Movin on up...to the north side

Related to my move one block north, I have had to transfer my internet. Starting tomorrow, I will have dial up and will be back to high speed on July 6th!
Don't be looking for much blogging before then. Sorry for the drought.

We have the same birthday. We are both Tauruses...which are known for being stubborn. Are we butting heads or just being goofy friends? Well, by the looks on our faces, it doesn't look like we can hold in our laughter much longer...Aaron and Sanjida were in town for a short time for an AMA conference. They headed out to my side of town for a good night of margarita pitchers at Hawkeyes. Let's just say the bartender didn't skimp on the tequila. More pictures from the night will be up on my yahoo pic site soon. It was a great night. I don't think I ever stopped laughing.

I love the '82 baby blues!

I was very excited to hear that the Cardinals would be wearing replicas of their 1982 World Series baby blue uniforms. During the game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays(whom they would sweep the next day), Matty Mo got his 8th win of the season. Don't tell me that you don't love them to.

No time, no time

Things I want to blog on, but haven't had time. Hopefully, I will get to them soon:

*my super busy weekend
*the Cardinals and thier baby blues
*Sadam loving Doritos
*Federer and the Wimbledon starting.

I should be back to the blogging world later tomorrow or by the end of the week.

It maybe be kinda corny, but I love Iowa

I headed to Burlington early Tues morning to hang out at home for a few days. I met my dad for lunch as soon as I arrived in town and then lounged around the house in the afternoon. That evening, I had dinner with my pseudo-sister Jez then headed to West Burlingotn to E-lo's softball game. They lost, but put in a good effort.
I worked in the yard with my dad all afternoon on Wednesday doing things like hoeing the garden and watering the landscaping. Wednesday night I hung out with my dad and watched the Cardinals game.
Thursday my sister picked me up mid-morning and headed out to camp. We started our tour off with a trip to the corral riding in the back of the new truck. We had a great lunch of tacos. It wouldn't be a day at camp without spending time at the pool...where I got a nice burn on my back.

Wow, it puts it all in perspective

So, it's been a wierd few days. This post might be kinda piecy.

I found out recently that a guy I went to middle school and high school with died last week. He was only 25 and undergoing a surgery when one of the robotic arms doing the surgery made a wrong move. The person over seeing the surgery wasn't paying attention and he was died.

Satuday night, I found out that Brenton Slocum, the brother Jennifer Slocum was killed in a freak accident this weekend. I was friends with Jenn and knew Brent. My brother also dated Jenn for 3 years. In which time, I got to know Brent. Brent left behind his new wife and thier 3 mo old daughter Isabelle. My thoughts are with Jenn and her family at this very difficult time.

Also, tonight I was at the store and ran into a girl that I went to high school with. She spotted me first and yelled out "Stacey Lens!" then asked if my last name was still Lens. I informed that it was and that it wouldn't be changing for a while. Then, she informed me that she has 4 kids. Whoa. I went to her wedding the day after my junior prom.

It's crazy how everything happens.
What's going on in my life?

Day 2

L to R: Courtney, Jenne, Morgan, Reagan, and Me

Night two of bachelorette weekend. We started off our day with some amazing pedicures to make out tootsies look great, then headed over to North Ave to do some shopping. No one left empty handed. Then we came back to my place, freshened up and headed to meet Jenne, Becky and Becky's friend Danielle at the Cheesecake Factory on Michigan Ave for some dinner. After stuffing ourselves, Becky and Danielle headed back to Becky's and the reast of us headed to Wrigleyville to catch an amzing 80's cover band called Sixteen Candles. While waiting at the bar for the band to start, the table of people next to us decided that they were in love with Courtney's caplet shirt. In fact, they offered to buy it from her. So after a lot of price negotiations, Courtney still had her shirt at the end of the night. However, she did let the girl try it on and take a few pictures wearing it.
The opening band for Sixteen Candles, in my opinion, was one of the worst band's ever. However, Sixteen Candles was amazing as always. The girls decdied at the end of the night that they are going to come back to Chicago, just to see this band again. We all danced too much and were left with aching feet at the end of the night. We got home about 4am, made some frozen pizza, and got in bed around 5am. I got up at 8:30 to drive Morgs to the airport, John came and picked up Courtney and I took Reagan to the train station a little after noon. It was a busy but great weekend. Can't wait to see the girls again in a month at the wedding!

