Cleverness In Progress

Fridge Friday, 6/3/11

2011-06-03T10:17:00.000-05:00

Why yes, it HAS been almost 2 years! So I figured I'd start small and do a Fridge Friday. For your viewing pleasure, my fridge:

Not too bad at the moment. Milk, hummus, yogurt. Gross defrosted chicken in a bag at the bottom (there's something about raw chicken that grosses me out. I still eat it, but the raw stuff is slimy and...ew)

Cereal, frozen veggies, magnum ice cream bars (yum). The Pupperoni are very important, of course.

Some sauces. I moved recently and got rid of most of the condiments so the door is more empty than normal. And Mindi's wine from a couple weeks ago (that should probably be pitched).

Happy Friday!

Boston

2009-12-07T09:15:00.000-06:00

My mom, sister, and I just got back from our annual Christmas shopping weekend and this year we went to Boston. Ahh...Boston. You were wonderful. In no particular order (and without any photo editing), here are a few things that we did, outside of the massive amounts of Christmas shopping and Boston Cream Pie eating:

Cemetray with Hancock and Mother Goose and other important people:

Mike's Pastries. Cannollis. mmmmm....

We took the T:

And went to the Sam Adam's Brewery:

We got caught in a major snow storm:

And then went to Faneuil Hall:

And Quincy Market:

We then went up to the Old North Church where Paul Revere was signaled for his midnight ride:

And then we went to see his house:

We also went to see the Cheers bar:

And walked through Boston Common and the ajoining gardens to see the ducks:

Work Pet Peeves

2009-11-09T09:45:00.002-06:00

Someone asked me recently what my work pet peeves are. At the time, I was only a couple of days on the job and was totally in the honeymoon period. I'm now on week 5 and have found that I actually have a number of work pet peeves. Some include:

1) If you set a meeting with me, please don't spend the majority of the time checking e-mail and doing things other than actually talking to me about what the meeting is about. It's a complete waste of time and I'd prefer to update you via e-mail if all you want to do IS read your e-mail

2) Don't talk to me about projects that I know nothing about as if I should be fully versed in what the issues are. And when I tell you that I know nothing about what you're talking about, either tell me the backstory or drop it. Don't just keep speaking.

3) If I send you an e-mail, don't tell me that I didn't. Because if you look through your inbox, you will find it. I can reforward it, but that just makes you look dumber than you already look.

4) If you get an e-mail that was forwarded to you and has the backstory included in it, I'd suggest reading through the last few e-mails so you know what's going on. Don't tell me that I'm wrong when I start talking about information that was just as available to you as it was to me.

5) Don't just tell me I'm wrong, period. Unless you are entirely certain that I am wrong. It's insulting.

6) Don't answer the phone when we're having a meeting unless it's your boss.

7) ATTEMPT to learn processes and don't blame your ignorance on being new.

I have more, I'm sure. but this is what I have so far. I know I sound picky about all of this, but I'm currently frustrated with certain job situations. Luckily I like the actual work I do. It's just working with new personalities that drive me crazy.

Working

2009-11-02T10:54:00.002-06:00

With working, comes frustrations.

I just have to say AARGHHHH!!! SIGH.

More to come. Maybe when I'm not actually AT work.

Weekend, 10.17.09

2009-10-19T12:11:00.003-05:00

Ahh, the weekend. Now that I'm working again, it actually MEANS something to me. Saturday is a day for laying around the house and catching up on the DVR and possibly doing some errands, instead of doing that sort of stuff all week. While not everything got done (groceries? Not so much), I was able to both get some stuff accomplished and also watch some bad TV. Not everything was accomplished, however. There are some serious hairballs floating around the place. I've got to stalk those suckers and take them out this week.

Along with finally getting back to what a weekend actually feels like, I have pretty easily gotten back into the swing of things with a work week. Getting up in the morning has been fine (it helps that I always got up at 7am, even when I was off of work) and sitting at a desk all day is pretty normal. The best part is probably being able to talk to people again and feel like I'm using my brain. Things are getting more clear and I'm starting to feel more confident in my ability to do my job. It's a nice feeling.

So this weekend. Let's see. I caught up on my DVR'd shows (aka shows that Bob won't watch so I have to watch them when he's not around, eg. Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Project Runway), took a 4 hour nap (!!!!) and then walked up to the 7-11 to get a slurpee. Total lazy day. I probably SHOULD have cleaned the apartment or done something more productive, but now that I only have 2 days a week to be lazy, I had to use one of them.

Sunday was a full day. Liz (hi Liz!) and I went shopping for about 6 hours on Sunday. Target (love/hate) and TJ Maxx and other stores like that. While totally fun, I was EXHAUSTED when I got home. Hard-core shopping like that can take a lot out of you! :) I didn't get too much, considering, but did get some work clothes, which is always fun. Or fun for people that just started a new job and need to have clothes that fit that aren't jeans and t-shirt like they have been wearing for the last 8 months.

Once I got home I watched a neflix movie, "Every Little Step", which is a documentary about the creation of "A Chorus Line" and the casting of the revival in...2006? I think? While I was never a musical theater actor or dancer, I've always loved musicals and really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes aspect of the movie. Seeing what these performers went through to get the jobs was surprising (8 months from first audition to final? then another 8 months until curtain? wow) and you were able to become invested in some of characters. I enjoyed it a lot and it totally made me want to see "A Chorus Line" again.

And then the Bears played. But I'm not going to discuss that. Harrumph.

I totally do this

2009-10-15T20:42:00.000-05:00

From the blog mimi smartypants:

... Do you hide your underthings at the doctor’s office? I noticed that when I made a pile of my clothing on the doctor’s chair, I carefully inserted bra and underpants into the middle of the pile. Which is funny, because the doctor is about to handle MY NAKED BODY, but god forbid she see my bra.

It totally made me laugh. I had to share. :)

Employed!

2009-10-13T07:41:00.000-05:00

So I'm now gainfully employed. I have to say, it feels really good.

My first day was yesterday, and while it was all training and HR stuff, just being in the corporate setting again was good for me. During my time off, there were days that I was totally fine and happy, but the majority of the time I was depressed and my confidence just fell every day. Too much time alone and in my head, maybe? It was not good. I'm definitely the type that needs to work. I enjoy getting up and going into the office and saying hello to people and sitting at my computer to check e-mail. I feel better about myself and my confidence starts to grow again. It's just all-around better for me. So...hurrah! Back to work.

Today is Day 2 and I'm just sitting here waiting for it to be 8:15 so I can leave. Bob and I haven't really coordinated our morning schedules yet, so we stuck to the old one where I left at 7:15. I'm kind of hoping that my new hours are 8-4 so that'll stay the same, but I don't know yet what times I'll be working...I just know that today I should get in at 9. :)

Yay to Day 2!

July

2009-08-04T09:02:00.002-05:00

While I was attempting to fall asleep last night (a large diet coke and a 2 1/2 hour nap yesterday made it a little difficult), I starting thinking of things that I had done over the last month. Being out of work for so long, the days just blur together and I feel like all I really do is go online and search for jobs and watch TV. It's REALLY gotten old, FYI.

So, following is a list of things I've done in the last few weeks:

1) Watched the entire series (all 7 seasons) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. LOVE

2) Watched a number of movies: No Reservations (ugh), Run Fatboy Run (awesome), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (ha!), New in Town (Ugh x2), Beverly Hills Chihuahua (sigh), Strictly Ballroom, Happy-Go-Lucky, Night at the Museum, Yes Man, Confessions of a Shopaholic... I'm definitely getting my money's worth on Netflix.

3) Made a pillow

4) Seen Mama Mia (the movie) three times. Thanks HBO!

5) Played Burger Shop 2 all the way through and started playing it again

6) Went to two birthday parties (Aunt Sue and Jack)

7) Started the Couch to 5K program

8) Waited for the oven to be fixed by the landlord....for 5 weeks. It's still not working.

9) Had a phone interview (no word yet. Please stop asking)

10) Read Harry Potter 6, Harry Potter 7, Twilight, and started Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa puffs

And the sad part? I can't think of anything else. I really need a job. :) I'm definitely one of those people that gets a lot more done when I'm busy. I don't do well sitting at home all day...I'll end up watching movies, TV, and taking naps. :)

Fridge Friday, 7/24/09

2009-07-24T17:03:00.001-05:00

Fridge, 7/24/09
Originally uploaded by hak123

Yeah, I know. I only blog pictures of my fridge these days. But there you go. :)

Also? Mmmm...pudding.

Fridge Friday

2009-06-26T17:05:00.002-05:00

IMG_4545
Originally uploaded by hak123

I've been wanting to do this since the first time that I saw Geggie's Fridge Friday and I've finally remembered to take pictures!

There's something about scoping out other people's fridges that I find so fascinating...it's kind of like checking out the medicine cabinet without the risk of finding creams that you don't need to know about.

Weekend

2009-05-11T11:07:00.002-05:00

This past weekend Bob and I went to Jackson and Janna's wedding. The bride was beautiful and the groom was dashing and we had a fabulous time. :)

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T15:51:00.001-05:00

Happy Mother's Day Mom! Thanks for always making me laugh and making me feel loved. You're the best.

2009-05-07T17:45:00.002-05:00

Finally, finally, my internet is working again. oof. I rely on it too much.

So, the BL diet is over. I lost 2 pounds. Whatever. At least I have more food ideas. That never hurts.

Last weekend was a big Kentucky Derby party complete with fun hats!! (note...no pictures of me. The ones that exist kind of suck)

Dustin wins for best Derby hat:
Then, on Wednesday, I got to go on a Field Trip with my nephew. We got to take the Metra Train a few stops, go to a park, and have a picnic lunch. He's such a cutie and we had a great time. I even got a little sun! (yay for summer!!)Now it's back to job-searching. Le sigh.

BL Diet, Days 3, 4 & 5

2009-04-28T14:27:00.002-05:00

So the weekend totally trashed the diet. We BBQ'd at a friends house on Friday, had breakfast at a diner on Saturday, and dinner at an Italian place on Sunday...there's no way I could follow the plan! So we took the weekend off. But...I started again on Monday!

