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.

Pink Heaven

I've been reflective lately. With so much going on with me and all around me I'm just feeling overwhelmed. It's interesting, looking at this photo now, how I just realized how peaceful, calm and static the photos are that I've been taking. I cannot take all of the credit. The skies just gave me this pink marvel tonight as I sat on the couch.

Garden duty

The guys downtairs are out of town so it's my duty to make sure all of the plants in the back are watered. I spent a half hour this morning just watering plants and soaking in the solitude of my surroundings.

I think it's a Japanese Maple

The 4th

Lookie! 4th of July from the work windows! I love the snazzy 4th of July background I added to make my day seem extra special fun at work!

Loyola Stop

While many people slept or laid around on the couch, I stood at the train stop with tourists to head downtown. I had to work, though. Somehow, without so many people at the train stop, I could actually SEE the interesting sights around me.