Snoop, beyatch

Stephen Marley

At Stubbs in Austin

Pizza Patron

They take pesos

Wicker Park Fest

Wicker Park Fest

Wicker Park Fest

Rainbow in Lincoln Park

Jet

At the Double Door to see Jet tonight. Talked to a friend who protested the band's presence b/c they ripped off a riff or something like that from good ole Iggy Pop!

Look what you've done, you've made a fool of everyone.

Tribute to MJ

I took this on the Fourth of July walking from the Taste of Chicago. MJ's memorial was in front of the Johnson's Publishing building. I had to angle my shot to keep the family of 8 standing next to the memorial.

Cub game

I worked nights on Thursday night. So I'm sitting here with only 4 hours of sleep but totally enjoying a brat. It was a good game. Wish I could have caught a fly ball in my purse.

Weather

It is July First. Summer in America. It is in the 60's in Chi Town.
WTF. I've got flipflops on and a jacket.

Sent from my iPhone

iPhone

I got the iPhone 3GS on June 17th...I took a cab from work at 7:30AM to the Apple Store on Michigan Ave. Even the cabbie knew why I was going there. We talked about the awesome nature of Apple and the iPhone. Gosh, I sound like I sell the stuff. Anyway, because I reserved the iPhone online, I was re-routed to a shorter line. Then I walked up the magical steps in my dirty scrubs and got my iPhone with no issues. 40 minutes is all it took.

I love it.
I downloaded Shazam immediately...b/c that app sold me to the iPhone. It had me at Hello.

Not very bright

I'm not very bright.
I thought I had to work tonight, but I don't.
You know how I found out?
I went to work and didn't see my name on the schedule.
And I took such a good nap and slammed a coffee just before 7PM.
I will be up tonight!

Morning Joe at Starbucks

I kinda wish I'd known that Morning Joe - Joe and Mika were at the Starbucks at North Ave and Wells St this morning. Kinda haven't been watching it since I've been working the night shift.

It was authentic audience...people studying, people old, and the guys you're not sure who are homeless but are always playing a heated game of chess.

I used to not like Mika, but she's grown on me. They rag on her because she's got a good sense of humor.

POP!!!

PlumpJack
This place screamed hip and classy at the same time. Pretty winery, delicious wine, and ferocious agave plant!

Crackle

Berringer
Got the bracelet for the cave tour, cheese, and tastings of their wines. The bracelet is the adult version of the all-you-can-drink-beer-&-well-drinks at the other bars (see Wrigleyville Chicago & 6th Street Austin Texas).




Cheese vendors outside

















Inside one of the caves...you can have special dinners or Illuminati meetings.





















This is a giant barrel holding Porto.






















The zydeco tie...made me think of Scott.

10AM with a glass in hand: Sterling Vineyards. Drinking and riding a tram up and down a hill totally mix!

S'Napa

Finished up some fine dining at Taylor's Automatic Refresher: Garlic Fries, Sweet Potato Fries, Calamari and a box of their finest - Bandit Wine!


Inside the Oxbow Market for a looksey. Kara's Cupcakes were the bomb. I had the Banana Caramel with cream cheese frosting.


This was the best part of downtown Napa. A smoking tribute to a local legend.

RNC

RNC Chairman Steele is such a dick. 

Shut up you idiot.

yum...cookies

I should be studying but I made these amazing cookies.  I left out about a quarter a cup of the white sugar.  It didn't hurt the recipe at all!

http://whowantsseconds.typepad.com/who_wants_seconds/2005/08/oatmeal_chocola.html

Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Cookies
Yields 18 large cookies

1 1/2 cups FLOUR
1/2 teaspoon SALT
1/2 teaspoon BAKING POWDER
8 ounces (2 sticks) UNSALTED BUTTER, softened
1 cup LIGHT BROWN SUGAR, packed
1 cup GRANULATED SUGAR
2 large EGGS
3 cups OATS
1 1/2 cups CHOCOLATE CHIPS

1. Preaheat oven to 350 degrees, and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, by hand or by mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat the mixture until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

4. Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or a large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

5. Place dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets by large spoonfuls (about 2 tablespoons each), leaving at least 2 inches between.

6. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Slide cookies (on parchment) onto cooling rack. Let cool, and store in airtight container.

Advertiser and PopSugar.com

I (shame on me) was recently perusing the "articles" on PopSugar.com and stumbled upon the Northwestern Memorial Hospital logo. WOW. I suppose PopSugar is legitimate since this hospital has a freakin ad on it.

Relief

I am almost free of the semester!  After tomorrow's test, I will be 2 down semesters with 4 to go!

recipe to sweet mandy B's cupcake and frosting

Heard that the icing is super sweet. Know someone who had to add an extra stick of butter to make it less sweet.

Another picture on my phone from Snowbird

Phone pics

I was scrolling through the pictures on my phone.  I took this in Snowbird, Utah.  I'm dressed and ready for the downhilling on the Chickadee Run!!

Wrigley

Great day to be out!!!

So, I can't stand watching baseball on TV.  Too dull.  But I really like going to the actual game.  

Loved Georgie's onesey:  "It's not the diaper that stinks...It's the CUBS!"

Ha! 

grape or aubergine

Can you pick out the grape in this picture?

I think this necklace is cool.

Rio's D' Sudamerica

Rio's D' Sudamerica
THis was a fantastic restaurant. Perfect for my 31st birthday. Everything we ordered was delicious. And the prices were very reasonable. I found this place out from a girl at work...her leftovers looked so good!

Then we went to Danny's afterward for a few drinks. Can you believe there was a line to get in? No, no, they weren't our smoking. We saw when we were leaving. I love the place but I wouldn't necessarily stand in line!

Next Stop...Howard.

Yesterday, I made a huge mistake on the L. I went to Evanston by accident.
I was on my way to meet the girls for brunch at SOUTHPORT GROCERY AND CAFE...I mean, I just ate edamame for dinner Tuesday night b/c I knew the goodness that was in store at 10AM Wednesday morning. There I stood at the Belmont platform after getting of the Redline...here rolls a train. It happened to be purple. I know purple and brown run on the same track. Then I heard "express" and looked at the map above the doors that were closing at that exact moment. It was too late. But I banged my fists on the door, The Graduate-style. The we slowly passed every stop on the red line. I've never seen anything past Loyola...Morse? Jarvis? Is this Wisconsin? Then I got off at Howard, went down and over to the platform going back to the Loop. The red line was torture too. It stops ALL THE TIME. Then some guy with clothes that smelled like his dinner at Hema's Kitchen (I love Hema's by the way) had to go and sit next to me and kept swing his elbow in my stomach.

I missed brunch by an hour. It was horrible. I had to get a low fat turkey bacon breakfast sandwich at Starbucks instead. I was very sad.

Curse you! Stupid dashed purple lines on the CTA map!

(BTW, the image is old...it doesn't have the pink line!)

So pretty

Great view from my recent run.

Kings of Leon

I couldn't concentrate on finishing up my research proposal titled The Influence of Education on Role Change Stress for First-Time Fathers. (This is dedicated to all you men who are having kids in their 30's and 40's for the first time. You've had time to live life, work on your career, and have had no permanent responsibilities. Now it's time to get on board and evolve.)

ANYWAY, I downloaded the entire Only By the Night (Deluxe Version) by Kings of Leon from iTunes. It's all incredible.

Now I can continue my work.

RedEye

click on the picture

Note to Mother Nature

Hey WEATHER!  WTF? Why are you screwing with my Spring day off?  

George, future running sensation

Stupid Red Eye reader and L rider

<

CTA scrubs?
You should do a story about all the hospital workers I see on the Red Line with their scrubs on. This cannot be sanitary or healthy for the commuters or [their] patients.
--Luke Wrobrew, Streeterville

Some jackass (Luke Wrobrew, Streeterville) made a comment about people wearing hospital scrubs who sit on the L.
I would be one of these "unsanitary" people according to this guy. I ride the Red Line.

This is all from a pediatric nurse's perspective.

