Happy Birthday Sweet-E!

As promised here is a special birthday blog for Eric, my Sweet-E. Happy Birthday Eric! Better late than never, but I actually celebrated with him that day/weekend so I think I am good.

I love Eric! I love him for lots of reasons but a short list is because he loves God, he loves me and he loves the Cardinals... in that order. I am so blessed to be dating a man who has such a strong faith in God, because it just strengthens my faith that much more. One of my favorite things is that every night before we go to bed and say good night, when we are talking on the phone, Eric and I each pray. It is wonderful to share these things with my partner.

There were several specific instances early in our relationship when I knew Eric was special. The first was in an email, his 9-point answer to what he learned from his divorce pretty much knocked me off my feet. Before we actually met... we talked on the phone for 5 or 6 hours or something ridiculous like that. You kind of have something special when you can talk that long. The next is the night of our first date/face to face meeting. We were meeting at Granite City restaurant in East Peoria. I had gotten off at the right exit, but didn't see the restaurant right away. I decided to pull into the Wal-Mart parking lot and call Eric so he could give me directions. When he picked up the phone and asked where I was, before I could answer he said "Never mind, you are at Wal-Mart", and he was just a few cars behind me and saw my car. I can't describe it, but right then I had an idea that this guy just might be my Prince Charming.

I love Eric because he "gets me" like nobody else I know, and he seems to truly love and appreciate even the wackiest of my quirks. He lets me pick up and straighten because he knows that is what I do, but always seems to have just the right way of getting me to sit still and relax without ever really saying "Sit still and relax". A long distance relationship can be kind of crazy at times, I get overwhelmed and sometimes cry for no reason. This doesn't freak Eric out at all, he just helps me cry, encourages me to just "get it all out". No one has ever done that for me before... it takes a lot of patience and it takes a lot of love... Eric has plenty of both.

I love Eric's little quirks too. He is so literal, and is quick to point out to me that it would be much safer if I just "stepped into the shower" instead of "jumped into the shower". Arrgghh... it drives me crazy, but darn it, I love it too. The best was this past weekend when I was quick to catch him saying he was going to "jump into the shower". I love that he wears his floppy hat to the Cardinals games, and added another pin to the hat for our last game because it had always been a winning hat before, but had lost its mojo at our games in April... the extra pin did the trick. The floppy hat is cute... I like that it isn't conventional.

I love that Eric and I enjoy a lot of the same things, in particular watching baseball and drinking good beer. One of the reasons the River Bandit games have become so special to us is because we can do both there... they serve one of our favorite beers, the Uncommon Stout from Bent River. He also introduced me to one of my new favorites, Whitey's ice cream, a QC favorite. I am hooked, no trip to the QC is complete for me without my Whitey's fix. Eric also just does really sweet things for me, beside the "Eric's Girlfriend" tiara and sash, he rode the Carousel at the children's museum with me last weekend... probably not really his thing, but he knew I wanted to ride it with him... I like that. He also always makes the coffee when we visit each other... it is usually much better than mine.

Eric just knows how to love me, and he knows how to take care of me, and he is very good at letting me know how special I am to him, and how well I take care of him. He also knows how to make me laugh... sometimes it is a look, sometimes he will say something, or sometimes he will just start tickling. I try to tickle back, but he really isn't that ticklish, but I think he ends up laughing anyway because I keep trying to tickle him anyway... I am stubborn that way.

So I guess I will stop now... I could go on forever, but y'all probably think I am being sickeningly sweet already. Maybe I am, but I really don't care... I am so in love with my Sweet-E I just can't stop myself.

Happy Birthday, Eric! I hope to celebrate many more with you!

Birthday Blog Back-Up

So I leave town for a few days and return to be four birthday behind in the blog... seriously everyone I know was born in July. I was in Indy over the weekend, with Eric and the Barkers, Scott, Tara and Kira. Scott and Eric went to the Nascar race at the Brickyard on Sunday, while the girls did a little shopping. On Saturday we went to the Indy Zoo, and then on Monday we stopped by the Indianapolis Children's Museum before heading home. So... I have been kind of busy, thus me being a total blog slacker. Here is a picture of the gang before heading off to Indy.

