The aftermath...

That. Was. Awesome.

What a crazy storm. It had tornado-like vortexes of snow... window-shuddering gusts of wind... thunder and lightning... flying cows (no, wait, that's Twister...). All in all, it was quite the experience for my first winter in Chicago. A pictorial recap of the last 24 hours:

 Last night...

And this morning... I actually thought our windows were covered with snow or ice when I woke up and walked out to the kitchen -- I saw nothing but white. But upon closer inspection, I realized I could make out a couple buildings close to us...

A little later in the day...

Riff checking out the falling snow...

Piva was curious, as well...

Snow in the alleyway between our building and the one next door (it actually looked a lot cooler in person...)

The parking lot by Eric's building this morning...

And this afternoon, as the clean-up commenced...

Plowed snow that we saw on our walk to Caribou Coffee (which was packed with people and must've been one of the only places open)...

It took all my willpower to not dive into one of these snowbanks headfirst...

Not sure what happened to this car's windshield wipers -- I'm assuming the driver didn't leave them that way (probably got blown up by the wind)...

Buried cars...

This is the side street where our parking garage exits -- at the moment, it's completely impassable to the right (that snowdrift directly ahead must've been about three feet high), and only slightly better off to the left... a 4-wheel drive might work...

 Hey Eric!

And tonight -- skyline totally restored. Whew. :)

Just to reiterate...

THIS is what my view normally looks like:

And THIS is my view right now:

Blizzard!!! It's about time we got some real snow here... it's Chicago, for goodness' sake. I was starting to think that all those stories about snow in Chicago were made up to scare people away from moving here. (Ha! You can't scare ME with your tales of frozen ice floes and ten-foot-high snow drifts!) I'll admit, though, that my perspective is skewed by the fact that neither Rick nor I have to go anywhere for the next few days, and we have no sidewalks or driveways to shovel. I feel bad for the people who are still out driving or walking in this...

We actually ventured out just as the storm was picking up steam to get some lunch and pick up a few groceries at the store (if we're going to be snowed in, I have to have plenty of milk for hot chocolate :)). The walk back was brutal -- and we only had to walk around the block. The wind whipping down Fullerton off the lake was pretty insane. And the wind carried with it snowflakes... which SOUND so soft and fluffy and innocent -- but THESE snowflakes, I presume, were composed of tiny little icepicks, machetes and daggers, which pelted my face with freezing ferocity. I had to keep my (gloved, of course) hand in front of my eyes to prevent some sort of accidental blinding incident... Needless to say, it was an interesting walk home. :)

Supposedly even Austin is going to be cold tonight -- so I hope everyone stays warm!

Random picture post...

Or, "what Lisa posts when she has nothing to say..."

And finally, proof that I'm not only a naturally talented baseball player, but I am entirely capable of getting a tan:

And that is some awesome pitching form right there... I'm pretty sure I'm about to throw my world-famous slider. (I believe that's my cousin Steve serving as catcher... interesting that we don't actually have a batter... Ha! Batters cower in fear at my pitching prowess. Although it's probably good that we don't have a batter, seeing as we're indoors and that's a TV behind me. At least I THINK it's a TV... it's some kind of circa-1970s box-shaped device. "TV" seems like a good guess... And who doesn't love rust-colored carpet, orange drapes and dark wood paneling? I can't believe homes aren't STILL decorated like this... Color coordination in the 70s was impeccable... :))

As good as it gets...

Yep, I think this is about as good as I'm going to get this condo looking, so here's a (slightly) more extensive tour (I've left out the bedroom, as it's been low on my priority list and is still occupied by several boxes and random piles of clothing/towels/shoes.):

The dining room (well, dining "area"). I was having an issue with finding space for the coffeemaker and bean grinder (which we kind of wanted to unpack and not put in storage) in the low-on-counter-space kitchen, so I solved that problem by moving the little black hutch from the entryway to the dining area. I think it actually works pretty well...

Looking into the kitchen... yes, I have magnetic poetry all over my fridge. That's how I roll.

Here's pretty much the entire condo. Except for the bedroom and the study. Living room, kitchen, dining room/area...

This is the entry hallway, where I hung our world travels map -- but I have, so far, been unable to find all the map pins that mark visited locations. So now it's just a world map... (I may have to go out and buy some pins...)

Standing in the entryway looking into the rest of the condo... Piva says hi!

And again, this is as much of the study as I am willing to show... (pay no attention to the boxes stacked over by the couch... like I said, we still have things that need to go down to our storage unit...)

By the way, there are tons of mirrors in this place, presumably to provide an illusion of more space... But I don't know... I still think it's kinda small...

And, in other news -- I think all of my myriad readers (three? four?) already know this, but just in case you haven't heard: We got an offer on our house in Austin!! Which means, of course, that we can start looking for a place that will be more permanent than the Condo of Mirrors. Although I'm not sure I want to give up my view, so we may not be searching too far away. We'll see...

