Merry Christmas!



First Photo with New Camera of Cathy's Tree

Wow! I realized it's been a while since I posted. December just flew by...I had a crazy busy month with working at Harrington, tutoring like a mad woman, finishing up teaching the tots art class and Christmas shopping. It was nuts...and now it's almost over! I can't believe Christmas came and went already! This year I just couldn't believe it was Christmas time and now it's done! Geez, time flies!

We just got back from a nice week in Omaha for Christmas. We stayed with my sister at her new house. Her house is really nice! It was also super nice to have a place to stay with our own room and bathroom..oh and a garage spot! We had fun shopping one day and getting our nails done too!

 We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom and Cathy in Omaha, doing our usual routine of eating at Biaggi's and opening gifts at Cathy's. This year we went and saw a movie too, Little Fockers, which wasn't that great, but it was fun anyway.  We spent Christmas Day with Joe's family and extended family in South Dakota. We also had another "Christmas Eve" with Joe's parents the day before Christmas Eve. We went out to Big Fred's for pizza with some friends had lots of fun. It was nice visiting family and friends, but the time always goes so fast. So many people to see and things to do. We did get some time to just hang out and relax, which was nice.

Frosty Morning in Flandreau, SD - 12/26/10

We got some great gifts for Christmas this year! I was super surprised to receive the Cannon DSLR camera that I put on my "wish list" thinking I would never get that in a million years. Joe's parent's always spoil us. I still can't believe I got it. They are WAY too good to us. I have been playing with it ever since I got it and I took lots of pictures in South Dakota. I think I want to take a class or get a book on it so that I can learn all of the fancy tricks to taking good photos. We'll see. I will be sure to post some pictures.

Joe got all of the toys he asked for to go with his new guitar. Now he should have everything he needs! We always get so much nice stuff for Christmas, from all of our family. I feel guilty coming home with a trunk full of new toys, but it sure is fun playing with everything this week!

More soon and more pics, I'm sure!

Here is the slideshow of some of the photos I took. Hover  below and click on the play button to play on this blog.
Or view full size on my picasa page here: http://picasaweb.google.com/116844502255534108940/Christmas2010NewCameraPics?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmwss_TqLuQwAE&feat=directlink

Random Thoughts

I'm on the way home from PiYo class right now (pilates/yoga). It was harder than I thought, but a nice change from Turbokick (no jumping around)... I'll definitely be sore tomorrow.
I feel fat and old today. I noticed wrinkles under my eyes last night. Boo!
It was really cold today and I have decided its time to bust out the heavy winter coat.

Starting Today...

Starting today I am getting back on track with my diet and exercise!! I am making myself go to Turbo Kick tonight, no matter how tired I am.

Ever since my foot pain got really bad a month or so ago I have been bad about going to classes as much as I used to. I have kind of fallen off of the wagon and I am not happy with how I feel lately. I need to get back on track with working out and watching calories. I really want to keep losing. I have been so busy lately that I have put myself on the back burner. I swear I am the busiest unemployed (under employed) person you will ever meet. I need to remember to make time for myself.

My damn feet! My foot pain would make me so angry because every time I went to class my foot would kill me. Then when started feeling a little better my right knee started shooting pain during a class one day and it got worse and worse every time I went. So I took it easy for a couple of weeks, not going as often and things kind of feel a little better in the knee and foot department, but now I feel like a lazy blob.  :-(

I think it's time for a change anyway...there is a new gym opening up near our place in early 2011. I am thinking about joining there and quitting the place I go now to give myself a little more variety in my workouts. As much as I love Turbo Kick, I think I am hurting my body doing it so often. Its very high impact and its too much of the same thing. I am proud that for once in my life I have stuck with something exercise related for over a year. I'm glad found something I love, but I think I am ready to mix up my workouts. I think I have to do that to keep seeing changes in my body. I want to be able to do weight training and other types of cardio and still take classes. My little studio just doesn't offer all of that, its just classes. 

At my last doctor visit, he told me that I have lost 16% of my body weight and that on average people only lose 6% or something like that doing an at home diet and exercise plan. He said that I should be proud of myself because its very hard for people to lose that much on their own. He also said that it will most likely be very difficult to keep losing. I just have to keep at it and try to keep going in the right direction.

I am also going to be better about my diet again. I am always conscious of what I am eating, be it good or bad, but when I get busy I also get lazy with what I eat. I eat to fill up quickly or because I am craving something bad. I have to remember that when I eat bad, I usually feel bad.  All things in moderation I guess.

Wrestlemania: Chloe vs. Louie

Typical weekend evening at our house.  :-)  Play time for the doggies.

Dream Land

Yesterday I taught my first little kids art class. It went OK for a first day...but that's another story.... Right now I want to write about my drive to and from the class.  

Even though I was in a mad rush (in voting day traffic) driving to and from the class yesterday, I couldn't help but be in awe of the amazing surroundings I was driving through. The Village of Winnetka is where the class is held. It's a small suburb only a few miles north of the city, but yet it is this whole separate amazing world that I never really knew existed. I have heard about the beautiful homes and picturesque streets of Chicago's North Shore, and I have driven on the expressway that Joe takes to work up north in another suburb, but haven't seen anything like this before. The route I took yesterday had me driving through the winding roads right through Winnetka on a perfect sunny Fall day. It was enough to make anyone swoon. Hey, I finally found a suburb I could live in! Ha-ha...only if someone has a cool 3 million to loan me! :-) 

The homes in Winnetka are huge, unique, some old, some new, beautiful mansions with huge lots and beautifully landscaped properties. I was in complete awe of the wide range of architectural styles, from traditional to modern, they all had their own unique character. They were nothing like the McMansions of most American suburbs, each home was one of a kind, but they all worked together beautifully to create this perfect looking little place. I couldn't believe the beautiful tree lined streets, flanked by the gorgeous homes...many of which back up right to Lake Michigan and have their own private beaches (pretty much looks like ocean front property). It reminded me of the main neighborhood streets of Beverly Hills, but without the palm trees. I cannot get over it, it was SO amazing!! I don't think I have ever seen a more perfect, picturesque little town. By doing a little Googling I found out that Winnetka was named number 4 on the list of America's 25 top-earning towns and one of the best places to live by CNN Money in 2009.  I can totally see why. How perfect to live there, in what feels like another world, and still have the city of Chicago just a stones throw away. The median home value is 1.5 million! Holy crap, these are some rich people!

