Up in the UP

Hello to All,

After surviving Sunday Chicago traffic (the worst day to drive in/out of the Windy City) Jason arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed (not so much) and we started our end of the summer vacation. I worked Monday morning so Jason could spend the day helping his friend, Ben, pack and move to Las Vegas, but the real vacation part started Tuesday morning when we left for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. And much to Jason’s chagrin we left early and drove through Wisconsin (adding another state to my list) reaching a Culver’s for lunch. Culver’s is similar to Braum’s (family owned and lots of meat) just not as good, and as seeing it is a meat lover’s dream I had just had some cheese curds, when in Rome do as the Roman’s, right?

We arrived in Escanaba, Michigan in the late afternoon and set up camp. Although not as crunchy I would have liked, we settled in next to our RV neighbor watching Oprah (no, really) and made our way down to the beach. Jason collected some drift and grumbled about the cold water (I think he was expecting the Caribbean warm water) and I took some MI pics.

Jason standing over his camping domain: tent and beloved camping stove

Pictures to the lake and by the lake.

After, we made our way in to town to get a few “supplies” at the Super Wal-mart, we live big, we headed back to settle in for the evening. Jason loves outdoorsy stuff, and so in preparation for our vacation he got himself a cooking stove, dishes, silverware and head lamps. We are so hard core. We were somewhat limited to what we could make so I grabbed some mac and cheese but forgot the milk and butter so it had an interesting taste.

Jason and all his gear: headlamp, silverware, flexible bowls and camping pot

And post dinner I kicked Jason’s butt in scrabble and we made S’mores (my one requirement for the camping trip).

The next morning we headed across the peninsula to Mackinac. For those of you have never been it is so pretty and we had the most PERFECT weather. So we reached the Mackinac Bridge and stopped for a few photo opts.

We spend the afternoon in the little town eating dinner and avoiding the touristy shoppes and that night we returned to the campsite for another out of control Scrabble game (I won!)

You might notice Jason's jolly face because if you look closely behind him you will see our neighbor who serenaded us with his accordion. He had all the camp boppin'.

A view from our campsite.

The next morning we took the ferry to Macknac Island.

I love Mackinac Island, it is like taking a step back in time because there are not vehicles allowed on the island so everyone uses horse drawn carriages or bikes.

Our choice of travel was a tandem bike. We rode the 8 mile path around the island, stopping to capture the hilarity of us on the tandem on film.

Afterwards we grabbed an early lunch and drinks at a café right on the water

and took a stroll the more residential part of the island.

We stopped for a cat nap at the park and then explored the back roads of the small island and stumbled across the Grande Hotel.

These would be my illegal photos of Grande Hotel.

After dinner at the same restaurant I ate with Don, Mom and Mary on our trip there in 2002, we got the 5:30 ferry back to main land and back to our camp site.

And like all vacation this one had to come to an end so we packed it up Friday morning and headed back to the Windy City.

xo

Amber

It's Been a Blong Time

So let’s face it I haven’t been as diligent as I had wanted with this whole blog thing so I am going to try my best at catching you up on July in the Windy City.

Last time I left off I was headed to Michigan to visit a friend from Miami. Sarah B. and I left Chicago early Saturday morning beating the crazy Cubbies fans at the McDonald’s drive-thru and headed to Kalamazoo, Michigan where our fellow AOII sister/friend, Kristina, is living for the summer before she moves to Chicago to get a MFA in Music Ethnology (or something like that) at U of Chicago. It was great time once we made it after around 3 times because we too busy talking to watch for signage and not factoring in the time change, we miraculously got there in the nick of time to enjoy a day out on a boat, and a night of drinking games that took us back to our Miami days.

After that brief little vacay I was back to work, picking up extra shifts at Zig Zag and a few more hours babysitting…nothing to exciting to report there other than. Little Nora is a little parrot and repeats everything I do and say and I am known as “Hammer” around their house (those “B’s” can get ya!), and baby Astor is rolling from front to back. I always just smiled and nodded when a new mom said “they just grow so fast” but after spending Astor’s first 3 months with her, I have to admit…they really do!

I have also gotten out and had some fun with friends. Regular movie dates with Jen, we’ve seen SATC, “Mamma Mia” and next on the list is “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” do you see a trend? We like our chick flicks! I also saw “The Dark Knight” it so so good, I highly recommend it, and Gotham is based on Chicago so there are a ton of Windy City shots. And I have been seeing my Miami/AOII friends although not as much as I wish, everyone is just so busy. And of course summer in Chicago wouldn’t be complete without the street festivals and outdoor concerts (note to self, take advantage of this before it turns bitter cold and I am buried under snow and grad work!) I also have been enjoying the bike trail and my bike!

