This weekend was actually pretty productive... I got a lot of stuff done that's been on the list of 'things to do' for a while.
The weekend started off on Friday night for Matt and I with some awesome lasagna, a lot of wine and some fun games of Catch Phrase with Andy & Michelle. It was guys against girls and let's just say the girls didn't lose. : )
On Saturday, I organized my room at Erin's place (if any of you have seen this room, you know that this took quite a while!), did some laundry and went through about 4 months of mail. I must have had 100 of those stupid convenience checks from my two credit cards. I can't believe they keep sending them to me. Just more paper to shred.
After that, I met up with my brother and cousin Chris and we headed to Union Station to get my cousin Kyle and his girlfriend Melina. We grabbed Matt and went to the Taste of Greece a few blocks from his house. TONS OF FOOD!!! We ate at Greek Islands and I was soooooo stuffed.
I love saganaki (flaming cheese!) : )
I don't much like it when what's cooking looks exactly like what it used to be... makes it harder to eat!
 
We walked around for a bit to help the food digest and then ditched Matt and went to Diversey River Bowl for a few games. I hadn't been bowling (except for the Wii) in SO long. I started out a little slow, but by the third game I was getting back into the swing of it. Bowling on the Wii is fun, but I realized I miss the real thing!
On Sunday, I continued to cross things off the list.
- I worked out in the morning. I really need to get in shape! I probably ruined the workout by eating the 18-wheeler breakfast at Le Peep an hour later, but oh well... baby steps!
- I got the oil changed in the car. I think it's been about a year since the last time I did that and I haven't even driven 3k miles since then. I guess that's what happens when you don't drive your car for 4 months of a year. The guy said I have a slow oil leak, but the oil was still full. How that is possible, I don't know. Must be a very slow leak!
- I ran to Target to stock up on some stuff. I love Target, but not on Sundays. Way too many people pushing their carts without paying any attention to where they are going. They should set up the aisles like a road and you have to stick to one side. I love it when people just stop their carts right in the middle of an aisle... "that's ok, keep looking at every single bottle of detergent, read the back panel if you have to, before you decide on one and please be totally oblivious that your cart is in everyone's way".
- I dropped off some old clothes at the Salvation Army. They've been in my car for weeks.
- And then I went for a manicure at a place by Matt's house. A manicure is always on the list! : )
Sunday night, we watched the closing cermonies of the Olympics. I'm sad that they are over, but it's probably a good thing... I've been spending way too much time on the couch sucked into the Olympics for the past couple of weeks.
It's finally Friday. I'm SO ready for the weekend! : ) Since I really don't have a lot to report, I'll just rattle off some random notes... - My cousins are coming up to Chicago this weekend. Kyle is coming to visit his girlfriend Melina who lives in the 'burbs. Chris is just coming up for a trip to the Windy City. Chris isn't 21 yet (although he did have a great time when he came over to the NL for a visit and could drink legally in bars there), so we'll probably be going places that serve alcohol, but also let minors in. I'm thinking the bowling alley, but we'll see what they are up for. - There is a girl, Etta, that I worked with in the NL (mostly over the phone - she is in the Apeldoorn office and I was in Amsterdam) that I am working on a project with now as well. She sent an email saying she was going to be out of the office for a trip to Beijing to watch her brother swim the 10k open water (btw, her brother is 6'8" and weighs 203 lbs - typical Dutch guy). I looked up yesterday to see who won the gold medal in the event and it was her brother! How awesome is that! Plus, he has an amazing story... he had leukemia a few years back and almost died, but came back and started swimming again. He swam the race in 1 hr 51 min. I can't even imagine swimming for that long! Ridiculous! - Speaking of the NL, I may be going back again this year. Actually, it's pretty definite, but I never like to say that until the plane tickets are bought. We sent in the first piece of paperwork the other day to get the whole work visa process going. That process is getting messier and messier. I'm not sure if it's the company my company has hired to do our paperwork or if it's the NL getting stricter about who they give visas to. Last year, people were very unhappy with the process. We had to fly back to the US to get our visas after being in the NL for two weeks. I didn't mind, because it allowed me to be home for Thanksgiving, which I hadn't been the past two years. Anyway, looks like I'll be there from November through the end of January. I've already told my brother to get his passport paperwork turned in because this is probably the last year I go and he's got to make the trip this time!!! I'm also trying to get the p's to come over for a visit. : ) - Other than that, I'm just working on my addiction to the computer. ; ) Matt says it's a serious problem. I beg to differ. I am not a person who can just sit and watch tv. I have to be doing something else. I guess I just have a short attention span or something, but I get bored easily. So, when we are watching tv and I start playing sudoku on the internet or surfing through stupid celebrity news sites or looking at Facebook, he gives me a look like "what the heck is your problem?". Seriously, it's not like I wake up in the middle of the night and go hide out in the bathroom looking at Facebook... now, that would be a problem!
