October Sky

 I wish Indian Summer stayed longer here in Illie. I feel like it's scorching one day and freezing the other. Today it was a little more on the freezing side, but still pretty out.

So I took Abby out and took her picture.

I love Autumn! :)
 

 

Mums are so beautiful.

Happy Monday.

Chicago Marathon 2010

Every year, my Daddy runs the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. And every year we go downtown to cheer him on. Even though I had to get up at 3:45 a.m. (yes, you heard me), it was a fun day. And he made it too - all 26.2 (and he says the .2 is the hardest part!) miles!! :-)

Chicago is such a beautiful city - It was so worth it to carry my (kind of heavy) camera around all day so I could get some nice piccies!

 This was how it looked when we left the house at 5 am. Yikes.


(btw, these first few pictures aren't good at all - my camera does NOT do well in bad lighting and I didn't want to disturb anyone with the flash.)

Then around 6 am when we got to the city. 

Off he goes! Looking spiffy in his cap and nylon shirt ;-)

The traditional McD's breakfast while we wait for the marathon to start!

Another tradition - we park ourselves right in front of the Bank and wait for the first runners to come.

The bikers!! So cool to see disabled people using only their arms to push themselves the whole way!! WOW!!

There they are!!! (oh, those lights!! Thank goodness for crop. :-P)

There he is!
"Take my cap, it's making me hot!"
;-P 

Ummm...yes. That's a guy carrying the Eiffel tower on his head. Ooooo...K!

 I liked getting these shots of the buildings.

 Then we went on the Riverwalk before heading to another mile point to see if we could spot Dad. This was my favorite picture of the day above, and a close second below.

 I got REALLY grouchy after that. Low blood sugar.. so we all got some Starbucks.

My favorite part of Chicago - the Lakefront. Less crowded and closed in. I love Chi-town, but I could never live there, it's too busy. But maybe if I lived on the Lakefront.

I liked seeing the sunlight through the trees - and playing with the 60's edit on Picnik. ;-)

 My parting gift to you. This was so encouraging to see. :)


Tomorrow I'm leaving to visit brother E at college, 9 hours away (with no iPod, still - yikes!!) so please pray that we would all be safe. :)

Psalm 94

Those are my 3 favorite verses from one of my new favorite passages, Psalm 94. I discovered it the other day and loved it. Weird, because I've read all the way through Psalms, and it never particularly stuck out to me. Hmm. But it did last night, and I'm going to try and memorize it. I don't memorize scripture for the sake of feeling more "holy" or "diligent" (that's too legalist for me), but because I like to have these things on hand when I need an encouragement and I don't have a Bible on hand. Those times come a lot, I've realized. :)

xox

***ETA***
Until I published this post I didn't realize how much the orange blog template and the purple graphic designs HORRIBLY clash!!! Oops!!! :-P

Streams of Consciousness

Who hates being sick? I know I do. My Mom told me that when I was little, I would get mad every time I got sick. I'm just not a lay around, watch T.V. all day kind of person. Sure, I like to do that stuff every once in awhile, but I also love to take walks and listen to my iPod on full blast. And not to mention it's Indian Summer, my FAVORITE season (although I guess it's not technically a season, but it is in my mind). October is arguably my favorite month, at least as far as the weather goes. Not a fan of Halloween, though. I hate the origins of that holiday. Oh well. Anyway, while we're sorta-kinda on the subject of my iPod, I have a lovely story. I left mine at Oasis (youth group on Wed. nights) because I have a special playlist that we play often over the speakers during fellowship as background music. I left it there and texted my (dear, sweet) friend R and asked her to bring it home. Well, my (dear, sweet) friend left in her pocket and her Mom washed those pants and poor iPod has met its demise. Bye-bye, iPod. You were well used and well loved. My poor (dear, sweet) friend R. I felt terrible for her when I heard the news. It's really no one's fault. I was being forgetful, R didn't know her Mom was going to wash those pants, and R's Mom didn't know those pants had my iPod in its pocket. Ah well, such is life. I'll be getting a new one, for sure. I'm really hoping to get this one. Isn't that nice? I LOVE the color. The 5th generation nano's pink was a hot pink, which I don't like at all. 

Anyway, right now I'm listening to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Can I even begin to express my love for these movies and books? Seriously. I think it's safe to say they've changed my life. I can never, ever get sick of the films, the books, or the music. Ahhhh, the music. Howard Shore is a genius. Right now, "Breaking of the Fellowship" is playing. ::happy sigh:: Speaking of LotR, the other day Mom and I were talking about heaven and I told her I hope that Heaven looks like Rivendell. Although I know it'll be INSANELY more beautiful, considering Rivendell is a place conceived by fallen human minds. I can't wait. On a more awkward note, Mom wondered out loud if we're going to be naked in Heaven. Ummmmmmm. That makes too much sense. No lust, no shame, right? And of course that's how it was in the Garden of Eden. Who knows. Anyway... ::shakes awkward picture from mind:: 

I'm eating granola right now, and it's pretty filling which is probably a bad idea right now since Mom's having Minestrone Soup ready in like, a half hour. Yuummm. Just what I need right now, hot soup. :-) Granola aside, I'll eat the rest later. Speaking of consuming, I've been drinking so much water I'm pretty sure it'll come out of my pores. Typical sick Emma. Speaking of sick Emma, something that really seems to work for me is eating raw garlic. I did that today and yesterday. It's worked in the past, but let me tell you, UGH. And it really does come out of your pores.

So, if you're even in Chicagoland, I strongly recommend you visit Downtown Geneva (about an hour west of the city). It's one of my favorite places in the world. Go to Graham's 318 (the most amazing chocolate fondue), get some clothes at Savannah Rose, get a Hot Apple Blast from Caribou, visit all the antique shops and there you have a completely perfect Fall afternoon. Mom and I did that yesterday (minus Graham's and SavRose) and although I'm sure the fresh air was good for my cold, I walked around and pushed myself too much and it had a bad effect. :-/ Oh well, it was definitely worth it. The funniest part was when we were about to go into Caribou and I saw my Pastor's son, Jackson (remember this post?) through the glass. He was there with his Momma and his two siblings. What a nice surprise! Here's a picture of him more recently, in case you were wondering: 

   
 What a cutie patootie. Oh, speaking of cute, I found a new Etsy shop to fawn over. I especially love that hedgehog and owl - I think I'll ask for it for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I'm so excited that a) the day is only 84 days away; b) the actual season (for my family, anyway) starts in only 55 days, and c) my parents said I could have a Christmas party for all my youth group friends. Yay!

Enough streams of consciousness for now. By the way, I ate the rest of that granola. I couldn't resist. And I'm still hungry. Minestrone soup...yummy :-)

Have a great weekend!

Poor Willie.