Weekend Fun

This weekend we took a trip up to Milwaukee to visit our friends Anne and Brian and see their new baby, Ellie. The Phillies happened to be playing the Brewers this weekend, so we got to finally wear some of our Phillies gear (my shirt was from Tom's sister Lisa after the Phillies won the World Series and Tom's jersey was a groomsmen gift from his friend Jay's wedding).

We snapped a few pics with the sausages on the way to our seats. We were a little late to the game but (thankfully) didn't miss the sausage races in the 6th inning!! Chorizo won. They're all lined up and ready to go!

The Phillies took it into extra innings but thankfully pulled it off (I don't know if we could have handled another loss after the shame and embarrassment that Penn State put on us earlier in the day).

We had a really good time visiting with everyone. On the way home we finally stopped at the Mars Cheese Castle. We've driven past it the past few times we went up to Milwaukee and kept saying how we wanted to stop, but we always had Bailey with us. We figured she would be fine in the car after her busy day of playing with Bentley, so we ran in real quick for some cheese and other goodies. This place was so awesome that we decided we have to come back and stock up on a few items for the Penn State vs. Northwestern game next month!

Happy Pumpkin Spice Candle Day

Picture me doing this right now:

Jumping for joy!!! It's September. Football is on. Pumpkin Spice candle is lit. Pepperoni calzone is in the oven (with homemade pizza dough). And Tom is putting together our new entryway bench and table. Life is good right now :)

We're not in Paw Paw anymore

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If you don't have an iphone.....

...you're me. At least that's what I always say whenever that commercial comes on "If you don't have an iphone..."

Sunday night (the last night of vacation), I was down on the dock, snapping a few pics of the sunset with Bailey laying next to me. I bent down to pet her and give her a kiss (and of course she turned her nose away) and then I heard a "PLOP!" I immediately looked at my hand that my camera was in, thinking somehow I accidentally let go of the camera string that was tied around my wrist, but saw the camera. Then I remembered my phone was in my pocket because I was waiting for the owner to call me back (I mean, who rents out their house/cabin and doesn't give any instructions on where to leave the key when you leave, what to clean up, etc). I looked into the lake and saw my phone, open, staring back up at me.

I started laughing and couldn't stop...which is a weird response for someone who just dropped their phone in the lake. I ran inside, got some tongs, and "fished" my phone out of the lake. Then drove the 2 miles into town, bought a bag of rice at Rite Aid (the only place open in Paw Paw on a Sunday night), and submerged my phone into the rice to allow it to sit for a few days (the rice is supposed to draw all of the water out of the phone).

I think I was laughing initially because I've been toying with the idea of getting an iphone for months now (if not years). I just couldn't justify the extra $30/month for the data plan, but I also kept thinking of excuses as to why I needed to have an iphone and how to justify the $30. Tom says I wouldn't have driven into town to get rice if I really wanted the iphone, I would have just let my phone be and got an iphone when we got back to Chicago on Monday. I say that I wanted the rice to dry it out enough so they could get all of my phone numbers, etc off of my SIM card.

When we got back and I checked our mail, the first thing on top of the whole pile of envelopes was from Verizon, offering a $100 Verizon gift card if you trade in your old phone and upgrade to a smart phone. I read the fine print, and didn't actually see anything that said the phone has to be in working order :)

Also, it's kind of ironic that a week after I wrote this post, about how facebook was so annoying to me, I now have to rely on it as my primary means of communication with the outside world.

I think for now, I'm going to just let my phone sit in the rice for a few days, keep thinking of pros and cons of the iphone and the extra cost, and then make a decision at the end of the week. Any thoughts???

Top 10 Things I Learned on Vacation

10. Accidentally dropping your phone in the lake is a surefire way to confirm that you really should go ahead and get an iphone. How much more of a sign could you ask for? ;)

9. You get what you pay for. And apparently we paid for wood paneling, a horrifying sound coming from the water heater closet every time you flushed the toilet or took a shower, and a scary deer head that stared back at you every time you tried to enjoy the peaceful view of the lake from the kitchen or dining room.

