Injustice

So, you may think I'm going to write about all the injustices that are committed daily around the world, but no. This is something that comparatively is not life-threatening, but is a terrible deed nonetheless.

The Chicago Cubs second baseman, Darwin Barney, was not placed on the All-Star ballot. He the Cubs everyday second baseman, as opposed to Blake DeWitt, who was the one on the ballot. Barney has had a fantastic rookie year so far, and he deserves to at least be on the ballot. So, we need your help to make him a contender, to steal my dear cousin's words. So, please go vote for Darwin Barney! It will take five or so minutes (and you can vote up to 25 times!).

If I haven't convinced you, please take a few minutes to read this excellent post and this second part. :)

Gorgeous Gals in Green

 I apologize for the cheesy title...I was just feeling like doing something alliterated.

So here's for a sneak peak at my lovely bridesmaids. (Note: Not all the dresses have the sash/bow on them when I took these.)



Elisa

 

Alyson

 

Hannah

I apologize for the angled look here...I was sort of sitting down and must have been feeling crazy at the time. ;)



Lizzy

 

The Back of the Dresses




Annie



Amy



Quote

"True friends are like diamonds - precious and rare." - Our Daily Bread

So, to each of my wonderful, amazing, thougthful, true friends...you are precious, rare, and so incredibly appreciated and loved!

Games

One of the funnest (yes, funnest) things to do when Lizzy and I are together is play games.

We played some intense rounds of Connect Four. Then when we were done with that, we decided to make beautiful designs out of the checkers.

Or silly designs...

And our all-time favorite...Boggle. This is a must, a it-wouldn't-be-a-real-get-together-with-Lizzy-without-this type of game. Quite fun, and quick if you only have a few minutes to fill.

Can you find what we found? (Need a hint? Think out of the box...Think proper noun, I know, I know...Think baseball...Think Cubs)

That's right! Starling...as in Starlin Castro! Quite exciting to say the least. Especially after another round of Boggle about a year ago...

(Need a hint? Think out of the box...Think proper noun...think Hockey...think Blackhawks)

You got! Toews, as in Chicago Blackhawk Jonathan Toews! Very exciting (especially since this was right after they won the Stanley Cup!).

So, that basically sums up our games. We also played a game of Scrabble, also a must on our visits. Lots of fun had by all!

Taking in a Ccccold Cubs Game

While Lizzy was here, we got to go to a Cubs game! The only downer was that it was FREEZING cold!

We were very thankful for the day's giveaway...

When we got there, we stood down by the field, taking in batting practice.

I thought this was kind of funny. A ball fell into one of the deep baskets, and the fans asked the usher to retrieve the ball for them. (Side note: The following Monday I had a friend and her dad ended up with Darwin Barney's first major league home run ball, which was in this section of the basket. In exchange for giving him the ball, they got to meet him and bunch of the other players, and get their autographs!)

After batting practice, we headed up to the right field upper deck to settle in for a chilly night.

I did keep score, even though I wore multiple layers, had a snuggie, and had a thick quilt to keep warm!

Thankfully, the game was quite a short one, even though it went into the tenth inning because there were no runs scored! Then Geovany Soto got a single, and Tyler Colvin (aka Hero of the Night) drove him in with a double!!! All the fans jumped to their feet as Soto scored. Colvin was mobbed by his teammates, and there was a wonderful Kissy Huggy Deal. :) (Unfortunately my fingers were too cold to move fast enough to find and pull out my camera to take a picture, so I took a mental picture of the beautiful sight.)

*For tips on how to survive a freezing cold Cubs game please see my cousin's funny, but practical blog post.

Decisions

A few weeks ago I had the joy of having my wonderful cousin, Lizzy, visit for a week! :)

If you know me or Lizzy, then you will know that this plaque fully describes our capabilities in the decision making area.

Ryan asked us to pick out paint colors for all the rooms in our little house. So off to the hardware store we went. When we saw all the walls full of SO many colors, we just stood there. Where do we start? How do we pick? There's so many choices!

We decided we needed to just jump in and begin somewhere.

And here are our results, which Lizzy appropriately named "decisions." Each of these is a decision we made, so be proud of us.



All the Decisions

Then, we took all these to the house and looked at them in the rooms. And we eliminated many options. In fact, we got it down to one-four options per room! :)

Half the of the elimated choices.

 

The other half of the eliminated colors.

Later, Ryan and I made the final decisions for each of the rooms from the 1-4 options.

The final choices:
-Breezeway - Funshine (Guess what color that is!)
-Kitchen - Creamy Buttermilk (Delicious off-white, creamy color; two of the other choices were vanilla custard and banana cream pie...mmm!)
-Living room - Sea Grass (Kind of a light sage green)
-Bathroom - Pale Vista (Light green)
-Our bedroom - New Day (Any guesses? ;) It's light blue.)
-Little bedroom - Lime Sorbet (Mmm, yummy...this is a bright light green.)