Crystal's Chronicles

So...I'm taking a break from blogging.

2008-09-03T23:22:00.002-05:00

So I've decided to take a break from blogging...as if I hadn't already - ha.

The summer was SUPER taxing - working my internship, normal work and two insanely involved classes. I had no time blog. And while I thought the school year would give me a breather...I was completely wrong. Sigh.

Good news...I got a job out of my internship - I am the new Box Office Manager for The Chicago Chamber Musicians. Bad news, all 3 of my classes this semester are super involved with bazillions of projects, literally. I think I have a total of (seriously here...I counted) 6 projects (3 major with 20+ page papers each), 15 papers (NO JOKE HERE...really), and financial management out the wazoo.

So...

Here begins my blogging break.

Feel free to shoot me emails or check me out on facebook.

I'd love to hear from y'all!

PS - GO BLUE! (as in U. of Michigan football)
GO NORTH CENTER DOUBLE HAWKS! (as in my fantasy football team)

Summer Adventure!

2008-06-13T22:05:00.003-05:00

SOOO....we've decided that we're not going to take a summer vacation - gotta get those internship hours (BTW, internship = very cool!). Instead, we've decided that we're going to take a couple of long weekends and explore Chicago! We finally branched out a little bit when it comes to restaurants (instead of staying in our "comfort zone") and had such a good experience that we're planning to do more!

We're hoping to go to new neighborhoods and try at least 3 new restaurants a month! Fun times! We had our first experience tonight!

We ventured out to a far northwest neighborhood called Albany Park and ate at Chicago Kalbi, a Korean BBQ. The neighborhood is very ethnic - Latino, Middle Eastern, Korean. There are so many restaurants and we'd love to try some more!

Moving on the restaurant - Korean BBQ is amazing! They bring out beef and chicken of different kinds and a charcoal grill. Talk about fun! We grill it ourselves and put it into a BBQ/Soy sauce to cool it off. Then eat - yummy! Along with all of the meat, they bring out a plethora of sides, including spicy Kimchi (hot sauce-ish cabbage) and cucumbers (which I liked a lot, despite burning my mouth :o) They also brought us some of the BEST potato salad we've ever had! As an appetizer, we had some pot stickers that were very tasty and, for desert, some scrumptious green tea ice cream!

I'm going to post all the different restaurants that we go to and hopefully write a little review every time.

All moved in and LOVING it!

2008-05-31T12:05:00.002-05:00

We moved in to our lovely apartment last weekend and LOVE it! And imagine this - it only took 2 hours to get out of the old place and into the new! We will never move ourselves again...

We're still far from unpacked - tons of boxes left, still need to get our new desk all set up, so on... Our 2nd bedroom is packed to the door with boxes. Unfortunately all of my clothes are in there somewhere, so that's a project that needs to happen pronto ;o) We bought desk parts at Ikea this past weekend and are going to paint the unfinished legs today. We settled on a dark brown to match all of the other furniture we bought at Ikea!

And, as I suspected I might, I've come down with some form of laryngitis. It seems that every other year, I end up with some nasty illness. Luckily this one isn't too bad. Thursday I had a fever and my throat was swollen. Yesterday I was achy, feverish, and just generally all-around icky. Today, I have no voice, but I'm not achy - just a little run down. I was talking to my former college adviser on facebook (yay for Mr. Reece!) and he suggested drinking some warm liquids. I didn't think coffee or hot chocolate would be good (because as I remember Michelle telling me, drinking milk isn't so great for the chords). So, after our weekend breakfast at Golden Apple, we stopped at a nearby Tea Cafe. I still don't like the taste of tea (even green tea makes me gag a little ;o), but by golly IT WORKED! I'm still a little funny sounding, but I can talk again. And that's a huge improvement from this morning when, ask kurt so eloquently put it, I squeaked at him! Ha!

Well...I'm off. Gotta sand off some legs and get ready to paint! Have a good weekend!

Lake, Dog, and other random pictures.

2008-05-20T16:44:00.005-05:00

Here are some random pictures from the past month or so (and my birthday ;o)... Thought I would share them!

Looptopia: 'Tulips in the night... '(To the tune of "Strangers in the night")

Binary Birthday cake. Kurt couldn't fit 27 candles on my piece of cake (I didn't want a whole cake, so he made me pumpkin bread and bought a piece of cake instead!).

In binary code = 11011 = 16+8+2+1 = 27!

Pictures from the lake this past weekend - we've been going there every saturday when our landlords have an open house for our apartment. Despite being very populated, it's been nice to be by the water!

As close to the water as we can get Shosta (an they're easily 100-200 feet away) - she HATES the lake! When we take her close to the water, she PULLS like crazy to get away!

Happy dog after a walk at the lake.

Sister -in-law Kelly on a short visit to Chicago. We're eating at an all night diner near Depaul Univ. called Clarke's.
Kurt being goofy ;o)

Shosta sleeping...what a cute doggie...

Shosta in the car.

Goodbye old apt! Hello New!

2008-05-20T16:26:00.003-05:00

We don't really have that many pictures of the new place yet, maybe some tomorrow night. But here are pictures (mind you, we're in the process of packing, so it's TOTALLY messy) of our old place.

Our teenie - tiny bathroom - ICK!

Kurt taking a rest after packing in our tiny living room.

Cheers!

Our HUGE master bedroom - I will miss this slightly, but we didn't really use all of the space.

The stairs up to our bedroom - they weren't insulated, so in the winter we could freeze water out there! No wonder our gas/electric bill was nearly $400 in the winter!

2nd BR/crap chute.

OLLLLLDDDD kitchen. I was packing and on one of the doors of the cabinets it said that it was certified to meet 1985 standards. HA!

The new fridge that we had to ask for because the other one was dead and leaking brown stuff. Well...it was actually leaking brown stuff ever since we moved in...but apparently they didn't care.

OUR NEW PLACE!!!! This is the living area where we're going to have our living room and office.

It's all over...at least for 11 days.

2008-05-16T22:56:00.003-05:00

Sigh...
All of my exams and presentations are finally over - thank goodness!
Now I can relax - HA!

We will begin the moving process Thursday night of this coming week. Surprisingly, we've gotten a TON of packing done already, which is a huge relief for me. This weekend and the beginning of next week will be full of packing the kitchen, CD's, bathroom, and all the little stuff that's lying around. We're going to start taking stuff over to our new place Thursday night and Friday and hopefully get all of the cable and internet (and maybe phone?) hooked up Friday as well. Then, Saturday the movers are coming to take all of the boxes and furniture. We are NOT doing this all alone like last time, and while it may be expensive (we're guessing around $500 or $600), we're willing to pay just so we don't have to deal with the living nightmare that was last June!

We're very excited about our new place! A huge living space, 2 Bathrooms, 2 Bedrooms, Air Conditioning, Central Heat, Dishwasher, FREE laundry, and a nice backyard - what more could we want?

So, what's in 11 days? SUMMER SCHOOL! I decided to take 2 online courses over the summer just to get them out of the way - Fundraising and Grant Writing. They are both very writing intensive, so I'm a bit worried. Not only will I be taking classes, I'll also be working in the AM at CSO and PM at my internship with Chicago Chamber Musicians. Luckily I won't have to go to class, but I KNOW this summer will not be relaxing because of them! Thankfully, Fundraising only lasts 8 weeks, but Grant Writing is a full 12 weeks. I'll get a week or two off before fall classes start. Oh well...

Well...I'm done for the night - spent the last 3 hours packing away, so I'm pooped!
Take care!

It's my last week!!!

2008-05-11T22:30:00.002-05:00

It's FINALLY the last week of the semester - I didn't think it would ever come! I certainly learned my lesson this semester - don't take more than 12 hours at a time or you will want to kick yourself in the butt every single morning you wake up...and you will seriously consider shooting yourself in the head when you have 5 projects/papers/exams due in one week (yes, that really happened :o(

So...this week is all about fun times...(said dripping with sarcasm)

Monday: Marketing Presentation and turning in a 20 page Marketing Plan
Tuesday: Accounting Final Exam and Data Case Analysis Final Exam
Thursday: Law Final Exam

All the while working away at the CSO...

I'll get a few short weeks of a break before my summer classes start - Fundraising and Grant writing. I'll be taking both online, so I won't have to go to night classes - thank goodness! Once June 1st starts, I'll be SUPER busy - working @ CSO from 9-1, Chicago Chamber Musicians from 1:30-5:30, then coming home to do school work!

In the meantime...

In just 2 short weeks, we'll be moving out of our "hell hole"!!! So EXCITED!
We did a LOT of packing this weekend - our 2nd bedroom/office/room full of stuff is all packed (thanks to kurt) and our bedroom is mostly packed except for a few things. All that's left is the living and kitchen. So, next weekend after searching for some used furniture for our new place, we'll be packing like maniacs. I even passed up going to the end-of-the-year AEMM graduate student party (hosted by the amazing singer/DJ from Jai Alai Savant) so that I could pack :o( Oh well...there's always another time for fun...

I'll have pictures of our new place in a week or so - we're supposed to pick up the keys next weekend!

Take care and have a super-duper week!

We Got The Place! And some fun times this weekend!

2008-04-30T22:49:00.004-05:00

We got the apartment! SO very happy! I'll hopefully have pictures over the weekend sometime!

Fun things we're doin' this weekend:

Friday night is Looptopia.
We are SUPER excited - this is an all night festival based off of the "White Nights" in St. Petersburg Russia, where they have festivals from 5pm to 7am. When there is light for nearly 24 hours, they party! This event sounds amazing! They close off the entire Loop (which is HUGE) and present art and dance and music and just about anything out on the streets! In face, Cirque du Soleil will be performing as well. Galleries, stores, and restaurants stay open for the entire 14 hours. Museums are open, EVERYTHING is open for the entire time. It sounds like a most amazing time! What's even cooler is that the Program/Artistic Coordinator for the event is an assistant prof. for our Marketing Class. Very cool.

KELLY IS COMING! KELLY IS COMING! My sister-in-law, quite possibly one of the coolest people ever, is coming to visit one of her former flute students at Depaul and is going to come out to dinner and hang with Kurt and I. Very excited - we haven't seen her since Christmas!

OK...should get going...I need to get some sleep tonight. I stayed up late last night working on a Data and Statistical Analysis exam. Fun times.

Take care...and go visit the Looptopia website! VERY COOL!

Could it be?

2008-04-28T21:30:00.003-05:00

That there is only 2.5 weeks of school left? Hallelujah! But the last 2.5 weeks will be a living Hell. Isn't that the way it always is?

At least we have a big task out of the way (we hope)...
We have known since the first month of being in our current apartment that we were going to move (we hate it THAT much). So, the last few months we've been looking at a lot of apartments (both online and in person). One of the first apts. we saw a few weeks ago is about a half of a mile directly north of our current place. It's smaller than what we have now, but it has 2 br, 2ba, AC, a DW, a decent back yard, and free laundry. We passed on it because we were afraid to put an app in on the first place we saw...we wanted to compare. Since then, we've seen a variety of places, none of which compare. We've been kinda bummed that we passed, but we knew that we needed to see more. Miraculously, I looked on craigslist last night and saw it posted again! We quickly filled out our apps and kurt faxed them in today. Apparently the owner was busy for a few weeks and forgot to put it back up on Craigslist after we saw it. THANK GOODNESS! We're hoping to hear from him tomorrow, but he said after just glancing at our paperwork that we've probably got it!
I'll still keep looking at Craigslist just in case, but I really don't think we'll find anything nicer for our price range. In order to get more space with the same quality, we'd easily have to jump up to 1500-2000 a month and we're just not ready to take that leap. It's hard enough to write that check for 1300 ;o)

Pictures will come as soon as I can get them up!

It's been a while...

2008-04-14T08:42:00.002-05:00

As you may have (or may have not) noticed, it's been a considerably long time since I last wrote on my blog. This semester has been one of the busiest semesters I've had in a long long time. Here's some things that happened since I last posted:

-Took a job as an accounting tutor and Grad Assistant (for summer/fall)
-Completed a MASSIVE marketing analysis, which made me realize that I really hate marketing :O)
-Tons of exams/papers that have completely consumed my life
-Went to physical therapy for my knee problem, which is MUCH better now!

What I have due between now and the end of school (5 weeks, I think?), which means I probably won't be posting much:

-Two exams this week (both tomorrow) in accounting and Data Analysis
-Two papers due next week (accounting and law)
-A Marketing Plan
-A large group paper in Law
-A "technology in marketing" paper
-Another accounting paper
-A large-scale data case analysis
-A 10 minute presentation in Marketing
-A 20 minute presentation in Law
-And finals in Law, Data, and Accounting

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And some other news:

My marketing partner and I completed a marketing analysis for the Chicago Chamber Musicians, which is a chamber ensemble made up musicians from the Chicago Symphony (and some local college profs). We all have to complete an internship in order to fulfill the requirements for graduation, so I asked if CCM would be willing to take me on this summer as an intern and they said YES!

AND...I have just recently (yesterday) taken a position as a clerk/assistant to the manager in the telefunding/fundraising department at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra! Despite having to give up my tutoring position (and possibly my grad assistantship), this is a HUGE opportunity to get my foot in the door at an internationally renowned symphony. Building these connections will not ensure that I will get a job at the CSO, but it certainly helps!

OK...off I must go. I need to write my law paper (about the movie "The People vs. Larry Flynt"). We're going back to Columbus for the weekend, so I want to make sure that I have all of my work done before we leave. Oh, and I guess I have to study for two exams tomorrow. Ha.

Take care and have a good month, if this is the last time that I post for awhile :O)

I'm alive!

2008-03-10T22:52:00.002-05:00

SOOOO...this semester is a lot busier than I had expected! So much work to do in so little time! Only 9 days until spring break - thank goodness! I'm stressed beyond stressed and poor Kurt has to deal with my nastiness ;o)

I promise to post lovely pictures and stories AFTER my living nightmare of 2 weeks is over!

Help a girl out!

2008-02-10T21:43:00.000-06:00

HOWDY!

If you have a moment, can you please take this survey?

I'm currently in marketing and we had to design a survey to be taken...and then we collect the information and use it for a huge project.

SO...take it...it only takes 2 minutes to complete...really quick!

Click Here to take survey

New Tutor!

2008-02-06T08:44:00.000-06:00

I have decided that apparently taking 14 credit hours with hundreds of pages of reading and tons of papers and marketing plans just isn't enough (Surprised? Probably not). My accounting teacher has asked me if I would become an official accounting tutor. So, that's what I'm doing for 20 hours a week! It should be a decent job. It doesn't pay exceptionally well (does any job in the arts?), but it will do just fine. And, what's nice is that when there are no students to tutor, I can do homework! Thank goodness...because I have 120 pages to read for marketing, 60 for law, 20 for data, a bunch of problems in accounting, and a survey to write! Yikes! So...I should probably get to work...
Take care!

Therapy

2008-01-24T09:51:00.001-06:00

Ah, the joys of being 26 going on 80.
Back in March, I started experiencing a lot of pain in my left knee. Eventually, I began to feel it in my right knee as well. At times, it was/is pretty unbearable (including this past weekend...darn yoga and all the hands and knees positions). SO, I finally went to the doctor last week. Turns out I have Patellafemoral Syndrome. Long story short - the knee cap moves and has been grinding into my bones. Yipee.
For some people, it goes away after a month or two, for others it takes a couple of years. Considering it's been 10 or so months, I guess I'm on track for a year or more. Yipee, again.

To help build muscles (hoping that that will keep the knee cap in place) and heal the ligaments/tendons around the knee, my doctor prescribed that I go to physical therapy. I'm all scheduled for next week...surprisingly I have a bit more time free when school starts than I do this week (I'm sure I won't be saying that for too long).
My only problem is that I really wanted to start a regular schedule of yoga classes at the Y, but I may not be able to handle all of the stress on my knees of 2-3 therapy sessions and 2-3 yoga classes per week. We'll see. I may just have to do 1 yoga class until I'm "rehabilitated." Sound like a drunk or druggie, huh?

