I will fully admit that I am a latent parade-phile. It must be me being incredibly shy as a kid and walking in Redding, CT's parade as a Girl Scout - I vividly remember wanting to break free of the line and run to higher ground towards "freedom."
So I've been avoiding parades like the plague...until we moved to Crystal Lake. They are practically unavoidable since the parade route is smack in front of our house. So...I've learned to embrace and even enjoy the parades. Hey, as long as I don't have to be in them, I can "safely" enjoy them from the sidelines, or in our case our front porch.
This year Larry and I decided to once again host a little BBQ after the parade. We thought we had a "brilliant" plan to set things up in the front yard and avoid the mosquitoes in the back. And our plan would have worked had we not made one MAJOR error - I'll get to that in a minute...
The plan was for my parents, Hope and Greg and their kids and Bill and June (family) to stop by after the parade if they could make it.
In the beginning of the parade a guy stopped by and asked us if he could leave his bike in our driveway during the parade. We didn't even give it a thought and said yes.
The parade came and went and we started to get ready for the BBQ.
Well, Mr. Bike Man returned for his bike and since it was really hot out, Larry and I thought it would be nice to ask if he wanted a beer.
Well.....1 hour later...alhough it felt like eternity...Mr. Bike Man was still there! He wasn't talking to anyone, just texted away to someone, not budging. We started to get a bit nervous and trying to figure out what to do. Even some of our guests thought he was a friend...we couldn't explain anything until he left, which wasn't happening.
So finally, we decided to pack up the food, as a hint, and that finally worked.
Note to self...it's nice to be nice...but maybe next time we need to set some parameters or give someone a to go drink!
Crystal Lake 4th of July Parade - July 2011
Forty/[Insert Age Here] is the New Fabulous! - Februray 5, 2011
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| And to think that I still have some of my baby teeth! |
That declaration then turned into a 5 minute panic: “Get in shape! Do all your unfinished projects! Start using sunscreen!
Well after I calmed down and vowed to do some if not all of these “projects,” I did have a moment of clarity about turning 40: while I may not be the most confident all of the time with everything in my life, there is something about the latter part of your 30s and I suspect moving into your later years, that you just accept things that you cannot change and you realize that you just might be fantastic just the way you are, even if it means you aren’t 5’8’’, a size 0 and haven’t won the lottery.
Larry HUGELY surprised me with a party at Duke O’Brien’s in Crystal Lake and later a cruise in June.
It was a wonderful night, although Mom was not able to make due to being under the weather – but we were able to keep her in the loop via a play-by-play by phone.
Thanks to everyone, Family and friends, who came to celebrate – I was completely surprised and had a fabulous time!
Enjoy the photos!
A Visit from the Fritz Boys - January 16, 2011
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| Eric and Brian |
Afterwards we were able to chat with Brian before he was whisked away to another singing engagement.
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| Dad, Jill, Eric, Brian, Larry and Mom |
Wish the visit was longer!
Chicago Marathon...Gwen Rocks! - October 10, 2010
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| Chicago Marathon - 10.10.10! |
So on Friday, Saturday and Sunday we spent the weekend with Scott and Gwen, their friend's Lisa, Wendy, Nancy, Wendy and Lisa's husbands Stew and Ron. Lisa, Wendy, Nancy and their friend Sharon was also running in the Marathon - I must admit I felt like a huge sloth!
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| Gwen, Wendy and Lisa |
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| Sharon, Lisa, Wendy and Gwen at the Expo |
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| Can you find Gwen? |
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| Mid-Marathon |
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| Post Marathon with Medals! |
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| Gwen and Scott |
Crystal Lake 4th of July Parade - July 5, 2010
This year Crystal Lake's 4th of July Parade was amazing - just guessing, but it looked like a record crowd. The weather was perfect and the crowds came out. Larry and I enjoyed watching the parade on the front porch and lawn - front row seats!
Enjoy the photos!
Fun with Sil Continues...Dinner at the Mays' - Sunday, June 27, 2010
On Sunday evening Mom, Dad and Sil came over for dinner. Larry and I showed Sil the progress we've made on the house, and we had a wonderful evening catching up, enjoying the great weather and grilling out - beer can chicken, veggies and fruit salad.
