Cute video of Jack

I don’t know if this means we will be blogging…we’ve tried before and failed…but I do want you to see this cute video of our Jack working hard.

The Queen of the House…..La-La.

In case you did not know, Joel and I have a sweet adorable daughter…her name is La-La (she is a Toy Fox Terrier, btw). Her mom, Foxy, has been my dog since middle school, and lives with my mom back in Jonesboro. It’s so sad that Foxy and La-La are apart, and if it’s half as difficult as being away from my mom, I feel for them! They are so joyful around each other, it’s precious.

La-La ( I normally spell it just Lala, however I am trying to get the reader to understand the pronunciation, because it is not pronounced like Laila or Layla) has lived with me since my junior year in college, when I moved off campus. Her and I have been through so much. So many times, when I felt alone, she was there to comfort me. Joel never loved dogs or anything, but Foxy helped with that, and ever since Lala came along, he changed his tune. In fact, Joel is Lala’s favorite now. It kind of breaks my heart, but I get it, he takes her outside more than I do, therefore gives her more treats. Does she not remember all those years it was just me?

Recently, I have been training her to do tricks, and she is catching on so quickly. I am quite proud. We are working with the basics, such as sit, up, and paw, but it is such an awesome feeling seeing her do anything for a treat! Haha. Joel and I have been talking about getting another small dog for her to play with while we are at work, but we’ll see. First we’ll have to have this baby….totally kidding. The only new addition anytime soon will be a puppy and we are still talking it over!

This is her latest comfy position, and it cracks us up!

Not Blogging….Guilty

Oh my! So, Joel and I have discovered that we are horrible at blogging! We had such high high hopes for this blog, yet we have failed, TERRIBLY. We do believe that we can improve. So what have we been up to since you last read about us? Well here is a list of things that has definitely made our list, in chronological order…

1. Bethany Strawn, otherwise known as PBS, came to visit us. Gosh, it was awesome to spend time with our bethaloo!
2. Joel and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! We went out to a wonderful Latin Cuisine Restaurant called Rumba and of course ate several slices from two of our top tiers from our wedding cake…unfortunately, they were not that good L
3. We went home for Thanksgiving, which was so very needed!
4. I got into a car crash in early December. No one was hurt, just Roxy, my Honda Civic L Joel and I have decided to not purchase another car at this time and just use the fabulous Chicago Transportation. I miss my car.
5. I scored an awesome multi-colored pre lit Christmas tree on Free-cycle!
6. I decided to expand on my graduate school studies and along with a Masters in Social Work, also obtain a Masters in Business Administration. Within a month, I was provisionally accepted into the program!
7. Joel and I celebrated Christmas in our very own home with my mom Bruni, her husband Willie, Joel’s brother Brent, and his mom Janet. We explored around town, got to trek in snow, and eat at the wonderful Maggiano’s Italian restaurant.
8. I began Business Classes!!
9. I surprised my dad in Puerto Rico at the end of January, and spent a couple of days with him.
10. Joel and I experienced Chicago’s third largest blizzard ever. We created the video below for your enjoyment.
11. Joel and I celebrated Valentine’s Day by going to a wonderful fondue restaurant called Geja’s. It was completely delicious, and now I want a fondue set!
12. Joel and I updated our apartment by going to IKEA and buying some lovely new furniture. Pictures to follow soon.
13. Joel turned 23 on Feb.26^th! I surprised him with a custom Star Wars Lego cake and we celebrated by going ice skating in Millennium Park and going to eat some delicious deep dish pizza at Pequod’s.

I am glad that I got all that off my chest!! We will be writing more soon…we promise!

Columbus Day:Tour of the Town

On Columbus Day the love and I were lucky enough to be off of work, so we seized the day and drove the train into the city and took her for all she was worth.

Our first stop was going to be the aquarium , but the line was like 500 people long so we just walked right into the Field Museum next door. Right off the bat we acquainted ourselves with one of Chicago’s most famous celebrities, Sue the T- Rex! She was pretty nice to talk to; a lot more approachable than you would think.

The Field Museum was great! We got to see hundreds of animals up close in taxidermy form that we would never see in the wild. One of my favorites was a skeleton of a whale hanging from the ceiling. The jaw bone of this thing was just out of control. It would wrap right around your car.

