Anne on Tap: January 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

This Week at Work....

Welcome to a new series I like to call "This week at work." (Okay, I lied, I'm not going to make this a new series....but saying that just makes this post a little less random :)

This week at work...

I met a fellow Penn Stater
I spent a day in inpatient and didn't like it at all (3 months ago I never thought I would have said that!)
I covered ortho clinic (by myself) for 3 different docs who saw 52 patients (Normally this clinic is covered by no less than FOUR different PTs throughout the day)
We finally got to check out the little bar with a Penn State flag in the window that I drive past everyday for an after-work happy hour event
I volunteered to stay until 7pm one night to learn!
In the same day, I was told by one person that they could "hear the Birmingham" in my voice and I was told by another person that "they thought I was from central Pennsylvania by the way I talked." (Just wait until I'm here long enough to add a midwestern component to my voice!)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

My nose gets cold too

We have a programmable thermostat in our apartment so Tom has programmed it to drop down to 65 when we leave for the day and come back on before we get home. The other morning I had to drive out to a satellite clinic for work so I left a little later than usual and the temperature had already started to drop. I came out to the living room and this is what I saw. Hopefully she doesn't get too cold during the day!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Peewee Hockey...a new reason to exercise!

The gym that we decided to join is a small little fitness center that is part of a local Chicago Park District. It's only a few blocks away, and was super cheap compared to the other big name gyms. Sure the equipment is a little old, but there is rarely anyone else there when we go so it's been kind of awesome. As if all that isn't enough, the fitness area overlooks a regulation size ice hockey rink, so there is usually something entertaining to watch while you are running.

My favorite? Peewee hockey!! We've seen them practicing a couple of times, and yesterday when we went there was a peewee hockey game. They were so cute!!! The majority of them weren't even as tall as the goal. My favorite is the little squirts who go speed skating down the rink only to belly flop and slide the rest of the way on the ice.

We had a pretty good weekend despite the frigid weather! Friday night we went to a place called Tiny Lounge to meet our friend Jess but left soon after we arrived because the place was packed (apparently they had a groupon that expired Friday). We went next door to a place called Bowman's because it was empty and looked warm. Turns out it was a Chicago/Iowa sports bar so our friend Kelly would have loved it! We had some great appetizers and met up with one of Jess's friends, so (excluding work) that brings the grand total of people we know in Chicago to 4.

Friday, January 21, 2011

0 Degrees right now!!!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Little penguin

So, yesterday Tom and I went to Old Navy since they were having 40% off all of their clearance items. Tom found quite a few deals, and I found a banana peel Halloween costume for Bailey (for $0.74!!) and 2 little stuffed penguins for $0.38 each. I knew Bailey would destroy the penguins but for $0.38 I thought it was worth it. I don't know if the first one lasted 5 minutes!! Here is her nice, pretty, new toy.

And here is what it looked like 5 minutes later.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Matt Takes Chicago

My brother came to visit on his way back from a work training trip to Dallas. He flew in Friday night after we got off work. He FINALLY got to meet Bailey and of course, she instantly loved him! He tried to turn her into a cuddler...but she really must have personal space issues because she just wasn't having it.

We went to dinner at this restaurant that Tom and I drive past every single day and always say we should try, Chief O'Neill's. It was cozy and still decorated for Christmas and we left with full bellies and platefuls of leftovers. After dinner we just hung out at the apartment and Bailey and the boys played in the snow in the back yard for a little bit. Bailey was so thirsty after playing and running the Basenji 500 that she ate a TON of snow.

Saturday we went downtown to Millennium Park and played around at The Bean and watched a bunch of eager ice skaters take the ice after the zamboni finally finished cleaning the rink.

We grabbed dinner at Gino's East and then got Matt to the airport in time for his flight. Tom and I are slowly eating our way through Chicago's Deep Dish Pizza and I am loving every bite of it!

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Random List of Updates

Because, as you all know, I love making lists!

(In case you didn't notice) I changed my blog name and header again! The creative ~~Brian Dranka~~ Anne Dranka came up with the name (Thanks Anne!), and I played around with Google's Picasa until I got something I liked.
Last weekend we drove up to Milwaukee to ring in the new year with our good friends, Anne and Brian, who moved to Milwaukee last January. We had a wonderful evening starting off at the Milwaukee Ale House where we enjoyed some flights and appetizers. Oh, and a Keg Christmas Tree. We went back to Anne and Brian's house for a cheesy goodness dinner and spent the rest of the evening hanging out. The puppies enjoyed reuniting and Bailey had a blast devouring her rawhide while Bentley was just not as "in" to her rawhide. We tried some of the new "Champagne Beer" made by Sam Adams, and it was quite good.
Tom and I are officially residents of Illinois! We've been putting it off since we moved, but finally decided we just need to bite the bullet, wake up early Saturday morning, and get new drivers licenses and tags for our car. It was actually not bad, except for the small amount of anxiety we both experienced when they told us we had to take a written test! Fortunately, we both passed, and an hour later we emerged with Illinois drivers licenses, new car tags, and are now registered to vote in Illinois.
My brother is coming to visit next weekend! Matt recently got a job with United and will be passing through Chicago Friday night on his way back from training in Dallas. We're planning to go exploring in the city and of course hit up another deep dish pizza place! I'm thinking Gino's East but we'll have to wait and see.
I'm taking a little "break" from my frugal blog. I really do enjoy keeping up with it, but lately there have just been too many things on my plate. We're going to change up our "plan of attack" for grocery shopping, which I am so excited about because it has been stressing me out more than you can imagine (Publix...I miss you!)
I love edamame! Okay, for some reason Tom thinks that probably everyone doesn't want to know this, but this is a big step for me! I don't like beans (unless they're all mushed up from the food processor or immersion blender), and I've never been crazy about soy, but for some reason, I have been obsessed lately with soybeans!