Happy Anniversary!

A year ago Saturday, I went with Liz and Andy down to Rob's parent's lake house for a weekend of Beer Die.  On the way down we went to pick up Rob's friend Tim.  Didn't understand why a single guy would be living in Aurora.  Didn't quite believe him when we were shopping for food for the weekend and he said he wanted veggie dogs.   But he was sweet even then.  Beer Die means A LOT of beer.  I was drinking and belching and just enjoying hanging with friends.  So it seemed appropriate that this Saturday, Rob was in town from LA and we went out with Andy and friends.  Unfortunately Liz was home for Easter and there was no Beer Die.  But another fun night of drinking and belching and hanging with friends.  Happy Anniversary!

Me and Tim givin' Luke a little lovin'

Luke and Andy

Man hugs

Not sure what they're up to here

Awww...

Lovely

Robbie, Tim & Andy.  Tim seems physically incapable of taking a picture w/o making a face.

Like I said...

List of Five

I found out last night that a friend works for WGN.  I LOVE their morning show.  And I LOVE their newscaster Pat Tomasulo.  He's a cutie pie and a riot.  (See his blog.  Check out the one on Facebook and poking)  Karen has said that Pat is as cute and funny in real life AND she's going to see if she can set up a tour so I can meet him.  I was over the moon when she told me that last night.  I told Tim who immediately asked if he was on my "List of Five".  He's not.  So he's no threat.  I thought I'd put out there for the record my List of Five-- the five famous people that if you met you could hook up with and you'd have a free pass from your partner.  These are totally delusional fantasies, but what the hell.  Better cover my bases.  And I did get twitchy when we went to the Liz Phair concert since she's on Tim's list. 

1. George Clooney. 

  I

I'm not sure there's much to say.  He's hot when he's sophisticated and Cary Grant-like.  He's hot when he's funny and goofy.  He's hot when he's gruff and dirty.  He doesn't take himself too seriously (which is my problem with some like Johnny Depp and Daniel Day Lewis).  He is simply perfect.

2. Rhett Miller

Rhett Miller is the lead singer of The Old 97s.  Now, I had seen pics of him before and he always looked too baby faced for me.  But then I saw him live.  And he does this thing with the guitar and his pelvis that makes me understand why Elvis wasn't shown from the waist down on Ed Sullivan.  That combined with his sweet smile and his voice?  Knees buckling.

3. Pete Yorn.  

You can see I have a thing for musicians.  Where Rhett has the sweet, puppy-dog-who-wants-to-please-you look, Pete has the skinny, dark, brooding look.  And man, oh man, does it work for him.

4. Jon Stewart

I've always said that the most important thing to me in a guy is a sense of humor.  And that's the thing about Jon Stewart-- objectively he's only average looking.  But he's so funny and so smart and so clever.  Oh yeah...

5. Rafael Nadal  

As Kim can attest, picking #5 is tough.  You know you only have one more slot and you don't want to waste it.  I knew it would be an athlete.  Ray Allen was up there.  So was Favre.  But Nadal's got that accent to boot.  And I love how he bites the trophy.  Such a little boy.   A sexy, sexy boy.

There's my list.  Of course, my REAL #1:

Birthday party weekend

I may be the laziest person in the world.  Especially when it comes to weekends.   Were it not for the fact that I had plans both Sat and Sun night, odds are I would not have left the house.  Which is why I often plan the crap out of my life-- to ensure that I actually see daylight.

This weekend I actually didn't see daylight-- but I did get out.  Sunday night was a great Bob Mould concert at the Old Town School of Folk Music.  It's a great venue and I'm getting old enough that I appreciate a concert that includes seats.  AND old enough to get annoyed when the people in front of us kept talking loudly during the show.  Still, it was a great show.  Thanks Mindy for getting the tix!

Saturday was birthday parties.  Liz had her annual bash.  And for Sean's bday, the guys went to a concert at Metro.  I split my time-- hung out w Tim and Luke, then went to Liz's, had fun, got lit, met back up with Tim and the boys, headed home, ordered mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers AND pizza from Chicago Pizza.  Only at the sticks that night though.  But still-- no hangover Sun!

The birthday girl and her beau

Jill that coy fox

Lizze and Gabby and Andy

The dangers of open bar

Back at the Gingerman...WTF?

Ready to head home

Been called out!

Kim totally called me out for not posting anything in a while.  Sorry about that.  Just busy, blah, blah, blah.  Wasn’t sure anyone noticed.  And then there’s Facebook.  Updating the blog AND Facebook seemed like too much.  But if Kim’s calling me out, I’ve got to step up.  Instead of trying to summarize everything that I’ve been up to, thinking, ranting about since January, thought I’d just give you some of my favorite things so far in ’09.

Los Campesinos!- First, you have love a band with an exclamation point.  And in Spanish. (I hope no one makes a dorky comment about a missing upside down exclamation point.  Guess I just made it.  Oops.)  In case you thought they couldn't live up to their exclamation point, they can.  Los Campesinos! were great in concert.  Loud, loud, loud.  Heaps of energy.  So fun.  Granted, Tim and I were a little tipsy.  But just a little.  And Little Weis and his buddies were there.  It was a great night.  I was jumping up and down singing “There is no fucking future” which seems weird to be singing while jumping up and down.  But the tune is catchy.  For real.

David, My Hairdresser- Ladies, I know you get this—a haircut can make you feel like a new person.  And David, my lovely hairdresser, gave me bangs.  Granted—they’re long.  But I can’t tuck them behind my ears, so I think that’s officially bangs.  I haven’t had them since I was in elementary school.  They look a lot better now than they did when Nelva was trying to make me a mini-version of herself.  Sorry, I’m digressing.  The point is, I love my new bangs and David, my hairdresser.

