There is an upside to this story. In the meantime, my inability to run has thrown me more in to the worlds of cycling and swimming than I would have been otherwise. I have “competed” in (or completed I should say) some triathlons  either walking the run portion or doing a relay with friends or husband… until last summer when I discovered it. It being the AQUABIKE!  The name sounds like something sold on an info-mmercial promising to make my thighs smaller for 10 easy payments of $29.95. But no, the aquabike race is just the swim and run portions of the triathlon and while it feels somewhat like a cop out not to run it was such a great feeling to actually finish a race!

All of that to say I have set my goals high (at least relative to myself) for this summer. This summer will be my summer of the Aquabike.  My first race will be the weekend of my 30th birthday in Knoxville, TN (hello new and more difficult age bracket!) — check out the race here.

As usual, the biggest hurdle for me right now is getting my butt back in the pool and keeping it there with some consistancy. Something about getting in water (even indoor average temperature h2o) when it’s snowing outside is difficult. I am excited and nervous about the challenge ahead and I’m just praying that I can be healthy and strong even if I finish last!

• Watching our beloved Huskies take on Duke at Madison Square Garden. The men in purple and gold fell short but did give a valiant comeback in the last few minutes that got the blood pumping and made us proud.
• Walking through Central Park. The contrast between the huge, undeveloped green space and the rest of the city is so cool.
• Of course, the week-old REI Manhattan.
• Seeing small gangs of progressively more intoxicated Santas all over the city for Santa Con. According to their website, Santa Con is a “non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-sensical Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reason.” Anyway, it was entertaining.
• Sharing a two bedroom apartment above the Manhattan Sikh Center with 5 other good friends, laughing, catching up, sharing bathrooms.
• Bagels.
• Rockefeller Center and the Christmas tree (imported from Pennsyvania, but we have no idea how they get it there in one piece?) was good to see, but wow, was it crowded. There were times when we couldn’t even walk down the sidewalk.  Between the basketball game and the tree we saw two proposals in the span on two hours!
• Two very different but epic dinners: one huge family-style Italian feast where we celebrated Lisa’s 29th birthday, and one Japanese bonanza with our waiter leading Sake-bomb chants.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. So many Picassos and Van Goughs and Monets. You could spend a week in there and not see half of the amazing art. After seeing many of these artists’ works here in Chicago, we felt so cultured when we recognized their style from across the room in a different museum.

Flying back in to Chicago on Sunday night our city felt strangely small. We had so much fun in New York and are excited to see where the Huskies will take us next year…

December is upon us and all of the hustle, bustle, and beauty that comes with Christmas time.  Currently, Tim is doing a 3 month stint at a clinic out in Aurora… Aurora is the furthest you can get away from Chicago and still be considered a suburb. He drives about an hour and half each way!! REI continues to get busier by the day even though we have had a mild Midwest winter so far (thank you Jesus). My challenge has been figuring out how to gear up properly for my bike commute to work. I have set a goal to ride through December and I have already taken the train a couple times when I see the number 2 starting the temperature.

Chicago itself is beginning to look a lot like Christmas–

Macy’s windows are full of shiny dresses and large wrapped gifts, the ice skating rinks are up in Millennium Park and Wrigleyville, Daley plaza hosts the city’s huge Christmas tree and booths full of German ornaments, and our neighbors have properly placed their adorned trees in their bay windows for the city to see.

ornament shopping

our Chicago wildlife keeping warm

We got a little tree that we carried through our neighborhood “When Harry Met Sally” style and modestly decorated with the handful of ornaments we have here.  We managed to fit it (or I should say Tim engineered it) up in the window between our kitchen and dining room. We had to get creative with our lack of floor space.

our little tree

one of our few ornaments

nativity

We are excited to have the next few days off as we are headed to New York City. We are meeting up with friends from Seattle to watch the Huskies play Duke in Madison Square Garden (go Dawgs) as well as explore the Big Apple all lit up (you know, like in Serendipity, Home Alone 2, Elf, etc, etc.).   More to come on that adventure…

  First, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.  I must confess that while a handful of people had recommended the book to us, it wasn’t until I opened to the first page that I realized this is a non-fiction novel!  As I continued reading it blew me away that I didn’t know anything about the historical events that this book portrays.  TDITWC (come on, it’s shorter) is about two men and their lives surrounding the 1893 World’s Colombian Exposition. The first, Daniel H. Burnham, was the architect behind the fair construction in South Chicago. The second, H.H. Holmes (or so was his alias), a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor.  Larson switches between the two lives and left me wanting to be a part of this fascinating time in history — far away from the “castle” of H.H. Holmes.  Where the book is a bit dry at times it makes up for it by tying together fascinating historical events such as Olmsted’s creation of the Biltmore in Asheville, NC and the sinking of the Titanic. Wonder how these all come together? You’ll have to read the book!  (PS – there is talk of a movie on this one involving Leonardo DiCaprio)

I know that The Secret Life of Bees is older as popular novels go, but I have been on a kick reading books that have recently become movies.  This book was a pretty quick and easy read in which Sue Monk Kidd takes you into the life of a 14 year old girl in a backcountry town in 1960′s South Carolina.  What I liked most about this novel was the sense of childhood magic and wonder that came through the eyes of the main character Lily.  The novel tells the story of a bright pink house where 3 sisters have made a living selling honey from their bees and what happens when Lily and her caregiver have no where to go but there. It is a story of faith, unusual women, coming of age, and honey. It made me reminisce about what went on in my head and heart at the age of 14.

