A Little Chicago

Hello!

Long time no blog!

I'm back, I hope for a good while this time.

This was going to be a crafty post but a big black

storm rolled in with lightening super close and

thunder super loud!

So...not a good day for taking pictures : (

Here's a little bit of Chicago for you...

Our son came in for a visit in June.

He and I had one day to fill on our own.

We decided to take the train downtown

and hop on a double decker bus tour.

Sooo much fun!!!

Here we are on top of the bus!

The tour guides are always funny

and you always learn some new

Chicago fact every tour.

I've taken it twice and highly recommend it!

This is heading into the financial district.

Did you know that more money is

traded here than in New York!?!

This is the Bean in Millennium Park.

It really is impressive and so shiny!

Sorry for the unedited photos.

Gotta get back into the swing of things.

Not  a whole lot else happening.

Still waiting and waiting for

Toll Brother's to start building

our townhouse, ugh!

I will be back, Monday,

with another post!

Go me!

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Have a great weekend!!!

Hugs!

Kim

Back in Chicago, Heading to MI

Source

We are back from Disney!

We had a great time with our son

and my parents joined us for an overnight visit.

It was pretty darn cold in Florida!

I'm so glad I packed a wool sweater, gloves and a scarf!

People were buying lots of warm Mickey Gear including

winter jackets!

We did end up with 2 warm-ish days : )

We returned to no television or internet service.

I spent the day yesterday waiting for repairmen.

The first set couldn't fix it because they

determined the problem was in the line.

So, the linemen came out and took care of things.

So glad to be reconnected to the world!

Tonight we are headed to MI.

I have a baby shower to attend.

So, when we get back after the weekend,

I plan to get back to normal.

I still have craft ideas spinning in

my head.

They want OUT!

Looking forward to being creative next week!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and keep warm.

As you may be able to tell by the teacup...

I'm enjoying lots of hot tea to stay warm!

Be back soon!

Hugs!

Kim

Chicago Advice

A little piece of advice when visiting Chicago...the first day in town you should take an architectural boat tour of the Chicago River. There are several companies that offer them and they are AWESOME! They give you a little history of the city and tell you the names and architectural style and name of the architect that designed the buildings. Now, if you are a visual learner it could be a little difficult to remember the details (that's me...I need to read along...the tour we went on did have a pamphlet) but I did manage to absorb some info that's very helpful as you walk the city. It's, also, an awesome photo opportunity.

The clock tower in this photo is a part of my favorite building...The Wrigley Building. There are 2 parts to this building and in one of the buildings the Wrigley gum was once manufactured.

This is a view from Hotel 71 the 30th floor. The round buildings have parking on the bottom floors and condos on the top floors. There is an elevator that brings your car up to the parking and a valet parks it, you aren't allowed to park your own car. The valet backs the cars in and it is very scary looking at cars backed up to the edge over the river.



This is one of 2 buildings that survived the great fire in 1871. It was Chicago's water pumping station. The architect wanted it to look castle like. It is beautiful!!! You can find this building on Michigan Ave.

Remember the first season of Donald Trump's Apprenntice show? The winner of that show was in charge of the construction of this building, The Trump Tower. His name is Bill Rancic, he heard the words, "You're Fired" when he took a Chicago morning talk show gig while he was working for Trump. Inside part of this building is enclosed parking, there is, also, room for commercial stores, condos and there is a hotel.

 The tallest building in this photo is Willis Tower once known as the Sears Tower. You can go up inside this building and there is a see through step out you can walk on and look all the way down...Ummm...NO THANK YOU!

This is the NBC building. See the NBC peacock at the top?

A night time view from the boardwalk on the Chicago River. It is sooo beautiful! You should see the Wrigley Building at night...amazing!

Hope you enjoyed your tour of Chicago! This is the tour we took hubby's sister on this past week. There is so much to see and do here! We haven't even scratched the surface! I'll give you more mini tours as the days and months go on.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!!!

Hugs!

Kim

A Sneak Peek!

Hello! Last week some of besties from MI came to visit me. We had a blast! Little did we know there was a real blast happening one street away from our hotel! There was a film crew setting up scenes for Transformers 3 on N. Wacker. Have a looksie....

