What lies within...

Europe trip Oct. 2005 281, originally uploaded by Suburbanite05.

"What lies behind us, and what lies before
us are small matters compared
to what lies within us."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rome. A(g)e 4

Imagination

Pensacola Beach 2008

"Imagination is everything.

It is the preview of life's coming attractions." -

Albert Einstein

Top Chef wk1

Padma and Chef Colicchio are back for Season 5. It's been 5 seasons already? Stefan wins the elimination round, our Finland/German brother. There are 2 rainbows and a lesbian as one of the contestants said. Patrick loses the elimination, now minus 1 rainbow and Lauren loses the quick fire challenge. Team rainbow or Euro team - who'll make it to the end?

Report - Oakbrook Christmas Market

Went to the Christmasmarket at Oakbrook tonight. It's so rinky-dinky. About 12 huts scattered in front of Macy's and Crate and Barrel area. Most of the huts were from neighboring states. There were only a couple from Germany, or so their sign says. Enjoyed a kinderpunch with Tyler in the heated tent where 4 guys were playing their wind instruments. Also, had a currywurst mit currycatsup and broetchen. No machine to cut up the wurst. They did it by hand - guess you have to be in Germany for that. As we left, I bought a small bag of sugared almonds from the market. I almost ate half the bag before we got home. Sam stopped inside Bailey Banks and Biddle and looked at a ruby and diamond ring. The sales lady wrote the info on a card since they have a 15% off sale tomorrow - like I can buy that tomorrow....LOL

German Christmas Market in Oakbrook

We will definitely have to check this out especially after going to Germany for the real thing back in 2006. We love the German Christmas markets and look forward going to Chicago's on Thanksgiving and a few more times after that. Oakbrook's new CHRISTKINDLMARKET from Nov 1st-16th based on Nuremberger Christkindlmarket. Zwei Gluhwein bitte.

Happy Halloween 2008

Family Picture


Where's Joe


They're after us


The dog's treat....wuff...wuff


Let's all do a hand stand....ha, ha, fooled ya

Pensacola Beach Trip Report

Our vacation to Pensacola beach. My trip report can be found here
Yes, I am Suburbanite05 :) Hope, it doesn't take a couple months to post a report for New Orleans, the Smoky mountains and all my photos and videos. My mind is like one big hamster wheel - I wish I can make it stop.

Before I die....

WE want to do this:


Spain's Tomato Food Fight



What a memory that would be! I can see Tyler, Sam, and Isabelle having a blast. And there's me, WAIT....let me take that picture.

Flip chef

Wish list

I love my new laptop now but it's a little heavy carrying it around.

I would love the new dell mini it only weight a little over 2 lbs. and a Pentax digital SLR.

Pensacola Beach pictures

A few pictures I took during our vacation in PB August 2008. We were lucky enough to avoid any hurricanes. I keep telling myself, soon I will devote time to put our vacation pictures in a shutterfly photo book.



child's work



Sunrise



A boardwalk




Lifeguard post




Under the PB fishing pier.

Hurricane Ike

Wish I was there to take some pictures or have a hurricane party. Just when the price of gas was getting better Ike has to come in and wreak havoc. Pictures are from msnbc. Pic 1 and Pic 2.

Free time

The 1st FULL day of 1st grade was yesterday. 7 hours is long but seems to go by too fast while you are in school. What a zoo the parking lot was. Glad I was off from work to bring you. Mom took you your 1st day which was a half day.

Snap, that's what I heard

The Perpetual Adolescent is at it again. We were playing with Tyler's t-ball which is attached to a long rubberband. I was throwing it in the air when it got stuck in the tree. So....hmmmm....how am I going to get this down? Tried unsuccessfully manuerving the rubberband around the branches. So I got a bigger rope and tried to wrap it around the ball unsuccessfully. Good thing the rock it was attached to did not hit the truck in the driveway. Nothing was working so I wrapped the rubberband around a stick and snapped it, my end hitting me in the chest. If only my brothers were watching, we would be all on the ground laughing.

The big bubble

The big bubble, originally uploaded by Suburbanite05.

Tyler and the Bubble

A picture from my Flickr site:

Beijing Olympics 2008 closing ceremony images

I bet those Chinese girls are underage. They look too young for 16. Enjoyed watching the games over the past week since we've been home. Watching the ending ceremonies and commentary kinda makes me want to work out to get in shape again. Hurray for May and Walsh, and Bryan Clay who went to the Olympics without sponsors. Feel bad for the Chinese hurdler, Liu Xiang who had a bum ankle or something prior to the race.

