Great Weekend

This past weekend was so great for many reasons. I didn't even touch my homework until Sunday night and I got to be with friends. :)

Friday I worked most of the day, did some homework, and then went to Kendra's with the young group.

Saturday I cleaned congregate living and then came home and cleaned and cleaned again. That wasn't so much fun... But then that afternoon I went and picked up Kendra Wuthrich and we went to the Inivite-A-Friend thing! I also invited Kristin Stoller. :) I felt really bad because I didn't really help out very much for this Invite.. I brought food and did a few dishes was all. It was fun to just be with people instead of being stuck in the back of the kitchen though. :) Thanks to those who DID do all the work!! I'll do it next time! :) Kendra and Kristin came to my house afterwards and spent the night. It was super fun, and there's never a dull moment when Kristin's around! :) It was fun getting to know Kendra better too.

Sunday was church, singing at the nursing home, and then goodbye's. :/ It was so short but so fun. The church had an invite-a-friend thing too, so I was at church all day because mom was in charge of it. Some girls(not my guests though) stayed for the dinner that night too, which was fun.

Then I had to study. Why do my weekends always have to end like that?

Randomness.

So this is going to be randomness.

Basically I just wanted to write something on my blog from my new laptop I just got this week. :) Let's just say I've probably wasted too much time on this thing when I should be studying.... I'm sure the newness will wear off soon. :)

Monday I turned in my project that I've spent the last few months on. What a relief! I haven't gotten my grade on it yet, but I'm kind of expecting it to be good.... haha, that might be the wrong thing to be thinking.
For this project we had to complete an accounting system by hand, instead of doing it on the computer and having it do all the transactions automatically for you. I can't believe how much I've learned from it though! I can already relate the stuff to things I'm learning in other classes. Kind of exciting to see that my work wasn't a total waste of time. :) Thank goodness for my friend and tutor, Kathy who I have spent sooo much time with. She has helped me thru this project! :) My poor family always hears about Kathy when I get home...
....I think they're a little annoyed by it. :) Just a LITTLE. :)

It's been hard getting back into the school routine even though I only had a week off. I think I might have been better off with just skipping spring break.

This weekend I'm excited that the young group is having an Invite-A-Friend. I get to spend some time with friends I never get to see!

Oh, so when I went shopping with mom, I got cute rubber boots for work. :) But I think I'm going to wear them to school too, if the right day comes around... :) Or maybe I won't have the guts to do it. :)
I also got new tennis shoes!! Call me nuts, but I LOVE getting new tennis shoes. I wear them pretty much everyday to walk/run, so new ones just feel SO much better. :) They have so much more support!

I'm fighting a cold right now, and I think I've dranken about 10 cups of tea today... no joke! I used to be a major coffee drinker, but I kind of gave that up unless it's decaf. Now I'm into tea... and not flavored tea. That's disgusting. I love green tea, and that's about it. Oh, and one other kind that Shelly gave me for Christmas is really good. Otherwise, I think tea is just so gross when it's all flavored. I even HATE chai.
I know... I'm weird. I've always been picky about my drinks though. Just give me water please.

Ok. I'm done. Back to homework!

Have a wonderful weekend, I know I will (as long as I forget about all the homework I have to do. :)

Spring Break

Yep. That was my week...SPRING BREAK... but now it's almost officially over.

I've had a very enjoyable week at home. I'm kind of regretting not going to Nashville, but then I think about all I have gotten done this week and it makes me realize I don't really care. It's life.

I sat down here at the computer to begin my paper that is due on Tuesday, but since I have writers block, I thought maybe I'd write on here to get my brain in the writing mode. I'm writing a paper on Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and a christian man. If you don't know anything about him, his story is fascinating. I watched a movie about him this week, and even though I had seen it before, it was once again so cool! It's called "Gifted Hands," and if you haven't seen it, you really should. Except I watched it with Jenna, and she couldn't watch a lot of it because it actually shows more than you think it would during surgeries. Anyways. This really should be a fun paper to write.

So.. what I did this week:)

Some of the highlights my spring break consisted of:

-Sunday we actually had people over for dinner and we didn't just sit around like we've been doing most of the times on Sunday nights. And I didn't do a bit of homework. It was wonderful.

-Monday, I got to go out to eat at Granite City with Larissa. It was her birthday the next day, so we celebrated that and just caught up with things. :)

-Tuesday, I made dinner and Heidi & Luke and Jenna came over. Jenna just came to hang out... we had a good time. :)

-Wednesday, was the second day Bridget was here. She stayed all night Tuesday & Wednesday night, which was super fun. :) I miss her now.... the more she's here the more I want to see her. :) It was so nice, I took her on a walk and she loved it.

