thanks to everyone for the concern! i'm okay though!

this is an illustration of the pleura, where i was having an inflammation due to excess fluid in between the layers (pleuritis). on tuesday night, i really wanted to keep the catheter in my arm and take the pain medicine home with me. or just have them just take my lung out (i mean, i have a backup on the other side). these clever options were not allowed, however.

it turns out the medicine they did let me take home actually got me through it. the inflammation is under control now, and once the pain subsided, i was pretty much back to new. remember, i wasn't feeling sick at all otherwise.

so yes, i was out of commission for a couple days, but felt i could go back to work on friday. i maybe should have taken it a little easier. it's just that once i felt better, i thought i should get "back to it." i also went "back to it" today for a couple hours. and then rewarded myself with some shopping. it was not a v. successful jean-shopping outing, and i forgot to take my ibuprofen and then felt it all flare up just a bit. it was really crowded on michigan avenue, too, and i decided just to go home and take it easy.

so, in sum, this is only as serious as its underlying cause, and in the end, mine is no cause for concern, thankfully. but you are all the best for your concern!! thank you! and it feels so good to breathe.

false alarm and causing blog traffic

that's me in the hospital/ER tuesday night. with scarf on because i was cold in that thin little hospital gown. i'm really fine, but my regular dr. strongly suggested i go over to ER. i was there for 7 hours. EKGs, Xrays, CT scans. all the hospital hoopla was precautionary, checking for blood clots (pulmonary embolism) in the lung. i am having painful breathing/pain in the left side of my chest, and it turns out it is due to fluid in the lining of my lung, attributed to a viral infection (which must be really centralized because i don't feel sick), which should take care of itself. i'm still in pain. and the strong pain medication, although helps with pain, gave me some rather adverse reactions yesterday. today, still at home. have lots of work to do. will clear up my blog traffic jam this weekend. easy, since i will be doing absolutely nothing this weekend.

pumpkin carving and eating with serbians for 6 hours non-stop

this post doesn't really live up the the pre-post comments some of you have left, but i just can't do it the justice it deserves. just so you know, it really was a FEAST! we invited the jankobizitches (over for domingo (that's sunday, for all you gringos) football, food, and pumpkin carving. they accepted and said they wanted to "warm us up" for their serbian wedding but that they would refrain from bringing pig heads (thanks!). but i had no idea they would show up with SO MUCH FOOD.

feasting for six hours

red pepper potato chips. before our guests showed up, we put out a small bowl of red-pepper potato chips as a little snack food for the football game. but we ourselves started to eat the chips before our guests even showed up. so silly. we didn't need that at all.

popcorn. the afternoon really started at 2:30 when the jankobizitches showed up with SO MUCH FOOD. when they arrived, i had popcorn on the stove ready for popping, with popcorn toppings (in butter and white cheddar powder varieties) and personal popcorn bags at hand.

scooping popcorn into popcorn bags

taffy apple dip and granny smith apples. christine came with all the ingredients for taffy apple dip, including a peanut chopper she would need, and the recipe on a cute little index card onto which her mom had pasted the printed recipe. she made the dip while the boys watched some football. i wasn't much help at all. then patrick made fun of how gross the apple dip looked. and then he single handedly ate about half of it himself.

bread and creamcheesebutter spread and red pepper spread. as we chomped on apples and popcorn, nikolai got out some bread. the biggest mother f***in' loaf of bread i've ever seen. is it still called a loaf when it's that big? holy crap. it came from a serbian bakery. or wait, it might have actually came from the mexican bakery they stopped at. now i don't know. but i am pretty sure think the spreads were from the secret serbian village.

three logs of smoked meats, plus blocks of cheddar and meunster. then the bonkoviches pulled out three huge logs of smoked meats and two huge blocks of cheese. nikolai cut everything up and arranged the bread and meats and cheeses on a huge platter. and let me tell you that was the best bread i have ever had, and with the creamcheesebutter spread, red pepper spread, and cheese, i was pretty much in heaven. i also ate so much of this amazing serbian deli feast, i thought it impossible to ever eat again.

pumpkin seeds. we ventured onto the pumpkin carving portion of the evening. it was a pain in the ass. but afterwards we made some awesome salted pumpkin seeds. they were so good!

by artist, left to right: patrick's elvis like rendition complete with chops, christine's kitty cat, nikolai's nightmare before christmas, and devon's umm, hear no evil speak no evil.