Canada 2010 winter olympics....HERE WE COME.





the bird's nest stadium; Greece, Olympic,China, UK flags; Olympic torch; Hello London 2012 olympics


Olympic rings; Memory tower, Michael Phelps; Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson - US gold medal winners;


China's premier hurdles sprinter; May and Walsh gold medal winners - beach volleyball; Bryan Clay USA gold medal winner decathalon

What's in your bag?

Some of the things I've been carrying in my work, shoulder bag for the past year. Cleaned it out today.

2 recipes
1 magazine page of websites
1 piece paper with websites
1 newpaper article for warehouse sale, denim samples at McCormick Place
1 magazine (Liesure) article travel to Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
loose change
medicine
sugar packets
steak knife
hot sauce packets
air freshner
powdered coffee creamer
--------------------------
Art Smith's Margherita Pizza (from O magazine)
makes one 9-inch pizza
(Been dying to make this myself)

1 recipe for pizza dough or purchased pizza dough, www.oprah.com/artsmithpizza
3 tbsp Art's basic tomato sauce or bottled marinara
4 slices fresh salted mozzarella (not packed in water)
4 fresh basil leaves chopped
2 thin slices prosciutto
1/2 cup chopped arugula
freshly ground pepper

>Preheat oven 440, place pizza stone in lower third of oven
>Roll out dough on floured surface to 9-inch round. Place on a lightly floured sheet and top with the sauce, mozarella and basil.
>Slide the pizza onto the hot stone and bake until crusts is brown, about 20 mins. Remove the from oven and top with prosciutto and arugula, season with pepper and serve immediately.


Baked risotto with butternut squash and prosciutto (6 servings) Chicago Suntimes 10/31/2007 food section
3 cups cubed peeled and seeded butternut squash
3 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp unsalted butter plus extra for preparing the pan
1.5 cups arborio rice
3 3/4 cups reduced sodium chicken stock
1.5 oz prosciutto cut into strips about 1/4 in wide and 3 in long
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1.5 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary and rosemary sprigs for garnish

Squash/2tbsp olive oil and cook in oven until golden brown. salt/pepper
Rice in a 2 quart baking dish, chicken stock, 3 tbsp butter, cook in oven until rice done(~40mins)
Remove both when done, cover with foil.
Cook prosciutto/oil until crisp
Stir gruyere cheese and chopped rosemary into the cooked risotto. Then gently stir in the roasted squash. Season with additional salt/pepper if needed.
Sprinkle cooked prosciutto and rosemary sprigs over rice and serve


Creative selling techniques for the Home buyer / Money magazine May 2008
http://www.domuswap.com/
http://www.goswap.org/
http://www.base.google.com/
http://www.zillow.com/
http://www.trulia.com/

Travelling rustic roads in wisconsin:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/

In Utica, Il, if visiting Starved Rock, also consider a visit to:
Matthiessen St Park

Indiana dunes:
http://www.casualcoast.com/

The warehouse sale denim sample at McCormick Place South. save UP to 80%. - http://www.thewarehousesale.com/

If we can ever go back to Europe and see Switzerland again, consider a visit to the little lakeside resort of Weggis . Travel on a nostalgic paddle steamers on the lake. Another port is Vitznau. A classic tourist destination is the mountain town of Pilatus, where according to legend Pontius Pilate went to die.

Interesting Email

Email is not always junk, sometimes

USS New York
It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center . It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft. Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite , LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, 'those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,' recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. The ship's motto? 'Never Forget'

Tibicen Cicada vs 17 yr cicada

I kept a few 17 yr cicadas from last year as reference for the kids when they grow up. Below, it is compared to this years brood.

Yearly Tibicen Cicada

I found cicada shells on our trees this year. I never noticed them before but was more observant this summer especially after last year's 17 yr cicada. They are not as noisy as the 17 yr variety.

Isabelle saw this one molting this morning and by the time it was finally out Tyler and I saw a Robin pick it for breakfast off the tree. Yummy.

Tibicen Cicada

finally a clean(er)garage / bike rider

I spent today cleaning the garage. It pratically took the whole day because
I took my time. There were coke and beer breaks. I grilled a hamburger in the afternoon and played with the kids a little bit. Now, I can walk to the back without having to hop over stuff. Looked around the garage after I was done as still amazed how much stuff there is - how can I get rid of more? Well, it was about 7pm and I was done. It's a good feeling to have accomplished something today.

Tyler learned to ride his bike by himself this weekend and had his first crash today while I was cleaning. I saw him riding faster on Isabelle's bike (too big for her at the moment. was purchased by Lolo & Lola) and wondered when his first wipe out would happen. Well, it happened this afternoon. He has 2 little gashes on his left shin. I was worried about MRSA so I washed his leg in the tub. You were crying that you would never ride a bike again - i was laughing to myself. About 2 hours later you were riding again.

