This One's for Scott and J

"Chicago could finish the year with its fewest homicides since 1965!"

Two Enthusiastic Thumbs Up

Maybe we haven't mentioned this, but we really like living here. The little things* are so much easier.

Like seeing a movie

When we lived in Waldorf, our choices were a giant mega-movieplex in Alexandria or the local theater. Now, the mega-movieplex was supernice, don't misunderstand me. Brand new, stadium seating, ticket purchasing kiosks so you never have to talk to a person ... the trouble was getting to that point. First, to get to the theater, you had to cross a bridge. Not just any bridge, the Wilson Bridge. Looks nice, right? Yeah, well, it doesn't exist yet. It's been under construction for the last decade or so. But sometimes we were able to successfully navigate lane closures, accidents, and random traffic backups to make it to the Great(ish) state of Virginia. Challenge #2 is parking. The mega-movieplex had the most oddly shaped parking lot with spaces about the width of a SmartCar. I couldn't even squeeze my Civic into those spots. Especially with all of the suburban, um, Suburbans taking up 3-4 spaces each. But let's pretend that we made it across the bridge and were able to find and successfully maneuver ourselves into a parking spot. The chances of getting a ticket were about 2 in 5 in our experience. Weekend evening and matinees of any movie less than 5 weeks old were always sold out.

"But Ashley," you are probably asking, "why not just go to the Waldorf theater and avoid all of that Virginia nonsense?" Ahh, the St. Charles Towne Centre Theatre. Home of the pretentious and unnecessary e. They mostly showed second run movies. Which is fine, since I don't need to see movies the second they come out. (It's still the same movie, whether you wait in line at midnight or see it on a Sunday three weeks later.) Unfortunately, they only had about six screens so the movies they got were the super blockbusters. Nothing even a little bit smaller, ever. All slapstick comedy and big budget FX spectaculars, all the time. Also? There was NEVER soap in the bathrooms. In a place that small, you know the heavily eyelinered teen scooping your popcorn with her hands does not have a super-special staff bathroom with extra amenities like, say, soap.

So, anyway.

In the last five months, Damian and I have seen at least as many movies as we saw in five years in Maryland. Which is awesome, since I lovelovelove going to the movies.

Tonight, after a sparkling wine tasting (amazing--six sparkling wines, all very different, all very good), we went to see Juno. D and I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. It was funny and sad and sweet and all-around excellent. We laughed and cried. (At least, I cried. Damian has never cried in his life. I swear.) The writing was great and the actors all did a fantastic job. If you haven't seen this movie, stop reading this stupid blog and go! Gogogo!

*Sure, the big things are turning into a disaster, but, hell, we can see MOVIES, people!

Catching up/ filler material

So, we have been bad about posting. Really bad. And we have been reminded of this (You know who you are... Jonnett). Ahem. So I'm just going to fill in some time here quickly with the help of a few pictures because I'm lazy.

Thanksgiving:

We spent Thanksgiving in Michigan this year. The beauty of it was that Damian worked a full day Wednesday and we were still in Niles well before dinner! We spent a great deal of the time at Ashley's parents since they invited Damian's Mom and Grandma over for dinner and his Dad had to work a good chunk of the time we were there. We went out to the bar in Niles that Wednesday to meet up with our friend Kris from high school. Needless to say, that didn't last long. It is Niles after all. But we did run into a few people we knew and it was good to see them and say hi. And then leave.

During Thanksgiving dinner, it began to snow. We got a good six inches or so and of course we took pictures.

The Final Frontier

Ashley's new CRV covered in it's first snow

Ashley's parent's yard

That Sunday was Damian's mom's birthday so we went out for breakfast before leaving town. We got back home early enough for some decorating. Ashley started putting up inside decorations while Damian put up lights outside. Here is a blurry picture of what it looks like.

The following weekend we went out to a Christmas tree farm to cut down a tree. Just as we finished walking out to where the trees were, it began to sleet/snow. Hard. And the trees were not very good. So we wound up with a pre-cut from the same place. They were nicer trees anyway. Plus that way were were able to focus on getting hot cider and donuts. It was win - win. We don't have any pictures of the tree yet but I'll add them when we do.

We would like to take a minute to list reason #3562 of why we love Wheaton. During the week we were the recipients of another six inches or so of snow. When Damian went out to shovel the driveway the next morning he was surprised to see two of his neighbors on their way over to help. Between the three of them it took about 3 minutes. Plus another 5 or so to talk afterwards. Granted these were a couple of guys Damian talks to somewhat frequently now, but still something that never would have happened in Waldorf in a million years. They both had to go to work as well but still took the time to help a neighbor. God bless the Midwest.

And an after shot just for the hell of it because snow = pretty. Especially when it isn't in the driveway.


And that brings us to last weekend. On Saturday, our friend Marty drove down from Milwaukee to visit for the weekend. We spent most of the time at the house but showed her around downtown Wheaton some as well. It was a good visit overall and good to catch up with her. Next time she visits we will take her around a little more to see some of the hot spots.

