pictures

A Day In Naperville (Large Number of Pictures)

So, as many of you who have followed me for years know, I am a HUGE fan of Sarah Dessen. HUGE. I love her work, and I love her blogs and yeah, she’s just awesome.

I GOT TO MEET HER TODAY!1!!11onewonuno!!!

Two of My Favorite Authors

Yup, that’s me in between Laurie Halse Anderson and Sarah Dessen (who is mid blink, bless her heart).

*faints*

What was so cool was that when they came in, Laurie spotted me in the audience and grinned and waved and said “Hi Ronni!” I about died from glee then. I mean, HELLO, it’s Laurie Halse Anderson, who is teh awsum! as it is. And I would have come out to see her by herself, but with Sarah? Um yeah. CLEAR THE CALENDAR, right? THEN when it was my turn, SARAH RECOGNIZED ME FROM MY COMMENTING ON HER LIVE JOURNAL. OH man. OH MAN OH MAN. *dies* SARAH DESSEN KNEW WHO I WAS, you guys!!! MAJORfangirlSQUEE! :D

I had a great time talking with both of them. Laurie hugged me, blew me kisses, complimented me on my wedding photos, and encouraged me to keep writing. She’s definitely getting a shoutout whenever I get published. She’s so inspirational and supportive and amazing. I lubs her. :)

I snagged this from Laurie’s Twitter. Can you see me and Aidan in the audience?

So yeah, I’m riding on that high pretty much.

Spending all afternoon in Naperville was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day, and they were doing IndieBound. All the indie shops (and some non-indie shops!) were having sidewalk sales. I got a pair of Keen Newports, and I found out that I can wear a child’s size five, thus saving me lots of money on future shoe purchases. Aidan and I ate lunch at Noodles & Co, where he ate a HUGE bowl of mac & cheese, which he loved. Oh, at first he turned his nose up at it b/c he saw “white” cheese in the bowl and the cheese wasn’t all melted and mixed in. I got really firm with him because his pickiness is frustrating at the best of times. I KNOW he loves mac & cheese, and for him to say “I don’t wike cheddar” when I know DANG well he eats cheddar in his mac & cheese all the time was almost too much. I mixed up the mac & cheese for him, he took one bite, and then gobbled the rest down pretty much.

A Day In Naperville
Om nom nom!!!

While we waited for the long hours until the authors arrived to tick by, Aidan and I busied ourselves in Anderson’s Bookshop. There is PLENTY to do to spend time in that store, honestly. Like this:

Aidan Reading
Who knew SpongeBob Squarepants had his own magazine?

Here are some other pix from today:

Hi!
O Hai!

A Day In Naperville A Day In Naperville
A Day In Naperville A Day In Naperville
Tyrone Says Hi! A Day In Naperville

MOAR!

We ate Wendy’s for dinner because although I KNOW there are McDonald’s restaurants in Naperville, I couldn’t find any on the roads I was on. Thank goodness Aidan was agreeable to that suggestion. I got teased by some customers behind me because I ordered myself a Kid’s Meal. :o

Those are the highlights of a pretty great day. I was worried that I wouldn’t feel OK all day because I didn’t get a lot of sleep. I was playing Sims3 last night and mistakenly called Aidan over to watch as one of the Sims was getting carted off by the Grim Reaper. It scared the pants off of him (I thought he might laugh at it) because of the scary music and the guy turned into a ghost… he was up all night freaking out, and he climbed into bed with me at about 6am. Poor little guy. Sometimes that stuff makes him laugh but sometimes it scares the poop out of him. Last night was a poop eliminating (figuratively, of course) session. I just didn’t THINK. *hits self on head*

Oh well. Live and learn. It all worked out in the end. Aidan only bumbled up slightly a couple times, and both times were easily remedied by getting his blood sugar back up. He was a really good boy. :)

Now I have to figure out how to get him to bed soon. I have a headache and he’s going strong for some reason. : Well, he knows that once The Wiz ends, he’s to go to bed. And they just made it to Oz. Woohoo.

Until next time….

P.S. Only 35 Days Til Disney!!!!!!

E.T.A. Click! Adopt one today! Adopt one today! Adopt one today!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

Comments Off on A Day In Naperville (Large Number of Pictures)

Where To Begin? (Long, Multimedia)

To state the obvious, it’s been a really long time since I’ve blogged. More than a month; the longest I’ve ever gone, I believe. It’s a complicated paradigm. I have too much to say, and yet, I don’t have anything to say at all.

I have been active on some forums, and on Facebook and Plurk and somewhat on Twitter, so I haven’t been completely off the Internet or anything like that.

