Reuniting with Ashley and Davide

Among our recent visitors are Ashley and Davide, Joe's sister and brother-in-law. They live in Milan, and it's been over a year since they were stateside to visit. Davide arrived first for work training, staying for the weekend before the conference began. Joe's been enjoying a little time alone with him while I've been working like a crazy. It's really the first time they've been able to hang out on their own, since travel circumstances usually have them together in a group. One of the first steps was food, naturally. I managed to join them at Garcia's for burritos before my bar shift. When his massive roll of meat and tortilla arrived, Davide's eyes lit up. “I forgot I was in America! I love this country!”

I first met Davide a couple years ago when Joe and I went to Italy for their wedding. He grew up in Turin, making him an amazing tour guide for our caravan of family and friends. We spent a few weeks touring the country, staying with Davide's family before the wedding which took place in an incredible castle-turned-hotel overlooking the countryside. The highlight of my trip (I think) was the rehearsal dinner. Avid diners that we are (as you might have noticed), Joe and I were thrilled to learn it would be at an agriturismo, a completely self-sustained restaurant. Everything served was raised on the premises, from the risotto to the lamb to the wine. While this was impressive enough a fact, it was compounded by the fact that it was probably the best meal of my life. It took hours (as did most of our meals), but it was such a sublime experience, with amazing food and love in the air.

 When Ashley finally arrived this past weekend, I was working again, but managed to join them for brunch the following morning before they left for southern Illinois to meet with Ashley's parents. We went back to Lulu Belle's so Joe could finally give it a try (he tried to stay cynical about it, but couldn't deny the appeal of his fluffy omelet and perfectly seasoned hash browns). We didn't notice until we reached the restaurant, but the guys were perfectly matched in yellow, while we were in pale pink. We looked very precious on our double date. The guys didn't care, but I broke up the party by changing before Ashley and I went for pedicures. While our visit was short before they left to spend time with Ashley's parents, we'll be reunited next week when I join them in Michigan for a week at the lake.

Saying bye bye

This week I had my last day taking care of the twins. I've been with them a few hours a week for nearly two years, since they were chubby faced toddlers. It's always sad to say goodbye to the little ones I spend so much time with. It's an occupational hazard. But, inevitably, they grow up and start their school life. These boys are particularly amazing. Their curiosity is insatiable, and it's been a pleasure to teach them pretty much everything I can think of. Many an afternoon is spent asking for the make and model of the cars we pass on our walks. They can point to nearly any country on the globe. They know the planets and their moons. Did I mention they're 3? They're also tender little sweethearts who notice when I get a new scarf and compliment my pedicure.


Last week, they came to our place for the first time. After a little mac and cheese on the balcony, we took a walk down to the harbor to feed the ducks while we checked out the boats and lighthouses. They'd never been before, so they had all sorts of questions about it. "Is a goose a duck?" "Why does Joe have to work to earn money?" "Is this dock our boat?" I'm going to miss these guys a little extra.

Visiting with Dad

We've been experiencing a gush of visitors these days. Most recently, Dad and his girlfriend Jaynie came out to celebrate her daughter Lauren's graduation from DePaul. Joe and I had belated birthday jibaritos with them at Borinquen Lounge (the food's amazing, the service...not so much). They gave us our belated birthday gift as well--a Soda Stream soda maker! It's a completely unnecessary but completely awesome gadget (I think that's called a luxury?) for making homemade carbonated drinks. Monique, Dad and I had planned to go for a nice bike ride by the lake, but dad had to head back home a little earlier than planned. Instead we met for brunch at Lulu Belle's Pancake House in the Southport Corridor. It was a really lovely visit. Friendly, helpful service, warm vibe, delicious food, and some quality family time. Joe and I had been meaning to try this new spot for a while--in fact, Joe grumbled that I beat him to it after he had discovered it. But what can I say? It was the perfect place for some much needed father-daughter catching up. Don't worry,  Joe, you'll have no trouble getting me back there for some complimentary iced biscuits and another veggie eggs benedict (or maybe a bacon-stuffed waffle).

