Vacation Fun

Mike and I are on vacation this week. Originally, we were going to go to Toronto and see Rush (one of our favorite bands), but instead we decided to stay home and remodel the kitchen. It's something we talked about doing for a while, and we finally decided it was time to do it. The only thing that is staying the same are the cabinets. Everything else-floor, countertop, sink, faucet, appliances (whoo-hoo!) are new. It's not finished yet, but it will be soon. We forgot to take some before pictures for comparison, but I think we have a few pics from a couple of Thanksgivings ago that show the "old" kitchen, so those will have to do.

It's not all work though. Over the Fourth of July weekend we went to Chicago. No particular reason other than to get out of town and spend time in one of our favorite cities. We saw the fireworks at Navy Pier, drank a lot of beer at Rockbottom and Fado's, did a little shopping, and ate our way through (and got sunburned at) the Taste of Chicago. My favorites at the Taste were the Sweet Baby Ray's meatballs and the pad thai at Star of Siam. Star of Siam is located by this really cool bookstore called Afterwords, and I've been curious about it. I think we will definitely eat there next time we're in town! We also did some dreaming about what it would be like to live there. More expensive, and we wouldn't be able to live like tourists, but there are so many things to do and job opportunities! There are also enough parks and open areas that I would be ok not having a yard (I think!).

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Milwaukee for a quick trip, while Mike will stay here and hopefully get some much-deserved couch potato time. This week has gone by much to fast, and it hasn't helped me that I've had phone calls from work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Maybe next vacation my phone will mysteriously stop working......