full weekend

Friday night we ate at a place called Glenn's Diner that boasts on its awning "the best food in the world." I don't know about that, but I do know that the seared scallops were amazing (we've never had them before, but they talk about them all the time on top chef) and the smoked cheddar mac and cheese was also a highlight. Matt had barbecue chicken and I had baby back ribs - I've been craving ribs since ribfest. i think their specialty is fish, but neither of us were in the mood.

Saturday morning we saw Wall-E. I HIGHLY recommend it! Such a beautiful, sweet story and I'm never disappointed in pixar's animation - it's wonderful. We've really been looking forward to it and we weren't let down in the least. Of course most of you know that we're fans of silent or semi silent characters and wall-e is a gem!

then we found our closest home depot and got some paint for the trim in our living room. The trim was painted kind of a pale, poopy brown that didn't really do a whole lot for us, so we got a much darker black/brown that matches the stained wood in the entry way a little better. We painted some on Sunday and will hopefully finish up next weekend.

Saturday night was a bit rough. We had seen a poster for a play called The Mysterious Elephant, And the Terrible Tragedy of the Unlikely Addington Twins* (*Who Kill Him) the poster was brilliant. Very Edward Gorey and just really stylized and neat. So we thought we'd give it a whirl. The playwright won the equivalent in the Chicago Reader of what matt won in the Observer (best new playwright.) and the reviews looked pretty good.

We headed down to Wicker Park and ran into all kinds of trouble finding a parking place. Apparently there are neighborhoods that require permits to park. probably to fend of what we were trying to do - park for a few hours and eat and see a show. so that was frustrating. Then we couldn't really find an interesting place to eat and settled on a mexican-type restaurant (not tex-mex) and they pretty much forced us to sit outside in the cold (60's or so) wind. the wind gusted so hard it blew matt's cup into his lap and we didn't get our meal until 7:35 and we had to make an 8:00 curtain. also frustrating.

The show had merit, but it was, in the end, frustrating as well. It was a great concept and a pretty good script that really needed to be edited down a little bit. But there was one performance that i really could not get over and the whole thing just seemed a little haphazard and un-polished. But even though we didn't like it very much, it was good to see a play in our new town and start figuring out the atmosphere.

and sunday it rained, matt wrote, we painted and ate $3 fillet Mignon's from the jewels.

will try to write again soon, though...not much happens to me from day to day - just a workin' girl :)

What an adventure

little birdie and i have had an active couple of days!

I woke up the other day to find this



that is the baby birdie on the rail directly outside our window about 8 feet from his nest. How did he get there? is he flying already. Well, he hung out there for about 40 minutes, just hopping back and forth along the rail. you can see more pics on My Flickr Page

then rose wandered in and I got worried. She didn't notice him for a long time, but when she did, she was QUITE interested. he fretted and furrowed and then..... took flight! and flew back to the safety of the tree branch! it was wonderful! that sweet baby bird flew and all because of my rose. There was a little more goings on with mom demonstrating the finer points of flight, but then the two of them packed up and moved on. They haven't been back to the nest in a couple of days. What a great adventure it's been watching that little birdie!

now as for MY adventure, I went all "big city" girl and rode a bus AND a train to downtown Chicago to interview with a graphic design placement service. They have a collection of artists that they deploy on temp/contract jobs as well as temp to hire and direct hire, but mostly it would be contract short-term stuff. it's like an acting agent, but just with graphic jobs. they try to find the right fit for their clients and their talent. it was interesting to find out that Chicago Shakespeare theater is one of their clients - that'd be great!

I made it down and back fine, had my ipod, had my city girl bag with my portfolio in it. I stopped short of tossing my proverbial beret in the air, but I'm gonna make it after all (duh da duh da DUH) We'll see what comes of it, but it feels good to at least get out there.

Matt is loving his class and is really really inspired, which is great to behold.

