Things to accomplish in 2011, lets see how 2010 worked out.

Things to accomplish in 2010

My repost of my January 2010 of things I wanted to accomplish....here's what I did.

Three of the things are crossed off my list.  Really?  I did 4 of the 12 things I wanted to do?  That is just pathetic.  Really?  I mean, really Julie?  Really????

You know how it will be nearing the end of the year, and there are tons of things you wanted to do that you never did?
Just so I can remember everything I want to do, I'm starting a list now.  This will be updated as I accomplish things and remember more things I want to do in 2010.   Places and things I want to go to, try, check out, do, etc.  All that good stuff.
1. Richwell Market - 1835 S. Canal Street
2. Hot Dougs - 3324 N. California
3. Modern Wing @ the Art Institute
4. The BEACH.  Haven't been in at least 3 years.
5. Pho Pho Pho
6. A bike ride
7. The Green Market
8. Use my Chicago Public Radio Membership card for restaurant discounts.
9. Go to the Steppenwolf Theater
10. Get my money's work from my A.I. membership. EXPIRED. WENT TWICE.
11. Visit the Mighty Carmona Family!
12. MAXWELL STREET MARKET!!!!

Attempts at a Family Xmas Card Photo

Christmastime and Crafting!

Ah, I am a Christmas fan. It's my favorite holiday.  I love Christmas, the ability to decorate your house totally differently for a month and to have it smell like fresh greens.  I love sending cards, reaching out to people and being excited for my own mailbox to see the cards that will come.  I love crafting, making dog cookies as gifts and shopping, shopping, shopping.  I love Christmas! It means being grateful for who you are and who you have in life,  celebrating life and love, and everything that makes us friends and family.  Parties are fun, too!

Attempt #2 at a family photo, this time with Christmas sweaters.

Lenny's first snow - he loves it!

Crafting at Erica's, we made wrapping paper with potato stamps!

Erica being crafty making a cute magnet.

Christine felting wool!

Kristin about to paint her stamps!

Lenny and Bill, not helping me with the Christmas lights!

And tree!  Finished to its glory!

Pre-Thanksgiving Bitching

I know there is something wrong with me, but  I really don't care for Thanksgiving. In fact, I loathe it and dread it every year.  I don't know if its the food, or Bill and I always having to plan between families, or if it means that Bill is going to start working non-stop until the end of the year.

It means the weekend after Thanksgiving I trek it back to my folks, make 85 trips up and down the stairs bringing up Christmas decorations, fighting with people at Home Depot for the perfect tree for the front yard, freeze my fingers off hanging and tying each and every bow outside and making sure each light on the inside tree is perfect.  Obviously my parents can't do it on their own, and of course I love helping since I don't have a front yard to decorate, but man its a lot of work!

I'm sounding extremely selfish, I know, but for ONCE I would love to host a holiday at our house.  Sadly, I don't own a big enough table, but I am determined to get a cool one from CB2 like this one.
Anyway, enough bitching.  I will go into it will low expectations, but come out proud of my hard work I did on their house, full from left over pie and turkey, and buzzed from Bloody Mary's.  So perhaps I should really just stop bitching, and start decorating the Ford's place.
UPDATE.....12.4.10
The decorating went wonderfully, and I brought Lenny and he and Sheba (my folks dog) get along so well!  It was really fun, went off without a hitch, and the house looks fabulous as usual.  I've got mad skills!!!!

Halloween 2010

As Mary-Frances & Jeff's wedding is quickly approaching I decided its time to reflect back 14 days ago to Halloween.  Whoops!  Almost missed a holiday post!
We had a great Halloween - went to John & Kadima's annual party with the creepy haunted house in their basement (and John even took the last week off of work to complete it).  It is honestly really scary.  I can realize that I'm in my friends basement, but I'm still terrified!
Regardless, Bill and I went as Sookie Stackhouse & Vampire Bill from the books, not True Blood, and there were some amazing costumes.  As per usual, pictures follow after the jump.

Mary-Frances's Bachelorette Party!

As November 19th approaches us, as the "Matron" of Honor, along with Mackie, the "Maid" of Honor, the time came to have an EPIC bachelorette party for Mary-Frances.  From the moment in December 2009 Jeff + Mary got engaged, we knew what we had to do to throw the party that would be remembered, or at least remembered in bits and pieces.  We rented a trolley, got a gaggle of girls together and hit the town for an Irish themed bar crawl.  We had a BLAST.  Not much more to say, pictures follow after the jump!!!!

Poker night...and Autumn Cleaning

I had one rule.  One rule upon marriage that I thought, as now a wife I could have.  NO POKER!  Bill has plenty of single friends, or at least friends that don't live with their significant other.  Dude apartments.  I tolerated poker for many, many years, in a much smaller apartment where I had no escape to go to, and the next day I found myself  fishing out Old Style Tall Boys turned upside-down in the sink (the thought is....what?  Draining the last drop so it doesn't get my recycling bin wet?)