French fry face and a bug

Bored on the 9hr drive from Pensacola to the Smoky Mountains, the kids use their french fries imaginatively. Now, don't throw away those fries - they're still perfectly good. Of course our little angel, Isabelle, started it all. A yellow moth Tyler and Sam saw on the side of a Tennessee gas station during the day on our way back home. Tyler thought it looked interesting and wanted me to look at it.

On the way home, a shopping break.

Stopped in Hebron, Kentucky at the Gap outlet center which sells Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic clothing. The clothes come from all over and some are damaged - little holes, missing buttons, worn, stains, dirt, inked. But some are in perfect condition. Only found a few things for the kids and I got three pairs of jeans (2 gap & 1 Banana Republic) for about $30 and 2 shirts ($10) but of course we spent way more than that, just look at Sam's shopping cart!!! What felt only like 1hr spent there turned into almost a 3hr shopping excursion. Needless to say we arrived home a little after 12 midnight. That was a lot of FUN and well worth the stop!

Sam's shopping cart. Oh My Gosh! What are you doing! You're going to try all that on? Yes, she did!


With 3 full bags, it's time to go home. We'll be back!

Pensacola Beach Wed. day 3

Damn wireless was not working in the room. It was working spotty last night in the room. So now I am in the lobby and it's working fine. Could make a connection in the room but Explorer wouldn't open any pages...

Pensacola beach is beautiful. Today I got a MAJOR jelly fish sting on the stomach. OUCH...I was trying to swim to the sand bar with Tyler's inflatable and surf a little bit but I got stung before I even got there and had to turn around and head back to shore. I was sooooo pisssed. Sprayed some white vinegar on there and rubbed a little meat tenderizer about 30 mins later. I think it helped but I have some little red welts across my stomach about 7"long. That was my first major sting. I got smaller ones which weren't so bad.

2 more days to go and on my to do list is more morning shots and some sunset shots. Found a good vantage point for the sunset shots today. The sun is setting toward the mainland and not over the ocean....so Tyler, Isabelle, and I drove around this evening and I think we found a good vantage point.
I'm not drinking as much as I thought I would...something's gotta be wrong.

Day 1

Hey, this has got to be someone from the family or at least a long lost relative. Saw him travelling on I55 and had to pull out the camera from the bag with one hand while driving with the other.

Haven't seen one since I was a kid. Taken in Troy, IL.
I felt so sleepy after lunch. This is my second cup of coffee - dark roast. Had to pull off the interstate for my 1st cup of coffee at McDonalds.

Well, finally made it to Tennessee, South Memphis/South Haven and only 600 miles later or 10 hrs. I don't know why it took us 10 hrs - 1 stop for lunch, 2 gas fill ups, 1 coffee stop, 1 potty break. Checked in a little after 9pm. Tried the Applebees for dinner at 9 before checking in but there was still a wait at the door? - huh? So KFC it was and ate in the hotel room. Now for some sleep. Oh, my aching bottom and knees. Only 6-7 hrs to drive in the morning for New Orleans.

I still need to play around desperately with this laptop because I still don't know how these pictures are being saved (well I have a little idea).

Gas BP/TA travel center, Troy, IL - 64.89
Burger King-12.93
KFC-20.80
Shell, Marion AR - 61.90

My new laptop

Pictures by Tyler

Always wanted a laptop but somehow always spent the money for other things. Until dad gave me $400 to help pay for one. My 2 brothers were looking through pictures on their laptop and dad looked at me and asked where's mine. I said I spent the money on other things we need. Right there he gave me 300 and the next morning another 100 because he thought he gave me 400 the previous night (we were at Jessica's cabin on a weekend fishing trip). Thanks dad. Anyway, got a retro check from work and shopped around for a couple weeks and ended up with a dell inspiron 1525. So far it's awesome. Thanks to Luis and Brian for coming over tonight and helping me access our wireless network at home.

My Morning Routine

After a cup of coffee, I read with enjoyment the Transportation Section of the Chicago Tribune on the King's Throne.

Photograher: Tyler

Happy Father's day

Woke up this Sunday morning. Lucky to be off today as I was scheduled to be at work. Outside at 7am before everyone else was up and saw storm clouds to the west. It rained for a couple hours this morning but is currently sunny and dry. Time to go enjoy the rest of the day - oh,...what to do?



Good Morning, Isabelle. How did you sleep? "Good, daddy, I want breakfast - eggs." She always sits on my lap if I am in the chair! Here I am reading the Sunday paper and they are watching cartoons on the tv. Tyler was the first to wake up. Photographer for below: Tyler