OK, so I recently admitted to myself that the cord that connects my camera to the computer will not just turn up. It has most tragically gone to the land of the lost - where I hope it enjoys a lovely life with its new friends: dark pearl earring I miss terribly, and every hair band I've ever purchased.
In any case, I bought another one, but it was the wrong one. And then I finally bought a correct replacement. Soooo, really all of that basically amounts to my sad apology on why I haven't blogged much lately. Without pictures, it's not as fun.
So, with that, let me catch you up on what we've been up to this summer...
Mmm. Nothing better than summer festival food in Chicago.
We goofed off in Millennium Park with Mike.
I planted some window boxes, which clearly confused Jethro...
We realized we may be getting too old for Lollapalooza.
And we had some exciting neighborhood news - a new restaurant opened right near us -- and they sell wine under $20. Sweet mother - what a gift!
Not included in photos, but will also be fondly remembered:
- I got to visit my best friends back in LA and finally meet their new little baby, who is an absolute perfect angel, naturally.
- Mr. A and Cousin K arriving home from a long and drunken night out, on ONE bike. Seriously - two grown men trying to balance a shared ride on one bicycle. Hilarious.
- The Harry Potter Night that our wonderful town put together. It was amazing - our main street became Diagon alley, one of the churches recast itself as Azkaban, and folks were in every costume imaginable. There was HP theatre in the park, butter beer served in restaurants, and even the town newspaper published itself as "The Daily Prophet". It restored my faith in community!
So all in all, between flights we managed to pull off a lovely summer. AND we still have a few weeks of warm weather to go!
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Back to proper blogging
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
5 days till the Superbowl!
The original tailgater, Grandpa Anderson, was in the Chicago Tribune last week.
Bring this man the superbowl trophy!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Welcome to Winter
Our lovely warm fall weather ended abruptly last night. In the course of just 10 hours the temperature dropped 50 degrees and we were hit with seven inches of fat wet snow. Here at home I spent those ten hours quietly freaking out about how I was going to drive to work. I've never ever driven in snow before -- let alone a blizzard, so the morning commute had me terrified.
My lovely husband prepped me well -- drive slow, don't brake too fast, stay in your lane if possible, etc. It was all helpful advice. (Although the one thing he didn't mention was that the brake lights on the dashboard we're going to go off -- which made my heart stop for a second.) Anyway, it took an hour and a half, and I only screamed once (when a truck blew by me and the entire car was *splatted* with a heavy smack of muddy slush), but you'll be proud to know that I managed to get to work in one piece. The car's in one piece too - if you don't count the nail marks in the steering wheel.
With the day being filled with frazzled nerves and heavy snow, I thought this might be a good night to start the 2006 Anderson Mulled Wine Ratings. (I know those of you familiar with the 2003 Anderson Cheese Chart are excited -- we certainly have a history of brilliant epicurean evaluations, don't we? I believe our top cheese won on a rating of "MMMMmmmmmmmm".)
Alrighty. Our first contender is a traditional mulled wine, from The Bay Tree, sold last year through Crate and Barrel. I steeped the little bag in a cheapy bottle of Black Swan Shiraz/Cabernet.
I'm giving it a 3 out of 5. It's lovely and traditional, but maybe a little too clovey. So it's a little dry. And my tongue went puffy. So there you go... -2 points for needing to push your tongue against the roof of your mouth to make sure it's not *actually* getting bigger.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Elvis Night at the Cell
Many of you know I've always wanted to see the flying Elvi.
Well on Friday night, I finally fufilled my dream.
Friday, August 04, 2006
A new look for the master bathroom
I couldn't take the red. I just couldn't. So my awesome husband agreed to a little project scope creep -- we cleaned up the bathroom and installed a new sink. Now I won't look like a lobster when I get ready in the morning. 
Thursday, July 06, 2006
I love this city
The fireworks on the 4th were MUCH bigger than the 5th. Our neighborhood went crazy. This morning the cats were out from under the bed, however when Mr. Anderson ran the coffee bean grinder they both freaked and ran back under again. I think they have post traumatic stress disorder.
Take a look at the debris on our deck the morning after. Keep in mind...
1) our roof deck is higher than most around
2) we didn't have a party
3) there wasn't an official sanctioned city show anywhere near us
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Happy 4th!
It's absolutely beautiful out, and everywhere you look Chicagoans are out enjoying all the city has to offer.
