H to the Izzy, P to the Pizzy!

We are currently consumed with the 7th Harry Potter book, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'. Last Monday I bought two copies at Target so that Ben and I could read it at the same time. A few nights this week we have sat in bed reading and reading and reading... We even spent about 15 minutes at a Harry Potter party in downtown Naperville where there were thousands of people just hanging out, enjoying some Butterbeer, Polyjuice Potion, pictures with Dumbledore and Severus Snape...and much, much more!

Ben is not as determined as I am to get through the book quickly. I'm at the point of paranoia where I think that someone is going to ruin the ending for me if I don't hurry and read it all. Two friends at work, who's cubicles are right next to me, have read it and want to talk about it...so I need to finish before they let it slip!

Beyond Harry Potter, we do have other things going on in our lives keeping us busy as ever. Tuesday we attended our new Growth Group, which was definitely fun. Also, some friends and family have been in town visiting and there are more to come! Last weekend, Ben's parents came to visit. Ben and his dad golfed almost every day, and his mom and I got to partake in the golfing fun one afternoon too. What a lovely course it was!

This last Wednesday we got to see our friend, Jared Mott, from Nashville. He was with his Youth Group staying at the Hostel International in downtown Chicago. So, we met up with him, had dinner at the hostel, attended the evening chapel service, then headed off with the youth to compete in a scavenger hunt around the city.

Friday, we went down to the city again to see our friends, Jeff and Amber Carlson who were in town from Texas. It was so good to see them and spend time with them talking and laughing. We met at "the Bean" (which the creator prefers to be called "the Cloud") in Millenium Park, then hung out at a Chocolate Cafe on Michigan Ave for quite a while. Dinner was at Gino's East (Chicago style pizza) where we continued to just share stories and crack each other up. As always, it was hard to say goodbye at the end of the night.

Us, with Amber and Jeff Carlson

Yesterday (saturday) was a nice lazy day for me and Ben. We just hung out inside the house all day, reading Harry Potter and watching movies. We actually attempted to watch The Last Mimzy, only because "Dwight" from The Office is in it. What a boring movie, even for little kids! We couldn't make it through the whole thing.

Now, Ben just left for Madison, WI to help his brother, Joel, move to his new place. He'll be back later tonight, so he can rest up for teaching Greek class tomorrow at Wheaton (as a substitute teacher).

In a few weeks, I'll have much more to tell since my parents, little sister, and big sister and brother-in-law will be coming for my birthday weekend! I'm so excited! Then, the weekend after that (Labor day) we have some really good friends coming to visit! We can not wait!

That's it for now. Check out the food blog, too, because I've been updating it once again!

We Love Our New Home!

"It's only been a week." These are the words that just came out of my mouth when deciding how I was going to start this post. Ben came home from Notre Dame only a week ago Friday and we have already made ourselves a nice home in this new rental house of ours.

It amazes me on how our energy level is so completely different now that we have more space. This house is probably too big for us, but we are having a blast! Ben has been working on the lawn and completely enjoys it. He's already mowed twice! We also painted our kitchen blue, so now not EVERY wall in the house is eggshell anymore.

Many friends were over this week to enjoy our new home with us. The previous tenants gave us their fire pit, so we have spent numerous nights sitting on the patio roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

On another note, we went to the Harry Potter IMAX (3-D) movie the other night with our friend, Wendy, and her two sons. It was really good! I'm now starting the 6th book since the 7th book will be released this week. I can't believe no one has ruined the 6th book for me yet. I know something major happens in it...but I don't know what.

That's it for now. You can see pics at these links:
Whitman Home Before Pics

Whitman Home After Pics

Wheaton Fun

How I Will Miss the Venables

Wow. What a whirlwind these past few weeks have been. All the events have been leading up to this day... the day the Venable's left me with an empty home until Ben comes to join me tomorrow. "Who are the Venable's," you say? Where do I begin?