-Thursday, hmmm.. nothing exciting happened Thursday. Except for it was a beautiful day outside! I went to school all day to work on my project though... :/

-Friday, I got lots done, and then went with Eureka young group because my cousin Emily had them over after singing for elderly people. Which we went to this older ladies house and she was hilarious. She seriously made my day. :) She thought 3rd graders were coming to sing to her, and when we all walked in, she was a bit surprised. :)

-Today, or Saturday, was busy. I went with my dad and Luke to the Mennonite Relief Sale at 7am! This guy we sat by at breakfast asked Luke how old he was.... and then looked at me and said, "You're probably about 15, huh?"

Um... actually, not. :) First I'm a 3rd grader, and now I'm 15? :)

I told him that most umpteen year olds probably don't go to breakfast with their dad on Saturday mornings to try and make him feel better. :)

My mom and I then went shopping in Bloomington all day. I actually found quite a bit of stuff! We shopped and shopped, went to Panera for lunch, and then kind of wandered around stores after that, and didn't really accomplish much. Too much lunch I guess.

When we got home my dad wanted to go to Monical's. So yes, you know what that means? I ate out all three meals. Gross. I know. At least I ordered somewhat healthy food. And went on a walk after dinner.

Those were just my highlights... things I don't usually do on a weekly basis. I still got to work/teach/babysit/clean... and everything else I do.

OF COURSE, it's time for some pictures of Miss Bridget. She was at our house for 2 nights & 2 days, so after all, you should expect some pictures! :)

I love how she's actually smiling in this one. She is such a little cutie bug, and I'm pretty sure she knows and remembers her Aunt Wendi each time she comes over. :)

Here she is when I took her on a walk with me. She didn't make a peep the whole time and ended up falling asleep for most of it. She was piled with lots of blankets because she didn't have a coat, and it was a little windy. I hope she could breathe in there.

Here she is in her Jumperoo, looking quite wide-eyed. She is hilarious in this thing... she goes crazy and is seriously soo entertaining to watch!

2 of my favorite girls. And we all match!

Hope you are all enjoying this spring weather.

I'm wondering when it's not too early and ridiculous looking to pull out my sandals & flip flops? :)

Decisions Decisions

That's what I've been up to.

School like I mentioned before, is crazy. Especially this past week.

This project I have that is due the day after Spring break is taking longer than I would have ever imagined. Of course it doesn't help that I am being like super detailed and particular. But still. I've even had a good school friend helping me along with the whole thing.

A while ago, in the back of mind I had frequently thought... If I really don't get this done in time, I won't be able to go to TN on the mission trip.

I didn't think that would actually have to happen until this week. I could NOT decide for the life of me if I should go or not. If I did... I would have to tell everyone no for everything for 2 weeks in a row.. the week before(in order to get everything done) and the week I'm gone.

I've gone back and forth and back and forth for the past week, trying to decide what to do. My project was coming along better than I had anticipated, so it gave me some hope.

Anyways. My final decision was made tonight. I am not going.

Am a little jealous that 5 of the girls I went to FL with are going? Yes. But I feel like I need to stay home and catch up on everything I have, do this project, and finally catch up on sleep.

I've never known what stress was until this past week it's weird. I usually don't stress out much about school/tests/etc. but this week has been horrible. I'm usually like whatever and sort of kind of laid back about it all. But not lately... I haven't even been myself, I feel like. Just ask my poor family and classmates who have to deal with me. :)

In fact, one of the ladies I sit next to in class told me the other week(after I probably went on and on to her), "Girl, you're going to die of a heart attack before you're 30!"

So even though I think I will regret not going on this trip, and all my friends will have a blast, I think I will actually enjoy my time at home. My mom and I are going shopping a day, Bridget's staying here a couple of days, I'm hanging out with friends who aren't going... it will be great. And then maybe if I catch up on homework I'll be able to have a little bit more of a social life for a few weeks after break....? I don't know, but I hope so.

OK. If you just read all my ramblings on my decision to not go to TN, I'm sorry. :)

2 more things thing.

--I'M NOW ON SPRING BREAK! :) [In case you haven't figured that out by now]

--I'm realizing how incredibly blessed I really am.

Love, Wendi.

*Hopefully I'll be back over break with some exciting/more interesting things.

