The Big Benford Show

We finished our last day in Chicago by hitting the Magnificent Mile and having dinner at the famous Gino’s Pizza. We had quite a bit of time to wander the Magnificent Mile; some people chose to go see a movie (not sure why since you can do that at home) but Kristina & I decided to walk off all the food we’d eaten by walking the Mile and checking out places we don’t have access to at home.

As with any big city, there sure are LOTS of taxi’s!

We (the adults) started out by eating at Jake Melnick’s.

I had a garbage salad…it was YUMMY!!

Matt enjoyed the time away from the kids with a drink!

It was only a root beer, though.

Fred is so goofy, but a die-hard Longhorn fan! Gotta love him…

After lunch, most everyone headed to the movie but Kristina & I headed to walk the Mile. Lots of designer shops; some we have back home, some we don’t.

The Water Tower.

There were several malls on the Magnificent Mile as well. Inside the Water Tower Center, there was a very cool fountain going up the first set of escalators. Each of those spigots shot up dallops of water in various patterns. It was really neat to watch!

Another sight of a large city is window washers on the high rises. Not a job I’d jump at doing!

Also, look at the cement truck way in the back of the picture. It’s pig pink!

Here’s every woman’s dream store - The Hershey’s Store!!

I love these vintage signs.

This building used to be FAO Schwartz but once they went out of business, someone made it into a mall.

An Apple Store!

When we first got off the bus, we saw the back of the Lawry’s Steakhouse and thought we might want to eat there. It can’t be that expensive…their seasoning is only 85 cents at HEB. Later, we walked by the enterance and I think I’m glad we didn’t eat there. Seems kinda swanky!

I love the architecture in downtown Chicago.

I call this “Old and New”

Metal Horse

How many of my house can I buy for the cost of one of these condos?

From inside the Apple Store. Look at the Apples in the reflection of the ceiling window.

Birdie!!!

Jammin’ on the street.

So, that was my time on the Magnificent Mile. I actually have enough pics for one more update…but it’s from Indianapolis. I’ll post that one, eventually.

In the beginning there was nothing. God said, ‘Let there be light!’ And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.
- Ellen DeGeneres

I stopped at 7-11 one morning to get myself my morning cup of coffee. As I was fixing my cup, I noticed these new bright yellow shot-sized cups by the creme tray. Turns out that they’re selling Energy Coffee. Isn’t caffene enough? They say that it’s powered by ginseng, guarana and yerba mate and the man who was pouring himself a 20 oz cup of the stuff said, “Whatever they put in this stuff sure does work. I’ve never felt so awake after a cup of coffee!” Hmmm…I can’t think to try it. One 8 oz cup of regular coffee in the morning usually does the trick. Especially with how much water I drink during the day. Speaking of caffene, doesn’t that and the other chemicals in coffee almost make the nutrients cancel out? Your everyday, run of the mill coffee is pretty nasty stuff for your body.

Has anybody tried the Diet Coke Plus yet? Again, another normally unhealthy, chemical filled drink “infused” with vitamins (this time, B3, B6, and B12, and the minerals zinc and magnesium) to make it seem healthier. I think Pepsi is going that same route as well.

I can understand vitamin infused water but soda or coffee? I really do think that the chemicals that they use to create sodas and coffee will negate the whole vitamin concept. I’ll stick to plain water and my vitamin suppliments, thank you!

Maybe I’ll never get around to finish blogging about my trip over Spring Break. We’re getting pretty far removed from it all now….

Well, this week, to be supportive to my friends and for curiosity’s sake, I joined SparkPeople.com. It’s a website that helps you log and monitor your food as well as exercise on a daily basis. I’m not on a diet, really but I lost 13 pounds (in 4 days) when I got really sick at the end of March and while I’m perfectly okay with how I looked before being sick, I figure I might as well work at keeping it off. Also, I bought a glider and have been using it since January so keeping track of all my exercise might help me be more regular about keeping up the habit. The other good habit this website is helping me keep is drinking plenty of water. There’s a nifty little icon to help you log your water intake (by 8 oz glasses) and on Monday, I drank 12 glasses of water. That’s around 3 liters of water!!! Man, did I stay close to the potty that evening. Since I got sick, being able to drink anything has been like a blessing so I’ve been drinking lots of water anyways. Now, I know how much.