Alas, I am going to try and catch up on the birthday blogging. Sunday July 27th was a triple threat... Eric's birthday, my college roommate Jeanne's birthday, and my nephew Lane's birthday. Then on July 28th was my friend Karen's 30th birthday! That's a lot of birthdays, I know here goes.

Happy Birthday, Eric! What can I say.... well a lot actually, so I will special blog for him later. Sorry if the rest of you feel slighted but he is puts up will all of my crap and he makes me coffee, so I am sure you will understand.

Happy Birthday, Jeanne! Actually Jeanne was just here visiting me for few days last week. She was back home visiting her Dad near Chicago for a few weeks, and needed to come down to the U of I to meet with the folks in the Art & Design Department to set up a scholarship in her Mom, Kathleen's memory. It was pretty low key, but I always enjoy hanging out with Jeanne. We watched Project Runway... she turned me on that fabulous show. She and her husband, Ted, are looking to move from Florida now that Ted is wrapping up his PhD. Ted is an ocean engineer so I am hoping for a beachy place to stay when I go visit. Jeanne told me that I always looks so nice and put together whenever I go anywhere. I love that because most times I think I don't look so great. When was Jeanne was planning her visit I mentioned that her birthday was the same as Eric's and she graciously said to blog about me sweetie and not her... that was kind of sweet. Also, Friday before she headed home she stopped and got a birhtday present for Eric... some Fat Tire beer. I was very good... and she slyly figured out his beer preferences by asking me about it the day before... I was clueless I had no idea she was quizzing me, just thought she was showing interest in my boyfriend. I love that Jeanne is setting up a scholarship to honor her mom... she loved art and art history, and I think a scholarship is great way to honor and remember her. I am going to give it a plug. If you love art or art history, or just love Moms, or are looking for a tax write off let me know I can give you all the info for the Kathleen Genis Memorial Fund. Happy Birthday, Jeanne!

Happy Birthday, Lane! Laner is my oldest nephew and he just turned 20. He is going to go to Carlinville High School for one more year, then is going to go to Carbondale the following fall for a residential program to improve his life skills. We he come back from Carbondale he will have his own place to live. Jan & Larry found a little fixer upper house in Carlinville at auction and the Pfeiffer family is working hard on fixing it up for Lane and his dogs. Eric and I checked it out last weekend when we were there. It will take some work (but they are all handy like that) but it will be perfect for Lane. Within walking distance of both Jan & Larry's work, the ballfields at the school, the grocery store where Lane works, and church. Lane is excited about it and I am too. Lane is so much fun to hang out with, he always has something on his mind to ask you about... usually sports, but you never know. Lane doesn't forget much either, he hasn't been around Eric all that much but he remembers what teams/drivers Eric likes and he is quick to ask him about them. Even though he is 20, Lane never fails to tell me "pooty pooty pooh" everytime I see him, something that started when he was just a little boy. I also remember the book Lane loved to have read to him when he was little. He got so excited whenever you read it to him... I still have parts of it memorized "Esther's Trunk by Jez Alborough. Esther felt just like a chump. My trunk (she was an elephant) she said 'has lost it's trump'... whenever you find yourself in such a pickle, here's a feather, try a tickle (she had a pickle stuck in her trunk, and they used a feather to tickle it and make her sneeze and thus eject the pickle) Happy Birthday, Lane!

Happy Birthday, Karen! Karen is one of my bestest buddies that I met at the Assembly Hall. She was Nikki's roommate in college/post college for a few years. She was my roommate for a few months when she went back to school and did her student teaching. Karen live in Effingham with her husband Ben. Okay so they have been married a year and it is still slightly weird to realize that Karen is a wife. Karen teaches high school, and is the yearbook advisor. I admire the fact that she is doing her part to shape the leaders of tomorrow... I don't know that I have the patience to deal with high school kids every day. Some of my best Karen memories are from our trip to Disney a number of years ago, and our annual girls trip to STL for the Illinois-Mizzou braggin' rights game. I can't recall all of the specifics but just remember laughing a lot. I miss having Karen around on a more regular basis, but I love that we pretty much just pick up right where we left off. I also can't believe Karen is 30! I actually have loved my thirties... they have been so much better than my twenties, not sure why but they just have been, probably because I stopped tryin to figure out what I "should" be/do and just started being/doing! Happy Birthday Karen!

Happy Birthday Mom-E!

