The Islands: part 1

One of the best parts about our trip was obviously the islands. We stopped in 3 ports: Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. They were all gorgeous, average temperature of 90 degrees and crystal clear waters.


1st up: Nassau, Bahamas -
After much debate, we decided to swim with stingrays as our first excursion. The girls we were hanging out with also came with us. Unfortunately our time in Nassau was short, so the excursion took up our whole time there and we didn't get to explore much of the island. That's okay though, we had a great time. We took a ferry boat to a little, and I mean little, island called Pearl Island. The view getting there was gorgeous. On the way, we saw the Atlantis hotel, one of Oprah's homes, as well as some other huge celebrity homes owned by the likes of Tiger Woods, Chuck Norris and Barry Bonds right off the water. Once there, we started by snorkeling. Corey had never gone before and really enjoyed it. The waters were a little choppy, but once we learned to relax and go with the flow, we saw a lot of cool fish.

Then we moved to the other side of the island where we got to swim with the stingray. Our guide CJ "Ya Man!" had a very stereotypically Caribbean fun, relaxed, cool attitude. He was a ton of fun and put anyone's fears at ease by telling them not to think about what happened to Steve. Stingray deaths are EXTREMELY rare. I wasn't nervous at all. Once in the water, it was my goal (one of them) to see a sea turtle which I was told were around. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show, because most of them were taken with a disposable underwater camera, but it was so cool though. The stingray glided though the water and surprisingly it was really beautiful. CJ caught a little sea turtle and let us see it up close. I also found a huge sea turtle near the bottom of area where we were swimming. We ended the excursion by actually petting and holding a stingray ourselves. They feel like a wet mushroom. So cool. Thanks for the advice everyone.

As we headed back to the ship, we stopped to try some conch fritters (delicious) and get a couple souvenirs. There are little kids everywhere selling tchatchkies. They'd come up to us and ask for a dollar if they sing you a song. How can you resist?

The only bad thing that happened was that I cut my toe, I assume, on a rock at the bottom of the ocean. It bled a lot, but didn't hurt too much. I was mostly concerned with the ugliness of the band-aid on my toe in sandals for the rest of the week. So, we came up with a solution....

No one could tell the difference :)

My Big Fat Eating Cruise

It's been a little over a week since we got back from vacation. Last night, I finally finished unpacking. Normally I'm pretty good about staying on top of things such as working out, waking up at a decent hour, eating well, cleaning etc, but after this trip it was really hard to get back into the swing of things.

I've been trying to figure out the best way to tell you about all about our cruise. There were so many great things about it. I guess I'll just split it up in categories. The first is probably the main reason I've had a hard time getting adjusted to regular life. It's also one of the main staples on a cruise. THE FOOD!


The first thing you have to know about the food on a cruise is the sheer volume of it. Not only are the portions humongous, but it's always available.


There's the casual dining on the Lido deck where we usually ate breakfast. Ahh, bacon in the Bahamas, can't beat that. The Lido deck also has a 24 hour pizza bar and 24 hour soft serve ice cream. Every day, they'd also have a different theme - A Mexican buffet or "Taste of Italy." We ate it all. Seriously.















Most nights we ate diner in the formal dining room. Since the group we were with had been on several cruises, they taught us the right way to order. If you're looking at the menu and can't decide between two appetizers, order both! The steak AND the lobster sound delicious, okay! Need 3 desserts? No one will judge.




This is from the chocolate buffet out on the Lido deck one day. No, that's not sushi, that's delicious heavenly dessert!



The formal dining room also offered a lot of new foods I hadn't tried. If I'm at a restaurant, I won't order something I'm not sure that I'll like because I don't' want to spend the money on it if I don't end up eating it. Since everything was included on the ship, I was adventurous and tried it all.

Surprisingly, escargot is really good. Granted it was soaked in garlic butter and I ate it on some toast, so I probably just loved the butter, but still. I ate snails!





Lobster's not too bad either, though I was nervous about trying it.

Midnight Buffet

One of the most impressive parts about the food was 'The Grand Buffet.' One night only they had a midnight buffet. Just to help you realize the impressiveness of this, they open the buffet 45 minutes early, just for picture taking. It's like something you'd see on Food Network.














The elaborate carvings are all made out of food.

This palm tree is made out of watermelon!










The birds are made out of butternut squash!









It was all ridiculously rich and an overindulgent treat at midnight. Sometimes I still wake up in the middle of the night with a faint smell of chocolate in my nostrils.

"THE FOOD" overall favorites

Overall, the whole food experience was amazing.
From the edible sculptures, to trying new foods and the great company, it was so much fun.
















I know quail isn't exotic, but it was new to me. Coochie, coochie, coo - aren't they adorable?!





In the dining room with the girls. Some of you might recognize Anna sitting next to me (my maid of honor and best friend since I was a baby), but these other girls quickly became friends too.

Corey's favorite, almost to a scary point - The Chocolate Melting Cake. I believe he ordered it every night. Also believe me when I say, you do not mess with Corey's Chocolate Melting Cake.












One of the best parts about dinner was our double jointed waiter - Subi. His great Indonesian accent and strange sense of humor made the experience that much better.

...And We're back!

We're home and I just don't understand what this white stuff on the ground is. It doesn't feel good between my toes, it's not warm or have a salty body of water rushing over it. No, it's freezing and wet and icky. The only thing good about coming back to cold snow is that our godlike bronzed bodies are the envy of everyone.

We had a blast on our cruise. Hands down the best vacation either of us have ever taken. I'm sorry we don't have more pictures up yet, don't worry, we'll get more up through out the week. We have over 300 of them to wade through, so it takes some time.

