pictures

Ampersands are Fun (Long/Lots of Pictures)

4 September 2008 / aidan, books, food, friends, living in chicago, pictures

I had a fun Labor Day weekend. My friend from college, who I’ll refer to as friendAdam, came into town and crashed at our pad. I don’t have pictures of him to post at his request, but we had a great time. It had been about 10 years (at least) since I’d last seen him, and we spent hours catching up. He also had a goal to eat his way through Chicago, and Adam and I, naturally, had to tag along.

The first place we went to eat was Hot Doug’s.

On the way to Hot Doug’s. I’m wearing a shirt that Star bought me.

Here I am enjoying a Chicago-style hot dog and a regular ole corn dog.

For dinner, we went to Arturo’s, a 24 Mexican food joint, and I had a tostada. It was amazing. I woke up craving it for breakfast the next morning. After Arturo’s, we went to Margie’s Candies, where I had my Swiss chocolate sundae…

…with the warm chocolate marshmallow sauce.

Mmmmm. That’s another thing I often crave for breakfast.

The next day, we went to Weber Grill where I had filet mignon and a baked potato, and a passion fruit mango margarita on the rocks.

We walked down Michigan Avenue:

U.S. flag, City of Chicago flag, State of Illinois flag

Here is one of the funny dresses along Michigan Ave. It’s made out of Coke and other pop cans.

We also went to Millennium Park. Cloud Gate never gets old for me.

That night, we’d attempted to go to Martini Park for dinner, but they had a $10 cover for the boys (I was free!) and the live band there was WAYYYY too loud. We then tried to go to Lou Malnotti’s for pizza, but seriously, a touristy place during Labor Day weekend… not a good idea. There was a 50 minute wait. So we went home and partied with the neighbors. When the hunger got to us, we headed to Pie Eyed. Adam was VERY happy about numerous things.

The next day, we went to friendAdam’s cousin’s for a cookout/party which was a lot of fun, and Monday night, we finally made it to Martini Park. friendAdam had been talking about this place and their chocolate chip cookie dough won tons ALL weekend, and we finally got some:

We also had Kobe beef sliders, pulled pork sliders, macaroni and cheese sticks, and home made donuts.

Home-Made DoNuts with Raspberry Sauce & Chocolate Sauce

It was a great weekend!

Today, Aidan officially started kindergarten! I talked to him last night and he was very excited. Apparently, there are FIVE Aidans in his class. FIVE. *hits self on head*

Before his big trip, he went to Phoenix with his dad and Matt. Chris sent me some of the pictures.

Monday, I start my assignment at Ambrosi. I’m excited and nervous. I know I’ll get back into the working all day flow again, but it’s still kinda crazy. Then soon after that is Disney! Woooo!

I popped into the library today to pick up Breaking Dawn, and I also got Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes (it’s a reread–I just reread Rachel’s Holiday for the first time in years and fell in love with the Walsh sisters all over again), Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson, Wuthering Heights, a couple of Disney World travel guides, and a couple of other books. YAY books.

And today was a good mail day. Rosa sent me a really CUTE ampersand tee-shirt. She’s so good to me! ♥

Who watched ANTM last night? I’m looking forward to this season, and for now, I am on team JOCLYN, ISIS, and ELINA. We’ll see how things pan out, yes?

I suppose that’s it for now. Adam wants to watch the last two episodes of Arrested Development with me. We have all three seasons on DVD.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Positivity (Picture)

26 August 2008 / pictures, positivity

I was a bit bummed this morning, but things are looking up. Here’s why:

1. I got confirmation that my start date at Ambrosi is indeed September 8, 2008. The hourly rate is nice, and I can expect 5 to 10 hours of overtime a week. If I play my cards right, I will be OK for a few months after that assignment ends; I may be able to take the winter off. So, I can has job! for a few months at least.
2. I found a $5 bill in the shorts I’m wearing today.
3. Adam got me some Mrs. Fields mini M&M cookies.
4. Adam is making apple cider pot roast, homemade cheddar mashed potatoes, carrots, and gravy for dinner. It smells amazing.
5. Thanks to the Lexapro, I didn’t fly off the deep in regarding this morning’s job rejections. I was disappointed, but I managed to throw myself into something I enjoy (after bellyaching a little bit to my friends and to Adam) which is a lot more healthy, I think.

