The Bulls are Finally in the Playoffs

I got offered the Bull's playoff tickets (First round, game 2. Bulls vs. Wizards) at 3pm today. I was really debating whether or not I should go. I mean, we had smallgroup, and I had promised Irene that I'd invite her to come hang out. So I felt really bad "ditching" everyone. But then, Jason MADE me go. (yes, you did.) I am so glad I went!! I ended up having a blast! I even got to bring Preston w/ me to the nifty skybox seats.

So apparently it's been 7 years since the Bull's made it into the playoffs. The era of Michael Jordan had been long gone, until now. There was so much energy at the game. It was packed. One thing I really appreciate about Chicago fans is that they stand by their team through thick and thin. Bull's beat the Wizards, and it marked their 100th home game win, in all of the past playoffs. This is a great time to be in Chicago, sports wise, at least. I hope they do well. :)


Bulls vs. Wizard, First Round Playoffs, Game 2

Will You be My Twin?

Wrigley's Double Mint gum is doing a casting call outside my office building today. Calling all twins. I think they're looking for the new Double Mint Twins! :) There were miles and miles of twins dressed like twins standing in line waiting for their screen tests. It was actually a bit freaky, seeing double.

But anyway, if you are a twin, you may want to drop by for your chance to be rich and famous!!!

All Eyes on the Weatherman

I don't know what happened to spring! Just 2 days ago, it was 80 degrees and almost uncomfortably humid. Everyone was having such a good time frolicking outside, soaking in the sun. Today, it's 45 degrees and rainy. This really confuses me in terms of wardrobe options. I mean, do I wear the wool coat or do I wear the cotton one?? Do I wear boots or do I wear mules? These are all the things that perplex me in the morning as I touch my window (to get an idea of the temperature outside) and stare in my closet trying to decide what ensemble would do.

I suppose there are more important things in life to worry about than that. :) I'll live.

Irene is coming this Sunday for work. I'm excited to have guests again! Yay!!

White Sox vs. Twins

Lastnight Lamont, Michael & I went to the White Sox game. It was my inaugural White Sox experience! The stadium is pretty than the Wrigley Field, way fewer drunken yuppies. We were in a skybox, and the window was wide open to the field, so we were able to enjoy the beautiful weather.

The US Cellular field is SO close to where I live. We wanted to walk there, but then at the end, I think we didnt' want to waste the beautiful Lot D (directly in front of the stadium) parking pass, so we drove Lamont's car there. Going there was ok, but coming back, there was so much traffic that we decided to WALK AROUND THE STADIUM to kill time. Yeah, we did. In the amount of time that we took to do that, we could have been 3/4 the way back home. All in all, it was a blast! The food could have been better, but the dessert cart more than made up for the food. Sox beat the Twin and kept their #1 position. Whatever that means. Lamont & Michael behaved themselves beautifully in front of my reps/colleagues. :) I'm really glad I got to take them with me.

Chicago Hotter than Dallas??

The weather has been beautiful here, pretty much perfection, if you ask me. Everyone's in such a good mood. I'm still not putting away my snow shoes though...maybe I'm still hoping for a "snow day?" Nah, probably no chance for that. For instance, according to Yahoo weather, Chicago is going to be sunny and 82, and Dallas is only going to be 75. Unbelievable! However, the forecast for the rest of the week isn't so good, it's going to be rain, rain, rain. :(

D-Day

Today Bryan took the MCAT again. We were supposed to get married today but pushed it back to October due to his test. Weird to think that I could have been married already. Heehee.

Unsettling Feeling

I'm feeling really down tonight, all of a sudden. I'm talking to Christine about her wedding, and I'm suddenly overcome w/ sadness. I want to be there to help her with her wedding stuff, but I can't because I'm here in Chicago! Not that she can't go on w/o my help, but she's the "fan club!" I just really want to be there with her every step of the way.

I also really miss Oasis. I miss being one of the youngest in the group. I miss our Sunday nights after smallgroup meeting we just hang out forever and ever, even though we've all got to go to work/school the next day. I miss our openness to one another and our deep dedication to each other's lives. I miss that exactly half of us are extroverts and the other half are introverts. I miss that we will always eat as long as there's food out on the table. I miss being there, being able to journey through life together--the engagements, the pregnancies, the new jobs, the layoffs, the heartaches, the disappointments, etc. etc.

On the other hand, it's getting really hard to think about the possibility of leaving Chicago one day. I've made some great friends here! I'm having such a blast here getting to know and hanging out with everybody. Even though I'm older than a lot of them, ok, most of them, but it's been really fun playing "big sis" to them and pretending that with age comes with wisdom. :) I feel very free here!It's such a fun city! I joke about being "single in the city" but without all of the insecurities and not "looking." :) I know deep down in my heart that I'm a city girl. I feel alive in a big city setting!

Oh my! I have NO IDEA where life is going to take me next. I don't know what to do with all these unknowns and TBDs. To go through life completely blind? Lead only by the hands of God? Am I capable of that??

Let's Play Ball!

Today I got to take part in the infamous Chicago Cubs Opening Day! Cubs vs. Brewers. What a fun experience! Chicago fans (maybe just Cubs fans) are one of a kind!!