Today's birthday bloggee is Linda Noyd, Eric's Mom. Happy Birthday Linda!

I have know Linda for about five months now, and she has been incredibly welcoming. I don't know her really well but so far I like what I see. She is a loving, loyal and caring wife, mother and grandmother. She raised two wonderful sons who love God, their family and the St. Louis Cardinals. She also raised them to put the toilet seat down too. Not just the seat but the lid, which is above and beyond my upbringing. It makes perfect sense but if you put the lid down, then flush it keeps any toilet germs stirred up by the flush inside the bowl, rather than splattered about the bathroom. Eric said his Mom taught him that... why did I not know that before I met Eric?

Linda is infamous for the calendars she makes as Christmas gifts for the family each year. It includes birthdays, anniversaries etc. and each month contains pictures of the family from that same month the previous year. As such she always has a camera at the ready, a you better remember that whatever you are doing you are likely to be calendar fodder. I am thinking I might make the 2009 calendar... it will be an honor.

I knew I liked Linda the first time I met her... when I left she hugged me good-bye... TWICE! Happy Birthday, Linda! And a special thanks for raising your oldest son to be a man I am honored to love and call my Sweet-E.

Editors Note: This is picture of Linda with Eric and his Dad, Mike as they were embarking on a cruise ship last December

Bonus Miles!!!

Tie game in the bottom of the 9th, the Padres intentionally walk both Yadi and Skippy loading the bases to face Aaron Miles, who they think is not a power threat. Mr. Miles jacks a walk off grand slam... that my friends was what we like to refer to as "BONUS MILES!!!"

Miles is mobbed by his teammates at home, Cards sweep the Padres... FABULOUS!

No I wasn't there to see it in person, but it was still beautiful to see on TV! I heart Bonus Miles!

Uncle George & Jenn: Birthday Buddies

Okay so the crazy amount of birthday blogging continues, and I have to admit I have been a bit of a slacker because yesterday was my Dad's 72nd birthday. But today is my friend Jenn Thomas' birthday and since one of my stories involves the two of them I decided a combo birthday blog was in order.

Ah my Dad... I am not sure I can really top last year's birthday blog, so be sure to check it out if you can. I must admit the GTA (George Tjardes Approved) pepper shaker rating has taken off like wildfire. The first time I peppered at Eric's house his shakers totally GTA... I knew we could continue dating. I must admit that last Saturday at a wedding the pepper shaker was not GTA and I most definitely followed in my fathers footsteps and screwed the top off and tapped out the pepper that way. My Dad had a tough spring, on two consecutive Fridays in March his brother and farming partner for over 45 years, Harry, and Robert, the man that was their hired hand for 26 years beginning in 1969 passed away. I can't imagine what it would be like to have the two men you spent the majority of your working career, your everydays with suddenly be gone... let alone within a single week. My Dad has managed to carry on, and I truly admire him for that.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Jenn! Growing up Jenn always referred to my Dad as "Uncle George" I never completely got that... we were not related, but only later in life did I discover that you do not need to be related by blood to be "family". Along those same lines Jenn's daughters call me "Aunt Jane", and I am honored.

So one of my best Jenn stories I believe I told in last year's blog. We had gone out with John and his friend Todd and came back to my parents house, and Jenn was blitzed. She proceeded to tell my Dad, "George I am OBLIVIATED!" My Dad's response was classic George, "Yes Jennifer, I can see that, I can see that you are "obliviated". Dad and Jenn still both enjoy that story even though it happened about 14 years ago.

Jenn has had kind of a tough spring as well. In May John was reassigned to his new Air Force position in Colorado Springs but Jenn and the girls are staying behind in Omaha (at least for the time being) until their house sells. I know the separation is very difficult on their entire family and in the middle of it all Jenn has kept their home "showing ready" for the past six months with a 4-year old and 7-year old in residence. That is perseverance, and I truly admire Jenn for keeping it together. Through all of this she is still the same good ol' Jenn asking me about how things are going with Eric, checking up on my parents, asking about Nikki.

Jenn has been my friend ever since I can remember. I love that I don't have to fill her in on my history. I love that we can talk about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!

So Dad and Jenn... I hope your birthdays are FABULOUS!!!!

Happy Birthday Sore Loser!

