Date Night #10

walked around the forest preserve
dinner at Jaspers
movie Argo

November 8

November 7

Run the Hot Chocolate Run

I did not train for this!  I probably should have and then I could have knocked off a second list item, "run an entire 5K".  The only thing I did in preparation was to walk 3 miles with the stroller around Lake Arlington one day last week.  I had shin splints from that, so I knew I should  have done more, but it's the same reason I don't work out now!  I don't make a it a priority to schedule it!

Since it was the morning of the time change, I checked my phone when Caitlyn woke up about 4:30, I thought I would feed her and then be on my way.  Josh also got up about the same time, and his clock had been changed the night before and already read 5:30.  We didn't understand, so I checked the clock in the kitchen which hadn't been changed and it said 6:40!  (Real time was 5:40!)  I had wanted to leave at 5:45.  Luckily I had laid out my clothes the night before and was able to get on the road quickly.  Made good time, though I had to stop for some gas.   Traffic was light - most people were probably still enjoying that extra hour of sleep!  There was some traffic close to the parking and the course, so I paid $30! dollars to park and then walked over to my corral.  I didn't cross the start line until 50 minutes from the official start of the race.   Since I was in M corral and they allowed 3 and a half minutes between each corral, I was not in any rush when I saw the actual start of the race.  I did manage to run the first mile, mainly because I was pacing behind a mom with her son, her 5 year old son!  I used Jared's wireless bluetooth headphones which worked great.  I tried listening to my music on Google Music, but the same song kept repeating; I also tried using the Nike Running app, but you have to keep the screen on for it to work.  that wouldn't have worked out, though it could have been cool to "hear" the cheers of my friends liking my status through the run.  Maybe next time...Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.  I ran the race in just under 40 minutes.  though they got the bibs mixed up, so I couldn't search for my name on the results.  My knees and hips were sore after the race, and my quads the next day.  Overall, I am happy with my results.

Update I forgot to review the reason I added this to the list: Hot Chocolate and Fondue at the post race!  The finishers mug was awesome.  Pretzels, marshmallows,  apples, banana and the hot chocolate and fondue.  Awesome.  Plus a great sweatshirt and chocolate candies at the expo and past the finish line.

Dinner to Friend who had a Baby

Johanna had her baby Jasper about a month early, just after they had just moved in to their new apartment.  He was healthy enough to be release from the hospital without much fuss, but being earlier than expected and a premie is hard on them.  He is exclusively fed pumped milk, which is exhausting them.  Plus he is sleeping in bed with them too. 

We were going to be in Chicago for a Halloween party, so we decided to stop by and bring them the King Ranch Chicken Casserole.  I doubled the recipe, making one for ourselves too.  Her brother had been in from North Carolina to help, and I think that was helpful.  I wish I could have done more...I tried to remember how things were for us when Josh was only a month old.  Jared's parents had only been in for a week, but we ventured out a lot.  We are very lucky that both of our kids were so easy.  I'm going to add this to my next list, because I can see the value in helping others like this.

Date #9: Pottery & Dinner

Instead of Dinner and a Movie, we mixed things up based on some blogs (http://fridaywereinlove.blogspot.com/  http://shannonbrown.typepad.com/life_in_general/featured.html) I had checked out.

We went and painted some pottery, which we had done when we were dating. Thrown Elements had a special rate for the night; though it was a girls night out, they honored the price for Jared!  It was kind of funny to get dressed up to work with pottery and paint, but we had fun.  When we were younger, I had painted salt and pepper shakers and Jared a flour pot.  I know we also had an IU picture frame at some point too.   This time I painted a plaque for the house and Jared a cereal bowl.  It was fun, but took a bit longer than I had budgeted, and we were a little late for dinner.

We went to Mago in downtown Arlington Heights.  We had made the reservation on opentable, which I love to do!  We called them to let them know we would be a little late, but we didn't have to wait too long and everything was speedy after that!  We enjoyed Margaritas on the rocks, chips and guacamole made at our table.  Jared had the salmon special and I had the Carne Asada Tampiquena, both were excellent.  I had never had fried ice cream, so I ordered that for dessert; surprisingly I liked the strawberry the best.  Jared ordered pumpkin cheesecake to go.    The restaurant was in the same building as the Metropolis Performing Arts Center.  I have been there before for a performance with some former co-workers...I added a show at the MPAC to our list of date night ideas.