Well...rehab is the fashionable thing to do these days. Goodness knows I'm always fashionable.

I tried to keep it going, but I can't stop laughing....me, fashionable. That's just so funny.

Snowy night...

2008-01-22T10:41:00.001-06:00

A late night romp in the snow...

Spring is here...sorta

2008-01-22T10:28:00.000-06:00

Ah, spring is here. Well...not really (especially seeing as how we got a good two or so inches of snow last night ;o).
Spring semester has almost started! I have my "J-term" workshop starting today, which I am super excited about. I am going to be learning the "ins-and-outs" of Tessitura, the Customer Management application used by over 100 performing arts organizations across the nation. This is a short class (from today to Saturday), but it should prove to be valuable if I decide to get an internship with Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Monday, Jan. 28th, is technically my first day of spring semester. I'm taking a few more hours than I did last semester, so we'll see how that goes. Here's my class schedule...
Monday - Marketing
Tuesday - Advanced Accounting & Data and Statistical Analysis
Thursday - Arts, Media & the Law
Saturday - Project Management Workshop (it only lasts 5 weeks, thank goodness).

Along with all of that, I'm hoping to get a job somewhere - maybe even on campus. It was nice to have time to do my homework and all...but I go nuts if I'm home too much. Although, I'm sure shosta will be sad if I'm not home as much...

Ok...gotta scoot. I've got a few chapters and articles to read for Marketing!
Take care!

My new wedding band!

2008-01-14T10:17:00.001-06:00

How excited am I? VERY excited!

Kurt and I have been discussing a new wedding band for my ring for quite some time now. The engagement ring that we decided upon is beautiful, but the band that came with the set is very thin, and if you weren't looking close enough, you would think that I'm just engaged. I've been looking for a long time...you know, the typical websites, mall jewelry stores, etc.

One day I was looking around on the internet and found a fabulous jewelry designer here in Chicago with amazing designs. So, I emailed to inquire about pricing and she sent me a complimentary entrance into a HUGE art show called "The One of a Kind Show" (where we bought the painting seen below). We visited and I absolutely fell in love with her designs. Since they were more expensive than the ordinary stuff I had been looking at online (and being the cheap-o that I am), I conceded that I didn't need anything like that.

Then came Christmas Eve's Eve (the 23rd)...the day that Kurt and I open gifts...
First had come the Wicked Soundtrack, then the Wicked shirt...and one more gift. I opened the bag and box and there was a design from Ellie Thompson! Albeit a bit frightening at first (it almost look black, but I later found out that CAD designs don't show silver shades well), I was so excited!
Come to find out...

Kurt went to Ellie's studio a few weeks earlier and picked out a design based on the one that I really liked at the art show! What a guy! He knew that if HE didn't initiate the ring design, that I certainly wouldn't do it myself.

SO...fast forward to this past Saturday. We went in to review the design and select stones for the ring (it's going to have purple and light green sapphires as well diamonds). How much fun! She showed us other designs she was working on as well as pieces that she's working on for her Spring and Fall release events. She has "soirées" twice a year where she invites her clients to...they are in her design studio which overlooks Millennium park. How exciting!

Now...I'm just waiting for the ring...2-3 weeks. She also has my engagement ring - she's repairing it and giving it a new, more secure head for the diamond to sit in.

I can not wait!!!!!

Here's the link to her designs...

http://www.ellieco.com/time.htm

CAMERA!

2008-01-05T23:44:00.001-06:00

OK...so here's the deal...we finally got a digital camera (go figure...being computer geeks and all) and I decided to post some of my first pictures! That's us up there with my new hair cut (which you can't see very well).

This is the painting that we bought at the "one of a kind show" back in December. SO pretty!

Daddy and Shosta

Up close and personal with Shostakovich!

Kisses for daddy!!

More pictures to come!!!! Yipee!
.

MICHIGAN WON!!!!

2008-01-01T16:02:00.000-06:00

CONGRATULATIONS MICHIGAN!
We will miss you Lloyd Carr!

Michigan 41
Florida 35

HNY!

2008-01-01T02:02:00.000-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!

GO MICHIGAN!
Beat Florida!!!

NYE!

2007-12-31T14:59:00.000-06:00

Howdy Howdy!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas holiday, we did!

Since then, we've been addicted to Guitar Hero III. My parents got us a PS2 for Christmas and we're like little kids all over again. The first night we hooked it up to play, I think we ended up spending over 3 hours on it!

We've had a nice little vacation so far - spending some time relaxing, visiting neighborhoods up north (to move into when our lease is up), and eating at some new restaurants. Tomorrow is Kurt's last day off...sniff sniff. I, on the other hand, don't go back to school until the 21st, so I have a lot of time off. I've got a hefty list of "to dos"...I'll keep busy!

Tonight, we're going out for our traditional steak house dinner @ Morton's. We haven't been to a true steak house here in Chicago yet, so we are looking forward to it (even if we are sick with a nasty cold...blah). After dinner, we're coming home for a change of clothes and then going to a concert @ the Metro. The Sea and Cake (a local band with big success) is opening for Spoon tonight...should be a great show! We won't get to see the ball drop, but we'll be having fun!

Ok...off I go...gotta get ready for our busy evening!

Take care and have a happy new year!

We're off....again!

2007-12-22T21:15:00.000-06:00

Phew...we're off again...back to ohio. We'll be spending christmas time with our parents and then heading back home the day after for a well deserved "vacation."

We're not really going anywhere for our vacation...just exploring Chicago a bit more, eating at some fancy restaurants (for lunch, when it's cheaper ;o), seeing a concert for new year's eve (spoon and the sea and cake! yipee!), visiting some museums...who knows! We're very excited...this is our first extended time off that we've had since moving here so we plan to enjoy ourselves!

Well...I've got some more packing to do and another accounting article to read. Yes, you heard me right...I've got accounting reading (probably 75 pages worth), and two books to read for marketing (small books...but still...). SO, I'm trying to read a bit at a time to make sure it's all finished by next semester!

Take care and have a Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

very excited and very busy.

2007-12-19T10:46:00.000-06:00

So my break thus far has consisted of cleaning, wrapping gifts, and laundry...sounds like fun, huh?

But my break will be even brighter this Friday! Sweeney Todd, the movie, comes out on Friday! AND, we're going!!! I got tickets for a movie theater down on the Magnificent Mile. Fun Times!!!

So, funny story time.

Shosta (our dog) has terrible car anxiety. She shakes the entire time that we are in the car and rarely sits down. Since our car trips last in upwards of 6 hours now, that's a long time to be shaking and panting. I decided to go to the vet to get some medicine to help her and the vet suggested trying it out before the trip. So...we did.

Sunday afternoon I gave Shosta a half pill and waited. The poor thing got sleepy, but still wanted to walk around. She tried to jump off of her chair and wobbled a little. Then when she tried to jump onto the couch, she didn't quite make it. Her eyes were glassy and weepy looking - she was squinting, as if saying "These lights are too bright..." Poor thing...we felt terrible doing it. I just keep reminding myself that the vet told me to try it out. She was a little bit more spunky Sunday night, but Monday seemed as if she had a "hangover"...sleeping most of the morning. What perked her up is our morning walk...thank goodness!

Ahhhh....

2007-12-13T16:06:00.001-06:00

Ahhh...it's finally break. Time to relax...sorta. I've got a little bit more shopping to do...thank goodness for the internet - I did most of my shopping there.

Finals are finished...not so sure about the marketing exam though. It was REALLY tough for everyone I talked to. The accounting was fine - I got a 95. I finished my econ class back in October and got an A. I won't find anything out about my Human Resources grade for probably a week.

Ok...I'm going to get my Christmas cards together and send them out!
Take care!

WHAT?

2007-12-11T10:24:00.000-06:00

I think someone decided to write our marketing exam in a foreign language. Bah...

EXAMS!

2007-12-09T14:46:00.000-06:00

Sigh...Exams are upon us (or at least me).

I have have 2 in class exams and 1 take-home paper/exam.
Tomorrow is my big Marketing Exam - slightly nervous because there's TONS of vocab. Yipee. AND, there's a break-even/elasticity section with tons of math. That shouldn't be TOO hard, but still nervous.

Tuesday is my most nerve racking exam - Accounting. We get to have a "Cheat Sheet" to help us out and I only have to get something like an 80 or 85 to get an A in the class. BUT...nonetheless, as always, I'm nervous ;o)

Wednesday is the day that my take home exam is due for Human Resources - the worst class in the world. Here's hoping that we don't have to stay for the entire 3 hours...

SOOOooo...we've been having a crazy winter thus far. Last Saturday we had snow, then at least a 1/4" of ice. On Tuesday and Wednesday we had something like 4 or 5" of snow. Then yesterday and today, we're getting more ice. On top of that, it's been super chilly. Thank goodness for my long down coat that I got from Lands End! It's VERY warm...I need it when I have to wait in the wind and snow for a freakin' train to come!!!

Poor Shosta has been having an interesting time with the weather. She LOVES to play in the snow, but her poor feet seem to be hurting. I've been keeping up with the walks even though it's about 15-20 degrees out in the morning. By the end of our walk, she's hobbling like a 90 year old lady and holds her front right and back left feet up in the air while I'm unlocking the door. I've been washing her feet off every time we come back in, which seems to help. Finally, I convinced her to wear her booties that we have. Of course, she puts up a fuss when I'm putting them on...and walks around like she's got something stuck up her butt. HOWEVER, I think she has finally realized the practicality of them. Once we get outside and walking, she doesn't even mind them at all! She climbs in the snow, walks everywhere, and doesn't end up hobbling. They are fleece with a little bit of vinyl on the bottom, so they do soak up the water. BUT, it's better than having her bare feet on the ice. We're trying to find some vinyl ones, but they've been sold out for a while at our pet stores nearby. These will do for now. At least she doesn't mind them as much now.

What a cutie she is. I've been keeping the heat down lower lately to save money (our place is crazy inefficient)...so she's been shivering "like a dog poopin' blades" (thanks for that analogy dad). To help keep her warm, I got the heating pad out, turned it on, and made her lay down on top of it. She seems to be enjoying the warmth, as she hasn't moved for something like an hour now. Unfortunately, with the heating pad on, I don't get to have our heater on (too many heating items on one circuit makes everything shut down because the electrical wiring is stupid here. bah)....so now I'm freezing. We'll have to trade back and forth ;o)

Alrighty...I should get to studying. Hope everyone is doing well! It's almost Christmas!

My Goodness...it's been so long!

2007-12-06T01:07:00.000-06:00

'Tis hard to believe that 2 weeks have passed since I last posted. I've been very busy, as you can probably tell by my lack of posting. Papers, exams looming, stupid projects - all sorts of stuff. I'm up late finishing up some studying and watching a replaying of the Hawaii v. Washington game. Sigh...I love college football.

So, it's the end of the semester next week. Truly feels weird to be 25% of the way through my graduate degree. I'm all set for next semester, just have to buy the books now.

Other than school..nothing much has been going on. Nasty weather here and there (I think we got around 4-5" of snow since yesterday afternoon), but nothing we can't survive. The car had some troubles, but we found a great mechanic who doesn't over-charge (hallelujah!). Hmmm...that's really it.

Ok...it's really late...I should get some sleep. I have a huge list of "To-do's" tomorrow. And TONS of human resources to get finished by next wendesday. yeah.

Ta ta...I hope to write more in the coming weeks...seeing as how school will be over soon!

We're off!

2007-11-21T09:46:00.000-06:00

Phew...what a week.
First, an accounting test, then the new refrigerator, and now packing/getting ready to leave to go home.

Good news on the doggie front. Shosta's blood test came back just fine! They found that she has a cholesterol level that is on the high side of "normal" - we're not sure why since we don't really feed her any table scraps except some meat here and there. No matter - she's all better! I was so sick all weekend (literally) from worrying...but my baby dog is OK!

Had my 2nd accounting test on Monday...I think it went well. Hoping to hear back from my prof on my grade before we leave. We'll see about that...

Sigh...so...last Wednesday our refrigerator finally gave up it's ghost. We threw out TONS of food (two bags worth) and have been living out of a cooler ever since (with no signs of our landlord refunding us for the food lost...c'est la vie). FINALLY, yesterday the fridge came. I couldn't understand a word that the delivery men said, but it works - that's all I care about. It still has a slightly "plastic-y" smell despite washing it out with soap and water. I don't care. I don't have to try to find a can of pop at the bottom of a slew of ice anymore! Yay! My friend, Jeanette, and I agree that nearly a week waiting for a new refrigerator is TOO long...they could have had it delivered on the weekend (it probably would have cost more, which is why we think they had us wait until a weekday - bah) but I guess I shouldn't complain.

Today is a busy day. It's only 9:45 and I've already done laundry, baked pumpkin bread, moved the car, and started homework. My "TO DO" list is still pretty long...but I'm making headway. Hopefully I'll have everything ready to go by the time Kurt gets home...we're hoping to be leaving the city by 6. We'll see if that happens! VERY concerned about traffic...we've never left the city on a holiday - I'm sure it will be a living nightmare!

OK...gotta get back to work now...my list isn't getting any smaller!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Sniff sniff...

2007-11-17T14:33:00.000-06:00

Michigan lost....sniff sniff. Word is that Lloyd Carr may be retiring (which I'm sad to hear), but that they might get the head coach from Louisiana State University (currently ranked #1). That might be good...

Took Razzle Dazzle to the vet today for her check up after having the liver medicine for a month. The doctor said she looked good and sounded good (from listening to her lungs/heart). They took some blood for tests and will find out the results on Monday. Her poo is all back to normal and she's just as energetic as ever. So the signs are good that she's OK. I'm still sick to my stomach and worried, but I'm hoping for the best.

Cool link

2007-11-09T11:56:00.001-06:00

One of the very cool things about being in Chicago is that they have "alternative craft shows." All hand made crafts that appeal to the indie set. I just found out that there's going to be an indoor show tomorrow at the concert venue that we're going to tonight! HA!

While looking on the websites for various artists, I came across this site. All proceeds from the sales go to Greyhound Rescue groups!

Check out Crafters for Critters!

Two Exciting Concerts!!!!...and some news.

2007-11-08T15:21:00.000-06:00

Yipee! Two great concerts this weekend!

First, we're going to see the Police/reggae/pop rock inspired "Jae Alai Savant." We saw them open for Ted Leo and the Rx last summer in Columbus. They are based in Chicago, so we were hoping to get a chance to see them. Finally, we will!!! The concert is going to be at The Empty Bottle, a little dive bar in the Bucktown/Wicker Park/Logan Square area.

Saturday night, be still my heart, our MOST FAVORITE Columbus band is coming to Chicago!!!!! Miranda Sound will be at The Beat Kitchen, which is only a 5 minute walk away! Hallelujah! We have missed them so!

On a school-oriented note, I have officially switched to Performing Arts Management. I truly miss being with educated musicians. And, this is the concentration to be in if we are focusing on concert promotions (which I've decided to focus on). Furthermore, if I ever want to work at a symphony (which someday I would like to), this concentration will allow me to take grant writing, fund raising, and labor relations. Very cool. I'm excited to move into this concentration - it feels like it's where I belong.

Take care and enjoy your upcoming weekend!

Darn healthcare system

2007-11-06T19:11:00.000-06:00

$11,000 for a CT scan? Seem ridiculous? Well...apparently Northwestern Memorial Hospital doesn't think so. Bah...we should all move to Canada.

HAHAHA!

2007-11-06T13:37:00.000-06:00

www.toothpastefordinner.com

Schedule- Check!