So what did we do? Well, besides eating like kings non-stop, we also snorkled, swam with stingrays (thanks for the advice everyone - it was amazing), parasailed over a nude beach, shopped, haggled and bought a 5, yes, 5 carat sapphire pendant necklace. We relaxed in some of the most gorgeous scenery with the bluest waters you've ever laid eyes upon. We met some really great people. We were with a group of about 25 in all. I knew about 10 or so from when I was a kid, but only Anna, my best friend, very close. Anna lives with 5 other girls, so for most of the trip it was us 6 girls and Corey. He was a total stud. The girls were SOOO much fun. They made something as simple as dinner a blast. We've definately made some lifetime friends. And we'll definately be going on another cruise with them in the future.

Now we're just settling back into real life. I'll be honest, it's rough. I was heading over to the copy machine this morning at work and couldn't find the 24 hour soft serve ice cream maker. Boo.

-Mo

See You, Suckers!

Our life is so hard

We've come across a very difficult decision in our life. If you know us well, you know that we don't do well with making decisions. We leave for Florida tomorrow. As we're finalizing everything, we have to start making decisions about such things as which excusions to book. They strongly encourage you to book anything that's a 'must do' ahead of time to make sure it doesn't fill up. So, which do we do? Swim with the stingray, which includes snorkeling. Or a dolphin encounter, which is not an official 'swim with the dolphin' activity, but is still freakin' dolphins. In either choice we'd get to feed and pet them, though I think the dolphin one is more expensive and in more of a pool or even just a platform type environment versus in an open cove like the stingray would be, but it's still freakin' dolphins. Anyone had experience with either? I think we're leaning towards the stingray. Seriously, what a rough life.

Holiday Pictures

With our crazy Holiday schedules, I realized we haven't had anytime to post many pictures. So... here's a few fun shots from the last couple months.


Annual Turkey Bowl. No broken bones!














While the boys played ball, I played with the kids. My niece Mikalea and Colin Brustad and I ran around the track for what seemed like hours. That little boy is ADORABLE. When we weren't playing our own version of football he was playing the the improv game, "show us how to get down."







Corey, Andi, Brie and Pete enjoying 'The Nutcracker."















Enjoying Millenium Park! Ahh, BFF's.















Some random Christmas Ho, Ho, Ho

Santa!

Don't tell the kids. Becoming Santa isn't easy. This was the second year Corey played Santa for my office's "Kid's Day." Though it's only about a half hour worth of work, it's the longest half hour of the year.

Wii Did It!

Much like the "Tickle Me Elmo," Ferbies, and Cabbage Patch Kids of yore, one of the must-have toys this year was the Nintendo Wii System. Once we decided to buy one we spent much of the weekend looking for it. We went from store to store finding out they were sold out. You'd think in a city this big the manufacturers would've sent extras in anticipation of the demand. This whole limited release thing is all a marketing ploy, one that worked too.

Last night after work, we had some errands to run. We thought ahead of time and had listed the phone numbers and addresses of the Targets, Best Buys, Circuit Cities, GameStops and Toys R Us...s within resonable driving distance. Each place we called had the same answer, "Sold Out." We'd pretty much given up hope. Then literally the last place on the list surprised us when they said they did have some in stock. The race was on!

Of course it was the Target located way up north, so we weaved in and out of traffic as fast as we could in rush hour traffic trying to get there before they sold the last one. After a half an hour had past we called again to double check. They still had some. Corey was driving like a bat out of hell, and as we pulled up to the Target I jumped out before the car even stopped, forming a beautiful tuck and roll, movie style! Okay, that part's not exactly true, but I was rushing. While he parked the car, I headed to the game area of the store. In most Targets, the electronics area is on the right hand side, so that's the side where Corey let me off. Of course, this was one of those backward stores. I raced down the aisle, calling Corey on his cell and telling him to meet me on the other side. Right as I got to the Wii case, I saw there were only two left and there was a man in line in front of me getting ready to buy one. We literally got the last one in the store!!!! We got a Wii! Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Good thing, cause I was ready to throw down for the last one if necessary.

And oh my God it's so awesome. The graphics aren't quite as good as, say the PS3 or XBox, but it has the added feature of being interactive. When playing tennis, you're literally standing in your living room swinging the controller to hit the ball. The sensors in the controller even make it feel like you hit a ball. It's so much fun! Upon the advice of a friend we also got the game "Rayman Raving Rabbids." Hilariously fun to throw cows, "dance" and shoot plungers at rabbits. This system is a blast to play, but you've got to be prepared to look like a fool. I was cracking up watching Corey shaking one of the two controllers as fast as he could in order to shoot carrot juice at the rabbits coming out of the water wearing snorkel gear. So Weird.

Corey of course also got NFL Madden 07. You actually make the motions of throwing a ball with the controller, not just push a button when you're the quarterback. Who knows, maybe I'll learn how to play too so I can officially be the coolest wife on the block! Anyone up for games?

Holiday Recap

Christnika has come and gone. So much food! After Thanksgiving, Corey's cousin Anne asked us to bring back an old mixer she was getting from her Aunt. As a joke, I told her we would but only if she gave us some cookies that she made with it. She wasn't kidding when she agreed. We got about 7 different kinds of cookies, just from her, not to mention candy from Pete and the almond brittle we bought. Yikes!
We didn't focus on gifts too much this year. Corey and I didn't exchange any at all, but we did get some great shirts from my mom and spending cash from my dad and Corey's parents for our trip.
One of the best gifts we got was the Match Game DVD collection from Pete. It's a ton of fun to watch: the hilarious 70's awkward sexual innuendos and host Gene Rayburn along with Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers get more and more drunk throughout the episodes. Apparently the liquor was free flowing and they would tape a weeks worth of episodes in one day. Must be a nice job to have.


