On the 1st half of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Peter and I completed our first half of Christmas celebration with the Tullochs officially yesterday. We drank, ate and were merry as I hope that most of you were.

We played a bit of Christmas music as everyone joined in singing and the final gingerbread creations were quite incredible, thanks to Bernice for baking all the gingerbread.

Now next week we have round two Christmas down in Texas with the Wallaces. I'm guessing the weather won't feel as Christmasy. That's something that Peter takes issue with, in most if not all Kringle related tunes they talk about snow and only about a quarter of the world has snow around this time of year. For instance in the southern hemisphere it's full on summer right now but you never hear any sunny skies Rudolph wasn't needed this year carols. Perhaps I'll commission my Dad to write a song about the subject. "Springtime for Santa" "The weather outside is Righteous" "Summer Wonderland"

Happy Christmas EVE

So Peter and I have been out to the suburbs and back again. We got to see Brother Ian and Sister-in-law Lana yesterday for a late lunch as they continued on their trek from Arizona to Toronto. Tonight we are having some friends over for a secret santa gift exchange and a nice dinner. Then it's back out to the 'burbs tomorrow for Christmas with the Tullochs. We will visit my family the first weekend in January.

We did see some wild life out in Naperville though the beast was caught shortly after this running of the geese. 

We also made a gingerbread house and the world's tiniest snowman. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I'll be back with photos and more to share soon!

Meet Treebert

Peter and I purchased him a couple of weeks ago. Oddly enough I am nearly 30 years old and this is the first Christmas tree I have purchased as an adult outside of my family home. It has been super fun having a tree this year. As last year Peter and I were in Costa Rica for most of December and we really didn't get that old Christmas feeling.

One day I'll get around to putting up photos of that trip and talking all about it but for now here is a fully decorated Treebert beaming in all his glory. By the look of the lighting through the window it's almost the same time as he entered our beautiful home.

And finally this is a photo of Peter placing the very first ornament on our very first tree! I gotta say I love that face!

I hope all of you have a lovely and very Merry Holiday Season!

Sparkle Skull!

While Peter and I were in Spain we found this amazing little jewelry shop where everything was hand made by a different designer. It was filled with the most unique and extravagant baubles and personal ornaments I have ever seen. Once one stepped through the door you would be greeted by a posed jet black female mannequin, arms akimbo in mid-air, wearing a floor length gown made of black silk roses, and the entirety of the mannequin's surface was covered in tiny red Swarovski flat back crystals. 35,000 crystals had been placed by hand by the artist is what the installation notes read. It was stunning. Upon our return Peter told me that he would like to make me something similar for my birthday. Here it is!

This is early morning with the light coming in from our east facing windows. The skull is certified long horn fresh from Austin TX via Ebay. After some 60 odd hours over the course of two and half months and nearly 5000 crystals glued to it's surface it is currently my most prized possession. Peter and I discovered, after he started work on this project, that there is a very famous artist (Damien Hirst) who also had a thing for covering skulls with crystals. 

Here is a full shot. As you move around the room the light refracts from different angles on the crystals and it sparkles. 

When I was younger I used to sit around getting depressed about feeling like nothing is original, that I could never write words, sing music, or create art that was completely unique and had never been seen or done before. It's a lonely idea but also completely untrue. As I've aged I have stopped trying to make something out of nothing and embraced being "influenced" (aka stealing) ideas from every creative source I could find. Unfortunately also as you age you start to have less free time to devote to artistic endeavors. My friends Loves It! say it best in their song Me Alone "it's the great debate to create or procreate" and it weighs heavy on my mind these days. But for right now this is my baby, now what should I name it!?

Cheddar, apple, bacon pie anyone?

It's better late than never to let you know that our Thanksgiving celebration was a huge success. Above is a photo of the delicious cheddar, bacon, apple pie that Peter made. If anyone would like to request one of these we need 48 hours notice. It's quite the process but oh so tasty! Also below is a photo of Ian and Lana producing some pre-dinner entertainment.

Unfortunately, per the usual, I did not remember to take any group photos once everyone arrived. Also Peter and I went on Friday evening after Thanksgiving to see the one and only Leonard Cohen. He was incredible. You know he's 7 years older than Bob Dylan and I saw Dylan perform 10 years ago and Leo's show was about 30 times better. He played for nearly 4 hours and can still hit notes that I didn't know were humanly possible. Unfortunately no photography allowed in the theater where we saw him but he's not much to look at these days, being 78 and all. Peter and I also celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary this past Monday....WOOHOO! So forgive me being a bit pre-occupied to write much these last few weeks. I'll be making up for it soon.