2007-11-05T09:00:00.001-06:00

So...I was down to 14 hours for a second there ;o) I can't take the music supervision class because of a whole slew of prerequisites. So, tentatively, I'm going to take an online class of Fundraising (which is more performing arts oriented - not music business). Yes...I was up at 5:45. Ick. I went back to bed at 6:30 and got back up at about 7:30.

I've been told by a few people (including the Chair of the dept.) that if a person is interested in concert promotion (which I am), that they should be in performing arts. I have been missing the music world (meaning educated musicians) quite a bit, so I was actually thinking of switching over...but I'm not completely decided. If I do that, I can study concert promotions as well as slip in some non-profit classes that could help me market myself to non-profits, should an opportunity arise. Although I may be leaving the prospects of working at a record label behind, I know that I could always go back to that someday, possibly even a classical label. Who knows really...if you can't tell, I'm a bit indecisive ;o)

Ok...lots of marketing to read and Razzle needs a walk!

Take care!

Busy bee...

2007-11-01T17:23:00.000-05:00

Ok...so I've not been very good about posting our fantasy football scores...not that anyone cares ;o)

My job is officially over, which is actually pretty nice for the moment. I've been able to do homework in a timely manner (like the day after I get it) instead of saving it all for wednesdays (my usual day off) and the weekend. I've already got the itch to get a new job...but that's just me being crazy!

I'll be scheduling for spring semester next week, should be interesting. Scheduling begins at 6am Monday morning, so I'm getting up at 5:45. My accounting professor has been laughing at me for doing that, but I want to make sure that I get into the classes that I want! At this point in time, I'm going to ATTEMPT to take 17 credit hours. VERY SCARY! A full time load is considered 9 hours, so I'm almost DOUBLE full time ;o) I'm not really sure if it's going to work or not, but I'm going to try it for a few weeks. The classes that I'll be taking are:

Data and Statistical Analysis
Advanced Accounting
Marketing II
Applied Marketing: Music Business
Arts, Media and the Law
Music Supervision (Very cool class - all about advising, planning, editing music for movies)
Project Management Workshop (Saturday class for 5 weeks)
Tessitura Workshop (Software that all of the big symphonies and theatres use).

That's a lot...so if my life turns into a living nightmare, I'll probably drop the Music supervision and take it next fall (when they are also offering a music editing for movies).

I do have a little side project I forgot to mention. The head of the music bus. dept. asked me if I would transfer files and take care of "writing up" various jazz symphony pieces for him that he composed. My payment, in return, is a copy of Sibelius 5! So excited! We just got our new computer (with a massive monitor...it's crazy big), so I downloaded it and started to play around with it a bit (still some bugs I gotta work out). He's going to start sending me files soon to work on. Woohoo!

Well...I should probably end it...I've got LOADS of marketing to read and a headache the size of Texas.

Take care everyone!

Wicked!

2007-10-27T14:43:00.000-05:00

Wicked = AMAZING!

Thank you Kurt!!!!

And HE even liked it...that means it's gotta be good ;o) We're already planning our next trip to see it!!!!!

Long time, no blog...

2007-10-26T00:22:00.000-05:00

How-D to all! Long time, no blog....

OK...so Kurt and I were supposed to go to see Queens of the Stone Age tonight. We assumed, like so many other shows, that because there were 2 opening bands that they main act wouldn't go on until 9:30. Yeah...we were wrong...got there after the show was over. Big bummer.

ANYWHO...as a "dating/engagement" anniversary gift, Kurt surprised me with tickets to see "Wicked" tomorrow night! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! We played music from the show in our last Heisey Wind Ensemble concert, and I really dug it. It's been a LONG time since I've seen a broadway show, so I'm super hyped.

ALSO...on the broadway/movie front, the new revival of Sweeney Todd is touring (it comes to Chicago in April) AND there is going to be a Sweeney Todd movie directed by Tim Burton. Check out the link to the movie trailer. You can bet your sweet bippy that I'm going to be there on opening night for both the show AND the movie! (can you tell that sweeney todd is my fav. musical? ;o)

OK...it's really late...I decided to stay up late to finish an econ exam...but I still have one question left. Ick. So...now that my brain is fried, I'm hitting the hay...

take care!

GREAT NEWS!!!

2007-10-19T16:56:00.000-05:00

Great news! Kurt's doctor reviewed the tests and determined that he does NOT have lymphoma!!!!!! Unfortunately they don't really know what's wrong yet...but I'm just glad that there's no cancer!!!

Also, an update on Shosta. She didn't end up having pancreatic problems, but her blood tests showed that she has some heightened enzymes in her liver, which may be a sign infection or possibly a disease. The vet gave me medicine to give her for the next month and then we will do some blood tests again. If it shows up as being fine, the we're in the clear. If not, then we will have to do some more tests. She seems fine, as spunky as ever, and doesn't show any signs of jaundice. SO, we are hoping that it was just an infection.

Ok...gotta run. TONS of homework right now. It's like they all waiting until mid term...how nice ;o)

Have a good weekend!

Prayers and thoughts...

2007-10-12T00:35:00.000-05:00

OK...very rough couple of days. I hesitated in sharing all of this information, but figured it probably would be best to have as many people praying as possible.

I would ask for everyone's thoughts and prayers for Kurt (and our families) at this point in time. He is going to be having a CT scan on Monday to check for some problems with his lymphnodes. Because of his Crohn's disease, he is on an immunosupressent, which lowers his body's white blood cell count and ultimately keeps his body from fighting infections. At this point in time, he has a respiratory infection, but his doctor is concerned because many of his lymphnodes (on his left side) are sore and inflamed. Because of the medicine lowering his body's ability to fight, he is at a higher risk for diseases. Among other reasons for having the CT scan, he is concerned that there may be a risk of Kurt having lymphoma. We are both hoping that his concern will be unfounded when the results come back because he does have an infection. Nonetheless, the thought of Kurt having cancer is really throwing us for a loop. It still feels very surreal, but Kurt is dealing with it remarkably well. Me, on the other hand, not so well. We're assuming everything will be fine, but the thought of someone as young, kind, and loving as Kurt having to deal with this really tears my heart apart. I know there are many worse situations out there and that I should feel lucky that we've been safe this far, but it really does hit home when it's your husband that might be sick. Please PLEASE pray for us.

Further more, I had to take Shosta to the vet this morning because she has had some diarrhea and threw up several times this morning. They think she may have a mild case of pancreatitis, which means her pancreatic fluid is eating at her pancreas. They had to do some Xrays and blood tests (without me being there, I'm surprised she didn't bite someone's finger off) as well as get a hydrating fluid injection. I'm fasting her until tomorrow morning and then starting a strict diet. Of course, as all mother's feel when a child (in this case my dog) is ill, I am sick with guilt, wondering what I did/didn't do.

So, as my world seemingly crumbles around me (I know...being a bit over-dramatic I suppose), I ask that you pray for us all (including my doggie) and that we all make it through the next week in one piece. But please pray for Kurt most of all.

Fantasy Football - Week 4 AND a load of concerts!

2007-10-03T10:55:00.000-05:00

Krap def. Chewy Lizards, 55-53
Fudge Dragon's def. Nasty Minstrels, 94-84
Turd Blossoms def. Browns Rock, 96-70
Bengals def. Warriors, 88-40
Gray def. Steamers, 59-56

So I came back from the loss to Kurt - now I'm 3-1!

This week is FULL of concerts! 3, to be exact.

Tonight we have the Canadian prog. southern rock band Black Mountain. They are going to be performing at the Empty bottle. We've not been to this place yet, but I imagine it to be a dive bar. We'll see! Either way, it should be good - they are a pretty cool band.

Tomorrow night we are going to the Metro (for our first time, yipee) to see Voxtrot. They are an Austin based indie rock band and have a huge underground hype around them. We meant to see them at Lollapalooza (or was it Pitchfork), but the train system was being stupid that day and we missed 'em. I don't know them very well, but I'm still looking forward to the show.

Finally, on Saturday night, we are going to see Of Montreal at the Metro (again, yipee). This is the strangest band you will ever know. They all enjoy fancy make-up and costumes and play "happy sounding" disco-ish electronic music. But, when you listen to the words, it makes the music so much better. It can be very narcissistic or masochistic...depending on the song. We saw them at Pitchfork and it was such a great show. So, we decided to see them again.

Ok...so an economic paper is calling my name, I still have to make accounting flash cards for my exam next week, my human resources book is nagging me to open and look over it (tonight is my first HR class), and Shosta is reminding me of our morning walk (By standing on my leg as I type).

So...hope everyone has a great rest of their week and a nice weekend!

Fantasy Football - Week 3

2007-09-28T09:51:00.000-05:00

Alas, 2-0 I am no longer. Kurt came along and beat me. Sniff Sniff.
Ha...that's OK...it's all in fun and games.

But..since a few of my players aren't up to par, I decided to take 2 of Shosta's players and trade her two of mine. I feel terrible, though. I'm such a meanie taking my dog's players. See what you did to me, Mom? (Just teasing...but only slightly)

TURD BLOSSOMS (1-1) @ FUDGE DRAGON'S (2-0)
Lakeview Turd Blossoms	108
Roscoe Village Fudge Dragon's	81

NASTY MINSTRELS (0-2) @ WARRIORS (1-1)
Black Swamp Nasty Minstrels	103
West Loop Warriors	86

KRAP (1-1) @ BROWNS ROCK (1-1)
Columbus Krap	57
Cleveland Browns Rock	125

CHEWY LIZARDS (1-1) @ STEAMERS (1-1)
Shosta's Chewy Lizards	83
Cleveland Steamers	76

GRAY (2-0) @ BENGALS (1-1)
Team Gray	90
Who Dey! Bengals	109

Sigh...The National

2007-09-22T23:22:00.000-05:00

Sigh...as always, The National put on a fabulous show. I only wished it would have lasted longer! They are such a magical band live - they really put a lot of heart into their music. And Matt Berninger is a phenomenal singer/showman. He draws you in and allows you to feel all of the emotions he does when he's singing. Now we just have to wait another 6 months to a year to get our "National" fix again. Sigh.

We went to our first "indoor" show here in Chicago, so we were kinda excited to see what the venues were like here. The Vic (where we saw the show) is a pretty awesome place. It's a former theater turned concert venue, so you can go upstairs to the balcony and sit during the concert. Even though I would have liked to get up and dance, it was nice to not have to stand for hours before the show started. Although, from the time we left home to the time we got home, it was only 3 hours! The Vic is only a mile or so away! Woohoo!

Speaking of concerts, we justed added a few more to our plate. October is going to be a SUPER BUSY month of concerts. I think we have something like 8 or 9...WOW. There's no way that we would have been able to see all of those shows in C-bus. And, we are able to see some lesser known bands that probably wouldn't go to C-bus anyways. Ahhh...the joys of big-city living ;o)

Ok...I'm gonna end this...I've already written another one today...no need to inundate you with posts about concerts. Ha!

Take care!

Kurt is home - Yipee!!!

2007-09-22T18:27:00.000-05:00

Kurt is home - YIPEE!!!!!!!

I picked Kurt up from the Rosemont El stop last night (it's the first stop outside of O'Hare Airport). I t was so nice to see him again ...we missed each other quite a lot, but we both did fine. I had a few nights where I was spooked, but Shosta took care of me ;o) She's a very alert dog, aware of just about anything going on. But, at night when we were getting ready for bed, she seemed super aware of any little noises. And she checked out the door and the closet before we went to sleep. It's nice to know I have a little guard dog when Kurt goes away.

We've had a relaxing day thus far...watching football ;o)

MICHIGAN BEAT PENN STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Penn State was ranked 10th, so this was a HUGE win for my team!

Speaking of football....

Kurt's fantasy football team (Lakeview Turd Blossoms) plays my football team tomorrow (Roscoe Village Fudge Dragons). We've sent each other the hilarious "Smack" cards (dissing each other's team), but it doesn't really matter to us who wins ....
(but I'm gonna beat 'em good...)

OK...gotta go. We're going to see The National tonight at the Vic Theatre. This is our first indoor concert here in Chicago, so we are really looking forward to it! AND, they are one of our fav. bands (As if you couldn't tell from all of my other posts ;o).

Take care and have a good week!

Woohoo!

2007-09-20T17:57:00.000-05:00

Kurt is coming home tomorrow night! Yippeeeee!

Fantasy Football Scores - Week 2

2007-09-19T23:13:00.000-05:00

Woohoo!
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm ranked first in my division!
Congrats to Kurt who won his first game.

Steamers def. Browns Rock, 95-89
Fudge Dragon's def. Krap, 119-115
Turd Blossoms def. Nasty Minstrels, 107-89
Bengals def. Chewy Lizards, 45-34
Gray def. Warriors, 111-82

Kurt and I are scheduled to play this week...we'll see how it goes!

Denver....sniff sniff.

2007-09-16T12:49:00.000-05:00

Welp...Kurt's off to Denver this week for a big "geek" conference. Actually, it's a conference for Sequel Server Database Programmers (same thing to me ;o).

Sniff sniff. As cheesy as this sounds to most people I meet, we've never been apart since being married - and we prefer it that way. Neither of us are looking forward to being separated, but I think he's looking forward to going to a big conference. And, it's all paid for by his company. His boss is going as well, so at least he'll have someone to hang out with on occasion. I don't think they are flying together or even staying in the same hotel, but I'm sure they'll meet up at some point.

So, Shosta and I are left to fend for ourselves ;o) Tis' O.K. though. I'm pretty sad, but I'll keep busy with school, work, and cleaning. Kurt and I will talk every night, I'm sure. And if anyone tries to mess with us (I highly doubt it ;o), Shosta will take care of them just fine. HA!

Moving on...

We've had a nice weekend thus far despite Kurt having a nasty cold. We went to the Renegade Craft Fair at the Division St. Festival yesterday. It's a bunch of mod/hipster crafters who make all sorts of cool stuff. If only I had a bunch of money - I would have bought one of everything! There were some amazing pieces of jewelry, but they were all at least $60 and I can't spend that kind of money on myself without feeling guilty ;o) So, WE bought a concert poster instead.

And, of course, we've been watching some football all weekend long ;o)

MICHIGAN BEAT NOTRE DAME 38-0!

Not that I'm excited or anything ;o) Ha ha.

Funny thing...
We've had some nice fall weather lately, but it's been getting down to mid 40's at night. And, since our apartment apparently does not have the ability to maintain a steady temperature (as was evident by the nasty heat in the summer), we've been FREEZING inside! Poor Shosta - it's only half the way through September and she's already shivering! Needless to say, we are preparing for a VERY cold winter. We don't have forced heat, so we heat the upstairs with in-wall heaters. They work pretty well (we used one last night), but it seems like they might be a fire hazard to us. Oh well. We know what to look for in the future. Good water pressure and central air/heat!

OK...gotta get to work.

Have a good week!
I'm sure I'll be posting more this week!

Fantasy Football Scores - Week 1

2007-09-12T12:12:00.000-05:00

Howdy!

Our first week of fantasy football is over! We managed to draft our players fine since our internet decided to work again Saturday morning.

Here's this week's scores:

Fudge Dragon's def. Bengals, 102-88
Browns Rock def. Nasty Minstrels, 93-86
Krap def. Turd Blossoms, 95-71
Warriors def. Steamers, 69-68
Gray def. Chewy Lizards, 112-54

Woohoo! My team won!
Not bad for a chic ;o)

New Additions to our League!

2007-09-08T13:01:00.000-05:00

This just in....we have two new additions to our league!

Shosta's Chewy Lizards - Shostakovich (yes, I had to make a league for our dog, we didn't have enough teams to draft!)

Team Gray - Belinda

We're drafting soon! And, of course, our internet connection had to go on the fritzes. SO, we'll see how it goes.

Wish us luck!

Fantasy Football!