Let me give you the short story first, then if you want to continue reading you can get the long version next. The Venable family consists of parents Steve and Michelle and their adorable children Sarah, Steven, Rebekah, and Moriah. Steve was our previous landlord who was also our savior in providing a wonderful safe home for us to rent after a disturbing event occurred in our last apartment complex making us realize we needed a new home to feel safe. We quickly became good friends of the entire family and now they left today to make the long trek to Phoenix where they will start their new home and Steve will continue his new job at Harvest Bible Chapel.

This last week and a half I've been living with the Venable's. If you read earlier posts, you will understand why. The first week I was actually not around much because I stayed with my friends Jenn and Scott for two nights, then picked up Ben at Notre Dame to spend the weekend in Michigan with my family. But, this week (Sunday night through today) I was able to spend a lot of time with the Venable family and really enjoyed the short-lived time.

First I have to explain my admiration for Michelle, who has been trucking along quite well (although rough at times) with her cancer treatments. I've learned that she is a ridiculously strong woman! I don't mean muscle-strong, I mean faithfully strong, motherly strong, energetically strong! She doesn't even know it...but I've learned so much from her just this week.

Now Steve... what a worker and a care-taker! Not only was he busy taking care of his own family, but he made sure we were taken care of, too, like we were his own. (Of course he's not quite old enough to be our dad, though. ha) Both he and Michelle made sure that Ben and I were taken care of through-out the last (almost) two years. While I was living with them, they made me feel so at home and I am very grateful for that.

And on to the kids... all four of them... precious, sweet, little angels that I will miss dearly. I don't want to be mushy, but my eyes really are tearing up as I'm typing this part. This week Moriah, Rebekah, Steven, and Sarah allowed me to remember what being a kid and using your imagination is all about. The most special part was our walk in the park...Was it 4 miles? They showed me their "common"...their secret open field that has a hidden trail where no one else goes. How privileged I felt that they shared this secret place with me, so now I can escape there and maybe read a book, bring Ben and play Bocce ball, or just walk around and practice using my own imagination. We spent more time playing in the yard...games I haven't played since childhood. Like, "Red Light, Green Light" and "Mother May I". Every one of these kids have their own unique personality that just shines and shows their extremely good upbringing. Now I really can't wait to have kids of my own.

Thank you, Steve, Michelle, Sarah, Steven, Rebekah, and Moriah for sharing your lives with me these last few days. I really enjoyed myself and hope you have a safe journey to Phoenix. You'll all be in mine and Ben's prayers. We love you!

Our First "Big" Move

Ben and I are moving two weeks from tomorrow. This is our first big move. Actually, it's semi-big but compared to our past moves, it's huge. In the past Ben and I have only moved as single people with only enough stuff to fit into our cars with one trip, and once as newlyweds only 2 months after our wedding so we didn't have enough stuff accumulated to define it as a big (or semi-big) move.

Now that we have been married 2 years and lived in the same place for almost 2 years, we have filled our condo and now have to move it all. Those of you with homes filled with a LOT of stuff and who have moved on several occassions are probably laughing at me right now...but you can't take away the fact that this is an exciting "first" for us.

Let me tell you, I did not think this move was going to be classified as anything major. But, when you add up the sofas, buffet, dinner table, breakfast table, kitchen appliances, dishes, bedroom furniture...and Ben's books... it is more than I expected.

Ben was in Seattle all week and I had many opportunities to start packing without him. Our nice new neighbor, Larry, gave us his boxes and packing material so I had what I needed to begin. Unfortunately, each night I busied myself with something else to do rather than packing and thought "this move will be a piece of cake, I can wait until last minute to pack." Well... I'm glad I kicked myself in the butt and started a little tonight, because spending 3 hours just to pack up the things in my buffet table made me realize that this packing process is going to take a lot longer than I anticipated! Good thing Ben flies home tonight and can help! Needless to say, it made me stressed. :)

So what do I do to relieve the stress? I blog about it.

Thanks for listening.

Looking Back and Ahead

A lot has been going on, yet not much time to blog about it. We finished our vacation in Michigan where it was nice to spend time with friends and family. Now we're back in the good ol' routine of work and school.