Here is a photo of the fridge before we started dinner. As you can see the lovely, definitely flightless, Norbert in the bottom left corner. This is after injection but before sauna. I inject my bird even though I don't deep fry. I find that it keeps the meat very succulent and tender. Also this year I incorporated a new thing I heard about via food network legend, Micheal Symon. I covered the bird with a marinated cheese cloth. Basically it's like basting it without all the harm of open the oven every 30 minutes. All in all a delicious meal and a great time had by all. Below is a photo of some fancy cocktail that our in house mixologist, Fancy Pete, was whipping up.    

From Left to Right: 

Bernice, Craig, Rob, Me and Peter

Busy busy busy

This week I will be hosting the first annual PK Thanksgiving. T- day is my favorite holiday because it is all about eating, drinking, and visiting. Three of my favorite things. Peter and I have had thanksgiving together before but this will be the first time in our own home. Over the years I have made many a thanksgiving meal. Back in Austin I used to host orphan thanksgiving for all my friends that weren't going to be with family. Later this week you will see photos of our grand harvest celebration. I hope you all have a lovely holiday your selves!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

I love this time of year. The wind is brisk and the leaves are all shades of autumn. Down in Texas we don't get fall. Well it's kind of fall all winter but particularly where I grew up there are not maybe trees that have changing color leaves. Mostly it's Pine and Oak which are not very pretty in the fall, they all just turn an ugly brown. Here in Chicago we have every color of leave from light sunshine yellow to dark rich mahogany. The spectrum is spectacular and I can't get enough. I guess it's more that the leaves change color ON the trees before they fall. Once they hit the ground they are mostly brown but they seem to go through I nice rainbow of color before they fall. Sometimes you'll see lovely shades of pink leaves. Also it's good or stick collecting.

"Now this little stick is my water findin' stick and the middle one here is my throwing stick and the big one, well that's my beatin' stick in case anyone tries to steal any of my other sticks."

Yes, life is really hard when you're this cute!

Happy Halloween!

I just came up with my Halloween costume last night and it is an homage to my mother. When my parent's got engaged she was dressed as a ring master. My Dad was dressed as a bearded lady. I could not get a bull whip on such short notice (you would think I could have one delivered but no such luck) so I made one out of cardboard. I'm not embarrassed to say that everything else I have on is just stuff Peter and I own. For anyone who doesn't know us well, we dress up...a lot! I hope you all have a lovely Halloween!

My life is a race!

As you know from my previous post Peter and I spent some time with my folks and siblings down in Tejas and this past weekend we spent some time with Peter's kin in the suburbs. Peter's Dad, John, is a race car enthusiast and has a garage full of cars out on a raceway in Joliet. John tells me that racing cars is something old men get excited about. In my experience young men do too. I remember when I was in college a popular date to take girls out to on Friday night was a racetrack 20 miles away. I suppose that's a backwoods Texas thing but I enjoyed the drag races. Peter and I were allowed to drive a few of the cars. The country club holds an annual event called Octberfast which is what we were attending. There are a few races for the hard core enthusiast and some touring laps (not above 50 MPH) for people that don't know how to drive race cars. Peter and I were able to drive during those laps. John kept trying to make me break the rules on the straight-aways. I did get up to 75 in the Mc Laren.

The above photo is a picture of Peter and I in front of John's first race car. It is a Lancer EVO (evolution) and one of the more user friendly racers out there, or so I'm told. Those helmets in our hands were a requirement as well as full on race straps across chest and legs and even a strap that comes up between your legs. The insides of my thighs were black and blue from how tightly I was squeezing that strap.

This is me in the McLaren F1 you have to stroke this car door to get it to open, there are no handles, and it opens up like wings as you can see below. 

This last photo is Peter driving the Aston Martin DB9. Unfortunately I was not able to drive it as it was a manual. One thing I have yet to learn in this life and I doubt John would want me teaching myself on his personal Bond car. 

Photos and cars courtesy of John...Thanks!

Hopefully our life will stop moving in the fast lane so I can get more post up on the blog. 

Rough and tumble weekend in the deep south

This past weekend Peter and I visited my family in East Texas, where the Mitt Romney signs are plentiful and the light beer flows like milk and honey.

We had a fantastic time with my parents and both my younger brother and sister made it into town as well as my older sister with husband and baby in tow. She's pregnant again with baby number two, a boy, and here is a photo of Coraline telling how it's gonna be when the baby comes.

