Monday, December 20, 2010

dry cleaning

Before we moved to Chicago, I often wondered about the daily chores of life. Where do I go to the grocery store? Do I walk to the pharmacy? Is there a place to park at the dry cleaners?
Tonight the reality of city life hit me right up side the head. Multiple times. I strapped on rubber boots, a down coat, gloves, and a hat and walked 3 and a half blocks (long blocks) in a snow globe to pick up 17 pieces of dry cleaning (with Austin). And then carried them back in the driving wind and snow. How does the wind hit us in the face BOTH ways? And snow globe? Please don't think of a peaceful one that's been gently shaken by your lovely, calm grandmother. Instead think of a three year old who grabbed the snow globe and violently ran through the house with it after eating too much chocolate. Anyway, it was kinda fun. And adventurous. And we weren't the only people picking up our dry cleaning.
I snapped this picture in the dry cleaning place. Toboggan is not my best look, but staying warm is priority!


Currently packing our suitcases for TEXAS TOMORROW!
Yeehaw, and Merry Christmas Y'all!!!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

I forgot Austin took one picture with his phone while we were waiting on the bus.
So cold!
Wind is blowing my hair INSIDE my hood.
But loving my new coat.
I am smiling under there.

Christmas Shopping

Yesterday, Austin and I headed out in the freezing cold to finish up some Christmas shopping. I must say Chicago Christmas shopping is a lot different from any other shopping I've experienced.
1. Be ready to be cold. Very cold.
2. Be ready to walk. A LOT.
3. Be ready and willing to carry any and all purchases made. Including on the bus/train.
4. Be ready to deal with LOTS & LOTS of other shoppers. Some of whom may not live here. And may think that it's okay to walk out into the intersection even when the "walk" signal is not showing just because they think no one is coming. Only to then be almost run over by the left-hand turners. Ugh. Tourists. ;)
5. Be ready to bundle up in every piece of clothing you own, only to have to strip down inside every store.
Did I mention it was cold? "Feels like" of 6 degrees.

We didn't take any pictures while we were outside. It was just too much. We stopped by a German Christmas market and it was so crowded and cold that we didn't say for long.

We did snap these pictures inside the Macy's on State Street (formerly Marshall Fields).


(my new purple scarf Austin got for me in Philadelphia!)

While in Macy's, I broke down and bought a down coat. It's beautiful and I love it. It's so warm and it was 60% off! Praise God!

We are home getting ready for the trip to Texas and trying to stay warm in the apartment.
Can't wait to touch down in Dallas and have a great Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

eye doc

just in case i forgot why i'm here......
i picked up this hoodie at school.



forgot to turn off the flash.

*this picture just to prove the letters are not on backwards as some optical illusion....though that's an idea.*

this week....1 test, 1 case study and 3 quizzes down, one more quiz and one more test to go and it's Christmas break!
PS who in MV is willing to let me practice some techniques on you? noninvasive for the most part..... :)
i'm serious. practical is coming soon!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

"Blizzard-like Conditions"

I gave it about 15 seconds on the balcony taking the video below before I ran back inside.
How in the world Austin took off in this weather and is on his way to Philadelphia is beyond me. The flights before his and the ones after his were all canceled.
But he is in the air and spending a week in Philly working.
I am anxiously awaiting the start of the Bears game because as it is right now, I can't even see Soldier Field anymore! I can hear the announcer, but I can't see a thing.

I thought you might need a reminder of what things looked like from our balcony back in July.


Now, enjoy the video!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

O, Christmas tree....

So our Christmas tree didn't turn exactly as we had imagined her to be a few months ago. With the Thanksgiving festivities and school picking back up, Christmas has really snuck up on us and we decided to forgo the big Christmas tree from the Christmas tree farm...just this year! We didn't bring our big fake tree with us during the move so we knew we had to do something for a tree. We didn't want to buy another fake tree because it would have to stay up all year because we have no place to put it! So we decided on this little gal.....


a fresh Christmas tree right off the lot at Home Depot. The snow made it feel festive and we were freezing but we tried to make the best choice! It came already built into the stand and really, it just couldn't be more perfect. It took us all of about 20 minutes to decorate the tree. 2 strands of lights and some of our favorite ornaments later, and it was done and Mariah was still singing "All I want for Christmas Is You!"