Celebrating Joe

Since the drive-in movie parties of my childhood, summer has always meant birthday to me. With our birthdays just one month apart, Joe and I really get to make a season out of celebrating. I had to work on his birthday this year, so we celebrated together the day before. I got up early to run up to El Norte in Edgewater for chilaquiles and surprised him with breakfast in bed. Though they serve it all day, it's the morning cook that has the dish perfected. A single order is enough for two, plus leftovers. We had planned a long bike ride by the lake, but Joe decided we should blow it off, instead napping and relaxing until we left for a late lunch at Maggiano's. After a heavy breakfast, a chopped salad really hit the spot. We snapped photos downtown until it was time to head towards Navy Pier to see the Dark Knight Rises at Imax. Navy Pier is pretty much tourist hell on earth, but there's no better way to see a big budget action flick. It was basically a day of Joe's favorites.


But his birthday didn't end there. The following evening, we met friends at Pizza Rustica for some delicious buttery crust pizza and a blueberry gin fizz or two. In true italian form, the meal took ages, but no one seemed to mind much as the drinks kept flowing. The pizza was spectacular. We followed dinner with wine and a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity at our place. Joe was more than happy to debut his homemade set. The night was topped off with delicious cupcakes provided by Becky and Cheryl. If there's a better way to enjoy a birthday than with good friends and great food, we have yet to discover it.

Making Cards Against Humanity

Our friends Lillie and Scott recently introduced us to Cards Against Humanity, a fun party game that requires little skill and a lot of perversion. We played a few rounds the other night at Guthrie's Tavern. It's the perfect spot to mix drinking with board games as God intended.

Joe and I decided that we needed a set of our very own. The game was funded through Kickstarter, which is cool, except now it's sold out and hard to get unless you want to pay at least twice as much to scalpers on Amazon. We are not those people. 

Guthrie's extensive board game collection

Luckily the game makers are so cool they've included instructions at the bottom of their website so you can make your own set. Seriously!

Joe enthusiastically took the reigns on the fairly easy diy project, printing and cutting the heavy card stock at Kinkos the same afternoon we discovered the instructions. We now have an awesome homemade set that set us back about $10. Just in time for our upcoming lakefront vacation with the family.

Our set of Cards Against Humanity. Every bit as good. 

Birthday Recounting

Pull up a chair while I recount the past week or so in which I have been unable/unwilling to update.

My birthday. An ungodly hot Thursday, the 28th of June. It began with multiple wakeup calls from my mother. She sweetly sang Happy Birthday to me, which would have been adorable at 10, but was downright infuriating at 6am when I finally answered the phone. I spent the first hour or so of my day fuming in bed as I tried to get back to sleep. I finally gave up and got moving.

Determined to get back on track, I went for a morning massage (gifted by my generous sister), followed by brunch with Joe, Monique and Becky at Nookies, an upscale eatery in Edgewater that I've been meaning to try. Lovely spot, good coffee, average chilaquiles. My favorite meal of the day with three of my favorite people. The stuff of birthday dreams.

Party Animals. 

After brunch, Becky dropped me off at work for a few hours. The twins had been talking about my birthday for weeks, but seemed unimpressed by the lowly birthday hats, sparkler candles and rice crispy treats I had provided. Look, dudes, if you want a swinging party, then you'd better contribute more than construction paper birthday cards with puff balls. Though they did add sparkly stickers. That was a nice touch.






After work, I went home to get ready for birthday drinks. I took my time getting dolled up (if not on your birthday, then when?). Joe said I looked beautiful. Then he made me take a few pictures of him. We headed to The Long Room, a dark and moody bar nearby that lets you bring your own food. We had packed an array of my favorite snacks to share: dolma, dubliner cheese, chocolate-covered bacon, homemade lemon-coconut bars. It was a lovely night of friends stopping by to celebrate and play a round of Cards Against Humanity.

