Give and Take

Our condo has amazing views of the city. We face west and get to enjoy some amazing sunsets. 

However, the bright sun can make things difficult!

..........

I wear my sunglasses at night

So I can, so I can

See the light that's right before my eyes

......... 

Now that song is stuck in my head... dang it!  But I only know those lines!!!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

This past weekend Brandon and I soaked in the city air and celebrated St. Patrick's Day with the rest of Chicago. We started the day by catching a bus up Michigan to the river. We arrived around 9:30am and quickly made our way to a spot along the river to watch the dying of the river. It was quite a site to see. I expected some large boat spraying dye along the expanse of the river, but instead it was a small boat with four or five guys on board who were dropping a powder in the water through what looked like a small flour sieve that you would have in the kitchen. The powder must have been a potent mixture because as soon as it hit the water it turned it orange and then immediately green. Now the green is a bright green. It reminded me a lot of the Hulk (not that I have ever seen any of those movies). The whole process took about thirty minutes.

From there we headed south to Grant Park to grab a spot for the parade. It was a bit chilly, but it was worth it. I don't think I have ever been to a parade before (unless you count the ones at Disney World). We grabbed a spot right next to the road and we were ready to go! Who knew there were so many pipe bands and Irish dancers in the area? The whole parade took over two hours and by the time we were ready to leave my toes were frozen!!!  If you were there you might have mistaken Brandon and me for two seven year olds. Every time some one passed by with something to give out we held open our hands like it was Halloween or something. Thus, we have countless green bead necklaces, candy, two plastic green hats, sunglasses, keychains, and at least 10 coupons for a free small fry at McDonald *with the purchase of some shake. All in all we had a fun time. I loved the pipe bands!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Texas Country Music in Chicago! Score!

For those of you that know us well, you know we love Texas Country Music! Yes there is a distinct difference between Country and Texas Country! We knew when we moved to Chicago (or out of Texas) that we would be hard pressed to find one of our favorite bands playing in the city. Before we even left Texas, I began searching the internet to see if any of our favorite bands were playing in the Chicago area. I was shocked and so excited to find out that the JOSH ABBOTT BAND would be playing in Chicago right after we moved here! There was no way we could miss it! Brandon and I love the Josh Abbott Band! Both of our ringtones on our phones are from them, we saw them in concert this summer at Luling Thump, and we listen to them all of the time!!! So we ventured out to Joe's Bar to watch them perform. The concert was GREAT!!! They always put on a good show and it was great to hear music from back home! Brandon and I even two-stepped to a couple songs (while everyone stared at us as if we were aliens! Have they really never seen some one two-step?!) After the show we were able to talk to a couple of the band members. They  are so friendly and it was great to be able to talk about Texas! I was even able to take a picture with Josh Abbott!

When It Rains It Pours

 Murphy's Law seems to be nipping at our heels.  Two Saturdays ago, Brandon and I went to grab a sandwich around the corner and while we were there we received a phone call from our Realtor (we are currently renting out our house back in Texas) that we had a leak in the house and that water was running out the front door. The news sent us into immediate panic mode. We called our neighbor Margaret, who is also our property manager, and she was already on her way to fix things. Seriously, everything I say about Margaret will not do her justice. She really is an amazing woman! Margaret went to work and turned the water off and began soaking up all of the water. The leak occurred in our master bathroom.  The night before (Friday) we had a plumber come out and fix some leaky faucets in the master bath and the only thing we can figure is something was turned too tight or torqued the wrong way and caused a valve to fail. We were lucky enough to have a showing on Saturday and they are the ones who found the leak. Thank God! The water leaked through the bathroom, into the carpeted master closet and through the back wall of the closet to the entry way of the house. I think we were lucky and did not suffer much damage, but we are still worried about certain areas. The plumbing company sent out a special company who brought in high powered dryers and they were able to dry everything out (with the exception of a few things).  Almost two weeks later we have everything put back together and we have tenants! However, we are still dealing with the plumbing companies. Plumbing company A (the company that came out that Friday) wants to blame it company B (who did work for us 6 months ago on the valve that failed), all the while the home warranty company, who sent both plumbers out, is doing very little. Ahhh! The joys of home ownership! We finished all of the repairs at about 7:30 on Tuesday night and Margaret gave the keys to the new tenants at 8! Whewww! Thank God for great neighbors who have helped us along the way! It would have been soooooo much harder trying to do things from Chicago without them!

Oh and did I mention that Riley (our 15lb Rat Terrier) came down with the same thing that Bexar had two weeks ago!!! Yup... so not fun. But he is doing much better now!

But in the words of the Beatles.....
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say its alright
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes!!!!

How many days does it take to form a new habit?

I follow several blogs daily and I find my self getting frustrated when they have not put up a new post in a couple of days. In all my frustration with their lack of posting, I completely forgot that I have a blog that needs attention. Now I must say that I don't think I have people waiting for me to post, but it did remind me to write! I do have two posts that I have yet to post. Today I am going to play catch up. Enjoy!