Summer 2010 Recap

I did one of these bad boys last year, where I relived Summer 2010. I loved looking back at everything I did this summer - because it goes by SO fast, and you never really get a chance to digest.
As if on cue, the leaves have started changing and the weather is hovering between 50 and 70 degrees and IT IS GORGEOUS.

Without further adieu, my summer...
(OH! and many thanks to Miss Rachelle for supplementing posts about my summer!)

• Hosted a Derby Party.
• Got my car totaled, and subsequently got a new one.
• Celebrated my one year anniversary with Mike!
• Mike got me a kitteh for my birthday.
• Celebrated birthdays in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
• Had a BLAST at Chicago Pride Parade.
• Saw and criticized Eclipse.
• Gorged the Crystal Lake Fest.
• Went to the cabin and blogged my first recipe.
• I made THIS.
• Traveled to Massachusetts to visit Nana.
• Had a sangria recipe featured!
• Went to the cabin AGAIN.
• Made my first (and only) vlog.
• Attended a mustache themed bachelorette party!
• Met with a gaggle of amazing people in Chicago.
• Saw Jason Mraz and Dave Matthews at Wrigley Field.

Unfortunately, though this whole exercise, I realized that even thought I had a BLASTY this summer, I was REALLY whiny and sad pandas and a Donna Downer in most of my posts. I feel like it's safe to blame that on impulsive ranting, because I genuinely didn't feel that way during the glorious summer months.

Ah well. What's done is done and I'm a happy camper now. I looooved reminiscing May through September. But now! It's fall, and I am SO happy.
Next thing you know...

It's Christmas time.

Debbie Downer

So, quick story. I was on the phone with Debbie P. (my blessed, holy mother) a while back, and I made mention of someone being a "Debbie Downer" and she stopped me and goes, "WHERE did that come from?" And I laughed and laughed. She continued "I feel like I'm a really positive person, so I don't think that applies to me." And I continued to laugh and told her that I thought it came from an SNL skit, but I was met with resistance (when I retold this story). But, per Wikipedia, Debbie Downer DID, in fact, originate on SNL.

However, I made a vow to my mom that I would do my DAMNDEST to eradicate that term, or at the very least remove any reference of her name when attached to DOWNER.

The Fever.

I've got a fever. And, unfortunately, the remedy is not more cowbell.

I've heard people talk about the Baby Fever before, but I was always like, "No, no. That's not real"
But, it kind of is. And, I'm a survivor of The Fever.

No, but seriously, I want kids. I think I'd make a badass mom, and Mike an awesome dad. I have no doubt (and neither does Mike) that we will have kids and it will be ahhhhhmazing. But right now? No fucking way. I know there's never a right time to have kids. But there is a WRONG time, and for me, this is it.

I'm totes off track.
But lately, I've been feeling the pangs of The Fever. Mostly in the form of facebook updates by my peers who have had kids, or are having kids, or are newly pregs. Also, the ridiculously cute bloggers who have recently given birth.

I told Mike about this scary phenomenon the other day, and the best way I can describe it is that the emotional part of my brain gets crazy-whiny and is like, "Wait! I could totes handle a baby right now. It would have blue eyes. I can name it Sally! Or Don! I'll do the bedroom a mint green and I want to use cloth diapers. WAIT! I need to find a midwife, NOW!" and this continually escalates until I'm ACTUALLY researching midwives in our area and reading birth stories and sobbing.

But while this is going on, there's a quiet rational part of my brain going "No. Kids are a bad idea. We don't have enough money saved. You drive 1.5 hours to and from work. You don't even LIKE the name Sally and Don! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! STOP TYPING THAT INTO GOOGLE!" But by then it's too late, and I've bookmarked 3 sites and added 5 new names to my "Potential Baby Names" list.

I told Mike about this and he just laughed and laughed, because when it comes right down to it, that rational part always wins, and I'm able to laugh at it too. But by god, sometimes it is REALLY fun to indulge The Fever, and start reading about how cloth diapers REALLY work and whether there ARE any good midwives in the area.

BFFS! LYLAS!

OMG Guys! I made a new friend! Look what showed up in my inbox this morning!

Greetings,
My name is maryjen a good looking girl i saw your profile today in i became very interested to you .l like traveling and

meeting new
friends, So i will like to further communication
with you.

Please write to me through my email addres (redacted) so that i will communicate back to you wzith my photos.
YourS new friend maryjen Appia.thanks and god bless

I'm not sure where she saw my profile, or whether she's telling ME I'm a good looking girl, or that SHE is - but WHY question fate? The universe brought us together, and sometimes you don't necessarily understand the motives.

To my new friend - maryjen Appia!

Chicago Rendezvous

Over Labor Day weekend I had the distinct pleasure of finally uniting with the stunning Emily and the amazing Brittany. In short, it was awesome.