One twist coming up is that we are moving! Now do not get too excited and start thinking we are moving because Ben got a job early so we are relocating to where his job is. Nope.. that's not it. We are moving because our landlord got a new job and he is relocating to Arizona with his family and therefore has sold the condo. Here's the fun part. We have to be out by June 28, which is a Thursday. Unfortunately, Ben will be in Indiana that entire week (along with the week before and the week after) for his 3-week summer class at Notre Dame. Since he will be home on the weekends, we are going to move all of our big stuff the Saturday before, to our new place that we're renting. Then, my mattress and I (and some toiletries, clothes, etc) will stay in the condo until June 28. That day I will move in to our new place and will live with our current landlord's family who lives there right now but will be moving out July 5. Our landlord and family are very cool and fun...so this is not a problem at all. I just hope they do not mind putting up with me! :)

Let's back up to our vacation in Michigan. I last posted about my mom and little sister visiting Chicago and then we drove to Rockford, MI to hang with my dad too. Ben flew into Detroit that Tuesday so we could spend the next three nights with Chris and Vicki. Their baby, Genna, is adorable! She has the most contagious smile!

While spending time with Chris and Vicki, we also went to one of our favorite restaurants (that we do not have in Chicago) called Pei Wei's. It's like PF Changs, but a faster version.. It's actually owned by PF Changs. We also went to a Tiger's game with them and Kara and Josh Graves. It was SO hot! Because of this, Vicki and I took Genesis out to the picnic table area where she could be shaded and sleep. This gave me and Vicki a good time to talk and catch up.

Friday (a little over a week ago) we headed back to Rockford to spend two more nights with my parents. Then we headed back home Sunday morning. On that way back to Chicago, we stopped by a diner, The Frosted Mug, that was featured on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" which is a show on the Food Network. We ordered Char Burgers and an Oreo Shake. Yum yum!

So all last week we were working and studying until Thursday night when our friends, Dave and Debbie, came into town for a conference. They stayed with us so we could hang out Friday and Saturday evenings. It was really good to see them and spend some time with them before they took off this morning. We stayed up pretty late both nights, so today...I hate to admit...I took a really really really long much-needed nap! I won't tell you exactly how long, but I bet Tiana Quinn can give it an accurate guess. :)

This week we have another end of the year PhD party to attend, but I think our weekend is pretty free for once. We'll definitely be using the free time to pack and organize for our move. Oh! But...wait! Sunday we get to see our good friends Emily and Aaron at their "We're in Chicago so come see us" party! Yay!! I can't wait!

Have a great week!

Knapp Girls in Chicago...Minus One

My mom and my little sister took a bus to Chicago yesterday. The women in their church get together every year and take a Chi-town shopping trip. So, my mom and Rachelle signed up. Instead of taking the bus back, though, I met up with them and we took the Metra back to my condo for the night. Today I drove them back to Michigan where I am staying for the week. I decided to take a week off work for a much needed vacation. Ben is in Maryland until Tuesday when he'll fly to Detroit so I can pick him up and we'll visit Chris and Vicki...and Genna.

So...yesterday in Chicago... We shopped a little and walked a lot! Mom and Rachelle arrived about 10am, which is 11 to them. So we went to a shop, then walked over to Ed Debevic's for lunch. They had never been there, so i thought they should have the experience. It was fun! For those of you who've never been there or heard of it...it's a diner where the waiters' job is to be mean to you. :) Two of the waiters sang to Rachelle for her birthday and gave her "The World's Smallest Sundae". After lunch, we shopped a bit more, then took a cab up to North Ave beach where we rented bicycles. It was a ton of fun to ride our bikes up and down the Lake Michigan coast. It was probably the best weather we've had all year...just gorgeous! There is something about Lake Michigan that makes me extremely happy and feel so at peace. This was definitely my favorite part of our day Saturday. We drove down to Navy Pier, then back up to the beach to drop off the bikes.

Afterwards, we hit up the State Street shopping area where I introduced Rachelle to the store, H&M. She bought a really cute outfit and another shirt, but before we left she decided to return the outfit. Ohhh...the fickle days of a 13 year old. We then rushed to the train station to catch the 4:40 train back to Wheaton. Once we arrive at my condo, we cleaned up a bit then headed to dinner at Cafe' Buonaro's which is a delish "mom & pop" Italian restaurant in the old train station in Naperville. Then after dinner, I took them to the quaint downtown area of Naperville to have dessert. Our dessert was at Ethel's Chocolate Lounge where you can get dessert fondue! Yummmmy!!

