Wednesday, April 19, 2006

How could you not love this smile?





This is my personal favorite. They both look drunk. Did you forget to "pump and dump", Kathleen? Just kidding....

Vacation update

I just got back from a week in the DC/Baltimore area. Other than the 5 hour flight delay on the way home in the exciting airport of Charlotte, it was a great trip.

I spent the first few days spending time with my good pal, Nicole, who's living out there currently. We visited the National Zoo, met up with my cousin Davey for dinner, did a little shopping, found a bridesmaid dress, and just generally explored.

On Tuesday Nicole was kind enough to drive me up to Carl and Kathleen's (really she just wanted to see the baby!) and I spent the rest of the week there.

So, I know I'm biased, but... Lily is just adorable. And so good-natured! Not that she doesn't cry on occassion, but really - she smiles for anyone, laughs all the time and is usually just so happy to hear herself babble and chew on her hands. It's amazing how much she's grown and changed in a short time!

Kathleen was kind enough to bring Lily home to me in the afternoons so we were able to get some quality time in and Terra and I spent the mornings on long walks exploring the neighborhood and playing on the deck.

There's really no where (other than my own place) that I feel so at home. It's so nice to be able to feel so at ease! Guess Carl and Kathleen are just those kind of people. :-)

As always it's hard to say goodbye... but I'm sure another trip isn't too far off!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Cutie-patootie


You can tell she'll be one of those people who falls asleep reading.



I'm awake now!


Lily loves playing with Daddy.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Birthday bash

It's march (birthday) madness around here. Kathleen on the 17th, Dad on the 20th, Mom on the 25th, and Carl and I on the 28th! I always say it's like Christmas part II. If you add in all my friends who have birthdays around this time too and well... you can imagine.

While my big brother was celebrating his half of our birthday on a plane home from San Diego last night, I was out celebrating with friends. I decided on a bowling party (one of the only ways I can ever get my friends to go bowling with me!), but it didn't turn out exactly as planned.

We went to a swanky bowling alley (10-pin). One of these Cosmo lounge/plush chair/mood lighting bowling places - supposedly the new craze! It was pretty fun. And I absolutely love that bowling alleys are now no smoking in Chicago!

Anyway, we couldn't get a lane until much later in the evening so there were only a few of us who ended up bowling (my real friends.... - just kidding!) It was a great time!

Here are some pics...





Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Apartment searching

For the past two weeks I've been avidly hunting for a new apartment. For all you house-owners out there... let me just tell you - no fun. I have seen so many places that have so many problems. And all of them are at least $100 more than my current place. Just crazy. It definitely makes me think about the pros and cons of this place. Part of me just keeps looking around and saying... how can I fix the things that bother me about this place? There's really lots of room for improvement. But there are those things that I can't control - like my ceiling falling in. Though my good ol' landlord did say that he'd be working on re-doing the apartment upstairs which should help that problem.

Moving is just such a pain. I'd like to know I'm doing it for a great place. There's always more apartments tomorrow. Meanwhile if anyone knows of a great place... let me know! :-)

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Ice Skating in Millennium Park


Kristi showing off her skills - standing up...



The view from the rink.



This is "the bean" at night.

New photos of recent IMAX fun




Crazy 3D glasses!

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Star Power

As I was doing some cleaning out of the files last week at work I came across the following picture. I glanced at it and passed it over to one of my co-workers saying, "This guy looks like Charlie from Party of Five."

Low and behold - it actually was Matthew Fox (aka Charlie) and the woman who played his girlfriend on the show.

Just something you don't come across every day. Now we just have to get him to come back and do something new with us.




Monday, February 20, 2006

Pictures from Lily's Naming Ceremony

Lily's Aunt Susanne doing a reading.


Check out the cute bunny slippers!


Cousin Courtney


Look at this angel-face!

Friday, February 17, 2006

My very own Mount Rushmore

In honor of President's Day, today at work we were asked to create our own Mount Rushmore and explain why we had chosen the people on it. (Yes, I work at a very silly place.) I thought I would share my creation with all of you.



From left to right:

Jon Bon Jovi - He has rocked my world since I was 6.

Harry Potter - I wish I was this cool.

Lily Deetz - She's taken over my world.

Gary Allan - I love his voice and he's hot!

