Dog Ball!

That's what we call it when Milly rolls up in a ball and goes to sleep. This one was particularly awesome - she didn't move all evening long :)

Diets suck

So that Weight Watcher's commercial that says "Diets don't work" is total BS b.c you know what Weight Watcher's is? EATING LESS. That, my friend, is a freaking diet. Just as a random aside.

Anyways, I've been on a diet for the past week and a half. And I've done pretty good at it.... so far. I guess you could say I've kind-of been on one for the past month but before last week the plan was 1)dieting when Mike wasn't here and 2) eating everything in sight when he was. Oh, and just in case you are wondering, that doesn't so much work very well.

Now I'm on the all-diet-all-the-time-train. I figure I need to get a little more svelte before the summer. I am sick of not fitting in all the clothes I own, and would just like to start this summer of a little less tubby.

The main issue is that I really need to start working out again. I haven't been very good about it in a while - working out makes me want to eat more, and that's what I was trying to avoid. So maybe now that I'm a bit more into the diet I can start up again. Plus the weather is nice so it's time for the beagle and myself to hit the trail. This should be interesting; I took Milly running once a couple weeks ago and I felt a little bit like I was running/dragging an uncoordinated wild hog. I had to hopscotch over her twice; once was right beside some guy whose dog wasn't behaving like a crazed maniac and I exclaimed "Trying to teach this dog to run is like trying to herd cats!!!" Oy, man. I came home all disheveled, and the beagle was dying. For such a spirited dog she sure was a wimp when it came to running. At the end of it I was practically walking and dragging her along.

I feel like it will be good for us both though, I get exercise and I run some beagle-energy out of the dog. I swear, if I could bottle and sell beagle energy, I would make a hojillion dollars.

So here's the plan:

• 100 pushups program (3x a week)
• Run (2x a week)
• Jillian 30 day shred dvd (2x a week)
• PAINT & do home improvment in all my spare time!!
• Limit calories... oy.

This should be interesting!

Poop on the porch

On Saturday, I had a super weird dog day. I'll just sum most of it up with: Milly had the flu and also almost fell out our third story window.

Milly is OK, thankfully. But something else upsetting happened.

Someone put poop on our welcome mat.

As a little backstory, about three weeks ago we found some dog doody on our front welcome mat. It was strewn across the mat in such a way that we figured someone's dog just got away from them and thought our mat looked like a great place to go. I mean, hey, it is pretty cool. Grey indoor-outdoor weave with a damask pattern. Who wouldn't want their bathroom to be that cool?

Except on Saturday, I went to take Milly outside and there was poop on our welcome mat again. Hmmm, I thought. I looked around in shock. Who would do this? I grabbed a bag out of our doggy-poo bag dispenser on Milly's leash and quickly picked it up. As I did so, I couldn't help but notice that the poo's were not placed there haphazardly. No, there were three little poo's all lined up nicely in a row. It was very obvious that someone had put them there.

My first thought is that someone obviously thinks we don't clean up after our dog and is going all vigilante-justice on us. This is absolutely NOT the case. Milly is never off-leash and/or out of sight, and never does her business in the main areas of the condo complex (and very rarely IN our condo anymore, woot! Also, knock on wood!!). Also, we ALWAYS pick up her poo once she goes, which is usually in a patch of grass at the end of our alley.

Another more disturbing option is that someone just doesn't like us and put poo on our porch to be vindictive. I really don't like this option, as I think we try REALLY HARD to be good and friendly neighbors.

Either way, I am kind of angry. I mean, if someone thinks that we're not picking up after Milly, shouldn't they come and talk to us instead of being an immature 12 year old and putting POOP on our WELCOME MAT?! Do we just look like people who wouldn't clean up after our dog? And why should I be a diligent dog owner if I'm just going to get rewarded with poo put on my porch?!

Mike wants to install a security camera to catch the poo-dropper. I have notified the condo association and think they'll send out a letter.

What kind of person would put poo on someone's welcome mat?! And what do you think we should do?

A quick public service announcement...

Ladies of Chicago: TIGHTS ARE NOT PANTS.

Also, that is a shirt you are wearing, not a dress.

That is all.

Easter pics

Mike and I get in a pic. Two words: Need tan. Vacation cannot come soon enough!!

The kiddos wait for the egg-hunt go-ahead.
And they're off!

Aydan "helps" Odin. And by help I mean takes eggs out from under him. hahaha... like Odin would really get much of that candy anyways with two older brothers!

OK, I have two eggs. All I can hold. Are we done here yet?

Mike helps Odin hunt for eggs by holding onto the basket that is almost as big as Odin!

I wonder if this one tastes good?

Ooops! thought the drive-by egg grab would work... notsomuch.

I finally get a tiny smile out of Dade a little later in the day.

I love the Easter egg hunt with all the nephews. It is so much fun to see all these little boys run all over the place for eggs, and it's even more fun now that Dade and Aydan are a little older and don't stand in one place throwing one egg against the sidewalk (a real hardboiled egg... ahem, I'm looking at you, Odin) for the duration of the event. Plus the weather was gorgeous. I was sad I missed my niece, Gracie, in her Easter finery, but it's become a bit of the tradition to load the nephews up on sugar and then deal with the consequences.

