suburban hobos

The first tomatoes!

Aren’t they beautiful! I’m about to leave to meet my friend Rachel at Tapas Valencia and I’m going to give her these treats from our garden.

I remembered again tonight to post my Maggie Happy (with a wee little reminder from my husband)! Here are a few things that have made me happy the last few days:
- Megs came to visit! I was so distracted by her wonderful visit that I forgot to write while she was here. We had a lovely time together.
-Gabby has been a good cat and hasn’t left her mark anywhere in the past few days (knock on wood).
-Hot weather! I’m one of those crazy people who love the 90+ days.
-Eliot took his first steps last night!
-I’m eating delicious chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream right now.
-Being David’s wife and Eliot’s mommy makes me oh so happy.

Yesterday I was so very happy to get a surprise day off with David and Eliot! The cooking class got canceled so David, Eliot, and I took the train downtown and had a picnic and then Eliot splashed, crawled and played like crazy in the water in Millennium Park. He loves the water SO much! Another thing that made me very happy (and is the reason I haven’t written for several days) is that my wonderful friend Megs came to visit for a few days. She’s pregnant with her first baby so we had a nice and relaxing visit. But we still managed to go on several walks, go out for dinner, and eat lots of gelato!

My happy moment came today when my supervisor at Common Threads told me how thrilled she was to have me there this summer. She’s been incredibly encouraging and supportive of me and she told me to tell people I’m a chef at Common Threads if they want to know where I work as a chef. I like that. I also like all the 25 kids that cooked a wonderful Egyptian meal today of Hazelnut and Spice encrusted salmon, falafel, Rice and Lentil stew, and Mango Chutney. Delicious!

I watched a wonderful French movie last night titled Los Choristes. It was about a man who goes to teach at a severely run boarding school for orphans and challenging children and gives them hope through singing. Highly recommended.

Other happy things…

Eliot is getting close to walking!

We had a lovely brunch on Sat morning with the Washingtons and Kevin and Linda. Eliot loved the homemade biscuits.

It’s supposed to sunny and high 70s all week!

So many things to be happy about!

1. I got to go out on a wonderful date with David last night to begin the birthday celebration. We went to see Exit Through the Gift Shop and then went out for pulled pork nachos at one of David’s favorite pubs, Small Bar. Thanks for babysitting Kevin and Linda!

2. It’s David’s birthday today! Happy birthday to my love!

3. It’s GORGEOUS today – blue sky, sunshine, and high 70s. Ahhhhhh….

4. I went to training for summer camp today and had a blast. I’m really excited to start teaching!

5. See the pics below – need I say more??

Baby Tomatoes

Herbs

Green Beans

Garden Growing!

For today, a short list of things that made me happy today…

• The fireflies are out!
• The heat! Today reached about 90 and I sweat most of the day, and I love it! People think I’m crazy, but when you’re cold the majority of the year, it’s wonderful to be really HOT.
• Ice cream on a hot day
• The afternoon light as it slants across our beautiful Nichols Park
• Blooming flowers everywhere!
• David’s grilled veggie pasta, which tonight included onions, garlic, sauteed mushrooms and asparagus
• Seeing Eliot with his grandparents
• Sitting on our back porch in the evening

Oh no! It’s only been 4 days and I’ve already missed a post! That’s ok, right? This is a super quick one because David’s parents just arrived and we’re about to eat (some more) strawberry rhubarb crisp made by my Chef Husband. All of the things in the previous sentence make me very happy. David, Eliot, and I took a walk to the lake and back while eating ice cream, and yesterday about 40 people from church gathered for a lovely picnic at Promontory Point. It was supposed to rain and it turned out perfect. I got to talk to lots of great people and Eliot got to play with lots of other babies. Very happy things.

Today we spent a delightfully relaxing afternoon with our good friends the Davidsons at their house in Wheaton. Our afternoon made me very happy. Anna and Bob are incredibly good hosts and make us feel completely at home at their house and in their family. Anna made a delicious salad of greens and roasted vegetables from the farmers market and even had some gluten free bread for me. She also made chocolate dipped macaroons (gluten free coconut cookies) that were fantastic. The best part is, this was just a typical meal at the Davidsons. Anna and I took a long walk while Eliot napped and David and Bob watched a world cup game, and we all lounged in the back yard for a long time while Phin (who’s 3) and Eliot played. It was perfect weather: warm and sunny with a nice breeze. Not sure the day could of been any nicer.

The other thing that made me really happy today was reading about Alice Waters in the hammock and seeing the first firefly of the year. Summer has really arrived.

As I was rollerblading along the lake this morning, I decided that I wanted to bring back the Maggie Happy posts. As someone who is prone to pessimism and anxiety, it’s not always easy for me to focus on what’s good and joyous in my life. But there are so many things, so for the next 30 days, I’ve committed to myself (and now to you, friends and family) to write a (quick) post to share what made me happy that day. So here goes…it’s only 2pm and I already have a lot of things!

• While on my wonderful morning rollerblade beside the sparkling morning light on beautiful Lake Michigan, I saw a barefoot man sitting on a bench with his hands folded, praying out loud. Right after him I saw a couple in probably their late 70s taking a break from their bike ride to do sit ups and push ups. How inspiring!

• It’s Kevin and Linda’s anniversary today, and their loving and committed marriage is very inspiring to me, and such a good example (and for that matter, so is my parents’ marriage). Happy Anniversary Kevin and Linda! Plus they’re coming to visit next week.

• I’ve been trying to find a good gluten free bread recipe for my bread maker and the last couple have been a flop. But today it turned out wonderfully!

• I’ve been extra tired lately, but I have energy today!

• Our vegetable garden is growing so well. We already have over a dozen baby tomatoes.

• We’re eating dinner with our neighbors tonight. We have fabulous neighbors who are kind, respectful, fun, interesting. We’re so blessed.

• We get to see our good friends the Davidsons tomorrow.

• I’m going to be an aunt in a few months!!

• I get to teach summer camp for Common Threads in a couple weeks. How awesome that I got hired by them – it’s a dream come true!

• I just finished a delicious cappuccino.