Scenes from my Chicago Weekend

View of the city from the ladies restroom at the Signature Lounge at the top of the Hancock Building

Just spent a long three day weekend in Chicago with S (his first time there!) and we had such a fantastic time!  I got to see K, her husband, and their adorable new baby, show S around my favorite city, meet up with my parents, and eat some terrific food!  The weather was incredible and we really couldn't have asked for a better weekend.  Well, more time would have been nice...

We took an hour and a half tour of Wrigley Field - highly recommend!

Ate some mighty tasty sausages (including a classic Chicago style hotdog)

Walking along Lake Michigan and through Grant Park

The spitting fountains (more properly known as The Crown Fountain)

Canoodling in front of The Bean

Drinks with my parents at the Signature Lounge

Mission to Mars

Over dinner last night the topic turned to the news worthy topic of the proposed one-way mission to Mars.  Aside from the fact that it is ONE WAY, the mission is also set to become the basis for a reality television show.  Apparently thousands of people have already applied...  While the idea of traveling to Mars is incredible and I hope we can achieve it in my lifetime, the whole thing as proposed just seems preposterous to me.  We don't have the technology to travel to and colonize Mars yet, so that will take a number of years to develop.  And then you never get to come back?  Ever?  Since the applicants chosen to go with have a good 10 years to train and let that fact sink in, I wonder if they'd come to regret the decision. Such a lonely existence.  And as one of my friends pointed out at dinner last night, the whole thing is a recipe for insanity (probably why the television idea would sell big).  Anyone crazy enough to spend the rest of their life confined with only a handful of other people in a small space on a planet that is uninhabited, unable to live without the aid of technology, unable to ever see their friends and families again would probably fail even NASA's limited psych exam.

I guess we'll see if it actually winds up happening.  If it does, the trip to Mars alone will take 3-7 months depending on the locations of both Earth and Mars in their orbits.  That's a pretty long non-stop trip.  Just how far is it to Mars?  Check out this really cool website to get an idea.

So what are your thoughts on all of this???

(top image from here)

A Nice Ring to It

After the images from the Spring Balenciaga show started circulating on fashion blogs (picutred on the lower right image above), I  have become obsessed with hands full of gold rings.  I go through phases.  At one time I was enthralled with big, chunky rings.  After an unfortunate incidence in which I stabbed myself pretty seriously with a large, pointy stingray ring, I downgraded to thin, dainty bands.  I've been riding that bandwagon for a while now but after seeing the pictures from the Balenciaga show and other images of hands fully adorned in a mix of both thin and chunky gold rings I think the tides are turning.  I'm still going to wear my delicate bands, including my first knuckle rings that I'm thoroughly enamored with, but now I'm planning to mix in a few more fingers worth of gilt embellishment.

I just picked up, as a sort of early birthday present to myself, this set of 8 chunky gold rings from ASOS (for only $13!!!) to add to the mix.  There are some pretty, though slightly pricier, thin ring options from one of my favorite jewelry sites, Catbird, pictured here too.  Can't wait to start trying out a variety of dainty vs chunky gilded combinations!

(top pictures from here, here, here, and here)

Second Spring

 I spent this past weekend up in New Jersey and it was wonderful to celebrate J's bridal shower, spend time with both my and her families, and enjoy my second spring this year.  The trees and flowers in New Jersey had all just started blooming and the riots of white, pink, purple, orange, and yellow that dotted the landscape were beautiful!

One of my family bonding experiences was with my brother as we toiled away on the new IKEA dining room set that my parents bought for the happy couple as a combined bridal shower/wedding gift.  The table was fairly straight forward, and the chairs were a bit annoying but once we figured them out we were able to bang through them pretty quickly.  Only problem was one chair that had a wrong piece!  Fail IKEA, FAIL!!!  The table and 7 chairs that we did get assembled looked fantastic in their dining room, though!

Other activities this weekend, beyond the obvious bridal shower, included getting my bridesmaid dress altered, checking out some nearby parks as potential sites for a post-wedding brunch, a rousing game of trivia that I nearly won (stupid sports trivia questions screwed me over...), a lovely dinner with J's family, hitting up the new cheese and chocolate shops in downtown Clinton (YUM!), and a 5 mile walk with my mom and J.

 You can see how gorgeous those flower filled trees were!  Overall it was a wonderful couple of days and I'm eagerly anticipating my next trip out there for their upcoming wedding in July!

