Churros and Mexican Hot Chocolate



Savory Breakfast Breadpudding and Torta (nat’s)



My breakfast torta from the wood stove



This stuff was so good and relatively cheap! So if you are downtown over near grand ave go stop in at least for a freshly pulled churro!

We went back 2 days later for some dinner caulderas (soup) and tortas…we each got soup and split a torta

My never ending bowl of soup



Nat’s soup



And this is what Rick Bayless calls a to-go spoon! Nat got some apple cinnmon fresh ice cream



We stopped at home for some driving along the lakeshore into the Dunes and pumpkin carving with zander. I still need to get those photos sorted and edited. I promise i will share them when i do.

We also scored tickets to the Blackhawk’s vs Habs game on Oct 30th, 2009. I always like when they play Canadian teams..it’s always a good game, but when you’ve got an Original Six game it’ sbound to be even better. (original six in laymen’s terms for those of you who dont’ care just means they are old teams, there were 6 to start like 1912 for the Habs and 1929 for chicago) I didn’t feel like lugging my camera but snapped these with the iphone..



And here’s one of the people in front of me dancing to the Fratelli’s song they play when Chicago scores a goal (some may know this song from the movie Run Fatboy Run)



I finished a pair of socks, simple toe up socks in Vesper’s colorway Trick or Treat, Nat is obsessed with called them my German Flag Socks. Even tho he knows the german flag has red in it, it’s not stopping him.



I think this is the picture everyone seems to like better



I am working on one other pair of socks that NEED TO GET OFF MY NEEDLES STAT. They are just taking forever, the pattern is a bit fiddly so i have to pay attention to what i am doing when i knit them. I am slogging thru and this is what they look like:


Also i just wanted to add this in, i know my post is long already but that was just all pictures. My sister’s router was bad and she called Comcast. Comcast proceeded to transfer her to a “windows department”. This Windows Expert then told my sister this: “Your Windows Operating System (XP) has reached the end of it’s life, so it’s not producing an IP address for you anymore”. My sister was then told to go buy a new windows os. Convenient that Windows 7 just came out 2 weeks ago, huh? Looks like they are preying on people that if they tell them any problem is their os, they can get people to go buy windows 7 even if that’s not the problem. Creepy Microsoft and Comcast, really creepy. I told wendy to call Comcast back and tell them to get their heads out of their asses. An IP address is provided by your internet service provider. Her problem was fixed in 5 min. So watch what Comcast will tell you or someone you know with a problem, looks like they want to fool people.

Also my friend Chan is going to be having some contests to celebrate many things he’s happy about in october. Her dogs have a certain color, Sissy the basset hound is purple and gretchen her jack russel is Pank. We’re donating several bags as prizes to Chan. We love her and her dogs. Anything we can for miss sissy and gretchie. So here’s a few of the items i’m sending over to Chan.Please check out her blog to find out how you can win stuff during the month of Oct

We’re vending over at YarnCon on October 17th, 2009. If you live in the chicago area or near please come down and check it out. It is fun and full of yarny goodness. The girls who coordinate the event do a fantastic job. 

I also want to point out one thing, this guy’s name is benjamin. He has a wheelie cart cause his back legs don’t work to support his body. He is being rehabilitated using a pool and swimming and treadmill everyday..but this little guy waddled the 10 blocks AND the 10 blocks back to the park!

We are very excited tomorrow for the WADDLE!!! yay! Can you imagine 800+ low slung floppy eared dogs in one place waddling down the street?

Neither can i.

My sister and I put an update into our shop. This will be the last update until YarnCon. My sister and i will be vending our items a Yarn Con again this year. This time we’ll have our two new shaped bags and will be able to take credit cards. Which should be nice. So if you are in the chicago area please come down and say hello or give us a GO TEAM as you pass.

And check out our etsy shop for these fun excuses to start a new project.

