Easter in Chicago 2011

I think Easter in Chicago might be a new tradition for the Deeter family :).  Last year, I wound up having Saturday & Sunday off (in addition to my standard Monday) (the ONLY weekend I had off in my 2 years working at that theatre), so my parents and I came up to Chicago for the weekend.  We ate at ESPN Zone (and watched the Yankees), had a wonderful brunch including a whole fried chicken, and saw Billy Elliot!  It was great.

This year, I live in Chicago, and since I'm running a show right now, I couldn't come home for the weekend.  So, obviously, my parents came here!  My dad found a GREAT deal at the Palmer House downtown, and I stayed at the hotel with them Friday-Sunday.

We had a great dinner at Berghoff on Friday before I headed to work.  After my show, Dad and I had some drinks at the Palmer House bars.

Prosecco in the Lobby Bar

beautiful chandelier in the Lobby Bar

the other bar, that, when the PH was opened, was a feather dancer bar

delicious apple tart dessert!

On Saturday, we did some shopping at the usual Deeters-in-Chicago-spots: Filene's on State Street, Nordstrom Rack, Macy's, Old Navy, and mom and I went to DSW in Lincoln Park and found shoes for the 2 weddings I'm in this summer.  It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day.  Dad ended up heading up to catch the Cubs game.  They saw my show Saturday night, and we had a delicious pub Easter lunch at The Bar On Buena with my roommate. 

Tulips along State Street!

To top it all off...Dad got me a GRILL for Easter!  So on Sunday, after my show, roomamte Mikey and I grilled out for the first time.  It was amazing, and I cannot wait to keep grilling!!

Sunset over the back of our apartment while we grilled.

Wordless Wednesday: FO Roommate's Birthday Circle Scarf

This Only Happens to Me...Seriously

So last night I took the Megabus from Chicago to Indy.  It was my first Megabus experience, but my family uses it between Chicago and Indy a lot.  Aside from there being the general chaos of THREE Megabusses in one place, it turned out to be pretty good once we got going.

And then the Megabus got hit by a car.  The bus didn't hit anything.  A car hit the bus. 

Our bus was pulling dead straight ahead into a toll lane, and this small, red sedan decided to cut over, practically perpendicularly to the bus, to squeeze in front of the bus.  By the time the car got to our toll lane, however the bus was already a few feet into it...so the car phsically could not have gotten in front of us.  Instead, it T-boned the bus.  Yep. 

Don't worry, everyone was ok.  The bus driver was super calm and everything, and he came up to the upper deck to check on us all.  Like I said, no one was hurt.  Then we had to sit and wait for 50 minutes for the state police to show up.  So we sat there for about an hour until we moved again.  Instead of getting into Indy at 2:15am, I got in at 3:00am.  Awesome.

Other than that, and my still sorta bruised tailbone not liking the seats, it was a rather enjoyable experience.

In other news, every noise I hear in the house I think is the mouse.  I'm super jumpy.  BUT I got a text message from my roommate Emmy about an hour ago saying Remy has moved out of our little corner of Sheridan Road!

Thirsty Thursday

Oh Boy am I tired.  I got up at 7:45 this morning to get dressed and meet my mom downtown.  She took a bus trip up with her bank for the day -- Hooray for Bank Holidays!  We did all sorts of awesome things, which include, but are not limited to, buying expensive makeup at Neiman Marcus and going to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. 

After I put Momma safely back on the bus at Water Tower, I headed down to the Loop-ish area to wait for Mikey.  We met Wych and had a drink at Elephant & Castle (cannot wait to go back with the family for dinner!) and then headed to see a staged reading that Mikey did the lighting design for.  No Big Deal, but the show was on the stage of the Pritzker Pavillion at Millennium Park.  There's a big glass door at the edge of the stage that they closed, and the audience sat facing that.  So basically the backdrop was Millennium Park & the Skyline.  Awesome.  I mean, check this shit out. 

Back to the Thirst Thursday part.  Mikey and I had the BEST drinks EVER.  She had a Blueberry Collins (basically gin & blueberries), and I had a Caramel Apple Sour.  OOOOOOOOOH geeeez.  It was delicious.  However, drinking out of a martini glass makes me nervous. 

Also, the new to me digital camera I inherited from Daddy Deeter takes GREAT shots at night!  Yay for free, good quality point and shoot camera!!!

What Day is Today?

My roommate Mikey and I just collective realized today is Tuesday and not Wednesday or Thursday... In our world (she's a lighting designer), weekends don't really matter, that is they aren't generally work free, but certain days have certain things going on.  Especially when you work free lance like we do.  It was quite the strange realization.  I'm actually ok with it only being Tuesday, because I have a lot to get done before Friday night when I hop on the Megabus and head home!  I'm unreal excited about going home this weekend.  Even though it's only for like 36 hours.  Wedding/bridesmaid dress shopping with the besties, shopping with my mom, dinner with my family, etc! 