At the beginning of this thing, I was following everything to the letter, making sure I followed meal plans as well as I could, but not, just a few days into it, I've realized that doing that it harder than it should be. I'm adjusting things for foods we don't like (or I don't want to make) and have all of these cross-reference notes all over the place (Swap lunch day 3 with lunch day 21! Swap protein of day 4 with protein of day 17, leaving veggies!) and it's just a pain. So now I go through the meal plans and just look for what I'm in the mood to eat and make. It's a little complicated since I need to make sure we have the ingredients for the recipes, but it's easier in terms of figuring out what's for dinner.

So things are going ok! I haven't weighed myself since the evil 3+ weight GAIN, but think I'll do that tomorrow and see how things are going. I don't feel any lighter, but I'm happy with my food choices, so there's that. :)

And here are some food reccomendations from the book:

1) Portobello Mushroom Pizzas. Essentially this is just using a portobello mushroom as the base, adding marinara sauce, lean turkey sausage (cooked & crumbled) and low-fat mozz cheese. Baked for 6-8 minutes. Really yummy and only 100 calories each!

2) I just ate a chinese cabbage salad with homemade dressing. It was must tastier than I thought! The dressing had a lot of ingredients, but it turned out well. I can see it being a pretty good marinade too.

3) I've decided that my favorite snack is either the apple and string cheese or the laughing cow cheese with a slice of whole-wheat bread. I like cheese.

4) the turkery burger was awesome. easy and tasty and totally didn't feel diet. It's the diet trifecta!!

Now it's time to figure out what's for dinner...

Photo Flashback--June 2005

2009-04-26T14:16:00.005-05:00

(Note: Day 3 of the BL diet will come tomorrow. :))

Photo Flashback time!

In June 2005, a couple of us came up with an idea to have a huge water balloon fight at a park near our local bar, lemmings. We stopped in for a drink or two before-hand, and decided to just have a fight there, in the bar.
Well, not IN the bar, really. We made some rules about not being able to throw balloons at people in the bar, but since there were water guns as well, we ended up getting things kind of wet. Luckily Matt the bartender was a really good sport and we made an effort to not get things going inside as much as possible (which can be hard in the heat of battle).

The picture below is one of favorites from the day...you can see Dave and Brent hiding from each other, both waiting to let loose with another water balloon.It was a super-fun day, and I highly recommend a childish, water-filled day next time it's warm out. :)

Day 2

2009-04-23T13:16:00.002-05:00

So I made it through Day 1 and learned a couple of things:

1) Jicama is weird. I'll eat it IN things and in small quantities by itself, but 1 cup of sticks? By itself? Eh, I couldn't do it
2) Same thing with tomatoes. I love them warm and IN things, but I wasn't a huge fan of the tomato salad
3) Hot sauce makes plain chicken awesome
4) Trader Joe's Thai green beans are spectacular

And thus far today, I've learned
1) greek yogurt must be an acquired taste. it's just kind of odd and
2) mushroom soup is pretty tasty, even if it looks kind of gross. And it's tastier with pepper.

I weighed myself yesterday so I'd have a starting point and plan on checking daily just so I can see how things are going. Today when I weighed myself, I was down 3 pounds! And, yes, that's got to be water-weight, but still...yay! :) I do NOT expect the same amount of loss tomorrow, that's for sure.

So here's the meal plan for today, Day 2. I swapped out the breakfast for another breakfast (greek yogurt, oatmeal, and a banana) since my bananas were ripe enough and also swapped out the lunch for a different day's lunch (mushroom soup, a slice of bread, and a wedge of cheese) since I didn't want to make or find sushi. :) Especially brown-rice sushi!

Breakfast

1 serving Banana Nut Oats

½ cup fresh blueberries

3 hard-boiled egg whites

8 oz fat-free milk

Tea or coffee

Snack

6 tablespoons creamy hummus

2 medium stalks celery, cut into sticks

Lunch

6 pieces California roll brown rice sushi

1 asian or bosc pear

Ice water or iced tea

Snack

PBJ: 2 slices Ezekiel whole grain bread with 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter and 2 tablespoons sugar-free black cherry all-fruit spread

Ice water or tea

Dinner

Doc’s Chili

1 ½ cups chopped romaine lettuce with ¼ cup sliced bell pepper, ¼ cup sliced cucumber, and 1 tablespoon low-fat vinaigrette

Ice water or iced tea

Jump Start Day 1

2009-04-22T13:02:00.004-05:00

Ahh, Day 1. When you still have the best of intentions and you follow everything to the letter. Well, I'm trying.

Below is Day 1's menu, if you're curious. :)

So far I've only adjusted it a bit (adding a little bit of chocolate to my milk and using frozen fruit instead of fresh) so it's going well. The hardest part? I'm HUNGRY. I'm allowed to eat every 3 hours but I'm not used to eating limited portions. At least I know where my problem lies!

I made little lunch bags yesterday for today's meals which worked out really well. I'll have to do the same for tomorrow...

Breakfast

1 Ham & Cheese Breakfast Melt--YUM. I'd make this again every day.

¾ cup fresh blueberries--I didn't have fresh, so I had frozen. And added splenda.

8 oz fat-free milk--I added a touch of chocolate. I don't like regular milk.

Tea or coffee--neither

Snack

1 large apple--I had a small/medium apple. It's not really apple season.

1 stick low-fat mozzarella string cheese

Ice water

Lunch

Turkey Wrap

6 baby carrots

1 cup jicama sticks

Ice water or iced tea

Snack

2 servings (4 pieces) Hummus Deviled Eggs

Dinner

5 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, grilled or broiled

8 medium asparagus spears, grilled or broiled

1 cup cherry tomatoes with 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

8 oz fat-free milk

Jump Start

2009-04-21T15:54:00.002-05:00

I bought a book recently, The Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start, with the idea to try some new recipes and to use as a guideline to help me eat healthier.

I read the book very quickly and found it really easy to follow. The ideas presented are all the same ones that you always read, but the good part of the book is that it's not a restrictive diet like Atkins or any of the other low-carb things.

They give 30 full days of recipes and food to eat and for once it's almost all food I'd eat! I've found that the meal plans are not as well-mixed as I'd like, but the food is interesting and the recipes are simple. I think I just need to mix up Day 7 with Day 14 (or something of the sort) so that I'm not eating fish 4 days in a row. :)

I went shopping today to get the first week's worth of food and, WOW. That was a lot of food. And a high grocery bill, but I'm hoping that a lot of the food can be used in the upcoming weeks. Yikes.

So tomorrow is Day 1. I've made the lunch and the snacks for both me and Bob for tomorrow and put them in lunch bags (hee) so we're all set. I just need to get up in the morning and make breakfast, which should only take about 5 minutes. Quick and easy! And it really is a good amount of food for the day.

My biggest problem is going to be cutting down on the diet coke. :)

Wedding Photos!

2009-04-20T14:49:00.002-05:00

I don't have very many, and most are from later in the evening, but it was a beautiful wedding. :)

2009-04-17T08:12:00.002-05:00

Bob and I are off to Wisconsin tonight so we can attend the wedding of Erin & Dennis.

3 1/2 years ago, Erin and I went on a cruise only expecting a fun little vacation and maybe a suntan, but she came back with something much better: the love of her life.

Dennis and his friend Walt were taking a vacation together too and the first night on the cruise, we met them in the piano bar and spent the night having drinks and chatting. Erin and Dennis hit it off and they spent most of the rest of the cruise together.

And now they're going to spend the rest of their life together!I feel so lucky to be there when they met and even luckier to be able to see them get married. :)

Monday

2009-04-13T11:32:00.004-05:00

The first few weeks of my time off, I was super-productive and was getting a lot done: cleaning out closets, scrapbooking, making felt animals, and so on. Then...I got bored. And I did pretty much nothing, other than playing Lego Batman. :)

Now that I'm done with Lego Batman and have gone through my netflix movies, I'm starting to feel productive again.

Bob's been helping...he's taught me how to copper foil some glass beads that he uses for his pieces and has been bringing some home for me to work on. I did a bunch of larger ones last week and recently he brought home the "green box" of small beads. I've started on these and they're a bit more difficult! I don't know why, but the foil isn't sticking as well, but I'm trying my best. Hopefully he won't have to redo many of them!!I think I'll start scrapbooking again too. :)

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T11:28:00.004-05:00

I'm at my mom's for Easter this year and spent some time going through some old photos. This is so much fun. We laughed at our 80's hairstyles and the old house with it's shag carpeting and goldenrod appliances. What I woudln't give for some of the lamps she had back then...
In all of the photos I found a couple of Easter-releated ones:

Easter 1978. My sister and I. For some reason, all of the photos from when I was little cut off our toes or our foreheads. Lucky Jandy, she got it both this time!!

Easter 1980: A neighbor (I think) and me with the "Easter Bunny" (aka our neighbor Larry Ross). We were at an Easter egg hunt and I was wearing my awesome tulip coat. But apparently was afraid of the camera? I dunno.

I have more pictures to come. I found some good stuff here and could scan all day. But now I have to head upstairs to visit with the family.

Happy Easter!

Photo Flashback

2009-04-11T12:32:00.004-05:00

I'm realizing that I've been avoiding my poor blog for a while now and am looking for something that I can do every week (at least) so that I'll post more often. I've found that if I write a little, it leads to most posts. :)

So...Photo Flashback time! I've only had a digital camera for about 5 years and don't yet have a scanner, so I'm currently limited to what I can post, but since I take pictures ALL of the time, I have a number of photos that I can post. So here's number one!

This is from a trip that a group of us took over Thanksgiving 2004. We spent 5 days in Amsterdam, eating pancakes, drinking Heineken, and walking around the city. This photo is from a moment when I was waiting for some friends in the square that was close to home--The Leidseplein. It was nearing Christmas so the lights were up in the trees and there was a list snow/rain falling. It was a nice, quiet moment, just sitting and enjoying the square.

