Vida

Tuesday San Francisco joined the cities participating in styrofoam bans !  Yay, San Francisco! I would say, "Come on, Chicago."  But going off what happened with the plastic bag ban and the fact that it's now worse than before the so called "ban" I guess it's better to stay bad, rather than making it worse. Super happy San Francisco has it together though!

We're back from family vacay 2016 and it was wonderful!  Yes, I started work very early today and I am playing catch-up, but I didn't check any email once last week.  Totally worth it. We spent a lot of time at the beach and pool, made a trip to mini golf and a local brewery .  And mostly, we just hung out. jumping pics were a fail this year P.S. I beat Mike by one stroke at mini-golf which is only actually satisfying because he is so competitive. 

Not to brag, but I've killed it the last two years with Father's Day cards.  To be fair, I almost always put a lot of thought behind cards.  Cards are important! Last year my card said Happy Fathers Day and had a pile of books.  My dad really likes to read, even if it's often audiobooks while he drives.  (Yes, he was into them before they were popular.)  But that's not even the best part!  The books in the pile all had subjects on their binds and they were all interests of my dad's:  Baseball, Politics, etc.   Killed it. This year I took a picture route and I think this will go over just as well! P.S. I used  Pinhole Press . 

Guys, it's Friday and it's beautiful! I'm sitting outside at Intelligentsia and I'm actually cold in my t-shirt and pants.  Who knew I needed a sweatshirt on June 17?  Note: the sun has not reached this part of the sidewalk yet.   I had a lovely run on the lake this morning.  Minus the truck that I swear must have been cleaning out portapotties.  It smelt very bad.  So bad that I swear it lingered.  Like I swear I can still smell it... Aside from that.  Wonderful! It's summer hours Friday (so I'm done at noon) and we're off to Florida tomorrow.  So I'm pulling out everything I have to get things in order before logging off and letting someone else deal with everything for a week. ;)  Good thing I do actually have some things to get in order and a call with some of our volunteers or I'd really be struggling. Bring on the sunshine and family time... (and some humidity too, please) P.S. Family vacay last year

We're heading on vacation next week and I know I need it. You know when you just feel worn down, not as efficient. I know I mentioned our videos before and the last one was released today.  Often when I feel worn down I watch one of our videos to inspire me again.   Seriously almost all of them make me cry.  It could be because I'm getting to know a lot of the people in the videos.  I worked with Kara a lot on their Bay Area Walk in May.  I just had my first call with Genneia last week to start planning the LA Walk in January. If you feel like donating to support research and support for Nephrotic Syndrome & FSGS, I have a fundraising page for the half marathon I'm doing in July.   Click here if so inclined .  I'm completely failing on fundraising while the main volunteer behind the event is killing it...he recruited 60 runners already.   When we heard that our child has a disease with no known cure, no treatment, and no known cause... Our lives chan

As we flipped the calendar from May to June, Mike & I knew it was time to start searching the internet for some apartments to look at. We immediately found one we were super excited about.  It seemed to be a house with a garage!  We happened to be in the area Thursday night (Congrats, Justin & Jason!  Their episode of House Hunters premiered!) and Mike suggested driving over and taking a look.  It looked fine from the outside (in the dark) and the inside photos were amazing...but...it was so far from activity. We actually didn't even go to the showing Sunday.  Because then you fall in love with the inside and justify the distance.  (And other things kind-of came up too...)  This is probably our last year in Chicago.  Mike can start grad school and I'll do the same (but much less urgently) and I've pretty much had my fill of Chicago.  When I'm still saying it on June 7 as the summer begins, you know I'm serious.  I'm sharing this to say, why spend the

Last summer, Karen & I started craving more 1-on-1 sister time.  We started trying to set one evening aside once a week to get together.  As time evolved and we became committed, we started calling them Sister Dates.  (Note: Mike may have technically come up with the name.)  Usually the date consists of grabbing dinner somewhere together (usually somewhere new every week).  And I love it. We take turns choosing the restaurant every week.  I usually pick super last minute (hours before) and Karen usually picks days in advance, sometimes a full week.  This is typical of our personalities.  Karen will sigh the night before and ask, "Have you decided where we're going tomorrow?" We've gone all over the city.  I think the only place we've gone more than once for a Sister Date is Brendan's (our favorite dive bar that's always willing to turn on the Cardinals game).   We've had Mexican: Bullhead Cantina, El Jardin, Su Casa Burgers: Parts &