End of Summer Realizations.

Every August, I am the most destitute of the year.  Even more so then Christmas.  However, I am thinking ahead this year and I am working on making my Mom's cookbook which are a collection recipes from my Grandmother, into a cookbook for her.  I'm also adding mine and Amy's favorite recipes.
This is what I have so far: Taste Book. 
However, I'm switching over to Create My Cookbook because that way I can add family photos, and with Taste Book, although that one is fancier and more modern and sleeker, for some reason I can't change the cover.  And that bugs me!

September 1, we have two new Creative Industry Liaison's starting.  My boss, Caroline, is off to get married and move to Boston, so instead of one person replacing her we have two.  One is going to be focused on music and marketing, the other one on design, fine art, photo, illustration and advertising, and I have film, television, radio, dance, theater, journalism, etc.  I'm pretty freaking nervous about this whole thing.  I don't feel like I know enough yet. I came into this position before Industry Night, so it was a different situation then coming in at the beginning of the semester.  It's not like a regular job where you have XYZ tasks at hand, its about planning, attending and organizing events and meeting with students.  But I'm unsure how to handle this but I hope to handle it well.  I'm going to make this job what I want to - this is still my dream job and I want to be 150% for students.  That's the whole point.

And in family life, my dad has to have some serious surgery.  He had a lump removed, we're waiting for the biopsy results, but regardless he has to have surgery to pull up his stomach lining over his esophagus.  It all stems from Barrett's Esophagus which  runs on his side of the family, and its a 5 day hospital stay at Northwestern Hospital.  And having a double hernia removed.  It's a nightmare, and I'm scared.  But we will deal with it when it comes.  :(

Hello August!

Yipee!  Bill got a job back at Nordstrom!  We won't be homeless after all!  We've still been looking at houses, but we keep seeing amazing ones that are mindblowing, but they are SO FAR.  Like this far:

One hour without traffic via public transportation to my work.  EVERY DAY.  TWICE A DAY.  Ugh I don't know if I can handle it.  But a 4 bedroom, 3 full bathroom, 2 car garage, full finished basement, giant backyard on an over-sized lot. Sigh.  Amazing.

I really hope that this month is great.  This is the last month of summer before the students come back.  My boss is leaving, our office manager is leaving, and I'll be sitting in my office with two dudes.  Ugh the male/female ratio at work kind of sucks.  And then entering the Creative Industry Liaison world alone!  Without Caroline (my boss) and making it my own.  I hope its a GREAT YEAR.  I pray its a GREAT YEAR. I'm really nervous.

About everything.
Oh, and my latest addiction is "Words with Friends" on Android, Angry Birds Rio and Spotify. 

Screw you, July!

Ok, I'm TOTALLY OVER THIS FREAKING MONTH.  I understand that life has bumps in the road, but this is RIDICULOUS!
1st - they're selling our building.  Then they're not selling our building.  Now its "temporarily off the market".  So ARE Bill and I going to have to move?  30 days?  60 days?   If we didn't have two dogs this situation would have been so much less stressful, but the selling agent is just not a cool person.  And we don't have money to move!
 - Then -
We thought we killed Olive!  Not like that, but it was totally OUR fault we left the Advil on the counter and she got it, ate about 25-30 pills, was in the hospital was 3 days, 2 nights, and oh boy nightmare after nightmare with that.  Thank the Lord she is ok!
-Now-
Bill was asked to "step down".  What does that mean?  Do you know what that means, non-existent readers? He seems to think he's still employed by his store, but isn't working yet needs to get a job within another department.  And why?  Why would them ask him to step down?  He works harder then anyone I know.  Bill needs to work.  Bill wants to work.  But I want him to be HAPPY.  That's all.  Another pothole in the road.  I keep telling myself this is a blessing in disguise, but I have no idea.  I need to stay positive.  #1 and #2 turned out ok (especially #2) so I really, really need #3 to be a great situation.  A better situation. 

And since I'm on a tangent,  I would LOVE to leave Chicago this summer, if only for a night.  We need a vacation.  Sniff, sniff......

Summer is already half way over?

This month always goes too fast.  I love the heat and stickiness -  believe it or not - but this the month for West Fest, Pitchfork, Dad's Birthday, and the Bristol Renissance Faire. 
As I write this, West Fest has come and gone, along with Lex's "Rager" that coincided.

