girl about town

New carpet day

2012-02-18T13:56:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was "new carpet day" and I spent seven hours confined to a 2x3 space in the kitchen while we had new carpet installed. (Thank goodness for the internet!) It was a long day and now we have a lot of our stuff to put back in place. When we moved in, we put new carpet in our basement and one bedroom. The old carpet has stayed put for the past year but became increasingly more disgusting so we decided to replace it with what we put in the basement. The new carpet is plush and cozy for walking around barefoot and sitting on the floor (unlike the stiff, non-soft, gross carpet before). It's also stain-resistant which is a huge plus. Hopefully, now that the entire house is filled with the new plush carpet, our house doesn't look too 70s shag...I think it's such a big change, it will just take a few days to fully adjust.

Dog Wash

2012-02-18T13:41:00.001-06:00

It's been a great Saturday so far. Out for breakfast, off to meet classmates to work on homework, a walk to Red Mango and some Starbucks. Also, we took our dogs to the dog wash...kind of like a self-service car wash but instead of washing your car, you wash your dog. They get baths at the vet when they are there being boarded and sometimes we do it at home as well but it's also back-breaking at home. (Also, yesterday was new carpet day so if we can avoid wet dogs at home for awhile, that's a plus.)

As usual, Crumley took it like a champ.

As usual, Iris did not take it like a champ. She tried to bite the blow dryer and blow dryer operator (me). Awesome.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T10:19:00.001-06:00

Surprise from my Valentine...

Mediterranean Tuna-Noodle Casserole

2012-02-07T18:55:00.000-06:00

My church regularly sends out emails for help with meal requests and I try to help out whenever possible. A recent request came my way and noted "no chicken or shellfish." I assumed the rest of the meals might be red meat heavy so I looked for alternatives and found a delicious Martha Stewart recipe for Mediterranean Tuna-Noodle Casserole. The recipe makes enough for two dishes so it was perfect to make one for us and one for someone else's freezer. It earned our seal of approval and a spot on our meal rotation so I thought I'd pass it along.

1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for baking dishes
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound wide egg noodles
2 red bell peppers (ribs and seeds removed), thinly sliced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
5 cups whole milk
4 cans (6 ounces each) tuna in olive oil, drained*
1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained and thickly sliced
5 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil two 8-inch square (or other shallow 2-quart) baking dishes. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles until 2 minutes short of al dente; drain, and return to pot.

Meanwhile, in a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium. Add bell peppers; season with salt and pepper. Cook until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Gradually add milk, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a simmer.

Remove from heat; add mixture to noodles in pot, along with tuna, artichoke hearts, and scallions. Season with salt and pepper, and toss. Divide between prepared baking dishes, and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until golden and bubbling, about 20 minutes.

*Instead of four cans in oil, I used two in oil and two in water.

Whidbey

2012-01-24T22:24:00.000-06:00

Joe and I flew to Seattle on Friday and spent the weekend with his family on Whidbey Island. We ate some delicious family dinners, took the ferry around the San Juan Islands for some sightseeing, took the ferry to Port Townsend (where we got caught in a torrential downpour) and had fun visiting with family that we don't get to see often enough.

On the ferry to the San Juan Islands (clockwise: Joe, Uncle Will, Joe's dad, Joe's stepmom and Cousin Devin.)

Joe and I on the ferry.

Joe's dad and stepmom at The Captain Whidbey Inn. Yum! I was going to take a picture of the mussels but they disappeared before I could pull my camera out.

One of our delicious family dinners cooked by Joe's Aunt Judy and Cousin Nicholas.

Joe and his Grandma Dorothy.

(left to right) Joe's Dad, Aunt Judy, Grandma Dorothy and Uncle Will who made the trek from Arizona to visit.

Favorite Movies

2012-01-15T16:21:00.000-06:00

Now that it's award season - my favorite season of all - it's time to announce my favorite movies. We've seen a lot of really great movies this year (and I know my husband's list would probably be a little different) but this is my best-of-the-best in 2011 in no particular order:

The Artist
Moneyball
Bridesmaids (yes, really, my husband and I still quote lines from this movie which automatically makes it a winner)
My Week With Marilyn

Comfort Food

2012-01-14T16:13:00.002-06:00

I am going on day 15 of being sick and Joe has had a week of bronchitis but I think he's mostly better now. I thought I was better at the beginning of the week and had my best day, ironically the day I saw my doctor, and then it went downhill from there. Anyway, this is a long way of saying we were both in the mood for some comfort food. The snow has finally hit us, it's very cold outside and neither of us feel 100%. Sounds like the perfect day for homemade chicken pot-pie. I got Joe involved in today's meal, too, by summonsing him to make the mashed potatoes to accompany the pot-pie. My recipe came from Pioneer Woman and it didn't disappoint...so good! This batch actually made two with my smaller pie plates so I have another in the freezer for another day.

Here's Pioneer Woman's recipe for the pie crust that goes on top of the pot pie. I made this yesterday and then froze per the instructions. I am not sure if I've ever actually made pie crust before but this was surprisingly easy. I will say that once I rolled it out and put it on top, it wasn't all that pretty (I need some practice here) but it tasted great.

Chicken Pot Pie
3 celery stalks
3 medium carrots
1 large yellow onion
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 cups cooked chicken
1/4 cup flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 chicken bouillon cube
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon kosher salt
black pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Finely dice the celery, carrots and onion.
3. Melt the button in a large pan and add the onion, carrots, celery and peas. Saute for a couple minutes.
4. Add the chicken and stir to combine. Sprinkle flour evenly over the vegetables and chicken and combine. Cook for a couple minutes.
5. Pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly. Stir in the bouillon cube and wine.
6. Pour in the cream and stir. Cook over low heat to thicken for about 4 minutes. Season with thyme, salt and pepper.
7. Pour the chicken into a deep pie pan or small casserole dish.
8. Roll out the crust so that it's 1 inch larger than the pan. Place the crust on top of the chicken mixture and cut small slits on top. Press the crust gently into the sides of the dish to seal.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

How We Spent Our Holiday

2012-01-02T20:17:00.000-06:00

Aside from me being a little under the weather the last couple days, Joe and I have had a very nice, leisurely vacation. We have been on a movie marathon over the past two weeks and have seen: Young Adult; Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol; Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (we liked it so much that we also watched the Swedish version); The Artist (technically, we saw it and then had to come back again and see the ending when the movie broke an hour into the film); and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. We also watched the second season of one of our favorite BBC shows, Luther. (I highly recommend this series if you have Netflix.) Also over the past couple weeks we've eaten some great food, visited with family and friends, and gotten into a routine of napping. Tomorrow officially marks the end of this life of leisure with Joe going back to work and school is on the horizon for me.

The Self-Compassion Project

2012-01-02T13:30:00.000-06:00

Barb is one of my dear friends whom I've known for many years. I first met her almost twelve years ago when we worked at the same place. Upon meeting, we soon became fast friends. I've consistently been impressed with her ever since. Barb is a pyschologist and is always coming up with creative ways to help others whether it be writing books, appearing on television or using social media. Her latest endeavor is called, "The Self-Compassion Project." I hope you can check out her new blog and follow her on this journey in 2012.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T17:13:00.002-06:00

We arrived home today after a weekend celebrating Christmas with my family. The dogs are happy to be reunited with us and we have a lot of work ahead to unpack, catch up on laundry and catch up on other housework.

