I'm a bit obsessed with Jane Austen

Apparently I'm Catherine Morland from Northanger Abbey. See what Jane Austen heroine you are - Click here.

half way there...

So I'm on a painting mission. Over the weekend I bought a golden/mustard/orange (gosh that sounds horrible), it looks like a Tuscan goldish orange or even like baby food - but I like it. I am half way done painting this lovely color in my dining room. I bought a cappuccino color for my family room but that project might have to wait until after my vacation time this summer because I'm really starting to hate it. Anyways, I'm half way done and here's what it looks like. This isn't a great picture because I had to use my camera on my phone because Ben has our camera in India - punk... Anyways, the picture looks bad but the color matches the rooftops and fields from the picture. I'll post more this week when the room is finished.

Happy 34th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Home Sweet Home, Barack

I'm not making any kind of political blog here, but I drove by Barack Obama's house last night on the South Side of Chicago and thought that was pretty awesome. His house is sweeeet.

Only 47 1/8 Days Left...

Ben left last Tuesday for India. He got there safe and sound and is enjoying the 103 degree weather and 85% humidity. His room luckily has air conditioning though. Tomorrow (well today for him) he starts work at the medical clinic. Before he left I made him a countdown book (kinda high school yeah? whatever), I have a countdown on our white board in the kitchen, and my sister even sent me one that I have in my classroom at school.  My sister Laura sent me a care package the next day after he left with a ton of goodies to cheer me up and get me looking forward to coming to Washington for the last month before Ben comes home. In that package she sent me random things that would remind me of Disneyland (since we're all going in July). The lovely hat and mug were a reminder of the Tiki room in Adventureland. I love my sister.

Ben left these for me as a surprise before he left. =( Cute huh? 

Ben the Bird Man

Normal people post their kids chasing birds and everyone thinks it's totally adorable (which I would agree with), but I only have a Ben and I don't necessarily think it's cute but pretty hilarious. So here he is chasing a bird at the zoo.

Who Needs Kids to Have Fun at a Zoo?

Many things are nice about the Lincoln Park Zoo in downtown Chicago. The main thing is that it is FREE - how splendid!

The welcome sign to the zoo was missing the "o" in Lincoln so I decided to replace it with my hands and Ben has chosen to use his mouth.

 I look exactly like a meerkat don't I?

 I love this shot!

 I don't know why I have to imitate all of the animals but this is my warthog look. 

 Ben staring down a black bear through (luckily) some thick glass.

 Ben was so impressed that they had these camels from Mongolia. 

One Fantastic "Last Meal"

Ben leaves tomorrow for two months in India where he'll be doing a research study at an eye clinic. Many people have asked about what I'll do and I'm sure I'll just shrivel into a tiny ball and hide until he gets back. Or.. I'll be super sad for awhile (or a long time), finish up my last two and a half weeks of school, host my parent's visit here in Chicago, fly home and hang out with my sisters, nieces, parents, friends, and extended family, and then fly down to California for a vacation where Ben will meet up with me after 53 days of torturous absence. So today we went to Wrigleyville and ate at Orange (an amazing brunch restaurant) and then went to the Lincoln Park Zoo and strolled around. Here are a few pictures from our adventure today.

Ben had an amazing cinnamon roll pancake with pecans in the middle and frosting (yummm..)

I had an omelet with avocado sauce, sweet leeks, bacon, and some other magical ingredient. And then we both split freshly squeezed orange/pineapple/mango juice. What a wonderful breakfast!

Jamie and Ben's "Needs"

So Jenny and Lesley have both done this so I thought I'd see what results came up. You are to go into Google and type your name and needs like "Jamie needs" and then it would list out what I apparently needed. Most of them are quite awkward. I did Ben too out of curiosity.

1) Jamie needs a kid

2) Jamie needs mental help (ouch!)

3) Jamie needs to shut the (you know what) up

4) Jamie needs to mind her own business

5) Jamie needs a drink 

6) Jamie needs to stop making horrible faces

7) Jamie needs a little wiggle room

8) Jamie needs our support

9) Jamie needs a China destination

10) Jamie needs a hug

* Don't I sound dysfunctional? 

Here's Ben:

1) Ben needs money (yeah he does!)

2) Ben needs a ride home

3) Ben needs to close the deal by Valentine's Day

4) Ben needs your help

5) Ben needs a big comeback

6) Ben needs a nap

7) Ben needs to be taken home

8) Ben needs to chime in

9) Ben needs your vote

10) Ben needs his own publicity without his wife ( I swear one said that )

Lovin' the Doctor's Office

Ben's going to India this Tuesday so he went to the doctor for a physical and some shots. He hadn't had a physical for 7 years! 