Frankie, Shipwreck, Me + Lex

The Carmona's were in town for a week for David's Grandma's memorial, but they had so much family stuff I only got to spend an hour with them.  They did have a great trip, and I'm happy I got one hour, its better then zero!

Carmona's

My dad's birthday was  too mellow, just went to lunch in Naperville at Schmaltz's.
Olive got extremely sick and $2500 later thank god she is ok.  She ate 1/2 a bottle of ibuprofen which can cause kidney and liver failure.  Thank goodness the vet called today, and she is 100% a-ok.  It terrified us, and it was all our fault for leaving it on the counter.  I'm also grateful for pet insurance.

Olive relaxing.

Pitchfork was fun, we had VIP again this year, but I mainly ran into co-workers, which was fine, just unexpected. 

Hipster at Pitchfork. They're everywhere.

Next up is John & Kadima's Engagement party, which will actually be at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. 
Todd, Mackie, Darren, Bill and I are going, and I can't WAIT.
I need this kind of fun, especially since they are selling our house, and Bill and I don't have a lease, and if someone wants to buy it we're on the street.  Oh, Our Lovely Home.  We went through the steps to get a pre-approval for a mortgage, but its just not for much money.  I wish we could predict the future so we knew if just an investor was buying it and we didn't have to rush, or if a house we bought was a total money pit and we should rent, or if we can just relax for once and know how long we will be there. 

I think the focus of the rest of the summer is just relaxing.  I have a wonderful yoga class Wednesdays that I totally embrace, I love my Summer CSA of Veggies, I have great friends and fun things coming up, and everything is ok.  For my final photo, please enjoy Olive + Lenny in the giant hole he dug, laying butt to butt.

Lenny and Olive laying Butt to Butt!

We grow stuff, CSA, Kicking off Summer

I'm very, very happy with all the veggies and herbs we are growing in our back yard this season.  I have also taken a lot of advice out of my Urban Farm magazine and started a rain garden, too! We also started to get our new round of our Angelic Organics CSA.  Its so awesome.

Victor's Colombines.

Today is Wednesday.

I have tweeted with my Alderman an awful lot today. 

juliealevizos Julie Alevizos @Alderman_Moreno Are the rumors true that Wal-Mart is interested in the intersection of Chicago + Western? Please say no!  Alderman_Moreno Alderman Joe Moreno @juliealevizos Where did you hear that? First I've heard.  juliealevizos Julie Alevizos @Alderman_Moreno http://t.co/Cc1O8r6 Alderman_Moreno Alderman Joe Moreno @juliealevizos No Walmart representatives have approached me. I turned them down at Milwaukee/California last month. Alderman_Moreno Alderman Joe Moreno I'm honored RT @juliealevizos: @Alderman_Moreno and you're the reason why my husband and I don't want to buy a house out of the 1st ward! And we have birds living on our deck:  And my office is at least 90 degrees and I can't stop sweating.  And its Wednesday.

Birthday Faces!

May is Birthday Month.  And August, too, but there are many more in May. Last night we went to Two Brothers for dinner to celebrate Joshie's 7th birthday.  Seven. How the heck is he seven?  I remember the day he was born.  Sigh.  He was so tiny and just a little peanut!  And now he's finishing up 1st grade and heading into 2nd. It's wild.

 

 We bought Joshie DC Skate shoes for his birthday, and he loves them!  He put them on right away in the restaurant! 

And finally, Lenny and Olive played and played and played and ate a camera and played and played for Lenny's birthday.

Then it was Bill's birthday, and we had a party. No photos, though because I no longer own a camera.  We had tons of food and beer, and it was super fun.  He got some gifts, I paid for the party and bought him a new subscriptions to  TransWorld Skateboarding magazine.  Last week was one of those weeks with something every day after work, so this was on Thursday: Bill ate this two days BEFORE his birthday from Big Star. 

My only friend from work had her last day yesterday, so Bill, Megan (whos leaving) her manpanion and another person from our office went to Big Star to say goodbye.  Ugh so sad. 

And finally, on Bill's birthday, he bought himself a new vacuum that we're both stupid excited about.  So he vacuumed around 1am after we went out for drinks!