Home Alone House

Another great and interesting factoid... this is also the place where they filmed Home Alone, only my all time favorite childhood Holiday movie. My next big mission is to take a scenic drive through Winnetka to take it all in when I am not rushing through. I also plan to find the Home Alone house and take a picture of me in front of it. The Home Alone house doesn't even compare to the homes I saw driving through. Its pretty generic, but still neat. I will go see it and report back.

Seriously, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. *Sigh*



smack dab in the middle of suburbia

On Tuesday (tomorrow) I start a little gig teaching "art" projects to little kids. It will be two 1-hour classes for the next 6 weeks and it's out in a suburb just north of the city. Its not a lot of money, and with Joe taking the train those days, it will probably be a wash financially. Oh well...it will be a change of scenery for me, something to expand my horizons. (Dad-ism: Dad always told us to expand our horizons when we were kids.)

On Saturday I drove all the way out to the western suburbs for a "teacher meeting" with the woman who coordinates all of the art classes and teachers.  Let's just say it was eye opening...

I felt so out of place. I was probably the youngest one there, or at least I looked like it. I was smack dab in the middle of suburbia... in a big messy house that reeked of maple syrup, surrounded by motherly women wearing sweats and no make-up. Ahhh! I didn't know it until then, but this was my worst nightmare come true. I know this all sounds so judgemental, but really it's just observant. I am a very observant person when it comes to people and environments. I tend to take it all in really quickly...and I either love it or hate it. I definitely reacted strongly to this one....

Sometimes you don't even know how different you are from people until you are thrown into a totally different environment. I never thought I was a very city-ish person until Saturday. In that house, sitting with those women, I came to the complete realization that I really do love the city. I always knew I did, but after I left, I knew it was truly home for me. The city is the place where I feel the most comfortable, where people are more like me.

All I could think was how I could not imagine myself living in a suburb. It's just not me. Though the Chicago suburbs have nice large lots, interesting older homes with character, etc, they are lacking something major that really rubs me the wrong way. I really can't pin-point it, but its something. Maybe I haven't visited the right suburb, but I have yet to find one that makes me think, "I could live here." 

I don't know why, but I started to think about the idea of having kids and moving to a suburb and it totally freaked me out in that moment. Not like that's our plan, in fact, we don't really have a plan, but we have thought about this as an option before. On my drive home, my mind raced with all of these kinds of thoughts and questions. Why did I have such a bad reaction to this? Am I not meant to have kids because I don't long for that Utopian place that is supposedly suburbia?  Why did going out to this woman's house even make me think about  having kids and moving to a suburb?  Ugh,...I don't know. All I know is I learned that I am more content with my life as it is than I thought.

I always welcome change, in fact, I am one of the rare people that seeks out change and likes to challenge myself. But changing into suburban super Mom just doesn't seem to fit. I guess I just have to quit worrying about what is normal and just do what is right for me and for us. 

So, after learning about the class I will be teaching, I must admit I am a little nervous. I'm sure it will be fine once I get into it and get more comfortable, luckily I have 2 smaller classes. I just hope the little kids like me! Tonight I will prepare the art lesson for tomorrow and hope it goes well. At least it's only 6 weeks...I might love it, or I might hate it, we'll see. One thing I know for sure, it will probably cure my baby fever for the time being. 2-6 year olds tend to have that effect on a me.  :-)

Christmas Compromise?

I dislike how merely mentioning Christmas plans to Joe and our families creates stress. I really love Christmas in Omaha with both sides of our family. I always go into planning our trip with a positive attitude and lots of excitement....until discussion starts.... and then I wish I didn't have to deal with it at all. I know it seems early to plan for Christmas, but Joe had to request time off work today so I have been trying to roughly figure out our trip to Omaha and which important days (Christmas and Christmas Eve) we will spend with each side of the family. 

I wish it was easy to balance it all. I wish it was easy to see everyone equally, but it never works out that way. If we lived in Omaha, it would be much easier, but we don't.

Me and Joe are just in that awkward place (and have been our whole married life) where we don't have kids yet, so we can't justify doing our own thing and we are expected to participate in all of the same traditions both of our families had when we were little kids. At what point do we tell our families that we will just make it to one or the other, not both?

I feel like it's so hard to juggle and I hate asking other people to adjust their holiday schedules and plans for us. It's so hard not to feel bad...and the worst part is, I am always the bad guy. I hate being the bad guy. I think the reason its so hard is because Joe and I are the only ones who are married in both of our immediate families. Maybe once we add more girlfriends/boyfriends/spouses to the mix everyone will have to relax a little bit and they'll realize that it's too hard to do everything the same way it has been done since we were little kids. We all have to give and take a little. I hope things will adapt and change as our family grows and expands.

The hardest part is trying to please everyone without feeling like someone is upset or one side is getting the short end of the stick. Since I have a small family, our family gatherings are simple and may seem less important to Joe and his family because he has a big family and they have large family gatherings. I love his family gatherings a lot, they are so fun and I look forward to them every year.  At the same time, I have to remember to try to give my family some time...and that's hard.  All I want is for the time spent to be equal, or as equal as it can be.

Ultimately, I want both of us, together as a couple, to spend time with each side of our family. I refuse to let us go our separate ways to spend time with "my" family. That is not the answer. As far as I am concerned, both of our families are "my family".  Marriage is about compromise and sometimes that is a tough thing for people to swallow.

Ugh... OK, I'm done. Venting session complete.

Fall

I don't really have much to write about. I am sitting at work in the computer lab and its pretty slow so I am so bored and need to fill my time.

It's a super warm nice day today, which is weird for almost November. Soon enough it will be cold and snowy, so this is a welcome treat. One last hurrah before winter starts....

I am glad it's Fall, and I'm glad we've had such a nice Fall so far. I love the bright colors of the leaves on the trees in Chicago. I love walking home from the train and walking the dogs in the park during the perfect not to cold, not to hot weather. I love the way the leaves fill the sidewalks with color. I can't believe its already (almost) November, it makes me think about how another year has flown by. Time really does fly and I think it's going faster and faster the older I get. yikes.

I am excited for the holidays. Even though we wont get back to Omaha to see family for Thanksgiving, we will go for Christmas, as we usually do. I really love November and December in Chicago, the lights the holiday hustle and bustle, its so fun.

