It's the cheesiest

In the midst of being in a funk today (Sunday seems to be funk day lately), I got in the car this afternoon & drove north (although the highway says west).

First off, let me say that while I love taking the train to work and such, I do miss driving my car on the open road...I like to drive.

Problem is, here there isn't really too much open road that isn't full of traffic or construction or both.

Anyway, I headed north on I-94. Once I got through the construction traffic (see, I told you so), I drove about another 30 minutes until I crossed the Wisconsin state line. Chicago is nicely nestled in between both Wisconsin and Indiana so you can hit either state pretty quickly. I guess this is a big deal coming from Texas where it can take 10 hours to leave the state.

I stopped at the typical first rest stop which is also the visitors station....complete with maps and LOTS of brochures. I picked up a state map and a handful of brochures that caught my eye and headed back out. You see I wasn't really searching for a particular destination, just a little driving and some scenery.

As I proceeded north a little further, I stopped at the Mars Cheese Castle. You know, Wisconsin....cheese....Wisconsin....cheese....

I didn't get any cheese believe it or not, but I did get some pumpkin bread mix and a 6 pack of Wisconsin brewed Spotted Cow beer.

That was it...my big day. I am now enjoying my Spotted Cow beer and looking forward to the day in the not so far future when I can stop at the exit that said, "Ski area"...signage complete with snowflake.

aaaaahhhh.....

I was able to get up at my freaking leisure this morning...yipeeee!!! I would like to stress that I am really disappointed that I didn't get to see the kids today, however that opportunity will come back next week.

It's chilly and overcast. I have coffee and a dog in a blanket (literally) wedged up next to me...I am listening to Nancy Wilson on vinyl and sitting cross-legged on my couch with my laptop surfing the web. This is close to a perfect morning right now...if it were in Hawaii, that would be better.

I think aside from grocery shopping and possibly hitting 2 record stores, "I've got nothin'" for the rest of the day....goody for me.

Boo Hoo

My volunteering plan for tomorrow was cancelled... :( I am so horribly sad! It was with the same children's home, however it was a different program. This was called "Recreation at Lydia Home" where you take a group on a field trip. We were supposed to go to the Shedd Aquarium. It was cancelled due to lack of volunteers....that totally and completely sucks.
I have emailed another coordiantor to see if I can get in to the "read with me" program tomorrow instead. This could easily become a habit.
Last week I did the "News room" group with the 12-17 yr. old boys & had a really good time with that.
Anyway, in the event that I don't do my thing tomorrow, I'm actually looking forward to the cold, rainy day...it means I don't have to leave the house and I can accomplish junk indoors that desperately needs to be done.
...of course my 3 weeks of laundry isn't going to get done by sitting inside my cozy house now is it????

She's got the biggest, balls of them all!

...to quote a fabulous old AC/DC song....oh, am I dating myself???

The MCA (Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art) hosts a Stitch N Bitch "party" (as they call it, not us) once a month free every 3rd Tuesday. Tonight Sarah & I met there and hung out for about an hour or so knitting with some new peeps and having a beer.

There was a local artist, Pate Conaway, who knits with gigantic needles and gigantic cotton "yarn"...it was pretty entertaining to see....very cool. We were total dorks and took our picture with him to post on our knitting blog...

Wow, as Sarah put it, "we're knitting groupies"....I could just die....

who woulda thought?

...that on Oct. 21st 2007, I would be on Lake Michigan, on a boat, wearing a bikini in 80 degree weather????

It was a great day! A bit windy, and there were spots on the lake that were insanely choppy so as we flew across the lake, quite a bit of water came into the boat & got us soaked. The water was 65 degrees. Not cold for a day's weather, but quite cold when its water that is being thrown at you in the wind. Nevertheless, it was still a great day. ....and no, this isn't my actual picture...we were to the right side of the Hancock building

which is the one just right of the middle with the two antennae...again the lake was amazing....

...oh yeah, did I tell you that I love this city?

Cool, cool, cool

I went to Wicker Park last night for dinner & drinks....what an awesome neighborhood!
I had the most amazing sandwich at Silver Cloud. It was basically thanksgiving on bread and the stuffing tasted like my mom's. Then I had drinks at a bar called Rodan which was kind of lounge, mellow, weirdness. The mirror in the bathroom was actually a screen with a camera filming you as you were looking at yourself. It was strangely creepy and sexy at the same time.
I had a drink called the bubbletini :) Yum....
I can't wait to go back during the day to shop. There are a TON of cool shops and yet MORE places to eat & drink....
I love this city :)
...oh yeah, thanks to Steph for the suggestions! Hope you find a home for the kitty.

my b--tches are growing...

Stitch N' Bitch is getting bigger and bigger every week! When I started going there were initially 6 people, then there were several weeks where there were only anywhere from 2-4. The last several weeks we've been hitting around 8!!! Woo Hoo! Now that we've changed locations & started going to Morseland, we've even got our own waiter every week. With all that being said, if you're local & you're checking this out, feel free to check us out at...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/snb_edgewater

We're known to stitch, bitch, have a cocktail or two, and engage in sinful desserts :)

Loot!

