The Story of K and A: 2010

From the Saute Pan: Pumpkin Dog Treats

For the holidays I baked a few batches of cookies for A and I (and the office, the hospital... not just for us!), and felt Orion was left out. Really I just wanted to see if she'd like something natural and homemade (versus Beggin Strips or cheese).

Dish: Pumpkin Dog Treats
Eaten With: Water, Beggin' Strips randomly when practicing tricks
Main Ingredients: Flour, eggs, canned pumpkin, peanut butter

1. Whisk together 2.5 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 eggs, 1 small can of pumpkin, and 2 tablespoons peanut butter.
2. Roll dough to a 1/2-inch thickness.
3. Cut into pieces. I did small snowflakes (to be festive), and 1/2 inch squares.

Craft Corner: Dog Holly Collar

I saw what a cute and easy-looking craft online one day last week, and decided to take some time on Saturday and attempt my own version. A and I don't like the idea of putting clothes on our dog, but I figured a festive collar would be okay!

From the Saute Pan: Latkes

I flip my latkes in the air sometimes... Well, we actually didn't flip them, because there would have been a huge mess with hot oil everywhere, but that song is stuck in my head!

On the 4th night of Hanukkah, we attempted our first homemade latkes.

Dish: Latkes (AKA potato pancakes)
Eaten With: Sour cream, applesauce, salad
Main Ingredients: Potato, sweet potato, onion, flour, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking powder, vegetable oil

How to Make:
We were nervous at first, since the only way we've done it before is to hand-grate the onion and potatoes, which took a long time and was rough on our fingers. However, we have a secret weapon:

'Tis The Season To Be Snowing

When we went to sleep last night, we knew the forecast called for snow. This morning, I felt like a five-year-old at 5AM on Christmas. I couldn't wait to pull back to shade and see if the weather people were correct (for once). This is what we saw:

Put On Your Yarmulke

It's time for Hanukkah!

Wednesday was the first of the eight nights of Hanukkah. Or Chanukah. Or Chanuka. (Pick your preferred spelling!) A and I lit the candles and exchanged some gifts, as is tradition.

Puppy Tales: The Many Faces of Orion

Clearly, it's been too long since Orion has been featured. So I give you a sampling of the many faces of Orion.

Smelling the camera (to see if it's edible, of course.)

From the Saute Pan: Pumpkin Sausage Pasta

Since A and I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes together, I'm adding a new category of posts: From the Saute Pan. (This title was much-debated on between myself and A. I pointed out that I also bake, so some things come from the oven, but A decided our readers would be smart enough to figure that out and still enjoy our creative title.)

This first recipe was made for Thanksgiving dinner. A and I were on our own for the holiday, and as neither of us are particularly enthralled with Turkey Day food, we decided to go with this.

Dish: Pumpkin Sausage Pasta
Eaten With: Salad, French bread
Main Ingredients: Sausage (we used bratwurst), onion, canned pumpkin, chicken broth, cooking wine, pasta (we used penne)

How to Make It:
1. Cut up the sausage.

The "Other" Thanksgiving Day Parade

Have you heard of the "other" Thanksgiving Day parade? Not in NYC, not sponsored by Macy's? I hadn't either, until I discovered something ~~miraculous~~ amusing... are you ready?

There's another Thanksgiving Day parade in...

Chicago!

I know what you're thinking - seriously? Who knew? (Not us, clearly.) I had plans to take Orion and go watch it, since the step-off was only five blocks from our apartment. However, the weather decided to change my mind. Cold (30-something feeling like 20-something), and so foggy you couldn't see the buildings a couple blocks away. We were resigned to watching it on television, when A looked out the window and saw the float staging area was only about three blocks down. We decided to go check them out.

Searching for Leaves in Wisconsin

A couple weeks ago I was really hankering (hankering? Did I just say that?) to see some colorful fall leaves, so A and I decided to take a mini-road trip up through Wisconsin. We brought Orion along - her first extended trip in the car. She did so well! We charted a course through the Kettle Moraine Forest and hiked in the southern unit the first day.

An Apple A Day...

One of my goals since moving to the Midwest has been to pick an apple off a tree. Sounds pretty silly, I know, but A went along with it and we headed to a well-known orchard. We drove south of the city to Indiana to the County Line Orchard. This orchard is so popular, you have to park off the property and take a bus in!

Dinos and Mummies and Bears, Oh My!

A was lucky to get a week break in between pediatrics/OBGYN and surgery rotations, so his parents jumped on the opportunity to come up for a visit. The night they arrived, we went out to dinner then had dessert drinks at the Hancock. I finally got a decent picture! (Had to put the camera on a table.)