Cousin McKenzie and baby Jaspyr

Cousin-in-law Mallory, Kamdyn, Adyson and Cousin-in-law Wayne

Sister Cathy and niece Brylea

Brylea on Christmas with her two new purses

Adyson the budding photographer

New ornaments

2011-12-22T14:59:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow we leave for Missouri so today Joe and I opened our stockings. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that we are like small children at times and already opened our larger Christmas gifts to each other. Of course we justified opening the other gifts by saving our stockings until right before we left town. We both got each other some fun things including new ornaments.

I adore the movie Up so when I first saw this ornament in a picture my friend Laura posted I knew this was my must-have ornament of the year. I had actually thought about telling Joe to please buy it for me but then thought maybe that wasn't the most polite thing to do so I never mentioned it. What an awesome surprise to find it in my stocking!

If you know Joe, you know that he is obsessed with pizza. I'm sure he thinks it should be its own food group and the only thing one needs to eat on a regular basis. Obviously when I saw this slice of pizza ornament, I knew it would be perfect in our house and on our tree.

Flattering or annoying?

2011-12-18T19:03:00.000-06:00

I have come to realize there is a fine line between being flattered and being annoyed. For me, it's my age. I have gotten a lot of comments recently from people thinking I'm much younger than I am. And maybe if I was 64 instead of 34 that would be flattering but, at this point, I just want to be treated like an adult in my 30s.

A week or two ago, I had the UPS guy bring a package to my door and as I was signing he asked very seriously if I was old enough to sign. "You need to be 21," he said.

Last week my church hosted a ladies' Christmas brunch. While at the brunch, I met a lot of people I didn't know. I am not exagerating when I say most everyone I met that day for the first time asked if I was a college student...and they didn't mean graduate school.

Today Joe and I went to a movie. He usually gets the tickets at the window but today I picked them up...and I got carded for an R-rated movie. Tell me that I at least look 17. (The movie, by the way, was Young Adult...ironic, no?)

All of this to say that the fine line between being flattered and being annoyed has been officially crossed. Afterall, I have gray hair and a mortgage!

Neighborhood Fun

2011-12-15T22:46:00.000-06:00

Tonight we went to a dessert party hosted by our neighbors two-doors-down. While this might not seem like a blog worthy post, it was a huge deal for Joe and I to receive this hand-delivered invitation. You see for more than a decade I have been a renter and when you are a renter, typically, you're not very connected to your neighbors...more so when you live in apartment complexes. Unless, of course, someone you went to school with from kindergarten through high school moves in next door (true story) or you move into a new apartment complex and realize a work associate/friend lives in the building across from you (true story)...those were such fun days that I have missed so much...but mostly I have gone through long periods not knowing neighbors and feeling very disconnected from the people who live near by. And now we have neighbors we know by name who actually pick up our newspapers if we leave town and forget to cancel them...it's wonderful!

To the Market

2011-12-03T21:12:00.001-06:00

Today Joe and I took the train downtown to go to the Christkindlmarket. This German Christmas market comes to Chicago for the month before Christmas. We went last year on Christmas Eve for the first time. It was so crowded we didn't look as much as I'd have liked but we did eat some really great German food.

Life-size nativity at the front of the market.

Joe enjoying his hot chocolate on this cold and drizzly day.

Welcome to the Family!

2011-12-02T12:55:00.001-06:00

We have added a new member to the family just for the holiday season - our very own reindeer! Hmm...maybe we need to give this cutie a name. Any suggestions?

Unlike a real reindeer, this one smells really good.

Thankful, Day Four

2011-11-26T20:47:00.001-06:00

Our last day in DC, we made it to a few more memorials that we didn't see earlier. Among those still on our list were the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in which we took a 45-min audio tour, the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.

The first of many sculptures at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. This one depicts his early presidency.

This sculpture at the FDR memorial is that of a 1930s breadline.

This sculpture depicts FDR's famous Fireside Chats.

Eleanor Roosevelt.

FDR and his dog, Fala.

Me and Fala...definitely my favorite sculpture of all.

The entrance to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

One last view of the Washington Monument.

Thankful, Day Three

2011-11-26T20:24:00.001-06:00

Joe and I started our third day in DC by visiting the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. I vividly remember watching a news special on tv about the US Holocaust Memorial Museum before it opened to the public. Even though the museum opened in 1993 and eighteen years have passed since I watched that story about the museum, it has never left my mind. For obvious reasons, they don't allow photography in the museum but my experience there will never be forgotten. It's a place that everyone should visit if given the opportunity.

We then headed to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. I think since a lot of people were off work and kids were out of school, this museum was especially crowded...and there were screaming children everywhere. We didn't last too long before calling it a day but we did see a few things.

The Hope Diamond which is temporarily set in a ~~gaudy~~ Harry Winston setting to celebrate the anniversary of the donation to the Smithsonian.

African Elephant in the middle of the museum.

Thankful, Day Two

2011-11-26T20:12:00.001-06:00

Before eating our turkey dinner, we visited the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. One of the main reasons for our trip was to visit Julia Child's kitchen.

My mother-in-law and me standing outside the exhibit of Julia Child's kitchen.

Loved the exhibit for Julia Child's kitchen and how they put everything exactly as it had been in her house and her own kitchen.

The ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz.

First Lady Michelle Obama's inaguration gown.

Characters from Jim Henson's Sam and Friends, including Kermit the Frog.

Thankful, Day One

2011-11-26T19:45:00.001-06:00

Joe and I met his mom and stepdad in Washington, DC this past week to celebrate Thanksgiving. It had been over 20 years (gosh, I'm old!) since my last trip to DC. While many things had changed, much of it was still as I had remembered. Day one, Joe and I explored the city and many of its memorials before having an amazing Mexican dinner.

The White House.

World War II Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background.

A quote on one of the walls of the World War II Monument that I especially liked.

"Three Servicemen" part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial.

Korean War Veterans Memorial.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall.

Vietnam Women's Memorial.

An interview...with me!

2011-11-20T09:06:00.001-06:00

My sweet friend, Nichole is participating in NaBloPoMo. And she decided to interview yours truly for her blog. By the way, Nichole is a blogging extraordinaire so I consider myself to be kinda famous now. Read my interview here.

Help!

2011-11-15T16:11:00.001-06:00

This might seem lame but I am tired of really good shows getting cancelled. First, Arrested Development. Last year it was Terriers on FX. Now one of my favorites, Community, has been pulled from the mid-season lineup and could be cancelled. Let me just say, there are other shows on NBC that are worthy of being cancelled but this show is actually really clever. And it's practically the only thing my husband and I agree on. So help a girl out, please. Sign the petition. Tweet. FB. Seriously, I'm desperate. Much thanks! http://save-community.com

Thirty-nine

2011-11-15T12:22:00.001-06:00

So I didn't get around to making any homemade treats but a store-bought birthday cake is better than no birthday cake, right? (And actually this store bought cake is probably better than something I would have made myself.) Happy birthday, Joe! I hope this is a wonderful year for you.

Pre-birthday celebrating

2011-11-12T23:28:00.001-06:00

The hubs birthday is Tuesday and, like usual, I will be in class. But not to worry, we have had a full weekend celebrating early. Here's the short list:

The Ides of March

Pizza

David Sedaris live
Lunch at one of our favorite restaurants
Birthday shopping
Video games (Okay, this one was all Joe.)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T13:54:00.001-05:00

Here are my nieces in their Halloween costumes. They did some Trunk or Treating last night and then will be all set to go door-to-door tonight.

