cats have birthdays too

And this one just turned 15!

 

It's hard for me to think about her age because I know cats can't live forever, but to maintain sanity I keep telling myself she's going to live forever!!!! She is my most precious companion, and I'm so happy she's not showing her age yet. 

I have loved Powder ever since I adopted her in 2005 (she was 8). She loved me as soon as she realized I was responsible for feeding her. But she has rarely given anyone else the time of day, thus earning her a reputation as "white Satan" in Memphis and again in Austin. However...since living in Chicago, she's become known for bigger and better things. Now sometimes those things are her lady balls*. But other times, it's that she's an elusive beauty. Or that if you just try hard enough...you too can pet her. 

Even Brian has come around to her over the years. Their relationship began with an awful lot of hissing and ignoring, but now I'm positive he's the preferred "parent." He caters to her in so many ways that I don't (I saw him put ice in her water bowl recently, what?!) and even though he wouldn't admit it, I think he would miss this little shed-ball if anything happened to her. He's even pushed to get a kitten so she'd have a friend, but in the interest of all parties staying alive, we're gonna hold out on that :)

Powder if you could do anything but sleep and poop on the rug read this, I would tell you we looooooove you - and your lady balls! Happy birthday!

*Her lady balls are really her stomach pouch, sometimes referred to as her foopah, belly, tummy sack, etc. It sort of looks like a Biggest Loser winner who now has to deal with the ramifications of having a giant pile of extra skin. For some reason, when her belly hangs down, it hangs in two parts. And when she walks away from you, they most closely resemble lady balls. Deal.

in the heat of summer

It seems like a good time to plant flowers during the apex of a heat wave, right? This way they have the least chance of survival, so I can't possibly be blamed for their failure!

giving petunias a whirl, although the name doesn't sound hearty enough for the neglect they've got coming their way

hellooooo monday

 

 

what greets me every morning when I get off the train to work:

not a bad way to start the day, eh?

it's a chi kind of summer

Despite the ridiculous number of evenings I've spent eating Triscuits for dinner at the office, there has been so much to love already about this summer!

Arlington Racetrack My friends and I are becoming regulars at the local horsetrack. What a weird thing to say. Anyway, I was on an amazing winning streak based off of some pretty basic betting tenets (cool name? check.) but this last time I finally entered the red so I may have to learn how to dissect the super-intense programs they give you to make some educated decisions. ORRRRRR start choosing horses by the jockey's name instead.

With Kim and the other Laura, 

who is the main reason my friends here call me LB :) 

Baseball games For someone who doesn't know shit about the Cubs, I'm  rather enjoying myself these days! We have season tickets through work and everyone gets to participate in a lottery to select 1 game, and fortunately I got the Memorial Day game. Brian and I took Mark & Kim, which was super fun as usual, and during the Star Spangled Banner they released a bald eagle during the crescendo of the song so it was pretty much the most American place to be on earth. I also got to see them play the Red Sox this past weekend with some work friends (poaching on someone else's tickets, yes please). And last but not least, DJ & Sally were in town a few weeks ago for her work, so while these other jokers were working, DJ and I flew solo to a White Sox game on the other side of town. Pretty nice to sit in a modern stadium with instant replay screens, but I definitely prefer the old-school, ivy-fenced Wrigley.

 

work friends at Wrigley!

south side for the White Sox

Concerts When Lundy was in town for work (I'm seeing a trend and I like it!), our friend Chrissy invited us to come see Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley play at Wrigley Field...for free. I knew zero songs but it was pretty amazing to see a show at such an iconic venue. Plus the country fans were totally different from Texas-style rednecks...as Lundy put it..."these people are all normal."

In the spirit of keeping it real (i.e. I had no control over timing), Brian and I had tickets to see Radiohead the next night. Talk about shifting gears. The venue was an hour away and one of our friends conjured up a little ride for us.

This further proved the old adage: 

"A limo with a stripper pole is where it's at." 

