Yipee!!

Today I accomplished something I thought never possible. Or at least not in quite a while....

I made an offer on a fabulous condo today and it was accepted (well...after a little negotiation). I'm closing on May 15th and plan on moving in at the end of the month over Memorial Day weekend. It's a brand new condo conversion, and the place is not quite finished yet, so I have to wait until then. The place is in a cute courtyard building on Beacon Street in Uptown. Basically, it's between Montrose and Lawrence, and between Clark and Broadway. I looked around some places in Lakeview, Uptown, Buena Park and Ravenswood, and this one was by far the cutest place and the cutest neighborhood.

I can't tell you all how excited I am!!! Updates will come as they are available and I'll email you my new address when everything is finalized.

Nena's 30th Birthday Party

It's been a crazy week, and it was finished off by Nena's 30th Birthday Party on saturday. I took the Megabus out to Detroit on Friday night (fun!) to make sure I wouldn't miss it. And what a great time we had!! Click on the link to see some of the pictures from the evening...

The highlight of the party was without doubt the pepsi-machine-kegarator!! I can't remember how Nena ended up with this Pepsi machine, but somehow she and Kevin did. The problem was that it was broken and no longer dispensed any cans. They have had it for a little while, but the only things that still worked on the it are the light and the cooling function. Cooling function? That's all you need for a keg! So sometime last week Nena decided she wanted to put a keg in there, and after a day of gutting and drilling Kevin managed to turn it into a kick-ass kegarator! Who can say they have a pepsi machine that dispenses beer?? Kevin and Nena would be the only two people - probably in the world.

Anyway... great weekend! Happy birthday girl :)

Vacation Photos

I posted some more photos from past vacations in South Africa, Australia, Mexico and France. If anyone is interested in seeing them, clink on the link... Enjoy! :)

Go Bulls!!!

Michaellyn and I went to our first Chicago Bulls game on Tuesday evening! I bought the tickets a couple of months ago, and they were initially intended for someone else, but things change... and so us two girls went together instead! The Bulls were playing the Boston Celtics, and it was the 'official St. Patty's Day Game', which added some extra fun to it all. We each got an 'Erin go Bulls' shirt when we came in, there were crazy people in leprechaun outfits, and there were little Irish girls dancing all around United Center (think Riverdance). And of course the beer was flowing. Good Irish fun!! But St. Patty's day also made it a bit more confusing for us because the Bulls were wearing green (normally Celtics colors). We weren't really sure who our team was for the first few minutes :( But of course we figured it out and cheered for the Bulls and our friend Hinrich. Of course Chicago won the game... Chicago will always be better than Boston, and I can say that from experience.

Go Bulls!!!

Another one gone...

My former roommate Kerstin is getting married in two weeks, and last night we had her Bridal shower / Bachelorette party. She moved to New York last August, so she was only here for the weekend, and therefore we had to hold both parties on one night.

The day started out with just me, Kerstin and her new sister-in-law Christina in the Signature Lounge at the Hancock. After a few martinis we got on the red line (important moment for Kerstin who lived in Chicago 5 years and only once took the train!!) and headed to the Cheescake Factory in Skokie. Took us about two hours to get here, since we ended up getting off on the wrong stop and our ride was waiting somewhere else. But eventually we made it and met up with some of Kerstin's friends and former colleagues in Skokie. After dinner some of us girls then went to Schaumburg to go dancing for the Bachelorette party part of the evening. Great night, and the bride-to-be had a great time.

Click on the link if you want to see more pictures!

The Secret

I just watched Larry King talk with his guests about the movie and book The Secret. First of all, Larry King bugs me. I would like to see him argue topics with his guests, instead of just asking questions and accepting the answers. That's why I enjoy Bill Maher. Oh, Bill Maher will be on Larry King on Monday, and maybe that will get Larry's pulse pumping.
Anyway.... The secret is the law of attraction, and it states that we can attract anything into our lives by simply believing in it. Well... not just believing, but truly feeling it and knowing that it will happen. This may seem like a far fetched idea when you first think about it, but I'm sure some of it is true!
Regardless of what material things you may or may not attract into your life, isn't happiness more imporant anyway? Consider this: I've always believed that happiness is a choice and everyone creates their own happiness. I haven't always lived by it, but I've been preaching it to someone for months now. When things don't go the way you want them to go, you can either chose to let it get you down, or you can chose to see the good in it and be happy and grateful for the things you DO have. The secret says that if you are truly happy with yourself and knowing that you are worth it, you will attract more things to be happy about into your life. Of course you will!! Because when you are in a happy mindset, you will not be focused on the bad and therefore you only see the positive. Bad things will still happen to you, but you won't be focused on them.
Now, whether or not you believe in The Secret and the law of attraction, doesn't it already make for a better life if you focus on the good instead of the bad? Doesn't it already build up your confidence and self-esteem if you chose to believe in yourself? People often believe that others influence these things, but the truth is, everyone creates it only for themselves and nobody else is to blame or to thank. It's a choice, and you can chose to continue to be happy. Or you can chose to doubt your own worth and chose not to be happy by BELIEVING you are not happy. Focus on the good, and the good will continue to come to you. Basically: Happiness is all in your head!!
Has anyone else seen the movie or read the book or heard all the hype? What do you think?

The Lives of Others

After seeing a German movie win the oscar for 'best foreign movie' last weekend, I happened to see today that the film is playing at Landmark Theater right around the corner from me (LOVE that theater!!). As a German, I felt obligated to see this movie, because German movies do not tend to make it so big that they are shown in theaters in Chicago. Or anywhere outside of Germany for that matter. The most noteable German movies of recent times (that are also usually available at your local blockbuster) are The Priness and the Warrior, Goodbye Lenin, and Run Lola Run. Rent them sometime.
This movie is called "The Lives of others" and shows how the Stasi monitored the lives of the East Germans. And let me tell you, it is scary to see how much control a government can have, and how they can monitor your every move! And even more disturbing is that this movie is based on true historical events. The movie itself seems to focus on an artist couple, but more acurately, it focuses on the guy who is assigned to monitor them. The purposely unnoticable guy in grey, who isn't able to stay detached from the situation of the people he is monitoring, and as a result has a life changing experience. I don't want to say too much more, in case you want to go see it. The movie is great, and definitely worth seeing!! If you're not too bothered by subtitles, go see it! And if you are bothered by subtitles... get over it and go see it anyway!