Supergirl!

Pumpkin Brylea with her mom, Cathy.

Basilica

2011-10-30T11:54:00.001-05:00

The Basilica of the Scared Heart on the campus of Notre Dame is deserving of its own post. What a beautiful and breath-taking church. It reminded me of some of the cathederals I visited in Italy and was so magnificient.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!

2011-10-30T11:44:00.000-05:00

I have definitely watched more baseball in the last three weeks than I have in the last three years. It's been so much fun following the Cardinals and rooting them on to their World Series championship. My husband, I think, is grateful that it's over as he has wondered what's happened to his wife who is suddenly obsessed with baseball players instead of boy-band members and talks about game stats instead of recipes. Don't get me wrong, I have always had my favorite teams but typically watch sporadically at best and then always seem to get really into sports when they get exciting. But alas, this weekend hasn't just been about baseball...

Joe and I went to South Bend, IN to see the Notre Dame/Navy game. We bid on the tickets months ago at a charity event and Saturday was the big game. It's one of those historical places that I've heard about my entire life and seen in movies (Rudy, anyone?) and yet I never really figured I'd ever see the place. But now it's just a couple hours away.

We got there a few hours early to enjoy the campus, see the basilica and eat a steak sandwich in the Quad. Notre Dame clobbered Navy so it was another win for the team I was rooting for.

Blog slacker

2011-10-24T16:32:00.000-05:00

I have been a blog slacker as of late. So what's new here? This sums up life: go to class, do homework, go to class again, do more homework, accompany Joe to a work event, volunteer, do more homework, clean the house, do laundry, do some more laundry but not before doing more homework.

All that jazz

2011-10-07T23:28:00.001-05:00

Just got back from seeing Esperanza Spalding tonight in concert. The tickets were an early birthday present for Joe. He loves her but I didn't know much about her before tonight...only that she won the 2011 Grammy for Best New Artist beating Justin Bieber, Mumford & Sons and Florence + The Machine. Great mellow concert and perfect weather for a stroll in the city.

Four

2011-10-02T19:46:00.002-05:00

My niece Adyson turned four today and I was able to watch her play socceer (kids that age are quite entertaining when "playing" sports) and then we had dinner at her house tonight.

Brylea is modeling the outfit I had bought for Adyson when she was Brylea's age.

Both nieces wanted to sit on Aunt Amy's lap. Adyson is modeling her new birthday clothes.

Adyson loving on her dog after her soccer game today.

My review

2011-09-27T17:01:00.000-05:00

Since Joe and I love movies so much, we always look forward to Fridays when the movie section comes in our newspaper. We love living in a place where two of the most famous movie reviewers write for our newspaper and love having a big section of the paper devoted to movies and reviews. Well one of those movie reviewers (Richard Roeper) was hosting a special screening for Moneyball. After a couple days of trying to win tickets, I finally did. Joe and I got to attend the screening last night and it was so much fun. First of all, this isn't just a baseball movie, it's an Oscar-worthy baseball movie and it was fantastic. Secondly, the theatre was plush with leather seats, cocktails and gourmet food. We also were treated to a Q&A afterwards with our host. It was such a fun night. Lots of pictures were taken so I'm hoping to post pictures when I find out where we can get access to them.

The Way

2011-09-15T23:04:00.004-05:00

Alison and I went to a movie screening tonight for The Way. It was fantastic. I know I can be a bit emotional at times (understatement?) but rarely does a film make me both laugh and cry for two hours straight. It was really compelling and I loved everything about it. In fact, I can't wait to see it again when it officially comes out. After the movie, Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez did a Q&A with the audience and they are both so nice and gracious. What a great night and experience. Go. See. This. Movie.

Thirty-four

2011-09-10T21:31:00.002-05:00

I had a fantastic birthday today. Joe and I played miniature golf (at two different courses - we're hardcore) and tonight went out for a great dinner - king crab legs. The kicker was our dessert. We ordered a piece of carrot cake to share. That piece of carrot cake turned out to be a 3 1/2 pound chunk of carrot cake. I'm not even sure these pictures do it justice. Needless to say, we took a LOT of food come home with us tonight!

The Great American Road Trip, Part 3

2011-09-01T15:11:00.003-05:00

Our last full day in South Dakota, we decided to take a road trip to Deadwood. Joe is a fan of the old HBO series so he was pretty excited to see the place. We were a little disappointed once we actually got there because there were far more bars/casinos and less things to actually do than we'd anticipated. We decided to take a tour which turned out to be a great idea.

After Deadwood, we headed back to Keystone to visit Crazy Horse during some beautiful weather. We were so glad we came back, too, because we got to see see some amazing Native American dancing.

In Deadwood we visited the grave of Wild Bill Hickok.

Also buried nearby was Calamity Jane.

One of the dancers we watched at the Crazy Horse museum site.

Joe with the Crazy Horse monument in the background.

I wonder if the monument will be finished in my lifetime? It's hard to believe it's been in progress since 1948.

The Great American Road Trip, Part 2

2011-09-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

Day two in Keystone and we woke up to it absolutely pouring outside. Of course we only packed for sunny weather and a quick look at the forecast showed that it would rain all day. And as luck would have it, supposedly this was their first real rain of the entire summer. My husband was content to not leave the hotel all day but if we were in SD, I wanted to get out and see stuff rain or shine.

At one point we became so desperate for rain gear that we almost bought matching windbreakers with Buffalo emblazoned on them. Fortunately, we eventually found non-matching rain jackets that we both agreed we'd actually wear again. Crisis diverted.

Our first stop was the Crazy Horse Monument. What I didn't realize was that the fog was so heavy we couldn't actually see the mountain carving. Good thing our tickets entitled us to re-enter for the next three days. We did, however, enjoy the museum and the film they showed. We were so moved by the story of Crazy Horse and the family who have dedicated their lives to constructing the monument.

We also took a short mini-tour of Jewel Cave which was packed due to the weather. Our final outing for the day was to Custer State Park where we drove the Needles Highway. I'm not usually one to get car sick but I am still car sick just thinking about this drive. Wow!

Me (minus my cool new rain jacket) standing next to the 1:34 scale Crazy Horse model.

Buffalo we saw at Custer State Park. He was huge and completely ignored us (which I guess is a good thing). About 1,300 buffalo roam the park and, sadly, this was the only one we saw in our two-hour drive around the park. That should also tell you about the massive size of the park.

The Great American Road Trip, Part 1

2011-09-01T14:20:00.001-05:00

Soon after Joe and I were married we watched North By Northwest together and realized that neither one of us had ever been to Mount Rushmore. We vowed to one day right this wrong and we put it on our list of things to do. Fast-forward almost exactly three years and we finally made it happen with a trip to South Dakota.

Only about an hour into the trip, Joe jokingly told me he had highway hypnosis and I later admitted to him that there are "car-people" and "plane-people" and I'm definitely a "plane-person". (But I already knew this.) Yes, we are not good car travelers and both said we wouldn't be doing a road trip like this for a looooong time. We are so happy to be back home.

We stayed our first night in Sioux Falls, SD. As luck would have it, my friends Kim and Chris were moving to Sioux Falls that very same weekend. We had breakfast with them before leaving town the next morning. So grateful for good friends and that they took time out of their busy move to see us.

Our first tourist stop - Corn Palace. I think we were both more impressed with the Mitchell Corn Palace than we'd expected.

