Juxtaposing

I love a good juxatapostion. And for me, there is none quite like big manly car vs a tiny, girly me. This case of opposite attraction occurred just before my 16th birthday and ended with me and my baby. A 1994 Toyota Landcruiser. This vehicle wasn't one I had grown to love after road trips and rush hour traffic; this is one that I aggresively and passionately loved. I told my neighbors every chance I got how much I loved their car, and magically enough it worked. A few short days after my 16th birthday that baby was mine, in exchange for 24 cold cans of Diet Coke. That car was everything to me, and not just because of the promises of freedom and the secrets it concealed, but because in a family of eight it was the one thing I had ever owned that was mine. It was not something my older sister could beg me to borrow and the rest of my siblings were far from driving age. Most Saturday mornings you could find me washing, waxing and vacuuming every inch of that baby until she shined like a penny. I even remember crying the time she choked to a stop in the right lane of Buckley Road. I remember thinking, "You can't die!"

It is these fond memories of my first car that make the death of my second one so cold. This one was newer, sportier and much girlier than my baby would ever be. She didn't even get a name. So after about 5 grand and a resurrected Jeep Liberty, my dear Methodist friend will be blessing her and we will be christening her with love and a name. I'm thinking Bessie.

Chicago, I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU!!!

So for the last year we have been living in the South. Not the deep south or the dirty south, just kinda South-ish. Definitely more South-ish than I am used to, that is for sure. We have something here called snow days. Now, if you are from Chicago you have no stinkin' clue what a snow day is. You might have heard of such a glorious occurrence, but you have certainly never experienced it. A snow day is a day when it snows more than an inch, so you don't have to do anything. You don't have to work. You don't have to check your mail-- 'cause guess what, the postman ain't working either. You just do nothing. Since experiencing this phenomena, I have been considering living in a more South-ish place. I think this is all a part of Rory's master plan. You see, Rory hates the winter and would much prefer living somewhere South-ish. Despite all of his brainwashing, today i was reminded way I would rather live in a world with no snow days:

Best. City. Ever.

Palmer House Lobby

(I went to Prom here)

Cloudgate (aka the bean)

Staircase in the Rookery

(almost every building has incredible architectural features)

Sears Tower

{you will always be the tallest building in our heart}

Jeweler's Building

there used to be a huge, car-sized elevator in the back so that the robber barons and their wives could shop for jewelry one floor at a time and not even have to leave their cars.

Art Institute of Chicago

keepin it classy

Chicago Cultural Center

Used to be the Library

View from my Grandma's apartment

Dying of the Chicago River for St. Patrick's Day

{not photo-shopped!}

DIY Madness

As of late we have become quite the diy-ers. The school year's coming to a close and I have little bit of creativity left in me to spruce up the house. And of course, Rory's manliness is always helpful:)

First, we took this old barn door we found in Lancaster and turned it into a coffee table. We still have to put the hardware on it, but we love the weathered look.


Then I sewed some pillows to brighten up our dark sofa. Every month we get the pottery barn catalog and I just drool over it. But I know I could never convince Rory to spend $40 on a pillow. So, I learned how to sew. Here's a pretty good tutorial for creating your own Pottery Barn pillows.


Next we decided to re-upholster our chairs. Previous to their extreme makeover these babies were sporting green crushed velvet and crocheted heart seats. They were also about as comfortable as rocks. So we bought some chair pads and went to work.

First we removed all the staples/tacks holding in the fabric.
Then we cut the chair pads to fit our seats.
We used spray adhesive to adhere the chair pad foam to the seat. Then we stapled on a layer of batting, followed by our fabric.
Ta-da! The final product.

