Friday, January 30, 2009
Uncanny Resemblance
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Girls Weekend in Chicago
I was super excited when I arrived to Ohare Thursday night without any delays or cancellations due to the freezing winter weather, so I called Panichi as I got off the plane to see if she had arrived yet to get me. She had arrived, BUT as she was pulling into parking deck got a horrible flat tire, haha. So the plan was for me to go find her and a maintenance man to come put on her spare. Seems easy, right? WRONG! The problem was, neither of us knew where we were in relation to eachother and if anyone has ever tried to navigate the various parking decks of Ohare by foot in negative 20 degree weather, they would realize that this was a VERY difficult task. After about 2 hours, 30 phone calls with Panichi, asking about 50 people where to go (and them telling me wrong most of the time), walking the whole airport parking deck, and freezing my a** off, we finally reunited. It was like a scene from a movie, we ran to eachother and were jumping up and down and hugging. Just as we found eachother, the man came, changed the tire, and we were to Andrea and Lawley's apartment in the city in time for some appetizers and wine before bed!
Friday morning Panichi and I worked out and bundled up to face the cold and take a walk to visit Bayer and Lawley at their work. It was again in the negative degree temperatures, so this was a pretty rough walk, but super fun to see where they work (since I G-Chat with them all the time while they're there :). Panichi and I then went to lunch and hung out until my cousin Emily got off work and came to pick me up.
Emily lives a few miles from Lawley and Andrea's apartment, so we went there so I could see her place (super cute!), talk, and get ready. Once we were ready to eat, we went to this really awesome restaurant called Carnivale. It is a huge Latin restaurant decorated in really bright colors with really good food. We had a nice dinner, delicious drinks, and tons of fun catching up.
After dinner, Em and I met Amy, Mary, Panichi, Lawley, and Andrea at this really really cool bar called Violet Hour. It is modeled like a speakeasy so there is no sign or anything and to get in you wait in this dingy hallway. The wait was long because they only let as many people in as seats there are, but the wait was well worth it. They had an extensive drink list of very very unique mixtures and let you know to not be surprised if you wait up to 15 minutes for your drink because they are so specialized. We had fun talking and trying everyone's interesting cocktails!
Saturday it warmed up to 20 degrees and seemed like summer so Andrea, Panichi, and I went for a walk down Michigan Ave. and ate lunch at Grand Lux. Then we went to an Illini bar to watch the Illini-Michigan State game. Randomly, three girls from my sorority (KOB, Mary Parkhill, and Maggie Weber) happened to be there too. I hadn't seen these 3 since we graduated so it was fun!
Saturday night we met Emily, Amy, and my freshman year college roomate D.D. at a martini bar for dinner and drinks. I hadn't seen "Deadra" since graduation either so it was fun! We went to a bar across the street after and had a great time, then headed home.
Sunday we took it easy-went for brunch, walked around, and hung out in comfy clothes. Bayer came over to their apartment and we ordered sushi, had drinks, and played games all night. Then Monday morning I had to get up SUPER early to head home (thanks for the airport ride Emily!).
I had one of the best weekends I can remember in a long time. I don't believe in the whole "absence makes the heart grow fonder" with significant others, however I think it is SOOO true with girlfriends. I left with lots of fun memories, excited for the next time I see anyone (Panichi in March, yay), and feeling super lucky to have such a great group of girls in my life!
Pictures: http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=725211232553383871/l=463085680/g=102462115/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Monday, January 12, 2009
Human Jukebox
We decided to go here Friday cause I was curious. When we walked in, it looked exactly how I pictured-dark wood, dark leather booths, dark in general, with a large piano waiting for Rick Lyon to play. He is called the human jukebox because supposedly he knows every song that is requested. I thought this was cool and pictured an old, silver haired, handsome man (Frank Sinatra-ish).
When Rick "the human jukebox" Lyon showed up though, he was not what I expected, haha. He was probably in his 50's, had uncombed longer hair and scruffy facial hair, was about 50 pounds overweight, and wearing a plaid shirt with a tie! So funny. I did write down some songs for him to play on a napkin and he did know them. All in all, we had some STRONG drinks, listened to some good tunes, and of course had the regulars chatting it up-a good time!
Saturday night we didn't want to do much so since we had so much fun playing games last weekend, Adam and I went to Target and bought Scattergories and played a 2 person tourney. 18 rounds later we were ready to go to bed!
Sunday we went to church and for brunch at an awesome place called Cafe Chloe. Then of course I watched the Golden Globes Red Carpet show for about 4 hours (I love award season!).
Today I cried because the weekend was over.
3 days til Chicago!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Poor Grandpa E. :(
I am so happy he trusted his instinct and went to the hospital when he felt something was really wrong! Lesson to be learned by all of us who blow stuff off like it's nothing (Dad!).
Send good thoughts/prayers/karma to Gramps! And remember to eat a heart healthy diet to protect your heart :)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Games, Games, and more Games



Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!





Monday, December 29, 2008
Christmas Festivities in the Midwest

Diggy in his carrier
The next day we were supposed to go to Iowa for my mom's Christmas, but half way there, the roads were closed down due to the horribly icey roads. We turned around after driving 2 hours and went to one of my fave restaurants-Avantis-for lunch. Then I spent the day wrapping presents and my mom had all of us and my aunt's family over for dinner! Diggy loved it because he got TONS of attention from all the kiddies!

Cal playing with Diggy
Monday I basically lounged around until evening. Adam played racketball with my brother in law so he was busy. That night my sisters and our husbands went to dinner at another of my local faves-La Fiesta. Afterwards we met Kristen, Rachel, and some friends at a local townie bar.

Us in matching green and white (Adam copied my only outfit I brought)
The next day we celebrated Christmas Eve in Indiana. It is a townie tradition for all the Haubstaters to attend the local bars on Christmas Eve, but while Adam and some people went, I stayed home with some of Adam's sisters and the kids and hung out/got ready. That night we did a gift exchange, Santa stopped by with some gifts for the kids, and we all ate a nice dinner.
Ralph Grandkids
Adam, Jay, and Adam preparing the meat
Christmas morning we got up early and drove back to Illinois. This time the weather was a lot nicer so we made good time. We did our usual Christmas kids open presents-dinner-we open presents. This year we played a game of Guesstures which was pretty funny too!
Erwin Grandkids
The Ralphs :)
Sylv, Tate, and Ells in the jumpy thing from Grandma and Grandpa
Diggy didn't know what to think of all the wrapping paper
Saturday, it was time to go home. Despite Adam developing the flu that morning and a tornado warning in Bloomington, we made it out on time and got home as scheduled.
What a busy week! Now back to work. I guess I can't complain too bad since I have another 5 day weekend starting Wednesday for New Years :)
Rest of pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbM3DRi0cuWR5