As a random aside, Dade and Aydan made the paper bunny ears that Aydan is wearing above while I was napping on Saturday, and they sported them almost the whole weekend. It was so cute!

And SO SAD I totally forgot to take pictures of the newest little nephew. Little Loki was born just about a month and a half ago. Doh!

Easter weekend fun

This weekend was so fun! Friday I came home early and attempted to take a nap, but a certain beagle wouldn't sit still enough or stop whining enough to let me do so. Oh well. That night we had a dinner date with our neighbors. We hit up Pequod's Pizza and saw the movie "I love you, Man." We hit Pequod's super early since it tends to get really jam-packed... then had time for a few beers before the movie at a bar next door to the pizza place. We moseyed over to the movie theatre a few minutes before our showing and it was sold out! So we bought tickets for the next showing (a little over an hour from then) and headed back to the bar. Good times! The movie was funny, not Anchorman- or 40-year-old-Virgin-funny, but funny all the same.

Saturday we rolled out of bed, finished packing, grabbed the beagle and got on the road. Traffic was awesome and we made it to Mike's parents' by 1. Mike's mom sent his sister into town to grab us some Mr Happy Burger, which was divine. They by far make the best pork tenderloin ever.

The weather was in the 60s, and the nephews were keeping the beagle busy by running around the yard and throwing tennis balls and sticks for her to "fetch". I use quotes around fetch b.c she will run to the ball or stick and then either get it and run away with it, or just kind of toss it around and not bring it back. Mike and I were laughing that everyone wins in the situation where the beagle tires out the nephews and vice versa. Milly had a BALL and loved running super fast through their big yard. Aydan came up to me and said "Aunt Apwil! Miwwy is FAST!!!" (as an aside, Mike's nephews don't say "Uncle Michael" but instead say "Michael Michael"... it's super cute!) Yes, yes she is, little one.

After Mike's sister packed up all the boys (4 boys - ages 5, 4, 1, and 1.5 mos) we headed to town for our Walmart trip. Walmarts aren't allowed in this here big city, so we had to stock up on cheap paper towels (we go through them so much fast with Milly the MessMaker) and the like. We picked up Bruno's pizza (Oh. So. Good) and a Sonic Cherry Lime-ade for me (I have a mad mad love for them. Try one if you're near a Sonic!) on the way back out to his parents' house. Once out there, we all ate as much pizza as we could handle and then walked around the back yard kicking bushes and piles of brush hoping for a bunny to come running out for Milly to chase. A couple ran around right past her; she is not that good at paying attention. But she did chase one, so that's a start! Later we watched Slumdog Millionaire. I REALLY liked it, but at one point Mike turned to me and said "this movie isn't very exciting, pal." I was like "HEY NOW. I like it!"

Sunday we woke up super early to hit services at a local church that Mike went to as a kid. Then we headed into town for the first of two holiday dinners. Mike's Grandma H cooks the big lunch and she makes some fantastic noodles. It was all I could do to not load my plate just of those! The second dinner was at his Grandpa and Grandma K's and the food there was awesome too. I had second helpings of cheesy potatoes... so good! We took Milly along to that dinner, and she had a grand time playing with all the cousins and figured out how to jump their baby gate (glad I bought the extra tall one for our condo now!). Milly was so tuckered out from all the festivities that she was super chill even last night and flat-out exhausted on Sunday night on the drive home!

I'll post some pics from the nephews' Easter Egg hunt tomorrow, those are at home on my camera. Oops! It was a gorgeous day, so hopefully the pictures look great. They sure looked cute on my preview screen :)

Happy Friday!!!

I am obviously over-excited about Easter weekend and Mike being home and the fact that we get to leave at 2 today. I've been super giddy all day long.

This morning when I got back inside from taking Milly out to potty, she jumped up on our bed and was cuddling with Mike. She gets right up next to him and leans her head waaaaay back, trying to lick his face. He cracks me up b.c he lets her cuddle but holds her down a bit so she can't lick on him. So for some random reason I started singing (to the tune of Tiny Dancer by Elton John)... "Hold me closer, tiny beagle! Please don't lick your foot, you'll huuuurt it!" etc. Mike told me those weren't the words, and I said "I know, but I don't HAVE a tiny dancer. What I have is a tiny beagle!" It was so easy to make up words to that song, maybe I should make a whole song with verses and everything about my tiny beagle!?

We had a meeting with our external auditor this morning and had a fun talk about automated auditing tools and new technologies/fun tech toys. Yeah maybe that is only fun for dorks like me? This auditor guy cracks me up b.c he always wears his airplane cufflinks when he comes to our office as a nod to my workplace. They're actually really nice airplane cufflinks too, they're super cute!

I had a very good sushi lunch with some friends I used to work with. So yummy! Plus one of the guys and myself gave the other guy a metric ton of grief about his internet stalking habits. I did a lot of laughing on that one. But whatevs, you know everyone internet stalks at least a wee bit!

So that's the day so far. Pretty good in my opinion!

