10-Year High School Reunion: My how things haven't really changed at all...

I've been out of high school for 10 years now. Ten years since the silliness of practicing graduation, the drama of prom and the deliberation of where the heck to go to college. Phew!

I'm still very much thrilled that I decided to go to the University of Illinois - where I met my best friend and my boyfriend. My disappointment and anxiety over getting ditched by my first prom date is long gone. (He couldn't afford to go because he had to pay for summer school because he failed gym or art. I can't remember which but I can definitely remember how quickly I figured out he was a loser - very.) Graduation went smoothly as did my graduation from college and graduate school. 

I certainly feel like an accomplished, educated, awesome person. But walking in to a room of people I haven't seen for 10 years still made me nervous.

Our reunion was at Sam's Restaurante - a pizza joint in Rockford. There was DJ playing all types of terrible music from when I was in high school and nametags with yearbook pictures taped to them. The big event was orchestrated by a team of cheerleaders who almost all still live in my hometown.

It was fun to see people I never would see without a big get-together. One guy at the reunion apologized to me for being a jerk to me in middle school, which I distinctly don't recall. It was fun to talk about all the fun I've had since high school and to feel superior since I look way better than this idiot who used to be a jerk to me on the school bus.

I wish the reunion had contests about who had the most kids or who traveled the most or whatever. I hope at our 15- or 20-year reunion we can all share what we're like now with each other, and even people who aren't there can share and catch up.

When the night wore on B and I were sick of crappy pizza and over-priced (in Rockford!) drinks. We went home and reunited with my parents who turn out to be a lot more fun than the people I knew in high school.

Sauce Chef, runner and turkey

For my family's Thanksgiving (20 people attended this year!) I whipped up some excellent sauces with my mom's guidance and leadership. She's a cooking queen - B is mad for her apple pie.

I created cranberry sauce from scratch, going off-recipe by using orange juice, zest and orange chunks to give the sauce something interesting. I also made applesauce with Macintosh apples, sugar and cinnamon. Delicious! My mom and I put together awesome mashed potatoes (I think it's one part sour cream, one part cream cheese, one part butter and three parts potatoes. We also did up the sweet potatoes, R & Os (radishes and onions) and stuffing. Whoa! All this before Wednesday night dinner at the Gun Club.

On Thursday morning I ran the Rockford Turkey Trot 5K at Aldeen Park. It's a hilly, sloping course and I certainly didn't get much training for that by running in Chicago. But I made it in about 41 minutes, including about 2 minutes when I got lost by following people who went the wrong way. Jerks! Anyway, the Turkey Trot was a wonderful thing and made my mashed potato consumption feel very healthy and smart.

I'll write more later about the tree-trimming and 10-year high school reunion insanity. For now I'm going to lounge, watch some West Wing and contemplate a trip to Trader Joes for some wine and eats.

Go Bears!

B wandered off to Elmhurst to watch the Bears with some of the other crazies in his Fantasy Football League, so I'm watching the Monsters of the Midway solo today.

I think I'll rock out with some crackers, Trader Joe's Mediterranean Hummus, Fresca, the Sunday Chicago Tribune and some serious home-tidying. I will yell at the Bears, but somewhat less dramatically than B or my dad.

After the Bears I'm heading out to do some coat-scouting and looking for what the heck I'm wearing to my 10-year high school reunion next Friday. Egads!

Yesterday I took a great run. My legs felt a little worn out but tried to switch up my footwork to be a little easier on them. Hooray for a short week at work! GO BEARS!

Hilarious, smart and awesome - Don't Dress For Dinner!

A woman I know through my work is in a play (she's a professional actress!) and offered me tickets to see the show. I'm no fool so I got on the list.

B and I scooted over to the Royal George Theater tonight to see Don't Dress For Dinner in a preview, or whatever an early screening is called in theater-talk. Amazing!

The play was funny, for one, but not in a stupid way at all. It was clever and spunky. It's a pretty simple premise of a dinner party where people are all friends, married, lovers or the cook - or pretending to be all those things. There are only six people in the play and only one scene. It's a farce (best example of a farce? The movie Clue) and the acting is just delightful. 

There's a lot of physical funniness and very silly, convoluted situations. Everyone delivers quick, quirky lines with ease and it's just a joyful play.

By joyful I'm completely ignoring the fact that everyone is involved in affairs and complicated lies to cover up affairs, but that's the fun of the whole thing.

I won't pretend to be a critic at all, but I will recommend this play as a smart alternative to crappy movies and the like.  Don't Dress For Dinner is wonderful and I will henceforth stop dressing for dinner in support of this play. 

Four (of four possible) Mandasaurus Roars for Don't Dress For Dinner!

Keeping warm!

Truthfully, it wasn't all that cold today, but the wind is making scary noises now and it's definitely not getting warmer.

Tonight I made my super easy potato bacon soup. I would share the recipe except it's completely made up - a mish-mash of four other recipes. It's milk, potatoes, an onion, some turkey bacon, chicken stock and a health bit of salt and pepper. I also made some biscuits to go along with this. 

All without a grocery trip! Hooray!

While the biscuits were baking and the soup was bubbling I even had time to practice my hula-hooping.

A proud city!

B and I took a walk downtown to see the Obama banners near the Post Office. Neat, right?

I'm excited for all the presidential action Chicago might see. However, with Air Force One landing at O'Hare and President Barack Obama's entourage attempting to get to Hyde Park/Kenmore down the expressway, I'm imagining that Chicago folks might not take as kindly to the security annoyances as DC does.

Anyway, here are the awesome banners!

Brrrr!

This is the part of the year when I start really despising Chicago. 

For example, right now I look outside and see blue skies, a swift breeze and the last bits of fall leaves running around. Seems delightful. But it's actually 37 degrees, feels like 28 (officially freezing) and there's a possibility of flurries.

Oh, jerky Chicago weather! You won't get me this year. 

Here's my plan to beat Chicago's weather:

1. A serious coat. I'm taking suggestions about where to get this serious coat which will be both stylish and warm, but most importantly warm. 
2. A continued dedication to scarves, hats and mittens. Easy enough.
3. An honest effort to keep active even in the cold. I'm running a 5K run every month for a year. That's the plan. I start with the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving this year then on to some sort of Jingle- or Reindeer-associated run in December. So far running hasn't been too bad. I was hot yesterday running in long underwear, swishy pants, a fleece hat and two t-shirts. And, I'm hoping to be tough enough to ride my bike to work as much as possible although how that works remains to be seen.
4. Boot, boots, boots. My faux Uggs are very warm and my moon-style boots are as waterproof as non-mountaineering boots can be. And I'm searching for more boots, too. I've definitely learned that the boots you see in magazines are complete jokes when it comes to snow, rain, slush, salt and ice. So, I might look like Sir Edmond Hillary sometimes, but I won't be wet and cold.
5. Drinking all things warm and warming. B makes a mean cup of hot chocolate. I like a mug of Tazo Refresh minty herbal tea. I'm going to be drinking warm drinks all the time! Coffee, gingerbread lattes, hot toddies, whatever. 
6. Soup! I'm still on my soup wagon. So far this year I've made Rachael Ray's buffalo chicken chili, a corn and veggie chowder and a potato concoction too.
7. Blogging. Though this won't necessarily keep me from shivering I need to be a better blogger. So here goes nothing.