Charley at the Beach

Charley had her first trip to the beach in Beverly Shores, Indiana on June 20th!  Her first sleepover, too - we were at Lex's dad's house.

Look at those little pink feet sticking out!

Olive LOVES rolling over and over in the sand!

Lenny and Olive had a great time, too!  I haven't seen them that happy - well - ever!

City dogs need to be reminded to take their flea and tick medication. We found one on Olive a week later, and I found a HUGE tick on her just 2 days ago!  Whoops!

Its been almost a year since my last post!

And I have a baby!  I think I was so overwhelmed on August 17, 2014 when I found out I was pregnant, that I kind of abandoned my usual things which involve this blog.  But because of Colleen Holland and her awesome blog about her new adventure teaching in China, I am inspired.

So hey readers, meet Charley Nettie.  She's pretty awesome.  She was born on May 1, 2015 is now two months old, and Bill and I are learning the ropes. I am so lucky, she is such a great baby. Yesterday she slept from 8:30 - 12:30, (she went 6 hours since I fed her too which is nuts), then from 1:00 - 3:45, then 4:00 - 7am. Pretty easy breezy.

I love co-sleeping with her, but I only do it after her last feeding b/c I'm scared I will roll over on her or that she will suffocate or something.  Other crazy fears: Forgetting her in the car, forgetting her in the shopping cart, etc. I'm scared I will hit her head on a door frame, spill a hot liquid on her, drop her, that she will fall off something, fall off the changing table, etc.  She had a dr appointment today, and I'm scared they gave her the wrong vaccines.  We're following the Dr. Sears Alternate Vaccine Schedule,  and the nurse sounded confused.  So now I'm scared.  Its all those things.

I started back at work yesterday after having 8 weeks off.  Its hard. I didn't think I would feel the feelings I feel but I do. I can't believe how much I love her and miss her and she is just the best.

10 Years ago I met the man of my dreams!

Joseph Gordon Levitt you ask?

Oh, Ira Glass then.

Of course I mean Bill Alevizos! 

We celebrated at home last night and I made a freaking killer Beer & Cheddar Soup with grilled garlic toast!  I loved this long soup process and here are the photos!

All the ingredients (and Half & Half too)

Bacon Rendering

Onion, jalapeno & garlic

Soup is finished!

And it looks AMAZING. And tasted AMAZING!

Bang Bang Pie Shop slices!  Butterscotch Cream + Chocolate Cream!

And of course Bill brought me flowers!

If you want the recipe you can find it HERE!

Its crazy to think about the past 10  years.  We have been to Seattle, Los Angeles, Asheville, San Francisco, Antioch (ha), Michigan, Aruba and to Indiana and St. Charles a million times.  We had a dog, lost a dog, got 2 more dogs.  Bought a house, bought a dining room table, changed jobs between us  4 times.  Got a Masters Degree, got married, got surgery (his more serious then mine), experienced love, loss and everything in between.  Watched friends get married, divorced, have kids, move away, move back, move close, and even had three nephews and one niece born and watch grow up.  What a ride it has been.

And....September aka Summer is over.

I have no idea where to begin.  Summer suddenly ended, although one week from today it was 100 degrees, but now I'm comfortable in jeans and boots.  My favorite outfit.
Here is a quick blast on the greatness September was....

Bill after Mackie's birthday party

Sammie's baseball game!

Joshie Coaching Sammie!

Kyle in town!

Compound!

Kyle attempting a hair mustache, but I just got my hair cut so its way shorter....

Bill and DEXTER!

Sheri and her new pup DEXTER.  He will never replace our beloved Dudley, but Dudley knows Sheri has so much love to give, he wants her to share it with other puppies.

Bill and I are in the press :)

http://www.modernluxury.com/cs/scene/chicago-film-festival-awards/img72596

Spring has come and gone!

Two months since my last post.  What is wrong with me? I love blogging, I guess I have been too busy lately.  Thats a bummer.  In summary: I quit Women In Film, I joined a Book Club.  860th attempt to quit smoking starting tomorrow.  Ugh I'm too old, fat and out of shape.

