I’m Thirsty

Things I shouldn’t do to Justin:

• Instead of asking if I can have a drink of water, I say “I’m thirsty.” It is assumed that water will be delivered shortly after.
• Instead of asking if the garbage can be taken out, sometimes I just state that “It smells.” I can’t remember the last time I took out the garbage. Maybe a couple years ago when he was away at Oxford for awhile??
• “I’m cold.” Usually involves blanket rearranging, feet sitting on, frozen hands warmed via belly heat. Not nice.
• Complain when all the lights are on in the house when I get home late. This is because he doesn’t want me to trip and fall in the dark when I enter the house. I am stupid sometimes.
• Delegate any bedtime Schween nuzzing to him, even though he is allergic to her poisonous face/nose wetness and breaks out in a Schween rash. I mean really?
• Elbow him in his sleep if he is sick and happens to be snoring because of it. I would be so mad if someone elbowed me.

So clearly, I am not that awesome sometimes. I’m really painting a picture of my evil self, but I assure you that I am capable of daily niceties as well (right, Justin??). Anyway, the moral of the story is that Justin takes care of me and my often silly needs. I am glad that he can put up with my freezing hands/feet and never-ending thirst. And still love me enough to take punches in the middle of the night and then go to sleep next to me the next evening.

Wonderful Husband/Foot Warmer. ❤

Slumladies “Meelllllin-air”

I got to spend last night with some of my favorite OLAYadies (+ Andrea). Dinner was at the Grand Lux (megatouristy, but megagood none the less). You have to order the Asian nachos to share as an appetizer. If you are with Amber, make sure she has a plate of her own and stay at a safe distance. I am also guilty of this shameless nacho behavior on occasion. The portions are outrageously enormous, just like most all of the other downtown touristy restaurants. You should share the full orders with someone at your table or get appetizers as we did, unless you want to haul 5 lbs of take-home food with you around the city afterward.

Also, don’t forget your ID if you want to even think about having a glass of wine or a cocktail at the Lux. They are insane about carding. No matter what your age. Marjorie thought the waitress was kidding when she was asked to show hers. Pam was asked, too. But they both work on a skincare account and have good genes, so I am actually not shocked they were carded. I ‘ve also been there with my former boss, Anne, when she was refused a glass of wine because she didn’t have her ID. She’s 28 for heaven’s sake.

The wonder in her expression kills me. It’s a great food face.

Pam and Andrea’s coveted Ahi plate.

And then Andrea was abducted. Right from the movie theater lobby. She’s cool with it.

After dinner, Andrea, Casey and I walked around the corner to the movie theater at 600 N Michigan. It is really weird in there. Just strangely designed. We did make it safely into our seats after 1 Photoshop disaster, an alien abduction, and a movie-sized package of peanut M&M’s.

We were all a little behind the times and hadn’t seen the big Oscar winner, Slumdog Millionaire. I have to say that I really enjoyed it, and was very impressed by the way it was shot. I LOVED hearing the line “who wants to be a Meelllllin-air!!?” over and over. I couldn’t watch a couple of the scenes involving the beggar children. It was tough to take. I think that Benjamin Button was a better movie, but the two are so different that they are difficult to compare. Slumdog does have a fantastic soundtrack though. Jai Ho!! (Tally ho if you are Casey.)

Pet Rocks and Waterbed Boating

I didn’t grow up on the internet. I was not on Facebook in high school or college. I did have a dial-up modem and an AOL screen name by the time I was in middle school (Kitty0000000), but was not online even a fraction of the time I spend on here today. Although I didn’t grow up here, I am now a grown-up here. What did I do before? Talk on the phone??! Use the Encyclopedia? Develop film instead of uploads?!? Yipes.

