How was everyone's fourth of july weekend? i hope it was great! Though I didn't really do anything it was still a nice time. Have a great one and much love!

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Sears Tower unveils 103rd floor glass balconies

By KAREN HAWKINS, Associated Press Writer Karen Hawkins, Associated Press Writer � Wed Jul 1, 5:05 pm ET
CHICAGO � Visitors to the Sears Tower's new glass balconies all seem to agree: The first step is the hardest.

The balconies are suspended 1,353 feet in the air and jut out four feet from the building's 103rd floor Skydeck. Their transparent walls, floor and ceiling leave visitors with the impression they're floating over the city.

"It's like walking on ice," said Margaret Kemp, of Bishop, Calif., who said her heart was still pounding even after stepping away from the balcony. "That first step you take � 'am I going down?'"

Kemp was among the visitors who got a sneak preview of the balconies Wednesday. "The Ledge," as the balconies have been nicknamed, open to the public Thursday. Visitors are treated to unobstructed views of Chicago from the building's west side and a heart-stopping vista of the street and Chicago River below � for those brave enough to look straight down.

John Huston, one of the property owners of the Sears Tower, even admitted to getting "a little queasy" the first time he ventured out. But 30 or 40 trips later, he's got the hang of it.

"The Sears Tower has always been about superlatives � tallest, largest, most iconic," he said. "Today is also about superlatives. Today, we present you with 'the Ledge,' the world's most awesome view, the world's most precipitous view, the view with the most wow in the world."

The balconies can hold five tons, and the glass is an inch-and-a-half thick, officials said. Sears Tower officials have said the inspiration for the balconies came from the hundreds of forehead prints visitors left behind on Skydeck windows every week. Now, staff will have a new glass surface to clean: floors.

"It's very scary, but at the same time it's very cool," said Chanti Lawrence of Atlanta, adding that she's made her first step toward overcoming her fear of heights.

Adam Kane, 10, of Alton, Ill., rushed to the ledge with his friends and siblings, and they each eagerly pressed their faces to the glass bottom.

"Look at all those tiny things that are usually huge," Adam said.

The balconies are just one of the big changes coming to the Sears Tower. The building's name will change to Willis Tower later this summer. Last week, officials announced a 5-year, $350 million green renovation complete with wind turbines, roof gardens and solar panels.


With the ledge, visitors like Kemp said the nation's tallest building has succeeded in creating something they've never seen before.


"I had to live 70 years for a thrill like this," she said.

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So I have been gone for way too long... hang on this is going to be a bumpy ride.

Wedding was great. Everything was beautiful and I got to hang out with my old friends for days. We listened to great music all night, and I got to rock out in the most expensive dress i will ever wear. A couple of down points were 1. I got a clear retainer for my lip ring, it grew into my lip, and my piercer had to take it out by gauging my lip to an 8... bummer, but he said he'd replace it for free, and it healed up in time. 2. I booked the hotel for the wrong night, and we were charged twice for a place that neither of us really liked. Otherwise everything was so much fun. Friends decorated the car in streamers and toothpaste. We went to the gas station still wearing our outfits, and they asked if we just got married, nope we were just having fun! lol One thing I will never forget is the morning after, we had breakfast at our bed and breakfast place. The side of the table that we were on was all newly weds from the night before, and the side opposite from us was people that were all celebrating 30 + year anniversaries. Absolutely crazy, maybe it's a good sign!

Honeymoon was a ton of fun, we pretty much didn't want to come home. Saw the art museum and the aquarium in Chicago. Did a lot of shopping and tried out a million cool restaurants. The best story of the whole trip was when we were leaving and needed a cab to take us to the airport. When we walked out of the hotel, a car that had been turning the corner stops dead and backs up to follow us. So we start walking the other way, and the car is gaining on us. I start thinking about going back inside the hotel because we are going to get mugged, but the guy stops in his giant limo and asks where we are going. Lonnie tells him to the airport, and once it was worked out, we got to ride in a limo cab for fourty bucks to the airport! It was neat to get to ride in a limo for such a special occasion, and I guess if we had to leave, at least it was fun.

When we got home it got a little boring and sad, but I still had to catalog and keep all of our memories and pictures. I now have seven photo albums. I will post a picture of us up here later when I get home.

Then i managed to cram a whole week into this weekend by wrecking the car. We have had non-stop schedules and tasks since then. I really liked my car, so i'm pretty sad that I most likely totalled it out. Poor little car! The good thing is though, I'm fine and so is the other driver, so I couldn't be happier about that!

Last bit of news. Lonnie and I have been looking for a wii, that's not news because who hasn't? We finally found one, but it's hours away from our hometown that is hours away from us. One of my greatest friends is going to go pick it up for us and if everything goes well with her getting it today, then when she comes up to visit next week she will have it with her. And I will be the most excited panda ever, because not only will we get our toy, I will get to spend all weekend hanging out with her. There is a good concert happening next weekend, and we are quite revved up to go.

Well i hope that this finds you all in a great place. I hope everyone had great holidays and that you are just happy as pie. Or a cupcake even!
Much love!

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Ok! A lot to catch you up on!!!

First and foremost the HIM show!!!
I made it on time... almost anyways. The friend I was meeting was late anyways, so we evened out. We then found him a parking spot... a monumental task in downtown! We crossed the street out in front of a red car, which I find it funny that I learned today was my best friend Laura and neither of us noticed it was the other! Then we went to the tattoo shop and waited for the piercer at Big Brain. He's supposed to be one of the best in the world, so we would definitely wait to check that out. He walked us into the shop and sat us down. He talked about going to california and all this other stuff while he was putting a dot on my face and checking to see if I liked the placement. Then all of a sudden he was done! Then I watched Ryan go through it, and it was much worse to watch than to have it done because he stuck a long needle through the lip and then followed it with a lip ring. The funny thing was, if it was a short needle... it wouldn't have bugged me lol. Anyways three fourths of the whole time with the guy was just chatting and he had us pierced and out of there in five minutes. I couldn't believe how absolutely painless it was and it definitely gave you that endorphin rush of "can I do it again!? That was fun!!" Anyways, I love Big Brain... and when in Omaha, get body art!