On a serious note, i had said Simon, nat’s kitty, was getting better. He was and then took a turn for the worse again. I am taking him to the vet again today and am hoping they will put him back on the meds that were helping him so much. If you have any good thoughts throw them towards chicago for little simon. I’ll be back after the weekend with eleventy billion pictures from the waddle!

Nat and I took 2 day trips up to Wisconsin. We went to Madison WI, and Milwaukee WI. We had a good time even tho we didn’t really have an agenda, we mostly walked or drove around and stopped in several yarn shops. We also had some local beer at each city that was really tasty.

Sept 11th is a day of reflection and sadness for some people. Ever since i started to date Nathaniel in 2002, it is a day you have to try hard to make happy. It is his birthday. When people ask his birthday and he says Sept 11th most people shake their head or cringe. I’ve always tried to make this day happy for him regardless if i get the frown. His mom sent tastyKakes from philly with birthday candles and i lit them and sang to him. Look what i got:


Oh joy.

Speaking of Joy, she took me to my first Cubs game sept 11th! And the cubs beat the Reds 6-4. There was a rogue squirrel that ran down the third base line too.

I also wanted to thank Laura over at Dizzy Blonde Studios!! I had saved up for a skein of her sock yarn and bought it on her anniversay. I was entered in a drawing and won!!!!

What did i win?


Everything was allw rapped up and it felt like christmas!



She sent all this stuff:


A book, Botique Knits, soap, sheep cards, CANDY, a pin, markers and some pretty green yarnz!!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

So we are having an update to fundraise for sponsoring Lucy Dog. Please join us wed sept. 2, 2009 at 11am central time in our etsy shop to buy any bag that says BAGS FOR THE WADDLE. 100% of the proceeds of any bag for the waddle will be donated to Guardian Angel basset Rescue to sponsor lucy dog.

So please join us for a win win update to help you get a bag and help 100s of homeless basset hounds find forever homes.

If you’d like to donate 1$, 2$, or 5$ or any amount you can! Every dollar helps us reach our goal. Our firstgiving page is here Team Lucy Dog was taken so we’re Team Nut Nut! Lucy’s nickname, as in WHUT UP NUT NUT?

We’ll have wedges, triangle, mini triangles and a handful of piddly bags! We hope you will stop by and check out the bags tomorrow, and thank you!

So Simon is Nat’s kitty. He lost a lot of weight and I took him to the vet a couple weeks ago. The vet discovered two abscessed teeth that will be coming out tuesday. So the poor little guy will have the extractions and a dental cleaning. I hope this will help to poor little guy. I let Simon sleep in my laptop case all last weekend. SO to tie you over here’s two pictures i shot of him on friday and saturday.

Kelso Tracey 2000-2009

♥

Let’s see what have we been up to? You wouldn’t believe it’s summer with all the grey, chilly temps, and rain around here. But we braved the rain and went to the Printer’s Row Book Fest which i think is now called Lit Fest or something stupid. Printer’s Row is the neighborhood my friend Joy lives in located in the South Loop.



I saw a guy playing banjo



Sparkly Raindrops



and wood type


Zander’s been doing well with his baseball, except it’s been cold at every game and nearly rainy


and samuel has been just as lazy



Last weekend we went to Rib Fest to see a band nat likes. I think their name was Margot and the Get Down Stay Downs…they were pretty good and she played her guitar with a toothbrush on a song it was impressive. After eating many ribs and enduring far too many drunk annoying people we headed to Chicago’s Blues Fest in Grant Park on Sunday to see the Master himself HoneyBoy Edwards play with Devil in a Woodpile. Look close, i only had my 50mm lens. He’s singing Sweet Home Chicago and is turning 94 in a few days.



Nat likes to drive his Mini Cooper all around….