Ramblings

I feel as if I should update my blog, but I don't really know what to update on. My life really isn't very exciting and I've only taken pictures of Bridget recently....and if I post more pictures of her I might as well name this blog Aunt Wendi & Bridget's wonderfully wacky and wild blog.

Speaking of Bridget, she stayed all night last night because Heidi & Luke are gone. :) It hasn't been fun or anything like that....

I'm going to Iowa this afternoon for the weekend, and I got up early to study, but... I'm procrastinating a bit as you can tell. :)

Life is so busy these days. I thought last semester was bad, but this is way busier. My classes aren't quite as hard as last semester, but it is super time consuming stuff. I'm taking 15 hours, and to me, that's a lot. But I know for some people it's nothing. My classes aren't general classes though, they are mostly all accounting stuff.

As I said, life is so busy. I start my week and it's over before I know it. And I didn't get half the things I NEED to get done, done. I don't ever remember my days going as fast as they are.

I have 2 projects due before spring break. One of them is supposed to take 40+ hours, and I just started it last week. *Sigh* I'm kind of worried how I'm going to get it all done, but I'm not stressing over it... YET. I've said no to more things this month than I have in my lifetime. My rule is only one social thing a weekend which I hate.

Enough about school... But that's really what my life consists of. That along with work and teaching.

Time for some never seen before(on this blog anyways) random photos from this summer. These are some of my favorites and they just make me smile. :)

Weekend & Blahness

Well. Time to update you all on everything...even though it's all boringness. Last week was a busy week since I didn't have school at all the week before due to the blizzard. So it was kind of catch up week, along with this week too.

Kendra came over on Wednesday night and stayed here until Saturday because her family was gone. Even though she didn't have class on Thursday morning, she went with me and studied in the library while I went to class. It was so much fun to go to school with someone. I was kind of begging Adam the other day to start going to school again... it'd be so fun if we went together. :)

Yes... we even took a picture. :) Notice our matching mugs.. we both had to take our tea with us!

I never usually get to see anyone I know at school, but this semester I have. There's several AC girls who have the same break as me. Fun stuff.

Friday night we babysat little Bridget. She is about the sweetest thing ever. Even though I was downstairs studying, I snapped a few pictures. :) Maybe some of you are sick of Bridget pictures, but get used to it, cause they're not stopping anytime soon. :)

Hanging out in Grandpa's lap

Too precious.

Luke was watching a hunting video on the computer, and he sat Bridget right in front of it. As you can see, she was quite fascinated with it. I've never heard her giggle before, but my mom said she was giggling at it.
Happiest when her clothes are off.
Grandma gave her a bath. Check out her rolls and double chin! :) Only cute on babies, that's for sure.

Saturday night we had the young group over for a Sister's Appreciation Dinner. The guys served us our food and sang to us as we ate. It was a little awkward, but kind of fun.
We did eat food, even though there isn't anything on the table. :) After dinner we played a "Virtuous Women" game, that my mom made up. It was fun. :) The guys played it too, and believe it or not, Adam was the most virtuous of everyone here! :) Then all us girls got little gifts and we sang. We of course had to get Banana Grams out. Seems to be the tradition these days.

Sunday night I had to once again stay home because of a test I had to take today. I stayed up till 1:30 and just felt kind of funny. I woke up at 5, and really didn't feel good. Yes, I'm so privileged to get the stomach flu. :P Luke has had it all weekend, and I just knew I would get it even though it was going to be a crazy week. I guess this is what I get for announcing yesterday that I have not had the stomach flu since I was 8!

I had an exam due online by 4pm today, and I studied for it a bit, and then decided to take it. It was timed and I felt AWFUL thru the whole thing. And let's just say I did not do so well. :( This online Business Law class is the hardest thing I've ever taken. Now I have a lot of pressure to do well the rest of the semester... :/ This was the worst test I've ever taken... :(

Anyways, I'll stop complaining, but before I do... this is what I was supposed to do this week:

-Exam early this morning, work this afternoon, with class tonight

-Class on Tuesday, and my 12 week class starts tomorrow too. Teach piano, babysit that night*

-Busy day on Wednesday... with class and lessons, and now possibly work since I couldn't go today. *

-Test on Thursday that I had to postpone from Wednesday. *

**And everything else that I didn't even list. I think you get the point. :)

So I just kept telling myself that I can get sick anytime AFTER Thursday. But here I am. Sitting on the recliner typing away on my blog when I should be studying, trying to get myself to eat something so I can attend my 2 morning classes tomorrow, one which is our first day.

