What Have I Been Up To?

So the last few months have been busy. As many of you know my Honda Civic was stolen a second time, but you can read about that and my new car Elanor in a previous post.
So in August after my previous trip to Chicago my roommate Allison and I went to the Church History museum for the Boy Scout of America exhibit. They had several Norman Rockwell paintings, and that was what we really went for. After exploring the Church History Museum we decided to wander around Temple Square. It was a lot of fun, and the last big thing me and Allison got to do before she left on her mission in September. She is now in the Rancho Cucamonga, California mission, and is a great missionary.

After Allison left, I had to find a new roommate. Allison actually owns the condo that I live in, so she asked me to stay here and look after the place while she is on her mission. After two weeks of living alone I finally got a new roommate. I will say that living alone was fun but I don't know if I could handle it for longer than a few weeks. I got really depressed and mostly stayed inside, but now I have a roommate who barely talks and is more introverted than me.
In October I went to Chicago for a second time. This time I went with my cousins Anisa and Summer. I arrived Wednesday around noon and rode the train all by myself to my sister's apartment. My parents were very worried about me, but I enjoyed the independence. Later that day Summer arrived and Libby and I went and picked her up at the airport. After we picked her up we went and met with some of Libby's friends at a bar for dinner. We got some burgers and I got the best damn Sweet Potato Fries that I have ever tasted. I don't know if I was starving or if they were just that good, but damn they were yummy! The next morning Anisa arrived and we started our adventures. First we went for Pizza at Giordano's then we went up to the top of the Sears (Willis) tower. Last time I went up to the top of the Sears tower I cried because my cousin Ethan was trying to force me onto the glass box, luckily this time my cousins were nicer about it. They tried to convince me to go out on those boxes but they didn't try to force me on. Libby, Summer, and Anisa had fun on the box while I stood next to one of the windows freaking myself out. Then we went to Millennium park and saw the bean and then we walked to the Buckingham fountain. The next day we went to Navy Pier and rode the Ferris wheel and wandered around Downtown and did the Magnificent Mile. We also went to Wrigley Field and Goose Island bar and got some delicious Ginger Soda. We ate at several different restaurants and had a lot of fun together. On Saturday, Libby got called to work so Anisa, Summer, and I went to a place called Mindy's Hot Chocolate for breakfast on our way to the airport. I got this rich, thick dark hot chocolate that coated my esophagus and was too much for me to even finish. Then we headed to the airport and headed home.

As many of you know Halloween is one of my most favorite holidays. The weekend before Halloween my friends Kymn and Russ had a Psych themed Halloween party so I went as Detective Juliet O'Hara. This year my friend Shelby got married on Halloween so I got dressed up for her wedding. During work I didn't want to get my dress dirty so I gave myself a broken nose and a gash on the side of my face. For her wedding I went dressed as Merida from Brave. There were several people from work so I had to get pictures with them.

Now I need to explain this following picture. The only reason that I am posting this is because I'm so entertained by it. So several weeks ago I finally went to an Allergist because I have some pretty bad hay fever, especially this time of year and I wanted to go see what I was allergic to, and if there was anything that might help. So as you can see by the picture there are several things that I am allergic to. So what they do is take several different samples and scratch them into my skin and let them sit for about ten minutes then see what I have a reaction to. So I am allergic to several weeds, several of which are native to Utah, dust mites, Cottonwood trees, and Timothy Grass. I don't have any allergies to animals or food that we know of, so it's just lovely hay fever. My doctor said that I could get allergy shots which I would have to get twice a week but I don't have the money or time for that. He told me to just keep taking whatever allergy medicine best works for me.

This month I was able to go home twice for Thanksgiving. Because Libby had to work Thanksgiving weekend we decided to do an early Thanksgiving two weeks early since Libby had that weekend off. So I drove down with my cousins Ethan and Libby and had an intimate dinner with my family. It was the six of us plus both of my brother's girlfriends and Ethan and Libby. It was very nice and fun. We had lots of fun and laughs playing Balderdash.
This weekend I flew home Thursday, which flying on Thanksgiving is great, I walked right through security and the flight was about half full. We had a small Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle and cousins in Kanarraville. Soon after we finished eating we went black friday shopping at Walmart and I got a few movies. Friday we had lunch together and just sat around talking and I flew home Friday night. There were only five people on my flight home. I think I know how I'm going to get home on Thanksgiving from now on!!!
Last but not least I must tell you about an awkward date I went on last week. I went on a date with a guy I work with. Apparently he has liked me for a while and was shy, so I needed to help him out a bit. So after I encouraged him a bit he finally asked me out. I made him be the man and decide what to do, which took a while, but finally we decided on a day and time and made plans. So the night came and first of all he was a half hour late and waited for me in the parking lot. Then we went bowling and he was so boring! While bowling he showed no emotion, I thought maybe he's just being shy or having a hard time easing up. After two rounds of bowling, some minature golf, and a little time in the arcade he took me home. He did talk a little more, but for the most part I was the one doing most of the talking. Anyway when he dropped me off he just dropped me off. He pulled up and said goodbye, but I wasn't content with that, so I asked him for a hug which was an awkward side hug INSIDE the car. Then I walked to my door alone! Seriously it was so awkward and too much work, and boring! I tried to have fun and I did have fun bowling and what not but I would like someone who would actually try and talk to me. He apparently had a great time, and of course he did because I'm a fun person, but I would like the other person to be as fun as me.
I was happy to go on a date since the last date I went on was quite a while ago, but seriously will I ever be able to go on a fun date with someone who actually interests me and will actually converse with me! So if anyone knows of any single guys please set me up. I'm not getting any younger and apparently the only way I can actually get a date is to get set up.
It's been a busy and interesting couple of months and now it's time to get ready for Christmas!!!!