Later at home, however, I found myself feeling a little...well...melancholy. I hate to be that guy, but I couldn't shake it, and I felt like a brat after all the sweetness my loved ones had showed me. I'd like to blame my sour mood on my rude awakening, but surely that can't be it. It's not that I resent getting older. After all, age is just a count of the number of times the earth has circled the sun since you were born. Few other astronomical occurrences get me down. Yet I felt decidedly weepy all day, despite the good times had by all. Is it all the expectations attached to such a day? What am I, seven years old again? My mom gets the birthday blues. She also manages to get Flag Day blues and Mexican Independence Day blues, so maybe that's a different story. But I did feel a little more sympathetic after my own inability to enjoy an otherwise perfect day. Whatever the reason, I sure hope this isn't the beginning of a new birthday tradition.

Priding

This was my view on the way to the grocery store Sunday.

by Joe

by Joe

Scenic.

by Joe

We enjoyed the parade in passing as we made our way there, but didn't stick around too long. I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew. First the grocery trip. My bike lock had frozen up, leaving me wrestling to lock it for a full 7 minutes in the sun-baked parking lot, leaving me frustrated and Joe impatient. We started the bickering. In a huff, I sent him home, determined that I would rather shop alone. I was wrong. The trip home was miserable and I felt very sorry for myself. Balancing too many groceries on your bike through a parade isn't fun no matter how festive it might be. What is it about grocery shopping that brings out the worst in us? Joe said it that morning before we left the house. "It's no fun grocery shopping together." As a couple that has fun together most of the time, it's a little jarring when you identify such a pattern. 

After the exhausting trip back, we wrestled with dinner plans. We had planned to make curry for the neighbors that evening, but now I was talking about going to the parade and meeting with some friends but then when would I make it to the beach like I had planned and Joe had to leave so when would we clean the house? Somehow I had managed to make this enjoyable itinerary felt stressful. Mustn't try to do it all at once. After all, this was my first day off in twelve. Finally I caved and canceled dinner. No one seemed to mind much. Joe got ready for his afternoon of volunteering at the library. He's been keeping his foot in the door at the branch where he did his internship. It would be the perfect place for him to land a job. It also prevents a gap on his resume. 

With a little post-grocery store breathing space, I hopped on my bike for a ride up to the beach. I sorely underestimated the parade's influence on my neighborhood. I headed east for the lake, but was obstructed by a marching procession of cowboys. I rode north but there were more nearly naked boys blocking my way. After several failed attempts, I managed to wind around the start of the festivities and head up through the hot traffic to Hollywood Beach. 

Considering that it's a well-known gay spot on Pride day, the beach was very pleasantly sparse. I was meeting with a group of friends to sun ourselves near the water. They all happen to be gay, but didn't seem concerned about the celebration. Rather than the holiday going on in my neighborhood, here it was just a lovely sunny Sunday hanging at the shore. That was far more of what I needed than the tension back on my block. After beers on the beach, we went for blue cheese burgers and sangria at Moody's, my favorite outdoor patio.

Sometimes you accomplish nothing by doing too much, and sometimes doing nothing does you more good.

Getting Real

I caught Joe peeing while eating a Twizzler yesterday. Here's a list of things I've done while peeing.
-read a magazine
-read a novel
-read a cookbook
-plucked my eyebrows
-fixed my makeup
-made a phone call
-brushed my teeth
-browsed on my phone
-browsed on my laptop
-watched my soccer team practice

Yoga Practicing

I've done yoga sporadically for years now, mostly at home with a dvd or at my old gym. I'm naturally pretty flexible, but due to a mild case of scoliosis, my alignment's a mess and my back and shoulders regularly ache. Recently our friend Amy took me to a free class that she attends, and I'm now committed to going regularly. It's twice a week at a swanky chiropractic health center in our neighborhood (I'd tell you where, but the class is crowded enough as it is). It's cool that they're striving to make yoga practice accessible even in these lean times, and the instructor really treats it like a labor of love.

Joe also has back issues, so he tried out the class with us last week, despite his insistence that he hates doing yoga in public. I was so proud of him for sticking it out, because the class was tough. He has occasionally practiced it at home with me, but my 30 minute dvds have nothing on the 90 minute sweatfest this tiny woman put us through. Hovering planks, long-held warrior poses, wheel pose...she doesn't hold back. Time will tell how into it Joe will get, but I'm glad he gave it a chance for the good of his body. I'm still aching from Monday, but am looking forward to class tonight.

Wheel Pose