08/01/2009 Sweet Home Chicago

I woke up this morning about 6: 15am, thinking, "noooo I don't want to get up yet! " and wishing I could turn the clock back a few hours. Then the most wonderful realization set in and I literally yelled out loud, "oh my God it's Saturday! " And then we stayed in bed until 9: 30. I mean honestly, can a Saturday morning get any better than that? I got my hair cut last night and had the most interesting walk home down Diversey. For some reason the street is all backed up as I make my way home, and at Diversey and Halsted the oh-so-typical-Chicago thing happens where the lights change with a whole line of cars still stuck in the middle of the intersection. Which makes all the cars wanting to cross in the opposite direction blare their horns and curse. I, on foot, gingerly skip around the whole mess to cross the street. Then, further along Diversey, in an area we refer to as the line of dysfunction because it's where you see 75% of all the transient regulars in Lincoln Park, I pass a man that I call Lurch. Lurch is a fairly tall and skinny man whose thick black hair is always jutting out every which way beneath a blue baseball cap. He has an equally askew mustache. Lurch always gives you a friendly look as if to say, "I'm tryin' man! " but he is usually so half in the bag that I have never seen him successfully walk in a straight line. Poor guy. I get a hangover headache just looking at him. Lurch always walks down the middle of the sidewalk, so as a pedestrian walking in the opposite direction you are faced with quite the dilemma. You must choose to pass on the left or the right, knowing full well that in the middle of this execution, Lurch may make a very last minute stumble in your direction of travel, and, well. . let's just say that I have been very fortunate that I have never personally had to deal with that. I tend to choose my side, and practically run, so that Lurch doesn't fall on me. I get past Lurch unscathed, but am still confused as to why Diversey is still so backed up. Then, looking ahead to the Diversey/Clark/Broadway intersection, I see a massive collection of bikes heading north on Clark, and I instantly understand. There is this absolutely crazy group/movement/whatever in Chicago who, once or twice a month, round up thousands (I mean it- thousands) of bicyclists in the city, and basically they ride around en masse, ignoring all traffic signals, cars, pedestrians, you name it. If you go to their website, they admit that they have no singular agenda aside from demonstrating their right to assemble. The first time Jim and I encountered this group was on a Friday afternoon during our first summer here, while we were down exploring the Loop. The great thing was that the bikers going by kept yelling to those of us on the sidewalk, "Stop driving, ride your bike! " So apparently these folks did not notice that we were NOT encapsulated by steel and on four wheels. Anyways, last night I was trapped at the intersection by this group and took this picture from my cell phone: I like the guy who served as the Gandalf of the group, stopping in the middle of the intersection to allow the rest of the bikers to pass. My thought is, if people want to recruit thousands to make a statement, knock yourselves out. But what this group does is so dangerous that someone, one day, is going to get hit and killed. Drivers become so agitated having to wait (my guess is that, from start to finish, it easily takes more than 10 minutes for the entire group to pass through) and as soon as they find the smallest opening among the bikers, they try to shoot across the intersection. The bus seen in my picture kept inching further and further out looking for his opportunity to break through. I guess the cops can't do much to stop them, aside from having a cop car bringing up the rear. Finally this all came to an end so that I could cross the street and proceed with my trip. I was almost to Pine Grove when I came upon an apparent water main break, with water gushing through an opening next to a manhole and cones set up for cars to drive around the huge puddle that was forming. All of these obstacles made for a very entertaining walk home. More reasons why a) I love living in this city, and b) I love not driving in this city!

