Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Some favorite pics
All tuckered out.
Lily has a new favorite playhouse.... Irie's crate. I kept telling her this could be viewed as child abuse, but she wasn't buying it.
Karate Kid. Better watch out.
Terra wondering why Irie's getting the attention. Look at the smile on Irie's face. Hmmm.
Too cool for words.
How I spent my memorial day vacation...
I'd been thinking about taking a few days off to expand my memorial day weekend and doing another road trip out to Baltimore. Somehow I talked Mom into joining me so last Friday morning we loaded up the car with road trip necessities and Irie and headed out. It's a much more enjoyable trip with someone else - especially someone as entertaining as mom. (And Irie's antics help keep me on my toes as well.) Both directions of the trip went pretty seamlessly and we made awesome time both ways.
The time we actually spent in Baltimore was great as well. Irie and Terra seemed to get along much better this time around. While Irie is still by far the hyper one, they played together pretty well and even tolerated sleeping on the same couch now and again.
Lily was absolutely adorable and hysterical (as usual.) She's in a "no-no-no" phase these days which is actually one of the cuter things in the world. Even when she's saying it in absolute hysterics, it's still somehow endearing. She was a huge fan of telling the dogs no.
In general, she paid a great deal of attention to Irie. I'm not sure if she really liked her, or just liked having someone to yell at, but it was pretty funny. Whenever she couldn't see Irie she'd start yelling, "Iwie, Iwie, Iwie" and running around looking for her. Irie didn't seem to totally understand why this child was calling her all the time and telling her no, but she was a good sport. I've got a pretty decent video of Lily calling her so I'll try to post that soon.
I know I say it all the time, but I really can't wait for Carl and Kathleen to move back to the midwest. I get out there more than most people can, I know, but it's still not enough! When can it ever be enough when your first niece is growing up over-night?
The time we actually spent in Baltimore was great as well. Irie and Terra seemed to get along much better this time around. While Irie is still by far the hyper one, they played together pretty well and even tolerated sleeping on the same couch now and again.
Lily was absolutely adorable and hysterical (as usual.) She's in a "no-no-no" phase these days which is actually one of the cuter things in the world. Even when she's saying it in absolute hysterics, it's still somehow endearing. She was a huge fan of telling the dogs no.
In general, she paid a great deal of attention to Irie. I'm not sure if she really liked her, or just liked having someone to yell at, but it was pretty funny. Whenever she couldn't see Irie she'd start yelling, "Iwie, Iwie, Iwie" and running around looking for her. Irie didn't seem to totally understand why this child was calling her all the time and telling her no, but she was a good sport. I've got a pretty decent video of Lily calling her so I'll try to post that soon.
I know I say it all the time, but I really can't wait for Carl and Kathleen to move back to the midwest. I get out there more than most people can, I know, but it's still not enough! When can it ever be enough when your first niece is growing up over-night?
Yee Haw!
Up.
Almost....
Got it. Yay.
Something seems to be missing though.
That's better!Mom and I were bound and determined to teach Lily how to say "Yee Haw" this weekend. We were somewhat successful, but I'm guessing her non-country parents will break her of it soon.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Pictures from Nashville
This was labeled a "Customs House". Just thought the architecture was cool. 
Nashville's idea of vending machines.
Funny.
Dog on horse. Love it.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
I've been saved!
So, I'm in Nashville for work this weekend. I had a facilitator training here today and because of goofy flight schedules I had to fly in Friday and can't leave until tomorrow morning. Other than just having to be away from home, this actually isn't so bad. I really enjoy Nashville.
I got in yesterday afternoon (after some crazy travel problems) and wandered around downtown for awhile and was reminded why I love this place. It was the middle of the afternoon and I was able to just aimlessly walk into bar after bar, sit down and listen to great live music. Yes, I enjoy country music, so that helps, but there was really a lot of variety out there. I love that I can order a Bud Light and look down the bar and see at least half the bar is drinking the same thing. I love that the bands don't take themselves too seriously and are just having fun. I like that everyone says hi.
So I ended the day thinking, why do I live in Chicago? And then, I remembered.
