Lou Mitchell's and Harry Carrey's

Who knew eating food could be so much fun?

So on one of our weekends in Chicago, I took J and Tay to Lou Mitchell's (a place introduced to me by Abram - he rocks). Lou's is one of the famous breakfast places in Chicago - it was even on Top Chef Chicago as one of the challenges. The chef's had to sling breakfast quickly for a certain amount of time (Season 4, Episode 11).

I had a previous post about Lou's as well in which I explained that when you order at Lou's, you get a TON of food. Having that knowledge for round 2, we were able to order accordingly, have a great time, and not go home totally bloated. Always fun to get to see some of the famous side of the city.

Tay's small order of pancakes.

My omelette...

J and Tay outside standing in front of the famous sign.

During Christmas, J's mom and Len came to Chicago to visit. While they were here, we went to dinner at Harry Carrey's (another pretty amazing and famous restaurant). Here is a picture of Tay and Papa standing next to the statue of Harry in the lobby of the restaurant (not a great picture, I took it with my phone). Anyway, thought I'd throw it up anyway.

Remember Ballet?

Who knew you could be really good at something and give it up anyway?

I was looking through some pictures and found this one of Taylor in her ballet costume. This was at the ballet studio during the 'dress rehersal.' At the time, we thought this was the beginning of something that was going to last for a long time - it was our first performance with the studio and was a pretty big deal. Taylor was placed in the front row for the performance (some of the other parents with kids that had been there for many years were a little miffed that Tay was in the front for her first performance ever). She was really good at ballet, but it was always something she did, but didn't really love.

After that first session at the studio for about 6 months, we stumbled into something called Ypsilanti Youth Theatre...and I think we all know what happened from there. It was still fun to see the picture and remember - she was really good at ballet and it was a lot of fun watching her learn and grow during that time.

Trip to Chicago

Who knew trips to Chicago could be fun?

I was going through some old photos last night and found some of a trip to Chicago we had. We were playing UNO and having a great time. Seeing these reminded me of how much fun we had when they were down visiting...

This is how I feel most days...

Gotta love UNO...

This is what I look like after winning so many games of UNO it just isn't fair...

New Favorite Commercial

Who knew Biz Markie still had it?

So I saw this commercial the other night while watching the NBA Playoffs (yes, I'm sure J is glad I'm not there so she doesn't have to watch them with me). I was kind of trying to figure out where they were going with it, but love the song so was singing along. Then at the end when they all joined in, I was sold! I may as well have been in the car singing along with them at that point. Good thing I was the only one having to hear me singing in my apartment.

puck

Who knew pictures can actually remind you of things???

So here are some pictures we were sent from one of the other parents at the play. These are great and really reminded me of how well Taylor did...holy smokes...

If you saw the play, I'm sure you'll remember each of these scenes...she delivered them so well, it's hard to forget (I know, proud dad, what can I say).

silence

Who knew silence could be borderline impossible?

Have you guys heard the song "Sober" by Pink?

There is a line in that song that says:

"I don't want to be the girl that has to fill the silence,

The quiet scares me because it screams the truth."

It's amazing how much truth is running through my head during the silent periods. Maybe that's why I shy away from prayer, or God time when I'm in the dumps - cause that's when the hard truths come out the loudest. I often wondered why it was always hard to sit in silence…to just clear my head. I think it's hard to clear my head because that's the only time I give the 'smart' side a chance to speak up - and it yells every chance it gets to let me know what's up.

I guess one answer is to make sure there aren't quiet times…I'm really good at that. The better solution is to have more quiet times, to allow the truth to come out and empty out of my head. I guess that's really the only time I can be truly silent - when I've already faced all the truth running around up there and have allowed it to come out. Not a fun thing, but better in the end perhaps.

Anyway, not sure where that came from, just in the mood to type nonsense today I guess...

Of course there is also the Billy Joel song that may apply to me more…

"You may be right, I may be crazy."

And so it goes...

Web surfing...

Who knew I could have time to surf the web???

I found a few pictures I thought were worthy of keeping...since this is my repository, thought I'd throw them up here...

Rob sporting the look at an MTV awards show...talk about stylish...

This picture captures all my football favs - the Vikings, Michigan, and Tom Brady (or the Patriots)...crazy they are all in one picture...thought it was pretty cool...

Environmental what?

Who knew we could actually care about the earth - and be christians at the same time???

A few weeks ago, we had Carl Safina (president of the Blue Ocean Institute - and extremely well known) speak at our church for both services on Sunday. As Pastor Ken said, it was the first time we've ever had an atheist speak from the pulpit. Carl was great and actually received a standing ovation at the end of the 11am service. It was a great week and we truly were grateful he came to speak to us.

