I'm Off!

I'm headed to So Cal! I'll post pictures while I am gone if I get a chance, but don't count on it!
See you next week!

Hmmmm....

Guess what this is going to be!

He Is Risen!!!!

Happy Easter everyone!

Happy 1st Day of Spring?

***UPDATE*** It has been snowing ALL day here! As of about 4:00 this afternoon this is what it looked like outside. It's pretty looking but seriously, it's SPRING!!!!




Happy 1st day of spring! Or, maybe that was yesterday. I don't really know. What I do know is that when I woke up this morning, this is what it looked like outside. And, the snow is still falling. Does this look like spring to you?

Sewing Machine

For Christmas this year, my lovely mother got me a GPS unit. With the job that I started last fall, I have to do more traveling and that traveling almost always involves me driving around a strange city and if you have heard about my sense of direction you know how scary that is for everyone involved. I have permission to rent a GPS with my rental car but they are expensive. So, when my mom saw some good ones on sale right before Christmas, she decided that it would be a good gift for me. And really, it was an excellent gift. Very thoughtful and extremely useful. However, I realized that I really only would use it on these work trips because I rarely need one in Chicago. And, if I'm only using it on work trips I kind of feel like work should be paying for it. Since she bought the unit at Target I was able to easily return it for a nice store credit.
A couple of weeks later I still hadn't decided what to get with my store credit. I knew that I could get lots of little things with the money but I thought that it would be more fun to pick a slightly larger purchase that I wouldn't normally get for myself. It technically was a Christmas present after all. One day it randomly struck me that I would like to have a sewing machine and that Target might carry them. You know what? They do! And they had a couple of models in my price range. My mom has been sewing for as long as I can remember and I started making things with her when I was really young. But, I never really took much interest in it.
A couple of weeks ago when I was visiting my parents my mom and I took a trip to the brand new Target in Lake Geneva and picked out a nice (basic) sewing machine for me. My mom was overjoyed that I had decided that I wanted one and I think that she had more fun picking it out than I did. I didn't feel bad at all about returning a gift and getting this one.
I finally took the machine out of it's box earlier this week and have learned to use it. I've made some alterations to a jacket and I have a line up of projects that I want to work on. We'll see which ones actually get done. I'll be sure to post if I ever complete anything.

The Isle of the Goose

On Sunday afternoon a few of us ventured on over to the Goose Island Brewery for a tour and a tasting. For only $5 you get a short tour of where they brew about 60 different beers each year and you get a tasting of 6 beers that are currently in season.

I don't remember a whole lot about the tour but the tasting was tasty! I know that the brew guy, Will, mentioned something about hops, yeast and water and how the color, amount of yeast and alcohol level are not necessarily all related. I know that there are two different beers at Goose Island are named in honor of the brew guys two daughters. I leared the difference between an ale and a lager but I don't remember it anymore. The brewery is named after an actual 'island' here in Chicago where a lot of geese live. There are several Goose Island locations in the city and one of them is right around the corner from my house. I'll have to try it out this summer when the open up their patios and start serving up their Cubbie Blue brew.


Of the 6 brews that we tried, I think that the Nut Brown Ale (or maybe it's a lager) was my favorite. The 312 is good for a lighter beer. I did not like their IPA (India Pale Ale) or the other one something red. After the tour we stuck around for some appetizers. I highly recommend the sausage and cheese plate and the macaroni and cheese (made with bacon, yum!).

The lovely little dress

As of tomorrow, this lovely little dress will be on it's way to me. Unfortunately, it's not in my size. But, it will look super cute on my friend's darling little girl who turns 1 in a couple of weeks.

I had it custom made by JJ Heller who is a friend of a friend. She's a musician but has started making children's clothes on the side. Her stuff is super cute and really reasonable for hand made. She didn't have anything in the correct size already made but I contacted her and she gladly made one for a 1 year old. She let me pick out the fabric that I wanted to use and I knew that it would have some flower apliques on it but I had not idea that it would be this cute!