Miss the Family

Today I was to be in Palestine IL with tons of family and relatives. Unfortunally I was unable to make it due to weather. I was hoping to go, but with Wisconsin weather you can never be sure about driving. We got probably a good 5 inches of snow here yesterday and it was hard just to drive in that. So I didn't want to risk driving to far by myself.

But tonight I will be getting a phone call from the family while they are opening presents. I always make a calendar for my grandpa .I worked on the calendar for a good month or so. So I always look forward to hearing others comments on what they thought.

Not to much longer though and I will get to see the whole family. Come May 17th, everyone will be in Madison Wisconsin for our wedding.

Everyone drive safe out there...

Merry Chrismas and Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas to all !!! This christmas is the first year I will not be going home for Christmas. I"m kind of sad about that. But family understands and that's why I love them so much. This year I didn't ask for anything for Christmas. I think it's becoming to over rated but that's just my opinion. Plus Andy and I have the wedding coming up and I imagine we will get a lot of gifts at that time. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and I miss all of you. Can't wait to see you in May!!!

Yummmmmy In My Tummmmmmy

Do you ever get in that mood where you want to make or bake something. I do! Tonight I decided to run to Target after work and pick up some Vanilla and Baking powder so I could make my choc. chip cookies. I had all the other ingredients but that. So I got home, ate dinner and made some cookie dough. I haven't baked them yet, but the dough is sure good! MMM good!!!!!

Scrapbook Calendar

For the last 5-6 years I think it has been I have been scrap booking a Calendar for my grandpa! This calendar is 12 pages full of our whole entire family. I usually wait till the last minute to start working on it but I have decided this year I'm going to start early. So this past weekend I got all the pictures that I wanted to print and had them done at Walgreen's. I think the photo lab guy knows me by name now since that's where I go. Anyways though I had tons of great pictures from Christmas 2006, Labor Day 2007, Brandice and Kenny Wedding 2007, and some misc pictures that family members have given me. And let me tell you there are some good ones. This Christmas I will not be able to come down . I have to save my vacation time up for the wedding. But my family understands that. I will miss each one of them though. So I have to get the calendar done so I can ship it to Palestine IL.... I can't post any pictures because they may be in the calendar. I have to keep them a secret .

Words from a Wise Cousin!

After my cousin Brandice got married , I asked her what some of the Pro's of Cons of things she did at her wedding. Things I can use to learn from on our upcoming wedding. Here are the tips she gave me, have any others please let me know...

Tips

Make sure to write your thank you cards out ahead of time and make labeled envelopes with money due and thank you notes to pass out to people.

Make sure your dress and bustle work and fit properly ahead of time.

Call the photographer and see when they are going to start taking pictures before you book your appointments for your hair and make up and leave some time in between in case your hair takes longer than planned, like mine did.

Designate someone ahead of time to keep track of all of your stuff. Maybe dived different things up among people.

Bring comfortable shoes to wear at the reception.

Maybe bring an energy drink because you will be running around all day long and it really wears you out.

Take some time at the reception to step away with your new hubby and relax for a moment and see all of the crazy stuff that is going on.

Make a list of must take pictures for your photographer.

Practice cutting a cake together and maybe practice slow dancing. Me and Kenny never did and we were both cracking up because we didn't really know what we were doing.

Make sure to get up and start talking to all of the tables before your do or photographers pull you away because that happened to me and when I came back some people had left and others were up walking around so I didn't really get to say hi to everyone

Thanksgiving Day and Wisdom Teeth

This Thanksgiving we went to Andy parent's house. I was in charge of making the Green Bean Casserole. Pretty easy I have to say. I pretty much lounge around the house all day and munched on food and snacks because the next day I have to have my wisdom teeth pulled. I wasn't looking forward to it all. I think I have been putting it off for about 3 years now. They never really started bothering me till this year. So I had my final meal on Thanksgiving and stuffed myself full. I couldn't eat anything 6 hours before time nor drink.

That next morning I woke up not wanting to go. Andy was getting ready and I was sitting on the couch starting to tear up because I don't like the dentist. So I called my mom and she calmed me down as always. She talked me through what was going to happen and your going to be OK. The things that mom always says. When I arrived my heart was racing and I was nervous. When the lady called my name I looked at Andy with a scared looked.

I told the nurse I was nervous and she said you have nothing to worry about your in good hands. I was indeed! They had me sit in the famous chair and relax with some laughing gas. By that time I had calmed down some. The doc came in and said , alright I'm going to start the IV. He started it and I don't remember a thing...

I was so happy when I was done and I was so tired and drugged up. They give you some good meds, that's for sure...