Thursday Dinner

2009-04-10T12:14:00.003-05:00

So I’m back on the cooking kick again. I spent a good amount of time earlier this week looking through cookbooks, trying to pick out healthy recipes to try out. After making a (huge) list, I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought all of the ingredients. And…only bought 3 things not on my list!! (pretty good for me, actually. Too bad one of the items was chocolate ice cream pops…)

Last night I made a recipe from my sister, cheesy chicken crescents. No pictures of that one (I forgot) but it turned out pretty well. It’s basically chicken, cheese, and onions rolled into crescent rolls and then covered in a sauce made of cream of chicken soup, milk, and cheese.

Easy peasy!

Tonight was white chicken chili from the Betty Crocker cookbook (page 543). It takes 5 hours in the crock pot and was really easy to put together. I’m not totally sure about whether it’s a repeat or not, but it’s healthy (about 400 calories a serving) and with cheese, it's not bad. Everything's better with cheese.

More dinners to come!!

Things to do When You're Unemployed

2009-03-27T07:45:00.002-06:00

Yikes. There's not that many. :)

I'm reminded of a Friends episode where Joey teaches Ross how to spend his unemployed time. They start by crank-calling Chandler at work and when they're done, Joey says something like "and that's Wednesday."

That's kind of how time works when you don't have a job. You spread out what you do over DAYS instead of hours.

Today, my day's accomplishment will be adding a link to Bob's glass shop in my sidebar here. He's been posting and creating new pieces lately so it's worth checking out again. :)

...and that's Friday.

Dreams

2009-03-06T11:01:00.003-06:00

I've been off of work for over 4 weeks now and each day is blurring into the next...I can't believe that it's been so long since I wrote about the tub. (it's fixed, by the way)

The highlights of my last week include: cleaning out the family room closet and making a real dinner twice this week. We also found some REALLY YUMMY beans at trader joe's. So much so that Bob actually made them willingly one night! They're thai-flavored and come frozen so they're super-easy to make. Totally a repeat buy.

Trader Joe's is kind of always a highlight for me though. :)

Also, I think I've been watching too much What Not to Wear. I had a dream last night that I was chosen to get the makeover...which was AWESOME. I also knew that it was my sister that nominated me since she hates that I wear black so often. They were super-nice to me but up-close (in my dream), Stacy was OLD and wrinkly and wore too much make up. Which is INSANE because she's so pretty and cute and had great skin. My dream mind was mean to her. Rude.

I think it's because I really need a hair cut and it's pushing me to actually call and make the appointment.

Tub

2009-02-20T12:06:00.002-06:00

So our tub's still clogged.

I called the landlord last night and he returned my call today around 11. His parents are now here to try to unclog the beast. I feel bad for them, however, because everything that they're doing, Bob and I already tried. It's just not going anywhere. But, more power to them. Maybe it'll be like the pickle jar--once they try, it'll work (I loosened it for them).

So, I'm sitting here, trying to be out of the way while my landlords parents work on my bathroom.

And of COURSE I have to pee. I may have to go to target just to use their bathrooms! (any reason to head to target...)

What to do with your time off

2009-02-19T15:02:00.002-06:00

Day 17 of unemployment (I can't believe it's been that long). Here's my day:

7:30am: Wake up. Putz around the house
8:30-9:30am: Walk the dog, shower, get ready
9:45am: leave for interview
10:30-11:30: Uh...interview
11:30: go home
12:30: go to target to get a plunger and some drano. The tub's stopped up
1:30: eat lunch, try to fix tub
2:00: watch Lost (ahhh!! Love it)
3:00: pay bills
3:30: scrapbook

And the rest of the evening will probably just be TV watching. Today is a pretty productive day. Some days are like this:

11am: wake up
11:30am: walk dog, eat
12-10pm: watch TV

I try not to let that happen though. :) If I have at least one project a day, I'm good. So...crafty fun! Scrapbooking has been going well...I'm into 2005. Hurrah!

Hello Again!

2009-02-18T15:15:00.002-06:00

I feel like every time I write up here, I'm apologizing for not writing more. So...sorry. I'll try to do better. :)

I've been officially unemployed for a little over two weeks now and have been amazed how easily my days fill up. I've made felt animals, gone to roller derby, gone to the auto show, and to Trader Vic's (again). During the day, I've gotten just about my fill of HGTV at this point. oof. There's only so much you can watch! :)

I've also had one interview and have another set for tomorrow. Fingers crossed that one of these will work out! Both jobs seem super-interesting and something I'd like to do. In a perfect world, I'd get to choose, but I'd be happy with either.

5 Days

2009-01-26T11:52:00.002-06:00

So I have just 5 work days left. And, frankly? the last one doesn't count since I'll be leaving the office early in the morning, after picking up my check.

My to-do list is dwindling and I'm working on cleaning out 10 years worth of files and e-mails. It's quite a task.

My other task is getting all of my music off of itunes and getting it home...wow. I accumulated a lot there. My 2 flash drives are full so this will probably be a project for the whole week.

I'm also starting to keep a (mental) list of all of the things I want to do while I'm off of work. Crafty stuff, mostly. I'll probably be hitting up JoAnn Fabrics soon...

Um...I should probably look for a job too. That's on the list too. Unless someone out there wants to find one for me? It's a long process. :)

Yep, Still Cold

2009-01-16T08:50:00.001-06:00

And now the river is frozen (pretty much). I'm looking forward to the high of 5F this afternoon. Woo!

It's Kinda Cold Here

2009-01-15T11:30:00.001-06:00

Like, really cold. Like wind chill of -40F cold. After my 2 hour (!!!) commute in this morning due to slow blue line trains, I sat at my desk for trying to warm up. I'm almost there, 3 hours later. :)

Above is a photo of the Chicago River...you can see the steam coming off of it and the ice that's starting to form on top.

Brr...

And I get to do this all again tomorrow! Yay Chicago winters!

Hmmm

2009-01-14T14:51:00.003-06:00

Once upon a time I wrote on this blog. I will again, I promise. :)

I AM very good at updating facebook, however. Feel free to friend me over there...

In the meantime, check out photos from a recent evening out with friends. It was an interesting night to say the least!

And also...anyone know of any editorial/publishing jobs? Still searching and I only have 12 days of work left. Yeek!

And....

2008-12-01T08:41:00.005-06:00

I'm back. I've been hibernating and processing and generally just ignoring the world for the last week. But I'm over that now. Back to real life!

I had a pretty busy Thanksgiving weekend and thought I'd share. First, Thanksgiving at my sister's. Mmmm...
My dad falls asleep every year either before dinner or after. And I usually take a picture. This year, it was after dinner.On Friday, my new nephew was born! William Matthew, 8lbs, 11oz. Cute as a button. :)
A rare photo of me on the blog. Little Will had to be in the NICU for a bit, but he's all better now and at home with mommy, daddy, and his two big brothers.On Saturday I put up the Christmas tree. Marbles found it FASCINATING and just the best thing EVER to rub up on.
The tree is lasting pretty well, even with curious cats. I tied it to the table it's sitting on and didn't put any breakable ornaments on, which will help.

Also on Saturday, Sadie and I went with our neighbor and her dog to get a bath.
It didn't go over that well. Water is evil, apparently.
Percy was a good dog. :)
Sunday was brunch with friends and some guitar hero. And then laying on the couch and watching TV. No pictures of that. Sorry! :)

Glass

2008-11-20T16:27:00.002-06:00

Hi!

So with the holidays approaching, I'm sure you're all wondering what to get for your loved ones. I have a solution! Bob is having a sale on his glass with items from 50-75% off.

Check it out here.

Pretty stuff. And he does commissions as well in case you'd like your favorite pet captured in glass or want something like the Last Supper with Apes (seriously. It was a question from a customer).

And if you live in Chicago you can probably get free delivery of the piece! ooo! Bonus!

Laid Off

2008-11-19T13:28:00.002-06:00

So they're closing my company's offices next year, which means that I'll be out of a job in February.

Anyone need an experienced editorial manager? :)

12 of 12: November 2008

2008-11-13T08:14:00.005-06:00

It's 12 of 12 time again, Chad's brainchild. It's a workday so nothing TOO exciting. Enjoy!

6:41am, Bathroom: Getting read for work
7:12am, Bedroom: Dressed and ready to go. And...wow. Our bedroom looks like it's a mess: dog beds and lamp cords and hoodies laying about. maybe I won't take pictures in here any more...
7:23am, Family Room: Jinx is guarding my purse, waiting for it to move so he can flop back down on the desk. I also put a post-it on my purse reminding me to bring my baby shower gift to work for a co-worker. Even putting it right BY my purse doesn't mean I'll actually remember to grab it.
7:35am, Division St: Walking to the el. It's another gloomy, gray day.
8:16am, My Desk: I stopped off for a couple things on the way in: a baby shower card, breakfast, pretzels, and a diet coke. The necessities.
10:22am, My Desk: Quick stop by facebook to post the hamster video. The song has been stuck in my head for a couple days now.
12:02pm, My Desk: Origami calendar time! Today was an angelfish.
3:39pm, Conference Room at Work: We had a baby "sprinkle" for a co-worker (a sprinkle is a smaller shower that's just for necessities like baby wipes, diapers, and things like that. It's usually for those that are having second (or third, or fourth) babies)
6:25pm, Bedroom: Laundry day. Oof. It's been WAY too long since I did the wash.
7:00pm, Kitchen: Dinner time! As things are chugging away in the laundry room, I got started on dinner. I attempted to make risotto for the first time and ended up cooking the onions and garlic a little too much, but as I added the chicken stock it was getting a little better.
7:27pm, Kitchen: Dinner time! Breaded chicken with leaks and risotto. It all turned out pretty well, considering the potential risotto failure from about 30 minutes ago.
8:42pm, Bedroom: As I was folding load 3 of 4 of the laundry, Sadie jumped onto the bed to lay next to Jinx who was sacked out on my robe. Since Jinx is not too fond of Sadie, I was surprised that he didn't run off when she got up on the bed with him. Luckily the camera was close so I could capture this rare moment of peace between the two...although you can see that Jinx is keeping his eye on the dog, just in case.
And that's it! No Marbles pictures today, unfortunately. Most likely she'll show up in next month's group of pics!