Province- Went to a few restaurants during Restaurant Week and Province was by far my favorite.  The décor is very simple but cool.  The service was good—actually almost too solicitous.  But considering some restaurants treat restaurant week patrons and red-headed stepchildren, it was nice.  And the food was great.  I actually enjoyed frozen yogurt.  Who knew?

 

Block No. 45 Pinot Noir- I’m not a big wine gal.  I mean, I drink it.  Lots.  But I’m not picky.  I just like the kind that gets you drunk.  But Laura brought this wine to one of our BYOB dinners and it was really yummy.  Really reasonable too.  They sell it at Whole Foods-- apparently it was on their "best of" list at the end of the year.  I tried to buy it again but they were sold out.  Next time I find it, I might have to stock up.  A case should last a week or so.

2509. W. Winnemac- That’s my new address starting May 1.  I haven’t moved in yet so I might learn that it’s a nightmare once I’m living there everyday.  But I fell in love with it when I walked in and have held on to that feeling ever since.  I can’t wait to get in there and paint the walls, arrange furniture, hang things.  All with Tim.  We’re moving in together and just like the apartment itself, it’s new and I don’t know what lies ahead.  And again, I’m going to hold on to this good feeling as long as I can.

New Years Eve 2008-2009

We hosted NYE at the Leland house. I had a blast. From what I remember. I'll let the pictures tell the story

Steve, me & T while we're all sober And then the Irish Car Bombs

Lisa and Dan

Tammy, me & Laura. We'll look much different in following photos

Dan punching me. Not sure why. Jackass. He's so meanLizzie and Andy

Steve & Laura

Carlos w the thumbs up

Rafael's beautiful creation. I've started to call it the munchkin tree even though it's something fanc y and French.

Rafael busting into dessert.

Me busting in...

Now add some sangria

And some fAncy (actually, the iPod post-fAncy)

equal = Boogie!

White boys dancing

Wait...what's happening..

Charming...

Night-night

Sleep tight

Hope your 2009 kicks ass!

Christmas in NYC

Christmas was quiet and relatively uneventful this year. I came home to the cat in her jingle bell elf collar which I thought was mean. But she seemed ok with it, so who am I to argue? Christmas itself was nice-- just me and the folks. Gifts then out to dinner. And the traditional Christmas Day movie-- "Slumdog Millionaire" (excellent!).
The next day I went out to Long Island to see Lara and get some bridesmaid dress shopping in. The shopping wasn't so successful, but the time with Lara was. I also learned that Long Island Railroad is run by mean idiots who only post what track a train is on 5 mins. before it's scheduled to leave creating a herd that rushes into tunnels. And then sometimes-- they just cancel a train. No warning. No reason. Just never shows up.
Eventually, I got on a train and back into the city for a little Marymount reunion. Say all you want about Facebook, but I've had a couple of awesome times this past year because I reconnected with people from Facebook. This was one of those nights. We met at our old stomping grounds and everything fell right back into place. It was awesome. Did I saw that already?
Saturday was my parents' favorite pastimes-- shopping and a movie. I reaped the rewards of that one-- a lovely navy cocktail dress and "Doubt". Sometimes it's nice being an only child.
And that was it! Home on Sunday. It was a quick trip, relatively quiet and drama-free. Which I think is the perfect trip home.

Me, Carmen & Bel at the Amity Coffeeshop where we spent EVERY morning before school

Carmen & Bel at the Cafe Carlyle. So grown-up!

December in brief

I was soooo bad about blogging in December. And it’s not because there was nothing to report. It just got away from me. Here are some highlights:

Food- Had some excellent food this winter. I’m biased but my favorite was at mk. It’s a fine dining spot in town and through work, I know the chef. Turns out, the restaurant is going to be on “Check, Please!” so he had to fill the dining room for the night they were filming. The day before, I ran into him and he told me to bring a couple friends for dinner-- he'd comp the meal. I'm sorry-- free me? Yeah. As a result, the lamb was the best I’ve ever had.

Mindy & Alex on our way home from mk.

Friends- I really love my dinners w friends—esp. the one-on-one girl dinners (that wasn’t supposed to sound as nasty as it did). Dinner usually leads to post-dinner drinks and sometimes new friends are made and the camera comes out. Dec. was no exception.

Me, Laura and our new friend, JP the bartender.

Sports- Other than winning my Fantasy Football League, sports were a bummer for me in Dec. The Badgers packed it in early this season and the Jets kept breaking my heart. So I hitched my wagon to my roommate’s ‘Bama express and of course, it got derailed at the SEC Championship game. It was one of those nights that sucked but was still fun bc of alcohol. Good, old alcohol.

Lisa and Mandy while hopes were as high as their drinks

Post-loss, dancing the blues away

Parties- This year’s annual holiday parties had a couple new additions including the Sherer family holiday party. Rob is Tim’s friend from HS and his family has an annual party at Christmas. Tim said he wanted me being the DD that night as his Christmas present. I thought I’d be annoyed being sober in the ‘burbs with a bunch of drunk guys around. But it was a blast. They were still funny and clever—even w a bottle of Ouzo down. Who knew?

Shannon & Tim at the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party doing, I'm not sure what

My sexy ugly sweater

I think these two pictures do a nice summary of my December. Well, actually, of my life...

Me with friends at Joanna's lovely Christmas party. Looking and acting like a grown-up Me at Luke & Jesse's afterwards. It was the SAME night. The grown-up is gone.