Dave graduates Harvard

Here are pictures from Dave's Harvard graduation.

-Kelly

Brian's Birthday Pictures

If you were curious to see more than just a preview of Brian's birthday pictures, you can follow this link.

-Kelly

Brian's birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Brian's birthday. Here's a preview with some pictures.
I baked a homemade chocolate birthday cake which some said was delicious, and also decorated the front door with a hand-crafted "Happy Birthday Brian" poster that looks like a Scrabble enthusiast's dream come true. Our friends, who Brian knows from school, were nice enough to treat us to a birthday dinner at our new favorite local restaurant.



We also were lucky enough to see another friend from Boston, who is driving cross country to relocate to the west coast, and stopped by for a brief stay.


Our friend also makes the most excellent smoothies! What a busy, social and most excellent week!
-Kelly

Patio furniture, Chipotle, and Frappucinos

Well, its been another few busy days in Oak Park. Yesterday, Kelly found a rummage sale put on by the 19th Century Club, a service club with a long history in Oak Park. The sale was staffed by some older ladies who were very friendly and chatty. There was a lot of old stuff for sale, some of it looked like it was left over from the 19th century. We picked through it all and got a great deal on some patio furniture, which since we don't have a patio yet, is residing in our living room.

Kelly and I have experienced lots of changes since we moved from Boston to Chicago. One of the most significant changes has been our introduction to the neighborhood Chipotle. For those of you who don't know, Chipotle is a Mexican fast-food chain (owned by McDonald's) found all around the country, except in the Boston area. It has a kind of hip, Californian atmosphere and uses tasty, fresh vegetables and lean meats as ingredients for its burritos, tacos, and salsas. Kelly and I were both frequent customers of Anna's Taqueria in Boston, and in Chipotle, I think we've found a worthy successor. I won't go as far as saying Chipotle is better than Anna's. Some of our friends in Boston might consider those fighting words, but I think it holds its own.

I've also finally succumbed to the Starbucks frappuccino. For years I've thought it was stupid to pay over 3 dollars for some glorified coffee drink. I don't know if its the heat wave we're experiencing, but I tried it a few days ago and now I'm hooked. I often find myself leaving the apartment for a walk or to run errands and somehow ending up at the Starbucks two blocks away. Its like caffeine pheremones.


-Brian

Summer Nights

I made the mistake of having green tea with dinner ... the caffeine is doing its best to keep me awake and full of jitters now. I'll have to remember not to do that again.

After a scorcher of a day, we went into Chicago for sushi tonight at a favorite hangout of Brian's from his days at the University. The restaurant is on a hip block and in a happening part of town, where tons of young people were congregating at the bars and restaurants. With all the windows and doors open to the hot summer night's air, I was reminded of Davis Square, Landsdown Street, and downtown Boston after hours. After spending nearly a decade in Boston (where the are population annually swells by 250,000 after Labor Day from all of the students in the colleges and universities), walking down the street dominated by the college age/young professional demographic this evening made me feel right at home. Honestly, living in Oak Park with tons of families with their little babies and kids all around, and seeing very few college students is strange. I guess this is what most American towns are like though.

We're still searching for the camera-computer cable to download our latest photos and post them here online. Also, we finally re-entered this century with the modern day amenity of DSL for our connection to the internet last night. We got a phone line too! No T.V. here though, which is fine by me, except that I am missing Lance Armstrong race his final Tour de France in his trial to win a record 7th win this year. Win or lose, he retires this year after this race. The advent of a kitchen table and a kitchen cart, has meant devoting significant time to assembling such pieces of furniture. So along that train of thought, yesterday's quote of the day by Brian was, "Power Tools are Cool!"

-Kelly

Movin' on Up

Its been a hectic few days here in Oak Park. Ever since I got here I've been doing all the mudane but necessary things involved in relocating to another state. Kelly's dad flew out here for a few days to help us get settled in. He seemed to approve of the locale. We weren't sure when the movers were going to show up, but they ended up arriving on July 1st. The move went more or less without too many headaches, so far. We're in the process of unpacking all the boxes and trying to find a place to put everything.

I've got some photos I took on the drive into Chicago which I'll post as soon as I can find the camera-computer cable.

-Brian

Happy Birthday U.S.A.

Chicagoland is great! This will be a brief note just to say I am loving the new place and the new town. Highlights thus far (in addition to unpacking) have included exploring the town on foot and walking to the home and museum of Frank Lloyd Wright, shopping at the world famous IKEA store, watching the local kids march in the 4th of July parade, and the seeing the town fireworks display in a nearby park.

Thanks to everyone who has already written cards and or letters; it was really nice to arrive at the new place and find mail already waiting for me here. That's all for now … I will endeavor to write more later.

-Kelly