Yesterday afternoon we went to Arlington to bet on the ponies. I came thisclose to winning on two boxed trifectas. I can't tell you how frustrating that was. I am entirely convinced that with more practice I will completely master the skill of forecasting horse races and become instantly rich. My husband is behind this plan (naturally). His capacity for love and faith in me, of course, is why I married him.
When we got home from the track we went out on the roof deck to watch fireworks. I suppose if you'd asked me I would have guessed it would be a pretty good show, but holy crap I had no idea it would be that crazy! It was shock and awe out there. 360 degrees of bright, crackling, lights. (All of it, I'm sure, was high grade, semi-legal, and recently imported from the great state of Indiana.) I kept swiveling around oohing and aahing. (Actually, as I type this, I'm realizing that I probably looked like a developmentally challenged 3 year-old. LOL.) About 11 pm or so our next door neighbors started to set off a few fireworks on their roof -- fun and first, then a few got a bit close for comfort and we opted to head in. Good thing because Ringo and Jethro were freaking out at the noise. We tried to comfort them a bit, but they ended up spending much of the night under our bed.
This morning we slept in and then went for bike ride along the lake and checked out Soul Coughing playing at Taste of Chicago. They sounded great. Much better than I remembered them being. Its amazing what playing outside in a fantastic festival atmosphere does for a band's sound.
We're back at home now, relaxing after watching the end of the World Cup game. The cats are back under the bed though. The crazy Italians across the street are setting off victory fireworks in the street in broad daylight. Between that and the fireworks tonight, I'm thinking we won't see the kitties out from under the bed again until August.
Some pics of our day yesterday...
My notes before race #9... when I was absolutely sure I was going to be rich...
I won't show you what I looked like after the race was over. Needless to say it wasn't pretty.
I tried to capture the fireworks over the city. Didn't really get a good shot, but here's a glimpse of the ones our neighbors set off that put the cats over the edge:
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Winter? What winter?
That's how this town gets you. It's a beautiful night. My gorgeous husband and I just watched the sun set while sipping wine on the deck.
Ahhhhh....
We're off to bar hop along Division. The patios are full of people. Gotta enjoy it while it lasts...
Monday, March 13, 2006
Speaking of love for immigrants
No American city loves St. Patrick's day more than Chicago. Why else would you be silly enough to make your green river even greener!?
Photo credit goes to John Gress/Reuters
An accidental protest
I was out for a good 20 minutes when I swung around to Wacker and turned to the south. Out of nowhere I ran up against an enormous wave of people flooding onto Jackson. It was an incredible gathering – thousands and thousands of people. All moving west in a resolute march toward the federal building.
Having no clue what was going on, I stood back and read signs. There were men, women, and children from all walks of life protesting H.R. 4437, the Hastert/Sensenbrenner bill, which is an piece of legislation that could amount to dramatic changes in immigration law.
There’s a funny part of this story and a serious part. I’ll start with the funny…
I sorta ended up protesting with them. Here’s why: I couldn’t figure out how to get back to my building without jumping in with the crowd. There were people flooding down Jackson as far as the eye could see – and my office building is *on* Jackson. At that moment as far as I could tell I was going to have to wait 20 minutes for the enormous march to pass, or join in. So after reading a flyer and establishing that this was not some sort of Nancy Reagan-esque anti-drug event (you know, with Punky Brewster up front), I snuck in between a big group of Irish men and a huge Mexican church group and began to walk down Jackson. I rallied with my peeps for a good three blocks before sneaking back in my building. (Yea, yea, okay, I know I’m weird.)
Here’s the serious part: I suspect that many of you, like me, probably had no clue about the Hastert/Sensenbrenner bill, and its counterpoint, the McCain/Kennedy bill. They truly are worth learning about. While I was walking along with those passionate sincere people, it really embarrassed me that I had absolutely no awareness on the issue. In fact, I think the news report that I paid the most attention to on Friday morning was probably the announcement that Chloe Dao won Project Runway. (Shame shame shame!)
In any case, I really must salute the Mexican Homeland Federation for organizing the march. It was really well run, good-spirited, and succeeded in its goal of education and awareness – at least with me.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Don't worry Josh...
We did go ice skating Millennium Park for my birthday. And let me say this, it’s clear I’m going to need a lot more training before nationals.
The evening was lovely – a great way to ring in 32 years. There were a few surprises: for one, I can still skate backwards (a little). And two, our friend Bruce is really good at skating! (Who knew?! Go Bruce!)
