Jennifer Lee, Katy Kiech, and Diana picked me up at work to go to Wisconsin for our weekend bible study retreat. We stayed in Green Lake, Wisconsin, which was not too far from Oshkosh. The house we stayed in was huge. It slept 17 people, but only 9 gals were coming. It had a huge living room with a fireplace and large kitchen. Katie and I shared a room. There were some wasps in our room so Diane killed them for us.
On Saturday, we had eggs, pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then, we took a walk around the grounds and found this beautiful rose garden, a boat house, and this old train that had church services inside. Jennifer and Amy talked about their marriages and how different it was than they expected.
Beth, who was a great cook, made us a delicious lunch. She made these fancy flat bread sandwiches, italian pasta salad, and chips. Then, for dessert, we had chocolate mousse over meringue. Then, we had our bible study.
For dinner, we had pasta, garlic bread, salad, and brownies for dessert.
After dinner, we went through some more verses and talked about our concerns.
On Sunday, we had breakfast and prayer time and then headed back to Chicago.
Joe had invited me to come visit him in Vernon Hills and show me around. I was so excited. I took Metra train to Lake Forest. Joe was waiting for me at the train station. He has a 1995 Firebird in excellent shape. We went to the beach on Lake Michigan where he liked to come sit. Then, we sat down and looked out at the lake. Some people were walking their dogs. He told me he didn't like dogs as they gave him allergies. Then, we went to this little park by his house where he liked to take walks. He lived near the Hawthorne Mall on Onwentsia. His bedroom was very neat which I thought was surprising for a man. We had dinner at Chili's Restaurant and stopped at Best Buy.
We went to the movie "Rush Hour" which was hilarious. Then, we went back to his house and hung out. I got to meet his parents. They were playing on the computer. Then, he brought me back to the train station in Lake Forest. He told me to give him a call when I got back to Chicago to make sure I was ok. He gave me a hug and I took a chance and gave him a kiss before I got on the train.
I took the Amtrak to Ann Arbor to visit with the Gonyos for Labor Day weekend. Today, Joy and I met Nina Ganesh for breakfast in Ann Arbor. Then, George, Marianne, Joy, and I went to Skip and Jo's house for lunch. I showed them my slutty picture of me in Vegas, which they thought was so funny. Then, George, Marianne, Joy, and I went to St. Pat's church for the church festival. I helped out at the concession stand. Then, Marianne took me to the Amtrak station for my ride home to Chicago.
I was anxious to get home and read my emails from Joe. Joe had gone to Western Illinois for the weekend to visit his friends. He said he wished he could have brought me down there.
Joe and I walked down to Union Station to get my Amtrak ticket for Ann Arbor. We had lunch on Canal St and were laughing about how people were dressing. Got back to work and got an email from Josh asking what was going on with Joe and I, as we had gone out for lunch 2 days in a row. Neither Joe nor I cared what gossip was going on.
My department at Information Resources used to take each other out for their birthday lunch which was always fun. It was another way for me to try out different restaurants in town. Yolanda, Chris, Tony, Josh, Wayne, Joe, Jeanette, and Bryan took me for my birthday lunch at West Egg Cafe in our Monroe St. building. Joe called me after work to say he would take me for my birthday dinner when I came to visit him in the suburbs.
I still wasn't feeling too well, but got some extra rest before going to the Shania Twain concert in Tinley Park with Jennifer Lovato. Jennifer picked me up from the train station in Tinley Park and we drove to the Shania Twain concert. Shania had a 13 yr old she had met at an autograph session come on stage and sing for us. She was excellent.
I was still very sick today with Bronchitus. I hated to call in sick to work, especially after being on vacation, but I had absolutely no energy. My supervisor, Chris, was joking with me that I was going to skip work and go to the beach. As I said, I had no energy, and not sure how I managed to walk myself down to Addison St. to hail a cab. There is nothing worse than being alone and sick and having to get yourself to your doctor. I took the cab to my doctor office as I was so weak. I had a temperature of 100.7. I got 2 prescriptions and took the cab home and slept the rest of the day. Joe had written to me to see how I was doing which was nice of him.
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