Month: June 2015

Swedish Days Festival & Back Aches

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Sunday we headed to Geneva and walked around their Swedish Days festival from 10am-1pm. We shared a combo plate of ham (with some sort of dill sauce), swedish meatballs, sausage, rye bread, cucumber salad, and pineapple cake. It wasn’t a ton of food, but really good! We also shared a treat at a local chocolate & ice cream store. We decided to leave right before the parade started at 1 pm and went to Noodles & Company for lunch thanks to a BOGO coupon. On the way home we stopped at Savers since all clothing was 50% off but it was a bust. By the time we got home we were both exhausted and wanted to do nothing more than veg on the couch. Plus I had a headache that wouldn’t quit.

Today my back is aching, I guess from the walking I did yesterday. It’s been giving me grief on and off for weeks. I haven’t exercised since June 9th due to this crap. If my back starts feeling better and I exercise for just fifteen minutes, it hurts again the next day. Walking at a leisurely pace causes it to hurt the next day too! WTH??? I’m not exercising particularly long or intensely, so I don’t get why suddenly it’s been an issue. I had been exercising regularly for months but now I can’t at all or the next day I’ll be in pain. It’s so frustrating! And yet, my doctors claim I don’t have an autoimmune disease. This seems like one to me – mystery ailments that crop up for no reason and then eventually go away on their own. This is the latest in the trend.

I just hope this latest issue goes away soon because a) I can’t lose the ten pounds I’ve gained since last summer unless I starve myself and b) we have a staycation planned in July that will involve lots of walking for at least two of the days.

Graduation Party

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My cousin’s son’s graduation party was Saturday afternoon at her home in Indiana. It was a lot of fun and good to see my cousins and my aunt M (who makes a mean taco salad; recipe borrowed from my late grandmother) and uncle B (who other than my other uncle’s funeral last year, I rarely get to see).

We were there from 2:30-8:00 which was longer than I expected, but not in a bad way. Many photos were taken, most of which ended up on Facebook. I’m sure my friends were getting annoyed by how many photos I was tagged in over the weekend, especially since I had just complained about people posting endless pictures of themselves on social media. Does that make me a hypocrite even though it was actually my cousin who posted them all?

My mom and brother # 1 stopped by for about a half hour. I could tell my brother would have liked to stay longer but my mom wasn’t up to visiting very long due to her allergies. I reminded him that we’ll be over this coming Saturday to celebrate the 4th so he didn’t feel so bad about having to leave.

Sometimes I wish I lived closer to my family so we could hang out more often, but I like the area where we live. I’m just not that fond of Indiana in general. I’m planning on hosting a dinner & game night later this summer and inviting my cousins over. I hope they’ll be able to make it.

Last Weekend

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(Behind on posts once again…)

Friday I spent most of the day in bed resting since I had come down with a head cold.

Saturday we took a trip to the Aurora outlet mall to return some bras to the Hanes store that I had ordered online (I had ordered six and decided to keep three). The place was a madhouse due to construction so we didn’t spend much time there. I did stop in the New York & Company outlet and ended up getting two necklaces, a purple t-shirt, and a pair of sunglasses for $25 total.

New York & Co.

Had I known how comfy that $5 vneck was going to be, I would have gotten several colors! I’m really loving the new $6 sunglasses too. I usually shy away from over-sized sunglasses (which is hard given how small my head is – they are all oversized) but decided to go with something different for a change.

We also stopped at Kohls (we’ve been shopping there a LOT in the past month, so much so that I signed up for their rewards account and already spent enough to earn money back) to look at these shoes Joe wanted since I had secured two coupons we could stack. I ended up buying two expensive bras for $26 each but they are so damn comfortable I don’t even care. Warner’s makes the best bras. Hanes’ $12 bras are more affordable, but they also are largely uncomfortable in comparison, so you get what you pay for!

Sunday E was dropped off in the morning to spend Father’s Day with us. We had waffles for breakfast and then went to see Jurassic World. The movie was more entertaining than I was expecting which was a plus. Plus Chris Pratt isn’t bad on the eyes either. ;)

After the movie we spent a little time at the pool, although I didn’t go in because by the time we got there the sun had disappeared and it was cloudy the rest of the day.

Monday was a lazy day due to the rain. E and I both slept in. By the time we were ready to eat it was lunch time so we had soup and sandwiches. Then Joe and E played some video games while I got ready. I also had a little time so I cleaned all my makeup brushes.

