She & Him ~ Midwest & Northeast via Text

What is a couple that is accostomed to spending time together every day to do when in different regions of the country?  Text message of course. 

The first was the dogs after I came home with no Daniel that first night...

Then we continued to texted photos of our day...

These are all from the first week Dan was out there.  Smartphones are fun.

Tidbits from December

December has been flying by... quite possibly the fastest ever.  But we have been having fun.  We enjoyed holiday cupcakes from Sprinkles.  The dogs have enjoyed the relatively warm weather.  Dan's company won the prize for fun parties with a holiday party at the Field Museum.  Our traditionally holiday event this year was the Second City Dysfunctional Holiday Revue.  The holiday cards just barely made it out before Christmas.

Fall Weekends

We've had a very nice fall for walking.  The weather has been mild and comfortable... it has been so nice that we are suspicious as to what winter will look like once it clicks over.

Fall weekends included trips to the Donut Vault, the farmers market, the various parks around the city...

There were lots of relaxed moments and pretty leaves and fall sunsets.  However we didn't do any hikes from the 60's hikes book so we will have to make a winter hike happen.

Shelby's Opinion on Afternoon Dance Party

This is what Shelby has to say about joining in on an afternoon dance party...

A simultaneous yawn and barely half leg raise for her "I am so little and vulnerable" act - so no, she didn't join in the afternoon-take-a-break-from-jam-making dance party.

Labor Day Weekend Day Trip

September is flying by and I am determined to get this blog up to date before it reaches the status of terribly out of date.  For Labor Day weekend we sometimes head out of town and visit family.  But this year we decided to have a relaxing weekend at home with a short day trip. 

Saturday was really cloudy and raining so we stayed in... I finished up editing the photos for a family portrait session and Dan worked through his never ending to do list.  We finished off the day with a movie... It was a perfect blend of accomplishing stuff and being lazy.

Sunday we headed out for our day trip.  And we of course took lots of photos.  It was beautiful - puffy white clouds and blue skies.  I had a vision of a pretty packed picnic... well groceries were not on that Saturday list of accomplishments so  it was a McDonalds kind of picnic... but at least it was in a park. 

{do you see me and Eddie in there? haha}

We strolled around a small town, saw the spot for the Lincoln Douglas Debates, saw the I&M Fox River aquaducts.  Apparently all of this was all very tiring for Eddie as he needed to lay down to get a drink of water.

We drove down some country roads to head to the Kankakee River State Park for a hike.  This was a hike out of our 60 Hikes in 60 Miles of Chicago book... they must have been really struggling for filling the book as this was kind of a lame hike.  It was mostly a paved path and not very diverse in scenery or terrain - even for Chicago.  But we enjoyed our nature walk... Dan spotted lots of spiders to inspect and water creatures by the river.

After a quick stop to people watch at Navy Pier we decided to go out for dinner.  Owen and Engine had been on the list of places to check out for a while so we headed over there.  It was a fantastic place.  Excellent beer.  Dan's beer was a nitrogen tap - he loved it.  Excellent food.  My burger was super yummy (seriously leaps above the usual places).  We left saying that we have to go back.  I really want to get those fish and chips that smelled so good as the servers carried them to nearby tables.  When we finally got up to leave it was pouring but there was enough of a break that we able to walk home... good thing it was close as there were absolutely no cabs.  It was a perfect end to a very good day.

Summer Snippets

There were a lot of things that didn't make it onto the blog this summer... we just couldn't keep up.  Summer flew by, as it is likely to do, and I am not quite sure I am ready for fall.  It was a nice summer... afternoons with beer on patios, growing stuff in the shared garden, hikes through forest preserves, festivals, a bazillion walks around the neighborhood, yummy dinners out at new fav restaurants, finding ways to use up our CSA box of produce each week, and simply enjoying the great outdoors.

One hot week in July

It has been such a hot and steamy week.  I love summer and hot weather but it was too much.  We spent a lot of time in air conditioning and sweating.  Every morning this week I sent Dan a text while I waited for the bus crying about how hot and gross I was standing in the sun... it was 83 degrees at 8am - in 'business clothes' that is extra hot. 

We have been grilling, trying to keep the garden alive, keeping the shades closed, watching movies and drinking icy beverages.  Next week is suppose to be lovely.  Which is excellent as the dogs are seriously moping about not getting as much outside time.