Met our next door neighbor, Trudy. she's australian (or New Zealandeez) and very nice.

settling in for the evening and watching ghost hunters with my hubby.

they grow up so fast!

i'm a little obsessed with the baby bird outside of our window and he's growing up so fast. at this moment, he's sitting on the edge of the nest and preening his new feathers. on Thursday, when i first saw him, he had ugly scraggly feathers and now they're really filling in.

this was one of the first times I saw the baby bird out on the edge of the nest

It's a little blurred, but the birdie is flexing his wings back

here's baby preening this morning. he's getting a lot fuller and fluffier than late last week and mom and dad are leaving him alone a little bit more.

right outside my window

I was on the phone with my boss from DCT this morning when I saw the most amazing thing! A mother red-brested robin feeding her little chick! And it is right outside our living room window. By the time I was able to get my camera, the feeding was done, but she was (and still is) standing guard like a good little birdie mama!


here are some other pics of our street, building, and park

eeeeewwww

yesterday i stumbled upon a homeless man pooping by our dumpster.

soo.... yeah....

last friday we saw The Hulk. The movie was pretty good. I really liked Edward Norton in the role. I miss seeing him in movies. He wasn't quite as compelling as Robert Downey, Jr. in Ironman. And as always with action movies, my eyes cross a little bit on the big CGI showdown at the end - just let The Hulk win already!!

we were excited to WALK to the movie theater, The Davis is on Lincoln Square just a few blocks from here. it looks pretty kitchy from the outside, but stepping through the door reveals the horror of a old theater that hasn't been refurbished since...hmmm...the 60's? Texarkana folks, think Joy Cinema if it was still open and STILL hadn't been redone. dark, dirty feeling, squeaky seat and what, in our stadium-seating-spoiled view, was a teeeeeny screen that might have been crooked. Now once the movie started, we forgot about the screen, but not about the squeaky chairs. We may be going a bit farther to see the next summer blockbuster (we're really looking forward to Wall-e)

Also went to IKEA again, awful traffic again and it wasn't even raining, but we got a table and chairs and a new desk and desk chair for little ol' me, and a butcher block island for the kitchen. The butcher block hasn't quite made it - i got sick of assembling!!

Matt's first day of work went well. A little overwhelming I think for him, but that's the way first days are if I recall. It was nice to have the "honey I'm home" moment, but it's odd not being at the same place during the day. we worked together at DCT for almost 6 years! He likes the people there and thinks it'll do.

got the new stoof. it's lovely.

I think we're going to go to Millennium Park this weekend and have a picnic.

i took some pictures of our neighborhood. I'll post them soon.

till then...

The big news is yesterday morning, matt got an offer of employment from DeltaQuest imaging - a small family run digital imaging company that serves professional photographers from all over chicagoland. His title is customer service rep/production assistant. He really like the folks over there and is looking forward to learning new things in this new position.

we keep blowing the electricity in the kitchen - last night it was just or wee toaster oven and the fridge plugged into the 4-way outlet. Now, that doesn't seem like an overload to me no matter what the wiring situation is. our poor super is so beaten down by us already. but he's coming in to install and new stove.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you will, a transcript of Matt and Louis conversation about the stove.

Louis: i need to come install a new stoof.
matt: stoof?
louis: stoof.
matt:STOOF? What's a stoof?!
Louis points.
Matt: Ohhhh, STOVE.
Louis: yes. stoof.

he's bring the stoof today and he's going to look at the outlet too.

we had a good day with the cats yesterday rose was finally doing some of her normal things, but then a bit of a bumpy night with rose lying in wait under the bed until lily walked by and then growl/hiss/scream. i hope it doesn't wake our neighbors.

also talked to my cousin tara yesterday and matt and i are going to head up to millwaukee in a few weeks to visit them and their new baby girl.

this weekend we're seeing The Hulk, going to IKEA (again) and having brunch with our friend from our honeymoon that has really facilitated our move to Chi.