Aidan is in town for the summer. He arrived on June 20th. He’s very happy to be in Chicago. I’ve been trying to get outside with him every day. I mean, HELLO, it’s summer! And it’s warm, finally! Sometimes I take him downtown, sometimes we simply walk around the block. Or we hit the CVS. Nothing too exciting, but it’s a nice way to get out of the house every day. We also have a nice courtyard in the back, and we’ve been out there drawing with sidewalk chalk and playing with a bubble machine.

Aidan on Michigan Avenue

Aidan Playing Bubbles

Hmm. Well, it wouldn’t be an update post if I didn’t mention dolls. I’ve gotten two more since my last post. Here is my complete collection (minus the mini Addy, who was inside):

The Girls
back: Marisol, Jess, Kit, Bizzy
front: Molly, Rebecca, Riley, Ruthie

Of course I want more, but unless I find a “YOU’D BE A STARK RAVING IDIOTIC BANANA TO PASS THIS UP” deal on eBay, I won’t be getting any for a while. I’m trying to hold out for gift giving occasions like my birthday or Christmas–but the sucky thing about that is that they’re five days apart. I don’t get gifts in the middle of the year like people whose birthdays are in summer or whatever. That’s hard! But it’s FUN at the time.

Last weekend, Adam, Aidan and I headed to Des Moines, IA for the Selzer Family Reunion. I had fun. Iowa is nice. It reminds me of Columbus without the Buckeye mania. I liked it. So much that I think I wouldn’t mind living there. Except for the fact that I would NOT be proofreading there–I’d be someone’s secretary and working for a bank or an insurance company. I don’t know how I feel about that. But the slower pace, the non-cutthroat culture, and the cost of living is so much easier to swallow. I dunno. Who knows what the future will bring?

Anyway, it was nice seeing family and spending time in a park (even though it was hotter than all blazes). Aidan tried his hand at the monkey bars:

Monkey Bars

It didn’t go well.

"This Is Not Happy"

“That is not happy,” he said when he saw his face in the picture.

It’s been a joy and a challenge having Aidan here. He’s pretty clumsy, so nothing’s really safe around him. He’s a maddeningly picky eater, so dinner time is always a challenge unless it’s chicken fries and mac & cheese. He still wets the bed at night if I don’t get up in time to take him. If I need to concentrate and work, he doesn’t get that. He wants to share everything, so it’s constantly MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY. Sometimes, it’s tiring.

But he’s so affectionate. He will often come over just to put his hand on my cheek. His laugh is the most awesome sound ever and he laughs a LOT. It’s easy to make him laugh, too. He’s very gentle. His world is still sunshine and lollipops. I can tell that by the stories he makes up. He draws–my God–his art is unbelievable. And he draws all the time. He’s really good at the Wii (he did Wii Fit for about an hour today!), and he’s super smart–got all 100s and is at the top of his class. After Adam leaves in the morning, he’ll come out and climb into bed with me to keep me company, hand on my cheek, of course.

On July 13, Adam and I went one day to DucKon 18, a sci-fi con that takes place in a Chicago suburb. I had a lot of fun. I got to hear great music (Vixy & Tony, SJ Tucker–who blew me AWAY with her song Firebird’s Child) and got to meet cool people. I bought a new worry stone in the dealer’s room. I also got to see Tesla Coils. They played music. Here they are playing The Imperial March:

And here is SJ, backed by Vixy, singing Firebird’s Child. It was this performance that almost caused me to fall out of my chair, and this performance that inspired me to run to the dealer’s room and buy her CD as soon as the concert ended before they all sold out. And thank goodness I did, because they DID all sell out!

(I want to go to more cons NOW.)

Today, happiness came in the mail for me. An arc of CATCHING FIRE. Yes, the sequel to THE HUNGER GAMES, (which I have read way more times than I could ever count). I have CATCHING FIRE right next to me. I am deliberately prolonging reading it to build the anticipation, but you’d better believe that once I’m done with this entry, I’m going to make myself a turkey sandwich and dive in. Oh yeah. *salivates*

Only 30 days until my and Adam’s one year anniversary. ♥

Only 50 more days until Disney World!

And a whole summer ahead of me. :)

To finish up, I want to say that I’m very much in shock and saddened by Michael Jackson’s passing. Wow, that was really hard to type. I am still in a state of STRONG disbelief over it. He was my first crush. I was seven years old, watching Billie Jean, and staring at the TV slack-jawed. It was love at first sight. And now… I just can’t believe he’s gone. I don’t know what will make me believe he’s gone. My friend Jen called me that night, to see if I was OK. I mean, I once got *really* upset because a bunch of people took my Michael Jackson doll and hid it or were abusing it or something. So yeah, this is hitting me hard when I let myself think about it, which really isn’t often, to be honest. I’m scared if I think too much about it, I’ll get too upset, and with Aidan around, I don’t want to do that.