The rest of the gang demonstrated their winter sports skills during the bar crawl – lifting frosty pints like champions. Speaking of which – we *did* start the evening at Berghoffs’ bar. We managed to squeeze through the crowd and grab two tables in the front. The place truly is charming. There was a group of regulars seated right next to us and they kindly bought me a birthday beer. (Thanks Jim!) They also let me in on a secret about the Berghoff “closing” – it may not actually be the end of the Bierhaus’ story after all. I’d reveal the details but it’s all baseless rumor, and truthfully I’m a little scared of setting off a firestorm. (See the comment from Stephen v Funk on my Berghoff post – weird! The people of Internet land found me!)
Next stop - the top of the cock!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
But I just got here!
We're going to have to take care of "Have a beer at the Berghoff" sooner than I thought.
It looks like they're closing Berghoff's at the end of February. I'm really disappointed to hear they're shutting the joint down. Though admittedly I haven't stepped foot inside, I get the sense that it's a place with the kind of character that's rarely seen anymore. It's also rooted in Chicago history. They opened in 1893, and God love them, they're the proud owners of city liquor license #1 -- which makes it an important landmark to a lot of alchohol-loving Chicagoans (which, is a lot of citizens, let me tell you.)
I've looked around and I can't quite understand why it's closing. One thing that strikes me is the "third generation" theory I learned about when I worked in the florist business. It's specific to family-run operations, which Berghoff is. The rule of thumb goes like this: the first generation works their fingers to the bone building a good, solid business; the second generation usually does a good job of following in their parent's success; but it's always the grandchild (that thinks they know better than their out-of-touch dad or their geezer grandpa) that drives the business in the ground. I wonder if that's the situation here and poor Herman Joseph Berghoff is rolling over in his grave right now.
To ring them out in style, I think we'll head there for my birthday, raise a pint or two to good old Herman-the-German and then (weather-permitting) do a little hops-infused ice skating at the Millennium Park rink.
Friday, January 06, 2006
No wonder my butt looks bigger.
Chicago can now claim another grand title: The fattest city in America.
Men's Fitness Magazine claims the two big issues are Chicagoans love of television and lack of exercise. Clearly no one from that publication has ever actually tried to take a hearty jog around a Chicago park when it's -17 degrees out with lake effect snow and a serious windchill.
Also, the magazine loses a lot of credibility with me because they've got LA ranked #3. That's total crap.
I wonder how they judged this whole thing. I've lived in LA -- I *know* those people are fit. I now live in Chicago, and OK, we're not skinny minnys but we're just fine, thank you.
Did they send anyone to Arkansas? I've been to Arkansas. And as my lovely friend Karl once said, it's where they invented XXXL.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
The Essential 20
Chicago Magazine's Dec. 2003 edition featured a column called "The Classics". It challenged that you can't call yourself a real Chicagoan unless you've checked off everything on the list below. If this list really has any merit, I'm feeling pretty good. I've already done quite a few.
- Eat a cheeseburger at Billy Goat (Done! Spe-cial on Thursday is $5.10 - bring a dime.)
- Go down in the coal mine at the Museum of Science and Industry (Done.)
- Play 16-inch softball without a glove
- Have a drink at the signature lounge atop the Hancock
- Enjoy Sunday Afternoon with Seurat
- Picinic on the lawn at Ravinia
- Take in a game at Wrigley (Done - Go Cubbies!)
- Read the "Chicago Classics" - The Adventures of Augie March, Sister Carrie, The Jungle, and Native Son.
- Attend a festival in Grant Park
- Circle the Loop on the el (Done.)
- Hit the Blues Clubs
- Celebrate Christmas at the State St. Marshall Field's (Done.)
- Visit the Robie House
- Go smelt fishing
- Take an architectural boat tour (Yup. In November no less - which I don't advise. Brrr!)
- Eat deep dish (Yup -- actually, why do you think I moved here?)
- Bike the lakefront
- Catch a show at Steppenwolf (done.)
- Drive Lower Wacker
- Have a beer at the Berghoff
I'm not in too much of a rush on the whole smelt thing. But I'm definitely into the drink on top of the Hancock. How's the evening of Tuesday the 24th?
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Holiday Greetings from Bear Country
When we moved from Los Angeles to Chicago a year ago, priority one for Mr. Anderson was getting a whole season's worth of Bears tickets. Sounded like a blast to me. Then winter came. Let me just say this -- never did I imagine a day where I would be standing in a frigid stadium, wind whipping at my face, wearing two pairs of long johns, two sets of socks, jeans, boots, three layered sweaters, a giant down coat, a hat, scarf, and two pairs of gloves screaming, "Cheeseheads suck!" at the top of my lungs.
I guess that officially makes me a Chicagoan now.
