Seattle pics - Friday/Saturday morning

Me and my friend Hugh the night before his big day!

Rob rockin' out -- BB Island ferry style.

Rob and my mom in my mom's bountiful garden.

Some of the flowers in my mom's yard.

The Saturday bounty from Mom's garden.

Suburban jury duty

I am very pro-jury duty. But (you knew this was coming) I think if you live in a city, you should not have to travel to the suburbs for jury duty. That's why you live in the city. So you don't have to go anywhere else. I suppose that means I think suburban folks should have to come into the city for jury duty. Hmmm.

I digress. Yes, I have jury duty in the suburbs tomorrow. I can't imagine anyone wants an attorney on their jury. Knock on wood. So hopefully I'll get to head home before rush hour.

Weekend Pics

We had a busy weekend. Belated birthday celebration for Rob on Friday (with Ali & Eddie putting together an AMAZING happy hour for us all at their place). More appliance delivery on Saturday. (Dishwasher still not installed. Oy.) Pilates. Catch up lunch with Jeff & Sara post-pilates. U.S. Women's National Team game in Bridgeview on Saturday night. Rob and Eddie golfing on Sunday morning. Cubs game with Tim & Emily on Sunday afternoon. Errands and work before bedtime on Sunday. Whew!



Here's a few quick shots.



Rob and Sara chat on the couch at Ali & Eddie's. (Oops, I wrote Jeff instead of Rob before!)

Eddie (my flash is making him look like he's prematurely graying -- sorry Eddie), Ali, Adolfo, Rob at Cullen's post-birthday dinner at Tango Sur.

Me & Rob at 1:30am.

Post-game on Saturday night just after interviewing the players. (Ok, I only asked one question, but it was a good one.) First live game I've covered in a long time. It was awesome.

Dance lessons

I will probably take this post down eventually because, well, I like to live in my own delusional world in which I know how to dance. But our nephew Bryson is so damn cute, that this deserves at least a temporary audience. (Linda, I just know that you in particular are going to love this.)

At Gena's wedding this past weekend, our four-year-old nephew Bryson really wanted to learn some actual dance moves. So he would join me on the dance floor and mimic whatever I was doing. I even named some of the dance moves I was teaching him so Bryson could follow along better. Turns out Bryson's dad, our brother-in-law Gary, took a short video of one of our dance sessions. The first move he captured is "the wiggle" and the last is "the crazy." For obvious reasons.

The song choice is pretty fantastic. As Rob pointed out, Bryson was absolutely the only male on the dance floor. At the end of the video, I'm sending Bryson into the center of the dance circle that had formed on the floor to dance with his great-grandma. Too bad the video doesn't continue! :)

Anyway, enjoy this while you can!

Happy Birthday Sofia!

It's baby fever, I tell you.

Happy birthday (yesterday) to Sofia! The new baby daughter of our amazing friends Erica and Feroz. I can't wait to meet her.

Happy Birthday Dad and Adele!

Yesterday we got to have a celebratory dinner with my Dad (and Sharon, Resa, and Nick) for my Dad's 59th birthday.

This morning we got the news that my cousin Angela had her baby girl -- Adele -- last night while we were celebrating. Good timing. Good birthday.

Happy birthday Dad and Adele!

Gena's Wedding

I'll blog more a bit later, but we had a wonderful time at Rob's sister Gena's wedding this past weekend. We also celebrated Rob's and his twin sister Kyle's birthday the same day! :)

Gena and Jay say their vows.

Taber and Rob make faces at the cocktail hour.

Gena dances with her dad.

Gena and Jay's first dance.

The P*zold siblings and their spouses pose after the reception at Aunt Mary Lynn's house. Fittingly, the newlyweds are making out.

Liberal and Proud

If you're reading this blog, then you know me and you know I'm very liberal. Unashamedly so. The husband is too.

Today I got a nice, succinct reminder of some of the reasons why I'm a liberal and why I'm proud to be a liberal. Although I was confused to see it. I didn't know the media was allowed to publish anything of political substance until after November.

I don't feel good about this election

Warning: political angst ahead.

Since some of you have asked, the answer is no, I don't feel good about this election. I have been trying to conjure up a good post to sum up my thoughts in some kind of snarky yet insightful way. But I've been too sad, disenchanted, angry, bitter, etc., etc. to write anything.

The sad thing though, is something Rob and I have been talking about for quite some time. We (Rob and I) will be fine. Our lives won't change. We have the unfair fortune of being in the upper tiers of income-earners in this country these days. Our tax cut from Obama would be pennies, while our tax cut from McCain would be a nice bit more. Frankly, I'd love to have that much more money to pay down our mortgage each year.

But.

And this is a big BUT.

