Happy New Year!

Winnie enjoys our view of LSD as much as we do. Happy New Year from downtown Chicago!

Low clouds ahead!

Weird but cool. There is a wall of clouds in front of us a we head towards Gary Indiana.

What a bounty!

Merry Christmas everyone!

tis the season

for a head cold

I am starting to feel better but I am afraid I won't be 100% by Christmas.

I am trying to not take any medication (since it only helps symptoms anyway). So I have resorted to the s'es: Sleep, Soup, and "see" (vitamin C).

I am very excited to see my family for christmas, but I don't want to get anyone sick, so let's hope I am not contagious any more.

If I don't blog again before Christmas - Merry Christmas to all. And if you don't celebrate, I hope you have a great day off.

Snow snow snow

We got a nice little snow storm this evening with 4-5 inches which is a lot for us. However, I must say that this snow makes all of the pretty Christmas lights on the street look even prettier.

Tonight one of my favorite movies was on - Beauty and the Beast- I think I want to be Belle when I grow up. She's pretty and smart - and one of the coolest Disney Princesses.

Anyway, I hope you are all ready for Christmas - it is coming up quickly.

Hi Cindy

So I went back to my old place of work this week (what isn't that what you do when you have 3 weeks off - you rub it in the faces of those working?) Cindy told me she reads this blog all the time, so I say, "hi Cindy!!"

I have now gotten two of my four grades back and am currently looking at straight b+. This isn't the best, but I would be happy with it.

Tonight we are going to go see tron. We'll see how it is.

Have a great weekend y'all.

so flippin delicious

I just made tapioca pudding tonight and it is delicious! It has been a long time since I made tapioca, and I am pretty sure I have never made it this way before - it involved making a meringue and folding it into the pudding. so the pudding is think and yet oddly fluffy.

I finished my finals and then my dad came out right after. We had a great weekend together, despite the weather and the crappy rental car.

On the car note, I finally got our car back today - new transmission and new front and back brakes. The transmission was under warranty (thank goodness!) and it was time for the brakes to be replaced.

One last thing - I will be writing Christmas cards soon. So lets say you are my cousin and you moved to a new state- or if you just want to get a nice card - please email me your new address so I can send a card to you. (sarahyoung921 at gmail dot com)

One down...

Hi everyone... halfway through Monday of finals week and I have one down and one in an hour. Then I have one tomorrow and one Wednesday.

Needless to say the past week has been a little more than just busy. but fun things I have managed to squeeze in:

Thursday was Bill's Christmas party for work. Bill works with some awesome people and it was fun hanging out with them

Friday night Bill and I went to a new bar-b-q place: upscale (kobe beef brisket, prize winning ribs, etc) it was yummy and a fun date night.

Saturday played in the snow with the neighbor kids (so cute) and then threw snow balls for winnie (endless fun) - also got to see two of my friends from high school who i hadn't seen in a very long time.

Sunday - really wasn't fun, but we did make a trek to the west burbs just so i could get a burger and mom's gift

Not so fun things:

Thursday - spent the better part of the day at the car dealer - need a new transmission (under warranty, thank goodness) and new breaks for front and back (expensive but this is the first time we have replaced them on a car bought in march 04).

Friday - spent a few hours working on a paper only to realize I had misspecified something on Sunday

Saturday - 4.5 hours of review on campus starting at 9:30 (and it was snowing on my walk to and from train)

Sunday - "oh no! 2 finals are tomorrow and I haven't started studying for them!!"

After finals are done my daddy is coming for a visit. I don't know what we have planned, but it will not involve regressions, investments, accounting or economics.

winter wonderland

Harper center today

Merry Christmas from the winter garden

They changed out the plants in our common area (called the winter garden) this week. And since I am in a holiday mood due to the snow an early Christmas wish was in order.

waiting

Today I am spending the day at the car dealership waiting for an oil changes/90k check up/ fix my broken transmission that you keep ignoring visit. some of you may have seen Bill's Facebook post, yes he was here on Saturday, and yes the thing they fixed then didn't fix the problems.

In better news, I am all done with my first quarter. no idea what I will do for my internship - I want to work for a foundation or endowment with their investments. Hopefully, I will find my dream job for the summer and, in a perfect world, they will pay me to do it.

Finals start on Monday and I am worried that I am not worried enough (if that makes sense). After that, I look forward to a visit from daddy and then the holidays. Until then, I need to stay healthy focused and study hard.

How was thanksgiving for all of you?

Wednesday night - Carnival

Ready for dinner

dinner (missing many of the sides that were in the other room)

Bill carved the turkey and plated it thusly

Maddy at her Oireactas - We were so proud of her

happy thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful turkey day.

Everything turned out so wonderful today. We got up made pumpkin pies, got the turkey in made mashed potatoes hung out and then the family got here.

Because my mom and I had made everything else yesterday, it was a very easy relaxed day today. And I think for the first time in my mom's life the turkey was done before the time estimated. (by about 10 min) If you are all interested I can post links to the recipes I used for almost every thing I made.

