Chicago! Chicago!

Before I start telling you about my trip to Chicago, I again apologize for not having posted sooner than this. I have been making a priority of keeping my home cleaner, and and even bigger priority of building a relationship with my sweetheart. We have been dating three months, and I can honestly say that he is the best man I have ever dated! He drives an hour one way to come see me, but still manages to make the trip an average of twice a week, and sometimes more! I've been staying busy with a lot of fun activities, and will try to share those with you soon too.

However, I'll start with a very belated account of my trip to Chicago in April of this year. I had taken the train there to attend a women's retreat called Women On Fire, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best things I have ever done for myself. It was enriching and the fellowship was fabulous. I was among some of the most vibrant, intelligent, and supportive women I have ever met!

I stayed at the Embassy Suites in downtown Chicago near the shoreline. These open floored hotels must be the new thing. This was the pretty dining area. It's open all the way to the roof! While this looks cool, for an acrophobic like myself (scared of heights), this presented quite the challenge. I clung to the walls on the way to my room and tried not to look out over the edge! I kept my back turned in the glass elevators!


These two story bamboo trees were pretty.


I also liked this water wall. I love fountains and the sound of water.


I had a great view of Lake Michigan from my hotel room! I couldn't wait to get down to the shore and get near the water. Navy Pier was right there and within an easy walking distance. I bundled up in my jacket as it was in the low 50s, and took a hike.



It was so exciting to approach Navy Pier! This was a place I had always heard of, but really didn't know what to expect or see.



Here is a look back at the city, from where I had just come.


One of the first things I wanted to check out was the Stained Glass Museum...and it was free! I highly recommend it. Some of these were by Tiffany!






After that, it was onward to explore the rest of the sights. Me near the Beer Garden. No, I did not drink any beer!


The famous Harry Caray's restaurant. There were a lot of people out despite the chilly weather.


And here is the famous ferris wheel. I am terrified of heights...didn't ride that!


This theater is at the very end of the pier.


After my stroll through Navy Pier, I decided that I really wanted to get out on the water, despite the chilly temps and wind. I love being on the water, and the tours were not really too expensive.

This looked like it could be a fun ride!


The pirate ship approaches from the lake.


Although this might have been a lot of fun, it was a little more pricey than I cared for.


I spotted this seagull while I pondered my decision.


There were so many to choose from!



I eventually chose the shoreline tour for $14.


I had great views of the pier.



And some of the lighthouse.


And even one of a naval ship far in the distance. Great Lakes Naval Base is not far from the city.


There were great views of the Chicago skyline.




On the return trip, I spotted these noisy seagulls. There were literally hundreds of them!


Once off of the boat, I decided to head out from the pier and take in a few last sights before heading back to the hotel. I was so intrigued of this sculpture of TV's Bob Newhart with his psychiatrist couch! That was such a funny series.



I also loved this sculpture of a sea captain.


I said my last farewell to Navy Pier.


See the smile on my face? That's because I had such a great time!


Later that day, I ran into Debbie, founder of the Women on Fire event, and my former babysitter! This was the first time I had seen her in decades. Oh how wonderful it was to see her again! Such great memories, with more to be created over the next couple days!


Even later, I met my roommate Carin, a most amazing lady! She was the coolest and we got along so well. I had never met her before that night, and was so happy that Debbie suggested we room together. We had an instant connection, and I feel like I've found a new sister!


This wouldn't be complete without a picture of me with Debbie and Stedman Graham. See, I really did meet him! This was right after I handed him my business card.


Chicago is an amazing city. I hope to be able to take the train back and visit again someday! I would also stay at the Embassy Suites again. The hotel was really nice and the breakfasts are included in the cost of the room and were delicious. The only drawback is that if you drive, it will cost you over $40 to park your car at the hotel. Since I took the train, that was not a concern.

I'll really try to make a better effort and posting and visiting! I have so much to share, including a wonderful garden tour which afforded me the opportunity to take some wonderful pictures!

I've missed you all!

Where to Begin?

It seems like I haven't posted in forever. Actually it has only been since April, but that was almost two months ago. I feel terrible about going missing in action, but life has been incredibly full lately. Boy do I have a lot to tell you! The biggest news is toward the end of the post.

I do apologize to all of those who follow my blog. I have made very, very few blog visits in the last couple months. I am going to work to remedy this situation.

This pic is following a recent boat trip on a local river.

Since I last posted, I have been out on a boat twice, both times over Memorial Day weekend, which was a fantastic weekend for me! I took some pics and will post them sometime in the future.

