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!

Florida is finally posted!

So, you may want to look below for my whole entire FL trip. It took me so long to type up(and I procrastinated with it), that it says my last post was Friday... which was when I started it.

ENJOY! And good luck reading ALL of it. It's pretty much an every day journal with pictures. :)

Florida- a trip to remember!

Or FlordIA as Ellie would spell it. :)

After posting all these photos (which I began doing a few days ago and just finished)....I realized I probably should've separated the posts into a couple day segments. But, this is already done, so be prepared for a long one.

We went to Champaign church for a wedding that everyone was invited to..except for me and Larissa, and left right after the reception at about 4pm on Sunday. Here we are, white as ghosts ready for the long road trip!

We drove for about 6-7hrs and then stopped near Nashville. We got up at 3:30 to start driving again on Monday. I got to be the first driver, and I was surprisingly very awake. Brooke the morning person was my co-pilot.
We picked up Brittney in Sarasota, and arrived at our rental house around 6ish. We ordered pizza, and some went to Wal-Mart and bought a ton of groceries for the week.

Of course on Tuesday which was our first full day, we were at the beach all day. I don't think you'd want to see those pictures. :)

Enjoying the beach on the 2nd night we were there.



Beautiful sunset. We saw dolphins on this night too.


2nd day, we of course were at the beach again all day. :) That night we went to a wonderful seafood restaurant that looked out onto the bay. We ate on an outside porch like area. It was so pretty.

We all had amazing food, and I think everyone ate or ordered something they never would've thought they would! Including myself! :)
They had a little shopping area by the restaurant. Ellie, (the 12 year boy is actually her new name :)... just had to ride this bull. She actually thought it was going to be a scary ride, but she was a bit disappointed.
We had gone to a beach in Marco Island that day, and there were tonsss of crabs! Larissa & I were walking barefoot and saw swarms of them, so we quickly ran back to our stuff. We later found this sign! :) Life is a beach... watch out for the crabs!

I have to note here that we also got chased by birds that day too. When we got our lunch out, they were seriously surrounding us and they loved us the rest of the day. I'm sure it was a sight to see girls running around screaming and laughing. :)
We had a dishwasher explosion.. A couple girls(I won't say names :) put Dawn soap in the dishwasher because we didn't have any dishwasher detergent. This happened every time we ran the dishwasher after this... so we got to wash all our dishes by hand for the week.

We had beautiful weather all week. One morning we all went rollerblading/biking before breakfast. It was a gorgeous morning, and then it rained in the afternoon. That's all the rain we saw all week!
We went to the beach with our rollerblades and bikes(we lived about 1 mile from the beach), and ran into this interesting guy, who needed a picture with us for some promotion or something. :)
Our house with the lovely mini-van and car top carrier
After our exercise that morning, we relaxed, and then went shopping at a huge outlet mall.

We then met Ellie's Grandma & Grandpa, Don & Velma Hoerr for dinner. It was delicious.

We went back to their condo afterwards and hung out...
...had dessert and coffee...
..and played some games.
Hanging out. Larissa is holding Psych.. because that's pretty much all we ever watched. :)

Larissa and I decided we wanted to go through a drive-thru with our rollerblades. So one morning we went off to Starbucks, but they had no drive-thru. We then debated if it would be better to go inside with our socks or blades. We decided to go inside stockin' -footed. :) I don't think anyone even noticed. Then we rollerbladed back home across busy intersections, holding several coffee drinks in our hands. Fun Times. :)

This was an adventurous day. We had a kayak in the yard of our house, and we really wanted to use it. But... we had no idea how we should get it TO the beach. We found these wheels on an axle, and tied the kayak onto it. Then we proceeded to haul it for 1 1/4 miles to a little bay area. It worked great, and it wasn't even that much work hauling it! We did get some reallly weird looks though. I can't imagine why. :)
Brittney, Larissa, and Brooke went first. It was so beautiful. We almost felt like we were in Venice. :)
The bay went into a part by the actual ocean where we were hanging out, so we met them.. and then Kendra and I went with Brooke. So much fun. But then we had to haul it all the way back home again when were done.

It was pretty chilly on the beach that day, so it felt good to Kayak. We left the beach pretty early because some of us were covered in towels we were so cold. :) It was only 63 degrees and windy, but sunny! :)

So, since we left the beach early... we went to another beach that had a pier. It was gorgeous.

This girls are sooo entertaining and fun!
I looove her.

I just deleted one of my favorite sunset pictures.. I guess I'll have to upload it later.

