Category Archives: Food/Drink Fun

Day 32: No Devices Friday

When I pulled in to our parking spot in the alley tonight, my husband and dog were watching for me from the window in our kitchen. He waved. She barked and whined until I arrived upstairs. We planned on having some quality family time tonight so after I settled in (aka ate some food and put on leggings) we turned off the tv, set our phones aside, opened a bottle of wine and just talked. And laughed. And played footsie. And made financial plans for the future. And put a thundershirt on the dog to see how she would respond. And planned our election night party food. And sang songs from Sunday in the Park with George (ok that was just me). And complained and confided and laughed some more and shared and plotted. And just really enjoyed each other and our little family.

We spent two hours without all that technology and just focused on each other. It was so great. I can’t wait to finish writing this and get back to no devices Friday.

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Day 29: A Drink

An impromptu drink and food with a friend concluded my day. Spontaneous plans can be the best! You just have to be open to them.

Now these days, I don’t drink more than one drink per week (or less) due to the medications I take and to how tired I usually feel the next day. But my friend had reason to celebrate (new job) so we each had a beer and toasted to his success! Consequently I feel a little tipsy as I write this. It has been a while. I say once a week but really I don’t imbibe unless there is some occasion like a wedding or anniversary and sometimes even then I refrain. The potential liver damage just doesn’t seem worth a few extra giggles. I’m learning to have that carefree, drunk if you will, feeling in lots of situations without the help of alcohol. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still fun once and while.

Day 27: Andersonville Adventure

After a short shift at work, I decided I wanted to enjoy the gorgeous weather by wandering around one of my favorite Chicago neighborhoods, Andersonville. My husband and I moseyed down Clark (around Foster), checked out a few new shops and wondered over where to eat.

Our first stop was at a new dog store and groomers called Jameson loves Danger where we looked for a sweater and/or witch costume for Elphie. Among their selection, which was mostly for smaller dogs, was mobster, shark and beer wench but no witch. The sweaters also looked too small, but we did end up buying her a thunder shirt (for her separation and doorbell anxiety) and some cheese flavored treats.

Next we popped in to a farm fresh grocery called Urban Orchard. We were looking for some food and had already struck out at Ann Sather (who knew they closed at 4 on Sunday?). Their chalkboard claimed they had a cafe but it was not really what I expected. Nothing prepared to order, just some pre-boxed food. They did have some great looking pumpkins though!

Then, we admired some reclaimed wood furniture outside of an antique-y store. A barn wood table caught my eye, so gorgeous but $300 and not really big enough to replace our current table.

By this point, we were pretty hungry so decided on our old stand by, Lady Gregory’s. Named after an Irish author, Lady G’s is a total pub with delicious food. Over dinner, we had a shared fantasy about moving to a farmhouse near the lake in Michigan, eating at that barn table every night and living out of our vegetable garden. I would cook fresh every day, bake bread, can vegetables and make jam and pies. He would work in the nearest big city and BBQ and brew beer on the weekends. We’d have kids, dogs and a fireplace and basically always look like we stepped out of the J Crew catalogue.

After we’d had our fill of deviled eggs and dreams, we planned to stop by the furniture place to admire the table one more time but the shop was closed up and the table moved back inside, so we decided to end our Andersonville adventure there. I wish I had a picture of this table! But you will have to settle for this one of me admiring the local fall decor.

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Day 25: Home Baked

Sometimes, after a long week, all you need is a warm chocolate chip cookie. Normally I like to bake cookies from scratch but I don’t always have the luxury of time. Tonight, store bought dough (all natural) did so much better than expected.

Out of the oven, they were gooey in the middle but nice and crunchy around the edges. Topped it off with nice tall glass of ice cold milk and Project Runway. Ah. Life is good.

And using store bought dough allowed us to make just enough for two people and save the rest for another night.

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Day 24: Who are you?

Sometimes I find meeting up with a friend I haven’t seen in a long while (like multiple years) stressful. I wonder who we are to one another and worry over whether we will have anything in common anymore. This morning I had brunch with a friend from college that I had not seen since college, other than that time this summer when I saw her in a play and was like, “whoa you live here?” Not only did we have plenty to say, but we also agreed we should be better friends.

Over our delicious brunch (at Over Easy on Damen), we caught up but mostly we talked about how we define ourselves–we, she and I and we, society. And I’ve been thinking a lot about something she said, “We are so focused on what do you do but really we should be asking who are you?” I’ve been thinking about it a lot because I went in to our brunch with a set one-liner about my job and why I’m not doing what I set out to do after college. I had an excuse of sorts but when she and I really got in to it, yes it is true that I want to do more or better or something else but I shouldn’t feel bad that I’m not doing that now. It does not define me. And it was really refreshing (and fun) to get in to all that with a new/old friend.