there's miles and miles of strip mall smiles waiting to check you out....

we should have people work on our house more often. billy and i had the day off today so we went to the mall to have something to do as the worked on the house. and we came home with iphones and a bag of clothes from the gap for me.....yeah!!!!! the iphones are awesome. i cannot put it down. it is sooooo fun to use. i would recommend one to anyone.
we also went to home depot to pick out the bathroom tile. it is a nice brownish - beige color that will go well with the blue paint. i think they will start that tomorrow. i cant wait for it all to be done. my kitchen appliances are in my dining room, the floors are a mess and my upstairs toilet is in the hall. fun fun fun.......

home improvements...

here is where we are in our home improvement stage. the hole is gone in the ceiling and the sheet rock is done. the tile in the bathroom is gone but we need the floor fixed from the water damage. they start again tomorrow. the kitchen will probably, hopefully be done in a day or two...

a little diddy about jack and diane.....

well its official. the festivities for nicky's wedding have kicked off to a very rowdy start. yesterday was her 'jack and jill' shower hosted by the buker family for their friends. that was very low key and pretty classy. then.... following the shower was her bachelorette party hosted by us, the bridesmaids, and most importantly her maid of honor, her sister katie. we all decided to surprise her with an '80's' theme for the night....and after lots of hairspray, blue eyeshadow, cutting up our tye dye t-shirts flashdance style and jelly bracelets, we were instantly transformed. not to mention the 80's music in the background......enjoy....

becca, missy, me, amber, katie and nicky - the wedding girls

katie and i

my 80's themed cake creation
uncle bobby with his girls
the party has begun - nicky is on the dance floor!the party has REALLY begun!! we got aunt jill out there too!!!
trish and i sharing a moment!! we had several throughout the night!!! fun fun....

nicky decided to join the band half way through the night, sorry doug - she's on the road now!!!the two cousins who are just going through all of life together!!!!!!!

cause i'm under construction everyone, so you'll have to mind the mess

finally, after a couple months of staring at a hole in my kitchen ceiling, and dealing with loose bathroom tiles above it, the contractor is starting tomorrow. between our insurance and him being very busy this summer, it took this long. honestly i just got used to it all after he fixed the leaky ceiling and i didn't get a shower every time i did dishes. and its not like we have many house guests to be embarrassed to. i am excited because i get brand new tile in my bathroom. the tile that was there before was probably nice when the other people did it, but it didnt seem as if they were very good housekeepers because it is so dirty around the grout and in the little nooks and crannys of the tile that i could never get it really clean. and we get an entirely new kitchen ceiling. and because of that they have to paint the entire kitchen. also, since the guy cut a hole behind the shower to stop the leak, we get our bathroom painted too. all of this for the price of our deductible, which equals a pretty good deal. i just hope they paint the colors i picked out and not boring white again.....

i will not return in winter if i be not back by fall seek me when this small sunflower stands above the garden wall

your sunny smile
says hello to us
each day we come home
you grow to keep
us connected
even when you
are far away
its the little things
now that we
will look for
but we will
always know
you are
there.

now nothing seems as strange as when the leaves began to change or how we thought those days would never end

we had one last summer sunset saturday night. i walked to the old centennial park and took some pictures. it was such a beautiful night.

billy took this one of the spider. it came out pretty cool. it was on our balcony.

there's no tomorrow on this foggy river, only memories linger on...

summer is over. it went by unbelievably fast. we spent our last weekend in the apartment. we had a nice time. we went boating with friends. i am so tired right now and it is tuesday already. early monday morning i was awoken by a foghorn from a ship passing through. and at ten thirty the fog was still on the river. it was the weirdest thing. you could not even see calumet island. and in a matter of 10 minutes it was there again. it was like something from a horror movie.