Monday, February 13, 2006

Then and Now

In an effort to cheer-up my work environment I made a little change to my desktop settings today.

This used to be the picture on my desktop:



While it is very funny and makes me giggle a little everytime I see it - this one makes me smile even more:

Friday, February 10, 2006

Breaking up is hard to do

OK - so "breaking up" may be too strong of a term, but I did just call it quits with a guy I've been semi-dating for the last few months. Once the nausea from working up the nerve to tell him passes, I'm sure I'll be fine!

He's a super nice guy, we've had some good times, but ultimately the heart wants what the heart wants (or doesn't want what it doesn't want, in this case). It's been coming for awhile and it finally hit me this week while I was in Austin for work. I was telling my friend Nicole about the situation and she finally said, "I still don't get what the issue is." I began to explain again and she said, "Ingrid - you're not into him. You never bring him up. You're not excited to spend time with him or talk to him. Just end it." Ah, the truth can be hard.

Dating is just no fun sometimes. I'm not sure there's anything worse than telling someone you're just not into them. (Actually - there are lots of things that I'm quite sure are worse, but it's still a sucky feeling.)

Luckily Maverick still thinks I'm a pretty nice girl, so it'll all be just fine. :-)

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Pics from Florida

Sarah and Allyson getting ready to go on the glass-bottom boat tour (before the motion-sickness set in!)


The view from the Tiki Bar in Key Largo.


Sarah and Allyson underneath the giant lobster!

Back from the Keys

I'm just back from a long weekend excursion down to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. My friend Allyson lives in Hollywood, FL so she put me and Sarah up for the weekend. We spent the weekend checking out the sites, hanging out on the beach, and just catching up. Here are some highlights (and maybe a few low-lights)....

1) The guy sitting next to Sarah and I on the plane stood up about halfway through the flight and blacked out. I immediately offered Sarah's services for CPR (which she was very happy with me for telling everyone...). There were no doctors on the plane, but there was an EMT and a dentist so between the two of them they managed to get the guy's vitals. He laid in the aisle of the plane for the rest of the trip and kept everyone excited and on their toes. He turned out to be fine - not sure why he blacked out, but he walked off the plane with the EMT (admittedly a little shakily.) Now - the best part of this story... he was on our flight home too! Sarah and I just looked at each other like, "Here we go again!" But thankfully it was an uneventful trip back.

2) There was a New York pizza stand on the beach in Hollywood and I just have to say - closest thing to the pizza we used to get back in New Jersey that I've had in years! It was awesome! That alone would have made my weekend! (I know - I'm easy to please! - there's just nothing quite like looking out over the ocean with a slice of NY style pizza!)

3) We spent Saturday and Sunday in Key Largo. Word to the wise - there aren't many beaches in Key Largo. But we had a great time in the hotel's pool and just checking out all the little shops and views. Best part - we found a little village area that had a world-famous Tiki bar and a great little beach area. We spent awhile sipping on keylime drinks and catching some rays. Worst part - the three of us discovered that glass bottom boat rides are not all that cool. It took me exactly 30 seconds to start feeling the motion-sickness set in after we went below deck to look through the glass bottom of the boat. Sarah and Allyson were about 1 minute behind me. Another word to the wise - when the sales people tell you it's going to be rough out on the water - DON'T GO!

4) And my favorite... Sunday night we were a little wiped and we decided we just wanted to go rent a movie and relax. As we were checking out at Blockbuster we had the distinct pleasure of being behind a guy who had his blue-tooth phone on and was yelling questions to the clerk about Rocky I, II, and III. He wanted to know which one was the best. He wanted to know which one Rocky works out in the most. He wanted to know which one Rocky's muscles were the biggest in... etc, etc, etc. Meanwhile he's also talking to his friend on the phone. The last question? What's the difference between the special edition and the original? Sarah looks over at him and totally deadpan says, "Rocky's way more buff in the special edition. That's the difference." His response, "Really? OK." Allyson and I couldn't stop laughing. Ah, making fun of the locals.... Maybe you had to be there, but really - there was an extreme lack of brain-power everywhere we went. Just amusing.

I'll post some pictures later....

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Good news

Despite my apartment issues (which, by the way, the workers deny all my claims - go figure!), life has been going pretty well. Here are two exciting things that have happened lately....

