Well, eventual weekend, friday night, after Erika got off at the Firehouse (ya, should be the last time she works an extra job for a looong time), we went to see Tiff and Carmelo. They got married this summer. Flashback photo:

He is a master drummer from Haiti (bit of a celebrity there apparently),

playing with his band at a local restaurant.



Saturday morning we got up early to go tailgate for the NU - MSU game here in Evanston. We had breakfast burritos, bagels and Buck's Fizz, which is Mimosas to the yanks. Our friend Seth is in the Navy and we're were conveniently situated on the porch of the Navy ROTC center at Northwestern:

It was my first time in Ryan field despite being at NU for 5 years (I was wearing green by the way).
There were more fans there than I expected and yet it had a good gameday feel to it. MSU made the biggest comeback in the history of first division college american football, scoring 35 straight points in the second half to win 41-38. So it was a fantastic game! Well...not for all.


Erika and I went shopping after that. She'd been badgering me about the holes in my shoes and jeans for a few weeks, and I finally caved in on one condition: I get a nap before we shop. We ended up sleeping for an hour in car while parked at the mall. We sound like bums, but it was a good nap! Good enough for me to try on about 8 pairs of the jeans Erika threw over the dressing room door, if you know me, I kick up a fuss at having to try just one on.

I should pause here to mention my latest fad. I have a lot of favourite socks which are aging and have holes over the big toes, and though I'm not picky, I hated the thought of even having to go buy some new socks. So Erika supervised my first attempt at sewing up holes in my own socks last week and it was a success. I'm now hooked, there's something satisfying about the whole process, almost as if I'm rejuvenating clothing! Sad I know, but it's giving me something to do with my fingers other than read and be on the computer.

Anyway, after shopping we came home and just vegged. This morning a few friends, namely Andy and Stephen were running the Chicago marathon so we went to cheer them on. I'd never been to a marthon before and I must say I was impressed with the community spirit. Not only was the sight of 40,000 runners impressive, along with the huge variety of ages, sizes and nationalities, so was the spectators, there was so much cheering, yelling, flag-waving. I'm sorry to say that this is the only picture of the whole morning that I took, in Chinatown. If you squint, tilt your head to the left and look down your nose, you can just see the dancing dragons on the corner: We went to two different places, the 11 mile and 22 mile markers, and the crowd was just belting out. Many of the runners had their names on their fronts and everyone was just calling them out by name and encouraging them. I'd never dream of running 5 miles, but after seeing the community spirit of 26 miles, I feel I could be motivated to participate someday. But then on the way back, all the hobbling tired people with their green and yellow medals round the neck made me think a little more....hmm, it's a long 26 miles.

We hung out with Gretchen and Adam (mutual friends of Stephen and his wife Emily) afterwards, had lunch at Rock-Bottom (where I had part of my stag do back in summer of '03) and walked to Gretch's apartment. She's just moved back to Chi-town and is renting it from a friend of her father. It's right over Navy Pier, overlooking the lake and the loop, amazing place! Plush carpet, leather couch, all the works though the TV could do a li'l upgrading :-)

As for Erika, she seems to be managing the nausea well, she threw up for the first time last week but I don't think she'll do it often at all over the next few weeks which is good. She does spontaneously gag at times, which, if I wasn't so emotionally invested in her, I'd find incredibly amusing.

Mum and Dad are getting their vows renewed in the new year. It's been fun to hear about their preparations, as it's another mini-wedding except this time its your parents doing it. We got the invite to the reception and I have the food list posted here. Wanted my American friends to see some of the options, can anyone guess what's in 'Spotted Treacly Dick'? :-D