Bears & Birthdays

Turning 30 is a milestone, right? I didn't have a huge party or have a mini-meltdown (or mega-meltdown for that matter). I went to work! Yes, that's right, I landed a job. I'm working as the Conference & Catering Coordinator for a top 4 Accounting Firm. So far, pretty okay. More on that as it develops.

I did however celebrate my birthday over the past three weeks. My parents were in town for my dad's 'milestone' birthday. We toured the Chicago River on an Architectural Tour and had dinner at The Chicago Firehouse.

I also made a delicious birthday dessert of which I have no pictures but I'm sure you'll be alright with a description. Homemade Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge drizzled on top of Coffee Infused Pound Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and freshly whipped Whip Cream. Yeah, it was good, even B loved it, and he's not a sweets fan.


One of Chicago's 'claim to fames' is the used to be tallest building in the world, the Sears Tower. It's literally impossible to convey it's massiveness with a picture. The tower in front, 311 South Wacker, is completely concrete and as you can see from the shadow cast upon the Sears Tower, much shorter. I wish I could remember all the details we were told on our tour...


Boeing, the world's leading aerospace company is housed in this modern building. Most interested fact I remember from the tour: Underneath this monster of a building is Union Station (where all the trains go). Companies could purchase the airspace above the tracks since this is prime real estate in the city. All the buildings in this area are supported by huge columns that straddle the tracks. Boeing's airspace is partly over the main hub of activity and found part of their "air" unusable. Until some engineering genius came up with the idea to hang this part of the building from giant trusses (see the top of the photograph). They put columns underneath the building to keep people from freaking out. I swear, that's what our guide said.


The tower of the Tribune Building. It's very beautiful. Don't you wish we built buildings like this today?

So that was Dad's birthday celebration (with a little bit of mine mixed in).

My sister-in-law, (from now on just know, I have a brother, we'll call him Semaj. the rest of my siblings-in-law will from this point forward be refered to as brothers and sisters. the whole 'in-law' thing gets to be a mouthful.) LR's birthday is two days before mine. We've always wanted to celebrate together, this year being the first of many to come ( I hope). We had a nice dinner at Opera and went out for drinks. Then the best part...we got to sit in the fourth row at the Bears v Lions game! My enjoyment of football has grown over the past five years (that's how long we've been married, can you make a connection?) I would go again in a heartbeat!




Of course, being both such foodies, LR and I had to plan some tailgating food. I made a delicious chili and topped it with onions and chips. It's amazing how perfectly Bloody Mary's, Mimosas, & Chili go together at 7:00 am.








Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting & Berries.....I really shouldn't eat cream cheese anything, but little birthday treat never hurt anyone! Oh, and a little lesson from this one, if a recipe calls for a 10 inch cake pan, don't use an 8 inch, you'll have a nice free form cake on the bottom of your oven. Sorry B!

This was pretty exciting. I'm shocked at how giddy I was (still am) about it.

LR and I decided it would add a nice element to the field if there was a female who did the penalty announcements. She would be fully clothed, nothing obscene or overtly sexy about it, just a female. I'd like to volunteer to be the first one. I'll start at Solider Field. GO BEARS!!!!!









I missed the shot, but Devon Hester did a little flying-kick-move-dance during "Crank That (Soulja Boy)". He's hot.









The boy's seats are up here. LR's husband, E has season tickets. They look like they're not great, but the view is spectacular. Watching the plays unfold from here is better than TV.

I'm in no position to critique sports, but listening to AM radio shows makes me feel like-if all these assistant coaches in the Chicagoland area think they know what they're talking about, maybe I can contribute too. So our defense is not what it should be, at all. What's up with 54? Nice post-game interview buddy. My favorite player is on the end. Peanut Tillman.
Oh, and the offense? Don't even get me started!

We do look like sisters....love you LR!

Ouch! Someone's about to get SACKED!











Seriously, why do Rally Caps only apply to baseball games? The Bears needed some major rallying. Come on, people, don't laugh, join!