Peter is in the background discussing how much he enjoys shooting guns. As you can see below we had some target practice on Saturday morning and it was Peter's first time to shoot a gun. He was quite good I must admit. It must be all that Big Buck Hunter.

Saturday evening was wrapped up with a visit to the carnival in Nacogdoches with my little sister and her roommates. I didn't realize how much I don't enjoy carnival rides anymore. I guess it's part of getting older. I'm scared that the cars are going to fly off their hinges and my cut rate insurance will put me in the poor house and make it impossible for me to ever afford buying a home. These things never would have occurred to me 10 or even 5 years ago. Saturday afternoon before the death trap scene we had a little jam session on the porch. 

As you can see Coraline has taken up the groupie position she intends to spend most of her twenties in. Drink in hand front row of the show. She's definitely born into the right family for music lovin'!  We even got in a visit with my Grandpa Bill and Grandma Geneva on Sunday night before we left town at 4am Monday morning. This coming weekend we will be spending some time with Peter's family, in the suburbs, I don't think they let you shoot guns out there but I'm sure we will have a great time.

Another Successful Marathon

Sunday Peter and I spectated for my third year in a row, I believe his fifth or sixth, his brother, uncle, and mom running the marathon. All finished with excellent times. Above is a photo of all three at the start of the race.

They are the three in the middle with the crowns. From Left: Don (uncle), Bernice (mom), and Rob (brother). Why the crowns?  I hear your mind gerbils thinking. Every year we find some distinct way to stand out in the massive crowd of runners and spectators. This year we were a royal court with crowns and jester hats. Last year we had cat in the hat hats and the first year everyone wore feather boas. All these costume ideas have their flaws for the runners but as you can see Peter and I thoroughly enjoy it!

The Ratscapade

Last night Peter and I went out for a lovely dinner with Nicole and Dan at Red Lobster. Don't knock it! Red Lobster is one of my favorite restaurants. It was fun and exciting and I awoke this morning feeling less than stellar in the head but over all positive about my life and place in the world. I got to sleep in with my fantastic husband and then he even went out and bought me chocolate milk and orange juice for breakfast.

Around noon all hell broke loose. Peter was setting up to make macaroni and cheese in the kitchen and I was lounging in bed. He walked in and told me the rat was back. DAMN THE RAT!  Not only is it back but with a fierceness we had yet to witness.

Heretofore we had only seen him scurry from our spice cabinet to the hot water closet a couple of times and the once when I tried to bash his head in with a boat paddle he scurried from the kitchen underneath the bed in the guest bedroom. Mind you Peter and I have not been around the apartment much this week and the cold weather is setting in here in the windy city. I suppose the bastard thought it would be great to completely set up shop here.  He's obviously gotten very comfortable in our absence as he was out and about in the middle of the day today instead of his normal night time skulking hours.

The ill hatched plan Peter and I devised was that I would again go for the boat paddle and Peter would scare him out of the cabinet. While he was scurrying across the floor I would bash him with the paddle. I don't think I have to tell you, but I will, this technique has NOT worked in the past. However, I would fully enjoy beating this rat to death with an oar, which is probably why it's my go to plan every time we see it.

I waited patiently, oar at the ready position hoisted over my head for maximum crushing capacity and Peter opened the drawers of the cabinet. The rat scurried out, I swung mightily, and of course missed, only by a hair though. The rat scurried under our guest bed and this time I was not letting it off that easy. Peter and I took turns scooting the bed about and pulling out our camping gear piece by piece from underneath the bed while the other of us stood with oar in hand. Peter happened to be the one with the oar when the vermin made his dash for the hot water closet. Peter took three swings, to the disappointment of us both, missed all three times.

Now I was distraught. We have had poison and a trap out for weeks now and nothing. He is either a very smart rat or we were not trying hard enough. The worst part of the whole thing is that up to now we have not  seen any droppings or urine which I felt was a sure sign he was not making camp here full time. Well today we found both! To the hardware store we went and purchased $50 worth of glue and spring traps as well as more poison. Now our kitchen looks like a field of land mines. There are 5 spring traps and 4 glue traps as well as 4 different poisons. My question to you dear readers is this: Should we get a cat?

Romance and Frivolity!

This weekend Peter and I attended his brother Ian's wedding. He married a lovely girl, whom I am proud to call my sister-in-law, named Lana. If you are a regular reader of my blog you have seen photos of each of them cycling through Spain. Unfortunately over the weekend I only took photos of silliness. Behold flippancy at it's best!

