2012 Year in Review

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I’m taking a renewed interest in my blog after a long hiatus.
Ready for 2012’s year-in-review? Here we go!
Last year was a great year. It really was. It was full of so many good things and very little bad.
Let’s start with January.
Andriy and I started off the New Year, just the two of us at home, playing games and enjoying some adult beverages. That may not sound exciting, but it was seriously the best New Years celebration he and I have enjoyed, possibly ever. We started early, around 3:30, to welcome the New Year in Ukraine with Andriy’s family via Skype with some food & vodka shots. The celebrating continued from there. We discovered the game HedBanz, which we have enjoyed many times since. We listened to some great music. It was perfect.

The fun in January didn’t stop there. Two of our good friends, Ashleigh and Peter, were set to get married in February. So, our big group of friends planned a getaway bachelor/bachelorette weekend at Cabin on the Hill in Southern Illinois.

 The weekend was perfect, full of quality friend time, away from the distractions of our everyday surroundings. I’m so lucky to belong to such a tight group of people. Fond memories from this weekend include hot tub time with the ladies, kite flying, a nature walk, our homemade personalized board game for Ashleigh & Peter and, of course, just laughing with my friends. I have to say, we’re a funny group of people.

We follow up the bachelor/bachelorette extravaganza with Ashleigh & Peter’s lovely wedding and reception at Pere Marquette Lodge near Grafton, IL on February 3. I was honored to be one of Ashleigh’s bridesmaids and Andriy served as an usher. It was a beautiful day at one of my favorite locations in Illinois with some of my favorite people. What could be better?
Now, Valentine’s Day is never a holiday that means much of anything to me. However, on February 14, 2012, Calliope Mitchell and Atticus Anders joined our world. Two pairs of friends, Emily & Ladd Mitchell and Ginny & Shaun Anders welcomed their new ones on that very same day in the very same hospital. That’s pretty amazing in my opinion. And how very kind of them to coordinate their births so we only had to take one trip to Springfield! Ha! Sorry, I don’t have any photos of Atticus, but I do have this one of me w/ Calli.

Nothing too exciting happened the rest of the February or in March or April. We visited the Fluhrs in Dubuque and enjoyed some sledding and a hockey game. Andriy and I enjoyed a fun St. Patrick’s Day out in Jacksonville. I decided to start learning to play the guitar. We bought a new awesome Weber Grill.

 

In May, we got some BIG NEWS. Andriy received a letter in the mail, stating that he was to be sworn in as a citizen of the United States on June 1, 2012 in Springfield! With that letter came a huge sigh of relief. Andriy had been working towards that point for 5 years and a lot of worry and money went in to the process. Finally, it was going to happen! The amazing thing is, we also were planning a huge road trip with our good friend Jeremy Doughty and we had scheduled to depart on June 9. What better way would there be to celebrate Andriy’s American citizenship than with a drive across the United States of America? The timing was perfect.
 
So, on June 1, Andriy became a citizen.
 
And, on June 9, early in the morning, we left Dubuque with Jdo in a rented GMC Terrain and headed west. I won’t go into too much detail about the trip. There’s just too much to tell. We had stops in the Black Hills of South Dakota; Paradise Valley, Montana;Yakima, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Waldport, Oregon; San Francisco, California; East Canyon State Park, Utah; Estes Park, Colorado; and Lincoln, Nebraska. We got to see and explore Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon Coast, the Great Basin & Great Salt Lake Desert, and Rocky Mountain National Park. We stayed at a few KOA’s, in cabins, with friends, hotel rooms, and in our amazing Kelty tent that kept us dry through a hail storm.
This was an epic trip. I’ll let the photos tell the story.

 
 
 Sorry about the weird picture tiling. Something went cuckoo with Blogger and took away some of my photo editing options.
 
