Let the countdown begin

Today is our negative 1 year wedding anniversary!!! :)

Hot and Cold

I'm blogging from the couch today with a hot toddy. I've been fighting this cold since last week. It seemed to trick me into thinking it was going away and then SIKE! or PSYCH! however you want to spell it. The first sign of students on campus and I'm already catching their diseases. But from what I hear, there's some sort of plague going around.

On Saturday I tried to enjoy my day with minimal stuffiness and headache. My mom was in town so we met her for breakfast in Oak Park. And then took her to see the conservatory where our wedding will be next year around this time. We also wanted to see what the weather could potentially be like and what the garden would look like this time of the year. It was so beautiful and natural with sort of an overgrown feeling, but not in a bad way at all. I loved it! And the indoor part of the venue was equally as lush and green. We also talked about some logistics of the event. I hope it's just like this next year on September 26th!

the Monet Garden

me and my mom

(click here for more photos of the wedding site!)

After that it was home for the normal weekend chores.

In the evening we tried a new restaurant on Devon with Julie and Rusty. Uru Swati, between Rockwell and Talman. It was really good. We had TONS of food, all vegetarian and it was only about $16 per person including tax and tip. The inside is really cute, with a handpainted city-scape lining the room. The samosas were delicious and so were the Malai Kofka??? I think that's what it's called. Some kind of dumplings. YUM! We were totally stuffed and had to roll ourselves home.

On Sunday I accompanied Steve to the Puma store, and the MCA, but soon fell ill due to over-exertion, most likely. It's too hard to stay home and rest with such beautiful weather outside.

Colds are JERKS! Time for naps.

White Peach

Have you ever eaten a white peach?

I recently went to Whole Foods and grabbed a handful of peaches not realizing what kind they were. My new breakfast routine involves a smoothie before my bike ride to work, with fruit, plain non-fat yogurt, a splash of milk, and sometimes a tiny splash of vanilla. REAL vanilla. When I get to work I eat a hardboiled egg and a sprouted grain english muffin with natural peanut butter.

Anyway, I grabbed one of the peaches and cut it open, suprised to see the pale inner flesh of the fruit. I thought, "what is wrong with this peach?" so I looked at the label and realized that it was not your typical peach, and continued making my smoothie. IT WAS SO GOOD! These peaches are so sweet and the flavor is so smooth it should be called the Peaches-n-Cream-peach. Try it!

Labor Day Weekend 2008

Yes it's fall and yes we celebrated Labor Day with a visit to the old Nyktas family.

In the grand scheme of things the Labor Day Weekend trip to Ohio seemed like an afterthought at first. I couldn't finish blogging about our trip to New Mexico before we went on another. But it turned out to be one of the best weekends we've had in a long time. And it made me really wish that we could be close enough to our families to see them more often.

We started to weekend off with Steve's 10 year High School Reunion on Saturday evening after the long drive down. George let us take the Z3 to the event..... I don't know why, he just likes it when we use his nice things. The though of attending your partner's high school reunion may sound frightening to some of you but I actually had a good time for the most part. Only a few boring parts. But I had already met three of his friends from that time in his life and I know them pretty well at this point. So it wasn't too bad.

The following day we had a gathering at George's house with all of the family members we never get to see. And some new ones we hadn't met before - Isaias and Emma. We also spent some time in Covington with Lynn, drinking pisco sours, the national beverage of Peru (just for fun.)

On Labor Day we decided that the drive up to Columbus was worth it to be able to see the triplets, so we did! Here you see Steve holding Eric and Drew. We sort of ended up crashing a friend of a friend of his brother's Labor Day party, but they didn't seem to mind. Plus they had a pool!!! So I was able to enjoy my second and last time swimming for the entire summer.

I know that Fall "officially" starts at the equinox on September 25th, so I guess technically summer should still be winding down. We've had great weather this week (after the weekend monsoon). But I'm already starting to think about christmas knitting projects..... hhhhmmm....

Class Chameleon

There's been lots of buzzing about this website called www.yearbookyourself.com. So I decided to try it out and boy is it funny!..... so funny that I took the liberty of plugging in Steve's face as well. I've always wanted to experience living in other decades, so i guess this is as good as it gets. Also - more proof that you can't believe something just because someone shows you a photo of it.

Sarah circa 1952 (looks like my father disguised as a woman)
and Steve circa 1950 - such a dapper young fellow

Sarah circa 1954 and Steve circa 1956
I thought this was high school... why do I look like an old lady?


Sarah & Steve in 1960 - don't we look smart?


