Have an Exciting Weekend!

Well, here goes - this weekend I start my move into my  new place in the city!!!  I'm meeting with my landlord tomorrow to pick up the keys and then I get to start painting my kitchen and dining room.  The kitchen will go from hideous 70's wood paneling and cabinetry to dazzling white, and the dining room will go from plain white to a moody black!  I'm really hoping I haven't bitten off more than I can chew here!  I'm also going to start moving all of the smaller things from my house like books, DVD's, art supplies, etc.  It's going to be a lot of work!  I'll also be sure to take lots of before and after photos along the way for your viewing pleasure.  Fingers crossed it all goes well!

(photo from here)

Black Hole Sun

Today's Increasing the Awesome video will take us beyond manned space flight and cover some of the other exciting things that NASA is doing with its budget.  NASA is responsible for launching satellites and probes that allow us to investigate and develop a deep understanding of our universe.  One such example is the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission which detects the precise location of gamma-ray bursts (wavelengths of energy that are stronger than x-rays and occur in strong pulses), phenomena that are detectable only about once per day by our current technology in various corners of our universe.  Gamma-rays in astronomy are typically associated with dead/dying stars, active galactic nuclei, and most notably black holes.  The Swift satellite recently found a previously undiscovered black hole near the center of our Milky Way galaxy.  Check it out:

(top image from here)

Cocktail Carrier

While my dream bar cart (pictured above) is sadly WAY out of my price range, I have found a couple of suitable alternatives that I'm considering for my new place.  My parents are chipping in on my newest addition to my home as a part of my holiday present, which means I do have a little more leeway regarding price, though.  Here are a couple of the options I've been eyeing:

They all fall within the Hollywood Regency/Mid Century Modern design aesthetic that I love, but I can't seem to decide what material to go for.  The lucite option is freaking fantastic, but it's pick up only in Ft Meyers, Florida which makes it less than convenient.  I've been eyeing the two gold versions in the upper right and lower left for a while, but I'm considering getting some brass shelving for the same room and I don't want a gold overload, so I'm not completely sold on them.  And the wood version is just classic MCM and would go with all of my other furniture, but since it will share a room with my dining room set and my piano I worry that it will be too much wood.  Sigh.  Decisions, decisions.....

When it Rains....

While it's a total cliche, I definitely have a "case of the Mondays" today.  My flight back from Chi-town got in at 1:30 last night and it was 3 am before I got to bed.  I apparently slept through my alarm this morning (gee, wonder why....) only to wake up at 8:45 and realize that I was supposed to be supporting on console this week and I should have been tied in to the net 15 minutes ago.  Great start to the day.  Luckily a coworker was willing to cover for me as I hauled ass to get myself presentable and then proceeded to hit every red light on my way into work.  On top of that, management caught wind that one of the parts I support won't make it's upcoming launch date and the you-know-what proceeded to hit the fan.  I'm not sure why, but it's a certainty that on the week I'm supporting console everything else blows up too.  I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day getting updates and passing them on to management, all while operating on under 6 hours of sleep.  Not to mention that I start the big move to my new apartment on Saturday and I have a huge list of stuff I need to get done for that too (for example, it might be good to have electricity....)

It's going to be a very long, very busy week.  In the meantime, here are some pictures of my fun Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends:

Snuggling with the puppies in the morning.

Chicago-style deep dish pizza after a busy morning of Black Friday shopping with my future sister-in-law!

Family night of a movie, dinner, and bowling.  We went old school with the bowling  and kept score by hand.   My youngest brother's girlfriend and I were the only ones who don't own our own ball and shoes...

But I did break 100 on just one game!

Headed into the city on Sunday to spend the day with my best friend K!

(first image from here)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Mine has been quite eventful - I made my first solo Thanksgiving turkey using the incredible Alton Brown's recipe and it turned out fantastic!  I also whipped up some more of my overnight spiced cider (served with rum, naturally!), a batch of lasagna, and a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.  Then my dad's side of the family showed up en mass with side dishes galore and we all gorged ourselves on awesome food, played some darts and pool in the basement, and we finished up the night with a loud and entertaining round of Catch Phrase.  It was so good to see everyone!

I hope everyone has a fantastic rest of their weekends with family, shopping, and football (Go Bucks!  Beat Michigan!!!).  Be safe!

Chicago Bound!

I'm heading back to Chicago and my hometown of Fox River Grove today and I'm so excited!  I don't have to work tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be beautiful, I can't wait to see my family, I get to cook my first solo Thanksgiving turkey for our big family get-together on Thursday, and I get to see my best friend in the city on Sunday (and help her with some nursery decorating)!  My brother and his fiance are driving in from New Jersey, so everyone will be home.  And in addition to the big gathering with my dad's side of the family on Thanksgiving day, we'll also get in our immediate family's tradition of a day of family fun which usually includes bowling, a movie, dinner, and board games - plus I'll get in some girl time with my mom too as we're planning on getting a pedicure together and trying to go see Anna Karenina in the theater.  So much to be thankful for!

(picture of Chicago from here)

I'm a Bum

Well, my desire to spend most of the weekend in bed, lounging around, and just generally doing nothing did in fact come to fruition.  It was awesome.  I did read and finish a book as well, so check another item off of my weekend to do list.  I did not get around to gift making, but I rationalize that by saying that I did do some brainstorming for said gifts, and since most of the gifts are food based, I didn't want to worry about them breaking during the move or spoiling before the holidays.  So there. 

 

 I also did  not make it to the sidewalk painting festival, but I did venture out of the house for a bit on Saturday night to check out a new-to-me bar called Hughes Hangar with some friends, and we had a blast!  They have a really fantastic outdoor space and the dj was playing some great dance music.  It's technically supposed to be a gastropub/speakeasy inspired bar, but we didn't really take full advantage of that during this trip.  But you know me - I love me some great food and prohibition era cocktails, so I'll definitely be venturing back out here to get the full impact of their menu!

In other news, my cousin got engaged on Friday night to his awesome girlfriend, so the family will have another big wedding event coming up in the next year!  I'm so excited for them and for said awesome girlfriend (now fiance) to join the family!  Congratulations you two!

(image from here)

Have a Relaxing Weekend!

I've been super busy the last couple of weeks.  It's been a fantastic type of busy, but I'm happy to spend some time this weekend just relaxing.  I realized recently that I'm way behind on my reading list (the stack on my night stand and my list amazon are both growing!), so I'm going to try to get back into that this weekend.  I'm babysitting for some friends tonight and cracking open a book after the baby goes to bed seems like a perfect opportunity! 

I've also realized that for the second year in a row, I'm WAY behind on my holiday "shopping" list.  I've decided I'm doing a lot of DIY gifts this year, hence the quotes, but with my big move into town coming up I'm starting to freak out about when I'm going to get everything done.  So I'm also hoping to get in some holiday gift making this weekend too. 

And since I can't just stay cooped up in my place all weekend, I have one little excursion planned - Houston's Street Painting Festival!  It looks fun and colorful and artistic and it's free to the public! 

(top image from here)