All other pics posted under my photo's as Reagan's Bachelorette Weekend.

Reagan's Bachelorette Weekend

L to R: Reagan, Stacey, Morgan, Courtney

This weekend, I have 3 friends in town from Burlington for Reagan's bachelorette weekend...except none of them live in Burlington anymore. Making the trip to the windy city to celebrate was Morgan from Kansas City, Courtney from Minneapolis, and Reagan(the bride in less than a month) from Manchester, IA. I started off my morning by picking Morgan up at the airport, Reagan up at the train station and Court's boyfriend dropped her off on the way to a family reunion. After getting all the important wedding updates, we did the usual catch up on people we have lost track of talk and fill eachother in on all the good gossip we know. After that, we did some shopping on State St, loading our hands with bags and our wallets empty at the Rack and H&M.

After a steamy afternoon, we headed back to my place where we ordered in Giordano's pizza and Morgan suprised us all with a bachelorette wedding weekend goodie bag that was loaded with tons of great stuff(THANKS MORGS!) We stuffed out bellies and got readywith amazing effeciencey to head to see a Second City performance. We got there early and had front row seats, which was awesome. The cast of 6 were non-stop entertaining for a full 2 hours. The actors/actresses touched on many current subjects and connected to and offended all. They were absolutely hilarious. I would rate this as a must see when visiting Chicago. I was laughing so hard that I neary peed my pants...and that happened more than once. Afterwards, we took a cab ride home where a man tried to race us on his bike. He put up a fair fight and was a hard peddler. We sat around and did some more talking before calling it a night and making big plans for tomorrow.

I am not a mean girl

Dear Ms. Lohan--
I understand that you have been under a lot of stress lately, but please change your hair back to it's natural color. Also, you looked great 20lbs heavier.

Exercise your Right

Vote now, vote often is this years All-star ballot slogan. Vote for your favorite or most deserving players and send them to this years All Star Game. The last time to vote is at 11:59pm on June 30th, 2005. Go to http://www.mlb.com to vote. The online ballot has a very cool feature that allows you to see a video highlight of anyone on the ballot, simply by clicking on thier name. Check it out just for that and vote while you are there.

The current NL standings are:

1st base:
1. Albert Pujols
2. Derek Lee, Cubs
3. D. Mientkiewicz, Mets
4. Jeff Bagwell, Astros
5. Carlos Delgado, Marlins

2nd base:
1. Jeff Kent, Dodgers
2. Craig Biggio, Astros
3. M. Grudzielanek
4. Marcus Giles , Braves
5. Kaz Matsui , Mets

Shortstop:
1. Nomar Garciaparra, Cubs
2. David Eckstein
3. Rafael Furcal, Braves
4. Jose Reyes, Mets
5. Clint Barmes, Rockies

3rd Base:
1. Scott Rolen
2. Chipper Jones, Braves
3. Troy Glaus, Diamondbacks
4. Aramis Ramirez, Cubs
5. David Wright, Mets

Catcher:
1. Mike Piazza, Mets
2. Paul Lo Duca, Marlins
3. Johnny Estrada, Braves
4. Yadier Molina
5. Michael Barrett, Cubs

Outfield:
1. Carlos Beltran, Mets
2. Jim Edmonds
3. Ken Griffey Jr., Reds
4. Larry Walker
5. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins

Players names noted in the bold red are St. Louis Cardinal's and I recommend that you vote for them.
Also, each person may vote up to 25 times a piece, so if you are torn between 2 players, you are albe to vote for both.

Hot child in the city

With the high in the low 90s yesterday and in the mid-80s today, I am boycotting my air conditioning. I decided that if I lived the past 2 full years(in the Hell we like to call Burge) and the past 5 summers without air conditioning, I can hold off until late June or early July. However, I will not make Jenne, my future roommate abide by my crazy ways. Yesterday was a tough day to be without the AC. As Jenne stated when we were on a walk to the White Hen "It feels like a sweaty armpit out here." and "I feel like I am wrapped in a giant warm washcloth." Indeed, the weather was nasty. We'll see how long I last.

