Christmas Tree

After a couple of years without a tree, Amanda surprised me on Friday by taking us tree-shopping. We found the perfect sized tree and proceeded to Target to get decorations...

Fall Weather and Brunch with Niklas

Today was a great day, sunny and warm, nice for being out and about. Thus, perfect timing for Niklas to be in Chicago. My second cousin was in town for a conference this week and today, before he went back to Calgary, Amanda and I met him for brunch. It was a lot of fun to see him again, I hope it won't be another 16 years until next time!



Amanda preparing her Halloween costume last weekend - I will post more photos as soon as I get the photos from Jessie...



Long shadows in the park last Sunday.



Niklas and I enjoying the sun in Wicker Park earlier today.

Why I Haven't Updated the Blog Lately

I can't believe it's the end of August! June and July flew by, with visitors from Sweden and a trip to California among the highlights.

This has been my occupation lately, trying to write my thesis (the most exciting thing this weekend was a trip to the laundromat). 2/3 of the thesis supposed to be done by tomorrow. Have a seven hour meeting with my advisor on Wednesday, wish me luck!



In the reading chair by the window.

Shopping Success

It finally got nice out this week and we decided it would be safe to buy plants. We went for a walk in-between the thunder storm showers, up Clark towards Gethsemane. On our way there, we walked past the Swedish-American Museum, where they had Swedish football jerseys in the window. As I always end up wanting one for watching games in bars and such, I decided to get one:



My apologies for the bad hair... It was a rough Tom Collins night in the suburbs on Friday.



I also scored some sweet Swedish flag stickers for my bike! The red tire is new as of Wednesday, the old one had a serious bulge which I was worried would explode in a pothole.

We eventually made it to the garden center and got a long lecture from one of the employees on the topic of full sun vs. partial sun, west-facing windows vs. blinds down, and gross house plant pests. We decided that our best bet would be succulents, not much care (or water) needed. Aren't they cool looking?



This is the new good-looking window sill, until we put in the air conditioner monster again sometime next week.



The guy also told that we should be able to keep a hibiscus, so here's the one we bought to add some color and joy to our apartment life. Knowing our plant skills, these might be the first and only flowers to ever bloom on this plant...

Pretty Sky on Wolcott Avenue

When Amanda and I were cooking Tuesday night, she glanced across the room and pointed out a pretty sky through the rainy window.