8. I want a simpler life. I really do. I just want that simpler life to be filled with nice things :)

7. I NEED to stretch my calves after every run.

6. Watching the stars at night makes me feel like a kid again. And are shooting stars ever not awesome?

5. Bailey thinks the lake is her own personal water bowl. And she learned how to doggy paddle…while simultaneously drinking the lake, then hacking up air and lake water until she could breathe again.

4. We would much rather enjoy the outdoors through a screened in porch than by getting viciously attacked by bugs. Man, does that make us old or what?!

3. Some people wash their cars on vacation.

2. When a little kid spells “Bonfire” with an M (bomfire) in the guestbook/journal, it’s really, really funny and every future reference to the bomfire must be said bomfire, not bonfire.

1. In the words of Homestar, swiss cake rolls ARE bad for you!




Stay tuned for the full report!

Vacay Time

I couldn't be more ready to go on vacation! I hope it's as fun as last year's end of summer trip! We'll be internetless for a few days but expect a full report upon our return! I better get packing, because someone is impatiently waiting for us to leave :)

9 out of 10 Facebook Status Updates Annoy Me

**Disclaimer** PLEASE don't anyone get offended by this. Facebook has just been annoying the crap out of me lately so I decided to blog about it (in case you haven't noticed, I've been lacking in the blogging creativity department lately). I myself am guilty of posting some of the exact statuses below, so again, take no offense :)

1. I don't care what you had for dinner, nor do I need to see a picture of it

2. You don't need to wish your 6 month old happy birthday, I guarantee they won't have any idea what Facebook even is for quite some time, let alone be able to read the message. The same goes for leaving messages directed at your pet. Pretty sure they can't read, or manipulate a mouse, or log onto facebook.

3. Yes, we know you are "truly blessed" and appreciative of all of the birthday wishes

4. Great job, you're letting everyone know that it's "Five o'clock somewhere" and you're starting to drink mid-afternoon

5. Song quotes really aren't necesary...just go listen to the song and sing out loud

6. I get it, you are redo-ing your house/yard/garage/just bought a new house - I know, how many trips to Home Depot can one person make?!

7. Congratulations, you just booked your 4th vacation of the year. Yes, we are all jealous.

8. I'm so sorry you have the tough decision of only being able to bring 4 pairs of shoes on your vacation because that's all that will fit in your suitcase. Life must be really, really tough for you. Somehow you'll pull through.

9. Change your profile picture to a cartoon character or your favorite "fill in the blank." It will put an end to everything bad in the world!

10. My husband/wife/mom/dad/sister/brother/friends are the best in the whole world! I love you so much! Just tell that person. No one else cares.


Well, look at that, I guess it's 10 out of 10 status updates that annoy me.

Friday Night Art Project

So I've wanted to get a fall wreath for quite some time now but had a specific vision in mind. Unfortunately my "specific vision" runs somewhere between $60 and $80 at Pier One or Pottery Barn. I started googling "DIY berry wreath" and thought it seemed easy enough. So after work I swung by JoAnne Fabrics and they happened to be having a 50% off sale on all fall flowers/decor. I picked up all of my supplies for under $25.

Walking out I kept second guessing myself thinking that I spent too much money and could probably find something similar to what I'm looking for for less than that. I stopped at Home Goods on the way home to check out their furniture, and of course found a fall berry wreath for $15!! Grrrrrr!! It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it was probably close enough. I decided to stick with my original crafting plan and didn't buy the wreath from Home Goods.

I laid everything out on the counter when I got home, said a little prayer (crafting requires patience and patience is something I tend to lack...especially when it comes to crafting) and an hour later, I had a masterpiece!!!

Fall Teaser

After last week's post about my obsession with fall, I've been thinking of more and more reasons why I can't wait for fall (mainly new Office and Always Sunny episodes and Sunday and Monday night Football). This morning we woke up and it was cool enough that I had to put a sweatshirt on to have my coffee on the back deck!! Love it!! I almost busted out the Pumpkin Spice candles but I'm making myself wait until September 1st.

