Another weekend bites the dust..

I feel like this weekend contained a smorgasbord of events and feelings. Friday kicked off with me wearing my crabby pants. Here in Chicago we have been VERY fortunate this winter season. Except for a few flurries and chilly days the weather has been mild.  However, that took a turn late last week.  By Friday morning the city was a freezing winter wonderland. As pretty as it was, it caused all sorts of dilemmas for me as I chose an outfit to wear to a friend’s dinner party.  In the end, I settled on my crabby pants which are NEVER a good clothing choice. Luckily, I have stellar friends that enforced a strict dress code of NO CRABBY PANTS allowed. I shook those right off!  A wonderful taco dinner was hosted, followed by a game of Apples to Apples (yours truly won!), a snow ball fight on the rooftop and awesome conversation. Before I knew it the Mr. and I were coming home at 2am – for those who know me, this is OH, SO LATE for me.  Sadly, I didn’t capture any photos from Friday. I blame the crabby pants. Ha.

Saturday was sunny and inviting! I was ready to take the day by storm.  Bryan and I headed to brunch at Bakin’ and Eggs - a restaurant we first heard about on Check, Please! After seeing the show, it seemed everyone was taking about it. Then, I saw a Groupon for it. Perfect-o! The reviews and hype did not disappoint. 

After brunch we met up with a couple of friends to check out the Logan Square neighborhood. 

Logan Square has a ton of street art - this is one that I fell in love with.

First on our stop was a record store called Bucket O’ Blood. I was super excited to see a punk section. We picked up this gem:

 

And, not photographed we also purchased George Carlin’s memoir. Bryan read the first 3 pages in the store and couldn’t put it down.

Since brunch didn’t offer adult beverages we were a bit thirsty for a little afternoon delight. We headed to Revolution  to sample some local brews. The place was PACKED! I had gone, once before, years ago and thought it was OK. Second time around, I still think it’s just OK. It isn’t worth a long wait time. From there we checked out a thrift store, strolled around a bit and then spent the rest of the night laughing, chatting and sippin’ at The RockingHorse (I highly recommend this place).

Sunday was bad news… I was sick, sick, sick! No, not from the brews the night before – but, something got me late Saturday night and was not kind. However, by Sunday afternoon, the demon inside me left and the Mr. and I got to the weekly chores. After all was cleaned, washed and put away we snuggled up on the couch for a movie night, as the ice storm carried away outside.

Overall – the weekend was a mixed bag of great highs and a few lows. I’m already on to thinking about next weekend. 

Painting - It's my favorite

As I mentioned before, I've recently moved my art stuff from the closet to the main floor in our tiny apartment. I've been painting for almost all of my life, but seriously, for close to 20 years. I thought I would pursue art in college and make a career out of it. But, then reconsidered after I realized how much my student loans would cost me for even going to college... to major in anything! I don't regret my decision. I still paint and it is something very personal and dear to me. I love painting for myself and love it even more when I paint for someone else. Recently, my sister asked me to paint letters to hang above my niece's crib. Side note: Nora Bridgett was born January 7. She is simply perfect!

My sister gave me a link to show me what idea she was thinking and colors of Nora's room, but gave me free range to produce my own masterpiece.  Here's the final.. I hope Nora grows up cherishing this and having it adorn her bedroom walls for many years.

 

And, I'm in process of working on my next. It's going to be for our bedroom. I'm excited to finish it!!

 

 

Ah, Weekends..

                                     
This weekend flew by! Bryan and I headed out Saturday afternoon to the suburbs for an overnight babysitting date with my nieces, Ava (8) and Emma (5). No matter how epic the journey seems when leaving the city to head anywhere it's always worth it to spend time with family! But before our weekend away, we had to fit in a celebration. Why? Oh, Bryan received his work authorization and permanent residence cards!!!! We are still in SHOCK at how easy this process ended up being!  Also, we can't imagine having done it without the amazing help of the Chicago Irish American immigration services. We are forever grateful.  So, Friday night we headed to a friends house for MANY laughs, a few adult beverages and a round of Apples to Apples. Such good times. Also, this weekend we purchased tickets for two concerts. We now have concerts book til April. They are:

• Hot Water Music/Menzingers at the end of January at The Metro
• Brendan Kelly (from Lawrence Arms) and The Wandering Birds in February at The Beat Kitchen
• Allister in March at Reggis
• Bad Region/Against Me! in April at The Congress

So far 2013 is proving to offer good gigs in Chicago. I'm hoping we can keep this going for the rest of the year. We LOOOOOOVE going to concerts. And, all of the venues except The Congress are small, which is the best!

Other highlights from the weekend, I worked more on my next painting. This is for our bedroom. I treated myself to a new nail polish and we surfed the Internet for couches. I think we are pretty much sold on a sleeper sofa from IKEA.

A few photos I captured from this weekend..

 

 

                                    

Summer Dreamin'

It’s a blustery 16f/-9c today in Chicago and I think it’s a perfect time to write out my summer wish list. All weekend I’ve been dreaming of summer nights and adventures I long to have. So, here goes it:

·         Taking in as many outside concerts as possible – I take advantage of this every summer, but I want to do it MORE. From Grant Park, to local parks, street festivals and Millennium Park live music is constant during the summer. A major plus; picnic baskets with adult beverages are allowed. Oh, AND, most of the live music is FREE!