After my training was over today I headed down the street to get some BBQ and then go on to this City Festival that's going on. I was thinking, man, what could be better. I just happened to hit the weekend when there's a big festival in town - free music, fun atmosphere.
So I'm walking down the street towards the festival and I start to see people wearing christian themed t-shirts, accessories, etc. I think it's a little odd, but whatever. Then I walk by a festival tent that's labeled "Prayer Tent". Yikes. I start to pay more attention to everything around me. I tune into the blaring speakers and, yup, I was in the midst of a christian festival, complete with a preacher telling me over the loud speaker to give up my life to god.
Awesome!
Yeah, I can't take that. As much as I love country music and just generally am happy in this atmosphere, I just can't take the thinking. Too bad. I made a u-turn and headed back to the hotel. I may venture out again after the festival is over. We'll see.
I got in yesterday afternoon (after some crazy travel problems) and wandered around downtown for awhile and was reminded why I love this place. It was the middle of the afternoon and I was able to just aimlessly walk into bar after bar, sit down and listen to great live music. Yes, I enjoy country music, so that helps, but there was really a lot of variety out there. I love that I can order a Bud Light and look down the bar and see at least half the bar is drinking the same thing. I love that the bands don't take themselves too seriously and are just having fun. I like that everyone says hi.
So I ended the day thinking, why do I live in Chicago? And then, I remembered.
After my training was over today I headed down the street to get some BBQ and then go on to this City Festival that's going on. I was thinking, man, what could be better. I just happened to hit the weekend when there's a big festival in town - free music, fun atmosphere.
So I'm walking down the street towards the festival and I start to see people wearing christian themed t-shirts, accessories, etc. I think it's a little odd, but whatever. Then I walk by a festival tent that's labeled "Prayer Tent". Yikes. I start to pay more attention to everything around me. I tune into the blaring speakers and, yup, I was in the midst of a christian festival, complete with a preacher telling me over the loud speaker to give up my life to god.
Awesome!
Yeah, I can't take that. As much as I love country music and just generally am happy in this atmosphere, I just can't take the thinking. Too bad. I made a u-turn and headed back to the hotel. I may venture out again after the festival is over. We'll see.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Recent favorites
This are a few pictures stolen from Pumpkin News, but I know some of my frequenters don't get over there too often so I just had to share. Can't wait to get out to Baltimore to see my favorite little munchkin again soon!
Lily's ready for her modeling career.
As discussed with Kathleen - you can't judge a book by its cover. No matter what she's wearing, she's a tom-boy at heart.
What 18 month old isn't scared of weird fuzzy characters? Lily, that's who. She just amazes me.Monday, May 14, 2007
Sunday at the zoo
Definitely get uglier as they get older.
This is the newest polar bear cub at Brookfield. Still nameless for the moment.
See you parents of little ones aren't the only ones who get to enjoy the zoo!
I also got to take my first motorcycle ride yesterday. (Yes, Mom. Yes, Dad. I wore a helmet and didn't have any skin exposed.) I have to say, it was actually a little fun. Still kind of intimidated by the other cars on the road and I don't think I'll ever be one of those people who enjoys weaving in and out of traffic, but it was fun none-the-less.
Wine Tasting Photos
One of the buildings at the Cherry Republic. I just love this place.
One of the reasons I love this place: "Declare all bananas." That's funny stuff.
Nicole at Sleeping Bear Dunes
More dunes.
If I ever get married, this is the kind of place I'd like to do it at. I don't even really like this winery that much (though they do make a fine Riesling), but I just love the stone.
Wine tasting in review
I'm a bit delinquent in my posting. I lead a busy life, what can I say.
As planned Nicole and I took off for Michigan on a beautiful Friday. As not planned, we stopped and got pedicures on our way out of town (gotta do that now and again), ate lunch at Dominicks (this is a funny concept to me to eat lunch at a grocery store, but apparently it's becoming more and more the trend - hence all the little tables to eat at, I guess.)