Not much has been going on around here. Thankfully my back is better!! I managed to catch the end of Bailey entertaining herself with her new toy on video. Normally she brings us the toys so she can either play tug-of-war or chase it down the hall, but with this ball she loved to toss it around to herself.

Ruined Weekend

This weekend we were all set to go visit our friends Anne and Brian in Milwaukee and see their new baby, Ellie Anne. Then Friday morning I bent over to pick up one of my patients (a baby...but a big baby) and immediately felt an intense pain in my low back. My stupid back :( I hobbled through the rest of the day. Thankully Fridays are a short(er) day for me and it was my student's last day so she was pretty independent with all of my patients.

But unfortunately I didn't think I would be able to sit in a car for four hours and be able to go back to work on Monday. I've been taking it easy and taking some leftover pain meds from the last time this happened, and thankfully I think I'm on the mend.

Today we had planned on checking out Retro on Roscoe, a local festival that we've heard good things about. But due to some unpredictable weather and me still not feeling 100% we decided not to go.

Hopefully this week won't be too crazy at work and I'll keep getting better. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Is it Fall yet?

Every year around this time I start to get excited for Fall. I'm ready for the cooler weather, football season, pumpkin spice candles, being able to wear jeans, a tshirt and flip flops and be completely comfortable, yummy fall foods like soups and casseroles, pretty leaves, baking, and the list goes on and on. I would have to say Fall is my favorite season (although I kind of like all of them, and am very happy to be back where we are able to experience all four seasons).

Great Food Weekend

We ate GREAT this weekend! From start to finish it was pure yumminess! Driving home from work on Friday I couldn't figure out what I wanted to make for dinner and had to strongly resist the urge to stop at Pizza Hut. Then it hit me....SUSHI! Thanks to Kelly and our sushi adventure last year, I am now a pro at making homemade sushi! I had most things at home, so I stopped to pick up an avocado and some seaweed wraps. It was so addicting that I made it again for lunch the next day!

Saturday night we had a few beverages and grilled some lemon chicken and red peppers while Bailey stared down the baby birds in the back yard (there are some in the birdhouse above the garage and some more in a nest under the stairs...hopefully they won't fall out like last time).

Sunday I made Paige's Best Ever Chicken Noodle Soup complete with the secret ingredient (Tiger Seasoning) thanks to Paige!! Snacks for the weekend included some of my new obsessions: Skinny Pop popcorn and Trader Joe's Wasabi peas, as well as the remaining fudge bar that was in the freezer. Looks like someone will be strapping on their running shoes come Monday!!

Vacation Countdown!!!

Sorry I've been MIA lately...we had bad storms last weekend that knocked out our cable and internet for a few days...how ever did I survive?! ;) Also last night we had the craziest lightning storm I've ever seen....it was just constant lightning for like 20 minutes...I can't believe we didn't lose power. Funny that we've seemed to get crazier storms since we've been in Chicago than we ever experienced living in the South.

ANYWAYS!! Vacation! 27 days!! I can't wait!! We're renting a little house right on a lake in southwest Michigan. I hope Bailey learns how to run off the dock and jump in the lake!! I'm even contemplating buying a hammock for the sole purpose of having one on vacation (I'm kinda obsessed with them). Here's a pic from the VRBO website. We can't wait!! :)

Things I am Loving Right Now

Trader Joe's Wasabi Peas

Yuengling

Skinny Pop popcorn

Sons of Anarchy

Sitting on the back deck enjoying a cup of coffee

Taking an accidental break from couponing

Bailey playing in the lake

Grilling dinner with Tom while Bailey runs around in the back yard

Mojito's

Getting back into running

LONG tank tops

$2 Jeans

Teen Mom (Can't help it!!)

Lazy weekends

The Dog Days of Summer

Last night we went to a fundraiser for a local shelter with our friend Jess. She doesn't have a dog (YET!!) but has volunteered at various shelters and supports our furry friends just the same. It was held at Schuba's, which I had actually been wanting to check out because we used to drive by it all the time on the way home from work (recently we started taking a different way home). It was fun to actually get out and do something on a week night! It reminded me of when we lived in Philly and would actually go out and do stuff (my couch is just sooooo inviting these days I can't seem to pass it up)! And by "these days" I really mean "the last 5 years."