Lily brought a corn chowder that was awesome and a traditional green bean casserole made with soy milk.

After we all had cleaned up and hung out my family (the brothers, mom, Bill and I) went to the horseshoe casino in Indiana. We were able to see my brother-in-law (he was working and there for didn't come to dinner), and got a tour of the casino. It was an odd way to end the evening, but bill and I had a good time and it was nice to see Pete.

Tomorrow we are up early and off to see Maddy dance.

Kale

yeah so while I haven't been posting as much, life does keep moving on. Last week was not too bad class-wise, and pretty fun otherwise. Friday was an awesome day, and made me so thankful to be able to have this experience.

I had a lunch and learn on campus so I drove to hyde park for a speech (but mostly just an awesome conversation) with Marianne Bertrand. Prof Bertrand is a wage and labor economist and wrote a paper about the wage gap between male and female MBA graduates using Booth data. While the results are rather depressing, if you want to narrow the gap in wages don't have kids, the discussion was interesting and lively.

After the speech, I drove to my hair cut. I don't know about the rest of you, but I get very excited by getting my hair cut. I almost always do something different from the time before (this time I colored my hair and did some fun layers). I think of my hair as a fun accessory like shoes or purses (which is probably why I love changing it).

From my hair stylist I raced home, took care of the win-ster and then headed downtown for a Booth event. Bill and I both attended and it was sponsored by the alumni association. The cool thing was that because it was part-time full time and alum Bill and I both knew people there and we were both able to meet new people. The event was held at a sushi restaurant that Bill has wanted to try for a while.

So Friday was awesome.

But what does any of this have to do with kale? nothing... Kale is really really good for you and I am never sure what to do with it (other than add it to soup). I make a really yummy kale recipe on saturday and thought I would share. (it is in the bon appetit mag currently). The mag suggested using dried beans but i had neither the time or patience for that.

1 can of cannellini beans (the white ones)

about 4-5 health leaves of kale de-stemmed and chopped roughly

drain the the beans and rinse them.

then put them in a pot with enough water boil the kale.

put some seasoning into the pot along with some salt (i used italian season, 1 bay leaf, sage and some shallot salt)

put heat on med-low and bring to a simmer (this is where cooking the beans from scratch would give you more flavor)

once the beans are at a rapid simmer (almost boil), add kale and cover until they cook down.

Let kale cook at least 5-10 min or until the rest of your dinner is done

drain the water (you could use this for soup) and serve with a bit of lemon juice and cheese (parma is what i used).

enjoy!

leaf be gone

So this year Bill and I tried the one and done tactic with the fall chores. This lead to 5 hours of raking, mowing, gutter cleaning, garden clearing, garage sweeping and other fun chores. I am not sure if this is the best tactic, but it worked (though I still have some tulip bulbs to plant and some weeds that look like shrubs in the back yard).

This weekend was the costume party that ended my leadership program. The theme was heroes and villains and Bill and I went as the Joker and Harley Quinn [i was trying to add pictures but it is getting late and i have tried 3 times now sorry :(]

Yesterday I ordered the turkey for thanksgiving. I have a lot of work to do on my house between now and then. You would think I would have all this time as a student to keep house and what not. anyway, here's the menu so far:

Turkey

Sausage and chestnut dressing

Pomegranate-Cranberry Sauce (and canned cran for Bobby)

Mashed potatoes

Sweet potatoes (not sure mashed or maple ginger)

Lily's making

green bean casserole

corn chowder

croissants

Bill's mom is bringing

honey baked ham

There will be pies but the who and what are nebulous right now. there will also be rice, great lakes Christmas ale, cranberry sparkling water, and lots of people.

any suggestions on what i am forgetting or your fav thanksgiving recipe?

Fall veggies

Alright the dog can't interrupt me

because I am at school.

So now that midterms are over I have a bit more time to myself and have gotten into cooking a bit more at home. I also don't know if I posted about this, but as part of my food club at school I went to a olive oil and vinegar tasting. I know, drinking little "shots" of olive oil or balsamic vinegar doesn't sound tasty, but it was, and afterwards I bought some oils and vinegars.

One of the two oils I got was a blood orange oil. It was so flavorful, and the store clerk insisted that he used it in a ton of baking and cooking. Since we got it, Bill made a delish roasted chicken with a honey soy glaze... with the orange oil it tastes like a healthy version of orange chicken. And I made chocolate chip cookies subbing out one of the two sticks of butter for the oil. the cookies turned out perfect and they have this nice citrus finish.

We have also made use of the balsamic (Brussels sprouts) and the toasted sesame oil (stir fry).

Ok so I know this was sorta boring... but i was really excited about these purchases and their uses.

Midterms over and yet finals are so close

I hope you all had a wonderful extra hour of sleep this weekend I know I did!

Things over here are going well. Midterms are over and we celebrated by going out with a large portion of my first year class on Saturday night. Everyone had a great time, and because the event started early we were in bed at a decent time.