Following our trip, the travel bug was satiated and life returned to normal.
More happy news in July: my niece Haley was born and it looked like she was going to be a brunette with big dark eyes, the first of my nieces & nephews with dark hair. I had high hopes that she’d end up looking like me. 🙂 We enjoyed a nice family reunion in Winchester & Jacksonville w/ the McLaughlin side, including some nice times by the pool at the Anslyn’s house. Even the Fluhrs with a newborn Haley Marie showed up!
 
Near the end of August, we decided to travel to the Lake of the Ozarks, where we met up with some friends and saw our friend Peter play with Captain Geech. While it did rain most of the time we were there, we enjoyed seeing Pete play, as well as some good card playing and refreshments in our rental house, which was nice & cozy. Plus, we did a bit of hiking around Ha Ha Tonka State Park. We do love a good hike.

September, also known as our birthday month, is usually very busy for us. It’s actually birthday month for Andriy & I, my mom, my brother-in-law Jeremy, and my parents anniversary is in September. So, yeah, there’s a lot going on. Free time & funds are usually in short supply in September. However, we’ve started a tradition of camping with Jdo up at Kettle Moraine State Park in Wisconsin for Andriy’s birthday. I hope the tradition continues (it’s only 2 years running) because it’s a great excuse to get out of town, set up the tent, make some food over a fire and go for a hike with one of our favorite people. The weather this year was perfect (we didn’t get rained out of our tent, unlike the previous year) and the fall foliage was stunning. Jdo surprised us this year with little birthday gifts which he presented throughout the evening. What a fun friend!
 
October held birthdays for my nephew Braylen & my niece Leah. November was quiet, with just a little Thanksgiving get together at my parents’ house.
 

In December, we decided to host a little friendly holiday get together at our house. We served dinner, had a gift exchange and played games. I love the holidays and I adore hosting parties and  getting all of our friends together in one place. This year we kept it kind of low key, which made it all the more enjoyable.

Over Christmas, Jdo visited from Wisconsin and, unfortunately, he and Andriy both got a stomach virus that had them sick on Christmas Eve. I felt terrible for them and I know they both felt awful. However, they were both up and healthy on Christmas Day and it was lovely seeing Jdo again.

2012 ended with a party with the McLaughlin side of the family in Winchester. Perfect.
It was such a good year. 2013 has a lot to live up to.

Ok, now I’m caught up and we can go back to our normal blogging schedule. Yippee!

 

It’s like finding money in old jeans

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Let’s talk a minute about forgotten treasures. This may be something that you really loved once and then lost touch with or simply misplaced or moved on from. Or perhaps a thing that’s always been around, but you just found a new appreciation for. Is there anything sweeter than finding out that you really love something again?
I’m rediscovering some things recently. Music, of course…always music. I have cd’s stashed away that I haven’t listened to in years. Albums that I had love affairs with once, never took them out of my car, desperately buffed cracks out of the cd’s them to keep them playing: Kid A – Radiohead. Orange Rhyming Dictionary – Jets to Brazil. Either/Or – Elliott Smith. I have this big old cd case that I occassionally flip through to see what I’ve forgotten. It’s refreshing. Also, aside from rediscovering, making new musical discoveries is one of the few things that makes me feel like I’m doing anything worthwhile. hmm.
The library…I think I never really stopped loving the library, I just don’t think about it sometimes. And then when I remember it’s there, it’s like finding presents under the tree. Is there anything better than the cool quiet rooms full of free books? Seriously, if you don’t go to the library, you are missing out. If it’s because you don’t like to read, then I just feel sorry for you. But if you are a reader, you have no excuse. Go get a library card and take advantage of that, man! Speaking of that…I just finished The Hunger Games series (thanks Lara) and I need to move on to something new. I’m taking suggestions.
Then, there are my friends. Honestly, they are always around and I have no excuse to not see them. It seems like I was getting in a lull where I spent very little time with these great people. I think in getting older, I just get lazier about trying to touch base with people. I’m comfortable at home with Andriy.

