What are Chris & Jenna Up To?

Easter 2009

2009-05-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

Chris and I really put in some Church hours Easter weekend! The day before Easter on Saturday we attended Sam and Lena's confirmation service at a Catholic Church in Chicago. There we logged about two hours, my first confirmation and my second Catholic service. Congrats to Sam and Lena tho they put a lot of time, energy and care in their journey of joining in the same religion....if thats how you word that I don't know but all I could come up with, ha! Which is good since they are getting married this August and can raise their children with similar beliefs, etc, etc. Chris and I are a lil handicapped in this department and have some sorting to do :-) But we'll tend to that....at another time

Then the next day on Easter Sunday we logged about another two hours b/c my mom had the brilliant idea that she would have the other Sunday school teachers take the day off and Joey, Jen, Chris and I would come and assist with the kids in her class. She has been teaching Sunday school at the church in Wheaton for years and LOVES it! These kids don't EVEN KNOW how good they have it! She spends more money and has more stuff in our house for crafts and projects for these kids, it's ridic. THREE closets in our house are FILLED with church-y type crafts and she continues to buy stuff. These kids barely know their own name let alone can appreciate all these crafts, but it's a never winning battle if there's a sale at Hobby Lobby (which when is there not at that place?) look out b/c she is going to clean house.

Here is my mom teaching them the story about Jesus and Easter, Chris was shocked that they all sat on the mat and actually listened and knew the answers to the questions she asked, LOL!
Here are a few pics from our time helping at Sunday school, this was Chris' opportunity to show my mom that he has some qualities of handling children, he passed. My dad was on his deathbed sick at home so he was absent but after SS we went to the regular service and off to Riva in Naperville for brunch.

Joey and Jen working diligently on the Sunday School projects for the day

Does Chris Know What He Has Gotten Himself Into?

2009-05-15T05:48:00.000-07:00

It's Official: Cogski has a JOINT SAVINGS ACCOUNT, yes you heard right and yes Chris may be crazy.

I totally forgot to post about this back in March but before we went to the St Patty's Day party we stopped by Chase and opened a joint account. This was not my idea for the record but it was Chris' (just so everyone knows I'm not gunning to have joint accounts so we can "share" money, LOL). Although right now I don't know how much sharing would go on or more me "borrowing" and having a load of IOU's. And also for the record please know it's a SAVINGS account, NOT a checking account! :-)

I made the lady at the counter take our pic, she laughed but I'm sure thought we were stupid and dumb. The next time you see a pic like this the backdrop will be City Hall and that will be a marriage certificate in my hand, call 911 Chris just had a stroke when he read this, hahahahahaha.

Mini Chubbz and LOADS of Updates to Come!

2009-05-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

OK A LOT has happened with Chris and Jenna in the past couple months, I am MORE than behind on blogging and really need to keep up with it. But it's somewhat time consuming recapping a moment or event and I HATE picking out the best pics and uploading them. But nobody likes a complainer so I'll just suck it up and do it! I'm already this knee deep in the blog may as well keep going. And the evolvement of Team Cogski from the start of the blog til now is worth the upkeep!

First recap is rewinding back in March when Chris and Sam went to visit their very good old college friend/Chicago roommate/groomsman for both of them - Chubbz. Also formerly known as Club Chubbz, now known as Daddy Chubbz. Him and his fiance, Elizabeth had a baby, Aiden and he is sooooooooo cute and has so much hair!!!! This pic was taken on a visit to see the baby earlier in March.

Congrats on the new addition to your family!

Shamrock Shuffle 2009

2009-04-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Heather and Tamie at the Finish Line!

Congrats!

Shamrock Shuffle 2009 this year I had two friends run it for the first time ever! Heather and Tamie made it through the blizzard, snow, wet and slush to finish the 5K! And they came out alive and said "it wasn't that bad." Hmm still no motivation to make me want to do it though :-) I love working out but I HATE running! Above is a pic of Heather and Tamie when they finished! And below Tamie and her husband, Frank.

Those of us in tow for the food not the running part met up at Ann's place and waited for the word that the runners were done. We were supposed to be good friends and be cheering on the the sides at the finish line but due to the weather we were mediocre friends and waited for a phone call that they were done. Then on our way to Rockit for brunch and bloody Mary's. FYI Rockit has an awesome bloody mary bar and it's only $5! You could seriously feed yourself a full meal from the spread they have at the BM bar!

The Sizemore's!
Heather, Ann and Me!
(I have noticed all my pics lately I have like no make up on, Heather would say it's like in college where I had a stint of not wearing makeup, of course I don't remember this time but she reminds me frequently, LOL)
Chris & I

Happy Birthday Tiff! Sushi Style!

2009-04-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Tiffany!

I got a lil out of order here in that the SS 2009 was before Tiff's bday but whatever. Saturday we headed to the burbs, Lombard to be exact at RA Sushi to meet up with Heather and the Sizemore's for Tiffany's bday which is actually on Monday, April 6th! Before we met up with them Chris and I had a drink at The Clubhouse by Oak Brook mall, we were feeling very burb-ish that day. I cannot wait to move to the burbs, over the yrs I love the burbs, then I love the city and back and forth. I am officially on burb love now and am looking fwd to leaving the city and it's very annoying and frustrating Saturday errand running days BEHIND! So long and farewell. But I still have a good yr or so before I will be singing my "bye bye Chicago" tune.

We're all sushi fanatics, Heather is new to the club and has really expanded her horizons since her recent first sushi experience. But.....we ordered a tad too much sushi (thx to Matt, haha) but it really didn't matter b/c somehow it was all devoured! We got a lil nervous when Matt ordered the plate you see in the picture below, at the time he didn't realize he was double ordering until this plate arrived along w/ the three other plates of sushi that you don't see.

And THEN he did it again with the dessert by accident!!!! It was SO friggin' funny! He is not allowed to order for our next dinner, j/k :-)

So we had TWO desserts! But have no fear we devoured that too!

Heather and her menChris & I

The Sizemore's

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Nat & Mia!

2009-04-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Nat!

It took awhile but I finally coordinated a date for lunch with Aimee and Natalie and it fell perfectly two days after Nat's 29th birthday! Since we were coming from three different directions we decided to meet up at Cheesecake Factory at Woodfield Mall on a lovely Saturday afternoon.

Of course the wait was ridic but since it was SO nice out we didn't mind the 40min wait since we could hang, chit chat and fawn over Mia outside in the nice weather!

Rebecca had been like myself trying to coordinate a meet up date with Aimee and Nat so she met up with us too! These girls are busy! Well I guess they are both married, Nat just late last year (see my earlier post in Nov 2008 regarding her wedding) and Aimee is a busy, working mom to a one year old! So it's more than difficult to snag a day to meet up.

It was lil Mia's first bday a few weeks earlier, a Valentine's baby to be exact. That day should treat her right in the years down the road :-)

Here is Mia below with her two "aunties."

She wanted to walk around the booth and say hi to each of us!

Mia was soooo good the entire time! I was shocked and thought she'd get restless but she was like one of the girls and even would die laughing when we were all laughing about something, it was hilarious!! Here she is below opening her birthday gifts from Aunt Nat and reading her new book. I love the smirk on Mia's face, it's as if she's thinking to herself "OH GREAT, a book! No toys?? WTF." NO offense to Nat's gift, b/c she did in fact get some toy outta that gift bag!

Happy Birthday Nat & Mia :-)

Baby Braedyn!

2009-04-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago we coordinated with the Petersen's to go and visit Matt and Ali's new baby, Braedyn!

They live about 2 blocks from us so we walked over for a short visit on a nice Sunday afternoon and headed to lunch and bloody mary's after!

Congrats again on your new baby girl! :-)

Let the Madness Begin!

2009-03-30T05:15:00.000-07:00

MARCH MADNESS 2009

I am really not at liberty to disclose too much regarding the annual Friday drinkathon March Madness that takes place every year since I was not there. But I do have some pictures! hehe
Chris, Sam, Kurt and Rooster met up for breakfast at Nookies and were off to meet the rest of the world at Messner's on Southport. They rented out the upper level. And probably the biggest mistake was taking up Messner's offer of an additional two hour drink package from 3-5pm for $15. That is where it went downhill.

Here is Chris helping Cricket keep tally of his shots on his hand.

I thought this picture was too funny not to post especially how smiley Sam is! LOL.

Chris, his long time high school friend - Maria and Petersen

You can tell this is in the beginning of the day :-)

Around 5pm I was tucking myself in my sheets on a peaceful Friday evening before the storm hit and Chris would be home. I was looking forward to the luxury of watching my shows from the week. As I pull the comforter up my cell phone rings and it's Chris asking me to head up to Messner's, have a beer with him and grab some dinner. Unfortunately I agreed, and when I met up everyone was pretty much a different person and many brain cells had been sacrificed. I strayed Chris away and we were off to Cafe Laguardia for dinner (yes again! We love this place and realize we ate here the weekend before!)

You Scream, I Scream, We all Scream for iCream!

2009-03-30T05:14:00.000-07:00

I read in the latest CS magazine about a new ice cream/yogurt place that was on Milwaukee in Wicker Park called iCream. AND then I saw it in US Weekly or OK! or one of those magazines so we had to go! Most people know we are YoBerri and Starfruit freaks so another unique ice cream place is right up our alley! This place is called icream and they use nitrogen oxide (or I think that's what it is) to create your very own customized ice cream concoction from liquid form to ice cream right before your eyes in the KitchenAid mixers. That is all the dry ice looking stuff in the picture.I will say they have quite literally a bazillion toppings and different ingredients to make your specific iCream. And if you hate ice cream like I do they have frozen yogurt. The cashier trys to assist with your ingredients so you don't create something that is disgusting. We liked it so much we went back again and I had the warm chocolate pudding - SO good! I added graham crackers and it was delicious!

Chris LOVES when I make him pose for blogging picture purposes :-)

http://www.icreamcafe.com/

Dance Show + St Patty's Day

2009-03-30T05:13:00.001-07:00

I'm doing a month of March recap b/c I am very behind on my blogging. I like blogging but I def don't love it or am really good at procrastinating w/ it! We'll start with St. Patty's Day weekend. On Friday Chris and I went to the ballet! Not a regular traditional nutcracker boring type of ballet, but this was a "jazz ballet." And I will admit when he first asked me to go, I was hesitant and was thinking I'd rather see what Jack was up to on 24. But since we didn't have anything else going on and we got the tix through his work so we knew they'd be good seats and better yet - free. IT WAS SO GOOD. A cross between "So You Think You Can Dance" (which I cannot wait for stupid Am Idol to be over when SYTYCD starts) and Cirque du Soleil. And to make the night better we had fish & chips at The Gage on Michigan Ave before the show. Perfect night!

The next day was the marathon St Patty's Day drinking fest with Chris and his side of friends at O'Donovan's. This is the same place we went to last year and is a great place b/c it's not super crowded and you're not fighting your way to the bar to get a drink. We were home by 11pm and stopped at our new favorite restaurant on Armitage, Cafe Laguardia on our way home. Here is Chris w/ everybody's favorite sisters, Liz & Allison

Chris w/ Mr. St Patrick CRICKET!

St Patty's Day 2009

St Patty's Day 2008

1st Birthday!