The game started at 1:20pm, so I got to leave work at 11:30 to meet up w/ the rep for a quick lunch before the game. I think the majority of the agency was also going to the game b/c no one's heart was really at work today. For me, it was just nice to get a quick jump start on the weekend. :) We took the Red Line straight up to the Addison stop and tried to meet up w/ Dave Nordahl (Blender rep) at Casey Moran's. But it was wayyyy too jam packed, so we just went inside the stadium to get a hot dog. The stadium is really really small, compared to where the TX Rangers play. Even though the forecast said 65 degrees, it was still freezing cold. I was pretty much in a miserable state of shivering (from the cold) for the entire duration of the game. Our section of the seats (Section 127, Row 7) never got any sun. The beers I drank were like icicles going down my throat. Not enjoyable.

Here are some things that I learned about Chicago Cubs fans:

1. Over 85% of the fans in the stadium had some kind of "Cubs" regalia, be it a baseball cap, a t-shirt, a blanket or even a necklace. Lisa Silvers (LHJ rep) gave me a "Chicago" themed basket when I first moved here, and in it was a pink Cubs hat. I wore that to the game, but little did I know that I was going to be the biggest gameday fashion faux-pas. Apparently, only the really prissy girls wear the pink Cubs hat, usually w/ some matching pink shirt or hoodie of sorts.
2. The fans are super loyal, even though the team isn't, well, good. The game went beyond the 12th inning, and yet there are sooo many people who stayed in the freezing cold to finish watching the game.
3. While they are loyal, they can boo their own team in the same breath that they were cheering for their team. "C'mon!! Please hit something, I'm freezing cold, and I want to leave."
4. I've never been around so many drunk people before. Even though I went to UT Austin for college and frequented the Sixth street, the drunkenness of the Cubs stadium is nothing like I've ever seen before. It's like one huge party, everyone's drunk together and act stupid together. Not me, of course! :)
5. The stadium stops serving alcohol after the 7th inning, so the aforementioned drunk people get very antsy as the game goes into the extra innings. They'd boo the players to get them to finish the game quickly so that they reach for the next beer (at a nearby bar).
6. The after parties are where the real fun starts!

When it's all said and done, the Cubs lost the game to the Brewers. But judging by the energy level of the crowd leaving, one would never think the Cubs lost. I myself went to the after party at Schubas Tavern (it's tradition, supposedly), a lot of OMD'ers were there, including most of the JCPenney team. My AMD basically flew back from a client meeting in Dallas directly to the after party at Schuba's. Lots of free booze consumed by everyone. Schuba's has the best Mac & Cheese I've ever tasted.

I finally got on the Red Line heading back down to Bridgeport at around 9:30pm.

U of I, Final Four

Also picture from Retreat.

Of course I've never been a fan of March Madness. In fact, I was always very bitter around March, b/c the tournament took too much TV time from everyone I wanted to watch TV with. This year for some reason, I got caught up in the brackets, and I've been overflowing with school spirit. Go Horns!!! Sadly, Texas lost in the first round. (We had 2 injured players!!) If we had advanced, U of I would have been the next challenger. Could have been a pretty cool game to watch w/ the guys here. But since TX lost, I'm helping root for U of I.

The Saturday of Retreat was when the Final Four games were played. IL played Louisville sometimes in the evening. We obviously had "retreat-things" to do on Saturday evening, so someone recorded the game to watch later on that night. (Yeah, I know, pretty nutty!) So that day, everyone put on their Illinois garb to send some good vibe for the team. Manlee loaned me his sweatshirt b/c I'm a stupid Texan and I didn't bring enough warm clothes. This was us showing some IL pride.



By the way, we did watch the game after camp fire, and IL did beat Louisville, advancing to the finals. But then a very sad thing happened in the finals tonight, UNC beat IL, thus ending a very perfectly Cinderella season for IL. No one I knew cried. Thank goodness.

Guess Who's Oldest??

This is a little annoying, I've all of a sudden lost the ability to post multiple picture up in one blog entry. Gotta try to get that fixed. Anway, this is also from the retreat, picture of all "First Year Horizoners." Well, most people join Horizon when they graduate from college...I thought I deserved to be in this picture too. So there!



Oh yeah, I should probably give photo credits. 90% of the photos on my blog have come from Miiiiichael Le-ung. Thanks Mike!!

Chicago IS going to be fun in the summer!!

This past weekend was the Horizon Retreat. It was in Wisconsin. Yay! I get to check off another state. I would say all and all the retreat was OK. Yep, just OK. The speaker was awesome! Gideon Tsang (Rachel Lee's brother) from Austin (hook 'em!!) was the speaker. He focused on James, and his message really hit home. Accommodations wise, well, let's just say it was no Park Cities Women's Retreat or Pine Cove. I couldn't wait to get home and and shower in my own clean bathroom.

It was also Spring Forward, so we lost an hour of precious sleep. AND, I had to be at work early today for a meeting. The only saving grace--temperature was in the 60's! Simply fabulous.


Some smallgroup folks, very holy, after a weekend of Retreating in the country.