But, I told myself this new year that I was going to see more of everyone else. I’m doing a pretty good job sticking to that – we’ve met up a few times and I’ve rediscovered this amazing thing: there are like, 20 of us that still love to get together. To have such smart, funny, passionate friends as these that have had such great history together makes me feel so lucky.


fail, fail, fail, fail, win.

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Happy belated Thanksgiving and happy last day of November, everyone! Tomorrow I might start getting out Christmas decorations! So exciting!
I am right now drinking a white russian…Andriy loves them and we had some of the fixin’s for one left over from this weekend. So, I don’t mind if i do!
I am not ashamed to say that every thing i tried to prepare this past weekend came out as either a full or partial fail. I don’t know what was wrong with me…maybe the planets were misaligned or my qi was screwed up or something. (that is the correct spelling of “chi.” I looked it up.)
First screw up: “Mystery Pecan Pie”, Paula Deen’s recipe from Foodnetwork.com. I was taking it to Nana’s house for Thanksgiving the next day. Okay, to start with, I had never made that recipe before and I know i shouldn’t try a recipe for the first time when cooking for a group. But, I couldn’t help myself. It’s pecan pie with a layer of cheesecake like filling in it (yum!) I followed the recipe perfectly and popped it in the oven, but it came out a little too jiggly. So i put it in for 10 more minutes…still jiggly. I didn’t want to over-bake it, so i let it cool and decided to take it as is.
Second screw up: The next morning, before heading to Nana’s, I made my other dish i was bringing along. I had Mom’s recipe for brown rice casserole, which i’ve eaten quite a few times in my life and it’s really simple and delicious. However, i hadn’t ever actually prepared it myself before. But, I had all the ingredients ready and even called mom to make sure there weren’t any special tricks that weren’t written on her recipe card. So, I baked it and took it directly from the oven to Winchester and Nana and Papa’s house.
Well, the rice turned out crunchy and the pie turned out runny. I asked Mom about the rice dish and she said, well maybe she usually added a little more water to the recipe…ha. I’ll note that on the recipe card. And the pie wasn’t totally firm, but still tasty. My old oven just didn’t want to cook it all the way. Lessons learned!
While in Winchester, I borrowed my aunt Shari’s bread maker to give it a test run (I’ve got one on my Christmas list.) I got up on Saturday, found a recipe online from the manufacturer’s website and started a loaf. It started making this horrible clanking sound. I called Shari and Nana to ask if it was supposed to be that noisy. They both said, well, it might make some noises but they weren’t totally sure. I decided to let it run. If i stopped it, the ingredients would be lost. So, i let it go and left Andriy to check the results when it was finished. I went to Mom and Dad’s, where I decided to make these delicious homemade sea salt caramels, which I had successfully made last year. This time, I burned my 1st batch and had to start over. My second batch looked okay as i set it to cool in the fridge. I got recruited into making my 2nd sugary treat of the day by Mom and Lara, who went to church while i stayed behind and cooked. The recipe was for almond brittle, taken from the internet. I followed the recipe as best i could, but it wasn’t exactly the most thorough instruction i had had in the kitchen. I did the best i could and poured the brittle onto the baking sheet.
At the end of the day, my bread ended up as a hard lump of bread, surround by unmixed flour. Apparently, I hadn’t snapped the pan in all the way, so the ingredients hadn’t mixed together completely. Half of it became bird food and the hard cooked lump of bread will end up as croutons.
The caramels ended up setting more like soft toffee. I think i let the temperature of the candy get to the “hard ball” instead of the required “firm ball” stage. Candy makers will know what i’m talking about. They were still very tasty, but kind of harder than they should have been. I still loved and ate them. I LOVE caramel and toffee, so it was a sort of semi-win.
The brittle turned out with a slight burnt flavor. I think the sliced almonds didn’t hold up well to the hot lava heat of the melted sugar (the recipe called for whole almonds.) However, it was still yummy and i’m pretty sure it all got eaten.
So, my only real win of the weekend was my successful batch of bread which i baked on Sunday, with the pan snapped in all the way. 😉 The machine was much quieter this time around and the bread turned out warm, soft and full of cozy tastiness. SUCCESS!
I heard a great version of a Christmas song yesterday that was new to me. It’s Peggy Lee doing “Jingle Bells (I Like a Sleigh Ride.)” I feel like this might play at Don Draper’s house around Christmas time. It’s a great vintage holiday tune.