And finally, I found this picture of Aidan from 2003:

For some reason, it makes me

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Keep Holding On (Pictures)

26 August 2008 / life, pictures, ronni, sad

I’m a little bit bummed this morning. I got two job rejections within minutes of each other. Tell me that’s not a blow to the ole ego. I’m trying to do all the positive self talk, you know:

Something better will come along.
Those jobs weren’t right for you.
The perfect job is waiting for you.

But instead, these questions/statements keep coming up:

What am I doing wrong?
What do employers see in me that make them not want to hire me?
How dare I think that I will actually be worth $XXk a year?
I’m worthless. That’s all there is to it. I’ve been out of work for six months now, and there are no prospects on the horizon for permanent work.
My friends are all moving forward, and I’m stuck/moving backward.

I’m going to have to really give in to the disappointment eventually, and it won’t be cute when I do. I’m already stressing, even though Adam told me not to worry. I have a car payment and insurance. Thank God I don’t have credit cards or loans to pay, or else I’d’ve been in HUGE trouble. As it stands now, I’m still freaking out a bit, even though Adam said we’re fine.

And my temp assignment has been postponed again. Now the start date is September 8th. I’m really hoping they don’t put it off anymore, and I’m desperately hoping they don’t decide to scrap the whole thing. I’m counting on that income to get me through the end of the year!

One exciting thing is that last Friday, Adam hooked up my stereo to the Mac Book and showed me how to record cassettes and make mp3s out of the songs on them. So many songs that I thought would never be in digital form because they’re either B-sides or out of print, I have now digitized and I can listen to them on my iPod. I was in my nerdilicious element, recording songs, editing them, processing them, and editing the ID3 tags on them. I still have a handful of songs that I’d like to encode. I’ll do those sometime soon. My favorites are already done, and that’s the important thing.

Also, last Friday, Adam and I went to a Little Mermaid Sing Along at the Music Box theatre.

I’ve never been to Rocky Horror, but I’m guessing this was like a squeaky clean version of it. We had little props to use (bubbles for when Ariel was taking a bath, clickers for when Sebastian was walking, a “dinglehopper” with which to comb our hair), things to yell at the screen, and of course, the words to all the songs were also on the screen. There were little girls dressed in Disney princess outfits, a guy playing Disney songs on the organ, and candy. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, Adam and I met up with Becky and went to Nookies, Too for brunch. I had strawberry crepes.

Then we hung out, spending a bit of time in Oz Park.

After the park and hanging out with Becky, I was struck with a migraine that had me out for about 40 hours. It was horrible. I feel so helpless when I get those things… all I can do is lie there, my heart and mind racing with all the stuff I need to do. But I know that if I even sit up, my head will explode and my eyes will slam shut and I’ll want to cry out in pain. I do not like getting migraines. Thank God they usually happen over the weekend.

I miss Aidan. He’s going to Phoenix tomorrow, which will be a lot of fun for him. He is one well-traveled little boy.

Less than a month until Disney World! I’m really trying to stay positive, you know. So, I’m going to try to concentrate on that.

That’s all for now. I’m going to hit the shower. A couple weeks ago, I splurged and bought some Caress Daily Silk body wash and I LOVE the way it smells. I used the bar a lot when I was growing up, and the scent reminds me of summer, and of my mom.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Finally, An Update! (Pictures, Long)

21 August 2008 / friends, horoscope, life, living in chicago, pictures, ronni, shopping, to do

I’ve been chastised about not updating, so here I am. The thing is that I simply didn’t (and still don’t, really) have much to talk about. Sometimes it’s just like that.

I’ve been highly enjoying the Olympics. In fact, now my body clock is WAY messed up because I stay up late watching them and then just don’t make it to bed after. I’m back to being a total night owl. Sleeping all day and staying up all night. I only get to bed at about 3:30 or 4:00 am because I force myself. I’d easily stay up all night if I could.

