I officially declare it BIRTHDAY WEEK! I'm off today with my regular schedule and we're off work next Wednesday for the 4th, so I took off Monday and Tuesday as well for a little Birthday Staycation. Soooo excited!
We also decided to celebrate Bailey's birthday last week (since we don't know her actual birthday....sad). But we think she was about 6 months old when we adopted her in December of 2008, so that makes her 4 this summer! She had a great birthday!!
Licking her lips while we were out grilling the other night
Entertaining me when I was home sick
We got a $5 free toy coupon from Pet Supplies Plus for her bday, so we walked over to get her a new toy. She couldn't wait to get at it!!
She tried to carry it home, but was more obsessed with "killing" the squeakers
I feel like I should do another garden update...it seems as though all of our plants took off over the past week. And we think that we have finally solved the mystery of Mystery Plant. We think he is Dill. Which would be cool because I like dill. But I've decided not to bore you with only plants.
Anyways we've done a few things the past week or so and I remembered to snap some pics. Our new hospital has officially moved and our name has officially been changed. We went to the CMH Closing Celebration and enjoyed some awesome free food from vendors around the old hospital. The weather was perfect and they did a great job making sure there were enough seats, food, drinks, etc. I didn't really feel super sad about it since 1) I didn't work in inpatient here so I don't really have any memories in the old hospital, 2) I actually am not really being affected by the move as our outpatient locations are not moving, and 3) I've only been here a year and a half.
Goodbye Celebration
Friday I had some errands to run but I managed to stop by the lake a little bit north of my usual spot for lunch. I found a cute little spot that wasn't too populated and enjoyed some rays and the view.
I think we need to win the lottery and buy a place with a view of the lake. I'm a tad obsessed.
Recently we went over to our friend Jess's place for one of her infamous Game Nights. Now, you all know how I feel about games, but I think I'm starting to come around (as long as no one makes me play Trivial Pursuit or Monopoly). We played a really fun game, Telestrations. After we finally figured out how to play, we had a blast. Basically everyone gets a booklet and picks a phrase from a card. You write the phrase down and then pass the book to the person next to you. The person next to you then has to draw that phrase, and then you pass the books again and the next person has to guess what the phrase would be based on your drawing. You keep going until you have gone full circle. It was pretty hilarious to see some of the drawings and guesses. I wish I had snapped a pic of my "zoo" drawing (which Tom guessed accurately by the way)!
Any guesses on Jess's artwork? I bet you weren't thinking toilet paper roll. Yeah, that's what she was trying to draw.
We also visited with Marietta, a sweet 6 year old dog that Jess is fostering. I'm really hoping that someone wants to adopt her, because she is such a good dog and obviously had a tough life before she ended up in the shelter. (Jess if you're reading this she is the perfect dog for you!!!)
"Someone PLEASE adopt me!"
Marietta and Tom were instant buddies
She loved to give me her paw and was always trying to hold hands!!! Such a sweetie!
It's been a while since my last garden update. I took pics a few weeks ago after we moved everything outside (the weekend before Memorial Day) but never ended up posting them. And everything is so much bigger now! Here are our pics from today. I think the pepper plants are getting ready to start producing flowers (which will then turn into peppers). I'm dying for my tomatoes to start growing!!! I'm too impatient!
Tomato Plant #2
Tomato Plant #1
Oregano
Good ol' Basil
Still kickin' it from last year
Mystery Plant
(We're thinking Thyme but still not sure)
Pepper plants
Cilantro
We have more Cilantro ready to be transplanted into the empty areas in this basket
So far every Friday I have off of work with my new schedule has been fabulous. This past Friday I slept in, did a few things around the apartment, and then headed downtown late afternoon to avoid some of the rush. Tom and I were invited to a reception at Fulton's on the River through Tom's work. Good thing I went downtown a little early, apparently Obama was downtown Friday evening (which I had no idea) so a bunch of the streets were blocked off (at 5pm on a Friday, good timing Obama!)
I did a little shopping on Michigan Ave to kill some time until Tom was able to meet me. At that point, we still didn't realize what all of the traffic was from, and we were debating how to drive to Fulton's from where we were parked (literally less than a mile) anticipating that it would take us forever to get there. We accidentally ended up under Michigan Ave and on the lower level of Wacker Drive (think Blues Brothers movie) and somehow managed to completely avoid all of the mayhem. It was awesome.
Fulton's was delish. We mingled with a few people from Tom's work and just enjoyed eating and drinking at a restaurant we normally wouldn't be able to afford!
View of Fulton's from the boat tour last weekend
Sushi and cucumber with crab salad
Hanging out outside
The rest of the weekend was pretty low key and relaxing. Bailey and I spent several hours both days on the back deck (me reading, Bailey lounging), we grilled out for dinner both nights (Grilled Lemon Chicken and Savory Garlic Steak), and caught up on a bunch of things around the apartment. I've apparently taken up reading as a hobby again. I read The Help last month and I'm currently on the second book of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. So good! My new hobby has not been good for the budget though - I would love to borrow from the library but I'm kind of hot and cold when it comes to reading. I'll read one book in 2 days and then take 2 months to read the next one. Oh well, somehow I'll manage. Back to work tomorrow!
