Chicago October

Once again Paul and I semi-spontaneously committed to Chicago.  For a day.

For the second year in a row Paul and I decided to make and take a day trip to Chicago.  And at the last minute we were able to add our chief financial officer-Lance.  

Spirit took us there nickel and diming us all the way.  It wasn't all that bad but if we stayed more than a day the costs would add up for packing a bag to carry on, to check, to print your boarding pass, to buy your ticket online.  It was a great price but then again, Paul said, if we booked the tickets at the counter at MSP we could have saved even more!  Well, maybe next time I scoot from work to buy tickets.  

So we went with no plans.  Plans were to be found.  I have had plans to shop Chicago for months so that's what I wanted to do.  But since I recruited Paul as the logistics coordinator and booking expert I had to broaden my horizon.  

After a few days of thinking plans found us.  We decided a train trip from O'Hare to Clark and Lake (I think but I'd have to check with our logistics coordinator) and from there jump on the red line to Addison.  We found our way up the red line to Wrigley and enjoyed a two hour tour of the old ballpark.  

I must say that Wrigley Field is in need of some updates.  The halls are narrow, old, stark and cold.  The press box looks and feels ancient.  In fact, you can see the wear on the tables where the typewriters were just lifted out and stored for the winter.  The locker room thinks baseball players are no bigger than 6'2" and 205 pounds.  And there's not much room to expand.  So, we know CC Sabathia will never sign with them for the clubhouse alone.  He doesn't fit.  

However, the tour as a whole was very enjoyable, interesting and informational.  It was fun to see the grassless field as they were leveling the field and doing maintenance before winter.  

After the tour we took the red line back to the loop where we eventually found Chick-fil-A for lunch.  It was the first time I'd been to one and it was good.  Soon they'll be open in Coon Rapids.  

Then I took over as the pseudo-entertainment coordinator.  

We hit the Louis Vuitton store just off of Michigan Avenue, took a look at the Kusama windows and went in.  Katie told a manager there, Preston, that I was coming so I stopped in and introduced myself to him.  It was nice to see the store, meet Preston, and understand a little bit more about Louis Vuitton.  

We also went to SuitSupply.  It's a great looking, newly opened, well merchandised store from the Netherlands.  It was apparently in the space that was formerly occupied by Barney's corporate offices.  So the "penthouse" really attracted to Paul's and Lance's lifestyle.    

I also dragged Paul and Lance silently kicking and screaming to Zara, Gap to see the GQxBest New Menswear Designers in America, AllSaints, Haberdash, CityTarget, Ralph Lauren, Bottega Veneta, J.Crew, Topshop/Topman and probably more I'm not remembering.      

After the afternoon of shopping we hit the green line to Oak Park where we called on Emily and Eric to pick us up.  Luckily, Eric was available and he took us on a quick tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright neighborhood before we ate Giordano's deep dish and apple crisp that Eric made.  

As always it was fun to see Eric and Emily and it was especially fun to play with Edie and have her excited to see me.  Ella played it cool and had to finish an episode on the iPad before saying hi to me. 

I must say, it is something that I should do every other month or at least 3-4 times a year with how fun and easy it is.  It felt like we were gone for a couple days, packing more of the punch into a short time.  

I think Lance and Paul had a good time and that we'll have to anti up to do it more often, make it more of a routine and see E4 more!  And get my hands on some great fashion.  :) 

Trying New Food-For Ella & Mattingly

Ella and Mattingly,

Check out Uncle Joel and Grandpa Ron try and tell you about trying new food!  I see all kinds of new food out there for you to try!

I hope you're up to the challenge, like I was, of trying new food!

Love you guys!

Joel & Paul Head to Chicago

Can you handle a little spontaneity?  Can you do things on a whim?

Well, Monday afternoon Paul and I were chatting when Paul seemingly randomly asks if I wanted to go to Chicago.  He found a good price on a flight going out the next day, Tuesday.  I had spend the previous five days on vacation with a cold, fighting off soreness and congestion.  Mom did come for the Bethel Alumni board on Thursday but it was a pretty non-eventful vacation. 

After a few minutes of thinking about it, finding flight information, tickets and availability I got Katy's approval and we were going to go.  The final conversation went something like this.

Paul:  Am I clicking purchase or what?

Joel:aaaaaahhh, sure

yeah

yes

do it

let's do it

oh boy

Paul: shoot, we're going to Chicago tomorrow

Joel: haha

excellent!

And plans were made.  Weather was forecasted to be 74 degrees and all sun and it turned out just that way, perfect.  

We didn't have a particular itinerary but if you look at Paul's great work and map this is what the trip looked like.  

