Merry Christmas

Howdy -

Yeah, I know I've been absent but, you know, blah blah, yada yada yada...I've been absent. So be it.

Anywho, I'm getting ready to leave town, getting recipes together, maybe packing some clothes at some point...but I thought I'd give you a new classic Christmas song for your Holiday pleasure.

So go ahead and gather your loved one(s), snuggle up on the couch, turn up that Christmas tree (and if you have the ability to speed up the flashing on that bad boy crank it way way up!) and put this tune on. It takes me way back to college.

ENJOY

Merry Christmas.
(and enjoy my award-winning ugly Christmas sweater I fashioned myself with cinnamon-scented gingerbread men appliques)

I'll talk to ya'll real soon.

Love,
Kim

I miss you already

Today we had to put my cat to sleep. I know it was the right thing to do...her lungs weren't even functioning at 1/3 of the levels they should, she had what was probably cancer in there and so on...but it was probably the hardest decision I've ever made in my life.

I'm a total mess about it. Anyone who knows me knows I loved my cat more than most of my past boyfriends. She was there through every serious relationship in my life. She's lived in every apartment I've had since I moved out of the dorms. She's politely waited for me to feed her by just standing quietly, patiently waiting. She used to rub my cheek with her paw when I was falling asleep. Just yesterday morning she was rolling around on the floor while I blow dried her on the bathroom floor.

She loved McDonald's fries for a total of three licks and one bite. She had a strange affection for biscuits and bread products...just like her momma.

All in all she was my little furry shadow by my side for 12 years and I loved every ounce of her.

I miss you, Weenie. You were the cutest baby on the planet. I love you.

Here's the last photo I think I got of her from November 18th.

Martha

Even though I was starting to get sick again I had what was easily a highlight of my entire life last Saturday. I had heard a rumor from an employee at Macy's that Martha Stewart herself was coming to our downtown Macy's store to light our tree. After reading up on the Macy's website I saw nothing and blew it off. But a nagging feeling kept coming back that I should double check and yes, after reading around the web, it was confirmed she was coming as well as signing ornaments for lucky folks.

I set a plan into action with Sarah at work. Not only were we going there but we were meeting her no matter how congested I was.

So we arrived at Macy's that morning to a line stretching around the first floor of hopeful women (and a few men) to see if they too could purchase an ornament to have Martha sign. We were sweating it...the line was huge...women were panicking and asking the Macy's employees to just give a hint on if we were going to make it...we finally heard that they were not letting 300 people in to meet her but that Martha was signing 300 ornaments. I knew a bunch of these ladies would be purchasing several of these special oranaments! AHHH! The lady behind us started to freak us out with things like, "If I don't make it in I'm still going to run up to her no matter what! Maybe I'll make it on TV!" Sarah and I stood there helpless in line between soccer moms and psychos just hoping we'd be lucky enough to get to grab an ornament and get our wristbands.

We were so lucky. We got ornaments, we smiled, we giggled and we shuffled up to the 9th floor to check out the random workshops.

Upon arriving, we were greeted with fresh bags containing a free Living magazine, a small box of Frango's, another Martha ornament, a special Macy's shopping bag, free water and snacks. Fantastic! There were different areas on gift wrapping, gift ideas, cookies, etc. We hurried up to a table to decorate cookies. (see the first few photos where we're just happy to be there and basking in glow of Martha-ness) And then there was a commotion...it all went so fast...I don't know if someone announced her or what but like a shot I had grabbed my camera and was off to another part of the room to take photos of Martha Stewart herself welcoming us all there and saying hello. I snapped some photos - my camera was acting up - and then I started to head back to the table when I realized she was walking my way. I parked myself by a post and there we went...right in front of me (see that close-up...I didn't zoom! She was that close!) She asked Sarah how her decorating was going and Sarah said "good" or something...I can't even remember...I was trying to get a photo of Martha talking to Sarah but I was way too close to get them in the same photo (see the photo after Martha Stewart had passed Sarah and Sarah is clearly still reeling from it!) I then sat back down to see Martha talk about cookies, take some photos, then walk back by us to tell us to have fun. And then I realized my face was beet red, I was sweating, my heart was racing and I was giggling like mad. (See the photos of us totally freaking out after seeing Martha up-close).