We (Rob and I) are not the people I'm worried about. We will be able to afford to move to a less polluted part of the country. We will be able to buy our own healthcare. Our house is not in any danger of being foreclosed on. We can afford $9 gas like they have in many parts of Alaska. (Seriously, they do.) If we needed an abortion for whatever reason, we could fly to Europe if it were outlawed here. We are skilled professionals in not-collapsing industries, so if either of us lost our job, we could be supported by the other without much economic stress. We will be able to afford to pay for our kids ginormous education costs if public schools fall apart even further. We will be able to care for extended families as they age. We will have money waiting for us in retirement. And on and on.

Because we are damn lucky ducks.

Which is exactly why I'm not voting for my short-term financial interests. And that's all they are, short-term. I don't want want to be a lucky person in a crappy country. For eight years, we've watched so many Americans lose everything, including their ability to pay for anything, through no fault of their own. We've watched a generation of kids grow up in poverty without even batting an eye at the fact that they have crumbling homes, no healthcare, no quality education, and no opportunities for a better life. They're the ones who can't afford four more years. And let's get real here, McCain has voted with the Bush Administration 90% of the time these past four years. Change that ain't.

So I say raise my damn taxes. What good is America if America isn't any good? And America isn't any good if it isn't good to its people. Being a POW doesn't make you qualified to be president. Being a great speaker doesn't qualify you to be president either. Frankly, I'm irritated at every single person out their who acted like Obama's speeches alone should have won him the nomination. It's actually been hard for me to keep that irritation at bay lately. Maybe that's unfair, but it's true. Because we don't have that luxury. All that time talking about the damn speeches was a big waste of time that could have been spent talking about the fact that he has really good, critical ideas for turning our country around.

Yet I haven't seen any coverage of the issues in days. And if all we're judging on is who has the better theme going, let's face it, POW trumps speaking abilities. So I don't feel good about this election. Shame on the media. Shame on all of us for not demanding better and more. Now it might be too late.

If the Dems can't win this one, with the regrets of 2000 and 2004 so close behind us, welcome to third-rate status, America. Even though it won't change my life damn one bit, I'm still traumatized at the thought.

So now what? Well, I don't know. I know I'll be heading to a swing state for the days before the election. I know that even though I'm fully prepared to be beaten down for the third time in eight years, I'm not going down without a fight. I care too much. Not about me, but about this insane country we have here. And if that's not patriotism, I don't know what is. I want our country to be so much better than it is these days, not because I don't love it, but because I love it so much it hurts.

But it's this one and then I'm out. If this election doesn't work, I really don't know if I can do it again.

Yea Chicago Weekends

We had another full weekend in Chicago. It's been so good to have a break from traveling.

Friday night we took a long walk to a movie theatre to see Bottle Shock with Erin and Brian. I'd definitely recommend it. Not life-changing, but certainly entertaining. Even more so because the story is generally a true one. And naturally we came home and opened a bottle of wine afterwards.

Saturday morning we got our new fridge and range. Whoo hoo! Then we wandered down to Suzi's Tea & Cafe for brunch, which we'd spotted on our walk the night before. Totally delicious and also a good bargain. We will be going back soon. I had a Cranberry Crisp tea. Rob had Darjeeling.

Saturday night Rob had to cover the Fire game, so I settled in front of the television with more bags and boxes of papers and other miscellaneous things to sort through. Our home organization efforts continue.

Today we jumped in the car and headed out to the suburbs to do a little shopping. We managed to go all the way to Schaumburg and not get lured into Ikea, a feat we've never before accomplished. And now we're watching the Colts look more than a little un-Colt-like. Ugh. Hopefully things will get better in the second half.

Things that used to be on my fridge

Half of our new appliances are here. The dishwasher had a dent and the microwave had a loose panel, so we've got to wait another two weeks for those. But we've got a new refrigerator and range. Yea!

Unfortunately, stainless steel does not lend itself to magnets, so I have to retire many of the scattered things that used to grace our fridge. In their honor, here's a list of some things getting put away elsewhere:

- magnets of every shape and size, magnets from most every vacation we've been on and from every state we've lived in, a Law Students for Choice magnet, magnets with Washington Freedom schedules, Lego magnets, wedding picture magnets from Jason and Beth, Christian's mom's business card magnet, a Penn teddy bear magnet, and bottle opener magnets
- pictures of our families and friends dating from 1974 to last year, including a picture of my mom and dad with my dad's whole family all decked out circa 1974, and a picture of Rob's mom that Kyle gave to Rob to carry in his pocket on our wedding day
- fortune cookie fortunes I've gotten: "You are independent politically." Ha. and "Where there's a will, there's a way." Definitely.
- Peyton Manning and Omar Vizquel, or at least a pictures of them
- a drawing of me and our niece Lauren by Lauren
- a thank you card from our nephew Daniel
- some of Rob's best quotes
- a postcard of two women laughing with a Pat Robertson quote that says, "Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practise witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."
- our 2.5 year plan for home renovation projects
- a card from Roxanna with two goofy women on it and the quote, "Laughter is the closest distance between two people." Yes it is!!!
- the December 8 page from Bill & Claire's Italian word calendar that they said reminded them of us: "impegnato/impegnata: politically committed" used in the sentence "La mia fidanzata e un'attivista impegnata.: My girlfriend is a committed activist."
- a Tom Stoppard quote, "It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting."
- a Peanuts comic strip that Mark's dad David sent to me before Rob's and my wedding -- Snoopy is dancing for three boxes and then says "If you have a wedding, I'll dance at it!"
- business cards, including one of Rob's mom's old cards, and others for our pilates instructor, handyman, dermatologist, floor installer, and tailor
- a happy first anniversary card from Rob's grandma
- a card from my mom that says "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
- some gift certificates, including one for a wine tasting and one for a lobster dinner and one for a free happy hour
- a New Yorker cartoon from Jeff to Rob that says, "OK Cynthia, I'll tell you about my hopes and dream, my joys and my passions. But be forewarned -- they all concern a particular sports team."