Friday:
I finally united with Brittany at the luxurious Hotel Blake on Printer's Row in Chicago. From the moment our eyes locked, it was magical.
By the time we met up, we had to act fast in order to 1) make Emily's WELCOME sign (We had to coerce Ian into lending us scissors. And then we had to cross our hearts and hope to die that we would bring them back in one hour, because they belonged to his manager)

Ian. Lovely Ian on our last night.

and 2) take the train to the airport...which neither of us had done before.

By the time we finished our sign, we hauled ass to catch the train that would take us to O'Hare. As we neared the station, the train stopped. And we waited, and waited and waited. All the while exchanging texts with Emily who had already landed. We were getting more and more panicky, because nothing says "WELCOME!" like leaving an out-of-town guest stranded at the airport, amiright?

We wandered O'Hare, unable to find Emily, and then? AND THEN? We saw her, we clumsily held up our sign, and we grabbed her and had a wonderfully creepy three way hug at the United baggage claim.

The rest of that evening was talking and laughing and asking questions and stating opinions and chatting about the things we already knew about each other thanks to blogging.

Friday night dinner

Saturday:
We woke up early with the tentative plan to show Emily the city. We visited "The Bean" (which is actually called Cloud Gate), Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and we walked and walked and walked. And then? We walked some more.

The Bean a.k.a Cloud Gate

We were tourists to the EXTREME. Taking pictures of anything and everything. Emily and I even got to pose in front of the GLEE window! Ahhhh-mazing.

Glee window!

We then tried, at around 5ish, to go to Skydeck, and The Ledge at the top of the Sears Tower. Mistake. The line wound around the block, and would take approximately 60 hours to get to the top, so we resolved to come back the next morning.
The rest of our night? Spent trying to recover from our WALK-A-THON.

Sunday:
We got up BRIGHT and early to make it to Skydeck at 8:30am, right when it opened. And word to the wise - THIS WAS THE BEST IDEA EVER. We were among 30 people who also had this idea. We didn't wait, we were able to leisurely look around and take pictures.
***If you ever visit Chicago, and have any desire to go to the Skydeck, GO WHEN IT OPENS.**

The Ledge

After this, we met up with Nate and headed to Myopic Books, and then I died and realized I was in Heaven. Floors and FLOORS of books. Used books. Small aisles. Sweet lord, it was GLORIOUS.

By this time, we needed to figure out WHERE Goose Island Brewery was, and with the combined efforts of Brittany, Nate and myself we FOUND it, and it was a huge team victory. We waited with bated breath for Phamasaurus and Jen to arrive and for our brewery tour to start. The tour was short and sweet, but the tasting - shit, that was fun. Some beers were DELIGHTFUL, but one, as Brittany said, smelled like straight up cat pee.

The dinner crew, minus Chad, Jen's darling husband!

And yes, Pham, Brittany and I composed Team Lightweight, and I paid for it the next day.

Team Lightweight.

After a delicious dinner, the ladies and Pham grabbed a nightcap at a little bar near the hotel, and we rounded out the night with a disappointing "Lobster" shot.

Disappointing.

Monday:
The saddest of all days. Again, we were up bright and early and I went to go grab my car in order to drive Miss Emily to the airport. We said our sad goodbyes to Brittany in front of the hotel, and Emily and I jammed to her Glee mix in the car. A good ending to a very cool weekend.

One of THOSE days

So today, I woke up in one of those moods. One where I feel like I am capable of eating babies. In fact, I used that very term when describing my mood today. And I'm not sure why.

Usually, I can shake it. I can look at pictures of puppies, or read some of my favorite blogs, and it will fade right quick. But today? This mood has really dug itself in, and doesn't seem to be budging. EVEN after I tried to placate it with a delicious Take5 bar. It seems as though I am on the verge of an Ugly Cry. Ladies? You hear what I'm saying?

But, I've got a plan. Tonight, I'm going to take Maddie: The Saddest Dog in the World for a leisurely walk. Hopefully, her joy will become my joy.
Then I'm going to make tacos for Mike, who will hopefully by thrilled by the prospect of OMG! TACOS! and his thrills will become my thrills.
This will be followed by cleaning the kitchen, and then I will feel accomplishment!
And then? I'm going to go to bed. Because there are some days that you just can't win, the the best option is to sleep on it.

But, tomorrow, I need to get it together. This can't overflow into another day.
On Tuesday I am waking up at 5am, and going for a walk/run (probably mostly walk), and then I am going to shower and wear an outfit I love and feel comfortable in.
I am going to put my new hair tousle-y spray in (it smells like violet, it's lovely) and make breakfast.
I am going to get out of bed on the RIGHT side, and I am going to be positive.
Because I am a GO GETTER, and a DO-er.