Sarah from 62' & Steve from '64. This is when we were clean, conservative folks.


another mannish look from Sarah in '68


whoa! is that Steve from 1970 or is that George Nyktas!


I guess hair started getting out of control in the 70's. The funny thing is, this is EXACTLY what I looked like in 1998. I guess I was a 70's-chick-wannabe


um... yeah 1982


How androgynous of you, Steve, in 1984.


mid 80's


and last but certainly not least 1990.


There is more, but I don't think I should show you.

sigh...

I am so bad at blogging lately. I haven't been keeping up. We had an extremely fall-like weekend including over 48 hours of straight rain. You'd think that would be a great opportunity for staying inside and blogging, but NOOOOOOO...... instead I went thrifting and spent the majority of my time watching tv in my pajamas and organizing our collection of... you know... those things.... CD's! Yeah that's it, cd's. I mean who listens to cd's anymore? How lame is it to have a cd collection? It sort of feels like when I was 14 and I acquired my dad's record collection. But anyway, some other rainy day I may actually sit around and listen to some cds. compact discs. Maybe that annoying skipping sounds that cds make will become what the crackle has for vinyl. Okay maybe not.

Oh, AND I bought a fur coat!! It's GORGEOUS. Freaking gorgeous. It was $15 at VD. Village Discount. VD = Village Discount.

Someone, ask me to go some place where wearing fur is appropriate! STAT!

Also tried a new restaurant. Union Pizzeria in Evanston. Sort of a fancier pizzeria place. Wood fired. SO DELICIOUS! Not the best place for large groups (we had 13 and we had to wait till EVERYONE was there to be seated). But OMG the pizza was so good. I could not stop eating it. We had the goat cheese and potato pizza, which also had caramelized onions. And the lamb and eggplant pizza.

Yes gosh-dernit I ate lamb AND bought a fur coat all in 24 hours..... maybe that's why last night I had a night mare that I was being chased by a man wielding a shotgun. hmmmm...

I promise to be better at blogging in the very near future.

Western Vacation - Day 5: Back Home Again

The next morning we awoke refreshed and ready to make our way to the Denver airport to return the Yaris and fly home. Unfortunately we forgot to take a photo while Lacey was there last night so here is Annie and I. They are two of my best friends from high school and it was great for the three of us to be together again. I hope to see them again before our wedding.... but you know how time flies.

At the airport there were no problems or pat downs to be had. Just a smooth ride into Chicago. We were so happy to see the cats and I know that they were glad we were home. I always have this pull between wanting to be a homebody and the curious desire to travel all over and see new things. I love puttering around the house, talking to Elvis and Monkey, and doing my daily chores. But there is so much excitement in putting yourself in a different environment, seeing unfamiliar landscapes, and visiting old friends.

Also, this was the first real vacation that Steve and I have ever been on. We both had a great time and want to explore other parts of the country that neither of us has seen before. Fortunately we will be going on a honeymoon next year and there are many many places to choose from.

Elvis making friends with the monkey finger puppet

Western Vacation - Day 4: More Wandering in Santa Fe, Then Off to Colorado Springs

The fourth day of our vacation was just as full of things to do as all the rest of them. We started off with breakfast in the garden of the hotel where there is actually a tee pee that you can reserve for dinners of twelve or less. The hotel is owned by a local group of Native Americans and the inside of the tee pee is decorated with paintings by a man from the Picuris Pueblo.

After breakfast we took a dip in the hot tub and pool, and then it was on to more shopping and sightseeing. The first stop on our journey was the San Miguel Church, which is the oldest church structure in the U.S. The original adobe walls were built by the Tlaxcalan Indians from Mexico under the direction of Franciscan Padres ca 1610..... copied from the sign.

Then we shopped around for a bit and had lunch. I bought some local yarn from New Mexican alpacas. I hope to make a lace scarf out of it, for myself. Another knit-related item I purchased - a cute little bunch of finger puppets!!! They were irresistible! I'm being serious, I just had to buy them. In the plaza we perused the items at the Indian market, where people came from nearby pueblos to sell their wares.

Let's see... what else.... I kissed a buffalo... within hours of eating a buffalo burger. We wandered around a bit more, and then we headed out for Colorado Springs to make our way back home.

In Colorado we spent the evening with Lacey, Annie, and Josh. Annie prepared a lovely dinner and we all played a funny board game together. And most importantly, we got to meet Charlie, Josh and Annie's dog! Charlie is a one year old black lab who likes to play fetch with a basketball. She's adorable and loves to play. Annie put us up in their newly furnished guest room.

Charlie Sue Easterling