Long Time No See

Sorry it’s been so long everyone! I know we’ve had many visitors and have visited many over the past month and a half. I have finally uploaded more than 500 new photos, from these visits, to our photo site at: www.benjaminmurphy.com/photos.
These events were:

  1. My vacation to Denver, Colorado
  2. Travis and Amanda Krampy’s Wedding
  3. Matt and Sara’s Parents and Grandparents Visits
  4. July 4th Visit to PA
  5. Mindy’s Wedding Shower
  6. Becky and Jane’s Visit
  7. The Chicago Air and Water Show
  8. Tracey’s Visit
  9. My Chicago Friend – Ozzie’s Bachelor Party
  10. The Hunting Camp and the Big Knob Fair

We have had a lot of fun with everyone coming out to visit us and also going home and visiting with everyone as well. We really hope that more people can make the journey out here to visit us and get a little taste of Chicago for themselves!

Home sweet home

After such a long and tiresome week of moving and cleaning we are finally settled in to our new home on N Seeley St. It took several late night cleaning sessions and plenty of rolls of paper towels but the filth has been lifted and we can sleep in peace and cleanliness. Sara and I love the new place, we are very happy here. The Johnsons have opened up their home to us and we are thankful to them. It’s nice to come home everyday and see the kids (Katy and Drew) as well as the slobbery Wags (the dog) playing in the backyard craving our attention. Here are some of the much anticipated pictures of the inside of our new home. Sara took them so give her props. We are looking forward to our very first visitors from the far east — Becky, Hannah, and Jane. They are privy to seeing the new digs in all its glory. And they might even get to stay here too. The next most privleged person to visit at the end of the month is Tracey. She gets to stay and chill with us for a whole weekend and we are looking forward to it.

On to bigger and better news. Mrs. Sara recieved her promotion from Deloitte to become a “Senior”! That’s big news people. Saramarie you rock!

Thanks for all those that helped us move especially big Jim and my friends Ozzie and Justin. They all hooked up a brother in need. Ok so we are all moved, where’s all the welcome to your new home cookies? Let’s go moms get your spatulas stirring. 🙂 I’m pretty fond of most kinds of cookies.

Say Hello To My Little Friend!

Update Again:
It’s been brough to my attention that I screwed up the area code on our new numbers. It’s 773 not 733 as I had typed. So I will correct this, but at least I got the address right so there is no excuse for those of you not to send cookies and other home warming treats our way!

UPDATE: Sorry about the mass email notifications sent from me. The server went a bit nutty whenever I sent it out. It’ll never happen again, er hopefully anyways. Please forgive me!

Sara and I ponied up for some new cell phones and decided to ditch the evil empire that is SBC(the monopoly of land utility phone service in the midwest and western United States). So far we’ve been having plenty of fun with them. But they are lacking much needed names to go with them. So instead of saying, “Hey Ben, can I borrow your cell phone?” You could say, “Hey Ben, can I borrow Gina for a second?” My cell phone is a sleek black Sony Ericsson, and I’d prefer a mysterious-sexy female name if possible. Sara’s is a silver Nokia, and I’m sure she’d rather have a name like Sherman and Hank for her phone 😉 (Just kidding, she wants a cool name too, like Sven or Austin.) So if you’d like to help us name our phones please leave us a comment.

The numbers:
Sara’s Cell: 773-490-6651 (She’s has this number for the past two years, so no changes there.)
Ben’s Cell: 773-294-4943 (I’m 24 and this is my first ever cell phone, I think when you become a teenager these days you are issued a phone by your parents or something. I feel like an out of date old fart.)
Our Home phone number is going the way of the dinosaur so please delete it out of your PDAs, cell phones, Outlook Contacts, Calendars, Day Planners, Scrap Pieces of Paper, sidewalk chalk, etc.

New Address as of Aug 1st 2004:
4828 N Seeley St.
Apt #1
Chicago, IL 60625

News:
Sara and I have been packing all weekend for the big move only three blocks away. It’s always nice to move at least once a year to keep the clutter and junk level down to a minimum. There was a wise toad that once told me that you fill the space you are alotted with goods/junk kinda like an aquarium. Well our new place won’t be quite as big as the lap of luxury we spent this past year, but it’s still roomy enough for us.

Super bonus awesome news!!
Much thanks to Gma&Gpap Brown for the much needed hook up that helped to ease our debt sufferings a little bit! And also to enjoy our selves a bit and buy an Xbox to have some fun with on those bitter cold Chicago nights. Since the new place won’t have a roaring fireplace we’ll have to warm ourselves up everynight by playing some dual action Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix!

Pandimonium

Wow we’ve been so busy for the past four weeks it’s completely insane. I had my friend Matt Antoline out here for a weekend, then Sara’s parents and Grandparents were out visiting, then we flew home for an extended July 4th weekend, and then Sara’s sorority sister and college roommate flew out here this weekend. Talk about fun all around, but we need a vaca from all the hustle and bustle!

Last night Jim and I went to a double header at the new Soldier Field. It was US Men’s Soccer vs. Poland and then the MLS Chicago Fire vs. New England Revolution. Wow what awesome games! I never realized how large the Polish population is in Chicago until last night. The fans were rabid and diehard to say the least. Three nutty Polska’s (Polska is Poland in Polishese), ran out onto the field like maniacs after Poland scored. They were then cuffed and hauled off. Then after US scored very late in the game to tie it up some crazy dude sitting near us ran down to a bunch of rowdy Polish fans and dropped his pants baring what Jim’s said to be a tribute to the red, white, and blue in some sort of bikini fashion. Well take that you rabid Polish fans, we have crazy fans too, albeit disgusting.

All this just to say, that it was quite the experience. American League Football has nothing on the rivalries that come between two countries and their love of the most popular sport on earth.

The only downer was that I got really sick by the time Chicago Fire started playing and we had to leave a bit early, but the night was not a wash. We got to see two great games and plenty of lunacy from the fans. Oh, and also it was the largest crowd ever to witness a Chicago Fire game. It’d have to be attributed to the Us vs. Poland game though with the Polish fans dominating the attendance. An amazing time.

Stars and Stripes

Well we are going into the 4th of July Holiday weekend. Sara and I fly out tomorrow night and are looking forward to the trip home to PA. I’d like to take this time to remind everyone of the “quarter bounty” I’ve got going on. That’s an inside joke for Aunt Bonnie. Basically these are the quarters that I currently need for my collection.

Denver Mint Quarters:

  1. Arkansas
  2. Texas

Phillidelphia Mint Quarters:

  1. I’m all up to date on these ones!

Any help here will recieve a dingy old quarter in a fair trade for one of these shinny new ones. Thanks!

Update! I’m only two quarters behind and that’s pretty darn good.
If you need some help to know what these quarters look like check out the US Treasury site that gives all the info on the state quarters and images as well: US Mint State Quarters