Video

2008-11-11T08:26:00.004-06:00

Beautifully said.

Change Has Come to America

2008-11-05T08:52:00.002-06:00

Watch the speech (if you haven't already) and feel the hope and the joy and the power of this man.

It's an exciting time and I'm looking forward to it.

Election Day

2008-11-04T08:58:00.002-06:00

I voted today. First time ever.
Have you voted yet? Please do. PLEASE. It's terribly important.

Weekend, October 31-November 2

2008-11-03T08:29:00.004-06:00

First off, the time change is totally messing me up. I got up at 7am on Sunday, watched a movie, and the it was 10am. And it felt like 3pm or something. And then at 8pm I wanted to go to bed. I know that the time change is only and hour but for some reason my body read it as, like, 4 hours. And leaving work tonight in the (almost) dark is going to suck.

Anyway, my weekend.

Friday was halloween so Bob and I went to our neighbor's halloween party upstairs. (so convenient!) We didn't know anyone, really, but had a good time. Everyone was dressed up which is always fun. Bob taped a bunch of pictures of Robert on himself and went as...Mucho Deniro (hee) and I was a biker. Yes, I have a couple of pictures. No, I'm not posting them. Sorry!

Saturday Liz and I did errands--target, Dominicks, etc.--and I bought my first Christmas present! Woo! I feel so accomplished getting stuff somewhat early! I'll probably still be scrambling until Christmas though...

Later that night Chris and Liz came over and we played Guitar Hero World Tour with all four of us, rotating who did what. I also made Corn and Kielbasa Chowder...yum...that's a good one. And EASY!Sunday (after my movie), Bob and I went out to the Aurora outlet malls for a bit and then pretty much crashed. Somewhat lazy day. Oh! I DID make some baja fish tacos that made my apartment smell like fish all night (Sorry, no pics. We were starving). They were ok. Kind of boring, really. It COULD be that I really like regular tacos so I felt that these were missing something. If I liked fish more, I'd tweak the recipe to make it more interesting, but...eh. It's just not worth it to me.

The highlight of my weekend might have been the gas we got for $2.55. $25 to fill the car? AWESOME. I think that last comment makes me an official adult. I'm way too excited about gas being less than $3.

:)

Thursday, October 30th

2008-10-31T08:52:00.005-06:00

No cooking last night! Instead Bob and I ate leftovers and went out to Quenchers to see his friend's band play--Bear Head.

It was a fun night. Each of the 6 bands played either Misfits or Ramones songs, and Bob and I only stayed for two bands. Don't judge! We still got home at 11. If we had stayed for the whole thing we would have gotten home really late. And it was a school night. :)

Wednesday, October 29th Dinner

2008-10-30T08:37:00.005-06:00

Last night I went for the unhealthiest of my recipes. Oh my. Butter and cheese. LOTS of butter and cheese.

I made Ham and Cheese Cannelloni and garlic bread. It was super-easy with just a few ingredients, most of which were easy to find. The only weird one was the egg roll wrappers, but since I only used 6 of them, I'll have them for a while yet so I won't have to search for them again.
It took really only took about 15 minutes to put this thing together and stick it in the oven. The garlic bread took about 5 minutes more (mostly because I had to chop garlic. If you have that stuff in a jar, it'll be even faster). The recipe called for a 9x9 pan (which I don't have) and for 8 cannellonis. Um...I only had 6 pieces of ham (Bob had a sandwhich before I could stop him) and then I ran out of the cheese filling and room in the dish anyway, so it worked out well, actually.
The recipe calls for 20 minutes in the oven, but in order to get a browner top, I left it in for almost 30. The dish was crazy-bubbling when I pulled it out of the oven.And the final meal. All yellow. No vegetables. All butter and cheese. Oy. I think we'll have have to have something really green and veggie tonight to make up for it.
It was REALLY good though (was there ever any doubt? Cheese? Butter? Bread? Good stuff) and not that expensive. I just needed to buy the ricotta and the egg roll wrappers, both of which have leftovers so I could make this dish twice with the standard packaging. I'd say...about $10 total? Only because of I got good ham. Replace the ham with budding or generic ham and it'd be even cheaper.

Marbles Watching Guitar Hero

2008-10-29T08:04:00.001-06:00

Marbles Watching Guitar Hero
Originally uploaded by hak123

Apparently the cat is fascinated with all of our video games lately. Last night she was intently watching Bob play Guitar Hero (I had already dropped out after some serious drum and guitar playing--hello? 407 note streak! Go me!)

Tuesday, October 28th Dinner

2008-10-29T07:45:00.002-06:00

Last night's culinary feat (ha!) was...Chicken, Biscuits 'n' Gravy Casserole! It was pretty chilly last night and this sounded like a good idea. Total comfort food. Well, that and I needed to use the rotisserie chicken I bought from the grocery store before I went funky.

Not too many ingredients and it was easy to put together--just shred chicken in the bottom of a casserole pan, make the gravy and pour over, and then add the biscuits to the top. There were even vegetables in there so we felt somewhat healthy as we ate biscuits and gravy. :)

The recipe calls for you to make garlic butter and brush the tops of the biscuits. Yum, yes. But now our kitchen is TOTALLY garlic-y. Is there a way to make that smell dissipate a bit? I like homey, cooky smells, but this is a little much. Here's the dish before going into the oven:

And here it is just out of the oven:

Good stuff. It could use a little more liquid in the gravy (the biscuits make it a little dry) but otherwise it's pretty good. Bob and I kept throwing out ideas to adjust the recipe--sausage for a breakfast version, brown gravy for the top, things like that. Pretty versatile recipe, I think. Also, it was pretty cheap to make--about $10 in total. The biggest cost was the chicken and the mushrooms. Not bad!

Tonight I'll be using wonton wrappers. Oh my. We'll see how that works out...

Monday, October 27th Dinner

2008-10-28T07:58:00.002-06:00

I spent a good amount of time on Saturday looking through recipes so that Bob and I could have real food instead of frozen chicken patties or pizza for dinner. We really want to try to eat healthier and while the foods that I picked aren't exactly low-cal, at least they're not directly from the freezer. :) Baby steps.

My first dinner creation was Gaucho Cheesesteaks.
It took me about an hour for the whole process, but then again I started using the food processor, decided it wasn't working right (it wasn't...I needed chopped jalapenos, not slices!) and then hand cut everything. And I cooked the meat after I did the sauce, so the whole "15 minutes prep" thing noted on the recipe? Not so much. They turned out pretty well through.I only used 1 pound of skirt steak (because...expensive!) but forgot to split the sauce part of the recipe, so there was a really strong flavor of red wine vinegar, but I still got 4 sandwiches out of the deal. So leftovers!It came to about $24 total for the ingredients (I had some on hand) for 4 sandwiches. Not horrible, but not that great. But then again...steak. So it was worth it. I'd make it again. Except I'd ask for help with the dishes. There were a lot because I had issues with what size bowl to use. :) You can't see it, but there are two more in the sink.

The Wii Fit is for EVERYONE

2008-10-27T10:45:00.001-06:00

Marbles on the Wii Fit
Originally uploaded by hak123

Even the cat, apparently.

I've Been Tagged!

2008-10-16T10:54:00.002-05:00

I've been tagged my Miss Jamie! It's my first tag, and I feel special. :)

Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

5. If you don’t have 7 blog friends, or if someone else already took dibs, then tag some unsuspecting strangers.

**********
1) I was once cornered by a bear. Like, a wild bear. I was camping in New Mexico (Philmont) and during one of our treks, we were walking through a crevase-like area where we would each walk/climb down some rocks toward the water and then back up to the trail. The space was only big enough for about one person, and I was about the 3rd or 4th person to go down. Once I was at the bottom (like, 4 steps), we heard some rustling in the woods and a bear comes charging down the hill at me. It sees me and stops about 4 feet away, essentially trapping me against a stone wall and between two fairly steep hills. No where to go. I was completely frozen but luckily the other people in my group knew what to do--they started screaming. This scared the bear off and it turned around and ran off. I found out after he was gone that it was a little bear and that there was a mama or papa bear just behind him. I'm kind of glad that I didn't see the older one!

2) I once had pink hair in college. I died it for halloween, not really caring that it said semi-permanent hair coloring. I guess assuming that it would wash out? Since this was before Pink and Gwen Stefani, and after the 80s, I was a little self-conscious about it so I tried washing it with EVERTHING. Tide, dish soap, bar soap, anything. By mid-late November is was still a little pink, and there was a pink tinge to it until about Easter. But my hair on Halloween was AWESOME. Multiple people asked me where I got my wig.

3) I have a lot of siblings. My parents got divorsed when I was 6 and both got remarried so I have a sister, 2 step-sisters, a step-brother, and 2 half-brothers. That's seven of us, if you're counting. And now they're all having babies and stuff so my immediate family is pretty large.

4) Most of my teeth are fake. Well, kind of. I have crowns on all but 2 of my molars. I think this is beacuse I never got wisdom teeth and never had braces so I avoided all of the teenage teeth trauma.

5) I've never broken a bone or spent time the hospital (that I can recall). I was admitted a few times when I was under 2, but since then, I've been really healthy. Knock on wood. but I have THOUGHT that I broke my foot twice. The ER people very nice told me that I was mistaken and to go home and rest up.

6) I can remember my phone number from when I was 3 but I can't remember my phone number now. I have to look it up on my phone.

7) I'm an english major and only read 3 books in college from start to finish (Uncle Tom's Cabin, Frankenstein, and O! Pioneers). I've pretty good and finding quotes for papers by just flipping through the book. I OWN a lot of classics though...I just haven't read them yet. It's part of my massive to-do list that also contains scrapbooking 2004-2008 and cleaning out my files.

That's it! I don't have that many friends that blog so I'll just tag those that do and hope that those of you that read this in silence (lurkers!) will come out of the woodwork and leave your 7 in the comments. Or self-tag?