2009-03-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was Donna's baby, Edie's first birthday! The party was at the boat house in Glen Ellyn and although the weather was not the greatest we had fun! It was a short and sweet party! But great food! Donna made all the salads herself! I thought the picture above captured Chris at his best when it comes to babies, he's not a big fan of babies because they "scare" him and he doesn't know what to do with them. Here is Payton, Liz and Billy's baby scared to death because she "knows" the guy holding her is not good with babies, haha! J/K, we had just ripped playdough from her hands because it was heading for the mouth :-)

All our friend parties these days are doubled in attendance because of all the new little people, hence the photo below! The moms, birthday baby and Elmo made an apprearance at the party!(Ann was excited to pretend she was a mom that day)

A few more party attendees!

Jill, Tiffany, Tamie (+ Frankie & Sydney) and Heather

Parents in training, YEA right! Well the Petersen's are but Team Cogski is NOT! :-)

This was towards the end of the party and birthday girl had changed clothes and was running around in her diaper, scandalous! So many kids and they're all getting so Big!

Happy Birthday Edie!

Off to Grandma's House....

2009-03-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

On our way to the airport to head back to Chicago we had to stop at In-N-Out my FAVORITE that I can only get in Vegas and California. Open one in Chicago for cryin' out loud!

I know it seems I am visiting California a lot....I went in September with Chris, December with the family and I just got back yesterday visiting my Grandma and Aunt Diane with my Dad. But the flights were cheap so we thought we'd take advantage!

Grandma's good! We got in on Saturday and landed back in Chicago Thursday night. It was a nice, VERY laid back relaxing week. We ate a lot of bagels, drank a lot of coffee and tea, watched a couple movies, I got a pedicure, we visited my grandparents house they used to live in, ate sushi one night, got cold stone creamery, ate a lot of Ben&Jerry's creme brulee ice cream (which I'm not a big ice cream eater but this is the best!), cooked in a lot, sat outside a bit relaxing, talked a lot and I got my aunt and grandma into the Bachelor. Lucky for them they only had to subject themselves to the finale and After the Final Rose - but they were hooked!! haha....

Was a great visit and I'm sure we'll be back again soon since the flights are so reasonable these days.

Here's a pic of Grandma in front of her house she used to live in in Escondido. One of our outings for the day. I told her to ring the bell so we could go in and see the house again but we chickened out. She wishes she still lived there....

Where it All Began....+ a 30th Birthday Celebration

2009-03-06T06:13:00.000-08:00

Ok this is gonna be a long one. Mainly because of the pics but the odds of this many of us treking down to Carbondale where we all became friends may not ever happen again so bare with me....I have to recap.

Mid February Ann, Tamie, Liz, Heather and I travelled down to Carbondale to visit Nina at her parents home. Where we met up with Jessica and BIRTHDAY GIRL, Meah who came from St Louis to gather together and celebrate Meah's 30 year milestone. We started a "30th Birthday" gift tradition since 30 is a biggie. As a group we purchase the David Yurman cuff bracelet with the colored stones on the ends. Here's birthday girl admiring her new jewelry celebrating her birthday!

And here's a pic of birthday girl celebrating her 21st birthday! Haha sorry Meah :-) Couldn't resist!
Whoa Meah...one too many shots on the ol' 21st huh? You can't even keep your eyes open, LOL
For some unknown reason we felt the need to write all over Meah with marker to help her celebrate her 21st birthday. We were obviously young and dumb and it must have seemed like a fun thing to do at the time? Poor Meah can't keep her eyes open, probably doesn't know her own name and then everyone who claims to be her best friend is writing all over her....

Here's a great shot below I'm sure towards the end of the evening at Gatsbys, marker on her chest and she looks like she's ready to go home, I'm about three sheets to the wind as well. Of course Ann is all smiles ready to take on the night!
More of the group from Meah's night out that started at Tres. Kelli, Me, Rebecca, Meah and Jill
Ok enough pics down memory lane, back to my post. Most of us met back in 1997 when we pledged Sigma Kappa and have remained great friends ever since! Below is a pic circa 1997, I took the liberty of circling those who are in the pic further down circa 2009! Kinda hard to make my purple circles out but you can if you look close. We have all agreed we look WAY better in 09! In 2019 we may beg to differ but this year lookin' good ladies! I must note in the 1997 pic we are still very close with Lindsay Barr who is front and center with the short blonde haircut and Donna far right second row. They were unable to make it down for the birthday weekend :-(

1997

2009

Our first night of the weekend we gandered down memory lane with a night out at Pinch Penny Pub and Copper Dragon, two ol' great hangouts of ours back in the day. Tamie used to work at Pinch and was glad to be back at her old stomping grounds, she even scored a Pinch "alumni" sweatshirt which she was very "happy" about, haha (inside joke).

I thought this pic below was hilarious and so typical, everyone "posing" but SO funny that Mandy is looking the other direction "saying hey! why are you all looking that way, aren't we posing this way?"

The next day we took a visit to the Sig Kap house and had a photoshoot of everyone in front of their old door. We all at one time or another lived in those wonderful but tight quarters, but we were together EVERY single friggin' day so we loved it. I put in three years of living at that "lovely" home. Here below a pic of my old door and my other room I lived in upstairs, and low and behold Heather and Ann have lived within the same four walls as well. A tradition was to write your name, year and pin number somewhere within the door frame to stake your claim that you did the duty. That is what we are pointing at....

After our Sig Kap house visit we were off to our favorite pizza place, Quatros and settled back in at Nina's house in their theater room for a movie!

Next on the agenda was dinner at the Global Gourmet for Meah's Birthday Dinner, after dinner we couldn't do another night out because we are old ladies so we went back home got in comfy clothes, talked and played games.

Here's the girls in the 30 club so far (missing Donna), Guess who's next?

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-15T09:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a low key but great V-Day!!! Both of us had gone out the night before so we were hurting a bit the next day, I even skipped my FAV kickboxing class that's how much I was dying. But we were up and off to Nookies for some breakfast because I was on the verge of the shakes I was so hungry. Then we were on to what we do best: catching up on "24." A few weeks ago we started from the beginning with season 1 and just started season 3. It's not easy getting thru all these seasons, BIG time commitment (haha) but we're trudging along. Thanks to the Petersen's, who of course have the entire series on dvd so we can get all caught up! Jill and my parents are obsessed with 24 and I now see why it really sucks you in! Very soon Chris and I will send our resumes into the government and CIA because after we get caught up we will be more than qualifed to assist in stopping terrorists.

We took a nap and around 6pm finally got it together, went to the grocery store, made goolash which was SO good! Here's a pic of me being or "acting" domestic.

Then jumped in the car and headed to Hot Chocolate on Damen for dessert! Low and behold we open the door to Hot Choc and we are greeted by Amy & Andy! TOO funny!

So we sat with them, had our dessert and all were on our way back home. Another episode of 24 before bed, I'm not kidding I told you we are obsessed and addicted!!!!

Above a pic of me with my pretty flower bouquet someone special got for me :-) and sporting my new necklace that I LOVE. A silver necklace with a silver disc, on one side it says "I AM" and the other side says "IN LOVE" super cute - right? I looooove this necklace, great V-Day present!!!

Chris made out pretty good as well....at first I just got him a pair of Lululemon pants, he has one pair and he loves them so I got him another pair. And one day I was at the Armani Exchange store and spotted (on sale of course) this creme mock neck zip up. If anyone knows I love mock/stand up necks and I love anything white or creme. So when I saw this zip up I had it at the register in 30 seconds flat. I was nervous Chris would think it's a tad metro or too "euro" which he did when he first opened it and I was sure it was going back to the store but once he tried it on he liked it too! Thank god, my fairy dust (as he likes to say I'm always dropping on his head while he sleeps) is still working!! I am training him well :-) Creme zip up and a new pair of lulu's = great V-Day present!

Hope everyone enjoyed their V-Day, kind of a silly holiday but still fun. As I told Chris yesterday I'm sure on February 14, 2014 I'll turn to him and say "wait is today valentine's day?" "Oh crap! It is!" but for now we'll play along :-)

SPORTS: SuperBowl Sunday + Bulls Game

2009-02-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

Again, tad behind on the blogging! SuperBowl Sunday 2009 was held at our house, quite a turn out and I think I watched a total of 12 minutes of the game. I just CANNOT get into football. I want to, but I just can't. I have the same love/hate relationship with football that I have with reading. Want to but just can't get into it. Maybe some day for the football and reading we will have a relationship. If I have children who play football maybe I'll get into it then, but I have told Chris our children will be playing soccer and tennis, he says the girls can the boys will not be playing either of those sports, we'll see.

Love this picture because everyone looks alien-esque :-)

Here's a pic of the girls in the kitchen ignoring the game for a bit.....

Very serious pool going for the big game!

BULLS GAME

A few weeks following the Superbowl we went with Sam + Lena to the bulls game. We had great seats! Two rows behind the people who get the cushy fold-out chairs courtside. Basketball I can get into because the rules and concept are a no-brainer unlike football (to me). But my favorite part of the game is the "kiss cam" :-)

"Mini" Old Friend Reunion

2009-02-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

I'm a tad behind on my blogging.....but weeks ago Tamie and I made plans with an old sorority/SIU friend, Gail. Tamie and I have remained close over the years I was in her wedding and she has told me time and time again she will be in mine, LOL! Don't worry you will be :-) both of us had not seen Gail in FOREVER but thanks to the modern technology of Facebook we were reconnected! Now back in the day Gail, Tamie, Jessica and I were like peas and carrots in good ol' 1997. We met in our pledge class and Tamie, Jessica and I lived in the Thompson Point dorms while the rest of the pledge class lived in the ghetto towers on the other side of campus. The four of us were ALWAYS TOGETHER. All three of them were older than me, Gail being the oldest. At the time she was 21 but I was 18 so back in the day that seemed to me like she was like 30! I mean for crying out loud she could drink without a fake id, I felt like I'd never turn 21. We laughed about this over dinner since we're all so much older now and realize a 21 year old is like a child in diapers to us now.

We met at J. Alexanders in Oak Brook and closed the place down! It was sooooo good to catch up and we made a vow to not let another seven or so years go by before we saw eachother again!

Gail, Tamie and Jenna in 2009

Jenna, Tamie and Gail in 1997/1998

and JessieK, Gail and Jenna in 1997/1998. Excuse the cut up photos and ragged edges I took these from my scrapbook and for the life of me could not find a pic of the four of us! I couldn't believe it so these had to do.

Expecting!

2009-01-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

Well another one of Chris' friends is expecting! The Nosik's are pg!

Very exciting!!!

We don't see this wonderful couple too often, they go up north to their other house and spend a lot of time there on the weekends and everybody's just busy. But hopefully when it gets warmer out we will all get together! Chris has been friends with Mike and Kelly since ISU days!

Congrats again! I can't wait to hear all the details and if you're finding out if a boy or girl :-)

Amy & Andy's Engagement Party!

2009-01-26T06:09:00.000-08:00

Andy & Amy with us at their engagement party

Big day is July 17, 2009!

Saturday was Amy & Andy's engagement party at Zella! It was an all you can drink package deal which I have not been to one of those sportin' my wristband in quite some time! But was fun to get out to a bar again which we have not done in awhile because of this weather. I HATE going out in the cold and being cold period. So I try to avoid it at all costs!

