Sprouts & Such

VICTORY!

The To Do in Lakeview series continues...with the back yard edition! We FINALLY climbed out of the icy cold grip of a brutal Chicago Winter/Spring & got some sunshine & warm weather this past weekend so Greg & I took FULL advantage. Of course it rained on Saturday until 3 o'clock, but while it was raining, I was able to sew some seeds in my Jiffy greenhouse, including lettuce & sunflowers. The garden expert at Home Depot said that it was "too late" for Lettuce, which I'm confused about because it's been too cold for anything to grow never mind for an entire harvest to have slipped away...but I sewed the seeds anyway (this vegetarian's trying to grow her own lunch). Once the sun broke out & it stopped raining Greg & I started pulling weeds & preparing our little garden for a brand new season. Greg even cut down 2 trees & completely uprooted another. When it was all said & done, we planted some annuals, some perennials, some tomatoes, onions, cucumbers & strawberries. Greg also managed to replace our backyard light with a new mason-jar-esque lantern that we can turn on & off when we want...He's really conquering his fear of electricity (until this morning's circuit breaker adventure...he's taking a break from electrical projects for a little while). We enjoyed the rest of the weekend in the backyard admiring our handy work, drinking coffee, playing with the pups, barbecuing with friends, & feeling very "married"...I even wrote in the gardening journal Coop gave me as a birthday gift (& I JUST LOVE it). All in all it was a super weekend & we're looking forward to watching our very first garden grow, especially those little seeds...here's hoping I didn't miss the boat on lettuce after all.

Agriculturally yours,
Meggo
More Photos of Our Lakeview Love Affair

P.S. - If the sprouts take hold & mature, I'll write a "how to"...but the jury's still out as to whether or not I actually know what I'm doing. Stay tuned.

To Do In Lakeview

So our apartment isn't exactly "contemporary"...in fact, she's a little out dated. But we love 'er, and some of the ways she shows her age are charming. But others are simply inexcusable, so we're planning on upgrading a few things:

• Replace all of the mini blinds. (Lilah did most of the work on this project. She ripped one set in the living room to shreds one day while I was running errands.)
• Put up curtains. (Lilah helped to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.)
• Take down the hanging 70's lamp that's so low a middle schooler would crack his skull while trying to pass under it. (Greg cracked his skull & took it down while subsequently conquering his fear of electrical work. Go babe.)
• Take down the low hanging bar shelf in the bathroom. (Greg also cracked his head on this & took it down immediately purely for self-preservation.)
• Replace the "hardware" on the cabinetry in the bathroom. (I've started this project...I accidentally broke the toilet paper roll)
• Put up a photo collage in the living room.
• Replace the back yard light. (Completed May 21)
• Replace the back porch indoor-outdoor floor mats.
• Find an alternative to paint to bring in some color. 
• Dress up the front entrance.
• Clean up the back yard.(Started May 21)
• Start a compost pile.(Started May 21)
• Grow some grass. (Still in progress...But it's looking promising as of 6/24!)



Burlap helps the green grass grow...

• Plant a vegetable garden. (Started May 21)

Better Luck Next Time

The next time you go in to Starbucks do yourself a favor and order a Birthday Cake Pop. I have never been a cake fan, not even as a child, but this little Birthday Cake nugget is simply magical. Naturally I was thrilled when one of my friends from school, Julia, brought her version of these cake balls to my birthday party a few weeks ago. Everyone at the party marveled at her creation & they were to die for. Having seen & tasted Julia's semi-pro recreation of Starbucks magical cake, Coop volunteered to make a batch for the 1st birthday party of the little lady she takes care of here in Chicago. Julia shared the recipe she'd used with me...It seemed simple enough...

HERE'S the thing...We might have used a little too much icing (which prevented our cake pops from staying together & made it almost impossible to get the little lolly pop sticks to stay in.) We might ALSO have wanted to leave the cake pops in the freezer for a little longer, despite the fact that we left them in for 3 times longer than the recipe called for (hmmm....) But if you're in the mood to make this tasty treat, here's a few pieces of advice you'll definitely want to remember...

1. Buy 3 times as much melting chocolate as it calls for (sometimes it just doesn't melt...no matter what you do)
2. Leave the frozen cake balls in the freezer & take them out one at a time to cover them in chocolate.
3. DO NOT dunk them directly into the melting chocolate (Yes, the instructions said not to do this...oops) Try holding them with a fork directly above the melting chocolate & using a spoon, drizzle the chocolate over the cake balls & then put them on a separate cookie sheet to dry. If you dip them in the dipping chocolate the cake gums up the works...quite literally. 
4. DO NOT leave the melting chocolate to cool in countless mixing bowls all over your kitchen...the melting chocolate will harden (duh) & be nearly impossible to get out unless you soak it in scalding hot water & then hand wash them. Which is messy. And you'll probably need Draino.