As you can see the three gentlemen on the left in the top photo are dressed in what we coined as black tie pajama. The two normal looking people on the right were ready for the wedding 5 hours early...which was very impressive.

In the bottom photo you see me dressed in my footy pajamas and smelling like the jungle cat I look like. 

Bromance anyone?

Whirlwind!

Long time no post...eh? My new job is keeping me pretty busy. The kids are fantastic but the extra time and effort I'm putting into figuring out marketing is killing me. Basically we started out the school year with our lowest enrollment ever and I'm trying to find a way to increase enrollment 50 %. Not an easy task but one I relish in taking on.

I have been teaching a cooking class once a week (so two weeks in a row). Last week we made balsamic rosemary chicken, sauteed green beans, and wild rice. This week we made homemade mac n cheese. The kids are enjoying getting there hands dirty and I'm enjoying them enjoying my recipes.

Today while we were sitting around eating our mac n cheese I was asking what everyone wanted to make next week. Someone threw out tacos and another little girl age 6 said, "I don't want to make tacos they are so easy and I like a challenge." So awesome!

The Springsteen concert was a blast to say the least. Here are a few pictures from the event. The photos I took during the show did not turn out so well as we were VERY far away.

Disappointment City, Population: Chicago

I have returned early from a cancelled Flugtag Festival.

For those of you who are unaware the Flugtag Festival is an event sponsored by RedBull where they launch man powered size and weight limited flying contraptions from a tall ramp over water. The first one I attended was in Austin in 2001 or 2002 I'm not really sure which year but it was amazing. The event this year in Chicago was cancelled due to "unsafe marine conditions". Too bad too because the day is sunny and perfect with temps in the mid 70s.

The saddest part of the cancellation is that they were destroying the flugtags. Dozens of people were standing around watching as they crashed through each paper mache-plywood-pvc pipe structure with a backhoe. Tears streaming down little children's faces and the stink of discouragement  hung heavy in the air as we all watched them demolish a bat being ridden by Harry Carey. It was a cheerless display to say the least but I did manage to get a few shots of the hot air balloon flugtag.

The second photo is the extermination site and the third photo is our sad faces at the news. Peter even dressed up for the occasion.

Happy Bruce Day!

Yesterday I completed my first week as school staff. It was just as fantastic as I expected but more to come on that later. I have been so busy this week I haven't been able to document how much fun Peter and I had last weekend with my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.

My cousin Caitlyn is playing volleyball for UT Arlington and they had a tournament this past weekend at UIC. Her parents John and Mari decided to use the long weekend and come visit and go to her tournament as did my other Aunt and Uncle, Margaret and Kevin. They brought there two little girls, who are both young enough to be my children, Grayson and Addison. It's amazing actually I have cousins that are 24 and 27 years younger than me. 

Caitlyn, being a freshman, didn't get much playing time but it was fun watching and rooting for her team. When she did get in to play she dominated serving and made quite a few good "digs" I think they are called. 

Here she is smacking the ball mid-air to sail across the court for a perfect serve.

I love playing tour guide when people come to town. Saturday morning we all met at an Irish bar at 8:30 to try and watch Notre Dame play, Kevin's Alma Mater, the game was being broadcast live from Dublin. Unfortunately the bar we chose to go to would not allow the little girls in because and I quote "It's a liability for us with all these crazy college kids."

So, forgoing the spectating, we went to brunch around the corner, at Brunch, and then headed to Caitlyn's game. After the morning game John, Mari, Peter and I went to Navy Pier where there was a advertising promotion happening for Orville Redenbacher. John really wanted a pair of the glasses they were giving away but to get them we had to be recorded performing a "talent". There were basketball's to be spun, pins to juggle, a ventriloquism dummy, hula hoops, bongos, and many more items. The four of us signed the rights to our video away and commenced to make idiots of ourselves for 30 seconds BUT it was worth it as you can see.

They gave us bow ties as well. 

Saturday evening we watched another one of Caitlyn's games and then all went out to dinner. Sunday morning we got up and went with Margaret, Kevin, and the girls to the aquarium. Then we all met for lunch at Pizano's and Mari and John had to leave town. Sunday evening Peter and I made dinner for Kev, Marg and the girls and it was a very lovely visit. All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I thank all of my family for coming to Chicago.

Tonight Peter and I are going to see one of the greatest musicians of all time, THE BOSS. This will be my second time to see Bruce but it will be Peter's first so expect a full report soon.

