Last Saturday night was our last night in Chicago. We packed all day and most of the evening, but snuck out for a little bit for one last time in the city as residents. We headed downtown at about 9pm to go watch some fireworks on the lake front. On the way back we stopped at the fountains in Millennium Park and I got some cool photos there.
They blocked off some streets after the fireworks so the massive amounts of people could exit.
Millennium Park Fountains
John and I arrived in Omaha on Monday evening and were greeted by 11 family members who were ready to help us unload our truck. Thank God for the help because we were exhausted. It's was an 8 hour drive with John driving the truck and towing a car, and me following behind in another. I actually do have a lot of photos to edit and post from our last night in Chicago as well as some of our new surroundings, but for now you only get three.
Here's an abreviated version of our trip.
Outside our condo in Chicago
Our truck pulling up to our apartment in Omaha, Nebraska
Outside our apartment building in Omaha (horse stables and grazing field to the left, apartment complex to the right)
More to come soon!
Thursday's Theme at Picture This is "trip", so this post is my contribution.
No, I do not have time to be posting this right now. Yes, I should be packing. Leave me alone.
Yesterday John and I spent equal amounts of time working and playing. When we woke up John informed me that he "needed a big breakfast." So we walked about 5 blocks to a nearby diner.
On the way there , we saw this. Someone filled their entire yard with one of those bouncy things. I'm pretty sure they had to measure to find out if it would fit because it filled every square inch of their yard.
Dogg on a porch
Breakfast awaits
Smile courtesy of coffee, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and pancakes
On the way home. Posing by a cool brick wall.
After breakfast we went home and packed like hell for about 4 hours and decided that we deserved to go to dinner and a movie. So we went and grabbed some Thai food and saw the movie "Once".
We sat at the front of the restaurant at Joy's Noodles and Rice by the open doors and the light was really beautiful (if not blinding).
Wow, that was a lot of photos to post in one, but I don't know when I'll have a chance to post in the coming days. But I'll try my best!
John's sister Lori visited us from Omaha this weekend. On Saturday Kaido, Laura, and Julia invited us up to their family's lake house for the day. We had a great time and I took a million photos of the beautiful Julia. Here are some favorites:
On the boat
Yesterday John and I headed down to the Old Town neighborhood for the Old Town Art Festival. Mitch and Kathleen took a break from their bike ride and met up with us for a while. I had my camera and John had our little point-and-shoot and we had a "camera-off" at John's request. The results:
Mine:
Serious Cyclists
Corn
John's:
Boomer the Bird
Potato Pancakes
John was attempting to get a nice "street scene" photo of this girl. But he didn't notice that she is totally showing her...um...undergarments until I downloaded it and showed it to him on-screen. I think she's had a few too many. Whoops!
This little pug was completely asleep and apparently didn't care that she was being carried like a rag doll.
That's all! I think John has a great eye (I taught him everything he knows) and took some really good shots. I call it a tie.
I have quite a few pictures to post from the weekend, but I'll start with Friday. On Friday night John and I went on a cruise on the Spirit of Chicago. We went for a little end-of-the-school-year party with about 25 of his co-workers and their significant others.
The view of the skyline was gorgeous from Lake Michigan.
Oh, and there were entertainers...
...who volunteered John to join the Village People for a rendition of YMCA (that's him in the back wearing a cowboy hat).
Oh. What's that you say? You want video evidence of it?
Click Here: Download MVI_5255.AVI
Well done Johnny
More to come tomorrow on how the rest of the weekend panned out.
My mom and stepdad Joe came to visit this past weekend. We headed down to Millenium Park on Saturday and, of course, visited the Bean (or Cloud Gate). Here's a picture of my mom taking a picture of the bean:
Here's a funky one that might be confusing if you didn't know what it was. It looks like a bubble. 