And on the Cat front, she is healthy! It was a traumatic experience for all those involved (especially for Jen) but the little kitty is fixed, vaccinated and AIDS free. To save some extra cash I took her to PAWS Chicago which does all the above for under $100 (at an actual veterinary office it would be upwards of $300,) but I didn’t factor in that half of Chicago pet owners would be taking advantage of this on the chosen Sunday morning and we waited for 2 and ½ hours so I could hand them the cat carrier and tell the “vet” Cat hadn’t eaten since 7 PM the night before which took all of 3 minutes (seriously). But we survived and despite a stoned Kit-Kat there were no undesirable side effects.

I also visited Loyola for the first time since moving here and got funding straightened out, and walked around the campus bought myself a Loyola tee, but hopefully in the near future I will do a Loyola blog. I do have a few exciting things coming up. Jason is coming to Chicago this Sunday and we are headed to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to camp, I haven’t camped since I was little bitty so I would love any advice a few my weathered fans could offer! (IE what is good camping food?) I am looking forward to my week of crunchiness. And lastly school is swiftly approaching (August 25) and I will start night classes 3 nights a week up at the Lakeshore Campus.

Thanks for reading my catch up blog, I apologize for the lack of pictures (note to self take more pictures!) and I hope everyone is doing well! I am off to buy the princess some kitty litter and wet food because heaven forbid she eat the cheap dry stuff.

xoxo

Amber

The Weather Channel.com Lies

I cut my last post brief so that I could enjoy a day at the lake. After getting ready, lathering up on Sunblock, filling up a few water bottles and grabbing a book I head outside to find an overcast Chicago sky and a chilly breeze coming off the lake. I turned right back around after dropping off some mail and cat poop, to return and blog and pack for a day in Michigan on a boat tomorrow. (Be jealous.)

You might be wondering, does Amber have friends in Chicago besides the cat and frequent visits from Jason? And the answer would be 'yes!' Besides showing up to work at ZigZag and taking care of a few cute little ones, I keep up with friends. I finally had Chicago style pizza with a few friends from Miami, Sarah, Amber and her twin Elyse. (I have to say, it's kinda weird having a friend named Amber, there aren't alot of us!) All Cincinnati girls! We went to the famous Giordano's. So cheesy and so much sauce, of course it will never replace my beloved thin crust extra sauce cheese pizza from Cincinnati's LaRosa's!

Look at that sauce drenching the pizza...
And the cheese spilling out. (Hungry yet?)
Good food and good friends. (Elyse, Sarah, Amber and me.)

Later that weekend I met with Jen and a few friends to catch the end of some day drinking and the Cubbies vs. Sox games. To be completely candid, I was nervous about moving to Chicago and my ability to make friends. I haven't had to make new friends since I went to Spain and that was completely different because we were all on our own looking for English speaking friends to carry through the semester in a foreign country. This time I felt different because it's such a big city, but so far I have been blessed with meeting new people through Jen and work. So Jen, her intern friend from a few summers ago, Kristen, and Jen's roommate Alexis and the person who got me the job at ZZ went out Saturday night.

At O'Mally's with Jen, Kristen and Alexis.
Me and Jen. I've known Jen since moving to the Wyo. She's a Gator Alum and now has lived in Chicago since graduating in May 2007 and works as a corporate event planner. She is currently doing a party for Coca-Cola, (How cool, right?!)

And I know I have talked about the dog beach I love so much well I finally got to go with a dog! Alexis has a huskie-lab mix, Coda, who we took to the beach. It's nice to have a friend with a big dog to get my dog fix.

Coda is the gray one, cooling off after chasing other dogs around.
Getting ready to leave after a fun little dip. You can't see her eyes but she has one blue and one brown.

I didn't do much for the 4th of July weekend besides cover shifts at ZZ. Chicago does their fireworks the night before the 4th but we decided to decide to skip the fireworks downtown because it's a huge cluster, with gang related shootings and massive amounts of people going in 100 different directions. And you can't see them from North Beach because of the John Hancock we learned this lesson a few summers ago. So we went to the bars instead.

Kristen and Jen out at a bar in Lincoln Park.
After years of interning, it is only fitting that Jen has her own summer intern. Kristen, Jen and Mallory (the intern.)