I had printed two sets of directions, one to our hotel and one to the art gallery we were thinking about going to so that depending on when we got into town we'd be able to go directly to one. Well, we ended up following the directions to the hotel which took us on a very windy route on the back roads. Even though the gallery and the hotel are in the same small town of Traverse City, mapquest gave us very different directions. We were a little turned around coming into town, but finally figured out where we were.
On Nicole's direction we ate dinner at a lovely local brewery which consisted of outstanding beer/cheese soup and half a pulled pork sandwich. Fearful that splitting the sandwich would leave us hungry (for some unknown reason) we also decided to split an entree salad, which we quickly discovered there was no way we could eat. Veggies always seem to lose out somehow. And while Nicole took hers home and actually ate it the next morning for breakfast, my half is probably still sitting in the hotel room refrigerator.
We then wandered over to the "Art Walk" which was apparently an add-on event to the wine weekend. However the Art Walk people didn't seem to know this. Again, small town, not sure how/why they don't know about their events - especially when they're being cross marketed, but whatever.
We saw some really cool art... and some really not so cool art. I found an awesome watercolor print of a Jack Russel that looks a lot like Irie, so I of course had to purchase that. Nicole ended up buying some fun swimwear that changes color in the sun. Don't ask. :-)
On Saturday we started out early and went against our normal drive to follow the rules and began our wine tasting tour on the wrong side of the peninsula. Technically everyone on the tour is given a starting winery to pick up our tickets and glasses for the weekend, but for various reasons we wanted to start on the other side. Mostly the wineries were cooperative with us, but we did meet a few sticks in the mud.
We spent a little time driving around the Sleeping Bear dunes, hit up the Cherry Republic for all our cherry needs, I had a slice of pie for breakfast (awesome), picked up some good cherry sangria and continued our way around the peninsula.
By 5pm that evening we had hit 9 wineries and had had enough wine for the weekend. We napped at the hotel for awhile and finally managed to drag ourselves out to have dinner.
Still in a bit of a wine coma, I left the electric cooler on in the car all night and woke up to a dead car, which was good excitement. (Always is when you're 6 hours from home on a road trip.) Thankfully I carry jumper cables and the friendly people of Traverse City were there to lend a hand.
We hit up the Grand Traverse Pie Company on our way out of town (this time I refrained from having pie for breakfast) and drove down to Grand Rapids for a little reunion with a friend who lives there. Hit Chicago at about 6pm and declared the road trip a success.
Pictures to follow!
As planned Nicole and I took off for Michigan on a beautiful Friday. As not planned, we stopped and got pedicures on our way out of town (gotta do that now and again), ate lunch at Dominicks (this is a funny concept to me to eat lunch at a grocery store, but apparently it's becoming more and more the trend - hence all the little tables to eat at, I guess.)
I had printed two sets of directions, one to our hotel and one to the art gallery we were thinking about going to so that depending on when we got into town we'd be able to go directly to one. Well, we ended up following the directions to the hotel which took us on a very windy route on the back roads. Even though the gallery and the hotel are in the same small town of Traverse City, mapquest gave us very different directions. We were a little turned around coming into town, but finally figured out where we were.
On Nicole's direction we ate dinner at a lovely local brewery which consisted of outstanding beer/cheese soup and half a pulled pork sandwich. Fearful that splitting the sandwich would leave us hungry (for some unknown reason) we also decided to split an entree salad, which we quickly discovered there was no way we could eat. Veggies always seem to lose out somehow. And while Nicole took hers home and actually ate it the next morning for breakfast, my half is probably still sitting in the hotel room refrigerator.
We then wandered over to the "Art Walk" which was apparently an add-on event to the wine weekend. However the Art Walk people didn't seem to know this. Again, small town, not sure how/why they don't know about their events - especially when they're being cross marketed, but whatever.
We saw some really cool art... and some really not so cool art. I found an awesome watercolor print of a Jack Russel that looks a lot like Irie, so I of course had to purchase that. Nicole ended up buying some fun swimwear that changes color in the sun. Don't ask. :-)
On Saturday we started out early and went against our normal drive to follow the rules and began our wine tasting tour on the wrong side of the peninsula. Technically everyone on the tour is given a starting winery to pick up our tickets and glasses for the weekend, but for various reasons we wanted to start on the other side. Mostly the wineries were cooperative with us, but we did meet a few sticks in the mud.
