Kelly Clarkson Date Night

I have a confession to make... in high school I absolutely loved Kelly Clarkson. I liked her because of Idol but my true love came when her song "Break Away" came out. I felt that was my theme song... I was going to break away from my hometown and life and do great things. So, when I heard she was coming to town, I thought "why not?" Of course, I had to go out and buy her cd because I hadn't really listened to her much lately. So, after listening to her cd, I realized I can't relate to her life of being a single girl with trust issues about men but I totally could relate to her song, "The Sun Will Rise". The song kind of summarized my journey this year...
 

But, she didn't sing it at the concert. We still had a great time being surrounded by a diverse crowd of fans. I was amazed once again by that girl's vocals!! She has pipes! I really enjoyed listening and viewing the various backdrops. I've included a few pictures below but they don't do it justice to how stunning the stage lights could be.

Duo with projection of Jason Aldean

Meghan's Bridal Shower

My cousin Tony is marrying the wonderful Miss Meghan. She is such a sweet girl! We got to celebrate our newest incoming family member and shower her with gifts and games. See the festivities below:

Adorning her with boa and tiara

Her cake along with some engagement pictures taken by this FABULOUS photographer I know.
Ask me for a referral! 

My aunt made this heart shaped cake and topped it off with Meghan's blue shoes.
(Shh, don't tell that they'll be blue)

Aunts and Grandma making her a new veil

The final product... now she must join the convent as a nun

She voted this as her favorite for originality!

Her mother, my mom, and sister working on her next veil

Gotta give this team credit for creativity!

They made a tp flower

Rear view of veil

Meghan's mom watches gifts being opened

The aunts watch as she opens her gifts

Grandma watching gifts being opened

Her is her ribbon bouqet!

You weren't allowed to say Bride, Groom or Wedding...
Christina managed to steal the most pins!

Fusion of Family, Food and Fun

So, I've never been to Ko Fusion.  I think it is a product of the fact that I hear it is sushi and it is expensive.  But, dinner was really really good.  I ordered shrimp stir fry and sampled some of Stephanie's cooked shrimp roll.  I enjoyed the food. My father-in-law treated.  I got to play with my niece and nephew quite a bit.  They are just so stinking cute!!  Olivia and I walked around looking at the "waterfall" and aquarium.   We also enjoyed going to the bathroom simply because we could walk through the beads!  I wish I took pictures to show what a nice ambiance the place has (so insert image stolen from google search).

  Afterward, I tried things from Cold Stone's Hot Stone menu.  I got the equivalent of a "lava flow"  it was quite nice too!  That is quite the royal treatment for simply giving a haircut!!!  :-)

This weekend...

This weekend has been great!  I got to spend a bit of time with Michael & Stephanie Friday night.  Saturday, I went to Mattoon to get some deals at the scrapbook store.  We had a nice lunch with Rose and Jim at a Mexican restaurant.  We spent the afternoon with my dad and brother singing along with Rock Band.  Then, Grandma, Dad and I ate out at Pizza Hut.  Sunday, Chris and I enjoyed church and went looking in Savoy and Urbana for houses.  I found a house I could see my entire future in, located in Urbana.  We'll see where the road takes us...

Sunday evening, Chris and I enjoyed pizza compliments of Papa Johns!!  Monday I had the day off.  We showed the realtor our place, I got a lot of grading done, I worked on my resume and I ran some errands.  I shopped at Staples and I was paid $17 to take these items home! ;-)  That is my type of shopping!!

Thanks for reading!

Crossroads

I'm at a crossroads in my life.  I'd like to get a better paying job in town and I'm torn between getting a new house or staying put.

Pros of moving would be that we'd have a bigger house that we could eventually grow into to. ;-)  But the con is that it would cost more and I'm a frugal girl that wants to be totally debt-free.  Chris likes the idea of moving since our place has gone up in value and likely we'd make money on the sale.  But, looking around at the market, there are a lot of places that I love that aren't also expensive.  So, I'm open to input from friends... thus this post.

Also, it'd be great if you could spread via word of mouth that a cute 3 BD, 2.5 BA townhouse with a full finished basement and no association fees in a nice location in Champaign will likely be on the market. If someone was willing to pay us without a realtor, I think I wouldn't hesitate to spend hours debating on which house could best suit my future needs.  So, if you know someone, don't hesitate to connect them with me! ;-)