I then realized that I acted exactly like my mom's description of when she saw the Pope. I remember she said she just instantly grabbed her camera and went running down some chairs or something to get photos. Sarah and I laughed even harder after that revelation.

So after the big tree lighting we finally got to meet Martha one-on-one. I was overwelmed and unable to think of anything interesting to say (and didn't want to mess it up like previous run-ins with celebs) so I mostly smiled, had the ornament signed and left. I didn't seem to realize my hair was all inside my coat (that's why I look like I got my hair chopped off or something) but she didn't seem to mind. She even personalized my ornament "To Kim - Martha Stewart". Sarah just got a signature. :)

On a sad note, Martha was in Chicago during a pretty tough time. Her mother had a stroke just the Thursday before she came and this past Friday she passed away. She was just on the show the other week too looking great.
See Martha's blog here.

Brightens my day...

...she always does.

Halloween Party

Dear Mr. Moran,

Here are the photos from the kids' Halloween party we threw at our house a couple of weeks ago. I'm sorry for the big delay but I appreciate your continued enthusiasm and committment to my blog and my photos.

Kind regards,
Kim

Halloween Chipotle

So every year Chipotle gives out free burritos if you dress up like a burrito, burrito bowl or taco at Halloween. This year I was inspired by the burrito bowl and made this hats for us from the foil lids to old burrito bowls we had at the house. I was proud of my lettuce, tomato, black bean and corn streaming down our faces and the Chipotle folks rewarded us with the fattest burritos we've ever had. We ate ourselves silly.

Halloween House

Here's my house decorated for Halloween this year. I loved every ghost, bat, cat, spider and rat in the place!

Lost my mojo?

So, I think I had lost my blogging mojo. You know how it goes, right? Just not feelin' it? But then you compound the problem with the fact that I was getting really behind in editing the photos...that all starts piling on and you feel this sense of, "Man, to even blog about today I need to go back and do three days ago! I'll try to find time tomorrow...maybe." Clearly, that time didn't come.

So I beg your pardon for my seemingly random disappearance. I can't really explain it and I feel sort of sad because I really did have some nice photos in there. I think I'll take this weekend to think about how I want to attack Kimkobiloba when I get back on Chicago soil again.

But for now I bid you a fond farewell for the weekend. I'm off to UpperRespFest2007 (please give all credit for this title to Ryan because it's hilarious). It's a gal's weekend and two of us are sick (me included in that count) but it should be nice to get away anyway.

Adieu!

bbq

Today was a little BBQ at Lou's house. I realized, upon reviewing my photos, that I took most of the photos of the day with HER new camera and not mine. That's poopy. Here's a really small mix of photos. :(

Fantastic Aprons

So one day I'm at my corner market and I see this apron. Upon closer inspection I find out it's hilarious. It says "American Snacks" and lists random things like "salad toast", "chicken burgers" and mayonnaise. The fabric is supposedly cotton but it's kind of rough and unpleasant but I liked it anyway.

About a week later I had the guts to open the package of another apron on the shelf. This one says "Chinese Food" and is populated with shrimp, duck, some sort of drink you can't read because it's behind the pocket, sake - which isn't Chinese anyway and tea.

So what is this about? Are these sold in Pakistan where they are made? What's the intended market for these? Am I wearing the same apron as someone in the Philippines right now and we're both laughing at the same jokes?

Parking lot garden

My car tried to break down this morning. The closest place I could think to take it to was PepBoys. As soon as I say it I shiver with disgust at their shoddy workmanship.

So as I waited for my understanding boyfriend to sweep me up and whisk me off to work, I decided to enjoy the public garden, er, plants in the parking lot of Home Depot.

Note the view of PepBoys haunting me from behind the flowers.