2007-09-06T23:05:00.000-05:00

We're Drafting Fantasy Football Saturday!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Go Roscoe Village Fudge Dragons!!!!!

Our line up is...

Roscoe Village Fudge Dragons - Me
Lakeview Turd Blossoms - Kurt
Columbus Krap - John
Black Swamp Nasty Minstrels - Scott
Cleveland Browns Rock - Matt
Who Dey! Bengals - Mark
Cleveland Steamers - Justin
West Loop Warriors - Nate

(The "Poop" theme was not intentional!)

I'll keep everyone posted on our games!

SCHOOL!

2007-09-06T22:22:00.000-05:00

So...my first couple of days of school have gone well...one more to go.

On Tuesday, I had my first Accounting class - good times. It's pretty easy thus far, but there's a lot of homework. I've been chiseling away at it a little bit every day.

Yesterday was my long day. Class from 3:30-9:30. My first one is call "The Music Industry Think Tank" and is taught by the Music Bus. concentration director. His name is Kimo Williams - very strong personality, but a lot of AMAZING experiences to back it up. He's even so highly thought of in the music industry that he gets to vote on the GRAMMY AWARDS! WOW! So, this class is going to beat me down...very difficult. There's not a lot of homework, but a lot of thinking. The purpose of the class is to state what we believe is wrong with the music industry, and be innovative and forward thinking enough to figure out how to fix it. Everyone must give 1 10 min. presentation to the class on an innovative aspect of the music ind. Kimo's Asst. (who is team-teaching with him - he already owns his own online music distribution co.) brought up an amazing website called lablogoteque that shows spontaneous music making by amazing bands. Since I'm fairly familiar with the site, I chimed in on the discussion about the "realness" that you feel when you watch, as opposed to modern music videos and their "fake-ness." SO, Kimo was like "OK...next week give your presentation on that website. I wanna hear all about it." HA! There were two other people already assigned for next week, so I offered to go on the 19th. Phew... We have to have a fancy presentation all set with handouts and everything. I'd rather have more than a week to work on it!

Anywho...in this class we are also writing (in small groups...of course my group has some dude who wore a shirt that said "Drink Responsibly - Jason's 21st Birthday" - classy) a treatise. His goal for this large group paper (30-ish pages) is for us to tell the music industry "Here's what you are doing wrong, and here's how we can fix it." He wants to get these published in all of the Music Industry magazines and journals. Then, he wants to take them to conventions and present them to RIAA people and all of the higher ups of the recording ind. Whoa... He's got some crazy connections, so I can imagine how awesome this is all going to be...not to mention an insane amount of work.

Moving on, and speaking of connections...My next class was the Music Industry Workshop, taught by Maurice White. Not the Earth Wind and Fire Maurice, but close.

This dude is AMAZING! He is friends with Clive Davis (big time record producer), his dad "broke" Earth Wind and Fire into the business, Aretha Franklin lived with their family while she was in her early stages, he's worked for MCA and a bunch of other labels, he's on the "in" with the CEO of Capitol Records, and so much more. The stories he had were jaw dropping. I can't wait to work more with him! He even gave us his personal cell phone number "If you need anything...even after we're done in this class." Very cool.

I tell ya what...6 hours of being a sponge...that's tough. By the time 8 rolled around, my brain was hurting. Thank goodness Maurice let us out at 9:00...I dunno if I could have taken any more.

So after class, Jeanette (A girl from all of my classes that lives literally a block away...crazy) and I rode the El home. Good to have a late night train buddy, just to stay safe.

So...going backwards a little bit. During the "Think Tank" class, as we introduced ourselves, I mentioned that I was a teacher, but still enjoy arranging music for bands/ensembles. Kimo was quite interested and asked if I used Finale of Sibelius. I mentioned that I used Finale, but had a demo of Sibelius that I've played around with and really liked. So, he then asked if I would transcribe some music for him if he gave me Sibelius for free (I've always wanted Sibelius - a fancy music notation software - but never saved up the money...it's $500+). I said sure! I assumed he was just joking around, but after class he came up to me and discussed it with me again. SO COOL! I emailed him at his request and he replied. Crazy - he said that he wanted to meet in October, but that in the meantime, I should try to find out how much Sibelius costs so he could get it to me in time to play around with it. CRAZY! He's buying me Sibelius so I can transcribe for him! That's a pretty good trade-off!

Funny thing...he has a Grad Asst. every semester...it's a pretty prestigious position because if he likes you he "will get you a job." Here I am, not his GA, but transcribing his musical arrangements! SO COOL!

So...one more class tomorrow (It's a 4 hour seminar) then my week is done. Next week I'll have all of the classes I mentioned, plus a Monday Night Marketing class...fun times!

Howdy!

2007-09-03T13:27:00.000-05:00

Hello to all!

Hope everything is going well for everyone and that you are all enjoying your labor-less day!

This past weekend we went back to Ohio to visit with family. We got to hang out with Kurt's Parents, Gramma Piotrowski, Max, Evyn (our niece and nephew), and Kyle (his sister) on Saturday. That was a nice afternoon. And, the kids got to meet Shosta - she was a bit nervous, but did fairly well.

Saturday night we went to Findlay to meet my parents at our favorite Chinese restaurant ever - Ming's Great Wall. Then we went to Meijer to go on a gluten free shopping binge. It's pretty strange that they have more gluten free products than Whole Foods! And EVERYTHING is cheaper in Ohio ;o)

Sunday all of my Mom's side of the family came over for our annual labor day party. It was nice to see everyone. Back in the day, I used to see my cousins quite a few times a year. Now, we're lucky if we see each other 2 times! Nonetheless, it was really great to see everyone and remember the good ol' days. My how we've all changed!

So...we left last night after the party and didn't get home until 11:30-ish central time. We were pooped! Poor Shosta had a rough weekend, so she's sacked out on the couch today. She didn't even TRY to pull me along for our normal morning walk. We didn't end up taking one (for reasons later explained), but she wasn't complaining! She slowly sauntered up the steps and headed right for the couch for a long snooze.

SO...we have a fantasy football league that we/I am in charge of. We were going to try to draft today because there are some games Thursday night, but I'm slightly stupid and can't figure out the site. We've spent the past 2 or 3 hours trying to figure out the darn thing (which is why we didn't go for our walk). Turns out, though, that there are tons of drafts today and we think the website might be down/inoperable/not cooperative. SO...we're going to draft next Saturday, our original plan. We're pretty excited to have a fantasy football league. We're certainly doing this all for fun, because we don't have the slightest clue about fantasy stuff. We just love football ;o) (Turns out not many women like football - all of Kurt's friends think it's cool that he's got a wife that watches it right along with him and can hold an intelligent conversation :O)

Well...tomorrow is the big day! I work from 10-2 and then have my first class from 3:30-6:30 - Accounting. I'm SOOOOOOO looking forward to it! I've been doing my homework (that he just told us we didn't need to do, oh well) and have read and studied the first chapter a lot. Yipee!

OK...enough for today. We've gotta do our weekly grocery shopping and we still need to eat lunch (we had a late breakfast after sleeping in). THEN, I need to go over all of my notes for class tomorrow.

Take care and enjoy our last few days of summer!!

Orientation Update

2007-08-26T21:25:00.000-05:00

'Ello to all.

I had orientation yesterday. For the most part, it was your typical "Welcome to the school" spiel. But I did get to schedule for classes. I've continued to play around with my schedule to see what I can add, but at this point in time, I've got 13 credit hours (9 is considered full time). It doesn't seem like much compared to undergrad (when I would take 18-22 hours), but grad classes are far more intense. Technically, they only suggest for us to take 10-11 hours our first semester, but I'm pushing the boundaries a bit :O)

We have a core list of classes we have to take (37 hours), then we have 9 hours (approx. 3 classes) in our concentration and 3 hours of workshops plus an internship. So, I took a look at the concentration classes that they offer and I want to take 8 of the classes. HA! I've got to figure out how to fit it all in - I'll probably end up taking some in the summer (if they offer them). Who knows...but I'm going to try to take them some way or another!

So, the classes I'm taking are (prepare to be bored to death ;o)

Economics for Arts Managers
Marketing Principles I
Basic Accounting for Arts Managers
The New Anatomy of the Record Industry
Music Industry Workshop
Human Resources
Intro to Arts Management

I'm looking forward to all of them - especially Accounting. At orientation, the Assoc. Chair of the Department (he's a cool, hip, old guy ;o) sat with us at our lunch. I was saying how excited I was to take accounting and everyone at the table looked at me in awe. Apparently no one likes that class ;o) HA! I can't wait to do financial statements and general ledger stuff. Yipee! I'm going to get my books early this week - we actually have homework to do for the first class before school even starts! Woohoo!!!

The only problem with my schedule is that working will be rough with my current job. Since it's only through October, I'm not too worried. But, nonetheless, it's going to be tough to get the 20+ hours that they are looking for. They don't open until 10 and the shifts that they schedule are usually 10:00-3:30. Some of my classes start at 3:30, so I'm not sure if they will be OK with me leaving early. And, on some days I'll have classes from 6:30 to 9:30, so I'll need time earlier in the day to prepare. Who knows. At least I don't have classes on Thursday - that will be easy to schedule. Like I've said many times, I'm hoping to get a campus job - they are super flexible (so I'm told by current grad. students), and I'll be able to go right from work to class (not a 40 minute commute in between). I may have to end up leaving my current job before October comes. I would feel bad doing that, but Kurt keeps reminding me that I need to think about myself more than them at this point in time. We'll see how it works out...

Take care!

Busy busy

2007-08-24T17:14:00.000-05:00

Ok...so it's been a while since I last posted. Lots to talk about but only a certain amount of words - that way you don't get bored reading my novel ;o)

First of all, Kurt and I went to his nutritionist last weekend. Turns out he has a few infections (both passive and active) - not sure how long they have been around, but likely for a while. He takes a drug for Crohn's disease that keeps his body from attacking his infected intestine. In turn, the medication also keeps his body from attacking other infections. Thus, he ends up not being able to fight things and his body ends up becoming "toxic." SO...very strict diet ahead! We're starting Sunday night - no sugar (fruits OK though), no gluten, preferably no starch at all. SO, we can eat meat, oils of any kind (except peanut - no peanuts or soy), lots of butter (she kept saying to fry things in 4 sticks of butter...hmmm), veggies, and fruit. We're a bit nervous, but willing. And for those asking, yup, I'm going on the diet, too. I definitely want to support Kurt in this and I think by going on the diet with him, I will. And, never hurts to lose a few pounds ;o)

NEXT - My job is cool - dull at times when there are no phone calls, but cool. I've been working a lot this week - put in a 9.5 hour day yesterday with no break.

How 'bout that rain? Mom and Dad have been bailing out people for a couple of days now - sounds like it's finally calming down. Unfortunately, more rain is coming Saturday. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it won't happen.

We had some NASTY storms here in Chicago yesterday. I looked at the radar before I left work at 3:30 and it seemed close, but one of the guys I work with (who has an extra role in the filming of the next Batman movie being filmed here ;o) said "Oh...bout 45 min before it hits." HA! More like 2 min. I barely got out the door before I felt sprinkles - then all hell broke lose. I swear the rain was nearly horizontal and it felt awful! I got drenched - no umbrella was gonna keep me dry. I ran into a nook infront of a business, hoping it would stop. But it didn't. So, I kept walking (by that time, my moss green pants looked black because they were soaked) so I could get to the train. Took forever to get a train, and then it kept stalling - saying it would be a few minutes. Apparently there were some downed trees on the rails. Then, after about 25 min. on the train, at the next stop they told us to get off - that they could go no further. Well, this stop was 5 stops away from home, so I had to get on a few different buses. A trip that normally takes 35 min. (including 15 min. of walking to/from the stations) ended up taking over 1.5 hours! ICK! There are tons of downed trees around our neighborhood. And apparently tons of people close buy had no electricity until this morning. Luckily we've been fine.

Finally - Orientation tomorrow! Not too happy that I have to be there at 8:30 - means I have to leave at 7:30. Ick. I've gotten used to sleeping in until 8 or so...oh well.
I'm SO very excited - we get to make our schedules, meet with our concentration faculty, everything. Yipee.

OK...I'm stopping now.

Take care!

See everyone at Labor Day!!!!

New job!

2007-08-15T16:56:00.000-05:00

I just got a job! Thank goodness - like I've been saying, the domestic life is not for me (but at least I tried ;o) ! I'll be selling season tickets for a theatre company in Old Town (a stylish/upscale neighborhood here in Chicago). It's only temporary (through the beginning of October sometime), since they stop selling them once the first production begins. BUT, I've been pretty bored, so I'm willing to take anything that doesn't require evening/weekend hours. And, I'll be working with ticketing software that will surely come in handy on down the line. What's nice is that I can do this and still hunt for a job on campus. Once the theatre thing is done, I'll hopefully have something all lined up at school. Sounds like a plan ;o)

Another Busy Weekend...and my dog, the rock carrier

2007-08-14T17:04:00.000-05:00

'Ello!

Busy weekend - Mom and Dad came to visit and traveled in on the Amtrak train. We took 'em to eat at Giordano's (true deep dish pizza), went on the Wendella at night (A boat ride that takes you down the Chicago river and onto the lake to see the amazing Chicago skyline), visited the Museum of Science and Industry, and took them on their very first trip to Trader Joe's (we had to do our grocery shopping at some point ;o). They had a good weekend, at least that's what they said - HA!

Next weekend will be a bit more relaxing (hopefully). Kurt (with me in tow) is going to a nutritionist to help with his recent Crohn's disease problems. We're hoping to find a remedy that doesn't involve more medicine! He's a little nervous that he might have to give up a lot of his favorite foods, but whatever will help works for me!

The next Saturday (Aug. 25th) is my Grad. School Orientation!!!! WOOHOO! I'm so excited to start school and finally have something to do other than domestic stuff - I'm not cut out to be a home-maker ;o)

I have had a few job interviews in the past week or so - last week I was offered 2 different jobs, but took neither. One required weekends and the other required evenings AND weekends AND only paid squat (it was at a non-profit theatre, which would have been cool, but I would like to have a life outside of school and work ;o) - bah. I had another interview yesterday for a theater production company (they put on Broadway shows in the city), but it's only temporary through October. We'll see about that one. If nothing works out, I'm not worried. Once school starts, I wanted to work down on campus anyways.

Funny story.

My dog - the rock carrier. So, today we were on our daily morning walk around our neighborhood. Shosta tends to pick up bottles, large seed pods that fall off of trees, sticks, and various trash (I try to discourage that, though ;o) as we walk around. Today, I accidentally kicked a rock - a BIG one. I stubbed my toe, so I stopped for a second to rub it a little. Then Shosta, for whatever crazy reason, tried to pick up this giant rock with her mouth. She scooted it around with her nose, scratched at it and moved it with her feet, and actually tried to bite it. Not really sure what she was thinking, but it was the funniest thing to watch. Eventually, she lifted it up a little bit, but couldn't really hold it long, so she let it drop. I found another rock that she could actually carry, kicked it in front of her, and away we went, rock in mouth.

New Concerts!

2007-08-09T16:34:00.000-05:00

So excited - we've got a TON of concerts to go to in September and October. AND, I just got special pre-sale tickets to Interpol. That means I got to buy my tickets before they were open to the public. Now I don't have to wait online forever or worry that I won't get any tickets at all. Woohoo!

Here's our upcoming concerts - and there's a lot of good ones, too - National, Ted Leo, Of Montreal, etc. - Only in Chicago can we see them all :O)

Sept. 22nd - The National @ The Vic Theater
Oct. 3rd - Black Mountain @ The Empty Bottle
Oct. 4th - Voxtrot @ The Metro
Oct. 6th - Of Montreal @ The Metro
Oct. 11th - Interpol @ The Aragon Ballroom
Oct. 12th - Ted Leo and The RX @ The Metro
Oct. 14th - Pinback @ The Metro

We may not have fancy clothes, fancy cars, fancy computers or TV's, or a fancy place to live. But, by golly, we go to a LOT of great concerts! I'd rather have live music than Chanel :O)

Loads of Fun at Lollapalooza!