It was such a wonderful weekend with Sil...can't wait to see you again Sil - we love you! :)
Fabulous Visit with Sil…And One Absurdly Talented Kid – June 26, 2010
This weekend marked the 5th weekend in a row of activity and I have to tell you…by now I’m running on vapors. But it was worth it…because we had a visit from Sil!!!
We of course, wished Terry here too, but it was a Ladies’ weekend, which, of course, is always fun.
Mom had Sil’s visit planned to a “T”: shopping, a play, fabulous food…and of course, lots of fun!
On Saturday, Carol and I joined Mom and Sill for quite a treat: Seeing Billy Elliott at the Ford Theater (formerly the Oriental Theater) in Chicago.
I’ve wanted to see this play for awhile, and having it at the Oriental Theater to boot, was an added bonus – if you ever have an opportunity to see a play in Chicago, go see something at this theater (I also saw Wicked here). It is honestly one of the most stunning theaters I have ever been in — so intricate with the details in the architecture and murals — they could not build something like this nowadays — the cost would be exorbitant! Chicago is truly lucky to have such a gem!
Before the play, we went for a quick lunch at Hub 51 (www.hub51chicago.com). Thumbs up on my meal, breakfast tacos, and the atmosphere was quite nice – very cozy, dark furnishings etc. – I’d definitely go back.
I won’t say that much about the play so I don’t give anything away, but I will say in was fantastic. And while everyone in it was fabulous, the boy who played Billy Elliott was incredible – I’m not joking when I say this – my jaw dropped when he performed. A true triple threat: actor, singer, dancer. I felt like such a sloth because this kid, and he was a kid, was amazing. I’m sure he will be a huge star.
After the play we were standing outside by the marquee and met one on the little girls who was in the play – purely by accident – we just saw her and her family and asked if they’d take a picture of us. We then found out by her parents that we just saw her in the play and she’s also already done Broadway…and she’s eight! Truly a nice family from Indiana and she was very sweet.
We headed to NOMI (www.nomirestaurant.com) for drinks before we met Brett for dinner at Spiaggia’s. Apparently, NOMI is the hip place to go and celebrities frequent their. We were seated in their wonderful rooftop terrace and I will tell you I felt…very short and…yikes…average. Not that I don’t have confidence in myself, but my gosh, everyone must have been 5’9” and a model! It was a great people watching place and the drinks were quite fabulous! Alas, we didn’t see anyone famous, but there’s always next time!
Dinner Spaiggia’s (www.spiaggiarestaurant.com) was the definitely a once and a lifetime experience - it's where the President goes when he's in town. The food was excellent and the service was amazing, although, I will say waaaaay too expensive. But again, a once and a lifetime experience.
This was an incredible day and I'm so happy it was spent with our wonderful Sil - thanks Sil!
Pizza/Anniversary/Barnum Serenade/Homework Extravaganza! – Monday, May 17, 2010
On Monday Larry and I headed back to Mom and Dad’s house for dinner and to our delight an anniversary celebration! It was really relaxing to just sit at that table eating pizza, enjoying wine and just chatting – we even received an impromptu singing concert by Brian (Brian, you are FABULOUSLY TALENTED!)and we all enjoyed helping Emily with her Social Studies homework – and I realized that, you know, if you don’t keep up with things, you WILL forget – I was stumped with some of the questions! Emily you did a great job!
Thank you to everyone for such a special weekend – we hope to see Bea, Eric (we KNOW we'll see YOU!), Brian and Emily again very soon!
It’s Official…Eric is an Alumnus of the University of Notre Dame! – Sunday, May 16, 2010
After setting the alarm Saturday night post dinner & dorm room fun, for some reason I was thinking the 4am wake up call would not be an issue. Was I deluding myself that since I was now in close proximity to a college campus I would somehow through osmosis be remarkably spry like I was in college when I pulled all-nighters to study or a late night out on the weekend for fun?