We got to get up real close that night. Very cool!

The next morning, we decided to head up Wacker again to find some breakfast and to see if they were filming...THEY WERE!

We just missed this scene being filmed. See the smoke?

Some of the actors being dressed in their costumes. Very cool! We walked right along side them!

That was a fun experience. We didn't see the star of the film but it was still really cool to see how things are done. More pics of our girl vacation coming up soon!

Have a great day!!! Fall is in the air for a few more days at least. The heat returns Sunday.

Hugs!

Kim

My Patio and a Little Emma Love

Hello! I wanted to show you my Chicago patio. It is very small and the cement was green with moss so I decided it was time to make it over and add a little square footage to our spring/summer/fall living space. I found this cute wicker chair/table set and indoor/outdoor rug at Target. I wish I had a before picture to go with my after but my hubby started the makeover before I came to visit. I bought some hanging baskets and they are now up and I plan to get a new potted flower to put where the shown hanging basket now sits. I am so happy with the makeover. I now leave the patio door open and Emma loves to be able to walk out there whenever she pleases. Hubby put up a baby gate so she can't escape. I will be sad when winter arrives and I lose this pretty space until spring. Enjoy the photos and Emma love!

Emma loves sitting in the chairs. She's sending you bully kisses...see her tongue? LOL!

(Click to enlarge)

One more of Emma with a cuter look on her face.

The complete set. Love it.

Ok, back to laundry and packing! Enjoy your day!

Hugs!

Kim

Hello From Chicago, Again!

Hello everyone!!!

Well, we have news on the job front. Yesterday, my hubby met with a big wig from Switzerland and we have a plan...Right now we are staying in Chicago until an opening becomes available in Switzerland or Shanghai, China. When a position becomes available we will be transferred for a couple of years, when that time is over we will most likely come back to Chicago so he can run the company here or we will be off to another country. So...still a lot of unknowns but now we do know we will be here at least a year, possibly 2 or 3.

Since I have a feeling we will be here in Chicago, for about 1-3 years, I can start dreaming about our living space redo or a move to a bigger place. In Feb. 2011 we will know if we should be staying in Chicago longer than the year and if so we will get a bigger place.

I am dreaming of a 2-3 bedroom townhouse rental with a 2 car attached garage (no more car cleaning from the snow!), a bigger kitchen with an over sized granite counter top so I can purchase bar stools from here and have room to move. Hey, a girl can dream! I would love a guest room/craft room. I miss my craft things when I'm here and our guests would probably prefer a real bed vs. a blow up mattress squeezed in our tiny living room. An extra bathroom would be nice too. Any and all extra space would be so wonderful! I tell ya' these 630 sq. ft. can start to suffocate real quick! (I know I shouldn't complain...we are most fortunate to have a roof over our head in Chicago and back home in MI)

Soooo...for now we can relax for a while, finish planning the wedding and bridal shower and dream about more space next year.

Hope all is well with you!!!
Hugs!
Kim

Hello From Chicago

Hello! I am at our apartment just outside of Chicago for the Thanksgiving week. Hubby and I have been horribly sick, with an upper respiratory virus, ever since we came home from Disney World. All I can say is yuck and we just don't feel well.

So, all my crafty plans for last week...didn't happen. Sigh! I have paper and rubber stamps piled up on the kitchen table, back home, awaiting me to create Christmas cards...next week. So, yeah...I'm a week behind during the busiest time of the year. Oh well. What gets done gets done.

While I'm here in Chicago, I brought this project with me. I really want to finish it before it gets to be too late to wear it! It is a lot of work! All the hand embroidery is taking me FOREVER! So, that's one of my goals this week...get as much of this scarf done as possible.

Sorry, no pictures. I don't have the means on this old computer here in the apartment. Have a great week and WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! So much to be thankful for!

Hugs!
Kim

More on the Apartment

Hello! Sorry, this was suppose to get done yesterday! It has just been one headache (literally) after another and now the fibromyalgia is showing it's ugly head. But enough of that! Here are a couple close ups of the apartment makeover. This whole makover was done on the cheap. The wall hanging is from Bed Bath and Beyond...this was the most expensive piece...with a coupon it came to $40-ish.