07/27/2009 I love this man

See this man? Thanks to him, I was able to come home from work, run the dishwasher, get our dinner started, and receive all my groceries at my door as my chicken cooked on the skillet. The timing could not have been better, and now thanks to Peapod, we have a stocked fridge.
In buying from Peapod and comparison shopping, there are a few things I have learned. Peapod is great for when you need basic interchangeable food items and can do most your shopping from their weekly specials list (which, be forewarned, runs from Wednesday-Tuesday, not Sunday-Saturday like most stores. I found out the hard way when I saved an order on a Tuesday night only to log in on Wednesday to find everything back to regular price). Outside of weekly specials, Peapod's prices can be a bit on the steep end, especially for meat and name-brand items like Nabisco crackers, etc. We've even come across some fruits and vegetables that we feel are expensive, whereas other produce items have come at a great price. Speaking of their produce- I've not once been disappointed. The bell peppers we've received have been gynormous (yes that's a word), and everything we've purchased has arrived very flavorful and fresh. Tonight we received some blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, cucumbers, zuchini, squash, apples, oranges, nectarines, and peaches, and they all arrived looking stellar.
Peapod also has weekly specials on non-food items, and (FINALLY! ) they ran a special on a facial cleanser for which I also had a manufacturer coupon. You just give your friendly Peapod delivery man the manufacturer coupons when he arrives, and the next day you receive an email with your adjusted total. The first few times you use Peapod you're eligible for some good store coupons (like $5 off your first order and super amazing things like that). As much as my husband and I have googled " Peapod coupon codes, " nothing has come up that is legit for us to use any longer. So, alas, no cheating with coupon codes.
And, let's please not forget one of the best parts of ordering from Peapod, which is the convenience factor. Good God there's nothing better or easier. For me, when I have what can be called a "Peapod kinda week, " the $7 fuel and delivery charge is worth every penny to not have to get in the car, slowly inch along Diversey or Wrightwood for 30 minutes, to then weave through 500 other people at the grocery store at its busiest time (which, when you don't get home until 6pm most days, is basically any time you're not at work). I have to say, that while you need to be cognizant of some of the pricing, I feel that you save oodles using Peapod because there are no impulsive purchases that have tempted each and every one of us, without fail, while walking past the display at the grocery store (ahem Scooby Doo toy in the cereal box! ). So, my vote is two thumbs up for Peapod. If you live in the Peapod-less 'burbs, I am sorry. It is a terrific benefit to have this option. However, you folk can usually zip to the store and back while reaching speeds of greater than 30 mph, which from a city dweller's viewpoint, is comparable to having super powers. Who needs grocery delivery with that?!

11/8/2025 note- Peapod went out of business like 6 weeks before the pandemic. I can’t even…

07/24/2009 Meal Planning Lament

mmmmm yummy! Homemade chicken enchilada with rice. Eh never mind. Who am I kidding? This is a Lean Cuisine. For several years I have prided myself in the fact that I have not caved in to having a frozen meal for dinner. Don't get me wrong- I am a big proponent of using a frozen meal for work lunches. And frozen pizzas for dinner I'm all about (especially Newman's Own, California Pizza Kitchen, or Gino's East frozen pizzas. Even Digiorno pizzas with the self-rising crust are good). Yet individual frozen meals, in the little plastic containers with the separate sterile side dish holders, don't exude the warmth of the social dinner experience that I so enjoy. Sadly, this week that all fell apart. With my husband away at a music festival last Sunday, I found myself with a newly organized bookcase but no plan for dinner. And so I heated up this meal that you see above. And yes, I plated it because doing so made me feel like less of a slacker. Now, I can forgive myself for this, but it happened again last night when my husband was off chasing President Obama around Lincoln Park. For the past few weeks I have fallen into a meal planning slump. Yes I posted the Jerk Chicken recipe last Friday, but that was a true anomaly compared to how I've felt for most of my dinner plannings. Heck, we even went to the grocery store a couple weeks ago WITHOUT A LIST. We walked around with my coupon book, and actually did pretty well on our produce, cereal, yogurt, and other staples, but no true meal planning was had. I guess it's been one of those months. I've been swamped at work, and that's even with having a fairly routine clinic and no complicated patient issues this week (thank goodness). In attempts to prioritize my work load, I came up with 4-5 options that all tied for the top. Wednesday evening rolled around and in considering my "to do" list I thought, Oh no, how can it already be Thursday tomorrow? ! We had family in town earlier this week, and I didn't even have munchies to set out for them! It gets worse. I laid on the couch contemplating a nap until 8: 30 this evening, when my husband and I decided that, indeed, we needed to eat. While getting ready to head out to the Mayan Palace, Dateline NBC came on with Keith Morrison. "It was a happily ever after ending. . or was it? " he squeaked. We looked at each other and decided, yes, we would rather spend our Friday evening on the couch watching an investigative report on a man who may have killed his family rather than sip margaritas on the rocks in a room full of jovial and energetic Friday night-Chicagoans. Absolutely. And so this was our dinner tonight:

11/8/25 note- I wish I knew what that dinner pic was!

