Great, Now it's Going To Get All Crowded

Did anyone happen to see the Brauhaus getting some love in the Travel section of the New York Times last week?!?

From the 36 HOURS Section....

North and west of the Loop, Lincoln Square, historically home to Chicago’s German community, is one of the city’s shifting and changing neighborhoods. Before dinner, take a long walk along Lincoln Avenue. Stop at some of the Old World shops (Merz Apothecary) or the bars (Chicago Brauhaus), before entering one of the newest arrivals, Block 44 (4365 North Lincoln Avenue, 773-868-4404; www.block44chicago.com), for a soothing dinner of contemporary American fare. The place is dark, all deep woods and leathers, and quiet. The entrees are lavish: sockeye salmon atop asparagus in a dill risotto ($19) and barbecue pork tenderloin with pomegranate molasses ($18).

My advice: skip the soothing dinner of contemporary American fare and head straight for the 5 star people watching at the Brauhaus.

Just What IS Fall Extravagnza?

Every year, around this time, I start making a list of criteria for Paul to use while planning our Fall Extravaganza weekend. Fall Extravaganza (FE) used to consist of making Paul take me apple picking at Applecrest Orchard followed by a stop at the always interesting Topsfield Fair. Occasionaly there would be homemade cider and donuts involved and one year we stopped at a farm stand and bought indian corn to hang on our door. Today, FE is a full blown, day long event that has to meet several criteria, including apple AND pumpkin picking (pumpkins must be picked from a patch, and there can be no limit on how many pumpkins I can take home, no matter how ridiculous the amount), it must involve a full day of planned activities at two different Fall themed venues and, new as of last year, it must include some kind of live animal attraction. This year I'm adding a corn maze criteria and instituting a Fall themed dress code. Fall Extravaganza only happens once a year, might as well make it count!

Here's a recap of last year's Fall Extravaganza, my first in the Midwest.

FALL EXTRAVAGANZA 2005

Apple and Pumpkin Picking at The Elegant Farmer


Paul holding homemade apple cider and posing in front of an apple tree - doesn't get more Fall than that (except maybe the next picture)


Me in my fancy version of a barn jacket and fall themed manicure holding pumpkins. that I picked myself. from a patch.

After apple and pumpkin picking we stopped at Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor living history museum that is like Old Sturbridge Village, for you East Coast people, but way better and way bigger.

Here are some photo's

The Three Weekend Wrap Up

WEEKEND ONE - California for Tyler & Jenna's wedding

Highlights:
1. My dress (obviously)



2. The red woods. Hard to notice in the picture because my dress is so awesome, but if you look closely you'll see we are standing in front of giant redwoods trees overlooking the bay.

3. The wedding. The wedding was beautiful and the reception started out looking like it was going to be good times, but took a left turn somewhere between Paul's 5th or 6th gin bomb and when he passed out on my lap on the ride home.

WEEKEND TWO - Labor Day Weekend in Rockport, MA

Highlights:
1. Everything about our oceanfront rental in Rockport was pretty much awesome, from the pimped out guest house where Paul and I stayed to the tennis courts to the swans swimming around out back.



2. Nacho wore his "Jesus is my Homeboy" shirt. Nacho and his wife are two of our favorite friends. I called 3 people and spent 20 minutes online trying to find an oceanfront church for the Nacho's to attend on Sunday and sent them to the one church that had been closed down and converted into condo's. Sorry guys.



3. Playing board games. According to everyone present (there is no actual proof) I exceeded my red wine limit on Friday night while playing some board game the Nacho's brought. Towards the end of the game, when it was obvious I was losing, I started yelling "If we were playing any other game I'd be kicking everyone's asses!". I also wrote on Nacho's arm (in pen) and yelled "I learn by doing!" while Mrs. Nacho was trying to read the game directions. I don't remember any of this. But I did have my camera. Here is a picture of my view from accross the table. Obviously I was not the only person drunk (see: my brother) or yelling (see: my husband).




WEEKEND THREE - Trip Home To Boston

Highlights:
1. Jessica's baby shower. Including but not limited to:

The cake my cousin Laura made (the Kean women are hella talented)which looked exactly like the shower invitations.



The centerpieces Regina and I made. Even though we stayed up until 1:30am the night before the shower, wrapping boxes and cutting holes in them, and I thought for sure my pregnant sister in law was going to stab me with the scissors for my brilliant DIY idea, we were pretty proud of our craftiness the next day.



This picture of my pregnant sisters. so adorable and amazing maternity boob all around.



2. The North End with 3 of my favorite peeps. Getting all three of them together is either guaranteed good times or a complete trainwreck. We kept it clean Saturday night and I was in by 1:00am and up bright and early on Sunday morning. My rowdiest moment was trying to convince some 21 year old I was a flippy cup tournament champ and challenging him to a battle (I've never played in my life). We spent most of the night laughing, taking pictures and making fun of eachother. A vast improvement over the last evening out which started with Alb giving the bouncer $150 to let us in the door, practicaly causing a riot in the block-long line, and ended with me driving D rocka (Deb) and Whoop Whoop (Thora)to Store 24 at 3:00am to buy peanut butter, fluff and wonder bread. Somewhere in between I was standing on a booth singing Lionel Ritchie (All Night Long) and salsa dancing like it was my job (I have no idea how to salsa).

Apparently My Mother Is Better Than Yours Too

For most people, Labor Day weekend means cooking out on the grill. Hamburgers, hotdogs, some grilled chicken or perhaps some kabobs if your fancy (if you live in the midwest it's just a hundred bratwurst on the grill). But when you vacation with me over Labor Day you get chicken cutlets, sauce, egplant parm, sicilian style bakery pizza and 2 giant loaves of fresh scalia bread. All personaly delivered to your the door of your weekend rental by your mother.

Why yes, as a matter of fact that IS my dog

My aggressive, year-long "my-life-isn't-complete-without-a-dog" campaign has paid off with Abby, a beautiful yellow lab we adopted on Monday. Tuesday marks the official kick off of the "we-need-two-dogs-so-Abby-can-have-a-playmate" campaign.