I know the rules say I should randomly tag, but that scares me. I'm totally a lurker too.

So my tags are:

Erin at Milwaukee High Life
Bryna at Zeena Prcelina
Gail at Rantings in G Minor

:)

12 of 12: October 2008

2008-10-13T08:10:00.007-05:00

Wow. I totally missed last months. Like, "oh, la, it's the 15th of September. OH MY! I forgot about 12 of 12!" Totally bummer. But I'm back again! And this time there aren't ANY pictures of the cats or the dog. But there are some of goats.

Thanks again to Chad for this! And go here for more 12 of 12s.

Today we decided to head up to Wisconsin to go apple "picking" and go the the cheese castle. Bob and I picked up Liz and Chris around 9 at the Dunkin Donuts and headed out of the city.

9:41am: In the car, heading to Wisconsin
10:15am: Welcome to Wisconsin!
10:36am: After getting a little lost and then calling the restaurant for directions, we made it to Apple Holler. Just shows that you should always at least LOOK at the directions before heading anywhere new.
10:40am: Goat! If you look closely, he's bleating (?) and his tongue is sticking out.
10:42am: Liz as an apple.
10:43am: Me as a cow
10:47am: Bob is feeding the baby goat while "mama one-horn" is looking on. And begging for some treats as well.

11:14am: You had the option of picking out apples from their bins or actually going into the orchard to pick apples yourself. It was SO crowded there that we decided to just pick from the bins. Besides, we didn't need a peck of apples. No canning in my future!
11:23am: Our apples!
11:28am: Liz and Chris got some pastries from the store. Chris took a bite of this mammoth cinnamon roll, and surprisingly, got NO frosting on his goatee. Very impressive.
11:43am: After apples, it was on to cheese!! Mars Cheese Castle (which is awesome) is just a few miles from Apple Holler so we stopped there to get some cheese.
1:26pm: And then we drove back to Chicago.
The rest of the day consisted of me taking a 4 hour nap, watching dvrs of Kitchen Nightmares and Heroes. :)

See you next month!

Cat Clothing

2008-09-30T11:18:00.001-05:00

Take this hat off my head!!
Originally uploaded by hak123

Jinx got a present this weekend. Look how happy he is!

(He actually really likes the bow tie. The hat makes his head feel too heavy though)

Wrigley Tour

2008-09-19T14:28:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday, Bob, my Dad, Jandy, Matt, Jack and I all went to Wrigley for the Wrigley Tour. I had gotten the tickets as a father's day present for my dad way back in June, but this was the first Sunday available that worked for everyone. Unfortunately for us, it was the second day of massive rains for Chicago. We got over 7 inches!

Luckily (?) the tour still went on so we headed over to Wrigley to see all of the places that are usually off-limits to fans.

The 90-minute tour started with a little background on the stadium (very interesting!) and then we headed inside for the tour.

We got to go in the press box, see the organ that's played at every game, go into the visitor's locker room (unfortunately we couldn't go into the Cub's locker room because there was personnel in there), and finally we got to go into the Cub's dugout and (kind of) on the field.

It was a great tour and we had a lot of fun--even if we got a little wet in the process!

The field, with the rain tarp:

Visitor's Locker Room:
Cub's Dugout:
Jack in the Press

Flugtag: Chicago

2008-09-17T16:14:00.005-05:00

Two weekends ago Bob and I decided to attend the Flugtag event in Chicago at North Avenue Beach. Basically it's a flying contest of self-made, self-propelled flying machines.

The contestants are required to create a little skit and set it to music before launching their contraptions off of a cliff into water. They then get judged by their creativity and how far their machine flew (which, usually? isn't very far)
It was a really neat contest but it was SO CROWDED. After wandering around for a while, we finally found section to sit on the grass and peer at a jumbo tron to see what was happening. Even though a portion of the screen was obstructed, we were able to see smurfs, lobsters, Mike Ditkas, and other characters fly off of the edge of a platform into Lake Michigan. :)
The lobsters ended up winning.

Quick Update

2008-09-15T10:22:00.002-05:00

Castell de Montjuic
Originally uploaded by hak123

Yikes! I've been out of the loop. I need to write up last weekend, the weekend before and I TOTALLY missed the 12 of 12 for September. The first time since I started. Bummer. I'll be writing those up this week. :)

In other news, Schmap loves me again! This time from Barcelona (see picture at the right)

Updates soon. Pinky swear!

Photos from Around the Web

2008-09-04T11:24:00.002-05:00

So, the Schmap people have "shortlisted" another one of my photos! This one's for Chicago, which is pretty cool.

But the photo they picked? Is kind of weird. And not indicative of Chicago (at least in my mind).

Yep. They picked a car from the Auto Show. Now, I'm not sure where they'll actually use it (probably McCormick Place?) but I have a TON of other Chicago pictures that I think are better. It's kind of like the one they picked for Munich. Not my favorite picture, but if you want to use it (and credit me) I'm fine with it!

In other "photos around the web" news, I had some other pics picked for a Chicago bar website. They asked for pictures of Lemmings and when I agreed, posted them (with credit). Pretty neat!

And all because of Flickr. I love Flickr. It's become kind of an obsession (sorry Facebook. You just can't compete!)

Weekends (both last weekend and the one before!)

2008-09-02T10:57:00.004-05:00

What a lazy blogger I've been! Here's a quick update of what I've been up to in the last two weeks.

Renaissance Faire!

Two weekends ago a group of us headed up to the Bristol Renaissance Faire. I'd never been (and frankly didn't have a HUGE interest in going) but everytime I told someone I was going, it was the same response "ooo! The Renaissance Faire! Fun!" so I knew I'd have a good time.

Talk about good people-watching! Wow. I'd say almost 50% of the visitors there were dressed up in some kind of costume. There were tons of shops and food stalls and things to do. We ate the best mushrooms in the world (butter and garlic heaven), pet zebras and goats, shot crossbows, threw knives, watched a joust, and just wandered around. Really fun.

St. Joe, Michigan!

Last Sunday I jumped in the new car (yay!) and went up to St. Joe, Michigan to visit my sister and her family. My brother-in-law's family has a lake house up in St. Joe where they go just about every weekend in the summer and this last weekend I was invited. It was BEAUTIFUL weather so we headed to the beach and then to the pool for some last-days-of-summer fun. Only a little sunburn on my part (I haven't been out in the sun AT ALL this summer. oof) Fun day--although it made me realize, I live about 20 minutes from a beach and never go. Kind of silly. Maybe next summer, I guess...

The Glass Experience

2008-08-19T08:58:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday Bob and I decided to head out and actually DO something instead of sitting at home and watching TV all day :)

We first headed out to Oak Park for an art fair, but once we got there, uh...there were about 5 booths with art. There were some food vendors and the Avon lady, but other than that? Not much. So we decided on our second choice--The Glass Experience at the Museum of Science and Industry.

We had talked about getting a membership to the museum since we've already been there twice in the last 6 months so when we got there (after parking on the street for free! Hurrah!) we went to check out the costs. And lucky for us, it was 25% off that day! So we got a year's membership plus free tickets to every upcoming exhibit and free IMAX ticket for $6 more than if we had paid for one day. Total score! And on top of that? We stumbled onto a "member's only" lounge (more like a room with couches, coffee, and a bathroom) and got a free t-shirt as well. Bonus.

After getting our membership, we headed up to the exhibit to check out the glass. Since Bob is a glass artist, the exhibit was even more interesting since he could give even more insight to all of the things we were seeing. They had a "hot glass" presentation where the two artists made a sculpture-like piece, showing how you blow into the tubes, make gathers, add color, and sculpt the glass into shape. Very cool. Every once in a while Bob would lean over and give me a little more info about what they were doing. While he works primarily in stained glass, he's blown some pieces and I could see that he was getting the itch to try the hot glass again.

There were also a number of piece up from Frank Lloyd Wright, Chihuly, and other famous glass artists. There was even an area showing fiberglass, how glass can transform how you view things, and bullet-proof glass. Overall, it was a really neat exhibit.

After the glass exhibit (you should go. Really. It's only until September 1 so hurry) I made Bob go check out the baby chicks with me to see if the monster was still in the case with them. He wasn't--it must have just been a star wars thing.

And now, a couple pictures. I should have gotten the camera out during the hot glass presentation, but...I didn't. Maybe I can convince Bob to rent some studio time and I can take his picture while he crafts something. :)

12 of 12 August 2008

2008-08-13T08:21:00.004-05:00

WARNING! This 12 of 12 is almost entirely pets, television, and food. Boring Tuesday. :)

Check out more 12 of 12's here. And many thanks to Chad! Let's go:

Ah, morning. The dog's just been put in her cage for the day so the cats decide to take a drink from her water bowl. No matter that they have their own--sometimes other people's stuff is just better. Even if it smells like dog.
At work, it's time to change the password. Oof. It's so hard to think of one, let alone remember it!
I watched Three Sheets: Crotia on my ipod on the way to work and had just a few minutes left, so I finished it while sitting at my desk (shh...don't tell my boss!)
Then I did my next origami calender date. I'm currently making a modular ball an am only on step two. You can see my pagoda from a couple of weeks back. People will stop me to ask about it. :) It's pretty cute, if not really tall.
Hmmm...which fruit should I have for breakfast? Clementine, grapes, or a plum? I chose the plum.
Yard sale in September! My friend is organizing for a group of us. If you live in Chicago come on by and buy my things!
Lunch. Frozen Trader Joe's Pad Thai. Not bad!
Going down the escalator to my gym after work.
Sadie eating dinner
Then...TV watching. First it was beach volleyball...
Then some ESPN for Bob...
Then more Olympic coverage. Here's Katie Hoff--she didn't win this race (she came in 4th, which is still awesome!). Everytime a swimmer came on screen Bob and I would giggle about their forehead hickeys. I wonder how long those last on their heads??
And that's it. Pretty standard day, really--except I actually WENT to the gym instead of just talking about it! :)

Missing

2008-08-11T09:57:00.001-05:00

Missing: two bike tires. Barely used. Last seen on MY BIKE locked up outside a friends house.

