Football Time!

I am so happy it is football season. Baseball is painfully boring, and I don’t enjoy watching it. My nephews are in baseball, wrestling, and football. Praise baby jeebus baseball is over.


Last weekend, I attended my nephews’ football games. Cooper played on Saturday, and I also got to watch my bro coach.

Coach Tiger

Cooper came so close to making a touchdown. I’ll be so excited when he makes his first one.

Cooper #33

On Sunday, I went to Carter’s very first game, and he played center most of the game. At the end of the game, he finally got to run the ball.

run, Carter, run

This is so terrible, but the biggest cheer that came from me was for the other team. The other team had a girl! Her name was Sophia, and she scored their first touchdown. I would have loved to play football when I was little.

the girl scores first!

birthday weekend

Jodee, Susan and I went to Davanti Enoteca for dinner the Friday before my birthday. We ate upstairs on the patio. It was lovely and delicious, and I got presents! After dinner, we walked across the street for more libations, and the next morning I woke up with a bit of a hangover, and I didn’t even realize I was drunk the night before. I guess that is what happens when you get old.

my arms are so long, I can take my own group pictures

The next day, the three of us travelled to the new casino that opened in the suburbs. Our plan was to have dinner in one of their four restaurants, then hit it big, and walk out millionaires. Well, the first problem was that the restaurants were really tiny. I think we waited two hours to get into the fanciest joint. It was Hugo’s Frog Bar. Oh my, what a comedy of errors. We were so hungry by the time we were seated; we gorged ourselves on bread and soup. Oddly enough, we all ordered salads as our main course. Well, my salad took three times for them to get it right. THREE TIMES! For a salad! Susan didn’t like the peppercorn steak on her salad; it was too peppercorn-y. Jodee and I both felt that our salads didn’t have much taste. And seriously, three tries to get a salad right. Come on!! (I won’t even get into the story about the salad dressing...OY!) We started to get the giggles.


 I thought they might be able to redeem themselves with a good dose of chocolate, so I ordered the chocolate cake. I spotted the server first. She was walking out with the cake, and I kinda yelled, “holy shit!” The entire joint turned to look at us, and there were the three of us with a slice of cake as big as my ass. It was like the opening of the Flintstones when the slab of meat causes Fred’s car to topple over. The cake was that big. We started laughing so hard, we couldn’t control it. The entire dinner was such a comedy of errors. It was so bad that it was fantastic.

tyring to show that it is bigger than my hand



the cake is bigger than a purse!


Needless, I dropped a boatload of money on the stupid slot machines, and did not hit it big. The only thing that was big was that big ass piece of cake.

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?!