m&m's

This is ME??

2008-07-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

I usually enjoy reading about my strengths, but I have to say that this time I am somewhat surprised. I pretty much promised Tammy that I would have Significance in my Top 5 and it's not there! I am baffled. I am baffled because I have Harmony and not Significance. Harmony??!

Without further delay, here are my Top 5:

Harmony: People who are especially talented in the Harmony theme look for consensus. They don’t enjoy conflict; rather, they seek areas of agreement. (If you read my previous post on 'Death by Meeting', I guess I wouldn't make a very good meeting leader...)

Responsibility: People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what
they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

Deliberative: People who are especially talented in the Deliberative theme are best described by the serious care they take in making decisions or choices. They anticipate the obstacles.

Analytical: People who are especially talented in the Analytical theme search for reasons and causes. They have the ability to think about all the factors that might affect a situation.

Individualization: People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.

I am interested to read more about all of these. At quick glance, I feel quite boring. I wonder if it's because I work at a place that's so visionary that I feel like my strengths get lost or are maybe unrecognized? Maybe that's why I thought I'd have Significance toward the top. . . interesting.

I have thought about this before. But, the whole place can't be made of visionaries, can it? I mean, it takes all different kinds of strengths to be successful, right? I am not creative, I am not a strategic, philosophical thinker, and I wouldn't enjoy sitting in meetings all day. We need all of those kinds of people - and we have a lot of them who do them exceptionally well - but what about little 'ol me who likes to get things done and do them right and do them well and edit things and be organized? Does that count?

Wait, this is supposed to be making me feel GOOD about myself. Oh brother...maybe this is my 'Analytical' shining through? Or maybe it's my 'Individualization'? Hopefully I will find lots of useful things to do with my talents now!

Bye, Bye Old Basement

2008-07-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

We took the plunge and made the big decision to get our basement finished...and today was day #1 of the project! Here are a couple pictures of what it looked like before we moved everything out so we would remember the old look. Pretty cute, huh? It's a partial basement with a crawlspace and, to our benefit, it's already roughed in for a bathroom which saves us lots of money. Actually, if it wasn't, we wouldn't even be getting a bathroom.

And here are some pics of what it looks like after today with the framing almost complete! This is very exciting! We have lots of decisions left to make about trim, colors, bathroom, etc, etc, etc. More updates to come later!

Mad at Starbucks

2008-07-23T06:54:00.001-07:00

Yes, I am mad at Starbucks. I decided to stop there on my way to work today and pick up a coffee for me and one for my Mom; she drinks regular, I drink decaf. Surprised to be the only one in the drive-thru at 8:00am, I was excited to zip right through. So the girl hands me my Mom's coffee and then comes back to tell me that the decaf coffee was brewed with the wrong water levels (or something??) and they have to re-brew it. So she asked if I wanted an Americano (umm...NO!) or if I wanted to wait. She proceeds to tell me it would be at least a 4-minute wait, which I knew would be an eternity. So I asked for my money back!!!!! BOO! That's like McDonald's not having hamburgers or something.

I'm actually reading a book!

2008-07-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

Do you seem to dread any of your weekly meetings? Or, maybe you just think they could be better than they are? If so, this book is for you. (And, don't worry, my boss asked me to read this!)

The first part of this book is a leadership fable, as the cover states. I heard from a couple people that they normally skip those types of sections and just cut straight to the rest. But, since the majority of the book is the fable, I decided to read it. Plus, I am not really a skip-to-the-end kind of person. Anyway, I am totally into it! I can't wait to find out what happens!

Here are a couple things I've already learned about leading productive meetings:

-The most important part of the meeting is the first 10 minutes...kind of like the beginning of your favorite movie. You need to "hook" your team and give them a reason to care about the rest of it before they check out.

-All good meetings must involve conflict.

-Everyone, but especially the leader of the group, needs to be looking for places where people have different opinions but aren't necessarily putting them out there. And when you see that, you need to force them to communicate what they're thinking until they've said all there is to be said. You need to constantly be mining for buried conflict (regardless of what the clock says).

-The alternative is that it will be left unresolved and people will come back later and say they never agreed with the decision.

-Consensus should not be the goal - NOT achievable, the likelihood is very low.

-A great discussion ends when the leader of the team decides all the info has been aired. If no one has made a compelling enough argument for making a decision, the leader breaks the tie.

-Once the decision is made, everyone supports it. That why it is critical that no one holds anything back during the discussion.

Stay tuned for more!

YUM-O!

