Thursday, January 7, 2010
the death of a . . . fish
our lovely beta fish, dawson, passed away today :( I'll never forget the day Neill brought him home. The night before we had a huge blowout about getting a dog. I really wanted a dog (and still do) and neill - the dog hater that he is - refused to budge on his no dog rule. come the next day, i get home from work and he surprises us with a fish. i was beyond livid and yelled a lot about how unfair it was for him to be able to have a fish when I couldn't have a dog. I was so mad, I told neill he had to fry dawson up and eat him. what can i say? i've got a temper. while i did hate dawson originally, my feelings have grown to luke warm regard. most of the time i completely forgot we owned him as neill took charge of his care. one week when neill was out of town dawson completely slipped my mind and i didn't feed him once. oops. this is making me sound like a very negligent and thoughtless person. don't judge me. i cared for dawson in my own way. for example, as he declined over the last few months I've urged neill to put him out of his misery so he did not suffer. while no one wants to kill a fish, it was so sad seeing him unable to swim around. i can only hope that he wasn't in too much pain. neill and i just flushed him and the last thing neill said to him was "she never liked you that much anyways". i think we are going to sell our fish supplies. neill says he wants to take a break from being a fish owner. i guess he is really broken up about it. or he doesnt want to have to clean out the nasty fish tank anymore. thats probably what it is. but seriously. bye, dawson. you were conceived under less than perfect circumstances and you had a negligent mother, but somehow you still turned out to be an awesome fish.
Subterranean
I can't believe I've neglected to review SubT for so long! It's my favorite place to see music in the city! The set-up makes you feel like you are in some awesome, vintage house party and they always have good sound guys working. Whether you want to be close to the action on the first floor or hang back a bit more on the balcony, you'll always have a good view. All around great venue!
Double Door Night Club
Another great Chicago music venue that I've somehow missed reviewing. tsk tsk.
Most recently, I was at Double Door for Window Licker's Holiday Hangover Show. There was a good crowd going and the sound was good. My only complaint is that beer here is expensive. 4 dollars for a pbr?!? ugh. But, the fact that there is a downstairs bar you can escape to when you'd rather hold a conversation than be drowned out by just okay music is priceless. seriously. there is nothing worse than having to stand through loud crappy music. I love that you can hang downstairs for bands you dont like and then go back up to rock out when you want. I also once saw an awesome acoustic show down there.
double door is double the fun!
Most recently, I was at Double Door for Window Licker's Holiday Hangover Show. There was a good crowd going and the sound was good. My only complaint is that beer here is expensive. 4 dollars for a pbr?!? ugh. But, the fact that there is a downstairs bar you can escape to when you'd rather hold a conversation than be drowned out by just okay music is priceless. seriously. there is nothing worse than having to stand through loud crappy music. I love that you can hang downstairs for bands you dont like and then go back up to rock out when you want. I also once saw an awesome acoustic show down there.
double door is double the fun!
The Metro
This is another really good venue to see music in Chicago, but I've got to agree with julie e - there are better. Yes, the sound is good. Yes, the stage is awesome. Yes, they book a lot of great bands. Yes, it is in a convenient location. But damn, it seems like you've got to be a douche to work here. Plus, a sold out show here is so uncomfortably packed to the gills that unless you're really in to being pushed around and full body contact with strangers it is super unpleasant.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Honeymoon Part II
Neill and I struggled with our decision of whether or not we should go on a honeymoon. We both knew we wanted to go, but it was hard to commit to going. Finances wasn't the only obstacle, either. Planning a honeymoon is hard work! I think sometimes we would get so overwhelmed with our choices that it was easier to just say no to everything.
One question we faced is when. Neill liked the idea of leaving for our honeymoon right after the wedding, but that would conflict with my class schedule. While I don't technically have to take classes this summer, it would help me stay on track in the program. If we didn't go right after the wedding, there was the option of going later in the summer or just waiting until winter came around. This was an attractive option because we both really liked the idea of going to Jamaica for our honeymoon and the winter months is the perfect time to head for warmer weather. The downside of this option is that we would have nothing planned for right after our wedding. The idea of going back to class the Monday after getting married just seemed so . . . ugh. We wanted the magic to last as long as possible! This is when we started thinking of maybe doing a small minimoon somewhere in the States right after our wedding and planning our real honeymoon for the winter or even our one year anniversary. We both have been wanting to plan a trip to Portland so that seemed like a possibility. But, when we started crunching numbers we realized that we wouldn't be able to afford both trips. And, if we were going to go somewhere right after the wedding, we might as well just do the honeymoon we truly wanted!
Another major question is where. As I said, Neill and I have always talked about going to Jamaica for our honeymoon. We have always wanted to go to an all inclusive resort and Jamaica is the logical place for us given Neill's background. But, I was hesitant to plan a trip to Jamaica during June. It's their rainy season! While on the plus side that did mean we could afford a beautiful resort with a beautiful room, I didn't want to deal with 24/7 rain. Also, part of me was still interested in that wonderfully lavish European trip. While it would be so fun to explore new places and learn about new cultures, it is daunting to plan something like that! Plus, Neill really didn't want to spend the honeymoon touristing around to museums and historical sites. We started thinking that maybe a cruise would meet both of our needs! It has all inclusive meals and we could spend the days on the ship lazing around the pools. Plus, we could stop at some awesome ports and go on mini day long adventures! We started looking into Mediterranean cruises and they really did seem wonderful. The main cons of cruising is that it isn't truly all inclusive because you have to pay for drinks (not to mention anything you want to purchase when off ship) and only having eight hours to explore a city made me nervous.