Dessert wore us out! We were ready to hit the sack by the time we got back home. This morning we woke up, went to church, came home and ate our leftovers for lunch. Then mom wanted to go to IKEA ..especially to pick up some ginger cookies that are $4 at the grocer store but only 99 cents at IKEA. :) Rachelle bought a squiggly mirror for her new Hawaiian room, then we got back on the road to head home to Michigan.

Tomorrow I think we are going to spend some time in downtown Rockford and Grand Rapids. I'm going to see my Grandmother Borrello too!

I'll update more later this week when we get to see little Genesis! Can't wait!

Google Image Search

Here are the rules: Put the answer to the question in Google Image search function, and you have to use the FIRST image that comes up--you can't use quotation marks when you search:

The city and state you were born in: Grand Rapids, Michigan
The big building with the slanted roof is the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel where we had our rehearsal dinner and where we stayed our first night after our wedding. Aaron and Emily also stayed here for their 1-year anniversary.

The city and state you grew up in, that you consider "home": Belding, Michigan


The city and state where you currently live: Wheaton, Illinois


Your first and last name: Nikki Gladd

Yeah, not sure who that is... they say his name is Bobby Gladd.

Your grandmother's name: Mary Jane Borrello
Again, no idea...hmmm.

Your favorite food: pepperoni pizza
yuck...this pizza looks nasty

Your preferred drink: Sweet TeaYour favorite smell: new house
A favorite song: Our Wedding Song by Dan Rood
A place you have lived: Nashville, Tennessee
A place you have worked: Hallmark Services Corporation

A place you want to visit: Napa Valley, California

That wasn't too interesting... Oh well. Maybe you can repost this on your blog and come up with better pics.

Chick-Fil-A!! Yay! Yay! Yay!

Anyone who knows us well, knows that Ben and I LOVE Chick-Fil-A. For those of you who do not know of Chick-Fil-A, then you must check them out at www.chick-fil-a.com. It is a fast-food chain that serves chicken instead of burgers and waffle fries instead of standard french fries. The food is hot and fresh...and they have sweet tea! Yummmmmy!! While Ben grew up with it, I was only introduced in 2000 when I moved to Tennessee for school. The restaurant originated in Atlanta, which is the first one that I've been to! That particular one is called the Hobbit House and is quite cute! The rest of the restaurants are either regular free standing units or placed in a mall or university. One interesting fact we also like about Chick-Fil-A is that they are Christian owned, therefore closed on Sundays. Of course, when we are traveling on a Sunday and see a sign for Chick-Fil-A then we do not like the fact that they are closed! ha!

Now, when we moved to Wheaton, IL we were very disappointed to find out that there are no Chick-Fil-A's in our area. We emailed the chain through their website feedback and they replied that they have no plans to build any in the Chicago area! Bummer! But, for sending them a note, they did send us coupons for free sandwiches that we were able to use when traveling to Tennessee. Nice!

Yesterday (Saturday) Ben and I were sitting in our living room trying to decide our plans for the rest of the afternoon/evening. We knew our engaged friends, Hannah and Eric, were coming over later that night, but we didn't know what we were going to do for dinner. Then, we thought of it! The closest Chick-Fil-A is 77 miles away JUST over the Wisconsin border in Racine, WI! Unfortunately it is a mall one, but still... it's Chick-Fil-A and we were CRAVING it! So we called up Eric and Hannah and told them to come early because we were kidnapping them to take them an hour away to eat fast food! They were totally up for it...especially since Hannah has never had the privilege of tasting Chick-Fil-A and had no clue what it was!

They arrived at 5:30pm and we trekked up. Mapquest said it would take 1 1/2 hours, but it only took an hour. On the way we passed Ben's twin in another car. Eric bravely took a pic of him as we sped up to pass him for the prime opportunity. We then found our exit after passing many acres of farmland, then drove about 7 miles off the interstate to find our gold mine. We ordered the value-sized meals and of course Ben ordered the mint milkshake. I wanted to buy a gallon of their sweet tea but decided that I can just make it at home.