And here’s a great song by the Joy Formidable. I think this song has made me a fan of this band. It’s “A Heavy Abacus”

Once upon a melancholy time

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If you look at my channel presets on the Xm radio in our car, you will find AltNation, then The Verge, SiriusXM U, Classic Vinyl, 80’s on 8 and then 40’s on 4. Obviously AltNation is alternative rock, Classic Vinyl is classic rock from the 60’s and 70’s, 80’s on 8 is obvious and 40’s on 4 is awesome pop and big band music from the 40’s. SiriusXM U is great indie rock, which is always nice for some forgotten or semi-undiscovered indie track. But my favorite is probably The Verge, because it’s Canadian and that’s where you can dig out the really unheard-of-as-of-yet bands. Plus, they play a lot of Arcade Fire and Metric (both bands based in Canada.) In fact, that’s where i first heard Metric. Why am i rambling on about my favorite XM stations? Just to test if you will read through anything i post. You’ve passed…so far. *insert mysterious suspenseful music*

Now, one more bit about my fave XM stations – in the past 40’s on 4 has changed to Holiday Traditions around mid November, which features classic Christmas and holiday songs from the 40’s to the 60’s. You’ll hear stuff from Nat King Cole and the ultimate Christmas crooner, Bing Crosby. Let me tell you, I am ready for it! Call me crazy, but I am always excited for Christmas time. We decorate our house and watch Christmas movies and i get to bake a lot and there are lots of excuses to get together with my friends and family. And it gets snowy. I love this time of year. I’m holding off on the Christmas music and movies and we won’t decorate until beginning of December probably. So right now, it’s all about the anticipation.

Andriy and I watched the most amazing movie last night. Don’t make fun of me for not seeing it yet, because it was released in 2006 while i was in Ukraine. The movie is Once, starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. I added it to our Netflix queue some time ago, intrigued by the description: “In this charming contemporary musical helmed by John Carney, a street musician (Glen Hansard) in Dublin, Ireland, strikes up a friendship with a migrant street hawker (Markéta Irglová), and the duo ends up composing and recording a series of songs over the course of a week. The tunes mirror their burgeoning romance and help the young busker release his musical passions. The actors wrote the tunes they perform, winning an Oscar for their efforts.” That is taken, verbatim, from Netflix.

We haven’t been paying much attention to our Netflix queue, so we’ve received some “don’t really care about it” movies in the mail. Two days ago, when “Once” came in the mail, Andriy and I were kind of like “eh.” I think we almost put it back in the mail without watching it. In fact, last night as i was putting the DVD in the player, I said, if this movie sucks or we’re not feeling it in the beginning, we don’t have to finish it, we’ll just put it back in the mail. After watching it, I am so glad we gave it a chance. It is wonderful. Glen Hansard plays the lead male role. I didn’t even know who he was, but when i heard him playing his guitar and singing on the streets of Dublin at the beginning of the film, i said “Hey, that sounds like the singer of the Frames.” I looked it up on imdb and, whaddya know? I was right. The Frames is probably my favorite Irish band ever. I would possibly give my left foot to see them live, that’s how good they are.

So, the film is so charming, and it’s about the two main characters meeting on the streets of Dublin and writing music together over about a week’s time and falling in love with each other. It is really lovely and the music is wonderful.You need to go watch that sweet film, Once, and you need to go check out The Frames and also check out The Swell Season, which is the group formed by Hansard and Irglova.

Here’s the trailer for the film:

And here’s one of my favorite songs by The Frames – “Your Face” from their album “Set List” (possibly the best live album i’ve ever heard)
All this really makes me want to go back to Ireland so i can share it with Andriy…maybe next year?
Anyway, enjoy!

