Go CUBS, GO!

What a beautiful day for a Cubs game! Thanks to Fifth Third Bank, we enjoyed some fantastic seats! We took my sister, Lena, to her very first game for her birthday. After we got downtown, we ate outside at Uncommon Ground for lunch. Then Soriano kicked off the game with a homerun in the 1st inning. It was a great day and the Cubs WON! All week long when we were watching the weather, we weren't expecting the best weather, but we had quite the surprise today!

I fished for the 1st time!

I can't believe I forgot to post about my first fishing experience! I've never really had any interest in doing ANY fishing, but once I saw John's Dad continue to catch fish right there off the dock, I thought it would be fun to try. Unfortunately I didn't catch anything, but the anticipation of hoping to catch one was still fun. Maybe next time. What if I caught enough to feed us for dinner? Then I could pretend I was on Survivor or something.

Also, we made sure to purchase as much gas as possible while in MO since the taxes are cheaper there. What's up with IL??

Well, just thought I'd post a few last pictures from our road trip last week! It was fun & we can't wait to go back!

My Twin

I've been told several times that I look like Tony Romo (maybe he looks like me) and now I'm beginning to think we sound alike too. Wrigley's such an awesome place!!

Lakehouse Pics

John's Dad (Les) caught some fish off the dock yesterday so we had that for dinner last night and then relaxed & watched some TV before bed. This morning we got up, went for a walk and had eggs on the deck. Connie, John & I fit in another Scrabble game and then John & I took our very first ride on the waverunner!! Yahoo! We took it easy since it's still a little chilly, but it was great to try it out!

Luckily we came in at the right time cause it clouded up and there's rumblings of some thunder. BOO. But, I'm not too sad cause we're headed to the outlet mall now for lunch and a little shopping. Hopefully it will clear up later. I've never watched the Weather Channel so much in my life! Wait, now there's a tornado watch. Oh brother!

ROAD TRIP

Yesterday we took our first road trip in a long time. . .down to Sunrise Beach, MO to John's parent's lakehouse. And we're lovin' it here!

Here are a couple pics of how we've been spending today: breakfast on the deck, a short pontoon boat ride (a little chillier than we'd hoped), and now they're getting some work done to their driveway while John's grilling out some burgers for lunch. Yum!

We're going to relax, play some games, hit the outlet mall and hopefully do a little jet skiing tomorrow. It's supposed to be a little warmer then.

Check out this gargantuan!

A Fun Weekend

It has been a busy, but fun weekend. Friday night we went to a wedding at our church, followed by dinner with my Mom & Lena at Francesca's in south Naperville. It was the first time any of us had been there and we really liked it. The service was exceptional - from the hostess to the waitress to the waitress' 'assistant'. She was so attentive to our needs, it really felt like she was only servicing our table! You don't get that kind of service very many places (except in Cancun). Although, the only part I got slightly annoyed with was that she would fill our water so much that I could barely even take a couple sips of it before she was filling it again.

On Saturday morning, John had the first game of his softball season bright and early at 7:30am. He's on our church team and half the team are guys on staff so it's always fun to go watch. Sandy & I headed out there, but had to end up leaving early beacuse it was SO cold & windy! They kicked off the season well. . .2-0!

And today we hosted another one of our Pinochle Smackdowns! This is where my Mom's whole side of the family gets together and we spend the afternoon playing a round robin pinochle tournament. It won't be a surprise that my cousin, Matt, and his wife, Sarah, took home the golden trophy. Today was NOT my day for good cards, although Papa and I still managed to come in 2nd place.

We also got a chance to break in our new baggo set and Lena & I ended up wearing the same shirt.

Now we're just chillin on the couch, enjoying a quiet night at home and watching the Cubs game.

YEA for new floors

Finally the day has come where I don't have to look in disgust at our kitchen floor!

OLD















NEW!

