A Family Affair

I come from a huge family. Granted, I am an only child, but only in the sense that you consider my father an adult. Carlos, as my roommates now refer to him, typically would act more like a child sometimes than I did; letting me stay up late when my mom would work nights so that I could watch Murder She Wrote and McGyver and winning every pick-up baseball game we had in the front yard. Losing was for sissies and I was officially a sissy basically in every game we played! This did make me quite competitive and taught me to try harder, but possibly the name calling was unnecessary...possibly. 

My dad is the oldest of eight with an even larger extended family made up of cousins, second-cousins, and basically anyone else my grandma wants to call family or a "close" family friend. I put "close" in quotations for as anyone who has ever met her will attest, she has met thousands of people in her lifetime (look at the photos in her house) and basically every one of these people become a close family friend! I am the oldest cousin by a few years on my dad's side and my newest little cousin will be born this summer. This will most likely be the last..at least we think!! Thus far, we have sixteen little Ritter offspring to make the world a louder and more anxiety-prone place: Nick, Caroline, Brianna, Brendan, Matthew, Nick #2, Christopher, Alex, Christina, Frannie, Joey, Rachel, Jack, Meghan and Nolan (my godson).  

On my mom's, side, she is the third oldest of seven. I have fourteen cousins on my her side: Matthew, David, Kevin, Whitney, Vanessa, Cole, Andrew,  Chris, Natalie, Zack, Julia, Makenna, Cristian & Brendan. As you can tell there are many duplicate names betweent he two sides. We are growing the family even more as some of my cousins are married and will probably start having kids of their own soon. 

My huge family is wonderful and I would not trade it for the world. All of the aunts, uncles, cousins and relatives are so supportive of one another and even when activities and days do not go as planned, or if there is unnecessary drama in the world regarding forgotten rolls and mysterious gifts, I must sit back and remember that this is what makes my family special. 

Favorite Moments: Happy Birthday to Alessandra!

I have had a great time this weekend with my girls! AND my boy now that he is back. On Friday night, we went over to Holly's apartment in the West Loop for cocktails before going to the Southern in Wicker Park for Alessandra's birthday party. We had a blast in a cool bungalow on a rooftop there. I highly recommend it as it was fun, but classy at the same time. Well, somewhat classy, as two of my best friends did leave with some vomit on them. I would blame it on the Southern cocktails that were deliciously easy to drink.

On Saturday morning, we celebrated the Mike and Alli's birthday at Orange with Saira. Due to Alessandra's enthusiasm for people knowing her birthday, we got some awesome fruishi (fruit/sushi), which was surprisingly good. I got some cinnamon roll pancakes, which were divine. If in Chicago, Orange is a must-go. They even have coffee infused with orange peels.

Saturday night was date night. I was exhausted from shopping with Alessandra and Saira during the day so Mike, Tommy and I laid low watching Invictus (very good!) and eating some salmon burgers from Whole Foods.

This morning was the dog park and due to the 85 degree weather, everyone was there! There must have been at least 300 dogs. Then, Alli, Sai and I went to the beach. WHEW! Is it done?! No- we have an italian dinner tonight.

So busy and so much has been done this week I am ready to do nothing this upcoming week :)

Mike's ice cream birthday cake! And to think I thought it was peppermint. That would have been awful.

Eating birthday cake with Craig, Maddie, Alessandra and Saira.

At Holly's for Alessandra's pre-party

Alessandra's cake. Courtesy of Kipp and Holly at her pre-party.

Saturday breakfast at Orange.

Not-Favorite New Book: Heart of the Matter

As some of my closer friends may know, I am obsessed with Emily Giffin and her novels, Something Blue and Something Borrowed. These are two books that Amy Passiak gave to me when Mike and I broke up in college and I think they changed my outlook on life and relationships. She has had five books now, her newest one called Heart of the Matter, which came out last week. I just finished it last night after three nights of staying up past my bedtime. Emily is best known for her mastery of character development. The main character is typically a heroine stuck in a battle for love. Love that has been lost, love that is blind, love that is not even there... but throughout the book, she gives the heroine such real world qualities that it is hard not to cheer for her despite her imperfections (and some of them are HUGE!)

Her latest book was not my favorite. Actually, it was my least favorite due to the abrupt ending and lack of fruition in some of the characters. However, it really struck home to me as someone who has been in a relationship now for a few (several?!) years. It reemphasized to me that possibly one of the reasons that my relationship is strong is because of my individual happiness and my partner's happiness as well. It is not only coming together with a firm commitment while sharing a life, but also it is finding your own joy.

