July 2008
66 posts
1 tag
apartment pictures
Ok, so it’s not done yet, but I’m leaving town for two weeks tomorrow, so I figured I’d go ahead and post apartment pictures. I don’t have any pics of the pool, fitness center, etc because it’s dark right now, but if you really care, I think there are some pics on the website.
This is the view when you first walk in the door. There’s a built in bookshelf on...
June 2008
65 posts
should probably just kill myself
Aaand now I remember what Georgia libraries are like. I was appalled. The closest library to my house is a one room building filled with Danielle Steele novels. Just shoot me. I’m used to the gorgeous three story Evanston library. Hell, Topeka had a better library than this. I’m going to try the main branch when I get back from Europe. Some people look at school districts when choosing...
blast from the past →
Enjoy this classic piece of web 0.5 (I don’t think it even qualifies as web 1.0).
birthday dinner
My birthday is exactly a month and a day away and I’ve already figured out where I want to go for dinner. Home is Richard Blais’s new restaurant in Atlanta. It got a great review in the AJC (which I can’t find online…grr), and I’m eager to try it.
aaaaaannnd
the blog gets backlogged again. i swear apt photos are forthcoming as is a review of one of my favorite atlanta restaurants.
3 tags
alinea
I know this is super-late in coming, but I finally have time (and thus, will be posting apt pics soon) but here’s my review of Alinea.
We pulled up to the address, but I wouldn’t have known that Alinea was there except for the valet sign. There’s no name on the outside of the restaurant, and as you enter, you’re in a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-esque shrinking...
home-brewing
I was hanging out with my friend Brian last night and he was home-brewing. He makes his own beer and hard cider. When I told Eric and Emmy about it they both thought it was redneck. Brian staunchly defended it as a cool hobby and not a redneck thing to do. I’m undecided. Making alcohol, of any kind, in your own home is always a tad sketchy.
summer schedule
And here begins my summer schedule. Wake up at 10. Have breakfast and coffee. Read e-mails and blogs. Work out, lay out by the pool. Afternoons will be spent doing remote work for my part-time job with Think Glink Publishing. Evenings with friends, lather, rinse, repeat.
On Tuesday I leave for Europe and the blog’s probably going on hiatus for two weeks. I might be able to find an...
also
some completely awesome dork in my building has nicknamed their wireless network SKYNET (Terminator reference, holla).
free internet
In my new apt I happen to live over the business center/cyber cafe. This means I can steal the wireless. AKA NOT PAYING FOR INTERNET THIS YEAR!
the MOST legit beer pong table →
Sorry, I’ve been furnishing my apt off craigslist. I’m spending a lot of time on there.
to kill a mockingbird
I haven’t seen the term chiffarobe used since I read To Kill a Mockingbird back in high school. In the book, Mayella asks Tom Robinson to “bust up this chiffarobe”. Apparently it’s what you called an armoire in the old south, but I find it hilarious that while I’m looking at furniture listings on Craigslist I keep seeing people advertising chiffarobes.
firefox
Also, I highly recommend downloading Firefox 3. I’ve been using Safari for a while, and I just switched back. I’m digging it.
6 tags
Charlie Trotter's
I have kept a list of the restaurants I’ve been dying to try ever since I moved to Chicago. Always at the top of my list were two. Charlie Trotter’s and Alinea. This past weekend, thanks to the generosity of Eric’s parents and my mom, I was able to try both. I don’t think I’ll look back on the weekend so much as graduation weekend, as the great culinary weekend.
...
7 tags
Hot Doug's
Hot Doug’s is a glorified hot dog stand in the best way possible. It is billed as “Hot Doug’s Encased Meat Emporium”. They keep extremely limited hours, but as far as I can tell are always busy. I dropped by around 2:30 on a Tuesday afternoon and the line was out the door. I had heard about the place from my friend nickd.
The restaurant is known for having rare...
2 tags
Also, my mom has nicknamed the Penske moving van “Jigglebus”.
3 tags
after dining in a kentucky waffle house by a truck...
Mom: I wouldn't have sex with any of the guys in there, even if they were the last men on earth.
Me: Yeah, peace out human race.
Mom: I mean, if they ran at me and said, kill yourself or sleep with me...get the gun.
Me: I'd shave my head and weave a noose from my own hair.
so i graduated...
Graduation ceremony was today. Luckily I’m feeling much better, so Eric, Mom and I are heading to Alinea in 15 minutes. I’m so freaking excited about it. I realize I’ve been too busy to update recently, but soon I’ll have pictures and reviews for Hot Doug’s, Charlie Trotter’s and Alinea. Probably not tomorrow as I’m moving out and starting the drive to...
graduation drama
So last night at the overall commencement ceremony I lost it. I had been feeling sick all day, I think I got a stomach bug. I thought I could make it through graduation, but I threw up and then I felt dizzy and almost passed out. Jinny called a paramedic for me, and they got me on an IV. The worst part was that to get me to the first aid room, they had to wheel me past all the seniors lined up...
omg total foodgasm.
