Happy Anniversary!

Mom and Dad celebrate their 31st wedding anniversary today.  That's a lot of years.  Here's to another 31 :)

Latest obsession...

Anything basil-scented from Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Aromatherapeutic Household Cleaning Products. Mainly the hand soap and counter cleaner. I'm also looking for the fabric softener and all-purpose cleaner. If anyone knows where they are sold around here, please let me know! (Whole Foods has a very small selection!)

So, the family I babysit for had the basil hand soap and I would come up with reasons to wash my hands. I ended up going to Whole Foods with the express purpose of buying this soap. One day last week, after doing some hardcore cleaning in the basement and washing my hands, I turned to mom and said, 'I wish my room could smell like this!' She said, 'You should see what other products they have in the scent.'
And then I found this website. http://www.mrsmeyers.com/
And then I spent the next half hour talking about what I wanted to buy(everything) and mom spent the next half hour asking herself (and the room in general) why she suggested that to me.

Happy cleaning!

I have issues.

No, seriously, I do.  Last week at this time, I was looking up the release time for Angry Birds: Star Wars.  I was incredibly upset* that it wasn't until 8 am GMT.  After looking that up, I found out the Central Standard time for Greenwich Mean time of 8 am is 1 am.  I seriously debated setting an alarm and downloading the game at that time.  I didn't however...I only set my alarm for about 45 minutes earlier than necessary and played for the whole 45 minutes.

*I was almost histrionic.  I atually collapsed in the hallway when I did the math and found out the difference between GMT and CST.  Ask my mom...she judged me whilst this happened.

Side note: I am in a very cool relationship.  A paraphrased text conversation with Nick that morning:
me: hey...i've been up since 7 playing ABSW.
nick: i've been up since 7:15. how many levels have you completed in tattoine?

And so on and so forth.

So that's pretty much been my week.  Angry Birds Star Wars.  Like I said before, I have issues.

May the force be with you.

Somebody has a case of the Mondays.

Don't worry I cured it with pumpkin carving. However, I am getting old. When I cut open the top to gut the pumpkin, I almost physically got sick at the thought of putting my hand in all the goo. And the smell. Oh, the smell.

I know, I know...

...the "picture a day" thing didn't last.  I'm a failure.

::pause for emotional placing of back of hand to forehead and looking away::

I could talk about the past 5 months, or put up pictures that show the past five months (I do have over 700 pictures on my iPhone.  And plenty of space on iCloud, thanks to the new iOS update.  So many i(nouns)...).  But let's face it, that takes a type of patience I'm not quite sure I have at this moment.  So, here's a couple of pictures just from this past weekend.

 Cigars and Stripes is a bar in Berwyn and they are known for being...well, weird.  Thursday was the start of their week-long celebration of Halloween.  It included a human pin cushion, freak-show like performance, the Polkaholics, and a beer tasting of beers like Zombie Dust, Lucifer, Nosferatu, and Mermaid (not a single one of those is made up).  This is Nick with the "new and improved" Sweet Pea, a local legend who stands outside of the bar and "smokes" a cigar. She was recently stolen by aliens and this is how she came back (again, not making that up...although I'm sure it IS made up, that's what was told to us).  Note the 4 pound chicken wing rotating in her stomach (Cigars and Stripes has PHENOMENAL chicken wings.)

 We had a Halloween party with friends on Saturday night, and here's me as Drinkerbell, Tinkerbell's lesser known drunk cousin.  The dress started out as a full length prom dress, originally $179.99, on sale for $15.  Yay bargains!  Note the shot glass necklace, sparkly purple beer coozy, and amazing makeup job.  I seriously had WAY too much fun with purple, teal and pink.

 Sister shot!

 Nick went as a wrestler named Sting...our friends niece thought that he should wear my "butterfly wings."  Hence, the face and the incredibly disturbing image of a guy in a black leather duster and sparkly rainbow wings.

I cleaned my rat Olive's cage today and this is her protesting her confinement in my old shoe box.

Here's hoping I don't go another 5 months between postings.

Oh, and go Bears!

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I can't believe I'm in the 200's already...didn't think I'd stick with this so well!

Saw this rhino chameleon at PetSmart on Lauren's and my Monday Funday.  I love lizards and he is super cool -- chameleons have the most awkward, halting walk, and it's awesome.

Lucas discovered milk!

Gave myself this bruise on my thigh about 13 hours prior to this picture.  It's going to be a doozy of a bruise.  And just in time for super hot weather and shorts!  I asked Nick if it was OK to say he hit me, because it's less embarrassing than saying I opened the car door too quickly on my way to work.  (JUST KIDDING, HE WOULD NEVER EVER HIT ME AND DOMESTIC ABUSE IS NOT A JOKE.)

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Oh dear...I've been quite negligent.  Here goes nothing.

Made these cupcakes for the BBQ after the Walk Now for Autism Speaks Walk.  Thanks to Mom for helping me make the flags, which were made of Duct Tape sheets and toothpicks.

Nick, standing on Soldier Field, when we first got to the walk.  Fun note -- he designed the shirt he's wearing!!

