Just a little smile

I took Oliver to the dog park today. The weather in Chicago has been beyond beautiful. We've had a wonderful winter altogether, and if the Mayan calendar is correct and the world is going to end in December, we certainly were treated to fair seasons as a parting gift!

While walking Ollie, I passed one of my favorite houses today with the following message written on the ground in chalk:





How awesome is that? It made me smile, you know, like one of those real natural feel-good smiles. Its kind of like a pay it forward, without intending it to be. It was a lovely way to end my day!

Here are a few photos from Sunday. Oliver and I walked through Lincoln Park Zoo, Lakeshore Nature Preserve, and to North Avenue Beach:














P.S. - no dogs allowed on North Avenue Beach... however it's technically the off-season so we broke the rules :)

Donating Clothes

Always think about donating clothes but never find yourself willing to get rid of things because you'll "someday need it"? Maybe try this...

On Jan. 1st, turn all your hangers backwards. As you wear clothes, turn the hanger around. Anything that is still backwards on June 1, donate.

Holiday Window!

Since I am alone this holiday season (boo hoo, i know... i already had a mini cry this morning thinking about it), I don't feel the need to put up and decorate a tree. Even though my opinionated friends (and my mother I'm sure) will say, "but you can do a mini tree!", .... no, thank you.

So I am going to decorate my window. I have a huge picture window in my living room that is begging for attention, and I will happily oblige it's thirst for it.

Oliver is ready to get to work and lend a helping hand!





Window before:





First I gathered my supplies:

Ornaments (bought these at Walmart a few years ago, never used them!)



Ribbon / Gold Rope





And I also got an extendable curtain rod. To be honest, I have no idea where it came from. I don't know if the movers grabbed it from the house and brought it with, if it was already here in the apartment when I got here, or if it really does belong to me. I have no idea! All i know is that its been sitting under my dining room table and is now getting its use. Anyway, I fitted the rod to the inside of the picture window:





It's hard to see on this picture, but the obvious rod that sticks out has my curtains on them, but it's underneath that rod that I put the extendable rod.

Oliver checked it out to make sure it's sturdy and right:





Then I started hanging the bulbs, eyeballing the different lengths. I tied the top in small knots so all I have to do to take them down is cut them with scissors. While I was up hanging a few, I got down and saw that Oliver wanted attention. He put all of his toys in my "work area"... Sorry buddy, ya gotta wait!





Here I am, half done:







And then I ran out of ribbon/rope. Damn it. I'm three-quarters done so I'll pick up some more ribbon during my lunch break tomorrow.









- Blogging to you from the lovely iPad2. Xo.

47 Days Sober - Social Networking

I am thrilled to say that I am 47 days sober from facebook aka social networking. Yes, I still tweet and yes, I still blog... but I really consider Facebook the end all be all of social networking and I am done with it. I want to say FOREVER, but I am not sober enough to say FOREVER yet. I just really wanted to get this out that its been 47 DAYS! People thought I wasnt going to last two weeks... HAH! I showed you :)

commuting

Reason number 8,127,531 that its a good idea to move back to the city: the commute. Currently, I wake up at 4:45am, leave the house at 5:15am, and catch the 5:51am train that goes to the city. I have been doing this for approximately 1 year. Yes, 1 year and im tired and ready to be back in the city. I will get to my office at 7am and it gives me enough time to do something with my hair, put my "face" on, and listen to my favorite radio morning station.

When I move to my new place, I will have a 20 min commute on the EL. I will get back 140 min of my life back... daily! That's 700 min per week or... that's like, 11.5 hours a week!! Crazy, huh? I'm so excited!

That's also more time i'll get to spend with my Ollie, the love of my life.