Happy Birthday "Little" Brother!Hope you have a great day! : )
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A little "icked" out
So, I was in the pantry at work waiting to get some coffee and there was a woman in front of me washing out her coffee cup in the sink. She finishes and then goes to get some ice out of the ice machine and just scoops it up with her own coffee cup... not the ice scoop that is sitting there for everyone to use. I'm a little icked out by this. Unless a coffee mug was washed in a dishwasher, I really don't want anyone scooping out ice with their own mugs that they've drank out of. I haven't had ice since then. I wonder how many other people do gross things like this???
Monday, April 13, 2009
Easter in Alabama
One of Matt's good friends from college (Lawrence) got married this past weekend near Birmingham, Alabama. We flew down on Friday morning for the weekend.
On the el out to Midway... Matt's typical pose
Our spiffy red Dodge Avenger rental car
Our first stop was Chik-Fil-A. As this was Good Friday and the last Friday in Lent, I had planned to not eat meat... but, I decided to get chicken anyway. How often do I get to a Chik-Fil-A??? It was very delish!
We walked around the Samford University campus, Matt's alma mater. We walked through a few buildings trying to find where they had moved the Math Dept. None of Matt's former professors were in their offices, so he didn't get to catch up with any of them. The campus is very pretty.
Samford University
More Samford University
On Friday night, we went out for some southern cooking to a place called Dale's Southern Grill. Afterwards, we ended up at the Margarita Grill by our hotel. Within walking distance + Live music coming from the patio = Perfection! The music was just one guy with a guitar. He was singing country when we got there and then he started singing just about everything under the sun. I told Matt I would request something and he jokingly said "Pour Some Sugar on Me". About 10 minutes later, the guy sang that song. We just looked at each other like we were in the twilight zone. Then, it got kinda crazy in the Margarita Grill... the guy singing invited a group of girls to dance on the bar and he sang a couple of dance songs.
Down the hatch! Shots at the Margarita Grill... not the best idea ever!
Saturday, we met up with Matt's friend, Lawrence, for breakfast and they reminisced about old college buddies and told some funny stories. Lawrence reminds me a lot of Matt's friend from Peru, Ryan.
We shopped for a little bit in the afternoon and then watched the Masters/took a nap back at the hotel. You can guess which one of us took the nap and which one watched the Masters. ; )
The wedding was at the American Village in a very pretty chapel. The timing was perfect because the sun was setting and filtering into the chapel through the huge windows. The reception was held in a decorated barn. We ate, drank and danced (but, to only one song!) and then the party was over. We never even got a picture of us together all dressed up! : ( Lawrence and Dana were off in the their limo by 10pm.
Dana and Lawrence cutting the cake
Matt and Lawrence
So, since the party was over earlier than we thought, what did Matt and I do??? Margarita Grill again! : ) This time it wasn't nearly as crazy, so we had a couple drinks, stumbled back to the hotel and called it a night. Actually, we stopped off for a Krystal fix before (Krystal is like the White Castle of the South, I think).
On Easter, we had lunch outdoors at Jim-n-Nick's BBQ. It was so sunny and warm! Made me ready for better weather and not want to come back to chilly Chicago. We decided to take advantage of the sun and stopped back off at Samford for a little bit before heading to the airport. We walked around and saw a few kids doing an Easter egg hunt.
Matt and I on Easter at Samford
Then, it was back to the windy city. While waiting for our flight, Matt and I played lots of games of gin and he schooled me! And he schooled me again at bowling in our standing date night bet later that night. I was even up by 47 pins going into the third game and I tanked. Disappointing!
I hope everyone had a great Easter! Since I missed spending it with my family, my mom sent back an Easter basket with goodies for Matt and I with my sister. Thanks! : )
On the el out to Midway... Matt's typical pose
Our spiffy red Dodge Avenger rental car
Our first stop was Chik-Fil-A. As this was Good Friday and the last Friday in Lent, I had planned to not eat meat... but, I decided to get chicken anyway. How often do I get to a Chik-Fil-A??? It was very delish!
We walked around the Samford University campus, Matt's alma mater. We walked through a few buildings trying to find where they had moved the Math Dept. None of Matt's former professors were in their offices, so he didn't get to catch up with any of them. The campus is very pretty.
Samford University
More Samford University
On Friday night, we went out for some southern cooking to a place called Dale's Southern Grill. Afterwards, we ended up at the Margarita Grill by our hotel. Within walking distance + Live music coming from the patio = Perfection! The music was just one guy with a guitar. He was singing country when we got there and then he started singing just about everything under the sun. I told Matt I would request something and he jokingly said "Pour Some Sugar on Me". About 10 minutes later, the guy sang that song. We just looked at each other like we were in the twilight zone. Then, it got kinda crazy in the Margarita Grill... the guy singing invited a group of girls to dance on the bar and he sang a couple of dance songs.
Down the hatch! Shots at the Margarita Grill... not the best idea ever!