I have some cooking updates to share (I made cookies with half olive oil and half butter!) but Winnie decided to start whining as soon as I sat down to blog.

Hope you are all having a great November. I am reading your blogs even if I am not posing here.

hope y'all had a nice Halloween

winnie says happy halloween, and please don't boil me in a pot


We had a fun filled weekend (after studying most of Saturday, that is). Since we moved into our house the number of trick or treaters has gone down in the last few years... so we had a surplus of candy. We had a lovely day though (the weather was never this nice when I was a kid). And our nice neighbors invited us over for ghoul-lash and pecan pie. This allowed us to not cook and enjoy some time with other people before hitting the books.

I have my fist midterm today and am being a bit manic depressive about it. as in ... i looked at the practice and all of this makes sense... therefore I will aces this ... and five min later ... crap if it is easy for me it is easy for everyone and i bet the questions will be all these hard things that we didn't practice on our homework and practice test.

I will let you all know how it goes.

Strike two

Dear president Obama
This is strike two. This past summer you made my commute super annoying by appearing at the cultural center (the building above my metra station) at rush hour.
Now I am no longer working so I assumed you and I would be cool. How could you ruin my student commute? This weekend is midterms (and not in the election-sense) and I have review sessions to attend. Why couldn't you go to the much cooler 'rally to restore sanity and/or fear'?
Please don't screw up my commute again.

Cheers,
Sarah

11 years

Since I lived near one of these.

Second batch

Mmm pumpkin muffins.

Take your husband to school day

Yesterday, Bill took the day off to study for his midterm (tonight - good luck Bill) and accompanied me to the Harper Center (the name of the business school building). He decided that he liked the full time program, and I told him too bad go to work (not really). But mom did tell me not to take him in too often or he will want to join me going full time.

The tipping point of convincing Bill to come was the highlight of any Wednesday: cookie hour. I think I have mentioned this before, but the best part of the week is the 4:30-5:30 hour of cookies, coffee, hot cocoa, and tea sponsored (usually) by our dean of students. Bill hears about this event on a weekly basis usually in a txt msg as such: done with study grp, time for cookies!! I think he gets a bit jealous, so I am glad he could experience it.

Wednesdays is also the meeting day of the public speaking group, on of the clubs I have joined. I am getting better, but there are a lot of things to practice, and you can always improve.

Today I have an interview for this non-profit board experience that is sponsored by my Net Impact club. It would give me a chance to work with a board and it gives a board a chance to get a project done by MBAs for free. Hopefully I will get a spot - I will keep you updated.

Other than that, I will start studying for my midterms hardcore today.

Meant to take another picture last night

but forgot. I made those pumpkin muffin/ cupcakes they are like a muffin but iced with cream cheese frosting. best of both worlds. Bill certainly approves, and one small can of caned pumpkin yields 2 batches, so I'll be making more today or tomorrow.

Mmm fall

Nothing smells better than freshly grated nutmeg.

I need a second me

Some how even though I am not working I am much busier than before and therefore my house is suffering. The island is getting messy, laundry is piling up and dinners are increasingly relying on trader joe/trader ming/ trader giatto.

I feel like I could really use another me.

On a side note This year I did prioritize getting out my fall decorations over a cleaner house this weekend. I now have all my fall decorations out (essentially my buffet is decorated). It is a little thing but between that and some super nice flowers I got over a week ago at Costco, my study room seems cheerier. I can't wait until we have more time to celebrate Halloween especially once we have kiddies.

Bang Bang Winnie

Winnie is three today. In celebration, I recorded her latest trick. Now I have to go study.

Thank you all!

I just wanted to update you all. We had a fabulous walk yesterday - gorgeous weather and awesome turn out. Bill and I surpassed our goal and raised over 2300$.

It isn't too late to donate though, so if you were meaning to and you just forgot use this link

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/Young_and_Hopeful

Thanks everyone!!

Team Young and Hopeful

I am going to have a new sister!!!

Brian got engaged tonight!!!!

I am so happy for my brother and Christie - I love you both!

Almost there

we are 40$ away from hitting our donation mark!! Thanks to everyone for donating - the walk is Sunday, and I am sure we will have a very pink picture to put up.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/Young_and_Hopeful

bad blogger

So, it's another friday and I haven't have time to myself all week. School work is kicking my rear. I did get a chance to cook a little this week: Sunday I made a mushroom sauce with noodles and meatballs (half Swedish meatball half stroganoff all yum). Monday I made brownies. Wednesday I made something called "Serbian potato casserole" Basically it was a ground beef and potato casserole, but with a lot of paprika, a bit of cayenne, and some cinnamon and clove.

Sunday, I also planted my garlic as we were having a beautiful weekend, and those will soon be far and few between. I cleaned up my asparagus patch, but didn't have time to take down the rest of my garden.