It was nice to have a whole night to talk and I realized what I already knew - doing something is always more fun than just watching a movie.  Though we are going to see a movie next.  I think part of the reason we seem to alternate movies and doing something is that there is always some movie out that we want to see and it feels so adult to get to see a movie together.

September 29

C is for Caitlyn!

September 28

September 27

September 24

Date #8

To celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary, we had dinner at Champps and attended an improv show at Laugh Out Loud.  As seems to be the trend, we used Groupons or Livingsocial deals to get some discounts.  Jared had the bourbon salmon and I had the vodka pasta for dinner.  Our waitress didn't even ask if we wanted dessert, so we went to Red Mango for some frozen yogurt.  The Nutella was the best flavor, also the vanilla bean was great too.  The comedians incorporated two of Jared's suggestions (double dipping and twister).  It was a fun night!

Corn Maze

September 22

September 21

September 20

September 13

1st bow!

10 Museums

I think I found this task on some one else's list, and while it does say museums, I think the idea is some cultural knowledge.


Done:
Kohl's Children's museum - we go often - we have a membership
Navy Pier Children's museum
Lied Children's museum in Las Vegas, NV
(sensing a trend?)
Museum of Science and Industry
St. Louis Science Center in St. Louis MO

Chicago Botanic Garden we have been several times, as we had a membership
Morton Arboretum
Leu Gardens in Orlando, FL

Brookfield Zoo - we liked it so much we got a membership
Lincoln Park Zoo
Shedd Aquarium

To Do:

Adler Planetarium - actually we won't be going to this...the reviews I read for this say it wasn't worth the price...maybe next list.
Arlington Heights Historical Museum
Peggy Notebart Nature Museum

August 31

August 27

Date Nights #6 & 7

We saw Batman at the Muvico in Rosemont.  Because of some miscommunication, we didn't get there early enough to have dinner.  But we did have a chicken Cesar salad and BBQ pizza in our seats.  It was cool to be able to bring drinks in too.  We liked it so much, we even grabbed some groupons to go back.  But next time, we'll plan it right!  Hopefully, my brother and Natassha can join us too.

Then I had  plans to go sailing, but the weather won out and instead we saw Bourne Legacy at our regular theatre.  It was in the afternoon.  Since Josh didn't take a nap, he went to bed early and we got to spend some time alone in the evening.

August 25

August 24

August 23

I can't decide which one is cuter!

August 22

August 21

Sailing Lesson

I finally got out on the boat, after rescheduling 3 times due to mis-communication and weather conflicts.  Surprisingly, there were 5 others who went out too!  A couple, two random people.  My partner on the boat claimed she had romantic aspirations of sailing in the south of France.  We started with some lessons in the classroom and then it was time to get in the boat.  We did capsize twice, but since the lake was only 8 feet deep it was ok.  I think this was due mostly because we didn't know how to communicate well with each other, which is why I feel it would be a great date idea with Jared.  We had fun, and I wanted to go again.  I felt that after trying to actually sail, reviewing my notes again before going out would be the best next step.  Instead, the weather prevailed again.  I'll go again next year, I promise.

August 7

Had to get probably just one more wear out of this onesie...

Bake a Cake From Scratch

I used this recipe to make a cake from scratch for my mom's birthday

Ingredients

1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 pinch salt
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch pan or three 8 or 9 inch round layer cake pans. I only sprayed Pam, didn't use flour. Wish I had; it would have made it easier to get out of the pans once cool. I used two 9 inch round layer cake pans. 
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract. 
3. Separate the eggs and set the egg whites aside. Add the egg yolks one at a time to the creamed mixture, beating after each one. 
4. Measure the baking powder into the flour, sift a little of the flour into the creamed mixture. Continue adding the flour and the milk alternately, while continually beating the mixture. Beat the cake batter until a few air bubbles show. I had never had to look for air bubbles before. I guess this was to beat air into the batter, to make it fluffy. Had to do my best here. 
5. Beat the 4 egg whites with a dash of salt until stiff. This was really hard. Though I did use a hand mixer, I didn't get them completely stiff. Perhaps because there was some yolk still in the bowl, perhaps I didn't do it long enough. Gently fold egg whites into the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan(s). 
6. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) until cake(s) test done, approximately 25 to 35 minutes. 