Austin had the great idea to put the tree up on a box with our Christmas tree skirt.
I think we watch too much HGTV around here. : )

The perfect place for our stockings.



Merry Christmas from the Chicago Puryears!!!



fun with friends

Last Saturday night we met up with a huge group of of my classmates in Wrigleyville and had a ball! Austin served as photographer so I don't have a picture of him...will try to do better next time. Who knew future optometrists could be so fun?!?


Kelsey & Katie wearing the event shirt that I forgot to purchase. Maybe next year.

And the trio you know and love, Dave, me, and Stephanie.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

First Real Snow





Our first real snow started falling late last Friday night and continued most of the day Saturday. Our temps have been so cold (lower 20s) that a lot of the snow is still around. Some has turned to ice which doesn't make it easy getting to the bus and getting on and off of the bus. So far, I haven't fallen yet. I am just waiting for that to happen. We have had wind chills below zero this week and it's just better to stay indoors! I think it's time to retire the pumpkins and mums since we now have our Christmas tree up. More on that soon! Test tomorrow....goodnight!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Museum of Science & Industry

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to the Museum of Science & Industry here in Chicago. Just a few people had the same idea. I usually find myself so overwhelmed in museums that I just sort of wander around. And I can't say that this was any different. But, it is a fantastic museum according to museum lovers.



"ya donkey!"
(the donkey was part of a train exhibit)

The Huffstetler kids.

The cyclone nearly had him.



My siblings inquiring about the best body part, the eye.
I was happy to share my limited information.


grand Christmas tree.


German submarine captured in WWII.


Dinner in Greektown just west of downtown Chicago.
Fantastic!

I had a stuffed tomato and spinach cheese pie.
It was so good we went again 2 days ago when Austin's friend, Andy, was in town from Houston.

Really gotta go study.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

School is definitely back in session. Exhibit A: my lack of blogging this week.
I promise to blog more this weekend. We are hoping to go cut down our own Christmas tree and decorate it. And I heard it might be snowing!
Studying tonight for a test tomorrow and Austin is having dinner with a friend from Houston. Darn that biochemistry test tomorrow.
See you real soon.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Last Installment of "weirdest day in Chicago"

So let's pick up where I left off. The right pizza had finally to the table and we thoroughly enjoyed it. But now we had another pizza (the original one) that we needed to do something with. We decided to take it home and eat it later. So....who wants to carry a 7 lb box of pizza (really, it's heavy) through the streets of Chicago?? Well, apparently Austin did. So he volunteers to chauffeur the pizza home.




So we walk down to the river to take some pictures. And I see a man trying to shine people's shoes, but I don't think much about it...until I turn around and see this.

Oh, that would be Austin. Standing there helplessly. So I move closer and begin to hear my poor, sweet, innocent husband being swindled into a bet with this guy. I mean, I see them shaking hands. And so what do I do? Sit quietly in the background? Please.
"Wait, wait wait. What are you betting him??? You want $16 for this shoe shine?? UGH, NO BET!!" Basically, he told Austin that he could guess the number of children his father had by looking at the toe of the boot. If he got it wrong, we owed him nothing. If he got it right, we owed him double...$16. Have you ever in your life?? $16 for a 60 second shoe shine? What is this Manhattan? I mean, this all happened so fast that before I knew it, I had called off the bet, the guy was calling me out for stepping in and refusing the bet, and my brother was getting money out of his wallet to give the shoe shiner while Austin stood there holding the pizza. As we walked away, we laughed a lot. My favorite quotes.....
"Austin, you have to just keep walking. Don't let him get near your feet."
"Well with this pizza, I'm just not that agile." It was the pizza.....right.

"Well if you were going to try to con someone out of a group of people, wouldn't you choose the one who got stuck carrying the pizza? I mean, that just says 'sucker.'" - Me

"It's like a lion picking off the weak gazelle - the one with the pizza box." - Austin


How did all of this happen to us in one day? Either way, we will never forget it. And come to find out, that guy had tried to shine Austin's shoes before and he had escaped. Not this time. Shoe shine won.


Here are some pictures from the bus ride home.

We stand even when there are empty seats cuz we're cool like that.

One final group picture before Lyndsay headed back to Iowa.
Such a fun weekend.
And there is a shiny pair of boots in the hallway to prove it.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

WARNING: very long post!