2008-07-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

I stopped at the store on my way home to pick up a couple ingredients that I needed to actually make a recipe tonight. I'm not too hot on full-out recipes - especially in the summer when it's easy to just throw some things on the grill. I end up buying ingredients I wouldn't typically buy just to make one recipe and then they go bad and I throw them away and feel guilty.

Anyway, I was set out to make 'Italian Noodle Medley with cilantro'. I was proud of myself for how quick I got in and out and back to my car. As soon as I shut the door, though, I realized I had forgotten one ingredient - the mozzarella cheese. Ugh. Of course the lines were much longer during round 2 and there I'm standing with one tiny little thing in my hands while everyone else unloads their huge carts. And no express lines or self check-out at Michael's Fresh Market.

Then I was driving home and realized that, by the time it would take me to put it all together and bake it, we wouldn't really have much time before John would have to head out to the Foundry for guys night. He quickly got sold on the marketing piece we received in the mail from Domino's Pizza and of course it didn't take me long to say, "I'll just make this tomorrow night!"

We usually prefer thin crust pizza, but for whatever reason always order the pan-style from Domino's. But not tonight! John suggested trying their thin crust and it was great...and cheap! We got green peppers, onions & mushrooms and really enjoyed it. I don't think we'll be ordering the pan-style anytime soon. Try it out! Oh, and way to go, Domino's, on some solid marketing efforts. It worked!

Just a coincidence... Thankfully!!

2008-07-11T05:58:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I was meeting with a client for the first time to go over performance and review 2008. This hasn't been a fun time to do reviews with the markets down just shy of 15% this year. I was a little nervous going in to the meeting just knowing how much money he had lost (we'll get it back) and from what I had heard about him.

As we sit down in the conference room he busts out the Suntimes Horoscope which reads,

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You might have a real clash of wills with somebody about money, finances or a business deal or even your salary. Don't come on too heavy! And don't let others persuade you or bombard you with their ideas. You don't have to spend your money today.

Not a great way to open a meeting but fortunately he said he didn't believe in this stuff. It was somewhat confrontational but we got through it and are coming up with a proposal to stop the bleeding and try to recoup some of the losses.

If you haven't looked at your 401(k) or investment accounts it may not be a bad idea to wait a month. Ouch!!

How do you clean your cob?

2008-07-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

We grilled corn on the cob tonight for the first time this summer. Mmmm...!! It always makes me laugh when we're finished and I look over and see how different we eat it. Carrie's definitely not a beaver in this area. I feel like everybody eats it the way I do but maybe I'm the odd ball?

Lakehouse - Day #3

2008-07-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

Here we are, completely relaxed and loving life!

On Friday night we boated over to another cool restaurant on the lake called Backwater Jacks. John's parents really liked it when they went there, however the difference was that they went during the week when no one was there. Much to our surprise, this place was PACKED...as in, we felt like we were back in college! You should've seen some of the outfits these girls were wearing! Ugh. There was a live (and LOUD) band and THIS was the place to be...if you were in to drinking & dancing. We only stayed for an appetizer - food was good - but, we made a note to ourselves not to go on 4th of July weekend next time.

Another highlight of Saturday was that our 'dog-ghter' took her first boat ride! I know, it's kind of silly, but it was really funny to watch her try to walk around while the boat was bobbing up and down. We're not quite sure if she had fun or not. She eventually got used to it, but we think she was pretty glad once she was back on solid ground.

Lakehouse - Day #2

2008-07-05T06:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning started off a little scary with it only being in the 60's, but after 10:00 it warmed up and John had fun giving his parents jetski rides! After that we took a long pontoon boat ride (of course I was laying out the whole time!) and ended up eating lunch at this cool place called Jolly Rogers on the lake. You just pull your boat right in to the slip and you're there! It seemed like the 'place to be' on the 4th!

Then we came home, napped, hung out, fried some fish for dinner and then went out to watch the Fireworks. Sandy is still having a good 'ol time!

Lakehouse - Day #1

2008-07-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

Well we arrived in Sunrise Beach, MO yesterday afternoon, but only after an interesting drive down here. We hadn't gotten too far from Joliet (after we stopped at John's parent's to pick up some of his Dad's tools) when we smelled quite a strong smell in the truck. At first we thought it was the huge can of stain and I told John that, unfortunately, we were going to have get rid of it because we couldn't drive like that for 7 hours. We tried rolling down all the windows, which stirred up the smell and made it even stronger. So then we pulled off the interstate and, come to find out, all of the gas & oil had leaked out of the chainsaw and that's what we were smelling! Ugh. Luckily it was mostly contained to the case it was in, but then John started wondering how he was going to clean it out. You can't really walk in to a gas station bathroom carrying a chain saw, can you?? Thank God, the Shell station we pulled up to had a hose...what are the chances? We thought we were going to have to drive until we found a car wash!