bbq on top of it? patrick and i had bought turkey burgers and turkey brats for a sunday bbq, plus were ready to make salad with avocado, corn, tomatoes and almonds, but christine and i were not hungry at all, and it was already past 7:00. but the boys, on the other hand, they wanted to go for the burgers with a side of brat. so they quickly bbq'd while i warmed up the personal pumpkin pies.

personal pumpkin pies. these were supposed to be a surprise, but there was no masking the smell of baking pies once our friends arrived. and they saw them baking in the oven. the pies were not v. sensational, but at least they turned out. i like the little ramekins and can't wait to use them at thanksgiving. by now it was past 8:00 pm and our friends were ready to go. i was not hungry at all on monday.

post scriptum: when patrick was unloading the groceries earlier that day, he asked where to put the box of tampons i had bought. i sarcastically said in the fridge. i guess he sarcastically put them there! so later in the week, when i saw that christine and nikolai left behind their extra cheese and i was moving it into the cheese drawer, i uncovered a refrigerated box of playtex on the shelf !! OH MY GOD! did christine and nikolai see that?? they must think we've got some really weird hygiene issues going on in our household...

shabu shabu

to come...

starved rock

since we moved to chicago approximately 15 months ago, if it wasn't by airplane, i have only left city limits on 3 occasions.

1. the day we drove to the crate&barrel warehouse in aurora and then to wheeling, where patrick works, in the same day.
2. the time we went to joliet on patrick's birthday.
   
   and...
3. last weekend when we drove to starved rock.

starved rock is an illinois state park about 2 hours outside the city. i have been craving the "non-city" and this satisfied my hankering. although the trails were super simple, even raised wooden footpaths in some cases, the leaves were turning and it felt wonderful to be surrounded by the woods.

the park was unfortunately v. crowded and the trailheads were really congested, but once hiking out a ways, the people thinned out. apparently, people near the trailheads enjoy hiking in skirts and heels.

after three hours on the trails, we threw some chestnuts in the river (i thought they were limes, which is something i can't really explain) then headed into the town of utica. i wanted pumpkin pie and the lady at the fudge shoppe pointed us to ... the cajun connection?? the fact that the only place she could think of that might have pumpkin pie was a restaurant that probably also serves crawdads definitely piqued our curiosity, so we drove the one mile and found what must be the hot spot in utica, as the parking lot was packed at 4:00 in the afternoon. the food actually looked awesome, and they actually did have pumpkin pie. they had a mean pecan pie too, which was so much more fitting to the whole creole theme. but if you want to take a whole pie home, you have to order 15 days in advance. i think if we didn't have dinner plans, we would have had dinner there. but we did sit down for a post-hike slice o'pie each.

follow up on oxygen bars, by request

a few of you asked how the oxygen bar worked. first of all, and importantly, one does not reuse the tubey-nose things. i really do not know what that piece is called, but they are disposable and a new one given to each new participant.

in our case, this was an aromatherapy oxygen bar, where the oxygen (by the way it's 95% oxygen and regular air is about 21-24% oxygen, they tell me) is enhanced with essential oils such as euphoric lavender, cleansing vanilla, memory-enhancing jasmine, or clarifying spearmint. the different aromas were backlit by different colors.

so once one you put on your nosey-tube, you walk up to the beaker you want to breathe, and hook up to it. then you breathe in and "experience" the oxygen. it is supposed to be re-invigorating. it was nice, but i attibute it more to the cool air wafting through my nasal cavity more than to the effects of oxygen. but who knows, who nose.

i tried several aromas, and found it to be quite social. you can ask someone what they're trying to cleanse or harmonize. or really you can just bond over the fact that you both look like idiots.

the "30" year old virgin?

do we see any resemblance?

patrick, by the way, pointed this out. he said he hates this picture because he looks like the 40 year old virgin.

like homecoming for grown-ups

at last, the 'big' meals on wheels celebrity chef ball gala (theme: crave the elements) has come and gone. patrick and i both left work early on friday in order to help with the set-up of the meals on wheels auction, which i have been working on as a volunteer since essentially january.

