Hurricane Sandy

Sean, enjoying the hurricane playlist

Hurricane Sandy is on her way to the east coast and both Sean and I are stuck at home. Since there is little work we can get done from home we are using today to be uber productive. Clean the bathtub, wash the dishes, change the sheets, take down our summer/ac unit friendly curtain, make applesauce, make burritos for the weeks lunches etc.

I also took some time to make a hurricane playlist. You're welcome.

Scorpions, Rock You Like a Hurricane

B.J. Thomas, Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head

The Carpenters, Rainy Days and Mondays

Modest Mouse, Float On

The Belle Stars, Iko Iko

ABBA, Waterloo

R.E.M., It's the End of the World As We Know It

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

Blondie, The Tide is High

Etta James, Stormy Weather


And to all our concerned family members, nothing to worry about here. The worst of the storm hasn't hit yet, but our apartment is on the third floor of a small building that is outside of all flood zones. At the worst, we will lose power, but we have a gas stove and plenty of emergency friendly food. And several bottles of wine.

Boston

Last weekend Sean and I took a quick trip to Boston. I have been wanting to go for several months and am so glad the trip finally happened thanks to a cheap car rental and credit card points that got us a free hotel stay.*

We had such a fun time hanging out with Melissa and Eric and celebrating Sean's birthday. Boston is a great city and the weather was perfect (even a little too warm, I had to wear shorts!). We took a walk around Harvard, watched some crew on the Charles, had delicious italian food in the North End, walked all the way across the city, saw the harbor, and went on a tour of Harpoon Brewery, where I discovered my new favorite beer that of course will be very difficult to find in NYC. We also made time to watch the MSU-UofM game which was to say the least, torturous. Despite the loss, it was all in all a wonderful weekend!

Riding the T

Harvard Yard

We enjoyed the costumed tour guides

Waiting for our turn to get a photo with John Harvard

John Harvard is the school mascot, which I still think is silly

Winnie the Pooh's house!

Wild turkey in Cambridge

Head of the Charles

Head of the Charles

Chocolate fondue

At Max Brenner

After a delicious seafood lunch

No caption necessary

Harpoon Brewery, yum

*Yes we drove and yes we were stuck in traffic leaving NYC and leaving Boston. Such is life on the east coast. The fun part was trying out turn by turn directions on our iphones. It worked great but we did have to learn not to listen too closely to Siri, she is not completely up on her NYC highways and bridges.

Rest in Peace Breville

Today is Sean's birthday. Today is also the day my favorite kitchen appliance died.

I was going to make a delicious spinach smoothie after a weekend of over indulgence in Boston celebrating Sean's birthday. I was really looking forward to the smoothie.

Of course, if I were to do a study of the mornings I break glass in the kitchen, I bet the majority are Mondays. I should have known better.

The blender cord was stuck underneath making the blender tilt. I tried to move it, the blender jug fell, in slow motion obviously. And I stuck out my arm to catch it but the handle still hit the counter and shattered, taking my favorite Moosewood pint glass with it to a broken glass grave.

It has been a long day of mourning the loss of the blender and picking glass shards off the floor (they are literally EVERYWHERE!).

I put in a request to see if we can order a replacement jug but Sean brought up the excellent point that now could also be the time to invest in my dream blender, the Vitamix. Every cloud does indeed have a silver lining.

Thanks for all the memories, Breville blender. You got us through smoothie fasts and pureed our soups. You will be missed.

Madison

Last weekend I went to visit Miriam and Aaron in Madison. It was my first trip to Wisconsin and while the weather was quite cold, the fall trees were beautiful and the cheese was abundant. We went to the farmer's market at the capitol, the UW campus, and many of Miriam's favorite restaurants and bars. I tried a few Wisconsin "delicacies" including fried cheese curds, a Bloody Mary with a sidecar, and an Old Fashioned. Madison seems to have a lot of good things going for it and I hope to be able to visit again with Sean!

Vegan pizza yum

Capitol

On top of the dome

Inside the capitol

Fried cheese at the farmer's market

Fried cheese curds!

Union Terrace

Chicago

This past weekend Sean and I went to Chicago for my cousin Kyle's wedding. I left on Thursday afternoon but Sean had a test and came on Friday morning. The rehearsal dinner on Thursday was at Wrigley Field and as usual with my family, we misbehaved and snuck onto the field to get some pictures. Miriam and I enjoyed being in her old neighborhood, but I wish we had actually bought an avocado burrito from El Burrito. Claiming to be the best burritos in town, I will not go against that.

On Friday, Miriam and I had a great breakfast with my Mom and Jack and successfully convinced her that an avocado smoothie was the correct breakfast choice. She enjoyed it! Then we went to get our rings cleaned and strolled down Michigan ave. The weather was perfect. After Sean arrived, we went to get pizza at Gino's with a large group of my family. Their spinach pizza is delicious although the amount of cheese is overwhelming. Once you get used to thin crusted New York style pizza, it's hard to go back.

 The wedding itself was on Friday afternoon at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a beautiful fall day and a wonderful setting for a wedding. After a very touching ceremony, as Kyle and Katie exited, there was an impromptu sing-a-long to "All You Need is Love." Insert Love Actually reference here. It was so sweet.

We had a wonderful time eating, drinking, and dancing. I was so glad so much of my extended family was able to make it. We stayed until the end of the night with the other die-hards, culminating in a hilarious and obnoxious sing-a-long on the trolley back to the hotel. It was quite a memorable celebration!