dot is my car. i think porta named her. she has been through a lot with me. i love my car. she's so fun to drive. so much fun, that i think that i will forever favor manual cars.

when i bought dot, i threw all practicality out the window. she wasn't the most affordable. she wasn't going to be able to fit a ton of people in her comfortably. she wasn't the safest. she wasn't going to drive well in the snow. she wasn't domestic. i think the only thing that she had going for her was her gas mileage. i think the only thing i cared about was 1) if i liked how it looked and how it drove and 2) if my snowboard would fit inside. i knew that this was probably going to be the last fun car i owned before kids and family dictated my vehicle. i knew that after this car, i'd probably be buying gm. gm - the auto maker that makes cars that look like they were made for older men. but how could i - in good conscience - not buy gm with eric working so hard for them?

i was right. the time is now. in preparation for the third baby boy agustin, eric and i have no choice but to both get new cars. my car is here. despite having to give up my very fun and cute car, i am pretty excited about the new one. the saturn outlook. in cocoa. lots of fun extras. i'm thrilled that there is a gm car out there that i can be happy to own. in fact, we both like the car so much that we're his and hers outlooks. awww.

i think it's time to get behind gm...so i am. if i can do it, so can anyone. so just do it. eric and connie work really hard. it's fun to support them. and they can get you a discount. buy gm. yay!

labor day weekend brain dump:

it started on my birthday, which was spent mostly in a meeting at our headquarters in lansing. fast forward to a quick stop home to finish packing and then to my mom's. she's so cute. she tried calling me several times that day, and when she finally got a hold of me, she asked if i was going to eat pancit. (it's tradition to eat pancit or long noodles on your birthday....the long noodles translate into a long life apparently.) i told her no, so she told me she'd make me some. thanks, mommy! it was really important to her that i ate pancit on my birthday. i think it makes my mom happy that she can still take care of me in that way.

8/29/07, 10pm - leave for chicago, 3 hrs later than the planned time of departure.

the boys were so good the entire weekend. i thought they would be a little crazy from being in the car for so long. turns out leaving around their bedtime was pure genius on our part. they weren't thrown off their schedule one bit.

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got to spend time with donna - a lot of that time was just attempting to go to the shedd aquarium. for future reference: do not attempt to go to shedd aquarium the day of a chicago bears tailgate/game unless you want to pay $40 to park. we didn't, so we went to navy pier and the children't museum. i missed out on lazo's tacos because i was celebrating kelly's bachelorette-hood on the chicago odyssey. great food, fun times, gorgeous view...and the best part: entirely free!

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construction traffic in chicago is terrible. i really hate traffic, and i kind of turn into an angry monster when i have to sit in it for a very long time. it is just ridiculous when it takes an hour to move a mile.

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kelly and ariel's wedding was wonderful. the church was beautiful, kelly and ariel looked beautiful, the trolley was a fun time. i love weddings...especially now that i'm married. there's something so awesome about uniting one's life with another and making that vow to constantly choose to love someone with one's whole self. it's so hard, but so worth it a thousand times over.

for the most part, i was able to control the tears...except for when kelly asked me to lead the prayer right before she walked down the aisle. and except for when they were signing their marriage license. i was thinking how cool it was that they signed their license during the ceremony, and i heard the choir singing.

wherever you go, i will go
wherever you live, i'll be with you
wherever you lie, i'll be there beside you
wherever you go, i'll be there...

so beautiful. how could you not cry? so congrats (again), ariel and kelly! SO excited that you'll be in michigan together!!

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we spent some time with steen and phil on sunday. i love them (and their little dog, yoshi, who might be the best dog in the whole world - and that says a lot, being that i am so not a dog person). i really miss spending time with steen...we used to be inseperable before college. and then we both kind of did our own thing for a few years. it's nice to be able to reconnect after all that time. our 10-year high school reunion is at the end of the month...should be very interesting.

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completely unrelated to labor day weekend: my mom is having me and my brother give her away at her wedding in october. doesn't that make you want to cry?