PROUD

I first have to make the disclaimer that this post was completely unplanned and I just got the "itch" to post it a few minutes ago. In a previous post, I talked about the camp that my Dad counsels each year. Just this morning, Dad forwarded a link to me with a video that was made this year at camp for the Northwest Herald. Its a bigger file, so it takes a bit to load, but it is totally worth it. Note: Dad isn't interviewed, but you can see him in a lawn chair on the shots of the kids playing the beanbag toss.

http://ssm.nwherald.com/northwest-herald/video/20090618CampIAmMe/camp-i-am-me/

Dad, I don't know if you read my blog or not, but I just have to say how proud I am of you for sharing yourself with these kids. You give them warmth, compassion, love and kindness. You show your campers that there are people in this world who look past their scars and care about them and love them for who they are. You not only give of yourself during Camp week, but throughout the year while you raise money to support the Camp. I'm so thankful that you are a positive influence in the lives of these kids. Dad, I'm so blessed to call you my Dad and I love you.

Friday Favs

I have to admit, this past week has been awesome. Here are some of the highlights, which are also my favs of the week:

Last Saturday, Rob, Ella and I went to the Farmers Market in Alton. There wasn't a lot there yet because of the time of year, but we got a zucchini and a loaf of Parmesan garlic focaccia bread. After that, we stopped by an estate sale in the Fairmont subdivision. It was really neat to walk around and look at all the stuff for sale. Our final stop of the morning was at Food & Fermentation in Godfrey. We picked up a bottle of wine and some 8 oz. filet mignons that were $5 each!!! We had an amazing dinner that night.

Sunday, Mom spent the day with me and Ella while Rob had baseball. After a quick trip to Bed Bath & Beyond, we did a little experimenting in the kitchen. We made cheesecake cups. One batch we made with chocolate and peanut butter and the other with chocolate and strawberry. Both were YUMMY, but the ones with peanut butter were AMAZING! I made a chicken lasagna for dinner, which was also pretty darn good.

Monday was rough at work. We lost internet and phones from 10:30 to 4:45, which left me with not a lot that I could get done. But, when I got to SIUE for class that night, I discovered that class had been cancelled. WAHOO! So, I went back to work to get some things done that I couldn't do during the day.

Our trip to Burn Camp was on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had such a great time. You can read more about that trip in my last post.

Finally, today is Friday. The end of the work week. The last day before a weekend that will fly by, just like all the rest.


Some other highlights of this week:

That Ella did GREAT on her first road trip
Getting text messages from my Dad while he's at Camp
Genuine Chicago style pizza
Rob not snoring in our hotel room :)
Honey BBQ Twist Fritos - my favorite road trip food
Excitement for the upcoming trip that Rob and I will be taking

Thanks for reading. TGIF!

Dad's Father's Day Surprise

For about 17 years now, one week out of each summer my Dad has volunteered as a counselor at the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance's Burn Camp (now also known as Camp I Am Me). The Camp is located at the YMCA's Camp Duncan in Ingleside, IL. It is for kids ages 8 - 16 who have been severly burned in a fire. Many of the kids have absolutely heartbreaking stories. Many have very visible scarring and some also have physical handicaps as a result of their injuries. Each year, Dad prepares the woodworking projects for all of the campers for the week. He loves helping the kids build anything from memory boxes to birdhouses. Throughout the years, we've seen literally thousands of pictures that he has taken and heard tons of stories each year after his return. The Camp is definitely something close to his heart.

Every year on the Wednesday during Camp week, they host Visitor's Day. This is a chance for contributing fire departments and other organizations/individuals to come and see the Camp. I was able to go to Visitor's Day once roughly 10 years ago with one of Dad's friends. The rest of our little family, however, had never experienced Burn Camp first-hand. Some time back, I decided that for Father's Day I wanted to surprise Dad on Visitor's Day at Camp. So, this past Tuesday afternoon, Mom, Rob, Ella, and I loaded up the car for the nearly six hour drive. During our evening in Chicagoland before Visitor's Day, we couldn't pass up the local cuisine. This pizza from Giordano's was amazing.

Yesterday morning, when we got to Camp, we were able to locate Dad without him knowing that we were there. We asked another counselor to take Ella and go take her to Dad. Mom, Rob, and I were able to watch his reaction from around a corner. He looked rather confused when he saw Ella. At that point, we came out of our hiding place so he knew we were there too. He certainly was surprised to see all of us.

One of the main events during Visitor's Day is a fire truck parade. Many local fire departments bring a truck and the campers and counselors are able to go for a ride in the parade. The other visitors, including us, were the spectators. Ella loved the parade, including waving at Grandpa on a fire truck. After a bite of lunch and a little bit of time with Dad, we decided to head home. This was also Ella's first roadtrip so she was pretty tired, but overall she did great.