The Giants are 1-0

New York 16, Washington 7.

One more thing

One other thing we did this weekend that I know at least one person out there will appreciate (Alan). We joined the local library. It's only a block away, so it's long overdue. No pun intended. But we finally made the long walk over and joined. Or at least I joined. Rob stood outside and held our Starbucks since he didn't have any ID on him at the moment it occurred to me to join the library.

Still, a very positive step. Maybe next weekend I'll actually check something out. Of the library, that is.

When I was growing up, the library might have been my favorite place on the planet. So it's only fitting that we live so close to a library. I really am determined to make some use of it. Eventually.

A glorious weekend without plane rides

This weekend we spent the whole weekend at home. Thank god. I am exhausted from traveling.

I don't think I've even said much about our traveling lately because we've been so busy traveling. We had a fantastic time in Cape Cod with our friends Bill & Claire. A whole week without work? Amazing! Claire is seven+ months pregnant, but still incredibly adventurous. If I'm ever pregnant, I hope I rock it out like her. I totally admire her for that. So our week was full of swimming, hiking, kayaking, mini-golfing, and lots of other fun activities. If anyone's looking to rent a cottage in Cape Cod, ours was a great one and a great deal.

Rob got to go home after our vacation, but I jetted off in another direction for work. Then this past weekend we headed back to the East coast for a mini-bachelorette party for Rob's sister Gena and my friend Erica's baby shower. (Yup, everybody's pregnant or engaged these days!) Mark & Chris let us crash at their pad despite the fact we didn't really have any free time. But we had a great, if exhausting weekend nonetheless. Although, mental note: two early morning flights in 48 hours is not ideal for a post-30-year-old body. Ugh.

Of course, I turned right back around for another work trip on Tuesday. So this past Friday night, Rob and I went to bed at 9pm. Seriously. We slept a solid 12 hours before even stirring.

This weekend has been the first stop on our "get more organized" tour. And also our "Oh, I forgot this is what our house/neighborhood/city looked like because I haven't seen it in so damn long" tour. We did some serious appliance shopping because we are at our collective wit's end with our dishwasher (the world's loudest) and our fridge (whose ice machine component thinks it is in a noise-making competition with the dishwasher).

So this weekend I learned that I'm not a fan of the new style of dishwasher that you have to open to see where it is in the cycle. That doesn't make sense to me. Seems like a steam-burning product liability lawsuit waiting to happen, right?

Fortunately, we found a cool new dishwasher without that issue. In fact, we found a whole set of new appliances - fridge, dishwasher, range, and microwave - at a pretty sweet price with an even sweeter financing deal. So next Saturday, our kitchen will be gleamed out in stainless steel. It'll be strange not having random things hanging all over the front of our fridge. (If you've ever seen our fridge, you understand my obsession. Where will I put Rob's awesome quotes?) But I cannot wait to have a modern kitchen with a stove top so cool I might actually consider cooking more than once a year. Whoo hoo!

I also went through about eight bags and boxes full of papers needing to be filed or tossed that currently occupy our office. Only about eight more to go. But I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of ridding our home of boxes of unidentified junk.

Last but not least, we got to spend some quality time this weekend with friends who we've missed a lot lately. Sara and I saw the Traveling Pants 2 movie. Totally cute. Allison, Geoff and Rob & I split up our Blackhawks season tickets over some awesome sushi. Ali and Eddie were finally in town on a weekend that Rob and I were in town, so we saw them twice! Rob caught a Cubs game with Jeff, Sara and Eddie. Our friends Sophia and Fritz were in town for a wedding, so the Penn Law Wives Club - DC Chapter (aka Rob, Eddie & Fritz -- long story) was reunited. We even got to see my mom briefly on Friday for a Chicago family dinner on the town as she cut through Chicago to go to a wedding in Indy with Resa & Nick.

Man, it was good to be home for a weekend. Even better to have three days of weekend. I'm so glad I have all of next weekend in Chi-town to look forward to as well.