This week as Mike was out of town, I kept reiterating what a wonderful time I was having with my girlfriends (as I blogged about last time). Saira pointed out that I could always do this whenever I want, which is true, but I think what made me really satisfied this week was learning that I am independently happy. That my happiness is of course because of Michael, but also because I have such a wonderful family, loyal friends and a great career. It is truly something to look back at the last three years since I graduated and be proud of what I have accomplished. Sometimes I get down on myself, as I know everyone does, for my faults and failures, but in reflecting, I have so much to be thankful and grateful for each night as I lay down.

So tonight, as I lay myself down to sleep (as Geno would say...), I want to say thanks....
for my family, especially my parents, for my friends both near and far, that Arpena's surgery went well and that she is recovering, that my dad is coming into town just for one night to see me, that I can wake up each morning looking at my godson's smiling face in the picture on my desk, that I have two loving pets who hate one another, that I got into school (I am telling them tomorrow!), for my career, and...for my pink PJs that are so darn comfortable right now!

Favorite Week w/o a favorite: When the cat is away...

Since my boyfriend has exited the country, I have been able to spend some quality time with my best friends. The past two days have been filled with activity. It started with Alli and I going to get her hair done in Bucktown on Saturday morning. I went shopping while she was getting her hair chopped and then we went shopping and ate at this fabulous little Italian restaurant called Cafe Lucia. Then we went off Halsted & Armitage to shop some more and find some birthday presents until we finally came home to hang out with Sai and her Portillo's chocolate cake (and my favorite in Chicago and probably the rest of the world... including Bill Knapps). Sai and I had a restful night in which our main activity was going to CVS and watching all of the people admire Tommy and how beautiful he is. I have no idea why they never comment on the hotties walking him.

Morning comes: I meet Katie and her family at Julius Meinl and start another full day: tennis, shopping, essays & dog parks. I even managed to clean the house and watch the finale of Brothers and Sisters. Well, I watched it until all of the blood dripped out of Rob Lowe's head. I don't care of it is Hollywood, it made me nauseous. Sorry for those who watch it and have not seen it, but the previews give it away I hear anyways.

Tomorrow I have work-gag-so I cannot have another fun day with all my friends doing nothing, but I am excited to go back and earn some money!

A little shout out to Arpena who was hospitalized this morning since she fell and broke her hip. Say a prayer as she has her surgery tomorrow. Supposedly it will be a routine procedure, but as she is 83 I am, as always, anxious about any procedures anyone has done.

Favorite New Idea: Reflexology

On Thursday afternoon, Mike threw out his back. Poor guy was watching the Cav's, or the Cadaver's as my dad likes to call them, and playing on his bender ball when it went out. Anyways, in addition to some powerful drugs and a visit to the back doctor, I tried to relieve the pain using Reflexology, a massaging technique we learned about in Sonoma.

The idea of Reflexology is that it is a completely natural healing process that is based upon the principle that there are reflexes in the feet, hands and ears that are connected to the rest of your major body parts, glands and organs. When you press the part of the foot/hand/ear and massage the certain area, the corresponding body part will benefit.

The benefits of reflexology include:
- Relaxation
- Pain reduction
- Rejuvenation of tired feet
- Improvement in blood flow
and then there are a ton of others so google it! You have to do it a couple times a day for it to be effective.

Needless to say, Mike still had to get an epidural of Novocain and Cortisone, but I like to think that the Reflexology may have helped too!

Favorite Forward: The New Way of Shopping

My dad sent this to me...and I have to say that it would be awesome if this actually did happen as there have been so many times I have gone into a dressing room loving an outfit and come out absolutely hating it. In the meantime, I probably passed up some cute outfits and if I had this then maybe I could have resolved it.

http://www.flixxy.com/future-shopping.htm

Favorite New Show: Modern Family

This is my new favorite show on ABC. My parents had been raving about it for quite some time, but not until I went to get a manicure and it was playing, did I become obsessed. I started watching one a night..and then when Mike and I were on vacation, it became what some would call an addiction. Two to three episodes were common until we were up in the double digits of the episodes watched. Sadly, I couldn't continue my number as I had to go back to work so now I am back to my one a night routine.

If you have not seen it, you must watch! The characters are so entertaining and it is filmed and documented similar to The Office so there are moments where they flashback and comment on their scenes. The patriarch of the family is Jay, who married Gloria several months ago. Jay, formerly from Married w/ Children (a show I hated), got Manny, Gloria's son, in the process of his second marriage. Manny is basically an adult living in a child's body while Gloria is gorgeous and has this hot Columbian accent. From this prior marriage, Jay has Claire and Mitchell. Claire is a stay-at-home mom for Luke, Alex and Haley. Luke is basically my worst nightmare for what a child could turn out to be with no ability to concentrate and the curiosity of a two-year-old. Alex is a brainiac, know-it-all, and Haley is a typical 16-year-old. However, I think she is given a lot more priviledges than I was at that time! (Boys in the room? Heck no.) Claire is also married to Phil. I equate their two personalities with Mike's and mine which makes it even more funny. Jay's other kid is Mitchell, whose boyfriend Cameron, is the absolute best character I have seen in forever. While Mitchell was a lawyer and now is a personal attorney for some rich guy from Weeds, Cameron is the stay-at-home dad, who while Mitchell was in between jobs, worked at a card shop and basically cried each night as he missed their adopted daughter, Lily.