So lemme tell you all about the reason I am never online. I am on campus usually Monday through Thursday 8:30-5:30. I have four classes, all with great professors, Accounting, Micro Econ, Regression, and Investments. For three of the classes I have mandatory group work, so some of my extra time is trying to do group projects and homework. I also have my own homework and reading to finish. Then I have career services (literally a 3 hour class time every week) and a lot of work to do in getting ready to find an internship. Then there are lunch and learns, club meetings and sometimes a social hour (free cookies and hot chocolate wednesday at 4:30 - thanks Dean Kole!!!)

I keep telling Bill that while school is really only 4 3 hour classes a week, I am more worn out and harder worked than when I was working full time. I think the hardest thing is just getting used to learning that much again.

I am keeping up on other's blogs even if I don't comment as much these days. - Miss you guys!

So busy

I didn't really realize how busy I would be going back to school full time. I figured I wasn't working so it would be a breeze. Well, now that I have homework due in all four classes, clubs, career events, social events, leadership events AND classes, I am starting to understand why MBA full time programs are likened to one and a half jobs.

I hope you guys are doing well, and I will post more soon.

PS DONATE TO OUR TEAM!!!!!

Studying

It's Saturday night and Bill and I are studying tonight. (This is because we went out and enjoyed part of the day, so we have no one to blame but ourselves.) I have a short memo due monday morning (which really means tomorrow night) plus I need to do a problem set for econ and I have massive reading due this week.

Winnie is not acclimating to our studying in the dining room. Bill got very annoyed by her pacing, but all is well now because he figured out the problem. Our dining room floors are hardwood, and Winnie had no bed to lie on in here. She now has an old towel, but we will probably look for a new bed, maybe as a "birthday gift".

winnie helping me study

I also figured I would put up a pic from my birthday celebration with our friends Mitul and Chirsty. Mitul's birthday follows closely behind mine, so we went out to a Japanese hibachi (where they cook in front of you) for our birthdays.

pineapple boats- yay!

Making Strides

Hi Everyone!!! Some of you may have seen this in an email, but think of it as a friendly reminder.

This year marks the fourth annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event in the south suburbs and our fourth year participating. We've been fortunate these past few years to have the incredible support of our family and friends.

So this year, we're going to give back a little more in return. Bill and I are going to give away a brand new Amazon Kindle 3G in a raffle*. Reading is good, and so is fighting cancer. Why not do both? Donate just as you would normally, and every $25 you give will count for one chance at the e-reader.

Please support us by donating and/or joining our team for this non-competitive 5k walk on Sunday, October 17th at 9am. The link below will take you to our team website where you can make a contribution online or sign up to walk and join our team. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. Any checks should be made payable to the “American Cancer Society.” Click below and then choose “Donate to our Team”

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/Young_and_Hopeful

*The raffle will take place on Monday October 18th.

I hope to figure this out

I pass this sign on the stairs leading to our classroom level at Booth at least once a day. I love it.

Chinese fruit cake

This is moon cake. It is given to friends and family during the moon festival every year. Bill likens it to Chinese fruit cake. It is a dense cake associated with a holiday that every one gives but many don't like to actually eat.

Brr

So in the past week I have experienced highs near 90 and lows close to 45.

I got my garlic this past week and I will need to get it in the ground soon. I will also have to clean up my garden for the season. I picked 3 semi ripe tomatoes this week in anticipation of the dropping temps. There are a few green ones still out there but I have to face the depressing facts: summer is over and winter is on its way.

I dislike this part of the growing season (trying to not say hate). The funny thing is I love fall, but the death of my garden is hard to handle. So I will probably sulk for the next week until the rain stops and I actually start taking down my garden.

I havent had a class yet

but I have had three sessions on finding a job. I guess that is one of the reasons Booth is ranked number one this year by the economist, and is consistently in the top ten of most rankings. business school is just as much about your job as it is about your education.

So because what I think I would like to do isn't one of the big recruiting jobs my search is going to be me searching. why i couldn't have done that while i had a nice paying job I am not sure.

yesterday Bill and I tried this restaurant in west town. Dinner was yummy but dessert was phenomenal. I had a concord grape tart made with local grapes and served with corn ice cream (odd sounding but very yummy). Today we are going to try a new BBQ place. Bill has a club meeting for a club he is considering joining. They do consulting projects for not for profits that cant afford a consultant. It gives him experience plus volunteer work and provides the NP with help they need from a smart group. The full time program doesn't have this club, but we do have a club called Net Impact that I will be joining. they help team students up with local NPs to do board work. they also help students interested in pursuing NP work after school.

yesterday I attended the club fair to see what other groups I might want to join while on campus. There are so many student orgs, but many are either cultural or professional. So many just don't apply to me. I think I will join their Women in Business group. I hope I can get involved in this group as I always wanted to get involved in WIP when I was working full time. then there are the social clubs: wine, epicurean, yoga, every sport imaginable. Unfortunately, most of these clubs cost 100-150 dollars for the two years. I just can't decide on what might be worth while.

on top of clubs and job searching, eventually I will actually have classes and that will be followed by lots of homework. There is a grade non-disclosure policy at school, but I still want to do well, as do most of my classmates. Booth curves its classes to a 3.3, which basically means for every A there is a C and for some B+ there is a B-.