We spent a little time driving around the Sleeping Bear dunes, hit up the Cherry Republic for all our cherry needs, I had a slice of pie for breakfast (awesome), picked up some good cherry sangria and continued our way around the peninsula.
By 5pm that evening we had hit 9 wineries and had had enough wine for the weekend. We napped at the hotel for awhile and finally managed to drag ourselves out to have dinner.
Still in a bit of a wine coma, I left the electric cooler on in the car all night and woke up to a dead car, which was good excitement. (Always is when you're 6 hours from home on a road trip.) Thankfully I carry jumper cables and the friendly people of Traverse City were there to lend a hand.
We hit up the Grand Traverse Pie Company on our way out of town (this time I refrained from having pie for breakfast) and drove down to Grand Rapids for a little reunion with a friend who lives there. Hit Chicago at about 6pm and declared the road trip a success.
Pictures to follow!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
No more kisses
This is what Irie thinks about all my kisses.
*edited to add: I was making fun of some of my co-workers yesterday for the pet names they call Irie and then I realized just how many I have... here are a few:
- puppy
- baby
- "I" (short for Irie, I guess)
- sweetie (sometimes with a pie, sometimes without)
- goof-ball (or just goof or goofy)
- cutie (again with the pie)
- peanut
- peanut butter (I pick this one up from a co-worker)
- bub
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Update time
My my, it's been awhile. So let me fill you all in on the latest and greatest.
The last few days have been a bit brutal. While I've been in a good mood and nothing bad is going on, I've had terrible dreams at night, not sleeping very well, and am waking up with all these aches and pains. All I can guess is that I'm tossing and turning at night a lot which is leading to the aching. And then yesterday I gave myself an even better reason to be sore. I parked my car on my street and was stepping up on to the curb. My neighbors have put a low to the ground stake and string fence around a plot of land and I somehow managed to walk right into one of the stakes. For as small as they are, there was no give and I went down flat on my stomach. I'm not sure I've ever fallen that flat out before. The only thing that saved my face from hitting was the fact that it slammed into my hands first. Weird. Remarkably I really didn't get hurt, but I was a little sore!
I'm also in the process of re-training Irie how to behave when walking on the street. She's gotten pretty terrible about barking/lunging at bicyclists, runners, and just the average person walking by. Not good at all. We're making definite progress on people passing and runners. Other dogs and bicyclists are proving a little more difficult. But I'm confident that we'll get there. A combination of letting her know I'm in charge and making it worth her while to pay more attention to me than anyone else seems to be doing the trick. Basically lots of commands and lots of treats.
In other Irie news, I've recently purchased a "chuck-it" and am unsure how I lived without one of these. It's really a very simple concept, but it increases my throwing distance considerably - making the chasing of balls much more fun for Irie and also keeps me from having to pick up slobbery/dirty balls. Irie loves it and actually looks for whether I have it with me whenever we leave the house. The one trick to this is that pretty much every other dog loves this device as well, so it can get a little crazy at the dog park. Slowly but surely more and more people are showing up with them though, so it's starting to even out.
Work is going quite well, though I am increasingly distraught about how people just don't get that the services we provide a) cost money and b) are ours. It seems everyone just wants to take our ideas and programs and not give us credit or money for them. Frustrating. Guess that's one of the problems as you move up in an organization - you start to see that stuff more.
Kickball starts next Wednesday and we had our ref clinic last night. Lots of new faces and plenty of familiar ones too. I'm looking forward to it. Meanwhile I've been having fun working with the board to get our not-for-profit status all set-up. Another area where my real job experience comes in handy! If you want to keep up on the season, check out ChicagoKickball.com.
