O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree....

So as most know I am my mom's lil assistant/lil helper/slave as of late while I job search although I've kind of laid off on the search since in November alone over half a million jobs were lost! Thank goodness for Joann who is a realtor and can employ me and give me things to do until something else presents itself. I know what you're thinking, she's a realtor?? Oh that's a great job right now but ironically she's super busy and has so many listings her head may pop off! So it's the perfect time to have a "lil helper." Also what's better than a lil mother/daughter time - right? Except when she drives me crazy half the time but we get through it :-)

This week she gave me the wonderful task of putting the Christmas decorations up. Good thing I actually like/love doing this! I have attached a pic of my pretty tree, please note it's MUCH better in person. No red or green in the house, only gold and creme. If anybody's looking for GREAT xmas decorations at great prices TJMaxx, Homegoods and Hobby Lobby are the places to be. I have ransacked all three stores and got some new stuff but I tell ya you can't beat the pricing there, no need to wait til after xmas sales at those three stores.

My dad is assisting so I don't plow the tree down putting the angel on

You'd think my parents were bloggers the way they had their cameras ready for both of these pics, my mom came sprinting over to grab a snapshot of me trying to not fall over.

Post #2: Congrats Sam + Lena!! Yes, they are important people so they get TWO posts :-)

Wednesday night we all coordinated a dinner so that the three guys could get together to celebrate and congratulate Sam and Lena on their engagement! On top of that Chris and I have not seen Chad and Bridget since they got married in August!? Chris, Sam and Chad own their house in Chicago together but everybody's slowly jumping ship....Chad got married, Sam is engaged, hmmm wonder what is in store in the future for Cogski? :-)

Chris and I, Sam&Lena and Chad&Bridget met at Quarantino downtown for some dinner, wine and catching up! Chad and Bridget live in Schaumburg so we don't see them as often as we like but we'll all be in the burbs shortly so I know we'll all hang out more often very soon :-)Next time we need to get together on a Friday or Saturday so we can really live it up with more than one jug of wine!

Introducing Mr & Mrs Billings! OMG!

Last Saturday was my very dear, great, HILARIOUS ol' roomie friends wedding! Natalie got married last Saturday in her hometown of Moline at a beautiful country club. It was actually an armory. We had to take a bus with passes to get on the property. I had never even heard of an armory but apparently it's a very serious military territory. Natalie and Jason met at SIU and have been dating for about 5 yrs I think and own a home in Aurora.

Chris and I left Chicago Saturday afternoon with Heather who so graciously drove us, I'm sure she had had her fill of us by the next day because we roomed with her as well - ha! On top of having her fill of Cogski she got a speeding ticket on the way to Moline AND on the way back we almost died when some whack lost control of his car on 88, I think I'm scarred for life driving on the expressway after that. And Chris wanted to kill both of us with all our stupid conversations :-)))

We met the Hoyner's and Ann&Ian at the very homey and cute Stoney Creek Inn where we got ready and had a few pre-wedding cocktails. Cogski + Heather left for the wedding after everyone else and Chris "claimed" he knew exactly how to get to the wedding (why I thought he did is beyond me since this was his first time in Moline), well....he didn't. We drove around for quite a bit and got our fill of the Moline scenery and MISSED the cermony, I could have killed him making me not see my friend get married but what can you do!

So we decided what anybody would do: go back to the hotel and have some pre-reception cocktails in our room and wait for our friends to get back before taking the bus to the country club.

I don't want to ramble on about the wedding but it was SUPER fun and our small group of SIU friends had a blast!! Natalie looked beautiful in her dress, LOOOOVED her lil fur shawl she wore in the beginning that her mother had made for her. Another small tid-bit to the wedding was that Jase from my favorite reality tv show in the whole world, Big Brother was the best man. We got a quick pic when his wife wasn't looking and that's all we needed to get our fix.

SIU/Sig Kap Girls with the Bride!
Aimee, Heather, Me, Nat, Tamie & Ann
Natalie and Jason should be returning home to the cold this weekend from their honeymoon in Turks & Caicos and I can't wait to see her pics of the wedding and honeymoon!

Chris and I in front of the fireplace Sunday morning at the Stoney Creek

Congrats Nat & Jason!