Bittersweet Happiness

Tonight I just finished my last official shift at my restaurant job. I will still be filling in from time to time but for the most part I am no longer employed there. It makes me happy and sad as I have worked there for two years now and with such a small turn over and crew you really get to know your co-workers very well. On to bigger and better things though as I start at the school this Tuesday. Also this weekend Peter and I will be visiting with my Aunts and Uncles that are in town for the holiday weekend to watch my cousin Caitlyn play volleyball. Expect to see some great photos next week.

Fantastic News

Yesterday I had a job interview for a staff position at Tallgrass Sudbury School. This is where my husband teaches. Over the past two and a half years I have been involved with the Tallgrass community. I have attended most of the after school events, from the prom to talent shows, and have spent a few days at the school as a volunteer. It is a wonderful place filled with support and opportunity. I am happy and proud to announce that I received the staff position. The best part was that Melissa, another staff member, called me after the staffing committee had made their decision to hire me. I was still in the building of the school and

Melissa said "Katherine we would like to offer you the position."

I said "Yes of course"

and she said, "Great we are having a staff meeting in 5 minutes. Can you be there?"

It was awesome and hilarious. I'm sure I will be sharing much more of my experience here on this blog.

The Hammock Days

Today and yesterday the weather was so absolutely perfect. Mid 70s sunny and just a touch of breeze. Peter and I spent at least 4 hours out of the last 48 in a hammock in the park. In the shade it was just chilly enough to need a sweater or long pants and so we just curled our bodies up and read or played Ipad games. All are welcome to try it out when you come visit. The park is a mere 5 blocks and we have two perfect trees we set up in. Also it is a two person hammock, says so right on the box, so bring a partner or you might have to snuggle with Peter ;-)

My Kingdom for a Bike

Today Peter and I were on our way to Target to purchase nylon webbing with which to hang our hammock in the park. We received a very nice two person hammock as a wedding gift and have not yet taken her on her maiden voyage. Along our walk to the store I spotted a yard sale. I'm good at spotting yard sales.

Here in Chicago they call them yard sales although they generally don't take place in a yard. Usually items of clothing and accessories will be hanging from the wrought iron fence with trinkets and appliances strewn in the patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street.

At this particular yard sale there happened to be a very nice powder blue men's bike. I asked the young man tending the loot "How much for the bike?" He looks to his father behind the fence and the father says "50 bucks". This is a good deal for any bike but for a nice vintage Apollo it's a steal.

Through internet research I have ascertained the bike is from Sweden and was made somewhere between the 1960's and 1970's. It has some unique text on the seat post stating "svensk kvalitets cykel" which translated means "Swedish Quality Cycle". It's hard to tell if this is factory type or was added by the retail organization. I imagine some old Swedish man who owns a bike shop and trains professional cyclists in his spare time selling this bike to some 20 something kid back in the 60's. Said kid then decided to make his way to the states for the decade of free love and what not and brought his bike along for the "ride".

Needless to say we purchased it and it now stands in the living room awaiting a much needed overhaul tomorrow by our local bike shop gurus.

As many of you may well know I am a giant stickler for fairness and the minute we got the cycle home I jumped on the internet searching for an excellent deal on a vintage bike for myself. Surprisingly, through less than 5 minutes of searching on craigslist I found a beautiful MOHAWK women's bike (that's right people MOHAWK Peter's bike might have the name of a space shuttle but mine has the name of an everlasting trend in follicle experimentation).

I immediately called the number for the ad and the phone went straight to voice mail. I left a message and we set out again for Target to purchase webbing for the aforementioned hammock. It was, for me, a very anxious journey. Craigslist is usually a very anxiety inducing experience for me anyway. Especially if I've found something I REALLY want. So over the course of the next hour I called three times and sent one email from my phone. Not too bad for my standards. I'm not a patient person when it comes to monetary expenditures. Eventually I reached the gentleman with the bike and I jetted over to Lincoln Park, via bus, with poor Peter in tow. For $65 I purchased this beauty.

She may be from an earlier or later time I haven't done as much sleuthing on the interwebs yet. Both bikes may need a little work, as of right now they are in working condition but could be in better condition with just a few tweaks here and there. All in all I'd say both are very worthy purchases and I have none of the buyer's remorse I experienced with some of my previous bike purchases. And this is where ALL of our bikes live.