One of the things I need to get done before I get home is a knitted scarf for a dear, dear person.  My parents have lived in their house for 20 years now.  And our neighbors across the street moved in a few months before we did.  Our families have pretty much blended together, and I'm super close to all of them.  Especially Old Man Marr (granted he's a few years younger than my dad).  He's become a second dad.  Anyways, I'm making him a scarf as an early Christmas present (he spends a lot of time outside, so I'd like him to have it for a majority of the cold months). 

In other news, you should check out this playlist of MUSIC TO KNIT BY that I saw on Twitter this morning. 

And here's a gratuitous picture for the day: 

What I plan on eating Saturday night with my parents....Daddy Deeter's Steak!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...

We have a four legged furry friend here on Sheridan Road.  Mikey spotted the mouse a while ago, but she was a little drunk, so we didn't believe her.  Then last week, I saw Remy when I got up in the middle of the night to get a dirty cookie.  But we haven't seen him since.  Until last night.  Mikey saw him again.

A friend of mine I stayed with this summer had one, and I didn't freak out that much.  But he took care of it and wouldn't let me look at it.  I never thought I'd be scared of a mouse.  But when I saw little Remy, I flipped the F out.  Shiiiiiit it was scary.  I mean, mice are cute, so why are they so scary...  My theory is that it's because they are surprising and fast movers...you know, the startle factor and that you never know where they're gonna show up.

Any advice on how to deal with this little guy? 

Finished Object #4! Half-FO #5!

I just finished those orange mittens I blogged about a few days ago!  They turned out great, and now I just have to figure out how to get them to Abby (she lives in Chicago, but is currently teaching at Ball State in Indiana).

I also bought some black yarn while my Momma was here to make some for me to wear backstage...you'd be surprised at how cold it can get.  I finished one last night--usually I knit both, and then stitch them together, but this time I knit one & stitched it.  They are UNREAL soft!

I'm also making those dirty cookies again.  I went to the store and got some real butter this time. 

Also, I have a cold, and apparently you can't buy Sudafed or Tylenol at Jewel-Osco right now...something about some sort of manufacturing problem...so THAT's annoying. 

And lastly, I decided I wanted a grilled cheese w/ some tomato soup today...I used the Aldi brand singles that I got recently.  Holy Cow...they are all sorts of gooey and salty and NOT GOOD.  I haven't had a Kraft Single in a while, but I remember them being much, MUCH better.

CookiesCookiesCookies!

I went on a little bit of a baking extravaganza last week.  I made brownies one day, but they changed the mix that I always use, so it made way fewer brownies.

I've been wanting to try making my Mom's from scratch oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe for a while, so I got the stuff to do that.  I've never been able to get them JUST LIKE MOM'S.  I followed the recipe to a T, and the cookies deflated and turned out super flat...the sugar/chips in some of them had caramelized.  Mikey was around to supervise/babysit me (you never know what happens when I get in the kitchen).  I was really upset and called my mom...the only thing we could figure out that was off was our oven temperature.  It's my first time having a gas oven/stove, and it's super old, so we guessed that the temp. was inaccurate.  I bought an oven thermometer at Target for the next go around.  Luckily, my woes were relieved...the cookies were DELICIOUS...it was crazy.  They stayed just a little bit chewy.  These cookies (when made by my Momma, and this way) are amazing...you can taste a hint of the salt in them, and I like to use white chocolate (my fave way!) or butterscotch.  Amazing I say!

Turns out that it was probably the margarine I used instead of butter (what, it was like $2.50 cheaper!) that made them come out differently.  Looks like I have an excuse to try again!  My roommates call a lot of things "dirty"--for example, the super, spicy Doritoes are "dirty chips"--so we called the deflated cookies "dirty cookies."

And then after Saturday's shows, the actors threw us a little pizza/beer party, so I made some "slice n bake" Halloween cookies to contribute.  Only "slice n bake" aren't slice and bake anymore!  They came in a package pre-cut and everything (with cute black cats and pumpkins!), so all I had to do was put them on a cookie sheet and bake them. 

 

Now I want a cookie...

Finished Project #1!

Now that I've picked up my knitting again pretty regularly (and by regularly I may or may not mean obsessively) and gotten a lot better & learned new things, I've taken on some new projects! 

My roommate, Mikey, was impressed with my basic fingerless mittens that I made for myself, so I told her I'd love to make her a pair!  Here are mine:  

My fingerless mittens.  Made using two  strands of sock yarn at the same time.  Yarn bought at Knit Stop in Indy.

I made Mikey's with a beautiful dark purple, satiny yarn.  I think they turned out pretty great, however one is one or two rows longer than the other...oops. 

Mikey's mitts!  Made with Bernat Satin, worsted weight/100% acrylic, in Plum Mist Heather, with size 8 straight needles. 

She spent the last 3 years going to grad school in Florida, so she's super excited to be able to wear cold weather clothes & accessories again!