07/22/2009 Oh my achin' dogs

Recently I encountered a sad fact- my body is no longer the spritely being it once was. Now, I know by saying this, many of you are thinking, "what in the heck is she talking about? She's still in her twenties! Silly girl! " But please let me explain. Growing up I was always in some type of a dance class or another and competed in highland dancing in my teens. It was great fun, and still to this day I spontaneously go into some highland step while stirring risotto on the stove or brushing my teeth (my husband's gotten used to the sudden thumping from the next room, and I'm sure our downstairs neighbors love it). Back in March of this year, I started taking lessons at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Irish dance, a new style of dance for me that is similar to Highland in some respects but also very different (and at least my arms get a break). New steps! New dance shoes! Well, at dance 3 weeks ago, I pulled a muscle. Badly. It wasn't too sore afterward, but a few days later I irked it further by whatever goofy way I got up off the couch (typical) and OWIE it hurt like crazy! I tried jumping on it and just couldn't, and as a result had to miss 2 weeks worth of classes (which I paid for in advance, so it's painful in more than one way). Anyways, my realization is that I probably should no longer be doing random highcuts without stretching first. I am slowly becoming the tin man, and need extra oiling.

07/19/2009 ROY G BIV IT UP!

I've always loved beautifully organized bookshelves. Bookshelves are such a focal point in a room, and as a renter, rearranging your bookcase is really the biggest decorating outlet you have (without risking losing your security deposit! ). Quite a while ago, the Red Eye Chicago featured a "how to spruce up a small space" article, and one of their suggestions was to color-coordinate the books in your bookshelf. I've been strongly considering it ever since and this afternoon decided to take the plunge! Come to find out through doing a Google search that this is a newer trend and a lot of people have done some really cool bookcase makeovers using this technique. My friend Kim didn't think she could do it because her collection is so large and she likes organizing her books by topic. I can definitely see where this technique wouldn't work for those die-hard book fans. My husband and I don't hang on to every book that we read (it's rare now for us to buy books from the bookstore instead of getting them used or from the library) and recently in an effort to de-clutter, we rid ourselves of many of our books, which honestly felt great! Some people have told us that they could never get rid of their books. I think I felt that way once upon a time, but living in a teensy space for this long has prompted me to try to shed as many of our possessions as possible (don't get me started on my husband's magazines! ). Perhaps after we've moved into our mansion we'll work on building up our library again: -)

I can’t find a pic from when we color coded our bookcase in 2009, but I did find this one from 2017 (with our cat Grady) where you can see we were still shelving by color.

07/15/2009 Mrs. Literal

Over time, I have become incredibly literal, so much so that I almost consider it a handicap now. I don't think I was always this way. The past 5 years of genetic counseling training and work has made me into some type of detail-oriented monster that has no business considering alternative solutions to what is already staring me in the face. As my husband frequently says, "it is what it is." I've just taken it to a whole new level. Don't even bother giving me a crossword puzzle to do. I'll just end up staring at it forever, putting it down occasionally to clear my head, then picking it back up a few hours later to see if some magical power has allowed my mind to become more flexible in the interim. It never works, and after I've cheated by looking up the answer, I can't believe I couldn't think of the solution. Once my mind gets locked onto a possibility, it doesn't budge. We're (happily!) going to the Billy Joel/Elton John concert tomorrow evening at Wrigley Field. Upon telling this to my friend, she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh that's awesome! I'm so jealous! Where are your tickets? "They're in our safe," was my reply. I must have inherited this from my grandmother. There's a famous family story about a presidential election night back in the 1940's. My grandmother's very politically minded father-in-law yelled out from the kitchen, "How did Oklahoma go?" My grandmother took a deep breath and sang, "Oaaaklahoma where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain!”