True, the seats are dirty and you would not want to rub your face in the fabric. I think it's lucky for the patient that we don't use the ass part of our scrub pants to take care of them! With working 12 hour shifts, it's common to not sit for more than 30 minutes a day...and that's not 30 minutes in a row. We're on our feet a lot. So maybe we're sitting down before our shift begins just because it's a long ride in and we're getting ready for a long day on our feet. Or maybe it's the end of the shift and we're filthy and spreading germs for the likes of Luke to touch and rub into their eyes. (Wash your hand you dumb fuck). Hand washing is the key to halting the spread of germs. It's not avoiding the seat on the L.

I'm a nurse. I wash my hands maybe a hundred times during a twelve hour shift. This is just an estimate. It's probably more.

Luke, you're a jackass.

Crunchy

It's crunch time with school. As the work is piling on, my attention and patients is depleting. It's Spring and all I want to do is be outside and run.

Lakefront Path

It's officially awesome again on the running path. When I pressed for water at the fountain at LSD and Fullerton, I got water. Clean water. And it did not taste like crap! I don't think I could have run the last 2 our of 6 miles I did today. Am I completely insane for running with a smile? Yeah, but I was not the only one out there. Welcome Spring!!!

Al Gore at the Chicago Theatre

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-talk_gore_0402apr02,0,7190847.story

Awww...we saw Al Gore last night. He was interviewed by Sir Harold Evans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Evans). Sir Harold obviously is liberal based on his Bush commentary...it's not bashing if it's all true. Al Gore, you're doing so well. Wish you were our president the 8 years before Obama.

We need to be GREENER!

If I Were a Bro

hawthoRNe

Have we finally made it? A TV show that revolves around an actual nurse!?

HAWTHORNE takes place at Richmond Trinity Hospital in Richmond, Va., where the strong-but-caring director of nursing, Christina Hawthorne (Pinkett Smith), continuously fights battles she often knows she won’t win. Whether treating the homeless woman in front of the hospital like a human being or trying to talk a suicidal cancer patient off the ledge, Christina must challenge hospital administrators, heartless doctors, apathetic colleagues and a system that sometimes forgets it’s there to serve the sick.

Recently widowed and the mother of a smart, willful teenager, Christina juggles her career with her equally important role as a single parent. Between the two, she barely has time for herself and has difficulty keeping things together. But she knows she has to and can’t give up on anyone. That’s what her passion requires; it’s what it takes to be a hero.

Ari Emanuel

I didn't know Ari Gold is based on Rahm's brother!?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-ari-emanuel-biomar30,0,1553732.story

Shamrock Shuffle 2009

I avoided looking out the window and stayed in bed til 7:30AM. All I heard in the background was laughter at the running conditions.  

BRRR...glad to have feeling in my toes again!  I didn't think we were going to actually run.  I even popped the Strata (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/recipedetail.cfm?objectid=E8E6A4EB-099D-DE7A-B2894D275BD7D8A0)  in the oven.  (It was also known as Eric Estrada.)  But ER, KC, and ZR were serious about doing it!  We didn't even bother to stick around at the finish line to get the group back together.  ER and I just ran back to JC's. Yes, running after finishing the race.  You wouldn't want your wet feet to refreeze!  LS, you are awesome for even leaving your place!

I thought at first this was worse than the Chicago Half Marathon in Hyde Park 2008. It wasn't. Just because we stayed in side a warm building until 9:15AM, wore plastic bags around our shoes which lasted about 2 blocks, and came back to the fire place burning.

When's the next race?

Hotel Tomo!

Look what I found on MSNBC.com!  Stayed here while in San Francisco for the Outside Lands Music Festival last August!  I didn't know we were hip! Thought we were just saving money.  Not hip, but super geeky!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29663879/?pg=12#TRAVEL_Wired_GeekHotels


That awesome bean bag is like $200 on-line.

Spring

Spring!
Ran with KNB yesterday. Great run! The only thing that stopped us at 6 miles was our joints - my knee and her hip. Otherwise, we could have kept going. The weather was perfect and mentally, we had our running frame of mind in place. I guess that is what happens when you're "old."

Remember the winter we ran with the snow in 12 degree? ...to be young and able again.