Larry Gets Lost in Chicago

Cathy was in Chicago visiting us this past weekend. We had a lot of fun... I will post some pics when she sends them to me...we mostly used her camera all weekend.

Yesterday, while we were out browsing I found the cutest book ever in a fun toy store in Lincoln Square. The book is called "Larry Gets Lost in Chicago".  I just love children's books, and don't even get me started on children's books about Chicago! This book was SO cute I almost bought it. 

I can't wait until we have kids and I can read stories to them. I picture a big book shelf, full of cute little books to read to them before I tuck them in.

STITCH 2010

This year I participated in a fun industry event called, STITCH. Myself and 6 other Harrington Alumni worked together to create an awesome entry for this years show. We were asked really late in the game by Kimball Office, an office furniture company if they could sponsor a team of alumni for this event. We accepted the challenge and met multiple times in only a couple weeks to conceptualize, design, and finally sew and create the dress. It was SO much fun. We had a great team! Our dress came out SOOO neat and our makeup and hair concept was just perfect. We got so many compliments on our entry, ours was clearly one of the most well-made and interesting garments on the runway. We found out later that we were only ONE point away from winning the coveted "Best in Show" Award. Oh well! We knew who the real winner was! Ours was AWESOME!

Here's the scoop on the event...
STITCH is IIDA-Illinois' biggest event that pairs Chicago's most talented Designers with industry manufacturers to create one-of a kind, wearable garments for the runway show of the year. The theme this year was "A STITCH in Time: Design for a Decade." So the idea was to take any time period or decade and create a conceptual (not literal) interpretation of anything from that decade or representing the entire decade.
The Harrington Alumni team created a wearable garment for our model out of Kimball Office's exclusive Maharam fabric.

Our official concept was:
Victorian Illusion. Inspired by illusion, transformation, and 1880's Victorian style.
Magic makes something out of nothing -- it transforms,
Transformation is mysterious -- or is it simply an illusion?

More about our design... Victorian fashion was characterized by large collars and bustles, corsets, tiny waists, and the use of birds and feathers in their hats and hair accessories. Magic was also experiencing its "golden age" due to the advancements in technology. many magicians created the illusion of pulling things out of their top hats or making birds disappear. Our model, Enza, emerged from a large magicians top hat (which we also created), she revealed herself by pulling the hat down. She emeged....a modern version of a Victorian "bird", complete with feathers in the hair, on her eyelashes, and feather-like pieces of fabric on the skirt of her dress. She walked to the song, "I Can Transform Ya" by Chris Brown

Here is the video that I made out of all the photos and video that myself and everyone else took. It was SOOOO fun!  You can watch it here (small) or click the link below to watch it large! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sul5f3qAnY Turn up your speakers and watch in 480p for best quality!!

Catch Up

I don't know why I've been so bad about writing lately. Anyway, time for a quick post to catch up...

On August 4th I saw President Obama, live and in person! Well...for a split second anyway :-)
I was coming out of my Turbo Kick class and I saw a whole fleet of black Suburbans and cops down the street.  I watched the news before I left for class and saw coverage of Obama getting off of Air Force One for his Birthday visit to Chicago. He was also in town to support a local senator, etc.

Anyway, I put two and two together and realized he was probably having dinner at the restaurant down the street (Graham Elliot, a very expensive, modern restaurant in River North). I walked over to the small crowd of people to check it out. I saw secret service everywhere, so I decided to wait. Not sure if he was just getting there, or if he was about to come out, but I waited....and waited......aaaaaand waited.  Until nearly 11pm!!  For 3 and a half hours I stood there with a growing crowd of people, behind a police line, in my sweaty gym clothes,... waiting. I watched secret service and Chicago police get in and out of their cars, I watched people going in and out of the restaurant (they were searched and wanded before going in). I watched the secret service people eat Subway and also watched them yell at people for pushing on the police line. Later on, they even ended up wanding the crowd with metal detectors as it got closer to the time he was going to come out. The news crews were there and everything. It was cool.

People came and went, a mom and her boys from out of town waited near me for a couple hours before finally giving up because the kids were so bored and tired of waiting.

Finally at about 11pm, they backed up one of the suburbans right up to the sidewalk in front of the door to the restaurant and people started coming out. We were kept so far back it was hard to make out who was coming out, but the photographers were flashing, so we new it was someone good. Finally, Obama came out, I saw him and the whole crowd started cheering... he turned toward the crowd, gave a quick smile and wave and got into the car.

The secret service hopped in the other cars and there went the big motorcade, out of sight in about 1 minute flat. Here is the photo of what I saw that was in the Huffington Post the next day... YAY!

Later, I found out that he had dinner with Oprah and a few other people, so that must have been one of the people who walked out before him when the photogs were going crazy! :-) 

Anyway, it was fun and I am glad I waited!

Here are some of my crappy phone photos from when I was waiting.

         

Here is the link to the full article with photos from his visit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/05/obama-in-chicago-friends_n_671678.html#s123197

Kayaking

This post is far over due, but I am sitting here wasting time on the computer so I thought I would do a quick post since I've got a minute (OK...I really don't have a minute...need to shower and get to bed, but whatever...)  SO...we ended up getting our friends Megan and Scudder to take Ben and Andy's spots in the kayak tour on the Chicago River. It was supposed to happen when Ben and Andy were here but was cancelled due to weather. This time it was hot and humid, so the tour was a go. Megan and I were a little nervous before we started, mainly about it being too hard, or falling in, or getting infected with disease from the sewage in the Chicago River. yikes...

However, once we got in, I felt a lot better. I figured, at that point I had gotten into the kayak, in the water without getting so much as a drop of water on me. Then, when I started to paddle I realized it wasn't as hard as I thought...And...the water didn't look so dirty or smell bad where we got in, so I was golden at that point, I was ready to go...

It took a few minutes to get situated and off we went. Joe and I were trying to keep up with the group (of EIGHTY people!) so we took off and unknowingly left Megan and Scudder behind. We ended up catching up with them when we got to Navy Pier before the fireworks started. Needless to say, the entire way down the river was bumper boats with the other kayakers, and other random things. I ran into some tree branches, the wall, and lots and lots of people. Hey, we were all learning as we went and most people had good attitudes about it. It was pretty easy to paddle, but when a boat would go by or when a rogue kayaker would swerve in front of me, it was hard to control the kayak and keep it on track or going straight. Also, maybe it was just me, but the whole time I felt like I was in a race and that was annoying. It was my own fault, I think it's just my competitive nature...I wanted to WIN! hahaha! I was also worried we wouldn't get to Navy Pier in time for the little fireworks show, but we did. whew!