Chicago with the Libbys'

So I know this was a while ago, but I'm getting ready to head back to Chicago this week, so I thought I would blog about my last trip.

So back in July, I took a long weekend trip to Chicago to visit my sister the flight attendant. I flew in Saturday and my sister came and met me at the airport. After a couple of hours in the airport, Libby had a friend flying in for a layover, we finally headed downtown. After a stop at Libby's cute little apartment, we wandered around downtown. We walked the streets of Chicago, road the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier, and took a water taxi up the Chicago river.
Sunday we just went to church, then met up with cousin Libby and just hung out all day.
Monday we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, ate some delicious food at Glenn's Diner (which was on Diner's, Drive-in, and Dives), went to Wrigley Field, went to a Goose Island bar and got some soda (side note, I am now addicted to their Spicy Ginger Soda! So good!), then ended in Millenium park where we saw the Bean and watched a free concert in the park.
Tuesday we ended up parting ways, and when I got home to Salt Lake I had discovered that my precious Amelia (that's my old Honda Civic if you didn't know) was stolen for the second time.
It's probably a good thing I had just had a fun, relaxing weekend or else I probably would have been much more upset about my car being stolen. Don't worry, I'm taking all the precautions I can with my new car. I'm sure she will still be safe and sound once I get back from Chicago this next time.

More Travels with Jessie

Last week my sister Libby and I flew to Indiana to visit our cousin Ethan and his wife Libby in West Lafayette. We flew in Tuesday morning and drove up to West Lafayette where my sister (Libby Jr.) and I took a nap to make up for the restless nights sleep we had received on our red eye flight. After our nap we took a drive around beautiful, green Lafayette. The next day the four of us drove around Lafayette. We went to Purdue University (where Ethan and Libby Sr. are going to work on their PhD's), had a picnic by the river, walked over the Wabash river, walked through Lafayette, and walked through a couple of awesome parks.

Here we are by the fountain at the end of the pedestrian bridge that goes across the Wabash river.

The classic Butt picture. This is my best angle.

Friday morning we drove the two hours from West Lafayette to the beautiful "Windy City" of Chicago. Our first day in Chicago we went to Millenium park, The Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, then drove a taxi to Willis tower (better known as the Sears tower).

Here I am at the top of the Willis tower. I don't do well with heights so I was pretty nervous to begin with, but things got worse when my sister (and later my cousins) tried to convince me to go stand on the glass box that you can look through.

Here was my reaction. This is how I know my family loves me: they laughed at me and then took pictures of me crying.

After the Willis tower we ate delicious Chicago style deep dish pizza at Giordano's.

Then we walked through Chicago back to Millennium park and saw the bean.

This is a view from underneath the bean.

The next day we went to some botanic gardens in Chicago that was full of beautiful flower gardens and beautiful waterfalls.

After the gardens we went and saw the Chicago Temple.

After the temple we headed back to downtown Chicago and we ate some delicious Chicago Hot Dogs. Well Libby Jr. and Ethan ate official Chicago Hot Dogs, I only had a polish dog, which was very delicious. After lunch we went to a Planetarium then the Museum of Science and Industry.

Libby Jr. wanted to take a picture of me next to this male "statue." It was my idea to hold his male parts.

Here is Libby Jr. holding his male parts as well.

After the museum we drove to Nauvoo. We spent two and a half days in Nauvoo. Nauvoo was such an awesome and spiritual experience. We did a ton in Old Nauvoo. For example I was able to help make rope. Plus I got a lot of cool stuff: a prairie diamond, a mini horse show, a candle, a rope, and a brick. Plus the stories were so amazing. The early pioneers were amazing, I could never do all of the things that they did, but I am very grateful for them. A few of the buildings are owned by the Community of Christ church (which is the church that was formed by Emma Smith after Joseph Smith died and the saints left Nauvoo). We had to pay a couple of dollars each to go through those buildings, but we had an interesting tour guide. His name was Sergey (or something to that affect) from Russia. He liked to say phrases such as "Let me pay your attention" or "Can you imagine" of course you have to say these with a deep Russian accent.

After Nauvoo we headed south along the Mississippi River and drove to Carthage jail. After Carthage we drove back to West Lafayette. Spent one more night with Ethan and Libby Sr. then made our way back home to Southern Utah.
It was such a fun vacation, and if you would like to see more pictures you'll have to check both Libbys' blogs in the next couple of days.