2012: december edition

thanks for amusing me with my 12 days of 2012 countdown.  i know it's been a bore for some of you (*yawn* Zzz Zzz Zzz).  as it seems most years do lately, 2012 came to a quick and sudden end.  where does time go?

the final month of the year always starts off with a big celebration.  yes, my BIRTHDAY! surprisingly i didn't make such a big deal of my special day this year - i just wasn't feeling it.  i worked on my actual birthday, but the following day andrea and i went to bottle and bottega where we painted glass ornaments.  i have little to no artistic ability.  i literally spent over an hour on my first ornament.  although it turned out alright, it left me little time for my remaining two ornaments (sorry lilly and anderson on your boring ornaments!).  but it was a lot of fun! 

that weekend we attended the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus Holiday concert.  we had never been before, but having a few friends in the chorus we happily attended.  it was cute and quite enjoyable.  afterwards we met up with a few friends for drinks to celebrate my birthday (see, low-key!).  

the following week we had brickwork done inside our condo.  knowing we couldn't both deal with the chaos, i went to work while g stayed at home to oversee everything.  the company that did the work did an excellent job.  we're very happy with how it turned out - and even happier that it's done!

before and after

christmas came out of nowhere, perhaps because of everything that was going on at the start of the month.  shortly after the brickwork was completed in our place, i had the christmas decorations put up!  

boston at christmas

in all, 2012 was a very good year.  looking forward to even more excellent memories and great things to come in 2013! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

indiana christmas

                        happy christmas to all!

one of my favorite christmas songs.  how could it not make me think of home?

saturday pics - cute kitties

i love my kitties.  they are so cute (even when they're squeaking to be fed)!  they are their cutest in their sleepy-time poses.

ali covering her eyes from the light

lucy propping up her head to snooze

christmas vs. cats

holiday score:

christmas tree ornaments, 0   lucy (and ali), 3

santa hat, 0  lucy, 27

tree skirt, 0  lucy, 18

family

Source: cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com via adam on Pinterest

today our family is coming to our home to celebrate thanksgiving.  we've been doing this for a few years now and i really look forward to it each year.  though our place isn't extremely large, we find plenty of space to sit down at the table together to enjoy our family dinner.  we're very lucky that my family is close enough to drive and g's mom is able to fly in so that we can all be together.  this year (and every year), i'm thankful for my family.

happy thanksgiving!

my plans are no plans

"hey, what are you doing tonight?"
"absolutely nothing!"
"great! want to meet for dinner?"

i'm a homebody.  i love being at home, relaxing on my couch with my husband and two kitties.  there's really nothing better.  so, when i get asked to do something, people don't understand that i just want to be at home.  and because i travel most of the time, i relish in my time at home even more.  i do have plans; i'm sitting at home, catching up on tv and relaxing!

though i'm not one that can easily fly by the seat of my pants, i'm also not completely rigid and structured either. but that being said, i do like things that are planned out.  for example, a few weeks ago andrea mentioned that she had a groupon that she needed to use for an indian restaurant we enjoy.  we discussed our schedules and figured out a time that worked for both of us a week down the road.  it's the reality of adulthood.  we're all busy people and things take some planning.  sure it's great to spontaneously pick up and go on occasion, but oftentimes that doesn't work out.

maybe it's just me, but i feel guilty many of time times i decline invitations to do things.  i know i shouldn't, but i don't think people understand my need for "me time".  so next time you want to get together, give me just a wee bit of notice and i'll be more than happy to get together!

pic.

meow, with a side of 'tude

ali and lucy relaxing together

we have extremely moody cats.  when we adopted ali and lucy last november, we learned that we had two very different kittens that would both take time to adjust to their new home.  lucy seemed to get comfortable somewhat quickly.  she pretty much took over the place and explored, laid around, and ran throughout the entire place.  ali, on the other hand, was extremely timid and actually hid from us for her first few days with us.

we knew that ali wasn't going to jump in our laps, enjoy being picked up (AT.ALL.) or snuggle up to us anytime soon.  she did enjoy having her belly rubbed, as long as you were at eye level with her.  lucy quickly became the lover.  she would hop on the couch with us, lay in our laps, and cuddled in bed with us every night.

ali begging me to stay home

in april, as we celebrated ali's first birthday, i wrote about how ali was warming up to us.  she was now sleeping with us, would occasionally jump up on the couch with us and would lick us nearly every morning.

as we celebrated lucy's first birthday in july, i talked about her attitude and how she wasn't quite the affectionate cat that she once was.  she refused to be picked up and would run away if you leaned down to pet her.