At least we are older and wiser in our age now and don't wear "going out" shirts and no jackets in the dead of winter like we used to back in the day, dumb, dumb, dumb. God forbid if you went out for a night of fun and didn't have your arms and shoulders exposed?!?! And don't bring a jacket because 1. you don't want to have to carry it around everywhere in the bar and 2. you don't want to put it down because odds are someone will steal it or take it thinking it's theirs.

Kimi, Jill & I at Zella

In addition to getting older and wiser Chris and I are in total agreement that a night out drinking is just not what it used to be but I'm so happy about it! We were not even out that late and didn't drink hardly at all but Sunday we were both hurting, I don't get it? At least we're on the same page.

I do have to point out that once again we hit up Arturo's on the way home for a low-fat chicken burrito at our Arturo's. One major pro to offset the Sunday afternoon hungover blues....

Restaurant Connoisseur

2009-01-20T07:17:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was a big "eat out" weekend for us. I love eating out but hate it at the same time because 1. you always eat way too much and leave miserable (or I always do) and 2. it's expensive. But as in an earlier post we had gone to this lil mexican (but nice mexican) place on Foster called Dorado. This place is sooooo friggin' good! So we went again the following wkend on Saturday! The best is the duck nachos, pic below. These nachos are sooooo good!!!!! And then I had the chicken enchilada's - again, sooooo good!!! The mole sauce is what makes it as well as the moist chicken. Everybody knows how I feel about moist chicken, can't beat it. Dry gross chicken is like nails on a chalkboard for me.

On Friday AND Sunday we ate at what is slowly becoming our weekly favorite sushi place, Butterfly. This place is ridic and so hard to get a reservation at, and there's even TWO locations and you still can't get a resv unless you call like days or a week in advance. Apparently it's everybody else's fav place as well. Therefore often we do carry out from here. Below is a pic of one of our two in-house sushi nights. Chris' parents gave us a whole sushi set for Christmas so we love breaking out the whole spread to be very sushi "official."

I hate to even say it, but this current weekend we just ordered (again) from Butterfly on Friday night. Pretty soon we will need to go to sushi overeaters anonymous or we should at least get a frequent diner discount!
But I do have to point out it's safe to say I do need to take a sushi break before I get sick of it forever. ps: did anybody read about Jeremy Piven's once a day sushi meal habit for the past 20 yrs and that's why he has mercury poisoning or mercury overdose or whatever?? That's whack!

Another 32nd Birthday + Game Night!

2009-01-12T16:56:00.000-08:00

Saturday was Ryan's birthday and his wife, Jill coordinated a group dinner + game night! My favorite combo! Ryan turned 32 this past weekend, 32 is quite the popular age this week :-)

We ate at my new favorite restaurant called Dorado. This place is to DIE for, and I barely even ate because of course like usual I ruined my dinner by having a late lunch. No surprise there so I only had a salad and some appetizers that were passed and a bite of Cortney's enchilada and I was sold that that is what I'm ordering next time I go there. Side note: Chris and I liked this place so much we're tossing around the idea of going next weekend!

The guac and duck nachos are dee-lish to order for appetizers! And to top all of this greatness off it's BYOB to boot! With eight couples at dinner we had quite a long table, ate great food, sang happy birthday and were on our way to the Petersen's for some games. They actually lived about a block away so we just walked there.

A few rounds of Scene It and we were bored with that game (and I think Jill has played it one too many times because she oddly knew quite a few of the answers) so on to good ol' standby Catchphrase.

Chris in a tense round of Catchphrase. The highlight of the night was him acting out as a seal when the word was dolphin. Flapping his arms and making the sound effects folks...quite a scene.

With such a large group this is really the only game to play, we played guys against girls....I think the guys won but don't quote me on that one. I love that game.

Another highlight of the night Cricket making his "faces" and

entertaining us with his other antics throughout the night :-)

We are going to try and have a tradition of doing game night once a month if we can it's such a nice alternative to doing the bar thing which is so old now especially in this weather.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Great Sunday Combo: Sushi + Golf

2009-01-12T07:38:00.000-08:00

Having a bit of reverse order, I'll be reporting on Sunday's activity before Saturdays. Oopsy.

Sunday Chris and I were bored and slightly recovering from our late night on Saturday celebrating Ryan's birthday. But we managed to muster up enough energy and trek out of the house instead of laying around being lazy blobs on Sunday afternoon. First we went ALLLLLL the way out to Bloomingdale, from the city, yep you heard right. For some reason it felt really far, I think because it's so depressing out and we were tired and absolutely starving. But there is the BEST lil sushi restaurant in a strip mall in Bloomingdale, yes in a strip mall yet again you heard right. When I first ate there with my dad I too had my snob hat on thinking omg i'm going to eat sushi in a strip mall this can't be good. But I'm here to tell you this place has the best sushi known to man! They have this one roll called the "olympic" and it is to die for!!!! My dad and I go here ALL the time and always order an olympic. They came out with this roll for the 2008 Olympics and actually placed the rolls in the shape of the Olympic rings and wrote "2008" on the plate with some sushi sauce.

When we arrived Chris had the same reaction I did about the "strip mall" curb appeal but once we left he was hooked. He wasn't dying over it as much as I do but really who does die over anything as much as I do.

Then we were off to another burb, Bensenville to White Pines golf club to make use of their indoor driving range dome. I have been to a driving range dome a few times in my day but this was Chris' first experience. He loves to golf and we both really enjoyed hitting a few balls and then it was time to leave and head back to Chicago.

Chris is thoroughly impressed with my golf form and that I can actually hit the ball! :-) This driver is a bit long for me as you can see but I could still whack it pretty good!

Here's a lil video of the golfer in action! Enjoy!

Two Engagements!

2009-01-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

Well not one, but TWO of Chris' friends got engaged in the time between Christmas and New Years! Very exciting!
One couple, Kimi & Mikey have been dating for what could be considered forever!!! They both met and have dated since college at ISU. I have heard they have been dating for EIGHT years but I have also heard they have been dating for TEN years?! Not sure which is true but either way both are a long time! That girl deserved her diamond :-)

What a wonderful surprise that when they came over to our place on New Years Eve she was sporting her newest addition to her left hand!!!! We all about died and I don't think I have ever been so excited for someone to get engaged as her as I know it was a long time in coming and she has been wishing for the day more than anyone! Finally came!

Here she is on NYE sporting her new bling holding a plate of White Castle

what a great combo....LOL

Congrats! Can't wait for your big day!

The other couple who took the plunge was Chubbz and Elizabeth! (aka Sean, they call him Club Chubbz because in his "hay day" he really liked the clubs and although he's not chubby, boy can that guy eat!). I have not received all of the details but I believe they got engaged on Christmas Eve.

Although they have not been dating as long as Kimi and Mikey I think they have been together for about over a year and are expecting a baby boy in 2009! Congrats!

This is terrible but I don't have any pics of Chubbz and Elizabeth!! The only one I could find was this one of him below and she is in the background bending down with the dark hair. I need to get some pics of you guys together!

Sigma Kappa 4-EVER JUUUST kidding!!!!!!!

2009-01-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

So Saturday, was the annual Sig Kap Christmas party! We started this back in December 2001 in Liz and Bree's apartment in Chicago and have done it every year since! We have lost a few attendees but gained a few attendees along the way. Some cannot attend due to distance keeping us apart but try to from year to year (those who live far now are Jessica, Meah, Barr, Nadia and Nina). I wish I had a pic from the very first year to post, I know there's one floating around out there somewhere.....

But all of us know eachother and met initially from Sigma Kappa days whether it was in 1997 or through 1999! And lucky enough today we are able to see eachother on a pretty regular basis!

In the years past Liz has hosted, Tamie has hosted and this year it was held at Heather's parents house in Park Ridge which was a great location in between the city and the burbs.

Everybody brings a lil bit of something whether an appetizer, dessert or a drink to pass as well as their gift. We usually always put a dollar amount cap on the gift. Years past we have done DVD's as gifts, "something every girl needs" gift, gift cards gift, etc, etc. This year it was $25 limit and had to be from Target (with a gift receipt :-). I knew what Heather's gift was and was determined to get it....you see with this party we draw names for who gets to pick and open a gift first and then as you go along you have the option to "steal" someone else's gift before you open yours. For example I'll never forget when Ann stole my Mario Tricocci gift card, I am still a bit upset about it, j/k.

Heather's gift was the final season of Sex & the City and two super cute holiday mugs that were beige/gold/creme - my favorite xmas color combo! I was second to open a gift, Heather warned me what hers looked like so I of course was happy when I opened my gift BUT I leave the room for TWO SECONDS to refill my drink to come back and see it's Nina's turn to open a present and she has chosen to STEAL my gift!?!?! I was a lil tipsy from the Riesling and maybe got a bit carried away as if she had stolen my first born child but I grabbed her arm and slightly freaked on her a second (all in good fun as I was about 90% kidding) and Tamie stepped in and "saved" Nina from me. While this was all going on Ann was snapping away on the couch across from us at such a great photo op, thank god this incident was documented :-) But I have all the other seasons of Sex & the City so this was going to top off my collection perfectly, I couldn't let that gift pass me by! Sorry Nina :-)

There were 11 of us in attendance this year and Meah who lives near St Louis even came up! Which was great because we have not seen her in forever....that is her above laughing hysterically at the "incident." Even during our time shoveling food and drink in our faces while chatting away earlier at the kitchen table we went around the table and ann wrote down each of our new years resolutions.....a few were have a baby, fit in my clothes again, get healthier just to name a few. Hope somebody has that paper so we can pull it out next year to compare!

32!

2009-01-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

So the first part of every year Chris gets to celebrate his BIRTHDAY on January 3rd! This year he turned 32! I am SOOOOOO freaked about my 30th in April, I cannot imagine being 32 - gawd somebody just kill me :-) Sorry Chris, not trying to rub it in, just being honest, haha.

Now for some unknown reason I was thinking all along that Chris' birthday was during the week when in fact it was on a Saturday. And the dumb-dumb I am without thinking our annual Sig Kap Christmas party/grab bag exchange we have every year was scheduled on the same day as his bday!? I had a chance to speak up and say I wasn't available that day when the emails exchanged about the xmas party date and they wanted to do Jan 3rd, I said "yep, I'm free that night!" without even thinking because like I said above I was under the impression his bday was during the week.

So I sent an email to his friends that birthday boy was available and ready to hang out (hoping they would since I would have to skip out on him to go to the xmas party, can't miss the girls party! I know, terrible....) We went to an early dinner and had some drinks at Devon Seafood Grill that was SOOOO good!!! We highly recommend this restaurant. It's new so it's nice, clean and modern!

Then I dropped him off at home the guys were drinking and playing poker there and I was off to Park Ridge to my party. I felt VERY guilty about leaving him on his bday but he assured me it was ok, even though the week before he was on the train and thought how terrible it was that I was leaving him high and dry but he got over that so he says. Very bad of me since last year on my birthday we were in Cabo and this year we'll be in Napa/Sonoma!!!!! I'll make it up to him next year :-)

But he did get a lot of great presents from me if I don't say so myself and a wonderful dinner and a full night (til 3.30am) of hanging with his friends and a low fat Arturo's burrito as a night cap.