After our short tour of the museum we went on our way in search of the Apple store. Christina’s phone charger was beyond hope so we were on the hunt for a new one. The store was jammed pack full of mac-lovin’ folks fiddling with the new iPad. We found what we needed and jumped in line for the counter, but were quickly rescued by an employee to do our check out on her sweet little iPhone register. She ran the purchase and the swiped my card on the side of her phone. Sweet. That was way cool. And that was that, we were off to lunch.

For lunch we wanted to hit up this place we had heard about from a friend. It was a restaurant known for some odd customer service. The restaurant is called Ed Debevic’s and it is a diner with some real attitude. The waiting staff and employees basically treat you like you dirt by calling you names and acting as if you are a huge bother, and it is extremely entertaining. This one waitress brought some drinks out to a table of customers and as she turned to walk away she grabbed a hold of a handful of straws and tossed them into the air over the table. Our waitress was just totally mean and rude. It was really fun.

After lunch we went down to Navy Pier on Lake Michigan and walked around a bit before we left port for our Architecture Tour on the River through the city. The Pier was a very interesting place; sort of like a fairground type of atmosphere. We saw lots of street performers and fun rides. There is a huge Ferris Wheel on the pier and we thought it would be a great view of the city from the top (150 ft.) so we hopped into a basket and took off. Boy was it cool. Such a great height for a view of the city skyline.

Weirdest Stick-your-head-through-a-hole-and-take-a-picture-thing ever!

After floating around we made our way to our final destination for the day, which was our favorite part of the day; The Architecture Cruise! Now this was cool. We boarded a boat at the pier and went for a one-hour cruise of the historic Chicago River that showcased over 40 landmarks of modern American architecture. The tour guide was super knowledgeable and had a great story for us for the ride. It was such a great way to get to know the city and have a good time.

Like my photo I stole from their site?

Umm...Yes those are Flying Buttresses on a skyscraper!

I believe these are called the "corn cob towers".

A nice view of Willis Tower and the people looking down at us from the glass balconies up there at the top.

At the end of our tour as we made our way back to the port, a huge wall of fog completely swallowed the city. It definitely looked like a crazy fire, in fact the tour guide thought it was a big fire. It was wild.

Now that is some serious fog!

All in all a very eventful and fun day in Chicago! And that ladies and gentlemen is “my first post on tha Blog!”

Peace and Blessings, ya’ll, peace and blessings!

A Fresh Start

Just in case you guys did not know, Joel and I live in Chicago! We have been living here for almost 2 months already! Can you believe it? We can’t! So to get started….here are some photos of our wonderful apartment:

Living Room

Another shot of the Living Room- and of course Joel's painting of Ed (it matched the room, so we put it up).

Our bedroom

Another bedroom view

Bathroom

Dining room area

Art Studio area

View of Kitchen from Studio Area

Kitchen

Another Kitchen View

Counter space

View of Dining Area from Kitchen

 We absolutely love our apartment!

There is so much to share since we’ve moved!  Ok, so within the first week of moving here, I (Christina) got a job with National Able Network. Able is a non profit organization that helps unemployed workers get back in the workforce. I am a case manager within the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. The program allocates the funds to eligible workers who were dislocated from their jobs because they were negatively affected by trade.  A couple of weeks later, Joel got a job as a Custmer Service Associate, or better known as a Teller, at a local bank. We are both settling into are jobs and enjoying our new life together in Chicagoland.

Another very important task beside getting settled into our apartment and working hard at our full time jobs, has been finding a home curch. So, this is something that was pretty difficult to do.  I have class Wednesday and Thursday nights, so we were only able to “church  shop” on Sunday mornings (because there are very few churches that have an evening service here). For four Sundays in a row, we went to different churches that we found online and the very last one was the one God called us to be members of, The Chicago Tabernacle. There were so many signs it was incredible!

 As soon as we walked in, the music was incredible! The worship leader is the daughter of the Lead Pastor at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, need I say more? As the announcement powerpoint played, they announced that the young Adult group, Advance, was beginning an Ultimate Frisbee league, which was right up Joel’s alley! The visitor’s center, served sweet tea (another plus for Joel). The pastor was solid and on that day lead a prayer for married couples that was very touching. And last but not least, when we were in the parking lot about to leave, we met another couple that was in the midst of writing a letter to put on our car, because they noticed we were also from Arkansas (since then, we have become friends). It was all just so cool, and we have really enjoyed attending there.

In our next post, Joel is going to share some highlights of our tourism adventures and some neat projects in the Boyd household.