Tupiov

Don't even try to Google it because as I found out this weekend at a dinner party hosted by my sister and brother-in-law that this is in fact a made up word. They enjoy taking the run of the mill dinner party and switching it up a bit. The basic gist of this occasion is that they provided a very nice set up including three tables for two (there were three couples), yummy appetizers and drinks, and a sit down 8 course dinner.

When we sat down at our respective tables, were asked to fill out a sheet complete with 8 courses, only the catchy part is that the 8 courses were all in a made up language just as the name of the dinner party, Tupiov. We were each to fill out our own sheet, without "borrowing" any answers from any of our neighbors. Once our answers were turned in, my sister Laurie, the Executive Chef for the night, and my brother-in-law Adam, the matrade for the night, began to bring out the courses in the order we selected them. The 8 courses were as followed: knife, fork, spoon, bread, salad, main dish, desert, and of course the mint and toothpick.

Now if you have an imagination, you can see how it may be if you were served the main course first, without any silverware! Thankfully, nobody did that exactly, but my first two choices were the knife and the main dish....so you guessed it, I ate my pasta and chicken with a knife....it just gave me a good excuse to slurp my noodles.

Here is a picture of the my main course, and my trusty butter knife! It was a fun night with some family, and hats off to the hosts who threw a wonderful party.

Construction Progress

Well, there has been quite a bit of progress from the concrete and stacked wood that I posted previously. We have driven by quite a few times in the past few weeks to check the progress but have only been able to stop and look when the workers have gone home for the day...from the looks of it they are working long hours over there to complete the home prior the the year 2008...that is their goal, but you never can predict with construction.

Here are a few photos updating the construction....it is starting to actually look like a house!


Our garage door will be the one on the left in the picture. We will only have to share walls with one neighbor which will be nice.

This is a view of the side which will be a grassy area and lead to our front door.

Front door leading to first floor w/ one bedroom and one bathroom.

This is a view of the fourplex that our unit is a part of. Our home is the one farthest from us on the end.

Staris connecting the first and second floors!

The is the very beginning of the third floor which will consist of two bedrooms and two full bathrooms.

Just a picture of Chad that I shot as he was looking out from the second floor.

5 Hours in the ER and 30 stiches later...

Chad has a smile on his face as he is relaxing at home. Unfortunately, this came after a very scary accident suffered earlier in the day. Chad and I had planned to spend our Saturday cleaning up the house as we had not done a good deep clean in a while. We had an event free weekend so we figured there was no better time. Chad was helping out by cleaning in and around the shower when all of the sudden the glass door on our shower shattered and fell to the ground and on top of him. To spare the minute by minute details, Chad basically ended up on a floor full of glass with cuts on his head, arms, and legs and consequently a trip to the ER.

Once we got to the ER we were reassured that none of his cuts were too threatening so they took him in the back to clean him up a bit and we were then in for a long wait in the waiting room....to my joy Chad was in good enough spirits to convince the security in the lobby to change the TV to the Cubs game! That made our stay there go by somewhat faster and more smoothly, especially considering the the Cubs won the game 6-2.

As we sit here today enjoying our Sunday we feel thankful that the injuries suffered by Chad were fairly minor. He ended up with cuts all over his body, about 30 stitches with most of them in his head, and a few scattered throughout his arms and legs. I can honestly say that seeing Chad in that condition was by far the worst and most scared feeling that I have ever had in my life. It is so cliche to say, but we often take our day to day lives and our loved ones for granted, and an incident like this reiterates that we should treasure each and every day and the people that we love.

To give the story the happy ending that it eventually had, Chad is feeling well and we have spent today relaxing, watching some baseball, and fitting in the wonderful Sunday nap.

Nash Metropolitan

For all of you car enthusiasts out there, this one's for you! And for those of you who like pretty things, you may just like the great color combination. Anyway, here are a few photos of a cute little car I ran across in my travels recently...I had never heard of it so I looked it up when I got home and here's what I found.

Floating Flower

Is it real or just a photographic illusion? Hmmmm...either way I thought it was cool enough to share with you!

Week 1 Construction Photos

As promised, here are a few photos of the very beginning stages of the construction of our new home. You may have to use your imagination a little at this phase considering it is pretty much concrete and stacked wood at this point. Anyway, we went over last night and here is a little bit of what we saw.

Two essentials of an construction site...an 11mph sign and an outhouse!


Here is Chad standing in what will be our garage.


Here are a few photos of the ever exciting concrete and wood. The first looks to be our eventual stairs, the second is, well, just a stack of wood, and the third shows what will be the view from our balcony when it is all completed.





And finally, I was messing around taking some pictures of the concrete as it was getting dark at a longer exposure. Here's what I came up with.

Fun Night

Chad and I decided at about 7:30pm tonight to make our way down to the beach and spend some time together as the sun was going down. We have had a very exciting and busy few weeks with a variety of fun events with our friends and being in the process of buying our first home (stay tuned for pictures of the construction progress), so we decided to take a night to relax and spend some quality time together. We had a fantastic night relaxing at the beach, enjoying each other's company, and of course snapping a few shots along the way.






And for those of you who don't know Chad, and can't identify him by his feet :), here is a face to put with my stories.

Going Industrial