Ok. I'm done complaining now. :) I decided I don't really get very stressed out, I just get overwhelmed, and then I just vent to those I talk to and let them know how busy I am. So sorry if I always complain to you. :)

Anyways, hope you all have a great week, and enjoy this warm weather!

Restaurant Review- Granite City

You may remember I used to do restaurant reviews every once in a while, just like the newspaper. :) It's been a while, but this one I just had to blog about.

This weekend Adam, Jenna, and I went to Granite City for dinner. Although we had to wait for 45 minutes before being able to sit down, it was well worth the wait.

Granite City

Us three were going to go out, and I instantly mentioned Granite City, because I had only heard good things about it. So off we went on Saturday night. We got there about 6:30, and it was packed. They told us the wait was 35-50 minutes, but we decided to stay and wait anyways. Like I said, we waited for 45 minutes, but when that place is as packed as it was, there is no where to sit or even stand. There were people everywhere.

While we were waiting, the waitress' came around and offered samples of their flat bread. It was very delicious. After our long wait, we were finally taken to a booth. In the main eating area, which is separate from the bar, you can see inside the kitchen because of a glass wall. Very cool looking. Granite City is also a brewery, so they have massive tanks that you can see through a large glass window filled with their own beer near the entrance.

Although our waiter took a while to come to our table, the manager got us our drinks right away while we were waiting (they even asked us if we wanted wine... do we really look that old? :).

Now time to choose what to eat. There were so many options you wouldn't believe. I could not decide.. at all. But this is what I chose for the evening:

Grilled Chicken and Bruschetta Salad:

Toasted Caesar bruschetta surrounds a mix of greens and chopped romaine tossed in balsamic vinaigrette with grilled chick breast, sliced ripe olives, and crumbled bleu cheese, Finished with marinated bruschetta tomatoes, onions and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese.

The only thing that scared me away was the bleu cheese, so I just ordered it without, and asked for extra Parmesan instead.

I don't know if you've ever had bruschetta, but it is amazing. Especially there's. Absolutely delicious.

Adam and Jenna both got fries and sandwiches, and they both looked very good also. Especially the fries, thin and crispy!

Our waiter was a younger girl and a bit awkward, but gave us very good service. And she wasn't the only one who waited on us. Any of the managers, or other waiters, if they saw our glasses empty or anything.. they took care of us too, even though we weren't necessarily their responsibility.

The atmosphere was good, but the only thing(just fyi) was most go there probably for the bar. It was very noisy, but still very nice.

Even though the hostess spelled my name "Windy," and we were in the restaurant for over 2 hours, it was well worth it and I would certainly go again in a heartbeat. You just might not want to try a Saturday night unless you have reservations. We left around 8:45, and there were still a few people waiting.

QUICK GUIDE:

230 Conference Center Drive

East Peoria, IL 61611

(309) 699-8080

Ratings: **** is highest

Food- ****

Atmosphere- ***

Service- ****

--- they also have carryout

Snow Days = Cabin Fever

Well. I've had 3 snow days in a row. I still can't believe ICC canceled so much. It's been great catching up on sleep and studying. Although I've gotten quite a bit of studying done, I probably should've accomplished more than I did. It was great to have 2 tests post-poned though. :)

I have not been home for 3 days straight in a long time. I'm always running around every where, and I'm totally getting some major cabin fever. Thank goodness I had piano students come today and Bridget came over too for almost the entire day. :)

And guess what Bridget did to me the whole day? She spit up on me constantly. Almost every time I went to hold her, I got bombed on.

Thanks girly. I love you too.

Since I haven't updated on Miss Bridget for awhile here ya go:

She's still just as cute as ever.

She still has the biggest eyes ever.

She loves to spit up on her favorite aunt Wendi.

She loves to laugh and coo.

It's so cute. Tonight we tried feeding her rice cereal for the first time-- she loved it!

These pictures aren't from tonight... but here's a few:

Oh, and she's growing like crazy. The shirt Bridget's wearing says "My Aunt Loves Me.." and I got to see it on her one time, and now it's too small. How depressing.

Anyways, I'm excited to actually do something this weekend, and to get back to my school routine next week. Even if it does mean late nights and early mornings...and catching up on tests, etc. I'm realizing that I really kind of do enjoy it. I've had enough home time for a while now, even though I have loved it.

I am just loving this beautiful snow. It makes winter seem brighter and now so dreary! Hope you are all staying safe and warm!