summer life plan retake

so day three of summer life plan evaluation: a little more successful that previous attempts.

morning: bike ride successful...except for the gigantic mud puddle I rode through, getting mud all over my white shirt. 9 mile ride with a stop by the local target to get a bottle to take my smooth to the beach in.


the off to the beach, where I enjoyed sun, sand, my book, and finally worked up the courage to go for a swim in the 63 degree water.

and on my way out of the beach I learned that the beach is only open for swimming at 10:30, and that I was more then welcome to partake in appropriate non-swimming activities as early as 6:00....now to rethink the plan

home for the afternoon, mailed off a GIANT box, managed to do an hours worth of work, and then was distracted by life. though I did manage to make a delicious dinner of poulet saute au herb, cous cous, and oven roasted corn.

tomorrow, life plan may need to be inverted since I have stuff I HAVE to get done before 9 am wed morning...

summer life plan: 2 day evaluation

in the time since I made my summer life plan...I havent exactly followed through very well. Thursday I worked then went to the post office...but went into the evening determined to live out life plan on friday, well a modified life plan since I found out the beaches dont open till 10:30. 10: 30!!! really no one is allowed to enjoy the beach early in the morning???

so friday, took a 10 mile bike ride, THEN went to the beach...where I enjoyed my book reading, ate some cherries, drank some water got into the lake. and walked to the edge of the swimming area and turned around and went back to my towel. that was enough cooling off.

by this time Im too tired to do work...hence the important coffee shop element of my life plan, and so I lay on the couch and do nothing. oops. well do nothing except allow the sunburn to come to the surface...modifcation to life plan number 2: have nick put sunscreen on my back before he leaves in the morning.

but at least I was productive today.

apparently I make books

SPOILER ALERT!: IF YOU ARE MY DAD YOU MAY NOT READ THIS TILL YOU GET YOUR PRESENT!!!!!













so last year for father's day I made this.

then for mother's day I made this.

and thus I give you my father's day gift for this year. and apologize for blurriness of the scans...but the book is in the mail....only a week late.

summer life plan

after three days of doing nearly nothing....well having one major accomplishment per day...mailed belated father's day and birthday cards monday, got beach passes tuesday, got library cards today...I've decided that I need to have a plan to be somewhat productive the rest of the summer...and need to find a way to beat this 90 degree heat in my non air conditioned apartment... so here it is.

morning:

• get up and ride bikes to nick's work with him,
  
• then ride to the beach...enjoy my personal reading library finds and beautiful lake michigan till lunch...

noon:

• home for a shower and lunch,

afternoon:

• off to the local coffee shop find (future blog posts promised on this topic) or to the air conditioned public library to work on personal or school stuff for the afternoon,
  
• then home for dinner with nickface and evening fun or summer tv addictions (sytycd anyone?)

deliciousness

after camping I decided to make a rhubarb custard cake with my leftover rhubarb from the other day. easy recipe, starting with a cake mix, sprinkle on some rhubarb and sugar, pour on a cup of whipping cream and done.

plan: foiled.

when rhubarb is slimy I dont think it should be eaten, but of course had made the cake mix already, so I had to come up with another plan. and what was a one bowl one pan easy breezy recipe turned into a two bowl, one pot, one strainer, two pan double layer cake with strawberry and blueberry filling and raspberry cream cheese frosting.

and even nick, who dosent like cake, had two pieces.

beer, trail mix, and misdimeaners

aka camping weekend recap

friday: drove through a monsoon


arrived at camp and first got yelled at for not parking at the right spot, this should have been a sign, but alas we progressed. and arrived at our campsite.


and drove away from our campsite in search of a new one. set up camp in the rain, tried for two hours to try and start a fire with the damp wood we paid $20 for three bundles. decided it was beer and trail mix for dinner

the problem, apparently drinking was not allowed in the campground areas. across the street at the picnic area, no problem, in the camping area where we were safely tucked away no go.

and so us, who never do anything wrong, got busted. split a $75 fine for our conservation offense, but were allowed to keep our unopened bottles for being so cooperative.



saturday: food, games, food, games, food, games, lamenting about our conservation offense, and threatening to call the conservation officers all on the peeps we saw doing actual harmful things..abandoning campsites with fires still burning, cutting down trees, smoking out the bugs.


sunday: breakfast, games, packing, lunch, sitting around till we were hungry enough for culvers!

remember that one time when...

you tore everything out of your closet on a gigantic searching quest looking for items that you insisted others had, but they insisted they returned to you?

remember that one time when they swore they had brought it back, and so you looked again?

and then remember when you finally made them search their closets while you watched on video chat?

and then remember when they found what you had been looking for?