07/13/2009 I'll spare you the bloody details

I chuckled ominously today reading not one, but two company-wide work emails that came through about an upcoming blood drive. You see, I approach the decision to donate rather delicately based on my last experience. And- if you're squeamish, please do not read on. Seriously. To briefly summarize this incredible encounter in November, 2008- the nurse tied the tourniquet too tight on my arm, so much so that when she pierced the vein. . well, you all know what happens when a volcano erupts due to the mounting pressure underneath, right? Suddenly a stream of my blood squirted out, hitting my face, sweater (which, of course, was yellow), and work badge. The nurse squealed "THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! " and tried frantically adjusting the needle while I laid there and waited an oddly long time for someone to help dab the blood off my face. I have to say if I ever was a trooper in my life it was in those minutes as I continued to provide my donation, despite the elongated time that this took after my body's control center screamed, "OH MY GOD WE'RE BLEEDING OUT! " and instructed my blood cells to put on their brakes and clot. Needless to say, I look ahead to my next blood donor experience with slight trepidation. Someone close to me has needed blood and stem cell donations, and I have always kept this in mind as I marched to the chair and rolled up my shirt sleeve. When it came time to donate again this past winter, I got freaked out about what happened previously and passed. Perhaps I was thinking about how much it hurt to bend my arm in the days afterward, or the alarmed look on my husband's face when he saw my blood stained sweater that evening. I feel a little ashamed that I stepped away from something that can truly benefit someone so directly. So, with a deep breath and calm thoughts of all the previous times I've donated with no problems, I think I will give this another whirl. But this time, I'll make sure to wear black.

07/07/2009 Ahhhh ice cream. . .

My husband has been making some amazing ice cream recently- mint chocolate chip, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla custard. But sorry guys, I won't be posting these recipes. He won't even tell ME how he does it! I consider myself very lucky that I can get in on the goodness of it all: -)

07/04/2009 Happy July 4th!

My cousin's wife emailed us this week with a request. His school in the UK is having a "Countries of the World" day, and my cousin's classroom of 8 and 9 year olds have chosen to do America. The request was for us to send an email from America to the students, along with pictures of American things that are not typically seen in England. For the past few days we've been considering this assignment and thinking about what we can include in this email.

My cousin suggested we take a picture of a hot dog stand, which I agree is a very American symbol. My major concern with that is that for their entire lives, this group of English youngsters will be under the impression that the American diet consists exclusively of leftover ground meat products enclosed by a casing and stuck in a bun. Then I cringe a little, because when we had this cousin's brother here for a visit a couple weeks ago, 60% of our meals consisted of a hotdog, hamburger, or other large slab of meat. We did the "walking home from the bar after midnight let's stop at Weiner's Circle! " meal, and the "We're at Wrigley Field- we have to get hotdogs! " meal, both within 16 hours of each other. My cousin even managed to see a kid get literally thrown out of Weiner's Circle, consistent with our stories that prepared him to not expect normal polite customer service (but a good entertaining time, none the less!).

In our brainstorming, my husband and I have of course come up with some ideas that would probably be quite inappropriate for an 8 year old audience. For example, we could include a picture of a police officer's holster with the caption, "In America, our cops carry real guns instead of sticks! " Kidding aside, we're looking forward to generating this email and highlighting the cool parts of this country we love. Here are some things we may include: In America, baseball is a very popular sport. Go Cubs! In the city of Chicago, we have some very tall buildings (check out the comparison of Sears Tower with one of the tallest buildings in London!) In America, we get some very powerful thunder and lightning storms! In America, bacon + anything = Heaven! In America, we have cats who can read and write! As you can see, this is a work in progress: -) Happy Independence Day!

07/03/2009 Post call, new charm!

For Christmas this year my mother-in-law gave me a Chamilia charm bracelet, already outfitted with 4 charms. Being out of the fashion loop recently, I had actually not heard that charm bracelets had made a comeback. Come to find out that there are two big names for these charm bracelets, Chamilia and Pandora, and the charms made by each brand are able to fit both bracelet chains. Anyways, I really love wearing mine and enjoy having a piece of jewelry that I can add to over time. Soon after receiving my bracelet, I experienced my first time being the genetic counselor "on call" at work. For the two weeks that we're on call, we handle all the extra stuff that comes in to our office- physician and patient inquiries, inpatient genetic consults, metabolic newborn screen referrals, etc. It can get pretty crazy at times and we sadly witness our usual work "to do" list slide into the lowest priority category. To reward myself each time I finish being on call, I came up with the idea of ordering a new charm for my bracelet. So far I've been able to add 3 charms to commemorate on call completions. I understand that this system is comprable to rewarding toddlers with a sticker each time they don't throw a temper tantrum at the grocery store. But for me, it was something pleasant to think about while handling the 5 abnormal newborn screen referrals that came in on Tuesday afternoon. If it helps contribute to the preservation of my sanity, I'm all for it!