Happy Birthday 19th Amendment

Today marks 88 years of constitutionalized women's suffrage. On August 26, 1920, the U.S. Secretary of State certified the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

I found this map showing which states ratified the amendment. (Source.)

The colors mean: Ratification on June 10, 1919 (yellow); ratification from June 16, 1919 to July 28, 1919 (chartreuse [I'd call this green]); ratification from August 2, 1919 to December 15, 1919 (aqua); ratification from January 6, 1920 to March 22, 1920 (gray-green); ratification on August 18, 1920 (gray [I'd call this lavender]).

I think the first time I voted was in college, in the fall of 1995, when Ed Rendell was running for re-election as Mayer of Philadelphia. It took me a while to find my polling place. I was living off-campus so my polling site was a church in West Philly. I had to circle a few times before I found the entrance because the street corner was poorly lit. Then my name was listed incorrectly, although my voter id card that I'd brought with me was correct. Eventually I got to vote. It was the kind of machine where you pull down various levers and then swing a giant lever to the side to record your votes and clear them all at once when you're done.

I voted in the same place for Bill Clinton in 1996. In the fall of 1998, I voted absentee from London (casting a ballot in my home state of Indiana's election). In 2000 I voted absentee in the New York election because, although I lived in NY, I was in Florida working for Gore. My friend Andy K. helped make sure my absentee ballot got FedEx'd to me so I could return it in time. Even though I knew my presidential vote wouldn't do much in New York, I wanted to cast an official vote for Hillary Clinton for Senate, who I'd worked for briefly before heading to Florida.

I also remember when I got to Florida, I learned that not all voting machines used the lever systems I was used to using. Someone came into our field office and asked what the voting machine would be like. I said, "I think it's just a lever system." Our field office director said, "No, polling places use all kinds of different machines and types of ballots. It depends on your polling site." "Really?" I asked skeptically. "People vote on different types of machines in the same election?"

Yup. We really did have that conversation in Florida just a few days before Election Day 2000. If only we'd known what was to come.

Still, I love voting. I love voting. I view my vote as my voice and my power in America. Election results may be a foregone conclusion sometimes, but my vote is still part of that final count, and that means something to me.

As someone who worked in Florida in 2000, I have all kinds of things to say about who to vote for and why. But at the end of the day, I can't and don't believe anyone owes anyone else their vote. Just because one person weighs a set of pros and cons and decides to vote for candidate X, does not mean another person weighing the same pros and cons must come to the same conclusion. Sometimes I wish they did. So badly that it makes me cry for days, if not weeks, on end. Like in 2000. But...

Your vote is your voice -- to use in support, in protest, in silence as a statement, or however else you (legally) choose. It is the one power we all share as Americans. None of us have the right to dictate anyone else's voice. It's the control we give up and over to one another in this crazy democracy we call America.

And it's also why we should always, always, always make sure every vote is counted and counted correctly... and always keep a paper trail of those votes to prevent abuse... and not turn voters away from the polls under the guise of "preventing voter fraud"... and not disenfranchise felons who have already served their time. But those arguments are for another day.

I am so grateful that 88 years ago, a group of amazing women and men succeeded in giving me that voice I cherish today.

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones

You have likely heard the news that Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones passed away yesterday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. I wanted to take a moment to honor her in some small way.

I had long had a soft spot for this woman. She was feisty. She was liberal. And she was from Cleveland -- my second hometown, the gathering place of my extended family and the home of Grandma M. My extended family is a rather conservative bunch, so Congresswoman Jones intrigued me. An outspoken liberal from Cleveland, wahoo!!!

I had the great pleasure of meeting Congresswoman Jones back in 2002 when I was organizing an event for the National Women's Political Caucus. It was an awards ceremony for media coverage of women's issues. We had the ambitious goal of having a member of Congress present each award. Congresswoman Jones was one of the first to say yes.

She arrived at the event with a huge smile on her face and kept up that enthusiasm throughout the ceremony. My knees were shaking when I greeted her, I was so nervous and thrilled. "Now this is someone I want to be like," I remember thinking.

It seems dangerous to idolize politicians too much these days. You never know what you don't know. Maybe Congresswoman Jones was not the wonderfully good-natured person she appeared to be. But I refuse to have doubts now. More importantly, I have no doubt that she was in politics for the right reasons, that she took her job seriously, that she cared about her constituents, and that she cared about the world. I also have no doubt that Congress desperately needs many more members like her.

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones' death is an enormous loss for all of us. I will miss her.

Cape Cod

More blogging to come, but as our vacation in Cape Cod with our friends Bill & Claire is coming to and end, here are some pictures from the week.


After wine tasting at the vineyard near the end of Cape Cod.

Rob mans the grill at the cottage we rented.

Post-mini golf on an overcast day.

Sunset at the beach.

Rob cooks our fresh lobster dinner.

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!

