I will not take this for granted!

It is nearly 70 degrees today and sunny and breezy and WONDERFUL! I refuse to take such a beautiful day for granted, so I'm trying to engineer reasons to go outside. Doing laundry - check! Going to the bank - check! Windows wide open - check! Maybe now my house will stop smelling like the scallops I cooked last week. I have never had a home that held onto food smells like this place. Seafood is always the worst and though the scallops were tasty, I don't really need to smell them when I walk into the house at the end of the day.

So Matt and I and youle and her friend Matt went downtown to watch the river being dyed green on Saturday. It was a nice day that day, too 54 and sunny... lovely. We got there early, were right in front, participated in the wave and resisted joining the chant "dye the river! dye the river" There were plenty of people in flamboyant costumes. I think my favorite was a guy who had a neon green Hef-style bath robe. That's pretty creative.

March Already!?

So the date is 3.10.09 I am sitting in my living room. it's 60 degrees outside, but the "bottom" is scheduled to "fall out" around 10 p.m. leaving us with a low of teens to 20's. I think that's March in IL for you. Matt started his latest Second City class at long last yesterday. He left the charger for his laptop in the classroom and when he went back today, he ran into a friend from his first class that he really enjoyed. The friend is interested in making funny movies, and it so happens, matt is too. So we'll see what comes of that.

I have made a pretty big life decision after months of feeling like i was not quite where I needed to be... I'm not going to put it out there for the whole world to see until something actually comes of it.

I'm hoping to get this old bloggin' thing back up and going. I think that the Chicago winter has thrown me off my game. Though, it's really not been as bad as I thought it would be, it does have a way of making you want to come home and do nothing. I'm looking forward to nice weather so I can get off my duff. And for now, getting off my duff includes me writing to you all again.

Happy Holidays

I'm sorry it's been so long, friends. I hope that some of you are still with me. I got out of writing when matt was away and the Christmas pretty much hit us like a Mack truck. We usually ease into Christmas by starting shopping in Oct. or Nov., but with Matt gone I didn't start and we had to shop quick and crazy in the first two weeks of Dec. so that we could get everything shipped back to Texas.

It was an odd Christmas for the Chicago Lyles. For about 8 Christmases, we've been so active seeing all of our family and loved ones over the week off (or month when we were in school.) It was a frantic week, but always nice to see everyone and I love to plan things, so the tight scheduling was a challenge and satisfying. This year we literally had no where to go. We went to the movies on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and had a nice dinner on Christmas Day. So laid back and nice to be just me and my hubby.

We saw

It was GREAT! What a creative plot set-up and an unexpectedly sweet love story. A really fun ride of a movie with a bizarre Bollywood dance sequence at the end.














also saw this

A little long, a little bland, lovely to look at, but had to wait 2 hours for the motorcycle money shot. Had sort of a Titanic mixed with Forrest Gump type of thing going on. Pretty fantastic effects, but jut too long!










and this

Saw this on New Year's Day. Clint Eastwood is terrific! And his cast of mostly non-actor Hmong-Americans offered really "real" performances.


A good holiday week at the movies.

Pretty half-assed reviews...

Matt and I sent off Bootstraps' application to take The Boxer to the New York Fringe Festival. I blew angel kisses into the envelope before it went. We're feeling confident that we've got what it takes to get in, but won't find out until the end of April. I guess we'll just try to put it to the back of our minds until then.

We're going to see a student-directed production of The Boxer at University of Michigan at the end of Jan. and will be back in Dallas for the Premiere of matt's new play, Hello Human Female in Feb.


I was going to do a 2008 year in review for ya... maybe a little later :)

a month in the life

so, it's been nearly a month since I posted.... my home life was strange while matt was away. I kept doing all the things i had to do (go to work, wash clothes, bathe) but my rythmn was so off. There wasn't a whole lot to write about anyway.

But, since matt's been home, The Ex-Texans won Team Trivia!

Went and saw these guys with youle


Got one of these.


and by the way, I had no idea how much constant maintenance is required with a real tree - I have to water it three times a day and the needle fall out is unreal! But the upside is, the girls are fairly uninterested in it, which is s a change from our artificial tree that rose practically lived in and lily ate.