Ben and I decided the hour drive was worth it. We compared it to driving into Chicago in a lot of traffic which would take about an hour. So, if we can do that, then we can drive the easy hour up to Chick-Fil-A once in a while to satisfy our appetites. Anyone want to come along next time? :)

Nesting Season

Geese...they are everywhere. Even in the winters the resident geese remain because they do not know how to migrate south. Since we have a few ponds nearby, we can often hear them without seeing them. The past few weeks two particular adult geese have drawn my fascination, causing me to research a little about them.

The mating season for geese is from February to March. They find a mate for life, but will find another if one dies. Mid-march to mid-May is nesting season. This is where they are right now...in the nesting period. This is the part that drew my attention ---

There is a goose nesting in the parking lot at my local Meijer grocery store. Let me back up and give you a few nesting facts. Typically, a mama goose will find a place near water, near her place of birth...or even the exact place of her birth. The nest usually is on the ground in the open. The sweetest part is that the father goose stations himself nearby, but not too close in order to conceal the nesting location to predators. They stay here for about a month.

I initially noticed the father goose at the grocery store a few weeks ago. At this time I didn't know he was a father goose. He was sitting in the middle of the main drag in front of the store, where cars drive by and yield to pedestrians walking in and out of the store. This goose was literally right in the middle of the road...just sitting there! When cars would drive by (around him of course) he would squawk at them as if they were an enemy. It was really quite interesting. I figured he was just a typical goose there for one day, making cars yield to him as other goose do when they slowly cross streets.

A few days later I was back at Meijer and realized that the goose was still there! So, I took a better look and saw that there were several grocery carts tied together with a rope, forming a type of circular barrier. Orange cones were placed on the outside, one with a sign stating "Beware of the geese." I chuckled, went inside and shopped, then left without any more investigation.

Every time I went to the store for the next two weeks that goose was out in the middle of that parking lot road. I had to share the story with Ben. He told me to bring my camera with me next time and take a picture if the goose was still there. So, I did...and it was still there. This trip was when I realized there was another goose...inside the grocery cart barrier. I took a picture of both geese. Unfortunately, the father goose was not stationed directly in the middle of the road as he usually is, but he was on the side. Then I came home and researched... The goose I saw initially was the father goose stationed nearby the nesting mama goose! How romantic! ha!

I wonder if this is where the mama goose was born. Usually, geese start mating when they are 3 years old. So, was she born here at this Meijer store a little over 3 years ago? Were there carts set up in a circular barrier back then? I would love to know.

TobyMac

This post is way past due. My new amazing friend, Jenn, is completely obsessed (sorry, Jenn, but you know you are) with DC Talk and especially TobyMac. It's totally cool because it's been a while since I've had a friend nearby that is so in love with music and concerts...and just that whole scene. So, when I found out that she wanted to go to a TobyMac concert in Rockford, IL on a Sunday night but wasn't going to go because she didn't want to go by herself, naturally I hopped right on it and told her that I'd go! We bought our tickets and headed to Rockford on a Sunday night. Rockford is about an hour and a half from where I live...so it wasn't too convenient for a Sunday night since work is usually early the next morning. But, I asked for a half day Monday so that I wouldn't have to come in until Noon.

Now, this concert was a few weeks ago but I haven't had the time to post about it...and quite honestly I kind of forgot. We had a good drive on the way there and made it early enough to grab a bite at a local restaurant. We wanted to go somewhere "different" to eat. I saw Cheddar's and Jenn said she's never been there, and since I hadn't been to one since I was a teenager we decided that would be good. Well, it wasn't. ha! At least it was cheap, but we should've eaten at the Old Chicago across the street. lol

It definitely didn't ruin our night though. We found the church (where the concert was) and headed into the auditorium. To our dismay, even though we bought the highest priced tickets (that really weren't very expensive) they still were not the best seats in the house. The front row seats were all taped up as "reserved" for the 'Gold Star members" (whatever that means). So we found the best seats we could and decided to try to sneak our way up later. There were three opening bands and I don't think I can remember their names... I'll try: Building 429, ...ohhh...I guess I really can't remember the other two. But the other two were pretty hard rock...well, Christian hard rock...if that's a real genre. They were all very good.

