Thanks, Stella

Andy and I were at a local grocery store yesterday and happened upon a Stella Artois promotion. They were giving out free personally etched chalices - no purchase necessary. We each got our names on them.

Andy had to try his out.

Early morning walk

The moon was still out.

Wild Friday night

It's a wild Friday night. We bought a new toilet seat. The one we have developed a mysterious crack. Not so comfortable. At least Andy took me to dinner after shopping. The romance isn't dead after all.

Makes me wonder

Because sometimes you're walking through a park and think, "Gee, I wish I had some toilet paper?"

Mission successful

Even before E landed in Champaign last night, Microsoft had sent her an email offering her a summer internship! She Facetimed up to tell us about the email. She'll have a phone conversation with them later this week to get the details of the internship. I'm excited I have a reason to visit Seattle this summer!

Halloween tree?

These Halloween ornaments are the same brand as the little Christmas ornaments I have for my bare tree that I usually set out on the back porch. I saw them last year but didn't buy them so I decided if I saw them this year, I'd have to get them. And although I wasn't searching for them, I found them!

I didn't recall that my little tree has snow on its branches (we'll overlook that) but the ornaments did cover the tree nicely. L said it looks like I'm ready for Christmas, but not rushing Halloween.

E is in Seattle

E was flown out to Seattle yesterday for an interview (actually four interviews!) this morning with Microsoft for a summer internship. Andy followed the flight on his phone and E sent this picture of her hotel room once she got settled in. It's a Courtyard Marriott. The company is also paying for a rental car, food and sightseeing. Even if she doesn't land an internship she's had a nice short trip to the West Coast. And she already has an offer for a summer internship in Boston. Looks like she'll be spending the summer on a coast.

And she found a mall about four blocks from her hotel. She was quite excited about the Amazon bookstore.

E said her interviews lasted all morning, 45 minutes each with 15-minute breaks. They gave her lunch and a sweater then she went with a group of six other interviewees to tour Seattle.

Can't be in Seattle without a stop at the fish market.

The Chihuly glass exhibit looks incredible.

E all relaxed (and a bit blurry!) touring the city post-interview.

More Chihuly glass.

And they went up in the Space Needle.

View of Mount Rainier from the Space Needle.

It's a long way down.

E had pork tenderloin for dinner at Steelhead Diner. What a day! She flies back to college tomorrow with a stopover in Dallas.

Finally open!

We took a short drive to Elmhurst today where the new At Home store recently opened! So many cute things.

L and I were in the checkout line when we saw these letters. We did not do the spelling.

Homecoming

L got all dressed up and went to the Homecoming Dance tonight. She even had me put semi-permanent maroon dye in her hair and let me paint her fingernails.

We picked up her friend, A, and they went to a local sushi restaurant for dinner.

Andy and I were invited over to our friend N's house for appetizers and drinks with a few other neighbors we've known since the kids were in kindergarten. It was fun catching up and hearing what their now college kids (and beyond) are doing. I made these Caprese skewers for the party. I forgot the salt and pepper but they were good anyway. The recipe says to cut the tomatoes in half so the skewers stand. That seemed like too much work to me. And how would I carry it two blocks to N's house without having them all topple over anyway?

TGIF

L worked from after school to 8 p.m. so Andy and I went to dinner at Goldyburgers. I love their cheeseballs. Andy likes to dip them in mustard. Eww. And, for the first time since we've been going there (at least 20 if not 25 years), we noticed they've printed new menus.

L brought home some new baked goods for us to try - a caramel apple, banana cream pie, pumpkin praline pie and a brownie.

Apple pie

L brought home a bag of baked goods from work again last night and this apple pie! She took everything (except the pie) to school with her today to give to friends and a couple of her teachers. Andy and I each had a slice of the pie and he took the rest to work.

Guilty pleasure

I had to use up some expiring United miles so I ordered People magazine.