I think that's enough blogging for one Friday afternoon. I'm back to the lake, this time to walk. Thanks for reading.

xo
Amber

BC

I did have a life BC (Before Cat) that didn't revolve around a 7 lb creature, so let's get back to that. I haven't become a cat lady yet, there is still some hope. A few weekends ago I had a visitor, Jason came to visit and it was a short but fun visit. He made the over night MEGAbus trip to get here on Sunday morning and after a cat nap (there are just so many kitty puns!) we made the very short walk to Broadway (if I was lucky enough to have a backyard that's where it would be) where the annual Gay Pride Parade takes place. For those of you who aren't diligently reading and taking notes of my blog, I live in/near the GLBT neighborhood of Boystown in Chicago. Similar to other cities in the US (like San Fran) the gay community moved in, revamped it, made it trendy and the rest of us followed. And Chicago not only attracts the likes of young women searching for a city to live in that's not far from home, it's the HQ of sorts for GLBT in the midwest. The parade originally was a protest started in downtown Chicago ( I live in Uptown) to protest an incident in NYC and call for equal human rights. But since then it has become a party, an opportunity for daydrinking in the streets of Lakeview to celebrate being 'out' and those who support them for being 'out'. I've always wanted to experience Mardi Gras this is closest I have come. So Jason and I braved the crowds and enjoyed the parade.

There were Drag Queens...
And more Drag Queen Brides

Chicago PD's float

And Bikes!
And dance groups!
And more floats. Oh my!
And a shout out for Obama! (other politicians were there too)

And that night after watching Spain win the Eurocup (yay!) we headed over to Ukranian Village to meet up with a few of Jason's friends from Oxford who he grew up with, Ben and David and David's girlfriend, Katherine. We headed to David's favorite restaurant...a Mexican fish restaurant. For those of you who aren't familiar, I hate fish, always have and always will. But now I have an excuse, I'm a vegetarian so there will be no Nemo eating for me. But I had Jason take a pic of his fish dinner, it was quite the presentation.

No need to explain my aversion to fish, but Jason enjoyed it.

The next evening after I babysat in the morning, we headed downtown to Grant Park to enjoy the taste of Chicago. It was crowded (Jason hates crowds) but the food was good...

The "Bean," a huge tourist attraction for Chicago visitors, it's a large hunk of metal seating near the Art Institute.

Jason and I doing the tourist at "The Bean". Jason was cringing.

Jason, the brat and a nice cold one.
I went straight for the chocolate turtles. And BBQ (fake) chicken on a stick. I ate it to quick for a photo moment.

I like keeping Jason around because he makes me try new things like rice pudding and cranberries...

Very good!

And he got to see the Budweiser horses.

Very big pretty horses in very smell cages. (so sad.)

It was a quick but fun visit, and hopefully worked in luring him to move to the Windy City, except now that I have a roommate of the feline persuasion he might stay away forever.

I'm off to enjoy the nice weather by the beach. More Chicago pics to come, it just takes forever to upload them!

The Honeymoon Is Over

"You make someone a bridesmaid and then they shit all over you!" (The dimwitted sister Jenny from the 80s movie "Sixteen Candles) Well Cat is not exactly my bridesmaid and she didn't poop, but far worse...she peed on my bed! Yep, that's right, little orphan Annie decided to use my bed as her litter box this morning (while I was still in it, mind you!) I woke up this morning with my foot in some warm liquid, upon further inspection I find it's cat urine...the worst smelly thing ever. (Keep in mind that I spent the better part of last year chasing after an incontinent old dog, so this is very bad in my book!) I quickly ripped off the sheets and read up on what I should do to clean up bedding, mattress pad and down comforter! Because my laundry resources are limited, there are only three machines in my building 4 flights down and I had to be at work in a hour, this was going to have til after work. So following instructions from fellow survivors I threw my bedding in the tub and sink in some water and headed to work. I learned that there are usually 4 reasons why a cat will piss in a human bed:

1. She has a UTI. (Quite the possibility if she had been slutting it up before I took her in.)
2. She thinks her litter box is too dirty. ("Oh sorry, Princess, I'll get that cleaned up for you right away.")
3. She is pissed off about something. (No pun intended.)
4. She finds the feathers in the comforter to be offensive. (No somewhat witty comment for this one.)