However, I am anticipating starting my assignment next week (actually, as this week winds down, I’m kind of losing hope of starting until after Labor Day which wouldn’t be good for my wallet AT ALL), and I NEED to get my body back to “normal” hours. Frankly, I believe MY normal hours are like this, because it’s too easy for me to slip back into this pattern of staying up all night and sleeping all day. I wonder if I moved to the other side of the world, would I be on a “normal” schedule, then?

So, the biggest news?

I got new glasses!

Wanna see? Of course you do.

Cool, huh? I decided to go for a more bold look than I’ve had the past few years. I like them. Adam LOVES them. ♥

The cats have been great. Helena is an EATING MACHINE, and they’ve gone through an entire HUGE bag of Kit & Kaboodle. That used to last Crookshanks quite a while (and a bag of food that big would last Little Lucy months!), but now with Helena here (who is incidentally, wailing for more food at this moment!), I get the feeling our cat food expenses will go up drastically. I hope she doesn’t get fat! The only annoying thing about her is that she is very loud, and unfortunately, she’s usually loud around 6am. She does that terror-running and she wails, especially if the food bowl is empty. She’s very sweet, though, and she often curls up beside me on the couch when I’m on the laptop or reading or watching TV. She used to try calling me to bed, but I think she’s given up on that. SHE is a night owl too, but she’s also a very early riser, and she’s a cat, so she gets to sleep and take naps all day. Lucky girl. I do like mirroring her life, but I need to make money, dang it.

This is one of the pictures from our wedding weekend. Kelly took this one. I haven’t been able to take one this great of Helena yet:

Here are some more of the professional wedding pictures taken by Kelly. [LINK]

My friend Libby said she likes when I detail my grocery purchases on my blog, so this is what I got ~~today~~ yesterday:

1 carton of Edy’s chocolate ice cream · $2.50
1 bag of Lay’s potato chips · $2.50
1 bag of Malt-O-Meal Tootie Fruities (generic Froot Loops) · $1.89

I also went grocery shopping Monday, but I don’t know the prices. I know I did get two containers of lunch meat (one ham, one turkey), some Lay’s potato chips (yes, I had to get more b/c I’m clumsy and well, let’s just not talk about it), Tropicana Twister, Dean’s french onion dip (I hate onions, but I like the flavor, and I love certain French onion dips), and that’s all I can think of for now. At Target, Adam got granola bars. I’m not used to having people eat the foods I eat. I’m used to buying granola bars and having them stay until I’m ready for them; but Adam likes granola bars and he likes Trix, too. Eek. Anyway, I made him buy granola bars at Target, and we found these dark chocolate cherry ones. MMMMM! I’m pretty sure they’ll be discontinued soon, as this happens often when I find something I love to eat. *sigh* I haven’t been able to find Granola Dipps in the grocery for weeks now.

I went to the library last week and I’ve already read all but two of the books I’d taken out. Eep. The guy behind the counter recognized me. He said that I come in every week and check out sixty books. I have to go again soon, actually. I got to read Lisa McMann’s WAKE (awesome book) and Sophie Kinsella’s REMEMBER ME (which I also enjoyed). I’ve also been poring over Disney World travel guides. Not much longer ’til we’re there!

This is my daily forecast for August 20 and 21:

You feel very centered, calm and in perfect harmony with yourself Your inner communication is flowing quite smoothly, regardless of what’s going on around you. Your life has reached a point of balance and equilibrium and you’re feeling the satisfying effects of getting all those disparate elements to work together. Your creativity is also quite high, which you should certainly take advantage of. If you already have a creative project underway, get to it! If not, give yourself some time to dream and let images and feelings come to you; then go get started bringing them to tangible form. If you tell others of your ideas, you’re likely to notice you receive lots of positive feedback. If you’re an artist by career, you might even have some pieces accepted by a gallery or a film invited for a festival screening. Now is a good time to blend your artistic abilities with your confidence and people skills; get out there and tout your work, because others are in prime mood to appreciate whatever you show them.