Rob and I were in Cleveland on Friday and Saturday to celebrate my grandmother's 90th(!) birthday on Friday and our annual family reunion. We had a great time with almost my entire extended family in attendance.



I love this picture of my grandma because on the left side of the table you have two of her grandchildren and three of her great-grandchildren (the older girl standing is a great-grandchild!). On my grandma's lap is one grandchild on the left and one great-grandchild on the right. Circling the table to the right are another grandchild and two great-grandchildren. Celebrating this weekend with Grandma were her six living children with their spouses and partners, about 25 grandchildren plus a few spouses, and about a dozen great-grandchildren. The oldest great-grandchild is nearing the end of high school, while the youngest was just born a couple weeks ago (and didn't make the trip to Cleveland)!

Here's my birthday picture with Grandma.

Here are some grandchildren putting together flower arrangements for our dinner on Saturday, which hosted about 75 people. Me, my cousin-in-law Jen (married to my cousin Alan), my cousin Anne (who is exactly one month younger than me), and my cousin Carol (the pioneer of our generation).

Rob got put to work on the grill for dinner, so he decided to teach my cousin Andrew some skills. Andrew preferred posing with the meat.

Now this is a family cooler -- mostly beer with a few juice boxes thrown in for show.

A couple days overdue

Cheers to us -- six years and counting!

Last week I made a mental note to blog on Tuesday of this week after Rob reminded me that it would be the six year anniversary of our first date. And then we both promptly forgot... until about 1am on Wednesday morning. Rob was asleep and I was up late working when I realized I'd missed the end of Tuesday. Damn! Needless to say, there were no grand plans for the evening.

So this is my belated happy anniversary post to my rockin' husband. Perhaps now that we're married we're only really supposed to celebrate our wedding anniversary. (Although apparently I can't get that right either because someone recently asked me how long I'd been married and I said "one and half years" when it's actually been two and a half years. Nice one. I can't remember who I said it to, so if you're out there, now you know the truth. :)

Anyway, August 5, 2002 will always hold a very special place in my heart. I've already told the story here. But there's always more to say.

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, after I closed down my computer for the night, I went to store some stuff in our office (aka junk room) when I noticed a stack of pictures on the desk. I've been through this stack a million times. Pictures from our wedding and all sorts of random events from both our pasts. Pictures that are longing to be put in albums or frames But this time I grabbed at the stack and noticed a letter from me to Rob in the middle of it. Weird that I hadn't noticed it before.

The letter was from the early months of our relationship. It was written the day after some work conference call kept me occupied through an evening I was supposed to be spending with Rob. I sat on the call from home while Rob cooked dinner and cleaned my room, which I didn't even know he'd done until I got off the call hours later. So in the letter I was thanking him for that and thanking him generally for being such a wonderful boyfriend.

I love that Rob cleaned my room. I had totally forgotten that. Rob, do you even remember that? If you'd asked me three days ago if Rob had ever cleaned my room when we were dating, I would have laughed at the thought! But now I remember. No one had ever cleaned my room for me before. :)

And I love that Rob cooked me dinner. One of many, many, many dinners to follow. God I hate cooking. My poor husband suffers the burden of making dinner without any help from me. I did order the pizza *and* go downstairs to collect it from the delivery guy the other day though. And that's a big flight of stairs.

Seriously though, the best thing about the letter though is that every gushy sentence of it (and there were many) is still true today. Rob has been my best friend since the early weeks of our relationship. We are as inseparable now as we were then. Of course today I know I feel infinitely luckier to have him than I did then, or even than I did last year. But wow it's cool to read those words from over five years ago and know that this awesome thing I have, we have, was so awesome from the beginning. It still feels like a miracle somehow.


Life's not perfect. People aren't perfect. So there's no way a relationship could be perfect. But I wouldn't change a single thing about mine.


Happy anniversary (plus two days) Rob!

Say whaaaat? A whole weekend in Chi-town??

We actually stayed in Chicago this past weekend. CRAZY! What a welcome change of pace though.

On Friday night, my buddy Kate from my clerking days was in town with her husband Chris. So we met them out at a bar with a few other folks. Our friend Susie also came along, which was great because even though Susie lives in Chicago, I haven't seen her in ages. My friend Brian was also in town and hanging out. A very nice surprise. A very nice, chill time was had by all.

Saturday morning Rob and I slept in. But once we got up we took advantage of the nice weather and took a very long, winding walk to the lake. The walk was even better because we had our new sneakers on. (Last Thursday we made it to Fleet Feet just in time to buy sneakers before they closed.) If I haven't mentioned it lately, living in such close proximity to a massive body of water is just awesome for the soul. As we wandered north along the lakeshore, we found some less crowded park areas we hadn't visited before. So we're looking forward to returning soon. If we're ever in town again.

On Saturday night Rob covered the Chicago Fire game while I got in some work. Fun. Well, fun for Rob. Especially since the Fire finally won a game!