Most of my waking hours are spent on the computer. I am not proud of this, but it is how my life is set up right now. Sometimes I envy those who have jobs where they are not sitting at the machine all day long. My friend’s mom is a florist, and barely uses email. CRAZY—or crazy good? I just can’t fathom checking my email only once every couple days. Sometimes I will send one to someone that doesn’t live on their computer. Often, these people won’t respond for a few days. WHAT? Why aren’t they checking it? Immediately?!? Why isn’t Gmail open in one of the tabs of their browser at all times? Then I remember that some people are still normal humans that can survive more than 24 hours without the internet. Astounding.

I grew up before the birth of the internet– or at least the explosion of the online world that I know and love today. What did I do for fun? Built rock houses….as in multilevel shoebox condos with handmade furniture–for rocks. Went boating…in a laundry basket on my parent’s water bed. Puppet shows and puppet dentist (yep). Had clubhouses and tree houses that were totally awesome. Built full stores with drive-thru windows out of ever-present moving boxes in the basement. Popped tar bubbles in the road (the best)! Rode the unicycle…um yes. Captured the flag. Built forts. Played in the creek. I am sure my brother could add some classics to this list as well. When we were little ones, we played everywhere except the internet.

My friends and I grew up imagining up our own fun, rather than having it served up instantly online. My family did eventually get a Commodore 64 that had some pretty sweet games. We even had a sweet joystick controller! I can’t honestly claim that I never sat at a machine during my entire childhood, but the majority was spent away from it. Are young kids totally glued to it these days? I don’t really know a ton of kids I guess, but I feel like they are more plugged in than ever. That is a generalization of the modern child I suppose, but what do I know? Will I let my own kids hang out on the computer for hours? I may be guilty of romanticizing my own internet-free childhood to an extent, but sometimes I wonder if I would have grown into the creative person that I am today if I had been online instead of outside. Maybe I would have be more exposed to new ideas online and thus more creative? Hmmmm…

Being an adult that hangs out online all day, I just can’t see living without it at this point. It broadens my little world and I adore it. It also brings my favorite people within close reach and I can talk (type) to them at a moment’s notice. Even if they are “Away,” they still seem close by. I am not a crier—maybe once a year if that—but when a computer crashes and dies I will get all snot faced and emotional about it. (I just realized how pathetic last sentence is…insert *sad crying emoticon*) And nothing frustrates me more than a loss of an internet connection. I would certainly like to be on the computer less than I am now, but that probably won’t happen for me for awhile considering what I do for a living.

Tonight, I just started using Google Reader (late bloomer), which is a whole new addiction that I am enjoying. Why didn’t I use it before? I ask myself this every time new technology comes into my life. When I get my iPhone someday I will probably kick myself for a full month for waiting so long. Then inevitably break it and probably cry in public.

DPH’s:

I ❤ the internet for helping me find things like this: "Artist Meschac Gaba imagined a city of sugar, and then built it. He filled it with instantly recognizable landmarks from around the world, such as the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, the London Eye, Petronas Towers, the Reichstag, the Empire State Building, and more..."

I also ❤ not being online. I have yet to meet a computer than can produce sunshine, food, or tulips. Until that day, I still pick actually living over being plugged in.

It’s Spring!

Spring!?!

Oh wait. Cruel joke.

No, it’s not spring. But it is at Macys! How insanely jealous I am of the manikins in the spring themed windows on State Street. I feel like a wide eyed kid at the zoo when I pass by to ogle the bursting blossoms within. This whole display is pretty mean to us Chicagoans if you ask me. Would Fields have taunted our tortured February souls?!! (Yeah, probably so). I do not want to buy your stupid sandals and your stupid tank tops. If you look closely into the reflection of the second window, you can see a furry parka hood with a Canon. That’s me.

Not Sick

I  didn’t do a proper post yesterday because Justin is really sick with the flu. After work, I was taking care of the patient and then went to bed at about 8 pm. I am really trying not to get this flu thing he has, so I guess my DPH from yesterday is Emergen-C. It is the go-to vitamin of choice for my family. It helps with jet-lag and sickness prevention. I have tried Airborne as well, which is fine, but I feel this stuff is slightly more of a miracle. Sorry for the lameness of this post, but I’m  really very happy that I’m not on the couch in the same state as Justin is.

