The Big 3-0

I had a fantastic birthday! Since I had the whole day off (thank you Andrea!) I got to spend the entire day thinking of absolutely nothing. We went to the Grind twice (yes, they totally noticed and commented on how often we go there). I read a lot, thought a lot, spent the entire day with Rob. We went to Bistro Campagne for awesome food. I even had a Southport Grocery cupcake. And now I am official 30.

Lucky you -- Two Posts!

Just today I was riding the L, and once again had the incredible sense that the train was going to tip over (more on this at my previous blog). But no, part of my birthday musings was to make a little commitment to myself to let go of the fear. I mean of course the train isn't going to tip over and no L's have fallen off the tracks since like the 1920's.

http://www.nbc5.com/traffic/16413245/detail.html

http://feeds.chicagotribune.com/~r/chicagotribune/news/~3/299936033/chi-train-derailment-web-may29,0,185486.story

My favorite part of this story is that the train operator realized the train was going to derail, thought it would go off the tracks and therefore ran out of the drivers cabin and ran towards the back of the train (while passengers sat there thinking why is the driver running away when the train is moving.) Tell me this is not the worst transit system in the nation.

Wait I've just heard my other favorite part. As passengers were waiting to be evacuated the CTA played the recording which us commuters love the most. "This train is being delayed waiting for signals ahead."

The Eve

Hi Everyone! So I write this post on the eve of my 30th birthday. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am!! I decided to take the day off tomorrow. Here are the current plans: sleep-in, read the very best part of Pride and Prejudice (look how that just happened to coincide with my birthday!), get my hair done and possibly some other salon activity, go out to dinner at Bistro Campagne, see Indiana Jones... I really feel like the possibilities are completely endless. Doubtless one of my activities will be blogging, so I shall keep you abreast of the sitaution. I'm sure you will be checking in periodically throughout the day because the number one thought on your mind will be, "I wonder what Alex is doing for her birthday?"

Seeing as how this is somewhat of a landmark year, I've been thinking a whole lot about things that I have accomplished and what the next year will hold for me. I do have this picture of what the next year will mean for me, what my life will be like before the end of next year. Truthfully, I'm not sure how much of that I want to share with anyone (short of Rob who gets to listen to my constant musings and likes to dream away the years with me -- and also who wants to travel with Road Scholar the learning travel company run by Elderhostel). I picture this whole life where I take an extra large step forward in my job, my home and family life and have a working car, but it's pretty hard to describe. Plus, I recently read this article which makes me worry about oversharing in my blog, so I particularly like to be a little private. But I like to think of this blog as sort of the email that I never have time to write. Given the development of my life, I have a lot of friends and family that I don't see too often. Those visits and phone calls that I do have with each of you never seems substantial enough to allow full disclosure of all my daily details. That's why I blog, so you know what's going on in my life.

On that note, I really want to say to all you New Orleanians that we really do miss you all! Normally this is our annual absolute must New Orleans visit complete with family reunion. This year we just couldn't make it and I know it's kind of crappy. It's crappy for us too, because we really miss the fam and home. But I know you all understand that even though it seems like travel should be easy in this here modern day, traveling to NOLA may as well be traveling to the ends of the earth -- especially right now what with the cost of airfare and gas. Ugh. Once we move, we really will have more time and more money to visit.

Bliss Part II

More pictures from Melisa and Jim's Wedding:


Mr. and Mrs. Pociluyko


Facing the world together....


The Wedding Party


Melisa gets some help getting in the care (it's just like Princess Diana in the carriage).


Happily Ever After.


The First Dance.


Everyone was soooo impressed with Rob's suit and silk pocket square that perfectly matched my dress. And he tied that tie all by himself!


Mrs. Torres gets down to her song: "Get this party started" by Pink.


All my favorite people.


A celebration on the balcony.


How sweet it is.


David loves me!


Not as much as he loves Rob!


Or Kat loves Rob!


The Puerto Ricans -- the most fun table of the night!


Seth and Kat.


Jim's sister Janine and her boyfriend Bryan.


This has to be one of my favorites -- clearly it's all about Rob and I.


Melisa gives her bouquet to the newest single lady --Jenny's daughter (due in November!)


A kiss for the bride.

Ah, Sweet Bliss...

We just got back from an absolutely fantastic weekend in Baltimore for the most beautiful wedding ever! Now Melisa and Jim are off for their own happily ever after (and also a honeymoon in Hawaii!) However, that doesn't mean that the rest of ya'll shouldn't share in the festivities. So here is a small recap of the blessed event:


The most beautiful bride ever!


As Maid of Honor, I get to help her get ready.


Of course so does her brother -- this is a special moment.


No tears here! This dad was ecstatic throughout the whole wedding.


A whirlwind of monumental happenings.

Grown Ups

Lately Rob and I have been talking a lot about babies and when we want to have them. We both know that we absolutely want kids and we both would be really happy to have a lot of kids. The question has always been when? Do are jobs allow it? Can we afford it? Would more beings really fit in our apartment? But then there are the other questions that always kind of linger such as am I ready for this? Do I possibly have enough patience to be a good mom? Because really I'm not so patient. I could see myself totally trying to control everything, freaking out and yelling at Rob a lot.

But lately I've been watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 -- which makes me think: I can totally handle one kid.

Old School

So tonight I had a very special plan to do some scrapbooking and watch a movie. I love scrapbooking. I could easily spend a fortune on it and after seeing my cousin Katie's Scrapbooking Room (!) I started getting some serious life-goal-style dreams on. Of course I also saw some of her scrapbooks, which are SERIOUSLY amazing. Seriously. Still inspiration is inspiration, and I got inspired with a great idea for this bachelorette party that I'm going to. Bachelorette parties are really not my thing -- after all I can count on one hand the amount of times that I have gone out drinking since I graduated college. I actually feel a little sorry for this bride that I'm the one planning it. But then I got this idea, and well... now I'm feeling good about the whole scheme.