2007-08-05T23:25:00.000-05:00

Howdy!

Well...Lollapalooza is officially over. PHEW, what a weekend! And SO much fun! The weather on Friday and today (Sunday) was a bit warm, but Saturday was PERFECT - low 80's and overcast. Luckily that was the day that we spent the most time there.

AND - the crowds were aplenty, but nothing near what we thought. The park is fairly expansive, so even though there were 100,000+ people there, it really didn't seem that extreme. We were able to see our "most important" bands up close, and the "not-so-important" bands from afar on our blanket. I didn't feel like tearing my hair out too often, which means it was a good time ;o)

Quick (ha) recap:

Friday:

Ted Leo and the Rx (above)- GREAT as always. This was our 3rd time seeing them and they were as energetic as ever. They played a few songs from their new CD, but a lot of their older tunes - which was great for those of us who have been fans for a while. Ted (the lead singer/guitarist) is such a vibrant performer who gives his all ever time. We were able to get up pretty close and get a good view, which is always nice! LOVE THEM LOVE THEM LOVE THEM!

The Polyphonic Spree - We've never seen them live - what a crazy show! Unfortunately due to the crowd, we weren't able to get up close, but they have massive screens to watch. As suggested by their name (Polyphonic), they are a band made up of 20+ members including: a ladies chorus of 9, various brass instruments (including a horn!), strings (with a harp that opened the show), various other wind and percussion (including timpani) instruments, and your typical rock band line-up (lead singer, bass, guitar, drumset). The music is very "Happy" and Love is definitely a theme. At times it was a bit dull, BUT the fact that they closed with the Nirvana tune "Lithium" was great!

M.I.A - We heard/watched as we ate. Very interesting. She's a Sri Lankan exile who has lived in England for most of her life. Her music combines rap, electronic, dance hall, and r&b. Very energetic and fairly entertaining, albeit a bit loud. (We were sitting pretty far from the show, but still needed to put our ear plugs in because it was so loud!)

Silversun Pickups - after eating dinner, we TRIED to see these guys, but had to sit and listen instead. They are a fairly respected pop/rock group, but they put them on a small stage near the main "boulevard." So, getting a spot to see them was impossible. But, we heard them pretty well and enjoyed.

We had intended to see the Black Keys and LCD Soundsystem, but I got a pretty nasty sunburn and wasn't feeling so well. So, we went home and rested up for Saturday - our big day!

Saturday:

Tapes 'n Tapes - AWESOME!!!!! And we were really close! We chose them over Pete Yorn; he's more of an inside/evening/intimate singer, and we knew that Tapes would put on a good show. This was the 2nd time we've seen them, and they had a very similar set list which included all of their great songs from their current album (The Loon), some new songs for their next album, and a few old ones. Considered to be "jangle rock," they are very unique when compared with current indie pop/rock. And, as before, they put on a great and VERY energetic, yet honest, show. Kurt and I were commenting on how they were very casual and how we appreciate that - they had a couple thousand people (or more) watching, yet they acted as if they were performing for friends. Good stuff.

Cold War Kids - Yet another popular indie rock band put on a small stage. Not a good idea. Yet again, we were forced to listen instead of watch. We heard most of the set, then went off for lunch. What we heard was pretty impressive. A lot of times, bands don't perform as well as their CD sounds - not so with these guys. Their music isn't uber-detailed, but they played it very well.

We had a break after these guys, so we grabbed an early dinner and found a nice spot to relax. We (unfortunately) were able to hear Motion City Soundtrack and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah while we hung out. Neither of them were what we wanted to hear, but it was impossible to ignore. We have issues with CYHSY - they plain suck. And they opened for our fav. band "The National" once in Columbus. It was a packed house that night, but 75% of the crowd left after Clap Your Hands was finished, leaving the place nearly empty for the headlining band. Argh. And they are the most ANNOYING sounding band. Anywho...you can tell we don't like them.

Moving on...

Hold Steady (Below)- Another great show where we were up close (annoying kids in front of us though...FYI - parents do NOT bring whining kids to Lollapallooza). We chose them over Regina Spector - yet another intimate performer not suitable for a festival. Anywho, this band is a cross between GOOD classic rock (strong rock with good melody/harmony) and talking. Yeah...that's right...the lead singer tends to "sing speak" more than actually he actually sings. BUT, what a super show! We had tickets to see them back when we were in Columbus, but had to sell them so we could come visit here. These guys are no spring chickens and have been in other indie bands, but came together 4 years ago to make great music. Very energetic and very entertaining!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - The crowd was massive, so we just looked on from afar. I enjoyed their previous album "Fever to tell," but not this album. So, when they played some old songs, it was pretty great. The newer ones, eh. From what I hear, Karen O (the lead singer) puts on quite a show with interesting costumes. But oh well...

Spoon (Above) - This is the second time we've seen Spoon at a festival. Last year at Pitchfork, we were unimpressed. They seemed lifeless and uninspired. Luckily, this year was the opposite. We didn't have the greatest spot to see (well...I didn't, Kurt can always see ;o), but it was still a great show. Spoon is heralded as one of indie music's star bands - considered to be "stripped" down pop rock with a nice groove. They were really quite impressive. Yet another band that performs as well as their album sounds. Super tight and super entertaining.

Interpol (Below)- Dark, smooth dance rock at it's best. We opted for a bench and the big screen for this, as the crowds were very big. We were both pretty wet from the rain (it started back during the Hold Steady), so we didn't mind sitting under the trees. Even though we didn't really see the show up close, the music was terrific. Even so, we decided to leave a little early to beat the crowds to the trains!

Sunday:

We went a little later yesterday than we had hoped because our landlord came over to look at the AC unit upstairs. It was burnt out, so we've been without air in the heat. BUT, he had a smaller unit that he installed for us instead and it WORKS! Yeah for AC! We used it last night and it really helped. Will probably just turn it on at night - don't want to run the electric bill sky high.

ANYWHO....

Yo La Tengo - We opted to listen rather than watch so we could get a seat for the next show. This band has been around for some 20 years, so they have a massive repertoire. Even so, they played quite a few songs from their latest album ("I am not afraid of you..."). Their psychedelic/jam rock fits well with a festival and was very enjoyable to listen to.

Modest Mouse (Above - Isaac Brock, Johnny Marr) - Yet another of my fav. bands for quite some time. In their most recent releases, they've gone a bit commercial/mainstream. Yet, they have still retained some of their artsy pop characteristics. As always, they put on a good show (this is our 3rd time seeing them) - very entertaining. AND, I had a pretty good view! Unfortunately, most of the crowd was made up of teenagers and young 20's people, so they were singing along to all of the songs. Sigh...I don't want to hear YOU sing - I want to hear Isaac sing! Even though their set included songs from their 2 latest releases, they did play a few from my fav. album - The Moon and Antarctica (try saying that 5 times fast).

We left a little before the end of their show to see....

TV on the Radio - WooHoo! This is our 2nd time seeing them, and we were pleased yet again. TV combines so many styles of music to make their eclectic pop that I wouldn't even know how to explain it - except that it rocks. Their music is very unique, unlike anyone else out there. The first time we saw them was at the Newport in Columbus - that's definitely one of my all time favorite shows. This time wasn't as great, but not because they didn't perform well. They did. But the crowd was pretty awful. TV has quite a few energetic tunes, so much of the crowd was jumping all around. There was a rather large (meaning tall/big boned) girl behind me, which made me nervous. I kept feeling elbow jabs, but I knew if I said something, she might harm me ;o) ANYWHO...still a great musical experience.

And, to close the evening...

Pearl Jam - The band is iconic in modern/mainstream american rock music. Their career has spanned nearly 20 years, and they still continue to put out great music. I've never been a huge fan, although I like much of their music. However, Kurt has been a fan for many many years. He recalls listening to them in his high school years, so this show brought back memories. Yet again, we opted for a far off seat as the entire population of the festival crowd was viewing the concert along with us. We were able to see a screen, so we enjoyed it as they played a lot of older tunes. Once they got into the newer stuff, we decided to head out.

Before we left, we got a few pictures and stopped to buy a T-shirt.

Overall, this was a super experience and if the lineup for next year's festival is just as good, we'll definitely go. The tickets were a bit pricey, but considering the experience, well worth it!

Big weekend ahead!

2007-07-30T10:56:00.000-05:00

We had a nice trip to Petoskey last week. We arrived back home in Chicago at 10:30pm (that's 11:30 to the rest of ya ;o). Friday was a long day of driving, but that's ok. Kurt drove us to Toledo to pick up Shosta (6.5 hours) from my parents and I drove to Chicago (4 hours). It was nice to drive again...I miss it. But, since Kurt takes the train to work, I can take the car out joy riding sometime - HA!

This coming weekend is LOLLAPALOOZA! We are both excited and dreading it at the same time. I think there's something like 100,000 people that go to this, so it's packed. Not exactly looking forward to that. BUT, we get to see SO many bands/artists, I'm sure it will be worth it.

Friday we're seeing: Chin up Chin up (local band), Ted Leo and the RX (East coast melodic punk - one of my fav. bands!), The Polyphonic Spree (Hippie - happy band made up of at least 20 people ;o), Silversun Pickups (Psychedelic pop rock), Black Keys (Duo of drum/guitar from Akron that's hit it big), LCD Soundsystem (Electronic pop/rock).

Saturday we're seeing: Tapes 'n Tapes (indie pop rock with an artsy flair), or Pete Yorn (laid back solo guitar - they are at the same time ;o(, Cold War Kids (indie pop rock), Regina Spektor (Solo piano, bit like cabaret) OR Hold Stead (Straight up "talk" rock - they, too, are at the same time), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (rock with a crazy chic lead singer), Spoon (Austin based, very tight indie rock), and Interpol (Rock, smooth and dark).

Sunday we're seeing: Kings of Leon (Tasteful southern rock), Yo La Tengo (psychedelic indie pop), Modest Mouse (artsy indie rock - one of my FAV bands for a LONG time ;o), TV on the Radio (Very melodic pop rock with an artsy feel), Pear Jam (Straight up jam rock - Kurt's pretty excited, he's been a fan since junior high ;o)

So as you can see, we've got a lot of great stuff to see this weekend! It's going to be pretty hot (Upper 80's lower 90's), but it is August. Hopefully the lake will give us a breeze.

Speaking of the Lake...ha ha...

On Saturday we took trip to the lake with Shosta. This is the dog with webbed feet (so we know somewhere in her family tree, there was a dog that swam) that HATES water. Actually, she did better than I thought. At first we waded in and she tried to get away. Then we picked her up and put her in some deeper water (up to her knees). She stayed! Then the we walked out some more, and the waves started to crash in on top of her. Not so good. SO, she pulled her way back to solid ground (you could see the claw marks in the sand). I decided that maybe if I went out further, she would see that it wasn't so bad. I called her name and she came running out as best as she could - it looked like she was jumping around! BUT, then a wave came over her, and she ran back again. We did this (me calling - her coming) a few times, but eventually she wanted no more of it. We took her to out and dried her off. And top it all off, we took her back and gave her a bath ;o)

I think we'll go to the lake with her again, just to see if it gets better with time. But, if she doesn't like it, oh well. She's never been like any other dog, so we're used to it ;o) HA!

A little get away...and a funny story

2007-07-22T22:02:00.000-05:00

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the beautiful weather! It sure is giving me fall fever, these chilly nights! Though, the fall feeling makes me miss marching band :o( Do you know, this is the first summer in 10 years that I haven't gone to a Drum Corps show? And this is the first summer in 20 years that Kurt hasn't been to one. We are both sad...the one we were hoping to go to is this Friday night, but we'll be in Petoskey...sniff sniff.

So, this week Kurt and I are going up to Petoskey, Michigan for his parent's anniversary get away. Scott and Kelly, Kyle, Evyn, and Max are going up too. We got a cabin for Marcia and Doug's 40th, and we're all going up to spend some time with family. Should be a good time, although the drive is a killer - 10 hours from Chicago, ICK! Luckily we're cutting it in half - driving to Toledo on Tuesday and then on up on Wednesday. But, Friday, we're doin' it all in one shot. Yipee...sigh. But at least I'll get to drive a bit ;o) I haven't driven a car since June 21st. Hope I remember!

HA! SO...I've been meaning to put this funny story on my blog for a while...it's a testament to the feisty-ness of our little Shostakovich.

So, we're walking Razzle Dazzle (as we like to call her - or at least I do ;o) down the street one night and we come to a corner. All of the sudden she breaks loose from her harness and runs around the corner ahead of us. Well, around that corner were two large huskies walking along quite peacefully. Shosta, being the little nasty dog she is, runs and jumps in between the two of them and starts to pick a fight. She came out the other side a few seconds later and, one would think, realized that she couldn't take two of 'em at once. But nope, she came out, turned around, and dove right back in! Luckily Kurt was there to grab her our of the mix before she did any harm (rather, they did any harm to her). We made our apologies and walked away scowling at and scolding her. Found out, it was actually mommy's fault - I hooked her leash to her dog tag loop, not her harness loop. Needless to say, I haven't done that again ;o)

It wasn't funny at the time, but looking back on it now, it was hilarious. For those of you that haven't met our little spunky dog, she's a 30 lbs. terrier mix that looks like a mini-lab. She's a small size for her weight (when I first got her over 4 years ago, she looked malnutritioned and weighed only 19 lbs.), but her legs and sides look like the body of a little doggy body builder ;o) She's all muscle. In fact, she's so strong that she pulls Kurt around at her every whim.

Anywho, it was so funny looking back because here's this tiny little dog picking a fight with 2 bigger dogs, both of which who are at least 2 times her size. She could have easily been had if the dogs were actually as feisty as she is. But, luckily they weren't. And this is why our little Razzle Dazzle does not play with other doggies ;o)

BUT, I must say, she's the most affectionate dog I have every met...at least to us and my parents - no one else ;o)

Funny thing...they say a dog and his/her owner have very similar personalities. What does that say about me? ;o)

Fun in the Rain!

2007-07-18T22:30:00.000-05:00

Tonight Kurt and I went to see a great indie band called The Decemberists play with the Grant Park Orchestra (a summer festival orchestra that plays at Millennium park in Chicago). What a GREAT concert. It was jam packed, so we couldn't see a thing, but WOW! I haven't heard anything that amazing at a live concert! I wish more bands would play with an orchestra - it makes their music seem so much more anthem-like, fuller, and definitely more beautiful. The only problem - it was raining. We got caught in a nasty storm when we got off the train to head home. Our walk is approx. 8 or so minutes from the el to our place. But my sandals weren't co-operating - I kept sliding around. So, it took a little longer. Nothing like getting soaked ;o)

Anywho...to sum it all up...I now love the Decemberists because they play with orchestras ;o)

I'll put a picture of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion/Millennium park up sometime soon. It truly is a sight to behold. It's awesome. Kurt and I went there on vacation last year and were just awe-struck by it's beauty. Needless to say, I have tons of pictures of it somewhere (NO...I don't have a digital camera. I like my REAL camera with REAL pictures that look REAL nice...maybe someday, though ;o).

Take care!

Oops...forgot...

2007-07-17T18:20:00.001-05:00

Here's a picture of the lead singer from Of Montreal. Yes, he's wearing make-up. But so did Kiss and just about every other band in the 70's ;o)

Pitchfork Update

2007-07-17T16:55:00.000-05:00

'Ello 'Ello 'Ello!
(Sorry for the greeting...been reading some Agatha Christie ;o)

As you may recall from my previous post, Kurt and I spent a good part of our weekend at the Pitchfork Music Festival. It wasn't as spectacular of a line up as last year, but nonetheless, it was quite enjoyable. I'll give a quick (ha) review of each day...