Map:

 http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=209008218330530932968.0004ae8fcd27ff4cc8b2d

 

 

 

View Chicago 2011 in a larger map

 

 

 

Go ahead and street view our walking too.  

05:13 MSP

07:06 MDW

07:30 Orange Line - Midway

08:04 Orange Line - Madison/Wabash

08:13 McDonald's

08:36 Cloud Gate

08:42 Millennium Park

09:19 Navy Pier

      Orange/Green Line - Madison/Wabash

      Pink Line - Adams/Wabash

      Pink Line - Quincy

10:32 Willis Tower

10:46 Skydeck

11:47 Jamba Juice/Starbucks at S Wells St & W Jackson Ave

      Brown Line - Quincy

      Brown Line - Armitage

      Thread Lounge

      Ralph Lauren Rugby at W Armitage Ave & N Sheffield Ave

      Walked down Sheffield Ave

      CVS at N Marcey St & N Sheffield Ave

      Headed East down North Ave

      J.Crew

      Banana Republic

01:27 Apple Store, Lincoln Park

01:28 Red Line - North/Clybourn

      Red Line - State/Lake

02:02 Potbelly at N State St & N Lake St

      Headed N on State St

      Went E on E Wacker Dr

      Continued E on E Wacker Pl

      Walgreens at E Wacker Pl & N Michigan Ave

      Headed N on N Michigan Ave

      Hit up for $ at Michigan & Wacker Dr

      The Shops at North Bridge (nothing to really see)

      Gap

      Levi's (closed)

03:07 Niketown

03:20 Apple Store, N Michigan Ave

      Zara (former mall-Chicago Place)

      Allsaints Spitalfields (former mall-Chicago Place)

      Banana Republic

      Polo Ralph Lauren

04:13 Chicago Water Tower

      TOPSHOP / TOPMAN (former Borders) at Michigan & E Pearson St

      Headed South on E Tower Court

      Headed East on E Chicago Ave

      Stopped at the McDonald's at Chicago Ave & State Street

04:40 Red Line - Chicago

04:50 Red Line - Lake

      Headed East on Randolph St

05:01 Green Line - Randolph/Wabash

05:26 Green Line - Oak Park

      Head N on Oak Park Ave

      Eric & Emily's on Nashville Ave

06:09 Michael's Beef

08:40 MDW

10:49 MSP

 

The drive at 5:00am to MSP.

We began our journey on the orange line from Midway to Madison and Wabash in downtown Chicago.

 

Soon enough this was our view, staring at the State Street Macy's Karl Lagerfeld window eating breakfast at McD's.

 

A short walk later we were at The Bean or Cloud Gate.  

Millenium Park and Navy Pier were next.

After Navy Pier we made our way to the Willis Tower and the Skydeck and found ourselves on the glass enclosure 103 floors up, 412 meters, 1353 feet.  Paul was courageous enough or dumb enough to get right out on the glass enclosure, lay down and sit down.  Outrageous.  I didn't think about falling and dying as much this time so I was able to go out there for a few seconds and here's the proof that you may have needed to see via my tweet.  

We stopped at Jamba Juice and Starbucks for a snack and headed on the brown line towards Armitage and the Lincoln Park neighborhood as I wanted to go to the Ralph Lauren Rugby store. 

We started our walk to the next train back downtown and before I knew it we were approaching North Avenue, where Emily has taken me shopping just about every time I'm there.  That was pretty cool to recognize where I was enough to think I was close to that street before the Patagonia store jumped out at me!  So, we jumped back on the train and it connected us with Pot Belly for lunch and then Michigan Avenue again where we wandered through some stores.  

Like it says, we stopped in Gap, Levi's, Nike, Zara, All Saints, Banana Republic, Topman and also saw the Chicago Water Tower. 

But before you knew it we had to head to Eric and Emily's on North Nashville.  So we took the train to Oak Park and started our walk up before Eric picked us up.  We were able to see their new place, enjoy a nice dinner, hang out with Ellie and Edie a little bit and even say hello to Mom and Dad as they were taking care of the girls while Eric and Emily were in Mexico.  

It was a whirlwind day and Paul's first time in Chicago was a ton of walking, a great time navigating public transit and it couldn't have been better timing with the price of the flight, having perfect weather, a great day off to explore, the chance to have Emily and Eric just move and be able to see their house and enjoy dinner and even have Mom and Dad there to say hello with.  

I just hope they survived taking care of Ellie and Edith for a few days!

It was quite the day.  It felt like more than one day in fact.  But I'd do it all over again; even if it wasn't going to be as ideal as this trip. 

E4 Drive Through

Last Friday, on their way to Verndale, E4 stopped in Minnetonka for the night at Eric's aunt and uncle's.

Only alot of niece fun and sibling bonding occurred.

Ellie, check these pictures out!