Late afternoon Monday we dropped E off at home after stopping for something to eat, then stopped at Target before heading home.

Samsung 4K UHD TV

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We finally decided to replace our ten and half year old 42″ Panasonic 480p plasma with a 55″ Samsung 4k Ultra High Definition TV we purchased from Costco for $1097 (before tax). We weren’t 100% sure we were ready to upgrade since the plasma’s picture is still quite good, but with Costco’s awesome return policy (90 days to try it and return it for a full refund), there was no risk in giving it a try.

New TV

What’s amazing is that we paid nearly twice that for the plasma. Honestly, though, I’m pretty bummed that plasma lost the HDTV wars even though they are a superior technology. Too bad Panasonic did nothing to promote it and allowed the inferior LCDs to win.

And while the new TV is impressive, it has its drawbacks, such as dark corners (which all LCDs/LEDs suffer from) as well as only being 60hz. But the only technology that is superior to plasma, OLED, is way too expensive right now, and will probably be out of our price range for several years. So our choice was to make due with the plasma for even longer, or make the new TV work.

The first few days with the new TV were rough and we were considering returning it. The picture was actually too crisp and life-like. I don’t want to feel like the actors are in the room with me – that’s creepy! Plus everyone’s movements were strange. We read some articles and played with the settings and now things are much better because we got rid of what is known as the soap opera effect. I could not see trying to watch anything larger than 55″, though. The room is just not big enough. As it is, it took some getting used to the screen. I felt like when you’re at the movie theater and get stuck in the first few rows and everything is overwhelming your senses.

I’m happy we were able to adjust to the new TV because it’s nice having four HDMI ports – all our devices can remain plugged in at once unlike before. Plus streaming from Amazon, Netflix and YouTube is so quick and easy. No more need for the Chromecast downstairs either. In fact, E and Joe moved the plasma into our master bedroom and we moved the LCD into E’s room and plugged the spare Chromecast in there. He loves being able to watch YouTube videos in there at night. And we love our new TV – in just nine days we watched all three seasons of Orphan Black. What a great show!

Festival Saturday

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We woke up to overcast skies this morning and checked the forecast which was calling for rain. This was a real bummer because we had plans to go to the Pride of the Fox Riverfest in St. Charles. We decided to hedge our bets anyway and drove down. We wanted to try a new restaurant for breakfast called Abby’s Breakfast & Lunch. We very rarely eat out for breakfast but I’m glad we tried this place because our waiter was great and the food was delicious. I had their Hawaiian Eggs Benedict which is the best eggs benedict I’ve ever eaten. Everything about them was perfect.

Eggs Benedict

The accompanying hash browns were lightly seasoned which really made them taste better than pretty much any other hashbrowns I’ve had. Needless to say, I enjoyed the meal immensely and wasn’t too upset about the resulting $38 bill (in addition to our entrees, that included Joe’s $8 bloody mary and $2.50 for coffee, plus tax and tip).

After filling our bellies we walked around the festival grounds and quickly got sweaty. The forecast was for the mid 60’s but it felt more like the 80’s! And it wasn’t overcast anymore which made the heat and humidity even more intense. I bought a little $5 necklace to show my Blackhawks love since I don’t own any t-shirts.

One company was giving out waterguns so we had some fun shooting each other.

Water Guns

It felt good too since it was so hot!

After the fest we headed over to Kohls (a different one than we shopped at last weekend). I wanted to see if they had the black river sandals I had ordered. When mine were delivered I noticed a spot on the sandals that wasn’t as smooth as the rest of the shoe. It doesn’t affect their fit, but I’m rather picky and while it’s not a deal breaker, I’d prefer to have a better-made pair. Unfortunately, there weren’t any in my size so I’ll just deal with the ones I have. It’s not like anyone is going to notice (except me).

I couldn’t resist trying on some clothes and shoes, though, and ended up getting a strapless bra ($8) which will be great now that I’ve been looking at summer dresses. I also got these super cute fuscia sandals for under $20 (regularly $60) with my 15% off coupon. They are so comfy!

Fuscia Sandals

I guess I lied before about not spending any more money. I’m trying not to go overboard, though. I did end up ordering a bunch of bras from Hanes last weekend but I haven’t gotten them yet. I hope they all fit nicely because my total was $57 for 6 bras (3 regular, 2 sports, and 1 strapless). That’s a great deal if they end up fitting. If not, I will need to take them back to the Hanes outlet to avoid paying shipping.