1) I've accepted a promotion at my job, so begining March 1st I will be the Director of Chapter Relations. This will be a new department for me so instead of planning conferences and other educational programs, I'll be recruiting new chapters and support groups, starting up state organizations and improving the quality of our chapters including leadership and facilitation training. It also means I'll be supervising two people which will be new for me. I'm really excited to be moving in a new direction. Hopefully it will turn out to be a good move for me.

2) Earlier this week I made the last payment on my student loans. That's right - student loans are DONE!

Favorite Lily pics



Friday, January 13, 2006

Apartment blues

Many of you have heard me talk about my apartment... how I love the location, love the lay-out, love the size... and how it's an absolute pain in the ***.

The ceiling of my kitchen has fallen in three times in the 6 months I've lived there. My neighbors smoke incessantly in the basement and just outside my door. And when the heat goes on there's a funky smell that fills the apartment.

When I came home from my 2-week vacation, my kitchen ceiling was covered (and yes, I do mean covered) in mold. Gross. I immediately called my landlord who said he'd be by in the next few days to look at it. When he finally came, he looked at it and said, "Wow - it really is covered in mold." (No, I just said that for fun....) Apparently he thought he was just going to be able to paint over it, but thought better when he actually saw it. (Hint - mold doesn't go away just because you paint over it.)

So anyway, last night I got home around 8:30pm to find the following:

- my blinds open in my living room (which I never leave open because I live on the 1st floor)

- my kitchen light on

- all of my things moved into strange places (stuff that I have no idea why they needed to move)

- two sheets of drywall in my kitchen

- a large hole in my ceiling

- my freshly washed dishes in the drying rack covered in smut from the ceiling

- my cat locked in my bedroom (without his food, water, or liter box)

- muddy footprints through the apartment, including on my newly washed bath mat in the bathroom

- the toilet seat up

- a half-drank can of seltzer water (MY seltzer water from MY fridge)

- one of my bowls with crumbs of some kind of food (probably mine) on the kitchen counter

I was slightly livid. Today I get to call my landlord and tell him all about the great workers he's hired. Yay! Think it's time to find a new place....

Thanks for listening!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Home again, home again (jiggity-jig)

Things I've learned:

- Cracker Barrel's audio-book rentals are "da bomb" for long car trips
- a 27" TV screen seems really small and strange when you've been watching one twice as large for 2 weeks
- no length of time is enough when a little baby is involved
- cats do not forget how much they hate their car carrier in 2 weeks (and when they don't want to go in, there's nothing you can do about it.)
- I kind of enjoy being woken up by doggy kisses.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Adventures in babysitting

Lily and I survived our first babysitting adventure last night while Carl and Kathleen took in a musical. She really behaved like a champ, chowing down on a bottle and then proceeding to sleep for the next 4 hours. Can't ask for much more than that. Terra, on the other hand, was not happy about the whole family not being around - every car door that shut, every dog that barked, every voice she heard set her off. It is truly amazing to me that Terra can be right next to a sleeping Lily and be barking up a storm and Lily doesn't even move. I'd be worried about her hearing except that she does wake up whenever Terra shakes and her collar jingles. Selected listening.... Anyway, by 10pm Terra had worn herself out and she slept quite peacefully as well.

Christmas (part I)





Christmas (part I) took place Tuesday night here in Baltimore. It was a lovely evening of chicken and dumplings, unwrapping presents and enjoying some quality family time. Here are some pictures to get those of you who only celebrate one Christmas (I can't even begin to tell you what you're missing out on!) in the mood!

Monday, December 12, 2005

Naughty and Nice

Nice
Snow plow man who saw me shoveling away on Saturday morning and went out of his way to take a good 2 feet of snow away for me.

Naughty
The passenger on the bus who started a fight with the bus driver other whether the bus driver was on a cell phone which she wanted to make sure everyone on the bus knew is "ILLEGAL!"

Ever notice that all my stories of irritation involve the bus? I wonder if I'd be a generally happier person if I didn't take the bus every day. Happier maybe, but also much less entertained!

Side note - I saw RENT last night. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I absolutely loved it. I know some people will be disappointed with this rendition, but not me. (Maybe that's because I've only seen the play from the nose-bleed section - it was awesome to see everything so upclose!) I'm not usually a crier at movies, but this one definitely broke me down.

