A refreshing break

I didn't travel outside of Chicagoland this week & it felt great! It was so nice to not be away from home. My own bed and my own surroundings was such a pleasant experience every night. My new home is shaping up nicely-- and I am really enjoying it. I have a few more pictures to hang up and then I think I will feel settled-- oh I still need to be brave and try to wire up the DVD play-- all of those cords scare me--- it really is too much technology.
Tomorrow morning is an 8 mile run- which shouldn't be too bad since we ran 10 last weekend-- Megan and Matt are having a housewarming party tomorrow night- and then Sunday is the annual Pride parade-- which is always quite the spectacle to see.

Well- I should ge ready for dinner with a friend here in the neighborhood-- have a great weekend all.

Technology can be cool---

I purchased a Nike+ system for my Ipod NANO-- it hooks up to my Ipod and then I put a sensor in my shoe and it tells me how long I have run-- how far I have run- and my avg. pace. It was really cool. When you come home from the run- you can link back up to your computer and the computer program will track my progress--

I guess this is an example of when technology works for me-

It has felt so good to be at home in Chicago again this week- the condo is on tract to be ready for the housewarming party next weekend.

Settling Down-

I ran 10 freaking miles yesterday---- I am so impressed with myself. When I signed up to do the marathon-- which is 26.2 I kind of figured I would have to run 10 to make this a reality- but when I actually did it for the first time it really sinks in. The last two miles were hard-- it was very hot and muggy outside-- and I really did not want to keep going- but one thing Team in Training did is talk about the patients that suffer and have no choice-- I thought about Megan and the pain and hardships she endured with the chemo and radiation- so I sucked it up, put on some Madonna on th Ipod and finished strong-- GO TEAM!!!

This morning- Sunday I have been in the nesting mode- I cleaned- put up some more pictures- reorganized some kitchen cupboards. More and more the place is feeling like home.
I am still struggling with the "New Balance" coments I posted the other day-- Thanks Dawn and Megan for the encouragement- I needed that.

I was listening to country music the other day on the satellite radio and a sad song came on-- and there is a line that goes, "Life's about change and nothing ever stays the same"-- and that really hit home-- it is about change- and we need to learn to adjust our attitudes and make lemonade out of the lemons.

Don't forget -- Housewarming party June 30th- Be There!!!
or just donate to Team in Training for me.

Achieving New Balance-

What a difference a year has made- I have now been in Chicago and in my new role as an external wholesaler for a year. It has been a fun year of adjustments and life changes. I have moved two times in 12 months (not fun) and basically taken my life and turned it upside down. I used to live a very 9-5 life filled with routine. Each day was literally the same and my life pretty much ticked on a rigid schedule. Today I am constantly in flux- no two days are the same ever. My poor company car has taken me over 40,000 miles in the past year. Don't get me wrong - I am having the absolute time of my life and living out the American Dream. My career is going well- and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to do what I am doing. I guess the question is - at what price am I sacrificing all of this for?? Do I have a chance at achieving the all American dream of a family and a normal home life??? Or will I wake up and be a tacky 55 year old traveling insurance salesman?

I feel really bad that I have such wonderful friends in Chicago- and yet I struggle to find time to really hang out with them as I would like. I want to form friendships with new acquaintances and I also want to sustain the friendships I already have. Yet I am feel like I am in a constant battle with the clock-- always strapped for time-- waking up feeling like I am already 5 minutes behind... I guess I just need to find a new balance--- a way of juggling all the areas of my life and finding some time to relax and claim some me time.

Any thoughts??

Busy Busy Busy-

Life comes at you fast!!! Trust me- I am really tired from a 10k hike up to the top of Crazy Horse Mtn. today near Hill City, SD-- it was really incredible. I will write more later -- but here are some recent photo highlights- including Dillon's 1st birthday in Ohio.

Fargolicious

No pets in the picnic area?? Trevor must have been there!

Spring flowers alonger Michigan Ave.

Scenese from Fargo, ND

The welcome rest stop as you enter South Dakota!