Anyways, the mac and cheese bar that was promised was slightly disappointing (I thought it would be a variety of mac and cheese, not just 1 kind of mac and cheese with a variety of toppings). I survived ;) I also tried to channel my inner Paige to win something during the raffle, but alas, no luck there either. And I told Tom it didn't feel the same without our Birmingham crew there with us! I kept waiting for everyone to walk in with Stacy smuggling Casper in her purse! A good time was still had by all!!

Family Reunion - Chicago Style

This weekend my parents came to visit. My cousin Laurel lives in Indiana, just south of Chicago, so her parents (my aunt and uncle) and my other aunt and cousin all came out too. So we had a full house! Friday night my parents and my cousin Jamie drove up from Laurel's to hang out and spend the night at our place. They arrived with no less than 2 cases of our beloved Yuengling compliments of Aunt Judy. We can't get Yuengling in Chicago :(

Saturday morning we all met up at our place, then started our trek downtown (past Wrigley Field and via Lakeshore Drive).

First stop? The Bean! Of course we had to take a family pic in the Bean.
The Gold Coast Art Fair happened to be going on in Grant Park a few blocks away so we walked over to check that out. We enjoyed a cool beverage and some live music while we relaxed for a few minutes in the shade.
Mom stayed at the art fair while the rest of us walked down to see Buckingham Fountain. Next we walked along Michigan Ave and made our way down to the River Walk. After all of this walking, we were all getting quite hungry, so we hearded the troops and thought we would check out Navy Pier real quick on the way to get some Deep Dish. Navy Pier was of course PACKED (and annoying) so we decided we had seen enough just trying to drive past the front of it, and we didn't even bother to get out of the car. We drove back up Lakeshore Drive and found 2 parking spots literally right in front of Giordano's.

The pizza was awesome and this is definitely our new favorite deep dish pizza place!! After pizza we all went back to our place and had a little birthday celebration for my Aunt Shirley (who is turning 60 in a couple weeks) complete with Middle Sister wine (since she is the middle sister)!

We just hung out and enjoyed spending time together while watching the Pirates/Cubs game on TV...which was kind of ironic considering my entire family that was visiting are Pittsburgh fans and Wrigley Field is about 3 miles from us on the same street (the game was in Pittsburgh). Sunday we drove down to my cousin Laurel's house for a final family breakfast and said our Goodbye's. What a great weekend!

Awesome Birthday Weekend

How can a birthday weekend go wrong when you kick it off with flowers and dinner at an Italian Restaurant?! Friday we had big plans originally to go check out Taste of Chicago, but after virtually every single person we talked to gave a resounding "NOOOOOOOOOOO DON'T GOOOOOOOOOOOO!" we started to rethink our decision. That and the fact that it was supposed to be 97 degrees on Friday. I won't quote my co-worker OR the opinion column in the Red Eye, because someone will probably get offended, but let's just say they didn't make it sound too appealing. So we decided that a cooler (and cheaper) option would be to take Bailey to the Dog Beach instead. Well, as it turns out, we got some pretty crazy storms Thursday night and Friday ended up being overcast and kinda cool, with the potential for rain at any moment. We ended up having an extremely lazy relaxing day on Friday and didn't do a single thing except grill out for dinner.

Saturday morning we got up and went to Panera for breakfast. I know, all of the fabulous brunch places in Chicago and we go to Panera. I had been wanting eat at Panera every day for the past 6 months because we always drive by it on the way to work. After Panera we packed up Bailey and our towels and headed off to the Dog Beach. She was a little unsure of the water at first, so we took her over to a "corner" of the beach so she could explore the water on her own terms. It didn't take long until she was frolicking in the lake, drinking the lake water, and trying to do the Basenji 500 twenty yards out from the sand.