By the time we got there, tired and ready to be done with the tour...that's when I started thinking about the fact that we had to go ALL THE WAY BACK. We had already paddled 3 miles (probably actually 6 with all of the back and forth swerving!) and we had to paddle all that way back, in the dark, with sore shoulders and hands setting in??? Ugh!  At least we all got a break while we watched the fireworks. 

Once we were given the go ahead to head back I was just trying to get back as fast as I could. Yeah, yeah...neat Chicago skyline..whatever. I was just ready to get done! Burning shoulders and two blisters on my hands, one ripped open (which I was also worrying about getting sewer water in) were not making it easier. But I kept going.... I plowed past most of the pack and got back to the dock as fast as I could. I like to think I was the woman version of Lance Armstrong...if he was a kayaker. ;-)  I was going to get done and get done, fast!  So, I was one of the first few people to get in and it felt great! Thank God I was done! The last leg of the river I was all by myself, I could see people a little bit ahead of me and I am sure people were a ways behind me, but for a minute there I was a little freaked out. It was dark and scary and I was alone...and apparently 10:30 pm is when the trash and debris likes to make it's way to the surface so that the unsuspecting late night kayakers can get grossed out on their way back. Ewww.

But we all eventually made it. Joe wasn't far behind me (I beat him in our personal race...hee hee) and we were all wet and smelly....and GLAD it was over.

All in all, it was a cool experience but it was way too rushed and way too long of a paddle for a first timer. I would do it again on my own terms with my own time frame. It would be fun to paddle around the lake (when it is still) or go on the river after they clean it up more (if that day ever comes) or if I could wear a hazmat suit.

At least none of us fell in, or got gangrene in our ripped open blisters, or pinkeye in our eye. We survived the kayak adventure on the Chicago River...and we weren't even that sore the next day....

Photos: Watch the slideshow or click to watch the slideshow in a seperate window or look at the pics individually. :-)

9 Years!

Happy 9 Year Anniversary to US!

At this time 9 years ago we were probably getting ready to leave our wedding reception. I remember what a great day it was, it all went so fast, but was such a fun day, filled with lots of little moments to remember. I couldn't believe it was all over, the big wedding day we planned for so long. 

Now... I can't believe it's been 9 years already! Time seems like it has flown by, but when I think back to when we were first married, it seems like a lifetime ago. We have gone through so much together, grown as a couple and individually, yet we still have so much farther to go... together!  I am glad to have someone like Joe to share my life with. There will always be ups and downs along the way, but I still can't wait to see whats in store for us in the next 9 years!!  xoxo

Happy 6th/42nd...

...Birthday to Chloe! Our little Chloe turned 6 on July 10th!  She is now officially "older" than her own Momma (in dog years of course). We celebrated by taking an extra long walk in the park, and going potty and eating dog food...ok, so we really didn't celebrate, but shhh, don't tell Chloe that! ;-)

Here are some photos of Chloe through the years... love my Chlo!

Boys Visit + Pictures

We had a great time when Ben and Andy were here this past week. It's always fun for us to have visitors, we get to do fun Chicago things and just go out and have a good time and relax. Having our new "guest room" all set up was nice too, it was nice to have 2 spots for them to sleep and not have to put the big blow-up mattress on the floor in living room. While they were here it was SUPER hot here...pretty much around 90+ each day with lots of humidity. Our place was a little hot, even with the two window AC units on full blast every day. :-/
Here's what we did while they were here...
Sunday, Andy arrived and we got dinner in Lincoln Square at Garcia's, a nice little Mexican restaurant. After we got home and settled in, the 4th of July mayhem began. Much to Chloe's dismay, the fireworks were just as loud this year as they are every other year. This was the first year Joe and I left the house during "firework time" on the 4th. Andy and I went out and walked around at Winnemac Park (the large park that's directly across the street from us). I was surprised at how many people were in the park. There were hundreds of people set up all around the park in chairs and blankets watching multiple groups of fireworks being set off all around the park. People were lighting off HUGE loud ones that almost looked like professional firework shows. It was fun to finally see what we usually only hear from the inside of our apartment!
Monday, Joe, Andy, and I went to the lake/beach because it was super hot and sunny out (not raining like was expected). We got there early enough that we found a good spot and it wasn't too crowded. We went to Montrose Beach, which up north near us, and very nice. The sand was hot and the water was ice cold, but it felt good after we got used to it. Unfortunately, near the lake it was super windy and the sand was pelting us in the face and burying our towels within a minute of putting them down on the sand. We all took a dip and soaked up a little sun before deciding to leave because we had sand EVERYWHERE. We even had it in our mouths...icky! On the way home we grabbed lunch at Potbelly.
Later that night we picked up Ben from the airport and on the way home we hit up a neighborhood bar near our apartment. We had some drinks and wings and chatted. For some reason they didn't even card Andy (who is only 19) so he got to have a couple drinks with us and act like an adult for the evening...ha ha.  I had one too many vodka-cranberries because I was pretty dizzy when we got home. ugh...We all called it a night.
Tuesday we woke up surprisingly early, and walked down to eat at Over Easy, our favorite little brunch place only a block away from our apartment. Unfortunately they were closed. So we hopped in the car and headed to Ann Sather's...a Chicago tradition. After too many eggs and cinnamon rolls, we headed home, stuffed for the day. Later we went to Navy Pier to see the Imax movie "Hubble 3D", about the Hubble telescope. The boys liked it, I was really tired and dozed off like I usually do in Imax movies. :-)  Check out us in our 3d glasses in my pics. Afterwards we rode the big Navy Pier Ferris wheel and took in the great views of the city. Its always nice, but not sure it's worth the $6 price tag.  Afterwards we headed to dinner at our favorite Barbecue place all the way on the other side of the city, Smoque BBQ. The boys loved it!
Wednesday was Ben's 22nd Birthday! We went to watch the Germany vs. Spain World Cup match at Bowman's bar in Lincoln Square. We sat at the table with some guy and his little son because the place was packed. I ended up entertaining the kid the whole time, making fans and flowers out of napkins...ha ha. Anyway, Germany lost...oh well. So after that, we were off to Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder for some Pizza pot pies! Yum! Andy has been there before but Ben hadn't so he got to enjoy his first "ppp" on his birthday!  Afterwards we headed off to what was supposed to be the most fun day of the trip...a kayak tour down the Chicago river to watch the Navy Pier fireworks. The weather was turning crappy that day, storms in the area and thunder and lightening in the distance. We got there, got suited up, did the on-land paddle training and kayak rules, etc... then the owners deliberated and decided that it was too dangerous to go out because there was too many red storm cells in the area and we might run into something on our 3 hour trip. BOO. So we didn't get to go. Joe and I will have to reschedule and find some friends to join us.
So we headed home, had birthday cake and attempted to watch a movie, but we all dozed off after only a half an hour or so. All of that kayak practice made us tired! ha ha.
Thursday was time for the boys to leave. They couldn't leave Chicago without having their favorite "hot Asian buns" from Wow Bao...so we ordered lunch from there, picked it up and ate it in the car on the way to the airport. Yum...best lunch ever...and quite easy to eat in the car, I might add!