first of all - an addendum to the Ribfest post. while we were waiting in line for our second sampling of ribs, matt spied one Dustin Diamond the erstwhile Screech from Saved by the Bell. last seen as the big problem child on TWO seasons of celebrity fit club, (we don't watch it, we watch the soup) he was bearded and a bit tubby and had an entourage of two moderately attractive girls and a big black guy (bodyguard? surely not) Sorry that there's not a picture, but it did happen....you can ask matt.

the biggest story around here is the cats (as usual) some of you may know that even before we moved Rose had a bit of a behavior problem, well the move or just the constant hissing has sent lily over the edge and she has started to retaliate, which is pretty awful, but we're hoping that the current tension can't last forever. Rose has taken refuge here


what she calls "the canopy" we have 10 foot ceilings so I can see why this would be a neat place for a cat to be. This has also been a battleground on a couple of these power struggles. Let me tell you, there's nothing more terrifying than a cat fight 5 feet above your head. you're powerless.

I took a really really really long walk yesterday. we've been trying to take walks each day since we can, but on the map the Borders store looked much closer. I wasn't wearing proper shoes and by the time I got there my feet were killin' so I sat for a spell and drank a blended iced vanilla coffee and promptly made the decision to take the bus home. What had been about a 40 minute walk was a 5 minute bus ride and i got home to discover this!


It's slightly obscured, but that, my friends, is a blister that is 1" in diameter and about an 1/8" deep full of yucky goo. ow.

and at our back door, we have this problem..


a big water puddle. we're apparently on the low end of our porch so all the water under the wood flows to our door step. it's about a half inch deep and the door clearance is about 2 inches so i think we're going to get a paver stone or something so we don't have to jump over it every time we leave the back door.

matt had his first second city writing class last night and feels good about it. there are eight people in the class and he thinks he's either the oldest or nearly so. there are three kids from a university in Arizona here for the summer. what a great thing to do for some summer credit. So a new chapter of his career has started and I'm excited to see where it goes!

first weekend

we had a good one. Saturday we got up early and made the trek to IKEA in Shaumberg, IL. It took about 30 or 45 minutes to get out there, which is about how far it took for us to get to the one in Frisco, too. I thought that our IKEA was enormous, but this one was super-gi-normous. three stories and a huge restaurant in the middle. Very overwhelming and as much as i love ikea, my energy drained about an hour in - before we had a chance to look at all we needed to look at. and if MY energy was drained, you KNOW that matt's energy was completely gone. we were in the market for a dining table, a kitchen island, a desk and a chair. we found several that we liked and took note, but only came home with a lamp and a couple of stools for the bar in the kitchen. We thought we'd head back out there next week to get the rest - we were back out that direction today...

last night we had the pleasure of experiencing what they tell us is a chicago icon - Margie's Ice Cream. I don't know if it's just open late or open all night, but it was pretty weird getting ice cream at 9:30 p.m. But we got a hot fudge sundae served in a giant shell-shaped bowl. Delish!

Our only goal today was to find, purchase and install a window air conditioner. Now, it's not been anything NEAR Texas hot, but has rained pretty much every day we've been here, which makes for some humidity and yesterday it got on up in the 80's, so we decided to take the plunge. We visited a WalMart out in the burbs yesterday and priced some (and should have just bought the one we saw) but we figured that there must be a WalMart closer. There was...sort of closer...and in a very different neighborhood. First of all the store was HUGE not as big as the IKEA, but much much bigger than SuperWalmarts in Texas and it was just a regular walmart. So we get back to the AC aisle and they were completely sold out! down to someone taking away the display as we walked past. So, we headed back out to the burbs and as we drove, the daily storm rolled in and it was a doozie. it took us about an hour to get out there and it was still pouring down when we ran into the store. got to the aisle and there was... one. left. we snatched it and ran. After a long trip home, we installed the AC being very careful not to drop it on passersby.


plugged it in and all the power in the whole house went out. (old wiring)




our super switched it back on about two hours later and we headed to Ribfest



our first experience of the Chicago street festival. pretty crowded, but pretty awesome ribs.




more later...

