Last week, I was in Los Angeles for work Sunday through Wednesday.  The trip was very productive, although, my work trips always seem to generate more work.  I flew home Wednesday afternoon from LA.  Coming back always seems to take longer because of the two hours lost in changing time zones.  My flight left at 9:30am, but when I landed in Chicago it was 3:30pm.  By the time I got my bag and took a cab home, it was already 5:00pm.  Blah.

Anyway, the next day, I went into the office as I had some meetings first thing in the morning, then I left around 12:30pm to go home, finish packing, and drop off Bentley at the Kennel before heading back to the airport to fly to Florida.  Mary and I made it there with plenty of time to spare.  Steve and Kati, made it just in time!  Kati had been in New York for work at the same time I was in Los Angeles.  Her flight was canceled, delayed, and canceled some more.  Fortunately, they made it.

The trip to Florida was for Jen and Ken's wedding.  The whole weekend was great!  All the events and accomodations were at a resort near Panama City called Carillon Beach, which is on the Gulf of Mexico side.  Friday we spent most of the day on the beach.  This was a great way to relax, until that night when the sunburn kicked in.  One day I'll learn.

The ceremony was on the beach the next day.  Although it was VERY hot and VERY humid, it was a great ceremony.  Afterwards, we went right to the reception for cocktail hour.  Everything went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  I'm just glad Mary and I are both home again (for now at least)!  Pictures to follow...

This past weekend, the guys went out to celebrate for Ken's bachelor party.  It was organized by Ken's brother-in-law, Tom, and we all had a great time!  The only part that was a little tough was the travel to and from all our destinations.  We spent time in Downers Grove, Addison, St. Charles, Elgin, and West Chicago! Fortunately, we had a couple guys volunteer to do most of the driving.

The first activity was by far the best.  Tom had organized racing for us at Chicago Indoor Racing in Addison.  This place was fantastic.  It was like a huge man-cave!  Aside from the race tracks, they had multiple bars, tables, games, leather couches, tvs, and even whirlyball!  If they had one of these in the city, I have a feeling we'd be spending a little more time there.

The racing itself was great.  We raced on track seven in what were basically high-performance go-karts.  We got up to about 30-40 mph around the track and raced four times total.  The first three races earned us points, and we took turns starting toward the beginning of the pack.  The driver with the most points from the three heats started in the poll position for the final, championship race.  Jen's brother, Steve, ended up winning the whole thing, which we pretty much all attributed to him being the lightest. 

After the racing, we drove out to St. Charles and ate dinner at Al Capone's Hideaway and Steakhouse.  Aside from the several wrong turns, and a reservation mix-up by the restaurant, this was also a great time.  The meal came with a LOT of food.  I ordered a ribeye steak, which was great, and it came with cream of potatoe soup with bacon and cheese, a chef's salad, bread and garlic mashed potatoes.  Had we known, we probably wouldn't have also ordered the appetizer platter! 

The restaurant was completely decked out with '20s style decor.  Large photographs of Al Capone and family were everywhere.  It also seemed as if the restaurant couldn't have actually been in operation in the days of Capone.  After dinner, we ended up bar hopping a bit, at the end of which we took at $100 cab ride from Elgin back to Downers Grove.  Only a few more weeks, and Jen & Ken will be married!

Today's blog is a tough one for me to write.  Four years ago today, my Grandpa Nayder passed away.  I think of him almost every day - but the ache of losing him doesn't really go away for me.  I was extremely blessed to have lived with him twice.  Once was while we all still lived on the southside and he was recovering from knee replacement surgery.  I stayed with him for about a month while he went through physical therapy.  The second time was when he, along with my family, moved into a related-living house in Homer Glen.  Although I have numerous wonderful memories of him throughout my childhood, the time spent with him in Homer Glen is the period I treasure the most. 

During that time, I got to know my grandpa in a much more personal way.  It was so great to see him every day and to exchange hugs and stories.  After I graduated from college, I took some time off and was his full time care giver for 8 months.  I took him to his appointments, to the bank, I ran his errands, put away his groceries, did his laundry, etc.  I was his personal assistant.  I learned about the things he needed so much so that I could anticipate what he was going to ask for even before he could find the words.  We developed quite a relationship; he became almost a best friend to me.  We talked about all kinds of things, he gave me advice and encouragement, and I'd like to think I did the same.  After those 8 months, I knew I needed to take the next step in life and find a job.

