i believe in unicorns!

I recently went to Rochester, NY for work and I think it was my favorite work event I have done so far. One of our awards is a lecture that features a famous children's author or illustrator to give a speech about their life/work, etc. I won't go into detail but you can read more about the May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture here if you are ever interested. : )

We stayed just outside of Rochester in Pittsford which was very cute, small, and ritzy! They have little restuarants, (expensive) shops, a local dairy farm, and a river walk. It would be a very romantic place to go for a short weekend trip. Here are few pics from my Pittsford adventures:

main street...beautiful weather!

dairy farm...moo

river walk

This year the lecture was given by Michael Morpurgo, you've probably heard of that Steven Speilberg movie, War Horse, well that movie is based on Michael's book, War Horse. He is also the author of other amazing children's stories: An Elephant in the Garden, Kensuke's Kingdom, Private Peaceful, The Butterfly Lion....I could go on forever.

I had a chance to visit with him a few times and he told me I was the first person he has ever met from Oklahoma! Michael then went on to say how much he loved the musical Oklahoma...it was very cute. ;)

At the end of his wonderful lecture he read one of his stories to the audience but didn't tell us what he was going to read. When he started to read I knew what story it was and I was sooooooo excited, I almost jumped out of my seat!

Hearing Michael read I Believe in Unicorns out loud was such an amazing experience and I will never forget it for as long as I live. I was able to get a pic of just us after the lecture and I was so nervous and excited, haha. It's pretty blurry but so happy I have it.

sean's bday celebration

In our little family (me, Sean + Cami) we like to stretch out celebrating birthdays since we are both so busy with work and Cami is always busy being cute and lazy. Sean's bday was on May 7th and I thought it would be fun to make a Sean + Caroline's Chicago themed celebration for him.

I visited my favorite place in the world, Paper Source, and found some manly looking materials to make this banner and present. I then printed out pics of our little family and hung everything up in Sean's mini man cave area in our dinning room. He was working late that night so when he came home I was already asleep and he was so surprised! It was cute when he woke me up and was all excited. :)

As little side gifts I got him this frame because he is always saying "I love you more" to me (he's amazing right!?) and then of course got him his favorite treats from Trader Joe's. He LOVES pesto so I made him a pesto dinner for his bday, which is one of the hearts on the banner. Then our two week celebration included going to our fave restaurants, shopping, going to the dog park, watching basketball (go Bulls!) and baseball (go Sox!) games, and seeing STAR TREK (best ever)!

Cams and I love this guy so much and he works so hard, he definitely deserves it!

that's right......

.....time to get effing skinny! Florida vacay is 6 weeks away!

Happy Friday!

go white sox!

My dad and stepmom came to Chicago for a short weekend visit from OK. They rode the Amtrak train all the way here from Kansas! How fun right!? 

Saturday we took my dad to a White Sox game and I have to admit...it was a blast! I'm pretty sure we have converted to the big black and white of Chicago! The crowd was so fun and chill, a whole lot less d-baggy than that other team up north. :) The train stop goes right to the stadium and you can tailgate in the parking lots my friends! Very, very fun (& cold) night with my dad and Seaner. Go Sox! 

Bookapalooza!

Work had me MIA again the past 2 weeks because...it was Bookapalooza time! 

Every year after the book awards are announced our grant committees select 3 schools or libraries who apply to receive all the year's submissions of books, videos and audiobooks. 

This was my first year sorting and packing the books for the 3 libraries because I'm still a new-bee! buzzzzz....

Anyhoo, I packed over 80 boxes and it was exhausting! But it is gratifying to know that all these wonderful books are going to good homes! 

This is a shot from the FRONT section of the hallway. There were way more boxes further down! They ended up being 3 rows of boxes after I was done and I only got injured once! From the packing tape teeth...