"you can't see me!"

g was becoming quite agitated with lucy.  "why do we have cats that hate us?" he would often yell in frustration?  i knew that cats were moody, but i couldn't quite explain the change.

well last week when g corralled ali (literally) to take her to the vet, he asked the doctor about their behaviors and why lucy might be acting the way she does.  the vet asked when lucy's behavior changed.  he said that it was about the time that ali started becoming more affectionate.  we had been so happy about ali's change in affection from day one that we were almost enamored with her new lovingness.  obviously someone else noticed this and was not one bit too happy about it.  pissed, some might say.

morning cuddle time

to win her back, the doctor suggested a few things we could do with lucy.  we now make sure that we devote some one-on-one play time with her each day.  (i also suggested that g talk to her nicely and not show his frustration)  let me say that things changed almost overnight.  the past few evenings, lucy has jumped on my lap as we watched tv together and has curled up in bed with me (ali, too!) while g was at work.

 these girls are exhausting!  i can only imagine what it's like to balance two human beings!  but we love them all the same.

the return of television

my stories are back!  the fall television season has now arrived!  along with many returning favorites, i'm also excited about some new shows that are coming to television.  the only problem is when to watch everything!

monday:
dancing with the stars
2 broke girls (new)
the playboy club (new)

tuesday:
glee
dancing with the stars results show

wednesday:
survivor
happy endings
modern family
up all night (new)
the x factor (new)

thursday:
the big bang theory
whitney (new)

sunday:
pan am (new)
the amazing race
desperate housewives

add that to the daily shows we have recording (the view, anderson, the daily show) and that's a lot of tv!  how did anyone survive in the pre-dvr era?!

gadgets galore!

i love kitchen gadgets.  i really can't help myself.  recently i got this fantastic strawberry huller (you can use it for tomatoes too).

so when g and i talked about going to my favorite childhood orchard, i immediately began thinking about all the tasty apple recipes i could make!  of course i'll make teresa's tasty apple crisp, but i also want to make my grandma's yummy apple dumplings and homemade applesauce.  when i was young, i would help my grandma make apple recipes.  my favorite part was peeling and coring all the apples.  why, you ask?  because of this amazing gadget.

so to make my apple dishes of course i need this apple peeler/corer too!  as i was comparing the different peelers, i also came across this pineapple slicer.

g and i love fresh pineapple but it's always to messy cutting it up!  and we always seem to waste so much.  so this pineapple slicer (i highly encourage you watch the video, too) solves both of those problems!!

what is your favorite kitchen gadget?

home improvements

(i know that g already blogged about this, but i had to provide my own take on our guest bathroom improvements.)  


during our staycation last month, we planned to complete our guest bathroom.  after installing a medicine cabinet recently, we only needed to purchase and install shower doors to finish our second bathroom.  as with nearly everyting related to our home, what seems like something so simple definitely will not end up being so.

we made our way to home depot last month to purchase the shower doors we had already picked out.  an amenity to city living, home depot stores located in the city provide trucks for short-term rental to allow you to take purchases to your home the same day.  we had decided that when we purchased the shower doors, we would rent the truck to take the doors home the same day.  unfortunately the truck wasn't available that day, so we chose to have them delivered to us....the following week when their availability matched our schedule.

with ease, the doors were delivered to us and the appointment for installation was scheduled.  we had also purchased a new kitchen faucet and medicine cabinet for the master bathroom that would be installed at the same time as the shower doors.  our 'master handymen' (that's really their business name) came to complete our home improvements.  i was working that day, but g kept me abreast of their progress.  the cabinet in our bathroom was installed.  CHECK!  the kitchen faucet was installed.  CHECK!  the guest room shower doors.....were not the proper size.  F ME.