I remember one particular day on my way home from work- it was during autumn, the sun was setting and hitting the trees just right that the colors were incredibly vibrant.  I called home and suggested to my mom that Grandpa, she and I all take a ride as soon as I got home to look at the colors on the trees.  We all piled into my grandpa's van and off we went for a drive.  We had no real destination - we just drove to see what we could see.  We saw the most beautiful colors that day.  I don't know that we could have planned it better to have picked a more perfect day.  My mom and I both still remember that day well and carry that memory with us.

My heart breaks to know he is not with us now, but I am comforted by the idea that he is with my grandma now in Heaven.  I have no doubt that is where he is, as my grandpa was one of the best men I have ever known.  I wish that he could have been at our wedding as I would have loved to have had a dance with him, but deep down, I know he was there.  I like to think that he and my grandma were dancing right along next to us.

Jack and I have been busy with all kinds of little things these days.  I was out this past weekend with my good friend, Kristen, to help her shop for her wedding shoes.  Can I just say it was so fun to be on the bridesmaid side of things!  Don't get me wrong, I loved being a bride and all, but it was just so nice to be in a supporting role for such a wonderful friend as she prepares for her big day.  We certainly did make a day of it and hit a couple wedding boutiques (where she at found a couple pairs she liked, so she has some options), stopped by her favorite cupcake shop (YUM!), and then picked up her maid of honor in the afternoon to continue our shopping activities. Now if I could just find some gold shoes for my bridesmaid dress, I'd be good!

Jack and I also went shopping recently to get some "honeymoon" clothes - like shorts, flip flops and a new pair of khakis for Jack, and some shorts and capris for me.  And since I found a pair of cute sandals too, how could I put them back with our fun trip coming up? ;)  It took a little coaxing to get Jack ready for our shopping trip, but he knew he needed these things, so it was just a matter of making sure I didn't spring it on him since he doesn't love to shop.  After picking a date a week in advance and giving him a couple reminders during the week, he seemed ready when we finally did go.  When we got to the outlet mall though, you'd thing the economy was just booming for the amount of people that were there and shopping!!

Jack's car broke down a couple weeks ago and after a few phone calls and a bunch of work done, both the radiator had to be replaced and the transmission pretty much had to be rebuilt.  Ouch!  Thankfully, it is all fixed now and the owner of the shop to which he had taken it was very nice and told him to bring it back sometime soon (I forget all the details) to make sure all was still working ok. 

We booked our airline tickets for our friends Jen & Ken's wedding in Florida this May, so that is another something fun to look forward to.  May seems a ways a way, but then I remember that this Saturday is the end of February and suddenly, May doesn't seem so far off!  We have also been trying to plan a time to have our immediate families over to our condo (as many of them have not seen it yet) and to give our parents and siblings (along with their families) the chance to get to know each other better.  We tried to plan something last fall before the rehearsal dinner and wedding, but it just didn't work, so we thought this would be a nice way to do it.  I am hoping that we are getting close to finding a good date for all.

Sorry if this was kind of a boring blog. I'll try to come up with some more interesting stuff soon!

So, we have had our wedding photos proofs online for a bit now, but hadn't even had the chance to look at them ourselves.  And then sometimes when we would, there was trouble with the photographer's site, so we didn't want to post it and then cause trouble for everyone else.  It seems that all is fixed and OK these days, so if you want to see our wedding photos, leave a comment or send me an email and I will send you the link and the password.  (For security, I'd rather not post the password on our blog.)

When you first log in, a slideshow starts with a draft version of our wedding photo album.  We like most of it, but know we'll swap a few photos or cut back on a few pages.  We haven't made any final decisions yet.  There should be a link at the bottom though to skip the slideshow and go to all the albums from the day, in case you'd rather not watch it or if you log in multiple times.

We our lucky that our package does not require a minimum number or prints to be ordered in order to receive all the proofs.  Once we receive our final wedding album, we are also given all of the digital negatives.  We are happy to send the digital copies of any photos to those that want them, as money is tight these days and we are just so glad you could take part in our day.  For anyone that wants to order some prints, there is a special running now that any 4x6 prints ordered through Valentine's Day (2/14) will be 40% off.