Meanwhile, this movie that I was going to watch. Well, it's a craving I've been having for quite a while now so I put it on my Netflix: The Little Mermaid. Now, say what you will but this is an awesome movie and well worth watching as a grown-up. First of all, it's such a blast from the past. Secondly, who's the most handsome man in the world?


(Well next to this guy, anyway.)


(oy, this guy again...)


Sigh.

So in watching this movie, I am reminded that when I was in what, grade school(?) this guy was my ideal. I'm not even kidding you. I very vividly remember watching with my cousins and discussing how Prince Erik was our dream guy. I also remember singing all the songs and my cousins telling me that I was hilarious while reenacting the Ursula songs. I am also reminded by the way that animation is actually pretty crappy compared to the new Pixar stuff. But man! Good times. Sadly, because I started watching this movie at 7:00, my evening is now over and I have nothing else to watch.

Here we go again...

Hey everybody! Exciting couple of weeks coming up! You can tell by the exclamation points that I am very excited!

My brother and sister-in-law are coming to visit today. Their stop over in Chicago is part of a two week long road trip across country (which you can read all about here. Today they're driving from Buffalo to Cleveland (where her grandparents live) and then straight on to us. Rob is uber jealous because while he's at work I'm taking J&J out to Spaccanapoli.

J&J last came to Chicago about 4 years ago -- when we still lived in our humble pit on Western. And also before we had this:



and this:


Needless to say we have lots of cat tricks planned as people-entertainment.

THEN as if that's not enough on Thursday we leave for my very-best-friend-in-the-whole-world's wedding which is one week from today. I'm the maid of honor (or matron if you prefer, but ick), so it will be a weekend of festivities and wedding-helping (yay!) Rob even bought a suit, a seriously nice suit. We'll be flying back to Chi-town on Sunday and then officially begins the countdown to my 30th birthday.

Bored, bored, bored...

I usually don't get too bored on weekends. In fact I selfishly covet every little moment of it, regretfully counting the hours down until (sigh) the work week begins again. Today though I've been bored all day! I'm going to blame it on the pretty icky rain which has prevented me from foing much outside. It's not just rainy, it's cold and so breezy that my umbrella flipped twice when I went to get coffee.

But the second reason that I'm bored is because Rob is off today -- and yet I haven't seen him all day! He thinks he had food poisoning, and since he was up sick all last night he's been sleeping all day. I went to get some sicky food for him like soup and crackers and jello. But I haven't really been able to do much else for him, and I hate seeing him sick. I really want to be able to help him. So basically I've just been watching Jon and Kate Plus Eight (it just cracks me up that at least 2xs an episode little kids walk into walls).

On an additional note to my previous CTA blog, last night Rob had to take a cab home from work because the CTA tracks were on fire. I can't help but think that we're going to be leaving this city at just the right time.

Yoga Disciple

Last summer I started doing yoga pretty hard core. In just a few short months I really felt like it changed my life. Unlike most of my peers, I always hated my mid-twenties because I had felt far older that 20-something. I had gained weight, lost some flexibility and grace of my youth -- even gained what I term a graduate grey-streak. Once I started doing yoga, I regained my metabolism (no seriously I didn't have one for about 5 years), felt just plain old younger. For the first time in say 6 years, I felt truly fantastic.

Well winter kinda did me in. Though I continued to do yoga I had lost my enthusiasm for it, doing the poses only half-heartedly and witout thought. I really blame this on Bikram (I'll tell that story some other time). Well, I lost my way. AND then I went through the weeks of turmoil caused by my mysterious back pain. Doing any back stretching was just too incredibly perilous.

Today marks the first time I've done yoga in weeks! But you know what, it like an old friend. In short my friends, as I approach my 30th birthday -- I feel like a 25-year old. So there.

Yes, I'm watching CNN, but also...

I've been spending a lot of time at work this week (for reasons which I really shouldn't be discussing) and as a result, I'm pretty tired. Yesterday I got home at 8:30, pretty much made a sandwich and then went to bed. Although I did eat that sandwich in front of the Bachelor so I feel fulfilled by my time off. Sadly, because I went to bed early, I didn't get to see Rob, and when he called I was really too tired to give him any sort of response to his very funny stories about his day. So I left him a note to say I loved him.

And today when I got home from work, I discovered that he had cleaned. And that's just about one of the best "I love you" notes I've ever gotten.

Hey B-lo, remember us?

That's right folks, we're moving back in less than 4 months. Our scheduled week of move will be August 25th or so. We'll be staying for one last "Rob's birthday at Wrigley Field game" and then we'll be heading on home. I have a detailed move plan which involves a yard sale in our non-existant lawn and packing up in July (um, yeah right). So let the count down begin!

And here are just some of the things that I am looking forward to the most:

• Summer family barbeques!
  
• Seeing Jim and Jeannie more often!
  
• Holidays which don't involve very expensive and high-stress present-lugging flights!
  
• Having time off to go to New Orleans and see the Fusses!
  
• The cottage with lots of visits from people we love!
  
• Lion's Club Barbeques!
  
• Hanging out with Sarah and Ami and Holly at Spot!
  
• Having family dinners at our own house!
  
• (Believe it or not...) Going to church with Mom! (Yeah I know, that one I did not expect.)
  
• Rob says: Working on the canal!
  
• The Cubs winning the World Series because we moved!