it was totally our fault.  because our bathtub is low and the height of the tiling in the shower, the size of shower doors we purchased was not right and they would have looked odd, too short.  so, nothing was installed and the doors sat in our guest bedroom for a couple weeks until we were both home and able to take care of the situation.

so we'll go to home depot to get the correct size, take them home, and return the other doors...simple as that, right?!  wrong again.  the first home depot we go to (not the same one store we purchased the original doors) had the right size, but "missing parts" was printed all over the box.  i wasn't willing to buy those shower doors, based upon our bad luck.  so we went to the home depot we originally purchased the doors from.  they did not have the doors we needed.

thankfully we ran across an employee that was very helpful and in charge of all the deliveries.  they were able to get the shower doors from another local store and deliver them (free of charge) to us and pick up the other doors to be returned.  once this was completed, we made our appointment with master handymen to have the work completed.

through all the pain that it caused, i'm happy to have the shower doors we want.  and they look fantastic!!

happy birthday lucy!

today is lucy's first birthday.  when we brought her home eight months ago, she adjusted quite well.  she made herself comfortable everywhere in the condo.  she also took very good care of her scared little sister ali.  lucy has always been pretty active, running from end to end of the house everyday.  she's at the foot of our bed nearly every night.  as she's gotten older, she's gotten more of an attitude.  she doesn't liked to be picked up or held and she'll come to you when she wants to.  however, if you have food for her, she's your best friend!  regardless of her recent attitude, we still love our cute lil kitty!

happy birthday lucy!!

staycation 2011: an update

a week ago today we started our staycation.  though we have discussed taking a short trip somewhere numerous times, we've stayed strong and maintained our original plan to stay home.  in my last post, i listed some things we wanted to get done around the house.  so far we've accomplished the following:

• storage unit cleaned and organized
• inside/outside of windows cleaned
• dresser drawers cleaned out
• shower doors, medicine cabinet, and faucet purchased 
• deep cleaned the living and dining rooms (we're talking all furniture moved out)

i say that's a nice start on the to-do list!  (in regards to the home purchases, we were able to come in under budget on the first two items that we were able to go ahead and purchase the kitchen faucet we wanted!)  shower doors, medicine cabinet, and faucet will be installed next week!  can't wait to see how they all look!  

we also planned to do some things around the city and take a couple short trips nearby and have done the following:

• went to lincoln square mayfest
• went to indianapolis winefest (blog post to come soon!)
• bike ride along the lake and laid out at the beach briefly
• lots of kitty cuddle time

the past couple of days have been hot as blazes in chicago!  our blinds have remained closed and we were forced to turn the air conditioning on yesterday, mostly for the sake of ali and lucy (who were sprawled out on the hardwood floor or finding cool spots under our bed).  

though i may regret it, i decided to pick up a trip to seattle and back tomorrow.  it pays really well and i'll still be home in the evening.  it will allow me to get out of the house for a while and let g enjoy the day at  home alone.    

so far it's been a great staycation!  my mom asked me yesterday if i was bored.  i quickly responded, "NO WAY!"

photo found here.  

staycation 2011

g and i are usually traveling somewhere when we have any amount of time off.  so imagine all the places we could go this month since we both have the entire month off!!  yet, we have opted to stay near home and enjoy our time in chicago.

for those of us that live in chicago, we know our time with great weather is limited.  there is always so much going on in the city and working and traveling prevents us from doing all those things we would like to do.  so a chicago staycation seemed like a good idea.

sure we have looked at all our time off and (hypothetically) planned some great vacations, but we have resisted and have decided on some great things to do around home.

our to-do list at home:

• clean and organize the storage unit
• clean inside/outside of all windows
• clean out closet and drawers
• install shower doors in guest bathroom
• install medicine cabinet in master bathroom
• shop for new kitchen faucet

and on our to-see/short travel list:

• lincoln square mayfest
• indianapolis winefest
• day trip to saugatuck and new buffalo, mi
• trip to ft. wayne zoo with lilly & anderson
• weekend in cleveland to see g's family
• lakefront bike rides (and possible laying out at the beach)
• plenty of kitty cuddle time

we've already been enjoying ourselves.  we kicked our vacation off on wednesday with sushi lunch, followed by afternoon drinks outside, and finally dinner and drinks on the patio of our favorite wine bar! it's been nice to lounge around home, knowing we can do whatever it is we wish to do!  here's to many more vacation days!  

photo found here.  

feel the breeze!

how cute is this?  i love that they're enjoying the windows being open as much as i am! 

happy birthday!

happy 1st birthday, ali! 

when we adopted her four months ago, ali was very skittish and spent many of her days hidden away.  we were a bit concerned, but we were assured that she would eventually come around.  week by week ali would come closer to us or run away less often.  now she sleeps with us every night, jumps on the couch with us to watch tv, and often blesses us with her sandpaper kisses.

she's a beautiful cat and we're so happy that she's part of our family!

                    november                                  december                                 april                              

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALI!!

events and such!

so i've missed blogging the past few days.  after a solid month of posting for the "picture challenge" and planning/hosting a baby shower over the weekend, i've found myself foregoing my blogging to create time for other things.  but, i must share pictures from the baby shower that i helped host this past saturday. 

my friend jill is about 7 months pregnant and adorable as they come.  she asked for a few of us to host her baby shower for her close friends.  we were happy to oblige and found ourselves getting very creative and going a bit overboard with the whole thing. 

amidst many to-do lists and shopping trips, i managed to limit my number of "freak-outs" as the date drew nearer.  if it weren't for andrea and gary, i don't think any amount of medication would have calmed me down! 

we decided upon a candy theme for the shower and went crazy from there.  the shower would be decorated with bright, bold colors.  games would be few, and drinks would be aplenty. 

when the day of the shower came, everything was pretty much in place.  it was a huge (and cute) success!  here are some pictures from the shower!  (click on picture for larger view.)

 

candy bouquet!

CAKE BALLS!  

courtesy of our friend, jim.  he did an amazing job!  

red velevet cake with cream cheese frosting

orange cake with orange frosting

chocolate fudge cake with chocolate frosting

vanilla cake with vanilla frosting

lemon cake with lemon frosting

personalized wine bottle
labels with baby wine glasses



            white chocolate pretzel rods

 

    

the food/candy table!

personalized candy bar
favors for guests

                                          


                                                          the gift table

picture challenge: day 21

a picture of where you grew up.  

wabash, indiana

the first electrically lighted city in the world 

adorable!

it's time for more cute kitty pictures!!  aren't they precious?!

 after having the girls for nearly three months, ali and lucy have adapted well making this their home.  every night they both sleep in bed with us (often leaving us little room for ourselves).  ali greets us each morning by crawling up on us and licking us to say good morning.  lucy enjoys curling up on the couch with us when we watch tv.  they love to wrestle on our bed and chase each other around during the afternoon, between naps in their favorite spots.  we knew that it would take some time for ali and lucy to adapt to their new home, but they're definitely becoming less skittish and warming up to us.  we love our adorable kitties!

BFFs

aren't they the cutest?!  they LOVE each other! 

time to be creative

on the plane, i come across many types of magazines.  i enjoy flipping through various gossip mags, looking at all the pictures and reading the captions.  i plan and dream about elaborate vacations when i look through travel magazines.  occasionally i'll find an article i want to read in a news magazine.  but some of my favorite finds are crafty/food/decorating magazines.  among my favorite are real simple, martha stewart living, food and wine, and house beautiful. 

as i look through the magazines the ideas start flowing though my head.  i start ripping out recipes.  i imagine how i would implement various decorating ideas in my home.  i start making a list of materials i would need to make a certain craft.  and what comes of most of these ideas are various pages torn out of magazines that lie around or get filed away. 

i see these magazines or read blogs with amazing and creative ideas and often ask myself "how do people have time to do all of this?!"  i would love to try out new, delicious recipes or making cute crafts, but i rarely do.  i just feel like i don't have the time to get everything done!  i suppose it's just one of those things where you have to make time.  so i'm going to make it my goal to try one new recipe or make something crafty at least once a month!