Cubs, Pirates, Oh My......

Yes, we know it has been a long, long, long time since our last blog update so this has been a long time coming. Back in August Kirby and I spent a weekend taking in some fun sites in Chicago.

First we went to the Field Museum and saw an exhibit on Pirates, AAARGH. It was very interesting, insightful, and not at all like Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Along with seeing the Pirates Exhibit we also took in the rest of the Field Museum. It is one of the most interesting museums around and I'm thankful it is my own back yard.

The front of the Field Museum with the Pirates Banners.

Here I am with my new pirate boyfriend, he is such a stud. Shhhhhh don't tell Kirby.

Kirby also found a new girlfriend while he was there, Sue the dinosaur. She looks mean I don't think I will mess with her.

After going to the Field Museum we walked around the great city of Chicago and end up at The Bean in Millennium Park.

The lovely city of Chicago.

Kirby in front of Buckingham Fountain.

The Bean.

The day after we went to the Field Museum and walked around the city of Chicago we did something I have wanted to do since I moved to Chicago 12 years ago. We took the behind the scenes tour of Wrigley Field where the Chicago Cubs play. I have been a Cubs fan since I moved to Chicago and currently live 10 blocks away from Wrigley Field. I have to say the behind the scenes tour of Wrigley Field is one of the neatest things I have done. During the tour we saw a short video about Wrigley Field and the Cubs, learned the history of how both Wrigley Field and the Cubs came to be. We also got a tour of visiting teams locker room, the Cubs locker room, the Press Box, the Club Boxes, the Cubs and visiting team dug outs and the most exciting part of the tour is we got to go out on the field!!!!! I have to say if you are ever in Chicago and can get tickets to this tour do it, it is well worth it!!!

Wrigley Field "The Home of the Chicago Cubs"

The Scoreboard in the Outfield at Wrigley Field, which is 73 years old.

The Cubs Locker Room

Here I am sitting in the Press Box

Kirby and I on the field at Wrigley Field

Wedding planning is moving along...

Call us uber-organized! We've got our wedding ceremony and reception sites picked, ministers scheduled, photographer booked, and Erin has already found her dress and bridesmaid's dresses! I've been assured I will like the dress, and that it does not resemble this picture in any way! Let's hope so! But even if Erin wore a burlap bag, I know she would look stunning in it!!! :)

Its hard to believe that we're already less than 11 months away from the BIG DAY! Time is really starting to fly by, it seems like just yesterday I was asking Erin to marry me, and here we are 2 months later already!

So to all of you reading, here's a little audience participation segment!!! Please recommend some good places to go for a honeymoon. We're thinking Caribbean, Florida Keys, Mexican coast, or someplace similar. Little thatch roofed bungalows on the beach would be awesome! Leave your comments below on good places to go for a week or two, so we can search them out! Thanks for your help and comments!

Wedding registery fun!!

Today Erin and I spent part of the afternoon (several hours actually) registering at Crate & Barrel! It was actually a lot of fun, and I guess part of that is because I got to control the scanner gizmo! So that's one store registry (almost) done, and one or two more to go. Another reason it was nice, besides the obvious part of spending time with my fabulous fiancee, was that we got a free gift from Crate & Barrel! Not made in China either!

Oh and I have no idea how that bottle of Oberon got in the photo either! But hey, whats better than a nice cold Oberon on a warm summer day? Makes composing blog entries much more fun!

To all those who read this and don't comment (and we DO know who you are), LEAVE A COMMENT! :)

Coldplay concert rocked!!!!

Erin and I spent Friday night in Indianapolis at the Coldplay concert. It was the best concert either of us had ever seen! We had great seats for the show. The opening band was Snow Patrol, which we didn't get to see all of their performance, but what we did see was good! Coldplay was very interactive with the crowd, they even had 2 'remote' stages setup in the crowd that they used for a song each while the roadie crew re-arranged the main stage.


At one point in the concert during 'Yellow' hundreds of large yellow balloons filled with confetti magically entered the crowd! At the end of the first encore during 'Death and All His Friends' millions of paper butterflies were shot above the crowd through several confetti machines which was really neat, especially when one round of these butterflies came out and were iridescent! Naturally we scooped up some of these butterflies and brought them home! To finish off the night, Chris Martin announced that they were giving away a free CD of LeftRightLeftRightLeft to everyone at the concert! Great free gift which we took full advantage of also! Both Erin and I both strongly recommend seeing Coldplay in concert, you wont be disappointed!! For anyone that wants to see the playlist from the show, it is here: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/coldplay/2009/verizon-wireless-amphitheater-noblesville-in-7bd61260.html

Anniversary Dinner

May 2nd was a big day for many reasons! First off, the most obvious reason is that is the day I asked Erin to marry me and she of course said YES! Was there really any doubt? :) But equally important that day, we were celebrating her parents' 40th wedding anniversary! That evening there was a nice celebration dinner at the Field Stone Grill in Portage. Erika, Rob and Sydney were also at the celebration dinner, and in fact had their own news that we were celebrating, the upcoming birth of their child. All in all it was a fantastic evening of celebration and family.

The Ring!

On Saturday, May 2, 2009, I proposed to Erin and she said YES!!!  It was easily the best moment of my life so far!  I had all these different ideas on how to pop the big question, but for whatever reason those ideas never seemed to pan out.  In the end, it was probably a corny way to propose, but it worked!  And that's all that matters right?

Where it all began...the magic of Facebook!

Our relationship seemingly started with a harmless little message on Facebook back in March of 2008. Erin and I had known each other back in high school due to some mutual friends and interests, such as tennis. In fact, truth be told, I did have a crush on Erin back in high school, but was just too damn shy to do anything about it! That was 1990. Jump ahead 18 years, and that harmless little email to reconnect as friends turned out to be the beginning of a very beautiful relationship!

What started out as a few short sentences back and forth quickly grew to pages upon pages of emails back and forth between us. It was during this time that I knew there might be something more to this than just a friendship. At some point in late April we started talking on the phone. And boy did we talk! One night we talked on the phone ALL night. For Erin it wasnt so bad because at the time she did not have to get up for work, but I was not so lucky! When the alarm went off the next morning, I told Erin that it was time for me to get up and get ready for work. What a day! Almost fell asleep at my desk several times, but I would not have traded that night for anything.

Finally I convinced Erin to meet up and go out. Wow that took a lot of work! I think I probably owe a thanks to Kim E. as I think she put in a few good words for me. Thanks Kim! So on May 3rd, 2008, we had our first date. And what a date it was!