Today I'm thankful for...

At Red Caboose there are 3 rooms. 3 sets of kids. 3 sets of teachers. I have had my fair share of problems with my kids and my partner, and there are times when our room can be a pain (we have to have snack upstairs which is not the easiest). But yesterday I was SO SO SO SO SO SO thankful that I'm in the auditorium because unlike the other 2 rooms and unlike most of the school we have AIR CONDITIONING!

So after sitting in my hot apartment all morning (it got up to 90 yesterday and i don't have AC) I was fully expecting to go sit in a hot room with 20 grumpy kids, but instead ac bliss! Thanks life.

We're engaged!!!!!

Yesterday Mark and I helped Mark's parents move out of their house. It was a lot of work, but filled with fun and family time. Mark and I made a quick stop at the Farmer's Market and then headed over to their old house to start moving furniture. Partially due to my weak upper body strength and partially due to their extremely heavy furniture, I wasn't able to help move that much stuff, but it was nice to be there. Their new condo is really nice and it was fun to see it come together with all their stuff. After the big move Mark and I went for a walk at Frederick's Hill which I also mentioned in this post. It was a lovely day for a walk. The hill is now extremely green (last time it was very snow covered). We sat down on a bench where we'd sat on our last visit there. We were talking and Mark started telling me how much he loved me- everything about me and doing everything with me, and then said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes! I love Mark very much. The ring was my Grammy's so it is very special to me. We're thinking sometime next July! We stopped by Mark's parents condo and his Grandma's apartment and I called my parents. Then we went out to the Union Terrace to celebrate with some ice cream.

I love my life. :-)

This weekend...

Temperature highs-

Sat- 68
Sun-67
Mon- 70
Tues-72

I didn't mind winter while it was here, but now that I've been spoiled with warmer temperatures I just want the cold weather to go away and not come back until there can also be snow. The weekend forecast looks wonderful...so I'll just ignore the temperature of 44 right now.

Also, the first Eastside Farmer's Market was yesterday. Mark and I walked out of our apartment building, across the street, and voila fresh produce! This Market is much smaller than the Saturday one, but we were still able to get what we needed- rhubarb and spinach. And also what we didn't need, but wanted...a mini rhubarb apple pie yum! I'm going to experiment with rhubarb this week. I just couldn't resist, it's at virtually every stall at the farmer's market!

More adventures and spring in my neighborhood

I don't know if the winter sky was greyer and I just didn't notice, but the sky seems so BLUE now!

Orton Park looks so green!

Cool flower sign in Chicago

Mark and I in the shiny bean

Grafitti

This weekend Mark and I went down to Chicago for the day, Saturday. One of the artists who works with Tandem had an art show there and I really wanted to see it. We drove down and had brunch in Wicker Park at the Bongo Room. Mmmmmmm. Then we walked around that area for a bit and went in one of my favorite stores Renegade Handmade. The bad thing about going in that store is that I want to buy everything (even though I could make most of it). However, I restrained myself. Then we went to see the Judy Pfaff show. Her work is really awesome. You should check it out here. One of the pieces in the show had a piece in it that I had painted with varnish so that was pretty cool. Then we walked around for a couple hours. We went to The American Girl Place (every little girls dream come true...or at least every little girl who has an American Girl doll). Then we walked to the shiny bean in Grant Park. I'm not sure what this is actually called, but it's super cool. We walked around the Loop just looking at the city and then headed back to the car. We had an extremely DELICIOUS dinner at Mana Food Bar in Wicker Park and then drove home.

Sunday was full of errands, and a short bike ride. We also went out to lunch with Mark's parents to celebrate Mother's Day. I was sad not to be in Florida with my mom though.

Spring is really here. The trees have leaves. The grass is green. Now if it would just stay warm for longer than a day.

Weekend adventure!

Picnic along the river in a bluebell patch!

Bike ride back to our car

In the Kickapoo Valley Reserve


Mark faces off a Ruffed Grouse...that bird would not leave us alone!

Canoeing along the Kickapoo

Our campsite

This weekend Mark and I went camping and canoeing! We drove up to Wildcat Mountain on Saturday afternoon and set up our tent. On the way there we dropped off our bikes at where we'd be finishing our canoe trip. When we got out of the car this bird came up to us and was getting really close. I snapped some cool pictures, but then it started running at us. We got on our bikes and rode down the trail and it flew at Mark! It was quite an exciting bike drop off.

After setting up our site we made dinner (hobo meals) on the campfire. Then we walked around the campground in the dark and laid down in a field to look up at the stars.

In the morning we laid in the tent for awhile just listening to all the bird calls. Then we packed up and hit the river. The Kickapoo River is really beautiful. Parts are flanked with pretty grass and trees and wildflowers and then other parts have these huge rock bluffs on one side. It was a really pretty paddle. We got out a couple times and explored. At the end of our trip we biked back through the reserve and got the car so we could pick up our canoe. It was a wonderful couple days. :-)

New Apartment!

Mark and I are moving in together next year! (yay) So, we need somewhere a little bigger than my apartment. After a bit of searching...we found something we're really excited about. It's nice, big, and less than a block from Mark's school. We move in August 1...which is a ways away, but I'm sure it'll be here before we know it.

Our window is the 2nd one up on the left. :-)