It's Fargolicious- yeah that's right FARGOLICIOUS--- I have decided that the only way to keep sane while doing all of this traveling is to keep a sense of humor. Luckily enough, I do have a good sense of humor. I left Chicago Sunday and drove to Sioux Falls, SD- I had to leave early enough so that I could watch the season finale of Amazing Race all stars- I was cheering for Charla and Mirna- but alas- they
did not win! I am very proud of them for coming in third place! Way to go girls.
Monday was a good business day - but the weather was so dreary in Sioux Falls- I had hoped to get down to the river and finally photograph the waterfalls that make Sioux Falls famous-- but all I would have taken pictures of was me getting wet.
Yesterday and today have been so beautiful- the weather is perfect-- too bad I am in North Dakota right? Last night I had a wonderful run in a beautiful neighborhood here in Fargo. All the spring trees are in full bloom- and you could really sense that finally it is spring!!!! The Red River here (of the north) is flooded as they had substantial amounts of rain over the weekend. I hope to get another good run in tonite. Currently I am over in Bismark for the day. I get a sense of how the pioneers must have felt traveling across the great plains- of course I am sure that my trusty Ford is much more comfortable than a covered wagon. The open prairie seems to go on forever- occasionally broken by a tree or small river. It is a simple beauty - and when you stop and get out of the car you are greeted by clean fresh country air and the pleasant sounds of bird chirping. While I have not motivation to move to the Dakota’s- it is a nice change of pace from the city life.
I do have to comment on my girl Paris Hilton-- While I am a general big supporter of Paris -- she crossed the line this time! She deserves the jail time- and trust me she will capitolize on the whole venture with a book and possible TV movie-- I can see it now- and actually can’t wait-- I wonder if they can make it into a Simple Life show- Paris in Jail-- perhaps Nicole could bake a cake and try to help her get out of jail by baking a cell phone or other escape device into it!!! Paris- if you are reading my BLOG next time- hire a driver--- I have seen you drive on TV - you are not a good driver sober-- so please hire a limo-- you can afford it!
Another interested fun North Dakota fact-- the Starbucks in Fargo has city mugs!! Go figure???? I thought they were only for major cities such as Chicago, LA, San Francisco, and such. In fact I was in Phoenix that fall and told that they do not have them. I had to buy one just for novelty of it all.
OK- random rambling again- the garage sale Megan and I had for Team in Training went really well- the dismal weather did not help our sales- but we got rid of the stuff and made some cash for help fund cancer research!!!
Have a great day--- from you FARGOLICIOUS friend.

What a week-

This past week was perhaps one of the most grueling weeks that I have had in a long time. Last weekend was the move in weekend- which was hard enought by itself. I had a series of 6 group meeting for 2 different banking firms in 3 different cities (St. Louis, Peoria, and Chicago). I leave tomorrow for Sioux Falls, SD- and I am actually looking forward to the trip- because I have only 1-1 advisor appointments and no big group meetings--- I am looking forward to also staying in an organized environment of a hotel where everything is all clean and orderly. Today Megan and I had a garage sale to benefit the Leukemia/ Lymphoma society- it was a very slow start- we pretty much sold everything in sight. We made a good profit- but it was a long day-- I was very happy that I got to spend some quality time with Megan and have a few laughs.

What does Des Moines look like?

I have finally moved into the the new pad- and I have almost found everything. Since I had been gradually moving over piece by piece the last couple of weeks- It was not really that big of a deal to move in. My movers were not the brightest bulbs in the box. The did not speak English very well and did not understand orders very well. As a mover--- it would seem logical a couch would go into the living room and not the bedroom-- but who knew? There were some growing pains on getting the furniture into the correct position -- but it is settling nicely now.

The only problem that I am having is my cable- which is not working well-this is particularly upsetting with Desperate Housewives on tonite- and I can not get it to come in alone.

Needless to say the majority of my weekend was spent unpacking and getting settled into the new digs.

I have attatched some snapshots of the greater Des Moines, IA area. As you can see the skyline is not the impressive- but the countryside can have some nice gradually rolling hills. I also took a snapshot of my trusty car Nicole-- I thought she was looking especially sassy at the Iowa road side rest.

Another busy week ahead- tomorrow night I will be in St. Louis-- and then Peoria!!! Way fun -- right????

Reflections on moving on........

Tomorrow is moving day--- after almost a year in my apartment home- I have purchased a condo and moved on. I think for me moving is always emotional because it is so symbolic that a chapter in our lives has passed. Reflecting back on the past year- this has been such an AWESOME first Chicago home. I think back on so many good memories that I made here and those will stick with me for the rest of my life. It is exciting to think of the new home and the memories that I will make there.

It has been a very long week on the road in Iowa- the rain was relentless. They had over 3 inches of rain in most places surrounding Des Moines. Every time that I got out of the car- I seemingly got drenched... I continually had that not so fresh feeling from the 1st appointment until the last appointment of the day. When I got back to the hotel- I changed to my running clothes and worked out and then slipped into comfortable sweats to watch American Idol.

I must comment that this week's idol showwas awesome- it featured the ever wonderful Ryan Seacrest- who wouldn't love him- CELINE and ELVIS_-- I slept a happy man last night!!