The next day we pretended I was a ~~freshman~~ interested in attending the U of C and joined a tour of the campus. We learned a lot, especially considering A's been going there for two years now... ;) The campus is quite beautiful - all tree-surrounded quads and ivy-clad buildings.

A Redhead in Chicago

Since we live in one of the hottest tourist towns, naturally our family wants to come visit! (And crash on our futon.) We'd been here almost a year when my mom finally made her way to the Midwest for her first-ever trip to Chicago. First stop: Enjoying the nice August weather (yes, nice!) in Grant Park.

Buckingham Fountain:

The Bean!

We Adopted!

A dog, that is! :) Her ~~better~~ new name is Orion, and she's an approximately 5-year-old dachshund-beagle-??? mix. Nobody's sure since she was caught as a stray a little over a year ago. Her story is special in that she was adopted by her first foster parent, who kept her for a year before losing her job and having to move to a building which doesn't allow dogs. The foster's daughter took Orion in, and we adopted her about a month later.

She's super sweet, but also super scared of most downtown noises and moving objects. But hopefully she'll get used to city living over time!

America's Wonderland - Old Faithful to Bozeman

We've reached the last installment of our Yellowstone/Grand Teton vacation! (Only about four months since we went, but let's not talk about that.) Our last day in the park was a busy one. First on the agenda: Climb the overlook to watch Old Faithful erupt. (The first time we actually planned to see it!)

Some ~~uneducated~~ ~~uncaring~~ stupid tourists tried to hand-feed a chipmunk. Apparently my tone was a little stern when I asked them to stop, that it wasn't good for the animals.

America's Wonderland - Old Faithful

On our next-to-last day we woke up so early that there was frost on our windshield! A was very unhappy to have to scrape ice in summer.

We were up so early to go on the Fairy Falls Frolic (yes, that's seriously the name of the hike), which was led by a ranger who took us to Fairy Falls and then on to Imperial Geyser. She was a wealth of information, telling us all about the great fires of 1988 and how the dead trees are just now starting to fall while the new ones are growing taller.

America's Wonderland - Jackson to Old Faithful

On day #7 of our trip we awoke to snow flurries! In June! Four days before the official start of summer! After driving up through Grand Teton toward Old Faithful we found about an inch of snow on the ground in the southern part of Yellowstone. Now, we've seen our share of snow after two winters in Chicago, but it was still crazy to see it at the tail end of spring!

A Wedding on a Sailboat in Halifax, Eh?

At the beginning of August we took our first trip up to Canada for our good friend D's wedding. His fiancée, C, is from Halifax in Nova Scotia. The wedding was on a Sunday, so we spent most of Saturday sight-seeing. First we went to the Halifax Citadel. They have guys in uniform going about doing typical military things. Well, typical for the 18th century.

America's Wonderland - Jackson

I'm sorry it's been so long! A and I have been using the little bit of time we have together to enjoy the end of summer in Chicago. But now, A working nights = time to edit pictures or blog. :)

Our next activity was one of our craziest... waking up nice and early to go whitewater rafting on a 55-degree river. Talk about a wake-up call! We were lucky to get free wet-suit coupons from our hotel, and Dave Hansen gave us splash pants and jackets. Normally I would say that's for wimps, but it was chilly! (Proof: It snowed that night!) We opted for an 8-man raft instead of the standard 16-man most companies run on the Snake. This way we were guaranteed to row and get into the action. Our guide, B-Rad, was hilarious, telling stories that all ended with dynamite. The best rapids were Lunch Counter and Champagne Falls. The rafting company was nice and gave us a sack lunch since we were with a huge group who paid for a combo trip.

America's Wonderland - Grand Teton to Jackson

The next morning waking up bright and early was easy for two reasons: We were still feeling central time (and in mountain time), and the sun came up around 4:30AM. We didn't mind, though, because we had many activities planned!

First up we drove back out to Mormon Row so I could get some photos of the picturesque barns. On the way there we saw more buffalo and mini buffs.

America's Wonderland - Grand Teton

The trip to Grand Teton National Park took longer than expected as they were doing construction on the one two-lane road between the two parks. It started raining during the drive, but that didn’t dampen our reaction at discovering we were staying in a real log cabin!

You Quacked at the Principal?!

We take a break from our (not so) regularly scheduled vacation recaps to bring you coverage of the Windy City Rubber Ducky Derby!

About 30,000 rubber ducks were dumped (literally) into the Chicago River as a fundraiser to benefit Special Olympics.