Delicious Health

Three Worrisome Things

Look who is home!

Yayyyy.

The felines are pleased that he is back with us, safe and sound. This morning we had a conversation that went like this:

“Justin, I am worried about three things. Number one—”

Schween interrupts here and says “Meep”

“Number two–”

“MRAP,” Schween says with a blink.

“Number three–”

“Meeeeaah. Myam,” Schween adds from cooked-turkey position at the end of the bed.

So to summarize, Schween told Justin she’s worried about those three things and immediate action should be taken according to feline law. This is the first conversation he had upon entering the house. He has it pretty rough.

The felines however, do not have it rough. At all. I am reminded of this everytime I am in the hallway bathroom. There is a cute little dish of water sitting on the sink:

The finer things club for cats

They drink from nothing else. People have asked many times why there’s a dish of water there. Why wouldn’t there be? Porpus will not have anything to do with it after Schween has sullied it. She sits up there and says “Prralllllao” until someone comes to freshen it for her. This happens anywhere from 2-5 times a day.

Speaking of useless and unsolicited information, I am in the bathroom a lot, too. Glad to know that? No? It is just an annoying side effect of drinking gallons of water everyday as I love to do. So while I’m in there, I like to admire my surroundings. I think the plants along the window and the little bird light and candle holder along the wall are my favorites.

Last but not least is the handwashing finale. If you haven’t tried Caldrea products, I highly recommend them. The  bottle of Ginger Pomelo cleaner I bought is going to last me for a few years. Smells amazing, saves money, and saves…Earth? Then there are the hand soaps and lotions. Nothing leaves your hands and bathroom smelling more amazing. The Basil Blue Sage is a man-friendly scent for a shared or guest bathroom. And I love the patterns on the labels as well. They are a small luxury worth every penny if you are in the bathroom half as much as I am.

Fancy stuff.

Swap

I like to transport goods around the city without use of a personal vehicle.

I haven’t owned a car for a few years, and rarely miss it in the city. But sometimes it takes creative maneuvering to get things done. Grocery shopping is the first thing that may come to mind. I use Peapod. Problem is happily solved. The main thing to remember when transporting things around without the use of a car, is that you can’t be afraid of what people think about you during your haul. I brought a Christmas tree on the Clark bus, wheeled a couch from the store down the center of a street for 3-4 blocks on a dolly, and challenged cabbies to fit porch furniture into their vehicle. Sometimes I have to break down and borrow a friends car (shout-out to Foxy Focus) or rent a U-haul pickup to go to IKEA (never again.) But usually I can get everything I need just fine without driving a car. Last night my friends participated in a clothing swap. So I hauled a load of clothes around the snowy city streets via bus, cab, and man (woman) power . Worked out splendidly.

The clothing swap rules are pretty simple.

1. Clean out your closet. The stuff that you haven’t worn in a year will probably never be worn. Get over the jeans that are at least 3 sizes too small. Make a pile of rejected clothing and accessories then put them in a bag (or suitcase).
2. Roll suitcase through the snow and slush and salt. Annoy people on the bus with your soggy over-stuffed suitcase. Roll it down Diversey and annoy the Trixies that are wearing skirts in 20 degree weather on a Saturday night.
3. Lay out your unwanteds in the living room. This area serves as the store. Our host, Sarah, had even made clothing “racks” this year and had a clever accessory set up in the center of the room.
4. Drink and eat. Margaritas and homemade tamales.
5. Shop. For Free! Make sure to make fun of the items that have been there before. Especially that ugly necklace I like to bring. And the comedy/tragedy earrings from 1995 that are both fittingly tragic. If you are a small person, you will make out like a bandit, because most of the clothes that were brought in are there because the rest of us can’t fit into them anymore. This is due to seasonal butter disorders and poor laundering decisions.