World famous Wall Drug. After 8 billion Wall Drug signs on the way to Wall, SD we were unimpressed. Maybe there was too much hype or we didn't like the fact that they charged us $9 for an eye glass cleaning kit?

Finally, Mount Rushmore. Joe said it was much bigger than he'd expected and I said it was smaller than I'd imagined. We stayed a few hours so that we could enjoy the nighttime lighting ceremony as well.

Our picture at the foot of Mount Rushmore. The one and only photo of us actually together on this trip. Maybe we just need to take a tripod on vacation?

Good friends, good times

2011-08-21T18:18:00.003-05:00

This weekend was full of friends, good food, movies and laughter. First of all, my friend Monica M. was here visiting. Then I found out my friend Taina would be in town and my friend Monica B. was here at a conference. Combine those people, me and a great city and it was a lot of fun.

Monica and I on the Wendella boat tour enjoying the architecture from the Chicago River.

New Marilyn Monroe sculpture downtown. Leave it to Chicago to have ~~tacky~~ interesting installation art.

Monica and I taking in Buckingham Fountain.

Dinner with the girls (left to right): Me, Monica B., Taina, Kamilah and Monica M.

Iris, Monica, me, Crumley and Taina enjoying the fire pit at home.

Just like 1987

2011-08-14T00:07:00.003-05:00

I have ended my "summer of concerts" by going to see Tiffany and Debbie Gibson tonight at the House of Blues. It was like I entered another dimension because I haven't seen this much crimped hair in decades. Very fun night though full of old favorites, covers from the 80s and even a few new songs.

Welcome home, Donnie!

2011-08-07T15:48:00.001-05:00

I arrived home today to find a box on my doorstep. I thought maybe I was going crazy and had ordered something that I couldn't remember. I opened up the box and gasp...inside was a Donnie doll, circa 1990. There was only one person who could have sent me this and I knew right away...ahh, I really do have the best friends. (Thanks, Amber.) Meanwhile, my husband and I will be fighting over the perfect spot for Donnie to reside in our home. (His perfect spot is probably the closet, by the way.)

I always wanted one of these! Dreams do come true.

Weekend Adventures

2011-08-07T14:55:00.001-05:00

Joe and I are home now after our weekend away. Rather than pick up the house and start laundry, I thought I'd share more about our trip. (That sounds like more fun, right?) Friday night we saw a really great magician. I always loved watching magic as a kid and, as an adult, I still love it. You can see on the link a few of the tricks we saw in person. We were sitting in the second row and I still have absolutely no idea how he did these tricks. Below are some more pictures from our trip.

Downtown Galena. Lots of shopping and options for eating. We had a couple of great Italian meals.

In one store, Joe and I spotted these candy cigarettes in an old cigarette vending machine. A sign on the machine stated that you could pull the knob and take the candy to the register to pay. I think we were both a little surprised to see the machine and the candy cigarettes displayed but I remember buying these at the dime store as a kid and ~~smoking~~ eating them.

On Friday we toured President Ulysses S. Grant's Galena home. So much for my history knowledge as I hadn't even realized President Grant ever lived in Illinois before planning this trip.

Weekend at the Inn

2011-08-06T10:50:00.002-05:00

Joe and I are spending the weekend in Galena, IL at a country bed and breakfast (which used to be an old general store). Here are some amazing pictures that Joe has taken so far of the bed and breakfast and surrounding area. There was a really bad flood last week which produced around 15 inches of rain in an eight-hour period and you can see some of the damage in these pictures.

Three

2011-07-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

Celebrating our third wedding anniversary today...

Birthday Girl!

2011-07-24T20:43:00.001-05:00

Miss Brylea turned one while I was visiting and had her first birthday party.

She had so much fun demolishing her birthday cake!

Matching Girls

2011-07-24T20:34:00.000-05:00

My nieces are getting so big!

The first time was a great time, the second time was a blast...

2011-07-24T20:13:00.001-05:00

I had a great time in Missouri seeing friends and family this past week but my first stop was the NKOTBSB concert in St. Louis. After Amber and I went in Chicago, we loved the show but were sad about our horrible tickets. (We bought them during the pre-sale so I'm pretty sure there was a Ticketmaster conspiracy.) Anyhoo, Amber was bound and determined to see them again but with better seats...and we definitely had better seats this time!

Amber and I before the show...did I mention it was like a thousand degrees outside and inside?

Donnie!! My favorite.

All of the guys. And our really great view.

Look! Joey Mac is in our section...he's headed this way. Amber might be having a heart attack...

And here he is...we shake hands! *swoon*

Decisions, Decisions

2011-07-18T16:37:00.001-05:00

I'm packing for my trip to Missouri tomorrow and am not sure which earrings to wear to the NKOTBSB concert (yes, again!)..."I love Donnie" or group picture inside a heart? Hmm...

Under the Sun

2011-07-10T23:15:00.000-05:00

My friends Meagan and Josh came to town for the weekend for Dave Matthews Caravan. I bought a one-day ticket for the music festival and joined them on Friday. I didn't think I could handle three full days of sun. As it turned out, I was right. I could barely handle one full day of sun. Even with my obsessive sunscreen application, I still managed to get a little burned in the spots I missed...like my eyelid that was exposed just above my sunglasses...and my scalp where my hair was parted. Awesome.

Some of the people we saw perform on Friday included Dave Matthews Band, OAR, Amos Lee and Ray LaMontagne.

360

2011-07-06T14:31:00.001-05:00

My friend Laura brought her two teenagers to Chicago for the U2 concert at Soldier Field. They had an extra ticket. Guess who they asked to tag along? (Thanks, Laura!)

Laura and I before the show. You know you're officially old when the songs you know word-for-word are circa 1987.

4th of July goodness

2011-07-04T22:06:00.002-05:00

Bicycling
Napping
Grilling
Eating ice cream
Playing Wii mini-golf

Happy 4th of July, friends!

Hot Air

2011-07-01T22:16:00.001-05:00

Joe left today for a weekend retreat in Kentucky at Gethsemani. I had resigned myself to a very boring weekend. Then I found out one of my friends would be coming into town on Sunday (a few days earlier than I had thought) and got a surprise today that my friend Jennifer was in town. I was able to meet up with her and her family at a local hot air balloon festival. Jennifer and I have been friends since college but I rarely get to see her anymore so it was so fun to catch up.

Jennifer and me with her two daughters, Bryttney and Bethanie.

The Humpty Dumpty balloon.

Strawberry Festival

2011-06-26T15:16:00.001-05:00

Joe and I went to the Strawberry Festival in quaint Long Grove yesterday. We enjoyed visiting the cute shops, people-watching, listening to live music and indulging in some good but not-so-good-for-you foods. For Joe, that meant a strawberry donut, bratwurst and a deep-fried Twinkie. I had chocolate covered strawberries, crab rangoon and strawberry lemonade. (Ecclectic palates, huh?) Very cute little town. I'm sure we'll be back again for one of their many festivals.

After the storm

2011-06-22T12:46:00.000-05:00

This is pretty much what my yard looks like today. We had a storm last night with tornado sirens off and on. Joe and I, along with the dogs, spent part of our evening huddled in our tiny, basement bathroom...glad to say that all is well except for our lovely yard debris. Considering we have to bundle and pay for any yard waste that gets set out for collection we will likely have to hire someone to just haul all these tree limbs away.