*I honestly tried not to be wordy, but some details just must remain with the story*

You ever have a day when you leave the house and things just aren't going right and you feel like maybe you should turn around and go home???
Well we (me, Austin, Andi, John, & Lyndsay) had a day like that.
And if we were a little more faint-hearted, we might have gone back home.
But we stuck it out.
And endured the most bizzare day we've had in Chicago thus far.


1. When we got downstairs to head downtown, the bus tracker said it would be 13 minutes til the next "3 bus" came. So we decided to wait inside where it was warm (rather than go outside in the 20 something degree weather). While standing inside, we see two buses we needed head north. Great.
2. We decide to get ourselves to the bus stop. We get on the "4 bus."
We ride for about 5 blocks and while sitting at a stop, a van whizzes by and HITS THE BUS.
We have to get off the bus and load onto another bus (no one was injured).

3. We finally get to our bus stop. We are enjoying our walk near the river downtown. All of the sudden, police officers on 4 wheelers start pulling up....weird. And then we hear it.
Protesting.
Animal rights protestors with at least 15 police escorts marching through the streets with posters of mistreated animals. They march right past us. Trying to pass out information to us. All the while, some are wearing leather shoes....hmmm.
Unfortunately, the protestors decided to be everywhere we wanted to be for the next 10 minutes or so. And you can't imagine how many people were out. This was "Black Friday!!!"

4. So after my blood pressure went back down after the screaming and pictures of bloody pigs, we decide to duck into some stores (no pun intended). We quickly realized that you could hardly move once you got inside any store. There are a lot of people out there looking for a bargain.

So what would you do??
Well we decided to head to Giordano's for some delicious Chicago pizza.
Nothing can be wrong with that, right??

5. Giordano's is crowded. But it usually is. So I muscle my way up to put our name on the list and we are quoted an hour and a half wait. She also asked that we please preorder our pizza in 45 minutes so that, when our table is ready 45 minutes after that, we won't have to wait on the pizza.
Okay. We can handle that.
After 20 minutes of standing, we finally score a small table and some chairs in the "waiting area." We order our pizza after 45 minutes.
After an hour of waiting, we decide to order an appetizer and some drinks from the bartender.
The most apathetic bartender ever.
We had to go fetch our own appetizer and we determined it had been sitting at the bar long enough to be half way between hot & cold. Ugh.
TWO hours later, our name is called.
We sit down.
And wait.
10 minutes later, our not hot, cheese is already set up, sausage & green pepper pizza is presented to us.
What?!?!? We just waited two hours for cold pizza??
No way. Not us.
My very diplomatic cousin, Lyndsay, catches the eye of the manager.
"Is everything good over here?" - Manager
"Umm, actually, no. Everything is not good." - Lyndsay
After a short discussion of the situation, the manager is having our pizza remade.
Now we must wait 45 MORE minutes for our pizza.
Time drags on but we try to make the best of it by making jokes and laughing.
And then it arrives.
A hot, steamy, cheesy, saucy, spinach and mushroom pizza?!?!
"Uh, that's not our pizza" - Me
"I'm gonna kill those people back there." - our waitress
She had already served two of us. The pieces went back in the pan. And she returned shortly after, with our long awaited pizza.
FINALLY! The pizza was delicious, but I spent almost 4 hours in that restaurant. And it's going to be a long time before I'm willing to go back.

You think it's over, right?
There can't possibly be anything left to talk about.
HA.

Stay tuned for the last installment of "weirdest day in Chicago."
I've gotta quit blogging and get ready to start back to school tomorrow.
See you soon.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day pictures.

Everyone has arrived and we are waiting a few more minutes for the goods to come out of the oven. The turkey waits on the table.


John carving our smoked turkey from Tyler, Texas.
It was delicious!!
Thanks, Mom!



Left to right: Friend Nicole, Sister Andi, Cousin Lyndsay


Brother John


Caleb really wanted that turkey leg.


Our dessert table.
Pecan pie. Coconut pie. Buttermilk Pie. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.
And these delicious Magic Cookie Bars that Caleb & Nicole made!

Me & Nicole.
The old human resources' temps together.
She now works in the law school at ND and I'm back in school!


More pictures from the weekend coming soon.