Then as we finally calmed down from that, I started to read the newspaper and John shouted, "Whoah, that guy just ran off the road!" I looked up to see this mini van driving in the grassy median at full speed! There was 1 other car in front of us and a semi in the right-hand lane. The driver of the mini van must've fallen asleep, but then woke up so then he jerked the van back over and headed into the right lane. I was shouting at John to stop...I had this bad vision that the semi would hit the mini van, then jack knife and we'd run into the semi. In that very moment, I seriously thought we'd be on the news. God was watching over us for sure.

Around 3:30pm, we finally made it to the lakehouse! Oh, and did I mention we brought Sandy with us this time?! She's been checking it all out and it's nice cause she's being pretty good without the leash. She's a little leary of the swaying dock, though.

John threw his fishing line in and caught a fish on the 2nd try! So guess what we are having for dinner tonight?

We're hoping it warms up...it's only 67 degrees right now...what's up with that on July 4th??
BOO!

Eventful Weekend

2008-06-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

We kicked off our weekend by attending Jeff & Tanya's wedding on Friday night. They were in our first small group back in 2001, but just friends at the time. So it was really neat to see their friendship grow to a marriage! They got married at Naperville Christian Church with the reception held at the Levy (Senior) Center in Bolingbrook. It was a nice place, but can't go without making fun of the shuffleboard floor!

Saturday morning I went to watch John's softball games (one of my favorite things to do!). During the 2nd game, he proceeded to get ejected from the CHURCH game. But, maybe he'll make a separate post about that one!

In the afternoon we celebrated my Mom's birthday with another one of our famous Pinochle Smackdowns! This time we drew new partners (sniffle, sniffle). My Mom & John ended up together and WON - what a nice birthday present. So she got the coveted trophy!

I, on the other hand, was one away from taking home the loser piggy trophy. Better luck next time!

Tonight we continued celebrating my Mom's birthday with (the other side of the family) my Grandparents. We dined at Boston Blackie's then back to my parent's house for dessert. Since I've been enjoying my Crocs so much, we decided to get my Mom some!

Things that make me laugh

2008-06-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post about a couple (totally random) things that have made me chuckle lately. . .

1. music greeting cards - I don't know why, but every time I'm inside Hallmark looking for a card, I hear someone chuckling while looking at the music cards. I'm usually in a different aisle, but just the sound of someone laughing at music playing from inside a greeting card makes me laugh, too.

2. at the gym - Do you ever laugh after seeing someone lift weights and then walk around the gym like they're all macho? I HATE that. Why do people think they are so tough when they lift weights? Like yesterday, I was at the gym and this guy was huffing and puffing while he was lifting so I look over to see him thinking he's all cool, only then to notice that he had a huge beer belly on him. Usually they don't look like this.

3. at the dry cleaners - I stop there to take John's shirts in most of the time. And yesterday this guy was there with his whole wardrobe, I swear! There were so many clothes, they were piled high on the counter and falling off onto the floor. I couldn't believe that someone would bring THAT many things in to get dry cleaned! I wonder what he was going to wear in the meantime?

Grandma Marian & Sylvan

2008-06-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

My Grandma and her husband, Sylvan, are in town from South Dakota. They're staying with my parents and making the rounds to see all the grandkids. We had them over for dinner tonight and played some cards - my Grandma's favorite, "Oh Heck." We let Carrie win.

It's fun to see my Grandma with Sylvan since they've only been married for a couple years after being single for over 25 years.

Sylvan was showing me one of his most prized possessions, his camera. Still running strong after all these years! "They just don't make 'em like they used to."

Happy Father's Day, DADS

2008-06-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

Last night we ventured ALL the way out to Yorkville and had dinner with my parents at Stonefire. We were supposed to celebrate the day on the golf course but unfortunately, with the weather the way it was, we called it off. My Dad's a great guy and has taught me so much. I could say a lot of things about my Dad but mostly he's very generous, relational, honest, a man who stands firm in what he believes and loves to have a good time!

(Carrie here...) And today we met my Dad & Grandparents for lunch at Nick's Cozy Corner. When I think of [some of] the words that describe my Dad, I'd say: hard-working, patient, good listener, gardener, Mr. Fix-It, detailed. . .and, most importantly, rabbit hunter. I love my Dad and am glad that today was a day to celebrate him! Here's a pic of my two Grandpa's, too!