Here is yet another non-fiction about two men. Same Kind of Different As Me has an entirely different story to tell and definitely one worth reading. I will say up front that this book made me cry – I’m talking about the kind of cry that shakes your shoulders. So be ready for that. The two men are Denver Moore, a man raised as a modern-day slave in Louisiana who spent the majority of his life homeless on the streets of Texas, and Ron Hall, a wealthy and well-educated art dealer who took some wrong paths. The book spans the story of their lives from a young age to recent history including how they became friends and how this unlikely friendship changed both of their lives. SKODAM is a book about faith, love, hope, and the ups and downs of our life here on earth. I was challenged and inspired and I think I will read this book again soon.

One more. I read A Homemade Life last summer, but I am throwing it in because it is quit different from my other recent reads.  Molly Wizenberg is the creative genius behind the food blog Orangette. This is her first book and it brings tastes and smells to the stories of her life.  Each chapter has a recipe and a story that goes along with it.  One reason I like this book so much is that I relate to her a lot — she is around my age and I can easily imagine myself drinking a glass of wine in her kitchen while we bake something from scratch without a recipe just to see how it will taste.  Molly is also a francophile and will inspire even the most home-body of you to fly to France and eat chocolate and bread for breakfast.  Molly and her husband opened a delicious New York inspired pizza restaurant on a quiet street in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. We have only been to Delancey once but will hands down recommend you go.

OK, that is all the books for today. I have to confess that I am currently half way through the Hunger Games trilogy and can’t put it down. I hope that doesn’t negate your thoughts on my taste in books.

Happy November Y’all.

acron, squirrel, and leaf sugar cookies

sitting in the sun

red line to Howard and yellow tree

leaves and bicycle

Just a few for now – hope you are all enjoying a pumpkin carving, apple picking, casserole eating, tall boot wearing Fall!

This picture is our little piece of the world… or perhaps our little piece of Chicago… or our little piece of Clark Street. Yup, we live on the second floor rear of that red painted restaurant on one of the busiest streets in Chicago.  Sometimes when I come home at night and the street lights illuminate the busy sidewalk and the usual crowd hangs out outside of Mia Fracesca’s waiting for a table I think that I live in a movie scene. Besides showing off our diggs, what I really want to write this post about is that little  piece of heavy aluminum leaning up against the post in front of Socca. Yes, that would be our commuter bike. 

When we moved to Chicago we counted on taking the train a whole heck of a lot, but we soon came to realize how accessible and fast everywhere is to get to by bike (don’t get me wrong, I will be switching to the train come first freeze). We both have light, fast road bikes and we quickly learned our bikes were not cut out for the pot holes, sandy paths, and unpredictable storms in this city. So, we pooled our REI dividends, birthday gift certificates, and my REI discount to purchase what I like to call our SUB, or sport utility bike.

It features a nice wide seat, heavy duty shocks for the city streets, a rack for strapping on odds and ends, and a handy shopping pannier for Trader Joe’s trips! We just got new commuter tires to put on it so that it goes faster than with these knobby mountain tires.

loaded down for the beach

The combination of selling bikes for a living and riding a bike for transportation every day has given me a new appreciation and confidence in what a bike can do. Being a bike commuter means I exercise every day without going out of my way, save money on gas, and never have to look for parking. And it is a good thing we live in the smallest space imaginable and cannot fit anyTHING else in our apartment because I already want a touring bike and a triathlon bike to add to our fleet.

Back to the actual show. A couple months ago Tim read early one morning that tickets were going on sale that day and he raced through downtown Chicago on his bike to buy us tickets on his lunch break which sold out later that day (superhero husband, eh?).

They mostly played through their self titled album Bon Iver. You can listen to it here. However, a definite highlight of the show was their one and only cover song. No, sadly it was not Bonnie Raitt, but he covered Bjork’s “Who is it?” We’d never heard her version before, but we’re pretty sure he played it better than she did, including adding in a beatbox/clarinet duet (uh huh).

The encore included “Skinny Love” much like their version on The Colbert Report last month and if you haven’t seen it, you should definitely stop reading and click here.  They ended the show with Beth/Rest which to me is reminiscent of some early 90′s sounds… I’ll let that be good or bad for you.

