Heat for the Seat

I'm sitting in this dark, quiet apartment on a not too chilly (and by that I mean 31 degrees) Friday night and I'm really enjoying being alone right now. I'm all cozied up under a blanket, my tummy is full of a random assortment of food (a slice of sourdough bread, string cheese, three strips of turkey bacon, apple juice, veggie straws, and cornbread), and I'm completely content. I had a really good week at work and am so thankful to have not only a job, but one that I actually enjoy.

On a personal life level, this week had a somber though not so unexpected event in the middle of it. On Tuesday morning my Grandpa Felix died after his recent illness. As I said in my last post, we knew that given his state it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened and while I'm sad to lose my grandpa, my last remaining grandparent on my mom's side, I am relieved in knowing that he is no longer in any pain. Boyfriend and I will be flying home next weekend for the services. This is yet another example of just one of the billion ways in which Boyfriend is amazing. When he found out my grandpa was ill, he told me he wanted to be there for me when it was time to go to the funeral. And he has kept true to his word. Next Saturday, at the very crack of dawn at 7:15, Boyfriend and I are California bound.   It's going to be a busy weekend but I'm looking forward to seeing my loved ones and also introducing them all to Boyfriend. It definitely has been odd being in a serious relationship where only two of my friends (and none of my family) have met him, but due to the 2,000+ mile distance, it's not like it's been possible before now. 

My grandpa dying reminded me of when we lost my grandma, his wife, nearly 14 years ago. When I put a number to the actual amount of time that she's been gone I was slightly shocked that it's already been that long. It also made me sad at the amount of time my grandpa had been alone, having outlived his wife by over a decade. I spent a good chunk of my childhood, approximately ages 5-11, living less than half a mile away from them and my mom, sister, and I frequented their house almost daily, or at least what felt like daily. Most of my memories of my grandpa are set in their house there at the now defunct Shore Acres Motel. By the time my brain was capable of forming its earliest memories, the motel was already closed and my grandparents lived there in the main house as the caretakers. 

The motel was set on five acres of lake front property and it provided quite the playground for me and my sister and occasionally my cousins too. There was a shuffleboard (maybe? I can't quite remember) court that was a smooth concrete slab ideal for bikes and skates and the like. There was an old, creepy pool house with a drained pool that only held green, stagnant puddles of water that formed after the rain that were fun to skip old dates into. There were tons of fruit and nut trees: oranges, grapefruit, apricot, dates, walnuts, pecans. We used to pick the fruit and throw it at each other. My grandpa would later find it as he putted around the property on his golf cart and then yell at us to "Quit pickin' the fruit, goddamnit!" Goddamnit is actually the word I heard most frequently out of my grandpa's Texan mouth. I didn't even realize it was less than desirable language until later in my life because it was such a main staple in my grandparents' house. "Goddamnit, Mommy" is actually the phrase I associate with my grandpa, Mommy being my grandma. Some other phrases of his that I remember are: "I'm headed home to grab a biscuit", meaning he was going home for lunch, and "Don't make no difference", which surprisingly never bothered me considering it was a double negative :P 

Some other things I associate with my grandpa are:

Dr. Pepper 

Old trucker hats that sat on top of his head instead of pulled down 

(That's not my grandpa, just a picture of a man who wore his hat the same way :P)

His use of the huge VHS camcorder that sat either on his shoulder or a tripod in the corner to record events like family reunions 

Baseball on the TV that he always had on but never really seemed to pay attention to

The Heat for the Seat paddle he kept above the front door and always threatened to use but never did

His old blue Chevy truck with the camper shell full of tools and gadgets that smelled to me like a mix of walnut hulls and grease

(This also isn't my grandpa but it's the only Google Image search return of a blue chevy pick-up with a camper shell)

Sizzler 

Cowboy boots that usually had one or both pant legs stuck on top of them instead of over them

It's been quite a few years since I had a conversation with my grandpa where he actually knew who I was. His Alzheimer's caused him to lose the ability to remember who we all were. But I remember who he was. And I'll miss him. 

Pork!

I need to start eating healthier. And working out again. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, it has become waaaaay too easy to be lazy here. It's so tempting to just lay around, staring into those gorgeous slanty eyes Boyfriend has, relishing the fact that I'm with someone who is really, really ridiculously good looking. Yum :) 

While I typically don't buy (much) junkfood, I've been compelled to eat all things sweet during this heavenly week of hormonal rampage wreaking havoc on my body and mind. I've made a commitment to myself that after I finish off the half pan of brownies and carton of 

that I will go back to my ways of fruits and veggies and legumes and nuts and, now, the occasional lean meat. I even ate pork this week. Pork! It seriously had been at least 7 years since I last consumed some swine. I really don't think this blog needs to be full of what I eat or don't eat or have eaten or intend on eating but the bottom line is I want to be healthier and am going to put a plan into action to do so. 