Also, because I had way too much faith in Cat I skipped buying any Nature's Cure at the pet store on Saturday (looks like the jokes on me.) So after fretting about it all day at work and emailing my go-to-guy Don (the rest of the world as askjeeves, I have askdon) I walked to Petco to get some Nature's Cure and litter box refreshers. So I came home to a surprisingly not smelly apartment with a remorseful Cat, and got down to business. And of course, this is the afternoon that they are working on the machines and I am out of quarters. Oh, and did I mention the weather in Chicago finally decided to turn summer, so it's blazing hot and humid in my apartment. (Do you all want some cheese for that whine?)

A remorseful and scared Cat hiding. It kinda looks like kitty time-out.

Now as the machines diligently run downstairs and this morning's offensive wake-up call nearly forgotten, I worry about the future. Is this going to be a normal occurrences? This can't keep happening because I am no Daddy Warbucks and Nature's Cure and the quarter machines cost money.) Is she going to be forever banished from the bedroom? Is she trying to tell me something, and I need to brush up on my Meows? Is she really sick? So my question for any of you who might be cat owners, what should a novice cat owner do? (Besides kicking her to the curb, exactly where I found her.)

As you can see she has made herself at home, so I don't think she wants to be evicted for this morning's offense. (Excuse the mess.)
Her perch while I get ready.

Further news on the Cat front, I (and by that I mean Jen, friend with a car, and me) am taking Cat to Chicago PAWS next Sunday at 6:45 AM to get her vaccinated, tested for Cat HIV/AIDS (no, really,) spayed/ pregnancy taken care of and microchipped. If she is indeed pregnant, and it is early on they will abort it (sad but this world does not need more mutt-cats running around) or will have to euthanize the kittens (double sad which I don't think I could handle and will probably try and find homes for potential grand-kittens, which leads to even deeper questions which Amber in the Windy City is not a forum for.) As far as names go, I haven't really settled on one. But have thought of a few...Cat still stands, or Hap, named after Audrey's last movie role in "Always" which she plays an angel guiding Richard Dreyfuss, or Fred another homage to Audrey (suggested by fellow blogger and cousin, Lucas).

Look for future blogs about Cat and other aspects of my Chicago life. "That darned cat!" (Okay, I think that's enough movie references for one blog.)

Call me crazy...

I have a new "project." Call me crazy (Jason thinks I am), call me dumb ...I took in a stray cat/kitty this afternoon. Before you judge let me tell you about my afternoon. So I decided to take a walk by the lake before the big rains came in tonight, and I was on my way home when I bumped into the building maintenance guy. Now, Manuel is a very nice man, he's helped me on numerous occasions and we chat whenever we see each other in the hall. He was sitting on the front stoop playing with previous mentioned cat/kitty, when I came home. He asked if it belonged to me and I answered 'no' but being the animal lover that I am, I sat down to play with it. It instantly came to me and was totally chill and sweet. Manuel went inside to show a unit and I continued to play with the cat. So before long I turned to go inside but the cat tried to follow me. At this time, I decided to take action. Two key points I forgot to mention, the cat had a collar on and had a wound about an inch around on it's neck. So I picked it up (which it didn't like) and I took it inside. I gave it water to drink and started calling around vet clinics asking "what the hell should I do now" because of it's scary looking wound. The cat made it's self at home and didn't do any weird cat thing like hide under the bed where I couldn't reach it.

A place up the street from me suggested taking it to VCA a walk-in clinic and so I called them, and they told me to bring it in. So before I hopped in a cab (you can't take animals on the CTA) I posted a 'Found Cat' on Craigslist with this picture.
So after a nice cab ride with a chatty driver (who by the way, loves cats but didn't have a suggestion for temporary name) I arrived at the clinic. They scanned it to see if it had one of those fancy micro-chips for when an animal gets lost, and put me in a waiting room. I got an estimation for how much it would cost to take care of it's wound and suggestions as to what to do next. I decided to pay for the treatment and got the numbers of no-kill shelters in my area that had openings for cats. I also found out that 'it' is a girl, probably around a year old and 7 lbs.

The Wound after being shaved and cleaned.

On my way out the receptionists who have multiple cats told me they think she is pregnant and that if I take her to PAWS they'll take care of that for me. I'm thinking "Oh shit" and then whisper to my new friend "you slut". The two nice ladies heard me...whoops. Jen picked me up and dropped me off at home with my new project after getting some food and cat litter. I gave her some food and showed her the toilet.

The carrier the clinic gave me and her food and toilet.

And for now I'm calling her 'Cat' after Holly Golightly's cat in "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

I think she approves of her temporary name (she is checking out my Audrey book collection)

And now I'm blogging and she's curled up sleeping. Tomorrow I am going to call around the shelters and vets to see about missing cats and make a sign for my building.

All curled up.