Ralph & Vashti

Ralph and Vashti this evening as we were on our computers.

Target Mushrooms

Since we had so much rain lately, there are mushrooms sprouting up everywhere. These were just the varieties I saw outside of Target today.

Over Easy

I had a lovely brunch this morning with Janet and Tabitha at the Over Easy Cafe. It's always nice to have a little girl time. :)

It's shiny! Wha happen?

WHO CLEANED THIS CTA CAR??

I nearly fell over when I walked into this CTA car tonight. The floor was shiny! The seats had been cleaned or recovered or heavily de-funked. I couldn't stop taking photos. I felt like I was in another country...a country who's trains are cleaned more than once every few years.

So I sat there smiling, taking some photos, chatting to a few other passengers about how great it was...

and then the train sat for 20 minutes on the tracks just past Monroe and a crazy guy came in and started yelling at the top of his lungs about politics and I had to move to another car.

You can't expect miracles with the CTA.

Happy Birthday, Stuart

I don't think I can begin to...or should even...recap the fun I had tonight for Stuart's birthday. There was dancing, sangria, book reviews, cultural discussions, scars and pop rocks. What a great night!

Happy Birthday!

XOXO

Amy's Birthday

So many birthdays today!

Here's Amy today at work with her beautiful flowers. The flowers on the left are from her folks and the right are the ones I picked out from the work crew. Splendid, I know. :)

Happy Birthday, Amy!!

AH! I'm now lucky!

Last night Ryan made me move my car to a spot right outside of the house without many trees. Look at what happened to the spot where I had been parked before moving the car! The tide has turned in my favor.

Rainy Nights

When I was a kid I used to request "I love the rainy nights" at the roller skating rink. I don't know why...because I never had that record and never even knew who sang it.

I think I'm sick of the rainy nights. It's rained since Saturday. Each night is filled with crazy thunderstorms that keep me half awake and scatter tree branches all over the streets.

This afternoon the heavens just opened with fury. I could see them from the window at work - a lady with a double stroller running up the curving ramp toward shelter at the Art Institute, some folks just caught completely off-guard and booking it down the block.

When quitting time came around tonight the rain was so horrible that I was afraid to leave. I waited about an hour an a half until I couldn't bear to hang out at my desk anymore and then headed home. It took me about an hour to go something like 7 miles but that's ok - I made it home safe and sound. The boyfriend and the cats sure were happy to see me.

A/C Units take two

Remember that posting I made about the air conditioner units in the city? Check this out...all in one building!! One uses an old phone book (oh so sturdy), one uses two bricks (the best option of the trio) and one uses an upside-down plastic flower pot. They all just have some cardboard shoved in the sides too. What if someone huffs and puffs and blows down the little pig's air conditioner? Which one would go first?

Woman Vs. Machine Round 1

A few weeks ago I asked my mom to bring up her bread maker for me to borrow. I know she's not really using it anymore and I've had a hankering for a bread maker for years. Since they aren't en vogue these days, it's actually not as easy to find mixes for them but I stumbled upon a few at Dominick's last night and decided to make a honey wheat loaf.

Now I'm a pretty decent cook and baker but I've always been intimidated by the wildness of yeast. I think if I had been around people making bread all the time maybe I'd throw caution to the wind and just go after a loaf but honestly, I'm scared. So I thought this bread maker would be a nice easy transition into the world of bread making.

I'm not particularly feeling well today. In fact, I'm actually pretty sick but I really want the smell of fresh baking honey wheat bread streaming through my apartment and making me feel cozy.

So Ryan and I read the directions on the box, then we read some directions in the bread maker book that looks like it's been through a flood and we slap that stuff in the machine. I'm overjoyed. I'm so eager with anticipation. This is going to be something like 4 hours of delish smelling heaven while this baby's baking. I can't wait to rip off a hunk of that slightly too warm bread and slap a pat of butter on it!

At maybe 2 1/2 hours I climbed up on a chair to look in through the window on top. It didn't look so great...kinda crumbly and pale on top, looks like it still needs some mixing. I decide to let go and let god on this one.