Saturday we went to The Chicago Cultural Center to see "Puppets, Music, Masks Tell Tale of Nutcracker and King of Mice." Our friend Emily was a puppeteer for these handmade marionette characters. It was very impressive. First of all the show was great, but I was impressed that Emily could play 3 main characters plus others throughout the whole show. I don't know how she kept the voices straight. Though, much like Emily, I'm sure I'd be pretty sick of little kids by the end of the run. Seriously, if you take your child to see a show, teach them to respect the art. Just because it's a puppet show, doesn't make it okay for them to jump around on stage, peer behind the curtain and lift up the stage draping. Get a leash for your child or teach them manners! Sheesh! Anyways, if you're in the Chicago area, and can be respectful, you should definitely check it out. I think there are still a few performances left.

On Sunday, we had both friends and family over for Christinka dinner. And late that night there was even a Colin Murray sighting. Apparently kids, if you leave out beer and cookies, he'll magically appear in your living room. He really does exist!

I say we didn't exchange gifts, but now that I think about it I guess we are going to do a belated Christnika gift for ourselves. We decided to buy a Nintendo Wii. Briette, Corey and I drove to several electronics stores looking for the damn toy, but of course because of the Christmas rush, they were sold out. The one craze we actually get on and we're too late. Man! When I want something, I want it now!

Next up is New Years Eve! So far we don't have any major plans, no one I know does, but I do have an 07' goal: Talk Briette and her husband into moving to Chicago. I'll keep you posted as to how that goes.

-Mo

No time

AHHHH!!! I'm going crazy, so busy, so much to do. I've been booked with clients after my regular job, back to back all week.
Corey's been busy running around helping get ready for Christmas.
No time to stop!
The only thing keeping me going is the extra money and the cruise in...count it..16 days!

Just a quick update

Time is flying by...only 18 days until the cruise! It's been a lot of fun trying to lose weight to fit into a bathing suit right after Thanksgiving and Christmas. Oh well, thank goodness for swimsuit coverups! Until then, things are busy as usual. Besides being gone every weekend, my business is booming. I've had at least 5 new clients just this month. Plus Friday we did a 'Schticky' improv show for Corey's company Holiday Party. Hopefully that will lead to future gigs with them. Saturday was our last ComedySportz gig for '07. We had to miss my company's party at The Drake, but that's okay, making money is better any day.

Last Monday and Tuesday, the boys, Blackpool Lights stopped by for a quick visit. They were in town for 2 nights to do a radio spot, photo shoot and show. Unfortunately I had to miss the concert because of a migraine, but Corey brought along a buddy who is now a big fan. I just want to adopt them all. Of course it was a late couple of nights, so last week we were still trying to catch up on sleep.

We're also getting ready for the family to come in for Christmas and Pete to stop in for Christnikah. This year we'll celebrate with a typical Mexican Feast, just like the days of Yore. Okay, nothing is typical about Christnika except for drinking, eating and hanging with loved ones. All of our shopping is done, except for the food. We've got an exciting night at Costco planned, followed by cleaning the house. Ahh! Domestic bliss!

This coming Friday is my company's 'Kid's Day.' Parents bring their kids to work where we plan activities such as decorating cookies and watching movies and then there's a special visit. Upon request, Corey will be playing Santa again this year. Apparently several kids have told their parents that they understand that Santa's helpers are the ones in the mall, but the REAL Santa comes to mommy and daddy's work. I don't think Corey's thrilled about the added pressure. He'll be fine though, he was nervous last year, but did such a great job that everyone has requested him back for future Kids Days.

-Mo

A hunting we will go...

Picture this...
Evergreen trees stand proud and tall, a babbling brook runs near your door where you could at any point step outside for a picnic on a checkered blanket. The fishing is a' plenty, especially near the waterin' hole, as is the moose and bear hunting. In fact, the moose are not only abundant, but taller than three men standing on each others' shoulder. You can take a trip in a canoe or just sit back in your rowboat, while the smell of fresh pine fills your nostrils as you look on to the beauty of natures wonders.

Sound like a wonderful camping vacation in the woods? Oh no, this was our hotel, The Stoney Creek Inn in Moline, Illinois. http://www.stoneycreekinn.com/

We had shows again this weekend in the Quad Cities. The hotel we regularly stay in was booked, so we had to stay somewhere different. To be honest, it was actually a really nice hotel, great amenities, wonderful service etc. However, it was also awesomely tacky.

The babbling brooke I spoke of was actually the pattern of the carpet running down the hall way. It had stones on one side and a checkered blanket pattern down the other. There were literally giant stuffed moose and bears in the hall and main foyer area. Throughout the hotel were signs for "the waterin' hole," "no hunting" etc. Of course these were in "log" font. That's not a default font in Microsoft. You have to go out and get that special!

The room was even better. All of the furniture, the desk, the chair, the rack for towels in the bathroom were "wooden." Maybe they were real at one point, but now they were covered with some sort of shellac. Above our bed were two pictures, one with rows of canoes and in the log font it said, 'Canoes,' the other was of rowboats and in case we didn't have it figured out, it said, 'Rowboats.' The bedspread was even more nauseating. It had the look of a quilt with out being a quilt, but in each square there was something different, a moose, a guy fishing, a bison or tree, etc. The lamps next to the bed looked like regular lamps until you got to the base. Then they were log cabins. Even the soap was themed. You'd wash your hands or put on lotion and smell like pinesol. We were cracking up.

This was about as close to camping as you'll see from the Madrittmasters.

Horny Manatee

Saw this on Conan, found it hilarious. Enjoy!