Kate

2011-06-18T21:35:00.000-05:00

I got to meet my sweet friend, Kate, her boys and family at Navy Pier today. We rode the famous Navy Pier ferris wheel and had such a fun time watching the boys play; Kate even got me to ride on the carousel with them!

NKOTBSB

2011-06-18T00:08:00.003-05:00

I am home after a night of boy-band heaven with New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys. My friend, Amber came up from Missouri to go to the show with me. The last time the two of us were at a NKOTB concert together was a little over 20 years ago...yes, 20 years. Wow. Back then my parents had to drive us to the show! The concert was so much fun and, sadly, I am not likely to have a voice for awhile - way too much screaming...hope we are still doing stuff like this 20 years from now. Long live the boy bands.

Minneapolis

2011-06-09T22:41:00.001-05:00

This week I took a 48-hour mini-vacation to visit my friend, Kim in Minneapolis. It's hard to believe but I haven't seen her since her wedding more than two and a half years ago. And not only did I get to see Kim and her husband, Chris but I got to meet their year-old daughter, Hannah! We had fun hanging out, went to the Mall of America for a bit, had a great dinner one night in the Nicollet Mall district and visited the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

Kim, Hannah and I standing in front of Spoonbridge and Cherry at the Sculpture Garden.

The famous Mary Tyler Moore statue. And, yes, I tried to do a reenactment of the hat toss.

Gleeks

2011-06-04T19:20:00.001-05:00

We are big Glee fans so I was very excited that we were able to get tickets and go to Glee Live this afternoon. It was so much fun and we got to see performances by both "New Directions" and the "Dalton Academy Warblers." Seeing the actors and actresses perform live really made the show come to life. I think I'm going to be on a Glee high the rest of the night.

Summer lovin'

2011-06-03T20:33:00.001-05:00

Today marked Joe's first Friday off of the summer. (He will have every Friday off for the next couple months in exchange for working ten-hour days, Monday - Friday.) Today's Friday off meant a morning walk to Starbucks and then to the hardware store, yard work, a movie (X-Men: First Class) and going out for pizza. Can't wait to see what else our Fridays will entail.

African Violet Yumminess

2011-06-01T13:22:00.001-05:00

I'm obsessed with this cake from Williams-Sonoma. I can't imagine spending $100 on a tiny (albeit, beautiful) cake but if anyone buys it, let me know if it's this lovely in person.

Facelift

2011-06-01T13:15:00.000-05:00

My blog needed a mini-facelift after several years of looking exactly the same. Thanks, Nichole for the new header for the blog!

Memorial Day weekend

2011-05-30T18:19:00.000-05:00

Things to love about this weekend:

Joe taking off on Friday (Technically he took off the entire day but still worked half of it at the office...I'm counting that half day as a win! Nevermind that he was at the office working on Sunday...little victories.)
Bridesmaids (seriously, hilarious)
Curling up to watch a movie in the middle of a rain storm
Napping
Cooking cedar plank salmon on the grill
Having dinner with friends
A trip to Portillos
Catching up on house work and yard work

Family dinner

2011-05-26T15:09:00.001-05:00

It's been a very busy couple of weeks. My parents were here over the weekend and we were able to have my mom's cousin and her family over for dinner. We had a great time and delicious food. (I also got to serve 8 people on our beautiful, new table that just arrived the day before our guests!)

Clockwise: Joe, dad, mom, me, Adam, Declan and Terrie. (Kirk was our photographer.)

Monica's wedding

2011-05-17T16:53:00.003-05:00

Monica and I met eons ago in Missouri and this weekend I was honored to be a part of her wedding in St. Louis. She was a gorgeous bride! Joe and I had a great weekend celebrating with Monica and Trinity, their family and friends. We arrived home on Sunday to company as Joe's dad and stepmom were here for a couple days visiting. Now back to reality for awhile until my parents arrive this weekend!

The photo booth was a big hit at the reception - along with the Ted Drewes frozen custard! Left to Right: Me and the bride; all of the bridesmaids; with Joe; Dorian and I. (Click to enlarge)

Back to reality

2011-05-07T00:29:00.000-05:00

Joe and I did a local housewalk tonight that was an annual event for a local charity. Let me just tell you that I still haven't picked my jaw up off the ground. I wish I could show pictures to you of these amazing homes but of course pictures were forbidden and I'm sure would not do them justice anyway. One penthouse had a rooftop deck with a skyline view of Chicago. It was the kind of rooftop deck you see in movies, only it was someone's real life. We also saw statues from the Ming Dynasty and other artifacts that you typically find in museums and not in someone's living room. We saw a house featured in Better Homes & Gardens, an indoor lap pool, 1500 bottle wine cellar, theatre room and a kitchen as big as our entire house and closets almost as big. It was truly amazing. So interesting and so much fun to take a peek. Afterwards we continued the fun by getting Mexican food at a great new restaurant and catching a late showing of Thor. A little cheesy at times but overall it was a fun movie.

Daydreaming

2011-04-29T23:53:00.003-05:00

All of this royal wedding talk has me feeling a little nostalgic. Back in 2004, I spent two weeks visiting a friend in Italy who was living abroad for a year. On my way home I had a 16 hour layover in London. Most of that layover was overnight so I got a hotel room near the airport and got some sleep, however, I was adventurous enough to take the tube into the city for a couple hours. The one place I thought I couldn't miss was Buckingham Palace so that's exactly where I went. I stood at the fountain, snapped pictures of the palace and just stood in awe for awhile. I even visited the official gift shop. Afterwards, I decided to make my way to Westminster Abbey. I walked around aimlessly for awhile and even stopped to ask for directions but somewhere I must have made a wrong turn. Finally it was getting dark and I didn't think a young, American girl should be wandering around alone in the dark so I gave up and made my way back to the tube and to the hotel. That was my one and only big adventure in London. Hopefully another more promising London adventure awaits me in the future.

My new ride

2011-04-09T17:40:00.002-05:00

Mazda CX7

Goodbye old friend

2011-04-06T22:46:00.000-05:00

Today I cleaned out my car and gave my title to the insurance company in return for a check. Even though we were going to trade it in before too long anyway, it was really sad for me. I never expected to have to leave it in this kind of condition and it was a very dependable car; I definitely felt sentimental today. I bought that car all by myself with only 4 miles on it and it had seen me through many changes over the past nine years. I had that car before I even knew my husband. But I guess all good things must come to an end. The search for something new? Exhausting. Looking under pressure? Really exhausting.

Weekend adventures

2011-04-03T10:55:00.004-05:00

Just around the first of the year, I was reading the newspaper when I came across a story about a Chicago street photographer, Vivian Maier, whose work looked amazing. (It's quite a story but the gist is that she had some negatives and prints in a delinquent storage locker that got auctioned off, someone bought them and sorted through them, finally did a search on her name and she had died just days earlier.) Her work has been on exhibit in Chicago and immediately upon reading the article, I told Joe that I had to see it. Fast forward a couple weeks later and I received an email from my friend, Laura in Missouri telling me that she'd just read about this exhibit in Chicago and I should check it out. Do you see why we're friends?

It didn't take much convincing but Laura and I decided we'd see the exhibit together. It seems like this weekend has been planned out forever because it sort of has been. Throw in buying a house, moving and Laura's own schedule and we finally settled on seeing the exhibit the very last weekend it was running. She got into town Friday just hours after my car accident so it was the perfect distraction. Yesterday we went to see, "Finding Vivian Maier" at the Chicago Cultural Center. (Definitely check out her work online.)