I do. and my sleepy self confirms the story.

clearly I'm home alone take 2

ok so yesterday I mentioned my stranger danger check. but I dont think that the full extent of how much I manage to freak myself out was fully conveyed. and so take 2.

walking back from the el around 10 it was dark and rainy. ahead of me on the street was the large blob of an individual. who stands out in the rain? should I cross the street? would that be too obvious? and I bullied through hand on keys in one pocket (to stab out eyes if necessary I've been watching law and order) and phone in the other. turns out three kids, being kids, just all huddled together who scattered when I got close.

being very aware on my walk home I managed to walk past my alley. this may have been a subconscious effort to not walk in the alley where once there was a disturbance. once, a year ago. I walked up the street, finding the right key from the millions on my key ring so I could quickly get inside and up the stairs.

made sure to close the door behind me, run up the stairs and get to my door, where Im convinced there is something odd about the lock. I can never open the lock so why not being able to do it last night became a concern for me I dont know. walking through the door I stranger danger checked immediately. turning on ALL lights, opening all closet doors throughly checking. making sure no one was there.

turned on both TVs, checked the back door, checked the front door several times, finally went into the bed room. dragging the cat. as if piccolo coudl protect me from strangers. of course my choice of bringing piccolo only made it worse, since she insisted on staring out the door into the dark empty room.

and so I stranger danger checked all the nook and crannies of the apt again.

and finally fell asleep tv on 11:45 pm.

thank goodness for wacky hair day at camp to cover up the lack of shower.

clearly Im home alone

clearly nickface is out of town. two signs from the remaining to occupants of the apartment

me: I walk in late after dinner with claires and do a stranger danger search turning on all the lights and checking every nook and cranny for well strangers.

piccolo: sits in front of the TV where she knows she's not allowed to be, figures she's home alone with the big softee and can do whatever she wants, looks at me when I walk in and pretends like she's going to leave, crawls down to the table I leave the room then come back to this.

the little things

nickface left today for a work conference. I came home and found this. a perfectly made bed, my favorite thing to sleep in, but something I am WAY too lazy to do on a regular basis.

a year

what a difference a year makes.

Saturday we went to ribfest chicago this was our second annual trip, though my actual inhabitance of chicago had not yet begun. here we are a side by side comparison (well technically and one on top of the other comparison)

last year: waiting for the metra burning hot


this year: waiting for the el, bundled in sweatshirts


Last year: eating ribs, hiding out from down pour of rain


this year: sitting at at table, stuffing our faces



Last year: killing HOURS on the ravinia park metra platform thanks to the bonus unscheduled annoying as hell train to the concert


This year: bellies full, happily waiting for the brown line

day of adulthood

today: spent the morning researching car insurance, determined to find the best rate possible for my impending car purchase since I can no longer mooch off the rents on that part

then: purged the fridge of all no longer edible foods, in order to hopefully extinguish the interesting smell

then: dealt with changing my parking pass to my new car

and then: 3 hours at the car dealer, drove out proud new owner of my very own VW rabbit!




look! it even has IL plates already. I sadly gave up my missouri ones :( decided maybe I should be legal.

packing

when I travel I pack light. I can travel for multiple weeks with only a carry on. I dont like to check luggage. and really, though I may wear the same clothes in lots of my travel pics, who really cares. my suitcase is manageable.

my light packing abilities come in handy often. because packing light when you leave means much room for traveling acquisitions, especially when going home for a week. and even more especially when going home for a week during which the annual outlet mall excursion is planned.

this way light packing = more room to buy presents for oneself (and one's closest family and friends, though let's be honest mostly for oneself)

I was impressed with my packing abilities, days worth of shopping fitting in nicely with my clothing Id brought, and then I looked down. shorts. big bulky shorts. and then I went to my mom's room. there was another bag that had not even been emptied. a bag of big bulky things. so now I leave you my suitcase.


sometimes light packing just isnt good enough.

me in lol cat form

the kitten is even blond like me.

Wedding

I went last night to the wedding of two of my good friends from my days of camp oakledge. The bride - my carpool buddy my first summer, the groom - one of my "clique" from the only time in my life when I was accused of being the cool kid.

The wedding was beautiful, the weather cooperated for the outdoor ceremony - on a side note, why do venues that have outdoor events insist on setting the stage so the audience look to the west, directly into the setting sun???? NO ONE has sunrise weddings, give my eyes a break. - the reception was gorgeous, the cake delish, and getting to see individual #3 of the aforementioned clique was the cherry on top.

however, this flower girl stole the show.


it was a little windy and her veil kept blowing up, but more importantly she was laying out the flowers one by one, gently setting them in the grass, going back and moving them if they fell out of line. it took a few min for her to make it half way down the aisle, and I was worried about what was going to happen when she ran out of petals. (which happened about half way down the aisle and she just walked up to the front of the gathering...though I was sure she was going ot go back and redistribute)

and so i took a pic, of this child I do not know.