A three hour tour, a three hour tour.

Friday after work, we had to brave the cold even more. We had shows in Rock Island on both Friday and Saturday. Knowing that there was a storm a brewin', we called the night before to make sure there was a back up plan in case we were a few minutes late for the show Friday.
By the time we headed out, it had stopped snowing and for the most part, the roads were clear.
It takes about 3 hours to get to the Quad City area. We left Chicago at 4pm. We knew it would be cutting it close to make the 7pm show time, but figured that there was a back up plan in place, so if we were a little late, it'd be okay.
So everything was going just fine, we were on target to get there when needed. Then, we turned onto I-80.... and the horror began. Dunn, Dunn, Dunn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Traffic was literally bumper to bumper. Though the roads had been previously plowed, the wind must've blown snow back on and the cars had packed it down making it an icy, bumpy, somewhat treacherous drive.
Besides driving 20 miles per hour or slower, we had to deal with the literally hundreds of semi-trucks. Apparently the entire national trucking industry was unable to move that morning, so they all started down the road at the same time as us. Not only were there hundreds of semi's on the road, there were at least 40 trucks and other vehicles on the side and in the median that had slid off the highway. There were times that we actually came to a complete stop. On. The Interstate.
The 3 hour drive took us 7 hours to complete. Read that sentence again. It's only 8 1/2 to KC, we could have nearly driven home with that kind of time. Needless to say, we completely missed our show. Well, the show in front of an audience anyways. We actually had fun in the car, because we are, of course, hilarious. We had to do something to kill the time and not go insane. So we sang and laughed and butchered Christmas songs. Not once did we lose our cool at the other cars or curse the gods for allowing this luck to fall on us, we just enjoyed each others company. I'm pretty proud of that fact.

Saturday night coming home took us, obviously, 3 hours.

We have shows again this coming weekend. We're not risking it this time though. We're heading out at noon.

Oh yeah, this is the part I hate about Chicago

I know that everyone is experiencing major snow, so I'm not asking for any special pity, but DAMN this weather sucks. I love living here, but as I've said before, the part that makes it worse here in Chi-town is that you have to be out in these elements more.

Because we have a show out of town tonight, Corey drove to work. The normal 1/2 hour drive took him about an hour and 15 minutes. I'm going to leave work early and meet him near his office, so we can head straight for the show, knowing of course that there's no way we'll make it on time. So this morning we not only had to scrape the car and deal with the traffic, I also had to take the El downtown. It's not so much the cold that bothers me, but the wind.

To make matters worse, I realized this morning that I don't have a good winter coat. Somehow the one I used last year is just gone. Granted I did okay. I have a really heavy leather coat. I guess technically it's perfect for this kind of weather, but it's really heavy. Seriously, I can't move comfortably in it and my arms hurt after I take it off. It's definitely not going to work once we have just normal, cold winter weather versus this blizzardy weather. Also, my boots are also too big for me. Can I not buy properly fitting shoes? I don't know, I wonder myself. I remember loving them and wearing them last year, but now my foot is sliding around it, making it hard to walk in, especially in all the slosh. It's absolutely miserable out there.

Then, just to irritate me more, I get in the office and nobody's here. I could count on both hands how many people total are on my floor and I'm literally the only one in my department. Damn it! I should've listened to myself this morning and stayed in bed.
Oh well, at least I'll get a lot of work done.... Oh, who am I kidding? I'll just end up surfing the net all day.

-Mo

Happy Birthday Andi

Yesterday was Andrea Woody's birthday. Yes, the Andi that both the Chicago and KC friends love so much is now 26 years young.

Hopefully she's feeling alright this morning, because last night when we met up with her and friends at a local Mexican restaurant, she was DEFINITELY feeling alright after a couple hours of drinking margaritas. Maybe "Miss Andi" can work with her pre-school kids on their counting today, by having them count up to her blood-alcohol content. Except these kids are pretty young and may not be able to count that high. Oh well, they can at least work on their colors and point out the red in their teacher's eyes. Ha!

We love you girl and are so glad you moved here.

Happy Birthday, Andi!

Home from the holiday

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Well, it's over now. We're back home and a couple pounds heavier, but it was worth it. This year we had to drive back to KC because the flights were too expensive. It's an 8 hour trip, which sucks, but it was pretty cheap and Andi was good company.

The highlights of the weekend include: winning $140 at the casino, my sister & brother-in-law surprising the family by coming into town, seeing Blackpool Lights at the Record Bar, seeing our friends and playing with our nieces. Uncle Corey and Aunt Mo are becoming quite popular with Mikaela and Sam who are 4 and 2 1/2. We had a blast playing with them. Man, we are not used to being with kids all day. They wore us out.

But it's back to work now - boo! Yesterday was tough. I was dragging all day. Not just because I was tired (I took a 2 hour nap last night), but just feeling blue, don't really know why. It's probably just from coming back to work after a 5 day weekend. Life isn't too rough for me, though. As part of the Activities Committee, we made Christmas ornaments yesterday at work and had a delicious burrito party tray. Seriously, my job is so hard, you should pity me.

The next few weeks are going to fly by, however. We have a bunch of shows for various holiday parties on the books, and family coming into town for Christmas. Before you know it, it will be January....which means one thing.....THE CRUISE!

to be continued...

Patience Please

I know we owe you a post.
Both of us have just been super busy at work.
What? Monique actually works? I know, shocking.

Hang tight and we'll have something up soon.

Until then, imagine Pete dancing in the complete costume and makeup from the Broadway musical, "Cats." That'll keep you entertained for a while.....