Laura and I also had lunch at the famous Billy Goat before heading to Sanrio in search of some Hello Kitty love.

We also ran into people handing out free Peeps. Gotta love free Easter candy! (If you haven't tried the Peepsters you should because they are amazing and I have never been a Peeps fan.)

I first spotted this car from across the street and I couldn't figure our what was on top of it. Laura soon yelled, "PEEPS!!"

Yesterday was also International Pillow Fight Day so we witnessed a random pillow fight on Michigan Ave. See how much fun Chicago can be?

Sigh.

2011-04-01T16:36:00.000-05:00

First of all, I AM OKAY. The people who were in the car that I hit are OKAY - that's the most important thing out of this mess. Coming home from the hospital today it was both raining and snowing, I saw the car in front of me stopped so I put my brakes on and kept sliding and sliding and sliding. I knew it was going to happen before it happened. Ugh. I fully expect my car to be totalled but I am praying that it is not. It's paid off ...and I'm sure if it is totalled I will get absolutely next to nothing for it since it's around 9 years old.

Banana Smile

2011-03-31T20:39:00.001-05:00

Joe's attempt at getting me to smile so early in the morning. (And for the record, anything before 9 am is too early.)

Weekend project

2011-03-30T18:14:00.000-05:00

New classes started this week so I am just now writing about ~~our~~ Joe's weekend project. Joe assembled these book cases and then sorted our books by genre. It was a LOT of work. In the process we got rid of about two boxes of books (for donation) and still have books elsewhere in the house. Yes, this is why I bought him a Kindle! At any rate, Joe is ecstatic to have his own basement library.

Kirill's Story

2011-03-24T21:24:00.000-05:00

My friend, Sandi shared the most heart-breaking blog post today of a friend of hers from college and asked that people spread their story with the hope that someone, somewhere might be able to help. I am reposting it here for you to read: Kirill's Story.

Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets

2011-03-23T14:02:00.001-05:00

The hardest part of unpacking has been trying to find a place for all of my kitchen "stuff." I am a little obsessed with kitchen gadgets and live by the motto, "I need everything." So I crammed everything into the kitchen and even bought a Rubbermaid-type cabinet with doors for the garage to store punch bowls, various sizes of crock pots and servings pieces that I might need but rarely use. And just when I thought everything had a place, I found more stuff that needed to be put away. Oops.

So then today I wake up and Joe had left this newspaper article open on the table for me to read. Hmm. Talk about timing.

So maybe I don't really need a blender and a food processor or two different types of mixers, a mandoline, a bread machine (okay, that's actually Joe's), a griddle or half of the other stuff waiting to fall out when I open my cabinet doors. But I love cooking and I love cooking gadgets so I don't foresee any of them leaving my house any time soon.

By far, my favorite kitchen gadget is my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I can't believe I actually used to mix things by hand. *Gasp* What's your favorite kitchen gadget?

Me on a mug

2011-03-20T13:10:00.000-05:00

This mug came as a surprise in the mail on Friday from a friend. Have you ever seen a more perfect mug? Love it!!

Moved

2011-03-18T21:42:00.000-05:00

This is my first post from the new house! The movers did an excellent job (way better than the last time) and we got moved in less time than we originally thought. Now we are unpacking...one box at a time and we're making progress. We went to the townhouse tonight to clean for a couple hours and have some more stuff to pick up there tomorrow. I will be so glad when we are officially settled. I can't remember the last time I was this tired...definitely too much to do to take it easy.

Michael Jordan and all that Jazz

2011-03-13T14:14:00.001-05:00

So far this has been an extremely productive and fun weekend. Friday night we took the dogs over to the new house and let them run around in the backyard. I think we definitely got their seal of approval. They loved the yard and were so happy to just run around. It made my heart swell to see them in their very own fenced in yard. Just wait until they realize they can do that every single day. Neighbors on both sides of us have dogs but Crumley and Iris handled it extremely well. Let's see how they do when they realize that yard is their turf.

Saturday we went back to the house to do more unpacking (the big move is on Thursday but I thought it would help to get the kitchen unpacked first) and Joe did some odd jobs. The biggest accomplishment was the carpet installers came - no more blue bedroom carpet!!

In hindsight we probably should have had the entire weekend free to finish up packing and do things that need to get done but a couple months ago I obviously wasn't thinking clearly and bought tickets to events both yesterday and today. Last night we went to see the Bulls play the Jazz. It was our first NBA game and we both had a great time. The 1991 team was honored at halftime to commemorate 20 years since that team won the 1991 championship. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were both there with the rest of the team. It was pretty amazing to be there and listen to the United Center cheer and go wild. I wish I had pictures to share.

Today we did more unpacking and work at the house but are now headed to see Fooling Buddha. This was part of Joe's Valentine's Day gift. Happy weekend!

And still nothing is packed

2011-03-05T16:30:00.002-06:00

I had grand plans for today. It was going to be a Saturday with nothing to do so I knew Joe and I could spend the entire day packing and really get a lot of stuff done...the stuff we haven't managed to get done during the week because we've had no time. Then my plans were significantly altered. I got word yesterday from our landlord that four sets of people were coming to look at the townhouse today: 9:30 am, 11:30 am, 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm. So Joe and I left the house at 8:30 this morning, took the dogs to daycare (the vet) and made a day of it. First was Barnes & Noble so I could actually get some homework done, then we had lunch and then we went to a movie. After the movie we ran some more errands before picking up the dogs. Finally we made it back home and the house was still occupied at 4:15 so we parked down the street and waited...finally we are now home. Joe says that if anyone else wants to see the townhouse while we're still living here, he's claiming he has the flu.

I need some chocolate and a nap

2011-02-28T13:59:00.000-06:00

So far today I have set up a time for carpet measurements to be taken at the new house and also scheduled with the realtor to let us in. I have gone to the city hall where we're moving to set up water and buy tax stamps (which I couldn't do and will have to make a return trip later). I have then set up the rest of our utilities and scheduled stop dates for our current utilities. I have had the moving company come to the house to give us an estimate of our move, have made it to the post office, out to buy groceries, scheduled my "office hours" for the rest of the week and talked to our insurance agent about our home owner's insurance. Now to work on homework and packing...we close on our house one week from tomorrow!

Yays and Nays

2011-02-24T17:50:00.000-06:00

Does the paperwork ever end when it comes to buying a house? Our closing is just a week and a half away and I'm so excited but also keep thinking I'm going to miss something with emails going back and forth between our mortgage people, real estate attorney, etc. It's so overwhelming. Also, we're moving to a town that makes you pay a special tax just to move into their city (isn't that nice?) so I'm trying to understand what paperwork that involves which has so far required several emails and phone calls. I keep thinking that it shouldn't be this hard. I. Can't. Wait. For. This. To. End. Soon.

My good news of the day is that the hospital I'm volunteering with is paying me to work on a special project. So until it's completed, I am billing them and getting paid. It's not much but it certainly makes me feel appreciated and is giving me a small ego boost.

Odds and Ends

2011-02-21T16:07:00.002-06:00

It's Monday and I am pleased to say that I have finally started packing for our impending move. Four boxes so far filled with cookbooks; hopefully I can keep at it. A few boxes a day and I'll be in good shape. My problem is that I usually have a hard time judging what exactly I will "need" before the move which we don't even have scheduled at this point. We're going this week to look at carpet samples and our closing is scheduled in two weeks. Also, looking at a few pieces of furniture. We finally decided on a dining table and chairs and, of course, it's on back order until the end of May. So if anyone visits us, we may be tableless for a couple months.