 Looks like Jason is going to get a second chance... he's the next Bachelor. I liked him a lot. I hope it works out for him this time! : ) In other news... Matt got HD set up on his tv yesterday (FINALLY!) and it is awesome! He also got a DVR. I felt like we were in the stone age without one. He's very excited with this new toy. ; ) Now that we can actually record shows, I have a feeling we'll be watching a lot more tv. That's probably not a good thing. The couch sees enough of our behinds as it is!
Last night, Matt and I went to Bespoke Cuisine for a cooking class/party. Matt got me a cooking class for my birthday last September and we finally went! This is the same place that I had been a month or so ago for a friend's bachelorette party. The cooking theme was a summer menu of the following: > Appetizers: Pastry-wrapped asparagus and prosciutto - and - Caprese skewers > Salad: Grilled watermelon, feta and arugula > Entree: Peach bbq-grilled chicken breasts accompanied by summer squash orzo pasta and grilled baby bok choy > Dessert: Summer berry crisp with vanilla bean ice cream You can bring your own wine/beer and they have some cheese/bread for a starter while you wait for everyone to show up. There were 17 people there for the party. Sidenote... strangely, there was another Stacia in the group. That never happens! I have not met a lot of other Stacias and to have two of us in a group of 17 people at a cooking class is kind of crazy. They split us up into groups and each group worked on a different portion of the menu. Matt got put into the Entree group and I was in the Salad group. I had never seen someone grill watermelon before, so that was cool. I didn't get to use any of the big knives, but Matt did. Some girl in his group actually cut her finger. Oops. Matt made friends with Calvin (one of the chefs) and Calvin gave him a Belgian beer in a can to try. It was actually really good. He had mentioned to Calvin about me being there for a bachelorette party before. Calvin didn't recognize me, but he did remember the penis cake that we had for the bachelorette. It was pretty memorable, to say the least! After the cooking was finished, we all sat down together at tables and the chefs served us the food. The food was amazing! I loved the appetizers and the bbq sauce on the chicken was phenomenal. Matt can't wait to try out the recipe at home. We had a fun time... we will definitely be going again. Hopefully, next time we can get a group together to go! : )
On Sunday, Matt and I went up to Erin's place for a bbq. As usual, she had tons of great food! Hany and Grant brought the meat and I brought sangria. Ross was given the grilling duties and he did a great job! Everything turned out so good! We all ate way too much!  After the food coma lifted, Hany and I did some Karaoke Revolution while Erin, Ross, Grant and Brett played euchre. Once our voices gave out (and everyone else's ears were bleeding!), we all played Wii. Brett was the big tennis champ. Now I'm about to fall asleep... too much wine again! I think Max feels the same way. : )  I'm sad that tomorrow is already Monday.
On Saturday, my friend Shannon was having a housewarming party. Her new place is right above Dave & Busters on the 31st floor. She has a corner unit and an awesome view of the air show. We hung out there for the afternoon and caught the Blue Angels show. Have I mentioned I love the air show??? My friend Theresa and her husband Matt brought their baby Lauren to the party and she was such a cutie!  Here's a shot of Shannon, me and Hany...  I love the Blue Angels!
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Looking down from Shannon's balcony, looks like the General Lee going by!
We stayed there until the show was over and then I pretty much passed out after that. I may have drank a little too much wine at Shannon's place!
 I'm a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of the Chicago Air & Water Show... well, mostly the Air Show. I don't think I've really watched the Water Show before. But, I just heard some planes flying by outside and I can't wait until this weekend to see the show! : )
Matt's birthday started off with some muffins from someone we work with...  And some cupcakes from me...  He was on a mission to eat as many calories in one day as Michael Phelps has in a day (8-10k!). Of course, that wasn't really possible if Matt wanted to enjoy his birthday, but he definitely gave it the old college try. After work we met up with Ross, Erin, Brett, Andy and Michelle at The Capital Grille for dinner. We had a few drinks before being seated... martini for Matt (straight up with olives, of course) and I tried out the pineapple infused martini, the house specialty. Awesome! We ate TONS of food... huge steaks, lobster, a couple pounds of crab legs, etc. And we drank a few bottles of wine and had the best cheesecake ever for dessert.
Matt's typical pose these days... maybe he's just sad he's a year older! ; )
We told the waitress (whose name happened to be Lauren) that it was Matt's birthday and she brought out a piece of chocolate cake with a candle on top. So, we all sang.
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On the way out the door, Andy and Matt stopped off for a quick birthday shot.
Overall, a great meal with great company!
