Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Chicago

A few weeks ago we took a weekend trip to Chicago. We left right after work on Friday and met our friends Jason and Caroline Orien. We arrived at our hotel which we purchased on Hotwire only to find out that our two double bed requested room was taken. They started throwing out a bunch of offers including some upgrades to the parlor suite and expensive room service vouchers. Not quite sure what to do, we pushed a little harder and they found a double room for us. Oops, the upgrade may have been worth it even if we were sleeping on a pull out bed. Not sure.

We got ice cream sundaes that night and walked around the Magnificent Mile.

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Can you tell I am post call?

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The next day we went to the lake to watch some of the air and water show put on by the Navy. We couldn’t see anything happening in the water but they had some cool jets flying around.

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We waited in a huge line for Garrett’s popcorn

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Unfortunately, our friends had to head back. Abe and I caught a show called Cirque Shanghai at Navy Pier. Basically it was Chinese acrobats balancing on all sorts of things…bikes, people, chairs, tables, etc.

The next day while walking, we stopped by the Cadillac Theater on a whim and asked about tickets. We were disappointed to hear the prices until the box office worker suggested student tickets for $25. We ended up with the most expensive seats for student prices-- 7 rows up in the middle. Cool, who knew? Being students for years on end can have its advantages (then again, we could afford full price maybe if we were both working). We saw “Shrek the Musical.” Definitely not something I normally would have gone for but it was actually really cute, funny, and very well done. I would recommend it, at least at student prices!

Every visit to Chicago we visit Giordano’s for pizza. We were given a recommendation for Lou Malnatis so thought we better decide for ourselves which was better. It happened to be right by our hotel so we figured it was destiny to give it a taste.

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Abe loved this appetizer, basically spinach stuffed bread. Although the food was good, it wasn’t Giordano’s to me. I think we’ll keep the tradition as is. Also, the restaurant was a little small. We sat about a foot away from the next table. I felt like we were on a double date or something. It was funny that the couple next to us was obviously not having a successful date. The girl def. didn’t approve of the guy’s distaste for vegetables we learned.

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We also saw the Sear's Tower for the first time up close *at least for me

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and the “silver bean”

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Monday, August 23, 2010

Moving along

Today was my first day of scheduled patients at work this year. I was so excited to have some surgeries of my own to do. The day goes much faster that way and I really do enjoy doing surgery.

It was a rude welcome back, however. It seemed every case turned out to be quite difficult with minor hang ups at every turn. It felt like I’d just have time to wipe the splatter off my face (a sad reality of my job) and shrug my tired shoulders before jumping into the next challenging case. The advantage: when 5:00 rolled around I was shocked. I really thought it was about 1 pm. I still like performing surgeries.

This is my last week “on-service,” meaning working in the oral surgery clinic, until March! Starting in September I will be working in the Internal Medicine Clinic for one month, followed by Cardiology, and then 4 months of being an anesthesiology resident. People are usually very surprised to learn how much medical training we get, almost 2 years.  I am excited but intimidated—I didn’t go to Med School! I am really starting to feel more like an official resident instead of an intern. I didn’t really go “off-service” last year so this is the biggest change. I am glad I have Abe to help supplement my medical knowledge.

That also means only 2 more nights on call for awhile (tonight being one of two).

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Rock On

My parents saw Paul McCartney in SLC. They thought his show was so awesome that my Dad told Colt and I if we were willing to go to Kansas City that he would help us by the tickets.

 

We made our way down on a Saturday morning and met some friends. They recommended Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ. We waited in a huge line in a gas station (yes, it is in a gas station!) but it was well worth it.

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The BBQ was awesome and I think they had the best fries I have ever tried. Don’t be fooled by the atmosphere, it was the best BBQ I have ever had. Evidently it was featured in a magazine as one of the “13 places to eat before you die.” Totally agree! If you are ever in KC, MO you need to go to Oklahoma Joes!

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The concert was held in a huge arena downtown.