Regardless, it has happened, when I'm out of town, or spending the night at my folks, whatever, as long as I'm not here.  Well, last Friday, my weekend of only cleaning, organizing, washing my tights, yes my tights,  and only ONE  birthday party - I decided you know what - I don't care.  Have poker here.  Why not.

And what happened?  It was FUN.  I went downstairs to find my neighbor Shirley (her husband was upstairs playing cards) and we had some Ouzo (left over from our wedding) and beers.  And we had a blast.  It was nice seeing Bill and his closest companions all under one roof.  It was a great night for all.  Would have been better if Bill took the money pot, but eh, it was still super fun.

It's Fall Around Here!

It sure feels like it, although tomorrow its supposed to be 88 degrees!  My classes are going full force at Columbia, I have three sections of Producing 1.  My students are great, and I really think its going to be a great semester.  Lenny is adapting more and more each day, although we do toy with the idea of Doggie Day Care, for the days we are gone longer then eight hours, and Bill wants to get another dog so he's not alone.  Doggie Day Care is cheaper.

Regardless, back to the soup.  As soon as there is a nip in the air, I do what I do best.  Make soup.  I have more soup recipes that I can make in a year, but I also love winging it!
This evening last week, I made a spin on my grandma's zucchini soup - It was tomatoes (thanks CSA!), onions, veggie stock, cannelloni, garbanzo, and kidney beans.  And of course the most delicious spicy sausage from my corner Italian store, Fiore's.
We invited Lex, who said he was missing homemade soup and we chowed.

Fresh tomatoes!

Parmesan Rind is awesome in soups - freeze it when you're done with your hunk o' cheese!

Happy, full boys

I made my first tapenade, too! 

Off to Milwaukee!

Mackie, Me and Mary-Frances

Bill and I haven't escaped this concrete city since our lovely time in North Carolina.  Now I'm going without him, because he has to work, to Milwaukee for Mary-Frances's Birthday weekend.
We are going to the elusive Irish Fest.  This is the other reason Bill isn't going - he's not much for fests, drunk people, Irish music, etc. I can barely get him to go to Greek Fest (which is next weekend and we are going).
So - highlights of Milwaukee:
Friday night, got there around 8:00 and I was super dehydrated and feeling terrible, so I went to dinner then resigned to the hotel room.  LAME-O!
Saturday morning I was up and alert so John and I went to Beans and Barley and there was a super cute farmers market in the parking lot, so John and I grabbed coffee and wandered around.
Moving onto lunch, we all regrouped and manage to eat together, too!  My favorite Mexican restaurant in Milwaukee, Cempazuchi.  The best shopping of the trip was Art Smart's Dart Smart and Juggling Emporium!  We were trying to make the brewery tour at Lakefront Brewery but sadly it was sold out.  So we had a couple beers on the river (not lake) and headed to Irish Fest!
After closing down the fest, we went to Bruno's on Brady.  A superior dive, with lots of dart games and an awesome jukebox!

Mary-Frances and Mackie at Lakefront Brewery.

John, Kadima, Me + Todd

John, Mary-Frances, Jeff and Justin post Bruno's!

Todd & Darren

More Lenny, All the time!

Somehow this summer has come and gone.  Why is that?  Why are the best 3-4 months out of the year the ones that fly so fast?  It's a major bummer.  Warm weather, awesome CSA (thankfully have it until the end of October) and another shout out - best CSA ever!  Regardless, I have enjoyed many a pool day a la Darren's Chateau (in Lombard) and long walks with  my lovable Lenny!

Lots of fests, parties, music and fun.  But the theme of the summer is Lenny.  Lots of Lenny.  We hired a dog walker, my friend Amanda who is awesome and loves Lenny, and we also rely on our amazing friends.  Being a puppy (we still think 17 months or so) he needs to go out at least four times a day, and he only "goes" on walks.  Its rare he uses our wonderful yard.  I hope that changes in the winter time!

And he kind of still freaks when we leave.  He has locked himself in the hallway twice (although we keep the door closed) and in the bathroom, and I can't believe I didn't take photos of that.  He is into knocking his food over - pic to follow - but he has been super fun.  We do family walks at night, when somehow the city is so, so silent.  It's one of the reasons I love our neighborhood so much.  You feel like your totally alone.  You, the sound of your footsteps and his.  It's awesome.

Lenny's food scattered, note the over turned bowl.

Like father, like son.

My mom makes these dog toy pillows, and Lenny loves them!

What spice would you like?

I'm really a lap dog!

Lenny loves the frozen bison bones, just like his elder spirit dog Victor did!

John & Kadima

12 or so years ago, John and I made a pact.  We decided that even after John's best friend Brian moved to California, that John and I would still be friends.  We were friends of friends, but always had a great relationship and always enjoyed each other's company.  Now, today, John is marring Kadima, and he proposed last weekend to her at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, their favorite summer activity.