i have to explain that it's not like i really even know the other ladies that i have been volunteering for/with. two of them work for meals on wheels, they are about my age and are kind of the organizers of the auction committee. then there is another woman who works for an advertising agency downtown (i thought she was the committee head when i volunteered for this back in january, and somehow she is, but she doesn't work for meals on wheels, the two girls do, so it is just confusing). then there is the lady whom i guess headed this auction up last year and maybe the year before. then a lady who maybe knows someone on the meals on wheels board. and a lady who works for plate magazine, who is really involved somehow with the celebrity chef ball and is maybe even one of the overall event planners, but not specifically in charge of the auction. so, basically they all know each other, know everyone's affiliation, and kind of aren't particularly that friendly, though nice and polite enough. but no one ever bothered to explain anything about anyone, just gave me info on collecting auction donations and meeting times, and the conference call dial in number. i guess they probably do not know how confusing or kind of awkward it is from my perspective. i finally felt more comfortable with everyone at the auction set up on friday. for the first time. kind of.

by the time patrick made it downtown to help with setting up, the moving of tables and heavy items was pretty much done, but it turned out we desperately needed more pens. once he returned from a drug store with pens, it turned out we needed more clip boards for the bid sheets. mind you, it is beyond me how the two girls who work for meals on wheels, and who are organizing the auction, didn't open up the big box of clipboards say, the day before (or evening the morning of), to see how many clipboards there were and how many of those had working pens attached, but that is not important.

we all scrambled to get all the auction packages in order for the silent bidding. and once patrick returned with the clipboards, he ran to the 'narcissus room' (it doesn't matter what this room is) to get us more clear plastic frames to hold the bid descriptions.

silent auction, during the party

we finished set-up on time at 4:45pm. and you know what, patrick felt like he didn't really do anything to help. like he just grabbed stuff. but he completely contributed and i didn't know how to make him realize that although he didn't do anything grandiose, like improve the auction close-out system making it three times as efficient as last year's method (not that that's what he thought he would be doing, he mostly thought he'd be lifting heavy items for the girls instead of fetching small items), that it takes people-power to get these things done, and if he hadn't showed, we wouldn't have finished setting up on time. i don't know, i just hope he feels good about it.

after set-up:

we went home via the v. crowded rush hour trains, which took us an hour instead of 15 minutes. patrick took a nap and i worked on a stupid reunion email that i have yet to send out (on list of things to do today, but blog is too easy a distraction).

my 'date' woke up and we got ready for the celebrity chef gala's "pulsating party" portion of the event (the less expensive tickets, that were thankfully "comped" for us ... though read about the sit-down dinner portion of the event covered by the tribune here).

party on the 7th floor of marshall fields/state street macy's

we got to the party, ordered drinks and circulated the food stations. my favorites were the scallops and pumpkin puree from blue water grill and the shrimp 'corndogs' from fulton's, while patrick liked the goat tacos from frontera, the hot dog flight from jakes, and the amish chicken and polenta from boka. we were both apalled by the bleu cheese chocolate cupcakes we tasted, which we were really excited about, which looked like the most gorgeous chocolate cupcakes you've ever seen, and which almost made me hurl as i took a huge bite out of what may as well have been a giant chunk of bleu cheese. although it invited itself into my mouth under the auspices of being a delicious, rich chocolate treat, it instead was like having more bleu cheese in my mouth at one time than i have ever had in my mouth combined over the course of my lifetime.

after we spent sufficient time eating, patrick admired the live statue. then i had my lipstick touched up by the dior make-up lady as we waited to get our photo taken. yes, our posed photo (see, it WAS like going to homecoming). while we waited, we created quotes for the couples in front of us ("i AM smiling, bitch) to keep ourselves entertained. then, we perused the silent auction -- which i might add was jumping and looked great-- and finally we headed over to the oxygen bar. i've never done that before, so i was quite intrigued as a first-timer.

our homecoming photo

all in all, it was a ball, and it kind of did feel like we did go to homecoming (maybe moreso if you take out the alchohol, the make-over while you wait for photos, oxygen bar, and auction) even if i am all slouchy like in the photo.

typical patrick

... locked himself out because left keys at work. and still hasn't put spare key back. you might imagine how sympathetic i was after reading the post below. not true, i actually did feel awful for him. but my co-worker sure thought it was some sort of hilarious revenge/karma. but yep, getting locked out is the pits.

oak park, indian food, and typical devon

last weekend, patrick was in austin with brother tommy. and i repainted the second bedroom. the timing of which was interesting only in the mere fact that it happened to be ol' tommers who painted the same bedroom approximately seven months ago. the previous color was great, though it didn't photograph very well, so you all wouldn't really know it. the olive green, however, was a tad too dark for the room, which really doesn't get any natural light. so, i went lighter with the paint. and also went darker with my hair, as the case may be.