I scored the cute burlap tote. For the farmer's market.

Sadly the minty kitten heels were too small. Want.

Accesory holder man

Dear Snow,

Please stop.

Too Sweet to be Sour

I am not feeling well. Mehhhh. So I took off from work early and had a couple hours to nap/spoon Schween. I really don’t want to get full-blown sickness, but I am on the edge… so I am pushing fluids, vitamins, and chocolate.

Antioxidants! Because I don't have any green tea or blueberries.

So in hopes of having a Saturday, I am sacrificing my Friday to the internet, couch, and iChat. Thanks to a good friend for participating in this truly exciting evening from afar. Let’s just call him Dan. A note to those I chat with during the day: Do not be afraid. Your chats will not be posted without permission. Ryan might post them though. And tag you in it. So be careful with him.

I am clearly the tiny raptor in the conversation. Yay.

During my stumbling about the “world wide web” as Amber might say, I came across these:

So stinking cute. Check out Pepe and Friends to see the whole collection. “Pepe and his Friends are an adorable new posse whose mission is to brighten up your kitchen. Bonnie, Momo, Sir Randolf and the gang come fully equipped to help you serve in style. Cute is the new cool.”

If you are into mischievous tableware, but are looking for something more subtlety playful than Pepe, check out Jorine Oosterhoff’s Mad Hatter set:

"Jorine Oosterhoff has infused mischief into this team of hatted henchmen. The playful, anthropomorphic dishes are made of flawless porcelain and come in three increasingly cheeky sizes: Mad, Madder and Maddest."

I would probably opt for the Mad Hatter set for myself. Speaking of mischievous tableware…remember the sugar pot from Sword in the Stone? It is so naughty:

In need of a time-out in the cupboard.

I would love to find a sugar pot just like that one..with little porcelain arms and a spoon held high. Let me know if you see anything like this.

My own tableware is somewhat less playful than the previous examples, but I do really love it. But how much better would it be if it looked like this:

No worries. It's not sharpie...just crapo photoshop.

Smells Like Happy

*Sniff*...ahhhh

My kitchen smells so flippin good. These lilies are stinking up half of the house. In a good way. Their aroma is leaking into the dining room, two rooms away. They are sitting pretty on the kitchen counter and the only thing that would make them better is if they were Stargazer lilies. I can forgive them.

Justin is basically gone for 3 days…with the exception of sleeping here…I think? There’s a group of his buddies in town for one of the last bachelor parties of the crew. I clearly want nothing to do with it. (He will not be around to help with my typos–Ryan please advise.)

So I am sniffing lilies and talking to myself/cats. It isn’t half bad. And I am really looking forward to the clothing exchange, margaritas and delicious Ruark food that I will be sharing with a bunch of rad ladies this weekend! Not only will it make me clean out my entire closet and both dressers, but it is a very *recession* friendly idea. (First and last time I use *that word* on Megagood…unless I am laid off of course. The internet doesn’t need another site talking about it. I’m not ignorant of what is going on.. I just don’t want to write about it on here. We get it.)

The real excitement of the day was hard to capture in a photo. It is hopefully the subject of many future DPH photos, but it is yet to be confirmed. I am planning my first vacation alone with Justin! Yeah, this is year 3 of our marriage and the 6th year of our relationship. Yes, of course we have been on vacations and trips together. A lot of really great ones. BUT…it was all to visit family or friends. NEVER…(there was no honeymoon) have we gone on a trip together as a couple. This has to stop. By the time I turn 26. Which is coming up in May.

After a lot of research on places to stay in Door County, Wisconsin, I think I found it. Blacksmith Inn on the Shore. If you know of anything better up there, please let me know. Justin doesn’t know about this yet. But he will surely be on board. I think there are some wineries to visit.

Hopefully I can upload some good DPH after our trip that looks like this…(only more macro I am sure):