Things I have accomplished this week

• Finished the cushions for the top and bottom of Milly's crate so that she can sit on it without grungy towels being everywhere. Without something on the top her little paws can slip through the wires of the crate
• Finished painting the wall behind the TV and above the front windows
• Posted our old green rug on Craigslist and met up with the girl who wanted it to give it to her
• Had dinner last night with a good friend, Jaci
• Took Milly to the vet because her paw has an infected scratch or something on it. Whatever it is, it makes her paw big and red and swollen! The vet recommended putting a cone on her head so she doesn't chew on the paw... I felt like a genius for saving the old cone from when she got fixed! I had thrown away the old piece of cloth that they used to tie it on though, and the only fabric I had laying around was that green and white damask stuff in the above picture that I used for the cushions. So I cut a piece of that to tie it around her neck.... at least she's a fashionable cone-head dog. Milly was NONE too happy to be left this morning with a cone on her head. Oh man, she was whiny. Poor Milly :(
• Backed up laptop and didn't have room to backup the whole thing. I have 40G of PICTURES on that thing. Holy cow. The nikon is killing my poor pink laptop!
• Watched The Hills season premiere. It's going to be a GREAT season!
• Other assorted random boring household chores like laundry and dishes that I won't bore you with.

And Mike is coming home early this week - tonight instead of tomorrow!!

Ch-ch-ch-changes....

So I've been a bit quiet lately, and it's because I'm digesting a big piece of news for the Knowles household. Mike started a 4-6 week project in Detroit last week, and on the 2nd day the senior manager asked him if he would consider a 1 year commitment to the client.

Mike is an actuary and specializes in pensions and this client has some pretty complicated pension stuff going on - not only will he learn a TON that will be on his tests in the next year (he has one actuary test in May, and two in the fall... not sure if he will take both in the fall), but he'll have no commute and an empty hotel room to come home to to encourage him to study. We decided together that it was a great opportunity (especially in this economy!) to learn and to really work on finishing his tests.

So it's been tough. I was really upset last week, as I told some girlfriends "I married Mike because I want to spend my life with him, not Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday each week with him." But I'm feeling much better now; I'm in the 2nd week of not having him around and it's not looking nearly as bad. I come home and do all the same chores I used to... hang out with the dog and take her for walks. I have made plans with friends during the week a little more and am looking to scale back and/or bring him with me for more weekend commitments and events.

I'm sure it will stink sometimes, but that's life. As my mom used to say "Life isn't fair".... and we are so very blessed in so many ways that I can hardly act as if him being gone a few days a week is going to ruin me or us. Because it won't.... a year will go by faster than we realize and at the end the condo will be lookin' pretty nice due to my new obsession with home improvement (which I imagine I won't burn out on nearly as fast as if Mike was around during the week!) and our relationship will be stronger than ever as we make a concerted effort to spend time with each other.

I have a friend that has done long-distance with her boyfriend multiple times, and she has made comments to me that when they're long-distance and get together they do fun events & spend quality time together, whereas sometimes when they're living together they can take each other for granted and, with such busy schedules, feel like they're just constantly passing each other. Like her, I know it would be nice to have him around and that it's tough, but am looking forward to those fun events and Team Knowles time!

Another positive: It's WAY easier to stick a diet when Mike's not around. Ridiculously easier! He MUST be a bad influence :) And without Mike around, I'll really feel like I'm getting my money's worth out of our fancy security system!

Milly's craigslist debut

I just posted this on Craigslist!
Free Crate and Barrel rug. Green with brown & tan dots, 4 ft by 6 ft. One slightly beagle-chewed corner. Beagle not included.

She doesn't look very remorseful.

Get better, Italy!!!

Hmmm, awesome

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_italy_earthquake

We're leaving for Italy in a little over a month.

Did I ever tell all ya'll about the earthquake that hit Hawaii right before we went there? Yeah, we must be GREAT earthquake luck.

Handbag nonsense.... alternatively titled: I am crazy.

Let's start this off with saying I need another handbag like I need a hole in the head. To wit:

All my bags, in that hangy thing in between the shoes and washer/dryer. I can barely fit them all in there!

Ever since I found that handbag I posted on here (the green or pink? question) I have been obsessed with finding a new, kicky, and bright handbag for spring and summer. At first I thought my spring color was a bright green, then decided on perhaps going with a plum/bright purple. I have been scouring (AND I MEAN SCOURING! There is no stone left unturned on these here interwebs) all clothes-related websites for a fun bag. My big caveat being that I didn't want to pay more than $150 for this bag, because I am cheap and because for the bag to be more than that, it should also check my e-mail and perhaps floss my teeth for me. I am bad at remembering to floss.

At some point a couple weeks ago I decided that I was not going to find the Perfect Bag online.... no, indeed. More likely, the bag would be at Nordstrom Rack. So on one of those days with near-70-degree weather, I set out on my lunch hour to find it. I walked into the Rack and immediately started going through one of their ridiculous-large bins of bags... as I did so, another woman and I rooted through the bags and I saw a flash of plum-colored-leather and she reached in to grab it. Out came The Bag. The perfect Bag. And I saw the price tag. At $70, it was also the perfect price!