Sunday morning I woke up and Rob was MIA... only to return a few minutes later with lattes and donuts. Well played!!! That evening we headed over to Jeff and Sara's for a round of the greatest turkey burgers ever and a showing of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1). I'd never seen it but was convinced by Sara that I must. It was actually pretty darn good. So I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel with Sara some time soon.

We hit the hay early because Rob has his first day of his new job today. Very exciting!

But for the rest of this week we're in a countdown. Rob does one week at work and then we're off on our long-scheduled week in Cape Cod with Bill and Claire. I can't wait for a week of chill out time. Although first we head to Cleveland for my grandma's 90th(!) birthday this Friday and a massive family reunion, which will be a ton of chaotic fun.

LA Pics 2 (Details Below)

Rob takes a creative pic from the dance floor. Ooooh, angles.

Rob does a beer ad.

Libby plays catcher.

Libby hits.

Colin hits.

LA Pics 1 (Details Below)

Rob and me before the wedding. Note the blown out hair. Probably my unconscious way of trying to look more like my other twin Nadine. :)

The happy couple -- Susan and Jeff.*

Me rockin' out on the dance floor.

Me and Rob's friend Beth's fiance Matt trying to beckon the rest of our table onto the dance floor. (Not pictured, Rob pointing and laughing at me.)

Rob and his friend Peter rockin' out.

*Note the candles next to the rows of seats. These freaked me out. I made Rob sit on the aisle. I didn't want my dress to catch on fire. I even warned the woman in front of me when I saw her scarf dangling perilously close to the candles. And then I noticed the candles were fake. As in not flames. Yeah, I'm a smart one. Observant too.

A Haircut, a Wedding, a (Few) Softball Games

This past weekend we went to LA for the wedding of one of Rob's good friends from law school, Susan. We were extra motivated to trek out to LA for the weekend so that we could see my twin sister Libby and her husband Colin. This means we'll have gotten to see all of our siblings already this summer. Sweet. (Although we're going to see Lib and Colin at our family reunion in a few weeks anyway.)

Getting out of Chicago was a standard O'Hare adventure. We had six gate changes... with the last two literally being the gates furthest apart in two different terminals. Of course the gate we departed from was much closer to security than the other gates we'd bounced between. But we used the last of my upgrades, so we had a comfy trip and happily slept in our first class seats (and through the seemingly dreadful movie Nim's Island... although maybe it got better after I fell asleep). We got to LA super late Friday night/early Saturday morning. Colin kindly picked us up.

We slept in a bit on Saturday. But not too late. Having the blessing/curse of curly hair means I am constantly searching for a good hair stylist. I had one in DC. Haven't found one in Chicago (although I do love my colorist Jim). So I decided to go to Libby's salon in LA on Saturday since her haircuts have looked very good lately. Good decision. I got a great haircut and a super fun blow out before the wedding.

After my Saturday morning haircut, Rob's law school friend Peter joined me, Lib and Rob for lunch. Then Libby and I got pedicures. (I still owe you money for that, Libby!) And then it was off to the wedding.

The wedding was at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Apparently the first Oscars were held in the room where the reception was. Way cool. It was definitely one of the most gorgeous weddings I've seen. Everything was elegant and romantic. The centerpieces were amazing but not gaudy. They had creme brulee AND peach cobbler AND wedding cake for dessert. My kind of wedding.

It was also a blast. I loooove going to weddings with Rob because we both take seriously our wedding guest duty to keep the dance floor occupied and energetic. Peter joined out shenanigans on the dance floor, as did another couple at our table (Rob's law school classmate Beth and her fiance Matt). It's always fantastic to have dancing buddies at a wedding. (Nothing can top the dancing bond of Table Number 4 at Bill & Claire's wedding though!) But we had an awesome, awesome time. The DJ was fantastic. The only thing missing was a Kelly Clarkson song. ;)

On Sunday, we slept in while Libby and Colin headed off to a softball tournament. (Colin had played in a tournament on Saturday too!) Then we rolled out of bed late morning to go watch Libby and Colin play. We got there just as they hit their break after their second game. So we all hung out a bit in the crazy hot weather.

Then it was time for game number 3. Libby played catcher, Colin played outfield. We stayed through most of the game and left while they were still ahead. It was very fun. One of their teammates hit an in-the-park home run. Very nice.

We raced back to Libby and Colin's place to grab our bags and then headed to the airport. Of course our plane was delayed. But eventually it arrived. We saw the movie Flawless on the plane, which I found annoyingly predictable but fairly well executed. We landed at O'Hare to find that the gate agent (who moves the gate out to the plane) was MIA. Seriously. So we sat for a fun half hour at the gate before being able to deplane.

Still, we can't complain. We may have been exhausted on Monday, but we had a blast in our (all too brief) trip out west. Next time hopefully we'll get to visit with friends out there.

Pics to follow.