We went mini-golfing after the sunset. Sorry about the pictures.. I couldn't get them to turn out very well....they're all kind of dark.


Don't ask me what we're doing.

We headed home to cook dinner. We had stir fry... and it looked and tasted amazing, if I may say so myself. :)

Every night we had dessert and then we each took turns doing bible studies. They were all very good.
The night before (we thought) we were leaving. Britt, Joy, and I, went and swept and cleaned out the van.... and then treated ourselves to Starbucks.

The last night was fun.. we hung out and took our time and made dinner. Here are our kabobs that we had to do on the skillet because I think the grill was out of gas.

Some cooks.. No one ever was "in charge" of the meal. We just all pitched in whenever we wanted to. Like some things got over seasoned or salted, because we didn't know the other person had done it.

But... on Sunday morning we got news that the weather was going to be really bad in Atlanta around the time we were planning on driving through it. Our plan was to leave right after church on Sunday and drive about 8 hours. But we decided to stay a couple extra nights, even though our rented time for our house was up. We loaded up our stuff and headed church... pretty much stranded in Florida with no place to go. (although we did know we always had Ellie's grandparents :).
In front of Fort Myers church...NOW pretty excited to stay a few extra days!

We found out that Brittney's flight was cancelled too... so she got to stay there with us!

We hung out at Don & Velma's after church... except I personally took a nap. :)
Then we went out to eat at an ammaazing Italian restaurant. I just loved it.
Then we went back to Don & Velma's and went hot tubbing...
.. and played funny bones for their entertainment(we played it almost every day...)

Everyone in Fort Myers was soo friendly, and many people offered to keep us! Bev & Ed Gerber from Rockville ended up keeping 4 girls, and then Ellie, Kendra, Britt, and I all stayed at Don & Velma's. But we all went to Bev & Ed's for a lovely breakfast Monday morning in their gorgeous home:

Then we went to World Market to shop around. Such a neat store... I bought lots of stuff for my family there.
Us and all our purchases.

We hung out at the pool that afternoon and signed t-shirts we had boughten. We said goodbye to Brittney.... then we all got ready and went to the beach for our REAL last night this time!

We went to Warren & Margaret Gottier's, also from Rockville for dinner. They had a beautiful home, and they have traveled to over 140 countries MULTIPLE times.

Our dinner table... (Ed & Bev and Don & Velma came too, but aren't pictured)
Their lovely home included this knight from Spain. Let's just say we had fun taking pictures with this cool thing.
Then he took the helmet off and put it on himself, and then each one of us.
oh, Ellie and Michelle....
Warren showed us some of his slides from all over the world. So cool. I would love to be a world traveler. Here's the whole group.

Tuesday night we stayed at the houses we did before, and left at 4am on Tuesday morning, hoping to drive straight through without stopping.

We made it through Atalanta which was absolutely horrible. They really need to invest in snowplows. But, right outside Atlanta...
...this happened. No, surprisingly the van was not full of screaming girls... I think that was just me and Joy. :)

We spun around in two lanes of traffic after hitting tons of slush and losing control(thank goodness for no cars in those at all!) and went backwards into the ditch. Praise the Lord, the van and us were all fine, but maybe a little awed that this had just happened. We had the EMT'S, fireman, police, tow truck.... everything there to help us.

I just wonder what people thought when they saw us 7 girls with a mini-van with a car top carrier. :)
Getting old black pulled out. It was sooo muddy. We actually tried pushing it out ourselves at first... but that didn't work.

The tow truck guy then told us we should stop in TN. Much to our dismay, we did. We had a good time in the hotel though that night.. just thankful we were all still alive. :) We got up at 5:30 on Wednesday morning to keep moving on our journey. We were all getting a little anxious in the car, that's for sure. Even though none of us got sick of each other, and we all were having a great time.... I don't think we've ever been so glad to see that GOODFIELD sign!

So that's the end of our WONDERFUL FLORIDA trip. After going on a walk tonight in the freezing cold, I just wish I could go back to the lovely warm walks on the beach. I didn't know Larissa or Brooke at all, and I got to know them SO well! And as for the rest... they were already my good friends, but there's nothing like going on a trip with them. We said after going in the ditch... "If this doesn't build relationships, I don't know what does!"

We have probably a thousand photos, and an hour worth of videos. Crazy I know. These are only a few favorites/highlights from just my camera.

I just had an amazing time on my first girl trip. I love every single one of these girls MUCHO!!

...and by the way, if you're still reading this... wow. You are one dedicated blog reader. I think this is the longest post I've ever written. It's taken me like a week to write it.