‘Til next time.

Comments Off on Where To Begin? (Long, Multimedia)

Just Thinking (Pictures, Long)

2 Mountain Dews + 1 Afternoon Nap + 1 Life Dilemma = Night Owl Ronni In Full Effect.

Although I’ve been doing some thinking, and I’m coming to peace with the life dilemma. Now I just have to wait it out. That part will be hard.

Ordered my mom a Molly American Girl doll. She told me how she always wanted one, and always wanted to get ME one. She doesn’t have to get me one now (although I’d LOVE it if she did), but I did want to get HER one. I ordered it Friday night. Not sure when it will get there because of the holiday and all.

Lilacs
Lilacs are growing in the neighborhood. They smell amazing.

It’s 3am and there are people outside running up and down the street and screaming.

Here’s a few pictures of Jess. These do a bit more justice to her. I wish I was better with a camera, though when it comes to photographing the dolls.

The Real Jess Jess

I cleaned today. I mean yesterday. Cleaned my room and the bathroom. Both look much better now.

Crookshanks is sleeping on the other end of the couch. He’s sort of snoring. It’s cute. Today, he managed to get on the cabinet above the stove. Once he got up there, he had this look on his face like “Oh crap. How do I get down?” Adam and I were laughing, and Crookshanks’s expression changed to “What are you laughing at? This is not a laughing matter. How the hell am I supposed to get down?”

Crookshanks Up High Crookshanks Up High

He made it down, though.

Jeff and Deborah came over for a cookout. They brought steaks and ribs. Jeff had marinated the ribs and they tasted amazing. I haven’t had ribs in years. Mmmm. Meat.

Grilling

Seeing those two is always a treat. Deborah is a total sweetheart and we get along so well. I really hope we can all see each other more often this summer. I wish I could see ALL my friends more often. Getting around Chicago can be a pain when all your friends live way north. *sigh* The train takes forever, and driving is a nightmare! But some things are worth the hassle.

Hung out with Becky last weekend. We had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. It was good, and the cheesecake was yummy. Becky time is always good.

Thank goodness for this 3-day weekend. I need it. Then next week, Rebecca will be released! I plan to be at the store when it opens, and meeting up with some other AG Collectors. It should be a lot of fun. And the week after that, some friends will be in town and want to do lunch. Then a con. Then Aidan comes. Busy busy. I hope I get time to rest in all that. AND clean Aidan’s room. Because for some reason, even though I NEVER go in there, that room keeps getting very messy. I don’t get it. Adam must be doing stuff in there.

I never did announce my Disney blog. Oops. It’s here. I pretty much only talk about Disney and dolls these days (Aidan if not those two things), so I started the Disney blog to jabber on about my upcoming trip and stuff like that. Maybe I should do something like that with my dolls, too. Just so I won’t bore poor Adam talking about them all the time. He says that he loves seeing me so happy when I play with them or even just look at them, but come on. He’s a typical guy. Typical guys don’t dig dolls. Although he is very supportive of people playing with toys, no matter what their age!

Sarah Dessen posted her tour dates. She and Laurie Halse Anderson will be TOGETHER at Anderson’s Bookshop either July 11 or 12 (I have to confirm with someone, I am seeing differing dates on different websites). I AM SO GOING. I’ve met Laurie before, and she is simply amazing and awesome. I’ve been dreaming of meeting Sarah for a long time, and I HAVE MY CHANCE. !!!!!!!!! So yes, I am definitely going to make it to that event one way or another, I don’t care what it takes. I mean, it’s SARAH DESSEN, you guys. I will probably faint when I see her, or cry, or something else equally embarrassing. I remember when I met Meg Cabot, how nervous I was. But I am so excited. Not only is Anderson’s one of the best indie bookstores EVER, but two of my favorite authors will be there, AT THE SAME TIME. It’s too much!

We went to the Illinois Young Authors Conference with Adam last weekend. It is so awesome to see how the kids respond to Adam. He’s wonderful with them. A good speaker, inspiring, and realistic. Plus, meeting authors, getting out of Chicago for a night is always good for me. Normal, IL reminds me a lot of Columbus, OH.

I was sick last weekend until Tuesday. Monday was the worst of it, though. My sinuses hurt SO bad I could barely keep my eyes open. Once that part broke, though, I was on my way to being normal again. Being sick stinks.

