Bolsa Chica

Most of you know that I (Monica) have a little side business for making purses and other fabric goodies. But, just in case you didn't know the details, I have an online shop and also a crafty blog that tells a little bit more about what I do. Just thought you might like to take a look:

Bolsa Chica online store
Bolsa Chica blog

Thanks! :-)

Weekend Trip to Chi-Town

Due to popular demand (OK, it was one request - we don't keep our standards too high around here!) we are posting some pictures from a short weekend trip we took to Chicago. In the middle of October Brian reached the half way point in his semester. That meant two of his classes finished and one new class started. We decided that was a good reason to celebrate! A mini-weekend trip was in order. It just so happened, that same weekend some of our good (generous, giving, hospitable, etc.) friends were going to be out of town and offered to let us stay in their adorable Chicago apartment. This fit in very well with our budget, so we decided to take them up on the offer. Thank you Suttons for making our little weekend trip possible - we loved staying in your place! :-)

The pictures aren't terribly exciting, we were mainly just enjoying spending time together, trying a few new restaurants, and leisurely exploring new parts of Chicago. We knew we were in for a great weekend when we walked in the door to find this.

I have never felt so welcomed - Kirra, you could definitely give the Four Seasons a run for their money! You are a way better concierge than I've ever experienced in a hotel! After a late night chic-flick (thanks hubby for bearing with your sentimental wife!), we slept in and enjoyed our morning, taking in all the sights and sounds of a downtown Chicago apartment.

As you can tell, I was really excited!

Then we headed over to Lincoln Park to explore the cute neighborhood, the FREE Lincoln Park Zoo, and an amazing restaurant recommended by some friends. Here are some pictures from those endeavors.

Exploring an apes behavior.

I think he was trying to imitate a zebra. Words really can't describe.

Ah. Chi-town in the Fall.

Me and my new lion buddies. Here I am thinking something along the lines of: "I get to see lions for free? Are you kidding? This is awesome!"

We finished off with a lunch at Oven Grinders - a must visit for you Chicagoans!

Sorry there are so many pictures of me - after all, I am married to the photographer! The rest of the weekend we put away the camera and just enjoyed ourselves. Hope you enjoyed some snap shots of our Chicago get-away!

:: eli & allison :: e-session ::

i have to say a big thank you to eli & alli for their wonderful patience for the rest of their photos! i had a great time, and i hope you guys really enjoy your photos. i can't wait for your wedding that will be here soon! click here to see the full gallery on the geefamily photography website. if family or friends would like to order some or all of these prints, online ordering should be up within a day or so (i'll post an update on this post to let you know). here a sampling...



again, to see the full gallery, click here.

True Woman '08

I have spent the last 3 days at the True Woman '08 conference with my mom (visiting from CA). What an incredible time of refreshment, encouragement, and conviction. I am not sure if I can even begin to describe what a blessing this time has been to me. Thanks mama (and dad!) for making this possible and for coming to the conference with me. I've been just as encourage by my time with you as with the worship, prayer, and teaching at the conference. What a blessing!

Here are a few (very few!) snapshots from the conference:

When we first arrived at the conference, there were these great tote bags on each of our seats. Not only are the bags practical, they were filled with everything we would need for the conference: a pen, program, free resources, tissues [after all it is a woman's conference], etc.


There were also several vendors at the conference, providing various applicable resources. I've been wanting this book for awhile, so I was so thankful to find it here and to get it signed by the author, Carolyn McCulley.

The first 2 sessions we sat on our own, but we managed to hook up with some ladies from Grace Church for the last 2 sessions and sat with them - 4 rows from the front! It was so awesome to get to worship alongside the women who have welcomed me into their families for the past year.

OK, the lighting isn't great, but here we are! This is before the last session, so we were pretty tired by that point. Other than going back to our hotel to sleep, we only had one other break the whole time! We were feeling "rump-sprung" by the end, but it was all worth it!

After the last session, we were given the opportunity to sign the True Woman Manifesto in affirmation of the challenges we had received over the course of the conference. You should check it out!

Weekend Visitors

We had quite a fun weekend with some visitors who came in from the City. Taylor and Kirra Sutton came out for a short little trip to the suburbs. I haven't had a chance to look through some of the pictures Brian took from Saturday, but our friends have a nice little write up about the visit on their blog. (By the way, there is one picture of me looking at some of the Flea Market items and you might notice that my hair is looking a bit different. I got a haircut on Thursday and am loving the darker, shorter look. Maybe Brian will posts some other pictures of the new-do!)

Yesterday we (just Brian and I) took a little adventure over to Long Grove, IL. They have an Apple Festival there in the Fall, and we thoroughly enjoyed the festivities. The weather has turned much cooler in the past week, so we had fun pulling out some of our warmer clothes. When we first arrived at the Apple Festival it was raining so we quickly found a place to eat lunch and wait out the storm. We found the Village Tavern and had a great meal.

(Picture from the website, not GeeFamily Photography)

In the end, the weather cleared up and we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. We waited in line at the Apple Haus for awhile - but it was totally worth the wait! We scarfed down our apple-inspired-goodies and explored the cute historic downtown of Long Grove. One Hot Apple Cider, one Caramel White Chocolate covered Apple, one Caramel Apple Pie, and one Apple Donut all amounts to one very good time!

By the way, you won't see any of our pictures from this event because Brian decided to play with his film camera. It was feeling a bit neglected, so he took it for a little spin!