The guys were out SUPER late but from what I heard it was like ol' times which I don't think they have done in awhile. It was def a throwback night to 2001-2004 when they all used to live together in the crackhouse and the beach house. Rest assured he informed me that they've all still "got it." Movin' a bit slower the next day than years previous but they can still do it, poor livers.

Here's a pic below of Chris' birthday circa 2004, six of the guys in the picture below were out with him this past Saturday - Friends to the End!

Funny part is below all of them have NO cares in the world.....fast forward to 2009: 3 are married, 4 are engaged, 2 live with their girlfriends and 2 have babies on the way! My my how things have changed :-)

Buddy Barr & Nadia in Town!

2009-01-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

Sometime in late November Barr (aka Lindsey Barr, we have just called her "Barr" for years) sent us an email that she would be in town for the holidays and able to hang out for one night, December 26th and wanted to get together. On top of that Nadia would be in town as well! We didn't want to go to a loud bar or even a dinner but to hang out at somebody's house and drink and chit-chat. Tiffany's home was the place to go!

Barr currently lives in Austin, Texas she is a former "Damen Girl" and lived with us previously here in Chicago until her company, Aldo shoes transferred her to the great state of Texas. Nadia ALSO a former Damen Girl (geez that apt was BIZ-zy!) who lived with us in Chicago moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting dream! Both are college/sorority friends from SIU.

We all met at Tiffanys....well those that could attend, the rest of the girls were invited but with kids, holidays, bad weather that night it was hard for everybody to get there.

Great chats, couple rounds of catchphrase, going through old college photo albums and scrapbooks, re-telling some old stories that we have re-told 100 times over before you know it - it was 2:30am!?! We got there at 7:30/8pm! Time flies!

As you can see from the pic below we stayed on the homefront as I am in my standby Lulu's and zero makeup!

Barr, Tiffany, Me, Heather, Nadia & Ann

A Christmas Surprise!

2009-01-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

So my wonderful over the top boyfriend had told me to clear my schedule for Saturday, December 20th because he had put together a surprise evening for me! Leading up to this day I guessed constantly what we would be doing because those who know me know I love guessing what something is. I guessed everything under the sun secretly hoping we were going to the Celine Dion concert because I knew she was in town around that time but didn't know exactly when, lucky for him that was not the surprise because he would for sure have jumped out the window.

On the 20th I went to my kickboxing class, came home and was told to pack my bag because we were staying downtown at the Intercontinental Hotel on Michigan Avenue, having lunch at Bandero (which is the best place ever!) then going to a nice dinner and to the play "A Christmas Carol" at the Goodman Theater! Funny enough a few weeks prior we had been behind a CTA bus in traffic and there was a Christmas Carol ad for the play on the back of the bus and I turned to him and said "OH! Are we going to that play?" at the time he told me no and to please for the love of god stop guessing.

The whole day was wonderful!!!! The dinner was awesome and oddly enough I ran into an EBC friend and her boyfriend at dinner and they were going to the same play and sat across the aisle from us! The play was SOOOOOO good! Afterward we had a few drinks and then were back to the hotel. VERY nice hotel and decked out in all Christmas in the lobby! A pic below of us in front of the Christmas tree in the lobby before we left to go to dinner.

Monthly Girls Dinner

2009-01-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

So I was in college a tad longer than the average but looking back I'm soooooo glad I was because I became friends with the "younger" girls and really had a great time! What's the rush to get out? In the sorority there was always the "older girls" and the "younger girls."

Well I have stayed in touch with a good handful of the "younger" ones since I got to know them when I was just about leaving college. Today we go out to dinner about once a month since they all live in Chicago. It's usually Jennie, Dallas, Nicole, Sara, Emily and myself. But recently Ann (who stayed at SIU a semester extra and is an "older girl" so she knows all these youngin' as well) has joined the group and Meredith and McMillin as well as Carisa have joined us for food and drinks!

In December we met up at Cafe BabaReeba for a Christmas dinner! Dallas is the only one married in the group with kids and she brought her youngest, Addie front and center in the picture. She is super cute and really meshed in with the group for girls dinner. On the drive home Addie told her mom that she has nice friends who all wear very pretty makeup! So cute!

Here is a pic of our dinner a couple months back at Rise on Southport + Jen Barry was in town for that one!

Annual ISU Christmas Party at 50/50

2009-01-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

So I feel that I have been to my fair share of "SIU" parties or gatherings over the years post-college. But since I met Chris I have been to some "ISU" (the other Harvard of the Midwest, LOL) parties as well. I think pretty much everyone they hang out with provided a few exceptions are from ISU, so I feel like an outsider sometimes but that's okay, ha! :-)

I love the SIU people I see on occasion here and there and the "gossip" and what everybody's up to! With Chris' "group" they have a Christmas party every year, I think this year was the fourth year and this is their occasion to check up on what everybody's up to since some come out of the woodwork at this hoopla. His lifelong roommate, Sam and his friend, Cricket started the Christmas party tradition and it's really a great party! This was my second one attended and again tons of people and a success!

This year it was at 50/Fifty on Division, and wouldn't you know it the owner is from ISU and friends with those guys. Before the party a bunch of us had dinner down the street at Boundary and then headed up to 50/Fifty. There were even a handful of the Rockford crew that came in for the party which was nice to see them!

Chris and I have NO pictures from the party together so all I had to add was a picture of Rebecca and I and a pic of Michelle Iasparro (Rockford friends' wife) and Chris.

And just like last year we hit up Arturo's on our way home for our infamous "low fat" burrito. If you're wondering what makes it low fat we hold the sour cream and cheese, makes us feel better about eating a whole burrito at 3am, hahahaha!

Grandma Osa and Aunt Diane California Visit!

2009-01-06T08:01:00.001-08:00

The next day after shopping and visiting with Chris' mom it was Sunday and I was en route to California with my Dad to visit my Grandma and Aunt Diane. This was sort of a random trip but just a visit since it is the holidays and my Grandma's birthday is on December 23rd. She turned 87! Crazy huh? But she's still really "with it" and pretty "hip!" She is of Danish decent, actually came on a boat from Denmark when she was very young so maybe it's the Scandinavian genes that keep her so youthful. Hope I have some of those genes! Oddly enough my other grandma is turning 87 in January so I should be good making it well enough through my 80's :-)

Joey and my Mom came about two days later, Justin wasn't able to make it since he is in Vail, CO working but was a nice trip to enjoy the warm weather, eat a lot and visit!

My Grandma until recently has been crazy on making jewelry, but she's taking a "break" from it right now. You would NEVER believe how many beads this woman has, and oddly my aunt has a TON as well and she doesn't bead but she just thinks they're pretty, LOL. So I was able to ransack her jewelry collection a bit, I usually do this when I visit, but it's so fun like going in a store and shopping for free! Thanks for all my jewelry Grandma!

Not Santa....But Mama Smulsk is "Coming to Town!"

2009-01-06T07:34:00.001-08:00

Long time, no see! I'm back and ready to blog again. I don't know what happened to me, I guess I fell off the blog wagon. I really like to just write a bunch of posts at one time instead of one everyday or so. I really need to get back on it regularly otherwise I forgot what happened!

Anyway December was a busy month and after I put up the Christmas tree (below) the month was in full swing starting out the first weekend of December when Chris' mom came to Chicago from Rockford for the day and night. She usually comes in to town in December sometime to go to dinner and shop a bit.

She got in Saturday morning and we headed downtown to have lunch at Cheesecake Factory on Michigan Avenue which could have been our biggest mistake! The rest of the free world had the same idea and the various lines they had going on in that place was RIDIC! You have never seen anything like it, that place is SO big the chaos was in full force. But after about an hour and 15 minutes or so we were seated, I really can't believe we waited that long! But well worth it as I die over the tex mex appetizer and cobb salad there (this is a Nina "meal specialty" and long standing tradition that Nina, Ann and I split somewhat often). After our late lunch we were off to Bloomingdales. Chris' mom bought him a few things, she really likes to go crazy shopping for him but he never wants anything so she really likes showing him everything in the store asking him if he wants it - it's quite entertaining actually :-) They hit the jackpot when she was able to buy him his favorite Kiehl's face lotion. This guy is a lotion fanatic! Side story: he has more lotion products that he puts on his body and face than anybody I have ever seen!? I guess it's better than nothing at all so he stays "youthful," or that's what he tells me. But between his body wash, loofah-ing, face lotions, body lotions, eye creams and his beloved Kiehls'....OH! And don't even get me started on when Nivea discontinued his favorite face lotion, I thought he may jump out the window. I'm getting off the subject, I may do a future post on his lotion obsession, I know Chris is super excited for it, haha!

After lunch and shopping it was actually time to eat AGAIN!? I was really nervous about it because I was still full from Cheesecake Fact. We had reservations at Terragusto in Roscoe Village which I do love this restaurant but I could barely eat because when I sat down I thought I was going to explode I was still so full!

All in all it was a lovely day and evening to hang out with Chris' mom and she was on her way back to Rockford the next day and I was on my way to California to visit my Grandma and Aunt Diane!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree....

2008-12-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

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 :-)

2008-12-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-05T19:56:00.001-08:00

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!

Cogski Says MERRY CHRISTMAS With Some Sweet Dance Moves!

2008-11-25T13:45:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Day in the Burbs with Great Friends and the Bears!

2008-11-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon we left Chicago with the Petersen's in tow to head to Bloomingdale to the Hoyner's home for some chili (a chili cook-off actually) and the Bears game!

I must note that our SIU friends group has grown with husbands, boyfriends and SEVEN children that attended the party, yes 7! And all three years of age and younger to boot!

Cogski and the Petersen's left our kids at home because apparently to get in at this party you needed a child, j/k. We love all of the kids and it allows those without kids to "practice" or like myself get your fill in one afternoon and that'll do me and be thankful for my freedom while I still have it, LOL! Just kidding Tamie, Liz and Donna!!!! :-)

Here is a pic of Ryan getting some "practice" with Edie, these two were attached all day

I didn't watch one second of the game actually and spent most of the time rotating holding a baby, shoveling food in my mouth, eating chili or talking.Love getting together with the girls, all of us have been friends since college, met in the sorority and are super lucky that most of us live in the Chicagoland area. There is Jessica and Meah that live in St Louis, Barr in Texas, Nina in So IL and Nadia in Los Angeles who miss dearly and have them there in spirit and maybe one day if we wish hard enough they will move closer. Also luckily our boyfriends (or I guess I'm the only one at the party who had a boyfriend) and husbands get along as well! Here is a pic of them escaping in the other room to watch the game.A few weeks ago Tamie had the brilliant idea of having a chili cook-off! Since Chris has really gotten in to making chili lately we were all over this. There were three pots of chili and a gold, siliver and bronze award were appointed to each crockpot. If you're wondering, Team Cogski WON!!!!! The prize was a glittery Christmas tree and I think we should have a chili cook-off/Bears game party every year and pass the tree trophy on to the winner each year - great idea!It was nice to hang at the Hoyner's, visit with the children and our friends and not watching the game at some bar! My, my how things have changed! :-)

Team Glomp is Gearing Up to Get Hitched! Congrats Sam & Lena!