Radiohead was great in terms of delivering a low-key, music appreciation hour, but I was disappointed in how much new stuff was played, seeing as how I stopped actively listening around 2001. They'll be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of show for me I think. Until I'm jonesing for my next stripper limo, I guess.

Up next on the immediate horizon - CAMPING! I can't wait. My sobriety was in question when I realized a massive REI sale was minutes away from ending on Memorial Day and went ahead and ordered a several-hundred-dollar tent...so I'm feeling pretty good about that purchase. Unfortunately the only campsite available was in the Quiet Loop, which is not my specialty, but I'm pumped to detach from this crazy city life and take a deep breath...only a few weeks to go!

2 years!

Brian got back just in time to celebrate our two-year anniversary! We treated ourselves to dinner at a fondue restaurant called Geja's, which is where we went for dinner after we got engaged. Except the first time around, I was in too much shock to do anything but drink. THIS time, I made up for it by eating everything they put in front of me - hooray! It was a great way to say "WHAT UP 2 YEARS!" because 1) the menu is based around melted cheese and sauces and chocolate and I love all those things dearly, and 2) it was our first time to sit across the table and have a real live face-to-face conversation in over a month. We tend to not eat out very much either, so it was awesome to have a long, lazy dinner with a nice bottle of wine in a cozy booth.

3 years ago, after our engagement...

...to now!

So far we're adhering to some version of anniversary traditions, so last year it was paper and this year was cotton. I scored a new pair of awesome sheets, which measures pretty high in my book since I'm obsessed with having the softest sheets alive, and Brian got two new shirts for two things that I'm usually not jonesing to do but decided to make happen this weekend: go fishing and play in a poker tournament. I had the day off on Friday so we hit the local harbor, which is less than two miles from our house...unexplored benefit to living in a lake city! There was a whole little fishing community down there too...I don't think we quite fit in seeing as how everyone sat on buckets and caught multiple fish, while we sat on rocks, drank beer, and got approximately 4 bites, but whatever. I have to say, I would go back! With my bucket, obviously.

cute shirt, right?

great view of the city!

Then for poker, we took off Sunday and headed for the Horseshoe Casino in Indiana for a tournament! Ah! We've been to three or four casinos together, and I always stick to craps while he plays poker. He pretty much loves poker (plays free games on his phone all the time, watches it on tv, etc.) but I've always been way too intimidated to sit down at a table of strangers and pretend like I know what I'm doing. We spent some time "prepping" by playing online beforehand to make sure I had a general grasp of what to do so I hopefully wouldn't throw up on myself at the table. (Set the bar low, people).

So come Sunday, we're on our way to the casino and I call to make sure we can secure a spot, and...drumroll...I had gotten the time wrong and we'd missed the tournament. WAH WAH. Naturally, I was pretty pissed at myself but after calling a bunch of other casinos and considering driving to Milwaukee to go to one (close to 2 hours away), we "folded". Ha...ha. We came home and played some more poker online instead because we're super cool. Eventually we rode our bikes to the beach and spent the afternoon there, which was pretty much my fantasy day. I know we'll make it to another tournament now that I've gone through intense DesGranges training, so I'll post back to report any major winnings.

Happy two years!

stay-at-home wife

Ah, to be in a long distance relationship...I almost forgot what it was like! I have to say, I don't know how we did it for so long. Brian just finished his annual month-long pilgrimage in Miami, and I was super ready for him to come home! I tried to really relish a few things in his absence, including getting more sleep, having the car at my disposal (since normally we share), and working as much as I need to (without being tempted to throw in the towel to go hang out with him). As you can see, the list is short and not too distinguished. The truth is, he's a great husband and my life never feels restrained with him in it, so it doesn't really feel "free-er" when he's gone. The good thing is, he had a complete blast in Miami. Audiences loved the show he was a part of and he got to go to the beach, play poker, go fishing, rent a motorcycle and drive down the keys (JEALOUS) and see lots of cool shows/bands/etc. All while getting paid. It's a pretty good gig :)

Despite a few moments when I thought this long-distance thing was not my cup of tea anymore, I've had some really fun things interspersed to keep me distracted! My big excursion was to Austin for Rachel & Justin's wedding...such a sweet event! They wrote their own vows (including vows to his daughter) and I basically cried through the whole ceremony, awesome. Let's also note that Rachel looked amazing as well and they danced all night - very picturesque.