Before you know it the timer beeps. I had smelled a slight aroma of bread in the last hour. I was a little excited about seeing the loaf but...honestly...I knew it was a loaf failure. I could just tell in my soul that this loaf didn't rise. And it hadn't. And it hadn't even mixed right. And I don't know what happened.

So I made a slightly disappointing peach and blueberry crumble which was nowhere as tasty as the regular blueberry crumble I made a few weeks prior. :( I think that white peaches aren't meant for baking. And maybe it's the cold that I have...zapping all of my baking skills. All I know is that right now the score is:

Machine = 1
Kim = 0

I cannot let him win.
There will be a rematch!

Wiggles World

We spent the day at Six Flags today. It was the boys' first time. Wiggles World was even better than they even imagined! We left the park completely soaked but extremely happy about a fun day all together.

Joe Jackson's Fruit Stand

Tito! Get that woman a watermelon! JERMAINE!!! I said get your hands off that fruit!

Dunes

One of our final stops in Michigan was the Warren Dunes State Park. Not as super duper dramatic as the Sleeping Bear Dunes which just takes your breath away, but this one still had a full beach which is a nice touch. It's always amazing to see the littlest of kids just prancing their way to the top while the adults huff and puff just walking up for five minutes. (We were in that category, of course.)

New Buffalo Food Review

Now, we weren't up in the area for that long but we did manage to eat at several great places.

First on our tour was the Red Arrow Roadhouse. We had an awesome meal of Michigan-style enchiladas and fish tacos. Neither of them were authentic (as we guessed from the menu) but they were super tasty.

After pestering our waitress about frozen custard joints, we headed down to Oink's in New Buffalo. On the way, though, we ran into Ozzie's Frozen Custard and had to try that instead. It was stupendous and, I daresay, #2 in our list of favorite frozen custards now (behind Ted Drewe's). It was the perfect texture, not overly sweet, and sat nicely in my partially lactose intolerant belly. Now that's something great indeed.

The next day we hurried out of the Inn to head over to Redamak's but we found out they opened at noon on weekdays. After killing some time in Three Oaks, we headed back to find a line already forming outside. This place has it down, though, they seat you with menus, our waitress talked us through our choices and we got our burgers in minutes. The lunch special there is something like $4 for a burger and fries. We got some onion rings too for extra joy. I'm still not sure why "Hamburger" is in quotes on everything there. Seemed a little creepy but after eating it I forgot all about that. The burger is tasty, kids. No frills and no fluff at this place. :)

Michigan! Michigan!

We took a short trip up to Michigan this weekend and stayed up at the Lakeside Inn. It's pretty rustic - like a summer camp for adults - but we still had a nice time. One of the great features of the place is that it's literally across a tiny road from the lake. You just need to walk down a ton of stairs and you're right there on their private beach.

I have no photos of this beach as I was in the water the whole time but I do have that lovely series of Ryan struggling up those last steps up from the beach. (HA!)

Cathy

Aren't there just some folks that you feel like you just pick up where you left when you see them? This is how I felt today with my dear friend Cathy. She was in from Winnipeg for a wedding and I was overjoyed that she had a little bit of free time for lil 'ol me. :)

If I had a top ten list of people I'd want to live near me her name would be on the list in all caps.

_____________

Notes: That jacket she tried on was perfect for her!
Additional notes: Sorry about the random beer photo. I kinda liked it even though it didn't make a whole lot of sense in the montage. We did indeed have those beers at the Huettenbar in Lincoln Square.
Even more additional notes: Sometimes it's hard to make the montages of photos to sum up your day. There's often a photo or two I just like that don't make a whole lot of sense. Cut me a little slack for the randomness!

Happy Birthday, Nora

Happy Birthday, Nora! We enjoyed ourselves with pizza at Piece and some little cakes from Bombon. Absolutely delish!

Birthday Boys

Tonight we celebrated the boys' birthdays by taking a picnic to the lake and then coming home to open presents and have cupcakes. We were told it was the best birthday ever!