Friday night was pretty cool. We went later, but ended up hearing the entire concert of GZA (pronounced "Jizz-ah"). He's a rapper from the super-group "Wu Tang Clan." By no means am I a fan of Rap, and I probably never will be. But you have to give props to a rapper for putting on a show in front of a bunch of indie-loving, preppy/hippy/mod white people. I kinda felt bad for him at times. Probably like Spoon (a popular indie band) playing for a crowd of rap-loving, black people. There were plenty of people throwing the "wu tang" sign (make a 'W' with your hands), but still...can't be the same ;o)

After GZA was Sonic Youth. This band has been around since I was born and are considered one of the greatest indie/alt rock bands of all time. They performed their break out album "Daydream Nation" perfectly. Kurt and I were pretty far back, so we couldn't see as well, but just being able to hear them perform was pretty cool.

What was also cool about Friday was that it gave a chance for those of us who were 7 in 1988 a chance to hear what is considered to be one of the greatest albums in indie history. Without Sonic Youth, the popularity of modern indie music wouldn't be as strong as it is. Indie music probably wouldn't even be what it is. And having the chance to see/hear them...very cool.

Saturday, we ended up going to the concert later than we had hoped. We wanted to see an Austin based band call Voxtrot at 2, but the train system, we sadly found out, doesn't run very consistently on the weekends (at least the brown line, which we live on). So we missed them...oh well. We ended up parking our chairs in some shade and enjoying the rest of the evening just listening to the bands. The one thing about music festivals is that there are TONS of people (I think something like 30,000 for the weekend), so the chances of seeing a band up close are slim to none - that is, if you are polite. If you so choose, you can cram through the crowds and TRY to get to the front. But that's not fun for someone whose 5'3" ;o)

Sunday, we ended up going late again, but that's ok. I wasn't feeling well for a good chunk of the day, but after while, the nastiness went away. So, this time we took the bus to the festival. Worked MUCH better and only took 30 minutes as opposed to 1 hour!

Once again, we parked our chairs and enjoyed the music from afar. It was actually quite enjoyable. We grabbed some tasty food (and cheap, I might add) and walked around a bit, too. We visited what they call "Flatstock"; there's an underground art (meaning, not as popular as, say, gallery art) form where artists create posters advertising concerts. These aren't typical looking posters. Each one is hand designed, then printed. We actually saw a guy making posters by hand from a big stamp (2 ft. by 3 ft.). SO, we bought some posters we plan to hang in the apt. We actually bought a National one last year, and as we were paying for it, we noticed Matt Berninger (the lead singer) standing right there! SO, of course, we got his autograph on the poster. It's now hanging in a lovely frame on our wall ;o) Anywho, we got some really amazing posters this time - one of Wilco, Of Montreal (who we saw this weekend...more on that in a sec), and of Tapes and Tapes. The Tapes one is very cool, as it's a poster for the show they played in Columbus back in May that we attended. A nice memory...

After that, we went and got a spot for the main reason we went to the show - the band 'Of Montreal.' They were AMAZING! Their music is a mix of electronic and rock/pop, with a slight disco flavor. I know Kurt was slightly embarrassed to admit that he liked them at first - he thought they sounded too disco-esque. BUT, after a closer listening, the lyrics are very poignant, dark, and quite amusing. So, it draws you in as you listen. Now he listens to 'em all the time ;o) As for the show, the band loves to use costumes and strange dancing people on stage. At one point, the lead singer was on the shoulders of a man completely covered in a black bodysuit. AND, the rhythm guitarist was dressed in a 70's-ish flashy suite and HUGE wings on his back. Very entertaining ;o) They brought out people dressed as comical monsters and a dude covered all in black with a huge lobster claw. Strange, but mesmerizing! They are going on tour this fall, so we are hoping to catch a full length concert instead of only 50 minutes at a festival. Can't Wait!

We were also entertained by some strange dude dancing near us. He would strike all sorts of poses and perform the strangest dance moves. I even got a picture of him. Everyone around us was trying SO hard to not crack up laughing, but I couldn't help it ;o) At one point he took off a vest he was wearing and swung it around above his head. I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants!

In closing (thank goodness...this was a long one)...

Even though this years line-up was nothing fabulous (besides Of Montreal), we enjoyed ourselves. Relaxing in the shade and listening to good music in beautiful weather. What more could you ask for?

HA HA!

2007-07-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

HA! So, I was checking my email today, and once a week I get these hilarious emails from despair.com.
It's a "Demotivation" site that sells crazy posters and stuff. These are my favorites, but there's a huge amount of them on their site. Check it out...they are ridiculous funny.

Moving on...

Pitchfork Music festival is this weekend - so excited! It's completely sold out, so it's sure to be a packed place. At least the weather will be nice this time. Last year it was in the upper 90's and even into the low 100's! Friday night is supposed to be in the low 70's to upper 60's. The rest of the weekend is low eighties! Woo Hoo!

Friday night is going to be amazing - Sonic Youth, one of the innovators of modern alt. rock is performing their breakout record in it's entirety. Very cool. The rest of the weekend should be pretty cool too.
Check it out at:

www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com

That's it for today. Hope you enjoy the funny ha ha's ;o) I always do.

Phew...it's hot here!

2007-07-07T21:50:00.000-05:00

Howdy again!

Phew...I don't know about the rest of you, but it's roasty-toasty here in Chicago! AND, since we don't have the luxury of AC (you think we would, based on the rent we pay), we're stuck toughing it out in the heat. Even the dog is panting - that's when you know it's bad. Our dog who, based on the hair I sweep up on a daily basis, should be bald. Our dog who, when it gets into the 40's, starts to shiver. Our dog who, when it get really cold outside, likes to cuddle up with a heating pad. She likes it warm like her mommy. SO, when the DOG starts to pant and I say "It's too hot", you KNOW it's hot!

SO...we had a nice Saturday here. We drove down to Southwest Chicago (not too far into the ghetto) to visit a Polish store/restaurant called Bobak's. We'd seen it on the Food Channel once a long time ago and always thought it would be cool to go there. So...since we live here now, we thought we should visit. We ate at the restaurant first, which had SO much food. My favorite were their mashed potatoes - they had dill in them. How YUMMY! They also had "Pigs in a blanket" - not what you are thinking, though. It's boiled cabbage stuffed with meat and rice covered in tomato sauce and baked. They were OK, but stuffed with pork. Marcia's (Kurt's mom's) are FAR superior. They are stuffed with beef and the sauce is much better. I'm going to try making them sometime, but they are a day-long process. Anyways, all of the other food was really good, too. And at the end we had a little square of cheesecake. Again, not the kind that we are all used to. But it's a kind that Kurt's Gramma Piotrowski used to make. Now Marcia makes it, and it's pretty good too. Something I didn't try, but found amusing, was their polish hot dog on a stick wrapped with bacon. Sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen!

After we ate lunch and were thoroughly stuffed, we ventured into the store. SO many things were in polish, but of course they had the english as well. We saw something (and I can't remember what it was ) that was called bogaty smack. I'm sure it's pronounced very differently than what I'm saying in my head, but I enjoyed the laugh. They even had the "angel wing" pastries and paczki's (pronounced "punchky"). We're planning to go back because it was so good, but maybe not on a 90 degree day ;o)

Funny thing to add...it took us a little over 40 minutes to get there...and only 20 minutes to get back. Gotta love big city traffic. BUT, either way, that was a pretty short trip considering it took us 1.5 hours to get back from IKEA in the NW suburbs - in a normal city it would have taken us 20. C'est la vie!

Anyways we got back and went to a TWO STORY Target - happiest woman alive, I was ;o) We found out that we need a third big bookshelf because we have TOOOO many books. I've been sorting them for the past two days. We have so many history/non-fiction books, we could open our own bookstore! (Something I think Kurt would like to do someday). Anywho...we didn't find the one that we liked, it was out of stock. So we came back and chilled. Of course that's a figure of speech.

There was a music festival goin' on just a block away, so we checked that out. It was pretty boring, so we left and walked around for a while. We ended up eating at a southern inspired restaurant called Wishbone. There, I had the most amazing drink experience of my life. Now...you're going to cringe a little when you hear it, but it's fabulous. Cucumber Lemonade. That's right. Cucumber Lemonade. It's AMAZING! Luckily, the place is on the way to the closest el stop, so you can bet that I'll be stopping by for a glass on the go! YUM! I need to figure out how to make it myself ;o)

OK...now that I've written a novel about the most mundane of things, I should cut it off. Time to put some more books away.

PS - just saw the Police on Live Earth - they're still pretty good for a bunch of old farts ;o) JK...I know they're not THAT old.

Come see me on MOG!

2007-07-06T23:08:00.000-05:00

Hello!

Well...I'm ALMOST finished unpacking. Had more issues with Comcast, so I've been dealing with those.

NOW that our internet is back up, I took a little time to set up a MOG account.

http://mog.com/Musicbizgirl

Hope that works...

MOG is a pretty cool site - it's like having a blog, but it's ALL about music - very cool ;o)

Check it out sometime....

Kurt's first day...

2007-07-03T16:04:00.001-05:00

Kurt's first day of work was yesterday! He was somewhat nervous, but not as much as I thought he would be. I decided to ride down on the train with him just to give him some company. Boy does it get packed! What was funny was that almost the entire train emptied out at the stop that Kurt got off at - it's a pretty busy area.

His company is located on the west side of the loop in what they call the "financial district." They work within the stocks/bonds/trading industry and are a major "player" in the Chicago markets. Seems like it will be a great fit for him! AND, it's a pretty cool environment. They have a VERY relaxed dress code (he said some people were wearing shorts and T-shirts, most were in jeans), they have a free catered lunch every day (for example they had sushi one day last week, had "Baci" deli yesterday, and some Mediterranean stuff today), AND they have a game room for stress release! He gets all sorts of fancy computers and accessories to work with, and has a library of resources at his fingertips. From the way it sounds, it's a company that takes very good care of their employees and values their abilities quite a lot. It is, however, a pretty stressful environment - lots of work and lots of deadlines. But, they stress working 8-9 hour days and that's it. They want to prevent any burn-out. SO...he is very happy with the decision he made, and so am I.

As for me and a job, I'm keeping an eye out on craigslist and the chicago reader. But I'm still unpacking (can you believe it?) and taking care of insurance, license plates, car titles, and other generally boring but necessary tasks. I should be done unpacking (the clothes are what's killing me, but the office is a nightmare too) by the end of the week, so hopefully I can focus on the job search more next week. I'm hoping to get a record store or an office gig, but I would really like to work at school in the fall, so I'm not sure what to do about the job. Oh well...I'll figure it out.

Well...I should continue with unpacking. I didn't get really far within a couple of hours- was checking out insurance stuff this morning and job hunting, then I got my Grad. Orientation packet and looked through that. SO...I need to be productive, if only for one more hour ;o)

Kurt's work gave him a $75 gift certificate to a restaurant company. So, we're going to use it tonight at "Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba" - it's a Tapas restaurant! We've wanted to go to one for quite a while, but they tend to be expensive. Since it's free, we thought we'd go!

Take care!

Here we are!

2007-06-27T20:31:00.000-05:00

Hello to all!

Well...we finally made it to Chicago! We were sore for a few days, but we're finally getting settled in and really liking it here. Everything is a walk away - even the grocery store! What more could you ask for?

BUT this past weekend was a living nightmare, as I'm sure my parents can attest to :O)

First of all, getting into the city took 2 hours - normally it takes 1...so our total trip time was 7 hours. Then getting through the tiny roads with such a huge Uhaul was tough, too. Thank goodness dad was driving ;o) At one point I was outside of the truck running along to make sure we could get through without hitting any cars.
THEN...we had to go down an alley to park/unload the truck - and people were actually HONKING at us to move. HA! I'm not sure where they think we could go!
THEN there were these dudes yelling out the back of their place at Shosta in the cab of the truck and throwing things at her - so I got nasty with them and they shut up.
THEN we had to take the truck back before the store closed, so we got everything out of the bed and left it in the yard.
THEN we took the truck to the location given us by Uhaul and they said that they couldn't take it - but then they decided to keep it. There was no way we were going to get that thing backed out on a busy street anyways, so they would have had to take whether or not they wanted it! THEN we came back and had some moving people move the last of the furniture into the place (which was very difficult to do) - they had to take off the front door to get our couch in (which they tore) - BUT, at least we got it in. We thought we were going to have to trash it and buy a new one!
THEN we finally got to rest. Yeah...that was a long day. I thank the Lord that my parents we here to help and are more in shape than I am - they are like the Energizer bunny X 2!

It's been a rough week with utilities, too. Our phone line needed fixed and we've had so many problems with cable and our broadband, it's ridiculous. BUT, it's ALL fixed now ;o) (We hope ;o)
We've also had some problems with our apartment, but the landlords came over tonight and are really quick to take care of any issues. AND, they are going to let us use a window unit air conditioner that they have in storage for our bedroom! HOW AWESOME! It's been pretty rough adjusting to the lack of AC and 90 degree weather, so this will be a big help. It's nice to have them living next door ;o)

SO...tonight, after resolving most of our problems, we're actually feeling pretty good! We are really looking forward to enjoying Chicago finally ;o) We'll be visiting IKEA tomorrow and "The Taste of Chicago" on Friday! Woohoo!

Take care!

PS-sorry for all of the complaining - just thought you would get a chuckle hearing all the joys of big-city living. HAHA...I just did ;o)

PSS - And our little diggle is doin' good, too! There was barely an adjustment period (thank heavens) and she's been VERY well behaved with the various technicians and our landlords in the house. She really enjoys big city walking - climbing the steps of every house we pass ;o)

Last one for a little while...

2007-06-21T23:11:00.001-05:00

This is my final post from Columbus!
It's hard to believe - time has flown by and now we're packing up and leaving for Chicago tomorrow! The plan is to spend the night at my parents tomorrow night then head out early in the morning on Saturday. Bad thing is that I'm already worn out and we still have 2 BIG moving days ahead of us! Let's hope we don't have to move again for a couple more years because I'm getting too old for this ;o) (I know - half of you are probably saying "Old? Yeah right...")

Special thanks to mom for helping out the past two days. She's a super-cleaner/organizer. I'm retarded when it comes to packing ;o)

So...since it's past midnight, I'm logging off and getting a good night's sleep - I'll need it.
Chances are, I won't be posting again until next week sometime. I'm not really sure when we'll have our cable internet up and running...but as soon as we do, I'll be sure to post with pictures of the new place!

Take care!

Concerts and a busy week!

2007-06-18T22:15:00.000-05:00

Howdy!

Well, all of our concerts with The National are over :o(

Friday's concert in Cincinnati was pretty packed, as it's their home town and they had TONS of family and friends there. What was great about the concert was that they played a VERY long set and a lot of their older tunes. What was awful was the crowd. There were some pretty rude dudes who stood right in front of me - so we moved. But it seemed that everywhere I stood, someone would come right in front of me! I guess it's no surprise to anyone that I have problems seeing at concerts - thanks to my mother's lack of height, I'm doomed to see the band as floating heads, if I see them at all.

The drive home was also pretty awful - we were both very tired, so our eyes had some problems staying open! Kurt started out, but I ended up driving most of the way. And, since I'm an amblyope, my eyes have issues staying straight when I'm really tired. I swear I was driving home cross eyed!

SO...due to the floating head affects that I do NOT enjoy at concerts, Kurt and I decided to get to the concert on Saturday (here in Columbus-our last one...sniff sniff) earlier so that we could get a spot down front. Luckily, we did. We had to stand through 1 good opening act (Talkdemonic - a nifty violin and drums duet), and 1 HORRIBLE opening act. Follow my advice - do not buy any albums by "Shapes and Sizes" - they really aren't very good.

