Tan Fat is better than White Fat

I'm off to the tanning beds! Screw Midwest winters. I need some vitamin D!

My favorite to Date

I just finished knitting, felting and putting this purse together, and I have to say, it is my favorite thing that I have ever made. Love it. On to the next project. Luc, dying to know what having a wedding logo is. You have to expand on that. Sounds so cool. Love to all.

Update

Well, hello everyone!

Good to get the update from Lyd. As she mentioned, it's flippin' freezing here but Drew and i look at it as the last time we have to spend a freezing cold winter here so that's comforting. My trip to Atlanta was great. I was pretty tired the first day and half but by the end i was able to keep up with Lyd and the kids. Believe it or not, I took them to Chuck E Cheeses. Not going to lie... the pizza was pretty good there!

Drew and I are in the honeymoon phase. He's gone the next two weekend as well so absence really makes the heart grown fonder. We have set up our savings accounts and are really planning against our move and all the other crazy thing we have ahead. Change is the theme for us in 2008.

Work is pretty consuming right now but i had a little come to Jesus with myself and just need to put my head down and get through to September. I've has very little time to do much else but I am looking forward to spending time with Carrie and Andy this weekend although I'll still be at the office both days. We are going to dinner at Alinea (Gourmet's number 1 restaurant in 2006) and a neil diamond cover band. Good times all around.

My property management company redid my bathroom with floor to ceiling white tile. It feels like a hospital and I hate it. I have unscrewed almost every light bulb because the reflection is so bright. I actually called to ask them why they did this and they said they were 'updating' the apartment. i had to laugh out loud.

I really like my dress for magoos wedding. Hope its cool but I am going heels ceramony and flops for reception. It's just a summer wedding must.

Currently I am eating the world's worst thai take out. I am so bummed. Good thai is hard to find in Chicago. For the love of god can I get some peanut sauce that is not melted Jif???

Hope all is well. Love to all.

It's been a long time baby!

Where to begin. Been so pathetic on the communication front. We had a wonderful MLK weekend with Lizzy here. As you saw from our pictures, we had a really snowy weekend and the kids had an amazing time. We even went sledding. Mary Rowe had never seen snow before and she said it was the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. It is still freezing here. It isn't 5 though! I know Chaz and Lizzy are freezing in that temp. today. Crazy stuff here. We loved Lizzy's visit. We went shopping and got me a couple of essentials. Liz, I also took in a few of my favorite clothing items to have them made to fit my new bod. One of them was that flower skirt you got me a couple of years ago. I also just got an amazing jacket and skirt yesterday at a friend's clothing show so I am on a roll. Next purchase is a bikini! Unfortunately, Lizzy convinced me to go to a tanning salon for the first time in 10 years and I am still burnt to a crisp. Aparrently tanning technology has not improved at all, only gotten more expensive. My boobs are purple! They are re-districting out neighborhoods school district and some others and it has caused quite a big to do. We come out fine in the deal, but others are very upset. I went to the School Board meeting on Tuesday night. We got there at 6:15 p.m. and did not get home until 1 am! Very emotional folks. Glad we come out good in the deal though. Our whole neighborhood went, had a petition, spoke etc. so it was interesting to witness the process and be a part of it. I was amazed at the board and how proficient they were in everything. Cannot believe it is the same group agreeing to pay students $8 an hour to study!!!!! Dill thinks that is fine, I, like Lizzy, thinks it is a joke. Oh well. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend, and then to Super Tuesday. I am definately voting for Edwards. I was horrified at Obama and Hillary's behavior at the debate on Monday Night. I think they both looked like spoiled children and Edwards came out shining. Dill has been in town lately, but is about to go on a long trip to Spain, England and France. The conference in Spain is a really big deal and he is speaking everyday and on panels everyday as well. Very proud of him for that. Finally got Spencer's Christening all set. It can't be until April 27th, but better late than never! At least it is prior to his first birthday. My poor little heathon. I am doing a private ceremony in the small chapel at our church this time and am really looking forward to hit being all family and friends and not the entire congregation. We are here for a while and then heading to Chapel Hill for Easter. Trying to figure out if we are going anywhere for Spring Break. I was thinking I would take the kids to California, but it is such a production by myself. Our plan is to come for 6 weeks this summer though. Can't wait until your wedding Luc. Lizzy's dress is fabulous, and we put Mary Rowe's dress on when Liz was here and she looked like an angel. I am going to just monogram the sash, in case you have a little girl that you can give it to in the future. I am writing this at the car wash. My car is like a rolling trailer so it is a 2 hour ordeal. Excuse me for over writing, but need to pass the time! I love and miss you all.

Happy birthday Chaz!!!