Mmm...cupcakes

I have a bunch of photos from today that I need to organize and get up here but first I'll just post this coherent set. We celebrated the boys' birthdays today and I decided it was a great excuse to head over to Sweet Mandy B's for some cupcakes.

I remember the first time I was introduced to Ms. Mandy B's by my dear friend Aimee. I'm not sure where we were off to...either a crafting destination or a thrift shop, but we were headed down on that diagonal street Elston when we came upon Webster street and she exclaimed, "OH, go left here! I meant to say go left here!" Since I'm usually not a total moron when it comes to directions I retorted, "Uh, what? Where are we going?"

After about a second or two of thinking Aimee said, "Cupcakes! I need a cupcake!"

(Duh)

We got cupcakes and coffee and sat inside the charming store. I initially thought, "Huh? This cupcake doesn't look all fancy and stuff. This place isn't one of those 'Belgian chocolate laced with burgundy cherry liquor and topped with pure white gold' places. What's the fuss? I could make a cupcake prettier than this one!"

But then I ate it and all sassy brain function ceased and I became entranced with the Sweet Mandy B's offerings.

I miss you, Aimee.

Yes, it does make me tear up

So I'm going to give props to my pal Janet for her post of the Sony commercial with the José González version of "Heartbeats" in it. You're right, Janet, it does nearly make me cry. I downloaded the album this morning, loaded it into my ipod and it made the commute to work entirely different than the usual.

For those of you who haven't watched it or watched the sister advertisement with the paint, they are definitely worth taking a few moments to watch them.

Enjoy.

You're in Love

So I can't help but laugh every time I see this video. I've snickered about it for months at least. His eyes entrance during his second song while he says to me, "You're in Love".

One Can Over the Line

Ryan and I have been musing (paralyzed by fear) over how people prop up their air conditioners in the city. It seems the general consensus to just shove the a/c unit in, hold on to it with one arm until they slam down the window and the trap the heavy rascal in there leaving it essentially hanging by a thin metal frame around a pane or two of glass. I find this nearly terrifying at times.

I'm hoping to snap more photos of the sights I have seen (especially while on the train) of a/c units propped up with books & boxes and anything else I see. To start, here's a beautiful example that hits very close to home. This would be my next-door neighbor's window which faces the sidewalk between the buildings. I cannot tell what the can is on the left but the right can is carrots...and generic carrots at that.

I guess one wouldn't spare the Del Montes for such a cause.

Annoying?

Maybe this is getting old...

Regardless, here are the results of leaving Xena and press-on dress girl overnight. Press-on dress girl's sullen eyes are now peering at me through the thinly stretched pink goo.

Pink Goo Round 2

Ok, here we go again. A new round of pink sludge attacks the girl with the press-on dress surrounded by creepy cats. There is a time-lapse in the imagery. Oh yeah, and a cat was later placed on the girl's head for additional drama.

Amy

I think I was snapping all kinds of photos of the dice Amy added to Xena trying to get my little camera to focus when I got this photo of Amy addressing some intruder in our work pod. :) I think she looks pretty today!

The Results

Here's what we found upon entering the office this morning. Seems like a glop of goop couldn't hang on any longer and fell down, grazing the bottle as it headed down to the desk.

Amy was utterly fascinated with the fact that the pink goop stretched on the fins of the shark but did not break. I agree. It's compelling.

One Bird

The day started out calm, quiet and peaceful yet the evening ended up dramatically different.

Sometimes a single photo can capture your mood and this one from this morning certainly does.

Heavy Load

She's got the weight of pink schmooshy sludge on her shoulders. What will tomorrow bring?

There's that whole "life imitates art vs. art imitates life" thing that you discuss in your high school art history class and act all cool but maybe art imitates life...if you call this art.