I have also been spending much less time at the computer. Between working third shift and struggling to get enough sleep, I have also been working much harder at keeping this home clean. Although you only see a clean house in the pics on my blog, the truth is that I have often been a dreadful housekeeper. I am determined that this place is going to stay tidy and clean, and it has taken a lot of time daily to keep it the way I like it. I love this place, and want to keep it beautiful. Although you've seen pics of my little bathroom and my porch, I do have more pics of the apartment and plan to post them soon too.

As I wrote in my last post, I traveled to Chicago to attend a women's retreat in April called Women on Fire. It was one of the most enriching experiences of my life, and I feel forever changed. The purpose of the retreat was not only to bring women together to network, fellowship, and support each other, we also talked about what we are on fire about in our lives and identified our passions. One of my passions has been working with people, and I recalled how much I enjoyed my counseling jobs.

With the help of the women at the retreat, I discovered that although I cannot return to chemical dependency counseling without being under an agency, there is no reason that I cannot bring women together to form a support group, or to have classes on increasing self esteem. Some of the women at that retreat are life coaches, and perhaps I can do something in that area, though I feel I need some training in that. However, people have always come to me for advice, and they seem to think I am wise. Why not continue to use that talent in another venue? I haven't formulated a plan yet, but plan to soon.

The biggest change in my life has been the happiest change.

I'm dating!


I met him online through a dating site. The funny thing is, he lives only 6 miles from my hometown!
Oddly enough, he was divorcing about the same time that I moved to my present city, so he wasn't eligible to date while we lived close. I first wrote to him about May 1 and met him in person the second week of May, and we have been on about 10 dates so far.

He is the most considerate men I have ever gone out with. Since the day we first began e-mailing each other, I have either heard from him via email, instant message, personal visit, or phone call daily. He believes that the man always pays for dinner, he remembers little things about what I like, and we always have fun together, even if its just hanging out and talking. He's incredibly intelligent (master's degree), and has a wonderful sense of humor. We laugh together a lot. We like a lot of the same music, and even watch the same cartoons! (Yes, I watch cartoons. And I don't care if you think I'm silly for it!) Besides going out to eat, we've gone on walks together, gone on a picnic (he cooked the chicken), and we've gone to an art museum. He even likes shopping. Last weekend I met his children.

Needless to say, I am thrilled to pieces. And I am falling....Head. Over. Heels.

I so hope this works out!

Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention...when I attended the Women on Fire retreat, I heard from a couple different women about how they met their beloved. We talked about thinking outside the box, and to say Yes to dating anyone. One of the type of men I said I would never date was a pastor.

Well guess what my sweetie does. Yep, he's a preacher!

I believe that God has an incredible sense of humor, because although I am a born again Christian, I only go to church when my son asks me to watch him sing or perform, or when he asks me to go for a special occasion. I haven't attended any church on a regular basis for over 10 years. Some of my religious beliefs are not consistent with mainline Christian beliefs. I have shared this with him. And yet this man sees the spiritual in me. He likes me anyhow, even though I call myself his "little heathen."

The funny thing is, he is a preacher I could listen to even if I wasn't dating him! He writes one paragraph weekly eDevotions, and I feel like he is speaking my same thoughts in each one. I have told him that if he invites me, I will come to hear him preach, but he has to ask, because dating a pastor is a bit tricky, and its too soon to be asked a bunch of questions about my role in his life. If we get serious (and I hope we do), then that may be the time. For now, I'm just enjoying getting to know this wonderful man.

Oh yeah, and if you're one of my Facebook friends, please don't ask me questions about him on my FB wall! One of my best friends from school (also on FB) goes to his church, and for now, I need to keep this on the down-low. He is also on my Facebook, and if he DOESN'T feel the same about me, it would be pretty embarrassing for him to read how I feel before I have actually told him.

So that's my life in a nutshell! I really am going to make a better effort to keep my blog more current and make more visits. Oh, I am now moderating all my blog comments as I have been inundated with spam comments, some of them with really inappropriate links. I hope you'll understand.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Now I Know That I Can Do Anything!

I just had the most amazing, incredible weekend in Chicago at an event called Women on Fire. It was an event designed to boost self-esteem, to help discover your passions in life and how to work toward those passions, and to build support among women. I will write more later on about the specifics as I need time to ask permission to use links and pics, but first I want to tell you about an incredible opportunity I had. It was truly a defining moment in my life.

One of the two wonderful speakers we had at this event was the fantastic Stedman Graham. Yes that Stedman, better known as Oprah’s boyfriend. However, I will never look at him as Oprah’s sweetheart again, but as Stedman, masterful speaker, real individual, and the man with a warm, wonderful spirit; the kind of man you would want as your big brother or mentor. He is just that genuine.

