Out with the Old!

I thought I’d spice up my simple lunch on this rainy day, so:

I had a candle-lit lunch.

The apartment seemed empty and depressing on this dismal Thursday. Since the Feds have given the official word that spring and summer are, in fact, never coming, I thought I’d better start thinking of cozy little activities to blog about for the rest of the year. I ate toast topped with peanut butter, honey, and slivered almonds, and had a cup of hot green tea to drink. This was fun.

Lonely lunch:

Sophisticated affair:

Fun factor: 8

I have this bad habit of losing my cell phone. I’ve had three in the past 6 months- a feat of which I am not proud.

[Cue my parents and sister posting belittling comments after reading this]

In any event, it happened again this weekend sometime in the 4 hours between standing in line to board the airplane home from Vegas and landing in Chicago. So, rather than fork over $200 for a new phone that I will lose while walking from my living room to the kitchen sometime in the next three weeks, I reactivated an old one. This proved to be a terrible solution, as I had forgotten the reason the old phone was out of commission was because it doesn’t take a charger.

So, I currently have an activated toy phone that won’t charge. I’m much too lazy to go to the Sprint store twice in one week, so an alternative solution was necessary.

I used Skype to make a phone call.

I called Johanna and we chatted about sustainable agriculture and rescuing puppies. The sound was clear, and if she had a webcam, we would have been able to chat while looking at one another. Signing up is free- you just have to download the application (took 5 minutes). They also give you your first call free, but make sure it’s to someone who you know will answer. (I called Nick and his voice mail picked up and it counted as my free call).

Fun factor: 8

For those of you who loved this post, but were too cheap to drop the $9, no fear.  I have found a very abridged (and free) quick fix to this obsession, because today:

          I created an electronic signature. 

You can do it too, here.  It took me less than a minute.  Going forward, I will use this to sign all of my fan mail in the hopes of curbing the aggressive case of carpal tunnel I have developed from doing so manually. 

Love,

Fun factor: 7

I took part in a random gift swap. 

This is the kind of thing you too can do if you search blogs for days on end without breaking for sleep.  I got home from Vegas and my package was waiting cutely and patiently for me.  I was paired up with Suze from PA.  And boy am I glad I got her as a partner.  Everything she gave me was adorable, fun, and useful.

The spread below:

My favorite items:

Most thougtful items:

For once, my internet addiction has brought me something other than premature wrinkles and strained retinae. 

Here are the items I put in her package. 

Thanks Suze!
Fun factor: 10+

Today,

I bought a piece of art.

The painting was from the most recent show on display at the gallery outside of the offices where I work.  Since January 7th, the day of the installation, I have been coveting this piece. Today the artist picked up his work and offered me a deal. Now I will spend the next few days locating the perfect spot to showcase it…

Painting below. It’s rather large- (about 4′x3′).  Isn’t she lovely?

Fun factor: 10

I went to Las Vegas this past weekend and had a blast. I imagined there would be many new things for me to conquer. I planned to play roulette and shoot a gun, but in the end did neither. Instead, I spent quality time in a freezer drinking vodka. So:

              I sipped vodka in a freezer.

We stayed at Mandalay Bay, which has a Russian-themed vodka bar on its premises. There you can step into the mysterious freezer room to sip vodka while wearing heavy coats and hats if you pay the hefty price tag attached to the bottles of expensive vodka. Or you have one of your friends flirt with the chumps who are about to go in.

Thanks to the gorgeous Lindsay, below, for making this dream come true.

Fun factor: 10

Just another day of social experimenting over here. I would say that I am pretty decent to strangers. For the most part, I try to make eye contact and smile. Today, I made a conscious choice and:

I said “hello” to everyone I passed on the street.

Back at the lab, I used my T-I 83 to compute that the result was a low 40%. That is, 4 out of 10 people returned the hello.  Furthermore, those that chose not to say hello back weren’t the least bit regretful. (NOTE: only seeing 10 civilians might seem like a short list, but keep in mind I have a 45 second commute to work).

Try it today- it was fun.  And depressing.

Fun factor: 6

I attended the Kendall College Monday Night Dining Series.

Kendall College is a culinary school here in Chicago. The curriculum incorporates many real-life circumstances into the mix, which was how I was able to enjoy a delicious five course meal there tonight. The students’ assignment each Monday during the ten week course is to prepare the meal for paying public.

It was super fun, and I’d recommend it to any Chicagoans. Some of the students were awfully cute too.

Fun factor: 10

Last summer I bought a cute little step stool from a garage sale that my friends hosted. It lives in the kitchen and I use it quite a bit. It needed a makeover, so today:

I refurbished a piece of furniture.

This ho has been around the block.

She’s ready to get back out there.

I bought a quart of paint in sunnyside, put three coats on it, and sanded the corners to give it a weathered look. It now gives my kitchen a little punch of color, which it desperately needed.

Fun factor: 8