Floor recap

Alright, update on the condo..... Our floors are done!!!!!
As we've talked about before, the jerkpods at Venter and Ass. messed up our floors time and time again. Their lack of communication skills continue to cause problems.
To recap:

1st - They didn't pay attention to our move-in date, or tell the floor guys the right date or something, but not only were we forced to move in a day later than expected, when we did move in (nearly 24 hours after they finished the coating) the floors weren't dry. Apparently since they hadn't installed the A/C and it was a humid day, the floors were still sticky. End result = footprints in the coating, ruined floors in the bedroom and hall just outside the bedroom door. Annoyed, but confident it would be taken care of soon.

2nd - We had agreed to set up a time to move the furniture out of our bedroom and stay overnight with a friend in order to have it redone. Instead, without telling us, they came in, recoated the floor, being careful not to move any furniture, only going around it. Since it is the floor, we of course walked on it. Since we weren't expecting the floors to be wet out of the blue, we tracked the tackiness and foot prints further into the hall and in the kitchen. End result = more of the floor ruined. Mad, we gave a stern talking to Elvis, he agreed to redo the floors at our convenience later.

3rd - AGAIN, the guys come in and redo the floors without telling us. This time, they kick out our guests that were staying with us, were rude to them and threatened us about not messing up the floors again. AGAIN they didn't bother to move furniture and only worked in the bedroom, not bothering with the hall or kitchen. End result = A fury from Corey and Monique like you've never seen. Screaming, cussing, name calling....

4th - Finally, the floors are done!!! Of course it didn't happen easily. We agreed to have them come over on a Monday. We spent the night before moving furniture and marking spots in the hall and kitchen. Well, there were so many foot prints that it just made more sense to have them do the entire hall up till the end of the kitchen area. We had Elvis come over before we left for work to show him what needed to be done. He promised to call when it was done. The plan was to stay the night at Anne's house and come home after work the next day, Tuesday. PLENTY of time for everything to dry.
At 3:00pm, I called to check on Elvis (of course he hadn't reached me). He informed me that they needed to do the floors all the way into the living room, because it wouldn't look good if we just stopped in the kitchen. Okay, fine. He also told me that they moved our furniture to the other side of the room and that we couldn't come home until Wednesday. That night Corey called to confirm why they were doing things they needed to do and express to him our frustration that he didn't warn us we'd have to stay out of our home another night. We didn't have an extra change of clothes and hadn't planned on eating out 2 days in a row. Still, we just wanted it done.
Then, on a whim we needed to stop by the house to reach in the door to where the spare keys to Anne's place were. We were shocked to see that the floors hadn't been touched. The only work these people did all day, was move our furniture. On top of it, they were going to make us stay out of the house an extra day for no good reason. We could walk right in. The floors weren't wet! Of course we called Elvis, asked him what the hell was going on. Their lack of communication had been the source of the problem yet again. Elvis had no idea what was going on w/the floors. He had just assumed the floors were wet. Even when we told him we weren't prepared to stay the night out more than one night, he still didn't look into it. IDIOT!
He even had the balls to blame us because they thought it was just going to be spots, not the whole hall. When we told him that we gave him ample opportunity to come look at it before, he complained that we always asked him to come at inconvenient times, in the morning or evening. WHAT!?!! Yes, I guess I shouldn't bother someone to do their work. Like these people haven't caused me to take enough time off work IDIOT! We slept in our own bed that night and they finished the job the next day. It was a hassle, but thank God that part is over!
Just a couple of punch list items left - only 5 months after we moved in.

Seriously, is buying a new place this difficult for everyone?

How Rude!

In the words of Stephanie Tanner - How Rude!

This morning I got on the El. In the seat in front of me there was a woman, about my age putting on her makeup. Not a big deal, but she did have her makeup case and purse and bag sprawled across the seat next to her. Train etiquette says not to take up an empty seat with your purse so that there's room for others to sit there.
Another older woman gets on the train and clearly wanted to sit in the seat next to the makeup lady. Now granted, there were other seats around, but maybe she wanted this specific seat because it was a window seat, or facing forward (some people get sick riding backwards). Either way, she asked the young lady if she could sit there. Train etiquette also says you should give up your seat for the elderly. Though it doesn't specifically address this rule to purses, it's safe to assume an older lady has more right to the seat than a bag does.
The girl actually told her no. "I'm getting up in a couple of stops." Then she just continued to put on her war paint for the day. The woman was sort of just dumbstruck. She stood around waiting for the girl to move.
Then I remembered that I too had been denied a seat by this jerkpod in the past. Just remembering it, I think I verbally uttered, "Well that's rude." I hope she heard me. Finally when her stop came, in a huff she gathered her stuff together, gave the old woman a dirty, "thanks for inconveniencing me" look and brushed by her, smacking her shoulder against the old woman's shoulder as she stormed off.
Myself and the other passengers just shook our heads at each other. Seriously, how hard is it to have a little consideration?

2nd trip - New York

The 2nd part of my trip with Brie was to New York. Just going was exciting enough since I had never been. We took the train into Penn Station and I thought Chicago was big... Man, I was wrong - at least in comparison. We caught the matinee showing of The Lion King on Broadway (thanks Walsh for the recommendation). The picture isn't great because we couldn't use flash, but the whole show was breathtaking. I had warned Corey that I would probably tear up when I saw my first Broadway show. Not just because it would be crossing a big "to do" off my lifetime list, but also because I always cry at big shows. I thought it was a weird thing that just I did, but as the opening started, Brie leaned over and whispered to me, "Are you going to cry." I said, "yes" and she admitted she was too. The woman behind us even cried, so I didn't feel so dumb.
This is a a shot of us from the Minskoff Theater. We were unaware that Mr. Peanut from the outside banner would be joining our shot. Hilarious!

