Labor Day Weekend…

It sucked. Well it didn't suck. I actually had a lot of fun. I was just mad that I didn’t get to use my free ticket to go see everyone in the LA area. I had booked a ticket on jetblue bc my free ticket was going to expire anyways so i figured might as well book it and hopefully get to use it... but, Boo for work. The only way I could use the free ticket was to go from sat-tues. only our ceo decided to fly in and hold a meeting with our office on that Tuesday and so the boss man said taking that day off would be a really bad idea. So I missed out on all the fun.

But! I did get to have a girly night with dev dev. I started by meeting her and Patrick at their place. Patrick made us really yummy mojitos and we drank them on the balcony where we met her neighbors at the building next door. They have a great patio and were grilling and drinking (and clearly had been most of the day). They invited us over, but dev and I politely declined as we had dinner plans. We dined at mado which is a very trendy place and super cute. I ordered fish which was really good – I just didn’t expect to have its whole head and body delivered to me… I wasn’t sure what to do with it… but I got over that and the fish was cooked perfectly. After dinner, we headed to bin café where we sipped on more wine. Patrick joined us a little later and we had a fun time. I then took myself home in a cab.
The next day, I decided that instead of taking a cab (too expensive) or taking public transportation (takes forever as there is no direct route), I would just run on over and get my car. So I took the little more than 3 hours in the heat and did a run to my car – hungover. Not a great idea and I realized at one point I was not in the best of hoods, but it wasn’t very far and it was a busy street so I figured I’d be ok… and I was. I was a hot sweaty mess by the time I got to my car, but pleased with myself for having taken the exercise route of picking up my automobile.
And, I did get to go to dev dev’s and have a really yummy feast! Dev had so much yummy food that I probably didn’t need to eat for 3 days. And as always, everything looked so pretty! Dev is definitely the hostess with the mostest! She had over several of her friends and we had a great afternoon enjoying the company and all of the food.

Happy birthday, nicole!

Nope, not the nicole you guys all know, but my other friend that lives here. She’s super fun and was turning 30. She didn’t want to celebrate at all, but alice convinced her to go to brunch. So we all met at the original pancake house on rush and ate delicious pancakes. Yum!

St Louis

It started off badly… I drove the 5.5 hr drive from Chicago to st Louis for a work trip. Which is boring enough… but whatever. I was trying to fiddle with the radio when I looked back at the odometer and realized I was going too fast. I slowed down, but the copper clocked me going 87 and pulled me right on over. Where I tried to not cry, but the tears fell anyways… crap! I can’t afford a ticket right now. That thing ended up costing me almost 100 bucks. And the kicker is, I hadn’t had a ticket or been build over since I was 17!! So I made it to my hotel finally and it was nice enough. I stayed at the crown plaza in clayton (just outside of downtown). They had a great workout room which I used each day. I had planned on spending some time at the pool which looked amazing on the website… however, it had zero sun and only 2 lounge chairs. What’s the point… I spent most of my time in clayton, but did go downtown where I saw the arch and the stadium – I thought about my blog and realized I had to take pictures, but I didn’t feel like getting out of the car… so I took some shots just for you guys from my car! Luckily nothing eventful happened on the drive home.

Air and Water Show

I met up with my friend Erica and her boss. They were eating brunch and I had just completed my run for the day (yes, I was showered). Erica is from n. cal and is the girlfriend of my friend kelley’s brother who is also a friend. I’ve known her for years and years. Anyways, she was in town for just the day and we met up and headed over to oak street beach to meet nicole and watch the planes. Nicole and I couldn’t get our act together in finding each other quickly enough and Erica and her boss had to leave for the airport. So, after what seemed like forever nicole and I met up and had fun watching the planes do their tricks in the sky and fly by. I have no idea what they are called but one of the types of planes zooms by so fast it proceeds it sound by quite a bit – and they are loud! It was a gorgeous sunny day and I was glad to be outdoors enjoying it!

money money money!!

hi all....yes, i have resorted to begging for money on my blog. i have to raise $1400by the time of the marathon on Oct 12th. I would like to give a BIG thank you to my parents, Annie, and Sarah Mac for donating to the cause.

I'm doing it through Team in Training which has been around for 20 years and raises funds for Leukemia and Lymphoma research. And I need your help... I have to raise $1400 which will go towards research and in return for raising the money, they will train me to run that far... and many of you have been so kind as to say "what, you a runner??". Yep, that's me...or at least that is what I am working towards.

So, I need your help... would you all please consider a donation?! I love the large amounts, but would be so happy if you were only able to contribute a dollar... but your support would mean a lot. Go to: http://pages.teamintraining.org/il/chicago08/kharper

Originally I took on this challenge as a personal goal and challenge. I've always been in awe of runners and in particular anyone who can actually do a marathon. One of my best friends from high school trained with Team in Training in NYC and she was never a runner either, but she did it earlier this year and had such a great experience she is training for her next marathon already! Leukemia is also a cause that is personal to me. My Grandpa had non acute Lymphoma and lived with that for years. And, sadly, two of my very close friends just lost their mother about a week ago to Lymphoma. She had only been diagnosed earlier this year and it was all so sudden. I want to show my support somehow and this is the best way I can think of right now. My Grandpa and their Mom are what keep me going at 7am on Saturday mornings when I think I can't run another mile. That's why I'm doing this...