Space Updates

It's another busy week in space news.  Tomorrow is going to be a doozy as Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and and Roman Romanenko will be venturing outside of the ISS for a six hour spacewalk to deploy and retrieve several science experiments and replace a navigational aid.  This will be the 167th spacewalk in support of space station assembly and maintenance.  You can watch the spaceflight online starting at 8:30 am CDT on NASA TV.

Additionally, after a two day delay due to an umbilical cable prematurely disconnected from the upper stage booster, Orbital Sciences Corporation will be launching their first test flight of the Antares rocket tomorrow as well.  The first Antares launch attempt on Wednesday aborted with 12 minutes left in the countdown and engineers are still troubleshooting, plus Friday's weather isn't looking so good, so there's a chance that the schedule delay may be extended.  But when Antares does indeed launch, you can also catch live footage on NASA TV.  Friday's launch attempt is scheduled for 4:00 pm CDT and NASA TV will begin live coverage starting at 3:30.  This test flight is just to demonstrate rocket capability.  Follow up flights, along with the Cygnus cargo freighter, will test for the ability to carry cargo resupply missions to ISS, the main goal of this Orbital Sciences program.  And ISS definitely appreciates more cargo supply capabilities from the US!

(image from here)

Chili, Ceviche, and Strawberries! Oh my!

I wasn't quite as quick with my trigger finger camera-wise on Saturday, so I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I went to the Annual JSC Chili Cook-Off and it was a blast!  The chili was good, the drinks were plentiful (buttery nipple pudding shots are my new favorite novelty drink...), and the weather was perfect.  We wound up crashing pretty early on Saturday night though due to a very full day of food and sunshine.  On Sunday we woke up and headed out the door fairly early to grab brunch at Latin Bites Cafe (I had a coupon deal that was about to expire).  We splurged on a mango smoothie, mint limonada, some of the best ceviche I've ever had, and delicious Latin inspired sandwiches.  It was one of those places that we'd gladly go back to, but probably more so for a special occasion as the prices were a bit steep.  Very good, though!

After brunch we made our way to Froberg Farm where I FINALLY got to pick some strawberries!!!  Due to an unfortunate cross of signals we were unable to meet up with our friends, which I was pretty bummed about.  But I did have a good time stomping around in my pretty purple rainboots with S and filling up a bucket with ripe strawberries (that smelled INCREDIBLE).

We spent about an hour picking around in the strawberry field searching for the perfect berries and then we headed home to make use of our bucket o' berries.  I whipped up a quick strawberry tart that, although delicious, was horribly disfigured.  It was not photo-worthy.  I also concocted a pseudo strawberry shortcake to tide us over mid-day.  I used a whole wheat english muffin spread with some of the pineapple preserves we picked up at Froberg's market.  That was topped with a heaping pile of sliced strawberries and then finished off with a dollop of homemade whipped cream.  It was heavenly.

Those two treats took me through only about 1/3 of my strawberries.  Next recipe I have planned?  Strawberry grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight (this or maybe this) with a side salad (naturally topped with strawberries as well).  And tomorrow I plan to make some of my absolute favorite strawberry frozen yogurt.  YUM!

Have a Tasty Weekend!

Well this weekend is going to have a lot of food-related activities and I couldn't be more excited!  Tomorrow is JSC's Annual Chili Cook-Off and I'm going to go for the first time!  I have a handful of friends that are actually competing on some of the teams.  And I happen to know that B is supplementing J's team with jello shots, so it will definitely be an entertaining afternoon!  Apparently it's just meat-based chili, no beans allowed, and I'm not a fan of super spicy.  But I feel this is just so quintessentially Texan...

On Sunday we're hitting up a Peruvian restaurant for brunch (I have a Groupon that's about to expire and I've been really excited to try this place - it's on my "list") and then I'm FINALLY heading out to Froberg Farm to do some strawberry picking!  I've been talking about this forever and this weekend it will definitely be happening.  Expect lots of awesome strawberry recipes to follow...

(picture from here)

NASA - Increasing the Awesome in 2014

The Fiscal Year 2014 budget for NASA was released today (see first video).  You can get more data on NASA's site here.  

The big news?  Researching a mission to first capture and relocate an asteroid!  If all goes well, astronauts could visit the captured asteroid in the early 2020s using NASA's Orion crew capsule and the agency's new Space Launch System heavy lift rocket.

This is finally a clear vision for NASA's future that I've been waiting to hear!  Let's hope the funding is sufficient and we can accomplish these goals!

(top image from here)