Genes

My mother has some amazing gene that allows her to never gain a pound. The woman has weighed the same since baby 1, and that was 24 years ago. The most miraculous thing about this gene is that my mom NEVER works out. She just automatically looks awesome everyday of her life. Oh, and on top of that she eats tons of chocolate and NADA. Not a pound. Well, I was lucky enough to inherit this gene until yesterday. When it decided to fail terribly. Unfortunately, the constant chocolate-crave gene, which I also inherited from her, has not failed terribly. So I am stuck with a J. Lo booty and an unstoppable craving for chocolate. What's a girl to do? If you have any bright ideas let me know, I'll be eating my chocolate.

As heard in room 205

Today my culture class presented their heritage projects. We have literally spent weeks researching, summarizing, conferencing and creating glogs on a country. This was the culminating event. Students brought in authentic foods, prepared five minute presentations, and invited the principal. I was super excited for my kiddos to strut their stuff. Well, let me tell you, those kiddos did me right proud. That is until a boy we'll call Cole presented. Cole spent an extensive amount of time researching India. I read his paper, and it was spot on. I'm not really sure what happened when it went from paper to his mouth, but it came out something like this: "In India everybody's like the people in Senegal. They are all Christian and they eat microwave pizza. And that's pretty much it." OMG. Try smoothing that one over.

Latest Obsessions.

1. Zumba

Zumba is like a Spanish teacher's dream. Crazy good Spanish music mixed with cha-cha, salsa and reggaeton. Need I say more? I shake my groove thing in the back row laughing at how awesome we all look. I share the last row glory with one other woman; her name is Gloria and she's 76. Gloria has put me to shame every class so far. Her hips don't lie.

2. Issac's

Greek food reminds me of weekends spent in Greektown in Chicago with the fam. The staff would have to push two or three tables just to accommodate our crew. We would then spent the next three hours talking, laughing and eating the most delicious and decadent food known to mankind: saganaki, dolmades, lamb, orzo, tzatziki, falfal, baba ganoush and baklava. Issac's in Roanoke brought back those feelings of pure euphoria. Don't skip the white chocolate bread pudding.

3. Motown

Can you think of something better to listen to while cooking dinner or getting ready in the morning? If you unfamiliar with this fabulous genre, try The Lion Sleeps Tonight by the Tokens. It'll put a smile on your face faster than you can say "mbube"

Bahston

One of the first times I ever met Lauren we got into a great debate about which city was better: Washington D.C. or Chicago. We have now come to the conclusion that they are both fantastic in their own unique ways and that no other city in the world could come close. At least that was our conclusion until a couple of weeks ago when we embarked on a journey to Boston. In fact Boston's official slogan is "The third best city in the United States." It's skyscrapers pale in comparison to Chicago's Sears (not Willis) and John Hancock Towers or the new Aqua Building and none of the museums were free like in DC (though I did try to sneak in on a few tours but got caught each time), so why is it so wonderful? I spent a significant amount of time attempting to come up with a creative and interesting way to express my feelings from that weekend, but cannot. Lauren has an extremely appealing writing style, but unfortunately I cannot say the same of mine(probably a result of the many boring scientific journal articles I was forced to read for school). With this depressing realization running through my mind I have opted for the Lebron James choice (aka the cop out). And so I present to you our pictures:


This actually has nothing to do with Boston, but the hotel we stayed at gave us a rubber duck. He was my companion for the weekend since Lauren was in conferences all day. I don't think he appreciated the city very much though...





This is on the front entrance to the Boston Public Library. The person there is Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom. Above her is the phrase "Free to All" meaning all the knowledge and wisdom that the library contains should be free to the general public. If only vet school felt the same way.



We met up with my buddy Jeff and after a fantastic dinner (we were told we couldn't be seated for 2 hours so he tells them he works for the Ritz Carlton and suddenly we're being seated within 5 minutes. AMAZING!) we went to Mike's Pastry, which apparently you can't leave Boston without going to. Lauren and I got 8 cannolis and between the two of us and the homeless guy we met on the street they were gone before we got home the next day.


Special thanks to Jeff and my classmate Kiara for acting as tour guides for me as I wandered throughout "The third best city in the United States."