Whew! You can see why planning a honeymoon is so overwhelming! Stay tuned for Honeymoon Part III to see what we decided!
One question we faced is when. Neill liked the idea of leaving for our honeymoon right after the wedding, but that would conflict with my class schedule. While I don't technically have to take classes this summer, it would help me stay on track in the program. If we didn't go right after the wedding, there was the option of going later in the summer or just waiting until winter came around. This was an attractive option because we both really liked the idea of going to Jamaica for our honeymoon and the winter months is the perfect time to head for warmer weather. The downside of this option is that we would have nothing planned for right after our wedding. The idea of going back to class the Monday after getting married just seemed so . . . ugh. We wanted the magic to last as long as possible! This is when we started thinking of maybe doing a small minimoon somewhere in the States right after our wedding and planning our real honeymoon for the winter or even our one year anniversary. We both have been wanting to plan a trip to Portland so that seemed like a possibility. But, when we started crunching numbers we realized that we wouldn't be able to afford both trips. And, if we were going to go somewhere right after the wedding, we might as well just do the honeymoon we truly wanted!
Another major question is where. As I said, Neill and I have always talked about going to Jamaica for our honeymoon. We have always wanted to go to an all inclusive resort and Jamaica is the logical place for us given Neill's background. But, I was hesitant to plan a trip to Jamaica during June. It's their rainy season! While on the plus side that did mean we could afford a beautiful resort with a beautiful room, I didn't want to deal with 24/7 rain. Also, part of me was still interested in that wonderfully lavish European trip. While it would be so fun to explore new places and learn about new cultures, it is daunting to plan something like that! Plus, Neill really didn't want to spend the honeymoon touristing around to museums and historical sites. We started thinking that maybe a cruise would meet both of our needs! It has all inclusive meals and we could spend the days on the ship lazing around the pools. Plus, we could stop at some awesome ports and go on mini day long adventures! We started looking into Mediterranean cruises and they really did seem wonderful. The main cons of cruising is that it isn't truly all inclusive because you have to pay for drinks (not to mention anything you want to purchase when off ship) and only having eight hours to explore a city made me nervous.
Whew! You can see why planning a honeymoon is so overwhelming! Stay tuned for Honeymoon Part III to see what we decided!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Honeymoon Part I
I think most people would agree that wedding and honeymoon go together like . . . salt and pepper. It's a package deal, right?
That's what I always thought. I might not have had many dreams or ideas of what my dream wedding would be like, but I always assumed there would be a wildly romantic European honeymoon. But, when you are planning a wedding during a tough economic time for your family (and yourself and everyone else), you start questioning whether or not a honeymoon is really necessary. At least, that's what I'm doing.
In my fantasies, I don't think I ever thought about who would foot the bill for two weeks in the South of France or the Greek Islands or both! But in the real world, that's probably the most vital question. You can daydream and plan all you want, but unless you have some credit card numbers to supply you aint going nowhere. And let's be honest - we aren't talking in hundreds here. Even though the dream trips sounded wonderful, I knew I couldn't ask anyone else to pay for something like that. I am already carrying around enough guilt about the money my family is spending on the wedding. I could never bring myself to ask for something so . . . luxuriously selfish.
So, that really only leaves two people to look to. Me and Neill. If we are going to go on a honeymoon, we'll have to pay for it ourselves. And it will have to go on our credit card or be paid for out of our savings. Faced with this reality, I'm sure you can understand why we have found ourselves questioning whether or not we should go on a honeymoon. Of course we want to go, but our practical sides tell us to not waste our money on a week or two of vacationing when we have so many things we need to save for.
So, what do you think? How important are honeymoons? What is your dream honeymoon?
That's what I always thought. I might not have had many dreams or ideas of what my dream wedding would be like, but I always assumed there would be a wildly romantic European honeymoon. But, when you are planning a wedding during a tough economic time for your family (and yourself and everyone else), you start questioning whether or not a honeymoon is really necessary. At least, that's what I'm doing.
In my fantasies, I don't think I ever thought about who would foot the bill for two weeks in the South of France or the Greek Islands or both! But in the real world, that's probably the most vital question. You can daydream and plan all you want, but unless you have some credit card numbers to supply you aint going nowhere. And let's be honest - we aren't talking in hundreds here. Even though the dream trips sounded wonderful, I knew I couldn't ask anyone else to pay for something like that. I am already carrying around enough guilt about the money my family is spending on the wedding. I could never bring myself to ask for something so . . . luxuriously selfish.
So, that really only leaves two people to look to. Me and Neill. If we are going to go on a honeymoon, we'll have to pay for it ourselves. And it will have to go on our credit card or be paid for out of our savings. Faced with this reality, I'm sure you can understand why we have found ourselves questioning whether or not we should go on a honeymoon. Of course we want to go, but our practical sides tell us to not waste our money on a week or two of vacationing when we have so many things we need to save for.
So, what do you think? How important are honeymoons? What is your dream honeymoon?
