parcel post

sounds like there is interest in doing our own exchange ... stay tuned!! leslie has been in town and we have been busy-busy, so hold on 'til next week and i will post details on this!

kayaking the chicago river

i've had the chance to do some pretty fun stuff with vendors from work this summer: cubs rooftops, sox box seats, billy joel & elton john ... but this time we kayaked almost 8 miles down the chicago river. and into the dark of night! anyone who knows me, knows i love the chance to wear headlamp, so i was really pumped once i knew we'd be paddling post sunset. we started pretty far north that afternoon and you'll see that it gets progressively darker as we approached downtown, and then passed it, eventually docking in china town and having a non-chinese dinner at a fried fish joint.

omd folks and weather.com folks

and to top it off, i made the news. you can't tell it's me, but i'm in the front kayak with a girl named jessica from my work. fast forward to seconds 1:42 to 1:48 for a back-of-the-head-from-really-far-away shot! http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=6975848

click below for more kayak photos!

{you can see the headlamps in this one}

lovely package exchange

happy friday! it's my last summer friday of the season, so i'm not at work!

several weeks ago i signed up for this little package exchange on the ohhellofriend blog. i claimed two partners and sent out their packages earlier this week. per usual, the deadline crept up on me. but i spent a lovely little sunday putting the finishing touches on the deliveries.






this was definitely the very type of sunday afternoon i enjoy. i also definitely appreciated a little craft therapy. but what i realized was that even though the packages were technically for other people, i was probably doing this for myself - being that it's something i like doing. i decided that if i was going to be putting the time and effort into packages, that they should probably be for people that i know. not to say it isn't wonderful to reach out across the country and cross paths with new people! because of course that's great, too. it's just that i don't think it should replace doing nice things for the amazing people i already know. so while i was putting packages together for emily and kat, i also resolved to put together a package for one of you friends who reads this blog. there are a few of you out there who seem to be in need of a pick me up, so i picked one for a little package love.

then a few days later in the week, i was totally put to shame by sarah's package to iraq, a package that will actually mean a whole lot to someone! her package was awesome. the note, priceless.



while lacking in the wit department like sarah's, i'm thinking of posting some pics i took of the packages i put together for the exchange ...

pati-uh-oh

this was our patio back in may. it was taken on a night i was bbqing for p. the turkey burgers included oregano and parsley from our potted garden. and we had a side of grilled oyster mushrooms, which came from our farm box delivery.

and during our weekends away this summer, christine was usually able to come and water our pots and plants. i think she is now a permanent holder of our house key.

but since late summer has set in, the plants have gone nuts. the patio is crazy-lady overgrown. it's like attack of the purple flower power out there. but i still love sitting in the summer breeze, sipping on a light summer wine, and generally appreciating chicago from the balcony.

click below if you'd like to see. that's a syrah blanc nestled in my hand. love.

cutie ...

these pie pops at the farmers' market made me think of both leslie and debi!
and this is the most deliciously amazing raspberry pie i have ever had. wow.

ra ray

"Hey Rach, wanna go cut in front of that girl at the baked cheese stand?"
"Yum-o that sounsd deee-lish!"

"Gotta make room for some Parmigiano Reggiano. Easy-peasy!"

farmers' market

late summer harvest

squares left to right:
heirlooms, spinach-tomato-feta tarts, tomatoes,
peppers, more peppers, peppers & tomatoes,

tomatoes, nectarines, tomatoes,
onions, flower (don't know name), more onions,
cauliflower, eggplant, flowers,
more flowers, blueberry/peach crepes!!!!, crepe maker lady

i have been making it my saturday morning ritual to hit up the 'green city market' after my saturday early morning group runs. did you know we meet in a park (lincoln park) at 6am to run? and that i need at least 20 minutes to drive my bed head over there to find a parking spot and then walk to our meeting spot ... so i wake up freakin' early on saturdayss to get myself together and out the door on time. knowing that i can easily hit up the market afterward gives me that extra kick in the pants i need to get going.

hope everyone else had good weekends, too! i have lots of little posts to catch up on since it took me so long to finally spit out the rest of our camping photos (below).

canoeing

this one is for my dog-lover friends. enlarge.


click below for more canoe pics...

our six mile canoe tour started by taking us down narrow waterways:

rorshcach
what do you see?

i swear, i was doing all the work

• white tailed deer
• butterfly
• really big eagle
• BALD EAGLE

after the narrow passageways, the water started opening up
and then we finally reached the ...