I also have a plan to get...drumroll please...BRACES!!! I feel SO fortunate that I am finally in a situation where I'll be able to get the perfect smile I've always wanted  to compliment my amazing 1.5 dimples :P I know it will be a long process, that must first involve the removal of all four of my wisdom teeth, but I am so, so excited for the end result. I'm already a confident person but I can only imagine what feeling completely content with my physical appearance will do for me. Yay! This braces adventure of mine is still in the pre-planning stages right now, but I will most definitely post details as they unfold. 

I'm trying to come up with some decorative ideas for the house. I want simple, yet classy and unique, projects that I can put into action and complete myself. I don't feel like I'm overly creative when I'm left to my own devices, but I'm really good at following directions or replicating something I've seen in a magazine and such. We're going over to the house this weekend to start getting it ready for us to move into and while I'm there I'm gonna try to come up with some color schemes. This kind of decorating makes me so happy. I even read Martha Stewart Living at work yesterday. And may have looked at her website last night. One of the other 203940980751 million reasons I'm excited to move into the house with Boyfriend is that we'll have room for a garden. He and I are both absolute garden geeks and I cannot wait til I can get in there and plant my veggies and fruits and herbs and flowers. Eeeeep! Spring, please come quickly!! :) :) :)

And now, if you'll excuse me, there's a warm brownie with a dollop of mint cookie crunch ice cream on top calling my name! ;) 

I'm tired of being sloth-like

I didn't mean to not blog for two weeks. And now that I haven't posted anything since January 30th, I feel overwhelmed by the amount of days that have passed and worry that I've forgotten something worth actually blogging about instead of my usual meaningless ramblings. Blehhh. 

This month has been pretty busy. Work is fantastic and I really like the family. I feel like my personality meshes with the household dynamic really well so going to work is actually enjoyable. Aaaaand it doesn't hurt that I only work for about 3.5-4 hours a day and make way more money than I did working nearly full time for the Y. Hah. I am definitely looking to find a second job, 'cause I've got my sights set on quite a few things that I want/need. After we discovered our mutual love of Dyson vacuums, Boyfriend and I made a list of must-haves. And what a hefty list it is. It's comprised mostly of a wide variety of kitchen appliances/accessories but it's also peppered with some pets, a few pieces of furniture, and some choice electronics. By this time next month, Boyfriend and I will be undertaking a new challenge of living in a house in the city! I am so, SO excited for so, SO many reasons! We've been living together for about a month and a half now and the transition so far has been seamless. That's probably because he and I are essentially the same person. Like, for real. While living together permanently was not at all the original plan when I decided to move out here, this house opportunity has presented itself and going into it together feels right...so away we go! (Loved that movie, Away We Go, btw)

I survived the third worst storm in Chicago's history! I honestly was not too affected by the blizzard and was actually kind of excited to sit inside and watch it all unfold from the comfort of this cozy apartment. I was scared to drive afterward since it took quite a few days for the streets to become completely snow-free. Especially the streets in Elmhurst. I know there was a ton of snow, but they did a fail job at removing it. I have a picture of the street where Boyfriend's bar is that shows how the snow was literally plowed into the middle of the road and stood about 4 feet high, creating this faux center divider. Lots of parking lots had snow mounds that were upwards of 15 feet high. It was crazy. Digging my car out was  not as bad as I anticipated. We used the two saucer sleds that Boyfriend keeps in his trunk and had our cars dug out in less than 10 minutes. After our cars were free from their snowy fortresses, we used those saucers for their intending purpose and got in a fun night sledding session! So much fun. We went to an actual sled hill and were the only people there. At first I was super scared just because I'm an old woman now and know that getting injured as an adult hurts a lot worse than it did as a kid. Fortunately, I survived my first experience with night sledding unscathed and really can't wait to do it again. Most of the snow has melted away with the super warm weather we've had this week. And by super warm I mean that it was over 50 degrees today, which is still jacket weather at home, but is typical weather of May here, definitely not February. It's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow and there's rain predicted so I imagine most of the snow will quickly disappear. I can't decide if I'm gonna miss it or not 'cause I'm really not a huge fan of the cold but the view from these sixth story windows is just gorgeous when the everything is covered in white.

Family-wise this past week and a half has been filled with uncertainty and the unknown. My Grandpa Felix, my mom's dad, my favorite grandpa, has recently become very, very ill. So ill that his 7 children have gathered in Texas to be with him from their various corners of the world. I'm thankful that they were all able to go. He's in hospice care now and at this point we're just taking each day as it comes. That's all we really can do.

I'm ready for it to be the weekend. And I get a three day weekend :) Yay, I need it. I also need some yoga. Stat. I really want to get back to work on my skinny mission. Luckily summer comes later here than at home so I've got some time to get back into shape ;) So much going on. So much to do. C'est la vie, right?