Where love means nothing

The past few days, I have busied myself by watching tennis. I sport I greatly enjoy, but have not had a chance to play for myself yet this season. Pete(my racket) has been resting and is getting a little anxious to play, as is his owner.

Incase you were unaware, Roger Federer (whose shorter hair this year is fabulous!) is my player of choice...and I liked him long before he was ranked no. 1 in the world. I was heartbroken to watch him lose to Nadal two days ago. I thought that I just hated Nadal because he beat Federer, but as I am watching him go head to head with Puerta today, I think it is his style that I hate. There is a difference between confident and cocky and he is defintely cocky. I disapprove of his over dramatic celebrations on the court and his excessive noise making when he hits the ball. I am well aware that he just turned 19, but he needs to learn some tact, because he is just plain tacky(as are his capris/shorts?!? whatever they are). It is my opinion to let your game speak for itself. I have always been a fan of Federer's control and composure on the court. Nadal's actions make me not want to watch tennis while he is on the court.

Happy 24th Birthday Courtney VH

I am having a hard time concentrating on typing right now as my ears are still ringing from the loudness of the bands tonight, but here it goes...Tonight I met Court and some of her friends out in Lincolnshire at the Cubby Bear to listen to some 80s bands. I thought Court and Chrissy would be the only people I knew, but much to my suprise, Tia and Kate were there too!

The first band One Hit Wonders performed for about the first hour we were there and did just that...perform one hit wonders from the 80s. While their singing talent wasn't too bad, the 2 female lead singers were more than chessy and we were kept busy making joke about thier coregraphed dance moves. The guitarists in this band were nice eye candy as well...and we know how I feel about men in bands..an automatic 10 points of cuteness just for being able to play guitar!

Next up was the main act of the night Sixteen Candles. While they were nothing to look at they were pretty damn good. The lead singer was entertaining and talented. They played great 80s music and the dance floor was PACKED. So packed that you could feel the dance floor shaking form everyone moving so much. I don't think I have danced that much in a bar since I was a freshman in college. My feet are sore and my body is aching, but it was all for a good time. The crowd at the Cubby Bear was a great mix of people my age. Defintiely a place worth returning to when I need another 80s music fix. The highlight of the night was definitely when they played NKOTB's The Right Stuff! It's amazing how the lyrics come right back to you.

Good night and Happy Bday Court!

Another Flashback

Don't mind that this picture is fuzzy, just embrace the story that lies behind it. This is another flashback post. I can not lie: I have been a little weepy all week, knowing that it will be the first summer in six years that I have not been working at camp(the love of my life). Last year during the last week of camp, one of my favorite campers was at camp..we'll call her Mike. We always teased her that she stalked me because I was "so cool". Well, somehow that day, some story got concocted that my (imaginary) out of town boyfriend would be all the final campfire that night. My partner in crime, Bedbug, fueled the fire by telling Mike and her friend Ike that he was also going to propose and it was going to be a "surprise" to me. So Mike and Ike were very anxious all throughout the campfire and right when I was going to get engaged, Mike rode by like a paparazzi to take a picture of the proposal and Willy took a pic of her as a paparazzi. Much to their disappointment, no boyfriend came and no engagement happened, but we all had a good laugh.

What happened?

How did the Cardinals drop 2 out of 3 to the Rockies?

Just peeved

Incase you aren't aware, Jenne and I decided to become roommates...which will be an adventure. I haven't lived with a roommate in SIX years...yikes, however, I am very excited to be living with her. It will be a good time.
However, I gave my currently landlord my 30 days notice yesterday and showed my apt yesterday afternoon without even telling me. To make it worse, I was at work, so I didn't even know until she informed me today. She informed me while I was on my way to work and only stopped to tell me, because the lady was coming back to look at again today at 4. Had I had time, I would have left fake bugs all over. How ruse to show my apt and not even give me notice. ARGH!!!

Enough of me ranting and raving...some people are just rude.