Friday Fun

I can't listen to this song without smiling. Happy Friday!

And these are some awesomely creative people

Travel Tuesday-Murals

A stop in Belvidere, Illinois will find a lot of murals on buildings. I haven't been for a few years and know they have added to them. Here are a few favorites from our previous visit.

Cadillace Truth + Dare Event

About a month ago, my Mr. & I were invited to participate in the Cadillac Truth + Dare event near us. We went, not really knowing what to expect. Well....it was a REALLY fun evening!

We got a little swag:

We participated in four stations. The road drive (yes, they let us drive the cars).

We drove the "drag strip" (aka: acceleration test) - put the hammer down and let it go. I will admit - THAT was fun!

Then we rode on the safety course. That was the station where we had drivers so they could demonstrate crash avoidance and auto parallel parking.

Then our favorite stations: Auto Cross.

Drive as fast as you want and don't hit any cones!

A little video of the auto cross, sorry it's not better quality!

(You get the idea)

It was a fun night! Awesome cars and adventure.

If you have the chance to do this, I would advise you to.

#cadillactruthanddare

Book Tour-Little Gray Dress

Good morning!

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A Bad Dress

“It won’t zip.” I look over my shoulder trying to see just how much of a gap there is in the zipper.

The seamstress pulls open the curtain and peeks in. “Ohh…” She taps her lips with her forefinger. “Maybe a corset will help?”

“A corset? Like, what they used to wear in the 1800s?” I ask, worried that instead of just looking fat I’ll end up with crushed ribs as well.

“They aren’t quite as excruciating as they were back then. I’ll just go grab one.”

“A corset, Lily!” I yell through the curtain at my best friend. “Did you hear that? I’m so fat that I need to cinch it all in with a corset.” I stick my face out of the edge of the curtain, only to see Lily’s nod.

“I don’t know what you’re complaining about, Ems. I wear Spanx every day of my life.” She rolls her eyes at me. Spanx isn’t an option for me; I need the big guns of underwear to make this dress even a tiny bit presentable.

I peel the dress off and drape it over the small chair in the fitting room. The dress could be described as ‘daring’, but a more fitting word would be ‘repulsive’. It could cause the ugly swan dress Bjork wore to the Academy Awards to bow its head in shame. Which I think is what it was doing that night, anyway. Hannah must have lost her mind to create this disaster as a bridesmaid’s gown. Maybe the dress itself isn’t that terrible, but on me… it’s appalling.

“Here we go!” The seamstress holds up a white corset. “We’ll just get you tied into this and we should be good to go.”

If only it was that easy. It takes ten minutes of pulling, pushing, and adjusting. I wish I could say that the super strength, agonizingly uncomfortable corset does the trick. It nearly does, but to really drive home the fact that I still look terrible, we also opt for high-waisted Spanx-like underwear that hits me just below the breast. Then the corset itself, and I swear at one point it felt as if the seamstress has a foot on my back as she pulled the strings as tight as they could go to get it on. Then, as if two pairs of smoothing and self-shrinking underwear aren’t enough, we add some kind of full-length slip to smooth out the uh… lumpy areas. Which give me a bit more flare at the bottom of the skirt, in an attempt to achieve that hourglass shape that this dress so desperately needs, as opposed to the pear shape I seem to have taken on recently.

Sadly, the biggest problem I’m going to have at this wedding isn’t even the fact that I’ll be wearing a lot of body cinching underwear underneath an ugly, far-too-snug dress created by my almost sister-in-law, Hannah.

My biggest concern is Hannah’s brother: Jack Cabot. My ex-fiancé.

Jack and I dated for five years, and for the last one of those years we were engaged. In all honesty, it was the best five years of my life, right up until that last day. That day is forever burned into my brain and has ruined so many parts of me. That was the day he shattered my heart, and I still haven’t found all the pieces.

I probably shouldn’t have put off the first fitting. Maybe my reflection in the dress wouldn’t be so shocking if I’d started the alteration process a month ago. Or maybe not. I’m sure the whole experience, no matter when I started it, would be just as traumatizing as it feels right now.

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Seriously all, I am currently reading this book and haven't stopped smiling/laughing while I am reading! -Jen

I hope you will check out the other blog tour participants!

Friday Letters

Dear Friday, HELLO!!!!! I have been waiting a long time for you.

Dear Weekend, Go nice and slow!

Dear Books, I hope to spend some time with you this weekend.

Dear Blog Readers, Thanks for coming back. Sorry I took such a long hiatus.

Dear Cubs, Keep on winning!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Randomness

Hello friends!  I know it has been a long time since I posted. Not to make excuses, but life and work have been crazy the past month.

We are a month into our merger at work. It has been busy and stressful at times but we're making it through things, one day at a time.

I feel like all we have done for the past 4-5 weeks is work or run to the next thing to do. Between my work's summer conference; work; photography; weekend activities and life, I feel like the couple of empty days on the calendar have been for recharging (and I have been trying to "unplug" on days off). I am hoping we are on the "slowing down" side of life for a little while.

My Cubs didn't end the first half of the season very well. But since the All Star break it has been mostly smiles and "W"s. I hope that continues!

I haven't read as much as I would like to lately, but that's ok. PS: Make sure you stop by on Sunday for a peek at a new book that is out!

I am hoping to post more regularly again. I hope you will visit and leave me a comment!

Hugs!