Ready to Roll-

What an incredible weekend of wonderful weather here in Chicago-- it was beautiful-- sunny with clear skies- and warm temperatures of around 80 degrees. As I type I am on the rear deck with a pleasant breeze blowing- so life is feeling pretty good- I just need to take Trevor for a nice long walk before a hot shower and settling into to watch The Amazing Race and Desperate Housewives.

Yesterday I went to The Chicago Botanical Gardens to help a friend, Ted, celebrate his 55th birthday.. we had a lovely time and I met some great new friends tooo-- always a plus.

I also put the final finishing touches on the move-- I am leaving in the AM for Iowa all week and then Friday is the big move... grrr-- so ready or not here it comes!

I feel sad for leaving this apartment- my first Chicago home- it has been a great place to live. When I reflect back on my first year in IL I will have such fond memories of the Foster Ave. pad. I am ready for the rewards of owning my own place- and having a tax write off once again... In the end it will be all good.

Have a great week.

A moving man

Hello everyone-- I have been a moving man in every possible way that you can interpet that. I have been slowly migrating my belongings the block and a half to my new home. It is so nice to see things being put away and see the home take shape. I really enjoy the feeling of the new condo and can't wait to get my hands into the back yard and do some lanscaping and create my own urban oasis!

I have also been crazy crazy busy with work as of lately-- which would account for my lack of posts on my blog site. My boss flew in from California and spent two days with me last week- of course the one day we had snow (IN APRIL???) and traffic was snarled majorily.... it is just not fun to spend that much time with one's boss in a car!!!

Truly do hate to cut this short- but work calls again-- I will write more later.

New pad-

Hello all- the construction is all over & now the fun part- moving! Thank God for corporate paid movers!!!! Today we hired a nice young man to paint the kitchen and bath-- I was fed up with painting and all that trim would have killed me. The color I choose is pumpkin pie- it is DELICOUS-- I love it! Tonite Dad & I hung the drapes-- now I have a dilema here- I purchased two different styles of panels for the living room windows- normal stripes and then wavy stripes. My original idea was to do the two windows on the end of the room with the basic stripe and then the wavy stripes on the middle window- but now I am having second thoughts and I wonder if I should just do the basic stripe on all 3 windows. Please let me know your thoughts. Mom and Dad leave for Ohio tomorrow and then I get a few days rest before I head back to work.

Have a great weekend all.

Putting on a fresh coat- -

Painting can be exhausting- but rewarding all at once-- it is really really hard work- but when you stand back and look at a freshly painted room- it seems worth all the while. The blue I choose for the bedroom is lovely- I can not wait until I put my bed with the blue and chocolate colored comforter set in the room. The primary color for the living room and hallway is Sand Dollar- which a nice khaki color- it is much brighter than the original color that was there when I purchased the place-- I plan on adding some accents of chocolate brown color- called bonbon and a lovely orange color called pumpkin pie (and how I love the taste of warm pumpkin pie).

I was very fortunate to have my friend Jon help me with the painting today- it was fun to have someone talk to & it went much much faster than by myself.

The parents arrived tonite for a few days- tomorrow we are going to paint the closets and finish touch ups in the bedroom and such. Thursday I am having new berber carpet installed in the master bedroom- it will look very very nice and I got a great deal on the carpet with installation. I also hope to clean out the refrigerator and wash all the inside of the cupboards this week- so that I can slowly begin to migrate my belongings over to the new place.


At the end of the week when I get some of the mess cleaned up from the paint- I will post some pictures of the new colors!

Overwhelmed

I am a homeowner once again- the closing went smoothly - so good that I promised to invite the current homeowners to the housewarming party. It did take 3 hours- which I found to be a bit lengthly to say the least! On the plus side- I brought $3,000 too much money which will be nice to have that little bit of money extra.

Last night I went over to the new place and kind of surveyed the place-- there is alot of work on the painting and moving - what a chore- I just have to remind myself that i have all this next week off of work to get it done.

Overdue update.

On the road again, and again, and again. Last week was the big trip downstate to Peoria and then St. Louis--- I have included pictures of the world famous St. Louis Arch and a lovely Illinois interstate route-- and the Cardinal's Baseball stadium in St. Louis.

I had kind of a crazy weekend- I helped Megan paint her new pad on Saturday and then on Sunday ran the Shamrock Shuffle 8K run - which I am proud to have run in 51 minutes and 9 seconds- I am happy with that pace and will continue training hard for the marathon.]I was so happy waking up on Sunday and finally seeing the sun and I was ready for the run-- then on the way to the race- the bus I was riding BROKE DOWN--- can you believe it -- I ended up being so late that I was literally running to the starting line. I didn't even have time to stop and check my backpack- needless to say I felt pretty dumb running the whole race with my backpack on.

