TONIGHT - Earth Hour

Pledge to turn out all nonessential lights from 8:30-9:30 pm on March 28, 2009.
www.EarthHourUS.org

Moving Day is Here!!

The house in MT is complete, and Shaun, Andrea, and Colter spent their first night in their new home last night. I cannot even believe that Shaun finished building that house in under a year. It's amazing. And Ann was such a trooper during it all - I don't know how she did it either!

Of course they are not yet sharing pictures, but I'll be out there at the end of May and will definitely fill up a few blog posts with photos.

Yay!

St. Patrick's Day

I definitely put on my celebration cap for the St. Patrick's Day weekend celebration in Chicago this year. I was blessed to have Kris and her sister Karrie visit me for the festivities!

We kicked off the Saturday celebration by heading downtown around 10:30am to watch the river go green. We actually went to my office building to watch, but the dye didn't quite reach us. So we waited a little longer and then had a chance to get out amidst the crowd and get our pics of the river.

We then made our way back up to Wrigleyville to hang out with my Chicago crew. We were not in an Irish bar....we're too old to stand in lines. Our crew already had the back of the bar scoped out for us when we arrived at 1pm, and we settled in for the rest of the afternoon.

**Like the shout out to Notre Dame?

Of course there were many stories told, and a lot of Guinness consumed.

Kris, Karrie, and I rolled ourselves back to my apt by 10 that night, and we were on the train the next morning by 8:30am. Yep, rockstars. Kris and Karrie had to catch their flight back to MN, and I had to catch a bus to get me to the Southside Irish Parade. After meeting some friends, and getting our supply for the day we were on our way. This recent article probably gives you a good idea of my experience.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/03/south-side-st-patricks-parade.html

One of the more priceless stories of the afternoon occurred when we were headed back to the bus to take us back north.....

Some of my friends noticed that a house was selling Girl Scout cookies. While we were waiting, I had finished my roadie of Guinness. The house next door had a HUGE wooden side that read "Cooney's Tavern". Hmmm. Then the Irish luck came my way, as this 70-year-old man walked out to the house. I went up to him and asked if I could possibly purchase a Guinness from them. Sweet old man...he told me to just go in and help myself. I hesitated, but he told me that if anyone asked who I was I should say that Jim Cooney sent me. So I walk into this stranger's home (but us Irish peeps are never strangers to each other), and find may way to their back porch where they have a keg of Guinness. It was my pot o' gold.

**Seems a little cruel, but he was such a good old dog.

**The random couple I invited to our table. The spirit of the Irish - always willing to pull up a stool and chat with strangers.

I hope you all had a wonderful St. Pat's celebration!