How Could I Be Going to a 10th Reunion When I'm Only 27?

Despite a smidgen of denial on my part, it really has been ten years since I graduated from Northwestern. This weekend was the reunion and it was great fun.

My friend and sorority sister Tara came in, with her husband Tyler, from Sacramento and stayed with us for the weekend. We had a great late dinner on Friday night, and then geared up for the epic string of reunion events on Saturday: tailgating, game, post-game, and class party. We had a great time at all of them seeing old friends and catching up with some folks we haven't seen in a decade.

We capped off the weekend with Sunday brunch with a handful of our sorority sisters from the class of 2001--another great reunion!

Some snaps:

Jenny, me, Ryan, Eric and Tara at the Class of 2000 Tailgate

Me and Tara during the rainy tailgate

Me and Matt during the rainy tailgate

Tara, Vicki, me and Jenny during the game

Tara, me, Jenny and a placeholder for our fourth roommate from senior year, Sarah--we have a long tradition of taking pictures with a placeholder for whoever's missing from the foursome

The Great Pumpknoepke and Kwak-O-Lantern Do the Pumpkins in the Park 5K

My good pal Jenny Kwak and I did the Pumpkins in the Park 5K on 10/16. It was a great fall day for a run in Lincoln Park, with the start and finish lines very close to the Farm at the Zoo.


I insisted we do the event in costume and Jenny came up with the idea of quite literally being pumpkins in the park. The costumes were fun--especially as people yelled "Go Pumpkin!" along the route.



There were a lot of great costumes--one of my total favorites was this gal dressed as DA COACH himself, DITKA!

10-10-10: Triple the Fun for Mom's Birthday!

NU v. Purdue
The 'Cats performance? Let's not talk about it.

John had to work so he was very sweet to give his tickets to my parents, who joined us for this, a rare night game. And Mom works at Purdue-Calumet so she was a winner either way! She wore her purple proudly, but still carried a Purdue bag!



We also got a great visit during the game from our friends Kelly and Dustin--it was great to see them despite what was happening on the field!

O.K., I said I wasn't going to talk about the game, but it was a funny coincidence that the score at halftime was 10-10, given our plans for the 10-10-10 birthday celebration for Mom the next day!

Mom's Birthday: More Tens than You Can Shake a Stick At!
Mom and Dad came back on Sunday morning to kick off the celebration of Mom's special 10-10-10 birthday. We had "10" balloons, 10 presents, 10 donuts with "10" candles, and 10 wishes (one per present) for Mom for her birthday. We had fun starting the day off showing Mom how much we love her. Then we headed off to Lumes where we stuffed ourselves with their specialty, Stuffed French Toast, and other yummy breakfast favorites.




FLW/DDD: Robie House, U of C Campus and Vito & Nick's
As I mentioned in earlier posts, we are continuing to take on Frank Lloyd Wright homes alongside trips to Diners, Drive-ins and Dives restaurants. We went to one right in our backyard, Hyde Park's Robie House, on a beautiful day for Mom's birthday. It is on the University of Chicago campus and, while the home is under a lot of renovation and still needs a lot of work to bring it back to its former glory, the structure, woodwork and original art glass are extraordinary. We can't wait to see the work they are doing come to fruition in the coming years.





Matt took us for a partial tour of campus, including the absolutely gorgeous and non-denominational Rockefeller Chapel (more gorgeous windows!) and the main quads that are starting to turn autumn colors.




We finished the day at Vito & Nick's, a pizza joint that fits quite squarely in the "dive" category of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The fried mushrooms and thin-crust pizza were very tasty, and the characters were plentiful. Atmosphere? Decor? Kind of like the 'Cats performance on Saturday, it's best not to think about it!

Fifth Anniversary Outings

We had two dates for our fifth anniversary (10.8.10). The first took us back to the scene of the crime--er, I mean, wedding site (ha ha). We had dinner at Pazzo's and, since I had innocently (I swear!) mentioned the anniversary when I made the reservation, they sat us a sweet corner booth and brought us a very yummy piece of cake to share for dessert!


On our actual anniversary, we had a nice casual candlelight dinner at a restaurant called The Black Duck that we both like and then walked to the nearby Steppenwolf Theatre for a show called Detroit that featured company member Laurie Metcalf (you might remember her as Roseanne's sister on TV). This picture is of the set from the play. It's totally against the rules to take pictures, but I am always so enthralled with their sets, I couldn't help myself!

Cary-Price Memorial Regatta (10.3.10)

My dad's first cousin, Bob Cary, was Commodore of the University of Michigan Sailing Club in 1956. Alan Price was the Race Captain in 1957. Bob and Alan were killed in a canoeing accident in 1957. The Cary-Price Memorial Regatta, created in their honor, is now in its 51st year.

Mom, Dad and I headed up to Ann Arbor to watch the event. A lot of schools we have ties to--Northwestern, Purdue, Notre Dame--were there, as well as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and several others.

It was DARN COLD! We thought we were doing some packing overkill by bringing so many layers, but we ended up using most everything we brought! I forgot my gloves, so thank goodness Mom had some camo ones in the car for my not-so-little-anymore cousin Ryan that I could borrow.

Unlike Matt and John, none of us knew how to watch a sailing race...and we still don't! This whiteboard course map didn't really tell us how to figure out what we were watching.