Love you all and thanks for your support!

ta da!

it's done! the house is finally complete. my parents did the final walk through today and are ready to start moving in furniture. i sure wish i could help decorate and furnish it! too bad a thing called work gets in the way...

i did it!!

i'm exhausted and very sore, but i just finished my first half marathon! the chicago distance classic... i walked the whole way b/c i haven't been cleared to run yet, but i did meet my walking goal. i finished in 3 hrs and 15 mins (15 min miles!) which included a bathroom break and slowing down to drink water. i found out quickly that if you tried to keep pace and drink water, it would just go down the front of your shirt and not in your mouth. in any case, i did it!!


my medal! turn your head sideways...i still don't know how to turn pictures around!

scary storms last night!

devon's post is way better than mine... she has great pictures! but, i wasn't going near those windows for anything! the first part of the storm was less scary (i thought) than the second part that was coming right as i was supposed to go to bed. it was made scarier by the fact that i realized the sirens i had heard earlier really were tornado warning sirens! in my defense, i hear so many sirens up and down the street about a 1/4 block away that i wasn't sure. they sounded like fire trucks. and they weren't that loud. i think chicago needs to get a distinct siren sound for tornados.
as a side note, when i was little we used to have tornado drills in elementary school and also on every friday they would test the siren to make sure it was working properly. it was super loud and you could definitely tell it was not an emergency vehicle!
but anyways, back to the storm last night. it was so scary and so loud that i didn't like being by myself and dealt with it for awhile, but then decided to call my mom for some moral support and a distraction! i sure wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon with all that noise! at least i wasn't the only one afraid! read an excerpt of an article about the cubs/astros game (which i was supposed to be at, but decided not to go last week).

Berkman is an astros player for those of you who don't know... and now the article:

“Let me say this: I’ve never been more nervous on the field in my life,” Berkman said after the Astros withstood a wild night of weather featuring two powerful storms and two delays to beat the Chicago Cubs 2-0 in a game called in the eighth inning.

“Growing up in Texas, you see those kinds of storms all the time. You learn that lightning is nothing to fool around with,” Berkman said. “I’ll stand out there in the rainstorm all day long. But thunder and lightning, in that kind of proximity, it’s definitely a hazard. You have to get the fans out of there. We have to be out there, but if you give those fans a reason to hang around they will.”

The first delay came in the top of the sixth and lasted 2 hours, 45 minutes. As the initial storm hit the Chicago area, fans at Wrigley were advised to take cover on the concourse. A tornado warning was issued for downtown Chicago.

After going back out on the soggy field, the teams were able to play for only 50 minutes before Berkman led the charge off the field. Then, after a 39-minute delay, the game was finally called with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

“If they had continued the game, I wouldn’t have gone back out there. Not for a while,” Berkman said. “Like I said before the inning, you have to be an idiot to stand outside during a lightning storm. That’s just common sense.”

High school musical

After finishing one of our ‘short’ run sat morning workouts, alice and I headed to indy to hang out with our high school friends, susan and anne. Susan had just gotten engaged a few weeks before and so we were heading over to celebrate and also provide support. Her fiancé, jeff, is in Iraq right now and they aren’t sure when he’ll return. So off we went on a semi short 3 hour drive to indy. We picked up susan and then headed for the mall as susan needed to get her ring adjusted. We met anne at the mall and headed for tiffany’s (but not before a much needed bathroom break and then snack). jeff proposed with a beautiful tiffany’s solitaire, but the band was too big so very reluctantly she forked over the ring to be properly sized. We then went on a mission to find her a cheap replacement: which we found at limited too – 2 fakeys for 5 bucks or something ridiculously cheap. On the way back to susan’s place, we stopped to pick up some wine. Over wine, we all looked at some of the wedding planning things susan had started to gather and also get ready for dinner.
We headed to a sushi dinner and ate outside on the patio. The food was great and we all had more to drink. Afterwards, we walked over to howl at the moon where we all had a rip roarin’ good drunk time. We met lots of fellows – none of whom were of interest to us at all, but when you’re drunk you get friendly. Apparently some guys bought us a round of shots, which I really didn’t need but did anyways. Anne had to leave us at this point, but when it was finally time to leave this fine establishment, we went to another place – of which I don’t remember the name. all I remember is they had a great list of martini’s, but it was super smokey and it made me sick. Whoops. So we left there and went to my first ever steak n’ shake where we all scarfed down some food. I had a burger and cheese fries. Because everyone needs that at 3 in the morning!
On Sunday, we all woke up to horrific hangovers and knowing that alice and I had to drive home we were not thrilled. We finally motivated and got on the road where we decided to be really bad and stop at arby’s. it was such a fun weekend!

my obnoxious neighbors

are you kidding me is all i have to say. i am so furious you guys just have no idea. yesterday, my downstairs neighbor left a note saying that some city official came to our place to inform us that one of our neighbors was angry that we were putting trash in their trash cans and that we must immediately cease and call the city for our own cans. for each day that we do not comply, we will be fined 200/per unit. yes, 600 dollars a day. in fact, we do have a garbage can and it has our house number on there. it's one of several houses that put their garbage cans back there. it's not just us. there are like 8 or 9 cans back there. ok, fine. stupid but fine. we dealt with that.

today, i come home to receive a small package from someone named franklin living across the alley. inside were recycling tips and letters (3 of each, i presume for me to hand to everyone). as i do not have a scanner at home, i'll retype a portion of it. it's a very long irritating letter.