Well, let me tell you...when the alarm went off at 4:00am, I felt like I was kicked in the head – quickly realizing that my theory of osmosis was in fact a crock.
So Larry and I managed to get ourselves together, rolled into Bob Evans at 6:00am for breakfast and were on campus shortly thereafter – we even “beat” the rest of the clan to campus!
We didn’t think it was that cold out, but as we were walking to the football stadium for the general graduation ceremonies, the wind started to kick up and we were freezing, so we walked back to the car to collect all the blankets we could for everyone – we May’s come prepared! :)
With blankets in tow we met up with the rest of the group and found some great, albeit very narrow, bleacher seats. Mom, Dad and Brett brought donuts and hot chocolate, which definitely hit the spot on a cold morning.
The bleachers started to fill up and the sun came out and suddenly it was hot!
There were quite a few graduates filtering into the stadium, so it took awhile, but it was just really nice seeing how excited everyone was.
The ceremony was lovely, but I have to especially mention the commencement speaker…Brian Williams. I have to tell you – Larry and I have always liked Brian Williams – great at reporting the news, funny on John Stewart and just seems to be an all-around good guy. Well, his speech was just fantastic! He was funny and serious and just a phenomenal speaker. I’m including the link to his speech – watch it…it’s great! http://video.nd.edu/305-brian-williams-2010-commencement-address
After the ceremony we took some photos as you can see here and then Mom, Larry and I went to lunch before meeting up with everyone for Eric’s actual graduation for his degree from the Mendoza School of Business – the number 1 ranked business school in the US!
The ceremony was great and it was really nice that we were a part of Eric’s special day.
After the ceremony we all took a walk around campus: seeing the library (Touchdown Jesus, Main Building, where Eric worked in the Admissions Office – with the phenomenal paintings, which took 17 years to paint, and the Grotto) – what a gorgeous campus. An interesting note about the "Hula Girl" - apparently the painter was tired of painting tassels in the painting and showed his sense of humor by painting her - you'd miss this creative detail if you looked quickly - Eric, thanks for sharing the history of the building with us!
We were also able to meet Eric’s girlfriend Emma – so that was a real treat too.
Then my feet gave out and the 4:00am wake up hit Larry and I and we all headed back to Illinois.
Eric – thanks for sharing with us this amazing weekend – we had so much fun!
We’re all very proud of you!
Let the Graduation Festivities Begin! – Saturday, May 15, 2010
Saturday morning Larry and I we’re able to sleep-in a little before heading off to South Bend – the plan was to meet up at some point in on Campus, since we were going down to ND in 3 cars. Unfortunately, Carol and Johnny couldn’t make it because Johnny was sick – but I'm happy to report Johnny is feeling much better! Carol and Johnny: we missed you!
The game plan was to meet up on campus before the commencement mass at 5:00pm. Larry and I needed to check into our hotel first, which was in Goshen, about a half hour away (or so we thought). Unfortunately we completely forgot about the time change (ND is in EST) and we hit local road construction, so by the time we got to the hotel, changed, got back in the car, hit road construction/traffic again, it was passed our meet-up time.
SO…while the rest of the group made it to the Joyce Center for the mass, when Larry and I arrived at 4:30pm we were directed to the North Dome (Hockey rink) for the mass which would be shown on closed-circuit TV. But the funny thing was, we initially didn’t realize we weren’t in the main area for the mass and we’re wondering where everyone was and actually wondering out loud…”Gee, why did the university encourage people to come early for seats…there’s PLENTY here!” Oh well. But Larry and I did enjoy the mass from said hockey rink and we had plenty of seats to choose from! :)
After mass, we did manage to meet up with everyone for dinner at Carmella's Restaurant. This was definitely the place to go because EVERYONE was there – I’m not kidding…the place was packed – thank goodness we made reservations awhile ago!
Dinner was fabulous: just a lovely night of fun, food and even a serenade of the ND alma mater song by Eric, Charlie and Emily! I was quite impressed, because I will fully admit that I don’t think I EVER remember learning Dayton’s song and I had 4 wonderful years there – either that or I’m just blocking it out, but honestly I have no recollection of it!