Also, Eric dunked!

But we enjoyed some chinese food, talked about jobs, our house, their new house and saw some of the impressive demolition they have done.  We taught Eric how to tie a bow tie, heard a very very (very) long story about a customer yelling at me for 20-25 minutes at work, looked for a snowblower on Craig's List and more.  It was a great evening and I was glad to drive down to them to say hello and enjoy some food.

As always, it makes me happy that Ellie gets to excited to see me and Katy.  It was also great to have Edie, however tired, walk over to me and calmly sit on my lap for a few minutes before bed.

Ella's Picture Taking

Can Ella take pictures?  Well, we asked.  And she delivered. 

 And a couple other Chicago pictures I forgot to include.

Chicago Spontainiety

I know everyone has been waiting for this post; so here it is.

On August 10th I went to a Red Sox v. Twins game with Katy, Paul, Lance, Nick & Becca. I was off the next weekend and saw that both the White Sox and Cubs had home games. The Cubbies were in action at 3:10pm and the White Sox were playing at 6:10pm so I said to Paul and Lance as we were waking out about how fun it'd be to go to Chicago and hit two Twins games.

Well, I didn't put my plan in action with Lance and Paul soon enough but Katy and I still wanted to go and worked it out to hang out with Eric, Emily, Ella and Edie for a day and a half.

We got up bright and early Saturday morning, before the sun, and got to Chicago about 12:30pm. And our 19 and 1/2 hour day began but it was well worth it!

We arrived when E4 was running an errand and I heard Ella was pretty excited to see me so I ran down the stairs and picked her up! I believe she promptly went to doing flips and asking me to throw her up in the air.

After arriving Eric, Katy and I went to Cemitas Puebla where I ordered a Carne Asada cemitas. It's a delicious sandwich; sesame seed bread layered with avocado, steak, adobo chipotle peppers and fresh oaxacan cheese. I belive Eric ordered the same thing and Katy ordered a chicken burrito. (However, ask her how that ended up.) I found it delicious again and could eat that for lunch every day. It fits into my "sandwich" requirement for lunch.

Once it stopped raining and cleared up Emily, Katy and I hit North Ave and went to the store on North Ave that I've been waiting to go to for a while. Since they have like 3-4 different locations on the street I found their website and saw they had a great selection of goods. Well...I got in there and was glad I stopped! Akira had a number of great pieces I would have loved to buy. But I only tried a couple on and wished I could find them closer to home.

This was a look I liked and Em wanted to show Eric.

























Anyhow, the bright sun came out on North Ave and we went to the women's Akira before hitting J. Crew, Gap, Banana Republic and the Starbucks before heading back to the girls after their nap.

We went to see the house they just bought to which Katy and I thought it was in a great place. We can't wait to come and visit; or help tear something down!

We then stopped at the park near their house and enjoyed some time on the swings and playground. Ella even ran through the water fountain.

After the park it was time for a little snooze on the couch before we went to Via Carducci for some Italian food. I ordered the nightly special of lobster ravioli! But it was good eating all around.


















































Ok, so we may have been tired but kept on trucking. Emily needed to get beignets at Grand Lux Cafe! Oh man were they delicious. It was made of deep fried dough with confectioners sugar on top. It's kind of a cross between a doughnut and a biscuit. Light, flaky, buttery and ultimately one of the best desserts I've ever had! Thanks for taking us Emily! It came with three dipping sauces, a Jack Daniels type sauce, a raspberry sauce and a dark chocolate sauce. By the time we got out of traffic in Chicago it was about midnight and Katy and I had been up all day!

Sunday morning we gave Eric his birthday presents-a load of World Series DVD's and a couple of woven's.

Then we hit Flo for breakfast, yet again, more delicious food. We chatted about the floor plans and the demo they'll have to do when they move. It seems like it'll be quite the task but I think it will be worth it judging by the pictures of their place.

Ultimately the weekend was a whirlwind but I'd do it again to spend some time with E4. Thanks for having us!

I'll do my best to update this soon so watch for more. Katy's iPhone has some good video of me and Ella playing games on Saturday afternoon.

E4 July 2011

Em and Eric were cool enough to drive through early Tuesday and hang out with me for a visit.

We met at Grandma's and visited with her for a little bit before we got Ellie and Edie down for some rest. Emily whisked me to Target and Herb's for some deals.

When we got back I thought it'd be fun to have them go paddle boating at Lake Como but the heat index of 110-ish closed those plans. We walked out on the dock where Edie slapped at Eric's face and knocked his glasses right off. I remember hearing "My glasses! Edie knocked my glasses into the lake!" I turned saw them sinking as Emily shouted "You're going to have to go in and get them!" Well, as you can see from Em's post, Eric jumped in and was in for a long time. Eventually we went to Target to get a net, thinking that would help. Too bad it didn't.