After the show we went to Chinatown to eat Chinese food and of course, to shop. I had been told ahead of time that once you find something want to buy, to haggle with the vendors. I did this when I first bought a purse. I think - See, it happened so fast..
Me - "how much for these?"
Vendor - "$35"
Me - "how about 2 for $40"
Vendor - "2 for $55"
Me - "2 for $40"
Vendor - "2 for $50"
Me - "2 for $40"
Vendor- "2 for $48"
Me - "Umm, hmm, Brie, what do you think?..." and the next thing I know money is being exchange, our purses are bagged up and we're sort of shoved out the door. I stepped outside in a daze, it happened so fast. I wasn't sure what happened, what I bought or how much I paid for.

Next, we headed to 30 Rockefeller Center. That's right, we got to see SNL. This picture is in the lobby of the NBC studios...













This next picture was taken off of my brother-in-law, Aaron's TiVo. That's right folks, that's me in front row center watching John C. Reily and surprise guest Will Ferrell (as James Lipton) in the opening monologue! Briette was on the other side of the aisle. I could've reached out and touched Lorne Michaels or the Weekend Update set. The studio itself is a lot smaller than it looks on TV. The whole thing is buzzing with cameras and cue cards, tech people and the actors. It was a pretty good show too. I couldn't stop turning my head every which direction because so much was going on and there were so many people to see. Various stars just stopped by and stood in the back. I saw Colin Hanks (Tom's son), Mariska Hargitay and Paul Rudd! He is even dreamier in person, yum!

The best part of the night was after the show. Jason lead us back stage to where his wife, Kay was hanging out. After catching up with her, she led us to Jason's dressing room. Standing there with him was, Will Ferrell. I didn't want to miss the opportunity, so I reached my hand out and introduced myself.
Will - "Nice to meet you, I'm Will."
Me - "Uh, yeah, I know who you are."
He extends his hand to Brie and asks who she is.

Briette - (hand outstretched) - "I...uhh...umm..Brie...Brieannnnuuuu."
Will- "Oh Brieanne? nice to meet you"
Me - "It's actually Briette" (Like he cares or will ever remember).
He was very nice about it and asked us how we like the show and commented on how comedy is always better live. Then he left.
At first we felt bad that we interrupted Jason and him, but even Jason agreed it was worth it to see Briette completely frozen from being starstruck.

It was overall a perfect trip to New York... above and beyond any expectations.

-Mo

Makeover

Briette's new do:


BEFORE


Over 11 inches to donate

AFTER!

Like old times

My trip to visit Briette was soooo much fun. The trip kind of falls into two categories. Each were so much fun that they could've been two separate vacations.
1. New Jersey
2. New York.

Brie lives in NJ, which I've learned doesn't have a lot to offer. As her and Michael (her husband) put it; the best part of New Jersey is living near New York.
I got in on Wednesday night and right off the bat we were giggling like little kids. We're very different in many ways, but I forgot how much we're alike. We even have a very similar laugh which I never noticed until this trip. When I first got into town, she gave me my belated birthday present: the entire 1st season DVD collection of Fraggle Rock! Possibly the best b-day present I got this year.
Besides our laugh another thing I realized we havin in common is getting lost. Turns out the lack of direction skills is a Madrid-women thing. She got turned around coming back from the airport delaying getting back to her house for a while, but we didn't care. We were having fun anyway. Though not having a sense of direction would come back to haunt us in New York (I'll tell you more about that later).

The next day we just did girlie sister stuff. We went shopping and stopped by a pet store to play with puppies for a while. Right before the puppy play time, we were starving, so Brie suggested we go to the Flea Market. There they have an Amish area, where you can buy homemade delicious sausage stuffed pretzels, candies and cider. As I walked in, I realized the shirt I was wearing may not have been appropriate for this more quiet, sheltered, religious community. I don't know, what do you think? (courtesy of Threadless Tees)
I asked Brie to let me borrow the sweatshirt she was wearing so I could cover it up, but underneath it she had on a low cut tank top. We had to decide which was better a.) the slutty sister or b.) the violent towards children sister. In the end I just kept my arms crossed a lot.

On Thursday we saw "The Prestige". It wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, but I really enjoyed it. I never see movies anymore and this isn't the type Corey would want to see, so I took full advantage of it. That night, we highlighted and chopped Briette's hair off. This is a big deal, because she's had it long for a long time, but apparently she was ready for a change. We cut about a foot off, she's going to donate it to the Cancer Society so they can make a wig out of it.



We also spent the weekend playing Lego's Star Wars on her XBox. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Meanwhile, Corey was hanging out with our friend Tyler most of the weekend, playing Madden 07 on his XBox. Looks like I might have to start saving up for Corey's birthday present in April.

Spending time with my sister was so much fun. I forgot how hilarious she can be and how much I miss her. It was a pretty perfect weekend.

Next up... The New York trip. There's a lot there... pretty awesome. I'll fill you in on the next post. Until then, "Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow."

- Mo

Thursday Hilarity

Here you go. I'm in court and Mo's out of town today. Enjoy this instead:

Old projects, New projects

I'm heading off to New Joisey tonight to visit Briette. I'm really looking forward to it, though I do feel a little guilty leaving Corey behind to go to court for the both of us. That's right folks, the city is taking the jerkpods at Venter & Ass. (our condo's developer), as well as the owners of condos within the building to court over the permit issues they had when building our units. It's a lot of pain in the ass and a little scary, so think good thoughts for us tomorrow. The biggest issues right now are if they acquired the proper permits when doing the gut rehab on the building. We of course did everything in good faith, we also have title insuance and with the advice of our attorney, have filed a claim with them. We should be fine, but it may be a huge pain to get everything sorted out and things done fairly for us. We're just praying that it's going to be a simple answer to all this. Hopefully the dicktugs at Venter & Ass. will have to pay a BIG fine and it'll be all over with. I really don't want to sue anyone, but Lord knows I will.
We're still needing them to fix the mold in our ceiling and finish our floors. So close, so close.