Anyway that is what has been on my mind the last few days. if a brain could hyperventilate, mine has gotten close this past week. I am a worrier and this information overload has me on high alert. I hope that once I get into the swing of things I will be back to my normal self. And if I am not I expect you guys to call me out on it. Thanks in advance!

Winnie got her Halloween costume

I am so blessed

I want to thank every one for the wonderful birthday wishes. I always feel so blessed to have so many family and friends. To day has been awesome so far. I woke up with a million (slight exaggeration) Facebook messages, a few ecards and some sweet gifts.
I have a job-y fair-ish thing today and then a closing reception and then I will finally be oriented.
Talk to you guys later!

birthday birthday birthday

(oy oy oy!!!)

the weekend is here

YAY!!!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us and it includes celebrating my birthday! yay! This also means i need to wish Alana a happy birthday (along with my aunt Erin). My birthday isn't until Tuesday, but we have tickets to see billy elliot and I am super excited for it.

I am still fighting this cold, though sleeping in today has help tremendously (that of the cold had run its course).

Yesterday Bill went with me to my semi-formal event. He got to meet a bunch of the people I have been talking able for the last week and a half. What was amazing though was how many people I didn't know at all. It feels like all I have been doing is meeting people every day, and still I know so few people in my class.

I am all signed up for classes, and have started looking for my books. Bill and I are taking two classes with the same books and I am taking a class he took last quarter so book wise I am hoping we can overlap a lot.

On the home front, I am awaiting my garlic (yay) and starting to think about taking apart my garden (boo) next year we will probably cut back (let the soil rest) so Bill and I have been discussing what worked and didn't.

We really liked the garlic. most of the work is done the fall before and I am loving my yummy garlic in stir fry and tomato sauce, in soups and basically everywhere else

The Swiss chard that i planted by seed was super easy and resilient. I literally sewed the seeds and we have been picking leaves and enjoying them all summer.

I really have liked the Cherokee purple and Hungarian hear tomatoes, but i think from now on I will pass on cherry tomatoes.

My peppers were a bust this year along with my cuckes I thing that was more the weather than anything, so I would probably just do less of them and hope for greatness.

The lettuce always seems like a better idea at the beginning of the summer. we did eat a bunch of the red leaf ice burg that i planted in the garden and in the early summer i enjoyed some of the lose leaf mix. I still have seeds and will try them again, but i am not buying any new ones.

the beans and beets are probably passes. for the amount that we eat beans it is easier to buy then at the market, and we really only consume the beet greens and they are so similar to chard that i don't see a point in both.

Basil is a must every year as is parsley. My perennial herb area got out of control too early in the season and I gave up on maintaining it.

I also have my asparagus bed which is a tangle of ferns and weeds at the moment, but I hope to be able to eat some next spring.

Over all, I think that I am still very dependent on my local farmers markets, but given my time and interests in the cooking and preserving parts of the process I don't have the space to grow enough for the two of us. I like the process of a garden. I love looking out at it and tracking the growth, and that satisfaction is worth all the juicy tomatoes in the world.

This post has ran way too long so I'll sign off. have a great weekend!!

25 lbs

I have spent the better part of today processing my tomatoes. I have 7 pints of quartered tomatoes in their own juice that are almost done processing. I have (hopefully) 5 pints of sauce. I also have 8 tomatoes left over. In the box there were 3 that were beyond saving. Overall, I am very proud of my tomato filled day. I can't wait to taste the fruits of my labor.

so flipping cool!!!

i just saw an owl in my back yard. it was sitting on the telephone wire. it was HUGE!

ok that is all

Real classes

So school doesn't start until next thursday, but I had my first "real" class today. It is for my LEAD class, which is a leadership element that every first year has to take. It was weird getting up and sitting in a class room bright and early at 8:30, but I guess I need to get used to it.

I bid for my classes over the weekend, and will find out the results tomorrow. I am still unsure about one of the classes I was going to take so I a currently bidding for 5 (both the accelerated and regular version) hopefully some clarity comes to me over the week because I am honestly torn.

This weekend was nice and Sunday morning we were back to the market after a few weeks off. I bought 25 pounds of tomatoes and i hope to can them on wednesday. I am thinking so into sauce and some into sliced tomatoes.

Otherwise, I am waiting to start any new books until my birthday (amazon gift cards yay!) but I did get Professor Layton and the Unwound Future yesterday. I hope that this game will keep me sufficiently occupied on the train.

Oh and a quick shout out to CB - congrats on your DC tri!!

never forget

so tired

Hi everyone!

Wisconsin was great. I played tons of icebreaker games with my 578 other classmates. We climbed rope courses and did team building exercises. Both evenings they had games and dancing. My favorite part was the 3 hours we spent with people from improv olympics (another improv group like second city). They had us do a bunch of improv games which were silly and fun.

Unfortunately, both nights up there were very late, and we had to be at group things at 8am every day. Friday I was back in Hyde Park from 8:30 to 5pm and the long days, stress and copious amounts of talking have left me a bit sick (very sad sore throat).