After a fun-filled night and with full-bellies, we all wanted to see Eric’s dorm room, so we headed to campus to check out the digs.
I will say that as soon as we entered the dorm I was hit with memories of UD and my own dorm room – kind of a sweet remembrance of years ago and then being smacked in the face with reality that I don’t think I could ever live in a door room again! But I will say it was nice to see Eric’s room: the famous/infamous orange couch we have all heard about (Eric: I will admit that I actually like the pattern – very fashion forward!), the mini-fridge, Nanna’s ND-colored throw that she made, the bunk bed, the sink in the room and last but not least the flat screen TV – which I will fully admit I am very jealous of.
And lest we not forget…the college guy we almost walked into on the way out of the dorm who was walking back from the shower in his towel, which we all had a laugh because quite frankly, yup, that would happen to us. The scene might have been lost on Lydia, but it was amusing for the rest of us.
After the trip back to memory lane, we all headed back to our hotels to get some sleep before the graduation ceremonies in the am.
Eric’s Graduation from Notre Dame Weekend – Friday, May 15, 2010
During the weekend of May 14th, the Mays & Vassallos we’re thrilled to be a part of Eric’s graduation from the University of Norte Dame.
For the past four years we’ve been very lucky to have had the opportunity to get to see Eric on a regular basis while he was at ND – at Thanksgiving at our house, Easter at Mom and Dad’s, and various weekends in between – it’s just been really great to have the Midwest contingent of the Fritz-Vassallo-May family grow. And we are even more thrilled that Eric received and accepted a job in Chicago – so Eric, the Vassallo-May’s are like glue…you’re stuck with us and we can’t wait to see you in Chi-town!
AND we hope to see more family on a regular basis!
The graduation festivities were kicked off with Bea, Brian and Emily coming in for the event and staying at Mom and Dad’s before we trekked to South Bend for the weekend.
It’s been 12 years since Larry and I have seen Bea (at Lynette and Steve’s wedding) and we were so excited to be able to catch up – actually, we didn’t even need to catch up, it was like we had seen her just yesterday – but it was so nice to be able to chat face-to-face and enjoy having family together etc. for this special weekend.
What was really wonderful is that we were able to get to know Brian and Emily, who would have been too young to remember us, so this was an added bonus to the weekend! And we were able to pick Brian’s brain about the exciting event in his life coming up: graduation from high school and entrance into the Naval Academy – way to go Brian! And Emily shared her plans for the Summer: Barn Camp and getting excited for going into the 6th grade.
Larry and I went over to Mom and Dad’s for some pre-South Bend activities – a BBQ – yum! I pretty much am a happy camper when anyone mentions BBQ, so if you combine Friday night + hamburgers and hot dogs with family and to me that equals fun! Thanks for the great spread Mom & Dad!
We spent the evening catching up and just plain vedging – perfect for gearing up for the packed graduation weekend schedule to come!
Let the Summer Activities Begin! - May 2010
It’s been a little quite here at a Farmhouse Revised…well, at only in blogland…because there has been a bevy of activities that happen in May and I’m just now coming up for air! Not even thinking about all the things we have to do in June, in May alone we’ve had Dad’s (May 1st), Charlie’s (May 1st), Mom’s (May 5th), and shortly Lydia’s (May 30th) birthdays; 2 anniversaries: Brett & Carol (11th) and Larry and mine (11th); planning for an upcoming neighborhood garage sale in June that I’m spearheading; Eric’s graduation from Notre Dame; and our anniversary trip to Madison, WI…I’m exhausted even thinking about it now!
And now that I think about it, May is just the start of the Summer “busyness” – so I better suck it up and hold on tight lest I be carried away with all the activity…at least I will be enjoying the ride!
Summer fun…here we come!
Take A Walk in Her Shoes - A Must Attend!
I wanted to share with everyone a phenomenal opportunity to help woman in need (in McHenry County, Illinois) reach their goals through education.
