Trying not to Hang Around the House

Sometimes, the most difficult thing to convince ourselves of in Chicago, in the midst of January (or February. . . or even March), is that our lives could be improved by leaving the house. With high temps of 14 degrees and evening windchill factors of -20 and giant piles of snow that get grayer and grosser by the day, convincing friends or husbands or ourselves that anything outside our front doors could have much in the way to recommend itself gets tougher and tougher the deeper into winter we get.

But good stuff is out there, and the layers of clothes you need to put on to get to those things with minimal pain is worth it.

For example, Friday night, we went to go see our buddy Amber in her 80's/90's/aught's cover band, the Xylenes at McDunna's. And they rocked and the room was warm and dark and the windows were all steamed up and swirling into icy patterns all adding up to a very specific homey feel in a non-home space that I think only happens in coffee houses and bars at night during winter at latitude 41 degrees North and above.


This is not Amber. This is the cool accordionist for the Xylenes whose accordion may be one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. But behind and to the right of the Accordioniest? Amber's hand on the neck of her bass. She plays bass. . . so she's super cool and never shows up in pictures.

And we followed good music with cheap burritos across the street--a habit I think no one in Chicago is too proud or fancy to take part in.

And then, Saturday, we took the fabulous Jill Huntsberger (still in the thick of outfitting her new swanky pad) on a field trip to Ikea and then Mitsuwa (Asian Grocery/cool Asian stuff place/tasty Asian food court awesomeness).

Mitsuwa is worth the cold and the drive. A cavalcade of:

Gorgeous foods that you either photograph intheir pretty rows,

or that gets held up and shown off to you by your husband

or your friend

exclaming "how cute" or "how delicious" or "how weird is this?"

or whose packaging you can't believe in all of its unbearadorableness. . .

Heaven must (oh please oh please oh please) be a little bit like this place, except everything's free and I would instantly know what it was all for without having to look it up in a dictionary of Asian condiments.

But seriously, this is their "Help Wanted" sign. Even that's cute!

Had we stayed at home, we would have seen none of this. . . plus, Dan and I wouldn't be eating homemade Chicken Laksa tonight. . . Lemongrass doesn't grow out of the couch cushions, after all.

In a weekend or two, expect pictures of Dan and I and LP braving a walk at the Indiana Dunes next to the frozen lake. That takes preparation and serious girding in the loin region. But we're doing that, too! BBRrrrrrrrrr!

Hurry Up. Wait,

The fabulous Jill Huntsberger has a new blog (Hurry Up, Wait) that catalogs her work-travel exploits. Strange food, strange art, strange hotel carpets. And because the fabulous Jill Huntsberger is less likely to stay in large corporate hotels than she is in B&B's and kitschy themed hotels (think concrete teepees built in the 50's or silos converted into motel rooms), there are likely many odd and lovely stories to come.

Check it.

Jasper Panda

The fabulous Jill Huntsberger mused out loud over lunch one day that it was unusual that I hadn't tried making a panda yet--after a few years of making a bunch of other animals.

So, here you are, tfJH! Pandarama!

Good news 4 and the fabulous Jill Huntsberger

The fabulous Jill Huntsberger's kitchen ceiling fan light cord terminates in a tiny rubber chicken.

But don't get me started on the scary painting in the background. The fabulous Jill Huntsberger tried to convince me that it was a cute painting, but if not for the dear tiny rubber chicken taking up most of my attention, I would have nightmares for weeks.

The Fabulous Jill Huntsberger. . .

needed a wok, so we went on a quick after-work sojourn to Chinatown. A quick in and out.

Jill got her wok and I got butterfly cookies and a surprise gift for the husband. . . I don't know if this is just a thing in U.S. Chinatowns, but there are stores in Chicago Chinatown that wrap miscellaneous cheap gifts in newspaper and put them in a bin for $2.00 each. You buy a box not knowing what you're getting. So, a surprise gift for Dan and for me, the purchaser.

The weather here is finally nice--nearly settled into spring/summer. And so a trip to walk around the stores south of campus seemed like just the thing. The time of year when it feels like, even after work, there are hours of daylight and sunshine and warmth to burn.

Thanks, Jill!