And to send this post off, here are a few more blurry pictures of Wheaton decorated for the holidays. The pictures don't really do the decorations justice however since our camera struggles mightily with night shots. Anyone who is curious will just have to come see it for themselves.

The south end of Main St.

Main St.

Christmas tree in front of City Hall

Christmas tree in front of City Hall from the side

The Greatest Show on Earth!

Last night we went to see the circus at the United Center. And not just any circus mind you. We saw Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus! I think we both went thinking it might be fun if not a little cheesy but we were both pleasantly surprised. It was very well done and quite entertaining. Some of the acts were down right amazing. Plus we were in the 5th row so we totally could have gotten sprayed with trapeze sweat! But we didn't.

We thought we were going to be really late after getting stuck in some pre-Thanksgiving traffic on the Tri-State but we wound up getting there just a few minutes after it started. Parking and traffic around the UC was easier than I expected which was a bonus.

So to recap: Circus = Surprisingly fun! This may say something to our maturity level but either way we definitely recommend everyone see The Greatest Show on Earth!

Jordan Statue outside the United Center

Jason Does Chicago!

Our good friend Jason came to town last weekend for his first trip to the windy city. It was great to see him again and always fun to show off our new home. Jason is essentially a much taller version of us. He was interested in doing all of the things we love, so it was a blast.

He got in Thursday morning (Ash and I both had to work Thursday and Friday) so he came to Argonne with me so I could print out some maps, etc. He killed some time exploring Naperville and Downers Grove and then we all went to Winestyles for a tasting. Then another flight of wines. Then we went to the Cellar Bistro for, you know, more wine. Friday morning was not awesome.

On Friday, Jason navigated the Metra to downtown to have lunch with his friend Elliot. When he got back we went to happy hour at Muldoon's (an Irish pub in Wheaton) with Mike Dunn for Ashley's birthday. Then we headed to Adelle's for a delicious birthday dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy their dinner there as usual. When we got home there was a mint-chocolate ice cream birthday cake from Coldstone waiting for dessert.

Mmm... Coldstone...

Saturday we went to the Art Institute of Chicago. It was actually the first time either of us had been there in ages. The collection is one of the best you will find and we had a great time. Then we went to the Hancock Signature Lounge for drinks before dinner.

Which brings me to the best part. Jason's friend Elliot is the Chef de Cuisine at Avenues in the Peninsula Hotel. For those who are not familiar, Avenues is one of the highest rated restaurants in the US. Elliot sat us at the Chef's tasting bar where we settled in for the long night. We were served the 15 course (yes, 15 courses) paired with some of the best wines we have ever had. I'm not going to try and recall all 15 courses. All I will say is that it was by far the best dining experience we have ever had. All 15 courses were phenomenal which is an entirely amazing feat. Ashley and I are big fans of tasting menus, but there are always one or two courses (even on a reduced list) that are just so-so. Avenues blew away other similar places we have been (such as Komi, Zaytinya, Restaurant Eve, Spiaggia, etc.). I hate to heap on praise when many others have already said it better, but all of the accolades that Chef Bowles receives are well deserved. He and his staff have fine dining down to an art. After dinner, we went out with Elliot for drinks across the street from his restaurant before heading home. We had a great time hanging out with Elliot and hope for the opportunity again in the future.

The "Rookery"

Outside the Art Institute

Our view from the Signature Lounge

Enjoying our cocktails...

Sunday we made sure to get Jason some Chicago style pizza. Then it was off to the Shedd Aquarium (Ashley's favorite place in Chicago, if not the world), where we spent the afternoon checking out the fish. I think we were all fairly beat by that time so we went back to Wheaton and had dinner at the house.

Ashley, Jason, Lake Michigan and Navy Pier

Shedd Aquarium


Shedd Aquarium, the lake and the skyline

We were both sad to see Jason leave Monday, but we're hoping he'll be back soon. There is no shortage of things to see and do in Chicago!

Among My People

I have found my tribe, friends.

D and I were surprised by the amount of decorating people around here did for Halloween. There were whole themed tableaux with lights and graves and spiderwebs.

Well, in case you haven't heard, Wheaton has a bad case of the Jesus. So, given that and the precedent set by the Halloween decorating, we got pretty excited about the potential for Christmas decorating.

After all, it was no accident that they chose the Chicago 'burbs for this:



D and I bet on when we would see the first Christmas lights on houses (obviously the stores were ablaze by November 1). The rules were simple: 1. It had to be a private residence 2. The lights had to be turned on for two consecutive nights, in case they were only testing them on the first night.

I chose November 17. D chose the 20th.

We were both off by almost two weeks. D saw a tree with lights earlier this week, just one day before I saw them on a porch. Yesterday, I saw the first animated reindeer of the season.



Man, I LOVE it here!