The Secret's Out

I must confess. I have been keeping a secret for awhile now. A couple of years ago, Ignacio and I were driving back from Starved Rock and came upon this little store called Kristine's Shower. We walked in and were greeted by the owner, Jenny. The store sells lotions, soaps, bath bombs, 'frosting', and the like. Jenny told us that our skin would 'freak out' once we used the products.

We bought some of her lotions and bath bombs and headed home. We tried them out, and our skin freaked out! I love, love, love the lotion (called sorbet). My favorite scent (so far) is 'girly girl'. Just recently I was in the park with the dog, and some lady asked me what I was wearing, that I smelled so good and fresh.
Jenny recently sent me some samples to try out. The sorbet she sent was 'girly girl', and this causes fights at home. Ignacio and I fight over the girly girl sorbet because it is mine and he uses it! I bought him one of the scents for men, but he insists on stealing mine. HMPH!

Jenny also has something called aloe whip. It seems like a combination of the sorbet which is straight lotion infused with aloe. It is a little lighter than the sorbet, therefore I love using the aloe whip in the summer. The aloe whip she sent me is called 'Get Fresh' which is a cucumber melon type of scent, and I love it too.   There are about 30 different scents, and I have yet to try them all, but it is good to have goals in life. 
I also have a bar of soap that I have yet to try, but I will let you know how I like it as soon as I open it.

I have shared our secret with my mom who has shared the secret with a friend in California, and they both love the stuff.  
Do yourself a favor and check out Jenny's website and try out some sorbet or whips, your skin will freak out.
http://inkristinesshower.bizhosting.com/index.html

Fall has fell (fallen?)

Camel is now ready for fall!

I have finished knitting her this lovely sweater.  Doesn't she look cute?

Well, too bad she thinks this gorgeous sweater is a toy.  If the sweater is on the floor, she attacks it.  If it is on the couch, the little stinker jumps up to grab it, then I chase her while it is in her mouth. 

Doesn't she realize all the love that went into those knit 1 and purl 2s?

Yum..potatoes. Wait no! I mean Couch Potato

I have the iPhone and love it. I didn't think I would really love it, but I do. The possibilities seem endless with all the aps you can get. So, I recently got this ap called COUCH TO 5K. If any of you know me even remotely well, you know I DON'T run. It pains me to run across the street, and I could kill Camel (the new dog) when she decides to run up the ramp home. So this idea of "couch" (oh yeah, that's me. I love the couch) to 5K intrigued me.
The premise behind the ap is that you are to run 3 times a week and each week it gets a bit more difficult, and at the end of the 9th week, you should be able to run a 5K without stopping.
I am currently on week 3.
Week 1 wasn't so bad. There was a 5 minute warm-up, then you alternate 60 seconds of jogging with 90 seconds of walking, and end with a 5 minute cool down for a total of 30 minutes.
Week 2 had 90 seconds of jogging and then 2 minutes of walking.
Week 3 is 1.5 minutes of jogging, 1.5 minutes of walking, 3 minutes of jogging, 3 minutes of walking.
You get the idea.
The cool thing is that you can have your music playing on your iPhone, and then this ap will 'talk' over your music and say either "run now" or "walk now". It's pretty cool.
I am in a panic about week 5 though. It expects me to be able to run non-stop for 20 minutes at the end of that week. YEAH RIGHT!! Running non-stop for 3 minutes this morning nearly had me ordering oxygen when I got home.
So, here's hoping I make it to week 9 someday. It'll be a miracle.
I may just have to stay at week 4 for awhile. Wouldn't want to rush things.

FEAST! The bee's knees

Stephanie's pick for September's dinner was Feast at 1616 N. Damen.
Steph, Liz, Heather, and I were the four lucky diners who had so many yummy choices availabe to us from the awesome menu.
For an appetizer, we ordered guacamole and bruschetta. Both were delicious.
For main courses, I had the butternut squash ravioli,
Heather had the turkey burger,
Steph had the fish tacos,
and Liz had the panko chicken.
I know you'll never believe this, but everyone brought home a doggy bag except me. Yeah, whatever.
Everyone loved what they ordered, and everyone had a tough time choosing what they wanted. When the dessert menu came out, the waiter told us which desserts where the "bee's knees" and the "cat's meow", but we were all too stuffed to take part.

Our discussions had a lot to do with kid issues. Steph's oldest is in college, and got a HUGE hickey the first week of school. Liz has THREE in college and a granddaughter that had a poopie diaper leak on her shirt. And Heather's son didn't have good 'listening ears' at school. I have one that takes off on me at the park and goes to the neighbors' house to mooch for treats, and another that scales the terrace to the neighbor's terrace across the hall.
Kids these days. Sheesh.

What I Learned Today

Did you ever get a great outfit idea? You get this awesome picture in your head of how you will look when you put all the pieces together. You are excited to wake up the next morning and get dressed so that you will look as awesome as your vision.

I have learned today that just because you have a great vision in your head with a cute blazer and cropped wide legged pants, your ass doesn't magically disappear. Your wide hips are still there in that blazer. The blazer doesn't hide shit.

Sometimes, my imagination's pictures are much better than the real thing.

Ooo-la-la

In an effort to diversify our food choices, I chose a French restaurant for our August dinner. In all our years as a dinner club, we are fairly certain that we have not dined at a French restaurant. Tres sad! La Sardine is located at 111 N. Carpenter, walking distance from Jodee's home. If I lived there, I would have french onion soup quite often.


I am still kicking myself for not ordering the french onion soup. I ordered the goat cheese salad instead. And while I could bathe in goat cheese, I could also spa in french onion soup. The soup was a popular choice, and all who ordered it were very pleased.

There were six of us for this dinner: me, Aimee, Jodee, Heather, Liz, and Diane. Most people ordered the steak. The complaint about the steak was: too much butter. I really don't think I could ever complain about too much butter. :)


Heather ordered the creme brulee. I have never tried it. I have always been afraid too. You see, I have this aversion to things like: pudding, jello, flan, etc. So, if it can wiggle, I'm not too keen about it. Heather enjoyed it though.
For a French restaurant, the prices were quite reasonable. I am sure I will be going back for the $7 bowl of onion soup. Hmmm, how many times can I mention onion soup in one entry?
I can't wait to see what kind of restaurant Stephanie picks for September. Will they have french onion soup? (I just had to get it in there one more time)

Avoir mes amies

"It's a Beautiful Day"

The most wonderful thing has happened.  It's raining.  It's raining hard.  Very hard.  Now, only if it were Saturday and I could sit home and enjoy it, instead of having to sit in my dungeon on a beautiful Monday morning.  Man, I need to work from home.