OMG, OMG You Guys*

Tonight was our Top Chef dinner -- a private dinner for four cooked by Top Chef 4's Valerie. We can now say with full confidence that Valerie was kicked off waaaaay too early on her season!

Back in May, Rob and I were at a charity silent auction and successfully bid on a dinner for four from Valerie. We invited our friends Jeff and Sara to join us because the four of us watched nearly every episode of Top Chef 4 together. We ended up picking July 21 as the date for the dinner to suit all of our schedules. The fact that it was also my birthday was an awesome bonus.

Valerie arrived at Jeff and Sara's (we picked their place instead of ours because they have an amazing kitchen) around 6pm. Rob and I showed up shortly after. As Valerie cooked, she shared with us lots of thoughts about Top Chef. We asked her lots of questions about the show and her fellow contestants. She was very open about her unique experience. Although what's talked about at Top Chef dinners, stays at Top Chef dinners!!

Our first course was a fish course -- halibut with sweet potato puree, sweet peas, bok choy, and a miso glaze. I'm not sure you could have designed a better dish for me. It was delicious.

Course 1 -- Halibut.

Then we moved on to the main course -- pork loin over Asian noodles with asparagus and plums in a light, spicy plum glaze. Again, it was a total wow. Perfectly cooked pork. Perfect sweet-spiciness. The plums were phenomenal. Easily the best pork dish I've ever had.

Course 2 -- Pork.

Then came dessert. I'd told Valerie in advance she could go with a creamy dessert, despite Rob's preferences to the contrary, because creamy desserts are my absolute favorite and Valerie was dutifully avoiding creamy foods for the rest of the meal. I'm so glad I did because I have never had better cheesecake in my life. The dessert was topped with fresh whipped cream and fresh cherries in a cherry sauce.

Valerie tops the cheesecake with cherry sauce.

All in all, it was an amazing meal. It was very fun getting to know Valerie in person. She has a lot more personality than we'd seen on the show. It was truly the audience's (and Bravo's!) loss that she didn't stick around longer on Top Chef 4. And we got a second starstruck moment when Top Chef 4 winner Stephanie called Valerie as Valerie was getting ready to leave. Too crazy.

If any of you are looking for a fantastic privately cooked meal, let me know. I will happily pass along Valerie's contact info with our highest recommendations!!!

Rob, Valerie and me post-dinner. (Yup, I am actually taller than her!)

The whole dinner party -- Sara, Jeff, Valerie, me and Rob.

* If you catch the title reference, then hopefully you agree that Autumn totally should have won!

Pics from the weekend

I didn't take enough pictures this weekend.

Post-birthday party.

Rob poses at home post-5K. Imagine the lake behind him instead of our tv and fireplace.

And I'm just exhausted post-5K. No posing for me.

Happy Weekending

It's been a while since I've blogged about the basic happenings in our lives -- in part because we've been traveling like crazy people. Last weekend we went to NY to visit my friends Erica and Feroz at their lake house for a weekend. They are expecting their first in the early fall, so we wanted to get some pre-kid chill time with them. We had a blast, and Rob kicked all of our butts at Scrabble.

This weekend was even more jam packed, especially since it's the only weekend in July we're in Chicago. We spent the day yesterday prepping for my birthday party last night, a casual affair with friends at our place. Rob pulled out all the stops to put the fun in casual though. Rob themed the party "Iberian Nights," inspired by last year's trip to Portugal. He bought Spanish and Portuguese meats and cheeses, made some amazing gazpacho, and got paella catered from Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. We served Spanish red wine and Portuguese vinho verde with dinner. Then after dinner we had a port tasting. Rob gave everyone a little port tutorial and then we all tried a white port we'd brought back from Portugal and a ruby, a tawny, and a late bottled vintage ("LBV") we bought this week. We finished the evening off with oreo custard pie from Scooter's, naturally. It was a really wonderful evening. I was so happy to share it with an awesome group of friends.

(We were also glad for the opportunity to show off our new bamboo floors in our bedroom and one of our spare bedrooms. Yea for green remodelling. I'll blog more about that later.)

A Saturday night party did not, however, slow us down in our most important event of the weekend. Sunday morning was the second annual Teb's Troops March on Melanoma. We were so happy to have my friend Nadine, her sister Sally, and her friend Kelly stay with us for the weekend (and join in my birthday festivities) because they were in town for the event. We are also thrilled to report that through the support of our incredibly generous friends and family, we surpassed our fundraising goal by a wide margin and raised over $1200 for Teb's Troops! We were the second highest fundraisers for the event!!!

It was a humid morning, but fortunately the sun was hidden behind clouds, so the 5K run itself wasn't too bad. Rob and I were about 30 seconds off last year's pace, finishing in about 37 minutes. Rob once again played supportive spouse and ran with me at my slow pace instead of trying to clock a speedy time for himself. Most importantly, Teb's Troops raised $50,000 at the event -- part of which is funding a melanoma research grant at my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. Nice choice!