But it was ALL worth it - being right up front with the singer and guitarists 3 feet away was pretty gosh darn amazing. They played a shorter set Saturday night, but they still closed with one my favorite songs - About Today. It's about the ending of a relationship - the lyrics for this tune are pretty sparse, but they paint a great, albeit depressing, story.

And, of course, there is always something to complain about at a concert ;o) Don't get me wrong - I LIVE to go to concerts. But there's always something...
Saturday night's joie de nuit was a bunch of frat boys. Smelly-like-rotten-socks frat boys. Now, let's get this straight right away, The National's music is pretty mature, not conducive to moshing. But apparently they disagree with that statement because they were slamming their stinky, sweaty, smelly-like-rotten-socks bodies into Kurt all night. Yay.

We had a tickets to go to tonight's concert in Cleveland but decided that getting back at 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning on a week night probably wasn't a good idea...especially since we have a lot to do this week.

Speaking of a lot to do...it's hard to believe that on Friday, we're moving out and Saturday we'll be moving to Chicago! It's been easy to say "Oh, we'll have time to do that before we leave, we've got a couple of months." Then it turned into 6 weeks, then 4 weeks, then 2, now it's only 4 days away! Yipee!

We are SOOOOOOO excited to get the move finished. We looked into having movers take care of everything, but it was (Yikes) $2500.00 - $3200.00 dollars. NO WAY!
So, my parents (God bless them) are going to help us!

What's really great is that Kurt is taking the week after the move off. We'll be able to take our time unpacking and get to know the city better. We'll probably do some sight seeing and scope out all the good restaurants!

Well...I should get going. I need to hit the hay so I can get up bright and early and get to work!

Take care!

8 days!

2007-06-15T16:11:00.000-05:00

8 Days and counting until the BIG MOVE!

We can't wait to be in Chicago!!!!!!!!!!! :O)

But, we're also pretty excited about this weekend, too! One of our favorite bands - The National (see side bar -clips from youtube) - is taking a tour of the 3 C's of Ohio - Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland - while on a nationwide tour. Kurt and I have been in severe "National" withdraw. The last time we saw them in concert was at the Pitchfork Music Festival last July...and that was only a short set. TOO long without one of our fav. bands!!!!!!
SO we splurged and, as an anniversary gift to ourselves, we got tickets to all 3 concerts! One thing nice about liking "indie" bands is that concert tickets are cheap! I think the most we paid was 15 a ticket at the Cleveland show. That's way better than the 80 or 90 we paid for Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the embarrassing amount we paid for Lollapalooza tickets (but it's 3 days and 130 bands - AND it's possibly my future career - that's how I justify it ;o).

Our first concert is tonight in Cincinnati, then C-bus tomorrow, and Cleveland on Monday. Happy anniversary to us ;o)

I should probably sign off now...I was thinking of sorting through some stuff before we leave tonight. I didn't get anything done today...Shosta had her annual traumatic event - going to the vet!

Take care to everyone! I'll TRY to post a few times before we make the big move. If not, I'll see ya on the other side!

Congrats X 3!

2007-06-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

Congrats X 3!!!!

First of all, congrats to my hubby, Kurt! He got two GREAT offers for a new job in Chicago and he decided to go with "Job #1". It will be a great opportunity for him and he will be learning SOOOO much! We were just discussing his salary the other night - it will be 55% more than what he makes here, and there's the potential to double that in just a few years. CRAZY! He's really excited, and as can be expected, pretty nervous. BUT, they said some pretty great things about him - they have been searching for someone for 5 months (and have interviewed 25 candidates) and that he's the first one that they have offered the job to! And they recruit the same people that Microsoft and Google go after. WOW!

Congrats #2 goes out to my friend Sean and his wife Abbey on the birth of their 3rd child - a baby girl named Rosalie at 8lb. 14oz.! Woohoo!!! They now have a VERY full house ;o)

Congrats #3 goes to Kurt and me! Happy 3rd anniversary to us! My how time flies! It doesn't really seem like 3 years...but it is! In honor of our special day, we'll be eating fillet mignon at Hyde Park tonight! YUM!

OK...I suppose I should get back to packing...sigh. Only 10 days until we move. In this case, time is flying TOO fast!

Update and The "list"...

2007-06-06T16:11:00.000-05:00

Update on Job #2...

He got another offer today! They were aware of all of the specifics of his last offer, so they were able to offer even more! Decisions, Decisions - I don't know how he will decide! But I can imagine it's pretty nice to have people competing over you ;o) Congrats again to my smartie of a hubby! Of all the deserving people, he's the most deserving - he never thinks he's smart enough to get the jobs...but he always does! Such a humble guy. Since he doesn't brag for himself, I'll do the bragging for him ;o)

We're going out to celebrate all of his offers tonight at a great restaurant we love called "The Rossi." They have this amazing chicken dish where they put wild mushrooms right below the skin and roast it. It comes with fingerling potatoes, multi-colored green beans, and two different coulis. And they make the BEST Yukon Gold French Fries with a lemon-garlic aioli. I'm getting hungry already ;o)

So...we've made a mental list of places we're planning to eat at before we leave. Because, with us, food is life! (Of course, it comes second to music or a good concert ;o)
We knocked two off this past weekend - we went to our favorite "Der Dutchman" - they have the best mac and cheese and chicken noodles and any other "Amish" food you can think of.
Then, Saturday night we went to a fancy new restaurant in town called "Rosendales." It's THE place to be, from what I've read. BUT, we found the food to be uber-pretentious, the environment loud and cold (literally), and the wait staff a bit snooty. I had a short-rib appetizer (which was mediocre) and a very good pear and endive salad. Kurt had some mix of seafood, which he said was good, but not worth the price.

HA - we ended up getting stuck next to some overly chatty and VERY loud, slightly tipsy women. Not a pleasant experience, considering we heard everything about her wedding (which happened too many years ago for anyone to care) and how her husband loves hotels. THEN, her husband came. Let's just say they were two of a kind and leave it at that.

But, we've got a few more places to scratch off the list before we leave - we better get going. Only 16 more days until we move!

We're going to Hyde Park next Tuesday for our 3rd anniversary, so that's another one off of the list.

OK...I'm sure absolutely no one cares about my rantings or food list...so I'm going to sign off.

Long weekend...but a good one!

2007-06-04T16:50:00.000-05:00

'Ello.

We just CAN'T seem to stay away from Chicago ;o) We made another trip this past Thursday-Saturday for Kurt to interview at several businesses. That's the 3rd time in the month of May! Every other weekend...sigh. And what made it crazier this weekend was the lack of sleep ;o) We left Thursday after work and didn't get to our hotel until 1am Friday morning. THEN, we left Chicago to come home Friday night at 10:30pm. We didn't end up getting home until 5am Saturday morning.
Needless to say, our sleep STILL isn't back to normal.

BUT, Kurt had two great interviews and walked away with one job offer already and hopefully another to come in the next few days.
The offer he got on Friday was really REALLY good - it will be a stressful job managing software and databases in the stock trading industry, but the environment sounds great, the financial opportunity is pretty amazing, and it will help him to grow even more. AND, they typically hire M.I.T. or Berkley grads (the two most prestigious comp. science schools), which says a lot about Kurt ;o) Congrats to my hubby!

So, while Kurt was getting grilled in the tech. interviews, I had a nice time exploring the Magnificent Mile. I visited the great Museum of Contemporary Art (#1) and walked down Michigan. I had lunch at The Grand Lux Cafe (#2), which was superb. Then I rode the train a bit and visited the main branch of the Chicago Public Library.

So...when we got back Saturday morning at 5am, we went right to bed and slept until 11:00. Got up, went to eat and do some shopping, then came back and took a nap (like a bunch of old farts, we are ;o). We were so beat, and we wanted to get sleep for Saturday night.

Saturday night was our last "Gallery Hop" in the Short North (the arts district of Columbus). We're very sad :o( It's a great event the first Saturday of the Month where all of the stores and galleries in the Short North stay open until11pm and have their exhibit openings. We had a great time (even though we were pretty tired) walking around. AND we got to see the new lights on the arches! Long time coming...

And finally, last night, we went to a great concert at Little Brother's. Unfortunately, this fabulous club is closing due to a huge hike in their rent (stupid landlords). SO, the GREATEST club in Central Ohio is no more at the end of the month. Sniff Sniff. We got to see Miranda Sound (great local band) AND it was free because they were recording a live album. Very cool.

OK...that's enough for tonight. We have to get some dinner, pick up my new glasses (woohoo) and then I have to practice piano. I'm playing for Kindergarten graduation tomorrow!

Oh...my last day of school was today. Good day, lots of hugs from little kids ;o)

Take care!

Good News! Apt. Found!

2007-05-23T10:23:00.000-05:00

So, after much searching and driving in the craziness that is Chicago, we have found a place! No, it's not in Bucktown, Wicker Park, or Ukrainian Village, much to our surprise. It's actually in a neighborhood north of Bucktown called Roscoe Village. We found with the 3 neighborhoods we were aiming for, that our price range was enough to get us either 1.) A really nice place next to a not-so-nice area OR 2.) A not-so-nice place in a pretty decent area. And, being that we want a nice place IN a nice area, we realized that we weren't going to find something in the 3 areas we had hoped. Bucktown and Ukrainian Village had some pockets of un-gentrified homes/scary areas and Wicker Park was super busy and expensive. SO...onto Roscoe Village! We put in applications to two places and we got both of them, but decided on the first apt. we found.

A bit about Roscoe Village...

What's great about this neighborhood is that it's very "residential" - so it has a safe feeling. Since I will be taking some night classes, we both agreed that a safe neighborhood was of utmost importance. The el' stop is a 10 minute walk (perfect), and is on the brown line. That may be a problem since they are doing a lot of renovation on that line. But, the landlord said that both her and her husband work in the loop, and the train/bus system hasn't failed them yet.
Parking in this neighborhood is also easier. If we didn't get a garage in one of the other 3 neighborhoods, parking would have been a nightmare. But here, the landlord said that most of her tenants find parking on the same street as where they live and sometimes right in front of the apt.! Woohoo!

Another GREAT aspect of the neighborhood is the close proximity to a dog park, a supermarket (Jewel Osco - 3 blocks away), and Whole Foods and Trader Joe's - our (and Shosta's ;o) favorite organic stores!!!!! Whole Foods is 4 blocks away, and Trader Joe's is a bit further. Woohoo, again!
If we were to move to the other 3 neighborhoods, a grocery store would have been quite a distance away (a couple miles, which translates into 20 or 30 minutes - or more). Or we would have had to go to a Walgreen's or 7Eleven to shop - ICK.

And finally, there's a record store in the neighborhood!!!! Sigh...everything we need ;o)
(Almost, I still have to find a Target)

A little bit about the place...

I don't have pictures of the place, but once we move in, I'll try to post some. It's really quite nice, and it's a duplex, so there are two levels of living space (we get the 2nd and 3rd floors). And the landlord lives in the building next door, so if there are any problems, all we have to do is go knock on their door.

The major downside to this place is that it doesn't have central air. It's not too big of a deal to me, but I think we'll probably end up getting a window unit for the upstairs so Kurt can be comfortable.

The living room is a decent size (not huge, but big enough). It has a little "nook" that we can put the dining room table in and possibly the buffet that matches. The kitchen is a tad old and doesn't have a dishwasher (bummer :o( BUT, it's actually quite large (all things considered). We'll be able to cook TOGETHER! It's large enough to put a rolling island in and some extra carts/baker's racks. Having a nice sized kitchen to cook in is VERY important, as we've been stuck in a tiny one for the last 3 years. (And the last nice kitchen I had was way back in the first apt. I had in college...long time ago!)

Also on the first floor of our unit is a bathroom ("vintage" comes to mind, but ok) and a small 2nd bedroom, perfect for our library/office.

On the second floor is the master bedroom - the entire floor! There's quite a lot of space, which sold us on the place immediately, as most bedrooms in Chicago are TINY (maybe 7' or 8' X 11' or 13' - yeah...that small). There's enough room for our bed and dressers and possibly even a small sitting area. And, if Shosta barks a lot while we're gone or during the transition, it will be a great place for her to stay due to it's size (and a big window towards the street ;o). AND, what's even better is that it has 2 or 3 skylights, so it's a very bright room (with a big closet).

We are really excited about this place, not only because it's nice, but because the landlord was very nice, they are next door, there's a back yard that's fenced, and they seem to be making constant improvements to their properties (they had just refinished the wood floors, painted, and added the skylights). We found that to be pretty important because a lot of places we saw were not well taken care of. It's as if the owners knew they could get 1000 bucks for a crappy place if it was in a nice area, so what's the use of making it nice? And believe me, there were some CRAPPY places we saw.

So...in the end, we didn't find anything in the areas that we had focused much of our time on. But we are REALLY happy with the area we ended up in. It feels "homey" and safe which, in the end, we found to be the most important factor in our search.

Ok...time to go. I have the day off today (first day in a LONG time since all of the musical rehearsals began), so I'm going to try to be productive by cleaning/packing up the office. Or, I'll just sit here and make a wish list of nifty things on the Ikea website.
(Thank you, Michelle, for introducing me to Ikea so many years ago ;o)

A SUCCESS!!!

2007-05-16T20:05:00.000-05:00

"The Best Little Theater in Town" was a HUGE success!!! The kids were fabulous and the theater at ODU was perfect! And believe it or not, I wasn't too nervous! We performed for all of the elem. kids at school today and they did a great job. So, there wasn't too much to worry about (except handing the mics around ;o).
I'll be sad to leave the kids behind, though... :*o( The principal even came up and said "Do you really have to leave us?" Sniff sniff... I haven't told the kids I'm leaving yet...not looking forward to that.

What a crazy month! And thank goodness it's all over...well almost.

We're off to Chicago this weekend and hopefully we'll find a place to live...finally. I've got a list of 30 or so places to contact/look at, so we'll have a full weekend. We've got an appt. with an apartment locating service on Saturday - they'll take us around to see listings they have open. But other than that, we'll be on our feet huffing it!

OK...gonna finish up now. Gotta eat some dinner - at 9:30pm...ha.

Take care and I'll post again once we get back from chi-town this weekend!

Only a few days before...

2007-05-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

"THE BEST LITTLE THEATER IN TOWN" !!!!

Our latest trip...

2007-05-08T18:43:00.000-05:00

We made our most recent trip to Chicago this past weekend. As my mom says "it feels like we're growing roots to our car seats." It seems like we're constantly traveling...hardly a weekend at home!

We had a good trip this time and it felt like spring instead of winter ;o) We went to a couple of open houses and viewed a couple of others by appt. Only 1 of the 4 we saw really stuck out to us. The problems with that one were the move in date (June 1st only) and the location (wouldn't feel as safe walking around at night-and considering I'll be taking night classes, that's important). The street that it was on was great, and there were streets near by that were just the same. However, we visited a REALLY AWFUL apt earlier and it was just around the corner. SO...the area wasn't consistent enough for us.

One of the most important things we did this trip was drive around Bucktown. We had placed it lower on our list (UK vil, wicker, then bucktown), but now find that it's 1st and UK vil. is 3rd. It's very residential, but very eclectic (school bldgs. painted with murals, artsy houses, intriguing stores). You could find all sorts of nifty little restaurants on just about every street corner. Parking was reasonable and there were a lot of grassy places. AND it's about a 1/2 a mile to a mile from the train station. SO...we are focusing our search on Bucktown and Wicker, and sadly, have raised our max. rent up to about 1250. But, if we want to be in a safe neighborhood and have enough space to feel comfortable, we'll do it ;o)

We'll be back in Chicago in a week and a half (May 18th-21st) so we're hoping to sign a lease then. We may have to change our move in date to July 1st instead of June 22nd - funny thing in Chicago, there's not many places willing to do a mid-month move in. Oh well. But if we can sign something then, we'll have some time to recuperate, pack, and enjoy Columbus before we head out. We have been writing a list of restaurants we want to eat at before we leave, so we've gotta get started on those ;o)

Ok...that's it for now. My MS musical is next week, so I'm sure I'll have something to post then! Believe it or not, it's going REALLY well now ;o) (knock on wood)

Take care~

One Down...One To Go!