We got quite a chuckle (quite a chuckle? What am I like 80?) out of this funny bulldog with a lifevest (just like FTT's!!). First of all, he's wearing a lifevest. Second, he tried to crawl up on the ledge (the one that Bailey has her paws up on) but kind of half fell off, then just stayed there for like 30 seconds, half on/half off. Third, his dad had to carry him off the beach via lifevest handle as they were leaving, and about 30 seconds after he put him down he barfed all over the sidewalk. Too funny!

Saturday afternoon I had wanted to do some shopping for my birthday, but it was too hot, so I did some online shopping and ordered 5 shirts from Gap/Old Navy and got them all shipped right to my door for less than $9/shirt (including tax and shipping!!). We also finally booked our August vacation in Michigan. I'm so excited and I had been stressing about this for months! It will give us something nice to look forward to after this awesome 4-day weekend ends. For dinner we decided to check out this sketch Mexican restaurant that is right at the end of our street, The Burrito House. I had actually been wanting to check it out for a while but Tom thought it was too shady. A few weeks ago our neighbors told us how great it was, so Tom agreed to eat there for dinner...besides, how can he say No to me on my birthday ;)? It was actually pretty good!

Sunday afternoon our friend Jess hosted a cookout for the 4th at her new apartment. We grilled out, ate A LOT, and sipped some cool beverages.
Sunday night we sat out on our balcony and watched numerous fireworks displays from the comfort of our own deck chairs. Apparently everyone in Chicago sets off huge fireworks like it's no big deal. Our apartment faces directly west and we could see no less than 10 different displays (most obscured by houses and trees, but hey, no traffic or masses of people so that's just fine by me!) Of course the only pic I snapped was of a tiny firework but it at least gives you an idea of our little view :)

Today we're having a mish-mash of a day complete with a little bit of productivity and plenty of relaxing on the back deck. Happy 4th everyone!!

It's that time of year again!

It's Birthday Week! If you're unfamiliar with Birthday Week, please read this. I was having "one of those days" at work today and just trying to make it through the day to get to the weekend. Tom surprised me after work with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and reservations at this cute little Italian restaurant that's right up the road from his work, Sapori. We both had lobster ravioli for dinner and I enjoyed caprese salad for an appetizer and coconut sorbetto (in a real coconut!!!) for dessert! After thoroughly enjoying our Memorial Day 3-day weekend, we decided to take tomorrow off (in addition to having Monday off)! Yay 4-day Birthday Weekend!!

Accidentaly Domestic Weekend

When Friday rolled around I had absolutely no plans of being productive, let alone domestic, this weekend. It's so much better to have nothing planned and accomplish a lot than the other way around. Here's a list of all of the domestic-type activities I did this weekend without even planning to :)

• Did all of my laundry


• Ironed enough clothes for the next 2 weeks


• Made Mint Syrup...then proceeded to spill 3/4 of the mint syrup when I was trying to put some on my canteloupe this morning :(


• Made Tomato Sauce (with tomato paste and water and sugar...because I was out of tomato sauce)


• Made Taco Soup for the freezer


• Made my own bread crumbs (Ummm, we were out and I needed some for the burgers. Besides, we had a few hot dog buns that needed to be used up).


• Made burgers from scratch


• Divided and froze the 6 pounds of ground beef we got from Costco (well, 4 pounds after the burgers and the taco soup)


• Cleaned out my computer


• Ground up 2 lbs worth of whole coffee beans in the blender (we got free coffee from Costco...wooo!)

Okay, I think that's it! It doesn't sound like much now that I listed it all out....but now all I have to do is sit back and relax for the rest of the evening (and "supervise" Tom while he grills our burgers).

Today's Mission: Back That Computer Up!

My computer (as of a few weeks ago) is officially 8 years old. It's been a good computer but lately it likes to make so much noise that it sounds like it might just take off at any given moment. I really have no complaints about it, but I need to get everything and anything important off of it (you know, like my illegally obtained free version of Snood) and backed up on one of our hard drives just in case.

My computer has been through a lot. The Love Virus of 2004/5, a few RAM boosts thanks to Tom, and multiple moves (8, to be exact). I'm in a race against time to make sure everything is saved, then all I have to do is sit back and enjoy however much time I have left with good ol' Compy. Who knows, by cleaning him out I may get a few more years out of him!