Hopefully, tomorrow i will be able to get back into the swing of things.

ps while i was gone Bill was able to harvest 3 new tomatoes and some peppers. Lets hope the weather stays good enough for me to get a second bounty.

And so it begins

No Fruit pies,

but a different type of Apple.

Today Bill took the day off of work and we had a wonderful day together. The highlight for me being the laptop I am now blogging upon. School starts next week and I am excited to have a laptop all of my own.

saucy

I am currently spending my time off puttin up tomatoes of the winter.

Yesterday I made about 15 cups of potato soup.

Maybe tomorrow I can make fruit pie fillings. Ha ha hmmm

I am unemployed

I will start my orientation for school on Tuesday.
We went out with work people and had a great time and now I worry for the next two years about finding a job as good as the one I have just left.

Life is good

Bill says our dog is a nut with no dignity.

I love my city

Just saw Carolyn start her run. We are on our way to the finish line. It is a hot sunny day and Chicago's skyline is looking fab

We have been up since 4

But I got to see the sunrise on the bean

3 days

After today, I have three days left at my current job. I don't know how I feel about it. sometimes I am incredibility sad, other times excited, nervous, and then sad again. Whatever I might complain about in my day to day routine, I love the people I work with. They are like family. They went to my wedding. They share my books. We celebrate all of our birthdays and every Friday we order in lunch and eat as a group. I know that when I leave I am not just leaving my first real job, or even just an era of my life. I am giving up a group of people that have shaped and influenced me, and I know that whereever I end up after school is done I will never have the opportunity to work with such a wonderful group of people again.

When I applied to school, I was so excited for the change, for the opportunity to go back and study and learn. But change is scary. And I sometimes wonder why I am pushing myself so far away from my comfort zone. All the mixing and mingling, the networking and leadership work, none of that is me. It would have been a lot easier (and less expensive) to have stayed where I was. I guess I am wondering if this will all be worth it in the end. I love UChicago, and I am looking forward to school, but when you are spending a ton of your own money on an education that includes pushing you into situations you don't feel comfortable you start to wonder why you are leaving your second family at work to go pursue something else.

Anyway thanks for being my journal today. I promise to be more upbeat and interesting tomorrow.

make a little bird house in you soul

ok so Bill is some times baffled by how I jump from one subject to another. I will now try to describe my way of free association + massive song index in my brain:
I wanted to post about cleaning my windows last night. I have never really washed the outside of windows before, I know my parents did it growing up, and I do it with the few windows that are always uncovered, but my living and dining rooms' shades are always drawn. (ooh free association -Amelia Bedelia!) Anyway, I was trying to thing of a title for the post and in rapid succession I thought of windows, window to your soul, bird house in your soul and now I will have that They Might Be Giant's song in my head all day long.
but the windows are clean and I had them open all night last night. I love this weather!!
In other news, Bill is 5% done with his degree as of 8pm last night. Tomorrow he will be 10% done.

Don't know how they did it 100 years ago

For six pint jars it took the better part of the day to peel the tomatoes, cook the sauce and process the jars. If Bill and I had to live only off what I could put up for the winter we would be super skinny.

Granted that this was my first time canning so I am sure I could be quicker if I was more experienced.

Btw it seems as if all six sealed properly.

stupid song

So since I have been reading that Breakfast at Tiffany's book (see post below) I have had that song by Deep Blue Something in my head. Very Annoying. Also, I have successfully watched an Audrey Hepburn movie every night this weekend.

Weekend was nice, we had nothing planned so I was able to bop around the mall on Saturday (outdoor mall so really it was window shopping outside). Sunday I went to the market and came home with 7lbs of tomatoes and made homemade sauce (using my garlic and basil yum!) and then I tried canning for the first time ever. I hope I did it right. Tonight I will test the seals and if any didn't seal we will just eat them this week.

Work has wound down. I will have a little to do tomorrow, but otherwise I am expecting a quiet week. I have already cleared out a bunch of my stuff, and will continue to do so all week.

hmm

So I finished a super sad true love story. It was depressing for not the reasons you would think. The book was pretty vulgar in a desensitized way, but outside of that it was an incredibly depressing social commentary about where our world is headed. Yet, somehow the book is funny.

As you can tell I am very confused by this so I have thrown myself into my next book:
Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and The Dawn of the Modern Woman

I am so excited I might just pull out my entire Audrey collection of movies.

busy as a bee

this week started off busy. Over the weekend we had a cookout to attend a cook out we hosted a belated celebration of our anniversary and winnie's last class. Yesterday I had a lunch and a dinner date with different people from work and today I need to get into my chirocracker (stupid rib).

The rest of this week will be filled with more busy things and lots of Bill studying. It has been weird to see him studying and not have any studying to do myself. Instead, I have been reading the economist and time (thank you useless united miles that I cashed into magazines) and reading more books. The last one, Under the Dome, took a while. the hard back was 1000+ pages, so it has been wonderful to just carry around my kindle. And with the internet turned off, I read the entire book on one charge. Today I started a brainless fun read, but I am looking forward to my next book: A Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel.

