Today, We Went Beyond

Oh the wedding. We are about six months out and things are starting to fall into place. Today, we took a step that was supposed to be fun, but ended in two gigantic headaches, but more on that later. The day started innocently enough with a nice breakfast with both of our mothers. After talking shop and getting some things in order, we headed off to Bed, Bath and Beyond to begin the registration process, which is where the fun began.

We  were supposed to start registering last week, but our initial trip turned into more like a discovery session. This discovery session took place at the Naperville BB&B since it is closer to us. While I assumed that was the right place to go, Marilyn said she did not want to go there, favoring the Downers Grove location instead. Since we were in that area already, I won and we stayed in Naperville. After walking the aisles of the Naperville BB&B, we found things that we liked and compared notes to make sure we were on the same page. We both left feeling good about what we found and decided to dive in again the following Sunday.

Well, today was that Sunday and since we went to breakfast in Wheaton, we chose the BB&B in Downers. I will say this once, and one time only: Marilyn was right. The BB&B in Downer's was superior to the Naperville location. Not only did the story have a better layout, but they even have this handy dandy section that is dedicated to wedding registration.  They also had a huge section of fine China. 

Once we got there, we went to the registration area and set everything up, with a woman named Marilyn, who was excited to meet another Marilyn. After getting past the Marilyn excitement, we spent an hour activating our account and learning how to use the little gun scanner. The BB&B Marilyn explained what we should look for and how much to look for, so we were off. Our first stop was the fine China section, which took awhile. We both found stuff that we liked, but kept going back and forth about how whether or not we need fine china. One key factor is the fact that Mar is going to inherit her grandmother's China when the time is right. Any advice would be appreciated. 

After leaving the fine China section, we headed to cookware and started having some fun. We have found plenty of stuff that we like and gave the gun scanner a workout. Well, at this point we had be Beyond for going on three hours and we were both pretty tired, but we decided to hit up one for more section. We headed to the bath section and thought we knew what we were looking for. Unfortunately, the print we really like is being discontinued, so we looked around a little more. Usually this would not be problem, but we were exposed to the worst perfume I have ever smelled, apparently the poor woman that was wearing it has lost her sense of smell. It was so bad, that we both ended up developing the aforementioned headaches. 

At this point, we were done. While we still have a bit more to do, it was a productive. Feel free to take a look if you want to see what we picked. Just go to the Bed, Bath & Beyond website. 

1994: The Year That Rocked

This is coming a little late, but I still wanted to mention it. One thing of the things that I enjoyed most about my winter break was listening to Q101. Those that know me best are aware that I rarely listen to the radio station of my youth. Usually my radio is tuned to either NPR or WXRT. Well, one time of the year that I do listen to Q101 is during the final couple of the weeks of December. For the past few years, Q101 has played the top 101 songs for each year of their existence. After playing all of the years, there is a listener vote that determines the greatest year, which is replayed on New Year's Day. The winning year has been 1994 each time they have held this competition.

It was a total blast hearing the music from that year, my freshman year in high school. It seems like each song is a classic and has influenced today's music, even though modern musicians have yet to equal the creativity and excellence of their predecessors. The list included  such favorites as "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows, "Big Empty" by Stone Temple Pilots, "Stay" by Lisa Loeb, "About A Girl" by Nirvana and "Elderly Woman" by Pearl Jam to name a few. Anyways, here's a link to the list from 1994 if you want to take a trip down memory lane.

Ta Daaaaaaaaah!

My 2006 Ford Fusion!  Yup.  Keeping it in the good ol' US of A!  This is my first Ford purchase...

Clearly this one isn't mine, but it looks just like the one I bought!  Yes, the night of my emotional break down I got a car.  Rather impulse, I know, but I know it's a good quality car, and that's really what I needed.  AND, I used my little check list:

• ü  Two working wipers with blades
  
• ü  All four windows:  on track and usable
  
• ü   All four rims perfectly circular
  
• ü  Working A/C and heat
  

These four items were pretty big on my list in getting a new car. :)  I know they're fairly common on ALL cars... but you never know.  :)

I bought my car from Honda of Lisle and had honest and excellent services from George my salesman and Chris the manager.  George has sold my mom cars for years.  He's one of my uncles good friends and trusts him with his purchases as well as ours.  (In case your a tiny bit confused, my uncle works at the dealership but sells packages and what not, not cars any more).  If ANYBODY needs a car -- new or used, please give Honda of Lisle a gander while shopping.  