The moral of this story is three fold - first, always be prepared to modify recipes so that your desired outcome is, in fact, what you desired (and not a mess of mushy cake bites littered on a white turkey platter) Second, never take on 100 cake balls or any other tiny treat by yourself (always have a partner in crime). And finally, Meghan Cooper is one of the most thoughtful people I know...only somebody as nice as her would volunteer to take on a project like this, even with my help. You're a nicey Coop. We'll get those Cake Balls next time.

April Showers Through May Flowers (& More)

Celia Birtwell Gardening Tools

Spring is officially springing all over Chicago and lots has happened this last few weeks. We celebrated my 26th birthday! We went with a big group to a Cubs game (Cubs won!) & the next day hosted Easter/Birthday Brunch & Dinner. I was totally showered with cards, gifts, sweets & attention, which of course amounted to the perfect birthday. Some of my favorite gifts were a gardening journal & some gardening tools from Coop and some pink Tulips from Greg. More on that later (we're starting the garden this weekend!) The Easter Bunny dropped off some baskets for Greg, Coop, Justin, Lilah & Sadie...even though it was my birthday, the Easter Bunny is very diligent about his job. Lilah & Sadie got some Spring-esque home made doggy toys from Etsy. Lilah & Sadie also had some dog friends over for the festivities, including Blake's dog Charlie, Justin's dog Jade & a little puggy lady we babysit sometimes named Misha. Of course the overabundance of Puppy love only made my day that much better. We had lots of great food, dyed Easter eggs, enjoyed the nice(ish) weather & it was just perfect!

Lilah & Sadie's Easter Basket:Wags & Wiggles
&  Bentleys Bones

More recently: Coop's Client/Friend here in the city organized a team to run the Y-Me 5K Race for Breast Cancer this past Sunday, Mother's Day. Although we couldn't quite keep pace with the front of the pack, we had a great time & the weather & the scenery were just perfect! The highlight of our morning was a champagne brunch in the park with Meghan's Chicago family, including Greg & Meg's Client/Friend Peter.

Later on we celebrated the end of my FIRST year of Graduate school with Sunday Fun Day with my school friends on one of their roof tops. The view was spectacular & although the weather didn't stay as nice as we'd hoped, we had lots of fun & blew off plenty of steam.

The Sunday Fun Day Gang

This upcoming weekend Greg's Dad, Ray will be here visiting. There's lots of fun to be had from a USF Alumni happy hour on Friday to a trip to South Bend to watch the USF Baseball team take on the Fighting Irish. It'll be warm & stormy here all week but we're still hoping to get some gardening done this Saturday...Emerging Adulthood Phase 1: DIY

Love,
Meggo

Nothing's sweeter than summertime...

Obviously I'm getting a little case of "almost-done-with-the-semester-itis"...as I've been daydreaming & plotting how I'm going to spend my whole summer. I've decided so that I make sure to do ALL the things I want this summer I should make a list (below) & chronicle my summer adventures. I can HARDLY wait...If I work SUPER hard this weekend I could be done with this semester by MONDAY! Here's what's on the list so far...I'm sure there's more to come!

Things to do this summer:
- Plant a Garden
- Take a sewing class
- Read for fun (BOOK LIST coming soon!)
- Learn to read crochet patterns
- Buy a wedding dress
- Go to a block party (Maybe even host one?) -- Ok...so I didn't host one, But I went! & there's ONE MORE left to attend this summer! MAIN STREET BLOCK PARTY!!
- Go to the 4th of July Grant Park Orchestra Performance
- Get ORGANIZED!

Happy-ish Trails

Greg recently treated me to a Ski trip to the Snowbird Resort in Salt Lake City, Utah. The leadership programs that he puts on in the summer are also held at Snowbird, and he's often said he wished that I could see it...and last weekend I got to! The mountains were breathtaking & covered in more snow than you can even imagine. The resort was also amazing, especially our room with it's nearly panoramic view of the ski slopes.

The first day we spent in Downtown Salt Lake City where we toured Temple Square, the Headquarters for the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints which was simply enormous. The buildings, many of which were built in the mid 1800s were huge and nothing short of ornate. I'll post photos later...in the meantime you can visit the website.