Have a great day today! xoxoxo

Happy New Year

Chaz- I love the pics of Oscar skiing. they were so cute! Shaw's make for good skiers.

I am back home from California only to be met with 6 degree weather and I am butt white and, well, you can imagine how happy I am to be back here. Did I mention that Drew doesn't come home for another 9 days...?

Anyway, work is keeping me very busy and I am just going to keep my head down, go to yoga and lay low for a couple weeks. Should be nice actually. I am looking forward to going to Atlanta in about 2 weeks to see Lyd and the kids. I am also excited to see some friends, including Drew's brother, and go see on of Baker's basketball games.

I got a ton of new cooking stuff for xmas so I am excited to get start whipping up some things. Getting a dutch oven is the best thing for this time of year. Hearty braised meat make for good winter dinners.

As a family I think we have a lot of exciting things to look forward to in this new year- Lucille is getting married, Chaz and Lena are having a third, Drew and I are moving and much more we don't even know about yet!

Love to all

Happy New Year

OK. No posts since the 20th. You guys are slacking. Happy New Year everyone. Our New Year's get more and more sober every year. I guess that is a good thing. Actually, we went to a very nice family friendly party. We left at 10 because the roads were getting bad with all the snow but we made it home for the "ball drop." Even the kids stayed up. Strange. Not much going on. Our back yard fence was blown over in the 75 mph winds we had. Insurance is covering it though so in the end but for the deductible, we should have a really nice new fence. We are also in talks with an architect to remodel the house. Not sure what we will be doing. We will definitely add the master bath but we might do much more including another room upstairs, remodeling the kitchen and building a new garage that orients toward Church. We'll see. Got a lot of thinking to do on the matter. The house is looking better with all the great art we picked up over the holiday. It is starting to look like a museum. The best thing is that all of our pieces are original. The painting I got for XMAS is just great. I love it. After our ski trip, we are now gearing up for the Caribbean. PSYCHED!!!!!!!!!!! SUN!!!!!!!!! Global warming. Yeah right. You gotta be an idiot to believe that stuff. All I know is that I haven't seen this much snow in years and last I heard it was snowing in Daytona Beach. Whatever Al. My bday is coming up. Those too are getting soberer every year. We are going to a Blackhawks game with Glenn and his girlfriend. Should be fun. I like hockey games. I miss you all. Hope to see some of you before too long. With airfairs the way the are, I am not sure when that will be. Looked into tix for Lu's wedding. At this point, they want $575 for ORD to SFO. Unbelievable. Not a year ago, they were $198. Not looking forward to carting 5 people to Sweden. Ouch. Love you guys.

Congrats!

Congrats, Chaz and Lena. That is SO exciting! Your family sure is growing fast.

Well, i had "christmas" with Drew last night and it was really great. I came home and he had cleaned my apartment, candles were lit and he cooked me dinner. He gave me a cleaver and a paring knife that I wanted. He stuffed my stocking with Kraft singles and CD. I was so excited. Then we watched love actually. Cheesy I know but it was really cute. He leaves today for 3 1/2 weeks to colorado :-(

Cant wait for the holidays. xoxo

The GOOD News! the bad news.

Well, the GOOD NEWS IS:

Is it an Anna Lisa or a Freddy? At this point, we only know it isn't twins. Thank God for that.

The bad news is that Lena and the kids will not make the wedding Lu. I will be attending by myself. It is just too close to the due date. I am so sorry.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. I am in holiday mode, ie go in late and leave early. Football by the fire. Cooking all my favorite dishes. Etc... That along with a few long weekends, some time off to go skiing, and a week in the Caribbean makes for not such a tough winter.

Of course, we have a few other things to plan too. Like getting a new car, adding on to the house, etc...etc...etc...etc...etc...

I am on a roll. Watch out Lyd.

Love to all.

May-hee-ko

Well, I AM jealous that Magoo's in Mexico. I'd kill to get out of this freezing cold weather. Poor Drew was up all night cause his upstairs neighbor had a leak at 3:30 am and came dripping down into his bathroom and it was a mess. Oh, to be a homeowner... So he must be tired today. Work is super busy this week which is tough cause everyone is in holiday mode. I am excited to go home for Christmas. Plan on eating a lot of sandwiches from Guignes and cooking. Lucille and I have some killer reservations in the city so we will have lots of girl time. Drew leaves on Thursday for 3 1/2 weeks. It's so frustrating cause I stay here and work and miss him and he's off skiing all over Colorado and having a blast. I got all my holiday gifts out the door and I am pretty proud at how on top of it I was this year. We certainly have a lot more people to shop for this year. I feel like between in laws and children our family has doubled. So sorry if you guys aren't getting major presents but all these people get expensive!