It's been about a week or so now and I'm just now to the point where I can eat normal food again. I was so happy. Still a little pain when I chew on certain sides but all is well. It was a good experience to say the least.

Famous People at Work

It was a cold day out and all of sudden there was a lot of buzz happening around the dealership. People were asking me do you know so and so ? And I was like uhh not really. Then I went up to an advisor and asked is it really true, Is James Cromwell in our dealership? Yes he is... For those of you that don't know the name, he played in movies such as , Spiderman, Longest Yard, has a star role on Six Feet Under, I Robot , ER, and tons of other movies... I couldn't believe it.. He was passing through from New York and we just happen to be the closest Audi dealership. I can't remember what he was having done, but he hung out and then he went to the bookstore all day. When he came back to pick up his car, I had the chance to help him check out. I had his phone number and his autograph on his bill. It was so awesome to meet someone like him. Other customers were looking at him, like is that really him... Something that doesn't happen to often in our dealership happens... WAY COOL!!!

Engagement Pictures

When we chose our photographer for our wedding we had also received a complimentary package of having an engagement session done. I really wanted to use that time to see what type of photos the photographer would take. Andy really care if we had our pictures done or not. Anyways though we went to this place called Olbrich Gardens. Beautiful weather on a fall day. We had about 300 pictures taken digitally then we had to wait for almost 3 weeks to get them back. I have attached a link to check them out at. Enjoy!

http://www.greyoaksphoto.com/

Click the link and then on the bottom of the page you will see a spot that says images to purchase, click that and then you will see our pictures with a lock on that. Click that and it will ask you for a password. Pretty simple password...

These are some of the garden we took pictures in.

Shelby and Willow are Home!!!

The week after the wedding, my sister Shelby and her daughter Willow came all the way from Colorado to visit. Unfortunately I was unable to make it due to work . I was sad I missed out on all the fun, but Mom sent me some good pics of what all happened. Shelby and Willow will be at the wedding though so I"m really excited to see them . I haven't seen them for I don't know almost a year if not more. Craziness I tell you!

My Cousin's Wedding

I was in my cousin Brandice's wedding this past Oct. I was one of her bridesmaid. It was a whole lot of fun. Andy and I took off on Friday morning since neither of had to work and drove to my cousins house . One highlight of the trip was we got to drive there in a Mercedes. With the company I work for I can rent a car for the weekend and take almost anywhere. So I wanted to get a Mercedes. Andy of course got to drive , he doesn't like me driving because I have a lead foot so he says.. LOL Anyways though we had a wonderful rehearsal dinner. Saturday morning we all woke up, the guys went to play golf, I went shopping before the wedding. Then it was off to the church we go hair, makeup and all. Tons of pictures before the wedding of course which is a good thing. Had the ceremony and then off the party!!! TONS of fun!!! My family was there and my grandpa and other relatives. It was a whole lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the rehearsal, wedding and after party!

BMW Golf Tournament

One night Andy and I were talking and watching TV, we were listening to the golf channel of course since there was a big tournament going on. I said we should go to the final round since it's in the Chicago area. Andy got up and went to the computer and looked up tickets and next thing I know were getting up early in the morning to drive there. We arrived at this really pretty golf course and we brought our folding chairs with us to sit in and it was a nice day out. PERFECT out almost! We got in just to see them warm up at the first hole and tee. Who did we see, Tiger Woods and some other famous golf players. They were the last group to play through I think. Anyways though we watched them and then walked a little further and Tiger Woods walked right past me. He was only like 5-10 ft away from us. It was so cool... Then to top it off he won the tournament on the 18Th hole. It was a really fun day and I told Andy that we should make this a tradition to go to a golf tournament every year.

It's been sometime now

I have been a very bad girl and haven't posted anything in awhile. My cousin emailed me the other day and said when I'm slow at work I look forward to reading your blog. So I thought I better put some new post on here.. Some of these things may be old news but who knows. Enjoy

Wisdom

W H Y do they call them wisdom teeth? So my wisdom teeth have been coming in for the last two years now. And I finally made an appointment to get them taken out. Why do some people have 4 and some only 2.... I was one of the lucky ones that only have 2. I'm not looking forward to it at all. All I know is, they better put me to sleep while they take them out. Mine area also weird, the come in and then they go back down under the gum line. Wisdom teeth., got to love them.