Alas.

Taste Like Home

2008-08-05T15:22:00.006-05:00

My Taste Like Home package arrived yesterday! Wee!! What a fun variety of things in this box.

There are an number of chocolate goodies, stuffed olives, pistachios, and some green tea mints.

Awesome. Oh, and those chocolate-covered toffee bites didn't last long at all.

The package that I sent off has arrived safely...here's a glimpse of it pre-shipping:

Once my blog-buddy updates with the info, I'll link to it. otherwise, I'll update this later with the specifics of what's in my Chicago box.

Thanks again to April and Megan for this great swap!

Kane County Cougar Game

2008-08-04T11:41:00.002-05:00

Kane County Cougar Game 002
Originally uploaded by hak123

On Saturday, Bob and I headed out to Geneva, IL to go to my nephew Jack's birthday party at the Kane County Cougar's Stadium. They were playing the Western Michigan Whitecaps (which...whitecaps? In Michigan?) and won the game 5-2.

It was a fun time--Jack got a t-shirt and a bunch of goodies to hand out to his friends and they even brought him a cake! And at the end of the third inning, the whole stadium sang happy birthday for all of the birthday people in the crowd...and there were a LOT.

Jack also won a pitching challenge for his age group! He's a very good baseball player so this was not much of a surprise for our family--the kid was able to hit pitched balls at the age of 4!

I hope he had a fun birthday--we sure had a good time!

Happy Birthday Sadie!

2008-08-01T17:13:00.004-05:00

2 years old. Pretty puppy. Happy Birthday! I promise to cut down on dressing you up.

Arlington Race Course

2008-08-01T09:09:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I had a work even out in Arlington Heights at the Arlington Park. It was the first time I'd been out there (even after living in and near Chicago for 29 years!) so I was kind of excited to see the place.

We had meetings in the morning and around 12:30 we were given gambling vouchers and headed out to the track to gamble and watch (and bet on) the horses.

I had bet on the horses once before in Vegas so the whole betting process came back to me pretty quickly. Trifectas, exactas, boxes, win, place, show. It's fun stuff. I only placed one bet (exacta box) and my horses came in first...and dead last. Like, REALLY last. about 15 lengths behind the rest of the horses. Whoops...not a good choice, I guess!

It was a really fun day, for a work event! I think I'll have to head out there again some time soon--hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

The Package is in the Mail

2008-07-29T11:39:00.003-05:00

I sent off my package of goodies yesterday--I hope it gets there safe. I had a really good time picking stuff out, although never did find one of the things I hoped to include.

I'll put more info on what I sent later, once it arrives to Gumbeaux in the Kitchen. :)

New Car!!!

2008-07-25T09:09:00.003-05:00

Look what we bought last night! Woot!!!
And, seriously, car buying is so annoying. The back and forth and back and forth and back and forth is just obnoxious. But...new car! Yay!

It's a 2008 Ford Focus in Kiwi Green and it's VERY basic--no power anything. Our goal was to keep costs down so the only add-ons we have was floor mats and automatic trans. But there are airbags and a good sized trunk and great gas mileage, so we're all set.

Bob and I will be driving...somewhere this weekend. Because we can!

Taste Like Home

2008-07-17T15:27:00.002-05:00

I went out last night to do a little shopping for the Taste Like Home food swap that I'm participating in. I'm pretty excited about what I'm getting together...I've gotten good ideas from friends and co-workers that have helped a lot.

I'm not sharing the info here yet (it needs to be a surprise!) but I may share after the package is sent.

Oh, and if you're going to take the North Avenue bus anywhere, make sure you're ready to wait at least 20 minutes for it. It's SLOW.

In other news, I got another slurpee last night. It was awesome.

Smoke the Bone 2008

2008-07-14T10:31:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was the annual Smoke the Bone rib cookoff at Lemmings (well, not technically at lemmings since it's not allowed, but kind of at lemmings anyway.)

The weather was perfect for once and everyone gathered out back with their grills and smokers to cook up some ribs. For those of us that didn't cook ribs, it was also a pot-luck of other goodies. My empanadas turned out really well and were gone quickly! Hurrah! They went over much better than the broccoli salad I made once. I guess meat pastries will always win over veggies at a rib cooking event...

The general rule is that if you don't cook ribs you don't get to sample ribs (not enough to go around), but lucky for me I have some wonderful friends that let me have a taste. They were all really good. Tender and flavorful and all-around awesome.
The winner this year was Sherry. It was great to see a girl win again! Congratulations!!
More pictures on Flickr!

12 of 12, July 2008

2008-07-12T22:34:00.005-05:00

12 of 12 time! And it's my 12 of 12-aversary. except for a camera failure one month (that was a 8 of 12), I've actually remembered every month! Thanks to Chad, once again, for the idea.

And on to July.

Although I got up around 1am to walk the dog (sigh), I didn't take a picture. It was dark. :)

7:04am, front room: Sadie got me up at 7am to go outside. Unfortunately it was raining. Ick. She's scared of rain so it took some convincing and a well-placed umbrella, but I got her to go out. I wasn't getting up at 7am on Saturday for nothing!
8:33am, front room: Bob is leaving for work and I took a picture as he was starting the car. it's basically the same view as the last photo but this time it's though the glass piece that's hanging in the window (Bob made it--it's a reproduction of a Frank Lloyd Wright window)
11:16am, desk: Playing a game on the computer. This picture could be from 2:30 as well as 8pm. It was an all-day event beating the game. :)
1:12pm, family room: While I watched some TV, Sadie enjoyed a rawhide.
2:11pm, bathroom: To feel like I actually accomplished something today, I cleaned the bathroom. Shiny!
3:43pm, street: I took a walk to 7-11.
3:45pm, family room: I got a slurpee and watched a couple of old episodes of 90210. Oh, Brenda. So dramatic!
8:02pm, back yard: Sadie and I went outside so she could run some energy off. That blur is Sadie.
9:05, kitchen: I decided to finally make dinner. Here are the potatoes before.
9:14pm, kitchen: Here are the potatoes before going into the oven. Um...I ate them before I remembered to get the after. They were pretty good. :)
10:15pm, front room: Uh oh. I need 2 more pictures. Um...here's one of Jinx hissing at Sadie. The good news is that he's on the floor! The bad news is that he still hates the dog. One step at a time...
10:17pm, family room: Marbles, on the other hand, is all zen about the situation. No worries for this cat.
And that's it! I'm off to bed. I got up WAY too early today. :)

Bosstones/Dropkick Concert

2008-07-08T14:10:00.003-05:00

Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Originally uploaded by hak123

Last night Gail and I headed out to Northerly Island to see The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Dropkick Murphys play. It's funny--I had totally forgotten about this concert until Gail sent me a text asking how I wanted to get my ticket. Surprise! Fun Monday night event!

We got out there after work around 6pm and the place was just starting to fill up. It ended up only being about half-full with most people crowded around the front of the stage and in the folding chairs on the floor. The opening band was a girl punk group that was...loud (am I getting old?) and the Bosstones followed. They were totally fun--all plaid and dance-y. The horns are awesome.

Once it got dark Dropkick came out and they were awesome, as usual. The brought out the bagpipes and good Irish punk fun.

Northerly Island is a pretty cool venue--right on the water, not too big--but it's kind of a pain to get out of. It took me and Gail a while to get a cab home. So plan ahead if you go! :)

4th of July Fireworks

2008-07-06T12:20:00.001-05:00

4th of July Fireworks
Originally uploaded by hak123

Happy 4th of July!

Yoga

2008-06-30T08:51:00.002-05:00

Yoga in Millennium Park
Originally uploaded by hak123

On Saturday my mom came down early to pick me up and we went out to Millennium Park to try out the free Yoga they offer every week at 8am.

We got there just in time to grab a free bottle of water and find a spot in the grass before the class started. It was a good class! I haven't done any yoga for AT LEAST a year so I was a little worried that I'd have a hard time with it, but the instructor was great and didn't do anything too difficult, but didn't make it too easy either. It's pretty cool to do a downward facing dog and seeing about 75 other people doing the same thing. Outside. In a big grassy area.

Afterward we walked around the park for a bit and I took a bunch of pictures of the bean and the walkway. Millennium Park is really pretty.

It was a great day! :)

Oh, and atkins is over. As of Saturday evening and the pizza we ordered. It's just not worth it for 3 pounds and the struggle to find things to eat. I'd rather eat healthier and have the option to have bread. Besides...atkins made me really tired.

Diet

2008-06-26T09:10:00.004-05:00

So Bob and I have decided to do Atkins. (yes, it's approximately 2002 in our heads) It's not the healthiest or interesting way to diet, but we're both fairly certain that it won't last more than a couple weeks at most--we just want to kick start diets and this is a good one for immediate results.

I've still been going to the gym--but, hello? How have I GAINED weight since going to the gym? I'd love to call it muscle-mass, but that's kind of crazy. So Atkins + gym should equal some better results.

The stats? I've lost 2 pounds since Monday. Hurrah.

Bob's lost 10. (Boys totally suck that way. But good for him.)

I'm also trying to do this as healthy as possible. Salads with lean chicken, scrambled eggs made without butter, celery, things like that.

Although I'm eating more cheese than normal. But cheese is soooo good.

So far I've avoided the candy dish at a desk near me, free cupcakes in the company kitchen, and the vending machine full of deliciousness. Well, delicious trans fats and empty calories. So that's good. Work is probably the biggest hurdle in food avoidance--there's just so much temptation! But so far it's not been too difficult to resist. Fingers crossed that it stays that way!

I imagine that I'll crack and want some toast (because...mmmm...toast. I love toast) in a couple weeks. And from that point on I'll try to keep eating salads and chicken and celery and avoid the twix bars. :)

Where the Hell is Matt 2008

2008-06-24T09:15:00.001-05:00

Have you all seen this?

Fab. I highly recommend all of his videos. They're amazing.