Sadly the weekend was really short, but I got to see everyone who was in town and squeezed in a lot of QT with the girls during the 48 hours I was there. The weather was perfectamundo and made me miss Tejas hard. Every meal I had was outdoors except for the actual wedding dinner (but the apps were outdoors!) which is pretty amazing.

loved enjoying the warm breeze on the porch 

with Megan in my old 'hood (on my old bench!)

Sno Beach with Amy & Matt...So. Delicious.

I have to say, I'm just so torn every time I go back. There's just this feeling I get when I'm there...and I've overanalyzed the crap out of it to no avail...but I think because I grew up there when I was little and now I associate the city strongly with my dad, it just feels so right. Then again, every time I visit it feels tinier. Chicago is SO BIG, and to a fault at times, but there's an incredible energy that comes with that. There are so many cool things that go on, at all times. Plus it's strange to run into people you know. I don't know, I just really like the hustle and bustle and am not sure how it would feel to go back to feeling like you know everyone. The cities are so different and they're impossible to compare! But in a few months we'll re-sign our lease here, so I guess no formal comparison is needed just yet :)

late night with the ladies at Sidebar - hugs!

the joy of skiing 3

Tahoe
For our third skiing trip, we used a timeshare that Brian's parents have—one of those where you have a certain amount of credit and can apply it to any of the places they have. We've never been able to use it so we didn't know what to expect, but it was a fantastic experience! Our place was right next to a lift, it was exactly as advertised (no surprises), and the staff helped us get adjoining rooms so our whole crew could be together. We planned the trip with our friends Jess & Ryan (from our wedding), and then Eric & Chrissy (also from our wedding) decided to squeeze in a spring skiing trip and jumped on our bandwagon too! Again, such a great group. Chrissy is probably the only person I would allow to snuggle in bed with me and Brian and then make me hold hands with her...she's special :) And when I discovered that our 2 bedrooms were divided by an oversized jacuzzi with "doors" as walls...I knew Chrissy would violate me while I was showering...which she did.

the famous jacuzzi (with Jess & Ryan in the background)

lunch in town

 taking a break at Sierra - such intense skiing (for me) there!

We had some crazy skiing there! On our first day at Heavenly, high winds shut down a ton of lifts, so we were stuck with about 5 short runs and a terrain park all day. Which means I learned how to go on baby jumps :) I had SO much fun learning to catch air, although I can't imagine I'd get too crazy doing this in "everyday" skiing. On our second day, we drove to another mountain nearby called Sierra and spent the day there. The blues there were basically blue-blacks, and then I went ahead and accidentally skiied a black (thinking it was a green...ah, faded signs...) so I guess I can check that off the list. Then on our third day, I had my most favorite day of skiing ever! Jess, Chrissy, & I skiied together while the guys went off and did crazy shit. We got a huge storm so the first part of the day was freezing but so snowy! It was like skiing on marshmallows! And there were also a lot of lumps so I did get to practice my new attempts at taking little jumps (such a joke, really). Then in the middle of the day the storm passed and we got blue skies, fresh powder, and quiet long runs. So so beautiful. And then squeezing in some great conversation on the lifts was awesome too. We finished the day back at the terrain park! I think the whole trip really helped me really push myself to improve, and Brian learned that I can improve on my own without his constant encouragement :)

After such a fun season and so much time on the mountain, I'm sad that we have to wait until next season to go back. I love that so many of our good friends are fun to ski with, and I know there are more of you out there! Let's go!

a break from the storm back at Heavenly

an amazing view of Nevada!