This is where the story devolves. The woman inspected the bag and put it over her arm with another 4-5 bags. I figured... she might not get it? I should keep an eye on her maybe for when she puts it down?

And that is how I ended up following the woman around the store for 45 minutes. Until she checked out.

The trip wasn't a total bust. I did end up finding this guy, an Elliot Luca bag. It's mostly like this one, but is a bit smaller and skinner (doesn't flare out at the bottom). And is also lavendar. It was a steal at $40.

I came home and looked up the designer of the bag I saw the woman pick up at Nordstrom Rack. Eek! Most of his bags went for like $500 or so! Way over the price range, and more than I would any bag right now. I did end up finding a very very similar bag online for a very good price (WAY less than the one shown at that link). The only hitch was that the bag was grey and not a fun color. When I got it I tried it out and it fit all the stuff that a purse should PLUS was able to fit my Nikon Camera. That and the zipper (gotta deter pickpockets with the zipper, yo) sold me on it. It's the perfect Everywhere Bag. Now I just need to brighten it up with a fun scarf or something. Or I could always just buy another cute, kicky, bright spring bag?

Stop me now.

Enough!

Chicago, this is the kind of sh*t that breaks people's will to live. Seriously? April snow? GAH!!!! (runs screaming down street tearing hair out).

Almost April....

I keep telling my boss that April starts this week, and it's my favorite month. Since it's MY month that means everyone has to do what I say all month, right? Right?

I got some major accomplishment done on the home front and, boy, I am exhausted.

Painted the hallway that seemed like it would never end: Picked out and purchased tile for our kitchen backsplash. Look! Browns and blues! What do you think?

I was going to make a cover for Milly's crate (like a cushion for the top and one for the bottom as well, so it doesn't scratch the floor and so that she can sit on it during the day while we're gone at work), but I ordered the fabric online and it hasn't gotten to me yet :(

Other than that, I was hella lame. I had dinner with the girls and like one drink on Friday, and then we stayed in on Saturday. I don't know, I just have NOT been in the mood to go out. I think maybe I am just feeling fat and feeling like I'm going to be overscheduled this summer, so I'm hibernating a bit! Plus, who wants to be indoors painting when the weather is gorgeous in Chicago? Not me... I would rather get it out of the way now, during monsoon season!

Home Improvement

Yesterday and today I have become obsessed with home improvement. Last night I painted our hallway and I would like nothing more than to touch it up early in the AM tomorrow morning before heading off for a day at the Children's museum with my little sib through Horizons.

As I was painting the hallway a dark tan/light brown last night I realized that the color was just close enough to the fireplace color that it was going to look weird once I extended the color through the dining room (we're planning on using the same color in the hall, living room, and den). So this is the idea I had... paint the living room the light brown, find some backsplash tiles for the kitchen (attached to the living room, where I am standing while taking the above picture) that are a bright/light blue and put up backsplash with those tiles in the kitchen (with brown grout). Then match the tiles to some paint and paint the fireplace that same color. I also ordered these Flor tiles (to replace our current green area rug that Milly does so love to gnaw on), as they are mostly brown with touches of blue.

On the way back from Oak Park, and the museum, tomorrow I'm going to check in at a tile place one of Mike's coworkers recommended at Fullerton and Western and hope I can get a deal on some tile for the backsplash. I've never put in tile before and am kind of excited to try it, as when we redo the bathrooms I would really like to do that myself. Plus I need to put tile in the upstairs closet for underneath the washer-dryer in the event that we would get new carpet sometime later this year. So I am getting excited to learn.

Is it incredibly lame of me to get SO. VERY. EXCITED about home improvement? Probably. But on this sunny Friday, noboday can get me down off my home improvement high.

Other than that, my weekend consists of sushi dinner with the gals tonight and (hopefully) grilling and a movie with the boy tomorrow. I gotta tell you, the weekend plan sounds sooooo great to me!

Almost forgot to add: Last night when I started painting, Mike said "So you know how sometimes when you paint a kid's room you let them put a handprint on the wall? I said yes, and he said that maybe we should put a Milly pawprint in the hallway since that is *kind of* her room. Yeah, fat chance, Hubs! hahaha....

Chicago News

Hey, at least Chicago does well in one area that is not negative!

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/taking-cities-in-stride/

Random query...

So my mom and I had an interesting conversation the other day, and I've been thinking about it ever since. I had always assumed that if someone said something when they were mad or drunk they obviously really meant it in real life. Of course, because that is mostly what happens with me. Two glasses of wine, you'll have about as much honestly as you can handle - every thought that is in my brain comes sliding on out.

But she observed that there are people in this world who say things when they're mad and drunk that they do not mean at all, not even in the slightest. That hadn't ever occured to me before, but I'm thinking it's definitely an option.

What do you think? Which side of the railroad tracks do you fall on?

Happy Birthday, Katie!!

My little sister turned 24 this weekend. Holy crap that makes me feel old. Here is the 10 things about Katie I love, originally posted in 2007!

Katie is one of my nearest and dearest friends, and although sometimes I luuuuuurve to call her out and be a bossy-a$$ older sister, I hope she knows that I love her more than a fat kid loves cake!



