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. :-)

Spring (Can you tell there's a trend here?)

Spring in my neighborhood and evening canoe trip! :-)

The return of the Farmer's Market!

Mark and I had a wonderful weekend. Highlights include:::

UW Band Concert with Mark's family
Farmer's Market (YAY!)
Bike ride looking for apartments
Trip to School Forest with Mr. Swift (another 2nd grade teacher at Mark's school...he's so cool)
Paddle to Seattle documentary (really good...really funny)
Made Pasta Primavera...Yum!