Bike to Work Week

2008-06-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

Did you know this week is Bike to Work Week in Chicagoland? It's a great opportunity to exercise, save money on gas and, best of all, earn Vitality points for our health insurance!

So today I did not use ANY gas - what a great feeling! I biked to work and back and it was a beautiful day for that. (And thanks to Lee for swinging by my neighborhood so we could go together!) It really doesn't take me long at all - just a little over 3 miles each way! I started thinking I should do this more often, although my backpack (with laptop inside) didn't leave my back feeling too good on the way home.

7 Years!!!!

2008-06-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

Carrie & I celebrated our 7 year anniversary this past weekend. Wow!! It's hard to believe it's been that long.

We decided to spend the day downtown and took in one of Carrie's favorite pastimes, shopping along Michigan Avenue.

The day turned out perfect it was sunny and 75 what more could I ask for other than maybe not to be shopping. It was my treat to Carrie and I don't think I ruined the shopping experience all day. Usually my limit is about an hour and then I start getting bored and can typically ruin the day with my attitude. I guess Anniversary's call for being extra nice. It probably helped that I actually shopped for some of my own stuff too instead of just tagging along with her and standing outside the fitting rooms like a big dope.

Anyway, we had lettuce wraps and a cocktail at PF Changs for lunch and ate at McCormick & Schmick's for dinner.

We put this last slide show together for our small group as way to get to know the other couples better. It was fun to look back at all we've been through and all the experiences we've shared over the last 14 or 15 years. I figured I post it here too.

It's funny when I tell people we've been married for 7 years they can't believe it. I can, and couldn't imagine life any other way. We've both grown so much and it's great to have your wife and best friend all in the same person.

Take a look...

Good Weekend

2008-05-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

I love 3-day weekends and am sad this one is coming to a close, especially because it is soooooo nice out. It is way nicer out than I thought it would be today - what a nice treat!

We had a good weekend. I lead worship at the Yellow Box so I had rehearsal on Friday night while John and his friend, TJ, went to the driving range and a movie. Saturday morning, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast at our favorite new place, Butterfield's. Although it was busy, they got us right in, the service was great, the food was great, the coffee was great, the menu was great! We highly recommend Butterfield's! Then John joined me at the Yellow Box cause he ran media while I sang. It is fun to be on the same weekend with each other! And I am still in awe that God blessed me with the gift of singing. Sunday afternoon we napped and then headed to the Stefanski's for a delicious dinner and a bonfire.

Today we went to Home Depot for flowers and spent most of the morning planting them around the yard. It was nice to finally work on that! Now, let's hope we can take care of them enough to not kill them. Then we headed to my parent's for dinner, Dominoes and one of my favorite things - playing pinochle with Papa! We smoked my Mom & John! :)

And let's not forget the reason for this day off - a salute to all of the men & women who give their lives to serve this country. Thank you!

I am the Customer!!

2008-05-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

I am a customer service snob. Well, I'm not sure if snob is the right word, but my standards are high for being treated well when I'm paying for a service - especially in restaurants. Restaurants are in the business of servicing and waiting on customers. And if they can't find people who can do the job well, then they have bad management and that's just frustrating. As a consumer, I have many choices on where I spend my money and it doesn't have to be at a place that doesn't meet my expectations.

Last week John and I took a drive to the city and enjoyed dessert at the Grand Lux Cafe. Thanks to a tip from Jon Ferguson, we specifically requested a table for 2 in the 'cove', the window that overlooks the corner at Michigan & Ohio Ave (which I highly recommend, by the way). We were just there for coffee & dessert - not too hard. Since we had been there once before, we pretty much knew what we wanted right away. But we sat there waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for our coffee to arrive. For COFFEE! And the same thing happened with our dessert and then again to receive the check. So, what was supposed to be a nice, romantic and relaxing evening quickly turned into me getting frustrated and dwelling on the fact that we were going to have to pay for less-than-desirable service. Oh, and then to top it off, she never removed our plates once we were done. Ugh. The only somewhat humorous thing about it was watching the scoop of ice cream I didn't eat sit there and NOT melt. EEW. I'm glad I didn't eat it.