Some changes have come in my so called theater/acting/improv career. My i.O team, Reverend Meeker, was cut this schedule. We were all caught completely off guard, especially considering we were getting prime time slots and rave reviews from the Harold commission. Charna apparently wanted a big house cleaning, so I got swept out the door with most of my teammates. I'm working on getting back on the schedule, but I'm not holding my breath. Most of my friends that were taken off the schedule were given the run-around about getting back on a team. They're told one thing or offered to be put on a new team only for that offer to never actually happen. I'm sure it's not purposely or anything, but maybe the powers that be at i.O are trying not to hurt people's feelings. Personally I think it's a lot worse when someone isn't just straight forward with you. Mostly likely I will just have to wait until the next round of auditions. Unfortunately they just had them this weekend. I couldn't sign up for a slot because my team wasn't even cut until the audition slots were already full. It's frustrating, but also expected. There are so many people going in that theater, that others are bound to be bumped out. I don't have one ounce of regret. I know that there's nothing I could've done differently to stick around longer. I played well and I was on a great team. It was apparently just our time.

While we're going to be pretty busy until the end of the year with remotes and the holidays, still it'll be weird not having a weekly improv rehearsal. It'll be the first time in almost 3 years that I haven't been on a consistent team. So now I'm just going to take this time to work on some new projects. I'm hoping to get FABaret! back up by the beginning of the year if not sooner, maybe even at i.O. and take it to some festivals. I also want to do some more scripted material. It's been almost a year since I've written anything. Last year I was one of the writers for pH at Sketchfest. I really enjoyed the process. I just need a goal or theme to get me motivated to do something new. I'd like to maybe direct a show (I'm talking to a writer who's interested in using me for a show he's putting up) and maybe get back in a musical or play. I'm also going to look into finding a group or venue to use my vocalizer. As cheesy as it sounds, I think it would be a blast to sing in a lounge or jazz bar or something.
If I want things to happen for me, I have to create them and prove myself to whomever needs to see me to advance things. It's a lot of work and exhausting at times, but I love it and without this drive to succeed, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

- Mo

The Most Incredible Blog Posting Ever

I got nothing here people. I'm just warning you. Still, I hate to leave you hanging with nothing to read for this long.

So, what's going on here? Just working, hanging with friends and fighting the cold. It actually snowed yesterday. Not for long and just some flurries, but still. It's right about this time of year that I remember how much I don't like Chicago in the winter. I know it gets cold and even icy in KC, but you're just not out in the elements as much as you are here. Since last winter, we've moved to a place that's farther away from the El stop. We used to be just a quick jog across the street. Now we have to walk about 3 1/2 blocks to the stop. And man, does that wind bite. I know, I'll live.

Anyways, what else? Just got back from a fun weekend with friends in Rock Island. We did some shows, ate the awesome Gambler Pizza (jalapenos, hot sausage, red peppers, a burning tongue and for some, heartburn... all in all, a perfect pizza) and lots of laughing.

Unfortunately I've been sick, so I didn't get to party as much as I wanted to with them. My mom apparently gave me a chest cold when she was in town a couple of weeks ago. She got it from my sister when she went to New Jersey to visit her a couple weeks before that. Briette is quite proud that her cold has traveled to at least 3 states. Brat! It's okay though because I'm leaving on Wednesday to go visit her, so I just might bring this stubborn cough back to her. I'm really excited about seeing her and getting a chance to go to New York. We even got tickets to see The Lion King on Broadway, hopefully we'll be seeing other shows. I've saved some of my birthday money to go shopping. Fake designer purses, here I come!

Oh yeah, I had a great birthday. Corey did a good job. He started the birthday gift giving at 12:01am. He told me that I'd be getting gifts all throughout the day. My first gift was him putting lotion on his elbows. Sounds weird I know, but you don't understand, he never puts his own lotion on himself. He just doesn't see the point of it. So if I don't want rough skin rubbing up against me, then I have to put the lotion on for him. Anyways, it was a big moment when he put it on himself... and hilarious. He also sent flowers to work, took me out to dinner, gave me some workout stuff I'd asked for and the best part... a bell for my bike that says, "I 'heart' my bike." We had a party at a local bar that weekend. Low key, but a lot of fun.

What wasn't fun about my birthday was getting stuck on the train going to work. There were 3 unrelated incidents, an electric problem, a track issue and a medical emergency. All in all it literally took me 3 hours to get there that morning. We sat on the track for most of that time, but also had to go backwards and were finally instructed to get off the train and take a shuttle bus to downtown. To make matters worse, the bus driver had no idea where he was going and we circled around for a bit. I was actually impressed at how calm and polite everyone was through the whole thing. No pushing or shoving, no one freaking out, though I did see one girl on the phone crying. Maybe she was late to a job interview, or was sick, or got claustophobic, I tried not to stare at her and minded my own business. I was just glad I had something to read and didn't really mind all that much starting work at 10:45am. It's much better than if it would've taken me 3 hours to get home from work.

We're going to take this weekend to just relax, get the winter clothes out and maybe catch a movie.

-Mo

A Blackpool Weekend

We had an awesome time with Blackpool Lights!

