see.we.wait

About two years ago Mike got his acceptance letter from The University of Chicago.

Since that time he has been working his butt off: reading tons and tons of books of which even some of the titles confuse me... what is grammatology anyway? and writing at least a book worth of papers.
Now... two years later he is waiting for another acceptance letter.
This time for the University of Chicago PhD program.
And when he is waiting... she is waiting too.
As soon as he turned in his petition for the PhD, he laid down some ground rules:
1. No one is allowed to check the mail except for Mike
2. Under no circumstances are we allowed to check websites where students post acceptance/rejection letter status
3. Whatever happens, we are going to be at peace with it
I, by the way, have broken rules 1 and 2. oops.
I can't help it.
It is funny to think that one piece of paper holds the decision for our lives for the next (at least) year if not more. If (and I like to say WHEN) he is accepted we will stay here in the frozen tundra of Chicago.
But for now we wait.
tick. tock.
SF Duck.

see.i.cicle

This Chicago winter thing has been a learning experience for me. I can't say it is something I have always wanted to experience but I'm here so I have listed a few things I have learned:
1. When Mike says "this is as cold as it is going to get because last year it only got this cold" I have learned not to trust his advice. Sorry Mike. It can ALWAYS get colder :)
2. You can not Google "black ice" to know the true meaning of what it is, hence the name "black ice". You truly learn about "black ice" when you are running for the bus and realize (too late) you are headed straight towards a plateau of black ice that was (just a day ago) unassuming snow and slide/fall/slip/crawl your way to the bus stop just in time for it to drive away (minus 1 wet cold new black ice victim).
For the record I have Googled the following winter topics:
ice storm
winter mix
sleet
lake effect snow
what does 12" of snow really look like?
snow survival guides
winter boots
cute winter boots
are there cute winter boots?
and...
how to weatherize old homes
3. icicles are pretty... pretty dangerous!
I cracked up when I first saw a car driving down the street with icicles attached to the bottom! I even called my mom to tell her! At first, I thought they were sweet and quite beautiful!

Until you look up!
Yes, that lovely jagged/sharp 2.5' long icicle is hanging over our neighbor's porch and back walkway.
Now that I have noticed them, I realize they are everywhere!
Yikes.
I believe "Number of icicle related injuries per capita per year" is in order for the Google next!

see.miles.turn.3

2.12.09
Miles turns 3!
It has been such a pleasure having Miles dog as part of our lives and he has been quite the trooper to put up with all our life adventures!!

I have known Miles since April 2007 and have been in love with him ever since.
When I first told Mike that we got a puppy (as a gift from my Mom and Sister), he was not too happy. He didn't want a dog. His disdain for little Miles lasted for about 3 seconds, after he met him, and as a compromise I named the puppy Miles Davis, after one of Mike's favorite jazz musicians.

How could you not love this little face?!!
Miles has lived in 5 different cities. Whew!
Gainesville, Melbourne, Oakland, San Francisco and Chicago!

Here he is in the Oakland Hills. We would hike these hills almost EVERY weekend for 8 months. It was so beautiful and we would hike for hours!!
Miles just liked being off leash and the wide variety of sticks!
Here he is on his first camping trip on the Yuba River.
Adventures in Golden Gate Park.
Including many many hours spent at the dog park across the street from where we lived!
Driving across the country!
When he came to California he flew (thanks again Jen)
This time, we all drove together!
Chicago!
For his last birthday, he had an all girl party (my pals) and he was given a pizzle which he gobbled up quickly.
(google: pizzle) if you are not sure what it is.
Note: I had NO clue I had gotten him dehydrated steer p _ _ _ s. Oops!

This birthday I thought he may like something a little more homemade :0)

I made him a doggie cake.
Ingredients: carrots, peanut butter, whole wheat flour, flax, honey, and an egg.

He was not sure what we wanted him to do. This whole eating cake off of a plate was a bit strange.

Dinner, cake, an entire day of uninterrupted window watching, play time with Mel, and very few naps = one sleepy Birthday Dog.
Here is to many many more Birthdays and as many Adventures together!!

see.snow

We finally got to share in the snow frenzy that is spreading across the North East Coast. The other morning we woke up to this!

and some of this...

So much snow!!!

Notice all the pictures are from my front door... I was letting the dog out and did NOT want to move any further!

Brrrr!!!!As you can see... we are Miles deep in snow!

see.pumkin

From Jan. to March of this year I have been and will be babysitting every Sunday morning. I met this family when I was unemployed as a means of additional income but now I just like hanging out with their adorable and sweet 2 year old!
I am only there from 7 to about 10 AM and then I head home to start my day.
The little boy's name is Miles (hmmm sound familiar?) and his parents are attending classes at their new church and needed a little help so I said 'why not?'
For Mike, the concept of getting out of bed any earlier then 10 AM on a Sunday is unfathomable so my babysitting gig is a little extra money and probably saves us from morning person vs. night person woes.
When I do get home around 10 AM, I am still energized from running around with a 2 year old and Mike is happy because it is late morning. So we usually take this time to have a nice breakfast together. My sister (she has 3 children) sometimes will call and say "hey what do young people with no children do for dinner? or hey, mel, are you just now having breakfast! it is 11 AM!?"
The answer is... yes we sometimes eat breakfast 1 hour before lunch time. ha ha

For breakfast this past Sunday: Pumpkin Muffins
A can of Pumpkin was an item we found in our 'care package' from Florida so we thought... why just have pumpkin at Thanksgiving time?
Mike's mom suggested we make pumpkin muffins, and so we did. Although we did not have spice cake mix, we just made do with what we had (and they came out so so so good)

I am completely smitten with a new website/blog I have found and it is where we got the pumpkin muffin recipe:
smitten kitchen
The woman is my hero, she is a lot of fun to ready, and very honest about her food. She messes things up, puts in the wrong ingredients, tells about great things that happen and terrible things that happen in the kitchen. Oh and she cooks in a itty bitty kitchen in New York. So if she can do we can do it!

Suger and cinnamon for the muffin top. Everyone's favorite part!

Mike made these and he is very particular about getting every single speck of ingredient mixed together. This drives me crazy. I am a hurry up lets get these things cooking- type.
So I take pictures to keep me busy.

Then I noticed Miles. He is staring out of the window AGAIN!
Since we showed him the window- he is here about 90% of the time.
No joke. And usually standing.
We have created a monster.

Muffin drop.

Muffin top.

Done.