"Someone is dumping garbage with your name on it in our can at 840 w barry including an old computer monitor, magazines, bagged kitchen garbage, and a cardboard box put in without cutting it up. your builder did not allow for outdoor placement of garbage and the new recycling bins. you probably store them in the garage resulting in quite a smell especially in the hot summer months and that is probably why you do not want to keep your garbage in them. i do not know if you have a place for the cans inside of your yard. i would like your and the other condo owner's help in solving this problem.

#1 the city should have supplied you and the other owner with both garbage and blue recycling cans. you shoul dbe using those and need to place them outside of your garage every thursday for the black cans and every second thurs for the blue ones. moving yours cans out for pick up every thursday is a chore nobody wants to do, but your builder did not see fit to leave a place for the cans outside which we saw ehen they built the place but could not do anything about.

#2 computer do not go in the garbage. i am inclosing several pamphlets on how to dispose of them at the city's new facility at 1150 n branch near the intersection of..... they will also take old cans of oil based paint and other solvents. if you can not get to that place please contact me and you can bring them here and i will drive them down there for you.

#3 PLEASE RECYCLE using the blue carts. they can be put in your garage and kept there without smell. it is really easy to recycle and is now a city law. the list of things to be put in the blue cans is included. all boxes should be flattened.

#4 batteries and old cell phone and computer ink cartridges can be brought to the photo counter of walgreens or the public library and they will recycle them.

#5 any unwanted clothes or household items can be donated - with a tax deduction - to several charity resale - the brown elephant.......

please call me if you have any questions and we will try and work out this problem so that none of your neighbor's garbage cans overflow with the garbage from 847 fletcher.

frank nussbaum. "

ok, so that was it in its its entirety. i'm clearly still angry. so stupid frank left his phone number and i promptly called and left him a message. probably a rather angry message. whatever. 1998 called and they want their monitor back - who has a monitor anymore?!?!? and as for cell phones - i've had mine for over 2 years... not throwing that in there... as for paint... may i say that the house next door to us is currently doing something to the outside of their building and prior to that they had workers doing crap in the back of their house. might that dipshit think that maybe just maybe the guys doing construction are leaving their shit out there?? and it's also end of month. people move and throw out shit they don't want. don't blame my building for that crap. thanks for the tips on recycling but i think i now by now how to do that. and further, my building doesn't generate all that much trash. i mean, come the fuck on! i don't even take out my garbage but once a week and the maid does that. so i admit, my maid must have taken out a box i left by the door and probably some old magazines that i left thinking she would want them b/c she's asked before. so yes, i'm sorry those ended up in his trash can. my bad. i'll tell the maid not to put the trash there. short of that, i am way to freaking lazy to take the trash out myself. trust me. it's a real pain in the ass to get through to the alley and i try to avoid it. further, i always leave via my front door b/c i drive about 1x a week. maybe. ok, so that's my trash neighbor issue.

next issue. boy we sure have a lot this week. my downstairs neighbor complained to the landlord next door with all the constuction crap going on that the workers have killed parts of our grass, gotten paint on our fence, and put some dents in it. they asked nicely for them to please just when they are done make sure that it gets back to the way it was before the workers were here. so today, my downstairs neighbors tell me that landlord next door is being a real prick and telling us that b/c our fence is bolted to his house at one place, we must remove that immediately. uhhhh, there are fences bolted to other properties all up and down the street. we are just close and that's what is done i guess. but, he's being a prick. so my downstairs neighbor is going to call our builder and see what can be done. ok, asshole, we'll remove the fence from your brick building and you can have a big hole in the wall over there. jerk. don't people have better things to do around here?!?!? what the fuck, seriously. and apparently their tenants are complaining about the smell of the trash behind the house. wellllllllll, i certainly hope they bring this up with all the other buildings that have trashcans behind their house. oh yes, and one other thing - i am annoyed that their tenants are constantly partying in the middle of the night - often all night - and being loud. i've never called the cops on them, but i'm pretty sure i might start logging some complaints. it disrupts my beauty sleep and makes me feel like an old fart for complaining out noise, but seriously, it is ridiculous. next time there is a party at 4am, you can bet i will be complaining. i hope they decide to be loud tonight. i really do. i can't wait.

so, ladies, sorry about all my long winded complaining. i'm obviously fuming mad and had to release it some where. i wonder how many neighbors we can piss off. this should do wonders for us.

this is just so not what i need in my life right now!!!!!