july girls' dinner

Ummm…helllooo? As I am getting ready to write about August girls’ dinner, I realized I never wrote about July’s dinner. Seriously, wtf? What is my problem? No clue. I can’t even think of one excuse.


For July’s dinner, we headed to the Logan Square neighborhood to Dunlay’s on the Square. Our goal is dine outdoors for as many months as possible. So, Susan chose this restaurant for their outdoor space. It just so happens that on the particular day, it was hot as hell (literally, the devil met me at the door), so we had to eat inside and it was still that hot inside.


There were only four of us in attendance, and one of our diners was my cousin, Melissa visiting town from the Dominican Republic. Because I am so damn late with the post, I have no freaking clue what we ate. The only thing I can recall is that Melissa was in heaven with the beet salad.

I think I need to give Dunlay’s another chance because the weather really had an effect on the evening.

Northerly Island

Northerly Island is a beautiful secret. Ignacio and I love to bike ride through the trails. It’s prairie, it’s lakefront, it’s cityscape, it’s magical.




I can’t remember how many years ago, but Northerly Island used to be an airport called Miegs Field; a small airport in downtown Chicago, right on the lakefront. Mayor Daley fought for years to shut it down. One day, in the middle of the night, Mayor Daley had huge “x’s” bulldozed onto the runway. No one could land or takeoff the following day. Miegs Field was done. It was so secret mission like, and for some reason, the whole episode just cracked me up. The Mayor then had Miegs Field turned into this sort of park.

There is also a small music venue at the beginning of the park. It’s an amazing venue, with the lake behind you, and the skyline in front of you. We’ve seen Chicago and the Doobie Brothers there more than once. Now, that concert, in that venue, brought me to my knees. “Saturday, in the park…..”

It's a family affair

My cousin, Melissa (although we always called her Missy, and now all of sudden, she is Melissa), stayed with me for awhile. That's a big deal because I don't get to see her much at all. Her dad and my dad are brothers, and her family moved to Florida when she was nine. So that means for the next 30+ years, we only get to see each other for special events.


So anyway, she stayed with me for a few days, and we took my nephews to SummerDance. Cooper loves him some dancing.



We went to mom’s house for some swimming.


And lucky me, Melissa/Missy was back in town to celebrate my birthday!




It would be great to have her in Chicago; not much of my dad’s family is in the area, so to have a cousin in the same city would be great!

handsomes

My nephews spent the night a couple of weeks ago. I took full advantage of them seeing as though I don’t have kids of my own, and only get to take pictures of my cats and dog. I purchased some kick-ass hats at Target and told their parents to send them to my house with dress shirts and neckties. Oh yes I did.





Carter, the younger one, was a natural. I didn’t even have to tell him how to move; he was a pro. Cooper, the older one, is at the stage where is trying to look too cool, so he wasn’t as natural, but still very handsome. I think the pictures turned out great, and now I just have to convince my brother to print a life-size picture and put it on the side of his house.

READY TO POP

My cousin, Heather (our moms are sisters…I always want to know how people are related) is ready to go any day. She is going to have a Leo baby boy. He is going to be dramatic and sensitive, just like me! (I just love Leos)

A couple of weeks ago, Heather was brave enough to allow me to take her pictures in all of her pregnancy glow.

I told you, she is glowing.

We got some fantabulous photos of Jon and Trey, too (baby’s daddy and big bro, respectively).





We headed out to Northerly island (old Meigs Field) in the morning, and it was pretty warm. I know I was sweating my tushy off.



Then, we headed back to their home for some more photos in the air conditioning. Yeah, I’m a big fan of air conditioning. And come to think of it, a nine months pregnant woman is an even bigger fan of air conditioning. Right, Heather?!