Saturday, we met up with Matt's friend, Lawrence, for breakfast and they reminisced about old college buddies and told some funny stories. Lawrence reminds me a lot of Matt's friend from Peru, Ryan.
We shopped for a little bit in the afternoon and then watched the Masters/took a nap back at the hotel. You can guess which one of us took the nap and which one watched the Masters. ; )
The wedding was at the American Village in a very pretty chapel. The timing was perfect because the sun was setting and filtering into the chapel through the huge windows. The reception was held in a decorated barn. We ate, drank and danced (but, to only one song!) and then the party was over. We never even got a picture of us together all dressed up! : ( Lawrence and Dana were off in the their limo by 10pm.
Dana and Lawrence cutting the cake
Matt and Lawrence
So, since the party was over earlier than we thought, what did Matt and I do??? Margarita Grill again! : ) This time it wasn't nearly as crazy, so we had a couple drinks, stumbled back to the hotel and called it a night. Actually, we stopped off for a Krystal fix before (Krystal is like the White Castle of the South, I think).
On Easter, we had lunch outdoors at Jim-n-Nick's BBQ. It was so sunny and warm! Made me ready for better weather and not want to come back to chilly Chicago. We decided to take advantage of the sun and stopped back off at Samford for a little bit before heading to the airport. We walked around and saw a few kids doing an Easter egg hunt.
Matt and I on Easter at Samford
Then, it was back to the windy city. While waiting for our flight, Matt and I played lots of games of gin and he schooled me! And he schooled me again at bowling in our standing date night bet later that night. I was even up by 47 pins going into the third game and I tanked. Disappointing!
I hope everyone had a great Easter! Since I missed spending it with my family, my mom sent back an Easter basket with goodies for Matt and I with my sister. Thanks! : )
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Finally got rid of that crappy sushi restaurant
A new restaurant opened up a block from Matt's place called the Grocery Bistro. The food is supposed to come from local groceries/food markets and that is where the chef apparently gets inspiration for the menu. There used to be an awful sushi restaurant there that Matt and I ate at once and never returned to. Actually, it was always dead and never looked open, but strangely, it hung around for a long time.Anyway, Matt and I have been wanting to try this new place out since it opened a couple weeks ago, but it is always packed. We had to make a reservation for a Tuesday night to eat there!
If you go between 5-7pm during the week, you can get their $25 three-course menu (app, entree, dessert). The restaurant is BYOB, so we grabbed a bottle of wine and headed over there last night. We got seated 3 minutes before 7pm, so our waiter, Jim, gave us the $25 menu deal, which was nice.
They have this huge butcher block rectangular communal table that they seat people randomly at and that's where we ended up. It's ok, but it's SO loud and it was hard for Matt and I to hear each other talking across the table to each other. I think Matt gave me the confused i-can't-hear-you face and yelled "what???" at me about 10 times. Not exactly romantic, eh?
Matt got the salmon sashimi appetizer that was huge and awesome! I'm usually not much on eating raw fish without some sort of roll and rice, but this melted in your mouth. I had a lobster brandade (basically mashed up potatoes and lobster that you eat on crackers... very tasty). He got the rib-eye and I got the tilapia. Both delish as well. For dessert, Matt had choc-chip-cookie-dough risotto and I had some chocolate monte cristo thing with raspberry dipping sauce. We had to roll ourselves out of the place!
The reviews are kind of mixed about the place. I think it's new and still working out the kinks.
I think we'll definitely go back and try out some of the other options on the menu... everything looked really good!
GUILTY
Matt made it on the jury on Monday and had to go back on Tuesday for the rest of the trial. The case was against a man charged with a few counts of armed robbery in Wicker Park. They found the guy guilty. Luckily, it was a quick case and wrapped up in one day! Matt said all the jurors were escorted to their cars by the sheriff after the trial. Interesting!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Weekend wrap-up
Friday night, Matt and I went to Red Light for dinner. Love this place! I actually remembered not to eat meat on a Friday... it helped that they had a special fish dish on the menu that I wanted. : )
On Saturday, I stopped off and picked up some more boxes from Home Depot (big sale on boxes there!) I went through a lot of my stuff at Erin's and packed up what I want to take to Matt's and set aside all the stuff I want to take to the Salvation Army. I have a ton of kitchen dishes/glasses/silverware that I no longer need. Plus, a lot of it was like a Target special I got a long time ago, so it is really old.
Then, we met up with Ross, Brett, Reuters, Luke, Lindsey, etc. at the P.O. to watch the NCAA games and have a few drinks. Some of us had a few more than others... and by some of "us", I mean Matt and Ross. ; ) A good time was had by all!
Sunday, I continued the fun packing at Erin's place. I made great progress this weekend!