Ten things I like about Katie:

1. Katie loves the hell out of everyone in her life, regardless if they deserve it or not
2. Katie loves the ghetto. I can always count on her to accompany me to a Kanye concert
3. Katie wears my clothes. I love it when other people like your clothes enough to actually borrow them
4. Katie has the prettiest hair and eyes. She hates her hair, but I think it's great.
5. Katie is a great eyebrow-plucker. She does my eyebrows when I see her.
6. Katie says things like "Playing the tambourine is exhilirating!" or "Oh, no, she diiiiin't!"
7. Katie has a job where she helps people everyday and loves contributing to society like that.
8. Katie is not the kind of girl to turn down a cupcake
9. Katie enjoys the both the fun of a night out on the town and a night in watching movies
10. Katie is the best sister EVER

I want to add a few things, because since 2007 a lot has happened in Katie's life. She graduated from an OT grad school program, had my little niece Gracie, and got engaged to her fiance Drew. Katie spends most of her time nowadays taking care of Gracie, Drew, and her patients. She is a great OT and an even better Mommy, and loves Gracie with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. I am so glad to have Katie in my life and look forward to being her Matron of Honor in the fall, and having lots of fun time with her and her new little family in the future! I love you, Katie!

Happy Reuter Baby Day!

(Pictures blatantly stolen from Michelle's website)

Do you want to hear a secret?

I cried like a little baby at Andy and Michelle's wedding!

I had been to friends' weddings before. Friends from high school who married their high school sweetheart, frriends from college that married their college sweetheart. But Andy and Michelle's wedding was the first couple like us that got married. People who met after college in the city, people that liked to go out and be social and lived downtown. People who met like us and lived like us and were getting married... like us!

Sitting at their wedding in January of 2007 was my major holy-crap-I-am-a-grownup-and-wedding-is-coming moment. I cried like a baby. On the plus side, then I was able to keep it together (mostly) in at our wedding. Which was good, because redoing the makeup at my own wedding would have sucked!

But so anyways, they are having their baby today via c-section because their baby PBR is in breech position. They are such great people, and I am so excited for them! I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle a baby in the city and am glad that once it's our turn I'll have someone to turn to for advice.

Can't wait to visit and see baby PBR on Saturday!!

Dude, doggie daycare is hard work!

Happy Birthday JayJay!

Jay on Saturday, right after housing an entire cupcake in one bite. He looked like he was going to barf.

Again, a little late. But better late than never. My younger brother, Jay, turned 27 on Sunday. I told him and his girlfriend that turning older myself doesn't make me feel old, but Jay and our sister Katie getting older sure does!

Happy Birthday, "Little" Brother! Here is your Birthday 10 Things I Like About Jay!

1. Jay makes everything funnier and more fun. He has plenty of jokes/puns/mocking about everything, including his monstrous noggin'.
2. He is always up for some good competition - whether it be a slap bet or a pushup contest with Mike
3. We've always been like peas and carrots.
4. He is such a good uncle to our niece Gracie - he just loves her soooooo much! My favorite Jay Quote is "I love pizza and I love Kim but I LOVE THAT LITTLE BABY!!!!"
5. Jay can always make me laugh. My mom tells me that, when we were little kids, Jay would do things to make me laugh (bad things like smash cake onto his head, etc) and I would crack up and he would keep doing them until my mom would scream "You! Stop doing that! And you! Stop laughing at him!!"
6. Jay is always there when you need him. Need a kegerator carried upstairs or fixed? He's there. Need someone to step the party up a notch? He's there then, too.
7. He thinks of funny shirts like "Screw the kiss, gimme a beer." or "F*ck ya'll, I'm from Indiana" to wear on St Patty's Day
8. He gives me lots of material. I get about 80% of my funny sayings straight from Jay. I would be a lot less amusing without him.
9. He's one of those people on earth that I feel 100% comfortable saying whatever it is that comes to mind. No filter required.
10. So many of my life memories are imprinted with Jay being right beside me. He was (and is) a GREAT partner in crime!

Happy Birthday Jaybird!!

Happy St Pat's!

Saturday we went out for St Patty's Day festivities. We found a drink special that was $20 for 4 hours (very cheap! I likey) and the guys got there at like 8AM to wait in line. Good thing they did, too, b.c there were about 60-70 people in line by the time the bar opened up. Oh and they have like 5 tables! We grabbed a few right inside the door near some big open windows and proceeded to take about a gajillion pictures.

Alison, Me, Emily

I also brought cupcakes for Jay's birthday, which was on Sunday. Those were a HUGE hit! This picture was taken right after I punched Jay for making stupid faces instead of smiling for the camera. Some things never change.

OWWW!!!

All I can say is that by the time the drink special ended, we were homies with the bouncer and all our tongues were green.

Not sure what this was about. Seemed to be the right thing to do at the time!

When in doubt, put a card in your hat and dance like it's 1999!
Bar One bars, I can't quit you when you offer such cheap drinking packages! You may be collegiate, but you're always in my price range!

Mike and I boarded Milly for the day and that night so that we didn't have to worry about going home and letting her out and so that she would get some exercise. I thought when we got home we would LOVE the peace and quiet. In reality, when we got home we were both sad and missed that crazy little dog. Man, we are such saps!

