Happy Birthday Matt Podjan!

¡Tenga un gran cumpleaños, Matt!

Cornhole Project

BJ and I had a pretty fun weekend. We saw Nacho Libre on Friday night, which was really pretty good. It was made by the same people who did Napoleon Dynamite and it was filmed the same way. The guy sitting behind me thought the movie was so funny that he would convulse with laughter... and kick my chair over and over. That was awesome. :)

On Saturday I went to BJ's cousin Heidi’s baby shower, and it was really nice seeing some of BJ's family again. On Saturday evening, BJ and I got cracking on our latest project --- a Purdue cornhole set (for those who aren't familiar, its a popular Cincinnati game). :) BJ finished one, and he's waiting to finish the other until I'm done painting it. The only bad part about this project was the large amount of mosquito bites I accumulated.... around 10. The worst one is on the bottom of my foot (this one literally kept my up all night last night scratching).

Here's some of our production photos... We'll be sure to post more when its all done.







Yesterday after church, BJ went disk golfing with Dave Miller, and I went to an Auction with BJ's mom and Carl, which was just down the road. I only spent $11, and I got so much! I won an axe for BJ, three antique books, a beautiful blue vase, a camera that I thought was cooler than it actually is (price tag: $2... so no big loss), and possibly my best win ---- a never used (still in the box) kitchen sink for $2! Maybe we'll use it if we finish our basement down the road. :)

Weekend of Fun

Just thought I'd give a short update on our weekend. On Friday BJ and I went to the Bright Carnival with Jessica, Jeremy, John, and John's daughter Jasmine. There were so many kids there is was like sensory overload. Jeremy joined in the fun of a sack race (I'm pretty sure he was the tallest one to race that day). :)

On Saturday BJ and I played tennis and later went to BJ's cousin Shelly's graduation / end of military term party, and yesterday we went out to eat with BJ's dad for father's day and saw the movie "Cars", which I highly recommend. I didn't know if I would like it because it was about cars, but it was really cute. Also, it’s the kind of movie that it would be good to watch more than once, so that you could catch all the small details and jokes.

One great thing -- after our tennis game on Saturday, BJ and I drove out to check up on the progress of the land development, and progress had been made! A section of trees had been cleared for the road, and that section of road had been carved out. It was great to see that work is being done, especially since this whole process takes so long. With the weather being so warm, its weird to think that we'll actually be moving into our house when its cold and probably snowing.



See how the road bends to the left and the right? If you go towards the right, that's the start of our road... :)

Another cool thing, my great friend Jessica and her husband Ryan are moving to Columbus this week from Raleigh, NC. She's been so far away for so long, and now I'll be able to see her easier (only 2 hours) & hopefully more often. :)

That's all the updates I have. Enjoy your Monday!

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

I just heard this yesterday, and I think its really great, that Bill Gates is stepping away from Microsoft to do charitable work with his wife full time. I always get so depressed watching shows like "The Fabulous Life of...", and see how some of the richest people in the world spend their money. $300,000 on a hotel stay, $1.5 million on a personalized car, etc.

I always think of how many lives could be changed with that money... especially when it takes so little (According to the World Bank, 1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar a day). I was shocked the other day when I read this article about child labor in India. The article states, "[Sarojama] has barely been able to feed [her five grandchildren] so she was forced to borrow money from a local factory owner. Unable to pay back the loan she sent her young grand-daughter to work. Parimeeta was taken out of school and has been working 12 hour days for two years." Here's the shocking part... "The debt is less than $20."

Really, the good thing about shows like the "The Fabulous Life of..." is that I can't criticise the obundantly rich without thinking about how I am with money, and I how I could also be better with it... do more important things with it.

Anyway, I guess that Bill Gates had to ask his children if it would be okay for their inheritance to be dramatically reduced. They agreed (I'm sure they won't be hurting), and so he's off (or soon will be) to focus on the fight against Malaria and AIDs, amongst other things. This makes me happy.

Holycrap-arama

Well, I lied. I don't have any really fun photos from the shower or Chad's visit... We did have a great time, and it was great to spend a little time with Kristi. I opted out of the game on Saturday because of the rain (so far I've been to three games -- we've lost all three and two of them it rained). I was glad I skipped Saturday's game because we lost and it rained.

Yesterday BJ and I went to Buca di Beppos for lunch (with a gift certificate from Discover - thank you cash back bonus), and then went to Homearama, the luxury (i.e. mansion) addition. We saw some pretty cool stuff - our favorite parts being the basements and the amazing patios. We even saw one home that had a complete glass wall that opened to the patio.

Here's some of our favorite stuff:

A room in a basement -- I loved this "Hotel" hall entranceway. It reminds me of an entrance to a Pottery Barn store, or something like that.



An outdoor fireplace and fountain:



A Ginormous shower:



The patio / outdoor room, notice the wall from the house that opens up completely:

The Reds are #1

Since BJ really never posts anything, I guess I'll be the one to say with glee that the Reds are in first! Woo Hoo! I would have never guessed I'd get this into baseball. My girl thing to say about it is that I really like Ryan Freel. He always tries really hard. Sometimes the other guys don't give it their all, and that's really annoying because they make a kajillian dollars.

Our friend Chad Campbell is coming up this weekend to hang out and go to a game. Hopefully the Reds won't lose on Saturday night! I've been to three games, and they've lost each one. Boooooo... Actually, maybe I should just stay home.

My friend Kristi's bridal shower is also tomorrow, and it will be great to see her. :) I'll post some photos from the weekend next week, so stay glued!

Trip Home to the Bend (and Beyond)

What an eventful weekend! I went home to South Bend to visit my family, and had a great time. My mom, my sister and I all got pedicures, and now my toes look like barbie toes. :)

Here's Julie getting her tootsies done:



I got to meet some of my parents friends and go sailing with my dad, mom, and my brother Eric.

I also got to meet Miss Lilly Podjan for the first time. She's so cute and so small! :)



Yesterday, I went up to Michigan for my cousin Kayla's graduation and got to see a lot of my family. Here's some photos from the day: