a ha ha

Thoughts of the day:

1. I miss Minnesota. This past weekend was spent in Minneapola-ha-ha with some dear old friends and my family. We had drinks, laughs, sang songs and watched the Minnesota high school dance and it was fantastic. On the non-fantastic side, my Grandma Doris had a health scare in the form of a blood clot near her heart. They have since dissolved the clot, but the doctor said if she wouldn't have gone into the hospital, she would have died. Needless to say, that was not fun to hear and caused us all to have a little aneurysm ourselves. This whole episode reminded me all the more of how hard it is to live far away, yet made me very grateful that I was around my family when it happened.

2. In less depressing news: I got a new account today! This was by far my easiest sale yet. The wine guy, Paul, contacted me. I brought him in a shiz ton of wine which he did not even taste. Then he purchased five cases. ACES!

3. I love sloppy joes. Mike made them last night out of a recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (aka Mike's cooking bible) and they were indeed tasty. Bet you wish you had a husband like mine, eh?

4. Sven is learning to be better behaved. Happiness ensues! Mike insisted that we needed to get him a choke chain to help him learn to heel. I was against this, having lost a dog in a choke chain related incident as a child, but inevitably relented. Now mark your calenders, but Mike was right and I was wrong. He is learning and rarely chokes himself, so bravo, Mikey!

5. My bracket for the NCAA tournament is effectively fucked. I thought Gonzaga could do it. Mostly because I like to say their name. Amazing logic defeats me again :)

aaaaaaaaaand that's all she wrote. Happy, Jim?
cheers!

Birthday Achoo's

I am still sick. I was sick on my birthday and sick all weekend and I am over it. Sven loved it because he was able to sleep by my side for days on end. Three highlights:

1. Ms. Sara Zidon was in town and the sisters and Jason and I had dinner on Thursday night. I love baked potatos. Alex, how jealous are you right now? Two Zidons in one weekend.

2. UNO SPIN!

3. With Heather's help, I found some tall black boots (f*&$ing boots, if you will) that actually fit over my cows.

now I will continue to work on being cured so that I can write a more interesting post.

xoxo c.

the freakin weekend

Here's what happened over the weekend:

Friday:

Katie, Jason and I went to buy "supplies" (read: liquor and beers) for the big joint birthday party on Saturday. A mass amount was purchased and we were exhausted from all our exuberant frolicking and decided to decompress with dinner at my new favorite restaurant: Quigley (Down Under) Irish pub. It was everything you want in a restaurant: good atmosphere, great food, cider on tap and waitresses dressed in plaid skirts (I like my wait staff suited up). I will return to this eatery soon, perhaps on Thursday...

Saturday:

The day of the big party. I cleaned for the majority of the day and was quite pleased with my progress. I decided not to super wash my floors because of the heavy foot traffic, and as it turned out, great decision. The tonic waters loved to explode when opened and there was more than one spilled drink. Highlights as remembered include: the return of Jason's awesome Pico as well as a smorgasbord of frozen foods and strawberry shortcake, a late night oldies sing and dance off, watching in amazement as Jason polished off a bottle of Tanqueray largely on his own accord, Katie and my utter failure in our attempt to recreate the Blue Moose's legendary spinach dip -- we blame faulty instruction, and the first time in who knows how long that I stayed up til 4 a.m. A good time was had indeed.

Sunday:

Couch day 10,000. So sleepy. Subway, cleaning, cuddling with Sven, who also made it to 4 a.m. Saturday night. Grammy's. Bed. Boring.

And now for the Birthday Girls!

I am going to try to blog again...problem being, I don't have much to say. However, I am going to challenge myself to blog 3 times a week from now on and see how long it takes for anyone to recognize that I have started up again. First person to comment gets a prize!

So things I have been thinking today:

1.I wish I were a better housekeeper. I did a lot of dusting today and thought, WOW, I should really do this on a regular basis so the dust doesn't come off looking like Little Debbie swirl cakes.

2. Why can't Sven use the toilet? It's cold outside and he is very particular in finding a place to relieve himself.

3. I love Portillos hamburgers and I want one RIGHT NOW. But, I am on an "eat more fruits and veggies and less red meat and bad for you things" diet, so I will resist with all of my will power and will strength.

4. I am not a very good sales person. Too bad 99% of jobs (including mine) are sales related.

5. I wish Cash Cab would come to Chicago and on a day where I ventured downtown and got into a taxi. I love Ben Bailey and quiz shows.

I think that's good for today.

cheers!

All Hallows Eve

This being our first Halloween in a neighborhood, I was VERY excited to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters and subsequently bought a giant Halloween themed bowl and massive amounts of candy to fill it. This also being the first year I've had a puppy, I was very excited to dress him up and show him off. You can imagine his excitement. So in preparation for the many trick-or-treaters I was expecting, I chased Sven around and finally wrestled his bee costume on him and settled in with a glass of vino and waited. and waited...and waited. I got 5 trick-or-treaters. Needless to say I was displeased, so I proceeded to have multiple glasses of wine and was half in the bag when my friend, Michelle, came over to get dressed up to go out.

My costume was not very inventive. I was unwilling to spend money on a costume as we had no concrete plans and I am cheap, so I squeezed myself into an old pair of overalls from high school and went as a farmer/gardener. I have no pictures, sorry to disappoint. Michelle and I met up with Alex and Jamie and went over to Payton's Roundhouse for a monster bash. Turned out it was a metal band dressed up as skeletons who were not very good. We exited at 11. Pretty weak for Halloween night, but by that point I was feeling fine. In fact, I was nursing my drink at the bar so much that Jamie's friend went and brought me a sippy cup to illustrate my incompetence.

I was saved from hangover by late night taco bell. Thus marking my first Halloween where I got tanked and didn't throw up or have a hangover. I was pleased ten thousand.

In other news, I can't WAIT for the election to be over. I've got my voting shoes on and I'm ready to hit the polls (and be done with political ads). I'm nervous, but excited and hoping to be downtown Chicago celebrating our new president.

i'll get you for this...

as of late.

After a long absence from blogging, I thought I would give a quick recap from my last few weeks as some thins have happened.

a. I enjoyed a trip to the Riviera Maya in Mexico for Sam and Heather's wedding. A good time was had by all, but let's face it, who can't have a great time with beautiful views, great food, fine friends and endless drinks? I also found a new hangover cure as a happy accident on the trip that I will share with you now: sparkling water and guacamole. Mexico is officially the only place I find it acceptable to eat chips and guac in the morning, but boy can I not wait to go back and enjoy that delicacy again.


The newlyweds.

b. I am employed. Celebration ensues. I am now working as a sales representative for August Hill Winery located approximately one hour west of Oswego. Basically I will be trying to convince liquor stores and restaurants in this area to carry the Illinois wine. Perks of the job include new wine tools and extra wine leftover from tastings. It has paid off in spades so far. I am, of course, willing to share with those who enjoy to come to Chicago to visit.

c. Disappointment ensues when the Cubs failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs. Consequently, Jim feels it unnecessary to visit with the prospect of baseball fun is negated. Hope is alive for Alex's visit at the end of November and with promises that a new trip will be planned.

d. Mike preps for a trip to Las Vegas. I was not invited due to my recent international travels. Here's hoping he wins more than he loses.

and that's all she wrote.

my patience, jim, is waning.

waiting, just waiting, sweetheart. you're like a little girl. get out of the car and i'm going to drop you like third period french.

recap please?