Feb. 24

Dane Cook Comedy

Dane Cook always makes me laugh. I've been listening to this CD of one of his live shows in my car lately. It's nice to have a few laughs on the way to work!

Feb. 23

TIMBER!

I came home from work to find this huge tree being chopped down to the ground. Toward the top of the photo you can see the guys in the bucket working on the tree. It looks so different now with this tree gone. The massive old trees are one of my favorite things about this neighborhood, so I was sad to see this one come down, but maybe it was dead or diseased.

Feb. 22

The Bachelor

I'm totally addicted to this show. I can't help myself! Missi is completely to blame for starting and then encouraging this addiction!

Feb. 21

Dinner Club

Regan hosted dinner club and it was delicious as always, but a little bittersweet this time because it was the last dinner club in her current house. In three weeks she is moving!

Feb. 20

Post-pedicure

Sarah and I got pedicures Saturday afternoon and of course we couldn't ruin them by putting on shoes, so we left in these fashionable flip flops. We got some strange looks when we stopped in the grocery store though!

Feb. 19

Surprise Snowman

I came home from work to find the kids who live next door building me a snowman!

Feb. 18

Pints Mascot

Ashley sporting the head of the Pints mascot. This was at a Martini Shake-Off fundraiser that was raising money for a children's organization. We had a little too much fun with the mascot costume!

Feb. 17

Sunset

Today's picture was going to be of a friend's birthday dinner at Biaggi's, but I saw this beautiful sunset and couldn't pass it up.

Feb. 16

Running on E

Why do I to this every. single. time?

Feb. 15

Valentines

Feb. 14

Jamie's Wine Shop

Our favorite place in Galena was the wine shop/bar on Main Street. Troy quickly became friends with the owner, Jamie.

Feb. 13

Surprise Valentine's Getaway

Troy surprised me with a weekend trip to Galena with a group of friends. We had so much fun! Luckily he didn't make me wear this blindfold the whole way there, just until we met up with our friends!

Feb. 12

Lia Sophia

When this box of Lia Sophia jewelry was delivered to my house I felt like a kid on Christmas morning!

Feb. 11

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie

The next time you find yourself at at TGIFriday's, you simply must try this dessert.

Feb. 10

Icicle

After two full days of snow, it finally stopped and the sun came out. I was glad to see it and I just thought this icicle looked neat hanging off the house.

Feb. 9

New Windshield Wipers

Wow, what a difference that made - probably should have replaced them a long time ago!

Feb. 8

Miley

Let me introduce you to Missi's sweet Alaskan Malamute puppy Miley. She is going to be a big girl - check out those paws!

Feb. 7

Sad Colts Fans

We watched the Super Bowl among a group of mostly Colts fans, so it was a sad day, but at least we had style!

Feb. 6

Dead Pool Party

This is my friend Leah with her winnings from the Dead Pool. James Mitchell - the old guy from "All My Children" - was her guy. Any excuse for a party, right?

Feb. 5

Super Bowl Pool

To help make the Super Bowl a little bit more interesting, I put my money into two pools - one at work and one at the place where I was watching the game. I was thisclose to winning $180 with my numbers, but no such luck! Maybe next year.

Feb. 4

Daisy May (and yes, a cat needs a middle name!)

When I started this blog I had a legitimate fear that it would end up being 365 pictures of my cat, so I'm pretty excited that I made it to Feb. 4 before posting a picture of her. I had a houseful of ladies over on this night for a Lia Sophia jewelry party and had intended to take a photo then. But of course the party flew by and I forgot! So, here's Daisy, at 9 p.m., ready for bed.

Feb. 3

Squirrels on the Deck

When I came home from work, these two squirrels were hanging out on my deck, so I took their picture through my kitchen window. At least someone can enjoy the deck on these cold snowy days! I'm patiently waiting for it to warm up so I can sit out there myself.

Feb. 2

Vote Today!

Today was the primary election in Illinois, so I stopped on my way home from work and voted. The election page on the Chicago Tribune web site was a great resource for finding out about all of the candidates.

Although it's been two years this month since I've been gone from the newspaper, part of me still misses the craziness of election nights! It's hard to compare the adrenaline rush that you get from cranking out five stories on deadline. Good times!

Feb. 1

Dirty car!

Ugh, I just hate all the salt and grime on my car right now. We need a good 40-degree day so I can run through the car wash.

Jan. 31

Italian Feast!

Our Italian dinner turned out really well! Everything was delicious and we had so much fun cooking together. Sarah is working on the sauteed spinach here. We also had: Pork Os-sobuco, risotto, focaccia bread, zucchini boats and of course - tiramisu! We all had such a good time, we're thinking of trying it again in a month or so using recipes from Julia Child's cookbook.

Jan. 30

Hockey Game

We went and cheered on the Quad City Mallards hockey team at the iwireless Center. I can't say I'm a huge fan of hockey, but it was still a fun night out with friends.

Jan. 29

Moon

The moon was so beautiful I had to take a picture! The moon is definitely one of the trickiest things to photograph for me. Still working on it!