Now, after all that food... the gift I got for Matt should definitely be getting some good use!
It's been two years since Matt and I started dating. : ) Back in the day... (This is actually at his 30th b-day party a week before our first date)  And now... (This is Matt's favorite new pose when I take a picture of us. He finds it very amusing. Me - not so much.)  And another one... 
Today was the Chicago Distance Classic half marathon. Erin and Brett got up SUPER early for the race, which started at 6:30am. Hany and I went to cheer them on. The weather was almost perfect, not too hot and there was a breeze. On my way there, I took a couple of pics... here is the BCBS building, where they are building another building on top of the current one. Interesting.  I just love Buckingham Fountain -  Brett said he hit the wall about mile #9 and had some issues with his calf muscle, but he still finished at what he was targetting. Good job! He's actually grimacing in pain in this picture... I thought he was smiling at first, but nope.  Here's Brett a few minutes after the race taking a little break...  Erin ran and power-walked and finished almost right in front of us without us noticing. Luckily, we figured out that it was her (Brett said she was wearing a white shirt, but actually it was green. Not even close Brett!)  Congrats to the finishers!  Hany and I were the cheerleaders! : )  It got a little chilly afterwards because of the cool breeze coming off the lake.  After the race, Brett, Erin and I met up with Matt at Flat Top Grill for the breakfast buffet. I'm pretty sure Erin and Brett are going to be logging some hours on their couches this afternoon.
So, the TP RLOB Olympics went really well... unfortunately, the Middle Management team did not win. We were in first until the last event and then bit it big time in that event. The Young Guns took the gold. The teams all dressed up and some even went farther than that... The Top Dogs team made a theme song ( Canus Maximus). I wish I could remember all the words, but there was something in there about being grossly overpaid... it was hilarious!
Our team wore togas, white face paint and headbands/wristbands. Here is a team photo before the games when we were all getting ready:
The events again are (with descriptions now that I actually know what they are):
(1) Feats of strength: turns out this was two events (a) how many pieces of paper can you staple together successfully and (b) how many pieces of paper can you 3-hole punch all the way through.
(2) Down the hatch: a pizza eating contest where 3 people had to finish a small Giordanos pizza. They were given two boxes and a "hurl bin" just to freak them out at the beginning though. Turns out that one of the interns actually did end up using the hurl bin. Yep, poor girl. In front of the entire RLOB, although we all thought she was just spitting out the food because her team didn't win, but talking to her later she said she really did boot.
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(3) Triviapalooza: this was broken into (a) lists and (b) the price is right. The lists were things like 'cities where the olympics have been held' and the teams kept listing cities until no one was left. The price is right was just a question with a numerical answer that you had to come the closest to without going over. The MM team kicked butt at this.
(4) Closest to the pin: throwing a tennis ball at a Baci lunch box; whoever was closest won. Matt and Kelly were the MM team members on this event and they did awesome!
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(5) Dodgeball: this was actually dodge dropping the ball and you had to throw a tennis ball between 3 teammates for 2 minutes and whoever had the most tosses won. If you dropped it, you lost 5 points. Our team sucked at this for some reason and were eliminated in the first round.
(6) How fast can you... : this is the event I was signed up for with Tracy. We both had been saying before during the trivia event how we hated trivia and we are glad we weren't signed up for that event. Well, lucky us, this event wasn't just trivia, it was rapid-fire trivia! It's so hard to think of answers to the easiest questions when you are on the spot. Of course, I totally embarrassed myself by answering that a trapezoid had 7 sides... all in front of a room full of actuaries. Really? 7 is what I come up with? I was even picturing a trapezoid in my head and it had 4 sides... where did 7 come from? Well, it gets better... another one of my questions was 'what suit in cards can come before sandwich' and some other words. I could not think of 'club' and totally froze and said 'heart'. Again, really??? A 'heart sandwich'... who says that? Oh well, between Tracy and I, we were able to answer enough questions to beat the other teams and get the gold medal. Speaking of the medals, they had gold, silver and bronze medals that were engraved! Here's a pic of mine:
(7) TP triathlon: I was also in this event, which was set up so that the people in the lead at the end of the other events got a head start and then whoever won this event was the overall winner of the day. Since our MM team was first, we got a 2 second lead (yeah, big deal, right?!?). Well, you start off in an office chair and then roll around the room, stop to shoot wads of paper in a recycling bin, then roll back to your team, who then have to sing a song out loud and then it goes on to the next person. We got a bad start even with the 2 second lead... we ended up totally losing. The Young Guns lapped us for the win. What a bummer.
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Overall, it was a lot of fun! And a great send-off for our interns.
We went to Dave & Busters afterwards for some drinks and games. I got enough tickets for a wine opener... we haven't tried it out yet to see if it actually works.
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