Here you see an amber bowl. I picked this up when I was shopping, with Michelle from Treasure the Moment, at the Salvation Army. I think it cost $5. The picture frame I had and the tall glass apothecary I found on clearance for $7 at Marshall's. I still need to find some filler for it.

This pitcher I, also, found on clearance at Marshall's for only $3!!! Couldn't beat the price!

I will be posting more pictures from our trip soon. I'm off to pull my lunch out of the oven. Have a great day! It's really fall like here...62 degrees and rain...yuck!

Hugs!

Kim

I'm Back With Apartment Pictures!!!

Morning!!! I'm back from Chicago and I bring apartment pictures with me!!! I would have posted sooner, this week, but I've had migraines all week. I don't know what's up with that! Onto the pictures!

The dining area hutch before.

The hutch after! We did move the wall hanging up a bit higher after taking this picture. I have closeup photos to show you tomorrow.

The kitchen above the sink before.

After! So much better. Sorry about the glare. The weather wasn't cooperating for pretty pictures.

It was fun making over the place. Now it feels so nice to walk in and see such pretties! :-)

Thank you all for your sweet comments about Cocoa. It's getting easier but we sure do miss her around here! You are all soooo wonderful!!! Thank you again!!!

Have a great day and I'll post some close-ups tomorrow!!!

Hugs!

Kim

Sad News

Morning! I have sad news...last Wednesday our Cocoa passed away. She had been diagnosed with cancer in December and given 6-8 weeks to live but she made it almost 8 months! She fought a good fight with only maybe 7 really sick days over the last 2 months. Tuesday she spent the day running, playing, barking, eating and plain old enjoying life! I won't go into the details of Wednesday but it wasn't good...she passed away at home, which I am happy about. She waited to pass away until my daughter had left to apply for a job and I had gone to get a neighbor to help me. She was the best dog! We are all incredibly sad! We will miss you Cocoa!


In other news...my son is home for a week from Oklahoma! He has lots of plans, of course! He is going to re-mulch for me though! :-) My daughter has an interview at a Detroit charter school on Thursday...she is excited! Hopefully, she will get the job...it would be good experience.

Next week is our 25th wedding anniversary so we have lots of things planned to do in Chicago. I will be taking lots of pics to show you plus before and afters of our apartment...I've been picking up things to make it feel more like home. When we first got the apartment we didn't plan to do much with it because we thought our house would sell and we'd permanently move to Chicago. The economy has made that very difficult so now it's time to make the apartment our home away from home. I love the things I've found and can't wait to see them all in place!

Hope you all are enjoying the last weeks of summer...our pumpkins are almost all orange and the leaves are starting to change here!

Hugs!
Kim

A Winner and My Week Away

Morning!!!! Thank you to all who entered my giveaway and for sticking with me this past year through my blog fogs and all!!! I love hearing from all of you!!! The WINNER of my giveaway is....DAWN of Dawn's Daybreak!!!! Email (dkccv@comcast.net) me your address Dawn and the bag will be on it's way! CONGRATULATIONS DAWN!!!!

This last week I got to get away with hubby whom I don't see very often! I have a photo week in review...

Emma and Cocoa sound asleep on the drive to our Chicago apartment. Poor Cocoa was really sick again but she is doing much better now!

This is my favorite restaurant when we head downtown! Yummy food and it's beautiful inside!

The pretty colored walls and lighting inside Uncle Julio's. I forgot to take a picture of the food...I was sooo hungry!

Heading towards Michigan Ave. Sooo many tall buildings!

Love all the architecture downtown!

This a photo of the first apartment we had. Hubby's boss was renting this pretty place and he was transferred back to Switzerland so his company took over the lease and let us rent it VERY inexpensively. We had the penthouse with a roof top patio! It was so cool...OH THE VIEW!!! Wish I had pictures!!!

We ended our week in Caseville, MI. We mostly relaxed and did some metal detecting. I found 28 cents and some polished glass, my parents found 89 cents and a kid's mood ring. We don't mind what we find...it's really relaxing. The weather was perfect and the dogs had a blast too!

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Hope you all had a marvelous long weekend too!!!! Next up....pictures of the garden! I will be taking pics today! Have a great day!!!!

Hugs!

Kim