2009

while some may be looking forward to the end of the year, 2009 was pretty good to me. it was a year of a lot of changes and firsts for me. here's a brief summary of the past year, in my life.

*click on each collage for a large view of the photos


january



EU parliament building, manneken pis, a&g in cinquantenaire park,
hotel d'ville

g and i made a quick trip to brussels. i was able to see the european union parliament and we enjoyed a real belgian waffle on the street! after a couple days of seeing the sites, we took the eurostar to london to see 'hairspray'!


view of the carambola beach resort, easternmost point of US, at the tide pools, moko jumbie dancers

to escape the chicago winter weather, we went to st croix with two of our friends. it was a very relaxing week (with no cell phone reception, i might add) of laying in hammocks and sipping fruity drinks.


february


work, work, work.


march



our rings, a&g on the pacific beach, a view of napa valley, andrea & terina

on march 19th, g and i exchanged rings and made a lifelong commitment to one another at sunset in napa valley. it was a beautiful ceremony with two of our closest friends. we spent the remainder of the weekend touring wineries and visiting san francisco.


april



new friends from the cruise, a&g in our stateroom, 'navigator of the seas', view from the top of the dance floor, the grand promanade

for our honeymoon, we took a two-week transatlantic cruise. we set sail from ft. lauderdale with two of our friends. while we made our way across the seas, we met many new friends from all parts of the world. we visited the canary islands; lisbon, portugal; malaga, spain; cadiz, spain; and we ended our voyage in barcelona.


views from tenerife, canary islands


lisbon, portugal


cadiz, spain


malaga, spain


may



marienplatz, andrea, g&a in the haufbrauhaus, the haufbrauhaus munchen, entry to the marienplatz

after our 14-day cruise, we went to munich for a long weekend. our friend andrea met us there to explore the sites. in addition, we took a day trip to salzburg, austria. it was a beautiful train ride through the alps to see the amazing sites that the small town of salzburg has to offer.


salzburg, austria


june



a&g, seth meyers, attempting a picture with seth, g & bryant

gary spent another birthday in dallas. this time, it was for himself - his 10 year anniversary banquet for work. i had a great time celebrating the achievements of so many co-workers. it was great meeting people g knew, yet hadn't seen in years! the highlight of the night was "meeting" seth meyers. notice the botched picture above...that was take 2 of 6?! oh well, he was VERY nice and patient!


july



times square, ellis island, central park, city street

work took me to NYC for the weekend. fortunately, i had a lot more free time than actual work! g and our friend bryant joined me on the trip. we explored sites around the city and took in two broadway shows! now THAT'S what i call job perks!


august



our future home

g & i decided to buy. it was a thought-out decision, but we decided to stay in the city and purchase a condo. we were fortunate to find the place seen above. it was in the neighborhood we love and it had the space that we desired! the home-buying process was stressful at times, but was equally as exciting!


september



scenes from moving day

we closed on and moved into our new home in mid-september. it was relatively easy! we had a week off to get things organized and in place. with my anal-retentiveness, it looked like we had lived there for months by the end of september!


october



a foggy, rainy day at the charlotte-douglas airport

at the end of the month, i flew to charlotte to see my friend teresa and to participate in the airport 5k walk. it was a crappy day, but we had a good time seeing each other! and no trip to teresa's is complete without great food, drink and conversation!


november


we hosted thanksgiving for our entire family in our new home. it was a great time and the food was fantastic (if i may say so myself!). we were so fortunate to have our entire family together at one table to give thanks!


december


i celebrated my 30th birthday was friends. having many of those close to me present made it easier starting a new decade of my life! we were able to see both of our families for christmas. even though we had to make the many-mile drive, it was a great christmas. we ended the year refinancing our home (yes, already!), packing for our cruise, and ringing in the new year with two great friends.




happy new year! may 2010 be great to all!

yay vaycay!

so i'm officially on vacation for the next two weeks. g and i are headed on a southern caribbean cruise where we will visit honduras, costa rica, and panama. [i'm super excited about seeing the panama canal locks. and g is trying to convince me to zip line through the rainforest in costa rica.]

but before we leave for miami on the first, we have lots to do. it always seems like there's more to do in my head, so i've been told that it's good to write it down.


12/30
-- eye doctor appointment
-- refinancing closing
-- massage?
-- clean house top to bottom

12/31
-- head to bloomington for IU game
-- drive back to chicago
-- pack for cruise
-- ring in 2010 with the eastern time zone?!

