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Silent Sunday
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Friday on the Rocks – It’s Pimm’s O’Clock!
Happy Friday! Just as a heat wave is broiling Chicagoland, we've been baking over here while on holiday in the UK. I might argue that we are a bit worse off here, as so far I've found air conditioning only in the chemist's shop. Another thing that you generally won't find here is window screens, so while windows are open to let in cool breezes, they also let in nasty biting black flies. Nights have been sweltering, but given that last year there was about three sunny summer days in total, you won't find me complaining while we're here. It's gorgeous outside in the garden. Now, when you say “British…
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Currently
Reading: Splitting my attention between a few things, but I finished late last night Veronica Roth's “Divergent” – and moved on to “Insurgent” – on my Kindle, and I've been reading Erica Bauermeister's “The School of Essential Ingredients” in hardback. Despite how manic the summer has been, reading still remains my escape and my Kindle is fully loaded. Eating: fresh English strawberries, British sausages with sweet onion chutney, bacon and brie sandwiches – all the lovely things that just aren't the same in the US. Listening to: quite a bit of Shemeka Copeland – her strong, bluesy vocals have been great while I'm unpacking, alone, and I can…
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The Perils of Moving
Over the past few days I’ve written no less than a dozen posts. In my head. Where they should safely stay, as it has been a crazy week and I am prone to a good rant when I am frustrated. You see, this week, I have been moving into a new house. I spent so long deciding where to move to. I toyed with the idea of Canada, London and I even had a look at Egypt property for sale. I’m really happy with the property I’ve chosen but that’s not to say that the move hasn’t been stressful. And I can tell you, moving is perilous. First of all,…
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Friday on the Rocks – Pomegranate Martinis
Forgive the dust around here, we are knee deep in repairs and lightening speed house painting as we get ready to move back into our house next week. It’s been a bit manic and overwhelming, to say the least. After being gone for four years, opening up all the boxes from the storage unit will either be like Christmas, or a whole lot of “What the heck? Why did we keep this?” Along with the storage unit, a few things had migrated to my parents’ basement, including a box of booze that we weren’t allowed to pack. (And hey, it keeps, right?) In it I found a bottle of vanilla…
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Mango White Sangria
Of the many things you may know about me, one fact that you don’t know is that I tended bar in college. The place where I worked was a combination nightclub/bowling alley/outdoor bar with sand volleyball courts. We wore white tuxedo shirts with bow ties and cumberbunds (even for the ever popular “teen night”. I kid you not. We were classy.) As you might expect at a college bar also frequented by locals, we served a steady mix of beer (college boys) and frou-frou drinks (college girls), and so had what we termed the “funky drink list”, which we worked our way through with the waitresses when stuck on volleyball…
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I’m Dreaming in Sherwin Williams Jetstream Blue
I’ve been dreaming about color swatches. Yes, color swatches. And faucets, knobs and backsplash tile. Pendant lights. Basement playroom organization (and if any of you have suggestions for organizing toys so that it doesn’t look like a little kids’ playroom, drop me a line…) I’ve become a bit codependent on my iPad, and my relationship with Houzz, Pinterest and Craigslist is a bit stalkerish and fanatical. Pea and I have been happily yard-saleing, and my to-be-DIY’d pile is growing. You see, the countdown is on….two weeks from today, we get back our house, which we have been renting out while we were living in the UK. Four years. Three families…
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Wake-up Call
At 6:02 this morning, I was woken by a nudge in the back and a wet nose in my ear – the dog, looking for her breakfast and a play with the ball. She was terribly persistent, poking at my face with her paw and dropping her ball on my head until I gave up all hope of further sleep and stumbled downstairs. The Hubs is away on a business trip, so I was somewhat expecting this. Macy typically wakes him around 4:45, and lately even earlier (because he possesses no thought process whatsoever before HIS first sip of joe and therefore is enabling her bad habits) to the point…
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Feed My Starving Children
No, I didn’t take the day off. Recently I was given a reminder to be grateful for all the food we have (and not just the secret Oreo stash in the back of the cupboard…) when I had the opportunity to chaperone on a third grade field trip to Feed My Starving Children’s (FMSC) Libertyville packing center. We were there to hand pack a life-saving food mixture which would be delivered to one of the 70 countries to which they distribute food. This food mixture, which they have named “Manna”, was developed by a team of food scientists to provide a meal that could be transported easily and safely prepared with…
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The Great Noodle Rescue
It’s a terrible thing to lose a dear friend. It’s even harder to bear when you are completely responsible. Of course, I’m speaking of the untimely “loss” of Pea’s favorite stuffy, Noodles. The original post can be found here. I’ll wait while you go read it…. You’re back? Excellent. Fast forward two years where we find ourselves at Brookfield Zoo, Noodles’ first home. Boo reminded Pea of this, and sadly she responded “I loved Noodles – is he still down the hole?” “Yes, my lovely, he is.” This exchange slipped from my overburdened mind until the other evening, when Pea sighed quietly and whispered “I miss Noodles”. Now to backtrack…