Carl and Ken met a few years ago and have developed a unique, and quite amazing friendship over the past few years. Here are the links to some of the articles and pictures from the event - as well as blog posts from Carl and Ken. They are worth the read and show we are making progress at bridging a divide that has been there for a long time. Vineyard and the Blue Ocean Institute have actually formed a collaborative (Friendship Collaborative) - which is also extremely amazing.

Good press about the church (especially the one I attend) is always great!

Article on Mi-Live.com - http://blog.mlive.com/judy_mcgovern/2009/03/file_it_under_only_in_ann_arbo.html

Pictures (from Kirk D.) - http://gallery.me.com/kirkhabitat#100382

Ken's Blog - http://kenwilsononline.com/

Carl's Blog - http://carlsafina.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/488/

Puck? Really?

Who knew Taylor was such a gifted actress?????  All I can say is holy smokes.

Ok, so I think we all know how cool our kid is - and how proud I am of her all the time - but watching the performance last night (actually saw both performances yesterday) had me completely beaming the entire night!  She was amazing.

To catch some of you up that may not know, Taylor was cast as Puck in the Shakespeare play "A Midsummer Nights Dream."  Puck is basically the lead role and she has been working VERY HARD over the past few months to get ready for this.  Yes, they are speaking in the hard to understand language of that time and all of the kids really did a fantastic job!  Here are few early shots from the play last night (and Taylor in her costume).  I'm hoping to be able to post a few video clips and more pictures from the rest of the weekend.

She had 2 shows on Friday, 2 today and one more on Sunday.  The play runs for 2 hours and is extremely entertaining to say the least.  The cast is around 40 people and range from second grade to high school.  They are all really good friends and it is fun to see the interactions on the stage.

Again, so proud of Taylor - she is truly amazing to say the least.  Just to be able to deliver the lines is enough for me - then add on all the actual 'acting' she did, and running on and off the stage, from one side to the other, and so on.  The truly amazing part last night was her ability to improv and roll with some of things that went wrong - her wings got caught on the steps at one point when she was running off stage and into the crowd - just stopped, stepped back, unhooked her wings, smiled and kept going.  The leaves in her hair came out during a stretch she was going to be on-stage for a while.  They hung on for a little while and she just sort of ignored them.  When she was storming off stage, they finally fell.  She just turned around, quickly grabbed them off the floor, and huffed - which was totally in perfect harmony with the scene - the crowd laughed.  There is also a part where she tries on one of the other actors glasses.  She had a little trouble putting them back on him - and made a funny comment and finally got them to stay.

Those little 'accidents' would probably have derailed me, but she just rolled with each of them and made it seem like it was just part of the scene and supposed to happen.  I don't know how she does it - but I can't wait to see the shows again today.

Oh yeah, she also got contacts for the play so the stage lights didn't glare off of her glasses - talk about dedication!  I'm not sure I'm ok with that though - makes her look way too old...

Here are some pictures - if you are coming to one of the shows and don't want to ruin the surprise of her costumes, don't look down...

Puck and Oberon (King of the fairies) along with all of his fairies

Puck commanding all the fairies to quiet down

Full wingspan

About Time...

Who knew you could blink and 6 months could go by?

So...it's been a while since I've been on here and I have decided that needs to stop. I've been on the road in Chicago now for almost 4 months (yeah, time flies) and I need to keep this thing updated to sort of keep my friends/family in the loop. I will be doing my best to try and get some pics up here as well so you guys can see what Chicago looks like from my eyes...

It's been a long road, and a tough one at the same time. Being gone just down right stinks. Chicago is wonderful - a town we love very much - but even though living downtown is my dream, being here without my family nullifies all of it. It has been a great weekend though, J and Tay have come to visit - and brought Trinity - so all is well for at least a few days...nice to have them here.

We went to dinner with a friend last night and had a lot of fun. There are so many great places to eat, and venture to down here - never a dull moment. We went to a Thai restaurant that some friends of ours introduced us to over the Christmas Holiday. We love it...and it's only a block away from where our apartment is.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting home permanently again. I'm missing way too much being gone, and it's ridiculously hard being without my wife (aka bestest friend in the whole wide world), and daughter...and maybe my sister in law also...

Oh yeah, by the way...Taylor is going to be in her second play in April. They are doing "A Midsummer Nights Dream" and she got the small part of Puck in the play...and by small part I mean THE LEAD!!!! We are so proud of her and she is working so hard - practice 3 times per week. We are still in shock, but are so excited at the same time. She did so great in her last performance - still a larger role, but not the lead. It was nice of them to recognize how hard she worked and how well she did, by rewarding her with the lead. They actually sent us a note ahead of time telling us how excited they were to cast her in the lead...she is getting way too old, way too fast...

Here are a few pictures of our 'second home.'

Our living room...

View of the Hancock building from our apartment.

Taylor lounging...

Our kitchen (balcony off to the right).


Another view from our living room - if you strain your eyes you can see Lake Michigan between the two buildings on the right...

Ohio Street.