I think there are only like, five people who regularly read this, but to those five extremely well-loved individuals, I promise to get back into the habit of writing more regularly. I'm looking to do a schedule/routine overhaul here soon. I'm tired of being sloth-like :P

I love their flourescent green hue

I love the weekends. I'm sure most people do. But weekends mean two straight days of Boyfriend. It's pretty much the best thing ever. (Maybe second only to the BLTs with turkey bacon that I have been absolutely addicted to lately!) He just walked over to me singing along with this song:

I know I'm biased, but Boyfriend is ridiculously good looking and when he does super cute things like singing and dancing like that and his eyes get a little more Asian-y...oh man, I melt. Swooooon :P 

Speaking of Asian, yesterday I met his Asian side of the family for the first time, consisting of his grandma and grandpa, an uncle, and three cousins. They were all so kind and very welcoming, considering I am some completely random girl from California who moved here on a whim :P Anyone who knows me well knows that I have  an infatuation with old men with my favorite type to look at being those of the adorable Asian variety. Omg, his grandpa. Omg. So, so cute! He kind of reminded me from the man from "Up", but Japanese. And cuter, 'cause you know, he's real and not animated. Haha. His grandma is so sweet and delicate. And witty :) His uncle is a super nice man and his three teenage cousins were all so friendly and well behaved and very interested in me and all my Californian-ness :P

After we were done visiting with his family we headed home, but first stopped at a bar to say happy birthday to a friend of his. We were only supposed to stop for one drink...and in the time he had his one beer, I had three Midori Sours. Three. They're so sly, so slick, those Midori Sours. I finish them before I've even realized I'm drinking them. Even using those tiny cocktail straws I suck them down at the speed of light. I love their flourescent green hue. They make me happy just looking at them because they're so visually appealing. If it were possible to create a rainbow colored drink, like with individual layers, I'd be in love. Something like this, but not cheating by using colored ice cubes as this one does:

Once we got into the car though, I immediately got worried that I was gonna get sick, and given my intense fear of throw up, that was not what I was wanting to experience. Boyfriend told me it was all in my head and talked to me to help keep my mind off of it. We stopped for gas and I went inside to go buy a huge water. I also picked up some 

Butterfinger Snackerz 

that I'd been wanting to try out. They are fail. Do not eat. An average Butterfinger is about 90% crunchity peanutbuttery goodness with about 10% chocolate coating. Which is amazing! These Snackerz were about 50% chocolate, 30% wafer, and 20% crunchity peanutbutter goodness. They also look nothing like the picture. I was quite disappointed. Thinking about Butterfingers makes me miss Yogurtland. They don't have them here in Illinois, and though I'm sure there are comparable froyo places, Yogurtland is still my fave. 

I think I'm done typing for now. Kbye :)

I'm also learning not to call them freeways

I'm laying in bed, being super lazy but comfy, listening to Sufjan Stevens' album, Illinois, which has the song that the title of my blog is taken from: "Chicago". I love living here. It's SO nice to be somewhere that I...hmm, how do I phrase this? I feel rejuvenated here. I feel excited here. I feel so incredibly, completely happy here. Granted my ridiculously amazing boyfriend may or may not play the tiniest of roles in my current jubilant state. But a lot of my happiness is self-made as well. I take myself on field trips around the general vicinity. Like my trip to Ikea on Wednesday. I intentionally didn't take the freeway highway to get there, just so I could see more of the...countryside...? That and I find it absolutely ridiculous that I have to pay to drive on the freeway highway, even though the one I avoided that day was only a whopping 50 cents. I feel like if I'm gonna pay, it better get me to my destination infinitely faster, like the FasTrak lanes on the 91 at home. I'm also learning not to call them freeways :P

I had been craving an Ikea trip for a while. I love wandering through the various inviting, delicately staged rooms that sparkle in all their Scandinavian wonder. The Ikea in Bolingbrook did not let me down. Since it was a weekday at about 4 in the afternoon there were only a handful of other people there and made it even that much more enjoyable to peruse through the store since there weren't people taking measurements or sticky, unsupervised children pressing their grimy hands upon the glossy finished cabinets or mouthing the arms of the leather sofas. Kids are so gross sometimes. I saw lots of things I liked and easily could have dropped way more than the $19.74 I actually spent there. Soon enough though I'll have an actual reason to buy things from there :)

Today is the one month marker since I drove into town one chilly December night. I can't decide whether it feels like it's been longer or shorter. Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever, but that's mostly because of how insanely comfortable and familiar my relationship with Boyfriend feels. Neither one of us has to at all try to make things work. And that is such a refreshing feeling. I'll refrain from talking about how absolutely smitten I am with that boy, just because I don't want this blog to be full of mush. But just know that he is more than I could have ever asked for and I feel immensely lucky to have found him. Or have him find for me. Or however you want to classify how it is that all the various pieces and parts of many, many people's lives aligned so that we would find one another. Sighhh :D

MelSav sent me a super cute text today, saying how happy she was to have had the opportunity to embark upon my long, Eastward-bound roadtrip with me. I really never knew it'd be possible to have that amount of fun driving in a car for 33 combined hours. It's one of those memories that you replay in your head from time to time and it makes you smile now just as much as it did then. I'll definitely have to blog more about our roadtrip one day. It's on my list of things to do.

I think I'll go work on a scarf I've been wanting to knit. Knitting is a much more logical pastime here where one can actually use knitted goods. Oh, Chicago. So much about you makes me happy. I love you.