I actually forgot to take a picture that Sunday, which was Mother's Day....so the next day, I saw Brian like this.  The poor cat always look so pitiful in all the pictures I put on here of him.

The starving Armenians, as we like to call them (minus Howie, who was otherwise occupied when I took this picture), at feeding time.  They act like they never eat every time we feed them, and they come running from all corners of the house as soon as the first morsel of food hits the bowl.

Saw this bumper sticker on the way to work.  I don't think I have loved, or will ever love, an operating system this much.

Forgot to take a picture on Thursday too...jump to Friday, when I got a pedicure with a birthday gift certificate.  Yay!

This was used at the party for the preschool teacher's.  I thought it was so adorable and clever.

It's-a me, Mario!  On Harlem and 22nd!

You can ALMOST see the rainbow!!  (but more importantly, can you taste it?)

This is in Soldier Field's main hallway.

This robin's egg was outside my car when I went to work today.  It was so stinking pretty I had to take a picture of it.  Of course, I almost got hit by a car in the process, but it was worth it!!

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So Nick lost his ID when he went to Wrigley on Saturday, and they found it (yay for honest people!)!  So I went down with him on Monday night and watched the game at Rebel.  This was my view for the whole game. We had a lot of fun, and made a new best friend with our bartender, Joe.  It was one of the best dates we've had in a while.

Dunkin Donuts is doing this promo thing for MIB III, so the straws are all black and pink.  It makes me happy.

Bonus dork picture!  Nick said to me, "EJ, go be Ron Santo."  So I pretended to be Ronny.

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Ninja apparently thinks that Brian is a fairly comfortable sleeping place.

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So my mom got this rosebush from "he who shall NEVER be named" (no, not THAT guy), and I have sort of adopted it's care.  I usually trim it all the way back in the early spring, but since we never really got a deep winter, there was no need.  It's a giant bush now, about 4 feet wide and as 4 1/2 feet tall.  It started blooming yesterday, and it makes me smile!

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May the Fourth be with you!
Below you'll see Darth Vader, Yoda, and our Ewok.

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This is a Voodoo martini from Olive or Twist (say it fast and it's a literary joke!), the martini bar in Berwyn where we celebrated a friends birthday.  Originally, it came with a pickled, spicy green been along with the lime and lemon.  A green bean!  In a martini!  What will they think of next?

I made my own black velvet!  I was so proud, because it is very difficult to keep the stout floated without mixing immediately into the cider.

This is Nick and Brian.  Brian LOVES Nick, and Nick thinks Brian is pretty cool.  Whenever Nick comes over, Brian has to come and say hello.  The only problem with this relationship is that Nick is reeeeally allergic to cats.  Hence, the hilarity of this picture.

This was taken as I was about to go to sleep, and realized I hadn't taken any pictures on Monday.

This Batman clock projects the time (along with the bat signal) onto the ceiling.  Another, "Crap!  I didn't take a picture today!" picture.

She needed to take a picture of her and the kitten for someone at work and this was the first take.  Lauren's going to be sooooo mad when she sees this up.

Howie sleeps in the funniest positions.  I love his front foot bent at the ankle, wrist, or whatever the joint is called on a cat.

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So long story short, I had to take home some of this ^^^^  black, scratch-off-to-reveal-many-colors paper to cut out shapes for work.  When the sisters saw this, they wanted to scratch off the scraps.  I told them that they had to help cut out umbrellas if they wanted to scratch.  I felt like a regular, ol' Tom Sawyer.

I feel old just thinking this, but I remember when gas was $0.99/gallon.  This is a line at North Ave and Harlem Ave for $3.98/gallon.  A LINE FOR $3.98.  Madness.  Absolute madness.


On another, non-picture related note, I need some prayers.  More specifically, I need some prayers for my mom.  Guidance, strength, the whole gamut.  Thanks.

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This would be much simpler if I would upload a picture every day...do you know how difficult it is to try and count backwards for multiple days?

We broke in a friend's new fire pit over the weekend.  This is the beginning two logs...

...and this is the pit several hours and several logs (and found sticks) later.

This awesome Lego TIE Fighter was a gift from Lauren for my birthday.  And the brown and white striped creature is NOT Lucas, the foster kitten.  It's the menacing Wompa!  Or the misunderstood Wookie!  Or the adorable Ewok!  Or the deadly, ugly Rancor!  OK, that's enough geek for one picture.

Flat Top Grill!  I <3 MYO stir fry!

Lauren actually took this picture.  She wanted to show how pretty the sky looked, but, to quote her, "It's mostly a picture of your IPASS."

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I know, I know.......I've been neglectful.  And here's a confession -- half of the pictures are from one day. Hope you can still enjoy them!


 Sister picture at Molly Malone's Friday night!

Me and Nick waiting for the Aquatic Show to start at the Shedd Aquarium (see how empty it is behind us?  We got there super early to get good seats!)

This is the women's bathroom sign at 

Margaritaville Restaurant on Navy Pier.  Love it!

^Me attempting to take an "artistic" picture of my wine glass.  Fail?  I think so.

Saw this driving Lauren to work and thought it was crazy enough to take a picture.--->

<---Pewter!