All in all we had a nice few days with the boys. It was good to have them visit, we hope they'll be back soon to finish our kayak adventure!

See the slideshow of pictures below. Click on it to view the pics larger and/or individually on Picasa.

Ben + Andy Visit

I just got to work after Joe and I dropped Ben and Andy off at the Airport. We had a fun time while they were here. The time sure went fast, but it seems like we did a lot of fun stuff. I will post pics and more about their visit when I am home and I can upload the pictures.

Boys Coming + Office Re-do!

I am very excited for Joe's brothers Ben and Andy to visit us next week!! I love having visitors! Andy arrives on Sunday night from Omaha and Ben arrives on Monday night from Las Vegas, where he is currently working with the Air Force. We have a kayak tour on the Chicago river planned for Wednesday night, which is also Ben's birthday! I am SO excited for that and I am praying that the weather is decent. It has been GORGEOUS weather all this week - and next week they are saying storms starting on Monday through Wednesday, which is when they will be here! Crap! I hope it doesn't storm all day so we can go out and do fun things, and of course, we don't want our kayak tour to be cancelled! Cross your fingers!

Joe and I decided to do a major overhaul of the office/2nd bedroom in our apartment, and of course we waited until right before the boys come to start doing it! This past weekend we got a new twin bed which will be a nice addition to our 2nd bedroom. Even though a twin is small, at least it something other than the sofa or air mattress! Then, after searching for weeks I finally found a decent twin comforter set that wasn't super expensive or super ugly - at Target no less! I love you, Target!  I was surprised at how hard it was to find a decent twin set. Everything we liked wasn't available in a twin...I guess that's because usually twin beds are for kids. ;-)  Our thought was that this mattress can be used for our future children too, and for now be a nice extra guest bed.
So I spackled the holes and cracks and taped earlier this week and yesterday we went and got paint and started painting. We got about 1/2 way done with the room and it looks SOO good!! I am loving the color - a very light gray.  They never painted our apartment in between tenants before we moved in (FOUR years ago) and so the walls were pretty dinged up. Plus, the color is your typical yellowy white...forgiving for apartment walls, but just plain ugly to me. Joe and I didn't ever want to paint our apartment because we don't own it, so it seems wasteful, and because we might have to paint it back before we move out. But having painted just half of the room now makes me wish we had painted the whole place RIGHT when we moved in! I can't tell you how much better it looks! I might have to just live in that room 24/7!
I will finish painting tomorrow and put everything back in the room and reorganize it. Then we have most of Saturday and part of Sunday to clean and get ready for the boys' arrival. YAY! So excited!
:-)

Saturday I am also doing TurboKick on stage at the Taste of Chicago with my turbokick instructor from TEAMiFIT. We are only doing half of one round of Turbokick, which is about a half and hour. Wish me luck!

Hunger Walk

This past Sunday, Joe and I walked in the Chicago Food Depository's 5k Hunger Walk. We walked to raise money for the St. Vincent dePaul Food Pantry located in our church.

Needless to say, I wasn't in a good mood on the day of the walk and things kept going wrong to frustrate me more. ha ha. First of all, I was super tired from being out/up too late the night before at the Taste of Chicago with my friend, didn't get much sleep. No sleep = crabby Mindy. I should have known better!

Also, to make my mood even better, I couldn't find the bottle of sunscreen the morning of the walk and spent the morning on a mad goose chase in the apartment to find the magic disappearing sunscreen that never turned up... I knew Joe and I would get sunburned. Arg.... Then, the "team" we were supposed to walk with decided not to wait for everyone to arrive before they started walking. They told us to be there at 9:30 and we were...we assumed we would all be walking together. We called the guy in charge when we arrived and he told us that they started early and were half way done already. What? Hmmm. Oh well, so Joe and I were on our own walking...lucky Joe getting to deal with crabby tired and hot wife. Sorry Joe! ;-)

Anyway...so aside from my crabbiness the walk was fine. It was a hot and very humid day, but we survived. We walked from Soldier Field, south along the lakefront path. We hadn't seen that part of the lakefront path before. It was really pretty and well groomed, the paths were nice and the landscaping around the path was very nice. There were cool yachts and boats in the marina which was nice to see. The best part was the awesome views of the lake as well as the city as we walked back north along the path.

After the walk I went home and took a nice long nap!  I think I overdosed on volunteering that day. I've been doing too much of that this past couple of weeks. ;-)

Here are some photos from the walk...

D4D - Garden Planting

This has been a busy couple weeks of volunteering for me! On Friday I volunteered to help plant a garden with Designs for Dignity at the Madonna House. D4D is a local organization that provides interior design services to area non-profits. With the support of manufacturers, vendors and volunteers they are able to transform environments for those in need.

I signed up to help plant from 10-2, but when I got there at 10, they had a lot done already. I still helped plant a bunch of day lilies and also helped spread mulch and clean up a bit. I ended up being done by about 12:30 or so. In total they ended up planting a bunch of perennials and several trees in the backyard and creating more of a landscaped yard which was only grass before.