upon restocking of some essential supplies, i ventured to lowe's (like a home depot, if these are prevalent everywhere) to the northwest-west-west, which i can hardly believe is still within city limits by the time i get there. chicago is a strange shape though. because i could drive about two miles due south of lowe's and be in oak park, illinois -- a city unto itself. which is exactly what i did. you see, while patrick was out of town, i seized my opportunity to completely binge on indian food in oak park. i planned to pick some up after lowe's and bring it home for dinner.

if you are familiar with chicago, you'll know that actually devon is the place get good indian food. well, devon avenue, to be more specific. which is pronounced deh-VON, by the way. however, from lowe's, i was equidistant from deh-VON and a place called khmer pass in oak park. oak park won. and it won me over, too.

the boulevards are lined with gorgeous trees and large homes. kind of like the 'fabulous forties' in sacramento, but 'oak park' (the name) is a different kind of neighborhood altogether in sacramento. so it was hard for me to grasp that oak park could be such an affluent area here. i hung a detoured right turn in order to see the frank lloyd wright home and studio. i didn't take the tour or anything (only $9, i should have), but i did take a photo with my camera phone. then i guess it didn't save, so here are some pilfered views:

here are some other prairie style homes in oak park:

note: FLW worked under louis sullivan, credited for the modern skyscraper. below, the chicago carson pirie scott building, by architect sullivan. come to chicago and witness for yo'self:

a few years ago i started a "history of architecture class" at a community college. i never finished it though; i kept missing class due to work travel. but the image above looks just like in my text book.

anyway, back en route, i headed a few more gorgeous blocks south where oak park has a little downtown area. get this, parking in the structures is free for the first two hours! a highly desirable feature, one you don't find in chicago. oak park is only about eight miles from downtown chicago. somehow it manages to simultaneously feels worlds away and just next door. the el line runs to down town oak park, making the city easily accessible to this nearby suburb.

so i placed my order at khmer pass and wandered around for 15 minutes while i waited for my indian feast to be prepared. there was a great harvest bakery nearby, which i swear is the same as the one that was irvine while i was growing up. that one closed, and i never knew whether it was a franchise because i have seen nothing again like it nor by the same name until now. so now i wonder. it is the kind of place that cuts off big hunks of their bread for you to try while you're in the store. knowing that this one is a franchise is disappointing, but it still felt like a neighborhood bakery nonetheless (the next closest one is in evanston, katherine). they use only four base ingredients in their bread. i picked up a big round loaf of honey whole wheat, the honey i assume being a delicious fifth ingredient for this variation.

the food from khmer pass, for the record, was excellent. though i almost wouldn't have known it, since i locked it in my car, along with my phone, umm and ALL my keys, while the car was running, in the middle of my garage near the stair well where i was about to unload all my bags. lovely. patrick didn't put the spare house key where it belongs. no way to get into house, house key locked in car, phone in car, too, and don't forget, car is on, blocking half the garage (shared with condo building). long story short, borrowed a phone from strangers on 90 degree day where i looked like a half-mad homeless lady, frantic and in paint-speckled capri sweat pants with cut out neck t-shirt. got a locksmith to let me into car, and $180 later, took all shopping bags and indian food into house.

let me tell you, the lock out services had the HARDEST time understanding how i could not be reached by phone.

"so ... well then, what number can i reach you on?"

"i said i locked my phone in the car."

"what about your house phone?"

"i said the keys to my house are locked in the car." (nevermind, i don't even have a house phone)

"well what about the phone you're calling from ma'am?" (like i am trying to for some reason deceive them and they have cleverly outwitted me)

"this is a complete stranger's phone that i had to beg to use in order to call you, and who has now listened to me explain four times to two different people that my car keys, house keys, and only phone are locked in my still running car; could you please just meet me in front of the address that i've given you twice, where i will be waiting for you in the 90 heat?"

happy birthday lauren schatzel!

i already mentioned that i hope there are no birthday surprises from brad this year because i don't want you to get so excited that the baby pops out! a nice slice of cake or some ice cream or two popsicles should suffice. i know, i need some more education on the human reproduction process. nonetheless, i hope you have a fabulous day!

happy birthday sarah lyman!

happy birthday sarah lyman! so glad you started your blog ... so that i can see what blakey is up to with carol channing?! no, so that i can see what you're up to! anyway, what special plans have you for your special day? i miss you and wish i could be in l.a. for a sarah celebration!

the chicago sports update.

sorry cubbies, better luck next year.

go bears, good job sunday.