2008-11-24T07:09:00.000-08:00

Saturday night was a BIG night for Sam and Lena!!!! They...Got...Engaged!!!!

Chris and I knew the big question was coming and luckily I don't live with Lena and had not seen her this week at all because not that in a million years I would have ever spoiled such a secret but I just can't hold secrets in. Although Chris told me I could not tell a soul about the upcoming engagement or else he would kill me because whoever I told somehow magically it would have gotten back to Lena, this is true because it always happens to me :-) So I kept my mouth zipped and if you've seen her pics over email or on Facebook they are sooooo cute recapping the event!

The two of them had gone to Starved Rock two years ago when they first met and how fitting to get engaged there! Lena thought they were going there to celebrate her new job but little did she know....

"I'm Engaged!!"

Chris and I are so very happy for the new Team Glomp (they may hate that I'm putting team in front of their name but too bad) and are excited for their big day happening sometime in August or September 2009.

Chris and Sam the next day at a small engagement celebration gathering

Excuse the fact that Chris can barely keep his eyes open, after our dinner w/ Bob&Leah and drinking all day for the Bears game he's really struggling.

As most of you know Chris and Sam have been bff's and roommies for 11 years so I know Chris is a bit sad (but happy for Sam) to be "losing" his better half (good thing he has me, haha) and although Lena did not ask permission to take Sam from Chris that's ok, Chris is adjusting well :-)

Congrats Sam and Lena!!!!

Dinner with Bob and His New Lady Friend :-)

2008-11-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday night we met up with Bob and his new pretty lady, Leah. They met through someone that Bob works with, they have been hanging out for a couple weeks and Team Cogski always loves going on double dates so we were super excited for our double dinner on Saturday!

Chris and I went up to Bluebird (I love that bar) had a few drinks til Bob and Leah met up with us there. Then we were on our way down the street to Duchamp (love this place too) for dinner. We had a late reservation and had to wait a bit as this place was packed and people were really not getting up from their seats. Finally sat and had a great dinner!!

Then we went back down the street to Northside to have a few more drinks and Chris and I left around 1.30-ish. We were exhausted and knew we had a long day ahead of us in the burbs at a friends Bears party so we said farewell to Bob and Leah and were on our way home!
But was so nice to meet Leah and looking forward to seeing her and Bob again at the Christmas party in a few weeks!

Merry Christmas to Cogski!

2008-11-24T06:28:00.000-08:00

Chris and I had discussed a couple months ago getting an LCD flat screen tv....and thought why don't "we get that for eachother for Christmas!" GREAT idea!!!!

So we left it on the back burner til a couple weeks ago. Chris is very big on researching and analyzing, pro/conning his purchases. This can be good and I'm glad he does it because I just go with whatever is best in front of me. Somewhat an impulse buyer somewhat not, always definately has to be on sale, I never buy full-price. Thank god for TJ and Nordstrom Rack - two of my faves! I love the "searching" aspect of both of those stores and scoring a good deal, really makes you feel good and have a sense of accomplishment. But back to the tv. He had done some research on his own via online and taking a trip to one of the Circuit City stores closing in Chicago. We also visited Costco and went to Circuit City another time and ultimately JPMorgan came thru for us giving us the best deal! His work allows discounts on various things at various times. Luckily this was a good time for us to get the tv thru JPM.

So last week we bought it, split the cost and said Merry Christmas!! It arrived on Friday and the HD cable man was here Saturday to get it all set up. I like the tv and think it's great but I'm fine with any tv. Chris has said once or twice a day how excited he is about the tv and how great it is to see all the detailing on his NFL friends. I love it so I can see my bff, Oprah a bit clearer :-)

Another Fun Filled Rockford Visit!

2008-11-24T06:06:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Ritchie had summoned the guys to come out to Rockford with their significant others to go to dinner and then go to his house to watch the UFC fight! Luckily pretty much everyone was available so we all met up at Maria's, a small but delish Italian restaurant in Rockford (RF). The girls sat at one end and the guys at the other, probably was best this way as neither sides were likely talking about anything the other side was interested in. The food was great and with a table of 18 we were sat quickly and had a nice time!!

Next stop was to Ritchie's house where his wife Lindsey and some more friends were waiting for us to get there to continue the party! Poor Lindsey had just found out earlier in the week that with her preganancy she is on bedrest!? :-( So she had to skip the dinner but remained rested thru the party, poor Lindsey but at least she can use this time to catch up on her latest US Weekly's and what Oprah and the ladies on The View are talking about. I think any girl would be slightly jealous :-)

The guys watched the UFC fight, which I have NO interest in what-so-ever. Thank god Michelle brought games! We played catchphrase and continued on to trivia pursuit and battle of the sexes: guys vs the girls. I have no idea who won but if I had to guess I would say it was the girls.
Party dwindled around 1/2am and everyone was on their way home! Thanks Ritchie and Lindsey for allowing us all to come over and hang out! Loooooooove your house!!!!!!!!! If we were moving to Rockford we'd FOR SURE be next door neighbors!

Visit to Shedd Aquarium

2008-11-14T07:12:00.001-08:00

Earlier this week Chris and I went to visit the Shedd Aquarium. I believe I have been there but it had to have been a century ago as I don't remember it. So it was like a first trip for both of us!

Not sure if anybody knows but it is free admission on certain "community days" each month, you should check out their website to see what days are free of charge each month if you are thinking about visiting. Although it does not include the shark exhibit - fyi. And the worst part about our visit was that the dolphin, whale and penquin exhibit is closed for renovation until June 2009?! So I guess we may be visiting Shedd again someday because I would imagine that is the best part of your visit.But either way was fun! There is still PLENTY to look at and see. The best part was that we went on a Monday so it was crowded but not that crowded. Still a fair amount of kids running around and getting in your way to look in the glass exhibits but if we had gone on a Saturday or Sunday - forget it! I don't think I would I can only imagine the amount of people there! Some people came with their small babies and were showing them the exhibits....I wanted to be like hello? They have NO clue what they're looking at!?

But a great way to spend an afternoon at a great price! The Field Museum, Adler Planetarium and Museum of Science & Industry are steps away as well so there's plenty of history to visit in this area on a boring cold Sunday afternoon.Got a few pics of the animals there like the frog above that pretty much matches the color of the leaves EXACTLY! And this fish above...I was snapping away with the flash on and later saw signs everywhere that says no flash - oopsy!

Nat's Last Night Out as a Single Lady!

2008-11-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

Nat with one of her gifts!

The infamous "Mrs" Hoodie....I think I have bought this for

almost every friend who has gotten married.Last Saturday was a dear former sorority/SIU friend and former roommate's (aka Damen Girl) Bachelorette Party!! Natalie will be getting married on November 29th!!!

I have known Natalie for years as we met in the Sig Kap house and then I lived with her again in two different apartments with Ann in Chicago. She then made the move out to the burbs to Naperville where she teaches at one of the high schools.

Saturday we all met at Abby her maid of honor's apartment in Chicago for a few games, laughs, drinks, conversation, more laughs and then on our way to a "drinking show" called Bye-Bye-Liver in Chicago. It's right off of Chicago Ave and Halsted and I thought it was hilarious! It kind of has a Second City feel but more about drinking and interactive with the audience. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for something to do on a Saturday night. It's super reasonable and so are the drinks once you are there.

After the show we hung around, had a few more drinks and were on our way to a bar in Bucktown close to Abby's place. We ended up at Tavern! Had a few more drinks and after the wee hours of the early morning came were on our way home. Another bachelorette party for the books and now anticipating Nat's big day on November 29th - Can't wait!!!!

Nat with SIU Girls: Kelli, Me, Aimee, Nina, Nat,

Ann, Heather & Tamie

Congrats Natalie!

A Friday Dinner Among Friends....

2008-11-14T06:34:00.000-08:00

Last Friday we all had the pleasure of a lovely dinner at Francesco Forno in Bucktown! Nina with the infamous Greg&Vic duo (aka her parents) along with Mike Scanzano in tow met up with the two hottest couples in Chicago right now, Cogski and Ann&Ian (we really need to get these two a "name" they tried putting their names together but I forget what it was?).

Nina and crew were in town for the big plastic manufacturing expo in Chicago this past week, her parents own a company that manufactures plastic. We had a great time talking, laughing and talking as always! And I will say the food there is great if you are looking for a good italian restaurant. It is from the Franscesca chain of restaurants so you know it's gotta be good!
Always nice to visit with G&V our favorite parents! And of course a night is not complete without Chris sharing his leave his car running over night in front of Flash Taco story that I have heard about a billion times...YET I will say that is one of his repeated stories that I do enjoy hearing over and over again because frankly WHO would ever do that??? But we had a view of Flash Taco from our table so the story came up in conversation....

Halloween FirepitFriday BOO!

2008-11-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

Well last Friday on top of it being Halloween was also FirepitFriday at Cricket and Cortney's place. This was my second "firepit" at C&C's, always a good time!! We had plenty of food and drinks, grilled out, Chris made chili and of course Cricket and Monkey heckled trick-or-treaters as they passed. There was even a pumpkin carving contest to boot at firetpit this night! Granted there were only two pumpkins submitted in the judge-less contest. One of the pumpkins (Monkey's creation) I cannot even post on my blog because it was a vulgar decorated pumpkin and was later thrown in the air and smashed to pieces. The pumpkin above that I am stabbing with the knife was Cricket's creation and this poor guy was later burned in the fire. I guess too much alcohol consumed brings about resentment and anger towards pumpkins :-)

This was not a costume Halloween gathering although Cricket managed to dress up and play the role of Chad Neuhaus. Chad's wife, Bridget had originally planned on attending the firepit but then couldn't and I think Cricket was really looking forward to playing the role of "Chad" for her, LOL. Notice he is all decked out in his hunting gear. Two of Cricket's neighbors came by....the husband of Scottish background and so those two were quite entertaining to say the least.

We stayed til about 1am and then it was time to hit the road but it was a fun and as always an entertaining time and lucky for us the weather agreed.

Here below is a cute pic of the Sterrenberg sisters, Jill & Amy

Twinkies in their matching jackets :-)

They're Here!

2008-10-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

Liz & Chuck with the Twins!