Holiday day

Today's homecoming theme? Wear holiday clothes.

Meme Day

It's homecoming week and that means there's a different theme for each day. Today is meme day. L went dressed as a mannequin meme head.

Went golfing

It's a nice gesture but I didn't need a note to tell me Andy's out golfing on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Oktoberfest with the family

Andy and I went back to the Berwyn Oktoberfest this afternoon to listen to the band Petty Cash. They play Tom Petty and Johnny Cash songs. It was an interesting combination.

There must have been a dozen trains that went through during their hour and a half performance. This picture has a train and a woman rocking out to a Petty song. I was disappointed they didn't play "Listen to Her Heart."

Then tonight we went to Glendale Heights for its Oktoberfest. Allison and Pat drove and we met Julie and Kevin there. It's our second annual family Oktoberfest. The temperature was perfect; last year it was really hot.

The German dancers were good. We had a table right in front of the stage but it was really loud, too loud to talk, so we moved to a tent outside the main area. It was still loud, but we could talk.

Here we are. We had Groupons that gave us admission, a total of two beers and two pretzels. We also had dinner there. I had roasted chicken and passed on the sides - red cabbage, sauerkraut, a dumpling and German potato salad. Andy had the brat with the dumpling.

Allison and Pat

Julie and Kevin

That's a big pretzel!

Our view of the band. We couldn't see them, but we could certainly hear them.

L worked this afternoon so she stayed home. However, she decided to bike to her friend’s house to take her some food from the bakery and got pulled over by a police officer for not having lights on her bike. He let her go with a verbal warning and after seeing her friend, she rode to Walmart to get lights for the bike. I’m pretty sure the officer didn’t expect her to ride in the dark to buy lights.

More baked goods

L brought home some new treats from her job - a Peanut Butter Mousse pie with chocolate drizzle ...

... and a slice of Bourbon Maple Pecan Pie. Can't wait to try this one!

Oktoberfest season

L picked up a shift at the bakery today (3-8 p.m.) so rather than cook dinner as planned, Andy and I went to Berwyn for its Oktoberfest to grab dinner. Andy had a meatball, fried ravioli and rigatoni in vodka sauce; I had a BBQ pork sandwich. We split an order of cheese curds (don't tell L - she loooooves cheese curds!).

We watched R Gang perform; we saw them there last year too.

Field's 125th

Andy and I were all dressed up for the Field Museum's 125th anniversary celebration tonight. The invitation said "cocktail attire" so Andy got his new suit hemmed and I pulled out a dress and heels.

The weather was perfect. The cocktail hour was on the museum's west side, overlooking the Rice Native Gardens. They had a full bar available and a few passed appetizers. Andy tried guacamole on watermelon. That was an interesting combination but he said it tasted pretyt good. We passed on the stuffed mushrooms. I was so hungry I ate a small crab cake. I don't usually like seafood and that reminded me why. Ick. Andy was surprised to see that his name tag said he is in the museum's Founders Council. Fancy.

The bartender who poured these glasses was a little too generous.

After cocktail hour we were ushered into the theater to listen to the pitch for a new capital campaign. The slogan is "Because Earth."

Stanley Field Hall set for dinner. Loved the lighting.

We were seated at Table 19. We were joking that there were probably going to be 19 tables, but there were at least 30. We talked with a couple throughout dinner and found out they lived by our high school. Small world. This salad was interesting. It tasted good, but it was a little hard to cut through the toasted bread. I suppose it was easier to eat than a tossed salad. The waiters never brought our table wine and the entree was the smallest I've ever seen.

Such a small portion. And the spinach? No thanks.

We left through the west entrance where our car was dropped off for valet parking. However, the valets were then in front of the museum so we had to walk all the way around to claim our car. My feet were not happy. And we had to drop off our name tags so we had to walk up all those steps to do so. At least the museum looked pretty lit up at night...

... and we got huge umbrellas as a party favor.