Homebound

We had a great vacation...always a sad day when you're sitting at the airport waiting to go home. I know, you probably don't feel bad for us, do you? I am excited to see Sandy after 10 days, though. :)

We weren't able to go kayaking yesterday because of the windy & cloudy weather...bummer. BUT, it was a nice, relaxing day. We dined at Fazoli's for lunch - one of John's favorites that's not around the Chicago area anymore. Then I hung at the pool with Amber & the kids while John & Rudy played tennis. Also in the afternoon, the resort we were staying at had a little animal educational show-and-tell kinda thing. John ended up getting nominated to be one of the models to display 2 tarantulas and a scorpion. The funny thing was they asked for a volunteer who was wearing white so John stuck out like a sore thumb! We like to call him Spiderman now.

For dinner we all ate at Coconuts on the Beach and grabbed some ice cream at a place called Scoops.

Check out the vaca pic-o-rama below!

Vacation Pics

Well, we had a great time at Aquatica on Friday. We went on everything at least once, if not more...even the scary, straight-down tube slides! The dolphin ride was a little overrated. You're going so fast down the slide that you can't even see the dolphins anyway. They were more of a sight to see here by this window.

Now we're in Cocoa Beach enjoying more fun in the sun with our friends, Amber & Rudy, and their kids, Aubrey & Benjamin. Tonight we ate outside at Jack Baker's Lobster Shanty.

Tomorrow morning John & I are going to experience some kayaking on the Banana River! Maybe we'll get to see some manatees or dolphins up close?!

Aquatica, Aquatica, Here We Come

In less than 12 hours, John & I will be laying in the sun at Sea World's brand new waterpark, Aquatica, and we can't wait!! One of the attractions is the Dolphin Plunge where you get to race down a tube slide through an underwater world of dolphins! Now that's cool!

Another thing I'm excited about is the lazy river called Loggerhead Lane. It's not just your average lazy river, though. This one takes you through an underwater world of tropical fish!

Stay tuned for a post-Aquatica report. . .

Us and Rick Warren

NewThing hosted a pizza dinner tonight at our hotel with guest speaker, Rick Warren! We invited 200 church planters and their teams, told them a little bit about NewThing and then had the opportunity to hear from Rick for the rest of the night. He opened up the floor for Q&A and everyone had a chance to ask their burning questions.

That's right, he really put his arm around me AND gave us all hugs afterward. My Mom asked how we could pray for him and, without even thinking about it he told us, "Humility, integrity and generosity." What a great guy!

From left to right: Sherry, Bill, me, Rick, my Mom (Pat) and Carter.

Wednesday Conference Pics

More Conference Pics

Exponential Conference 2008

I am in Orlando at the Exponential Conference, otherwise known as the National New Church Conference. LOTS of church planters here! We arrived on Sunday night, had 2 pre-conference sessions (Monday afternoon & this morning) and then the actual conference began this afternoon at 1pm. I finally started taking some pictures today AND I'm finally able to get online so here are some of the moments of the day. I think the highlight was getting to hear Andy Stanley's talk about Making Vision Stick. He is a fantastic speaker.

Brad & Anne Prunty in our cool new NewThing shirts at our NewThing booth!

Jon leading '5 Lessons to Save You 5 Years' in our multi-site pre-conference session.

Julie & I at the Catalyst Conference van

Main Auditorium - yep, that's Eric Bramlett on stage.

Josh Jackaway also sportin' a NewThing shirt

Dinner with some of the team at Seasons 52 - my favorite Orlando restaurant!

I just don't get it.

See this car in front of our house. Well, it isn't ours!! I can't figure out why our neighbors insist on parking in front of OUR house. It just baffles me, or, I should say frustrates me. It would be one thing if they had so many cars that they couldn't fit them in their garage or the space in front of their own house but there's nothing stopping them from parking in any of those places.

Anyway, I know I've overreacted but I couldn't help it, I went out last night and slashed their tires... NO, no I didn't, but its really got me worked up.