In other news, Industry Events came and went and took up all of our Spring semester - however they were pretty good, still lots of room for improvement, but that's what the next year is for.
The past two months in picutres: not all pictures though since my phone was stolen, but what I have!

Bill's Adorable Birthday Invite Photo

Greek Easter AND Cinco De Mayo!  The food was ah-mazing.

Ryan and Uncle Billy!

Small, Medium and Large: Olive, Tequila and Lenny!  They loved having their best dog friend stay for a weekend!

Old neighbors reunite during family dinner!  I love all of you!

Fun Manifest Stuff.

Teeny garden!

Giant Garden - yes I was overzealous and planted stuff too close together.

 

And I will leave you with my solo dance party.

ACK! I'm almost 35!!

And I think because I'm almost 35 I keep using the word ACK, from good old Cathy comic strip.  Anyway, lots of action per usual, summing it up in photos.

Bill's knee is SO MUCH BETTER, he can hopefully go to work on April 11th.  Please let him go back to work, although it will make the puppies super sad.

Bill looking dapper as usual, at the super duper crazy fun Thaw benefit for Links Hall.

Work is crazy crazy crazy as usual in the Spring, as we are gearing up for our Industry Events Series.
I'm so work crazed I dressed to match our branding:

And we're a bit behind schedule, and I took 3 days off this week because the Greeks were supposed to come in but now its pushed back a week.  SIGH.

I went out to celebrate Molly's birthday - she is about to have her THIRD DAUGHTER!  Its so exciting for her, and she looks amazing per usual.

Moving into Spring, Rachel and I started a "Seed Draft" to correspond with the guys Fantasy Football Draft.  We got lots of fun stuff:

And lastly, there is an awesome new chicken place that opened by us called The Art of Chicken and it is Amazeballs.

Rambling March post.....finished!

One week later

Ok, so one week has gone by so quickly since Bill's surgery.  We have realized some challenges:

• Bill Showering.  He has, thankfully, but thanks to Mary-Frances for dropping off a shower chair!
• Bill doing anything:  Putting dishes away, washing dishes, folding laundry (although I don't believe that one whatsoever) he has such a hard time balancing on his crutches that I need to do it all. 
• Cooking:  Out of the question
• Filling up his cooler with 7lbs of ice every 5 hours:  This is a huge challenge - the ice melts and becomes water that sloshes around, its a pain in the butt, and although I have been creative making ice, I can't use all homemade ice because of this suction thing in the cooler so I also have to buy ice (wow its expensive when you buy it all the time)
• Going places:  Bill went to his fantasy baseball draft last Saturday, which was on a second floor. I'm happy he went, he is SO BORED and needs to get out, but then he fell asleep for many hours afterwards, it takes a lot out of him.

We're getting there!  Being the only shoveler of 9 inches of snow kinda sucked yesterday, but its what you gotta do.  I'm thrilled we're homeowners, don't get me wrong, but man there is a lot to shovel!  I'm glad our neighbors are nice enough to help us out.

Anyway, Columbia closed early yesterday due to the storm, and this happened:

Violent Intruder Alert.

That was dramatic!

All for now.....

Bill's Surgery

So my adorable husband has to have surgery. His first time, my first time to deal with this.  He ruptured his ACL in his knee, and torn both side of his meniscus playing softball in October.  They did win the championship, but I wish none of this happened.  He is going to be low-mobility a couple days then on crutches and at home for the next month.
I really hope he has a fast recovery and I will keep updating this blog!

Update***
We arrived at Northwestern at 6am - wowzer it was early. Bill was pretty crabby this morning, as to be expected.  We had a huge dinner last night and it was awesome, but eating large generally means the morning you are extra hungry.

Steak, Grands (he loves them) Blue Cheese stuffed baked potato, Revolution Brewery IPA and Brussel Sprout Salad.

Here's a Pre-Op photo:

The surgery took about two hours, and he is in recovery right now.  Hopefully I can see him in about an hour or so!  Oh, and thanks to Jason for the best hashtag: #theBigComeback2013

Post op Photo:

Bill on his machines

Bill and the Dogs taking advantage of him