a day in pictures

Saturday, Ignacio and I ventured out for breakfast.

We tried to go to our favorite breakfast joint, but the wait was too long, so we went next door.  The place was empty, and that should have been our first clue.  Breakfast wasn't very good.

We needed something to wash breakfast down, so we walked down the street the Hilton hotel.  It is so grand and beautiful inside, and one of our favorite places, but unfortunately,  the bar didn't open until 4:00pm, so we walked to our neighborhood tavern, bellied up to the bar, and ordered our first (of many) mimosas.




I just love that the place is called Kasey's TAVERN.  It sounds much better than 'bar'.

And I think I would have made my dad proud by drinking before noon at the tavern.

true evil

Target is pure evil. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve gone there just to pick up one little item, and $753 later, I’m like, “how the hell did that happen?”

Over the weekend we stopped by Target to pick up a birthday gift for a co-worker, and BAM $10,000 later and we have the beginnings to a rehab of our terrace.
We found these solar lights for the terrace that are a string of little sun lights. I HAD to have them because they are solar. Because you know, bending over to plug in a strand of lights is freaking difficult, not to mention very time consuming. These solar lights are going to change my life. Then, we found the meditating woman. I HAD to have her. She is going to bring peace and tranquility to the terrace. The terrace which is on State Street in downtown Chicago, the terrace which has the ‘L’ tracks* ½ block east of us, I mean really, how much tranquility can one find on State Street with the L going by every 15 minutes. Whatever, that little woman is going to change lives.

But then last night when I was getting my pictures ready for this post, I realized she is not a little meditating lady. She has no boobies.

So, this little meditation man is going to change lives.

*For those of you not familiar with Chicago, our public transit system has an ‘L’ which stands for elevated, or some say it stands for Loop (the Loop of downtown Chicago). The ‘L’ has a part which is subway, and isn’t noisy for its neighbors. The ‘L’ also has the elevated part which is very noisy for its neighbors.

note:  the $10,000 price tag was a slight exaggeration

my first stop-action movie

So, I've been dying to make a movie for a long, long time.  I've had a movie just sitting in iMovie waiting for completion for two years.  I'll get to it; I just hate having to play around with stuff for hours because I don't know what I am doing exactly.

I am taking another Unravelling course, and in the process of working on the class, I was lying in bed yesterday morning and took over 200 photos of the sun rising over the lake.  Yes, I can see the lake from my bed, and the sunrises are often amazing.

I put together my first stop-action movie with the 200+ photos.


sunrise over the lake from my bedroom window from Natalie Mikolajczak on Vimeo.

when is the parade?!

I first moved to "the city" from the suburbs over 20 years ago (holy shit, it's been more than 20 years?!).  I moved to my current downtown Chicago location more than 12 years ago.  My first November of living in my downtown condo, I was out walking and saw this banner on the light pole:

I was so excited that a parade was going to take place right outside my window (almost).  I looked at that sign and took note, "okay, parade starts at 8am, but what day is it happening??"  I walked to the next light pole with a banner and studied it looking for the "day" of the Thanksgiving Parade.  I didn't see it on that banner either.  I walked from banner to banner studying the front and back of each banner trying to figure out when the hell the damn parade was going to take place.

It wasn't until three days later that it finally clicked:  the Thanksgiving Day Parade was on Thanksgiving Day!!  Oh yeah, I'm smart like that.

So, every year for past 12 years, I've been woken up around 5:30am on Thanksgiving Day with the sounds of high school marching bands practicing and the man over the loud speaker calling out roll call.  Luckily, I've gained a couple of nephews over the years and now we have a tradition of the boys spending Wednesday night at my place, and waking up early Thursday morning to go down to the parade.  If it is too cold or rainy, we just watch from the window or the terrace.  I've always told my friends that if their kids can wipe their own butts, they are welcome to participate in the sleepover.

And this year, I look forward to Thanksgiving Day Parade number 13 with Cooper and Carter.  Let's hope for decent weather and some rockin' bands and that everyone is able to wipe their own butt.

Summer Lovin' Had Me A Blast....

I took a picture of these tulips right outside of my front door. I live right downtown, but our little courtyard is a beautiful secret in the middle of a big city.

I live in a great location. I live within walking distance to the lakefront and Grant Park. I can walk to the Museum Campus, Michigan Avenue, and many great restaurants. I live right on “State Street, that great street”. Living so close to so many great things is a lot of pressure. Summer in Chicago is amazing; there is always something fun and exciting happening. There are festivals in Grant Park, outdoor dining at great restaurants, bike riding on the lakefront, outdoor movies in the park, dance lessons and dancing in the park, farmer’s markets, free concerts in the park, etc. And…there is also good television on my DVR waiting to be watched. Oh, the torture of Chicago summers. Should I go out and enjoy all the city has to offer? Or, shall I sit on my bum, and watch my DVR’d shows or watch my Netflix movies? Go for a walk along the beach? Or sit on my terrace and read a book?

Along with the ‘summer pressure’ is ‘summer guilt’. The last three or four summers, I have made a “Summer O’ Fun” folder. In the folder, I put the listings of all the city has to offer. The dates and listings for the movies, concerts, festivals, dances, and anything else I can find, goes into the folder. AND… most of these things are free. Free fun!

Every spring I have such a romantic vision of what this summer will hold. I picture Ignacio and myself holding hands and walking on the beach, picnicking at the concerts, bike riding, and a whole bunch of other happy stuffs. We will be eating outside every night at a new joint, drinking wine, and giggling without a care in the world.

Oh yeah, I am also skinny in these visions.

But, then there is reality. We’re still working our 40 hour a week gigs and we’re tired when we get home. And, most of the time, TV has a bigger pull on me than the bike ride does. Inevitably, I get home from work and know I should seize this day, but I stay inside instead and then feel horribly guilty.

Summer guilt….so much to do, so little I take advantage of.

Every year, I tell myself that this year will be different; I WILL seize this day/week/weekend/summer and it will be fantastic.

Here’s hoping…………

Do you have summer guilt or are you a carpe summer type of person?
What’s in your “Summer O’ Fun” folder?