Costochondritis

C O S T O C H O N D R I T I S- Say that 5 times really fast.... I can hardly pronounce it.... Anyways though this past week I had been feeling some chest pain and some hard time breathing. For the first 4-5 days I thought it was just stress from work, but Andy finally talked me into calling the doc. I called for an appointment and they couldn't get me in right away of course, so I had to wait another 3 -4 days till they could. Of course the nurse is asking me all these questions to rule out a heart attack or whatever else. So I finally get in and they decide the want to do all these test on me. I really dislike the doctors office.. They did x-rays, and blood work and EKG.... And all that for a word I can't even say.... It has to do with the Lungs and the cartilage around them being inflamed. Yet they don't know what causes it. Mmmm and they get the big bucks... Anyways though today I'm feeling better but still sometimes it's hard to breath... They said I could have this for 3-6 weeks and it will just disappear on it's own.

Cooking

This past week I decided I was going to make dinner before Andy got home from work. Normally I would wait because I hate cooking, I think I get that from my mom. Anyways though I had a craving for stuffing, like you eat at Thanksgiving, so I went to the store and got a box and I was going to make that with some chicken and veggies. That didn't happen so much. As I was standing in the store, I started to read the back of the box with some recipes on it. If you look on that back of the box you will find it saying, 1 box 3 meal ideas ,30 minutes... So I started liking this recipe for Easy Chicken Bake... Sounded easy and what not and I had all the ingredients. So I followed the directions and it says 30 mins, wrong, it cooked for like an hour just because of the chicken. But in the end Andy came home we ate dinner and he liked it and I was proud of myself for cooking something besides stir fry... Here's the recipe if you would like to try it....

Easy Chicken Bake- Stove Top

Ingredients

1 pkg.(6oz) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1 Cup of Hot Water

1 - 1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts , cut into 1 inch pieces

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1/3 cup of Sour Cream

1 bag 16(oz) of mixed vegetables

1.Preheat over to 400F. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the dry stuffing mix evenly on bottom of 13x9 baking dish and set aside. Add hot water to remaining stuffing mix, stir just until moistened and set aside.

2. Place chicken over dry stuffing mix in baking dish. Mix soup, sour cream and vegetables, spoon over chicken. Top with prepared stuffing.

3.Bake 30 mins or until chicken is cooked through.

E N J O Y

Fall is here!!!!

So it's finally fall here in Madison Wisconsin. That is probably my favorite season here, all the colors of the trees and the nice cool air so you can sleep well at night. Fall also means there are tons of new shows on. Some of my favorite shows that I'm watching this season are:

Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor,Grey's Anatomy ,Private Practice, Deal or No Deal, Oprah, Rachel Ray,CSI and Young and The Restless

Of course these are all shows I tape and watch on the weekends or late at night when I get home from work if I have time....

Also in the Fall time Andy's schedule changes, so once I get familiar with one he has to change it for the fall time because of bowling. That's OK though we still see each other through out the week...

Did I mention that FALL was my favorite season.

Big Brother Update

So this summer I watched Big Brother 8, what a show. Never thought I would get hooked on it, but boy did I..... This was a good season, lots of drama and lots of good game strategy... Anyone watch this season? Dick won the final game with his daughter coming in second place. They did a great job playing the game... Can't wait till next year.

BMW

So I know I have been bad about writing on here , but I have been busy... So after Labor day we got back into town. That next weekend one of the Pro Golf tournaments was happening near by. I said to Andy lets go... He looked up some tickets and off we were... The best part of it was , I was like 3 ft. from TIGER WOODS...... I watched him and many others play the BMW Championship. I told Andy that we should make this one of our traditions. We went to two different golf tournaments this year and both were a blast..... Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from there because they didn't allow cameras.Maybe next time...

Labor Day Weekend in Palestine IL

Every year we go to Palestine Illinois for the big rodeo and a family get together. It's pretty much a tradition. I have been going to the rodeo since I was born I would have to say. If you don't know what the rodeo consist of ,it's bare back , calf roping, barrel racing, and bull riding. And then there is a funny clown that is there and his name is Rudy!!! People come from all over, the states. Anyways though this year I didn't make it down there till Sunday . So I missed the up town sales and the chuck wagon breakfast and the best part, lunch with the clowns... This is a time for family to get together and visit and catch up on what everyone is doing and things. Here are some pics of the family and rodeo. Oh yeah there is also a parade on Monday morning... Tons of Candy too..... We all wait for the Hershey truck to go by and grab all of that...

Mr.and Mrs. Kovell Married on 9-1-07

So it's been awhile since I wrote on my blog so I thought I better update it. This past weekend was a lot of fun. I went home on Friday night to go old Champaign IL.... Saturday afternoon was one of my best friends wedding. Mr. and Mrs. Kovell. It was a very pretty wedding... Here are a few pics. Congratulations you two!