We received free hot pink goopy business on our desks one day. I poked at it for a day or two with my pen. Tabitha made a ball of it on her desk and left it overnight to monitor it's spreading power. I marveled over it's not-so-flatness. On Friday I decided to put my pink goo into a little container and set it on top of my rubber peanut to see what would happen over the weekend. The answer was pretty lame - a pink covered peanut with a surprising air pocket all around the nut. Still...this wasn't all that interesting. On Monday I decided to pull the pink stuff like taffy which only put big air bubbles into it. Those annoyed me. Then I sat and poked the sludge with my pen again to try to pop them. My creativity must have been on an all-time low with the hot pink goop.

Tuesday there was discussion about doing something more with what we had been given.

So today Amy, Jill and I made balls out of the pink slop (Amy had thrown hers away foolishly the first day because she "got a hair in it and thought it was gross") and put one ball on shark sitting on top of a car and one ball on top of Xena: Warrior Princess whose leg was trapped in a bottle and who was being stifled by the low self esteem girl in the press-on dress who was clinging to her leg. As I left work for the day they looked like the above photos.

What next? Will Zena be toppled by pink goop? Will Xena finally kick her leeching friend down onto Amy's desk? Will the shark manage to extricate itself from the pink grip and drive away in the tiny yellow car? We'll see tomorrow, won't we!

City Garden

This morning I actually ran early for work. My natural inclination was, "Great! Now I can get a head start and really get a lot done today!" But, as I walked by Millennium Park I thought about the garden that I had never visited and my soul nearly left from my chest with joy even thinking about spending some time there.

It wasn't the prettiest of mornings - the sky was a hazy overcast gray - but despite the lack of color in the sky, the flowers were a welcome sight. I spent about 20 minutes just really thinking about nothing but the bunny hopping away from the crowded street, the birds staring up at the office windows, the bees busy like factory workers on the purple flowers and the butterflies flittering around like usual morning jumps in the kitchen from coffee maker to toaster to fridge then to cabinet.

Funny how this morning's diversion has kept a smile on my face despite the deadlines and doldrums.

What if

About what? About where you deliver the mail? Well, that's easy! For once just read the address!

Happy Birthday, Arleigh

Happy 10th Birthday, Arleigh!! It's so nice to see that my shopping skills are still spot-on!

Beach Party

Today was Arleigh's birthday beach party. We took the boys down to introduce them to the 9 and 10 year old girls. We had no idea that Declan was going to fall madly in love...well, he says he doesn't like girls but whatever.

To be fair, I didn't take these photos, Ryan did. I just photoshopped.

Wait, Wait

Tonight we hung around downtown for a free taping of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me", a weekly NPR news quiz show. Mr. King couldn't come but we were happy to have Jillsy along to sit on our blanket under the caged bit of sky above us.

Ryan's Birthday BBQ

Sorry this took me so long. As you can see, there were tons of good photos to pour through from that day!

For Ryan's birthday, we decided on a BBQ/picnic by the lakefront. We had a perfect spot, the weather was fantastic, the food was delish and the people were our favorites. How can you lose? Ryan even enjoyed playing some football.

Thanks again to all of our friends for the good times that day! Oh, and thanks to crazy smoking hookah man who sat by Ryan's car for the entertainment.

The Show Show

Tonight we were delighted to see Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black live at the Lake something theatre (I couldn't ever remember the name, sorry). Even if the a/c was working in the building that night we still would have been glued to our seats! Now, my personal favorite is Showalter, so for me this was the "Show Show", but really he was there in support of Michael Ian Black's comedy record taping dealy doo. Anywho, the jokes were hi-larious and the good times didn't stop there. As they announced that they would be selling a DVD of their "Stella" shorts, I elbowed Ryan and said, "GO!" and we ran back to a scrawny table in the hall with nothing on it as the first folks in line. All of the lemmings behind us assumed we knew what we were doing. Luckily for them, a few minutes later out popped MIB trying to chat with us as we nervously chuckled. Then came Showalter with those DVDs. Check out the photos with the guys as well as Ryan's signed copy of the "Stella" short films. I think Mr. Ryan had a nice birthday eve fo' sho'. Hot times, my friends, hot times.