That’s all for now. Shall I think that my eyelids are ACTUALLY starting to grow heavy? Dare I hope? Oh well. Even if they aren’t, I’m signing off for now anyway. Ciao.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

Comments Off on Just Thinking (Pictures, Long)

Hopped Up! (Pictures)

White Flowers

I don’t know why I have the urge to update now that I’ve been hopped up on cold medicine and should be trying to sleep. My body is tired and the drugs are telling me to go to bed, but my mind is kind of moving, so yeah.

If this entry doesn’t make sense, blame it on CVS brand nighttime sleep medicine.

– So, I’ve become obsessed with American Girl dolls. It’s so weird because my mom and I agree that I definitely was not deprived of dolls when I was a little girl–I had plenty and I still have most of my Barbie dolls, actually–so what is it about THESE dolls that’s making me go crazy?

I suppose it’s because I’ve wanted one for years and now that I am in a position to get one (or more), I’m doing so. It helps that Adam is pretty supportive of me (although he did tell me I needed to slow down!), and he likes that I’m so happy with them. Sometimes, I just look at them and smile. And yes, I do play with them. Mostly I comb their hair and change their clothes. And photograph them. OH yes. I enjoy taking pictures of them.

Ruthie Marisol

I just got Jess, who is the 2006 Girl of the Year.

Jess
(I will take a better picture very soon; this one doesn’t do her justice)

I plan to get Rebecca, the new historical who is coming out on May 31st. THEN I should try to stop buying dolls (except the one I plan to get my mommy) because I want to enjoy the ones I have. Not that I don’t, because I do, but you know what I mean. I think. *shifty eyes*

– Aidan came up for Mother’s Day. I had a great time with him. He has lost his first tooth, and a second one is loose. But here is the kicker. There are already two permanent teeth growing in! There’s no room yet!

Friday, he arrived. I had to get up really early, so I was pretty dead at work that day. Saturday, it was raining and icky, so I declared it Pajama Day, and we stayed in our pajamas and watched DVDs, played games, and played with the dolls. We also took a nice nap together. It was a good day. Sunday, we went downtown. I love taking him to FAO Schwartz.

Aidan at FAO Schwartz Aidan at FAO Schwartz
Aidan at FAO Schwartz Aidan at FAO Schwartz

And of course, we went to the American Girl store. I didn’t buy a doll, but Aidan and I had a great time looking at the displays and things. I love that he plays dolls with me. I know one day he probably won’t. He is truly amazing.

And such a good artist!!! Here is his drawing of all my dolls:

He is prolific, too. Adam took down the “Corner of Mystery” and changed it to “Aidan’s Art Museum.” We have tons of drawings by him up. He’s really good, and he’ll draw for hours. He’s always been pretty good. I’ll have to scan and post more pictures of his work.

The first time he left to get on the plane, there were tears from both of us and almost Adam, too. But this time, he was as cheerful as could be. When he doesn’t cry, I am less likely to cry. He’ll be back in 37 days, and this time it’ll be for the summer!

– Only 94 days until Disney World.

– I’m happy with the winner of America’s Next Top Model. I would have been happy with either of them this season, to be honest.

– I have discovered Feist. And she is good.

– Work is OK. Today I was on my own for most of the day and it was cool. I was pleasantly busy, which I like. Not overwhelmed, but not bored. Looks like I might be in this weekend. I escaped working last weekend which was great because I got to be with Aidan. But I may not be so lucky this weekend.

Which is kind of a bummer because I caught Aidan’s cold. So I’m feeling kind of under the weather, but at least it’s not terrible or anything. Nothing rest and fluids shouldn’t be able to take care of. This is the first time I’ve been sick in months.

This is how I knew I was under the weather. Usually at work, I am FREEZING. I wear layers and layers and I just shiver. Well, the past two days, I’ve been hot. I attributed that to the fact that I was wearing a sweater, but I’ve had on sweaters in the past and still froze my butt off. I was actually working in a tank top and bare feet at one point today I was so hot (after hours, of course). This is quite abnormal for me, and a clear indication that something is off. But again, everything’s fairly mild except for the mysterious being hot all of a sudden (which is a welcome change from being cold all the time, let me tell you), and my nose CONSTANTLY running!

Hmm, what else? See, I thought I had a lot to say and I really don’t. Oh, I rode to work in a school bus this morning. Really. This isn’t the cold medicine talking.

But I should go lie down anyway. I leave you with this picture of me waiting for the bus one Sunday morning before work.

Waiting for my Bus

Good night.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

Comments Off on Hopped Up! (Pictures)

Mayday! MAYDAY! (Picture)

Holy banana, it’s May! The first part of April went so slowly, until Aidan got here. Then it sped by. Now, it’s already MAY. Which means only one week until Aidan’s here for Mother’s Day weekend! He lost his first tooth last week, and another is loose.

