Carrie and I headed down to Halsted for the 40th Gay Pride Parade.

For seven years I had an apartment right next to Spin on Halsted so we had fabulous parties to watch the parade. Now my old apartment is part of the nightclub and I am forced to watch from the ground like normal people. It was hot, loud and crowded-the usual!

At the end I abandoned my pride and bent down in the gutter to pick up all of the $1 off Caribou Coffee coupons. There’s no shame in being thrifty and caffeinated!

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Holy crap it’s my 1000th post! Let’ toast with fresh strawberry coctails-one is strawberries with vanilla stoli and the other is strawberries, basil and rum. Deelicious!

Lots of things have happened this weekend and none was more 1000th post worthy than a visit from one of my oldest friends, the infamous Carrie Kennedy. She flew in Thursday night and we treated her to chicago stlye pizza and mojitos in the backyard. Friday was a trip to our favorite Indian restaurant and sunset on the beach followed by more cocktails in the garden. Saturday we braved the crowds of downtown to see Millennium Park and rode aimlessly around the city on the Double Decker Tour Bus. By the end of the trip we were the only folks on board and got to enjoy the scenery without the annoying tour guide banter. We strolled around downtown and by the end of the day I was beat from carrying 13lbs of baby on my chest. We headed down to the subway and as the train pulled in I gasped in horror-it was the end of the Cubs/Sox game and all of the cars were packed with drunk ass sports fans! I will say it was pretty sweet how everyone on the car offered me their seat but it did not make up for twenty minutes of drunk dudes screaming insults like, “you’re gay!” and “You’re a Packer fan!” We made it home and (surprise!) more cocktails. But this time it was raining so we broke in the table on the front porch. Five years and I have never entertained out front. Now I know it’s quite lovely! But not as lovely as Carrie!

Sunday we hit the pride parade before reluctantly taking her back to the airport.

We have been friends for twenty years and it was nice to know that even though we are old lady married moms we can still bring the rock.
Here we are bringing the rock way back in 1989-

Here’s Canyon bringing the rock in his new Guns and Roses onesie!

Sweet Child O Mine!
.

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Joy gave us the cutest new hat…

Canyon seems to like it!

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Yes, I have a problem with clutter and yes, I love stuff just a little too much and yes, I have a little too much time on my hands. Enter….Freecycle!
It started out so innocent. Early this spring I decided we needed a new couch and dining room table and I wanted to be thrifty and find one on Craigslist. Then someone on Facebook suggested Freecycle which I had signed up for years ago but never really used. Instantly I was hooked. It started out with a really cool bouncy horse that Canyon will not be able to use until he’s like two. Then it was a new pair of sandals for me, some plants for the yard, a shelving unit for Canyon’s room, a bulletin board, etc. Oh I was giving back too-I freecycled our couch and several boxes of stuff out of the house but I was still bringing stuff in. I thought I had reached the ultimate score when I got poi to use for fire spinning-something I have wanted for two years now. That was exciting. Then came the ultimate baby stuff score. It was described as “I have 3 shopping bags of gently used infant toys to offer. They include plush blocks, assorted rattles, soft squeaky toys, and other small items.” Holy understatement!


(Now let me point out that Canyon is way too young for toys yet-his “adjusted age” is just over one month so toys are not that thrilling for him. I also took these pictures just a moment after laying him down. I also would never have this many toys out at once for him to play with! I say this because some people commented on FB that he seemed overwhelmed or uninterested and I felt a little bad. I was just excited to get so many fun toys for free since we are down to one income now. Most of Canyon’s things come from rummage sales and thrift stores but even that adds up!)
Now Lilo on the other hand was immediately very interested…,


Canyon liked the ones I attached to his butterfly playmat.

He likes batting at them and making them swing. I learned that he likes music box sounds and one of the toys plays “lullabye and goodnight” which makes him smile. I have also learned that a baby who has a late night play session followed by a bath with lavender and vanilla will sleep for almost 8 hours!

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It’s only mid-June and we’ve already lost four tennis balls to the universe. The first was at the lake on one of my first solo trips to the water with Lilo and Canyon. The next was at Horner Park. I turned my eyes away for a moment and Lilo had dropped her ball in the grass and ran off in pursuit of some delicious smell. We walked in circles for about 30 minutes trying to find it but finally had to give in. I try to find it meditative, like those people who walk mazes, but it doesn’t work. It just pisses me off. The third was Tuesday morning at the lake.