They finally arrived!!! Chuck and Liz' Twins, Chase & Reese!!! Between Angelina and Liz it was a great year for twins :-) But Knox and Vivienne have nothing on Chase and Reese! Chris and I along with Sam&Lena (I know it seems like we don't go anywhere without this duo, LOL) stopped at Chuck&Liz' on the way back from Sycamore to visit and meet the new babies. We hung out for a couple hours, we didn't know how long to stay going out there because Liz just had them the previous Monday so they were only 6 days old! But they had Jimmy John's waiting and Liz was really up and adam all smiles of course couldn't be happier! Chris and Sam got to hold the babies which is not really something they've done very much :-) It's nice that there are two babies so everyone can share the wealth of passing them both around to hold them. But they are both the cutest and I'm sure will be a mini Ken & Barbie walking around in a few years just look at their parents. It was a great visit and I can't wait to see them again! Congrats!!! Uncle Smulsk will very much look forward to hanging out with Chase as he gets older and teaching him all the great things Chris and Chuck have done over the years :-) If you know the track record of those two that is quite frightening. Juussst kidding Liz :-)

PumpkinFest 2008

2008-10-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was the annual PumpkinFest in Sycamore! Chris dies over P-Fest and has gone over the last few years, this was my first visit to Sycamore and my first P-Fest. Chris' friend, Cricket is from this small, cute, quaint town and they have even collaborated a pub crawl that has turned up quite a few participants over the years. The Petersen's, Cricket&Cortney, Sam&Lena and Chris and I met at Cricket's parents house and hung out there for a bit and then were off to view the town's decorative pumpkin display and then to the bar for one drink that turned into 2 hours later. The Hulk pumpkin was the first place winner as you can see why from the pic, I can't imagine how long it took someone to put that together....all made out of pumpkins!! The Hoyner's met us up at the bar as well and hung for awhile till they needed to get back to their three-month old, Sydney who was at a family members house. In between drinking during the day and the actual pub crawl (which turned into just about two bars that we went to :) we had gone back to Cricket's parents house to have some snacks...mainly chili that was to DIE for, his dad's special recipe. All in all I very much enjoyed my first P-Fest and will look forward to next years as I have been told that I will be attending for years to come! Thanks also to Mr. & Mrs. Knapp for all the snacks, food and hospitality! Especially the gourmet taffy apples Mrs. Knapp sent us on our way with. We just split one last night and it is soooooooo good! Thanks again!

4th of 4th Tag! Thanks Being Butterfield!

2008-10-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

My new blog friend, "Being Butterfield" has tagged me in a lil blog game called "Fourth of Fourth." I don't know Being Butterfield (or Amy) personally but she's very good friends with one of my other blog friends, Mandy (who I have met in real life and love) as well as Nina! She's a fan of Lifetime Fitness and actually just took a job there so knowing we have LTF in common as one of the greatest gyms around (besides East Bank of course :-) I'm sure her and I would hit it off! Let alone the fact that I feel like I know her and her family thru her blog! Ha! She ironically went to SIU but I never knew her but then again I never knew Mandy either.

Anyway back to the game, the jist is I pick the 4th picture in my 4th picture folder, write about it, and then tag 4 people.

4th Picture

This is a pic of Sam, Ryan and Joe at the annual trip up to Monkey's parents cabin. Chris and all of his friends go up to the cabin a couple hours away usually at the beginning and the end of each summer. They have been doing this for a few years now and it always draws about 15-20 of them up there! They drink, reminisce, play cards, drink, golf, eat, reminisce, make fun of eachother, gamble, reminisce, drink, eat, do man things and god only knows what else. But Monkey's mom is usually up there so there is at least one female presence known to keep things under control.

This year they even had golf shirts made with a LOGO, yes that's right people...a logo. Each shirt was also embroidered with each guys' nickname. My lovely bf's nickname is "Fatface," I know what you're all thinking...lucky lady! :-)

I unfortunately don't have four other bloggers to tag so I'm going to break the chain once again.

Thanks for the tag Amy!

A "Wild" Night Out

2008-10-23T15:43:00.001-07:00

Last Friday Chris and I met the good ol' Petersen's and the ever entertaining duo, Mikey & Kimi. I won't give Mikey and Kimi a "team" name as I don't think they'll like that :-)

Earlier in the week we decided we'd all meet for din-din at Wildfire downtown. This was only my third time at Wildfire but everyone always seems to get really excited anticipating a dinner at this fine establishment. Chris and I went a bit early to grab a drink at Martini Park which is directly next door. As we all know M-Park is the home of the infamous 12 mojito evening a lil over a year ago so we always like to stop in there and reminisce on that lovely evening that neither of us really remember.Martini Park

Next stop was Wildfire. After filling up on appetizers I was stuffed to the max by the time dinner was over but the scallops over spinach was delicious and this place really does have the BEST food.

After dinner we mosey'd over to Krater's dad's bar, I can't remember what it's called right now...something irish though. The boys played a lil golf on Golden Tee and Jill, Kimi and I chatted. Kimi was running in the Urbanathalon the next day so her and Mikey didn't stay out too late although later than I'd stay if I was in a race and had to get up at 5.30am! But she's a veteran runner/racer so it's no big thing for her. :-)

The highlight of the evening is always reminiscing on Chris and his friends stories and all the whack things they used to do back in the day. On this night we were treated to the story of when Mikey was dehydrated in Florida. You'd really have to be there to hear the story to get the full effect but it was SUPER funny although I'm sure scary at the time. I think he very well could have died from what happened to him. But here are some pics of him reinacting what it was like when he was dehydrated and all his muscles were cramping up like solid bricks and sucking all the water out of his body, tooooooo funny! Thanks for the great reinactment Mikey, as always...entertaining!

Country Bumpkin!

2008-10-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

On Saturday afternoon it took us a while to get movin' after having too many drinks the night before at Celtic Crown, although worth it because it was super fun! This day we didn't even make it to the gym, our usual Saturday morning ritual. But finally managed to get out the door and on our way making a looooong trek to what I like to call the "country" also known as Edwards Apple Orchard! Chris has been to this cute place a few times over the years as it is not too far from Rockford but it was my first visit.

I have to admit I wasn't that into trekking so far for a pumpkin patch, after all good ol' Sunny Acres is minutes from my parents house and frankly I think pumpkin patches are for kids. But Edwards Apple Orchard puts Sunny Acres to shame! This place has it all! And everyone else seems to be aware of this as well because there were TONS of people, the lines were RIDIC! I stood in line three times while we were there!? Once to get a pulled pork sandwich that we split + a cider. Then we stood in another long line for an apple cider donut, apple pie with ice cream and a milk. Then we stood in yet another long line to get in the "store" to get donuts to-go among some other items. Safe to say it would have been smart to hit the gym after this trip with all the crap we ate. Very cute place though and I'd definately go back next year. On top of a pumpkin patch you can pick your own raspberries, there's a small petting farm, huge playground and a covered wagon thing you can take to go to the apple orchards! The main reason we took the trek out was to get the infamous cider donuts! We had one there and bought a dozen to go! Very tasty at home too if you pop it in the micro for 15 seconds!

This pic is a shout out to those of you (and I think that's everyone) who is familiar with Chris' "Gruffy the tap dancing goat" story :-)

This was a Gruffy look-alike we found in the petting farm, brought Chris back to his childhood, lol

To top off this LONG busy weekend of running around, on Sunday we met up with the Petersen's again along with Bob, Sam and Chubz at Fifty/50 on Division for a couple beers (literally 2), food and the Bears game. What a crazy depressing game!? Sad....

But Fifty/50 has the best food!!! And is a great place to meet up with your friends and watch the game, they have three levels as well as great outdoor seating (not sure how much longer we'll be using that though!) Be sure to get the turkey burger with grilled onions and mushrooms and sweet potatoe fries! Sooooo GOOD.

Did I hear somebody say BINGO??

2008-10-14T14:23:00.001-07:00

BINGO!

Friday night this past weekend we hung out with the Petersen's, Sam and Lena (aka "Slena") and Matt Whitmer, an ol' SIU peep met up with us as well.

We all headed up to Celtic Crown, no idea what street it was on? Ashland maybe? But I love this bar! You can play BINGO and win free drinks, we got din-din and had a few until about 1am. It was nice to just have some food, drink and hang out in a casual setting. I had my flip flops on so I as happy! Long gone are the days of a "crazy" going out night and your feet killing you in heels - thank god for that. Although Smalls and I managed to feel pretty hungover on Saturday!

Here's a pic from Friday night of the cutest couple in Chicago :-)

Our #1 FAV: YoBerri

2008-10-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

No weekend is complete for Cogski without one...two...sometimes THREE trips to YoBerri or Starfruit! I am fully obsessed with this frozen yogurt place and so is Chris, both of us just die over it. If you have never been or even heard of it, it is sometimes called "fro-yo yogurt" I think it's more like yogurt "couture" - all I know is, it is heaven sent. The concept is based off "Pinkberry" found in LA and throughout California. Thank goodness it made its way to Chicago. We don't have Pinkberry but we do have YoBerri, Starfruit and Berry Chill.

Our absolute favorite is YoBerri but it is somewhat of a hike for us living in the more west part of the city and their sole Chicago location is at Diversey and Halsted...but believe me we take the trek every chance we get. And if per chance we are slightly in the vacinity of YoBerri we make it a necessity to stop and get some!

We have slowly started to become accustomed to Starfruit located on Division but it tastes a tad different due to the Kefir base and is just not the same as YoBerri but it'll do when you're feelin' a craving coming and is much closer to where we live.

My signature favorite concoction is mango, raspberry and mochi! (pic below) SO GOOD! I want some right now that I'm typing about it. The fruit is SO fresh and is literally a burst of flavor in your mouth. I think they go to Mexico themselves to get this fruit it's so ripe, fresh and tasty. And the yogurt is too hard to explain unless you have some yourself, it's not vanilla flavor but more like a plain yogurt taste with a small hint of sour. Trust me it's awesome, I would never have taken the time to write a post about this unless I didn't think it was the greatest snack treat around! Enjoy!

* we would never have known about this yogurt concept had it not been for Sam and Lena telling us about it, so I feel I should give a lil shout to them for introducing us to the best frozen yogurt around - thanks! :-)

Me - Kreativ? wow, what an honor! Thx Nina!

2008-10-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

My friend and fellow blogger, Nina. You have read about her in previous posts well she tagged me with a "Kreativ Blogger" award. A lot of people out there are "professional bloggers," but I just haven't hit that point yet, I'm striving though :-) When you are tagged with this honorable award you are supposed to tag 6 other bloggers but I don't know that many bloggers so I'm going to be breaking the chain from this end - sorry....
Oh and the whole point of the award is to list 6 things that make you HAPPY, so here goes:
1. Working out. I have fallen off the wagon a bit since I left ebc and my routine lifestyle was thrown for a loop when Rokas went out of biz. I hardly spin anymore, which those who know me are shocked to say the least. BUT I am slowly getting back into it, my new thing is pilates, I LOVE IT.
2. YoBerri. Chris and I go to YoBerri alllllllll the time. It is similar to PinkBerry on the westcoast, or Berry Chill and Starfruit here in Chicago but Chris and I are here to tell you it is NOT the same. YoBerri is soooo much better. I could eat it everyday. A small with mango, kiwi and raspberry is my absolute favorite.
3. Eating. I, like Nina love a good meal and just love to eat in general, case in point why I have to workout or I'd be so obese.
4. Friends & Fam. As everyone knows I'm always in Wheaton w/ my parents. They're funny, yet get on your nerves type of people - but who's parents aren't after a couple hours :-). But I do enjoy being around them especially the Skip, he's always good for a few laughs. I love hanging out w/ my friends as well and Chris' friends. That is one thing I really love about him is his group of friends and their girlfriends.
5. Vacationing. Not weekend away trips that require you to go in a car and drive somewhere but more so the vacationing that requires a couple hours on a plane preferably where they serve alcoholic fun drinks. I think of a vacation as going to Vegas or somewhere with a beach and ocean, anything else to me is just "taking a trip."
6. Chris. Well I wouldn't be a good gf w/o listing my favorite buddy! LOL. He's just the best thing ever, I thought I'd be single for life b/c I never like anybody, am really picky and I really think all guys are crabby until I met Mr. Smulsk! Someday soon he will post a blog, if anything I'll make him do it.