It really does mirror how I feel. I’m head over heels butt crazy about Adam. Did I mention that he sometimes brings me breakfast in bed? And he makes good meals, and he is so nice to cuddle. ♥ I guess I’ll stop before I get all sappy and make you all go EW GROSS!

Instead, I’ll make my to-do list.

TO DO
thank you cards
upload and order wedding pictures
send wedding pictures to my mom
mail Ivy’s & Rosa’s stuff

Well, the list seemed LOT bigger in my head. I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff. Speaking of Ivy, she sent me cookies again. Adam ordered me to keep him away from them or else he’ll eat them all. THEY ARE YUMMY! I love Ivy’s cookies. Everyone I know likes them, too. I also just finished editing her latest project, and I stayed up until 4am because the book got SO GOOD that I had to see what happened. I’m having a hard time breaking my reading up into healthy chunks. I keep on devouring them in one gulp. Eeep.

I guess I had a lot more to say than I thought. Huh. Funny how that works. Anyway, I am going to try to get to bed a LITTLE bit earlier than normal. Let’s see if I can pull it off.

‘Til next time!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Wedding Weekend 2008! (Long, Pictures)

28 July 2008 / adam, family, friends, ivy, life, living in chicago, pictures, reflection, ronni, wedding, yay

The Wedding Weekend officially started Friday morning, when I got up to get my hair done at Eshe Day Spa & Salon. Here’s my new hairstyle!

Ivy got into town Friday afternoon. Here we are, being cute.

Saturday night, Aidan, Ivy, and I met Kelly and Garth at their hotel, then we all went up to Jen K’s place to eat and hang out. Here we are, waiting at the bus stop. The #65 bus takes FOREVER to show up, so we had to find ways to amuse ourselves.

After dinner at a great cafe (where I had a waffle with strawberries and whipped cream and bacon!), we headed back to Jen’s to hang out. It was a bachelorette party, of sorts, but not really. Aidan wore a tiara, though.

Woke up early Sunday morning. It was my wedding day! 🙂 So of course, I had to play “Happy Wedding Day” by The Andrews Sisters and Bing Crosby. I think it set the tone for an awesome day. Adam had gotten donuts, and I took a nice, long bath. Kelly and Garth showed up while Aidan was in the bath, and then Chris showed up with the beautiful bouquet that he’d made for me, and daisies for the girls and moms and grandmas. Pretty soon, the Weird Chicago bus showed up! And off we went.

Adam and me on the Weird Chicago bus. We’re going to get married!

When we showed up, it was like the paparazzi. It was a bit crazy! All the camera snapping at me. I loved every moment of it!

We all walked to the beach for the ceremony. There were people looking surprised sitting on benches, and one random biker said “Congratulations or whatever.” HA.

The beach was very pretty. There was a Song of Solomon verse on the block we jumped from. Dragonflies swarmed all around, and waves lapped the shore. The sand was hot, but I quickly got used to it.

Newlyweds!

After the ceremony and lots of pictures, a bunch of us hopped back on the Weird Chicago bus and headed to Eleven City Diner to get some eats. Good times ensued. A vase flew off the bus and scared some people standing on the street. We simply yelled “Ooompa!” or whatever it is that Greek people yell in celebration. 🙂 (Hmm, I kind of have the urge to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding right now!) Aidan wasn’t too happy with all the noise. He was tired and trying to sleep.

Poor little guy. He had been up late the night before and had gotten up a lot earlier than normal, he was afraid of the dragonflies, and the sand was hot on his feet. Oh well, he cheered up once we got to the diner. The food at Eleven City was amazing as always (I had corned beef on rye and a pickle, mmm!), and after that, we came home and hung out a bit with friends and family before Adam and I took off for downtown. We rode in a horse drawn carriage along Lake Shore Drive, and checked into the Allerton for the night. ♥

I’m very happy. 🙂

As more and more pictures trickle in, I will make posts featuring some of my favorites. In addition, you can go here to see some of the pictures Jen H. took, or here to see pictures from my camera and other people who have shared their pix with me so far. 🙂

YAY Adam just came home with My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We’re gonna totally watch it! Woohoo!

‘Til next time!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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