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Sunday, December 27, 2009

The turn of a decade

I didn't realize that with 2010 looming just days away, we had 10 years under our belt since 2000. For those of you that really know me, I know that's not surprising to you. I have always been god awful at math. Other numbers to consider: I'm in the middle of my 14th season with the ice rink. Yukon turned 5 this year. Bumble turned 4 this year and it's our 4th winter in Chicago. We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary this year. It's our 2nd time celebrating Christmas in Chicago and Tony celebrated a 2nd DCI World Championship with the Blue Devils. Hmm. Have to think about what happened for the first time ever this last year...

I wrote our annual holiday letter and finally ordered the photo cards today, so will hopefully get these out the door in the next week. I have completely given up trying to get them out in December... I have so many reasons that I just can't get it done. I do love getting everyone else's in December though. Tony was very surprised that I could capture a significant something worth mentioning for every month of last year. Some things required me going back in my calendar while other things were unforgettable.

So, it's that time of year when we make resolutions. I used to make them, never achieve them and then pretend I never had them to begin with. Then, I decided not to have any since I didn't believe that I would ever reach them. But what about now? Now, they are more like things that I hope to do and want to make time to do, but they are not things that I'm going to kill myself to do. This year, I really want to get back into crafts. I literally have thousands of dollars worth of scrapbook, stamping and other craft supplies. I've taken a couple years off from picture taking and I want to get back to it. Both of my Mom's have lots of pictures that need properly archived and captioned, so I think I should focus on doing this with them. I also really want to buy a sewing machine and learn to sew. I have very rough skills at this, but I think my good friend Susan, has really inspired me to make some real efforts to get into this. I'd like to start off small and just make some tablecloths, placemats and cloth napkins. I only want to do this if I can tackle the scrapbooking and stamping.

The other thing that I really want to focus on is reading. My sister-in-law bought me Twilight last year and loaned me the rest of the series and I just can't get into it. I can't believe that it's this hard for me to get into. I have a huge stack of books that I want to conquer and I'd also like to find a REAL book club. Not one where everyone doesn't read the book, gets drunk on wine and then talks crap about their significant other... one where everyone reads the books and really challenges one another to discuss. Since I think that I'm going to be traveling less, I am hoping to try the Chicago Lakeshore Alumnae Book Club - it looks like they are going to try to get it going again.

I'm looking forward to a short work week. I want to enjoy the Christmas decorations while I can and before we have to do the unpleasant process of putting it all away. I really love how our tree turned out this year :-)

Monday, August 10, 2009

Ahh chick flicks...

I am normally horrible at admitting that a movie is a chick flick. Tonight's pick was an A+ chick flick, as noted by the couple sitting next to Suzanne this evening...

Setting - the end of the movie
Chick says - "See it wasn't that bad"
Dude says - "I just want to kill myself right now"

I don't know much about Julia Child except that she's quite tall, is known for french cooking and has that unmistakable voice. If the movie depiction of her is correct, she was really a remarkably driven woman who had a good sense of life. She was a roll with the punches kinda gal. Her husband adored her and I always fall victim to that story.

It made me think about my own love of cooking. My Mom is shocked that I can cook as well as I do and even more shocked that I actually like it. We were an average, middle-class, meat-and-potatoes kind of family, but I always considered my Mom a wonderful cook. She always made things we liked and to this day, I dream of being that kind of cook for my family. My favorite things were porcupine meatballs (a classic Betty Crocker recipe) and my Mom's handmade egg rolls with homemade bbq sauce.

I often give my Mom a lot of jabs b/c I consider her a cheater now... she doesn't do as much from scratch, eats a lot more frozen foods and can be completely content with a sandwich on a paper plate. That is simply not how she raised me though. We always had full place settings at the dinner table and we ate together. Napkins were folded under forks on the left side of the plate, glasses were placed on the upper right corner of the place setting above the knife and we ALWAYS had place mats. I didn't love it when I was younger - I was the table setter and dish dryer - but I love it now. It just seems proper and relaxing to sit down to dinner that way.

