Michigan

While my husband is working, going to school and studying, I decided that I would take a little break from packing and see some friends. (Poor Joe.) My first stop was Michigan to see Nichole who is there visiting her dad for a few weeks. It's not often that you meet someone and immediately feel like you've known them forever but that's how I felt when I first met Nichole so very long ago. And I am happy to report that we are still finishing each other's sentences after all this time. Next I'm headed to Missouri to see some friends and then I resume the packing! And, appropriately, my fortune cookie today read: "Don't underestimate yourself. Your social skills are needed by others at this time." (Picture: Nichole and I baking cookies last night. I can't tell you about these very top-secret cookies but Nichole will reveal the details very soon at esmon.net.)

Mrs. O'Leary

I went back to the cemetary today and found Mrs. O'Leary's grave. She died in 1895. Pretty amazing. Is this a morbid hobby? I saw some pretty fascinating stuff yesterday.

Not your typical Sunday

There is a lot of history around here and also a lot of cemetaries. I think it can make for pretty interesting outings. Today we saw Al Capone's gravesite (buried alongside his brother and father) at a cemetary just a few minutes from our house. All three bodies were exhumed from here in 1950 when his mother died and moved to another cemetary west of Chicago after this site became too much of a tourist attraction. There are some people who believe that maybe the bodies were never really moved and was just a story to keep people from bothering the grave. Also, buried at this cemetary is Mrs. O'Leary although we didn't know where her grave was located. As a side note, we also live pretty close to the Burr Oak Cemetary that is sadly making headlines right now and regularly pass by it.

Eat It

I know I'm late with my MJ story...When I think of MJ, I usually think about my friend Carrie and I listening to "I'll Be There" on 45 in our younger years. We loved that song and listened to it over and over. And I'm sure we thought we were pretty "vintage" for getting out the record player when we could be listening to casette tapes instead. :-)

One person we haven't heard from in the past couple of weeks is Weird Al. MJ was supposedly a big fan and I was just thinking yesterday about Weird Al's career. Here's one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Progress

I've been seeing a chiropractor and also receiving therapy for my neck/back issues since April. I started out going three times a week and then made enough progress to start going twice a week. Tonight I went back in for my third set of scans. I've shown so much progress that I will only need to go back in once a week for a couple weeks and then I will be in the maintenance phase and will just come in once every 4-6 weeks. I'm so glad to be getting better and to not feel pain anymore but I have to admit that I'll miss the office a little bit. I've really enjoyed getting to know some of the office staff and therapists.

The Taste

I experienced my first-ever Taste of Chicago yesterday with Joe. We decided to go downtown for a couple hours and get in, get out. I don't really like large crowds. We got there around 11 am and I was surprised by how manageable it was but that quickly changed. I also went on an empty stomach but after only one burger, combined with the heat, I wasn't feeling too hungry. We definitely ate our fair share though and then headed home. I'm glad we tackled it and now know what all the fuss is about. And, not so wisely, I put sunscreen on my face but managed to forget my arms. Yes, I'm much too pink today. Happy 4th of July!

On My List

Some time ago, Nichole sent me The Time Traveler's Wife. I kept meaning to read it and then finally took it along on my honeymoon last summer. It instantly became one of my favorite books and I didn't want to put it down. In fact, I've been thinking about reading it again. I just saw the trailer for the movie that comes out in August and I'm worried that the movie isn't going to do the book justice. Hopefully it won't disappoint too much but there's just so much to that book that I'm afraid will be lost in translation.