These aren't the best pictures since I had to take it with my camera phone, but we did have the coolest view from our stage right box at The House of Blues. We got all-access backstage passes and were treated like rockstars, well more like groupies minus the sex acts (maybe... I'll never tell).
We got to hang out in the dressing room, eat and drink with the boys, watch all three bands from the press box and we even got to go into the "Foundation Room." It's the ultra swank lounge area with a Budda meditation room, other swank sitting rooms and $15 beers. Just cool to look at more than anything.

I've also decided that when we have kids, I want to have 4 boys. The band, plus a bunch of KC friends that live in Chicago all came over to watch the Chiefs game on Sunday. I made 2 huge pots of chili for everyone. I just loved cooking for a crowded house full of boys, it was a blast.

If you live in KC, mark your calendars. Turns out Blackpool Lights is going to be playing at Record Bar in Westport on Thanksgiving night. We, along with others I hope, are going to go over there early to watch the Chiefs-Broncos game and then stick around for the concert.

-Mo

Updates

I know we haven't been great on posting lately. We still owe you a lot of pictures. The "problem" is that we've officially hit the busy season. Weekend after weekend is booked from now until the end of the year, probably even into Janurary. First it was a trip to KC and our anniversary, then shows, then my mom was in town (had a blast - No fights! Whoo Hoo). Next up, Blackpool Lights is staying with us for the weekend. Normally we only get to see them for a night, but this time they'll be here for 3 days, it'll be a blast. We get to see them play at The House of Blues, opening for Social Distortion. Then there are various weekend trips to meet up with friends or to do remote shows, visit my sister in NJ and then my cousin is coming in town, not to mention Thanksgiving and Christnnukah. I love this time of year. It's hectic and exhausting, but a blast, plus we make extra money.

To reward ourselves, we'll be going on a 7 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean on January 6th. I'm so excited. I've never done anything like this before. In fact, the only time I spent out of the country was in Canada for 1 hour in a mall. That was just because I was already in Michigan and wanted to say I'd been to another country. Apparently St. Thomas has amazing deals on real diamonds. If you buy through the Carnival recommended vendors, they'll guarantee the jewels. Needless to say, all our extra money is going towards the cruise. If anyone is thinking about giving me a Christmas present, don't bother. We'll take money instead. Need to be able to afford swimming with the dolphins!

Speaking of extra money, I'm working on continuing to build my clientele and especially focus on wedding work. Something to keep in mind for those of you out on The Knot or that might know people getting married, I'll give anyone a $25 finders fee for referring brides to me. I'll hand you over the cash once they've booked and I've done the work for them. I know, shameless plug, but it's my blog so deal with it.

-Mo

Welcome To The Club!

A major congratulations goes out to friends Billy and Ali who are now engaged to be married! Some of you may remember Billy from way back when he performed at ComedySportz-KC. Others of you may know him as the drummer for the critically acclaimed band Blackpool Lights. As difficult of a year as 2005 was for Bill, 2006 and beyond is looking brighter and better every day. We got to meet and hang out with Ali during the benefit weekend back in April, and we couldn't be more happy and excited for them. We love Billy, and yet somehow, the addition of Ali makes him even better. Crazy.

- Corey and Mo

A milestone

Sorry it's been a slow blog week. I've actually been busy at work. Shocking, me working at work - I know.

I'll be posting pictures from our trip to KC over Labor Day weekend soon. I just haven't had the chance yet.

Incidentally, last Monday was our 1 year anniversary. I can't believe how quickly time flew by. In just one year, so much has happened. We've continued doing and creating shows, I got a promotion, Corey a new job and we bought our first condo. It's been a great year and I'm sure, with someone as wonderful as Corey, each year after will continue to get better.

We actually flew back from KC on Monday, the actual anniversary date. To celebrate, we took the next day off work. It was so nice just to sleep in and relax all day. The plan was to go on a picnic, maybe at the beach, but it looked like it was going to rain all day. Instead we stayed in and played Rummy Q (a fun tile version of the card game Rummy - only awesomer). Yep, we got the old married couple thing down - sitting at home playing board games.

That night we went to The Drake Brothers restaurant in the Drake hotel for dinner. On Tuesday nights, they have buy one steak get the second for a penny. Are we cheap, no way? I'm not ashamed that we saved money. Besides it was a great meal. They know how to make a steak and their chipotle corn is amazing. Not only do we love each other, we loves us some meat!

-Mo

The Gloved One

I found something new that's supposed to help my hand and wrist from hurting. Even though I think it's spawning from my back trouble, I thought I'd give this ergonomically correct, form fitting glove a chance. It's supposed to keep the blood circulating and relieve and prevent pain in the area. Notice the middle and ring finger are in the same hole! All I know is that besides creating more typos, it also makes me look really cool and that makes me happy.

- Mo

Crossing the line into "old"

So it happened over the weekend. I'll post it here so I won't have to write down the date. You know, "the date". As in "the date I first felt old". Things have been leading up to this date. Birthdays are obvious reminders. Seeing your nieces grow up helps add to it. But you're only as old as you feel, right? Well, this weekend helped push me closer to feeling old. And here's why:

You remember as a kid, riding in the car with your dad? He turns on the "oldies" station and they're playing tunes by Chubby Checker and the Four Tops. You laugh and think, "hmmm, will this station still be playing these songs when I grow up, or will they play the songs I listen to today? Because by then, they'll be oldies, too?" Well, this weekend Mo and I were driving up to Manhattan for our friends Jake and Aubrey's wedding. I'm flipping through the radio stations for some cruisin' tunes and as I hit the seek button, the radio lands on Oldies 95 in Kansas City. The song being played: "Don't Ask Me Why" by Billy Joel. A song that first came out in......wait for it.....1980. When I was 9.

Ouch.

- Corey