For awhile now I have been volunteering for the Friends of McHenry County College Foundation. Specifically, I have been involved in helping plan the Take a Walk in Her Shoes Ball. The details are:
Take A Walk in Her Shoes Ball
March 19, 2010
7:30 p.m. to Midnight
Holiday Inn
Crystal Lake, IL
Reservations: $50 per person or $500 for table of 10
The concept of the Take a Walk in Her Shoes Ball highlights the personal journeys women take - shoes are symbolic of the steps we all take in our lives. Half of the proceeds raised at the Ball will be used to establish a scholarship called “Women in Transition.” Our scholarship recipients will receive funding at McHenry County College for:
• Educational costs
• Books
• Childcare
• Transportation, should any be required
Women who apply and receive the scholarship can use it for the College’s occupational career programs, certificate programs, associate’s degree programs or transfer programs. The other half of the proceeds will benefit the Friends of MCC Foundation efforts including the MCC Promise program.
To find out more information about this program or to attend, visit: www.supportmcc.org/shoes
Even if you are not located in the area, this would be a great program to donate to. For more information, contact Kathrine Pfister, Development Coordinator, Friends of MCC Foundation, at (815) 479-7529.
Ladies Night Out on the Square – December 3rd
For the past 4 years Mom and I have taken part in the Ladies Night Out on the Woodstock Square in Woodstock, IL. Woodstock, for the non-locals reading this, is where they filmed the movie Groundhog Day - completely cute town with so much charm. Ladies Night Out basically it’s a night out just for women to shop, eat and enjoy themselves and presumably do a LOT of shopping. The merchants typically have specials, and appetizers and wine tastings etc. We’d been going every year except for last year when I believe the area was just pummeled with snow and cold – so Ladies Night Out went out the window!
The event always seems to draw a nice crowd, but I swear this year was a banner year – there were a ton of people on the square. It was really nice to see everyone just having a nice time.
As an added bonus several of the stores in Crystal Lake had open houses that night, including my favorite, The Perfect Pear (more on that in the next post), so Mom and I bolted to downtown Crystal Lake first, then headed to Woodstock for some shopping and dinner and then back to Crystal Lake to do a little more shopping before everything closed.
So we headed to Woodstock, parked and shopped in high gear because we were starved.
We went to dinner at Le Petite Creperie (www.lapetitecreperie.net). We've actually gone there a couple of times for this night - it's this great french bistro right on the square - I think the owners even have a vineyard in the area - fabulous food. Mom had swordfish and I had Coq a vin - so good!
One of my favorite spots on the square is Cobblestones on the Square (www.cobblestonesonthesquare.com)- a bevy of womderful finds: ice cream, candy, gourmet food, housewares, wine, candles, clothes etc. Love it!
After dinner we stolled around a little more, but then headed back to Crystal Lake to do a little more shopping - a whirlwind night and we were probably a littl eworse for the wear but so much fun!
Non-Surprise Party for Larry - October 3rd
Larry turned 50 on September 29th and after celebrating 10 years of bliss with my wonderful hubbie, I KNOW he doesn’t like surprises. I’m a surprise kind of gal, but you just can’t push a surprisephobe. So for Larry’s 50th I needed to go straight to the source and get the lowdown on what he wanted. First thing was “no surprise party.” I of course took this very seriously because, again I know my sweetie – wouldn’t want him foaming at the mouth or passing out if I sprung a party on him. So the birthday boy wanted to go out to dinner with no fanfare etc.
Well even though I had the above parameters to work with, I did manage to sneak in a surprise.
Larry knew we were going to dinner with Mom and Dad V. and Brett and Carol at Enzo and Lucia Ristorante (www.enzoandlucia.com) in Long Grove. We had been to this yummy Italian place before with Mom and Dad and this was Larry’s pick – I of course wasn’t going to object because I love this place.
So we met everyone there and had a wonderful evening – great food, wine and company - this seems to be a consistent trend with us. :)
The surprise was the cake. Larry actually isn’t much of a sweets guy, but you can’t have a big birthday and not have a cake – so he would just have to deal with it!