MISSISSIPPI RIVER!!

and our way back, it started POURING!

hiking

campsite & cookin'

patrick rigged a blue tarp over our picnic table to shelter us from the rainy weekend

this was our closest neighbor's campsite - i didn't take one of our place before the tarp was up

favorite food included:

• chicken sausage in cherry sauce with side of bourbon baked beans
• banananananan pancakes and turkey bacon
• turkey meatloaf with potato/pepper packets

it was cold enough our first night to wear pants and fleece
( i meant to paste a better picture, but this is what you get)

some pics

comments from the last post were cracking me up.

• les, no not "our" tara! really did you think maybe "our" tara suggested a book on wisconsin campgrounds and let me borrow two chairs? he he. this is a tara that i know here in chicago from ... wedding blogging. don't judge. now we do brunch club.
• debi, our into the wild cd disc set entertained us for over 6 hours. the entire drive there and much of the drive back. we were glued to the ... speakers. completely fascinating.
• christine, i do not have very many detailed memories from working at camp either.
• amanda, not a virgo. cancer. i wanted to have a list that i could pull out for future trips.
• christine (again) totally true about the cooking thing. reason: have no time at home. had lots of time in the middle of trees.

green, trees & "mountainy"

scenes from our campsite

forgot - i also bought p a book he's been wanting and a horseshoes set for the trip

s'more sticks from dry cleaning hangers tutorial

and so we walk ... "into the wild"

it was actually 7th, 8th and 9th, but the final spreadsheet was at work

i loved reading about everyone else's experiences with camping. yes, even the comments that simply stated the name of your favorite hotel. but i also loved hearing that there are many other nunes-campers out there!

months prior to the trip, we reserved camping equipment from lowergear.com. knowing that they 'sell out' for the summer, we were sure to put our order in early. since we don't have a tent, sleeping bags, thermarests, or a camping stove of our own (and i couldn't sure if we'd ever be camping again after our inaugural d&p trip) renting seemed the best way to test the waters. also a good way to save on cash flow, since investing in all that equipment at once would be a hefty lil' chunk-o-change.

i highly recomment lowergear. the equipment was painlessly shipped to us, which makes it so easy to throw in the car, it was easy to ship back, and the quality was excellent. of course, maybe i feel a little guilty it had to be shipped all the way from arizona.

another thing we did was borrow those folding chairs that everyone else seems to have (thanks tara!!). we have ZERO room for these suckers on our patio, and so little storage room, that i just couldn't understand the need to buy them, just to have them sit in our closet or storage unit forever. i think that borrowing and sharing is a fine way to get more use out of 'things.'

the only new camping items we really had to buy were a coffee percolator (not necessary, but i love coffee even more when percolated on a camping stove or open fire), a new headlamp (would wear one all the time if it weren't so weird. mind you, p. wears a clip-on light on his hat brim ALL the time), and a lantern. decided to try an LED lantern instead of the propane kind. booooooo. don't do it. sure, you can take this kind into your tent and not be suffocated to death, nor did hiss like a giant scary flat tire, but it's NOT the same. for one, i think the sound of propane lanterns alone cover up the rustling of the creepy crawlies out in the wild, plus, i still they they provide more light!

go for the propane lantern!

it took me almost an entire day to sort through campgrounds, create a camping menu, grocery store list, and packing list. another super suggestion came from tara (thanks, again, to tara) for a great book on wisconsin campgrounds. it was the perfect resource containing all the details i couldn't find online. i created a grid so that patrick could choose the campground that sounded best to him, since it was his trip afterall.

draft versions of planning lists

then, to give him on his actual birthday, i made him a little camping kit with a new backpack, water bottle, first aid kit, waterproof matches, mosquito bite ointment, and a CD set of john krakauers's book into the wild for our 4.5 hour drive.