Sunday, September 27, 2009

thyme

Our dining room has a new look thanks to some much-needed paint. It's a nice herby green (officially called blanched thyme) and it looks great with our white crown molding and wainscoting.

We also hung our fall stained glass (a pumpkin and a leaf we purchased at the Pekin Marigold Festival) which are right at home with our existing pieces.
Our home is very much still a work in progress, but we're achieving little milestones and it feels good. Next up: painting the living room and stairway.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

back the bid

Throughout the Olympic bid process I was skeptical whether Chicago could handle the crowds, the demands on public transportation, and come up with the resources required to do it well. Now, I think, how can Chicago NOT handle it? Opportunities like this are once in a lifetime. Chicago must rise to the occasion.

Oprah made a big hubbub closing down Michigan Ave. but that should just be the start of major events in Chicago.

After all, Chicago is used to being on a national stage - the city's hometown heroes are now White House residents - so let's bring the spotlight back to a great city.

I remember attending the opening of Millennium Park and thinking "this night almost didn't happen" because so many people were against it. And what an amazing, wonderful achievement that has turned out to be.

Will Chicago host the 2016 Olympics? I hope so.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

movies, football, etc.

Summer is winding down (unoficially over I guess) and I'm trying to get caught up on movies, TiVo and into football.

After weeks of trying to see some movies, I finally got two in over recent weeks.
  • The Time Traveler's Wife: C. I was prepared to be disappointed because I just didn't see how the movie could live up to the book, and I was definitely disappointed. The movie changed a lot of major and minor things, which isn't terribly surprising, but some things were different for reasons I can't imagine. Rachel McAdams was great and gave an emotional performance. Eric Bana seemed off. Not his best movie. His best scene isn't with Rachel (they were only so so together), it's with the actress who played his mom.
  • Julie and Julia: B+. Loved Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. Funny, sweet and thoughtful. Really loved Meryl and Stanley Tucci. What a pair. I did some reading about Julie Powell (the gal who inspried Amy's character) and I am not sure I have any desire to read her book or know anything more about her. I am glad we got the Amy version of the real Julie.
On the TiVo front, I got sucked into Grey's Anatomy. The show near the end two season's ago and into early last season was just un-watcheable IMO. I decided to give it another chance after reading about the Katherine Heigl cancer storyline. Worth watching...for now. We'll see how the new season starts. We also just finished Entourage (last season) on Netflix. Love those guys! Also loving the new season of Project Runway (early fave is Althea).

We cheered Michigan to victory over the Irish yesterday, and we're hoping to visit Ann Arbor our anniversary weekend for a game.

Up next, da Bears!




Monday, September 7, 2009

vacation, part two

Holy crap I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post. Vacation went by in a blur. It was hard to get back into the work routine last week. Whoever thought of a 5-day work week was seriously deranged. and had a death wish. Hopefully this week will be better, but it'll still be hard to adjust after a 3-day weekend. **sigh**

A few highlights from our vacay in Michigan and Chicago:
At the Lincoln Park Conservatory after we browsed the Green City Market and Lincoln Park Zoo
A delicious Pure Michigan peach (and Ben in stage one of post-summer-beard-growing)
South Haven lighthouse (pretty cool minus the graffiti)
The weather could have been better. I was planning to wear my swimsuit. Yeah, it didn't even come out of the suitcase.