Fred

2008-06-23T08:56:00.001-05:00

Princess Fred
Originally uploaded by hak123

Port Austin

2008-06-23T08:44:00.002-05:00

Beach
Originally uploaded by hak123

This weekend a group of us went up to Port Austin, Michigan to Terri's family lake house to celebrate her birthday. We left on Friday afternoon to make the 7 hour drive up there (it's on the tip of the thumb of the mitten for all of you Michigan-ites out there).

The drive was pretty easy and we got up there in time to have a few drinks before bed. (side note--it was light until at least 9:30pm up there. Awesome.)

On Saturday we mostly just lazed around (beers and 4 hour naps) and enjoyed hanging out on Lake Huron. That night we "celebrated" her birthday with a cake and she broke open her birthday pinata (Fred) that we brought up with us. (There are a variety of Fred pictures on Flickr. He was included in the majority of our weekend, even if he didn't make it down to the beach.)

On Sunday we made the drive back arriving around 5:30 in time to watch the Cubs sweep the White Sox in the cross-town classic that night. It was a great weekend!

And now I need another day to recover.

Just Married!

2008-06-17T14:49:00.004-05:00

Congratulations Paul & Jim!
My cousin, Jim, and his long-time partner, Paul, were married today in San Francisco--and the AP caught a couple of pictures of them! They look so happy.

It's making me all teary. And happy. Congratulations you guys!

Taste Like Home--I'm In!

2008-06-17T08:11:00.003-05:00

Thanks for the great ideas! I KNEW there was stuff out there that I was blindly missing. I guess I sit at home and eat Cheerios too often instead of going out in my wonderful city to try the local fare.

I've sent my info in and can't wait to see what's to come! You all should join in too--it'll be pretty fun. Check out the info on Megan and April's blogs.

I'll be posting how it goes in the next few weeks and keep you all updated. :)

Taste Like Home

2008-06-16T14:51:00.002-05:00

After a very nice comment from Geggie in my last post, I clicked through to check out her site and ran across a project that she's participating in that sounds kind of cool.

Basically it's a local foodstuff product swap--you pick out some local goodies and send them off to someone else somewhere else in the word (or just the country) and you get some stuff in return. It sounds really cool, but I have a concern:

What's local to Chicago? I mean besides Frangos and Pizza? :) I think I want to participate, but I don't have a very good idea of what to send off. Do any of you reading out there have any suggestions? I'm more than willing to head off to a farmer's market and find some things, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what's Chicago-like that I can mail.

Ideas? Help!

12 of 12, June 2008

2008-06-13T08:06:00.009-05:00

It's 12 of 12 time! Thanks to Chad for starting this whole thing! Let's get started.

6:38am, bathroom: Getting ready for work. I feel the need to lay out all of my make up paraphernalia before putting it on. I think that way I can keep track of everything. And I don't poke myself with my tweezers while digging around the makeup bag.
6:44am, Kitchen: Feeding and watering the dog.
6:55, Front Gate: Which, of course, leads to taking the dog outside for a pee. (Hi Sadie!)
7:02am, Kitchen: Before leaving for work I say good-bye to Jinx, who still lives on the counter since Sadie still lives in the apartment. (She's not going anywhere, Kitty. You might want to try to make friends with her.)
7:21am, Division El Stop: Waiting for the train (yay! It's here!). This el stop was recently voted "most depressing" or something similar. Which...yeah. It's kind of gross and dark and damp down here. And even on the nicest of days, there's some water dripping from somewhere. But the trains are fairly clean and they're fast, so it all works out. :)
7:38am, Cosi in the Loop: It's a coworker's birthday today so I stopped at Cosi to get "squagles". Or square bagels.
7:48am, Desk@Work: My birthday was last week and the flowers are starting to die. How sad is that yellow daisy that's trying to do a face-plant on the desk? It's given up hope.
7:53am, Work:The squagles are out and ready for the birthday breakfast. They're still warm. yummmm.
11:31am, Desk@Work: Working. And listening to The Ting Tings.
5:11pm, Under my Desk@Work: I never changes my shoes today so I guess I just throw the black ones back in my new Target bag. (yay Target!)
6:13pm, Bob's Studio: Bob has a group art show on Saturday so I went with him to help set up a few of his pieces. (That green piece in the back is one of my favorites but he's not showing it this time.)
7:04pm, The Splat Flats: It's not complete yet, but Bob's pieces are at least hanging. More leveling is needed.
The rest of the evening was spent eating fish sticks (Klassy!) and playing Lego Indiana Jones. Which is AWESOME.

Movie Night

2008-06-12T17:05:00.004-05:00

Liz and I saw Sex and the City last night.

And it was good.

Rain

2008-06-09T12:14:00.003-05:00

Rain
Originally uploaded by hak123

Video of driving in the rain.

Mader's Food

2008-06-09T12:14:00.001-05:00

Mader's Food
Originally uploaded by hak123

Yum. Mader's food.

Bar at Potawatomi Casino

2008-06-09T12:13:00.001-05:00

Bar at Potawatomi Casino
Originally uploaded by hak123

So I guess I can only post 1 photo at a time??

Birthday Weekend

2008-06-09T11:51:00.005-05:00

Wow. Quite a full weekend! I got home from work on Friday and Bob was waiting with flowers (!!), brownies (I don't like cake that much), and a present. He got me Lego Indiana Jones (YAYAY!) and had planned a weekend in Milwaukee! It was really cute--he wrapped up a die and a Monopoly hotel together so show that were were staying in a hotel and going gambling. Such a creative fellow!

But first we were meeting friends at Happy Village, a bar just a few block away from home. It was a fun night--pizza, cupcakes, beers, and ping pong! There were lots of pictures taken, but I'll just post this one as an example of my evening:

The next morning, Bob and dropped Sadie off at my mom's house and headed up to Milwaukee. The drive was pretty easy but about 15 minutes after we got to the hotel (after missing the HUGE Hilton sign on the way in (Where's the Hilton??)) a tornado warning went off and the hotel made a building-wide annoucement to stay away from windows since there was a tornado spotted near the zoo. Luckily it all blew over and we headed out to dinner.

Mader's, a typical German restaurant in Milwaukee, was FABULOUS. It was charming inside with the traditionally dressed wait staff, and the food was amazing. Yes, I took a picture of our food--the flickr picture actually notes what everything is if you want to take a peek over there. :)

After dinner, we jumped in another cab (with the craziest cab driver EVER. Seriously. I can't even repeat here what he said to us) and headed over the the Potawatomi Casino. We spent some time playing slots and video poker in the new section of the casino (losing money) and had a couple drinks at the bar, which was really pretty.

The next morning, we drove around Milwaukee and bit before heading home. The minute we got on the highway, the skies opened up and there was the biggest rainstorm I've EVER ridden in. Bob was an amazing driver through some crazy rain. I took a video. :) It's on Flickr too. (there's a way to post photos and video from Flickr. I need to figure that out).

By the time we got to my mom's house to pick up Sadie it was sunny again. Crazy weather.

We got home around 5pm and spent the rest of the evening watching TV and doing a bunch of nothing.

It was a great birthday weekend. I have the best boyfriend ever. Lucky girl, I am.

Birthday Flowers

2008-06-06T14:13:00.001-05:00

Thank you!!

So This is Cool

2008-05-30T17:11:00.002-05:00

Schmap contacted me a few weeks ago asking if they could use one of my Germany pictures on their site. I said sure and they picked it! It's not my favorite photo from that trip, but it's pretty cool that they're willing to put it on their site. :) It's a photo of Old City Hall.

I've put a link on the side-bar if you want to check it out!

Apartment Tour

2008-05-28T08:51:00.004-05:00

So I did the video apartment tour this morning. It's just under 2 minutes and doesn't have sound if you want to check it out. It's my first real attempt at making a useful video so I hope I don't make any viewers seasick! :)

And really, how does YouTube pick the cover image of the video? The one on this one is just silly. You'd think it'd be the first image, right?

Apartment

2008-05-27T10:05:00.003-05:00

So I took a whole bunch of photos of the apartment this morning. And they're all blurry. I guess I should try taking pictures with the flash on and NOT at 6am. I wasn't totally awake. :)

There were also a LOT of pics so I think I'm going to try a walking tour of the place this evening--it might be easier to tell where everything is.

So I leave you with the newest Sadie photo. She followed me around and was in about 50% of the pictures I took this morning so I had to stop and take a portrait of her lounging on the bed. You can't see here, but her back legs are all splayed out behind her and the blanket she's laying on is (fake) fur. Spoiled little princess, I think.

Weekend, 5.17.08

2008-05-19T11:45:00.003-05:00

What did I do this weekend?

First, it was Gail's birthday on Sunday so we had drinks on Friday. Much fun was had. No pictures (um...thankfully, I think).

Saturday Terri, Chris and I went to Cleo's to visit Liz. Then Terri introduced me to the joy that is Trader Joe's. Seriously? Love it. My new favorite grocery store!

Sunday? This happened:

It's so pretty and shiny! Bob and I had steak last night and it was delicious. We're going to have a great summer with this little baby in our backyard! Come on by! Grill up some food stuffs! Yay!

Bear Head

2008-05-16T11:16:00.004-05:00

Last night Bob and I went to go see one of his friends play at a bar. "Dwayne" and "Zane" form Bear Head, and they were playing with a number of other bands at the US Beer Company. (Random side note: their names are actually Dillon and Zack, but with my horrible memory for names, I was calling Dillon Dwayne for a few weeks after I first met him. It turned into a joke, so by the time I met his brother, we immediately have him a name as well. Thus, Zane. The fun part is that they refer to themselves and Dwayne and Zane when they play. Makes me feel special. :) )

They only played for 30 minutes, but it was pretty cool. They're both really talented musicians so it was fun just watching them play.

And this tool played later in the evening. On the bar. Tool.

The bar was just ok. Kind of skeevy and set up strangely. And the bathrooms were disgusting. I took pictures of them as well but won't post them here. No one needs to see an icky bathroom.