11/11/11

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I really feel like i should post this at exactly 11:11 am. But I won’t. I will be at work, unlike the lucky folks that have Veteran’s Day off. Speaking of that, Happy Veteran’s Day to Clint Bigelow, Uncle Randy Scott, Tyson Manker, Chad Kirchner, Christin Scott, Michael Scott, David Scott, Cole Kirkpatrick, Perk Chumley, and my Grandad Hal McLaughlin. I appreciate the sacrifices you have made (are making) on behalf of the United States. I’m sorry it had/has to be through war.
Just for the record, my cat, Frodo, did jump on my lap as he does every morning after eating his breakfast. Usually, he’ll jump up and burp, no kidding. This morning he literally farted out loud. I am absolutely serious, it sounded like a people fart. And it was stinky. Gross, Frodo. My cat is such a boy.
Yesterday was my sister, Jessi’s, birthday. We had dinner at Mom and Dad’s and it was delicious. Beef stir fry, using filet mignon served over rice. Yummm. Nice work, mom (and dad!) Happy 25th Jess!
I don’t know if you ever heard the song “Colours” by Grouplove, but it was a great summer anthem. Check it out. And check out this new song by Grouplove, “Tongue Tied.” It is fantastic!
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I made it through my 30th just in time to help my husband turn 33. I chose to spend my birthday out on the town, surrounded by many of my closest family and friends. Andriy chose to spend it in the middle of Wisconsin’s nowhere with me and one of our closest friends. I think that perfectly illustrates the difference between what constitutes fun for him and fun for me.
My birthday was awesome. We had dinner, went out, enjoyed some libations, danced and didn’t remember  some of it. And Andriy was the best guy ever and served as my designated driver.  I don’t think i have any photos from that night, but I’m pretty sure someone does. Let’s hope they don’t end up on Facebook.
Andriy’s birthday was also awesome, in a totally different way. Our friend Jeremy Doughty (Jdo) lives in De Pere, WI. We decided to meet somewhere near halfway between here and there to camp. After some research earlier in the week, we found a place called Kettle Moraine State Park, Southern Unit, just west of Milwaukee. The place was great and not at all what I expected. Just from my past camping experiences in Illinois, I’m more accustomed to a big open space with other campers no further than 10 feet away. I’m not saying I like it that way, that’s just what I’ve had available to me. This place was totally different.
First, the place is very big. We stayed at one campground, but there were maybe 4-5 campgrounds over a 22,000 acre area.
Second, we enjoyed our own little pocket of forest nestled on a loop of campsites, none of them very near or visible to the other.

Third, we had miles upon miles of miles of trails to hike, if we chose. Originally, Andriy wanted his birthday weekend camping trip to actually be a “trekking” trip. That is, we would have had everything we needed to camp packed on our backs and where we would stop for the night is where we would make camp. We weren’t exactly prepared for that before this weekend, as we would have needed to buy a smaller tent and some lighter gear. So, we ended up just plain old regular camping, but then going on a nice hike one of the days.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Jdo, who had already arrived. He was in charge of dinner that evening, so we enjoyed a nice selection of bratwursts (from Wisconsin of course.) Andriy was our toastmaster, so we had a few shots of Ukrainian vodka along with some beers as well.
As we settled in our tent that night, ready to sleep, we all realized just how chilly the night was going to be. So, we put on multiple layers of clothes, hats included, and bundled up in our sleeping bags, hopeful for a good night’s sleep.
The night proved to be somewhat restful, at least as restful as a night in a tent can be, so we woke up a bit after dawn and enjoyed some bagels and bananas for breakfast. We planned our hiking trip, packed our backpack, then set off, in search of the Ice Age Trail, which winds its way north through the entire Kettle Moraine park.
Our hike led us around a lake, up some hills, to a nice view, through the forest, down an avenue of pine trees, until we came to the point that we either turn around, continue on the trail or detour down a country road that would eventually lead us to another lookout point. We decided to make our way to the look out point. We were a little apprehensive at first, considering we were no longer on a hiking trail, but actually walking down a gravel road past farms and homes. Still, it was a pleasant walk until…a dog. Actually two dogs – a friendly looking little yapping dog coming toward us quickly and a big, not so friendly dog with a huge head charging toward us with determination, with a big angry bark. I told the guys, just keep walking, don’t act scared. But, the big dog cut them off, literally ramming its big head into them. They froze, scared to make a move. I was terrified that the dog would attack Encountering such unexpected danger made me think, should we have brought some sort of weapon with us? What if someone gets bitten?
But, thankfully, no one did. The guys kept walking, the big dog let them go, and we hurried away from that country house as quickly as we could. In the clear, but clearly shaken, we cautiously continued on our path, wary of any more country houses with angry dogs. But we didn’t encounter any more. We finally came upon the lookout point and headed up the steep hill. Unfortunately, we got to the top, rather winded, only to find that the lookout point was overgrown and we couldn’t see anything but trees and bushes. Worth it? Not at all.

