And the beat goes on...

Weeks are flying by. The end of November is drawing near. The good times just keep on coming! Amanda's birthday was right after we got back from Chicago. The whole gang got together at work to celebrate! Doesn't she look festive in her party hat! Jason's just jealous, obviously!



We also went out for dinner at Andy's Mediterranean Grill. It was delightful. Hummus and falafel abounded. Olive oil flowed like a river, and the tabouli was divine! Andy himself came out to sing happy birthday, and brought Amanda "the world's best creampuff." Apparently it was not, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Jason's birthday happened to be a few days after Amanda's, so we wanted to celebrate in style. We decorated his office accordingly.

Our last school group for the season was on Wednesday, so now we have time to work on other projects. Like going on epic hikes. Like I said, it's a rough life. While hiking, we happened upon the following: a pecan tree tracked down with GPS coordinates, abandoned camp cabins, an old barn and a rusty milking parlor, a letterbox cache, a beautiful old stone house with slate shingles, and a poop tree (see below). Yep, that's a lot of poop.

Let it be known: Amanda's favorite tree is the American Beech! (Mine is the Sycamore!)

Jesse finally came to visit! We played a swashbuckling boardgame about pirates, had cocktails at MJ's on Main, had mass amounts of brunch the next morning at First Watch, and went on a hike at the Nature Center. Four friends who began at the Glen- standing by the lake. :) He also taught me how to play Magic. Haha. I'm certainly not very good.

Now I'm home in Springfield for Thanksgiving. We had a Spain reunion party in Decatur! Everyone brought tapas and sangria, and we onjoyed slideshows of pictures that people took. It was nice to relive the memories. Charlene couldn't come (although she sent great tapas and sangria with Rod), and Tom and Heather didn't make it, but everyone else showed up! Rod, Eve, AG, Dad, Aunt Kathy, Carol, Patrick, Mom, Hope, Uncle Bert, and Pete.

Gearing up for Thanksgiving on Thursday!!!

Two Weekends in IL

Amanda and I usuall keep pretty busy, and the last 2 weeks have been no exception. We went to Illinois both of the past two weekends! The Friday before Halloween we had a staff costume party. Please note: Doug in the camo (tech stuff), Tom sitting down (head of maintenance), Diana in the bear hat (director's admin asst), Janice as Martha Stewart- she had gardening tools, baking supplies and handcuffs, haha (gift shop), me as corn on the cob, Bill as... some kind of Asian guy with a long mustache? (head naturalist- has worked here for 37 years), Jon as a guy from the '50s (outdoor play specialist), Amanda as a sweet dragonfly (wifey), Kim as a fox (front desk naturalist), and Sarah as a butterfly (volunteer coordinator). I put their work titles for some of you who hear about these people but didn't have a face to put with a name... I guess this didn't help all that much... :)


Headed home to Springfield Friday night, and dressed up for Halloween Saturday night. Although unplanned, Hope's costume went perfectly with mine!

Went out with the rest of the gang! Alex and Megan went as... I forget. Some sassy characters from Greece, I think. Nicole was a ladybug and Missy was an alien. :) At midnight we went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, live at the Hoogland! It was great!

Aaaaaaaand then a week passed. That week was filled to the brim with activites such as clay class and going to Rocky Horror (again) with everyone from work. That was slightly awkward. Haha. Thhhhhen on Friday we took off work and went to Chicago! It was awesome! After braving all the traffic we headed straight to get some pretzel bread, or bretzel, sandwiches at Hahhah's Bretzels. Possibly the most delicious sandwich I've ever had. Mine had marinated portabellas and red peppers, goat cheese, arugula, and rosemary infused asparagus. Dee-lic-ious! I'm not sure what was on Amanda's, but you can see she's enjoing it!

We got to go to a Ben Folds concert unexpectedly with Maria. Look, I am so close his sweat is almost getting on me and I could see his little sneakers. Gross. It was good times, although I haven't listen to Ben Folds since high school, so I only knew 2 songs.

After a night of celebrating and zipping around on the L, we got up the next morning to enjoy some fabulous weather and some Whole Foods. This Whole Foods on N. Halsted is phenomenal. We had some gelato and perused allllll of the merchandise. Cheeses and olives galore. There were even a bunch of little baby octopi. I couldn't look away from their minute tentacles. Amazingly, I excited the store having bought only some gelato and shampoo... (I sadly left the giant wheel of parmesan cheese behind...)

Met up with Maria and Jenni at the Chicago Diner, a fine vegtarian establishment. I had been waiting to go there for weeks!!! Our lunch was wonderful, and the clear winner was, surprisingly, those little brown strips- which were the best "chicken wings" I've ever tasted. Try them. Immediately.

Sooooo we were going to go to the Second City, but they were sold out. Amanda and I compensated by getting deep dish pizza at Giordano's and then going out for fancy cocktails at the Gage, pinkies held high all night. You know, because we're swanky and stuff.

OMGGGGGGGGG! The next morning we walked to the Field Museum and nerded out for hours!! We still only got to see a small portion of the ehxibits we wanted to check out. Oh well, I guess we'll have to plan another vacation!

At the Nature Center we do a skit for the students where Amanda and I just went back in time in our time machine... and we found backgrounds of both of the time periods we go to! Picture time!! Here's me swimming in the Ordovician Sea. (Or Silurian, close enough.) I mostly just cared that I was swimming next to a giant trilobite, the Ohio state fossil. Woo!

Soooo cold during the ice age! Mammoths and saber tooths and sloths, oh my!

Oh heeeeey Charles Darwin. According to the chocolate festival we went to a few months ago, you're in hell. For using the e-word.

We went to the most amazing tapas restaurant- Ba Ba Reeba! We stuffed ourselves silly and proceeded to drive back to Ohio. Certainly one of the best weekends ever.