I could not be happier for both of them, as I love them more then friends, but as a brother and sister to me.  We went to the Shedd Aquarium on Saturday for an amazing behind the scenes tour, and Kadima and John asked me to be the Officiant of their wedding.  What an honor and thrill!  I get to marry two of my all time favorite people!  I'm so excited, and I can't wait to get ordained and write something amazing for the two of them.  I just can't cry!  So I dedicate this blog post, to the two amazing people, that will have the wonderful and beautiful wedding that I can be a part of.

While picking out photos, I think the majority is either Me and John or Me and Kadima.  Obviously selfish.  I need more pictures of them!!!

And its July...and crazy hot too!

I get sad after the Fourth of July because its the official middle of summer.  The glass is half full.   Usually my friends and I have a ton of things planned for the summer, but our highlight is usually Pitchfork, and Mary-Frances's birthday.  Pitchfork was this weekend, and thanks to Josh Berman, Mackie's brother, he got Mackie and me VIP for the whole weekend.  It was super fun, of course, I only brought my camera on Sunday, but hey, at least I remembered.  Bill's friend Bridget flew in from LA for the concert weekend too, and she was super fun to have around.  Can't wait to have another friend to visit when we go out there!

So in the midst, while friends are all coming and going from vacation, Bill and I have nothing planned until October when we're flying to Montara, CA to visit his good friend Bob and wife Rachel for Halloween.  Apparently, its off the hook in Montara.  We're excited.  With Bill's work schedule, its impossible for us to travel in the summer.  I am looking forward to a weekend in Milwaukee for Mary-Frances's Birthday though!

Back to Pitchfork... on Friday we enjoyed Robyn, Modest Mouse and Broken Social Scene.  Saturday was the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Wolf Parade (where Mackie and I camped out 45 minutes early in VIP to have a killer spot) and LCD Soundsystem.  Sunday was the HOTTEST DAY EVER and we had a blast with Major Lazer, Big Boi and Pavement.  It was so freaking fun!  And can I add, the free beer was great, too.  And popsicles.

Mary-Frances & Jeff

Bridget & Mackie

Julie & Todd

Bill whistling for Big Boi

Julie & Bill

Julie & Mackie

Lots and lots and lots and lots of fun!!!!!!!  I like how I name myself in the photos, like the one person that reads this doesn't know me!!!

Oh Rachel, I miss you so!

My wonderful friend Rachel was in Chicago for six weeks, from May 14 - June 22 and she stayed with Bill and I.  Rachel and I have a long strange history though working various jobs together, but our friendship was really bonded when she and her boyfriend James moved into good old 2350/52 W. Ohio.  The four of us were like Melrose Place, minus the fights, the sex scandals and drama.  Just good old fashioned fun, gardening, parties, and Cubs games.  On the roof of course!

Regardless, Rachel and James moved to Los Angeles in November, right after Obama's election.  It's been a long time, and here is hoping that the pilot she was working on Chicago gets picked up, because we need Jamesy and Rachel back!!!! NOW!  And as a thanks to Bill & me, Rachel bought us a ridiculously generous gift certificate to Longman & Eagle, just voted Best New Restaurant by the Chicago Reader!  And that also means Date Night!

Lenny the Dog

Bill and I are still grieving over the loss of Victor Pants. Its one of those things that with time, it doesn't hurt as badly, but we still love Victor and he will always be such an important part of our lives.
We were not actively looking for a new dog, it has only been four months since he passed away.

My parents were actively looking for a new dog, and when I was at their house the day before Memorial Day, I was perusing petfinder.com, and this picture jumped off the page at me.

Wowzer!  I sent in my application asap and called furiously to the Chicago Canine Rescue.  Long story short, I have never fought so hard for something in my life.  They wanted Lenny to be in a home with another dog, and I told them all about Chainsaw downstairs.  They wanted us to have an 8 foot fence, I told htem Lenny would never be outside alone.  And then we met him.  And it was love at first sight.  We took him for a long walk.  Then we went the next day and walked him again.  Then on Tuesday we had our home visit, and Lenny was dropped off.  Lenny was a little scared of the stairs, and he walked in and peed in front of the dog bed, and on the fridge, and on the plants on the deck.

I was worried that he would be in the house, but that was that!  We have him on a totally organic high protein food - he's underweight and he needs to gain more before he can be neutered.  He's so amazing and transitioning so well.  He jumps in bed and follows Bill around everywhere.  He's so awesome. 

I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried to begin with.  I cried a lot about Victor - would he be mad, would he be sad, would he be happy?  Has enough time passed?  I'm feeling guilty, etc.  So many feelings.  But I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.  We got Lenny.  He is happy with us.  He already loves us, and we are quickly falling in love with him too.  We are a family again.  I still miss Victor, though, and that feeling will never go away.  I just hope that they would be friends.

One Year Wedding Anniversary!

We had an amazing one year anniversary!  We went to A Tavola for dinner, and then we went to the Garfield Park Conservatory the next day! After the Conservatory, the guys had their Wiffle Ball Game, and I got to throw out the first pitch!   It was so fun!  This is a short blog, the pictures are so awesome!