So, this getting sick thing. I know most of my loyal readers (and not so loyal readers) knew about my getting sick but in case you didn’t hear, I had a thyroid gland infection at the end of March. I was out from Friday afternoon through Wednesday and from Saturday-Tuesday, my thyroid got so swollen, drinking a small sip of water became a earth moving experience. It was really bad…BUT, now I’m all better. YAY me.

The school year’s wrapping up and I can’t wait until summer. I have a job being the Jazz Conductor at the Texas State Univeristy Middle School Band Camp the first week of June and Tiger Band Welcome Week the second week. I’d like to travel somewhere this summer but we’ll see if I can work that into my budget. My big thing for this summer will be building furniture and fixing up my backyard. Growing up, my dad and I used to do a lot of wood working projects together and I found that I love using power tools. I’ve got a couple of easy to moderate projects planned and as soon as I get going on them, I’m sure I’ll share with everyone the results.

Ooh, I’m gonna get the iPhone. I found out today that it should release on June 1 but I’m going to wait until July, I think. I made a friend at the Cingular Store in Round Rock a year ago when I bought my Razr and she said she’s going to see what she can do to help me get a good deal. I love being a school district employee…some people still do give discounts to us.

I’m still considering doing video blogs periodically so (John) if you don’t like them, I’m sorry but they won’t happen every blog. First priority is to get my office to a state that I can work in it regularly. It’s become a bit of a storage room for stuff that I don’t need immediately but will need periodically. I need storage in there!

Oh yeah, speaking of John Mackey, the Wind Ensemble is playing his Strange Humors for Spring Concert on May 14. The kids just love the piece and that’s all they want to practice! I wish he’d let me conduct it…one day!

Okay, I think that’s it from this front for now. Hope all is well with you all. Love you, mean it!
~C

Yesterday was yard day. I worked 5 hours in my front and back yard trimming trees and bushes. Fred and the kids came to mow and edge the yard and I showed him my live oak leaves that had spots on them. He said it might be ick so I headed to Home Depot with a chunk of tree and low and behold, it is. I have to rake up all the leaves from the front yard and once it rains (it’s supposed to today), I need to spray my trees with something that’s actually made for roses. Hey, if it works, I’m all good with that. I love being able to work in my yard. It’s very theraputic. WhenI was done, I had filled 6 - 30 gallon recycle bags and my regular trash can with clippings. I’m so excited about how much I was able to accomplish yesterday.

I’ve got some plans for my both my front and back yards for this summer which includes building so I need to go borrow my dad’s power tools for my builds. My dad and I have built lots of things together and he’s always been good about letting me do the work with his supervision so I feel confident about doing some simple projects on my own. Because I love working with my dad (most times) on these types of projects, I’m sure he’ll be showing up at my house on my project days.

Last night, Mon, Naomi and I headed to a white trash party. It was quite interesting and I’ve got a few pics I’ll post at some point later.

Today, I’m sore. I was going to roast a chicken and have some folks over but I’m so tired and sore, I don’t think that’s going to happen. I’m gonna go get a massage from my mom today! You guys know she’s a massage therapist, right? If it’s going to rain today, which it seems like it might wait to just drizzle tomorrow, I was going to work on cleaning up my office. I might just be lazy today and do some laundry, vaccuum a few rooms and be done with it. My arms and abs say that’s what I should do.

I still have more on my Chicago/Indy trip to update. It’s hard to do those updates ’cause my Gallery permissions stopped working correctly after I had that faux-virus thing fixed and finding answers on their forums is a real pain in the butt so I may just have to install a 2nd gallery so I can keep up all the old pictures but still be able to add more pictures as well. The Chicago/Indy trip may be just 2 (maybe 3) more updates and I’ll be done. I need to go eat something now so I’m signing off. Love you, mean it!
~C