But we came back and cooked up some hamburgers, barbeque chicken, asparagus, salad and more! It was delicious.

We were still able to have some fun with the hose in the backyard as Ellie and I jumped in our bathing suits, Ellie's more natural, to cool down.

It was really fun to hang with Eric, Em, Ella and Edie. Thanks for stopping guys!

Happy Birthday Ella!

Ella,

Today is your 4th birthday! Can you believe it?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA!

Do you remember your first birthday? Aunt Katy and I got to be there for it!

This wasn't for your first birthday but you were pretty little eating some pizza with Mom and Dad! Then Dad put you on Charlie, you looked a little surprised!











































You could also do somersaults with a little help from Dad.



It was also great to see you this Christmas! We had fun staying at your house!


























I think you and Mattingly were having fun watching Madagascar! :)













Ella and Mattingly enjoying the lights at the zoo!

I hope you have a great day and you have a good weekend Birthday celebration! Hope to see you soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA!

Love you Ella!

Christmas 2010 (version House Tour and Best Christmas Ever)

Hey now, let's just take a trip back in time. How about a month ago from today even?

One month ago from tonight Katy and I were two days into our new house! Wow, really?! Yeah, definitely, something to smile about.

















This is Katy and me in front of our new house before we closed Friday afternoon.

Well, okay okay. We had stuff in the house and slept there but more or less it was a space in need of organization. However, that afternoon we were blessed enough to be able to buy our first home, thanks to the sellers Bonnie and Chuck and especially our realtor who took us house hunting a dozen or more times over the span of ten months!

But Christmas was only going to get better. Jim and Karen flew in the night we moved out of coincidence and as I worked the weekend the Magnuson and Chapman crews were able to get us moved in.

It was a Christmas to remember. Moving, moving into our first house, Christmas with plenty of family in Minnesota and traveling to Chicago to have another Christmas with the RLDischinger family.


















Here's a closer view of the front of our house.
























If you went through the front door and looked left, this is what you'd see.


















If you went to the left and turned around you'd see our dining area, the front closet and front door and a peek into the kitchen.


















Here's your full peek at the kitchen. It will need a teaspoon of magic in there but we've got a fridge, a stove (that seems to work) and a dishwasher (well, no, that doesn't work.) Anyhow, this will not be a cosmetic change like most of the house but it'll happen in due time and is something Katy and I look forward to! And maybe even with help from Mr. Magnuson, Josh, Bob, Dad, Mark, Eric, anyone!
























And here's the bathroom. We've already stripped the wall paper and painted the walls roasted nuts. It's a nice dark chocolate. There's a plan to get a new, smaller sink in there along with a medicine cabinet, mirror and light fixture.


















Our bedroom is mostly laid out but we'll paint some day, clear off our dressers and put some pictures up.


















Here's what is our second bedroom. Right now it houses what we haven't organized or aren't sure what to do with yet. Eventually we'll get a bed and some other furniture in there.



















Our third room will serve as our office with a desk, computer, files and a little spot with books, a comfortable reclining chair and a light to maybe get some reading in.

So, that's our house! It's been about a month and it's been pretty good. It doesn't and won't come without its challenges in decisions, finances, remodels and more but it's pretty nice so far!

Well, we moved in and all of a sudden it was Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which Katy and I enjoyed at Bob and Deb's with Jim and Karen, Josh and Laura, Bop and Nana and Bob and Deb. We opened presents on Christmas Eve and enjoyed homemade korv and more!
















































I worked a few more days and then we were off to Chicago and Eric and Emily's house for the Best Christmas Ever; with an itinerary, family, Christmas, adventures, shopping, snowshoeing, New Year's, food, Cemitas Puebla, presents, trains, limo rides with pictures, flannel sheets, aromatic hand soap, heat and more!


I know Megan mentioned this in her blog too but it was pretty fun to just have the three Dischinger kids hang out before Mom and Dad got there. That must have been the first time in history we had done that and it was a good time.












































































































































































































































It has been a great Christmas. Ultimately, it has been a great month in the blessings of buying a house, moving in, starting new in a new house and a new year and getting to spend Christmas with both Magnuson and Dischinger family.


And here are the new pictures of painting in progress and some of the final product, just making progress really.



















Bathroom painting in progress; just edging the ceiling to go.



















The bathroom is done. It was a challenge to get a good picture. We have a small bathroom and there's not much to see but there's the color.



















The three living room colors. They were all supposed to be a lighter tan. The one on the right prevailed.



















Here's the progress.



















Another look beforehand.



















Here's the final product for the most part.



















Another look at some decorating. Mostly paint and curtains on our 10 foot window!