As for our weekend, it was pretty quiet but we had two wonderful dinners. The first was at a gourmet taco place not too far away and it was fantastic. We were told that we'd have to get there early and stand in line before they opened. We did not believe it since the restaurant is in the suburbs but - lo and behold - there was a line of people waiting to get in before noon on Saturday. The food was really good so we'll definitely be back but hopefully on a warmer day.

Our other wonderful meal was with family members, Terrie and Kirk. We went to a restaurant literally in the middle of Lincoln Park - it was beautiful. Originally built as a warming shelter for ice skaters, we had it all - city skyline, frozen pond outside, delicious food and wonderful company. We always have the best time with Terrie and Kirk. Joe said it might have been his most "civilized" meal ever.

Our weekend

2011-02-12T15:22:00.001-06:00

Last night was event number one (a "work" event for Joe) and tonight we'll be attending event number two. (The photo is from last night.) Tomorrow night is our Valentine's dinner as Joe's photography class is Monday night. The reservations were made before I knew about event one and two so we have a full weekend of dressing up. Also on the agenda is a visit from our landlords to look at the house before we move out next month. They want to assess what they need to do in terms of carpet and paint when we move. I don't know why this is completely stressing me out but it is so off to do more cleaning.

My favorites

2011-02-07T16:34:00.001-06:00

Okay, I am not too happy about having to DVR the Oscars this year (although I am still really excited about the David Gray concert) but thought I would compile my list of favorite movies. We watched, "The Kids Are All Right," last week which means we've seen all ten nominated movies. And while that movie was good, it was in no way an Oscar contender in my opinion. Here's my top five favorite movies from last year in no particular order:

127 Hours - James Franco is amazing. If he won Best Actor, he would totally deserve it. The movie wasn't all gory, boring or depressing either like you might expect. It was so well done and afterwards Joe and I both commented on how motivating it was to watch. It totally makes you want to do something with yourself or, if nothing else, get off the couch and get outdoors. Also, Joe did NOT want to go see this movie but he went anyway and ended up loving it, too.
Toy Story 3 - I did not expect that this would be one of the best movies that I saw this year but it was awesome. I also didn't expect to sit in the theatre and bawl through most of it but I did. Several days later, I was still thinking about this movie.
Winter's Bone - This is Joe's number one movie of the year. I found it so suspenseful that I was on the edge of my seat throughout most of it.
Social Network - I love Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland and Adventureland pretty much rock my socks off and I highly recommend them both) and Justin Timberlake and they were both expectedly fabulous. Unexpectedly fabulous was Andrew Garfield. He just may have been my favorite character in the movie. Also fun to watch was Armie Hamer - what a great cast!
The King's Speech - I will admit that Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter both typically "bug" me but not in this movie. Not only were they great but this is a drama that is anything but boring. Also, I love Colin Firth and we share the same birthday. 'Nuff said.

UPDATE: I just realized that I didn't add Catfish to the list. It was for sure one of my most favorite movies of the year...I'm going to have to say that this documentary was definitely a fav...guess I now have a "Top Six" list.

Snowpocalypse

2011-02-03T16:38:00.000-06:00

Our driveway got plowed around 9 pm last night and now our neighborhood looks a little eerie with snow piled up everywhere. Joe is still off work but I volunteered today. Most of the roads are down to one and a half lanes on each side but I think things are slowly getting back to normal.

Welcome to our house

2011-02-02T18:40:00.000-06:00

Okay, I promise that I will eventually stop boring everyone with blizzard photos but I can't promise when. Our neighborhood association finally sent someone to dig us out (God bless them!) and now we can leave out the front door. Hoping our driveway is plowed soon.

Snowed in

2011-02-02T15:53:00.001-06:00

Here's a picture of my grandma's apartment in Missouri. It apparently made it onto a local news site.

Blizzard 2011

2011-02-02T09:01:00.004-06:00

I'm hearing that we had around 17.3 inches of snow where I live last night (much more downtown at the Lake) and the drifts are unbelievable, too. The crazy part is that it's still coming down outside so I'm not sure what the total will be. Here's what we woke up to this morning.

UPDATE: I'm now hearing we got a little over 20 inches of snow but who knows what is accurate. Chicago had the third largest snowfall in the city's history since they started keeping track in the late 1800s. More snow to come this afternoon!

This is the view from our patio door. We have patio furniture out there somewhere under all that snow.

This is what it looks like when you open our front door. Since we live in a townhouse and have neighboors next door we can't really just push the snow over to the side. Not sure who is going to tackle this but it's not me!

This is what it looks like when you open our garage door. Joe's poor car! My old thing is safe inside the garage.

Major dilemna

2011-01-30T23:48:00.005-06:00

I have a major dilemna. And, no, this post has nothing to do with the up to 25 inches of snow we might get this week.

If you read this with any regularity, you probably know that I love music and love going to concerts. I have been so fortunate to have seen basically anyone and everyone that I really have wanted to see live. The one person who has always alluded me? David Gray. Either he's not touring in the city that I'm currently in or I don't know about it until tickets are sold out or I have to do something stupid instead like go to class...well, finally, I find out that he's coming to Chicago and I am definitely going to see him. So a week or so ago, I got tickets the very second they went on sale. I have been walking on air since then and keep reminding myself, "I'm going to see David Gray!"

The problem? It just occurred to me that the concert happens to be on my favorite day of the year. That's right, I just bought tickets for a David Gray concert for the same evening as the Academy Awards. And I've actually managed to see every single nominated movie this year except for one which will be remedied as soon as Netflix delivers, "The Kids Are All Right" this week.

I'm off to go cry myself to sleep now.

Art Friday

2011-01-28T21:50:00.000-06:00

Really cool installation art at the museum.

Joe took off work today so after he went to work (makes sense, right?) then to an appointment, we finally made our way downtown. We didn't have any set plans which kind of made our "plans" all the more adventurous. We were thinking about one of the art museums and then my friend, Laura told me that the Art Institute was having free weekdays this month - that made it official. So we had some pizza, stopped by Millennium Park and then to the Art Institue to see the Modern Wing. Although we both love the Art Institute we've never browsed the Modern Wing since they added it in 2009. Pollock, Picasso, Matisse...I love them all. Also along the way, Joe took many pictures for his new photography class that he's taking; thirty-six photos are due this Monday night.

Ninety

2011-01-12T00:16:00.003-06:00

Over the weekend, we went to Missouri to celebrate my Grandma Dixie's birthday - ninety! She had a blast at her party and about 100 friends and family members came to celebrate with her.

Baby Brylea

My grandma, ninety and fabulous!

Miss Adyson

Exciting. Stressful. Exciting. Stressful.

2011-01-10T16:27:00.000-06:00

We're moving! Only about 4 miles away but a move is a move. We started looking at houses over Joe's Christmas break and after seeing 18 houses, we finally found one that felt like home to us. We made an offer and while we were out of town all weekend (that's another story) we finally got word that we had a deal. Of course, today has been worse case scenario with Joe's schedule because he's been in back-to-back meetings all day so I have been talking to an attorney, our mortgage broker, real estate agent, setting up for the home inspection, etc. Soon I will be packing, making moving arrangements and obsessing over carpet samples (anything is better than blue, right?)...oh and I start back at school this week. It's enough to make me wish I had a xanax.