Today I decided that while I NEED to clean my house, I WANT to go shopping.
I tried to go to the local Gap however it is in a tiny mall with lots of stores I don't really frequent...like Hot Topix, Journeys, Great Clips, etc.... In that respect I was spoiled in Dallas....all the big retailers that you find on Michigan Ave. were in one mall 3 blocks from my house...and I'm used to that.
So with that being said, I took the El downtown to go to Michigan Ave. First off, there was the observation of the mentally ill woman on the train who couldn't decide whether to cry, laugh, or bang on the window yelling "Jesus...Jesus!"...she had a fit because the train line has construction going on & the train wasn't going to hit the underground stops...we were informed of this 2 stops beforehand (which was a little late in my opinion). She grabbed the emergency door pull & proceeded to scream, "oh no, the door is NOT going to close until you tell me where the fuck this train is stopping!". The drama went on & on so I got off & switched to another line which meant more walking for me...
ANYWAY...I had a great time at the gigantor Gap, then as I left I decided to try to ride the bus & see if I could find my way around. I took the bus up to a street I knew, got off, proceeded back to the El, and accidentally found a thrift shop called, "Land of the Lost". Which by the way was one of my favorite of the Sid & Marty Kroft shows of the 70's...right up there with Wonderbug.
So in summary, I totally scored today. I got a $150 pair of Seven For All Mankind cords for $20, a Les Baxter album for $3, and a groovy vintage purse for $10.
I topped this off with a stop at the local Mexican grocery store because I didn't feel like driving to Jewel Osco. I can't get over how much better the produce & meat is and it's dirt cheap. I paid $1.50 for fresh sun dried tomatoes & $1.49 for tomatoes on the vine! Crazy!
Add this on to the Gap purchases (partially paid for by Champ...thanks!) AND the 2 mini skirts I got at Old Navy yesterday on sale for $3.97 each and I would say it was success all the way around.
Happy Birthday to me!

Holy Brrrrr Batman!

Sunday it was 88 & people were dropping like flies at the Chicago marathon, and today it was 54 & quite windy.
I wore a pea coat, a scarf and gloves.....yikes... even Radar has to wear his sweater when we go on his "real" walk.
I can't believe that all of a sudden I'm online looking for down jackets...the pea coat is nice but it ain't gonna cut it here in the Midwest!
Also, I'm so conditioned to Texas weather that I KNOW I would have turned on the heat today down there. I don't have that option here as the furnace hasn't been turned on yet, therefore I've got a couple of blankets on the bed & I'm trying to bribe Radar to sleep nice & close...if he wants to get fed he knows whats good for him!

Volunteering....

As I made this move in life, I had a few things in mind that I wanted to do but have put off....

Get my jewelry business back on track, start going to church, and begin doing volunteer/charity work.

You've gotta start somewhere...I volunteered yesterday at a children's home called Lydia Home. http://www.lydiahome.org/ I signed up for a program called "Read with me". Each week a different group of children is chosen to come down and read with a volunteer. They are not all eligible as it's based on behavior the week before.

You get paired up with one child and they pick a book to read to you. You simply help them along if they need it and have conversation with them. We did that for about an hour, then played outside for about 30 minutes, then we took them to McDonald's (each volunteer pays for one child's lunch). What a blast. For only 3 hours of my Saturday it was totally worth it. I have signed up for another event at the same place called "News Room". In that one a group comes down & we read a current article with them and have questions and discussions about it. I'm looking into one more as well called "Recreation" at Lydia Home where we actually go on a field trip...it could be a museum, park, zoo, ball game, etc...
If you want to get, you've got to give...

House full o' bitches!

I hosted Stitch n' Bitch this week due to an overabundance of food & alcohol leftover from my party.....and because I like my girls!
We had about 8 people show up which I think is the most I've seen so far. It was very cool, relaxed, and probably one of the best ones we've had.
Thanks so much to Sarah for always organizing things & keeping everyone informed!
We're thinking about doing some sort of charity work. Just another project to add to the mix.
Speaking of charity, I'm volunteering tomorrow at Lydia's house. It's a home for families & children in need of support and/or foster care outside of the public system. I'm going to read to kids ages 6-12 for a few hours, then we take them to lunch...I'm really looking forward to it....
....a full report to come later! Have a great weekend!

It ain't a party 'till somethin' gets broke

...as the old saying goes...except the hostess shouldn't be the one to break things!

I had a fabulous party Saturday night!!! I had about 15 people total which was perfect. It was a nice mix of personalities & I think everyone got along really well.

I figure if I didn't get to bed until after 4:00 am, it must have been good....only thing is I am WAY too old to be up that late anymore!

Thanks SO much to everyone who showed up. I really appreciated it and it was an absolute blast....keep your calendars open, I'll start planning my next one soon!

I have SO much booze & food leftover that I'm hosting this weeks Stitch n' Bitch at my house....it should be a blast. I'll report on that after tomorrow night. Knitting girls drinking....always a good idea!

I think I'll go open my 2nd after-work beer now...well I can't let it all go to waste now can I?????