What have you been up to my dear readers? Any good books?

No pants for a year?

http://nopantschallenge.blogspot.com/

I hope she doesn't live in a cold cold place like Chicago, or plan on skiing or doing other sports. But yet I am intrigued by the idea. Just like I would love to spent a few weeks wearing clothes from the mad men set...

Anyway to recap: it is Friday(the 13th!) and I obviously have too much time on my hands

guest post by winnie the corgi

Some days I worry about mommy and daddy. They disappear for hours on end and then just when the reappear to play and have fun they often disappear again. Today, though, mommy came home and didn't go anywhere. instead she walked around the kitchen a bunch talking on that phoney thing. I thought that maybe she would for get me, but then mommy pulled out of the refridgeitmatator my two favorite foods bacon and cheeeeeeese!!! Mommy shays she was making fancy macin cheese, but since i got pieces of the bacon and the cheese I think she was just making me my favorite dinner ever.

Now mommy isn't playing with me, but i think after all that food i need a nap. Farewell!

wednesday - cream puff edition

So the last few days have been pretty hot and sticky here, which means Bill and I have resorted to using the pedway from the train. Our rout takes us by one of these. Today I couldn't stand the smell of "fresh and natural" cream puffs any longer. So we stopped by and got one. OMG! they are very yummy. It is a good thing that I won't be walking along that pedway much longer, Otherwise I would gain way to much cream puffery around the middle.

So because we have been super busy and it has been very hot, I have not been cooking much, and my garden is totally a tangle of weeds. But that isn't all that I worry about, with a party at our place on Sunday, I need to: plant my fall greens, weed, figure out where the tiny brown ants are coming from, clean the house, finish up the laundry (it is never ending!), make the food for Sunday.

I also am looking into which classes i might want to take, trying to make a better study area in the house, and trying to figure out which computer to buy. Sigh.

Tomorrow we will go out with Brian to celebrate his 25th birthday. My brother is 25!!! that makes me old!!! Yesterday, I called Giddo (my grandpa) to wish him a happy birthday
Me: Hi Giddo, Happy Birthday!
Giddo: Thanks sweetie, your Mimi (my grandma) and I celebrated yesterday.
Me: that's nice did you have a good day?
Giddo: yes, did you know Mimi and I have 150 years of combined wisdom now.
Me: Well that is an interesting way of thinking about it. Happy Birthday Giddo.

I can only hope that Bill and I will live to have 150 years of wisdom between us.

yawn

Wow! I can't believe how much you can get done in a weekend! But I have a feeling you don't want to hear about cleaning my upstairs office, or getting a new hose.... you want to hear and see the wedding!!

Below is the slide show link to my pictures on picasa. You can either look at the small ones or click on it and go to picasa to see them.

The wedding and all of the evens that accompanied it were so awesome. It was well planned and a ton of fun. Thursday evening was the Gaye Holud which was done a little non-traditional because the bride and groom celebrated together. Friday was the actual ceremony and a beautiful reception hosted by the bride's family. Saturday was an equally beautiful (and maybe more fun) reception hosted by the grooms family a one of my favorite Mediterranean restaurants, Rezas. After all the family reception on Saturday, there was an "after party" for all of the younger cousins and friends at a karaoke bar downtown.

Ready to go

5 wonderful years

Five years ago today I married my best friend.







Thank you Bill - I love you!

More pictures later

But for now here is me getting ready to go to tonights festivities. tomorrow I get to wear a sari yay!

busy busy busy

Wow I can't believe it is already August!

My fifth wedding anniversary will be on the sixth.
Bill's best friend will be married on the sixth.
My brother is turning 25 and my grandfather will be 75 next week (12th and 10th).
Next week, in 3 days, we have 5 birthdays in our families.
My last day of work is the 31st, I can't believe I have been here for 7 years.

Anyway let's talk about the weekend. Friday Bill and I tried to go see Inception, however forces were working against us, as the projector broke during the previews (though at least we weren't half way through the movie). Saturday evening we had Bill's last "new student" event, a wine tasting at Bin 36. It was fun, and we had dinner there with some of the attendees. (Mint ravioli with lamb ragout.... mmm mmm good)
Sunday I ran around non stop.... Winnie had her second to last class and she mad me so proud. Then it was off to the farmers market to get yummy fruits. Went home and made Chicago style (sort of) hot dogs and cut up the musk melon. Went outside and weeded and then ran to the grocery store. Came home and made a tortellini salad and potato salad for dinner and chicken salad for lunch. boiled the carcass of the chicken for broth. did some laundry and then sunk into the couch for a hour of tv before bed.
I needed to do some ironing, but that will just have to happen today or tomorrow.

I hope your weekend was just as productive.

yum oh !

Oh July you have never ended so tasty!

good book

Just finished The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. I really enjoyed this book, though it has been so long since I read the Poisonwood Bible that i really cannot compare them. The book made me interested in learning more about Frieda Kahlo, Mexico City, Trotsky, and McCarthyism. I like books that are a jumping off point for learning more.