It's Thursday!

Everybody dance now!

Hmmmmm

Random roundup

• So I thought I had quit caffeine since last year, but then read a few articles saying that green tea DOES indeed have caffeine in it! I do have the low caffeine Zen and decaffeinated Lotus green teas from Tazo, but I am kind of feeling bad that my Green Ginger Tazo probably has almost as much caffeine in it as a cup of Folgers. I think knowing what I know now, I would probably just buy the low or no caffeine versions in the future. But I shouldn't feel bad about finishing out my couple boxes of Green Ginger, right? Especially if I make sure not to have more than one of those a day? I really don't think it has as much caffeine in it as coffee b.c I had no tea this morning and am not feeling like I need it at all.
• Our intercom this morning was making a low buzzing noise and when I pushed "Listen" it made a loud whining buzz. It hurt MY ears, do you think it's making Milly lose her sh*t at home today? Don't dogs hear that stuff better?
• I have a strong desire to have the condo trim and main areas (hallways, living room, den) painted, but don't want to do any of the work to get it to that finished state. I suppose that's how it goes some days eh?
• The carpet guy keeps calling me. At first I told him that I was waiting to get our tax return back to commit to new carpet.... now my reason is more that the dog isn't potty-trained completely yet and has a new-found affinity for sneaking upstairs, dousing the carpet and returning downstairs completely unnoticed. How do I explain to the carpet guy that I can't get new carpet until the Dog won't ruin it?! I think he'll think I'm just making excuses not to buy it.
• Milly pulled one of the inserts out of Mike's business-y shoes this morning and chewed it all to hell. Hey at least it was only the insert and not the shoe! But Mike needs new shoes anyways, so maybe that's Milly's way of saying "Hey, Dad, get new shoes. These smell bad."
• I'm feeling like poo today. My stomache hurts and I woke up every hour on the hour last night. Calgon, take me away!

Weekend Recap

Another busy weekend!

Luckily I was able to leave a bit early from work on Friday and headed to Purdue to meet my cousin Zach for dinner. We got some Hot Box pizza and breadsticks (LOVE) and then continued on my merry way to Indy.

I think my sister is lying about that baby sleeping, because everytime I see her and Gracie she totally does not sleep through the night. I think she's in for another bad bout of teething, because she had one on the top front that popped through the gums on Saturday. Poor little booboohead. She definitely felt under the weather, as is evidenced by this picture I took at lunch on Saturday.

Gracie and Grandma snuggle at lunch

The point of the weekend was not only for visiting but to ACCOMPLISH on the Katie-wedding-front. And accomplish we did. We found Katie's wedding gown, bridesmaid dresses, invitations, agreed on bachelorette and shower festivities and figured out what weekend would be good, and made to-do lists on top of to-do lists. I don't know about Katie but I feel like the whole thing is actually coming together now!

Gracie and Katie get a fun shot in at David's bridal

I gotta tell you, we went to this Posie Patch Bridal Superstore after David's Bridal, and it was a bit hell-ish. We had to wait about an hour and a half after our appointment to be helped by a bridal consultant which was crazy ridiculous. And there were about a million rude people there. We had so much time before she was helped for bridal gowns that we full-on picked out a bridesmaid dress.

Then her name was called and she started trying on dresses. I was so happy when she found "the dress"... she had tried on many dresses that would do and were gorgeous, but I kept telling her that she would know when she found The One. And she did! She came out of the dressing room with tears in her eyes proclaiming "This is THE ONE!!!" I was so happy for her that she truly felt that when finding her gown instead of being lukewarm about it and saying "Oh, this will do." Once she decided on a gown I realized with a jolt that the bridesmaid dress we had decided on just would not go with the wedding dress AT ALL. I turned to Katie and the other bridesmaid, Melanie, that we had with us and said "JUST ONE MINUTE. I'll be right back"

I must have looked slightly like a mad woman, tearing through the bridesmaid dress section, pulling dresses off the racks quickly and tossing them on my pile. I picked out 5 I thought would look good, we narrowed it down to three on the spot and then tried on those. Out of those three, the other bridesmaid and I wholeheartedly agreed on one and Katie liked it, so we were golden! It was so funny, we waited around for like an hour and a half at that place and the action went down in 10 solid minutes!

Once we were back at Katie's place and Gracie got some Tylenol in her system to sooth those gums, I decided to take some pics. No wonder I am in love with this little nugget, check her out!

Man, I love that baby.

On Sunday I drove home in a monsoon and Mike and I decided to go see "He's Just Not That Into You" At the theater we ran into Jay and Kim, who were seeing the same thing! So we ended up going to a movie with them totally without meaning to! Pequod's pizza for dinner was a nice way to end the weekend.... if you haven't been there you just have to try it - it's our FAVORITE!

Hope your weekends were great! Is the monsoon season around here crazy or what? I am thanking my lucky stars I purchased wellies.