Presently I am retiring for the night in Des Moines, IA-- how fabulous is that. I had a great day of sales calls and then got a very nice run in with the 75 degree temps outside. Spring has sprung in the midwest and it is a very welcome thing.

I close on my condo this Friday and then I am taking a week off of work to paint and move (and likely sneek in a Sir Spa massage in there somewhere!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day-

Hello everyone- It has been a very busy couple of weeks for me. Last weeked I had a conference in Cincinnati, Ohio- which was very cool- since my cousing Niki and her husband Jason welcomed their new son into the world- I was very happy to meet my newest relative. I then was able to visit Columbus and hang out with some good friends (Ray, Helene and hew fiance Mike, and Alan). I then went north to Kenton for a family visit - I took Monday and Tuesday off to spend some extra time with the family. I had about 24 hours of normalcy until some work friends Shawn and Renee came up to Chicago for my first St. Patick's Day- we painted the town green- Today I have been pretty draggy and tired.

I did get to vist Megan's new condo today- I really like the large windows- they will have a ton of natural light!!

Have a great evening.

Cincinnati Trip

Hello from the Queen City- at least I think that is what they call the place-- I am here for a 5/3 Bank Coference- or in the business world what is known as a 24 hour drinking party. I am very proud of myself- I just drank iced tea last night- I am trying to cut down the alcohol since I am running for the marathon. Besides I will save the liquor for good times- like Monday night shopping and dinner with Dawn- what a great Mojito!!! YUM!

The drive down was uneventful- dropped Trevor off at the folks- Mom had a stomach flu and was not feeling well.

Cousin Niki had her baby boy on Wednesday- he is well- and here in Cincy- so I will stop and visit them before I head home. I understand she had some complications at the very end- but she is doing well now- just spoke to her on the phone- but a few prayers are always needed.

This Hotel- is amazing- it is the Hilton Netherland Plaza - it is an Art Deco Masterpiece- I was very amused to read the history and find out this was one of Elvis Presley's favorite hotels- fit for a King and me!

I hope to start a series of photos from the road- from the dashboard of my car-- so you can see all the excitement i witness on a daily basis. I have some snapshops from Iowa I hope to share soon.

This afternoon I had the best run along the Ohio River in 65 degrees and sun- it was wonderful.

Weekend Update.

It was a busy but good weekend- lots of chores and such had to be done. Tonite I feel at ease- the chores are done, my business work is caught up (or as caught up as I can possibly be), and I am an overall happy camper.

It will be another busy week this week- my new boss is coming to Chicago and traveling with me Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday and Friday I have a conference in Ohio- I am then taking Monday and Tuesday off to spend some time with the family in Ohio and play with the nephews-- look for photo opportunities to be posted soon.

I am getting really excited about the new condo- things are coming along nicely. I have a mental picture and plan for what I want to do when I get the keys.

OK- off to bed.

Laura - this one is for you!!!

Check it out- I am posting on my blog- I have even taken it one step further... a complete update for all of you loyal readers.. I won't dwell on it- I have slacked on posting. The little things of life have gotten in the way: buying a home, developing my sales territory, training for the chicago marathon, and finding my sanity (still looking for that- I will keep you posted).

First quarter has seen me on the road a great deal. I have already my two trips to Iowa, a trip to Ohio, two trips to Champaign and Peoria-- and the fun has just begun. It seems that I will be about and about all the time. I am sure that my poor dog Trevor will sad to sent to the kennel for so much.

Things have went very smoothly on the home front- the condo passed inspection and appraisal with flying colors. I am just finishing up the paperwork for the financing and then it will all done. I am scheduled to close on the condo March 30th-- I am taking the entire next week off to paint the entire place- hang drapes, and begin the cleaning and moving process. My official move in date is April 27th- I am very happy to have a few weeks to slowly and gradually move bit by bit. The move last June about killed me and I can't take that again.

As I eluded to earlier I have joined the Team in Training (Megan inspired me) to train for the Chicago Marathon- so far I am really enjoying the team work and the runs. Don't worry I will be hitting you all up for donations in the future.

OK-- time to hit the sack for tonite- I will try to keep you up todate.

New Home!

Check it out- I have scoured the market and found the perfect condo for me. It is right in the heart of my favorite Chicago neighborhood and literally a block from the apartment.
I close at the end of March and move in April.

Check out the blog page created by the sellers & then get ready for a housewarming party in May!
http://winonastcondo.blogspot.com