The show is on ABC's at around 8:30pm on Wednesdays. I always get confused as the time zones are different and I, like most young people nowadays, watch everyday DVR'd so that I do not need to stop for commercials. Check it out!

Sonoma and San Francisco Photos

I posted our photos to a snapfish account. Check them out by clicking on the following link:

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4408880014/a=102570882_102570882/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Favorite News Article: Election Night!

So tonight the election for Britain starts. It is insane to think that some countries don't have a democratic method of electing their next leader like the US and many other western civilizations do. Anyways, the run off if you do not know is among Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Usually, the Labour party and the Tories are the two major groups, but with an amazing debate, which I did not see, Liberal Democrats upped the ante and Nick Cleff started to make a race of it.

While I was watching the morning news, I found an interesting tidbit that Brown was caught calling a lady he had been speaking to on the campaign trail a "bigoted woman" after she had been asking him questions about immigration, taxes and what not. He did not know he was still wearing the radio mike and went onto say "that was a disaster" and that they "should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that?"

With all the aides around him I wonder who must have messed that one up?! Thank god I am never taped as I always mess up my words...although I think I would be smart enough if I was running!

Favorite Moments: Crazy People

Today at Walgreens while I was finishing buying Mother's Day cards for all the mommies in my life, a man started singing and then asking for money. This got me thinking of all of the weirdo's that I have seen lately. Sometimes when I feel as if I am going nuts and my life is chaotic, I just need to remember how normal I am compared to the loonies out there in the world today. Here are some recent memories:

• On the El two weeks ago, a guy hopped on the cart next to me. Carts are connected on the El and there are actually doors that you can use in an emergency. However, this young man decided he was going to straddle the El carts over the duration of my trip and smoke a joint. 
• Our cab driver in San Francisco I will put up there on the loony list. Thank goodness I didn't see the photo below until after our night ended.
• To continue with El events, I actually have been punched, kicked and laid upon on the subway. Punched for being in some lady's way, kicked when I would give a newly jail-free woman some change and then laid upon when some drunk guy decided my should seemed comfy enough to sleep on.
• There is a man who each Monday is absolutely wasted walking down Monroe St. He may be out there each day, but I always notice him on Monday's as he screams "Happpppyyyy Moonnnddaaayyyy" at 7am as I walk into my building.

I do have a few more crazies in my life..but of course cannot share that for at least a couple more months! I know that Alessandra has met some strange folk in her day as I believe there was a period of a week when she was yelled at on three different occasions. 

Oh..and here was my cab driver. He was a bit coked out I believe. What do you all think?

Favorite Cities: Sonoma

We had such a fun time in Sonoma and Napa this last week. We went to some awesome wineries and also did MANY activities; actually too many that now I need an actual vacation.

We stayed at the Sonoma Inn and Spa. Adorable room although Mike would have preferred the ones with the jacuzzis and fire places. Here are a couple of pics:

I went to Jack London's preserve to go hiking and had a fabulous massage. We went to the following wineries in Sonoma: Deerfield, Bartholomew, Gundlach Bundschu, Mantanzas Creek, Chateau St. Jean, Jacuzzi Family Vinyards, Ledson, Imagery, and BR Cohn. Cohn is owned by Bruce Cohn, who was the road manager for the Doobie Bros. They had guitars on the wall and rock music playing..although they had awful wine. Imagery was also awesome with different pictures on each select of wine. 

Pictures at Imagery Winery. Each one of these was on a label: 

Italian Trio playing the jams

In front of Jack London's first home...which was burnt down before he moved in.

BR Cohn in front of the many records

Other than that, the Novartis people were very friendly and welcoming. I had a blast with all of them and can only hope that I have the same luck in the future!

Favorite Moments: purrr

While I was gone on vacation, Saira ran into an issue. She was studying and all of a sudden Maddie came up to her and laid by her. I guess she started doing something that caused Saira alarm: purring and rubbing her paws against the text book. 

For a girl who has lived with Maddie three years now, this was her first purr. She actually thought something was wrong with her so she googled what this noise could be. The next day, Alessandra and Saira were discussing this strange noise and why Maddie would ever keep rubbing her paws against Sai's book. Needless to say, Saira now knows what a purr is..and instead of questioning putting Maddie in the bedroom to punish her for fear of a furball, she nows know what is normal.

vs.