Cubs Game 5.13.08

2008-05-14T11:34:00.004-05:00

Bob got free tickets to the Cubs game last night so I rushed home from work and we headed out to the game. It was really fun (even though they didn't win).

It rained most of the time but they never called the game. We left just after the 7th inning stretch (Simon LeBon! Duran Duran!) and got home around 9:30.

I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I have a couple!

12 of 12, May 2008

2008-05-13T08:13:00.007-05:00

Yay! 12 of 12 time! Since last time I'm moved into a new apartment, so while the pictures are still pretty boring (it was a work day) at least I have some new backgrounds!

Thanks to Chad for this idea.

7:05am, Kitchen: Sadie is still enthralled with the cats and can't understand why they don't want to be licked all the time. Marbles and Jinx basically live on window sills and counter tops these days. Here's Sadie trying to get to Marbles while Marbles just jumps to another counter.

7:08am, Kitchen: Trying to figure out what to bring for lunch. As you'll see later, it's not very exciting. And none of it's from the multiple pieces of tupperware (aka leftovers) that you can see in the fridge.

7:16am, Front Door: I'm just leaving for work now. My commute is shorter these days so I can leave a bit later. When we first moved in I was leaving at 7am; now it's 7:15. I figure in the next month I'll eventually be leaving around 7:45. Unfortunately that doesn't mean I can sleep in though--the bathroom schedule is pretty tight!
7:28am, Division Blue Line Stop: I've finally made it to the el. It's a nice walk now, but I imagine I'll be cursing it when it's 20 below and there's a foot of snow! All along the way there are bars and restaurants and cute little boutiques so there are many temptations to lure me in! I've resisted thus far--hopefully I can keep it up!
7:47am, Mercantile Exchange (aka Work): I've made it to work. My office is at the Merc in Chicago. They've recently transferred most of the traders to the Stock Exchange so the lobby is pretty quiet these days.

10:54am, My Desk: Look! I did work! We had a meeting about some new projects for California. You can also see my origami of the day in the background--it was an owl, which was kind of tough. His beak is a little warped...

12:40am, My Desk: Lunch. Frozen meal, Cracker Jack, and a Diet Mountain Dew. Our new vending service only stocks a few Diet Cokes at a time so I have to resort to the Dew once in a while. Not great--but better than Diet Pepsi! (Side note: I've had MANY conversations about how diet coke drinkers are very strict on how they like their pop (yes, POP! I'm from Chicago), whether it's in a can or bottle, over ice, etc. And how most diet coke drinkers do NOT like diet pepsi and won't drink it. Fascinating, I know. But I totally get it.

5:56pm, Division St: The rest of my day was meetings and work. No pictures there (dull). Now I'm walking home from work. As it gets warmer, more and more of the restaurants have seating outside down Division. It's a bit chilly today (around 55 degrees) so there are not many people out, but the restaurants are ready for them!

6:40pm, Family Room: We bought Mario Kart for the Wii yesterday. FUN! I came home to find that Bob had already played a bit and unlocked a new race set. It's time for me to pick up my game and try to keep up with him. This is Bob playing--thus the 1st place ranking. I tend to fall around 3rd to 4th place for now.

7:50pm, Bedroom: Now that it's warmer, I've decided to pack my sweaters away and get out the summer wear. Hopefully it'll stay warm enough so that I don't have to go digging for something woolly anytime soon.

9:04pm, Family Room: Chocolate Pudding and watching the Cubs trounce the Padres. (12-3? YEAH!). A good end to the day.

9:08pm, Family Room: Bob give Marbles a taste of pudding. I had NO IDEA that cat's tongue was so long. Yeesh.

That's it! I hope you all join me next month!

This is Awesome

2008-05-06T08:35:00.001-05:00

For my teacher friends. :)

Moving is Fun

2008-05-05T11:12:00.004-05:00

Ah moving. What a FUN process, huh?

It actually went really well. The movers showed up around 8:30 (30-minutes late) and proceeded to pack up all of my stuff in under an hour. And I have a LOT of stuff. We then went to Bob's place, loaded up his stuff (minus the cats) and then headed to the new place. After figuring out how to open the (already unlocked) garage door, they uploaded all of our stuff and were on there way.

Total time: about 3 hours. Incredible. My movers are the BEST.

Bob and I made a couple more trips to his place to clean up a bit and pick up the cats and some odds and ends. The cats were NOT PLEASED with the move. Marbles glared at us from the bathroom sink.

While Jinx scared the bejeezes out of us by opening up a cabinet (talented!) and hiding under the sink. Who knew cats could open doors?
We've now been in the new place for a few days and are mostly unpacked. The pictures are from Saturday morning so I'll have to take some newer ones soon. Since these pictures were taken we've been to IKEA and gotten rid of more stuff.

Side note: it's amazing to me how much stuff I can get rid of AFTER I move. Wouldn't it be easier to not move the stuff in the first place???

So, here's the kitchen. Notice the pot rack! Wee! I love the pot-rack. I'm fairly certain there's a cat on the counter as well. The cats and the dog are learning to like each other, but for now they hide on window sills, under chairs, and on the kitchen counter.

Here's a pic from the doorway of the kitchen looking back into the front room(s).
This mess is the main bedroom, pre-dresser. There's a huge closet, which is nice. Especially now that I have to share!
Here's the front room. Yes I own pink fuzzy slippers and a stuffed dog. Both of which are hiding in the back of the closet by now.
And here's the second bedroom, otherwise known as Sadie's room. Until the animals all get along, Sadie spends a good amount of time here. Hopefully they'll all be able to be out at night together soon since she has to be caged during the day as well. That's a lot of time to be trapped up into one place.
And there's the mini-tour! We're getting close to putting it all away and have been exhausted for the last few days, but it's totally worth it. The new place is FAB. :)

New pictures soon!

Life Update

2008-04-30T09:23:00.006-05:00

What have I been doing? Well, I've been packing. And packing. And packing some more.

I have a lot of stuff.

Bob and I are moving tomorrow into our new apartment (hurrah!) and for the last few weeks I've been trying to gather up all of my stuff, reminiscing about things that I have found in the corners, and cursing the remainder of the things. It's amazing how much stuff just comes out of the depths of an apartment when you have to put it all in boxes. I KNOW I have a lot of things, but after moving 2 times in the last two years, you'd think I would have gotten rid of some stuff. Apparently that's not the case.

So here is (almost) all of my belongings. That stack goes back about four boxes. And they're about three wide, and four high...so...a lot of boxes (48 boxes????? really?). It's reached the point now that I'm packing in garbage bags. CLASSY!
Thank goodness I have movers. :)

Edit: Yay! I get to remove my little countdown meter from the right column! It's been up there since January when I first started counting down. And my desk-side countdown post-it can be thrown out too. The first post-it note started at 125 days or something. It's so exciting to be down to one day!

Elevator Courtesy

2008-04-17T16:51:00.004-05:00

Seriously. This should be required reading (and testing!) for everyone before they're allowed to use an elevator.

I can't wait for the subway version (which is very similar in my mind, except NEVER sneeze into your hand and then grab the pole again. Ew. Use your elbow)

12 of 12 April 2008

2008-04-13T11:39:00.006-05:00

I can't believe it's 12 of 12 time again. Where has the time gone? It could be that it's still 30 degrees here in Chicago--it sure doesn't feel like April!

Check out Chad's blog for more info on 12 of 12 and see pictures from other people around the world!

11:15am: I'm moving next month so I did a little more packing this morning. There's a postcard in this box from my mom from her trip to Australia--who knew emus were that cute?

11:16am: The packing I've done this far. It feels like a lot more than what's in this picture. But there's SO MUCH MORE to do.
11:18am: My roommate got drums. That's...great. We had a fight this morning because I found my clean bath towel on the drums. He didn't understand why I was annoyed that he was drumming on my white towel. I think it's a good thing that I'm moving...

11:29am: Sadie and I have to walk to the vet today and are checking out the rainy day outside, preparing ourselves for the 4+ mile walk. Ick.

11:54am: I also found out that my roommate had broken a window last night. I'm REALLY glad I'm moving. (sigh)

12:40pm: Almost to the vet. You can usually see the Chicago skyline from this bridge, but since today's such a rainy gray day you can only get a glimpse of it. If you squint real hard!

6:41pm: I took a 4 hour nap once I got back from the vet. I was pooped.

6:45pm: Watched an last week's episode of Kenny vs. Spenny

8:15pm: Then Bob and I watched the Cubs lose to the Phillies. Bummer.

9:13pm: Sadie joined up for a beer before dinner.

9:21pm: When we left for dinner it was snowing out. It's April! Luckily it didn't stick. (Unfortunately you can't see it in the photo, but they were pretty big flakes)

9:47pm: Dinner at el Cid. Margaritas and tacos. Yum!

New Apartment!

2008-04-09T15:18:00.005-05:00

I have a new apartment! Bob and I signed a lease for a great place in Wicker Park and I'm totally excited.

It's so pretty!

We're moving 3 weeks from tomorrow. Much to do!

(Oh, and there's a pot rack in the kitchen. I'm weirdly really excited for this...)

Cubs Video!

2008-03-31T09:11:00.003-06:00

When we were out in Mesa for Cubs Spring Training, my sister, brother-in-law and nephews were interviewed by ESPN.com. The video is now up on their site!

(It's kind of a dorky premise, but it's fun to see them in the video! And poor Jack gets so shy around strangers. It's cute)

Hopefully the hyperlink above will work, otherwise, the video's tough to find, but if you go to ESPN.com, click on the MLB dropdown, click on MLB Video, their video is on the third page called "Jim Caple: Is This Finally the Cubs' Year?" Jack and Matt are at 2:45 and Jandy and Ben are at 2:34.

More Snow

2008-03-27T16:12:00.002-06:00

It's snowing AGAIN. I'm so over this.

In happier news, I went to the dentist this morning and along with no cavities, I got a free 10-minutes massage.

I love my dentist. :)

Yes, Double Post

2008-03-25T15:54:00.002-06:00

I heart Improv Everywhere. This is their most recent mission and it's FAB. Check it out .