Today is my friend Jen Rohn's birthday. Jen and I co-lead our small group, and have been friends now for close to three years. Jen is the first one who said "Hi" to me at Quest my first Sunday, and just kept coming back.

Jen is a self-confessed bad loser... it was challenging when we played euchre at small group one night and she wasn't on the same team as Mel... a self-confessed bad winner. Thankfully Jen won, and Mel lost (thanks to me) and we avoided a big melt down. Jen is also partially responsible for introducing me to Karaoke Revolution on PS2... I am so not a singer but I totally rocked Break Away and Proud Mary... and I got to dress my character in fuzzy boots.... how cool is that.

Jen is also a great woman of faith, and I treasure her support of my walk with God. Thanks Jen... have a happy birthday, I hope you win at everything today!

Birthday Blogging: The Rule of 48- Happy Birthday Mrs. Joe Mather

Okay, so July 11th was Nikki's birthday, and if you do the math you will see that I am two days late with her birthday blog. However on the July 11th I was actually out celebrating her birthday with her, so I couldn't really celebrate and blog at the same time... I am no so good as multi-tasking... just ask Eric. Anyway, but then I remembered the Birthday Blogging: Rule of 48, which states that if you are actually out celebrating said birthday you then have an extra 48 hours to write the blog... you know time to rest up from the celebration, download your pictures etc.

So here goes. Happy Birthday Nikki... or should I say Mrs. Joe Mather. As you all know Nikki is my Cardinal buddy and we have a tendency to crush on players now and then, Joe Mather is Nikki's latest crush. He is an outfielder/first baseman that is currently up with the big league team in St. Louis from AAA Memphis. We met him at Cards Caravan in January, and he was super chatty and sweet. Then at Spring Training one day at practice he came trotting by and said "Good Morning Ladies" to Nik, Ang, April and myself. Okay so this on one of the reasons I love Nikki. A few days before we left for Spring Training she sent us an email letting us know that Joe was her new crush and the long shot she was rooting for to make the major league roster and that these were the reasons #1 He was tall, #2 He was very friendly to us at Caravan, #3 He was very cute, especially when he sports the glasses, #4 He is from Idaho, and Nikki very much enjoys potatoes! Only Nik would come up with something like #4.

Friday night we went to celebrate #29 with Nik at 88 Broadway, a new dueling piano bar in Urbana located at Lincoln Square. Nikki loves piano bars, probably because she know the lyrics to pretty much every song ever recorded. I must admit they are lots of fun, and hopefully this one makes it, it gets thumbs up from me although at times it would appear that some of the crowd really wasn't getting the "sing-a-long" concept. It was a fun little group that we had, besides Nik, Eric and myself, our friend Karen and her husband, Ben joined us, along with our "boss" from the Assembly Hall, Nate and his buddy Jamie, and my friend/former co-worker, Allison, and her sister Meg aka Ace.

So here is another reason I love Nikki, taken from a phone conversation on Friday before we picked her up to go to 88 Broadway.

Nik: Hey, what's up?

Jane: We are running a little late, Eric got a late start and we are just now sitting down to dinner, so we will be there at about 8:00 instead of 7:45

Nik: Excellent, now I can stop running around my apartment like a mad woman trying to get ready in time!

I wish everyone got that excited when I was running late!

I am looking forward to another road trip with Nikki in about six weeks. We are headed to Mississippi to see Sarah J, then head with her to New Orleans and then Houston where Eric will meet us for some Cardinal games against the Astros. I am sure we will have lots of stories to tell.

Happy Birthday Nikki!

Editor's Note: This picture is of Nikki with our buddy Nate, not Joe Mather.

Happy Birthday Linda R. Smith

Today is Linda's birthday, she is one of the administrative assistants at work. The title of the post refers to the fact that there are two Linda Smith's at Busey. The other Linda, "Linda J" works on the first floor. My Linda is awesome... she always is there to listen to me no matter what, especially now that there are no longer any girls/women in my department. She has gotten me through many a drama, and I enjoy listening to hers as well. Linda loves my cake, and so does her family, especially her daughter, Kate. If I ever bake a cake for something I always box up the leftovers and take them to work for the Smith family. It is one of my favorite things to do. I like to do silly things that make Linda laugh. Today for instance... for once I wore a dress to work, and of course it didn't have pockets. I needed to take some "feminine supplies" with me to the bathroom... oh no! no pockets!... taking my purse was too obvious... what to do?...stick said supplies down the front of my dress and tuck in my bra for safe transport. I went over and told Linda how I solved my dilemma... she laughed out load. It was fabulous.