Overall, the cake got rave reviews.  Jared and I thought it could have been dough-ier.  I guess all those air bubbles aren't up our alley.  Next time we will try this cake.

July 15

Buy/Commission A Piece Of Art

The purpose of this task was to support an artist.  When I wrote this, I thought of a bigger painting for one of the walls in our house, but while we were in Orlando, we went to Cafe Tu Tu Tango, food for the struggling artist.  These two paintings were of the three I bought.  One extra one for Mimi to know we are thinking of her.

They are butterflies and will go on the wall in Cailtyn's room

July 5

July 4

June 28

It's not often in life that you can wear such a mix of colors, but babies can pull it off.  And every color in those pants IS on that shirt.

June 20

Extended Vacation with Silvers

We traveled to Orlando, Florida with Jared's family in May.  You can see all the pictures here, here, and here.

finish planting garden and map out what plants are where

I used the plot of our property from when we purchased our house.  I took out the measurements and drew in the plants.  We realized we don't know what all the plants are, even some that we planted, but will move the peonies to a sunnier spot.  Currently they are under the crabapple tree off the patio, and they stretch out to the sun.  By moving them to next to our neighbor to the north's fence they should get a lot more sun.

As for finishing planting, I don't know if we'll ever FINISH.  We will probably modify the vegetables we grow each year, and still need to purchase and plant a tree for Caitlyn, though we do know where we want to put it.

Begin And Maintain A Gratitude Journal

I have been keeping a gratitude journal since the middle of May.  While I don't get to enter something everyday, I have been doing a good job of a couple times per week.  First I list 20 things I am grateful for currently.  I seem to write things I am thankful more than grateful, but nonetheless.  Then I write 20 things I would really like, as if it has already happened.  It has really helped me to visualize how I imagine our life to be in 5 or 20 years.  Amazingly, having done so, I found that the end of May, beginning of June had a lot of reorders in my business.  Not that I should be, but I am always amazed that the energy I put out in to the universe, comes back to me.

June 17

June 16

June 15

conan

http://silverfamilyil.blogspot.com/2012/06/conan.html

a little different for a day time date, but it was fun.  Still made it home in time to put Josh to bed

June 9

Etsy

I finally bought something on Etsy.  I had looked before when we were designing Josh's new room and the nursery back last fall.  I just never took the plunge.  Well, I needed some invitations for Josh's 3rd birthday.  We are having it at Make a Messterpiece and I wanted something to go along with the paint splotches theme.  I don't know if there might have been anything in stores, but since we've been stuck home after Josh's surgery, I went looking.

I love these, they are personalized and I even got some thank you notes for him.  Though I'll probably still be writing these thank you notes, (hopefully with input from him).  I got a few extra too so that he has some for the future.  plus each purchase from this seller came with envelopes and free shipping.  I think it was worth it!

I think I might be using Etsy more in the future.

May 30

May 27

May 23

the first of several Minnie Mouse outfits when we were in Florida.

May 19

May 18

May 14th

get ready for some crazy pants coming into the mix!

Birch River Grill

Had a Groupon, purchased for $25
made a reservation on open table
hard to find, no big sign, but from reviews I had known it was in the Hilton holtel.  it was a doubletree
promptly seated
riesing wine and a beer for Jared
chicken quesadilla, was kind of plain but toppings were good
i had salmon - great
jared had pork tenderloin also great
dessert cookies and milk!

great deal,  great food, good service.  would recommend

May 8

It's hard to see these pink animal print pants, have to wear them again soon.

May 3

love the skirt!

May 2

new skirt!

April 21

Sorry I've missed quite a few days, but she hasn't had anything new to wear in a while, plus the idea of getting a picture taken before we get out the door has been a joke!

Birthday date

For Jared's birthday, he wanted to go miniature golfing.  Ok, I found the des plaines park district had that.  Then he wanted to go to the batting cages; lucky for me they had that too!

We asked our friends Lori and Andy to go too because Andy shares the same birthday with Jared; Lori's birthday is also in April.

Afterwards, we enjoyed margaritas at Caliente Restaurant.

After that, we went to the Casino in Des Plaines.  It was quite crowded, but it was a Saturday night.

March 26

I love these jeans!

March 20

March 18

March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day

her shirt says "I'm a good luck charm"