John and I went to the lake on Sunday for a little while. I shared the camera a couple of times so John could get me on the "other side"
My dad came for a visit this weekend and we had some beautiful weather on Saturday. I heard about a little gallery walk in the Fulton Market area (near my office) so we headed down for a bit and walked in and out of galleries, shops, and cafes. It's sort of a scrappy area full of meat packing plants and industrial buildings, but sandwiched in between are all these little galleries. I didn't even know most of them existed.
More to come tomorrow from the gallery walk. Stay tuned!
On Saturday we went to a cookout at Tim and Mary's place with 2 other couples. Tim and Mary have an adorable 7 month old baby named Quinlan and he was nice enough to model for me a little.
This next one was taken by Kathleen because I was lifting him up in the air to get that smile!
Photos from our trip to the Shedd Aquarium two weeks ago.
Whew. Okay that was a lot of pictures. I think I'm still a little snap happy.
I'm about a week behind on posting these. Last weekend John's sister, her husband and their two boys came to Chicago to visit us from Omaha. We did alot while they were here inlcuding going to Navy Pier, Millenium Park, the Lego Store, and Shedd Aquarium. Here are some photos from the first day:
Julie, Joey, Tim, and Ryan
Joey being goofy
Ryan on the train:
At Millenium Park fountain
John and Julie at Navy Pier
The boys catching a football at Navy Pier
Coming Soon! Pictures from the trip to the Shedd Aquarium!
*Remember that you can click on any photo to see it larger
I had a great 26th birthday. I celebrated on Saturday by going shopping during the day with John and meeting up with friends that night. And the weather was great! What more could a girl ask for? It was also my friend Michelle's (D.) birthday but for some reason I didn't get a picture with her on my camera.
John and I
Michelle (E.) and I
Leslie, Amy and I
The birthday girls' cute shoes. Mine on the left, Michelle's on the right.
I was in a gift shop yesterday and couldn't resist shooting these.
I haven't posted many photos lately because it has been so cold, gray, and disgusting around here. There is pretty much nothing to photograph and the light is gone by the time I get home anyway.
So, until spring, it's gonna be a little rough. But I'm doing my best.
Sky over the West Loop:
Good restaurant near our house.
A large group of our closest friends got together on New Year's Eve and we had a great time.
My dad came to visit this weekend and because he has an interest in Mexico and Mexican food we ate at Platiyo. The food was good and the staff is super friendly, but the ambience makes it even more memorable.
Saturday was John's birthday and we went to dinner at Nacional 27, a Latin restaurant downtown.
Happy Birthday Johnny!
This weekend we hosted some wayward travelers from "the heart of Illinois" . On Saturday night we went to a bar called Carnivale. Although we didn't eat there, I would highly recommend it to any Chicago folks based on decor alone.
On Sunday John and I took advantage of the nice weather and went to the Chicago Botanic Garden. We parked about a half mile away and rode our bikes in to avoid the $12 parking fee. We also listened to some live bluegrass.
8:57am - Driving to work
11:00 am - My desk
3:30 pm - View of my office building
5:05 pm - On my way home
5:07 pm - Pass the King Tut Sign
5:11 pm - Nice clouds
5:12pm - Clouds still look nice
5:20 pm - Arrive home
5:21 pm - Greeted by Roxy
Last week John and I were given four free tickets to see Lyle Lovett at Ravinia on Friday night. If you don't know what Ravinia is, click here to learn more. In short, Ravinia is a summer concert venue in the suburbs. Most of the seating is lawn seating and people just set up blankets and drink wine and have dinner while listening to music. It's right off the Metra line which means you don't have to drive. We invited another couple and had a great time drinking eating and listening to surprisingly good music.
A small portion of the lawn seating:
Breaking out the wine:
On the way home (drinking is allowed on the Metra):
Back in the city at a bar:
The last picture is the view from my desk at work. A co-worker pointed out recently that when you look out, there are no clues as to what month it is. Is it January or June?
P.S. Clicking on any photo will open it in a larger window.