Monday random boring stuff...

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was pretty quiet and uneventful... we did some grocery shopping, but otherwise didn't venture out much because the temperatures were bitterly cold. I seem to be able to withstand the cold as long as the thermometer remains above the teen range... 20 degrees is okay (not great, just okay...), but 19 degrees results in shivering and numb extremities within minutes.

Last night, however, was a nice, balmy 24 -- so we walked down the block to this place, which has quickly become my favorite restaurant in our neighborhood. I had their special of the evening, which was chicken fricassee -- sooooo good. The chicken was so tender it was just falling apart -- I wish I could figure out how to cook chicken like that...

Rick left for Las Vegas this morning, to gamble away our savings, visit with Wayne Newton, and do things that will "stay in Vegas." Okay, maybe not... maybe he's actually there for a big Dell conference thing. (Yes, it's a "conference thing." I really can't be more specific, since I don't keep up with all the terminology... I'm not tech-y enough... :)) So my goals for this week are to finish up the organization of the condo, so it'll look as good as it's going to get by the time mom and dad come for a visit in a couple days. It actually doesn't look so bad now, but there are a few random things that need to be cleaned/organized/put away/thrown away/etc.

I can't believe New York and New Jersey have been getting so much snow this year, while Chicago has had nothing but sporadic flurries. I was told there would be snow. Lots and lots of snow. But apparently Chicago is on the wrong side of the lake to get "lake effect" snow -- most of that goes to Michigan. When I was a kid in Buffalo, we were well-acquainted with lake effect snow -- and when you're a kid, that much snow is ALL kinds of fun. I told Rick yesterday that I want enough snow that I can dig a big hole in a snowbank and make a snow fort... he thinks I'm weird...

I've noticed that when Rick is gone, I tend to forget to eat now and then. But at the moment, I'm actually feeling pretty hungry -- so I should probably use this opportunity to go get some lunch, before the feeling passes and I suddenly realize I've eaten nothing all day... :)

Oh, Samantha Brown...

Why must you torment me with visions of constant travel? I am sure you have an actual HOME somewhere, yet I continue to imagine that your entire life is spent in exiting, exotic locales. I find it hard to believe that you ever pop into a Target for light bulbs and toilet paper. No, no -- you're too occupied with browsing selections of French perfume and Belgian chocolates to concentrate on such trivialities...

Your latest recap of your Greek island exploration made me quite jealous... And then I remembered that I, too, have been to several Greek islands. And, in fact, I've been to a few places that haven't even been mentioned in any of your travel shows. I mean, hey, I haven't done so bad for myself:

I have pondered the cobblestoned streets of Mykonos as Nick pondered the photographer...

I have clambered over Greek ruins, and walked on slippery marble streets...

I have been berated by a taxi driver in Athens for exposing my white, white skin to the harsh Athenian sun... ("I hope you have strong SPF," he said in his thick Greek accent, to no one but me...)

I've (very briefly) hung out in Asia along the Bosporus Strait...

As someone took clandestine pictures of me when I wasn't looking...

I have considered passing out in the warm, stifling Blue Mosque from lack of food and water...

And then thought better of it, and stayed conscious so I could observe its beauty...

I've peeked into the Library at Ephesus (they were all out of books)...

And watched Professor Dumbledore cast a spell in Croatia...

I even got my hair to do some cool, model-y windblown thing in Venice...

And, of course, I've had coffee:

And more coffee:

And really weird, dorky coffee:

So it's not like I haven't been anywhere or done anything.

But just once, Samantha, could you do a show about shopping for light bulbs and toilet paper?? It would just make me feel better about my mostly mundane life. Thanks. :)

Random advice...

Yes, in addition to random thoughts, I am now passing along random advice: Do not allow a plastic spoon, bowl, cup, etc. to fall onto the heating element of your dishwasher when it's running. You're welcome.

And yep, you guessed it, this happened last night... there were a few panicky moments when I was trying to uncover the source of the strange smell I was noticing (Is there something wrong with my heater? Is this condo building on fire???), but I eventually realized it was coming from the dishwasher. And once I realized where the smell was originating, it was a small leap of logic to figure out what was going on. (DARN IT! What did I put in there that was made of plastic and is now melting at the bottom of the dishwasher?) Once I canceled the drying cycle and allowed the half steam/half smoke mixture to escape the confines of the washer, I carefully pulled out the bottom tray and saw the culprit -- a plastic slotted spoon, now melted completely in half. I re-ran the washer this morning, because all the dishes (though clean) smelled like burned plastic... but apparently there are STILL bits of melted plastic on the heating element, because the drying cycle STILL introduced an acrid, unpleasant scent into the air. Looks like I'll have to try to scrape off more plastic from the bottom of the washer and run it AGAIN... eventually it'll have to smell like clean dishes... right??

Or I could just go old school and wash everything by hand...

I COULD. But I probably won't. :)

 Do not let this happen to you...