Too long...

Oh, Blog -- why have you been so hard to keep up with lately?? Here you sit, sad, neglected, lonely... while I go about my day, shuffling through random tasks and accomplishing what needs to be accomplished... and yet, day after day, there's a nagging feeling hiding somewhere in my brain... a feeling that I'm forgetting something -- something I was supposed to do... what could it be??? Ah yes -- update YOU, Mr. Blog.

Well, today's your lucky day!

As usual, I shall resort to my fall-back format and present a series of random thoughts:

I didn't even mention my birthday, which was almost a month ago. (What? You mean I've been THIS age... uh, let's say 29... for an entire MONTH already??) Rick and I met Eric at Chicago Cut for dinner:

I think this was the first time since I've moved to Chicago that Eric has had some free time on my birthday -- he's a busy guy... very in demand. But if he has a chance to attack a decent steak, he's going to take it. :)

And Eric is about to get a lot MORE busy, because my niece is due to arrive pretty much any day now. SO excited!! :) Eric can tell Connor all about how awesome it is to have a sister. (Right Eric? I'm sure you've already told him that sisters make life better... right? Of course I'm right...) And this means that I'll have to start upping the number of Christmas cookies I make every year... oh, how terrible. It's not like I love baking or anything... :)

Speaking of Christmas -- I am really not ready for fall to arrive, but September is approaching rather rapidly. Chicago has been pretty cool most of the summer -- we've had weeks where the temperature barely broke 70 degrees for days on end. We've had nights dip into the 40s and 50s... I've actually considered pulling out a blanket to keep me warm when I'm watching TV on the couch at night. (I have resisted, however, because -- it's AUGUST.) So it's been hard to get into a "summer" state of mind. The next couple weeks look like they'll be more typical, as far as August weather goes, so I'm hoping to get sick of the warm weather... that way, I'll welcome the arrival of cooler weather, and be happy to shift from "t-shirt drawer" to "sweater drawer."

Faisal wasn't able to join us for my birthday, so we went out for Pakistani food the next week. And as is now my habit, I had to buy some burfi for dessert afterwards. Riff got a little curious about the plastic box on the counter... and I can hardly blame him, because it was a plastic box filled with deliciousness:

Nope. Sorry, Riff. I'll give you catnip and cat treats and even the occasional bite of chicken... but you can NOT have my burfi...

So I'm working on a new project for the next few weeks. This one is more writing-intensive -- I have to write a few chapters for a book -- with a little bit of editing thrown in. I spent the morning brainstorming ideas for my introductory chapter... too bad they don't want stories about a crazy cat, because I have lots of those...

Well, I'm off to find lunch and take care of other random, non-specific things... I hope everyone has a great week!

This week's randomness...

Would you guys believe that I have ANOTHER month-long freelance job that I'm working on? And not only that, but after working on it for about a week, I got an email from the place I used to work in Austin asking if I could proof a directory for them. So I have two different projects going on at the same time -- I've been in serious demand this year. Which I'm not complaining about. Apparently I'm just THAT awesome. (Or people are THAT desperate?? I think I'll go with the "awesome" theory for now... :))

On Sunday we arrived back from another trip down to Austin, and now I think I'm finally back in Chicago for a little while. Which is good, because I was starting to feel really bad about asking Eric to watch my cats. Over the last couple months, I think he's spent more time with them than I have. :)

Rick texted me right after he left to walk to work a couple days ago and asked if I knew what was going on at the church across the street from us. The street was blocked off, there were lots of police officers (some in dress uniforms), and there was a whole fleet of limos parked on the street, so Rick was wondering if it was a funeral for a police officer. After a Google search, I figured it out: it was the funeral for Dennis Farina, the Law and Order actor. He was actually a Chicago cop for years before he went into acting, so it would make sense that attendees would include officers in dress uniform. I was wishing I'd had a better view of the church -- most of it is blocked by the apartments directly across the street from us, so I never really saw much that was interesting, except a whole bunch of guys running around with news cameras. (And on a side note: I think Eric should eventually go into acting, too... :)) 

So you guys know that most of the time I love my condo. I really do. I love the open floor plan, the high ceilings with the exposed ducts, the brick walls... I even love the random giant cement column in the middle of my living room. But every now and then, I'm reminded that there are downsides to a condo versus a stand-alone house. Like the other day, when I walked into my bathroom and was greeted with the pungent smell of tea tree oil. I don't HAVE any tea tree oil in my house. But apparently someone who lives nearby spilled an entire apothecary's cabinet full of the stuff, because my bathroom smelled like tea tree oil for days. We've also, on occasion, sniffed something that smells suspiciously like marijuana... although thankfully, I haven't smelled that in a while. Which I'm hoping means that our pothead neighbors (if they actually existed and we weren't smelling something more innocent that just happened to mimic the smell of marijuana) moved away. Strange smells aside, I'm actually quite impressed with our condo's ability to provide an independent space -- I rarely hear noises from other occupants of the building, because our cement ceiling and floors provide great insulation...

Well, I need to get to work on my proofreading, otherwise I'll be working all weekend. :) Hope everyone had a great week!