The Madonna House is a place for women and children that's affiliated with catholic charities. Recently D4D redesigned the interiors for them. They created a video showing the interior project as well as a couple other projects they have done... I LOVE the video, seeing it inspired me to get involved with them. This was the first thing I have done for them, but hopefully I can do more in the future.

I am posting the video below...the music is perfect and the designs that they did are amazing because they work only with donations. Watch the video and be sure to turn your sound up! :-)

Chicago Cares

On Saturday, June 12th  I spent the day painting a mural for the Chicago Cares Serve-a-thon event. The Harrington College of Alumni Association formed a team for this event...even though it was a small team, we still did a great job. Chicago Cares helps Chicago schools year round by using volunteers to do projects that help to spruce up the schools. The serve-a-thon is the biggest event of the year. I think I heard there were over 6000 volunteers and 150 buses this year!

We checked in at soldier field at 8am and we were assigned to a bus that drove us to the Elem/Jr High school to do our work. Teams were sent all over the city to do work in at many schools. They are able to get SO much work done in one day, its amazing.

The school we went to had lots of jobs to be done, painting walls in classrooms (lots of rooms) and painting murals. We (of course) jumped at the chance to paint murals, being designers and all.... :-)   The murals were painted on canvases, not on the walls at this school. The schools choose which murals they want, and they picked a really detailed sports themed mural and a couple other simpler murals. We jumped at the chance to do the complicated one. We traced the template design onto canvas using an overhead projector, then traced over that with a sharpie marker. Then we began to paint using a reference image. It was a fun day and our painting turned out great! The Principal and other women from the school loved it!

This was the first time I had been into a Chicago public school. I was very sad to see the condition it was in. The exterior was decent, but the interior was just really old and dirty. I don't even think it was one of the worst schools, but it was still sad to see how poorly kept up it was. It just seemed so run down, like a really depressing place to try to learn...

Here are some photos from the event... Thanks to everyone who donated to support our team! Click on the images to enlarge.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all of the Dad's out there! Especially to our favorite Dads, Greg and Dan!
Chloe and Louie think Joe is a pretty good Dad too! Happy Dog-Father's Day to him! ;-)
Hope everyone has a great day!

Yay, Dad!

Recently, my Dad got very sick with whooping cough... apparently older adults and young kids (due to not getting vaccinated) are catching this more frequently. At first the Dr. thought it was pneumonia, but it turned out to be whooping cough. I was alarmed when his wife texted me to tell me that he had been really sick. Apparently, he was coughing so hard that he would black out several times a day. Not good! He passed out at work and fell on his nose and got all cut up from his glasses. I am sure he gave his co-workers a good scare. He has been through several rounds of antibiotics, but his Dr. said it can take a while to clear up in older adults. Thankfully he stayed home from work for a while and rested because he was completely exhausted, which was hard for him because he is such a work-aholic. He does seem to be getting better though, so hopefully he will be back to normal soon! I am glad to hear he is feeling better, I was worried about him!

Some good things did come out of him getting sick though. He had all kinds of tests done on his heart, lungs, etc, and everything is looking OK. That always makes me feel better....I was wondering how "healthy" he was, so at least now we know.

AND.....

The BEST thing that came out of this is that he QUIT SMOKING!!!!!!
My Dad smoked when I was a kid, but quit "cold turkey" when I was around 7 years old. He picked it up again (unfortunately) when we were much older and has been smoking since. He wasn't ever a heavy smoker, but he did smoke. Everyone knows how I feel about smoking,... I have never been accepting of it for anyone, I'm just not cool with it, especially for my close friends and family because I worry about them too much.  I was always sad that my Dad smoked, but I am so so so glad to hear he has finally quit. I know he will feel much better and I will definitely worry less about him.

He has been smoke-free for 7 weeks now!! Nothing makes me happier than this.
Congrats Dad! :-)  I am so proud of you for quitting!
I love you!
He just turned 62 this past Monday...so Happy Birthday to him too!

Worrying about Parents

Since I heard the news about Joe's Uncle I have been thinking a lot about how someone can be taken from you so suddenly. I've been worrying about our parents and their health more and more. I've been thinking about my Dad and Joe's Dad and worrying about them a lot...especially since they are about the same age as Grady was. I guess that's a natural thing to do when someone passes away who was close to their age.

The scary thing is, you just never know when a heart attack or something just as serious might happen to someone in your family. I hope that our Dads (and Moms) know how important it is that they take care of themselves as they get older. However, I do know things can happen even when people are in relatively good shape. Like for Grady, I would never have looked at him and thought he would be at risk for a heart attack, so I guess you just never know. 

I always hear stories on the news about how men don't go to the Doctor to get check-ups as regularly as women do. They tend to go only when it's an emergency, which isn't always the best thing to do. I hope that as our parents get older they realize that they need to pay more attention to their health and GO to the Dr. for basic yearly exams! I can't imagine losing my Dad or Joe's Dad at such a young age, so I can't even imagine how Joe's cousins feel to have lost their Dad so young. :-(

Remembering Joe's Uncle Grady

On Friday, May 28th, Joe's Uncle Grady Baldwin passed away suddenly. It was very shocking because he went in due to heart attack symptoms earlier that week, they did heart surgery and he went home and everyone thought he was ok. He had chest heaviness again the day after he was sent home, they took him back to the hospital and he and passed away that evening. Turns out he had another massive heart attack. He was only 59 years old, turning 60 this June 14th.

He was a great guy and has a great family, 4 grown children, and he was a Grandpa to many little ones.
We weren't able to get back for the funeral, but his daughter, Joe's cousin Katie, posted the slideshow on Facebook from the funeral. It's such a nice way to remember him. I will share it if I can get a copy from Katie. He was a great guy and he will surely be missed by all of us who knew him.