Tony and I love watching Food Network now, looking at cookbooks and cooking magazines and wandering stores like Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma. We appreciate kitchen gadgets that are functional and have done quite a good job at using everything that we have. It was do-or-die on using the immersion blender recently - we got it as a wedding gift but I only recently opened it for the first time. I loved every second of it! I love making soups (just made a chicken curry and vegetable udon for the first time - so good) and I love making side dishes like salads. My all time favorite is a Martha Stewart macaroni and potato salad. More than cooking, I love baking! Baking is all about the yummy. This week, stay tuned for lemon pudding cake.

I'm not sure what kind of cook I will be for my kids, but I hope to expose them to lots of foods and to teach them that it's okay to hate foods, as long as you try them.

http://www.julieandjulia.com/

Friday, July 17, 2009

Friday @ 18:00


I have discovered that Friday at 18:00 is really my favorite time of week. There is so much potential at that moment. For this post, I have to acknowledge that I am finally going to catch up and import my old blog here, so that Christie Lynn has something to read. She certainly deserves it for indulging me and Lil Julie by posting her first pregnancy pic! You look fab Christie Lynn!

I'm mostly very excited b/c Tony is coming home for a few days tomorrow. We're going to jet off to NYC for a mini-vacation where we'll see West Side Story, hopefully make ourselves into Muppets and indulge in our favoritest mac-n-cheese from Virgil's (44th and Broadway for fans). He surely needs a break from being in the hottest places on the planet all summer - Central Valley, Vegas and Dallas in particular. Luckily he's coming home to sunny and 70 in Chicago. I guess I should put all of his shows back on the DVR.

In the meantime while Tony has been gone on tour with drum corps, I have found myself completely addicted to Twitter, finding concerts to go see and enjoying the summer with the boys. I get the feeling that since June and July have been so mild, Mother Nature is going to release her wrath and make August and September miserable (a.k.a. hot AND humid). My other theory is that Mother Nature is rewarding us for making this past winter so f*ing miserable.
Since the start of his new show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, I am also completely addicted to Jimmy Fallon and the Roots. I was able to find tickets to see him at The Vic in mid-June with SGumin. His stand-up is very funny, although he's a bit of a tweaker. He kept rubbing his eyes and it was driving me crazy. I send a weekly tweet to Jimmy and Questo requesting that they bring Raul Midon on the show. Now, besides wanting to have my question read on Mail Time on PTI, I really want Jimmy and/or Questo to tweet me back. I think that this obsessive behavior comes from my friend Susan in Tampa.
I'm going to try and get some sleep, which has been very difficult this week for some reason. I also need to decide if I'm going to read Harry Potter (I've been stuck on book 5 for 2 years) or finally get involved in Twilight. Either way, both books are a pain in the ass to travel with.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Please Remove


Can someone please remove this image from my head? STAT! I just want it and need it to be overwith - stricken from my brain. I don't want to think about how it feels or how it looks. I just want to break up and not look back.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Saturday


I get to the weekend and I forget about all of the things from earlier in the week. Maybe that's a good thing!


I went to my first Opening Day baseball game this past week. Despite rain - lots of it - and 40 degree weather, Sean and I enjoyed most of the game from a rooftop club and then we went into the stadium for the last 3 innings. We barely made it through those 3 innings because of the cold, although it was still warmer than the Winter Classic. The new Captain Morgan bar that is connected to the stadium on the Sheffield and Addison side is U-G-L-Y. Regardless, the Cubs won the game and made it all worth it.


I was also thrilled to find out that Duran Duran is playing at the Saratoga Mtn. Winery this July. I am SO going. Tony and I love that venue. I'm going to Jennifer Hudson and Robin Thicke next weekend with Mona. Also have tickets to No Doubt in Chicago, the weekend after Duran Duran. We're going to see Pat Benatar in August. I can't wait to see her hotty guitar playing husband. I really want to go see Jimmy Fallon and the Roots - need to work on that.
In other music, I saw the Susan Boyle audition from Britain's Got Talent. It brought me to tears. She has an amazing voice, I'm a huge Les Miz fan and I was just touched by her story. If you live in a bubble and haven't seen it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
I loved seeing Simon Cowell's face light up with genuine awe as he listened. And it's another lesson to all of us - never judge a book by it's cover. As of today, 26M people have viewed the video. I hope that Susan has much success and that her dream to become a professional singer is achieved.