On Irving Park you’ll find the forrest preserves in Chicago. At sunset if you pull over like in the picture above and look 50 yards OR LESS to your right you will see anywhere from 5 to 15 deer grazing. We like to stop and watch them for a bit, but usually dumb people let their dogs loose to chase the deer, or even worse people go running around and scare the deer. One chased a guy and nearly hit him. I don’t know why people do this. But last sunday evening we stopped and no one was around to scare them. I even took some pictures cause they liked to come really close..so close you can see their fuzzy antlers.




and that brings us currently to this weekend. Which has my sister’s bday AND father’s day. oh boy.

I also received a small envelope a month or two ago. It had Erin’s return address on it so i knew i’d certainly be in for a surprise!

Inside was a card and THIS BEAUTY!



Not only does it match my Vomit green coat perfectly, but it has awesome details like this braid:



Erin is just that good. Always amazing me. I simply love it. I sent her a little box to say thank you and i hope she likes her little gifts too.

The Hawks did win ONE out of their two games at home. They played so badly on sunday i am not even sure the team knew they had a game…they were too busy sitting in the penalty box or getting thrown out of the game for too many penalties. ugh. Chicago, reel it back a couple notches. It’s ok if we lose though..i have to agree with the guy i saw on the news who said..“in two years everyone will be like DETROIT WHO?”

p.s. if you made it this far..you can see a fine example of why hockey jersey’s only look good on fat drunk guys.

So maybe you are wondering, so Jen, just what exactly have you been up to all this time?

Well I can easily say many many adventures! I’ll share some of them with you, but i must note that none of these are my photos.

At the begnning of May, a friend from the beloved Philly Crew, was visiting Chicago on official business. Miss Robin, of the blog What is Robin Up To? Asked me if i’d like to accompany her to a taping of Chicago Public Radio’s Weekly Quiz Show Wait Wait….Don’t Tell Me! How could i say no?

(photo by robin)



It was a lot of fun, a long taping, and a LOT of laughing. Robin convinced some poor soul in front of us to take our picture.



And after the show the Host and Score keeper will even humor everyone and let you have your picture taken!

Here we are with Carl Kasell



Here we are with Peter Sagal



Thank you Robin for sharing a ticket with me, for the company afterwards for good eats up on the North Side, and for making me laugh so much that day! You can check out her blog for short video clips of the show too!

What else have i been up to? Well a major thing has been this….

(photo by Nathaniel Davis)



That would be Nat’s new car. In Decemeber his car’s heat went out when it was below zero. He needed brakes and feared something was wrong with the clutch when we’d hear that weird rattling sound. So the first week of January he bought the Cooper. It is a fun and beautiful little car. Nat loves it so much, we go driving every weekend. Yes, every weekend. We have learned many things about rich people while driving along Sheridan up to the North Shore. (This is a really really windy road that drives along Lake Michigan and all of the ultra expensive real estate) We’ve learned that rich people like their retaining walls, no one does their own yardwork, 3 car garages are uncool and 6 car garages are where it’s at, they either have chandeliers and lamps or track lighting, and some of these people have living quarters attached to THEIR GATES.

While doing all this driving we’ve happened upon some weird stuff. Like Nat asking me what is this thing jutting out of the sky in the western suburbs of chicago?

(all photos by Nathaniel)



I shrugged my shoulder’s and said SKI JUMP?

Nat drove toward it and turns out…I WAS RIGHT….I KNOW? You are thinking Chicago…suburbs of chicago…ski jump? what the hell? right me to!





Then while driving along the Fox River we happened upon an just ended Civil War battle!



Then we happened upon an old Rail Car Museum (that was closed for the season, so we stayed outside the chains and took pictures)





We’ve also stopped at IKEA to buy poang chairs and got rid of the old couch in nat’s apt. Here’s what it looks like when you pack up the Cooper.



While we were there the sky looked really weird so i made nat stop to take pictures with his wide angle





So i’m sorry for the long break, and this long visual post. But thought you might like to see some of these adventures. Now that it’s not zero degrees i need to start carrying my camera with me non-stop again.