 

·         A day trip to Starved Rock State Park (located about 3 hours west of the city) I’ve gone before, but never for the entire day. I really want to take in the beauty and hike until my legs feel like Jell-O!  

 

·         Roof top hang outs!! It seems like every building in Chicago has a roof top open in the summer. I want to explore them all! Well, ok that’s not going to happen. I do need to be mindful of my budget friendly 2013 resolution. However, I do want to visit a couple swanky ones downtown and hit up a few neighborhood ones this summer.  

 

·         Road trip to Tennessee! Specifically, I want to camp in the Smokey Mountains.  I’m hoping to get a group for a weekend trip… I mean it’s only 9 hours from Chicago. That’s nothing.

 

·         Saved the best for last… Bryan and I are getting bikes this summer!! I CAN’TWAIT. I’m super excited and already have day dreams of coming home from work – packing a picnic dinner and biking up to the lake with him. Ahh… pure bliss.

However, for now, I will enjoy the winter nights snuggled in watching movies, painting and reading.  I will continue to appreciate the beauty of when the early morning sunlight hits the trees to show off their glistening, frozen branches.  In my opinion, there is something completely romantic about Chicago in the winter.

 

       

Yep, New Year = Resolution Post!

2012 has certainly been a year! I’m thinking back to the start and can’t believe just as I rang in 2012 with Bryan, I saw it go and welcomed 2013 with him. And, this time as his WIFE! Whoa! Getting married has been, by far, the BEST highlight of 2012 for me (us).  So much of 2012 was about him and me. We truly didn’t know what was going to happen with us until, each moment came to be. And, that was hard! I’ve mentioned before I will share our entire immigration process, but I won’t until it’s complete.  Currently, we are days away from our big interview with the Department of Homeland Security… ugh. Once all is well and done I’ll happily share our story and experience. For now, I’ll get back to reflecting on 2012 and focusing on the New Year.  

2012 brought some great concerts into my life. I hate that I can’t remember them all and swear to make a better effort to track in 2013. Sidenote: note sure if I should worry about my memory… am I losing it at the ripe age of 32? So, here goes what I can recall:

·         Alkaline Trio at Metro

·         Lawrence Arms at Metro (January 7, 2012)

·         Two Gallants at Lincoln Hall

·         The Tossers at Metro

·         O.A.R. at Northerly Island (with my sisters)

·         Bouncing Souls/Menzingers at Metro

·         Menzingers/Bayside/Taking Back Sunday at Lupo’s in Providence, RI

·         Smoking Popes/Matt Skiba & The Sekrets at Metro

·         Matt Skiba solo at Double Door

·         Lawrence Arms at Metro (November 24, 2012)

·         A couple good street festivals with good local music

 

After looking at this list, the first resolution I’m making for 2013 is to attend more concerts!!  In that vein, in order for me to attend more concerts I need to be more conscious of my budget!

I was TERRIBLE with money in 2012. I think with the excitement of Bryan being in Chicago in conjunction with just wasteful spending, 2012 was not financially on my side.  For 2013, I need to be more mindful of where the earned money goes.  We are now a one income household until Bryan gets his work authorization card. And, we still don’t know when that might be.  So, 2^nd resolution for 2013 is to stick to a budget! 

For my 3^rd resolution, I’m digging deep to admit this – I get way too worked up over the little things! I need to relax.  I learned some hard lessons in 2012 both in my personal and professional life. There are many elements/people that come into our lives that we can’t control. We can ONLY control our reactions and interactions. This is such an important one for me to apply.  I allow insignificant/little things get my blood boiled only later to learn that person or thing was never worth the trouble.  So, I’m going to let the little things go and step back to relax when I need to gain perspective!

I’m jumping on the New Year’s bandwagon with my next one, but nonetheless it’s genuine. I need to continue focusing on my health. I quit smoking 2 years ago for a reason!  My lungs are still thanking me. What is NOT thanking me is my waistline. I don’t believe skinny is healthy – but I sure know that I don’t always make the best food choices nor exercise as much as I should.  Yep, yep, yep, we are all built differently, I know.  I also know I need to stay active. I love working out, well, I guess not THAT much since I’m not really doing so. Ha. I should say I LOVE working out in a gym or with certain equipment. In November 2011 my gym membership expired and I never renewed it.  Given the unknown course Bryan and I were taking I felt guilty about spending money on the gym.

Yet, in 2012, I justified spending way too much on a fancy dinner or drinks out? Ugh…

Anyhoo, I told myself that I’d work out at home doing videos or going out for walks. I even took up running – for about a month and then stopped. I got bored! Being in a gym keeps me going and my energy high.  I still feel I can’t afford the cost of a fancy health club membership; but thankfully my local park district is MUCH cheaper and offers the same amenities.   Also, this spring I want to join a team of some sort. I have friends that play on dodge ball, volley ball, softball … any ball leagues.  I want that and imagonna get it!  So, my 4^th resolution is to get back to being active...daily and join a league.

To round out my resolution list, my 5^th is to explore the city I live in more. Chicago is such a great city that doesn’t have a shortage of free or cheap events. From comedy to museums to music there always seems to be something.  I feel I capitalize more on these offerings in the summer than any other time, but truth is, who knows how long I’ll be in Chicago. I should and want to take full advantage while I’m here. Plus, this keeps in mind with my budget resolution!

 It’s truly amazing what a year can do- how different things can be. Never, ever, ever… ever underestimate what a year’s time can hold. 

Cheers to 2013! Love. Love.