Here are a few other pictures from our Father's Day Surprise.

Ella and her "Da-Taw"

The shirt Ella wore on Visitor's Day

Sleepy baby

Just a dream

So, I guess part of me has always had a hidden career dream. Not too many people know this, until now. :) Part of me has always wanted to go to culinary school and become a chef. I think the main reason I didn't look into it more was because I don't know what kind of career opportunities would be presented to someone with a degree in the culinary arts. I wouldn't want to have to work every evening and weekend at some place in St. Louis and always be away from my family. I think I owe this dream primarily to my Mom. My Mom is an AMAZING cook and she has learned from another AMAZING cook, my Grandma. Mom and I love to swap recipes and she is the one I call from the grocery store with all my crazy questions. All of my days as a 4-H girl also helped me explore my skills (or lack there-of) in the kitchen. I took quite a variety of cooking/baking/etc projects in 4-H. Yeah, just ask me about my State Fair, Superior ribbon-winning bread. Got the big fat purple ribbons to prove it! Anyway, I used to be able to use the lack of a dishwasher as a deterrent to cooking/baking as much as I wanted. Really, who wants to wash all the dishes that result?!?! Not me! Well, now we have a dishwasher so that excuse is out the window. I really wish I had more time to spend in the kitchen, but for the sake of still trying to lose my baby weight, its probably a good thing that I don't spend more time there. Sure, I have had my fair share of "nice try, but no thanks" recipes. Just ask Rob about the seafood pasta dish I tried one time. I've tried to block that particular event from my memory, but I do remember it having a home-made red sauce, shrimp and lots of seasonings in it. Basically, it tasted about as good as cardboard. Leftovers were not salvaged from that dinner.

After a particularly frustrating day at work today, my curiosity got the best of me. I'm sure you've all seen the ads and TV commercials for the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in St. Louis. I decided to give them a call. Who knows, accountant turned chef...I'm sure its happened before. Needless to say, after finding out that its 4 days a week, 4 1/2 hours per day for 9 months with a price tag of roughly $16,300...I think I'll be finishing my masters degree and sitting for the CPA exam in the next year or two. So, my dreams of becoming a chef will remain just that, a dream.

Friday Favs

Really, Friday again? Where did the last week go?

Anyway, some of the best parts of this past week (not in any particular order):

Movie Nite with "my girls" - they can always make me smile and laugh. You guys are the best!!!

New basement windows

3 years of marriage - sometimes our wedding day seems like it was yesterday, and other times it feels like its been longer. We've been through/done a lot in the last three years - Ella's birth, bought our house (including remodeling our kitchen), two new cars & a motorcycle, my car accident, Rob's graduation from Greenville College, Rob's new job on SIUe's campus, my continued work on my MBA (not all necessarily in that order)

Date night with the hubby - dinner at Tony's (seafood pasta - YUM!), putt-putt golf, and Rick's ice cream (thanks to Grandma JoAnn for watching Ella!)

Ella's laugh - it can brighten anyone's day and make any worries go away

Our landscaping - its been done for almost a year now and we are loving all the plants and flowers. They add some amazing color to the outside of our house. Its low maintenance and looks great, if I might say so myself!

Movie Review

Last night was Movie Nite with "the girls". (Thanks again for hosting Steff!) After a yummy dinner from Roma's and some chat about our Annual Girls Trip (Hermann MO this year!!!), we settled in to watch He's Just Not That Into You and New in Town. He's Just Not That Into You had a couple of characters that were INCREDIBLY annoying at times. The last 15 minutes was good, but not a movie I will go out and buy. It basically gives different scenarios of dating relationships in which the girl and/or guy does something over the top. Of course its exaggerated for the purpose of the movie. New in Town was much better. The Minnesota accent of the majority of the characters would be my only dislike. Of course Harry Connick Jr is very easy on the eyes. He's a bit rugged in the movie, but I won't complain. If you are in need of a feel-good movie - its worth renting.

My favorite things from this week

I stole the idea for this post from my friend, Alison. Thanks Alison, hope you don't mind!

Once a week I hope to write about some of my favorite things from the week, in an effort to make me notice and be more thankful for the good things in life...

Scrapbooking with "my girls"

Getting out of class at 8 pm (instead of 10:30) for the first night of class

Ella's first trip to the zoo

70 degree weather in June - I could get used to this!!!

Finishing Breaking Dawn (book four of the Twilight series)

Iced Mocha from McDonald's

Having GPS while trying to find a client's office in Sauget for the first time