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.

A Trip Back Home

For those of you who have moved away from home to a completely new place with brand new challenges you can appreciate how nice it is to make a trip back home soon after the move. Such an occasion arose a few weeks ago, for a Lucas-Kappel celebration. The occasion of course was to celebrate Matthew and his new wife, Sharon, who went and got hitched last fall, and with the size of our growing family you can bet there were more babies to meet! (3 to be exact!) I’ll recap the very busy and exhausting week for those of you near and far, and for those who couldn’t make it (ahem, Brandy and Will).

The trip started with a visit from Momma Max who drove up from Cincinnati to see the new place and my neighborhood, and of course a little shopping! It was so much fun to show her where I live because although she has been to Chicago numerous times, never to the neighborhoods north of downtown (where the museums, Magnificent Mile and hotels are). I fell in love with this area a few summers ago when I came to visit friends and knew I wanted to live here upon my move to the Windy City. I took her to my favorite places to eat a vegan-vegetarian restaurant, The Chicago Diner (“Meat free since 1983) and to the most wonderful breakfast place, Ann Sathers, with the best cinnamon rolls. We walked along the lake, saw Wrigley Field and made a trip out to IKEA to get more things for my apartment.

It was a quick visit though because we turned right around to join in the festivities at home. The first morning there I went to the Cincinnati Zoo with the whole crew: Mom, the Newly Weds, Taylor, Sarah, Desiree, Anthony, Clint, Marianne and their two little ones, Reeder and baby Hayes. You could say we brought the zoo to the zoo, as Don would have commented if he had been brave enough to go, ‘It’s like herding cats’. But we covered a lot of ground and made the loop.

Sarah and her little boy, Anthony, at the petting zoo.

Sharon! My new sister-in-law.

The Kappels taking a look at the polar bears.

Reeder and her Dad on the carousel.

That afternoon and the next day were filled with errands, chit-chat, a trip to the new pool and of course the breakfast at Half-Day Cafe. Friday night, Jason and I made it to the Reds game where they beat the Red Sox (go figure!) And good thing we went to that game because they lost the rest of weekend. Despite my objections and whines of being tired, Jason insisted we stay for the fireworks, quite the display of pyrotechnics.

Hayes and his Grama Max. What a stud, right?

Self-portrait at the Red's game! (I was bored waiting for the pyromusical to begin.)

As I mentioned, we have a new addition to the clan, my step-sister, Mary, had her second child, a baby girl Samantha Opal who was born on June 10. I went over to Mary and Kevin’s to meet this little one, what a sweet thing. The family is doing great. That evening we had the elopement celebration BBQ. It was at my parents’ house in Wyoming and there was some great mac’n’cheese, ice-cream, cake and Sangria that sent me back to my Spain days. (All my favorite food!) Sharon was appropriately welcomed into the family.

Baby Sam, only a few days old.

Baby Sam getting some love from Big Brother, Taylor

The Newly Weds!

The obligatory cake in the face pic!

Oh, to be two, and able to eat cake the right way.

Me and Sharon at the BBQ

A party wouldn't be complete without balloons by Fouad. Usually a crowd please among the tots, but Jason's a kid at heart or just a big goof ball.

Me and my wonderful mom, Max.

Me and Jason.
The last full day in Cincinnati was spent running around despite the effects of the prior night’s fun. Jason and I stopped by St. James to see Hayes, my nephew born in March , be baptized and welcomed to the faith by all his friends and family. Then we made it across town to pick up Brutus from his first stay at a dog spa and resort. For those of you have had the wonderful opportunity to meet my Black Lab, you will know he is appropriately named because he is quite the brute but full of love and without a care in the world, he survived and even got good marks. I was nervous the entire time he was there that I was going to get a call about his behavior. Then we made our way up to Oxford to see Jason’s family for Father’s Day. It’s always nice to go to Oxford because I will always miss Miami and it’s such a lovely little college town and of course it's always nice to see his folks and sister.

Hayes debut into faith. Good work, lil guy!

On Monday, the party was over and I headed back on Megabus to Chicago. And I have been up to the usual things, working, nannying and living in the Windy City. (To see more pictures you can visit my albums at www.kodakgallery.com. Username is my email and password is kappelsphotos.)

xoxo

Amber

Settling In

Hi Folks, I have been here in Chicago for almost a month and I am settling in to my new city. Not a lot of has been going around here, just the usual. Like I mentioned in my last blog I am baby-sitting for a family I met through the Cohen’s. And so far I am having so much fun with their toddler, Nora, and learning a lot about newborns with Astor, their one month old. They live in a neighborhood west of the city so I take the bus to their house a few days a week and help out their mom, Jen. I am also working at the restaurant but I am hoping to find something else more in sync with who I am. (Unfortunately while they were shooting the movie I didn’t get to see Johnny Depp or Christian Bale, just a bunch of extras and old cars.)

I haven’t spending all my time working, though, I’ve been catching up with friends who live in the city. One of the draws of Chicago was that so many of my friends from home and from Miami live here, so it has been very nice seeing all of them. Last weekend I went to Jen’s house for a BBQ to help celebrate her roommate finishing the MCAT, and later that night I went out with a few AOIIs from Miami. I’ve also taken advantage of living a block from the shore, and made a few trips to the beach to enjoy the sun because it’s been hot here in the Windy City. I was also looking at different apartments where I could have a dog but have decided to stay in my apartment I have now for various reasons.

Out with AOIIs from Miami!

Me and Sarah. (Sarah and I were on exec at Miami, and she is such a great friend!)

I also had a visitor come visit! Jason came to visit on Saturday for the day. He rode up on the overnight Megabus (a super cheap way to make it between Cincinnati and Chicago and the rest of the Midwest,) so he got here in the morning in time for breakfast at Ann Sather’s a local favorite with the best cinnamon rolls and omelets. Afterwards, we spent the afternoon by the lake at the dog beach watching all the goings on, watched the boats out on the water and then went down to a grassy part while Jason napped, I read. We left just as the rain started coming down and got trenched. For dinner, Connie and John (Jason’s parents) met us and went for pizza before the three of them went up to Wisconsin for Jason’s cousin’s graduation from high school.

That’s all for now, I’ll see many of you this week when I am home for Matthew and Sharon’s Cincinnati Elopement Celebration (say that three times fast!)

xoxo

Amber