They had this really fun magnifying thing that kept us entertained before his doctor came in. And NO I don't normally come to his doctor appointments but I was his ride and didn't want to sit in a hot car. This ended up being a much better idea!

Ben's a 2nd Year!

Ben has officially become a second year medical student this afternoon. This year just whizzed by! I would say that I wish the next three would do the same but then that would just bring us closer to residency and really never seeing each other. So I'll just enjoy this journey one day at a time. (But I'm still happy the first year is over!) Congratulations, Ben!

one wall down

I'm a big fan of decorating. I've rearranged my house many times in the last 11 months that we've lived here and I think I've finally got one wall down and completed (I'm not gonna touch it until we move!). Well, actually I think I might add something else to the right of it eventually but I dunno. It's a wall in my dining room. Also, I found out a few weeks ago from our landlord that we can paint our walls -WooHoo! In the next few weeks I'll begin my painting job - a warm Tuscan orange in the dining room (but not on the wall I just finished - too much color I think) and a lovely cappuccino color in my family room. I'm saving that job for when Ben's in India so I'll have something to occupy my time. Once I paint the walls I'll post some pictures.

my typical friday night consists of...

It's 10 pm on Friday night. You might think "hm, why is she on the computer on such a night of the week when everyone is out and about or at least spending time canoodling on a couch?.." Good question. I'm actually sitting in a coffee shop while Ben is studying with Eli, a friend from Loyola, for their finals next week. Luckily, Eli has a wife that I adore that's also hanging out with me. But this is a pretty typical Friday evening for us. Not that we necessarily go to coffee shops all of the time (even though the smell is intoxicating) but we're usually alone or with each other while they're off learning the menstrual cycle (seriously, that's what they're studying right now). 

Krista and me at Caribou Coffee just THRILLED to be here...

22 days and counting...

I know I shouldn't be blogging while I'm at work (my kids are in music class though) but I just counted how many more school days are left and got stoked! Only 22!! WooHoo! I'm burnt out, my kids are burnt out, and I'm really ready for the summer. Ben has only a week and a half left of classes and tests and then he'll officially be a second year med student. But then a few days later he'll be flying to India for two months. Boo.

what a perfect day for a softball game... or not

Two Saturdays ago all of the medical schools in the Chicago area and Wisconsin came together at Grant Park to play in a softball tournament. The day was supposed to start at 7:30 am and end around 6 pm. Unfortunately, our day was cut short around 9:30 when Ben slipped on some concrete in his cleats, landed on his arm (well his bum landed on his arm), and broke his radius right through. Below are three pictures that chronicled that day. If you get queasy with broken looking things then don't look at the second picture below. 

Here is a lovely before picture of Ben doing some practice swings. Not too long after this we would be hailing a taxi to zoom us to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital's emergency room. Yay. 

Here is the gnarly looking arm after the fateful fall. Gross huh? I took this picture with my cell phone before they straightened it. I was pretty proud of myself that I didn't: 1) get too scared, 2) vomit, 3) freak out, 4) faint, 5) lose my sense of humor. I was doing a pretty good job of joking and pumping him up for the setting of the bone (fortunately, they made me leave for that part). 

Here is an after picture. We finally got home from the e.r. after 5-ish hours of waiting, pulling, drugging, setting, casting, and all sorts of enjoyable conversation with random people that I had. Ben lucked out and didn't need any surgery. They set it perfectly back in place and now has a cast from his knuckles to a few inches above his elbow. The whole situation could have been a lot worse. Now he soaks up as much help and pity as he can from me - just look at his face in this picture and imagine the torture I am now going through. =) 

"Go Cubs Goooo! Go Cubs Goooo! Hey, Chicago, what do ya say? The Cubs are gonna win today!"

Last Wednesday we went to another Cubs game. They were playing their rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers. There were quite a lot of Brewers fans there that were quite disappointed when the Cubs beat them 19 to 5! It was awesome!

Watch out for those foul balls!

Yep, these were out seats. As you can see there is no one behind us because we were in the last seat. Still a pretty good view though!

This was the view behind us and through the fencing. To the left is the Hancock Bldg and to the far right is the Sears Tower. 

During the last few innings we snuck to the front. I had to ignore a seating lady that kept yelling "Ma'm! Ma'm!" We could literally see the sweat on their faces from here.

Ben with his broken arm zipped up in his jacket.