Soaked to the bone

Thanks to Kelly's kindness, Matt and I went to the Michigan/Notre Dame game yesterday. We got to see a bunch of my old BP friends, and Matt got to hang out with their significant others. ;-) We brought out our bocce ball set (turns out I'm terrible) and Erin and Chris brought out their "bags" set, and we spent most of our morning huddled in our camping tent and under Chrissy's canopy. The rain let up at the end of the morning, and we stayed dry for a few hours and through the whole first half of the game.

Then halftime rolled in, along with a downpour. I've never been so wet in my life. Seriously. When I came home and took a warm shower/bath, I actually felt drier. How is that possible? I don't know. The rain didn't let up for the rest of the game, but since ND was winning, most of us were still delighted.

Go Irish!

Some photos of the fun

Matt with Blondie the snake.

I never actually got the alligator's name. He looks nonplussed, no?

Matt and the cow.

My rappelling adventures are only on video so you'll have to trust me on that one!

Me time

I'm very glad that this marriage still allows me some "me time." Take tonight, for example. I've got the house to myself, so I stayed at work a little late (at least for a Friday -- 6:30 p.m.) and finished up a few things. Now I'm sitting on the couch with a bowl of ramen noodles, one of my favorite comfort foods. There's a glass of chardonnay from the bottle we opened a few nights ago sitting next to the ramen. I'm planning to watch two movies I've had around for ages but have never watched: Mean Creek and Muriel's Wedding. Even better, I'm watching the movies with my laptop in front of me, something I try not to do when Matt's around. So I'm finally going to write back to all of my emails that have been sitting in my inbox forever. I'm also going to turn my notes from my board meeting on Wednesday night into minutes.

In short, it's going to be a productive but relaxing evening. Hope you're having the same kind of evening out there!

Tanzania

Matt and I have been planning a trip to Chile and Peru next year... I've lately been thinking about visiting Tanzania instead.

If we went to Tanzania, we'd do some combination of climbing Kilimanjaro and doing some sort of safari. But I have no clue where to begin planning or getting information for such a vacation. Has anyone out there ever been to Tanzania? Did you use a tour group, or did you go on your own? Did you make arrangements beforehand, or just take it one day at a time?

Busy morning

Today I felt very cosmopolitan. I went out on a run in my neighborhood, running up Clark Street to Wrigley Field, through the Saturday late-morning crowds. I ran by the Halsted Gay and Lesbian Pride setup (can't wait to watch the outrageous parade tomorrow), and stopped at the farmer's market to pick up sweet peas for me, sweet cherries for Matt, and some beautiful flowers for the house.

Last night Kate and Steve were in visiting from Minneapolis. We went to a fantastic dinner at Moto, and I think we all liked the incredible creations Chef put together. This evening we plan to have deep-dish pizza. How can you visit Chicago without having deep-dish?

Well, the answer is, you can't.

Visit me here, too

For those of you who don't know, Matt and I are busy walking around Chicago. Feel free to read about our (non) adventures at that blog.

An ode to the tan MnM

I just realized I have no clue how to properly type M-n-M. M & M? M and M? Em and mmm?

The other day, in a fit of late night hunger at the office, I purchased a pack of these lovely candies at the vending machine down the hall. As usual, I dumped them out and started sorting them by color, and then began eating them one by one until I had an even number of colors. (Is that weird? I kind of assume everyone does that, but the more I learn about other people, the more I realize how strange I may be.)

While I enjoy the lovely spectrum made by the red, orange, yellow, green, blue and brown candies, I miss the old colors. For those of you who don't remember, the old M & Ms didn't have a blue -- they had a tan instead. And when you emptied those candies onto the counter, they always looked a little strange. Red, orange, yellow, green... tan and brown? But something about it just seemed right. My new M & Ms look so balanced and proper. I miss the tan.

Nike + iPod

I got myself an iPod today, which I'm pretty excited about. I borrowed Matt's for my run this morning and realized how much more fun I have during a run when I have the right music on.

Now I'm curious about the Nike + iPod shoes. I can't quite figure out what these things do. Does anyone out there have them? Do you like them? I thought it played different music based on your speed... but I can't figure that out by googling. It seems that maybe it just reports your workout results?

Comments appreciated!

Playing with fire

It started with some browsing on Craigslist. Matt would casually check out the "condos/houses for sale" section when he had some free time and was interested. When he found something special, he'd show it to me to see what I thought.

Things progressed from there. As we walked around different neighborhoods, we began noticing open houses. We resisted as long as possible before finally giving in and walking in.

We took the next step together earlier this week. We saw a place we liked so much that we actually made an appointment to see it. Yes, even though we have a lease for the next year, and we're just beginning to save up for a down payment, we've made a date to look at a condo. What is wrong with us? Has anyone else been wooed by the lure of real estate before they were truly ready?

Busy bees

It has been ages since I last wrote. Since then, I'm not sure what all has happened: we took a trip to Iowa, we worked very hard, I bought a bicycle, we went out to a fantastic dinner at Avenues. We put the cats on diet food (they're getting even bigger!), we set up our patio with wonderful patio furniture, and eat and drink outside on a regular basis.