Monday, December 05, 2005

More pictures


Lily and Terra comparisons

Terra chews on her bone.

Lily chews on her play mat.

Both Terra and Lily love cuddling with Kathleen.

Lily withdrawal

I'm back home after spending five days in Baltimore with the fam. In some ways it's nice to be back in the swing of my normal day-to-day life and it was great to see Maverick last night, but I'm definitely exhibiting some withdrawal symptoms. Maverick doesn't play catch nearly as well as Terra does nor does he like to be rocked like Lily. :-) I'm glad I'll be going back out there soon. Big props to Kathleen for being able to manage both the baby and the dog during the day. It takes a lot of hands!

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Some fun pictures of Lucy-goosey


This is my little cousin, second cousin, whatever, this is Lucy.

I love this little lopsided grin!

Body image distortian

I've known for a long time now that my cat has a body image problem. He weighs near 20 pounds and he thinks he can fit in a 6" by 12" box. Just not gonna happen, Mav.

However, on the bus this morning I realized that this problem is not just limited to my cat. In general, I think people have no idea how much space they take up. (Either that or they just don't give a damn about anyone else - I prefer to believe the first.) It absolutely floors me to watch people get on to a relatively empty bus (AKA no one standing in the aisle) and stop two feet in from the door while there are still about 70 people trying to get on the bus. It's seriously as if they believe that they are not taking up the aisle. In addition, bus seats are not really that big. When you add in winter coats... there's definite limitations. Yet, day after day I watch people who are much too large for the given seat squeeze themselves in. I really think this must be a body image issue. People just need to believe they don't take up as much space as they do.

Weird.

On a separate note - I leave to see Carl, Kathleen, and Lily first thing tomorrow morning! I can't wait! I know the new parents are absolutely exhausted, but I can't wait to see them anyway!

Friday, November 18, 2005

Calla Lily

I've decided for the time being, I will be calling my little niece Calla Lily. It serves as a nice transition between Calabasa and Lily. (And I think it's cute.)

I'm sure Kathleen will be posting a bunch of pics to Pumpkin News soon, but I wanted to share one of the happy parents and little Calla Lilly.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

She's here! She's here!

Lilian (or maybe Lillian - didn't clarify the spelling) Meyer Deetz made her way into the world today. Carl says she has dark curly hair and very dark blue eyes - and he says, "She's really cute." Understatement, I'm sure! 8 pounds, 20.75 inches (if I'm remembering correctly.) She'll be called Lily for short.

I can't wait to see pictures - and I really can't wait to meet her in person! Only 14 more days....

Congratulations Carl and Kathleen!

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Some of the animals of the Grand Canyon

These squirrels were crazy! And also very smart. I've never seen squirrels climb all over people, but I sure did on Wednesday. I also watched two team up and while people were busy watching the one approaching on their right, another came up the wall behind them and stole their bag of chips. Hehehe. I also saw two people get bit - so be ware. Don't tease the squirrels.

Did you know mules are pretty much the same size as horses? For some reason I was picturing them as more donkey sized.

Check that one off the list



Tuesday, October 11, 2005

10 things I want to do by the time I'm 40

See the Grand Canyon
See the Mayan Ruins
Own a house (or at least be making payments on it)
Get a dog
Find a career that really, really fits me well
Go Scuba diving
Get new living room furniture
Take my neices/nephews on a special trip just for us
See the Northern Lights with Mom
Make a tradition out of going to the ocean at least once a year

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Things to be thankful for...

I was reading an article in a cheesy magazine the other day at my grandma's house and it said that one of the keys to a happy life is to spend a little time each day thinking about things you're thankful for. Here's a few things I came up with today.

-Having a mom who's a lot like a best friend, that I can confide anything in - including the things I don't even like to admit to myself.

-Working at a place where people actively seek out my opinions and openly tell me I'm a big asset to the organization.

-Having the flexibility in my day to day life to do things that are important to me, like visiting family, volunteering and doing things just for me - all at more or less a moment's notice.

There are of course thousands of others things I'm thankful for (including getting Bon Jovi tickets this weekend, electronic hand-held Yahtzee, and auto-saves on computer programs), but these are a few that are at the forefront of my mind right now.