Another one of my pet peeves is when I'm ordering and the waiter or waitress doesn't write down my order. More times than not, I have special instructions like, "no this" or "add that" or "put the dressing on the side". And them not writing it down does not make me think they are a good waiter/waitress. In fact, it makes me think that I shouldn't give so many special instructions...until I remember that I'm the customer again. I cringe and pray they get my order right. It happened today at lunch, actually. I was out with 3 other co-workers and the first one ordered and then placed a to-go order. Then it was my turn and of course I had to ask for the dressing on the side. Then the next person ordered and the last person had more special instructions. I'm happy to say that, much to my surprise, everything was correct.

I'm not sure where this huge need of mine comes from. Maybe it was because I worked the customer service desk at Target in high school and learned how important it is? Maybe it's because I sometimes feel taken advantage of and if I were older then, surely, it would be different (that's my weird theory)? Maybe it is because it happens too much? Whatever the case, I guess first impressions are really important, huh?

Go CUBS, GO!

2008-05-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day for a Cubs game! Thanks to Fifth Third Bank, we enjoyed some fantastic seats! We took my sister, Lena, to her very first game for her birthday. After we got downtown, we ate outside at Uncommon Ground for lunch. Then Soriano kicked off the game with a homerun in the 1st inning. It was a great day and the Cubs WON! All week long when we were watching the weather, we weren't expecting the best weather, but we had quite the surprise today!

I fished for the 1st time!

2008-05-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I forgot to post about my first fishing experience! I've never really had any interest in doing ANY fishing, but once I saw John's Dad continue to catch fish right there off the dock, I thought it would be fun to try. Unfortunately I didn't catch anything, but the anticipation of hoping to catch one was still fun. Maybe next time. What if I caught enough to feed us for dinner? Then I could pretend I was on Survivor or something.

Also, we made sure to purchase as much gas as possible while in MO since the taxes are cheaper there. What's up with IL??

Well, just thought I'd post a few last pictures from our road trip last week! It was fun & we can't wait to go back!

My Twin

2008-05-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

I've been told several times that I look like Tony Romo (maybe he looks like me) and now I'm beginning to think we sound alike too. Wrigley's such an awesome place!!

Lakehouse Pics

2008-05-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

John's Dad (Les) caught some fish off the dock yesterday so we had that for dinner last night and then relaxed & watched some TV before bed. This morning we got up, went for a walk and had eggs on the deck. Connie, John & I fit in another Scrabble game and then John & I took our very first ride on the waverunner!! Yahoo! We took it easy since it's still a little chilly, but it was great to try it out!

Luckily we came in at the right time cause it clouded up and there's rumblings of some thunder. BOO. But, I'm not too sad cause we're headed to the outlet mall now for lunch and a little shopping. Hopefully it will clear up later. I've never watched the Weather Channel so much in my life! Wait, now there's a tornado watch. Oh brother!

ROAD TRIP

2008-05-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took our first road trip in a long time. . .down to Sunrise Beach, MO to John's parent's lakehouse. And we're lovin' it here!

Here are a couple pics of how we've been spending today: breakfast on the deck, a short pontoon boat ride (a little chillier than we'd hoped), and now they're getting some work done to their driveway while John's grilling out some burgers for lunch. Yum!

We're going to relax, play some games, hit the outlet mall and hopefully do a little jet skiing tomorrow. It's supposed to be a little warmer then.

Check out this gargantuan!

A Fun Weekend

2008-05-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy, but fun weekend. Friday night we went to a wedding at our church, followed by dinner with my Mom & Lena at Francesca's in south Naperville. It was the first time any of us had been there and we really liked it. The service was exceptional - from the hostess to the waitress to the waitress' 'assistant'. She was so attentive to our needs, it really felt like she was only servicing our table! You don't get that kind of service very many places (except in Cancun). Although, the only part I got slightly annoyed with was that she would fill our water so much that I could barely even take a couple sips of it before she was filling it again.

On Saturday morning, John had the first game of his softball season bright and early at 7:30am. He's on our church team and half the team are guys on staff so it's always fun to go watch. Sandy & I headed out there, but had to end up leaving early beacuse it was SO cold & windy! They kicked off the season well. . .2-0!

And today we hosted another one of our Pinochle Smackdowns! This is where my Mom's whole side of the family gets together and we spend the afternoon playing a round robin pinochle tournament. It won't be a surprise that my cousin, Matt, and his wife, Sarah, took home the golden trophy. Today was NOT my day for good cards, although Papa and I still managed to come in 2nd place.

We also got a chance to break in our new baggo set and Lena & I ended up wearing the same shirt.

Now we're just chillin on the couch, enjoying a quiet night at home and watching the Cubs game.

YEA for new floors

2008-05-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

Finally the day has come where I don't have to look in disgust at our kitchen floor!

OLD

NEW!