Not sure what else to fill you in on, right now, but maybe now that I've gotten this little stuff out I'll be better at updating regularly. Hope y'all are well!

Bird watching

Just a picture of our cute bird watching cats.

Planning a trip!

Matt and I are planning our first big vacation as a married couple (okay, apart from our honeymoon). This summer, we're going to go on a road trip out west. The trip involves a lot of driving, but since we both love to drive, neither of us really minds. Here's the helpful but dorky map we (I) put together today.

He's been to most of these places before, but I've only been to South Dakota. We're even going to dig out my old tent and camp a bit -- our first time camping together. Anyhow, if you have any advice on the itinerary, places to visit or things to see, drop a note!

Edited to add: Just realized the map is a bit hard to read. Our schedule is as follows:
Day 1: drive from Chicago to Minneapolis.
Day 2: drive through North Dakota.
Day 3: drive to Glacier National Park.
Day 4: Glacier National Park.
Day 5: drive to Yellowstone.
Day 6: Yellowstone.
Day 7: drive to Sturgis, SD (or thereabouts).
Day 8: drive to Sioux Falls, SD.
Day 9: return to Chicago.

Relaxing at home

Matt and I went to Kate and Austin's wedding this weekend and had a great time. Kate looked lovely. We got to meet many of the couple's other friends, who were all terrific. I guess that speaks highly of them! I got to spend time with Kate and her bridesmaids, and Matt spent the day hanging out with a few of my close college friends. What fun.

Unfortunately, Matt has been a bit sick since the wedding, and I think I might be coming down with the same time: congestion and a major headache. So we're hanging out at home, installing our new desktop computer and working on our budget. It sounds so grown up and boring when I type it out, but it's actually a nice evening.

A couple of pictures:

The wedding party in the basilica.

The cats in a compromising position... or, in the middle of a fight. I think it looks like a photographer caught a famous person and a waitress or janitor or something in flagrante. Prop Joe, the darker one, is the celebrity. He's upset about the picture snapping and trying to hide his face. Dr. T, the lighter one, is just happy and dreamy and pretty darn proud about bagging a celebrity.

Catching up

I see I have some catching up to do. Things have been busy here over the last few weeks. Matt got a permanent offer from his law firm, and has since accepted. He's working hard and enjoying what he does, which is terrific. The cats are still great fun. We've been rather socially busy recently, too, which is sometimes a little stressful but mostly fun. We even joined a gym, because we've both been getting quite lazy lately.

That's a lot of we statements, isn't it? Matt and I have both been working hard to maintain our separate identities in this marriage. We've known a few people who, after getting married, have all but disappeared, and we wanted to make sure we didn't turn into them. I think we enjoy our time together more because we have a little time apart -- he has Tuesday nights playing trivia at the State (his team won first prize recently!), and I have Wednesday nights hanging out with a few girlfriends (we... watched the finale of Project Runway together!). I know these things will be harder when we someday have kids, but for now, we're each doing our best.

This morning, while shopping at the World Market near our house, we saw a girl who we thought was Heather from America's Next Top Model (season 9). Skinny? Check. Long dark hair? Check. Tall, but slouching? Check. We couldn't figure it out for sure, though, so we attempted to browse the store while discreetly sneaking peaks. By the time we left, we were about 95% it was her, and I had identied a few key moles on her face. When we got home, we pulled up her picture online, compared the moles, and got our proof: it was her! A little Googling shows that she lives in Chicago and apparently goes to school at the Illinois Institute of Art. Nifty, eh?

Next weekend Matt and I will be out of town for my dear friend Kate's wedding. I have known Kate since we were seniors in high school, when we met at the state math competition (yes). We quickly became friends, and took many a road trip from our Iowa hometowns out to Notre Dame for school. We were RAs together in Lewis Hall and she started dating Austin that year, and they are finally tying the knot at the beautiful Basilica in South Bend. I even get to be a bridesmaid :) and I am so excited to see them get married and to celebrate with all of our friends. Also, their rehearsal dinner is at the College Football Hall of Fame. How cool is that?!

Birthday part 1

Last night Matt threw an amazing birthday party for me. Matt's parties have always been themed, and this year was no exception. The Southern party Matt created was amazing (thanks to a lot of help from his menu consultant Rebecca).

If you go arund the table clockwise starting from the bottom center, we had pickles, hush puppies, mini pecan pies, devilled eggs, a birthday cake and brownies, mini macaroni and cheeses, and two types of pulled pork sandwiches (bbq and cider vinegar). The food was delicious!

Chrissy made a gorgeous cake. Isn't that weaving on the side lovely?

The girls at the party, and me with my new swingy haircut. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but it's very Katie Holmes/Posh Spice. I wasn't sure how I liked it (got it yesterday morning), but there were enough raves last night that I decided it must be alright.

Me and my handsome husband!

My real birthday isn't actually 'till Monday, and we have a lot of celebrations planned between now and then. A couple of dinners out, a lunch with my coworkers, and indulgence all around. I love birthdays :)