Well I had a good weekend back in Chicago. Went to the Taste with friends, and made it our mission to find the best Chicago style pizza. The unanimous verdict was Bacino's of Lincoln Park!!! Of course Aurelio's wasn't there, but that's thin crust and not stuffed :) Also went to see Get Smart, which was really really cute. Actually, I kind of want to see it again. And then other little things, and a long run--though to be honest it wasn't enough time at home. I really would like a good week to go exploring and not work and not do grading hahaha! Ah well, I'll have to wait until September to do that. Anyway, back in Michigan now, obviously, since I already posted about our dinner last night. But I wanted to share these cute photos of Millenium Park, which was PACKED over the weekend!!!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Millenium Park/A Good Weekend
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Dinner with the grandparents
Well, I'm back in Michigan now for a short 3-day work week before heading off to NC to see my closest friends. I love this summer, even though it's been busy so far; I just love being outside and seeing things and being with good friends. Tonight we (my grandparents, Michael and I) were having dinner, and we got to discussing their life in law school when they were pregnant with my mother. I really love listening to their old stories and hearing about how their lives are so similar to mine, how they dealt with the same issues as I have ("Oh I think our parents about died when we told them I was pregnant...they thought Poppa would never finish school. They thought, 'Oh! He's married! And he's having a child! He'll never finish school and he'll never get a job!'"). In actuality, he finished 7th in his class and his first job paid $5000, which apparently was quite a lot back then ("We thought we were so rich!"). And I love hearing the story of my mother being born, how Poppa was still studying for a law exam in the hospital room, which occurred about 3 hours after her birth, and on which he got his best grade ever, an A+. I love hearing about the church they went to, when it was first built and all there were were four walls and concrete floors. They thought it was huge at the time, though upon bringing Rebecca to law school a few weeks ago they realized how small it really was... I love hearing how they lived on nothing, how "going out" consisted of having potluck dinners with friends, or meeting each other at the baseball diamond around the corner to walk my mom in the stroller and watch the game after Poppa got out of class.
I look into my grandmother's face and see the same passion and zeal for adventure as I have now, and the same view on marriage as a great grand adventure that grows and expands you, and I am reminded again of how badly I want the same sort of bond they had and continue to have 50+ years later. Just looking into her eyes and seeing the love pour out of her for Poppa and the life they've lived together makes me melt, and I yearn for the person I want to share my own life with. Sigh...
Saturday, June 28, 2008
West Elm
Some goodies from West Elm, which I guess is owned by Williams Sonoma! I'm really loving the cutout style of this headboard and these daybeds...makes it seem really lively and fresh!!
I also found out what to call this shape of furniture I've been loving so much lately--according to West Elm, it's a media console. So there you have it, and a couple more I liked...
And finally, just a pretty bookcase!!!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Whew!
Well, I'm home. In particular, I'm lying on my own bed in pj shorts with the AC blowing comfortably down on me. I've missed being home. I love my grandparents and I love the lake, and I love my parents and our house in PA, but this apartment has come to mean a lot to me, and it's nice to be back. It feels like a while since I've been here (it's been a little over a week). Weekends are nice. I do have a lot planned, including going for a run, doing laundry, going to the Taste of Chicago, getting my bike fixed (finally GAHHH), transferring my iTunes music to my new computer (ALSO FINALLY), dropping off the dry cleaning, church, and hopefully also seeing Get Smart (I've been dubbed Agent 99 already at work...). I was thinking I might see it tonight, but after I sat down I realized just how tired I was. My legs are sore and they're enjoying being propped up on the bed. ;)
But yeah, so far work is really fun. I really do love working, and I am happiest when I feel part of a team doing meaningful work. And I'm doing better with more unstructured time than I thought I would--I think the main issue for me is just having a dedicated work space and a dedicated relax space. When I try and mix the two, nothing gets done, but I don't really relax either. Hence, I can't really do work at home (the reading room is where I always read or write papers at school), and working at an office is much the same. I like all my coworkers and I love having my own cube and laptop and journal that I can fill with wild ideas for where I think Whirlpool should go. It's exciting. Part of my research this week has been around sustainability best practices, and I've gotten to learn a bit about some really cool companies. In fact today I felt a really strong desire to move to Sweden and work for IKEA. I really would like to work abroad for a while. It'd be a lot harder when I have a family, and why not now? I am so itching to get back to Europe, and to Latin America, and Australia (probably in part due to Mom and Dad's trip--they're somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean right now, heading to Paris). I'm planning on going with Mom, Dad, Michael, Grandma and Poppa to visit Todd when he studies abroad in the winter in Tubigen, Germany, so I'm sure that'll be really fun. Again I come back to wishing I was in a three-year MBA program, so I could study abroad for part of it and TA for some cool classes and learn a bit more econ/marketing theory. I also think it'd probably be a wise choice to pick up a concentration in Finance as well, so I'm not positioning myself as a total right brain!! But yeah, we'll see. Also feeling energized about the marathon, which has morphed into a bit of an emotional journey for me...like I mentioned in another post, I always sort of surprise myself when I stick to things independently, and I feel like this race is something I really desperately want to do, for myself, to prove I can do it. I'm also really enjoying running, and I definitely enjoy feeling healthier and stronger, and in general more in control of my own body, which is nice. Anyway, I'm off to read...yay!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
IKEA goodies
Am loving this coffee table, and this cute bowl! I'm on the lookout for a fun bowl or platter to put the mail on...
Bookcase
I'm loving this idea for a bookcase--more of like a whole wall of books and art and dishes and fun things! Don't know what I think about hanging the art on the outside of the shelves yet, but it definitely adds a more modern look to it...and I really am leaning toward arranging the books by color, oh my oh my! :)
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Good first day
Excited to work on my project, and perhaps even more excited about Anytime Fitness...yay back to running schedule tomorrow, since today didn't work out so well. I also get my laptop tomorrow, and my cube! You have no idea how these things excite me :)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
a good time at home
-a little fun reading (though not worth finishing)
-finished grading for my TA class; I'm officially halfway through grad school
-got everything for the car taken care of
-had a nice talk with my dad
-did a bit of shopping, and added to my work dress and cardigan collections :)
-got all the details for my parents' trip to europe finalized
off to michigan tomorrow, and starting my job on tuesday! i'm nervous but looking forward to it!
also eyeing:
Saturday, June 21, 2008
today is a great day
something about
-the fact that i ran 7 miles this morning, in an hour and 10 minutes
-driving my car with the windows down and listening to my favorite radio station 102.9
-sunny summer, and lots of green PA trees!!
that makes me feel more like myself than i have in a while, and i'm just happy to be here. yay life. yay summer. yay setting goals and sticking to them. i am so overflowing with joy this morning i could burst!!! now, time for a shower and then off to get an oil change and see about fixing my driver's side window that doesn't want to come back up...:)
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