodbyes and I made it home before midnight. Here is a pic of Griffs and my sweaty self on the train. Please excuse the crazy eyes:

Now it's back to life. Back to reality.

it's about time

So.... 6 months, 1 week, 3 days, 4 hours, and 27 seconds later I finally have a semi-operating blog. Yeah, that's right. I thought I was somewhat tech savvy but apparently I'm little behind the times when it comes to operating the "blogger". Thanks to my two roomies I have finally gotten up and running. Or at least speed walking. Hopefully I won't fall off of the bandwagon after so much effort to get started. I imagine blogging will be a little bit easier than exercising. Here's to sharing my personal life and soapbox thoughts over the world wide web. Cheers!