Too Many Communication Avenues!!!!!!!!!!

I just can't keep up with e-mail, 2 blogs, a cell phone and facebook!!! Jesus, it is a full time job! Very Christmasy around here. It is colder than I can remember so that helps. Not quite what you all have in Chicago though. My kids would die for snow, but the sky is clear. It is cold enough though. Baker had his school Christmas concert this morning and class party. Mom went and I think she was ready to shoot herself after. She was hysterical. She has been incredible, it will be depressing when she leaves on Thursday. We have shaken things up a bit this Christmas. We are going to be here for eve and day, then going to Chapel Hill on the 26th. We are having about 20 adults and 20 children for Christmas Eve after church for Dill's Oysters. Should be great. We are going Ice Skating this weekend. Hopefully Dad is coming this weekend, but I have not hear d from him yet. Can't believe Lucille in Mexico. Not jelous of the Mexico part, but am very jelous of Justin's thoughtfullness of putting it all together, talking to her boss etc. That is so wonderful. Miss all.

Well, well, well

Hello Everyone! It's been a real busy week at work and I am so happy to have returned to the states with no jet lag. All you gotta do is make yourself stay up on the way back and you are golden.

Tonight is the night that Drew is taking me to Sepia, the restaurant that I have been dying to go to. I am wearing my fun gold dress and i am really looking forward to it. Today he dropped off flowers at my office and a gift card for a cooking school. He does know me.

Tomorrow we are going to go up north and see the brown's and drop off presents at Chaz's. Then, we are going to Kage's big hockey game which we are really excited for. Alex is home from school so we will see her, too.

I am on the holiday party circuit and boy am I tired. I LOVE all my new work friends. They are so fun and I feel like I have made some great new friends. I am really loving my job but I still have a lot of learning to do. I am getting better slowly and sometimes I get frustrated.

Looking forward to CA for xmas. Love to all

Hi Guys! Happy Holidays! So I have bragged repeatedly about having completed my XMAS shopping early. What I guess I forgot about was that it doesn't help much if you don't get around to wrapping them. So, despite my early start, I am sure I will still be FedExing everything to you guys to get them there in time. Oh well. What's more, we are down to the wire on getting out our XMAS cards but they should be in the mail on Sunday. Always the rebel, we emblazened them with Merry Christmas. So tired of all this PC nonsense. I know even my Jewish friends will appreciate the conviction.

Lizzie, those pics looked amazing. I can't wait to hear about your trip. Hope to see you on Sunday.

Lu, Justin must be quite busy. I know when I saw you guys last that I said Obama had a good chance. He's looking even stronger now. Thank God. I can't stand Hilary. Of course what I worry about is our candidate. I mean, lack of a candidate. Two bible thumpers seem to be in the lead on our side. God help us. I would like to say though that I thought Romney's address regarding his religion was pretty amazing in today's politics. I gotta respect him for that.

Lyd, long time no talk. Hope you guys are having a great holidays. We received O's gift in the mail last night and Lena wrapped it. Boy is he gonna love that one. You will love the gifts I got your crew of course the kids are going to be kinda ho-hum about them. I'll make it up to them.

Mom, I love you and miss you. Hope you guys are enjoying the holidays as well. I will call this weekend.

Not much going on out here. It is freezing. Made for a good day of sledding last weekend though. The boys loved it. Should make for a good ski trip this year too. Lena bought Oscar skis, boots and pools for XMAS and we have him enrolled in a few days of ski school. Should be fun to see him get going. He has his first pair of hockey skates too though I haven't gotten him out yet. We are going this weekend.

I love you all.

Off to Italy

Ambien? Check. Cocktail on plane? Check. Eye mask? Check. Wake up in Rome. Priceless.

The North Pole

My apartment looks like the north pool. No joke. I have a tiny tree (well, its a rosemary bush and I'll probably cook all of it before xmas), candycane candles, a point freakin' setta and xmas lights around the window. There is no way santa's blowin' by my place this year. I am having a dinner party (4 courses) on Friday. It should be fun and blog worthy. Busy week at work. Weeks really fly by now. Getting very chilly here. I am excited for Rome next week and Kelsey is pumped. I will be 28. 28. and, i am actually into it. I am digging this age big time. Really looking forward to SF with MAgoo and a little Napa over the holidays. Planning on seeing some friends in the city including Levitt and an old work buddy and Lindsay and Sean Garvey. I am super behind xmas shopping but should have it figured out by the end of the weekend. Back into yoga. Too fat not to be. xoxoxo