A Day in the Life

This afternoon I participated in an oyster eating contest. I did not win unfortunately I only got through 18 oysters in 30 seconds. However the winner was the only other girl in the competition. Yay women power. She clocked in with 33 oysters in 30 seconds. Pretty impressive! Now I'm still up because I am unable to sleep. Oysters don't settle well when you slurp them down like candy. Above is the video of when I started the competition thankfully you don't see that the sixth oyster I get in mouth is the one that causes me to feel queasy. By the end I was very close to vomiting but I held it in. It was a fun experience but I don't think I'll be doing it again any time soon. The video below is the end of the competition...my face says it all.

Guess my age

Recently my best friend has been going through old photos and storage that she hasn't come across in years. Chalk it up to flashback time. We are both 29 now, getting ready to embark on our dirty thirties it is a very self reflective time.

She sent me a number of photos from our high school years through our early twenties. What's interesting is a few of these photos induce very vivid memories of the events surrounding it and others I couldn't even tell you where we are in the photo or remember that I had even been to that place. I suppose the most important memories are the ones you do remember.

For instance she sent me some pictures of our high school graduation. I don't recall anything about it. I don't even remember walking across the stage.  That brings us to today's challenge. While Peter was looking over my shoulder at these photos he made comment that I looked so young in one photo he wouldn't have even kissed me (in that particular photo I am 23). How old do you readers think I am in this photo?

Or this one?

Hopefully I'm documenting my life well enough these days via this blog that ten years from now when I'm about embark on my filthy forties I'll have a lot of reference to draw from.

Return from the Great White North

Peter and I took a trip up to Canada for his cousin Aaron's wedding. It was fantastic! Unfortunately, as I so often do, I forgot to take any photos. I do have a nice photo of some Tullochs roasting weenies around a pit fire at Peter's parents' cabin.

From Left: Will (summer son of the Tullochs), Ian, Bernice, Rob, ME, and Peter.

We left town last Tuesday evening after Peter got out of work and drove through the night to Winnipeg Manitoba. Will was gracious enough to host us for Weds evening and another of Peter's friends Eric Malzer held a BBQ for us at his new home. Thursday morning we arose feeling less than stellar and packed up to drive to Whiteshell Provincial Park. The landscape of that area of the world is phenomenal. I am still amazed by how much of Canada is just wilderness. It's beautiful to say the least.

Thursday evening at the camp Peter and I BBQ'd hamburgers, chicken burgers, veggie burgers, and HOMEMADE (by Aaron and some of his friends) sausages. It was a smaller group on Thursday evening as most people were arriving Friday so it was nice to spend some time getting to know Aaron's friends and his fiance Joanna's family.

Friday was spent mostly swimming, kayaking, drinking and eating. Everyone in attendance had a "job" for the weekend. Either you had to prepare a meal or clean up after a meal. Our BBQing on Thursday did not count as our weekend job we did that just for fun. So Friday after breakfast we were on clean up crew which in my opinion was the best assignment. That meant the rest of our weekend was free of responsibilities.

Saturday was the big day and we spent most of it in the lake or on the beach. The wedding was at 4pm and it was just perfect for Aaron and Joanna. My favorite part was they had a guy in a  bear suit carry up the rings, get it  ring BEARER! HA HA!

Sunday everyone just got up and had brunch. Peter and I went for a swim and then headed out to his parent's cabin which is about an hour and a half away from where we were. Their place is on Lake of the Woods in Ontario. We roasted weenies as you see above and got to witness a huge storm. It was amazing.

This is a photo of what the clouds looked like before the storm started rolling in.

And THIS is what it looked like about 10 minutes before the rain actually started.

The power was knocked out so we all just sat in the big front room in the window and watched the lightening. A lovely evening indeed!

Monday morning we awoke before dawn at 5:30 and headed on our great quest back to Chicago. We left the cabin at around 6am and arrived at our apartment at 2:30am that evening. It was a LONG day of travel which is why it has taken me 4 days to document it because I desperately needed to catch up on some sleep.

Next wedding adventure will be Peter's brother Ian and his fiance Lana at the end of Sept. YAY Canada weddings!

All photos courtesy of John Tulloch...thanks John!

More Summering

This past weekend my best friend Ashley came to Chicago for a visit. We went to the Field Museum, the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building, the horse race tracks in Arlington Heights, and to music in the park. I didn't take as many photo as I would have liked but here are a few. Next time we will document our adventures better.

This is the view from the ladies restroom on the 95th floor of the Hancock. I hear tell it's the best view of the city teehee!

Ashley and Peter riding the bus to one of our many destinations.

Ashley and myself in front of the horse stalls at the track. This is our we bought a horse face!

Ashley and Peter in front of the stalls. They did not buy a horse.