Our thoughts are with his wife Kathy, their 4 kids, Cindy, Danny, Jamie, and Katie and and all of the grandchildren.
Love you guys!
http://www.millerfh.com/index.php?option=com_obituary&task=details&oid=4033&Itemid=

Babies Babies Everywhere

Latley all I have been thinking about is babies. I think I want a baby more than I want a job at this point. I know that’s not what I should be thinking, but unfortunatley it is. UGH. And to think, I thought I had “baby fever” when I was 23, when Joe and I were newly married! That has nothing on me now. I dream about babies, I look at baby stuff all the time, I write down baby names. Man…if this isn’t baby fever, then I don’t know what is.
I just wish now was a good time for us to have a baby, but its not. The older I get the more worried I get about us not being able to get pregnant, but I know I have a few more good years. Ha-ha. Hopefully (soon) I will get a full-time design job and our lives will get back on track and then we can really start seriously thinking about starting a family. I know they say there is no perfect time, but I know that things can definitly be better than they are now for us.
I think another contributing factor to my baby fever is that so many of my old high school classmates and other girls around my age are popping them out left and right. Apparently it’s the hip thing to do right now for my age-group. Ha-ha. Not that peer pressure is causing me to want a baby, but it sure makes you think you better get cracking when people have 2 and 3 kids and we have none. Time’s-a-tickin’.
Anyway…just wanted to get that off my chest. Someday (hopefully sooner rather than later) I will hold our first baby in my arms. I just can’t wait for that day.

Turbo Kick

So it's been a while since I've written. I was on break from Harrington for a couple weeks but I managed to stay busy. I worked out a lot and kept busy with Alumni Board of Directors stuff. We are planning "Homecoming" events for June so we are super busy with that.
So, I've been meaning for a while to write about the workouts I've been doing at my gym/studio because I am absolutely addicted to one class called Turbo Kick. I have truly discovered my passion for working out. I LOVE group exercise classes. This has been a huge player in my weight loss. Never again (hopefully) will I ever count down the minutes on the treadmill or elliptical.  I find that hour long cardio classes are SUPER fun and keep me motivated.

So when I first started out with the gym/studio I did mostly outdoor boot camps and outdoor yoga (last summer). Then when the new space opened I took indoor group classes, like strength boxing (with small hand-held weights) and lots of other cardio and strength classes. From the first time I took Turbo Kick with one of the new instructors I was immediately hooked. It is my favorite and I don't think I could ever live without it. Turbo Kick is a high energy choreographed kickboxing style class that's as dancey as it is athletic. Instructors are certified to teach it by the owners of Turbo Kick. They are the only ones who have access to the music and choreography.  New "rounds" are released only to them every few months. Each round the choreography changes and so does the music. So basically every few months we get a new "routine" and we do it for a few months. I love it because the music is great and so is the instructor. She is SO good at cueing and is very enthusiastic without being annoying! They teach it all over the country and its supposed to be similar no matter where you take it, but in my opinion its ALL about the instructor. If he/she is good its SO much better.
The best thing about Turbo Kick is that it burns 700-1000 calories per hour. Probably more for chubs like me! ha-ha. Each class is about an hour, so when I leave I am drenched in sweat and I feel I've had fun and also worked hard.

Below are a couple links to the "promos" that the company releases to get people excited about the new rounds. Please keep in mind, the music in the teasers is NOT the music that's used for the workouts. It's such a secret that they usually don't even put the music on the promo...probably for copyright reasons too. The real music is good hip-hop, pop, dancey house stuff...its GREAT!  It's all mixed together so that the class just flows so well.  Also, the super colorful outfits in the teaser look nothing like our class! hahaha, they crack me up....they're all so coordinated! :-)
Here you go....enjoy!
We are on round 40 right now. Its awesome!


Here is round 39 too. This was the last one we did. It was great too!


This is the round 38 Promo. This is music is a sampling of the real music used in class. I LOVE that "shots" song. Its the best song to workout to! This was one of my favorite rounds.

Busy Boring Life

Ugh, I have nothing to write about. My life is pretty boring right now I guess. I have been SO busy lately between working at Harrington, private tutoring and never ending alumni board meetings that I haven’t had time to breathe, let alone think of something cool to write about on my blog. I don’t even know who reads this blog, so maybe this is more for me anyway…ha-ha.

I am in class right now, (the one that I am the teaching assistant in), and I actually have a time to think and collect my thoughts. Seems like I’d be super busy in here, but aside from the occasional question, the students generally know what they are doing and they come to class, listen to the quick lecture, and then get busy with their work. I am enjoying this “quiet” time because my shifts in the computer labs are INSANE compared to the classroom shifts. In lab I literally jump from student to student solving their problems and helping them with every issue under the sun. The students range from beginning to about to graduate, so it’s a wide range of help that I provide. It’s crazy right now because final projects/presentations are next week and this week is crunch time, so the labs are packed and the students are in freak-out mode. When I leave the lab after a shift my brain is fried from solving problems the entire time. I need a massage or something! Whew!

I will be glad when next week is over and I can take a break and focus on re-doing MY portfolio and trying to get my stuff out there again.

Easter 2010

Joe's parents (Dan and Beth) and his brother Andy came to visit us this year for Easter. This year they drove (from Omaha) so they arrived late on Friday night and left on Sunday afternoon. Dan and Beth stayed at the Hyatt Regency downtown on the river and Andy stayed with us. Chloe and Louie had fun with Andy, they always like when he comes to visit.

We had a nice time, despite a semi-rainy day on Saturday. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry on Saturday. We wanted to go see one of the Omni Max movies, but when we got there they were all sold out so we ended up just walking through some of the museum for a few hours. They had some cool exhibits. It was pretty crowded and crazy, but it was still fun. I took some pictures with Beth's camera, so I will post some when I get them from her.

When we came out of the museum it was a nice sunny day outside, when we went in it was overcast, so that was a nice surprise. We went to eat at Chicago Brauhaus, a German restaurant we've wanted to try in Lincoln Square (a neighborhood just near our place). We had our fill of German sausages, sauerkraut, potatoes and beer. Luckily we went for lunch/dinner because we were all full all night from that meal.

On Easter Sunday we went to mass at the church Joe and I go to, St. Vincent de Paul in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. Then we went to lunch at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab in the River North Area of Chicago. It’s a really nice place and the food was very good. After that we took them back to the hotel and they took off for home.

Chloe Lives On

Chloe had her surgery/dental cleaning last Friday. I was nervous dropping her off, but she did fine, I was relieved when I got the call that she was all done. I know it's silly that I was worried she might die...but since the vet said "there's always a risk"...that made me worry. But Chloe lives on! yay!
Her teeth are like brand new, shiny and clean, like puppy teeth all over again! :-) Now, I just have to try to maintain the cleanliness by brushing her teeth on a more frequent basis. They ask that you do it DAILY, but we all know that not going to happen, so I am going to shoot for 3 times per week or so. Chloe is pretty easy and she lets me do it, so I think once we start doing it more often she will just get used to it.