I woke up early this morning. I realized last night that i needed to post before i got to far behind.
Here's a rundown of what's been going on

• Still unpacking - I think the boxes are multiplying
  
• Rearranged the bedroom for the third time
• Ate pizza that matt loved so much that he wanted to have its pizza babies
• tried (unsuccessfully) to light the pilot light on our clunker of a gas stove
• (successfully) cooked our first meal in this apartment anyway
• went to a two-story Target that has an escalator that takes your cart down beside you
• got new cell phone numbers (email me if you want them)
• I started trying out this telecommuting thing - complete with video conferencing
• Haven't gotten any mail yet
• Tip-toeing around the extraordinarily squeaky floor
• tried (unsuccessfully) to set up wireless router

This might be my favorite part of our apt., but we've not been able to enjoy it due to yucky rain




click here for my flickr page of pics of our apt. and the trip http://www.flickr.com/photos/27381159@N02/

Day 2

We were only marginally better at sedating the cats this morning. This morning we used the combination of the pill popper and brute force to shove the pills down their throats. we were ruthless.

Lily got a whole pill today to see if she'd stay down a little longer. (more on this later)

I purchased Atonement unabridged on CD for the Trip. I think I just need to see the movie. The description is such that it makes me zone out which is the exact reason I got the book on CD in the first place - to keep me alert for 14 hours. When I find myself zoning I switch to searching local radio stations. There's still a lot of country and latino music even in Illinois.

It took us about 8 hours to get from blytheville to our doorstep. Highlights were King Tut's Gas station in the middle of nowhere and a DQ citgo combo outside Champaign/Urbana where matt filled up the truck to the tune of $100 and i hit $50 on our wee elantra. YIKES!

Our buddy Chad Smith helped us unload the truck and then we met up with his lovely wife for dinner in a neighborhood spot.

Now about Lily. So a full pill is a valid dose - don't worry. Because she didn't sleep very much on Sunday, we thought she'd like a little more dope (i mean, what can wouldn't right?) She did sleep, but the effects of the pill lasted the full 12 hours - maybe a little more. So image you've been drugged, have been in and out of consciousness for longer than you can remember then you wake up alone in a stark white room that smells funny (our new bathroom.) Lily had what we think the experts would call a "bad trip." I'm certain that she was hallucinating and was nearly catatonic (har har.) Matt found her hunkered down in the small space between the tub and the sink with her face pushed against the wall. When you'd try to talk to her, all you'd get were these big scared eyes. She finally settled down and slept around my throat for half of the night.

still need to upload picture... until tomorrow (which is really today ;)

Day 1 of the "big move"

I'm creating this blog from the quality inn in lovely blytheville, ark. (just south of the missouri border) We fell short of our day 1 goal by an hour or two, but got a little bit of a late start and had some trouble with the drugging of the cats, so it had already been a long day by our 10 a.m. departure and even longer by the time 6 p.m. rolled around!

basically, we thought we may have OD'ed baby rose. though our vet gave us a nifty gadget that lets you shove the pill back to the back of their throats, we (being the seasoned cat owners that we are) thought that squishing the pills in a treat would work much better. Long story short, there was a melee with the treat/pill situation and after we cleared the scene we weren't sure who ended up ingesting the pill. So for the first hour and a half of our big moving day we watched every move our cats made. "are they sleeping because they're drugged or are they sleeping because that's what cats do?"

anyway, here we are. well on our way (a little over half way to be exact) it rained pretty much all through arkansas so we were well ready to settle in for the night.

we left the girls to explore their new surroundings and went to eat at the olympia steak house. It is one of two Greek themed steak houses that are right next door to each other and to our hotel. Lily thinks this is our new house and wonders if we're running from the law. Rose hates everything and mostly Lily (she blames her for all we've done to her.) They've settled down now - lily's on the foot of the bed and rose is huddled under a chair.

we have about 6 or so hours tomorrow. Pictures to follow...