ZED 451

My girlfriends took me out to dinner this evening for my birthday; we went to ZED 451 in Downers Grove. A quick review of the restaurant: It was excellent. It is a Brazilian Steak House. It was my first time going there and I was uber impressed. It is set up as a harvest (sort of like a buffet, but with way more class and only the salad bar is buffet style). Then the servers come by with all different sorts of meats...yummy!!! I must say that they also have a wonderful chocolate mousse and hazelnut dessert. It is defiantly worth going to...beware though, the price is on the higher side; the price per person (since it is a harvest) is over $40. (There is no menu).

I was very happy to be able to hang out with my girlfriends too. I needed to talk to them about a situation in my life. Recently, I found out that I had been cheated on...no, not by Steve. It was an ex that I had a 4.5 year relationship with...or least that is what I thought. This was very difficult for me since I maintained a friendship with him, and I really valued what we had. Talking to my girls gave me some good perspective on it, and I appreciate my girlfriends for being there for me, and telling it to me as it is, with out beating around the bush...there is no sugar coating with my girls and that is what I love about them.

I am also happy that I have sort of made an unexpected friend through this process. Someone that I never thought that I could befriend just because of the situation that we were in. I judged her before I had even talked to her, and I now regret that I had misjudged her. I am happy though that we have started to talk and have learned about each other.

Today started out as a shitty day- I went back to work...apparently I had pissed off several people while I was out sick (claimants whose claims I had denied). I was returning phone calls for 3 hours... but in the end, it turned out to be an excellent day!!!

Pictures from dinner:

I also had my interview at Archiver's for a part time job- I think that it went well!!!

With a little help from my tussin

I am still sick, I'm still at home, and I'm still becoming more and more behind at work...this sucks!!! I need to be healthy though, so that I am able to do my work. Talking makes me cough and talking is about 85% of my day.

Sal has been taking care of me. There are not enough words that I could use to thank him. He has been extra special wonderful lately. Thanks Sal

Sal parent's will be here on Sunday. I am so happy that they will be able to come up here. Our parents will get to meet, and Steve will be able to spend a lot of quality time with them. I feel so bad, because their dog was attacked my a vicious dog. Poor thing, he is so gentle and delicate.

On Monday I turn 25. Ahhh I'm a quarter century old. I've been feeling sort of down lately. I'm not sure if it's because I'm sick, if I'm secretly scared about turning 25, or if it has to do with something else. I think it is mostly because I'm sick and I haven't done much of anything beside sleep for the past several days...

Tomorrow I'm going to work-yippy!! I don't think that I have ever been happy to go to work. I also have an interview for a part time job to be a supervisor at Archiver's. I'm so excited!!! I think that working there would be wonderful. Archiver's is my favorite scrapbook store. Working there would be my own little paradise. I know, I'm a crazy tool...

I'm also going to a birthday dinner with my girls tomorrow night, which will be a lot of fun. I always enjoy hanging with my girles. We're going to ZED. I hope that they have lots of good drinks!!! This will be my first birthday since I was 5 years old that Mary won't be at; I'm so sad :(

Freedom...

Today is a great day- I am finally free from Allstate!!! They have high rates and horrible customer service. You are not in good hands with Allstate.

They do have good commercials though- hahaha. Somebody has to pay for them, but it will no longer be me...

Girly Weekend

I was very excited to be able to spend quality time with the girls that I love this past weekend. Mary has graduated from the Secret Service and is now officially a uniformed officer. I'm so proud of my best friend!!! We took lots of fun pictures:

My Maria...congratulations!!!

Can you believe that we have been best friends since 1st grade!!!

Kristin was very excited about the star...

The girls...and Joel

Normal Behavior...

Before going out to shake it!!!

Us girls @ dinner

Michelle and I...we're not even related.



Margaret and Mary...they are so cute!!!

I love this picture of Michelle....

Mary and the Floridan...hahaha

Me, grillin with the Floridan....
Mary with the random guy who wanted his piccture taken?
Oh, I miss my best friend...

And best of all:

The angels...in front of St. Mary's...hahaha.
Please note that I was not really given a choice, I had to go to church... Since we all went to St. Mary's school/church as kids it had sentimental value...though it wasn't that church.

Venting Time

The world that we live in today is fast paced and convenience based. You see this in all aspect of life, everything from the mass production of goods (always looking for the cheapest/easiest way of doing it), to the food that we choice to eat, our education system (teaching only what is on standardized tests), to our personal lives. The divorce rate in this country is how high? We live in a society where something can be built up so fast and come tumbling down even faster. It has turned people to believe that it is ok to be self indulgent, irresponsible, and undependable. When something gets hard, throw it to the side. We take some much from our environment, but are we putting anything back in? We are so materialistic in this “American Culture” that we even “throw away” people. This is my take on things right now, but I have learned a very important lesson- things are not always what they seem to be. Two people can be going through that same situation and have totally different takes/perceptions of the experience.