Friday, March 13, 2009

March travels


I went to Cincinnati and NYC this past week for work. I squeezed in some peronal time with a visit with Barry & Trish in Cinci and my first visit to Mesa Grill in NYC. It is ALWAYS so fun to see Barry & Trish and they are one of the few things that I look forward to on my East Coast travels.
Mesa Grill. 102 5th Avenue in the cute neighborhood of Gramercy. I really enjoyed this restaurant. The room is gorgeous, but comfortable. I decided to break out of my shell and try something new - I wanted something flavorful and exciting so that I would have a good report back to Tony. We started with yellow and blue cornbread muffins. I don't know what made them so fantastic - but they were FANtastic. Buttery, slight crisp on the oustide and tender on the inside. I had the baby romaine salad - baby romaine is so much better than hearts of romaine. I really dislike the spine of romaine. The chorizo was finely chopped and cooked very crisp - the texture of crispy bacon. I love cojia cheese, so everything in this was so good. For dinner, I ordered the cornmeal crusted chile relleno with a side of roasted corn w/ smoked chiles, cojita cheese and lime. My dinner partner ordered the mashed potatoes with cilantro pesto and I tried some - both were excellent. The chile relleno was very flavorful - stuffed with a perfectly melty, oozy cheese, but I have to admit, it was too spicy for me. I could tell my stomach would rebel if I ate it all. Tony would for sure love this dish. The restaurant is known for their pork tenderloin, so I will be back in April to let you know how it tastes. Either way, 5 Zino's for Mesa Grill. Put it on your list and be sure to check it out if you're visiting. Lots of shopping in this neighborhood if you head down early.
Jimmy Fallon. I have never been that into Late Night talk shows. Paul took me to say David Letterman in person and it was very cool, but that was my first interest in any late night talk shows. My parent's didn't watch them, so I didn't know anyting about Johnny Carson or anything like that. Now that I'm older... much older... I love watching late night TV. My favorite by far is Craig Fergsuon (whom we saw in person last weekend in Hammond, IN at the Horseshoe Casino). I was excited to see Jimmy Fallon take over the Late Night b/c it was the first time that I was really going to be able to see someone from the beginning. Week 1 was funny - he was nervous, but honest and I love his little quirkiness. He had some great guests - JT singing as Michael McDonald doing a Bud Light Lime commercial was freaking hilarious, Drew Barrymore who was excited by the Lick it for 10 skit and I have to say, seeing The Roots every night is awesome. Does Quest Love always wear a pic in is his fro? Curious about that. I have many high hopes for Jimmy and I encourage you to check him out. It's the perfect thing to Tivo and just watch when there's guests that you like. And if you forget to record it, do what Berma does, and watch it online (although you don't have to do it at work like Berma does). If you're an Oprah fan, Jimmy Skyped in on today's Friday's Live and was so adorable. He said that he's a huge Facebook fan and updates his status at least twice a day.
To round out my week, I was highly disappointed when I skipped a chance to upgrade on my way home from NYC and discovered Mark Consuelos sitting in seat 3B on my flight. He's very cute :-)
Finally, I was thinking about all of my Alpha Phi sisters today. I know that many went to honor the life of Christie Williams, a very young Phi who passed away from Addison's Disease early last week. Christie was a member when I was very involved with HCB and her parent's both served on the board with me. It's a moment when we all take a step back and remember to be thankful for every moment that we have with one another. My heart and thoughts are with everyone. *AOE*

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Welcome to 2009




We started 2009 off with recovering from Board Game night and a very cold day at the Winter Classic 2009. The game was the Chicago Blackhawks v. the Stanley Cup Detroit Red Wings. Things were looking very good until the end of the 2nd period. Everything was a little downhill from there. Overall, we had so much fun with Sean and Suzanne at the game. Suzanne treated Tony and Sean to binocular flasks to take to the game, although I think that she enjoyed the beverages out of all 3!

Resolutions...
I want to take a photography course.
I want to take piano lessons
I want to skate more often.
I want to keep swimming :-)

Let's see how I do!