BUSY September Weekend for Cogski

2008-09-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was jam packed! (I know this is a Chris&Jenna blog but this post is a tad Jenna-focused just a forewarning)

Friday evening Chris and I went over to Ann's place she made Nadia's infamous chicken pockets. They were delish! Ian and Nadia were both in town so it was nice visiting and then those three were on their way to the bars. Chris and I were on our way in comfy clothes to Berry Chill and then home. An evening I much prefer over going out and getting blasted in uncomfortable shoes. But before we made our way to River North for dinner when I got home from being in Wheaton Chris had these flowers waiting for me "just because" - how sweet!!

Saturday I was on my way to Grayslake for Natalie's bridal shower. Natalie is a former "Damen Girl," I lived with her at the Sig Kap house and for about a year and a half in Chicago. She is getting married in November! We had a great time at her MOH's parents home.

Here's the soon-to-be Mrs. Billings opening her gifts, QUITE entertaining to watch Nat open gifts.

Here's a lil throwback to ol' Damen Girl days....Nina, myself, Nat (the bride) & Ann. Oh, the good ol' days.

Here are the four SIU/Sig Kap girls who were at the shower. Aimee, Me, Nat the B2B & Tamie.

Babies, Babies!! Aimee's baby, Mia she was a guest at the shower.

Here is a pic of Chris with Nico's baby, Nico Jr! Isn't he cute? It was almost bedtime when I took this pic. AND this is the only pic from the BBQ, sorry I know you are all devastated.

Chris and his friends along with their wives and children got together Saturday afternoon to hang out, eat and drink. I got there a lil late or else we'd have more pics. The BBQ was hosted at Nico and Courtney's home in Oswego. There were a few lil ones running around and it was nice to have a meet and greet with the men and their friends kids. Next up will be when Chuck and Liz pop their two additions Coming Soon! Thanks Nico & Courtney for having us over!

And Sunday was finally here! Chris and I were up at DBG (David Barton Gym) in the morning and he was on his way to tailgate and attend the Bears game.

Sam, Monkey, Chris & Todd @ the game!

Tailgating for this group is very high class. I have only been to one tailgate with them but it's like a living room without a roof. Comfy seats, grilling, and of course a flat screen tv.

Haap Happy!

2008-09-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

My best friend, Ann well her boyfriend, Ian co-founded a company called

Yes, it has a bad word in it, but it is bad ass and stands for:

"Holler At A Player When You See Him In The Streets"

Here is a pic of Ann and the entrepreneur himself. Aren't they a cute couple?

I am a HUGE fan of Ian's as I don't think I have liked any guy Ann has dated (I feel like her mother), but Ian is #1 and I pray the last one :-)

Here's a great quote from the Haap site:

"As an entity, Haapwyshits is not a company, but a lifestyle concept. We are more than a brand. We are more than a magazine. We aim to raise your standard of urban-influenced living. We strive to bring the streets to the people . . . and we mean your streets."

Ya hooked yet? Well to hear more and learn what they're all about go to http://www.haapwyshits.com/ or the link is always posted to the left under "our fav's."

Chris and I have our very own Haap shirts, every time I have worn mine it's always a conversation piece. You have to order yours TODAY! http://www.shophaap.com/

"Like a mug"

Jam Packed Trip to California!

2008-09-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Well Chris and I made another trip for 2008. This time with who seem to be our main travel buddies "Team Slena." JUST KIDDING, I would hate for Sam to endure any ridicule like Chris has :-) This was Chris and my third trip with the duo of Sam and Lena! We have been to Cabo, Lake Charlevoix and now California with these two. But they're always a good time!

We went to many places in California for a looong weekend in September from Wed-Mon. We made quite a few stops during those 6 days! So here we go with the re-cap, fyi it's somewhat long.

We landed in CA on Wednesday, Sam's mom picked us up from the airport and we headed to the parents house in Fullerton to drop off our bags. Chris and I were immediately on the road headed to Grandma's house in Escondido about an hour drive away. Chris had never met Grandma Joe or Aunt Diane. We visited with them for a few hours, had LOTS of laughs hearing the latest adventures of Gma and Aunt Diane (they're always up to something), had some delicious shrimp cocktail, spaghetti and carrot cake. It was very nice to visit since I had not seen either of them in about a year!

The next day Chris, Sam, Lena and I dropped Mrs. Glomp off at Sam's parents boat and we were on our way to LA! After Lena and I bopped in and out of a few stores, we felt "crunched" since the guys were in tow and wanted no part in shop hopping so we were off to get a bite to eat. There were a few "pappi's" out waiting to catch a glimpse of a celeb but unfortunately no sightings for us :-( We had a great lunch at Urth Cafe and then relaxed at the hotel.

For dinner we were off to Koi where my cousins, JP and Jimmy met us out and then to the bar!

The next day we were up and off to get some Hollywood tourist pics and on our way back to the boat in Marina del Ray!

I'm glad I was able to visit LA since I had never been but must say it made me really appreciate and miss CHICAGO!!

Thursday and Friday we spent some time at Venice Beach so Sam and Chris could play a lil basketball and on to Sam's parents boat. They have a gorgeous sailboat that we actually slept on Friday night. I had never slept on a boat! Saturday during the day we hung out on the boat and sailed on the ocean for a few hours, very relaxing....

Thanks again Mr. & Mrs. Glomp for taking us out!

Sunday, the boys were off to watch the Bears game and golf at the course Sam's parents live on. The girls were off to the spa for massages and lunch. Sam's mom took Lena and I to quite literally the nicest spa I have ever been to. Thanks Mrs. Glomp!!!

Our last night in California......

Monday it was back to Chicago. All in all another GREAT trip!

Thanks Mr. & Mrs. Glomp for the sailing, hospitality and delicious meals

(especially the crepes!)

Sam Turns 31 Years Young

2008-09-08T15:38:00.001-07:00

Chris and I were busy celebrating birthdays last week. On top of my Dad's 60th we rewound about 30 years from that milestone to celebrate Sam's Birthday, Chris' best friend and roommate of 11 years (whoa that's a long time)

Sam was celebrating 31 years of life and his girlfriend, Lena organized a birthday dinner at Terragusto Cafe in Roscoe Village in Chicago with a few friends....OK more like 16 friends :-)

Chris and I had never been to this restaurant but being a former Roscoe Village resident myself I was excited to check it out and it was BYOB which is always a +! This restaurant has a set menu in place each night that involves various dishes. I seriously think we had eight different entrees passed at our table. On top of a set menu, it's also a different menu every night! What a great concept and the food is excellent, very gourmet and very reasonable. A wise choice for large group celebrating as it is small yet quaint and there's no problems when the bill comes because you can just split it evenly since you all ate the same thing, another +!

side note: Nina you have to check out this restaurant, it's right up your alley.

Helping Sam celebrate were a few of Lena's friends and her siblings. Along with Rooster, soon-to-be Mrs. Rooster, Todd, Bob and Monkey. Yes the same Monkey who likes to take his shirt off at weddings in the post below. This night he managed to keep his clothes on.

After we ate and drank a few we were on our way to Riverview, yet another ol' hangout of mine back in my Roscoe days. Riverview was actually my old neighbor, the damen girls did carryout salads and cheese fries one too many times from this fine establishment.

Chris and I with Lena in tow left the bar around 1.30am because well Chris had a few too many and Lena had to work at 8am. But Sam, Bob and Todd took on the rest of the early morning hours like champs and stayed out till bout 3am. But hey, that's what birthdays are for!

Happy Birthday Sam!

We're glad we were able to celebrate with you

"Another shot? Why not..."

Dad Welcomes 60 With Open Arms!

2008-09-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

Well September 2008 finally came and my Dad (aka Skip, I call him by his first name A LOT lately not sure why) turned the BIG 6-0 on Thursday, September 4th. We have been having this countdown to 60 for a few years now. 5 years til 60, 3 years til 60, 1 year til 60, 1 month til 60 all the way down til the day before making the announcement amongst ourselves. After all 60 is a big one, no offense but does sound a bit older than 59. When I think of 60 I think about retirement and grandchildren - neither of which are on the horizon for Skip anytime in the near future. But I told him not to worry as I'll feel the same way come April when I'll kiss the 20's good-bye and welcome the big 3-0. And a week after me, my mom will take the plunge to welcome 60! She probably wants to kill me for just broadcasting that on the internet.

The biggest question is

"what to do to commemorate 60 years on earth?"

No parties for Skipper and as most know his #1 love that we sometimes question may come before his own family is tech-y, gadget-y, latest and greatest computer, video games, websites - anything to do with TECH. Oh and how could I almost forget his favorite accessory is his iPhone. His heros are Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. That's what he likes and interests him the most. And I don't blame him on the party part, same ol, same ol.....

So we decided to have a quiet and calm night at that new theater by O'Hare called Muvico. That night was like the tsunami so indoors was the place to be. And right up Skip's alley as a high-tech and fancy theater. This place has a full out restaurant inside that you can eat your meal while watching your flick if you choose to do so. Even has VIP seating that includes valet, free popcorn and "balcony" seating. I highly suggest your next movie date you see it at this theater, you won't be going to AMC or Kerasotes ever again.

Attending the quaint birthday celebration was my parents, Joey & Jen and Chris. Chris is slowly but surely breaking through the barriers into the Coghill circle of trust, baby steps. Justin wasn't able to attend since he's busy working in Vail, CO (we question the working part as it looks more like extreme sports fun to me). We ate dinner (thanks for dinner Aunt Diane!), opened gifts and took our cake and coffee into the movie to see "Traitor."

We thought the movie was gonna be so-so but it was a great movie and reiterates your hatred towards terrorists and those whacks over in those "other countries." Vote for McCain! Oops, maybe just went too politically and opinionated for the blog post :-)

But all in all was a good birthday celebration and I think my dad has accepted 60. Had a big hangup on the number as he still thinks he is the guy in the pic below :-)

I must ask who agrees that this picture above in a weird freakish way looks exactly like Joey (my brother)??? Scary....

Happy Birthday Dad!

WTH (what the hell) Competition!

2008-09-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

My Dad fwd'd me this discovery. ANOTHER Chris and Jenna blog!?
I looked at their blog for about 2.5 seconds but mine is def better! Just thought was ironic that there's another Chris and Jenna out there AND that they have a blog together?
http://www.chrisandjenna.com/

Chris' First Carbondale Trip!

2008-09-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

I went to SIU and per the post below became friends with Nina. Luckily she is a Carbondale native, therefore, I have been fortunate enough to have gone back to Carbondale many, many times since graduating from the town near and dear to my heart.

But this past Labor Day weekend was Chris' first Carbondale trip! He was not as excited as I was to visit my almamater, although a stroll thru Saluki territory was not the highlight of my trip to good ol' C-dale either. But to stay at "Seven Gables," Nina's parents house is the true vaca-like experience I wanted him to have. They call their compound Seven Gables b/c there are seven peaks on top of the house and their home is really where they spend all their time and the way they live there NObody would ever want to leave! The service and friendly staff (Nina's parents LOL) at Seven Gables is second to none and I LOVE visiting there.