Then we went to go get ice cream, and I had to leave him so that I could get to the show. I met Shawna at Pizza Counter. We ate our food and then ditched her car at walmart so that we only had one to park around the concert. Then we waited in line, for quite some time, but not near my record. We made friends with the lady standing behind us and basically just reminisced about high school and seeing each other every day. They gave out free posters to the people in line, and that was way cool... except what am I going to do with a poster when I'm standing in the concert lol. I managed to fold it up enough so that it would fit in my pocket, but it's kinda ruined by now.
When we got in there, there were only two bands, HIM and Bleeding Through. I am not a fan of Bleeding Through, but it was not a bad performance, and I would watch it again if the reward of seeing HIM stayed the same. ((Side note: I wear ear plugs to every show because I have been to enough of them that I constantly hear a little annoying ringing, and I don't intend to make it worse. It's not like you can't hear those booming speakers over a little cheap pair of earplugs)) After a long time of getting squashed as per the usual... HIM came on. They were fantastic. I loved the show, I loved singing along with all the songs, I loved the look on Ville's face, like he just couldn't believe he was so loved. He laughed a lot and everyone did a lot of smiling. The others just don't seem to talk as much... But they all play their instruments very well. I refused to miss a second, and only left the dead center when my friend Shawna passed out this time. How's that for irony?? If you don't know what I'm talking about, go back and read the last post I made about a HIM concert.
Anyways, we went to get her some water and then we went to check out the merch table. I bought a really great poster and some HIM dog tags that you can get at hot topic for 12 but they were selling them for 10. I still haven't taken those off but to shower... they are some leather like material, so I don't want to chance it. Then we waded our way back in and just enjoyed the rest of their songs. They played all my favorites and not too many from the newest album because people haven't had a chance to learn it yet. It was wonderful...



Anyways, tomorrow night I am leaving for my hometown again, because after so much preparation... I will be married in four days. It's time to go in and really tie up all the loose ends and take care of everything. There has been a lot of homework doing in the past while since I haven't written, because I'm trying to get ahead so that on the honeymoon vacation I am worried about having fun, not which math problems I didn't do. I'll be sure to tell you all about it and everything. For now, I better get back to work!!

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I really need to get some of my excitement out or I'm never going to make it through math class. I'm sure everyone around me now already thinks I'm tweaky. I'm just absolutely shaking. I can't believe I'm being given a second chance to see HIM, I've never seen a band twice if you discount all the local bands that play every month. I want to be up in the action this time, no fainting for me! haha I'm just jittery and excitable. I also am wound up about finally getting a lip ring, it's like always dreaming about going to Europe and just finally getting the chance to buy the passport. I know I'm crazy, but I'm just like a firework today. After math, which I pray lets out early. I'm going home to grab a book and the cd I made for the roadtrip and getting out of here. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH OVEREXCITED!!!

oh also to answer randomjunk's comment about my hair... you have no idea what it took to get the hairdresser to cut it that way. Leave one side, cut off the other doesn't sound that hard to me. By the time i gave up matiencing that crazy thing and had my hair cut off, I can find a million other people with the same haircut now. But anyways the main point of this paragraph is that I don't look like that anymore, the picture is quite old, and I've jumped ahead several hairstyles since then. Of course I change my hair at least once a month. OK I'm too hyper to write, obviously, because I never intended all of that to come pouring out through the keys... I've got to get off before I write a life story about hair! Have a good day everybody!

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The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D was amazing. I suggest it to anybody. I think that they extended the days until halloween, but that doesn't give you much time. If you ask me, that's how that movie should be watched. There is so much artistic stuff in it that Tim Burton must have known that you'd never see and he did it any way, and now, you will see a million things that you've never seen before in it.

My friend Shawna came visit for Monday and Tuesday about a week ago. We had a lot of fun. We got the marriage license dealie taken care of, and then it was too late for me to make my classes, so we went to lunch and then shopping. We even went to a Botanical Center to look at all their pretty flowers, and they had the tallest stick of bamboo I have ever seen in my life. It must has grown for YEARS.

I also had a bridal shower on Sunday. I hated the idea of it, but we played some fun games and then afterwards we went to see 30 days of night, just us girlies. It was a lot of fun, and I was so glad to be back with them. I miss them a ton and it felt like I never even left. I contemplated staying... dropping college because you miss people isn't exactly going to pan out in the long run.

Otherwise, I've been going to school and all. This semester is almost over thank goodness, but most of the finals are right over the wedding. Bad timing lol

I am going to go see HIM next week, with Shawna again. I'm so excited, and ready to get a second chance at seeing them. If you don't know what I mean, feel free to read the post about it from some time ago. I also plan on getting my lip pierced before I go, stupid I know but I really want one, and I can't go afterwards. I've always really wanted one, and I promised my friend Ryan that I would get it done with him and he has the same day off. So we are going to stop at the tattoo parlor on the way to the show. Can i post a picture of myself on here? Then you guys could help me decide where to put it because I'm an awful decider about permanent things. Anyways I will let you know how the concert goes because I will be too excited not to!



sorry it's a strange picture. I had just gotten the camera and was trying to figure out the screen. It flips out when you take a picture so you can see yourself. But it helps not to be looking at the screen when you take the picture, you still sorta have to look at the camera.

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