Before I made the decision on the Fusion I test drove a few cars:

• '08 Toyota Yaris -- Tons of fun! :)  Tiny two door! :(  Stick! :)  Just too tiny though.... :( 
• '04 Saturn Ion -- Liked this car a lot, but the engine made some crazy hesitation when I accelerated. :(
• '02 Honda Accord -- Liked it!  Totally had the most bells and whistles on it.  BUT, it was the oldest car, the most expensive car, and the people were smokers.  :(
• '08 Chevy Cobalt --  Liked this car too!  It really came down to this car and the Fusion.  The Fusion just drove better and I wound up just liking it a bit more.   :)

Just a little shout out to my lovely fiancee.  I had no desire to even test drive this car.  Don't really have a good reason...well actually my reason maybe was because Chris kept clamoring on and on about how he wanted a Fusion a few years ago.  So, when he started in on it I was like, 'nah....no thanks.'  But then my mom started chiming in with cars she wanted me to test drive, so then I was like, 'FINE!!   I'll try them all!'  Clearly, that was a smart move on my part.

So, that's the journey of my new car.... now all I need is a new job!  So far, 2009 keeps getting brighter and brighter.  Fingers crossed!

My Pontiac Grand Am ~ RIP ~

SO, the time has *finally* come.  I got a new car!!  Yay!  Here is a little synopsis of life with my 2000 Pontiac Grand Am...

*sappy award show music*

I bought my 2000 Pontiac Grand Am in March of 2001.  This was the first "new" car that I had ever really bought AND paid off.  We had a nice life together.  Traveled around the Midwest.  Toted me to plenty of Dave Matthews shows.  Drove up to a few Bears/Vikings games up at the Metrodome.  Took a total random road trip to Columbus, Ohio to the Columbus Crew Stadium to watch the World Cup game at...shoot, 3 am or something crazy like that!  We didn't get a hotel, we slept in the car!  My little Grand Am definitely carted all three of my lovely cats to and from the Vet.  Gracie loved to curl up in the front seat and then stand on her hind legs to look out the window and hiss whenever we were at the end of our journey.  She was *great* cat in the car!  It delivered us safely to Illinois State and home numerous times.  My car brought me to and from my Chili's openings around the Midwest.  OH...and lets not forget the amazing amount of balloons that I could shove into that thing.  Especially for Mindy's 30th birthday...I was impressed!  Overall, there were some GREAT times that my car and I have shared.    

AH, it was a nice little eight year life span with my car!

But then all good things come to an end.  Right?! 

Then while I was at ISU my car began not starting consistently.  There was this security thingy... I had to wait 10 minutes for my engine to reset.  Ugh!  It was annoying.  I remember after one of my doubles at the Bloomington Chili's I had tripped this security thing 3 times.  SO, I had to wait a total of 30 minutes to start my car!!  I got that fixed...thanks to some help from my madre.  Then there was the car not passing emissions because of an O2 censor.  That was a fiasco and a half!  During my student teaching the non-starting of my car continued.  My step-father side-swiped my car while in their driveway as well.  Hm...oh and more recently, last summer my hood decided it was done opening.  Hm, The Great Wiper Incident.  I was driving down Butterfield Road in the beginning of December, used my wipers to clean my windshield, and thought something hit my windshield!  NOPE.  I just had my passenger side wiper FLY off and land somewhere on Butterfield Road.  So, I was down to one wiper.  AH.  Let's not forget there is The Great Window Incident.  I went to the bank to deposit my cash and my window fell off the track.  THANKFULLY the window fell off the track, but it was still in the upright position.  There was about a quarter of an inch opened at the top.  Needless to say, I kept the heat on high, but it was still chilly for my left hand while driving.  This happened shortly thereafter the great wiper incident.  

I'm sure you're all curious to know what WAS the straw that broke the camels back, aren't you? :)

WELL...I was driving yesterday (for those that don't know it was a steady, wet, slippery snow) on West Loop Road in Wheaton.  West Loop connects Naperville Road to Butterfield Road and you bypass the Danada traffic--there are town homes and a church (big surprise) off of this road.  Well, I was on my way from Downtown Wheaton to Naperville to meet up with Chris, Megan and Caitlin for dinner at Carabbas.  So, as I'm driving down this residential street my car slips and I NAILED a curb and my window fell down.  I freaked out, because I really nailed this curb and the window fell down at the same time.  I pretty much immediately burst into tears.  I was done.  Just done with all of it.  I jumped out of the car and looked at my passenger side tire.  It looked awful...you could tell that the rim was bent.  SO, I jumped back in the car, and put some gloves on (...my window was all the way down) called Chris like twelve times, texted him twice and left some voicemails.  I then called my Auntie Jane.  Her husband, my uncle, works for Honda of Lisle.  So, I called her and told her I was on my way to the dealership--I was done with my car, I just wanted to get a new one (I got lucky he works late on Tuesdays).  She called him and filled him in on the emotional basket case that I was, and the state of my car.

Alas, this brings me to the title of this post...

RIP my 2000 black Pontiac Grand Am...you were a great car.  I absolutely loved my time with you!  It's sad to see you go and yet I'm *so* happy to let you go.  Our time has been well spent!

*smooches*

*some lovely closing credit music*