The 'security guards' there were just teenagers from the church that wore black "SECURITY" shirts. I remember when I worked "security" for a DC Talk concert at Lipscomb and..well..yeah...I was up in the front enjoying the concert with the rest of the ticket holders. You can say I used the volunteer position to get prime seating and back stage access. :) However, this was not the case at this Tobymac concert. These teenagers really took their volunteer position seriously, which made it difficult for me and Jenn to sneak up to the front. Finally, we built up our courage to do it. We found that if we just didn't make eye contact with the "security nazi", then we would be fine. It totally worked. So, while others next to us were getting kicked out of the front and sent back to their seats, Jenn and I succeeded in securing our spots up front!

Toby did a great job. It was fun to bounce around a bit and just enjoy the concert. It had been such a long time since I'd been to a concert, so I was a bit rusty and felt a bit old, but I managed to really enjoy myself. I got a few pics, but my battery was very low and finally died near the end. My videos are better, but I'm not sure how to post them on here. So, I'll leave you with what I can in pics.

Oh...and Jenn bought a sweet sweatshirt!

Where Did the Corncob Come From?

Can someone tell us why there is a corncob sitting outside on our bedroom window sill? Maybe one of the condo maintenance men was eating lunch and decided to leave us the left-overs? Or did a squirrel drag it from the park across the street? Did Brian and Tiana find it for 70% off at Dominicks and think it would be a nice treat for Ben? What if it just grew out of the brick and we'll see more to come? Is it from a Field of Dreams?

What do YOU think?

Why I love Sanjaya

Yes, you read that correctly. I can't get enough of him. In fact, I voted for him, not once, twice, but three times this week! But Ben, what would make you do such a thing? It's simple really: American Idol is a joke. Originally, I was voting for Chris Sligh, but ever since he was kicked off the other night, I have lost all respect. American Idol is just like every other pop show on tv--driven by image. I disagree with Simon when he says "this is a singing competition." Umm, no it's not. It's about short skirts and mohawks. But that is not the half of it. The other half is "vote for the worst," or should I say "vote to bring AI to its knees." The producers of AI have probably realized that their show is losing so much respect it's ridiculous. But it's Fox's fault: they chose Sanjaya. Nobody forced them to put him into the final 24. I think that Sanjaya is the best thing for AI, because it's (hopefully) making them realize that if they are not careful, Sanjaya could win and destroy the entire AI ecosystem. Instead of picking contestants that have attractive images, maybe they should pick them for, hold on a sec, their voices.

Do Cops Really Have Quotas?

Yes, you are reading this correctly. I am officially a violator of the law. Well, I've been a violator, but I was finally caught today. And here's the story:

As usual, I worked my half day Friday. Afterwards, I planned to meet up with my friend, Michelle, so we could go see our other friend, Kristina (who is visiting from California). It took about 45 minutes to drive to Michelle's in Carol Stream from work in Aurora, then we headed to St. Charles where Kristina was waiting for us at the mall. Needless to say, I was already on the road too long, so by this time I wasn't really paying attention to how fast I was driving down North Ave (Highway 64). Michelle and I were deep in conversation, too, so of course I didn't even think to look at the speed limit signs. Subconsciously I thought that if this is a highway, it must be 55 mph. But, honestly, I didn't even think twice about my speed until I looked just ahead and there were about 5 cop cars resting in a dirt lot on the side of the highway. Speed trap!!

One of the cars whipped out behind me, but didn't put his flashers on until he rode my tail for a few blocks. My heart skipped, then I looked at my speedometer and I thought "Why am I getting pulled over for only going 6 mph over?" I was traveling at 62 mph where I thought it was a 55 mph speed limit. I looked ahead again, and to my disgrace saw a speed limit sign that said 45 mph. Shoot!