Charlie Trotter's for dinner tonight.
kitchen table!! I’m so excited!
tan lines
I caught some sun this morning on the architecture boat tour. I now have a watch tan, and bonus- a tan line from my pearl necklace.
epd
I was leaving the keg (a bar in Evanston) and I saw 912 (my best guy friends) walking toward me. Colin ran and picked me up, and immediately two cop cars pulled up. In my mind I was like, no officers, this isn’t rape! Apparently colin and jiwon kicked over a newspaper stand. This required four cop cars. Yay Evanston pd, nothing better to do on a Monday night?
flash forward
One week from now, I’ll be spending my first night in my new apartment (maybe. depends on whether mom and I can drive the whole distance in one day). Either way, I’m about 80% packed, and it’s so strange to think that I’m leaving Evanston. I’m really leaving, and not coming back in just 3 months. Odd.
mission accomplished
My goal was to graduate college with a 3.5. I’ve got a 3.508. Rock.
packing break
As I countdown to moving away from Evanston (forever?) I’m packing, but also trying to fit in all the things I’ve missed, or love before I leave. I’m taking a packing break today to run up to Central St. (probs my fave part of Evanston) and visit the Spice House and Foodstuffs for lunch. Maybe I’ll grab a few ready-made dishes there (it’s a gourmet grocery store) so...
my brother
My brother tends to have a similar personality to Ferris Bueller. He’s good looking, charming, a little mischievous, but everyone loves him. My mom started calling him Ferris as a joke, but now it’s evolved into a full-fledged nickname. He’s listed in her phone as Ferris, and she just sent me an email letting me know they got home from vacation.
“Ferris and I arrived...
web 2.0 bs
If you’re reading the blog, I’m sure you’ve seen that I joined vimeo. It seems to work better for me than youtube when it comes to posting videos. I joined twitter this morning because my boss friended me on it. Feel free to add me if you’re using it. I’m not sure how active I’ll be on there, but I figured I should give it a try.
physical fitness
I’m meeting with a personal trainer today for a one hour session. I figure I’m going to be in between gyms all summer, so I’ll be using the fitness room at my apartment complex. If I have some exercises I can do on my own, it’ll help me to stay in shape.
photo blog →
This is the photographer who took the pictures of Richard Blais’s baby. It’s a husband-wife team in Atlanta, and I’ve been perusing their photos all morning, and I absolutely love their work.
satc redux
So, I laughed when I saw this article on Gawker. When Emmy and I were watching the SATC movie, I leaned over and was like, that book will be on hold at the library for years to come. Turns out, the book isn’t real.
Also, I had the most brilliant idea ever. We were listening to the radio and the DJ was asking callers if they could be on the set of any TV show, which would they pick....
1 tag
top chef
I watched the season finale this morning. I would like to say, my foodie/reality show knowledge was correct. I predicted the winner from about halfway into the cycle. Come on, Stephanie had that shit on lock. They kept dropping sound bites about how it would be great for a woman to finally win top chef, and she’s from Chicago. I was scared for a minute during judging when I thought Lisa...
interesting profile of Graham Elliot Bowles →
Bowles is the former chef at Avenues, a restaurant I’d love to try (have heard great things about it), but just didn’t have time for this year…perhaps on a visit to Chicago next year. BUT, even more, I’m dying to try his new restaurant Graham Eliot. It sounds like it could easily become too gimmicky, but it’s just so different.
mafia
I have a firm theory that DiPaolo Construction (the company doing all the road work in Evanston) is run by the mafia. Now, maybe I’ve been watching too much Sopranos recently, but it strikes me as odd that none of these projects ever get completed before another one starts, and that they seem to have a monopoly on road work all up the North Shore. In addition to Evanston, they’re...
new and notable →
I’ve seen this store at Old Orchard a dozen times, but today I went in for the first time. It’s like J Crew meets United Colors of Benetton. Emmy has declared it to be heaven. The staff is super attentive, and the dressing rooms really are heavenly. They brought us Fiji water while we were trying things on. It’s much more of an Emmy store than it is my thing, lots of...
eric's computer is broken
(on Gchat)
Me: Are you awake?
Eric: Obviously
Me: Oh, duh. Sorry I just forgot that you don't have a computer and have to go to tech to use one. It's like imaging a person without a leg. I just assume everyone has a computer.
done with college
I just finished my last take-home final for my last class of college and emailed it to my professor. All I have left to do this week is work at my job, then next week is packing and partying for senior week. I’m graduating in 10 days!
on frattiness
I was thinking about fraternities today, and I realized something. None of my close guy friends are in a fraternity. When I talk about hanging out with them, other girls (esp. sorority girls) tend to dismiss them as nobodies. I don’t think there’s as much of a stigma for girls on campus who chose not to join a sorority. Why is it that Northwestern puts so much pressure on guys to...
goal
I’ve gone to the gym every day since last Thursday, and I’m going to try to go every day until the end of the quarter (basically the next two weeks). I’m either doing a class, or 5 miles on the elliptical and then free weights.
gizmodo liveblog of wwdc →
I’ll be following the WWDC coverage here.
12:47 so far it’s just a bunch of apps for the iPhone. They’ll be selling them soon, and offering some for free. Mostly games so far, but cool apps from AP News, eBay, a blogging platform app from TypePad, and now a music creation (think rock band for iPhone) app.
13:11 Looks like iPhone’s getting IM service, Contact Search,...
wwdc
The Worldwide Developer’s Conference starts today, and traditionally Steve Jobs kicks it off with a keynote speech introducing all of Apple’s new products for the year. Expected are iPhone 2.0, an update for the Leopard OS called Snow Leopard, maybe a software update for iPhone and a new MacBook Pro. I’ll update with pics and links when they become available.
james beard awards
The James Beard Foundation Awards concluded tonight. It’s pretty much the Oscar’s of the Restaurant World. Here’s the list of winners. Notable: Carrie Nahabedian of Naha (been there) for Best Chef Great Lakes Region, and Grant Achatz of Alinea (going there in two weeks) for Outstanding Chef 2008.