the nicest day of the year

good song, great video

Nearly as great as my shiny blue outfit dance moves.

PS. This is Feist. Song is 1 2 3 4, album is The Reminder

an excuse to wear my headlamp around for the night

The other day it rained a lot in Chicago. The winds that came blew a lot too. They blew with intensity seen in hurricanes and our power went out. We bought some ice to save our condiments, went to dinner across the street because oddly enough they had power, and sweat like exercise as we tried to sleep. Things could have been a lot worse though. For the last two days downed trees and smashed cars have caught the attention of our sleepy little village. Neighbors step around the damage and say to others "boy, hope that wasn't your car." Thankfully, none of them were ours but I can only guess that if I still owned my Corolla it would have been just my luck to come home from work and find it smashed beneath a house or something.

sweet summer

I can't believe it....my summer officially concludes on Sunday. It has been a wonderful time of relaxation and rejuvenation. But alas it is back to the real world of early mornings and busy schedules. So I say goodbye to sleeping in, enjoying coffee on the deck, walking with Sadie, and not worrying about much of anything. Here are reflections on my sweet, memorable summer.

Taylor St. Fest

Pww, Pww... Eucher Nights!

Family Vacation in SoCal

Picnic and Fire Works on the 4th

Michael Turns 21!

Anniversary Dinner at Tru

Sadie has a cousin, Nikki's Lulu

Movie in Grant Park with our Small Group

Architecture Tour on the River

Summer isn't complete without the Cubbies

Swimming Sadie in Michigan

Michigan Sunsets

DINKOC

Double Income, No Kids, One Car. This is who Brooke and I are now. We sold my Corolla last night and it is kind of a strange feeling. What if Brooke is gone doing those things that she does and all of a sudden I have need to drive to Canada so I can watch some hockey? I'll be stuck here in Illinois. Hockeyless.

The guy who bought my car came by last night at 10:30, gave it a test drive, knocked on the metal a little bit, kicked the tires, said some things to his friend and bought it. It was dark and rainy and if you ask me not the most ideal time to buy a car. But, this is the same way we sold our last car. Late at night. All wet and rainy and it sold. Strangest thing. Maybe its Brooke and I that are the strange ones but all I know is that guy is in for a suprise when the steering wheel pops right off.

dizziness and squeaky toys may not be a healthy combination

Our dog has allergies. For real. Sneezy, itchy allergies. At least this is the vets best guess. He doesn't really know for sure but did prescribe us some doggy allergy medicine that included some very helpful information. First, Sadie apparently has a full name:

Sadie F. Dog. At least this is how the Walgreens guy and the bottle identifies our dog.

For short: Ms. Dog. And starting now I will be going by Mr. Person.

Secondly, some very helpful warnings:


Driving cars? Come now, she has paws. And very short legs. This makes it tough to reach the pedals.

Dangerous machinery? As long as Sadie doesn't pick up woodworking or glass blowing I think we'll be ok.

Dizziness? This might cause pukyness and that might just suck. Especially when she's drinking all that alcohol.

jesus is my homeboy

There are a lot of things people do to differentiate themselves from the masses. Walking around Chicago one will see people with mohawks, piercings all over their faces, witty shirts that say "I Put the Stud in Study" and so on. There is one problem though. Try as they may there is always somebody else with a taller mohawk, more holes in their face, and stupider t shirts.

Today I made a discovery. If you want to be different from every other person in the city...wash your own car. In the street. With a very long hose. I could hear them as they walked by "Dear me...do you see that Betty? I think that young man is...dare I say? Warshing his own vehicle? I don't think I've seen such a thing since the Carter administration." (for whatever reason, in my head these people have very proper southern accents). Then, of course, you've got the moron who says "give you 5 bucks to wash mine"...to which I reply "give you 10 bucks never to wear a shirt asking me if I've Got my Tickets to the Gun Show yet."

number one goal: stop renting

I just switched jobs and for the past two weeks I have been in intensive sales training. I now work for an IT consulting company in the city and had a lot to learn. Each day began with a quiz and the two weeks ended with a presentation. It felt like finals week and the last thing I wanted to do was say something to the internet. But finals week is done and now I get to do real work and blog again....right after an episode of The Hills.

Sometime last week I read a post on dooce.com about how much time it took her to hang her picture frames straight. This got me to thinking about the apartment Brooke and I live in. If you haven't been here, or even if you have, you may not know that our three flat was built by tiny little cross eyed elves. Leadman Elf, who was probably used to building trees and baking cookies, looked at a bubble level, tossed it to the side and said "eh, let's just eyeball it"...his little team of elfs all carrying little tiny elf hammers in little tiny elf toolbelts shouted in unison "what a great idea!" Photos are impossible to hang straight...I readjust a photo above the coffee pot every freakin morning. Dinner glasses look like they'll slide off the table and our balance is always out of equilibrium so when we step outside we just tip right over. It's so embarrassing.