Tonight Linda is celebrating her birthday at the local ball park, watching her son or daughter or both play baseball. I told her it was her birthday and she needed to really celebrate... go for it girl, put the cheese salt/powder on her ball park popcorn tonight!

Happy Birthday Linda!!!

Beer & Baseball

I spent the weekend of the 4th in the QC with my Sweet E. As we often do we took in a River Bandits game and enjoyed some beer. We went to Old Chicago Thursday, Friday and Saturday and finished off the "Think Globally, Drink Locally" mini-tour... it took us two weekends but we drank 10 beers from around the world. Our favorites were Blue Moon Honey Moon and Sam Adams Summer Ale... but I will give a nod to Red Stripe and Negro Modelo. I was very excited to get my first mini-tour t-shirt, and it was great to just sit and be mellow drinking beer with Eric. We are total beer snobs... lagers don't do much for us and we make the same icky beer faces.

At the Bandits game we got to see the Cardinals recent #1 draft pick, Brett Wallace. He made a wicked good play fielding a ball at 3rd based, and we saw his first professional RBI. He played along side the Cards #1 draft pick from last year, Pete Kozma, who played short stop. Hopefully in a few years we will get to see them play side be side in STL. Oh, and the Bandits added a great little pre-game thing that was so cool. Just before the starting line up they played the scene from "Field of Dreams" when Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) asks Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner)... "Is this heaven?" to which Ray answers "No, its Iowa". Then when they do the starting line up the Bandits players don't run out from the dugout, but instead run out from a little plot of corn that they have planted behind the Bandits bull pen under the walkway leading from the third base line to the berm in left field... it was cooler than cool.

We stayed for the holiday fireworks, and as they started the young man sitting in the row in front of us got down on his knee and asked his girlfriend to marry him. This explains why he came and sat in his seat earlier carrying 4 beers... he was obviously a little nervous. In general I am not a huge fan of the public proposal, but I have to admit the fireworks were a nice touch.

Happy Birthday, Abby!: One more year until gum

Today is my goddaughter, Abigail's 4th birthday! Happy birthday Abigail!!!

Unlike her older sister, Sidney, who was excited to turn 4 because "3 was just so boring", Abby has her eye on an even bigger prize. When I quizzed her last weekend about turning 4, the first thing she said was "Yes I will be 4 and then in one more birthday I will be 5, and then I can chew gum!" Jenn, has established a Thomas family rule... you can chew gum when you are 5. By then your are more or less capable of not swallowing every piece of gum you are given, and can be trusted not to dispose of gum by leaving it on the couch or your sister's hair. It makes sense to me... but if there is anyone who is going to test your rules... it is Abby! :)

I could tell you so many more stories about Abigail, but I think I will stop with that. Ah don't you miss the innocence of youth sometimes... when your big dreams were of chewing gum!

Happy Birthday Abby!

A Year of Birthday Blogging: Happy Birthday to my favorite Yankee Doodles

Can you believe it? It is the first anniversary of the Birthday Blogging... it all started one year ago when I kicked it all off with the "Everyone I know was born in July" birthday blogs, the first blogees being John Todd and Matt Dvorak aka D-Vak. John and D-Vak are celebrating their birthdays today... one day after our nation.

Happy Birthday boys! I am not sure that I can add too much to last year's blog. John and D-Vak continue to be as awesome as ever. I am always amazed at how many wonderful friends I have found at the Assembly Hall... especially in the late 1990's early 2000's.

I just saw John last week when I got to have a great date with his son, Jeremiah. Over the past year I have had the pleasure of watching John be a great Dad... it has been lots of fun.

Randomly enough I got an email from D-Vak not long ago too. We haven't caught up with each other in quite some time. He just wanted to say hi, and said that he was pretty much all caught up on my life via the blog. I am never really sure who reads the blog, and I love to hear that people do.

Please flip back to last year's blog to remember all great things John and D-Vak. In the meantime join me in wishing these little firecrackers a very Happy Birthday!