Lesson learned, we finished our hike and ended up at our camp.

We all were soooo hungry and nothing tasted better than the olivie` salad that we already had prepared.  Andriy prepared the fabulous lunch he had planned for us, which was shashlyk (pork shish-ka-bobs) over the coals of our fire. It was delicious. We replenished our calories lost with the salad and shashlyk, which of course made us feel sleepy, plus it was started to drizzle a bit, so we all decided to go chill in the tent. Chilling in the tent led to a little nap. We all felt revived post snooze and the drizzle had let up, so we resumed our time by the fire, drinking beers and chatting.
At this point in our trip, things started to change for us…we had known the weather forecast called for rain and we were keeping a close eye on it. We had the drizzle mid-afternoon and hoped that it wouldn’t get any worse than that. Checking the radar on our phones, we saw that there was a good chance we would be wrong. Undeterred, i began making the evening meal, which was chili over the fire. Alas, the rain started. The chili was finished, and with no canopy over our campsite, we decided to move dinner into the tent.
We ate dinner half-heartedly, uncertain of the future of our night. We kind of sat around for a bit on our air mattresses, looking around the tent for leaks, listening to the rain. Andriy and i shared stories of our past rainy night experiences spent in this tent with Jdo. Those nights had been wet, uneasy and sleepless. Our tent is only slightly waterproof, and only up to a certain point. Looking at the radar on my iPhone, it appeared that the rain could continue through the night. Finally, someone mentioned the word….hotel. Not wanting to feel like cry babies who can’t cut it, we threw the idea around and weighed the pros and cons. We finally came to the conclusion that it would be totally worth it. I checked out hotel options in nearby Whitewater, found an inexpensive but not too trashy looking hotel, called to check on availability and booked it.
We packed up our basic essentials (backpacks, cooler w/ beer), zipped up the tent, and left all the wet, muddy mess behind.
Arriving at the hotel, we looked at each other, all secretly relieved that no one had nixed the idea and suggested that we “tough it out.” The room was warm and dry, there was a shower (sweet nirvana) and the beds were relatively comfortable. None of us were awake past 11:00.
We awoke in the morning, and all agreed we had made the right decision. The rain had continued through the night. We probably would have felt like big giant pansies if it hadn’t, so thank goodness. After checking out, we drove back to our campsite, zipped open the tent and assessed the damage. Jdo’s air mattress was wet and there was a big puddle right in the middle of the tent. Cleaning up was not going to be fun, but at least we slept dry and soundly that night. We packed up, said our goodbyes and headed back home.
All in all, the trip was great. It was wonderful seeing Jdo and Wisconsin’s state park system treated us well. We will definitely be back up there to camp next year. Maybe we’ll check out what Door County has to offer.

