eclipse.

Well, I just finished the third book. I think each book keeps getting better. I can't wait to see what the final book brings. But I have to admit, I'm a little sad/nervous to be done with the books. Now what will I do with all my time? But I can't get ahead of myself, I still have one book left to read.

wisconsin state fair.

Last week Eric and I got some free tickets to go to the wisconsin state fair. I've heard through colleagues, friends, and students that it's pretty great. So one fine, warm afternoon when eric got out of class early and i didn't have to work, we made our way over to have some lunch and check it out. First off, I have to say that I have always loved fair food, but I knew I wasn't going to get my basque chorizo, like I used to growing up with mom and dad, so I knew I would have to settle for a pronto pup. Turns out they don't call them pronto pups out here, just your typical corn dog. It sounds better when you say pronto pup, but oh well. It was good and I smothered it with mustard. YUM. Eric had his eye on someone else's pulled prk sandwich, so we tracked one done for him. We made sure to leave room in our stomachs for a few different snacks and treats. We decided to give to good old fashioned homemade french fries a try. We figured that we probably didn't need the 64 ounce bucket they were selling for the two of us, so we settled for the 16 ounce. Pretty tasty. And if you know me at all, you know I need my kettle corn. I tracked it down immediately and knew where to go back before we left. As we approached the man making the kettle corn, I had my eyes locked in for the prize. He asked me kindly if I would like a sample, and I replied, "You don't need to sell me on it, give me a large bag, thank you. Actually, I'll take the sample too!" One word...DELICIOUS.

While we thoroughly enjoyed our food, we almost enjoyed the people watching just as much. I always thought Idaho had a great state fair and it does, but the Wisconsin state fair has to be at least twice the size of the Idaho state fair.

new moon.

i finished new moon a couple of days ago, i'm addicted.
edward, bella, jacob...oh the love triangle.
and i have a crush on a teenage vampire, i'm pathetic.
my friend, megan, from school gave me the third last night to read.
i can't stop.

twilight.

well i just finished reading twilight, by stephanie meyer. i stayed up til 1:30 this morning to finish it. i don't know what it is, but it's captivating. i couldn't help but want to read more. teenage love, vampires...what more could a person want to read about? at the end of the book, she includes the first chapter for the next book, new moon. i can't wait to get the book out of my mailbox from school tomorrow, so i can start it and hopefully have it finished by the end of the week. i have to admit, i thought it was going to be a silly book (i'm not really into vampires), but the author really keeps the reader interested. give it a read, tell me what you think.

also, i plan on seeing the movie...immediately.

the time traveler's wife

I just finished reading the time traveler's wife and cried for the last forty pages. I recommend to anyone who loves a good love story, who doesn't mind a story that has "flashbacks" and "flashforwards" throughout the whole book, and who wants to go see a movie, but enjoys reading the book first. It was a love story unlike one I have ever read and I look forward to discussing it with someone else and seeing the movie. Enjoy.

Happy One Year Anniversary!

One Year Anniversary

Millennium Park

Eric leading the way

The Windy City

First Train Ride

Eric and I celebrated our one year anniversary this weekend in Chicago. This was my first time to Chicago, so I was like a little kid with my eyes checking everything out. We left Saturday afternoon when I got off of work. We took the Amtrak from downtown Milwaukee to downtown Chicago. This was also my first time on a train. There were a couple of stops in between, but it was really neat coming into the city. Over the last year I've thought about what a big city Milwaukee is in comparison to Boise and Spokane, well Milwaukee doesn't hold a candle to Chicago. The skyline is incredible coming into the city.

When we got off the train at Union Station, our plan was to just walk around downtown and then find a spot for dinner. Right next to Union Station is the Sears Tower, which is now, the Willis Tower. I don't know how to describe the heights of this building. It is so tall, it's almost impossible to crane your neck all the way back to see the top of the building. It is 110 stories tall. It's hard to fathom building something with such great heights and it not falling right over.

We continued to walk through the city stopping and taking pictures at various spots. We walked to Grant Park, where Obama made his acceptance speech for Presidency. We walked through some gardens and saw a lot of art sculptures. We also saw this art sculpture that was the shape of a kidney bean, but it was made out of mirrors. It was so fun take pictures in front of and watching people make funny faces in front of. We also saw three different wedding parties taking pictures, as well as a small ceremony taking place. On a side note...I thought being from out of town and carrying our back pack around we would kind of stick out like sore thumbs, but quite the opposite. We looked just like three fourths of the people walking around with suitcases and bags. It was amazing all the people walking around just like us, downtown.

Eric had told me about a restaurant he went to with his buddy, Jeff, called the Weber Grill, like the bbq grill, that had great burgers. Well if you know me at all, I love ordering burgers whenever I go out to dinner. So I was sold. All we had to do was find it. Well after some walking around, we were about to turn down a street to see if we could find it when Eric spotted it down our street. We hurried along cause we were hungry, we'd been walking for a few hours, and put our name in. Five minutes later we had a great little spot to sit outside and eat. We ordered our burgers and did a pre-cheers to our one year anniversary.

After stuffing our faces with burgers, fries, and beer. We definitely needed to do some walking. We started our walking and ran into a wonderful place I like to call, Nordstroms. I vowed to come back the next day. We continued our walk and headed back towards Union Station area to catch a cab to our hotel. We caught our cab and he took us to Rosemont, just outside the city. Again, another first for me in the taxi cab. And I was very happy with our driver, he drove fast, but not out of control.

The next morning we woke up to the fire alarm going off at 7am. Not sure what was going on, we gather our stuff and made our way down the seven flights of stairs. By the time we got to the bottom, the alarm had stopped. There were three fire trucks, an ambulance, and two police cars. Guests started making their way back inside, so we followed and went back to our room. Eric decided we needed more sleep, so he snoozed and I watched a movie, then fell asleep.

We found out when we checked out of the hotel that the L train was just a couple of blocks away, so we could walk and catch it for downtown. Well, what do you know...it was my first time on subway like train. We took the train to the California stop and got off and got on the bus. Again first time on a public transportation bus. We got off the bus on Illinois and Clark. I remembered a place called the corner bakery I saw the day before, near Michigan Ave., and walked a few blocks to the bakery. We ordered our food and sat outside and ate. It was delicious.

I don't know a lot about Chicago, but I do know that Michigan Ave. is the "main"street. Eric had been talking about the Magnificent Mile...turns out same spot. We walked, found my friend Nordy, went and visited. We walked the "mile" and enjoyed looking at the shops and looking at all the people.

We walked down to Navy Pier, which I didn't really know much about. Wow. There were boats, food, drinks, people galore. We walked, talked, and enjoyed the afternoon together. To top it off we took a water taxi from Navy Pier to Union Station, another first. The water taxi takes you through the Chicago River, which goes through the city. Beautiful. Beautiful. I've never thought of myself as a city girl, but I could definitely be a city girl in Chicago. We hopped on the 5pm train back to Wisconsin.

Our anniversary weekend to Chicago was wonderful. And to top it all off, I got to spend it with Eric. It was perfect. A toast to our first year of marriage and 50 more to come! I love you, Eric.