Once and a While...

It's summer...

I'm 27...

I'm well traveled...

And I'm having fun!

Just thought you might wanna know ;)

Sunday

Memorial Day weekend and it has yet to feel like summer is right around the corner. That may have something to do will the demoralizing cold and wet April, but you know how it goes: April Showers bring May Flowers. But just so you're aware, May Flowers don't bring pilgrims. Mayflowers do, and that happened in November. So explain that to me, fool. 

Nonsensical rhymes aside, I'm really excited for the upcoming summer. E will be coming to Chicago for my birthday weekend (Treat Yo' Self 2013) and in July it'll be off to Missouri for my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. And, of course, there's always Chicago in the summer to look forward to. I swear that seeing this city in the summer almost makes the winters worth it...almost.

Hope you're having a great Sunday!


-K.K.

Thursday Fever

I had to leave work early today. I'll spare you graphic details but there is nothing more delightful then the height of your illness taking place in a bathroom where there are children present:


"Mom, is she sick?"


"Yes Sweetheart."


"Should we help her?"


"No honey, just leave her alone."


One L ride and a trudge through the slush later I was curled up in bed eating saltine crackers and watching the "wintery mix" come down. That's snow mixed with freezing rain if you're unfamiliar with Chicago's positive phrases that all boil down to meaning "shitty weather." I'm starting to get itchy for spring and Valentine's Day hasn't even happened yet. I'm really counting heart shaped dark chocolate and photo evidence of warmer climates to pull me through the rest of this winter...

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Have a Zooper Day!

23. Go to the Zoo with my goddaughter

The entire summer my uncle has been trying to plan a trip to take me to the Brookfield Zoo with my goddaughter so we can see the dolphin show, pet tarantulas and ride the carousel...also in attempts to convince me that it's better than my hometown Columbus Zoo. Hmmmm.... 

We had a really great time building hopping in the rain and getting to see the animals when they were more active. Insider tip: animals are normally awake and moving when it's cool but not too cool, i.e. when it's raining out or early in the morning.

 "We're still number one Uncle Mark" I said. "Yeah, but we're number one...in wombats!" This is a true story. There are wombats out there in the world, and the Brookfield Zoo has them!

LOLLA

Lolla traffic has been coming through work all day long, and it's easy to tell who's going because most of the girls are dressed like this:

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I obviously love dressing for a theme (if I were going those high waist denim shorts would be getting a work-out) but why go to a place where you're going to be sweaty, dancing, and gross and have to worry about a $125 Free People crop top getting dirty? Not to mention the really weird brag session going on on the el: "I haven't eaten all day! I'm gonna look killer in these aztec print booty shorts!" Killer as in passing out from over-heating/lack of nutrients and getting trampled to death by blazed up Black Sabbath fans? Nice gurl. Just eat a hot dog. No one is going to be looking at your tuchas in a mosh pit.

My favorite aside of the day occurred when a girl rolled in wearing crisp clean cutoffs, a pristine white lace top, and a shiny gold boho headband on her forehead with barely broken in moto boots. "I feel like shit" she confessed to her shorts and a tee friend: "Yeah well you look like shit." Shock and horror: "I thought you said it looked great!"

"I lied."

My laughter was barely contained.

Truth be told I was a wee bit jealous. Everyone that was wearing a cool 3-day band I made them stop and brag about it to me. It would have been nice: first Lollapalooza and I would have had a place to crash that wasn't a sleeping bag on someone's floor. But for now I have the people watching, the Lollapalloza Youtube Chanel, and next month's rent money.

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Patriots

Every year Mom takes a picture of my brother and I on the 4th of July. She's been doing it since we were babies and this is the first year Reid and I have been so far apart on the 4th. This is my half of the photo so Mom can stick them together when she gets home to Ohio.

And we can't leave Viking out of the mix....

4th Style

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Happy 4th! Sorry for the silence, more on that to come...

Today I thought I'd put together a string of outfits that I thought were too hot to wear outside today, with the exception of the bikini of course. Viking and I are hiding out indoors watching Batman Begins and eating refrigerated Russian candy bars. Dream scenario? Only if my apartment had air conditioning...womp womp!

Hope everyone is enjoying a well hydrated 4th of July!

Sunday

The lack of posting is due to the sincere awesome-ness that was this week. Mom is in town and we have been partying hard with shopping the Gap sale section and manicures. The cast did it up last night helping me create an impromptu birthday party centered around a pan of cake and a liquor store run. This morning I'm feeling the love...and the vodka. Couldn't have asked for a better way to end my 23rd golden year!

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday!

-K.K.

Cake Cake Cake

Yesterday I was an unstoppable machine! I think it might have had something to do with the extra hours of sunlight, thank you solstice! I cleaned the kitchen and partook in a brief and humid run with Running Buddy. We had dinner at Potbelly (which was the first place Viking and I ever ate in Chicago when he was doing grad-school visits two years ago) and it was delicious. I came home and cleaned the living room, chatted with E and David for an hour or so, and made a pan of chocolate frosted brownies for work today that I'm sure will be eaten all too quickly. You would be surprised how fast treats go in the health food restaurant...it's like we've never seen chocolate before.

All that's left to do before Mom gets here tomorrow is tidy up and decide what kind of cake Betty Crocker and I want to make for the cast. Many a person has pointed out that the birthday girl/boy isn't supposed to make their own cake, but I really enjoy it! So much so that last year I made two! A Chocolate Peanut Butter Silk Cake for the family and a Lemon Cake with Raspberry Mousse for my actual birthday. Nom nom nom!

This year I've narrowed it down to some easier and less time consuming choices that will hopefully pair well with either Jack Soaked Cherries or Tequila Soaked Watermelon. I am the classiest of broads, I realize. So, here are my choices:

Strawberry Yogurt Cake

Pink Champagne Cupcakes

Chocolate Strawberry Cake

Over the Moon Cupcakes

Which cake would you like to see on your Birthday?

Dahlias

If you will recall, back in winter I posted the five things I looking forward to in Chicago Spring. With only five official days left in Spring, Roommate and I payed a visit to the garden store in Andersonville to pick up an window box herb garden for him and some purdy flowers for myself. I chose Dahlias because I thought they'd get a lot of sun from my "patio" and they are so gosh-darn purdy! Besides which their little care tags said they'd be great for window boxes!

I came home to them the next day thrashing in the wind (didn't take the alley in to consideration) and dry as a bone. Five minutes of Google search proved to me that I was way out of my league. The soil needs to be kept damp but you can't over water them! One thorough watering a week and maybe little watering when it gets hot. Not only that but they're supposed to grow to be three or four feet tall! I crammed three of those suckers in to a planter box and now I'm starting to feel bad for them. I've stunted their growth!

I'm feeling pretty down on myself as a plant-mother, but I'll be even more upset if I kill $27 worth of flowers. I think the answer might be to prune them in to small window box-sized shrubs or move them to bigger pots. But until I make my final call about them...they sure are purdy.