Great news! The Logan Square Farmers Market has moved indoors for the winter! From 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Sundays, stop by the lobby of the Congress Theater and check out the winter market. They expect to run through March, with a few Sundays off for holidays. I assume then they’ll go back to their outdoor location on the boulevard.

The winter market plans on still providing locally produced agriculture products, so expect root vegetables and fruits that have been “put up” by canning or drying. Although, right now there are still a ton of apples at the market. And cider! I got a bag of honey crisp apples and some cider for Dallas. I’m told that throughout the winter you can also still get greens and mushrooms that they grow indoors or under glass or plastic. And there will still be farm fresh meat and eggs. Of course, all the baked goods and prepared food items will still be available. Along with the apples and cider, I got some lettuce and 2 bags of homemade granola.

As well, the winter market may also showcase Logan Square Chamber member businesses. All in all, it doesn’t seem like they’re going to have issues running the market through the winter, which is exciting.

I’d never been to the Congress Theater before and thought it was funny that my first trip there was not for a concert, but for the farmers market!

A couple weeks ago our block got new street lights. Our old ones were very dim and sparse in between. It could be a bit spooky to walk home sometimes on our quiet street. These new lights have the tall lamp that illuminates the street and a shorter one that illuminates the sidewalk. Just in time for the shortened daylight hours, our street is nice and bright.

There’s been a flurry of activity on our street with utilities companies doing work. Just this week the city redid some of the street and sidewalk areas. Last winter our street was pothole after pothole, plus we have speed bumps. Maybe with these improvements it our street won’t be like driving through a minefield!

Earlier this week I had to get my fingerprints taken. I’d done this one other time, more than 10 years ago, when I got my securities licenses (I had my Series 6 and Series 63). I was in finance back them. This time was for work because my client is the government, military branch.

Cory sent me some photos she took at my surprise birthday party in September. Click over here, I’ve added them to my original birthday post.

This Is It is not narrated or anything. It really is just clips from the rehearsals, from dance auditions to the final rehearsal. The movie starts out with silence and text on the screen explaining how the footage was recorded and that Michael Jackson’s estate has released it for the following movie. And then there he is. Michael Jackson performing. I felt really uncomfortable for some reason. Too soon? I was so tense and breathing so shallow. I don’t know why! It was just so intense. After about 20 minutes we got to a rehearsal of Human Nature and it was so genuine and touching, such a beautiful song, I finally found myself leaning back a relaxing.

Over the next 92 minutes it’s such a range of emotions. You know, amazement at the talent, both Michael Jackson’s and all of the other dancers and musicians. At times I found myself smiling. Michael Jackson’s singing and dancing brings me back to my childhood and seeing him perform songs from back then is just a joy. There are times that he jokes with the crew that just crack you up. Other times are very poignant. Some of the times when I was feeling so awed by the talent.. I would start to feel a little sick, because.. you know… what a waste.

It’s clear that Michael Jackson wasn’t the product of some production company. And it wasn’t just the singing and dancing. He was involved in every detail of the show. What a perfectionist. There was one clip where he was working with the musical director on a very small portion of a song. The director was playing a very simple melody on the keyboard and going back and forth with MJ on its intricacies. He must have played the melody over and over about 10 times and I could not hear anything different, but obviously Michael could.

In hindsight, in light of what’s come to be known about his death and drug use, it’s amazing to see Michael not only functioning, but performing top notch. I really cannot understand it. In my mind, Michael Jackson, with the crazy personal life, and Michael Jackson, the genius musician and performer, have almost been two different people. This confusion remains after seeing this movie.

I think if you grew up with Michael Jackson, like I did, if you’re a fan of his songs, heck, even if you just like dancing, you’ll like this movie. But don’t take my word for it. Roger Ebert reviewed This Is It last week and gave it 4 starts, the most stars he awards.

Kate and Paul, Lakeview East, Chicago

Paul is a jester and Kate is a killer bee. The knife is actually part of her costume, even though in this photo Paul is holding it.

Conan, their cat, chose not to dress up. He was looking very debonair and was very social during the party.

Conan, Lakeview East, Chicago

Dallas used to live in the building next to the one Paul and Kate live in, but I’d never been to a high rise on Lake Shore Drive. The views were amazing.

Montrose Harbor, Chicago

Chicago

We played Wii Sports Resort and somehow got stuck on the frisbee game where you throw the frisbee for the dog to catch. Alden and I were the big winners of that game.

Later on we played Rock Band, of course. It wouldn’t be a party at Paul Baker’s house without Rock Band! He has the Beatles version of the game, which allows you to have two singers. rachelleb and lisap were a singing force to be reckoned with!

