Cubs vs. Reds

Thanks to my “boss” Dave, Jen and I got to go see the Reds last Tuesday when they played the Cubs here in Chicago. I have been to a game once before a few summers ago with Jason and we sat on the first base line, but this time Jen and I were in the bleachers. This is where the party takes place. Although it was a Tuesday night this was place hopping (I can only imagine what it is like on the weekends at a day game!) I of course was the only Reds fan in the stands, and I hate to say it slightly embarrassed to be so, only because I did not recognize any of the players (Cincinnati has somehow acquired a Minor league team) but we can hope for next season.

Reds in the field.

Me and Jen at the game.

What I love about Wrigley is how old school it is. No jumbo-tron, no kiss cam, no dancing chickens doing the macarana. Pure unadulterated baseball.

A view of the city from the bleachers. It was a pretty hazy night, you can the rooftop stands too. They are owned by the buildings and host boozefests for the games.

Outside the bleacher entrance.

The Reds lost the night we were there, but won the next night! Enjoy the pics!

xo

Amber

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!