1/1
-- head to one of the chicago airports and get on a flight to FLL or MIA

1/2
-- set sail (in flip flops, of course!)

theater buff

i've been quite the theater/movie goer lately. not really sure what has brought it on, but i've really enjoyed it.

thankfully i live in a city which affords me to see many different broadway musicals. some are here for a short time while others have extended runs. regardless, there are always plenty of shows to choose from. in the past month, i have seen three different shows in chicago. they've all been quite enjoyable!


first i went to see jersey boys with g, my mom, and my grandpa. aside from the poor seats we had chosen, the story was great and the music was fantastic!



a week later, g and i saw the world premier of the addams family in chicago, starring nathan lane and bebe neuwirth. even without knowing the comic strip (which is what the show is based on opposed to the tv show of the same name). the stars of the show was fantastic!



tonight, g and i are going to see in the heights. i have seen various performances of this show on awards shows or parades, but don't know a lot about it. a friend of ours recently went to see it and raved about it, naming it one of his top three broadway shows of ALL TIME (and he's seen plenty!). i'm looking forward to it tonight!



i've also been to the movie theater a few times in the past week! i love going to see a movie with a dark theater and a large movie screen. i've even been known to pass on the popcorn from time to time!




while in L.A. on an overnight, i went with a friend to see invictus. morgan freeman is amazing and matt damon is fantastic, as usual.




g and i then went to see up in the air, starring george cloony. what a great movie, and one that is easy to relate to being on the road for days at a time.





over the weekend we went to see the young victoria. emily blunt does a excellent job portraying the young queen victoria. the costumes and scenery always make these period pieces enjoyable to watch. i can't wait to visit the V&A Museum next time i'm in london!

adam's book club

i was never a big reader. in HS and college, i read 75% of that which was assigned to me (and that's rounding up!). i relied on cliffs notes heavily in HS and class lectures in college. thankfully i had my intelligence to get by on. ironically, as a teacher reading was my favorite subject. i LOVED teaching my kids how to read and subsequently loved to watch them grow as readers. i was even working on my M.Ed. in reading education at one point. but, personally, i wasn't much of a reader. i rarely, if ever, picked up a book and read it cover to cover.

that all changed when i became a flight attendant. of course i never read on the jumpseat while i'm working, but sometimes there is downtime that allows me to pick up a book. *sarcastic grin*

i honestly cannot say how many books i have read in the 18 months since i started this job. it's definitely double digits. if i had to guess, i'd say upwards of 20 books. that's a lot for me! i recently finished two of ken follett's books. they are both heavy books, both 1000+ pages. it added noticeable weight to my luggage! for my 30th birthday, g got me a kindle. i've already finished two books on my new toy and i truly enjoy it! i thought that i would miss turning the pages, flipping back and forth, but i haven't missed those things. it's so lightweight, easy to see, and convenient to fit into my bag.

so, in honor of my new-found hobby, i plan to review each book that i read throughout 2010. i would love to hear what others think of the book (if they, too, have read it) or suggestions on new books to read!!

happy reading! (oprah ain't got shit on me!)

being an informed consumer

we make purchases at various places all the time, many times not giving things a second thought. but, we must be informed consumers. we have to know what the companies that sell us the goods stand for.

some people are concerned about treatment of animals. others make sure their products are "green". fair treatment of employees is important to other consumers. as a gay consumer, it's important for me to know how inclusive companies are to LGBT issues.

HRC has a great guide for all areas of buying. they rank the various companies based on their banning of discrimination, benefits for LGBT employees, and supporting LGBT policies. i requested my copy of "buying for equality 2010" today and look forward to it arriving in the mail!

take a look at some of the places you shop and see how truly inclusive (or not) they are! you'll be surprised at some of the companies.

be an informed consumer!

photo found here (before edit).

all in a name

yikes! do they know something i don't?!



apparently i've taken his last name!

chillin' on GLEE

i've talked about my love of GLEE before, but i especially enjoy mark salling. he may be better known to you as puck on the hit show. although he may not have a huge singing part (aside from his fantastic solo of "sweet caroline") on the show, he is actually a great singer.

here's a fun video that he did highlighting his love and appreciation for his role on GLEE.

local art

i've never really been the type of person that goes into an art museum and stares at each piece of work and looks at the brush strokes, the lighting, the technique, etc. mostly, because i'm not well versed in art itself. but, i can definitely enjoy a work of art for what it is. and perhaps that's the artist's intent.

recently, i have discovered a local art store in my neighborhood that i absolutely love. i have been in the store a few times browsing the works of local artists. many of the pieces are of chicago itself.

take a look at sacred art.

our guest room is a collection of things that represent travel. i would love to add to the room with a few things i've seen at sacred art.