Beatles Rock Band

Beatles Rock Band

Paul and Kate have a great home with beautiful views, and know how to throw a really fun party! Did I mention they got Portillo’s to cater? So yummy. Congratualations Paul and Kate (not plus 8)!

Chicago Sunset

Thought it was strange how this box of Thera Tears Steri Lids was bragging about “Science-Based Lid Hygiene.”

These eye drops are not too expensive, unless you price them by the quart.

Like I said, we bought a brand new construction so that we wouldn’t have to do a lot of work, but it took a long time, a really long time, to finish up all the little projects on our final punch list. I think this is why for a long time it felt like we’d just moved in, that it wasn’t really ours. Also, it’s the nicest place I’ve ever lived and big! Could it really be ours? And, with the economy, I remember that month where we were figuring everything out to be one of the most stressful of my life. In the months following our move in, I was so worried someone was just going to come and take it all away or we’d lose our jobs and have to forfeit it.

Of course, it has all worked out. Things have gotten comfortable. It feels like our place. Now that the punch list is done and we’ve been here a while we can look around and add some personal touches. Over the summer my dad helped with some things. He hung some trellis on our patio for growing ivy, installed shelving in closets, hung storage racks in the garage, and put a lock on our patio gate. That’s all a seperate post that I really need to get to. Here are a few things we did recently:

I don’t like to say the word “valence” because it reminds me of old ladies, but we hung some valences on our kitchen and dining room windows. I think it softens the windows up and draws in colors from the living room couch, pillows, and artwork.

Since our wood floors are brand new, we want to protect them. On the day we moved in we threw some mismatched rugs down by the front and back doors and they’ve been there for almost a year. I wanted to get something more permanent, that looked better, and protected the floors more. We decided to go with FLOR, which was super easy to install.

You can see in that photo, we also hung coat hooks, since we don’t have an entryway coat closet, and a mirror to check your look before heading out the door. The chairs are our extras from our dining room set. I really would like to get a matching storage bench, but for now, the chairs work.

To match the front entryway, we also installed a few FLOR tiles by the back door. The width of the FLOR tiles in the small space looked weird, so we cut each one in half to make the pattern. Cutting the squares was tough, but in the grand scheme of things, this was still a pretty simple project.

I realize now that just about all of the photos I’ve ever posted of our condo have been of the upstairs. Our downstairs floor actually has way more rooms and space than the upstairs so I’m gonna have to get on posting some photos from down there. I think the explanation is that we do all of our entertaining on the first floor and that’s were we’ve spent the most time decorating and everything. A lot of rooms in our downstairs are sparse and have old, junky furniture. Not really exciting to post online!

The other day I came across this note that my niece, Jessica, gave me.

Here’s the backstory: Eariler this year Dallas and I went to Hawaii. I always buy my nieces gifts while we are there. For Stephanie I got a cool Quicksilver tshirt and some jewelry. Jessica loves Hello Kitty, so I got her a whole Hello Kitty Hawaii themed gift: T-shirt, candy, Post-It notepad, etc. All Hello Kitty Hawaii.

A few months went by before we saw them and gave them their gifts over the summer. Steph loved her gifts. Jess is as shy as ever so I didn’t really get much feedback on whether she liked it or not. Then out of nowhere she passed me this note. It says: “Me and Stephane liecks this Post It note.” The last part was a little hard to read and I remember my brother, Stephanie and I all huddled around trying to figure out what it said. Jess was off to the side and, of course, would not tell us! Finally we got it right and she gave a smile and a nod. I didn’t want to tease her because it was so nice, but I had to say, “I’m so glad you learned how to write, Jessica, so now we have a means of communication!”

Earlier this year, maybe in the spring?, Danny and Caroline bought a house out in Oak Park. It was a run-down foreclosure and there was a lot of remodeling that had to be done. With the help of Uncle BB and his crew, they spent the entire summer fixing up the place. At the end of September they moved in and in the beginning of October, invited us over for dinner.

Unlike Dallas, I never saw the house pre-remodeling or during the process, but the results are gorgeous. It’s such a nice space for them now. There are a couple porches, a yard, a garage, a big kitchen for Danny to cook, even a space for Caroline to set up her piano.

Danny and Caroline went the complete opposite route that Dallas and I did. Dallas and I bought a condo in the city because we wanted to move in and not spend all of our time fixing things up or wondering if something might break. Danny and Caroline went and got this amazing deal on a whole 2-story house in Oak Park, a suburb that is probably the most trendy and acceptable suburb to Chicagoans, and then put their blood, sweat and tears into customizing and redoing it. Neither way is better than the other, it’s just different strokes, but it is interesting to see how everything turned out for each of us. And I must admit that I am a little jealous of their cute little yard!