I'm also working on a website re-vamp of another organization I volunteer for, Miracles In Progress. My main goal when I first started helping them out a few years ago was to get the website functional - and it is that now, but it needs some serious design help! One of my co-workers/friends has agreed to help me in this endeavor, so I'm hopeful to have something new soon. BTW - they have a fundraiser golf-outing/dinner next Friday if anyone's interested in attending. It's a good time!
Starting tomorrow I'm off on a little mini-vacation for the weekend. Nicole and I are headed up to Traverse City, MI for a little wine tasting and fun. This has become a bit of a tradition for us and I'm really looking forward to it. Even though I'm not hugely into wine, it's just fun to go to all the different wineries and, well, I love roadtrips. Nicole always comes back with lots of wine and I always come back with lots of cherries. :-) All in all, the weather and sun is making me a little gitty and I just can't wait to get out on the road for some good ol' fashion fun.
And with that I will wish you all a fond adieu. Irie's here at work with me today and is giving me the "I'd really like to go outside NOW." look.
The last few days have been a bit brutal. While I've been in a good mood and nothing bad is going on, I've had terrible dreams at night, not sleeping very well, and am waking up with all these aches and pains. All I can guess is that I'm tossing and turning at night a lot which is leading to the aching. And then yesterday I gave myself an even better reason to be sore. I parked my car on my street and was stepping up on to the curb. My neighbors have put a low to the ground stake and string fence around a plot of land and I somehow managed to walk right into one of the stakes. For as small as they are, there was no give and I went down flat on my stomach. I'm not sure I've ever fallen that flat out before. The only thing that saved my face from hitting was the fact that it slammed into my hands first. Weird. Remarkably I really didn't get hurt, but I was a little sore!
I'm also in the process of re-training Irie how to behave when walking on the street. She's gotten pretty terrible about barking/lunging at bicyclists, runners, and just the average person walking by. Not good at all. We're making definite progress on people passing and runners. Other dogs and bicyclists are proving a little more difficult. But I'm confident that we'll get there. A combination of letting her know I'm in charge and making it worth her while to pay more attention to me than anyone else seems to be doing the trick. Basically lots of commands and lots of treats.
In other Irie news, I've recently purchased a "chuck-it" and am unsure how I lived without one of these. It's really a very simple concept, but it increases my throwing distance considerably - making the chasing of balls much more fun for Irie and also keeps me from having to pick up slobbery/dirty balls. Irie loves it and actually looks for whether I have it with me whenever we leave the house. The one trick to this is that pretty much every other dog loves this device as well, so it can get a little crazy at the dog park. Slowly but surely more and more people are showing up with them though, so it's starting to even out.
Work is going quite well, though I am increasingly distraught about how people just don't get that the services we provide a) cost money and b) are ours. It seems everyone just wants to take our ideas and programs and not give us credit or money for them. Frustrating. Guess that's one of the problems as you move up in an organization - you start to see that stuff more.
Kickball starts next Wednesday and we had our ref clinic last night. Lots of new faces and plenty of familiar ones too. I'm looking forward to it. Meanwhile I've been having fun working with the board to get our not-for-profit status all set-up. Another area where my real job experience comes in handy! If you want to keep up on the season, check out ChicagoKickball.com.
I'm also working on a website re-vamp of another organization I volunteer for, Miracles In Progress. My main goal when I first started helping them out a few years ago was to get the website functional - and it is that now, but it needs some serious design help! One of my co-workers/friends has agreed to help me in this endeavor, so I'm hopeful to have something new soon. BTW - they have a fundraiser golf-outing/dinner next Friday if anyone's interested in attending. It's a good time!
Starting tomorrow I'm off on a little mini-vacation for the weekend. Nicole and I are headed up to Traverse City, MI for a little wine tasting and fun. This has become a bit of a tradition for us and I'm really looking forward to it. Even though I'm not hugely into wine, it's just fun to go to all the different wineries and, well, I love roadtrips. Nicole always comes back with lots of wine and I always come back with lots of cherries. :-) All in all, the weather and sun is making me a little gitty and I just can't wait to get out on the road for some good ol' fashion fun.
And with that I will wish you all a fond adieu. Irie's here at work with me today and is giving me the "I'd really like to go outside NOW." look.
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