This is a picture of Irie after our romp at the beach this morning.
Monday, August 27, 2007
The best dog park ever
Through one of my doggie playgroups I found out about this amazing dog park in the north suburbs of Chicago. It's actually a huge forest preserve where they've designated a big portion of it to the dogs. There are trails, a big pond, prairie grass, open fields... and it's all fenced in! It was an absolutely fabulous place to spend our first nice day in a long time this Saturday. Irie loved being able to run for miles, jump into the pond, and wrangle her way through the underbrush. She was one pooped (and muddy) puppy by the end of the day, as you can see.
Friday, August 24, 2007
The aftermath....
Chicago got hit by a pretty major storm yesterday. It was a little creepy. It hit downtown around 3:45pm and suddenly the skies turned black and the rain started swirling around - it actually looked like it was snowing.
On my way home I was kept entertained by all the branches, debris, etc littering the streets. Thankfully my apartment and car were both fine. Here are some pictures of my neighborhood and a few from the Chicago Tribune.
We're supposed to get hit again tonight so we'll see what happens. A lot of people still don't have electricity and a ton of the street signals are out. Making traffic a lot of fun around here!
On my way home I was kept entertained by all the branches, debris, etc littering the streets. Thankfully my apartment and car were both fine. Here are some pictures of my neighborhood and a few from the Chicago Tribune.
We're supposed to get hit again tonight so we'll see what happens. A lot of people still don't have electricity and a ton of the street signals are out. Making traffic a lot of fun around here!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
A little of this and a little of that
It's been a long time since I've posted. Most of what's been on the forefront of my mind these past weeks is generally inappropriate blogging material. It's unfortunate - there are a lot of highly entertaining stories there, but, still I think careful blogging is in my best interest. So instead, I will offer you some tidbits and hope that my life will eventually go back to its "OK to share with the public" way of being.
First, let me share with you all that I am now 100% debt free. As of the first week in July, I have officially paid off my car. It was kind of funny to get the title in the mail - I sat there and looked at it for a minute and thought, "Now, what am I supposed to do with this?" Don't worry, it's in a safe place now. But since I paid off college loans awhile ago and credit card debt has never been my thing... I don't owe anyone anything. It's kind of a strange sensation. But a good one.
Secondly, we've been having a lot of rain storms here lately and due to this, I've found something that really makes me laugh. Whenever there is a big storm coming, the Chicago stations will run the ticker-tape across the screen announcing warnings. And guess what... Chicago has a fun catch phrase they like to use. "Turn around. Don't drown." For awhile there I only seemed to tune into the warning when it said "don't drown" and I was just convinced someone at the TV station was having a good ol' time putting silly stuff on the ticker. But, no, come to find out, it's an actual saying. Kind of like, "Arrive alive. Don't drink and drive." I have to say I really think the "Turn around. Don't drown" one is more a stretch though. Maybe the difference between a positive and negative outcome. At any rate, it's one of my new joys in life to watch for this warning to come across the screen.
I have also recently decided to throw myself into enjoying all that Chicago offers for the next few months. It's been awhile since I've done any of the touristy things and I think it might be time to give them another whirl. It's easy to treat Chicago like just another place to live, but I figure I'm not going to live here forever, so I should take advantage while I can. It's a piece of a larger plan that is formulating as I go, but not quite ready for public consumption yet.
OK, so now you have some little pieces of information to tide you over perhaps. I'll do my best to keep my eyes open for entertaining things that are blog-worthy.
First, let me share with you all that I am now 100% debt free. As of the first week in July, I have officially paid off my car. It was kind of funny to get the title in the mail - I sat there and looked at it for a minute and thought, "Now, what am I supposed to do with this?" Don't worry, it's in a safe place now. But since I paid off college loans awhile ago and credit card debt has never been my thing... I don't owe anyone anything. It's kind of a strange sensation. But a good one.
Secondly, we've been having a lot of rain storms here lately and due to this, I've found something that really makes me laugh. Whenever there is a big storm coming, the Chicago stations will run the ticker-tape across the screen announcing warnings. And guess what... Chicago has a fun catch phrase they like to use. "Turn around. Don't drown." For awhile there I only seemed to tune into the warning when it said "don't drown" and I was just convinced someone at the TV station was having a good ol' time putting silly stuff on the ticker. But, no, come to find out, it's an actual saying. Kind of like, "Arrive alive. Don't drink and drive." I have to say I really think the "Turn around. Don't drown" one is more a stretch though. Maybe the difference between a positive and negative outcome. At any rate, it's one of my new joys in life to watch for this warning to come across the screen.
I have also recently decided to throw myself into enjoying all that Chicago offers for the next few months. It's been awhile since I've done any of the touristy things and I think it might be time to give them another whirl. It's easy to treat Chicago like just another place to live, but I figure I'm not going to live here forever, so I should take advantage while I can. It's a piece of a larger plan that is formulating as I go, but not quite ready for public consumption yet.
OK, so now you have some little pieces of information to tide you over perhaps. I'll do my best to keep my eyes open for entertaining things that are blog-worthy.
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