I must say the policeman was very pleasant. I did everything I was told to do if/when I got pulled over - Keep your hands at 10&2. Say "Sir". Ask for permission to open glove compartment in order to get the insurance. The policeman asked if I knew why I was pulled over, and I couldn't lie. I just said "Yes, but I honestly thought it was 55 mph until I saw you behind me". He said some kind of jibberish like "I clocked you at 62 mph in a 45 mph with a new top-notch radar that accurately clocks the speed of only one single car". It sounded like a sales pitch. ("Do you want me to buy this fancy new radar of your's or something?" ...is what I thought).

Since the cop was so nice and I have such a clean record and did everything I was supposed to do, Michelle and I both thought I'd certainly get off with a warning. Then, at the same time we looked at each other and said "What day of the month is it?" OH NO!! It's the 30th!! Which means it's the end of the month, which means this cop needs to meet his quota. Which means that's why all those cops were in that sandy lot in the first place!

Sure enough, he came back and said "I had to write you a ticket because 17 mph over it quite a lot." (Yeah right, just tell me you have only one more day to meet your quota.) But, it really did help that he was nice. This is the first time I've had a nice cop. Not that I've been pulled over many times.

My ticket is for $75. :( But, if I go without getting a ticket for 3 months, then the points will be eliminated from my record. He didn't even confiscate my driver's license...which is what they usually do here in IL and won't give it back until you pay your ticket.

So I'm leaving you all with this question... Is it true that policeman give out more tickets at the end of the month because they have a quota to meet? I've always heard this but mainly pushed it aside as a wives-tale. Now, I'm almost convinced that it is indeed true.

'Irish' I Was Chef Duff

A few days before St. Patricks Day, Ben decided he wanted to take his shot at being Chef Duff from the Food Network's 'Ace of Cakes'. If you haven't seen this show, please spend a moment to set your TiVo or DVR to record an episode before reading the rest of this posting... You will not be disappointed. :)

Ace of Cakes is a show about a cake bakery (Charm City Cakes) located in downtown Baltimore that is owned by baker, Duff Goldman, former graffiti artist. Duff hired a few of his best friends and started his business making cakes with no limit in creativity. Dream up any cake and the staff at Charm City Cakes can make it for you! (At a pricey cost for sure...) Check them out at www.charmcitycakes.com .

Ben and I watch this show together all the time. After each episode, Ben remarks " I can do that". haha! Finally, last week he made a move to prove it.

For those of you that know Ben and his "abilities" in the kitchen, you should be laughing about now. I found a cake recipe on the Internet and helped Ben put together his creation. We agreed it should be simple, so we made a double layered chocolate-coffee cake. Because Ace of Cakes always has a 'theme' to each of their cakes, we decided to make the cake's icing green for St Patty's day!

So I'm leaving you with some pictures of Ben's cake. Although the turnout isn't perfect, the cake is still a sight to see. I'm so proud of him! :)

Wii Mii

I spent last Wednesday through Sunday with my family in Grand Rapids. My company sent me to a seminar on Thursday and Friday in GR, so I stayed with my parents in Rockford. It is always nice to spend time with them, especially when it is an extended amount of time like this weekend. To top off the fun, my older sister Angie (who lives in Colorado with her husband) flew to GR to visit Friday through Sunday! It was fun having the family back together again...the four girls with the daddy! hehe Dad loves it...

Wednesday, I arrived at about 4pm. We ate a quick dinner then headed to church for Wednesday night service. I'll have to admit, we took off early so we could catch American Idol. shhhh... don't tell! :) Then Thursday I had the seminar, but luckily the trainer let us out an hour early so I was able to rush home and spend a good lot of the evening with my family. Again, we watched the results show of AI...(couldn't believe the results...boooo!) Then Friday was the last day of the seminar... and the trainer let us off early once again...but this time almost 2 hours early! yes! This worked out exceptionally well since Angie flew in and arrived at our parents' only 10 minutes before I arrived! Perfect!

Angie's arrival was a surprise for Dad. We had to wait a few hours for him to get home from work, so we decided to play my little sister's Wii. We planned on playing the bowling game, but we got distracted with creating our avatars. See, on Wii you can create little characters to look like you...and use them for your gamer. So we had the time of our lives creating little people to look just like our family members! I've attached pics.

