Gingerbread House

We made a Gingerbread house complete with a ginger snap path and duck pond. Hersey's chocolate bars became the window boxes and wire and gumdrops became trees:

Uncle Sammy's

We have a sandwich shop by our apartment called Uncle Sammy's. It's basically Jimmy John's with sandwiches named after cities. Last time I ordered the Sam Houston they took the labeling seriously...

Traffic, yikes.

The Sunday evening-Monday early morning ice/sleet storm that blanketed Illinois-Iowa made my trek from the north side to Davenport, IA last 5 hours instead of the normal 3-3.5. I'm glad I don't have to drive back tonight -- traffic looks to be an even bigger headache with all of the snow that is expected in the region. The "Check Your Drive Time" feature estimates it would take me 5 hours and 12 minutes right now because the delay is 2 hrs and 27 minutes!

Smile booth

Shutterbooth (a rental photo booth company) was at the Yelp event. You recieved free prints at the party, but they *surprise* put them online. I think these pictures are cute.

Put your scissors away

I've never been a big couponer because, well, coupons are messy and annoying. However -- P&G's new eSAVER solves all of these problems. You register your Dominicks/Safeway/ or whatever savings card with the site. You log in to your account and choose the coupons you want to use and load them onto your card. When you go to the grocery store the coupons automagically show up (and work!) when you scan your card. I saved $18 on my last trip to the grocery store. Nice.

Yelptastic

Yelp.com sure knows how to throw a party. The Holiday cocktail bash was last night and it was insane! It was hosted at Architectural Artifacts a warehouse of "elegant and unusual artifacts." During part of the party, you could browse through all of the rooms & levels. Tyson's favorite piece was a 1920's foosball table from Argentina. I loved all of the vintage light fixtures. Of course they were all thousands of dollars...but one can dream.

Bars/clubs from around Chicago had tables and competed for the best cocktail. The dessert lounge was to-die-for. And they had acrobatic & aerial dance from Ameba. Crazy.

SLC Punk

I was in Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah this week. It makes me want to live in a place with mountains, someday. We had planned a trip to Sundance for dinner, but it was snowing that night. Bummer. Next time.

La grenouille et les fleurs

Last year Emay & Jo sent me a pair of monkey sock slippers from uncommon Goods. 

When an uncommon goods package arrived again this year ... I started to get excited .... 

They sent me a frog lamp (his name is Ferris) and a set of seeds that includes marigolds, forget-me-nots, calendula, cosmos, sweet pea, sunflower, snapdragon and zinnias. It's to "grow a garden of your wishes." Let's hope my green thumbs work.

Birthday celebrations

Tyson made the most beautiful birthday cupcake-cake for me! (And it was pretty tasty, too.)

He made the cake using the mold I found in SkyMall and really, really wanted. I thought it was so funny I clipped it out of the magazine &  showed it to Jo/Emay and even showed it to Annie on our flight back from Wichita for Thanksgiving. It was a total surprise that he bought it. You can also find the mold at Sur La Table.

Snail Mail

I LOVE sending and receiving snail mail. So naturally I love this idea. I check my mail every day so I would get it. But do enough people check their mail every day to make this worth it? http://tripletz.com/

A funny error?

Internet Explorer gives you a lame error message. Google Chrome makes you giggle. Doesn't this make you giggle?

MORE! Tourism?

Great ... like Chicago needs more tourists ... well, I'm sure the city could use the money.

"Illinois banks on Obama buzz to boost tourism"

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/getaways/11/07/obama.tourism.ap/index.html

Happy Halloween

Toast & Foxy

Lazy Sunday

Happy Fall!

Most of the trees have started to turn --

Companions...

Choose companions with care, you become who they are ...

A mean game of croquet

Congrats to Jocelyn for taking the rest of us out.

Summer...is...over`

I just realized the last post I wrote was just before summer started ... and today is the last day of summer! Since then, we have moved, explored the city, traveled, started class, attended 3 weddings and had many visitors. I'll post more pictures soon of just a taste of what we did this summer. I'm ready for fall...but not for winter.

I'm in Kansas City right now and don't want to go home, it's so refreshing to be around my true friends. It makes me realize how much they all mean to me and add to my life.

I'm flying back in October for Homecoming & November and December for the holidays. I'll be back again soon!

Conservatory Front Lawn, March 3

I need summer back, now!

 

Conservatory Front Lawn, May 31

 

Conservatory Front Lawn, May 31

 

Woo-hoo!

I recieved my diploma in the mail yesterday. It's the most expensive piece of paper that I own...

Oz Park with snow & sun

 

I'm moving to a new apartment in June and I think living by Oz Park would be nice. Cute, quiet area that's close to transportation and areas that I like. Seeing Dorothy and the Tin Man statues would make me laugh everyday...

Beware of the Phog!

 

Normal Day