Lilo was having a good old time and then I turned my back to take these pictures…


When I looked up Lilo had somehow went over the fence that borders the dog beach and the people beach. I don’t know if she swam around or jumped but I couldn’t get her to come back over so I threw her ball out in the water so she would swim back around. Instead I threw it too far and she got freaked by the waves and wouldn’t go get it. She got really close, but turned around and came back to shore.

Then the current took the ball and we spent 30 minutes waiting to see if it would come back in. I was tempted to wade out after it but I was alone and didn’t feel like leaving my expensive camera, IPod and wallet sitting on the shore. So we finally gave up and went home.
Then today we lost yet another ball at Horner Park! Yes they are not expensive but it’s the idea of losing them that makes me crazy. I have tried buying those colorful dog tennis balls that would stand out in grass but Lilo is a purist-she only likes plain green tennis balls, nothing fancy. And she will only play with her ball-never anyone else’s. We have to take a new ball and “season” it by keeping it in the house with her other toys for a few months so it smells like home. Then the ball makes the transition to the car for awhile before finally making it’s big debut in the show. That’s why it’s so annoying when she loses them!
Today I was all grouchy, Canyon strapped to my chest as I wondered back and forth along a big stretch of grass, looking for the ball. Lilo was of no help since she was totally in to the smell of fresh grass and clover…


It’s hard to be mad at her when she’s so damn cute!

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So judging from the status posts of my Facebook friends, it seems that the weather is wet and/or sucky everywhere. I appreciate the rain because it saves me a whole lotta time watering the garden but it would be nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy it without being wet!
I will give nature a shout out for yesterday being a really nice day.
Canyon chilled while I spent some time on the internet. Yay wireless in the yard! Boo bird poop on my computer!

If you look up in my backyard you see this…


Canyon likes the tree…

And the flowers…
So maybe summer will actually arrive sometime next week. One can only hope.

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John worked 6 days in a row which is kind of a bummer. Lilo, Canyon and I were relieved to pick him up on Sunday night so our “weekend” could begin. First stop-sunset on Lake Michigan.

Canyon is rocking one of his new Threadless t-shirts. I went a little wild on the spring $5 sale so you will be seeing him in some pretty cute shirts and onesies this summer. And fall, winter, etc.

Lilo had a great time swimming and getting to get her frolic on.

I do love taking photos of John and Canyon.

After the beach we raced down to Andersonville to catch the last act of Midsommarfest. I love this festival and was bummed that John had to work all weekend but happy that we could at least make it out for Funkadesi. Me, John, Canyon and a wet, sandy Lilo hit Clark Street as the drunkeness hit its peak and the bands were at their loudest. Not such perfect timing! We tore through the crowd that was jamming to Hairbangers Ball and sped through the fair to Funkadesi. Now my family are big fans of this band but this was the first time we had checked them out. Oh the wasted years not following this band!

Canyon and did some dancing.

John and Lilo found a doorway where they could hang out and Lilo would not be stepped on. She was so wet and sandy-she looked kind of deranged!
!
It was a good time and the good thing about arriving so late with a cute baby is that the temptation to buy cool crap from the vendors is easy to resist since most had torn down AND we got free mojitos from a food vendor who was shutting down for the night.
So a beautiful sunset at the lake, great band with dancing and free tasty beverages. It was a good night!

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I won tickets to see PJ Harvey & John Parrish on Friday night. Of course they sent the e-mail around 1pm, leaving me about 6 hours to arrange for John to watch Canyon and for me to find a guest. One out of two ain’t bad! I didn’t really mind going alone, I had a harder time just going at all. Over the last few years I have become a bit of a hermit when it comes to the old nightlife. Having the baby hasn’t made it worse, it’s just given me an excuse to stay home! But this was one of the shows I wanted to see this summer and I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to see it for free.
I skipped the opening act and timed my arrival perfectly-just enough time to make my way to the seats in the balcony and scope out the single seat on the aisle with a broken one next to it. Ordered a Guinness and boom-the lights went down.
Now I thought the sound sucked but I always think that about the Riviera. What I like is the setting-how beautiful the theater itself is. I would lose myself in the scenery during parts of the show. I liked the concert, but I did miss PJ singing some of her solo work. Since I am not music reviewer I will attach Greg Kot’s review!

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