Dad was so happy to have his girls at home together again. We chilled out at home for the rest of the night and ordered pizza from Marinades in downtown Rockford. Rockford, MI is a very cute little town. We enjoyed picking up the pizza and soaking in some of the downtown ambience.

Mom, Angie, and I took off Saturday morning to get donuts at Robinettes, but to our dismay it was closed for the season. :( I knew they didn't serve cider year round, but I thought for sure they kept their donut shop opened year round. Oh well.. I guess it is something to look forward to in the fall. So we headed to downtown Grand Rapids and spent the next few hours at the Women's Expo gathering free samples and coupons. We then headed home to meet up with Dad and Rachelle (my little sister) for dinner at Old Chicago. Yummmmmy! After dinner we enjoyed dessert at Marble Slab Creamery...holy cow! Then, headed home and made MORE food!! My family is allll about the food! We wanted to make something new for my food blog since this is one of the very very few times all the "Knapp girls" would be together. So we made Mini Baked Wonton Cups (see my food blog).

Sunday was church, then a quick lunch and nap before heading home to Wheaton. I really missed Ben while I was gone, but it was fun to see my family once again. I arrived home in Wheaton about 4:30pm. We relaxed and unpacked, then the Quinn's came over to eat a kid-themed dinner...Mac'n Cheese, hot dogs, and french fries. We then headed to McD's for Shamrock Shakes!

Now that I'm back home, we are enjoying the warm weather. Today was a high of 77 degrees! wow! So Ben and I washed our cars...inside and out! They are sparkling clean now! Now we are watching the dreadful two hours of American Idol. My faves at this point... Melinda Doolittle, Blake Lewis, Chris Sligh, Lakisha...? Who are your's? :) I actually think this season isn't very good. Do you agree?

Farewell Snow

This last weekend was a pretty fun one! We started it off by hanging out with our new growth group on Friday night while volunteering at the church for a ministry called "Feed My Starving Children". This organization sets up stations for volunteers to come and put together food packages to send to third world countries. During the weekend, our church made over 200,000 packaged meals which will serve 566 kids for a year! Afterwards, our group went to McDonald's...the one in Naperville with a ginormous play area because we are one of only a few couples in our group that do not have kids. Then, we came home, called the Quinns and went to their place to watch the movie The Departed. Oh wow... what a surprising movie.

Then we completed our normal Saturday morning routine which consists of sleeping in, working out, and cleaning. Although, I didn't actually finish cleaning because lunch time creeped up on us and right afterwards we decided we needed to get out of our hibernation mode and go sledding! We stopped at Walmart, bought the cheapest saucers in stock, and once again called the Quinns. So the four of us started at a popular neighborhood sledding spot. After clobbering a few 5 and 6 year olds on our sleds, we decided we better find a new hill. We packed in our little golf cart (VW jetta wagon) and took off to find ourselves a mountain. Well, we found our mountain, but didn't have the $3/person cash on us to rent the tubes to go down it! We didn't give up and instead parked the car, walked across the frozen lake and to a secluded hill. After a few times down, others followed and before long the hill was packed with sledders so again it was time for us to leave. But, this time, we were frozen, fulfilled and basically out of breath so we headed home.

The Quinns

We dropped off the Quinns and got home just in time to clean up and go to the movies with the Beales. Breach was the movie of the night. My very quick review... Knowing it was a true story made it a great movie for me. Afterwards, we hit up Chili's and then headed to bed to get some good rest before the 8:45 am church service the next day.

So Sunday was church, then lunch with the Quinns and dinner at our Sunday School teacher's home with some other new couples in the church, along with the pastor and his wife. We were able to get to know some neat people that night and really enjoyed ourselves.

Now it is Tuesday and we are watching American Idol. Chris Sligh (our fave) performed a few contestants ago. Simon wasn't too thrilled with his performance, but Randy and Paula loved it. I think he's going to go pretty far in the competition. In fact, there are many polls out there that are choosing him as the winner!

The snow is melting away. It is finally warming up here... to the 30s and 40s. I'll take it!!