America's Wonderland - Lower Loop (Canyon to West Thumb)

I'm sorry it's been so long since the last post! I could offer any number of excuses (A's crazy rotation schedule, photography classes two nights a week, more travel), but instead let's continue the story! :)

I accidentally omitted this photo from the last bunch, but I find it funny so I had to post it now... While the staff at Yellowstone seems to have the thermal features pretty well mapped out, every now and then one just pops up wherever it feels like it. Sometimes in a parking lot.

America's Wonderland - Canyon

We spent our second day in the park exploring the Canyon area, beginning with a morning hike along the South Rim trail led by a park ranger. He told us many interesting facts, including:
     - Rangers used to fight fires which started in the park, but now they let them burn.
     - Lodge pole pine trees have special cones which are only opened by extreme heat (in the form of fire)
     - Bison rub their winter coats off on the trees

He also pointed out some different types of scat (AKA animal poop), not that we were able to tell the difference among most of it.

America's Wonderland - Upper Loop (Mammoth to Canyon)

After seeing Mammoth Hot Springs in the morning, we drove along the Upper Loop road toward Canyon. We made a couple of pit stops along the way. The road has these convenient pullouts where you can stop and avoid stopping traffic as the road is only two lanes. And there's only one road. If someone has spotted an animal and the pullout's full already, people just get as far off the road as they can. It's pretty crazy!

Our first stop was to take the short hike to Undine Falls. We passed two other groups on the trail, but only briefly and in the opposite direction.

Autobots, Roll Out!

Over the past two weeks, the streets of Chicago have been taken over by giant robots from another planet. Well, you had to put on your super CGI glasses in order to see the Transformers. (Or you can wait until the graphics guys have gotten their hands on the film.) Michael Bay paid the city officials around $20 million in order to have exclusive use of a couple of downtown areas, including Michigan Avenue by the river.

We got up pretty early on Saturday and biked up to the set to try to get a glimpse of stars and cars. We didn't catch any of the explosions (boo), but we did see two groups of base jumpers with wing suits!

America's Wonderland - Arrival and Mammoth Hot Springs

In June, A and I headed to Wyoming to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. I read multiple travel books and myriads of online forums in an effort to hammer out a list of must-dos from the hundreds of possible activities. Having gathered as much information as possible, we still found ourselves unexpectedly unpacking and repacking our suitcases the night before in an effort to switch out our clothing from t-shirts and shorts to jeans and winter coats. Apparently it hadn't yet warmed up in Wyoming; the average high temperature while we were there was 50F with lows past freezing. It even snowed on us! (Just about an inch, but seeing as how it happened two days before the official start of summer, we found it impressive.)

I have to start this story not on our first day in the park, but on our travel day. You'd think they'd be the same day, but that wasn't the case. The morning of our flight we hopped on a train and arrived early at the airport. After having to explain to the TSA agents why the name on my boarding pass was different from that on my driver's license (long story), we passed through the metal detectors and ran into a problem. Our flight to Minneapolis was not showing on the monitors. I figured maybe it was because we were running early, but decided it wouldn't hurt to check with a gate agent. We walked up to a random gate and asked to confirm the gate for our flight since it wasn't on the list. The agent typed on the computer, then said, "It's been canceled." Um, what? She couldn't give us an explanation, but looked at rebooking our first leg. Unfortunately, we had to wait an hour and a half, therefore missing our connection, which got us rerouted onto a flight to Salt Lake City instead of Bozeman, MT. So essentially adding an extra leg to our trip and bumping back our arrival time by six hours.

A Pride-ful Parade

** Just an FYI, this post contains photos which may not be considered safe for work. But it's all in good fun. **

The weekend before last A and I looked at the summer festival schedule and one event practically popped off the web page: the 2010 Pride Parade. No need to read reviews of last year's parade; we knew it would be an entertaining afternoon (to say the least). Whatever you're envisioning in your head, multiply the madness, flamboyance, and the sheer numbers by about 100.

So we jumped on the Red line and headed north to Belmont. The train was already full when we boarded, and soon we've packed on so many people we no longer need to hold a hand rail. I feel bad for anyone who wasn't going to the parade because the crowd was loud, large, and giddy with excitement. Plus, some ~~brilliant ridiculous~~ fun person thought to bring speakers for his iPod and we all jammed out to Britney Spears and KeSha.

A Taste of the Taste

Two weeks ago we noticed several tents pop up in the middle of Grant Park and wondered what they were for. The Taste of Chicago was coming up, but they couldn't possibly need to set up over a week in advance, could they? It seems they did as over 6.5 million people participated in one of the summer's biggest events. However, we were not included in that number as we did not do any actual "tasting". (In my opinion, calling it a Taste is a tad misleading as all the restaurants serve full-size portions. You have to cross your fingers they have something good in a "taste" size.) We did participate by attending two of the free concerts put on in conjunction with the Taste. First up, Broadway in Chicago put on a few songs from the shows currently running or coming soon to Chicago.