We came in late Friday, got in around 9.30-ish and Ian came in shortly there after. This weekend was Ian, Ann's boyfriends' first trip to C-Dale as well. We had a few beers from the tapper in the basement and talked til about 1am discussing everything under the sun and reminiscing on old stories. I have to live thru Chris and his friends reminiscing all their stories so this weekend was payback.

The next day was jam-packed so had to get in the pool quickly to get that out of the way. We hung out by the pool for awhile and were graced by the presence of Mandy and her 1yr old, Parker.

Then on to "where it all began..." with a trip to the Sig Kap house. But the worst thing that could ever happen - nobody was home! All the girls had apparently left campus b/c of the holiday weekend. None the less we hung out on the front porch for a bit and had a photo shoot with the front sign and the old swing. Many cigs were smoked and gossip shared on that swing back in the day after one of Patty the cook's gourmet meals. That house was my roof for three years during my college days, it's really a shame we couldn't get in, oh well next trip!

Next stop after touring around the campus and sorority house was Quatro's Pizza. Our FAV pizza joint and a must visit on all C-Dale trips. I really wanted Chris to DIE over this pizza the way I do but he simply said that there's a pizza place similar at ISU...that's so annoying.

Next stop after our stroll down memory lane in Carbondale was Bluesky Winery! What a GREAT place and exciting preview for Chris and my trip to Napa in April.

We had a few pitchers of Sangria and back to the homefront to get ready for the baseball game. Can you believe it's still Saturday?? We were busy!

We left the winery and played our new favorite car game on the 15 min drive home, "Categories." Who knew Nina and I could really hold our own in the gansta rapper category?

Nina had some extra "TIMIKE" (Tim and Mike in one word, get it?) shirts for Ann and I to wear. Tim is the baseball player that their family is hosting at their home right now and Mike, another player on the team and his family are very close to Nina and her parents. They were buzzing in and out of the house just as much as we were! Grand Central Station!

Mandy, Ann, Nina and Myself @ the Game!

Ann and Ian being newlyweds!

Below is a pic of the group at the game!

After the game we headed home for some food (of course, since we hadn't eaten in over an hour we were due) and off to our old stomping grounds with a first pit stop at Gatsby's. How we used to just DIE over this bar like it was the greatest time ever I don't know? And I think Chris was dumbfounded and confused how on earth we thought this bar was ever fun? But it def was, when it's filled with everybody who knows your name like on Cheers it's a good time - trust me. But we're old now so not so fun anymore...

one tequila, two tequila, three tequila - FLOOR! J/K, they only had one round of tequila. After a few laps around Gatsby's we were off to Pinch Penny Pub, aka: Pinch or P3. This place was a bit more happening (mind you it was a holiday weekend) but the scene wasn't much better. Although Chris, Ann and Ian managed to down a C-Dale fav and P3 original, a Green Dragon. Not sure what the recipe is for this concoction but its other name is "completely blasted in a plastic cup." Needless to say all three of them were bit by the dragon come the next morning.

These three look normal but they still have half their green dragons left, trust me it got ghetto fab in the car.

DJ Saltwater and Ann were rapping on the way home and DJ Smalls was in the front seat breakin' it down. Nina and I were dead sober, not good to be around 3 people who think they are Ghet-To rappers drugged by the dragon.

DJ Smalls workin' it in the front seat.

Sunday eventually came, we had a short morning dip in the pool. Followed by a wonderful brunch by yours truly the dyanmic cooking duo, G&V (Nina's parents). They always make specially for me my signature dill eggs :-)

We weren't ready to hit the road just yet, we decided to relax with a flick in the movie theater room before our departure.

Below is our final photo shoot in the gazebo out back before the five hour trek back to Chicago.

You may view all the C-Dale wkend pics on Nina's blog.

Thanks again to Nina and G&V for another wonderful trip to Carbondale!

Can't wait to see you again soon!

How the Blog All Started...Nina OMLR (our most loyal reader)

2008-09-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce to you one of my best friends and former Chicago roommate, Nina. Most of you reading the blog know her very well but some may not.....

She is the sole reason for the Cogski Blog as she is a blogger herself and with a lil encouragement and good points noted she talked me into starting a blog and I now love my blog! (Chris loves it too even though he'd never admit it to anyone but me, just trying to give a lil more fuel for his friends.)

I met Nina in the fall of 1999 when she rushed the sorority and she is what some may call an "old soul" (I am often branded with the same title). She cares about her friends, her family VERY much and is great at making sure everyone is comfortable, happy and content! She's a host-est with the most-est at heart but sure buzzes around with her many projects she has going. She's a short lil thing but moves quick! And for some unknown reason has a great lil bod for not seeing the light of a gym ever, but then again you should see her mother!

Nina secretly has Carrie Bradshaw living somewhere inside of her, you HAVE to check out her blog! You'll be hooked and find yourself still reading after an hour. Folks, she's got a lot of great posts, cute gift ideas and "MCO's" (aka "must check out's"). You can find her blog link on the left hand side of my blog under "Our Fav's" or you can go to http://ninabucciarelli.blogspot.com/. Be sure to check in regularly, she's an addictive and witty lil writer!

I lived with Nina in the sorority house and in Chicago (she coined the "Damen Girls" phrase) and she is the bestest friend anybody could ask for. Above is a photo from Summer 2007 when the Damen Girls at that time (Ann, Nadia, Nina and Me) took a visit down to Carbondale to stay at her parents house.

She is currently residing in C-dale but we are still able to see her quite often including a recent trip to Seven Gables (aka Nina's parents house) a blog post recapping that weekend to come shortly.

Love you Neenah :-) and thanks for such a great weekend!

I have to make a note about her parents in this post as well. Nina learned all her host-est with the most-est tricks from her mom and dad who we like to call G & V (aka Greg & Vic). They are the nicest parents around (aside from my own of course :-) and always make our C-dale trips ones to remember! On top of memories we always leave with an extra 5lbs from all the great food, not kidding. This couple is one for the books in the kitchen, and they make cooking look so easy and enjoyable. Thanks G&V for all the hospitality! Aren't they the hottest most hip parents you've ever seen?

Simply put, they are both "SO FUN" :-)

OMLF ("our most loyal fan")

2008-08-25T15:19:00.001-07:00

The following is an ode to none other than Ryan Petersen!

aka: Petey, Pete, Poop, Petey-Poop, Conehead, a name I will leave off my pg-13 blog...and a few others I can't think of right now.

He loves taking his shirt off :-)

Since the debut of the blog he has been quintessential in promoting the blog and texting me "blog it!!!" or "let's blog!" numerous times over the weekend. Therefore, I thought how appropriate that I do a post on our beloved entertaining friend.

I have known Ryan for years as we both went to SIU and he dated and married my friend, Jill. Chris has known Ryan longer since they are both from Rockford. Both Chris and I were in the Petersen's wedding in June 2007, sort of where we met :-)

Ryan is a great friend and is always good for a few dozen laughs to boot! He loves telling Chris and I that if we have children they will need to wear helmets, I have heard him say this about 30 times but everytime...so funny!

Twins on the Way!

2008-08-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

Chuck and Liz Knapp (Chris' friends from college and the guest of honor at the memorable bach party) are expecting twins in about six weeks!! A boy, Chase and a girl, Reese - VERY exciting and cannot wait to meet both of them!

I met Liz, late last year at the guys' annual Christmas party but I think I was three sheets to the wind and did not remember. But after re-meeting and spending time with her at the Bears game and the wedding she is one of my new favorite people!

I wasn't able to snag a pic of them together but below is Cortney and Liz (right) and Chris and Chuck at the Bears game last week.

CONGRATS!!

Chad & Bridget's Rehearsal and Wedding

2008-08-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

Friday evening was Chad and Bridget's Rehearsal and Dinner for their wedding taking place the following day. The wedding was held at the Bloomingdale Golf Club and the rehearsal dinner was at Almalfi's in Bloomingdale. It was a fun evening to help celebrate Chad and Bridget's festivities for the next day - the BIG day!

Above is a pic of Sam, Chad and Chris who have been roommates and co-home owners for the past three years. I'm really pissed we didn't get a pic with Bridget but she was a really busy soon-to-be bride buzzing around saying hi to everyone :-)

The wedding was BEAUTIFUL! Perfect day, there was worry of rain but it stayed away. Bridget looked flawless in her dress and a short ceremony which is always a great thing.

CONGRATS TO CHAD & BRIDGET

the reception was a blast from what we can all remember of it. I had a short meltdown when I thought I lost my camera (how will I blog?? LOL) and Chris scurried everywhere looking for it and it was in his pocket, typical. I think I drank 3 bottles of wine myself. Of course it was crazy on the dance floor and gotta love Cricket and Monkey taking their clothes off at your wedding. Like Chris says, "if you don't want complete chaos at your wedding then don't invite us." Those of you not familiar with this group are probably thinking to yourself "who are Cricket and Monkey?" Folks, they are actual people and the life of the party! Every wedding should have this duo at their event...hence the photo below pretty much sums it up!

Bears Game & Lena's Birthday!

2008-08-25T07:40:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday a bunch of us met in the Soldier Field parking lot for a lil tailgating before the game! This was my first Bears game in about 20 years yet Chris goes a few times every year. There was WAY too much food but was a fun time to sit around, drink and of course....reminisce. These guys' favorite thing to do :-). I think for the fifth time, I heard a rendition of Chuck's Bachelor Party....and yet again I hear new scary details of that frightful evening everytime I hear that story.

My Dad asked me the next day who won the game, and I honestly said I didn't know??? LOL. But the 49er's won the game and we headed back to our tailgating meeting point and somehow Mikey and Ryan talked us into going to Bird's Nest with them??

The evening at the Bears game was also Lena's 28th birthday! Her sister brought cupcakes and she looked like she was having a good time by the time we were on the bus headed to the field.

Happy Birthday Lena!!!

Baby on the Way!

2008-08-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

Chris' good friends Kurt & Julie just found out they are expecting a baby! Lord knows when it's due b/c Chris doesn't find out important information such as that. So I will have to update you when I have this ever so important date! :-)

Congrats to Kurt and Julie!

Painting!

2008-08-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

Well the time has come that Chad moved out of 1827 N. Mozart as him and Bridget are getting married this Saturday! Congrats to Chad & Bridget!

So that meant we needed to tackle painting Chad's room so I could start moving all of my stuff in. The walls as you can tell from the pictures were a dark baby blue color, not my favorite color.

As most of you know I love beige and taupe type colors. So after a couple trips to Home Depot we picked out the color we wanted and got to work Saturday evening after dinner. I'm not the handy type and figured the painting would only take a couple hours, no big deal. OMG we spent hours taping everything and putting two coats of primer on Sat night and hit the hay a lil bit after 1am!? We only had one accident for the evening....I slipped and fell on my drop cloth and landed right on my tailbone and got some paint on the floor but more on myself. Chris just stood there I think more in shock b/c it was a pretty good fall. Sunday morning we got right back at it putting an additional TWO coats of the actual paint color. Kill me. It sucked big time but now it is very pretty and not blue :-)

A nice big room and better yet a nice big closet!

Oh and did I mention we cleaned a few of the blinds in the house as well? Yea that was a great idea. My brilliant idea was to clean them in the whirlpool which turned into a messy nightmare and Chris came up with the idea to clean them outside! Lightbulb moment (for me).

Thank god that's all over with!