Happy weekend

I'm headed to Indy this weekend to visit with my baby niece, Gracie, my Mom, and my sister... we're planning on wedding dress shopping for Katie and doing some bridesmaid dress shopping. Expect many pictures of Gracie and perhaps a few of me in various bridesmaid concoctions! I also get to stop and have din with my cousin Zach who goes to Purdue. :)

I am so excited to see my family that I can hardly sit still. Meanwhile, Mike is staying home this weekend with Milly. We took her to doggie daycare today to burn off some Beagle Energy so that Mike could have it a bit easier this weekend!

Have a great weekend!

I leave you with a picture of my two loves! That beagle loves that boy.

The list

I'm talking about THE LIST. The Hot Celebrity Freebie List.

We all have our lists, I know. You know, the list where if you met a certain celebrity it's not considered cheating. I've been thinking about that lately because I realized recently that even if I did meet one of these people, I wouldn't even want to cheat. A little lame, but it's a window into how super-duper-very-loyal-to-my-husband I am.

Ah, Marital bliss. It's not always so blissful, but I married my best friend. I suppose it's good that not even the hottest celebrity would make me want to give up what I have even on those days when I want to kick Hubs in the shin. Marriage is freaking HARD WORK sometimes, people!

Regardless, I think it's a fun topic. So here is my (kind of a moot point) list. I guess it could be renamed the "I like to look at these guys" list.

Robert Downey, Jr. - I used to crush on him SO MUCH when he was on Ally McBeal, that was basically the only reason that I watched that show. Then he got written out of the story line b.c he got arrested and put in rehab. I'm pretty pumped about the fact that he's doing well now and looks great in Iron Man. He could lose the facial hair but oh well. Plus, ANY guy is WAY cuter in a suit. Seriously, take ANY guy, put him in suit and you immediately jump 2 points. At least in my book. So as Barney Stinson says, SUIT UP!

Rob Lowe - I love him on Brothers and Sisters. It's probably all the suits he wears? And his eyes are super blue.

Matthew Fox - Any guy who can save lives on a desert island is OK in my book. Plus he's the typical nice-guy. I'm a sucker for nice guys.

Bear Grylls - The guy was in the British Special Ops and does crazy things like kill live snakes with his bare hands. COME ON NOW.

Christian Bale - Suit, pensive look, killing bad guys Batman Style. What's not to like?

Hmmm, that's all I can remember for now. I feel like I see an overall theme of clean-cut, darker-haired nice guys who look good in a suit and can protect a woman. It makes sense that Hubs has all those qualities... maybe that's why I fell for him in the first place!!

Now for the fun part: Who is on your list? C'mon spill!

Wii Fit smackin' me down

Hmm, didn't realize I'd been THAT much of a slacker.

Why is it asking me about Mike?

I told it he looked about the same...

Oh man....

More motivated to do what? Not pee on the couch? Cause then I might be in!

Milly says: This little white thing sucks, is it calling me fat? It doesn't even taste good. I know because I licked it! ALOT! More Dog green-eye. I wonder how I get that to go away?

Weekend Recap

Another full weekend! That's pretty much the name of the game around here.

Friday included two forays into Chicago Restaurant week. At lunch my friend Andy and I went to Japonais. It was so good. The portions were a bit small, but I think that is kind of how they roll in general. You know, Japanese place, trendy little portions and servings style. I picked lobster spring rolls for an appetizer, cashew encrusted chicken as my entree and chocolate custard with raspberry sauce for dessert. It was all really really good. And look, they had some fancy topiary tree!!
For dinner, Mike and I tried The Chicago Firehouse Restaurant in South Loop. Appetizer was a cup of amazing lobster bisque. The broth was just the right consistency and the soup had big chunks of perfectly-cooked and sweet lobster in it, as well as some sweet corn. It was one of the best I've had (and I consider myself to be a lobster bisque Connoisseur. For an entree, I ordered the 8 oz CFH prime steak. It was OK, a bit more fatty than I am used to with a steak (I always order filets), but very good with a parmesan-peppercorn crust. It didn't include any sides, though, so if Mike hadn't ordered off the regular menu and gotten a family-style side of mashed potatoes I would have had to order a side separately. I thought this was super weird, because the whole point of the Restaurant Week menu is to have a whole meal for $32. A steak on a plate does not a meal make, at least for me. I wish I had tried a different entree; they all looked so good! And then I could have just tried a bite of Mike's steak to see what that was like. The only other complaint I had is that they had changed a few items on their menu from what was posted on the internet as the Restaurant Week Menu. This change meant not only that they bumped the one Mike-acceptable option of beef tips from the appetizer menu (this is why he ended up just ordering a regular steak from the main menu), but also that they weren't serving creme brulee for dessert. BOO. I was a little honked, as creme brulee is my fave. I ended up ordering the chocolate cake for dessert, however, and was not dissappointed. It was a big square piece of chocolate cake that seemed to be dipped in chocolate. It was very rich and very good. Mike and I scarfed the whole dessert down even though we were already pretty full at the end of the meal.

