Not Normal

Hey there! How’s it hangin’?

I’m doing pretty well. Probably has something to do with the whole only working 4 days this week thing…

Whatever gets me through, right?

Right.

Also, it helped that Sunday was relatively quiet.

Brunch was had with a few awesome blogger ladies. But there’s no real evidence of it other than a fuzzy picture taken by Paige. Not normal behavior for me. I’m usually somewhat camera happy at such events. Guess I was too busy talking and inhaling food from the brunch buffet.

Weirdly enough, I didn’t prep a meal for myself at all yesterday. My roommate has gone a little stir crazy over the last week or so due to her current job seeking status. So she’s taken on a few new hobbies. One of them would be trying out the gym by our place with me.

Another would happen to be cooking.

If you knew my roommate, you would know this is not normal behavior.

I’m starting to wonder if she’s possessed.

However, I only benefit from her new habits, so there shall be no complaints from the peanut gallery.

Only nods of approval as I stick a fork in my face.Tex Mex Chicken Casserole.

First it was biscuits and gravy at brunch and now this.

I was clearly in the mood for serious comfort food. Not normal. But welcomed.

We had our little family dinner in front of the tv. Aladdin was on.

Abc Family really came through for me this last weekend. Boy Meets World on Saturday morning. Disney classics Sunday evening. Good stuff.

Bailey said Aladdin was one of the first movies she remembers seeing in the theaters. According to my mom, mine was Milo and Otis. However, I actually remember going to see The Little Mermaid much better.

Now it would be your turn to tell me the first movie you remember going to.

Aaaaaannnnnddddd GO.

An Alternative Holiday Weekend

Memorial Day weekend.

It’s usually one for sun, summer weather and grilling season.

Usually.

Sometimes things get in the way. In this case, mostly the weather:This is definitely not one of those things.

The whole weekend was actually not quite any of those things.

But you know what? We still had fun.

And who really wants to spend their whole life going along with the crowd?

As I mentioned before, I spent part of this weekend celebrating the holiday with Megan.

Originally, we planned on going to a BBQ/house party.

Well. as I got in on the metra, the rain started coming down. Decently hard. The grilling ended up not happening. But Megan and I luckily were visiting her friend who bartends and were hooked up with some preparty munchies:Close enough.

The party was a lot of fun (what party that hires their own bartender wouldn’t be?).

I personally enjoyed the decor:However, the napkins were a little old school being as how the Bieber bangs no longer exist. Hmmm… does that mean these are a collector’s item? Maybe I should have stashed one…

I would also like to thank Subway for making this night happen… being open for 24 hours a day and dealing with Megan’s 10-minutes of indecisive ordering really saved us in the weee hours of the morning.

The next day, we ended up going to Flat Top Grill for brunch.This was my first time trying out Flat Top- and got extreme excitement out of a restaurant where I was able to build my own omelet and pancake…How did that ham get in there? Wasn’t me…

As we were finishing our breakfast, the rain started coming down. So we decided to try and wait it out.And wait… and wait… Funny thing is, the longer we waited, the worse the weather got.

Did I mention we were waiting to leave for the Cubs game?

So we got ready. It kept raining. We weighed our options. The lightning struck. We decided to go up to Wrigleyville anyway to see what would happen. The thunder rolled. We gave up on our hopes of seeing a good ol’ fashioned baseball game and chalked it up to a regular ol’ Sunday Funday (not a bad thing by any means!).

Then, as we were hanging out at one of the bars across from the field, the sun peeked out. And started shining.After a 2.5-hour rain delay, we got this show on the road! Everyone was excited to see the sun shine for one of the first times of the weekend. Even the birds came out to play:Even the birds came out for the party. The poor dude in right field- you could tell he was just standing there awkwardly because he didn’t really know what to do. They were big birds.

We celebrated with a well-balanced meal at the game:Look at all those veggies! As Megan pointed out, nachos are really like a salad. Just with tortilla chips instead of lettuce. So yeah.

The Cubs ended up winning. This was good/bad for me. Good because I love watching a game and the whole crowd being excited and happy. But as a Cardinals fan at heart, I couldn’t cheer to the greatest extent. Gotta keep that Missouri loyalty somehow…

So yes. The BBQ didn’t happen. The weather was less than desirable. Our baseball game had a rain delay.

But you know what? We had a fantastic time. And if that doesn’t make a holiday weekend great, what else would?

Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day, everyone! I’m off to be productive. For at least an hour or two…

Outside

That’s where I was yesterday.  All day.

It started at Jaime’s house.  A few of her and huband’s friends had gathered to help clear out the backyard of the house they just moved in to a few weeks ago.  The crazy lady before them left quite a mess.  One thing that’s not leaving?Crazy, right?  Apparently the former owners with fans of gnome collecting.  This one was strategically placed into the tree- but the tree eventually grew around it and now there’s not much they can do about it other than just accept the creep factor.  In the spirit of the gnome, which I want to name Buddy, what’s the worst kind of lawn decoration?  I think the gnomes have it in my opinion.

I helped move cinder blocks almost as soon as I got there.  But we soon hit a stopping point because the kids boys had to go to Home Depot for a sledge hammer in order to take out an obnoxious garden fountain in the corner of the yard.  So Jaime and I took this time to do two things. 

1. Tour the house.  My favorite part?  The dining room!How many people do you know can say that they dine with the Beatles every night?

2. Get brunch.  Jaime searched out this place called Cream of the Crepe in Park Ridge for us to go to.  Everything they had was served as a crepe!  You had the option of going either savory or sweet. We decided to do savory for each of us and then split a sweet one as dessert.  Jaime went with the Chicken Florentine.I had a bite of hers- the thing that put it over the top was the mushroom sauce… amazing.

And I had the spicy Chicken Santa Fe.I usually don’t do green peppers that often- but the mix worked really well!  There was even avocado- making me a happy girlie.    And yes- it was super spicy!  Kinda like how I prefer my men…

Then came dessert… we split the “Totally Nutty”- peanut butter and nutella filled.  It was perfection.  And tasted just as it was described- nutty.  Which, according to the trend, is also how I like my men. Go figure.

When we got back, we realized the boys had acquired the sledge hammer.   They called it work.  But I believe they were having much more fun than they claimed.  Let’s face it- we all like to break things.  And had I been able to swing a 16-lb sledge hammer, I would have been joining in.  Yes sir.  Instead, us girls just picked up and carried rocks/concrete/etc. 

I’m calling this my strength training for the day.  Just so you know…

Soon enough, the whole dumpster they rented was full.Yeah- this whole dumpster was full of crap from the backyard.  Can anyone say “hoarders”?

I got home and wasn’t done hanging out in the sun.  So I hit the pool.  And then hit the trail for a walk- no running for me today.It was a great walk until I stumbled upon a snake slithering across the trail.  I don’t do well with snakes.  And this one wasn’t a small garden snake or anything- it was long and fast and scared the shit out of me. 

Don’t you worry about me not getting my heart rate up yesterday.  That is what did it!

So there you go.  My day outdoors.  I’m going to attempt to get a few more of those in before the temps drop more.  Gotta get my regular doses of Vitamin D, right?

By the way, thanks for all your comments yesterday- turns out there are quite a few of us that participate in “naked running” from time to time.  How liberating and scandalous we are!

Enjoy your Monday!  Or, in other words, grab some coffee and let’s get through this one together…