Randi & Messy Marvin @ The Rockhouse (5/29)

Randi was singing with a band called Messy Marvin at The Rockhouse tonight. She's got an amazing voice! I couldn't believe how she belted out a Led Zeppelin song and sounded hot!

Mom's 65th Birthday

Today was mom's 65th birthday and I took the day off so we could spend it together. We went to the spa to get manicures and pedicures. Margie surprised her by calling ahead and paying for mom's treatments. We had fun picking out our colors and getting ready for Summer. Then I took her out to lunch at McCormick & Schmick's which was excellent. We had a few glasses of wine with lunch and it was fun. Then we met her friend Kay for a drink up at Meyer's Tavern. (NEVER thought I'd end up in that place!) After that we went home and changed to get ready for her big dinner. She didn't know it, but we invited a few special friends and it was a bit of a surprise. She had a really great birthday.

All pictures are here.

Grease Flowchart

Bowling for a Cure with the Real Housewives of Northwest Indiana

A friend of my sister's is part of the Real Housewives of Northwest Indiana and they sponsored a bowling fundraiser for cancer. I was partnered with one of the people who were working the event so I had to bowl most of the 40 frames myself. She helped out a bit and sometimes I had her husband or my sister's boyfriend bowl for me, but I think I had to throw the ball around 60 times. My arm was like jello!

TCN Team

Yesterday we got news of a reorganization at work. No one got laid off, but our rockstar team is getting split up. Many of us will move on to a different application. The consultants will stay with TCN. Also, today is the last day Priya and Deepak are in the office. Those little lovebirds met here at work and are flying back to India tomorrow to get married!

New Modern Art Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago

Luckily, Glendy is a member of the Art Institute of Chicago and she took me as her guest to the member's sneak peak of the new modern art wing a few days before it opened to the public. Some of the art I loved and some of it was very questionable. We spent about two hours in the gallery and got too tired and hungry so we decided to come back another day when we could try out the new restaurant and do the audio tour. I still don't get the difference between modern and contemporary art...

All pictures from our visit here.

200 Years for Food and Wine in France (1600-1850)

Glendy and I took a really fun class this Spring at the University of Chicago. "200 Years of Food and Wine in France (1600-1850)" was created by Bill from Sam's Wine. It was an eight week class and the final class was held at Sam's Wine and also included tastings.

All pictures from the final class here.

Cocaine Cowboys

My buddy recommended this movie to me. Cocaine Cowboys is a documentary about drugs and I LOVE those. But this one is special because it all happened during my life time and there were so many moments during this one that blew me away! I knew Miami was a big cocaine city, but I had NO IDEA things like this really went on. Every American should see this one!

Cubs vs. Giants @ Wrigley Field (5/4)

Tonight I went to the Cubs game with one of my favorite people, who happens to be a Giants fan! I was assured he'd have no problem as I have never been to a Cubs game where they have won... but indeed the Cubs played well (or the Giants played lousy) and we won! Also, the weather was great and it was a PERFECT night for baseball.

Franz Ferdinand @ The Riviera (4/30)

BEST CONCERT since The Killers back in January. I was sick and ended up going to this one by myself... and it was still awesome. My friend got sick and then I only had time to check with two people - neither of whom could make it - because I was so busy at work. And around 4pm a cold started kicking in... I picked up the tickets from my other sick friend and headed over to The Riviera. Had dinner at Agami and Alex, lead singer of Franz Ferdinand, ate there too! Dinner was awesome and I even though I should have gone home and to bed I made it to the show and got myself a decent spot. I was SO GLAD I made it. They rocked and the energy of the crowd was amazing! Non-stop jumping to all their amazing songs. Towards the end of their main set they brought the Born Ruffians, the opening band which I missed, up on stage and had some type of super cool drum circle! "No You Girls", "Do You Want To", and "Take Me Out" were songs I came to hear. "Ulysses", "Lucid Dreams" and "This Fire" blew me away too! They also treated Chicago to a three song encore. It was amazing.



Set list
1. Jacqueline
2. No You Girls
3. Tell Her Tonight
4. Turn it On
5. Michael
6. Twilight Omens
7. Do You Want To
8. Walk Away
9. The Dark of the Matinee
10. Bite Hard
11. Take Me Out
12. Ulysses
13. 40
14. The Outsiders

ENCORE
15. What She Came For
16. Lucid Dreams
17. This Fire