A weekend Away from Home

Yes, I know I promised pictures of my newly painted room, but I’m just not feeling the love for it at the moment. None of my room accessories match the Boring Beige walls.

But, I did have a rather nice weekend away from home as I took an overnight trip to Chicago to see friends and family.

My Saturday afternoon started off with what was supposed to be a quick trip to Mayfair Mall. I’ve been having problems with my DVR and the cable company has a store at the mall where one can quickly exchange hardware. I’ve been putting this off for a few months as I am really not a mall shopper. Okay…I HATE going to the mall. *gasp* I know. I don’t know when my hatred for the mall started or why, but I’m just not a mall shopper. I shop only when I need to and usually it’s at Kohl’s or Marshall’s which are right up the street from where I work. I also do a lot of online shopping as well.

Anyway, I arrive at the mall around 2pm and quickly find that they’ve added new restaurants and stand alone stores in the parking lot, which greatly reduces the amount of parking spaces available. After about a ½ hour of driving endlessly up and down isles and just missing empty spots by thismuch, I’m ready to call it a day. And then finally, the heaven’s open up and shine a bright light down a parking spot I can call my own. Phew. Into the store I go and the whole exchange process takes me 5 minutes. No lie. With new DVR in hand, I made my way back through the mall and suddenly discovered that I DID want to shop. Sephora, J.Jill and others were beckoning. But, I had to keep walking as I had a huge piece of hardware in my hand.

I was soon back on the highway and headed south into Illinois were I got to spend time with my Playa friend, Heather, and her friends and family. Heather was home from Mexico for a few weeks for various events including her birthday. It was a pleasant time visiting with her family and a few of her friends. Michael was there too, her bf. Good food…delish brownies…and the funniest book every written was read aloud by Heather. Wing Chop to the Neck!! LOL!!! After a few hours, we decided to hit a tavern to meet up with Heather’s Aunts. But sadly, I had to cut my evening short due very bad indigestion from all the yummy food, sweets, and beer that I consumed. My tummy just wasn’t having it anymore. Here are a few pics:

Heather and me with her gfriends, Amy and Beth


Indiana Michael and his boozer sidekick Heather.



Heather has a demon child. Didn't you know?




After saying goodbye to Heather with promises of seeing her in Mexico soon, I was on my way south again to my great deal of a hotel that I bid on Priceline. A bid of $45 got me a fantastic room at the Hyatt in Deerfield. It was actually two rooms (a sitting are with desk and an oversized chair and a bedroom area with a king size bed).

6am, Sunday morning, I woke up to rain, rain, and more rain. I had about a 40 minute drive south to Lakeshore Drive in Chicago for the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk. I was walking with my dad, aunt, uncles, and cousins in honor of my Grandfather who passed away nearly 3 years ago and suffered from the disease. I had great difficulty getting to the Lakefront as many streets were blocked off due to flooding. After an 1 ½ of driving, I FINALLY made it to the Lakefront and was so happy to see my family. We walked in the rain…which was sometimes a whipping blinding downpour, but it was fun and it was for a worthy cause. Afterwards, I drove to my cousin’s house in Brookfield for lunch and then made the 2 hour drive home (which took me nearly 3 hours due to the heavy rain and heavy Chicago construction) where I crashed out and had myself a 2 hour nap.

My dad and me before the walk.



Still nothing new on the house. I’m just going to be doing one Open House a month now. My listing agent told me that only 3% of sold houses come from someone attending an Open House. In December, my contract is up with this agent and I’ll think I’ll move onto a bigger company. That is, if my house hasn’t sold yet. Please keep these positive thoughts coming my way!!