We were able to squeeze a few errands this afternoon too. A Pier One gift card from my cousin and cousin-in-law for my birthday got us a gorgeous new rug for our living room! And we crossed lots of little other things off our to do list as well. We're resting up tonight though because tomorrow is our Top Chef dinner -- Top Chef 4 contestant Valerie is cooking us dinner tomorrow night. We can't wait!!

Quick graphic of the day

I am a terrible blogger lately. But to keep you entertained, here's a mind-boggling chart I came across today. Red means Republican appointee, blue means Democrat appointee. As the blog post where I saw this said, "Yes, it's all the fault of those liberal judges!"

Wow.

5K for Cancer Research

I'm quite sure that most everyone reading this already got my fundraising email about the Teb's Troops 5K we are running in a week. But just in case you missed it... every cent raised by this amazing volunteer-run organization goes towards late stage melanoma research and patient care.

If you'd like to donate to support our run, we'd be so grateful. You can donate and read more about why we're running here. We are nearly halfway to our $1000 goal! So for those of you who have already given, thank you so much. You are awesome and amazing. Not that we didn't already know that.

July 4th Weekend

We had a very fun weekend in NJ with Rob's family. Rob's sister Kyle, her husband Taber, and their daughter Lauren picked us up from the airport Friday morning and we all headed out to catch a peak of Kyle and Taber's son Daniel on his last day of Phillies baseball camp. It was great to see him play. All the kids were decked out in full Phillies gear, which was a lot of fun.

While Daniel finished up camp, the rest of us grabbed lunch and then found an ice cream shop with an unlimited toppings bar (which is where we took the ice cream picture below). Needless to say, Lauren loved piling on the different varieties of sugar on her chocolate ice cream.

After the awards ceremony at Daniel's camp, we all headed over to Rob's sister Gena's place for a bbq. We got to meet Gena's fiance Jay for the first time. They're getting married in September. He's a great guy, easy to talk to, kind to the nieces and nephews, and clearly smitten with Gena. Awesome.

We caught glimpses of fireworks going on through the night. We also enjoyed a Guitar Hero showcase from Daniel and Rob. Daniel can play with the guitar behind his back. :)

On Saturday, we hit the mall where Daniel got a crazy cool robot for his birthday from Grandma. Rob and I bought Daniel a USC hat. We also bought a more belated birthday present for Lauren -- a book about sharks and another activity book about ocean creatures. The day before in the car, Lauren had quizzed me for about a half hour on what I'd do if I found myself swimming with sharks.

Then we hit the batting cages and a local arcade where everyone except Lauren took turns hitting. We need to do that more often! Rob's sister Tori and her whole family arrived (by van from Texas!!) later on Saturday. Tori's daughter Lillian is *so* attached to her great-grandma, it's adorable.

On Sunday we all went to Rob's aunt and uncle's Italian restaurant for lunch. Always delicious. Then it was back to the grandma's for some more hang out time before we headed to the airport.

Every time we see Rob's family, I wish we all lived closer. We loved living in Philly and being just a short drive to Kyle or to Grandma and Gena. And back when we were in DC, Tori's family was nearby in Virginia, although now they're in Texas. It's just so much fun to hang out with our nieces and nephews.

NJ pics... details to follow

We're happy to be home, but we had a very nice time with Rob's family this past weekend. We got to meet Rob's sister Gena's fiance Jay for the first time. We also got to see all five of our nieces and nephews at once, which is pure joy.

On Friday, Rob asked our niece Lauren (age 7) to describe him in three words. She picked "silly, cool, and handsome." Awww. So then for me she picked "smart, cuddly, and fun." (Announced while she snuggled up next to me in a restaurant booth. ;) On Sunday, Lauren's brother Daniel (age 9) picked three words for Rob: "crazy, funny, and good." For me, Daniel chose "smart, cool, and awesome." I think my favorite choice was Daniel calling Rob "good." I think it's how a kid would describe Santa Claus. Not sure you can get higher praise than that. :)

Anyway, here are some pics. A full post to follow.


Rob and our niece Lauren show off ice cream smiles.

Me and our nephew Daniel at Rob's aunt and uncle's restaurant.

Me and Rob with our five AWESOME nephews and nieces -- Daniel (who is almost as tall as me at age 9), Aidan, Lauren, Bryson, and Lillian.

Rob and his twin sister Kyle (mom to Daniel and Lauren).

Rob's Grandma with her two great-granddaughters Lillian and Lauren.

:(

Sorry I'm not blogging. I've been busy and sick. Seems like it's just some random virus trying to annoy me. Nothing significant enough to worry about, but just significant enough to make me grumpy, tired, and self-pitying.

Eventually I'll blog about last weekend. My shoutouts to Jess and Tim and Charlie are overdue.

For now, I'm just going to keep feeling sorry for myself.