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Colton and I had awesome seats. We were on the floor on the 17th row if I remember right. I grew up loving the Beatles but never thought I would see any of their music performed live by any of them, let alone be so close!

 

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Poor Abe had a seat all the way in the rafters but we couldn’t get seats together for 3 people.

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It was awesome to see one of the most influential song writers of all time on his last ever tour! My favorite songs were probably the ones he played on the piano. He even had this psychedelic one. Maybe I should paint mine like this.

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Some of my favorite parts of the concert were:

Hey Jude (while he played the piano)

Yesterday solo (on the original guitar he recorded the song on)

Blackbird solo (he told us he wrote this song for the Civil Rights Movement)

Helter Skelter (man this old man of almost 7o can still rock!)

Something (played on George Harrison’s ukulele)

It was really amazing to see the composer perform these songs we all know so well. I was very sad to see the show end but am so glad we got to experience him in real life!

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

FYI

Sherwin Williams gives university discounts from 10-40% off. All you need to do is show your ID when you buy your paint and supplies.

 

I saved a ton of money with this. For example, I purchased some stain for $21 instead of $36. I also got a gallon of outdoor premium paint plus a bunch of other supplies and a quart of paint for less than the cost of the gallon of paint.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

More changes

Remember this baby? This is a picture before we moved in.

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Well, I felt a little sad to sad goodbye to this retro piece, but as I said before, it was a little too SCERA PARK ELEMENTARY for me. So, we upgraded to this  instead. I think it gives the bathroom a much more modern look.

 

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Before

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After…

 

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Saturday, August 7, 2010

More pictures

I continue to get requests for pictures of the house. Since today was a rainy day and nixed my plans for outdoor painting and yard work, I was forced to spend some time inside. I finally got our room completely unpacked, or at least all of the boxes out of there.

I was a little unsure if we should hang curtains but now I am glad we did. The wall color is blue which seems like a strange choice, but in the end I really like it. It is a nice and relaxing color.

I thought I would include a few pictures from the previous owners to compare what we have done.

(unfair to them, really, we took these pictures without any prior notice)

Before

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After

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People who have been in our old place laugh because this bedroom is almost exactly the same configuration. De Ja Vu.

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I have almost put all of our living room boxes away. This does not mean I am finished with this room. I still need ideas, particularly for over the mantle. I am taking suggestions.

Before

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After

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I eventually want to repaint this room a grey-blue, maybe like the bedroom. I also want to refinish the fireplace. Glass tile?

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I only had one set of curtains. I am wondering now, do I leave the other two windows bare? Do I buy some other curtains (white or black?) and accent with some matching fabric that I have? Or should I make a boxed valence with the matching fabric? I could use some input. (If you look next to the bookshelf you can see the other curtain rods in their boxes. I need to know if I should take them back or not within the next month or so.)

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Landscaping Before and After Pictures

March 2010

house before

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After some frustration, time, and a lot of help we were able to finish some  landscaping. I am really pleased with the end result. As you can see, in the winter there was only one bush to keep some greenery around. Now we have some extra bushes and a tree to spruce up and cover the base of the house all year with some perennials that will come back every year to fill in. Unfortunately, it was late in the planting season so the plants aren’t up to their potential—some are looking a little wilty and the beds wont be as full. I am excited to see what we can do next year.

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A closer look at the right bed. We pulled out each front bed with a scalloped border.

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We accented with day lilies (perennials) and marigolds

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We also have some hostas (the green and white leaved perennials) and peonies (which will bloom hot pink in the spring).025

The left bed. This side has some more mature plants. I think this side looks almost perfect as is.

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The backyard has a very clean look now. This is along the back of the house.

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Another view:

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A bed around the tree for easier mowing.

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By the garage

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This pile of sod behind the patio got turned to

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This… It feels more tropical now.

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Remember this poor baby? Also notice the pergola which is very weather worn.

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It perked back up and started blooming again! And I started painting the pergola a fresh white. If I can ever finish it (it rained today when I planned to tackle some more) I think it will make a huge difference.

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