i'm sick, but i'll survive

The past couple of days i've been sick. I'm still recovering from strep throat, though I'm feeling much better than i was last week. Wednesday afternoon i went to the doctor who wrote me a prescription, I then took Thursday and Friday off from work. I haven't been stay-at-home-sick in a long time, probably not since i was in high school and it's a lot different when you're home missing work instead of school. It's not as thrilling this time around. especially because my mom wasn't around to baby me and feel sorry for me!

Other than being sick, things have been going pretty well. A couple weeks ago i went to a Mandy Moore concert on a complete random whim and last night we saw an 80's cover band which was totally dope (my attempt at 80's lingo). seriously though, those guys completely rocked out. They played songs like Jessie's Girl, Centerfold, Journey, Summer of '69, I Think We're Alone Now and lots more that i can't remember. sixteencandlesband.com. It was righteous, wicked, way cool, gnarly, totally tubular, cool beans...wow. :S

And since i'm on the music stream. I just picked up a couple new albums from wreckless records down the street. Kevin Devine and Mates of State. Both are excellent. Thanks, Megan for recommending Mates to me!

Oh, fantastic news...the church banners are done. They're hanging up and look pretty good if you ask me. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but when I do I'll try post them here.

I'm ready to go back to work tomorrow. I think i've had enough recovery time, and i'm ready to get out of my apartment for an extended length of time.

But one more thing before I go....as a follow up on my previous post. I found a birthday card for my sister. I didn't end up making her one as i thought i would have to, i actually found a really good one for her and I hope it made her smile.

Ok. thats all. cheers!

i covered all the angles...i think

My air conditioner is roaring. It's flippin' humid outside and my little air conditioner is doing its best to keep the humidity inside to a minimum. So I'm sitting here with my roaring air conditioner trying to focus on what I can write about today.

I know, 2 days in a row??? Wowzer.

I looked for a birthday card for my sister today but didn't find anything that fit our relationship. I felt slightly guilty as I walked away from the card aisle after spending nearly 45 minutes looking for a card. Even as I walked away I wasn't totally convinced that there wasn't a decent one in there, but I just had to give up. Amongst all the cards for either a sister, friend or other female I found 4 recurring themes throughout. 1) Getting old, 2) Indulging, 3) Sexual connotations, 4) Extreme sappiness.

1) Getting Old: She's not old. These cards are not remotely funny if you're 23 and the birthday girl is turning 19
2) Indulging: Sure, who doesn't love a little indulgence every once in a while. Chocolate, shoes, massages, too much cake...but I don't feel that I need her birthday card to tell her that. I love indulging even when it's not by birthday.
3) Sexual connotations. Ok, some of these are funny, but far too tacky in this situation. I just imagine my grandma running across it :S
4) Extreme sappiness. Yes, i love my sister. Even more now that I live 500 miles away. But the sappiness in the cards I found today should be reserved for when we're middle age. I'm not opposed to sappiness in it's entirety, but it has to be the right kid of sappy. A hip sappy. Because my sister and I, we're hip.

That being said, I decided that I'm just going to have to make her a card myself. I think I'll include a little story about my card-shopping experience much like the one I just told here :O

so many stories of where i've been and how i've got to where i am

Hello to all my faithful blog-checkers. you've surely been disappointed for the past few weeks as I haven't updated in quite some time. I apologize. Things have been happening. I'm thankful for the warm weather as it makes the city feel more alive, and quite frankly, it makes me feel more alive as well.

This past weekend I went apartment hunting. My current lease is up at the end of this month so I decided to take a peek at some other apartments to get a feel for what else is available. Rebecca Reed can attest to the very interesting apartment hunting experience I had on Saturday afternoon. Wow. Our agent from Apartment People was a piece of work. I'd describe him as a mix between someone with a severe case of ADD and a middle age man who hates his job. He also proved to be a very horrible and wreckless driver who's car was missing the rear bumper. But according to him, it wasn't his fault and I shouldn't be alarmed. Yeah right. Should I be alarmed when he purposely drives the wrong way down one-way streets or when he drives down the wrong lane in a 2-way street because he wants to avoid the traffic jam or when he backs into the car parked behind him??? Yeah, I was pretty astounded that this guy even has a license.

He definitely didn't sell me an apartment. Mostly because what he showed me was unimpressive and too expensive, and because he had horrible customer service. Rule number 1: don't complain about how much you hate your job, how broke you are or how much you dislike your coworkers to a possible customer/client. I'm staying in my current apartment for another year and I'm totally ok with that.

I'm also due to stay at the museum for another year. Yea! my term position has been extended for another year and I'm hoping to see a bit of a raise as well! can't beat that :)

For the past few months I've been busy designing some banners for my church. Today was a big day as i was finally able to send the files to the printer. They should be finished by the end of the week and installed in time for Sunday's service. Let's hope things go smoothly with my files and the printer.

