Day one...

I signed up for this workshop:  Get Those Creative Juices Flowing Workshop.  It started today.  Aren't you lucky I'm going to share everything with you right here on my little blog!  Well, maybe not everything. 

We made these super cute, super easy little books today.  Thank goodness I'd gotten my sewing machine out a couple weeks ago to make, well, I'm not going to show you just yet.  You'll have to stay tuned...

Here is the first of two books I made:

 

Pretty cute, huh?  Here's the second one, a bit smaller, that I made for Halloween.  I'll show you what it looks like after I fill it up with pictures and stuff. 

So there!  What do you think?  Do you love them?  I sure do.  And they were simple enough to do while Owen was napping, double bonus.  

I should mention too, that Joe ran the marathon yesterday.  So awesome of him.  My parents watched Owen so I could go down there.  It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen, seriously.  So much camaraderie, so much motivation, so much optimism!  Even as temperatures continued to increase, people were super supportive of one another, both those who ran and those who cheered them on.  It was so amazing I'm considering trying it out for myself.  Eek!  Those of you who know me know that I am not a runner at all!  5ks intimidate me!  But maybe, just maybe, I'll try it out.  Don't quote me on that...

Here's Joe with his group.  He's the one who stands out like he didn't read the directions, because he didn't read the directions ("Oh, I guess I was supposed to wear one of those shirts they sent in that packet in the mail a couple weeks ago..." and then later, "Where do we start?"  Yikes...)

Here are a couple guys on his running team.  Joe was really good friends with the guy on the left when he was a kid, and now the guy lives right around the corner from his ex-wife.  Joe's ex-wife.  He's super nice. 

It was a beautiful morning, and absolutely perfect if you're going to spend 4+ hours by yourself.

Self-portrait.

 The starting line.  It was totally insane.  Maybe the worst part of running a marathon is waiting with a throng of crazy runners for a half hour.  

I watched them turn on Buckingham Fountain right on the lake front.

I watched the first men cross the finish line on TV; here is the first woman crossing the finish line.  They are so incredibly fast.  I almost cried it was so emotional.  Like, so triumphant, such catharsis, and then exhaustion.  When in your life do you ever experience that?  When you have a baby, that's pretty much it I think...

Here's a poor guy puking at the finish line.  Sorry guy.  I thought it was amazing you kept it all in til the end of the race. 

Here were two people who got got engaged at the finish line.  Pretty cool.

The only picture I got of Joe after the race.  I know, I know, I'm a terrible photographer.  He didn't want his picture taken and I had to sneak this one:

A super cool picture as we looked across the tracks.  Wish I could've seen it from the ground too.

For all you folks who miss the city of Chicago.

Then today we went to Willowbrook Animal Shelter.  It was fun.  We hiked around a bit and saw some pretty cool birds.  Owen got to pet a rat and see a Screech Owl up close.  And run around like a maniac.

And here's us.  Both a bit crabby, Joe because he was sore from the marathon, me because I was tired from waking up so early the day before.  Whew!  It just knocked it right out of me. 

So tomorrow's post will be shorter.  More to the point.  Hope you enjoyed the sneak peak into this workshop though!  I can't wait for what the rest of the week will bring.

Thanks for reading!

Amiee