Celebrating 29 years and 363 days…tonight

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I am getting ready to go out and celebrate my 30th birthday tonight…a couple of days early. I don’t expect to remember everything from tonight, but i do expect to have a great time, so i hope i’m not disappointed.
I’ve taken quite a long break from blogging…I wasn’t feeling creative or inspired enough to write anything that anyone would want to read. But now I’ve decided that I started this thing and i am going to continue it, whether the 2 people that follow this thing continue to read it or not.
I don’t have much to say today. Only that I’m almost 30 and I feel pretty good at this milestone. I may not be exactly where I want to be, career wise. Perhaps I’m not living in the “ideal town” for me. But, I’m married to an amazing guy and I have fantastic friends and family. And the future looks good!

More summer stuff!

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Andriy and I are enjoying the first free weekend of the summer. We’re going to do some yard stuff, some house stuff…and then I’m thinking about chilling in the pool with a beer. That’s what you’re supposed to do with summer, right?
I’m listening to, at this very moment, a great song by Dirty Gold – “California Sunrise.” If you don’t like this song, you don’t like summer and you must hate the beach.

The hubby and I just spent a great weekend in Dubuque for Independence Day. It’s one of my favorite places to spend that holiday. First, there’s the Mississippi River – and if you know someone with a boat and the weather is nice, you must go out on the water for at least a little bit. Of course, the river is crowded that weekend, but it’s okay because there are plenty of places to tie up and chill.
Second, there’s a really cool air show with lots of airplanes doing tricks and, if you get a good spot way up on the bluff (like we always do, thanks to the Fluhrs,) you get a front row seat. Then you can sit on the grassy lawn and look at the beautiful city below you, perched on the banks of the river.
Third, Dubuque itself is a totally charming town, big enough to have lots to do, but small enough so you don’t feel totally overwhelmed. There’s a great number of little bars to check out, all in a row so you can just walk down the strip. The people are laid back midwesterners, never in too much of a hurry (unless they’re trying to get on the river before it gets busy.) Plus, it’s really pretty. It’s right there, on the river, and half the city is up on the bluffs. Andriy and I love it. You should go check it out.
Check out this song by Temper Trap – “Fader”
I hope you don’t mind my interrupting myself with youtube videos. I’m hoping to hold your interest a little longer with good music. Is it working?
I have to share the perfect vanilla ice cream recipe with you. It’s from Alton Brown ( I have the first two Good Eats cook books) and here’s the link to it. It is soooo rich and creamy – nothing like the homemade ice cream I grew up with, which i still love. So far, i’ve made it twice and i haven’t added anything extra to it. But i think that next time, i might add some coffee and chocolate chips. mmmmm.

You’re gonna want more cowbell.

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Good afternoon friends! It’s a beautiful day in Jacksonville! Not a cloud in the sky! (that one’s for you Jdo.)
It’s officially summer and I sure hope you took advantage of that longest day of the year to get some crap done. On the longest day of the year in Ukraine, did you know that there’s only, like, 4 hours of dark? That is so rad. Of course that means that the shortest day of the year had only about 4 hours of light. That was awful.
Yeah, Ukrainians celebrate this day, called Ivan Kupala, by bathing nude in rivers and lakes and jumping over fires and playing fortune-telling games. I think we should start doing that here. Whaddya say?
We have had some insanity with crazy rain and storms in our area. I think it’s an “El Nino” year…which might be to blame. Am I right? or was that last year?

Andriy and I got stuck in a wicked bad storm on the way home from Springfield this past weekend. We had to pull over to the side of the road and we were literally so freaked out that we were clinging to each other and scared for our lives. Not good. But, as you can tell, we made it out okay. Now the weather is very pretty…just in time for the 4th of July!
I’ve been trying to think of some good music to take up to Dubuque with us this weekend, maybe to take out and jam to on the river. One of my summer anthems is Peter Bjorn and John, “Second Chance” Damn, it is catchy:

I’m pretty sure that song actually doesn’t need more cowbell. It has just the right amount.