Anyway... that is my book review of the day.

Today is gray and cool out, but the weekend is supposed to be nice. No plans for tonight... maybe try running again? Tomorrow we have a Booth event for Bill, but overall this will be a quite one.

Have a nice weekend


Oh and Mimi, if you read this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Tomatoes on a rail

Sadly one is worse for wear and due to that won't make it through dinner time.

Home ownership year 4

so this post on Emily's blog (check her out, she is a great writer) got me thinking about the i want, i need, and the home makeovers.

When we first moved into our house, we knew there were some upgrades that we would need to do. The water heater was 20 years old and not functioning properly (it isn't good when the home owners freely admit something like that). there were holes of various sizes including one big one) on the plaster walls. there was a 4 foot drop out the family room door (they had torn off most of the deck). The wood siding on the garage was rotting and falling off. the original upstairs bathroom sink seemed to jump out and attack your toes every morning. These along with a need for insanely organized closets and a dislike of many of the paint colors drove a mad dash of need and want purchases in the first two years.

Now that we have entered year four the changes and upgrades are far fewer. Last year when we were told our ac was leaking freon and the possible fix could buy us most of a new ac, we ended up replacing the heat and ac. Did we need it? Maybe... our house is hold and the furnace and ac were underpowered... which meant, even functioning it was either freezing in the winter or sweltering in the summer, but we could have just fixed the ac and moved on. (Bill and I are super happy we had the money to just get new ones).

This year, my one goal is to spruce up our down stairs bathroom. and maybe finally get pictures in all the empty picture frames around the house.

I think, though, had Bill and I bought a bigger house, or if we had two cars, we might not have been able to afford all the fixes and upgrades to our house. With our income drastically changing soon, we will have to be much more careful about where we spend our money, and our definition of "need" will probably change. I think that Bill and I will have to tell ourselves "it will be out of public view in the basement" more often and the spend-y life of DINKs will be coming to a close.

tasting heaven

I had a bit of heaven last night with my farmers market bacon and my home grown lettuce and tomato.

and then just to make sure i had my quota of bacon grease, I sauteed some of my Swiss chard in the bacon pan.

Really how can you be bummed about CFA test results when you have such a simply delicious dinner.

Oh and dessert... peaches and ginger ice cream.

:(

Got my results today. Didn't pass. Life moves on, and honestly i forgot they were sending them out today, because my weekend was so busy.

This weekend was super busy. We had a cocktail party Friday. It was really fun except for driving home in a monsoon.

Saturday I had my teeths cleaned and then got Brian's birthday present. Then I picked up some spices drove home changed and went into the city for two different parties. The parties were tons of fun.

Sunday we had Winnie's class. She was introduced to the tire. She is doing so well for a dog that doesn't practice at home. Then I came home to a weeded garden (I love you Bill) and a freshly mowed lawn. I made some lunch and we got ready for dinner and sari fitting at Faisal's house. The food was awesome (though "not spicy" still brushed against my tolerance for heat) and Faisal's mom is so generous and kind. I can't wait for the wedding.

So, life will move on. I haven't decided if I will take level two again next spring. I'll give it a week to let the sting on my ego settle a bit.

Dress rehearsal

So we had the sari fitting this weekend. And even the guys got into it.

Beans from garden

Home grown goodness

buggy week

Monday morning: icky spider in the upstairs bathtub... size of a quarter or a bit bigger red and visible fangs
Monday evening: see picture below, while entering shower... subject found hiding between molding on shower door and wall
Tuesday: i didn't get home until late... no bugs
Wednesday: small (less than an inch) centipede in downstairs bathroom. I took care of it. Cicadas so loud it was hard to converse.
Thursday: cicada found outside door when I came home. Later in the evening i realized why as a huge cicada flew into our family room doors causing the dag to freak out. Even later, another small centipede on the stairs, Bill dispatched it.
Friday: dead dragon fly in the driveway at the bottom of our stairs.

Helicopter out my window

Filming transformers

sorry

Ok I might be going overboard on the pictures (I am pretty sure the last one wasn't needed).

Anyway still waiting for rain here... they keep promising it and it really isn't delivering. On Sunday, it rained for like 5 min. Yesterday, it drizzled long enough to get the deck wet. I keep puttign off watering my garden and potted plants and I now know as soon as I give in, the rain will come.

Last night I watched the movie gran torino. It was very good, intense, a bit violent and full of colorful and racist language, but good and touching none the less.

why I hate centipedes

They keep me from my shower

best thing i have signed up for all year

if you have a godiva chocolates store near you i highly recommend you sign up for their rewards program. you don't have to do anything but given them your email (and they only email like once a month) and you get a free chocolate every month. no purchase necessary. free chocolate? don't mind if i do. Oh and if you do you should try their "ice cream truffles". I tried a mint chocolate chip truffle today.... and it tasted just like the ice cream.

A daily bounty

Yum!

Garlic from garden

For home made hummus.