Chicago was Bon Iver’s 2nd stop on a their new tour. Their first stop was in their home state of Wisconsin where Milwaukee declared it Bon Iver Day. If you don’t know the history here is a little: Justin Vernon wrote Bon Iver’s first album in a cabin in the winter in northwestern WI while sick with mono right after a break-up.  Sounds made up, doesn’t it?  The first album is titled “For Emma, Forever Ago” and we both had a good laugh at the show when we saw a girl whose white V-neck shirt had “Screw Emma” scribbled across it in black.

Well, Emma, whoever you are, thank you for helping bring great music into our lives.

Friends, check out the tour dates and we hope you get to enjoy Bon Iver live as well.

ANYWAY, a new appreciation grew last summer and my friend Leah and I proceeded to make it at least every other week in double portions. BBQ, casual get-together, baby shower, bought too many chips… the reasons were endless. Here it is in it’s true recipe, but I will add my two cents as well:

1 can Shoepeg corn (11 oz), 1 can black beans (15.5 oz), 1 package feta (4 oz), 1 small bunch of green onions chopped

Combine all of these. *Ashley’s note: first, if corn on the cob is in season then go for IT. Cut the kernels off of about 3 ears and cook with oil on medium heat about 10 min. or until softened. Second, I always double the corn and beans! I do 2 cans of each and then get a bigger thing of feta if I’m not feeling too cheap.

Then blend: 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cider vinegar, garlic powder/salt/pepper to taste.

Toss together. Chill at least one hour and mix together well. Good with scoop corn chips… or any other vehicle to get it to your mouth   Why is it called ugly dip, you ask? Well, I don’t think it will win any prizes for looks but who cares when it tastes so dang good!

*Another Ashley Note: when I double the first half of the recipe, I keep the other measurements the same. If you do not double, I would recommend cutting back on the second half proportions.

Manly Cocktail

Our graduation celebratory dinner at Longman and Eagle inspired this drink. They call it the Bitter Bourbon Buck.

Start with a glass of ice. Add a shot (or two) of your favorite bourbon or whiskey.

Add the most delicious ingredient, ginger beer, which as far as I can tell the same as ginger ale, except, perhaps more ginger-y. Try a 2:1 ratio of beer to whiskey, adding more beer if you like it sweeter.

Top with a splash of the most interesting ingredient, Fernet Branca, a bitter Italian liquor. This stuff is crazy. It’s made from a hodge-podge of different spices including saffron, chamomile, iris, gentian root, galangal, aloe, lime tree bark, and myrrh. Yes, myrrh, the same stuff Jesus got for his birthday. Honestly, the liquor is pretty gross if you drink it straight. But it does add some crazy complexity to the drink.

Finally, drop an orange wedge in and give it a stir (or whatever bartenders do).

Gents, the bittersweet smoky complexity of this drink is great, and you can still keep your man card when you order it off the “cocktail” menu.

I will say that this past week’s time in Seattle was both refreshing and challenging.  It was refreshing in many ways including getting out of the Chicago summer heat to spend some glorious days in crisp Seattle 60′s and 70′s. It was also refreshing to catch up with wonderful friends and be around people who know us and love us so well.  And talk about refreshment – I shared a bottle of prosecco, a bottle of sparkling rose, and my favorite Trader Joe’s sparkling white with girlfriends – don’t you feel refreshed just imagining it?* Refreshment for the body and soul!

We were also challenged during our time in Seattle. I think being asked questions about life, even general ones, makes us want to be more intentional about our time, energy, and money.  Our time at Bethany on Sunday challenged us to raise the bar in our individual lives as well as our marriage (Richard spoke on Anger, Lust, and Unfaithfulness – woahwee).  As soon as I got on the plane to fly home, I started a list. I do love me some lists, but this one was practical ways I want my life to look different.  Times in life come and go when I feel inspired and challenged and I welcome this one with open arms. 

There are more highlights from our week than I know what to do with but I’ll throw some out there — dinner outside on the 4th of July, hot tub and wine with the girls, lunch at Palisade, Tim playing frisbee golf with the guys, Park Pub in all it’s glory, hiking at Mount Ranier with the VanOsses, double date to a new Tom Douglas restaurant – Cuoco, calzone dinner with friends, and just plain ole time with people we love.

So, SEATTLE and all of you there who make our lives so special – THANK YOU. Thank you for a wonderful, refreshing, challenging week! We’ll be back again.

* note: these were 3 separate occasions. No need to call AA.

From here, Tim will start a 1 year residency at a clinic in the North Riverside neighborhood just west of Chicago where he will get some good hands-on time with patients and continue to learn with a bit more responsibility.  At the end of the year Tim will take his boards and hopefully become a certified orthotist… and start back to school for prosthetics!  Here are a few pictures:

Tim's LSO for Addie

Tim's KAFO in progress

Graduation!