I guess it was 2 weekends ago already that my friend Jen got married up in Michigan. Rachel flew in from seattle and stayed with me and then Saturday morning me, rachel and Becky took off for holland for the wedding. It was a very beautiful ceremony. Despite the torential downpour between the wedding and the reception, the entire evening was very nice. Congrats Jen and Chris!

Memorial Day weekend was very nice overall. It was nice weather on Monday so Rachel, Becky and I spent some time in a local park playing catch, throwing frisbee, reading, and napping in the sun :) Later we went out for mexican and then headed to the zoo! We saw the lion, and he was roaring :) We didn't see any polar bears which was a big disappointment, but we did see the monkeys and they were cute!

If Microsoft designed the ipod package

Here's a funny link. i'm not even going to apologize to microsoft or the PC lovers out there. it's their own fault and this is too funny.

object reemergence

Spring is a funny time of year and I was reminded of that this weekend. Not only is it a time when flowers, trees, and plants begin new life cycles, but humans and certain possessions do as well. Things come out of hibernation. It's a time of year when playground equipment that sat quiet for 5+ months creeks back to life with the help of energetic 4 year olds. Couples in love walk hand in hand or arm and arm down the sidewalk. Grills are reignited, patio furniture reemerges from storage, convertibles cruise down lake shore drive, swimsuits get dug out of the closet, boats fill the harbors and lake michigan, bike paths fill up, and well, you get the picture. I don't get this excited about winter things coming back into use. But i do love putting them away!

I didn't realize how lifeless chicago got during the winter until now, when things start coming to life. I'm very thankful.

speaking of life: I bought some flowers yesterday to liven up my apartment. I took several pics and posted a few of them below. My camera does a pretty good job with close-ups and I love how intense the reds and oranges are. if you click on any one of them you can see a bigger image.

flower

retreat

indiana isn't as bad as some people think it is. sure there's the grimy steel infused factory that is Gary, but if you keep going, indiana is pretty nice. I spent the weekend in the country at a lovely retreat center with the women from my church. it was a weekend full of relaxing activities such as napping, leisurely walking, watching chick flicks, eating decadent desserts, and making crafts. Oh, did i mention the chocolate? it was there in abundance!
it was a great weekend and i met a bunch of really cool women at my church. I've been going to this church for almost a full year now, but this was the first time i could really get to know a bunch of the women....and vice versa! Now i feel much more connected. The weekend was topped off with a trip to IKEA where I bought a new bookshelf. (even though my apartment isn't getting any bigger, i still manage to fit new things in!)

airline ticket woes

I bought plane tickets yesterday for my summer trip to seattle. phew! I really hate searching for and buying plane tickets online. Although it's very convenient, it can be so stressful! There are so many websites out there that claim to have cheap tickets how can you ever be sure you're getting the absolute cheapest?? I went to travelzoo.com which was a pretty good website, but ultimately ended up buying the tickets through kayak.com. Kayak.com was the most organized airline ticket website that i found. All the information was easy to follow and comparing ticket options was a breeze. As a graphic designer, I have no patience when it comes to poorly organized information.

So, kayak.com gets my vote.

Now that I got the tickets I can relax and get super excited for my trip to seattle. not only will i get to be in Tara's wedding, but i also get to visit Rachel for 5 days! yea!

winter's back

my commute was awful this morning and all because winter decided to show it's ugly, cold, windy face again in the middle of april. my umbrella was defeated and is now nothing more than a crumpled, mangled mess. An hour and 45 minutes later, i finally arrived at work. ugh!

the dreaded update:

procrastination is a vicious cycle. If you put something off for too long, the idea of starting it and finishing it becomes incredibly overwhelming. I haven't posted in a while and the thought of posting has become so overwhelming because so many things have happened!

But i told my sister that i would blog about my taxes because she was there when i was trying to finish them. needless to say i was getting so frustrated i couldn't even talk in complete sentences. they were fractions of sentences and even fractions of words. Thankfully she loves me and she helped calm me down. they're done now, thanks to her and my other sister who are both very smart and tax savy. :) Taxes are a pain in the ass, and that's all the further i want to go in that subject.

March was a good month and April has had a good start. Here's the top 10 things that have occured (in no particular order):

1. The exhibit opened
2. It was my birthday
3. Becky came to visit!
4. we had a few BEAUTIFUL days of spring


5. Jen's bachelorette party
6. Rachel came to visit from seattle!
7. Jill and Heather came to visit (that was a crazy fun weekend!
8. I got to go home for the easter weekend and see my mom
9. The really cool photos i took from the plane


10. The great weekend i had catching up with friends and family