After dinner, Mike and I headed to Bucktown to meet up with another couple we know through an IU friend of mine. We usually only see them when our mutual friend is in town, but always enjoy seeing them so much! So we made it a point to set aside a night to meet up with them. They picked the location of Bluebird. The minute we walked into the place we picked up the hippy vibe... Mike commented that he wasn't trendy enough in a looked-like-he-didn't-try kind of way to be there. The beer menu was about 10 pages long with lots of international microbrews and such. The menu also had a long list of organic wines I had never heard of. I don't drink much hard alcohol and they didn't look to have any beers at all on tap... and I wasn't about to order a Miller Light in such a place. I was a bit at a loss regarding what to order until Mike motioned to the barkeep and said "Can you just give her something that tastes like Stella?" The guy popped open a brew and sat it in front of me in a fancy glass with a smile. At least he was super friendly and didn't mock my lack of interesting-beer knowledge!

Once Trevor and Lizzie got there, we got a table and the waitress was great about recommended brews she thought we would like based on us telling her our preferences. I would definitely go back and try more of the world's brews - but would definitely want a table to get the personalized attention the waitress was able to give us. Everyone there was super nice, and the food looked great (even though we didn't eat! so I don't know if it was actually good or not).

The next day I accomplished all kinds of stuff like going to Trader Joe's, the post office, Jewel, and the dry cleaner before leaving to go visit my friend Melissa in Northern Indiana (Crown Point). Before I left, I tried the mac and cheese I'd picked up at Trader Joe's for lunch. I'd heard it's the best frozen mac around and just had to try it. At first I was a bit disappointed that the tray held two servings, and I shouldn't eat the whole thing. However, after eating half of the tray I was stuffed! And it was SO FREAKING GOOD! I am going to have to head back to stock up on this stuff, for sure.

I tried to stop at the public library on the way out of town, but there were like 10 people in line and I don't even have a library card yet! I couldn't take the wait, and my car was wedged so tightly into a parking space that I was sure to get doored. So I cut my losses and just headed out to Melissa's. I do need to make sure to get back to the library soon... I'm almost out of books to read and I hear that they loan them to you FOR FREE.... haha... Let's just say that Free is definitely in the Budget.

I was so glad I took the time to go visit my friend Melissa... when I first moved to the city she was one of my roommates and we always have such a fun time together! She made tacos and we had wine and lots of good conversation. Plus we teased her dog, Red. When you put your finger in front of her face she crinkles up her nose. It's hilarious.

Why do dogs get green-eye and not red-eye? That is so weird.

On the way home on Sunday, I hit Target and DSW in Merrilville, which was awesome! It was so not crowded and I just wandered around checking out the whole place. I feel like you're constantly tripping over people/getting in people's way at those stores in Chicago so it was a nice change of pace.

Random chores/organizing and church rounded out the rest of the day. And that is my weekend! I swear I cram so much stuff into every weekend, they all fly by. But it's always a good time.

Being a grownup sucks

Yesterday I was driving to Trader Joe's (as an aside, Trader Joe's is AWESOME. Why don't I go there every weekend? It's got all kinds of cool yummy foods like Whole Foods but for like a fourth of the price!), and heard a commercial on the radio for the St Patrick's Day Raffle. For the first time in my life, I thought "I should buy a lottery ticket." I was in traffic and my mind drifted off to what I would buy with a cool million.

You know you are lame when the first thing you think about winning a million dollars is that it would kill your effective tax rate.

Winning a million dollars would leave you 600K after tax, assuming an effective 40% tax rate. Here's how I would spend my million:

• Pay off the condo
• Pay off the RAV4
• Buy a Prius
• Do all the home improvements we want to do: New carpet, kitchen, bathrooms, painting, new appliances, etc.
• Put the rest in the bank

Just call me a CPA but this list is hella lame. What would you do with a million dollars? And please let is be a less lame list than mine is!!

Random roundup

First of all.... Happy HumpDay. Isn't this hilarious?!

• St Patty's Day Tshirt - I've decided to go in an entirely different direction than the two shirts I put on this blog for a vote. I am going to make a shirt with iron-letters that says "If I don't tell you later, I had a good time today." This is what I thought our friend Chad said to Mike right before our wedding. Turns out when I was telling this story last week sometime, my brother corrected me and told me the last thing Chad actually said to Mike before the wedding. The pastor came back to get Chad, Ott, and Rogus (as they were ushers and needed to seat people) and before they walked out, Chad turned to Mike and said "If you end up leaving for any reason, make sure and come get me." LOL... so funny. Like, if Mike isn't around Chad can't be left to answer any questions! Sadly, this doesn't look as good on a t-shirt so I'm going to go what I thought were his original last words to Single Mike.
• So far only the reusable shopping bag has been spoken for in the BOCA giveaway. Tabby, email your address to aprilgayle at gmail dot com and I'll send it to you. Do you have an interest in any of the other stuff? I've got a yoga/exercise mat, two planners, BOCA coupon, and a relaxation CD to also give away! Any takers?
  

• Milly gets her stitches out tomorrow and I am so FREAKING excited. She smells bad, yo. At the age of 29 I should know that you can't get stitches wet. And therefore should have known to bathe my dog prior to major doggie surgery, since she gets a bath once every two weeks. And yet, I didn't. Therefore the dog stink is all my fault. I can't wait to have a de-coned, de-stitched, bathed dog tomorrow evening!