The next day we got up "early" (it was vacation. let's be serious.) and set out to go skiing. We were all gussied up in our ski clothes & ready to hit the slopes. I rented skis and Greg rented a snow board. The combination of faulty suspenders & poor quality ski pants resulted in Greg trading the snowboard in for skis too. For the record I was very impressed with his snowboarding skills. Early that day Greg & I discussed whether or not I should take ski lessons and we decided against it since I'd skiid before (10 years ago). Although I remembered the basics, what I couldn't have predicted was that in the last decade I would have become such a major fraidy cat...and I am. As soon as I got my skis on and Greg let go I cried. Right inside my goggles. Embarrassing. I didn't give though! We skied a family slope for a while & I managed to get comfortable again. We decided it was time to move on to another family (easy) slope. Big mistake.

That slope wasn't QUIIIIIIIITE as easy as I'd hoped and the long & short of it is that after skiing what I considered to be too fast on too steep of a slope for WAY too long & falling down 1 too many times, I wanted to stop. And I cried again. Poor Greg. I was sitting on the side of a mountain telling him I wasn't having fun anymore & I wanted off this mountain NOW! What was he going to do? He gave me 3 options...either ski down (my least favorite), walk down (this also seemed dangerous) or scoot down the mountain on my bum. The OBVIOUS choice was to take off my skis, put them in my lap & scoot down the side of the mountain while poor, well meaning Greg stood watch to make sure I wasn't run over by ACTUAL skiers. When we reached a more level point a less than amused snowboard instructor pointed us in the direction of a foot path where we could walk back to the lodge where I promptly returned my skis, boots & poles, & went back about some more authentic Megan activities - drinking a bud light & listening to the live band.

Despite the fact that I freaked out & pitched a total fit we had a GREAT time! Later that same day we got in the hot tub and watched some other people ski. That's more my speed - although I promised to go skiing again next year. Greg has always done a good job making me feel special on my birthday (& most days actually), but this was the birthday trip of a lifetime! I know I brag on him a lot but that Mister of mine is GOOD!

The Latest & Greatest

Obviously it's been a while since I posted (St. Patty's was almost a month ago!) & I don't want to get too far behind, so here's the latest...

Zeta Tau Alpha International Office

We've been traveling a ton! We spent a super fun weekend in Indy with some of our favorite Sigma Chis & their partners a couple of weeks ago. One of the leadership program boards that Greg is on was meeting that weekend and we were invited by the Pendry & Hester families to make a weekend of it. Even Lilah got to go! Our hosts were fantastic - The Pendrys set me up with a tour of Zeta Tau Alpha International Office while the boys were meeting, which was a thrill & we dined at a great local Italian restaurant & had a great time together. I've always said that if I hadn't fallen in love with a Sigma Chi I would be jealous of the girls who had & weekends like that one make me feel so lucky to be part of the Sigma Chi family.

Looking through the WWII Monument

Last weekend we traveled to Washington, D.C. where Greg participated in the DC Fire Department's Burn Foundation Charity Hockey Tournament. Greg's participated for the last 3 years & I had never been able to attend before. This was the year! Greg played on the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department team with his child hood friend Jimmy Butler and some other great friends from back home.  Greg's Mom came down from Pennsylvania with the Butlers and all together we had a blast. Happily,  one of my best friends Allie also lives in "The District" with her boyfriend, Mik (whom I'd never met before) so we got to spend some time with them visiting the monuments & taking in the sights of DC. It happened to be the Cherry Blossom Festival that weekend which was a beautiful bonus.

DC Cherry Blossoms

I'm nearing the end of my 1st year of Graduate school - phew! I'm exhausted but energized by the approach of Summer break. I've got all kinds of wedding planning/shopping, sight seeing, block partying and festival going to do this summer. I'm even thinking of starting a little vegetable garden in the back yard - what Chicagoland vegetarian/Veganista doesn't want a self-made salad bar in her back yard?

Hyattsville FD 

The next few weeks are for surely going to be full of excitement with a trip to Salt Lake City Utah for my birthday trip, my 26th (gulp) birthday & the start of "visit Megan & Greg in Chicago" season! It all kicks off with the arrival of our second puppy girl, Sadie who joins our family this upcoming Monday. Obviously an embarrassing number of photos will be posted in the coming weeks. Don't worry.

Ok - enough of the gushy summary. The next post will be more current & less informational . As always, it feels good to feel lucky - Meggo


PS - Mik passed with flying colors. We just love him.