Aftermath

2010-12-27T11:05:00.001-06:00

We took Joe's mom and stepdad to the airport this morning and I'm staring down laundry, house-cleaning and a Christmas tree to take apart. I wonder how long I can procrastinate? Some highlights of our Chicago Christmas included some very good food, two excellent movies (True Grit and The King's Speech), going to the Christkindlmarket and seeing A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre. If ever you are in Chicago around this time of year, this is a must-see production. It's quite a tradition around here and now I know why. I am afraid I'll never be able to see it anywhere else ever again or I'll be very let down. Now to the procrastination...

Christmas ramblings

2010-12-21T21:26:00.000-06:00

I think I am in denial that Christmas is actually this week. Maybe that's because I did my shopping so early? For the first time ever, we are staying home. We are trying to get the house ready for Joe's mom and stepdad to visit us but still have a lot to do around here and it seems that we're suddenly running out of time. And as unpredictable as the weather is at this time of year, we're hoping that they can arrive and depart without any travel complications. This is also the first time ever that I haven't spent Christmas day with my family - we celebrated with them over Thanksgiving. After thinking about it, I realized that I haven't slept in my own bed or not traveled somewhere for a Christmas or Thanksgiving since I was still living at home during college. Joe has spent very few of those holidays at home, too. So we are looking forward to cooking together, opening stockings at home for the first time and seeing what a Chicago Christmas looks like for us - Merry Christmas, friends!

Tis the Season

2010-12-15T20:07:00.000-06:00

The department where I volunteer had their holiday party today and invited me to participate in the festivities. Afterwards we volunteered for a few hours at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Tomorrow is Joe's holiday party so I am baking...and baking...and baking. Last batch of cookies are in the oven. Celebrating is hard work!

About me

2010-12-09T15:30:00.000-06:00

Who would have thought that a kidney stone only 2.5mm in size would cause such an ordeal? But Tuesday - after numerous doctors' visits and lab tests, three CT scans, two ultrasounds and one set of xrays later - I had my first-ever surgery. Although I still have more doctors' appointments and possibly another proceedure in the future, I'm hoping that life quiets down a little.

I will say that I am actually very blessed that this is all I've had to deal with thus far (knock on wood!) and am also so blessed that Joe has a fantastic insurance plan. I know that so many people have much more severe medical problems and also have to go into debt or deplete savings accounts just to get the care they need. So that is going to be what I'm thankful for this holiday season.

I also managed to finish my finals this week so I'm going to cherish some much needed quiet time for a few weeks until school starts again. I predict there's going to be some holiday baking in my near future.

Around here...

2010-12-05T13:56:00.002-06:00

Joe has been sick. Twice to the doctor (today and a few days ago) and even was off work a day this week which almost never happens.
I have been deeply emersed in finals...final exam, final paper/presentation. The end is in sight! I will finally be finished with economics but have another accounting class to endure in January. Sigh.
Joe brought home an early Christmas present for me - a Tempur-pedic pillow. He insisted I have it right now because he knows how much I toss and turn at night, never quite comfortable with my neck. I'm in love! (With Joe and my new pillow.)
The first real snow has hit. It's beautiful outside but reminds me all the reasons why I love curling up inside in the winter - cozy blankets, hot coco and soup.
Found out that our new favorite tv show may get cancelled and that makes me incredibly sad. It's an extremely smart and well-written show. Why isn't anyone watching?

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-27T16:27:00.001-06:00

Joe and I got home last night after celebrating Thanksgiving/Christmas with my family for a couple days. Here are some of the highlights.

A 2010 family picture

Adyson couldn't get enough of Amyjoe (yes, we're just one word around her)

Brylea and Adyson in matching pjs from Aunt Amy & Uncle Joe

Christmas question

2010-11-19T20:26:00.000-06:00

I have a Christmas question: how do you display your Christmas cards or do you? Back in the day, when I lived in an apartment, I would always tape my cards to the back of my door and display them throughout the month. Now, in our current space, I am not really sure that is appropriate. I hate the idea of getting all these great cards and photos from friends and family members and then not doing anything with them.

Thirty-eight

2010-11-15T14:14:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to Joe! He is working all day and teaching ESL tonight so we spent the weekend as he'd like...saw Megamind and ate Indian food one night and last night celebrated with Chicago deep dish pizza.

Back in the saddle

2010-11-11T17:16:00.001-06:00

I have a new job! Okay, it's not a REAL job but I am volunteering in the marketing department of a local hospital. I decided to offer up my services and expertise as a way to meet people, network, sharpen my skills, etc. Anyway, I went in today to officially get my badge and meet the staff. I know part of the job will just be grunt work but I think I'm really going to like it. It's funny how things can change; I used to interview our volunteers, help oversee them, give them odd jobs to do, etc, and now the tables have turned. Anyway, it felt really nice to get up this morning, dress in my professional clothes (I almost couldn't find them hidden in my closet) and be around an environment that felt familiar (even though I'd never stepped foot in that actual office before).

Muppet time!

2010-11-09T12:52:00.001-06:00

Joe is still on vacation (although he has "worked" or gone to meetings every day) so today we went to see the Jim Henson exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. We got to see Miss Piggy, Kermit, Rolph, Bert and Ernie and some other puppets. My biggest complaint is that I wish we'd gotten to see more puppets but even still it was a very interesting exhibit and I especially enjoyed seeing some of Henson's sketches and screenprinting from his college days.

R & R at the B & B

2010-11-07T14:46:00.002-06:00

Joe and I (along with my kidney stone because we're cool like that) spent the weekend at an amazing bed and breakfast. We had a great time and can't wait to go back again some day. The inn features: a spa, theatre room, hot tub, fresh homemade cookies in each room, gourmet breakfasts, walking trails...why would we want to go home when we could stay there? But, alas, we missed our dogs so back to the real world today.

Over the weekend, we also visited the Anderson Japanese Gardens. The gardens were a bit barren this time of year with just a hint of fall colors left. We'd love to go back again in spring, summer or early fall to catch all the great colors and greenery but we still enjoyed our first visit very much. Also, on this brisk November day, the place was pretty deserted so, in a way, it was neat to feel like we had the place all to ourselves. It's truly an amazing little place!

Our bed and breakfast. We highly recommend it!

One of our views at the Japanese Gardens. It was such a serene place to visit!

What a week

2010-11-04T08:08:00.002-05:00

It has been quite a week. It started first thing Monday morning for me with some very intense pain that I have never felt before (and hope to never feel again). Joe took me to urgent care when I told him matter-of-factly that I did not need to go to the emergency room. Well, I got my very first ambulance ride on Monday when the urgent care clinic around the corner from where we live, sent me straight to the hospital. Hearing the sirens as the ambulance pulled up and knowing that it was there for me was not a good feeling. After I got to the ER, I had a few tests done, including a CT scan, which confirmed that I had a kidney stone. The scariest part was not knowing what was wrong so when Joe and I got the news "kidney stone," I think we were both very relieved and happy to hear it. (Yes, happy, as weird as that sounds.) After lots of really powerful medicine, I was sent home to wait it out...where I am still waiting it out. Sigh.

On election night we found out that an issue Joe had been working on for several months had passed. What a relief after so many months of hard work!

We were hoping to go away somewhere this weekend just to regroup after being so busy lately but I have a feeling we may be having a staycation instead depending on how I'm feeling...stay tuned.