Closer to Free

Everybody wants respect

Just a little bit

And everybody needs a chance once in while...

It's the BoDeans, baby and on Friday, July 29th I will be jammin' it up with the husband and friends at Ravinia.  For those of you who do not live in the Chi (or for those unfortunate souls who do, but have never been), Ravinia is the "sound of summer" (I totes stole that from the website).  Ravinia is an outdoor music venue that books some mega acts, and some not-so-mega acts, where you can score lawn seats (they're a must), bring your own food & bevvies and have a gay ol' time.  Nothing says summer quite like Ravinia.  Mike and I haven't been in a few years, and last summer we were saying (you know, in that way which implies you absolutely want to go, but know it's likely not gonna happen) how we for sure needed to go back.  Well, last summer came and went, and we never made it to see a concert.  I vowed at the close of the Ravinia season last year that next year I would absolutely be there.  Well, my dear friends, it is officially "next year" and I am making good on my promise.

After emailing a few besties some potential dates, we uniformly decided that July 29th was likely the only date that was going to work (how sad is it that of all the possible weekends this summer, only one actually worked...overcommitted, anyone?)  After making this grand decision, I immediately went online to their website and purchased 2 lawn tix for me and the loving husband.  I so.can't.wait.

So, it true Suzie Q fashion, I immediately set out to purchasing picnic gear.  I wasted no time in finding adorbes stuff, which consists of, first and foremost, an ultra deluxe picnic basket.  The thing I love best about this little cutie is that the inside is insulated and closes off with a zipper.  Darling!  Best part of all?  I got 60% off retail and paid a mere $40 clams.  I also snapped up this gem at Target (which I'm normally not a lover of) for $14 clams, which includes 4, count 'em 4, stemware holders and a bottle holder whereas most others I priced were around $10 for only 2 stemware holders.  Shopping is a sport, my friends, and I always place 1st.  Last, but certainly not least, I perused Amazon & found this perfect little table and knew it would just right for, not only Ravinia, but also Birchwood (actually, all our abfab finds will double duty as perfect compliments to our up North retreat), 4th of July and, really, all summer weekends. 

So, here's to summer lovies!  I hope yours is shaping up to be as good as mine <3

Danke Schön!

Take that Magic Shell!  Our deepest gratitute to Tom for making all right in our world! xoxo!

Say Whaaaahhh?

There's nothing like coming home, after traveling for business.  After spending the last few days attending meeting after meeting and feeling like you're running on fumes.  Ahhh...nothing beats walking in the door, to your welcoming abode....unless, that is, you walk in to this:

Allow me to rewind and paint a picture of how it all began.  Tuesday morning I wake up and, like I do every morning, I head straight to the kitch to get me java.  I proceed to the living room where I sit on the couch to watch the news while I drink my coffee before jumping in the shower to start my day.  As I set my mug on the side table next to me, what do I see when I glance up?  I see my beautiful, pristine white lamp shade (the very shade that sits atop one of two stunning lamps gifted to me for my wedding) with a GLOB of chocolate down the side.  Yes, that's right folks, you read that right...chocolate on my lamp shade.  I run to the laundry room to extract my trusty bottle of Oxy-Clean, post haste.  And for the next 45 minutes, I attempt to disassemble the lamp shade and scrub the shizz out of it.  Finally, I meet with success and the shade looks like new.  But, because I am to catch a plane in less than an hour, I cannot put humpty dumpty back together again.  After calling my 30 year old child-husband ("babe, I don't know how that happened!") and tell him to fix the lamp when he gets home, I fly out the door to catch my plane (I'm such a jet-setter).

After working all day on Tuesday, I soon forget about my lamp shade woes back home.  As I excuse myself and head to the rest room while at dinner, I look down at my phone to see a missed call and a text from the loving husband.  And so it says:

"i think i know what happened 2 our lamp shade lil one! i am/was an IDIOT! it was the yummy hard chocolate topping 4 ice cream!"

This, my friends, is what he refers to:

My 30 year old, grown ass husband spilled fuxing MAGIC SHELL on my $350 lamp!  For serial?  Yes.  But alas, I laugh and tell him that I love him despite his child-like ways and all's well that ends well since I was able to get it out.  Right?

Wrong.

What my oh-so-loving husband fails to mention is that when I took apart said lamp, in all my gusto to get the shade off and clean, I managed to strip the screw that holds the bulb in place and break the wires.  AWESOME.  Psyche. 

Being the clever beast that he is, husband does not tell me this over the phone.  Instead, as I walk in the door at 10pm the next night, having spent a loooong day in meetings and then delayed at the airport for over 2 hours, I see my beloved lamp strewn about my dining room table.  I gaze lovingly at the twin little jewel over on my other side table, just as it should be and wish with all my might that I could ring my husband's neck:

But I don't.  Instead, I laugh about it, because at this point, what else can one do?  The whole sitch is plain ridic and only the two of us clowns could manage to do something so completely asinine as this.  But there you have it.  Likely, we will have to take it to be repaired at a custom repair shop to not only re-wire the little beauty, but to re-affix the top that I managed to also completely jack up (strong like bull).  We have tons o' supah talented pal's in the trades and are never at a loss for helping hands, a couple of whom already offered to re-wire and fix it for us.  Which reminds us once again, no matter how dumb we are (and this here is proof positive that we're pretty big jack asses), we can laugh at ourselves and count on our pal's to bail us out when we need 'em ;)

With Love, Philadelphia xoxo

Happy Monday boys and girls! We rounded out a fun Friday & Saturday with a leisurely Sunday, spent doing some light cleaning, shopping and BBQ-ing...just me & my loving husband. As I've gotten older, I've begun to develop a great appreciation for Sunday's and look forward to them each week as they're almost always spent just me and Mike. No better combination exists, if I do say so myself!

This week will bring me to Philadelphia, and while it is a business trip, I dare say I am looking forward to going (gasp). Hubby was born and raised in Pittsburgh and though we've been together for quite some time, I've never visited the great state of PA. He's been all over and I am anxious to visit some of the places he's talked about over the years. I'll be staying at The Omni Hotel and though my stay will be short, I do hope to get a bit of sightseeing in while I'm there. I most certainly must try one of their infamous cheesestakes and take a peeksie at the ol' Liberty Bell. Working dinners are always pretty swank, and this trip is no different, as we'll be dining at none other than Buddakan the night I arrive. Since this is a business trip, there will be no shortage of work being done, and I'm certain that by the time I return, I will be glad to be home. In my absence, Mike will hold down the fort (he is so much better at this than I am when he's away on business), and like always, I will act as though I'm a million miles away, missing him like a lovesick teenager.

Here's to a fly-by work week for this girl and hopes for a good one to the rest of you all <3

Hot Child In The City

Runnin' wild and lookin' pretty...

I'm off to Ceres at the CBOT to meet my pals Kiki & Billie!  Happy Friday everyone xoxo

 

Just Believe

Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, "Don't be afraid; just believe."

Mark 5:36

Happy Saturday Y'all

Make sure you load up on the SPF!