Louie had a strange day without his sister at home. He was quiet calm (after the initial shock when Chloe left without him for the vet). He just followed Joe around all day while I was out running errands. I think Chloe pretty much leads the way in terms of their daily schedule, so if she isn't home to eat and sleep and play with him, he is just not sure what he's supposed to do. He was tired that night because he didn't really sleep like he usually does because Chloe wasn't there to sleep with him. Joe did say that he enjoyed taking him for a walk without Chloe though. Chloe is a major sniff-aholic, she has to stop to sniff EVERYTHING and Louie just likes to run and walk. He could care less about who peed on that tree before he got there. He just does his business and then gets on with walking. Funny how different dogs can be...totally different personalities.

5 Minutes of Fame Continues...

More of my 5 minutes of fame...
Harrington College of Design has a blog where they feature important news about things going on at the school, alumni, general design stuff. Well, they asked if they could write a story about me winning the IIDA Logo Contest for their blog....and here it is.....enjoy. I promise I will quit bragging after this! Ha-ha.
http://myharringtoncollege.com/2010/04/01/harrington-alumna-mindy-zimmer-wins-iida-illinois-logo-competition/

Nervous Mama

Chloe is scheduled to get her teeth cleaned on Friday, April 2nd. I am SO worried about it. I know its silly, but the vet really freaked me out when she told us that she has a "slight" heart murmur.  The doggie dental procedure is a big deal, they have to put them to sleep and do the cleaning, etc.

Obviously, she is 5 years old and they have been telling us she needs this done for a while so we can't put it off any longer. In small dogs tartar and plaque builds up easily and can lead to liver and heart problems down the road. So it's time to do it, we scheduled it, and because of the supposed heart murmur, they have to take extra precautions when they put her out, they have to have IV fluids going, etc.  I AM SO WORRIED! Especially the way the Dr. was saying that there is always "a risk" when you put a dog out. SCARY. I need to relax and realize that they do this all the time. I just can't imagine is something happened to Chloe. She is my baby and I would just die if something bad happened to her.
If I am this upset about my dog, I can't even fathom REAL children! ahh!
Anyway...hope it goes well.

All for now, off to Turbo Kick! Woo!

Some Random Things

I haven't posted anything in a while so I thought I would write a few quick blurbs about stuff...

Julie and Julia:

We rented this movie several weeks ago now and I wanted to write about how much I liked it. I really liked the first 3/4 of it and then the end wasn't so great, but it was still a good movie overall. The beginning half had me hooked, I could relate to the main character's life in some way. It was definitely cute - and it really made me want to go out and get the Julia Child's cookbook and start cooking all those yummy recipes! I doubt I will, but I definitely want to try one of the famous ones that she makes, like the Beef Bourguignon - maybe in next winter.  Anyway, if you haven't seen it, you should, it was good.

Also - I really like Meryl Streep for some reason, she is good.

Spring is almost here...I can feel it!

We've had a week or two with some slightly warmer days here in Chicago, several days in the 40's and even 50's and even a couple hitting the low 60's. I love spring here because everyone comes out of hiding from winter, people are walking around, riding bikes, enjoying being outside, walking their dogs, etc. I just hope it stays nice and that we have a nice long spring before it gets super hot and humid! I like my moderate temps, which is not what Chicago is known for...but hey...I take what I can get I guess. So far I've already enjoyed a couple long walks with the dogs at the park (long muddy walks, one bad thing about spring) and the other day I took a long walk across the loop (downtown) one evening when it was nice and in the upper 50's. It was so nice to walk around without burying my head in my coat and rushing inside as fast as possible. Ahhhh....spring.

Speaking of Mud...

I gave the dogs their summer hair cuts a little early this year. They were so shaggy that I was getting sick of having to practically give Louie a bath every time we came in from our walks. His furry belly and legs and feet would just be covered in mud splashes. I took some video and I will post it soon. They are both so different when they have short hair, its funny. The mud is definitely easier to wipe of the short hair. Yay!

Good Eats & Such

I love to cook, especially yummy dinners....so I had to write about this great new recipe I made for dinner this past Thursday night! I'm still drooling over it....

I started subscribing to Cooking Light Magazine a few months ago so that I could expand my recipe database of healthier recipes that aren't just the same old thing. We tend to eat a lot of salmon and veggies (lots of broccoli), chicken breasts, shrimp, etc. I could eat that all the time really, but its nice to find some great new recipes that are also healthy and more fun. So far I have found that this magazine has some great recipes. I have made a couple of them so far and they've been great.

So, Thursday night I made Maple and Soy-Glazed Flank Steak with Scallion Noodles from this month's issue. See the steak recipe HERE.  I really love Asian food but often I find it's hard to get good Asian recipes that satisfy that craving and taste as good as a restaurant when you make it yourself. This recipe has some great Asian flavors, it was SO good.
This was also the first time I made flank steak - a cut of steak known for being tough - but marinading and slicing it diagonally against the grain turns it into wonderfully tender slices! I will use this again for sure! The Scallion noodles were good too and really easy, rice noodles are so yummy and fast to prepare.  I was also excited to add another Asian staple to my pantry (sesame oil) and also use Sake for the first time in a dish (thanks to Trader Joe's for having a cheap bottle). It was a really great meal! I will definitely add it to my recipe rotation and make it again!  :-)

Also, just a note about "maple"...I am really not a fan of "maple" flavor...but I recently started buying REAL maple syrup instead of the fake crap with all the added sugar - aka "pancake syrup" - you know what I'm talking about. Who knew that stuff was not really maple syrup?! Hey, I'm not from Vermont...so shoot me.  Well, REAL maple syrup which comes in Grade A or B varieties (I bought grade A from Trader Joe's) is so different, much less sweet, and still really good on waffles, french toast, etc. So, that's what is used in this recipe and it's delish! Once all the ingredients were mixed in the marinade you wouldn't even know there was maple in it, it was a yummy Asian concoction that I could put on anything! yum~

The photo from the magazine is below. It shows the steak and the noodles that I made, I would have loved to make the Sesame Cucumbers also, but Joe thinks he doesn't like cucumbers, so I didn't make them. Yummy dinner all the same!

Happy Cooking!