Swine Flu paranoia...

Life lessons

A neighbor of my parents, someone I've known since I was 8, suddenly passed away this morning. His wife found him dead on their couch when she was getting ready for work. A heart attack is suspected but it's too early to know the cause of death.  He left a wife and 2 teenage kids.  

To be positive, one could say he was blessed - to go so simply without the agony of illness and slow deterioration.  On the other hand, one could also be stunned by the tragedy of a 49 year old dropping dead in his home without any kind of tell tale signs or symptoms for his loved ones to prepare.  Either way - it's sad because someone that I know is dead and his family now has to deal with that.

All too often we go along day to day foolishly thinking we have "lots of time" - but the scary truth is that no one knows whats in store for them or more morbidly - when their number is up.  We usually only consider our own mortality when something tragic like sudden death touches our lives but its important to live your life like every day is your last. The truth is there is only so much in your life you can control - and how long you're heart is beating isn't one of them...

Live the life you want to live and be the person you want to be - laugh as much as you can and pay it forward whenever possible. Love as hard as you can and be good to yourself. Be thankful always!

Double Date

We dined with our wonderful friends (and adorable engaged couple) Danielle & Jeremy at Folklore Argentine Grill in Ukrainian Village on Saturday, October 17 - read on for the rave!!
First we met Dan & Jeremy at their beautiful new townhome and were greeted with hugs, kisses and a crackling fire! We got the grand tour of their cozy home and shortly after headed out for some grub! It was a crisp night but we walked from their place a few blocks holding hands with our honeys and chatting up this and that. We waited a good hour for a table but got lucky at the bar with seats and an attentive bartender which is of the utmost importance! The mojitos were unbelievable - muddled to order and went down exteremly easy! While sipping our cocktails us girls chatted about friends, wedding plans and exciting things to come. Finally our turn for a table arrived and oh my goodness! Folklore is an Argentinian Steakhouse so I wanted to make sure that I got some meat (ha ha)! Me and Danielle split a entre that could have fed a family of four and it came to our table on a grill - it was awesome! (picture is Dan posing with our meal... funny!)

The people waiting at the bar (like us an hour prior) were all staring at us... We were like the nerdy tourists taking pictures of our food - except we are from Chicago! We all inhalled our food and dessert and were very glad we had to walk home... the date ended at 10:30 because we were all so damn full - and we're old!

Despite all that, it was a wonderful night, great food & great company!