06/30/2009 Our Thoughtful Boy

While I am the "wishful slacker, " our cat Major is the true slacker for us all to emulate. Not only does that boy have probably the most leisurely and carefree life of all creatures, but you can tell that he enjoys every second of it. I'll make sure to post some of his sillier moments in the future (the ever-popular lying on his back pose with his legs in the air), but tonight I caught him being more reflective. In actuality, I think he was eyeing our pork chops, but he'd prefer you all believe that he was in the middle of a deep, deep thought.

He was such a special guy- I still miss him!

06/29/2009 Sock knitting. . slowly. . .

Over the weekend I finished knitting a sock. It's pretty cute with nice Easter-colored stripes. A couple issues though. First problem- it's only one sock. And typically, for a sock to work, it needs a mate. This leads me into my second problem- it took me (and I'm not exaggerating) probably 2-3 months to finish just this one sock. Yes, I've been busy and have been doing others things, etc, etc, but I had hopes when I started doing socks that I'd get at least more than just 2 pairs from a year's worth of knitting! And I feel I owe it to this newly completed sock to get some use out of it. I mean, is it fair to this sock to make it chill in my sock draw for the next 3 months until I finish its partner? I'm sure I look goofy wearing only one sock as I sit here typing, but at least that sock feels loved. It was a big step for me to move from back-and-forth scarves to socks. My mother-in-law passed along a great website for learning to knit socks, which is what I've used to help jump-start this very important phase in my knitting maturity. I have yet to find a nice knitting shop near me in Chicago so have felt limited to projects where I don't need anyone's help to get me out of a bind. Alas- sweaters, baby booties, and felted purses will have to wait. So, if anyone wants me to make them a pair of socks, and hopes to have the socks delivered by the year 2012- you'd best place your order now!

06/28/2009 The Making of Public Enemies

The movie Public Enemies opens in theaters this week and I wanted to share these pictures that we took back in May, 2008. Being a true story, several scenes were shot in the actual location where events occurred, including the Biograph Theater in Lincoln Park. Word spread like wildfire when the production crew came in and converted this section of Lincoln Avenue into how it appeared in 1934. We and several hundred others flocked here on that Friday afternoon to catch a glimpse of the action. Production vehicles and trailors were parked up and down Halsted, and many cool vintage cars were brought in. They created artificial storefronts, laid street car tracks, and even sawed away all the metal parking meters- because obviously those weren't around in 1934 (heck, they can't even get them to work in 2009)! On a separate night, they shot scenes just down the street from our apartment building at Pine Grove and Surf. All evening we kept hearing continuous rounds of tommy gun fire. It was really loud! Apparently Johnny Depp even paid a visit to our corner Red Hen bakery for a coffee. For all the hype the production created around this area, the movie had better be good!

06/27/2009 Mr. "Breaking News"

One of my husband's and my shared themes is that we both had grandmothers with avid interests in current events and breaking news. I remember huddling around the radio with my grandma, grandpa, and sister, listening to live coverage from Norway of Tonya Harding's 1994 Olympic skate. There was no way my grandmother was waiting until NBC's coverage at 7pm. "Wait, she's stopped skating and is in tears. She's trying to tell the judge there's something wrong with her skate lace, " reported the announcer. It was thrilling, and when we watched the American tv broadcast that evening we all felt special for knowing the outcome in advance of everyone else. My grandmother recorded every single day of the OJ Simpson trial. As we went through her house after she passed away, we encountered boxes and boxes of these videotapes. Not only that, but we came across every cheesy pop news novel that was ever written. If it was about JonBenet Ramsey, the Menendez Brothers, or Princess Diana, my grandmother could have been a key consultant. As my grandmother's daughter, my mother also shares this passion. During the goofy court hearings following Anna Nicole Smith's death, my mom and I almost didn't know what to do with ourselves. "There is no circus here my friends" may be one of the greatest quotes in the history of American entertainment. A few years ago a man near my parents' home in Michigan went nuts and killed his wife. If that wasn't enough, his arrest took place after he fled to northern Michigan and was chased through the snowy woods barefoot by a helicopter, cameras rolling. My mother tivo'd every news story documenting his trial, and sat us down in front of the tv each time we traveled home so we could get caught up. My husband reports having had similar experiences in his childhood. His upbringing allowed him to develop "breaking news" superpowers. He has this unnatural ability to know every major headline the second before the rest of us learn of it. My mother has it as a personal goal to surprise my husband with a breaking news story prior to him discovering it for himself. So far she hasn't won. After news of Michael Jackson's death on Thursday she scrambled to send him a text message, only to receive my husband's response a few seconds later-"I know." Between the two of them, at least I know that I'll never be left in the dark!