The Right to Bare Arms

Chaz, your post made me laugh because if I were Lena I wouldn't be that happy to wake up with a fake gun in my face either. I am terrified of guns. Anyway, weather has really changed out here and we have sleet and snow coming the next couple of days. I am on a big health kick right now and trying to go to yoga 4 days this week. I have two to go so wish me luck. I am very excited about this holiday becasue Drew and I are planning on laying very, very low. We won't see each other for a while over xmas and I am going to Rome soon so a nice long weekened together is really excited. I'm just going to cook, go to yoga, work, sleep in and watch movies. I can't wait. Work is very busy which is great. I am really enjoying the people. Rome in in 2 weeks. so excited. happy tuckey to ATL folks

So Am I Going to Have to Keep this Baby Going On My Own?

Oscar's birthday party was a great time. Lena got really creative with the pirate concept. I will try to send out some pics soon. Basically, she did the basement up like a pirate ship and then the kids all made their own pirates hats and looked for their own burried treasure. She did all the food herself and everything turned out great. Oscar got some nice gifts. Leave it to Pat to give him a very real looking over and under shotgun and two pistols. Oscar loves them. Of course, Lena woke up in the morning with a gun barrel in her face. Swedes don't like guns too much so she wasn't thrilled. Oh well. The boys like guns and that includes me. We are looking forward to Chris' visit. He arrives tomorrow and we have a lot of fun stuff planned. Tomorrow night I am just going to cook a nice dinner and let everyone relax and get into the holiday spirit. Thusday we are going to Kage's big hockey game and then of course over to K&K's. Friday night Chris and I are going out to dinner and then meeting Lizzie for drinks some where. And, Saturday we are taking the kids to the circus. Fun. Fun. Hope everyone has a great Turkey Day. Much love. Really looking forward to the holidays this year.

Gooble, gooble

We'll this should be a quick work week. I told poeple in my office about my food blog and it got back to one of the partners and she asked me why I didn't work on food accounts and I said I wanted to and she put me on one right away. I am so excited. I would love to start working on consumer food brands in stead of b2b accounts. Right now I am on Cheesecake Factory. So, I am really excited. Lyd, I am with you, I think meatballs are a lot of work with little reward. I am really looking forward to thanksgiving although I wish I was with you girls doing wedding stuff, sorry. I leave for Rome so soon and Kels and I are getting really excited. Drew and I won;t see each other for 3 weeks over the holiday and that just sucks. Oh well. I am having a big dinner party next week that I am looking forward to. Other than that, I have gotta get my butt in yoga. Happy turkey day

Chazy brings it back to life!

Love the Chaz updates. You have motivated me to to Christmas shop now Chaz. So ironic too. You were always the only member of the family that would have to go downtown on Christmas Eve day so you could do your christmas shopping. Now, you are on par with the ladies in stretch pants from Ohio that start their shopping when QVC does their Christmas in July promo. Congrats to you and Lena on the potty training stuff. It is funny how that stuff can be so stressful and all consuming. I am feeling it right now with Spencer's eating. I am so not motivated to feed him 3 mushy meals a day, especially when he just spits it back in my face. Luc, I so was not feeling the pitty on your living situation, but after the second set of pics I was feelin it big time. Liz, can't wait until MLK weekend. Mom comes today, very excited to have a live in buddy for a while. She is watching the kids tonight so Dill and I can go to a friends Cocktail party. Looking forward to wearing my White House/Black Market shirt to that Lizzy. Tomorrow is MR's High School Musical birthday party and then tomorrow night Dill and Doug are going to the Police concert. Monday Mike comes and we are up to a little over 40 rsvps for Garden Club at my house on Monday night. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, but the beautiful weather helps motivate me. Craft of the day is gold leafing magnolia leaves as a tester for a centerpiece, go figure. Lizzy, spent all day fiddling with homemade meatballs and I don't even think I like meatballs. They are the equivalent of little meatloaf balls. Time wasted. Love to all.

Facebook

So, first off, chaz I suck. I didn't call Oscar. So, sorry. Looking forward to seeing you over thanksgiving. I am pretty fired up. I am going to Alinea and if you don't know what it is it's a fancy restaurant in Chicago that every one is talking about. I have never had a 12 course dinner before. I will have to skip lunch that day and go all out. Carrie and I are going to wear fancy dresses and the boys have to wear jackets. I feel like we are playing grown up. The funny thing is that we are going in January so you guys might hear about this a couple times... Tonight is co-worker night which i am looking forward to and then Saturday night drew and i are getting a movie and making dinner. Sunday night we are getting take out with carrie and andy. I just joined facebook b/c my work made me and i am floored at how many people are on it that we know. Lyd, your friends are big time into it. love to all.