I need some chocolate and a nap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



Blizzard 2011

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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...

• 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

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

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.