72 Years Isn't Too Long to Wait

This post is a tad late, given the playoffs (and the win!) were weeks ago, but since Chicago is still celebrating being the current holders of the Stanley Cup, and it took them 72 years to win it for the second time, I think the tardiness of my post can be excused.

In the week or so prior to the final series of games, the Second City started to show its support in interesting places. The brontosaurus outside the Field Museum of Natural History wore a size XXXXXL jersey.

The (317th) Time We Went to Disney

Major apologies for it being so long since I last posted! A and I were in the process of moving, then going to my sister's graduation, then a mini-vacation, all while A was studying 24/7 for the boards. Things have been busy, and now I'm behind in posts. As we're about to embark on another vacation, there will be another delay. Apologies in advance! I also apologize for the fact that I did not have time to edit any of these pictures before this post.

My sisters and I decided to begin our sister-only annual vacations this year with a trip to Disney! We're not sure of the exact number of times we've gone to the House of the Mouse, but it's somewhere between 200 and a jillion. (Ok, maybe not a jillion, but mostly because that's not a real number.) Saying that we enjoy Disney would be an understatement. Each time we hit up our favorite rides and note what's changed. This time we also hunted for Hidden Mickeys, which are Mickey shapes the Imagineers worked into the scenery and decoration.

Our plan of action:
Sunday - MGM (I know they call it "Hollywood Studios" now, but it'll always be MGM to us!)
Monday - Magic Kingdom
Tuesday - Animal Kingdom

It happened to be a Star Wars Weekend at MGM - Stormtroopers patrolled the entrance.

The Time We Saw a Gator in Chicago

One of A's friends scored student (i.e. cheap) tickets to a Chicago Bulls game, and since it was inexpensive amusement, we jumped at the opportunity. They played the Phoenix Suns, and even though they lost it was a tight game (105-111 at the end).

The Time Eggs Became Art

For Easter, one of A's classmates continued a tradition she began last year: having people over to paint Ukrainian Easter eggs. Last year we were both fooled by how simple it sounded. This is not your standard Easter egg project!

First you have to empty out a raw egg. You can do this by one of two methods. The old-fashioned way is to make a hole in each end and blow out the insides. It's very tiring and time-consuming. The easier method is to use a neat tool a very intelligent person invented which effectively blows air into the egg at one end.

Once your egg is hollowed out, you sketch out your design in pencil.

The Time The River Got Green at the Gills

Every year for St. Patrick's Day the Chicago River gets dressed up for the occasion. Even though the weather wasn't the greatest, we headed downtown to watch the festivities. From our view close by the river edge, we noticed that it appears the green color is created from a yellow dye along with a red powder... we're very curious as to how those two colors make the bright lime green hue.

The Time K Drooled Over Wheels

For the wonderful fake holiday encouraged by florists and Hallmark, we joined hundreds of other couples and went to the Chicago Auto Show. A conversation held with one of the display coordinators:

Him: You brought your husband for Valentine's Day, how nice.
A: Well, not really... she's the one who wanted to come.
Him: Oh, really? (in a disbelieving tone)
Me: Yeah, really! Can I sit in that Lamborghini over there?
Him: (to A) You really lucked out! Your wife wanted to come to the Auto Show!

We saw antique cars, sports cars, hybrid cars, concept cars and military cars.

The Time We Dyed Our Necks Pink

Posts recapping our wedding would be incomplete without one about our rehearsal dinner. We let A's parents have full rein in making the plans, and we never could have imagined what they'd come up with!

This fabulous vehicle showed up to get us:

Yes, that is a pink Hummer limo. It was pretty awesome, and we all got rad black and pink beads to wear. Admit it, you're jealous.

The Time We Got Cake Up Our Noses

We started out our reception with a surprise... after 60 seconds our slow first dance turned into a fast salsa that we had choreographed and practiced (a lot!). In fact, we were more nervous about the dance than the ceremony!

The Time We Got Married

Our wedding was awesome. There are many other words to describe it: beautiful, amazing, moving, hilarious, emotional, fun, and incredible come to mind. But I think it's well summed up with "awesome". A bunch of people have asked to see pictures, so here you go! Our photographer was - you guessed it - awesome, and our photos are gorgeous! Here are some of my faves other than those displayed on our photographer's blog. Enjoy!

The Time(s) It Snowed in Chicago

Snow is nothing new to Chicago, but it's still a novelty to us! It might be super cold, and I might still not have the proper gloves yet, but I love to play in it. Next step: Get a sled and find a decent hill (difficult to do in the city).

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