One of Larry’s favorite things is Rolling Rock Beer, so when I went to this great bakery in Algonquin ( ), I had them decorate the cake with a graphic of the Rolling Rock bottle – turned out great don’t you think? What I didn’t tell Larry until later, and I think he would actually say that what I did was “sacrilegious”, I needed a Rolling Rock bottle as a template for the bakery, and since I don’t drink beer and needed to act quickly since he was home at the time, I poured out the contents of the bottle – wasteful I know, but I was desperate!
So even though Larry hates surprises, I think he was pleasantly surprised that he enjoyed the non-surprise party.
Ladies' Night Out - October 2nd
On Friday, I met some friends for a Ladies’ Night Out at El Tapatio (in Roscoe Village) for my friend Linda’s birthday. It’s always great to get together with my friends Linda and Gini – we’ve been pretty good about getting our schedules together for a meet-up, and to add a dinner party to the mix is always fun. The added bonus for this evening was that I got to see old friends from my days at AMTA – Cheryl and Susan.
Needless to say, it was a great group of chatty women: Linda, Gini, Susan, Cheryl and Amy, Molly and Carol (Gini and Linda’s friends). And to top it off we had the pleasure of “christening” Gini’s daughter Olivia to a girl’s night out experience – she had a blast and kept up!
Great conversation, food and drink and I managed to make it home within an hour – pretty good for suburb-bound on a Friday night!
Ladies – this was so much fun – hope we can do another night out again soon!
Johnny Turns 7! – August 30th
On Sunday we celebrated Johnny’s 7th birthday (his actual birthday is September 1st). Mom and Dad Vassallo hosted the festivities which included a fabulous BBQ, great music and games - what a great day to get together with family!
Dad manned the BBQ and Mom made all the wonderful food. The kids played ladder ball and basketball, while the adults chatted.
The festivities were topped off with the opening of presents and dessert: Crazy Cake, cupcakes and cookies – yum!
Happy Birthday Johnny - We love you!!!
Scott's Surprise Bday Celebration
I know, I know...it's been awhile since I've posted - not for a lack of trying - it's just been incredibly busy lately - I swear it's not that I wanted to promote the pork picatta recipe for all enternity (although it is very good!).
The weekend of March 28th was something that Larry and I have been looking forward to for quite some time - Gwen was planning a surprise 50th birthday party for Scott. The plan was to have them fly out from NJ under the guise of a "pre-Easter" visit with Scott's family since the four of us would be South Carolina-bound during Easter.
Gwen had been planning the festivities for awhile and Larry and I were afraid that we'd blow it when the Scgwotts came in the night before for our regular Friday dinner-Rumicube-sleepover. Somehow we did not bungle the surprise...but did manage to sing a few tunes and laugh as usual.
On Saturday we went to Benedict's for our usual breakfast...still paranoid that we'd say something to clue Scott in. I actually almost gave Gwen a heart attack when I was talking about our upcoming family BBQ, but only said "party" and she rightfully thought I was talking about Scott's party - yikes - thankfully I clued in and said "OUR BBQ...in JULY!"
After breakfast we somehow started a whole conversation about Ipods and decided it was time for the Mays to live up to our techiness. So with the Scgwotts in tow...Larry and I bought one, right there, on the spot, which is pretty rare for us, since we research things to death! (We actually ended up buying 3 in total...long story).
Then with Scott and Gwen on their way, we headed home to get ready for the big festivities...somehow still managing to NOT spoil the surprise. I even asked Scott what he and Gwen were doing later that night - pretty smooth huh? Probably not, but it was my lame attempt at NOT wrecking the surprise.
On to the party!
A Pirate Looks at 50
Well we made it to Saturday night without wrecking the surprise birthday party for Scott!
Lar and I arrived early to help Scott's brother Eric decorate for the pirate-themed party (Scott is a huge Jimmy Buffet fan) while Gwen distracted Scott during the day.
Come party time, it turns out Scott WAS surpised and all was well with the world - although he did mention that the first person he saw was Dad and was wondering why Chuck was at Emmetts's!
The party was fantastic (great job Gwen!!!)with wonderful company and fabulous food!
Looking forward to seeing Scott and Gwen in South Carolina...hopefully it won't snow there!