As you all know, I have been selling Tahitian Noni products for several months. When a young boy in my life who has been helped immeasurably by using the Noni juice and vitamins heard that Stedman was going to be at this event, he told me that I had to tell him about Noni. I told him that one does not just walk up to a celebrity and do that. He even told me that I should raise my hand, interrupt the speech, and tell him that I needed to talk to him afterward. Again, I told him that just wasn’t appropriate.

On the first day of the Women on Fire event, Stedman gave his talk, and we were all inspired. I was delighted when we were told that we could all have our photographs taken with him! Let me tell you, he is one tall fellow! As I awaited my turn, I realized that I would have the chance to hand him my business card.

A little background on myself: I have in the past been painfully shy. I still have moments of shyness and insecurity. Believe me, all of those insecurities were boiling up inside me at that moment, but when I thought about having to go back to this child and tell him I missed the opportunity to tell Stedman about Noni, it propelled me forward despite my fears. When I stepped up to be photographed, I pulled my card out from my pocket, took my spot between Stedman and my former babysitter Debbie Phillips (founder of the event), and told him, “I hope its not inappropriate, but I’d like to give you my business card.” He said, “It’s not inappropriate. I’ll take your card!” Then I told him, “This is the best stuff on earth!” (Boy, that just sounded like a popular tea commercial.) “Chauncey Billups, Terrell Owens, and Danny Glover all use it!”

Wow, I did it! Despite all my shyness, my doubts, my insecurities, and worry that I couldn’t do that, I did it!

Even though one of the biggest messages of the whole event was that we can do whatever we set out to do, this step of faith and even bigger fear of having to go back and tell this child that I failed, made it possible for me to do what I needed to do.

And now I know that I can do whatever I need to do. I can approach anybody and talk to them about Tahitian Noni or any other subject.

Because I? Handed my business card to Stedman Graham!

PS~ This post is not meant to imply that Mr. Graham uses or endorses Tahitian Noni products.

PSS~ I'm so glad I plucked my chin hairs before meeting him face to face!

New Porch and Off We Go to the Ice Cream Shop!

I am just loving the new apartment! The decorating is coming together so well, and I am having so much fun taking the things that I already had and putting them together in a new way. This weekend I worked on my front porch.

There is a mailbox next to the front door, but it was actually not being used since there are mailboxes up front. At one time, a woman in her 90s lived here, and the mailman brought it straight to the door, but no longer. You have got to love small towns and how they will do little favors like this for people! Anyhow, I just had to do something with that plain mailbox, so I went to Joann Fabrics, found some silk posies at 40% off, and turned that mailbox into a pretty planter.


Next I decided to put my wicker settee out on the porch along with my round wicker table. The settee comes apart so that I could have two separate chairs. I was really craving some pretty red overstuffed lawn cushions for these chairs, but didn't have $50 a piece to spare, so I thought and thought about how I could make this porch pretty. Aha! I took some outdoor chair cushions that I already have, and used some chair covers that I bought a couple years ago and used them as slipcovers. These are from Waverly in the Norfolk Rose pattern. I had originally bought them to use at my house on Bonnie Lane, but we all know how that turned out!


For a short time, I had my red bench out here, but I couldn't crank my windows open because the bench was in the way. The bronze star was going to move inside too, but when I picked it up, there were cocoons on the back! So it will be hanging from the mailbox for now until it hatches its little moths...or whatever those cocoons may be holding.



My red star is also near the door. I found some cool hooks at Meijer that slip in under the siding so that no marks are left, and so that I don't have an angry landlord.


Here is a view of the whole porch. I just can't wait until it gets a little warmer and friends and I can sit out here with a big glass of iced tea and watch the world go by in this sleepy little town.


One of my favorite things about living here is that I look out my back patio, and here is what I find in my back yard...


...the local dairy bar! Yippee skippee!


Just look at the yummy ice cream flavors they sell here, plus the food. Oh boy! This really doesn't do much good for my diet.


It's way too easy to just go up to the windows and make your choice...


...just like my son Jared and his friend Nick did. Well, and I confess, so did I!


And look what you can walk away with! This is a Moosetracks hand dipped cone, but it is sugar free, fat free, so that does help. I love that this ice cream has minature Reeses Peanut Butter Cups in it. Yowza!


So I have to say, I really enjoyed the ice cream cone, and this pretty scene from my kitchen window --


My daughter said that she is going to come visit next Sunday, and we are going to get some ice cream from the dairy bar, then sit out on my pretty new front porch. I think I'll add a couple glasses of iced tea, and that ought to be just about the most perfect thing in the world!

Hope everyone else is enjoying their own little corner of peacefulness!