06/06/2009 Disorder on the 18th Floor

When we moved to Chicago 3 years ago, we decided on renting an 18th floor 1 bedroom unit in Lincoln Park. The place has a great view of Diversey Harbor, Lakeshore Drive, and Lake Michigan. Looking south from our balcony we can see the Hancock building. The inside of the place is small but it works just fine for the two of us. However, when you live in the same place for 3 years, stuff begins to accumulate. And in small confines, the level of disorder increases ten-fold. My wonderful cousin will be arriving in a few days from England for a 10 day Chicago vacation. We're excited to have him stay with us, and he claims he doesn't mind sleeping on our aerobed in the living room. I love how having a house guest opens your eyes to all the work that needs to be done in your living space. We've become comfortable with our little table collecting magazines and junk mail- it doesn't really matter when we're the only two who ever see it. I've walked past the picture frames needing dusting for weeks but have done no more than acknowledge that fact. We did go through some of our things a month ago and filled a blue storage tub in our living room with items to sell or donate. But then the cat decided he liked sitting on top and we even set a towel on the lid to increase his comfort. Needless to say, the bin remains, full of the things we intended to rid ourselves. As my cousin's arrival date gets closer, I've started a list on our dry erase board. Currently it reads: 1. Replace shower curtain liner (the one we have now is disgusting)2. Scrape mold off bathroom ceiling. Get rid of cobwebs. I mean, these are all things that we should be doing just for ourselves, I understand. But having visitors gives you that good kick in the pants to get up and start to make things more presentable. This weekend is our pre-visitor time to get the place back in working order. But I have to say that as I sit here on the couch waiting for that motivation to set in, I still just keep thinking, "ugh, do I have to? " Yes. You do. You really do.

05/16/2009 Welcome!

Why hello, and welcome to my blog! I intend to make this a lifestyle blog featuring the events, projects, and situations I encounter in my day-to-day. I am a pediatric genetic counselor, and my work days are spent preparing for clinic, coordinating genetic testing, communicating results, and counseling families. This work frequently sucks away much of my energy, and outside of work there are so many things I enjoy doing, especially in this cool city of Chicago where I live with my husband and cat. I am a pretend foodie, and enjoy finding recipes and cooking. By "pretend, " I mean that I have not experimented much with my own recipe alterations or creations. Let's face it- one must have some extra time and backup plans to allow for mess ups! I plan on posting the good recipes that I find for those after work days when you need something fast and those lazy weekend days when you have more time for an involved meal. In addition, I am striving to cook healthier foods and nothing pleases me more than meals that are inexpensive! In addition to food, I will highlight my other interests and projects- knitting, dancing, scrapbooking, photography, decorating, etc. As alluded to above regarding liking cheap meals, I may possibly be addicted to couponing. My Sunday morning routine involves sitting on the floor cutting out coupons and discovering the weekly specials that will give us our biggest bang for our buck. I will share those tricks and the ways I stay organized. Our cat Major will likely make a few appearances too. I may occasionally comment on genetics- but only if it comes with some type of monetary reward: -)I remember last year a rare day that I took off of work. Despite hoping to sleep in, I woke up at the usual time, saw Jim off to work, and then proceeded to attack an internal to-do list which popped up out of nowhere. I ran to the the grocery store, got a slow cooker meal going, did some cleaning, did some wedding planning, and then before I knew it Jim was home and the day was over! Still, all in all, it felt great to move through the day on my own schedule. My biggest challenges are balancing the things I enjoy with the daily grind of working a fairly draining job and still trying to manage some level of mental sanity. It doesn't always work, but I invite all of you to follow me along for the ride!