I could not believe the weather on Sunday... is this really APRIL??? I'm ready for some sunshine and warmer temps. Maybe next weekend when I'm in Alabama, we'll get a little preview of summer weather. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Bowling went ok. We played Bryan, Mary, Tony and Stacey's team, but they weren't there. We won two of the three games and took the series. We lost the last game... to a "blind" team (not literally folks, they bowl no-shows 10 pts under their averages). Shows you how bad that game was for our team! I also lost date night. Matt bowled really well! I see the tides turning on this whole date night thing. : (
Matt is at jury duty today. For his sake, I hope he doesn't get picked for a trial!
On Saturday, I stopped off and picked up some more boxes from Home Depot (big sale on boxes there!) I went through a lot of my stuff at Erin's and packed up what I want to take to Matt's and set aside all the stuff I want to take to the Salvation Army. I have a ton of kitchen dishes/glasses/silverware that I no longer need. Plus, a lot of it was like a Target special I got a long time ago, so it is really old.
Then, we met up with Ross, Brett, Reuters, Luke, Lindsey, etc. at the P.O. to watch the NCAA games and have a few drinks. Some of us had a few more than others... and by some of "us", I mean Matt and Ross. ; ) A good time was had by all!
Sunday, I continued the fun packing at Erin's place. I made great progress this weekend!
I could not believe the weather on Sunday... is this really APRIL??? I'm ready for some sunshine and warmer temps. Maybe next weekend when I'm in Alabama, we'll get a little preview of summer weather. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Bowling went ok. We played Bryan, Mary, Tony and Stacey's team, but they weren't there. We won two of the three games and took the series. We lost the last game... to a "blind" team (not literally folks, they bowl no-shows 10 pts under their averages). Shows you how bad that game was for our team! I also lost date night. Matt bowled really well! I see the tides turning on this whole date night thing. : (
Matt is at jury duty today. For his sake, I hope he doesn't get picked for a trial!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
It's almost Friday!
I'm glad this week is wrapping up. For some reason, this has been a painfully long week. I'm sure Matt feels the same way. He's been attached to his computer most of the week. : (
Nothing too exciting going on this week...
- I picked up my bridesmaids dress for Hany's wedding (she's getting married in August). The dress fit very well. I had them add extra length and it turned out perfectly.
- I've been watching the Millionaire Matchmaker lately. This show is like a trainwreck... I just can't stop watching! There was some guy from Chicago on one episode, "Jimmy D", who was a total douchebag. I'm not a big fan of people who refer to themselves in the third person.
- I had a couple of weird dreams... in one I was pregnant. Scary! This may have been after I went to Lauren's shower and had baby stuff on the brain. : ) In the other, I lost my engagement ring and was in a panic to find it. That one seemed too real when I woke up. Lucky I have insurance!
- We ordered our save-the-dates for the Bahamas wedding. We should be getting them in the mail soon! : ) I'm working on a wedding website right now with a bunch of details. I have to come up with "Our Story" and "Bios" for Matt and I. I can't get those tabs to be hidden, so looks like I'm going to be writing something cheesy. I don't think Matt wants any part of that!
- On Wednesday night, we had week two of our Spring v-ball league. After last week's embarrassing defeat x3, we won all three games this week. The team we played was really bad, though. I think there is a wide range of talent in the league this time. I'd totally rather lose and play a great team than win easily and barely break a sweat.
- I booked movers, so I am officially moving my stuff out of Erin's place and into Matt's (or as I have to try to say now "our") place. This weekend, I'm going to pack up my stuff in boxes for the big move and figure out what is going to the Salvation Army. Sounds like fun, right? ; )
Ok, enough of my brain dump for now.
Have a good night!
Nothing too exciting going on this week...
- I picked up my bridesmaids dress for Hany's wedding (she's getting married in August). The dress fit very well. I had them add extra length and it turned out perfectly.
- I've been watching the Millionaire Matchmaker lately. This show is like a trainwreck... I just can't stop watching! There was some guy from Chicago on one episode, "Jimmy D", who was a total douchebag. I'm not a big fan of people who refer to themselves in the third person.
- I had a couple of weird dreams... in one I was pregnant. Scary! This may have been after I went to Lauren's shower and had baby stuff on the brain. : ) In the other, I lost my engagement ring and was in a panic to find it. That one seemed too real when I woke up. Lucky I have insurance!
- We ordered our save-the-dates for the Bahamas wedding. We should be getting them in the mail soon! : ) I'm working on a wedding website right now with a bunch of details. I have to come up with "Our Story" and "Bios" for Matt and I. I can't get those tabs to be hidden, so looks like I'm going to be writing something cheesy. I don't think Matt wants any part of that!
- On Wednesday night, we had week two of our Spring v-ball league. After last week's embarrassing defeat x3, we won all three games this week. The team we played was really bad, though. I think there is a wide range of talent in the league this time. I'd totally rather lose and play a great team than win easily and barely break a sweat.
- I booked movers, so I am officially moving my stuff out of Erin's place and into Matt's (or as I have to try to say now "our") place. This weekend, I'm going to pack up my stuff in boxes for the big move and figure out what is going to the Salvation Army. Sounds like fun, right? ; )
Ok, enough of my brain dump for now.
Have a good night!
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