The following is not a video – just a great song. I think this band, Winter Gloves, is Canadian. What is it with me and Canadian bands? Maybe I should move to Toronto? That would really make my parents mad…especially if I immediately got pregnant upon moving.

Oh, by the way, Andriy and I went to see the movie “Super 8” and we really liked it. Produced by Spielberg and directed by J.J. Abrams, you get the good feelings and great characters from “The Goonies” and “E.T.” and the mystery from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Lost.” It’s cool. You should go see it while it’s in the theaters. Enjoy the massive train wreck scene. It’s spectacular.
All for now. Happy Independence Day!


Florida and more…ida

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Well, the Florida tans have already faded, all my Honeydukes candy is gone, there are only a few remnants of love bugs stuck to our license plate and very few leftover grains of sand from Vero Beach remain in the back of the car. A blog about the Chukin’s trip to Florida is past due.
The trip began after working hours on May 10th. I had taken the day off to make all necessary preparations, then I picked up Andriy at 5:00 on the dot and we immediately headed south to our destination for the evening, Clarksville TN. Our plan was to drive until 10 or 11 and then find a hotel along the interstate in the Clarksville area to crash for the night. Once we got to Clarksville, we stopped in the first hotel we saw, a Comfort Inn, where they told us they were completely sold out and everyone else probably was too. However, this negative Nancy did not discourage us. After all, we were at an exit with at least 10 different hotels/motels. Surely, something must be available. We marched right over to a Days Inn, where they said they had two rooms available. We quickly snatched one up (pleased to get a room, even one that smelled like smoke) and went right to bed.
The next day involved driving all day, taking turns every 3-4 hours. We arrived at Lake Wales, FL at around dinnertime, greeted Judi, Alex and A.J. and sat down with them for a nice meal!
The next morning, Andriy and i went off on our own and visited Bok Tower, a wonderful botanical garden in Lake Wales. If you’re ever in the area and can appreciate the nature that Florida has to offer, check it out. Here are some photos from Bok Tower Gardens

On Day 2 we went to Universal Studios with Alex. Honestly though, it was all about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We took a bunch of pictures, rode some rides, drank some butterbeer (deliiiicious!) and ate lunch in the Three Broomsticks. What could be better?

My only wish for if i go back is that either:
a.) We would be the only people there, besides the people working.
or b.) Everyone there, including myself, would be in full Hogwarts robes.
Alright, who wants to set that up for me?
On the morning of day 3, Judi was off work, so the three of us went to this place called Circle B Reserve around Lake Hancock near Lakeland, FL. It’s basically a nature reserve that’s located by this big lake. There are trails set up and lots of signs saying, “watch for alligators, don’t mess with one or you may lose a limb.” Or something like that. We saw a lot of gorgeous water birds and, yes, we saw 4 alligators (two of them were little young gators.) That was so rad.

That afternoon, we said goodbye to Judi as she prepared to fly to Texas for work, and Alex, AJ, Andriy and I headed to Vero Beach for, hopefully, a margarita on the beach and a good meal. We hit a storm just as we were arriving 😦 but we stopped at a place called Mulligans on the beach for a margarita anyway and some tasty food. We had a free place to stay that night on the Flight Safety campus, thanks to Dan. The next morning, the weather thankfully cleared up, we packed lunch (and beer) in our cooler, and headed to the beach where it was sunny and warm! We read our books in the sand, got a little sun burnt, played in the waves, strolled down the beach and then headed back to Lake Wales that evening. I loooooooove the beach.

The next day, Andriy and I had a desire to see Tampa Bay and the gulf coast, so he and i headed west. We drove through Tampa, didn’t really see anything worth stopping for, and headed across the bay to Clearwater. The weather was gorgeous, the sand was fine and white and the town was touristy, but a nice change of pace. We would love to head back to Clearwater to stay for a week and live like a beach bum for a little while.

Well, that’s it! It was a great trip! The Greenhills were great hosts and Florida treated us right! And now, i don’t feel like such a lazy ass for not writing in my blog for such a long time. Score!