by citizen shay:

these mixed media prints depict various 'el' stops around chicago. i like this one most because this is our local stop.



by ork posters:

teresa first introduced me to this particular print. it shows all the neighborhoods in chicago in a unique way.


by steve slaske:

just a gorgeous watercolor depicting the chicago river in the loop of the city.

home improvements 101

so, we knew that we wanted to repaint our kitchen when we moved in. since we were both home due to illness these past few days, we decided to take advantage of our time at home. we went from the "tuscany" color that was there when we moved in to our new "cactus" color we chose. here's what we accomplished!

december birthdays

i enjoy my birthday. sometimes i act as though it should be a national holiday! thankfully, many of my friends are the same way. this creates long, extended birthday celebrations. last weekend was my weekend celebration. it was fantastic and i thank everyone that made my big 3-0 so wonderful!

but, as long as i can remember, december was the month of birthdays. of course, this month was special for my mom's family for years. four out of the five children were born in the month of december, my mom included. in fact, they were made famous one year when my mom turned 6 on the 6th, a. elaine was 9 on the 9th, a. cathy was 11 on the 11th, and u. tim was 2 (24 mos.) on the 24th. pretty neat! and i've seen the AP newspaper photo to prove it!

mom's birthday is on the 6th. i guess you could say that i was her birthday present 30 years ago! i suppose it also means that she's had to share some of the celebrating with me, especially when i was a child. my favorite birthday was when i turned 16 and mom turned 40 - milestone birthdays for both of us!

nearly two years ago, my nephew anderson was born on the 27th of december. i feel bad for him that his birthday is so close to christmas. i'm afraid he'll never be able to bring birthday treats to school on his birthday and his friends will be away when he wants to celebrate his big day. i suppose that's up to us to make his day special each year. i'll be sure to pass on the birthday holiday to him!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EVERYONE WHO CELEBRATES THEIR BIRTHDAY IN DECEMBER!!

and a special happy birthday to two great friends of mine, erin (today!) and jill (27th)!!

get it together!

i come across many random things in my job. i have seen people lose all common sense as they step foot into an airport, i've seen very strange things in airport bathrooms, and many more entertaining things that makes a comfortable seat in the terminal great for people-watching.

today though, i had a enjoyable(?) time going through security at the mitchell international airport (MKE) in milwaukee. after placing my bags onto the conveyor belt to be scanned, the surprisingly happy TSA worker said, "i feel sorry for you today....nothing but beer gas all morning!" that gave me a slight chuckle, but the best part was what i saw after gathering all my belongings. the "recombobulation area".



that's right - the place to get it together. and why not?! people are grabbing their coats, lugging their bags, and hopping towards the bench trying to put their shoes back on. so MKE has created a humorous space to allow you to get everything back in order.

so step aside and recombobulate yourself!

photo found here.

the choices we make

here's a story that i got in an email today;

Choices

What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:
Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was=2 0on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact..

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.. All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!' As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

Would you have made the same choice? Make every day a 'Shay Day'.

karma's a snowy bitch

first thing this morning i posted the following on my twitter page, "so it's already snowed in dallas and forecasted to snow in charlotte...we haven't even had our first snow in chicago! bless el niño!"

my travels today took me from tampa to houston to dallas to st. louis and finally to chicago. houston was unseasonably COLD. dallas, too, was chilly. i asked the provisioner what was going on with their weather. he told me about their snow the previous day (of course i already knew, it was all over the news). then i make the comment that "we haven't even had our first snow in chicago!"

then karma reared her ugly head when we landed in chicago. as soon as i opened the back door, the cold blast of air hit me with tiny specks of moisture - flurries. yup, snow has arrived in chicago.

the only good thing is that the ground is too warm for it to start sticking and more snow is not in the forecast until the beginning of next week. by that time i will be comfortable in my short-sleeves in san antonio!

take that, karma!

tis the season!

i'm certain everyone has favorite foods that are only available in certain seasons or for specific holidays. some might enjoy the pumpkin spice latte from starbucks in the fall, while others may look forward to the cadbury creme eggs at easter. and while i have seasonal favorites, i have come to learn of a new one that will have me looking forward to christmastime each year!



candy cane joe-joe's from trader joe's.

simply delicious. as described by trader joes, candy cane joe-joe's are "a rich cocoa cookie sandwich with an intense peppermint filling and crushed candy canes." you think you like girl scout's thin mint cookies? well, move aside thin mints cause these are oh so much better!

they're only available around the holidays. i could see myself stocking up a bit! try 'em yourself! you won't be disappointed. and if you've already devoured a box or two, you'll be interested in joining their fan page on facebook! nom! nom! nom!