I could really get used to these three day weekends!
Last weekend (aka Memorial Day Weekend aka Tom's Birthday Weekend) our friends Joe and Laura came out to visit. For those of you who don't remember, Joe grew up right across the street from Tom and they've been BFF's (can guys be BFF's?) forever. Joe was the best man in our wedding and a few months after we got married, we went to see them tie the knot when they lived in Kansas. They also came to visit us in Birmingham about 5 years ago. Okay, enough back story!
We weren't quite sure if their flight was going to be on time, because it looked pretty nasty in the direction of Ohare on Saturday morning, but thankfully it cleared up!
We picked them up and attempted to go to Hot Doug's, but when we saw the line was about a block and a half long, we opted for deep dish pizza at Giordano's instead.
After we stuffed ourselves, we went back to the apartment and enjoyed the perfect weather by sitting on the back deck, having a few drinks and catching up. We knew we needed a pretty low-key afternoon and evening, because we had tickets to the 11:00 show at Second City and to be honest we were all a little nervous about whether we would be able to stay up that late ;) We also wanted to enjoy the weather because we knew it was supposed to be ridiculously hot the next couple of days (Really? Who needs a record setting temp of 97 when you have all outdoor activities on your agenda?!)
We took a cab to Olde Town and found a perfect table outside at a bar right across the street from Second City (Corcoran's). We had a few drinks and snacks and then headed across the street as we watched Joe's blood pressure go up as the line to get in kept getting longer ;) It ended up being great timing, because we were seated in the last row of the floor seats inside Second City. This was probably my favorite part of the whole weekend. Remember how I said we weren't sure if we could stay awake? As soon as they came out on stage they had us laughing, and it got better and better as the show went on. I didn't realize how many famous people had gone through Second City (Tina Fey, Chris Farley, Bill Murray, Steve Carell, etc, etc)! Some of the skits were so funny that I wish they were on Youtube so I could share them with you and relive them again. We're definitely going back to Second City (but maybe to the 8:00 show) in the near future!
EDIT: I found this montage clip on You Tube. It probably won't be funny to you but just watching it reminded me of a few of my favorite clips, including "The AdoraBulls" "America's Blackest Black President" and "I'm a Positive guy"
We went home and crashed and woke up the next morning a little more tired than usual but ready for our big touristy day in the city. We went to Southport Grocery and Cafe for brunch, and after hearing there was an hour and a half wait, reluctantly agreed to sit outside. We ate in misery while we kept trying to move the small umbrella so we could at least have some shade. After brunch we took the train downtown and went to the infamous Bean at Millenium Park. We took the obligatory bean pictures and walked around to kill some time before our architectural boat tour. That's where we saw the Puppet Bike. Ummmmmm, yeah.
The boat tour was awesome, it was our 3rd one and I have to say that we will now exclusively use Wendella for future boat tours. The tour guide was great and we learned some new information about Chicago that we hadn't learned on previous tours (for example, did you know that Lake Michigan used to come up to Michigan Ave and currently everything east of Michigan Ave to the lake is built on landfill from the great Chicago Fire of 1871? Or that there are fighter jets from WW II at the bottom of the lake right off of Navy Pier)?
After sitting in the sun for an hour and a half, we were ready to head inside to a big fancy birthday meal for Tom at Ditka's Steakhouse. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but it was actually really nice inside and reminded me of an upscale/classy sports restaurant that served delicious steak. We each had an Iron Mike, Ditka's own brew, and had some really great steak. Joe showed us all up and ordered the Tomahawk. He finished the whole thing and never looked back!
After our massive consumption of beer and meat, we thought it best to walk off some of the (thousands of) calories by heading down to the lake. I had never been to the lake that far south, and it was definitely still beautiful, but the clientele was a little different than what I was used to. Nonetheless, it provided some interesting entertainment and a few good quotes that I don't think are appropriate to share on my blog ;)
We attempted to go to the Signature Lounge after the lake, but walked in the revolving door and right back out after we saw the line. Apparently our little known secret about great views of Chicago is out. And it probably didn't help that we happened to try to go right around sunset. So we went back to our place and rested up for the Cubs game on Monday. We headed to Goose Island Wrigleyville for lunch and some Cubby Bear Blue (my new favorite beer) and Green Line IPA (Tom's new favorite beer) before the game.
We met up with a few other friends for the Cubs game. My friend Jess and her sister came along, as well as our friend Norm (who we met through Jess) and Pete, a guy from London who works for the same company that Jess does and was here for a month. We had a great time, and I was absolutely obsessed with our seats (Section 215 row 23 is where it's at in Wrigley Field)! We were in the shade the WHOLE time and in the top row so we had an awesome breeze coming through to cool us off. In addition to it being Memorial Day, I think it was Bird Day at Wrigley as they released an eagle during the National Anthem and then there was a little bird who wanted to hang out in the infield most of the game (enjoy video below with commentary from Joe). Oh yeah, I almost forgot...the Cubs won!! Go Cubbies!
We had a blast and are so glad Joe and Laura were able to come out and visit us. Although I think Bailey was the luckiest one of all....Joe and Laura let her sleep with them on the couch bed all three nights and she got to lounge there all day while we were out and about. She was a little sad to see them go!