Chicago weather doesn’t seem to know which direction it wants to go. Some days, it’s nice, in the low 70s, but then it goes to the 40s or 50s and hovers around there. One day last week, there was a 30 degree temperature drop within an hour’s time. Insane!

Work hasn’t been too crazy, but things are supposed to ramp up like mad next week. I did end up working last Sunday and will have to work this coming Sunday as well. This past week, I just have not really been feeling myself. Burned out and tired is how I’ve been feeling. Kind of listless and blah. But tomorrow, I will go and get my hair done and even a manicure (the salon said they had a special because I booked over the phone–$15 manicures!), and hopefully feel relaxed and pampered enough to go into another… well, it’ll be at least a six-day work week. (I really need a 90 minute full body massage, but I don’t know when I’ll have time for such things, with my unpredictable work schedule.)

Aidan flies in on Friday morning to spend Mother’s Day weekend with me. That’s a YAY. I’m excited to see him. :) The BOO is that he’ll probably be spending a lot of next weekend with me at my office. We had a really crazy pitch in March, and the one coming up this week is supposed to be about three times the size. So… that means I’m going to be exhausted for a couple weeks there. Should have nice paychecks, though.

Which is always a good thing, right?

So, I haven’t posted for a few weeks. In those few weeks, I got a new messenger bag. It’s pretty big, but it’s pink and grey and it’s not canvas which is good because it’s definitely rainy season around here. I got two more American Girl dolls (and I promise, this is it for new dolls for a while!) and some clothes for them. This brings my total to five, which is a nice round number. I doubt I get any more. That’s not to say that same for little adorable doll outfits and clothes. ;) I also got Riley’s ears pierced, and the piercing came with a box of 6 pairs of earrings for her to wear. Adam thought I’d want to get all the other dolls’ ears pierced too, but I don’t think so.

Some people buy old dolls that need a lot of help and customize them. I think that would be a lot of fun. I’d make a Hannah Montana one. Haha. Anyway, here are ALL my girls:

My American Girls
Riley, Marisol, Molly, Kit, Ruthie
(None of them are in their original outfits, or what is known in the AG community as their “Meet” outfits.)

Today, I got to help a bit on the set of At Last, Okemah. I had a small part in the movie, but I had to drop out because of work being so crazy and unpredictable. Today was my first visit to one of the filming locations. I worked the clapboard. That means I had to hold it up in front of the camera and say “Scene 14, Shot 35, Series” or things of that sort. It was cool, but it made me nervous! I was told I did a good job, though. :)

I’m sitting here listening to music on my computer and singing along with some of the songs. Every time I start singing, Crookshanks, who is curled up against me, looks up at me and starts purring. :) I guess he doesn’t think my voice is all that terrible.

I’ve read two books recently. SUCKS TO BE ME by Kimberly Pauley, and PURE by Terra Elan McVoy. Getting ready to start on SLEEPAWAY GIRLS by Jen Calonita, which I got for free from a tweet from Book Divas! YAY for free books, right? I also picked up some books at Borders last weekend. There were a bunch of $3.99 ones all over the place. I grabbed a couple that sounded interesting: THE TEN BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE and THE SLEEPING BEAUTY PROPOSAL. They’re *gasp* adult books! :) But back into familiar territory, I need to get hold of Elizabeth Scott’s newest one because I love her writing.

Today, I got out of work early, and Adam picked me up. On our way back to the apartment, the car ran over a BAD pothole/railroad track. This nasty knocking sound came. We pulled over and couldn’t see anything. Fortunately, our car fixer-upper was really close, so we drove there and walked home. After an hour, Adam walked over. The tracks or something had knocked some stuff out of alignment and flattened the tires and bent some rims–it was not pretty. The guy told Adam a fix up like that would normally be $500, but since we live in the neighborhood, it was only $40. :D Now, I’m pretty sure it really wasn’t a $500 fix up, but it’s cool that it was only $40. And apparently, if we whine enough to the city, they’ll reimburse us for the costs. Not sure if Adam will pursue that, though.

Tomorrow, it’s supposed to be 62? and sunny, so my outing should be really nice. It’s also likely to be the last day I get to enjoy any warm spring weather for a while! But there are pros to working some of those late nights:

– They buy dinner.
– I don’t have to take the bus home; the company springs for a cab.
– I can wear my slippers and track suits or running pants.
– The money!!!!!!

And that, my friends, is about all. My brain is now fried. Good night.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

Comments Off on Mayday! MAYDAY! (Picture)