Currently

Excited about my birthday 4 day weekend!
Worried about a relative going through a difficult time
Reading Eat Pray Love
Creating a work out schedule that I will actually stick to
Loving that it isn't completely dark at 9:00 and that it's cool enough to sit on the back deck and relax
Hating days without a single cancellation or no-show (although I guess that's a good sign for job security?!)
Wondering when I'm going to find a suitable vacation rental for our August vacay
Craving Havarti dill cheese and rosemary garlic triscuits
Hoping to be better at menu planning this month
Watching on TV ID Network, Always Sunny reruns
Listening to Nickelcreek, a bunch of old mix CD's
Cooking honestly? Not much of anything lately! We've been grilling a lot of meat and veggies whenever we get the chance!
Looking forward to a little bit longer of a vacation in August, Mom and Dad visiting in July, My Birthday

Weekend Getaway

We were finally able to sneak in a Mini Vacay this weekend! We rented a house in Michiana Shores, IN...a little over an hour from Chicago. We arrived Friday afternoon and enjoyed a quiet, relaxing evening. We grilled out, watched Bailey "protect us" from the deer, and later enjoyed some good conversation on the screened in porch. Bailey sniffed the perimeter and kept watch from her "perch" at the edge of the deck.Saturday we slept in, enjoyed coffee, and wished real hard that the sun would come out so we could take Bailey to the beach. Well, we didn't wish hard enough, because the weather was absolutely miserable! You can't even see the lake, can you?!It was cold, misty, and foggy. We went to the beach anyways, and couldn't even see 100 yards in either direction.Bailey wasn't too sure of the water. Tom tried to take her in, but she kept running away whenever the waves would crash. She did like the sand, however, and kept trying to bury her nose in it apparently thinking she would find something. After about 15 minutes we had all had enough (or at least I had), so we headed back to the house to warm up with some hot tea.Saturday evening my cousin Laurel (who lives in Indiana) drove out to have dinner with us and spend a few hours catching up. It was so good to see her! There happened to be a convenient little wood-fired pizzeria down the road so we ordered a delicious meal (complete with prosciutto, rosemary, and pistachio pizza and various flavors of gelato).

Sunday (of course) was bright and sunny, but still a little cool. We packed up and headed home to get caught up on a few things and enjoy the end of our weekend. We're very much hoping to have a slightly longer vacation in August but this was a nice little treat! We feel relaxed and refreshed and ready for some warmer weather!

Happy 5 Year Anniversary!!

I can't believe it's been 5 years since we got married!! What a blast that day was! I mean, a day filled with friends and family, 37 cases of beer, and Velveeta....how could it not be awesome?! Happy Anniversary!

Remember how we're not allowed to paint?

Well, it turns out, we don't care :)

Last weekend we learned that our downstairs neighbors were allowed to paint....well, not technically. But they were allowed to choose the paint colors and have the painters do the painting before they moved in. So I said "Screw it" and we decided to paint one measely wall in our bedroom. I love it though, it makes such a huge difference!

Our "landlady" is so confused that we can just tell her it was like that when we moved in and she probably won't even bat an eyelash. Or we can just say "Remember how we had to call you 10 times in a matter of 3 weeks for you to get someone to come out and fix our air conditioning? And then remember how you said someone would be out on a particular Wednesday so Tom took the whole day off work (using 8 hours of his own PTO) to wait for a guy that never showed up? And then he had to call you to see if they were going to come or not? And then you told us to turn off our alarm system on a particular Thursday and that you would personally come in with the repair man so our dog wouldn't flip out...and then we got home and it didn't look like anyone had been there so again we had to call you to see if you even came out? And then the next week you sent a guy out and he didn't fix anything? And then you didn't return Tom's calls for 2 days and he had to call you AGAIN to finally confirm that someone will be out this Thursday at 9 am? Remember that?" To Be Continued.....

But in the meantime, enjoy a pic of our newly painted wall :)