We’re alive! After a very busy month of unpacking and many trips to IKEA! Much, much thanks to the moms, who did things for us that I will NEVER do for my grown children (see above, as Momma Mary happily scrubs floors and Momma Linda negotiates with the cat so that she can paint).

We managed to fit in a birthday party for our friend John, a graduation celebration for lovely Laura (including a Cubs game and a fabulous dinner-thanks Kathy and Gary!), and the wedding of one of Matt’s frat buddies (I made many, many jokes about the fact that they all have nicknames like, “Moose” and “Burger.” But, seriously. Why do boys do that?).

And now, life has calmed down a bit and summer is in full swing! I have lots to look forward to. Including: A visit from Collin this weekend, a trip to Napa, Amber’s bridal shower/bachelorette extravaganza, a visit from my sister, and Kaleidoscope Reunion 2K10.

And tonight, we’re having burgers and beers while we paint a very pink guest bedroom. Wish us luck!

MOM WOW MOM WOW

A big "Happy Mother's Day" to all the mothers and mothers-to-be, and especially to my own. I love you, Mom! I am so very grateful for you. Thank you for loving me.

Here's to many more cheesy photos together...

Everyone hates packing. Everyone. So a blog about packing seems pretty lame. But, boy, do I hate packing. I have no spatial reasoning, I don’t truly care about the well-being of any of my Ikea furniture, and I can think of at least ten things I’d rather do with my weekend.

Nevertheless, I sucked it up and packed. For days. And now most everything is in a box and here we are, watching old Office eps (Creed is my favorite), while I drink wine out of a SOLO cup (FYI, dressing up as a SOLO cup for Halloween is harder than it seems). But, I got to meet an old friend for lunch and to Skype with Dawn and Devin from across the globe. So it wasn’t a total loss.

And rather than post a picture of my adorable cat playing amongst the moving boxes (I took so many!), I decided to post one from Easter, which was lovely. I won the Easter Egg Hunt and the rib cook-off. It was a pretty successful trip.

Happenings for the week:
-Tomorrow is Amber’s birthday, one of my oldest and dearest friends. I get to see her in just 68 days! Happy birthday, my love!
-It’s a three-day work week for me. Which is good because despite my hard work, there’s actually still A LOT to pack.
-My momma will be here on Thursday to help us move! And since we hired movers, I’m hoping we can just drink wine out of SOLO cups while we watch them work!

Have a great week, everyone!

My favorite stories from the World Wide Interweb this week:

Scrabble is changing the rules! What the heck!

I'm torn about this one. It still looks so delicious!

I watched this twice I liked it so much.

Good for them.

I only wish I'd been this smart!

This is actually pretty funny.

I saw this at CB2 over the weekend and now I'm committed to making one myself.

The Prodigal Daughter Returns

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“Sunbury is a village in Delaware County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,630 at the 2000 census. The village is centered around a New England-esque traditional town square with the historic village hall located in the center of a village green.”

That sounds fancy. In reality, Sunbury is more...shall we say “quaint?” And in fact, I’m not quite sure what they do in that “village hall” anymore. It used to be the community library. I served pulled pork out of it for a cheerleading fundraiser. The Lion’s Club sells Christmas trees there. But I’m not sure what it’s used for on an everyday basis.

On Thursday, I will return to my stomping grounds for a long weekend at home (let’s not get into a discussion about where “home” is anymore, that’s a blog for another day). My mom claims to have Easter Baskets. We’re going to go golfing. And I’m going to investigate that “village hall.”

Also, in kind-of-related news, I had an unexpected visit with Sarah Selong, one of my college roommates, this week, who was spending her SB2K10 in Chicago. She told me they’re likely closing my old elementary school. In which case, I’ll also be spending some time this weekend digging up our awesome 5th grade time capsule because honestly, I’m not sure who else can be trusted with such a task. Wish me luck.

Hello, Friday!

What you can’t see in the picture above is that my Pellegrino is spiked with vodka. Classy, right?

We have no real plans for the weekend, except a fancy dinner at Blackbird Saturday night. It’s Chef Week in Chicago, so some restaurants offer Prix Fixe menus on the cheap. We try to take advantage, since we could never afford to eat at these joints otherwise. It’s tough being a foodie on a public interest salary.

The dessert menu tonight includes ‘satsuma chiboust with campari, pineapple, semolina, and zingerman cheese ice cream,' which makes my mouth water, despite not knowing what any of those words mean.

And, a big shout-out to my friend Michele, who moved to DC this weekend for her next great adventure. I’m very excited for her and will miss her (and her adorable little ones) dearly. Luckily, at the end of this month, she becomes my new landlady. She can't get rid of me that easily!

Enjoy your weekends, everyone!

Spring is here! And yet, Chicago is confused (see above, where the high yesterday was a balmy 65F, and today is a ridiculous 35F). In light of this situation, I’m starting my day by watching reruns of Hoarders on A&E. This will hopefully inspire me to clean out my closets. Then I’m going to turn to the 30 Best & Worst Beach Bodies on E!. This will obviously force me to go to the gym. And finally, I’m going to watch Beaches on We, because Matt’s out of town and it’s one of the Greatest Movies of Our Time.

In other news, I’ve had a cold all week. Which is a real shame, since I haven’t been sick in years and I really pride myself on having an immune system of steel. I was actually starting to think that I was somehow incapable of getting sick. I was wrong. And I’ve been lying to everyone and telling them I have allergies when I’m sneezing and blowing my nose because, let’s be honest, being around sick people is gross.

Additionally, I’m about to go semi-public with this blog, by sharing it with my family (hey guys!). This will hopefully compel me to post more blogs. Stay tuned. Or don't. Especially if you have anything better to do.