I think the biggest thing is our old neighbors (who just moved out) ALWAYS parked in front of our house, too. Same thing, they could have parked in front of their own house, but for some reason people seem to like the space in front of OURS. When they moved out and the new family moved in I thought we would be in the clear. Then I look out and see this. I just don't get it.

I'm trying to decide if this continues maybe I'll have to say something. I usually don't get worked up about too much but for some reason this one really bothers me. I have a good starting line though. I could just tell them that the mailman has a hard time getting to our mailbox, which he does.

We'll see, hopefully this won't continue and I won't have to say anything.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

On Sunday we celebrated my Dad's 55th Birthday at our house with my family, G & G Masek, and Papa. I made spaghetti with meat sauce (one of my Dad's faves) with fresh green beans. We had fun hanging out, playing Scrabble, looking at pictures and, of course, playing pinochle. I never want to take these moments for granted. Happy Birthday, Dad! Here's to another great year!

Enjoy the pics (oh, and you'll notice my Mom on her Blackberry!)

A Reason to Celebrate

Its been two weeks now since I took the CFP exam. Completing the 18 months of classes and studying for the exam called for a little celebration. In the picture is the group - mostly people from Fifth Third and two guys from Wachovia. Over the last year and a half we all supported and motivated each other to continue with the program and get through it all. I don't think I could have stuck it out if it wasn't for these people. I really enjoy that type of camaraderie.

We decided to take a half day Thursday and met up for lunch at Moretti's in Schaumburg and then headed over to Brunswick for a few games of bowling. It was a great time!!

It has been a HUGE sense of relief having the exam behind me. Although I don't find out until the 1st or 2nd week of May if I passed or not, still, just being finished has been great. For the last 18 months it has been in the back of my mind no matter what were doing. I feel like a new person ready to live life again!

I've already packed a ton in to the last two weeks from going to the bulls game with my Dad, PF Changs with Amber & Rudy, guys night playing poker, dinner and pinochle with Mike and Stephanie, hanging out with TJ & Ginger, breakfast with my buddy, Todd, and today celebrating Rick's birthday. This is what I LOVE to do and am all about!! I love being with people, living life to the full and having a good time no matter what I'm doing. Its not that I didn't have any fun while going through this class, it's just that over the past few weeks I've been more aware and have valued all these moments even more.

Idols Shout: Addendum

It wasn't until this morning when my friend, Sean Bublitz, pointed out that they removed the word "Jesus" from the beginning of the song. I went back and listened and, sure enough, they sing "Shepherd" instead of Jesus! It's the first line of the song: "My Jesus, my Saviour, Lord there is none like You. . ." Intriguing. Interesting. Sad.

Idols Shout

Wouldn't it be cool if we didn't have to be shocked to hear a song like this on American Idol? I know we were shocked. . .we sing this at church! I wonder what went through the contestants' heads as they were singing the lyrics? Well, at any rate, it's pretty cool.

I LOVE Vitality!

As I mentioned in my post about Orlando, I LOVE the Vitality Program! Through our health insurance, we get rewarded for being healthy. The Vitality Program integrates education, fitness, prevention & lifestyle tools to encourage us to make smarter choices and then reward us for it - with cost savings, FREE merchandise. So, for example, if I run in a race or donate blood or get a physical, I earn Vitality Bucks. The more bucks I earn, the higher my status (Bronze to Silver to Gold and then to the coveted Platinum). The higher your status, the less bucks you need to purchase items.

This week has been great...kind of like Christmas in April! Yesterday, our Garmin GPS came and today my 5-qt Kitchen Aid Heavy Duty mixer came! Now I'm just waiting for our carpet cleaner! Maybe that will be tomorrow?

In fact, I love this program so much, I even became our organization's "Vitality Champ" where I get to encourage our staff to participate in different events to help get them to Platinum status!

If you don't have this program, I highly recommend you share it with your HR person at work! It's also a win for your company - the more staff who become Platinum, the more you save on your premiums! (Have I officially used too many exclamation points now?)