2007-05-03T18:51:00.000-05:00

One down, one to go!

My elementary musical was last night and went VERY well. There are always a couple of little "oops," but they all performed amazingly! I had a lot of compliments from the parents and teachers, which is always nice...even from parents that I haven't met before! Phew, what a relief!

I have 3 "normal" rehearsals left with my Middle School kids (thank goodness they are about 2 hours each) , then a dress rehearsal at Ohio Dominican University, a school performance in the church, and then the main performance.
The kids REALLY improved yesterday, so I'm feeling a LOT more confident about the show. They still need to sing out, but they are beginning to sing AND dance together! Woo Hoo!

Onto the Chicago front...we're off again tomorrow after we get off work. It makes for a long night (We usually don't get in until after midnight when we leave at 5:30pm), but it's still fun! We're HOPING to find a place Saturday so as to alleviate some of the stress. Kurt and I were just talking at dinner tonight...In a month and a half (and a few days), we'll be living in chicago! Then we realized, about a month and a half ago was St. Patty's day...and that really didn't seem that long ago. Which means a month and a half (and a few days) from now really isn't that far off. SO...needless to say, I lost my appetite ;o)

OK...well...I gotta get packing for the trip (after "the office" of course).

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Bummer :o(

2007-04-30T16:40:00.000-05:00

So...just found out that the apartment we were interested in has been rented :o( C'est la vie.

We're still going to go to Chicago this coming weekend, though. Things rent quickly (obviously), so we want to make sure that we get as much choice as possible. If we wait until the end of May, we may not have much to choose from - and may be stuck with an icky place! We DON'T want that ;o)

As if that's not enough to worry about...

My elementary musical is Wednesday night. We had our dress rehearsal today - it actually went pretty well!!! Phew!
Kurt and I had free tickets to a Spoon concert last night, but passed on it so that I could get some sleep and prepare for a busy week. I feel bad, because it was at a pretty cool venue, but working with over 100 kids at one time and only having a few hours of sleep is NOT something I EVER want to do. It would have been a nightmare ;o) You have to be on your toes with these little pipsqueaks!

So...that means two weeks from Wednesday night is my Middle School musical. It's coming together...but very slowly.

OK...gotta run and cook some dinner!

Been a while...

2007-04-25T21:51:00.000-05:00

Howdy! It's been a while, eh?
Not much has been going on besides all of the musical stuff. One week until my lil' ones' show and three weeks until the big ones. I'm pretty stressed, as always. The big kids are FINALLY starting to sing AND dance at the same time...what a concept! The little ones will be fine, I'm sure. I just can't wait until it's all finished!

Moving on to Chicago...Turns out we are probably going next weekend. We found an AWESOME apartment on craigslist and don't want to miss out! We'll try to visit some other places too, just to see what's available. The June move-in's are starting to pop up, so we should be able to find something soon! How exciting!

Wanna check out what we're looking at?

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/apa/318652067.html

It even includes a parking spot with a back yard! Woohoo!
NOW...let's just hope it doesn't rent before next weekend AND let's hope it's really nice ;o)

OK...time for bed...
Guess what I get to do tomorrow (besides work)? Build a robot!

Music Festivals Galore!

2007-04-16T21:38:00.000-05:00

Pitchfork and Lollapalooza, here we come! 'Tis the season for buying summer festival tickets!

Last summer we had the joy of going to Pitchfork Music festival in Union Park, Chicago. It was our first festival, so we weren't sure what to expect. BUT, it was AWESOME! It only had about 15,000 in attendance, so it was smaller than a lot of others. We'll be going again this summer (already have tickets). Last year we got to see the likes of Spoon, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, the National, Glen Kotche, among others. This year, we'll get to see Of Montreal, Iron and Wine, Steve Malkmus, and...this is quite amazing.... Sonic Youth!

For a more complete listing, visit http://www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com/
....not that anyone cares ;o)

SO....we decided this weekend that, even though it's incredibly expensive AND there will be quite possibly a hundred thousand (or more) people in attendance, we HAVE TO GO TO LOLLAPALOOZA! We're both a bit nervous...since we've only been "festivalized" by a small little indie show. But with such an awesome line-up literally in our back yard (it's across the street from my school downtown), we can't simply pass it up.

Here's the insane lineup - and these are only the shows that we intend to see...there are at least 60 or 80 total bands playing...OHMYGOSH!

Pearl Jam, Muse, Modest Mouse, Interpol, My Morning Jacket, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon, Black Keys, Regina Spektor, Spoon, TV on the Radio, Pete Yorn, Amy Winehouse, LCD Soundsystem, Clap your hands say yeah, Silverchair, The Hold Steady, M.I.A., Son Volt, Polyphonic Spree, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Silversun Pickups, Tapes 'N Tapes, Cold War Kids.

AND - they are adding stuff all of the time...like they just added one of my fave bands - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists!!!!!!!!

So...it averages out to be about 8 dollars per person, per band...can't beat that!

Check out their website if you're bored....
http://www.lollapalooza.com/default.asp?fd=1

Can you tell I'm EXCITED??????

Ok...I should go to bed now...Monday's are my LOOOONG days and I need to get my sleep.

Take care!

2007-04-15T17:08:00.000-05:00

Hello!

We had a very nice easter/spring break week. Hope you did as well!

We went to see our parents over easter weekend then on to Chicago from Monday through Wednesday. We had a few goals for this trip, but we were able to relax as well (which was nice!).

First, we went down to school to make sure all is well - and it is. We figured out some financial aid things and got some questions answered. The main campus building (600 S. Michigan) is super cool. Each floor's entrance is painted a different bright color with great artwork on the walls. I can't tell you how cool it is to be in such an "artsy" environment on a school campus! Hopefully, once school starts, I'll be working in this building as well. They have some great campus jobs available. I saw one for spring semester that was the secretary for the music department! Right up my alley ;o)

While we checked out school, we spoke with the secretary in the grad. office who suggested a few places to live. She gave us a list to check out, but we decided that a lot of them were too far away. However, we did decided to check out Lincoln Park. Talk about posh - it's a VERY nice, clean, and yuppie-ish neighborhood (not exactly what we're looking for). It seems very safe and cozy, but it's SUPER expensive. A one bedroom (and in some cases a studio) are 1100 or more! SO, we'll add it to our list as a possibility, but I think we'll end up elsewhere.

We also checked out Logan Square. This neighborhood has cheaper rent, but is still in the process of gentrification. It didn't seem completely unsafe, but it wasn't the kind of area that I would like walking around in at night. We'll keep this neighborhood on the list as well (only if it's close to the el), but I doubt we'll end up there.

As we've been looking around, we've solidified the list of neighborhoods we're really interested in. Ukrainian Village, Bucktown, and Wicker Park seem to be the area we feel like we'd fit in most. The neighborhoods are very artsy (Some label them as "bohemian") and close to everything. Obviously, we're not the kind to need a lot of nightlife, but they are close to galleries, shops (very cool record store), and restaurants, so we're set.

We went to a pretty popular record store on Monday called "Reckless Records." We picked up a few CD's (they have TONS) AND I checked to see if they would be hiring in June. I think I found my summer job ;o)

Well...that's about it for now.

Take care and have a great week!

On Our Way

2007-04-06T19:27:00.000-05:00

Hello!

Well...not a real eventful week (as is evident by my lack of posts ;o). Same ol' same ol' with school. Still can't get those gosh darn middle school kids to sing AND dance at the same time! But my elementary kids are doing GREAT! The elem. performance is in a little over 3 weeks...hard to believe May is just around the corner. Anywho - it's going to be fabulous. They even have choreography to their songs. Getting 'em prepped for the future!

Moving on-we're off to Chicago next week for our 2nd "searching" visit. We'll be there for a few days, so hopefully we'll get a lot done. We're going to check out Logan Square and look around the places we visited last time. Hopefully there will be a few open houses we can see. Unfortunately L.Square is a bit further removed from downtown, but the prices for rent are a little bit easier to swallow. It's hard to believe that 900-1000 for a small place is considered "easy to swallow," eh? But it is...when you compare that to 1300 or more in Wicker Park! I've even seen some two bedroom flats go for 3000 or 4000! And that's not even downtown rent! EEK!

We'll be going down to campus for a visit, too! Gotta stop at the admissions and financial aid office to make sure everything is ok!

Well...I guess that's it for now!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Gypsy Rock and birthday

2007-03-31T14:21:00.000-05:00

Howdy!

So my birthday was Thursday. It's funny how birthdays aren't as exciting as you get older...I guess it must be that you have to go to work, huh? What I DO get excited for, though, is eating out :O) We enjoyed lovely fillet mignon at Hyde Park Restaurant last Saturday and will be having Prime Rib tonight with Mom and Dad at the Steer barn. That's the one thing that I enjoy about birthdays now ;o) It's not the gifts, it's the fillet! And, how lovely is this, for my birthday Kurt made me dinner on Sunday AND on Thursday! What a guy ;o)

It just so happened that we got tickets to a show Thursday night. It wasn't really planned as a birthday treat, just a band we wanted to see called Humanwine. GREAT show! They are a combination of gypsy, eastern European, and rock music. Very entertaining and interesting!!!! One of our favorite rock drummers, Brian Viglione, is touring with them. We actually got to talk to Brian for a bit and got his autograph on the Humanwine CD.
And to think that this could be what I do for a living - How COOL is that????

That's it for now!!

Nothing much...

2007-03-26T15:34:00.000-05:00

Well...there's not much to post about today. Nothing new on the Chicago front - I've made a posting to Craigslist, so I hope some people reply! Actually, it's still considered pretty early to most rental offices/landlords. We probably won't be able to sign the lease until May. Of course, those of you who know me, know that I NEED to plan ahead and like to have things all figured out WAY in advance. Needless to say, this is driving me BONKERS! "Oh, wait until May"...they say. Easy for them;o)

One thing that is really great is that Chicago has these nifty "apartment finders." It's a free service for people like us who are trying to find a place to move. One company will actually drive their customers around to different showings! Talk about a fabulous service! We're going to try to meet some of those "finders" in April - maybe, just maybe, we'll find something then ;o)

On a completely different note...tonight is our first rehearsal for our last concert with the Heisey Wind ensemble :o( Sniff Sniff...
Heisey is a community band based in Granville, Ohio (Dennison Univ.). Kurt plays a lot of aux. parts, while I am the timpanist. What's great about this ensemble is that it's not your average community band. For instance, we played a Barne's symphony at our last concert (this is stuff college ensembles play!). Many of the people are well trained musicians, either with a music degree or many years of playing. So we play really cool music that's actually challenging! Based on the email I just got from the coordinator, it looks like we're playing a Broadway themed concert. Should be interesting!!!!

Kurt and I are hoping to find something similar in Chicago because we both enjoy playing in an ensemble together! Unfortunately, because Columbia isn't a classical music/performance focused school (more jazz perf., rock, media, etc.), they don't offer a concert band. But they do have a choir and possibly a percussion ensemble, so I guess that will quell my performance needs for the next few years!

Ok... I need to get dinner started. It takes about 45 minutes to get to rehearsals for Heisey, so once Kurt gets home we eat and then jet!

Take care and I'll post more as it comes!

Map of Chicago - Where we are looking!

2007-03-21T19:06:00.000-05:00

Here are a few maps of where we are looking in Chicago!

This map shows a large view of Chicago. The area we are looking is in the red box. It doesn't look that big, but it's a lot larger than you think!

This map shows the area in an enlarged view.

Chicago-in-a-day

2007-03-19T16:25:00.000-05:00

HA!
So I had this big post all set to go and when I tried to publish it, it said "ERROR"! Silly ol' me should have saved it first ;o)

So here's the run down of our most recent trip to Chicago... (this past weekend). We didn't get the chance to see the green river (I saw it on the news, does that count?), but we sure saw our share of drunks, especially in the crammed el stops downtown!

We were able to visit Ukranian Village, Wicker Park, Bucktown, and Old Town - all by foot. Needless to say we are still aching from the hours and miles of walking in the windy, cold, Chicago weather!

Ukranian Village was, by far, our favorite. The residential areas are very nice (but, a bit packed with cars) and very peaceful. The homes are mainly greystones with multiple flats (floors), so we'll have VERY close neighbors...but that's to be assumed, living in a big city and all. This neighborhood was also very close to an el stop, which is good for me so that I can get to school easily and good for Kurt if he works in the Loop.

Wicker Park, was equally as nice, albeit a bit more pricey. The funny thing is everywhere I read says that these places are "Very affordable." HA! I'd like to see their incomes ;o) Anywho, this neighborhood is also close to an el stop AND has a park that's open to dogs! Always a good thing with our little psycho-pup ;o)

We also visitied Bucktown. This neighborhood is still going through gentrification, so it's not as nice as the places above. However, the rent is more affordable (still pric$y ;o) and it's considered to be the "artsy" neighborhood of Chicago. That means we'll fit right in ;o) AND, this is (I think) where the Polish-American Museum is. So there should be some Polacks around ;o)

Finally, we visited Old Town. This neighborhood was simply too urban and too commercial (not to mention VERY EXPENSIVE). It was really close to town, so lacked the peace and quiet we were hoping for. And, it's missing the charm we seek as well.

We were planning to visit Logan Square, but after walking the extra miles in O.T. (we walked to an el stop that we thought was open...but it turned out it was under construction so we had to walk an extra mile or so....this being AFTER we walked our tushies off all over the place), we decided that we didn't want to die young.

SO...our next trip to Chicago will be April 9th-11th. We'll visit Logan Square, Ravenswood, and Roscoe Village. These places are all a lot further north than we would like, but we feel obligated to check out as many places as possible. But, I have a feeling we'll end up in "Ukie" Village, Wicker Park, or Bucktown.

I'll try to keep the posts coming at a quicker pace, and since we are getting closer to the moving date, I'm sure I'll have more to report.

So...as I close, I'm crossing my fingers that this will post. Because, gosh darn it, I'm tired of typing ;o)

2007-03-12T16:32:00.000-05:00

Forgot to mention that we're looking at Ukrainian Village, too! Believe it or not, the neighborhood has some Polish ancestry. Which means we should fit in pretty good. Or at least Kurt will ;o)

Busy week!

2007-03-12T15:58:00.000-05:00

A busy week in the neighborhood! Rehearsals for my elementary and middle school musicals are in full swing. Things are going very well! The kids are catching on to all of the songs and the ES kids are doing great with their choreography. Now I just hope my MS kids pick up on their moves too!

BIG news for the MS musical - it will be performed at the Ohio Dominican University Theater! What a great experience for the kids!

On another note, Kurt and I will be visiting Chicago this weekend in search of the "perfect" neighborhood to live in. SO many choices and so little time! We're currently looking at Bucktown, Wicker Park, Old Town, Ravenswood, and Humboldt Park. It should be a lot of fun, but we realized AFTER we made plans that we will be in town during St. Patrick's Day. We'll see how that goes... Maybe we'll even get to see the GREEN Chicago River. AND we'll eat some Giordano's Pizza, too! YUM!!!

First Post!

2007-03-05T15:35:00.000-06:00

Woohoo! My first blog! I thought it would be great to start a blog since Kurt and I will soon be moving away from everyone! That way, you can all keep up with our ever-changing life!