Where do you see yourself in five years?

I've been thinking about this question off and on for the past few weeks. I haven't started a career yet, but I've got a cool job for now. I'm not in a relationship with a long-time girlfriend, so there isn't any "we" planning. I guess there's long term goals that everyone has to think about at some point, but is that something that we've already started? The cliche is that life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. So what are those other plans?

I want to travel more. I've never been west of the Mississippi. It would be fun to see some of those landmark U.S. vacation spots. And the weird little places you stop off at while on a road trip. Maybe do some camping. It's more fun than I thought it would be. I'd like to go to Europe for a while someday, cuz why not, right?

Supposedly, fall is on its way, but summer giving its last reluctant fight this week. Small yellow leaves are already falling off the trees in the park in front. Some people are wearing scarves in the evening, and I found myself throwing on a sweatshirt a few times this week. In the short term, my goals are going to include running and biking more, grilling outside with friends and roommates, being an awesome teacher, reading a few books, and stopping to imagine what the roses smell like.

Bring it.

Ethan Embry and Jennifer Love Hewitt make me want to be a hopeless romantic.

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Sitting in the kitchen with the roomies after several mugs of boxed "chillable red wine" and a heaping helping of stir-fried yellow curry that was awesome. It was my first-ever experience enjoying curry, and I have to say I'm a huge fan. It's a spicy sweet that doesn't linger too much, but is packed with flavor. Awesome.

Recruiting was good today. Lots of good kids signed up for interviews today, and some of them even showed up for the interview. Most of them just stayed after school and hung out for the interview. One of the last kids came in after we were about to go home. He went home to change into his navy pants, dress shirt and shoes, and a tie. He was a freshman, and the cuteness made Jeanette giddy.

I'm excited about teaching. It's a level of responsibility that I haven't had to handle before, and the kids actually seem interested in the program, even enthusiastic. I was never in clubs or extracurriculars of any kind in high school, so this will be a fun look into what those might have been like. Oh, and the Improv Group's flyers were full of grammatical and punctuational errors. Pshh.

I should take some pictures. I like adding photos to blogs. It's more fun.



I haven't taken any recently, so I googled "photo," and this was the first one that came up. You see, dogs and babies are cute.

Red Ribbons.

In case you haven't already noticed, we're running into the end of the most gorgeous week ever. The weather has been amazing, and the events of the week have been great. Hung out with people at the Burlington, got a job with the FOTP Cronies, got to see Martha for a while, and Colin and I invented a new drink.

While it's no Thankstini, the Red Ribbon is quite good.

1 part V8 (or bloody mary mix)
2 parts PBR
1 wedge of lime
garnish as you see fit

I'm hoping to turn the week of amazing into a weekend of awesomeness.

There are no judgements here, just pizza.

Busy weekend. Went out with some school friends on Saturday night, in Forest Park. It was really nice to see some of these people I hadn't seen in a while, and we had a pretty good time. There's lots of people in Forest Park who are like the decently-dressed, hillbilly/jock townies that I've successfully avoided since high school. It was ok, since they're not much on talking, and the trade off for being in that specific suburb was $3 draft Stellas and Guinness.

Sunday was a sweet softball victory of the moral variety. I made some boneheaded plays which provided comic relief, but made a couple good ones as well. We stuck around to loan some Wicked Awesomers to another team, and afterwards we went to Bar Louie for some amazing grub.

Later that afternoon I got to hang out with the roomies, and Brian and Liz. I'd like to harness whatever it is that makes their dog, Bear, live like he's been guzzling Energizer batteries. He's 7, and acts like a four-month old.

It was great to hang out with them, and Brian is officially going to be known as "The Grillmaster." Kabobs and burgers with corn on the cob, and vanilla bean ice cream with farmers market peaches for desert. Yep. I love food.

Hey look, a segue.

Tonight, we made some more stellar BALTs and in addition to homemade soups, pot roasts, and grilled foods, they are going to become a staple of this autumn's awesome dinners. It rained today, but it was quite possibly the best weather day of the year. It should be beautiful all week, so get out there. For true though.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

There was a fire in the neighborhood last night. Nate had just left, called us and said it was just up the street on Milwaukee. We strolled over, and the Discount Mega Mall was enveloped in smoke and flames. There was about 20 firetrucks and tons of other fire/police vehicles. They had blocked off about four square blocks to access the different areas of the building, and shut down the El line that went right nearby.

Apparently the building had ridiculous amounts of city violations, and should have been closed.




This is crappy video, and you can't really see the amount of smoke that was pouring out of the roof, but there's the story and good video here:

www.abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=5646735

Support the memory of your local indoor mexican flea market!

Watching you through my rear-view mirror.

I went home to hang out with my mom this weekend, after recovering a bit Saturday afternoon. She got a new dog, Gracie, a couple months ago and this was the first time I got to see it. And now you get to, because everyone loves pictures of dogs.





I'm not a huge fan of tiny dogs, but she's pretty darn cute and she doesn't bark or yip. That little blur behind the side of her head is her wagging tail. How friggin adorable.

I heart Chicago.

Thursday night Simone and I were bored. After consulting the internets we decided to bake blueberry muffins from scratch. We took an Igo car to the store to pick up baking soda, vanilla, a basting brush, and some wine. We had fresh blueberries and everything else already.

They're awesome. Fresh blueberry muffins with streusel topping.


Saturday Nate moved into the Texas Ballroom on Archer. Apparently after waiting two-and-a-half hours in the morning to get his truck, they told him it was reserved for another day. Meltdown ensues including multiple profanities and kicking a can in frustration. They finally find another truck.

After we get everything packed up and ready to go around lunchtime, Cassie, Caleb, and Brian (Nate's brother) had to leave. I got to drive Nate's car down to the Ballroom because he was driving the truck.

It was the first time I drove on Lake Shore Drive in a long time. I'd almost forgotten how gorgeous this city is. Traffic was moving slow and it was fun to soak it all in again. The different views of the skyline, hundreds of sailboats on the lake taking advantage of the beautiful day, the lakefront path, and just the mass of the city itself. Nice.

Moving into the Texas Ballroom was not nice.
Three flights of stairs. Me, Nate, and his dad. Everything Nate owned and whatever Tyler left behind. It was almost 8pm when we got finished, and we weren't slacking. Feeling it today.

Had a blast at Libby and Kate's afterwards for their pizza and champagne housewarming/Libby's birthday party. It was mostly theatre people we didn't know, but they were all really friendly and we had a great time. Then I hid Nate's shoe in the fridge.

I need to get a phone.