We also got a little of this.

The first snow actually happened on the day matt came home from new york. his flight was delayed 4 and a half hours!!! So when i went to bed at midnight, it was cold and raining and when i woke up at 2:30 a.m. and went down to the car to pick matt up at O'hare at 3 a.m., there were 3 inches of snow on everything. And since I was one of 15 drivers awake at 2:30 a.m., the roads were quite fun. it was like driving on an alien planet.
We're pretty used to in now, and really, there's going to be plenty more, so why even try to complain :)

Another Crazy Dream

don't know what's been in my water lately, but I had another odd and vivid dream last night. It featured my dear friend Amy. She was competing in some sort of athletic event. It was in a stadium with different "events" in different positions on the floor. Sort of like gymnastics, but different. The event I remember most was like wrestling and in completely un-Amy-like fashion, she was really kicking some a. Primal screaming! Flying this way and that, throwing her body into her opponent and the crowd was going wild. I'd like to have this one interpreted :)

Last night, youle and i decided to try out Team Trivia down at our corner bar and grill. We were just sitting down when we saw a fellow former dallas actor, Jack, walk through the door. Ends up, he was meeting another former dallas actor, Erica for dinner/drinks. Both of these folks worked with Youle at Risk and Jack worked at the DCT! What a coincidence! So we all decided to form a team - the "Ex Texans" We were in first place all the way through but on the final question where we had to list the following people in age order: Billy Ray Cyrus, Pete Sampras, Bjork and Pink. SOME of our team members SWORE that Bjork was older than Mr. Achey Breaky. Uh. uh. But we did get second place and a $25 gift cert. to the restaurant. We're going to return next wednesday night and avenge our defeat!

bang dream

I had a dream last night that I cut my bangs myself. It started as just a trim, but I ended up with, as camron once said, a sideways mohawk. It was all ragged and there were pieces that were, like, a quarter of an inch long. for some reason, my sister happened to be with me and i was combing the bangs over, trying to flatten everything out and i asked her "these don't look too bad, do they?" and she paused, then laughed and said - "it looks awful! just because you have scissors, doesn't mean you should cut your own hair!!!" Pretty funny. and I was glad when I woke up that my bangs were intact.

Getting a little tired of being alone. This week is already going way too slow, because I'm going to New York on FRIDAY!!! I really wish I would have planned a longer trip!! I'll be there from Friday through Tuesday, but I leave really early on Tuesday morning. I miss Matt so much! I know it's going to be hard to see him for such a quick trip and then have to leave again. But, I am so excited to see him and I know we'll have a great time! I'm excited about seeing my buddy cammi, too! we've not visited her in NY for a few years. Good Times.

Cold and Blustery

I was walking to the bank and the UPS store yesterday. It's not a long walk, maybe three blocks in July, it was a great way to take in the gorgeous weather. Yesterday I realized that it's going to become a very. long. walk. It was cloudy and cold and windy yesterday. I didn't pull out the big coat, but I was relatively warm from about mid-thigh up. My legs were freezing. i've got to get some thermals. I couldn't find them at Target the other day. I should have asked. I also need more substantial gloves and scarf. I've got the earmuffs covered.

It didn't snow in town yesterday, but they had footage on the news that it snowed in the suburbs. My mom confirmed. She and my aunt stayed out in Palatine, their home town this weekend and they said that there were definite snow flurries. As I type this, it looks beautiful outside sunny and clear, but I know that it's only in the 40's. I'm debating whether I'll leave the house at all today.

Thankfully, the radiators do keep it pretty toasty in here.

I got a haircut. For the first time since junior high, I've got bangs. Or "fringe" as I'm going to call them. It'll make me seem more sophisticated. Here are the before and afters.




Last time I had bangs I would hold them straight up, spray them with a ton of hairspray, blow dry that so it's nice and stiff and then curl just the tips, pick out the curl so it looked like a ridiculous claw on my forehead and skip out the door. This will be different. I think I'll have to get a flat iron. I think I like them.

It was great to see my mom and my aunt. we had a wonderful visit. and I'm looking forward to the dells this weekend with dad, sis, aunt, uncle, cousin, cousin's hubby and baby.