Many Happy Returns!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife and caring friend; loving companion, warm-spirited, smart, hard working and very often selfless:  I couldn’t imagine my life with anyone else and had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday this weekend.  As the Indian girls I work with say:  Many Happy Returns of the Day!!

On Friday night, I made a taco fiesta dinner at our place for us and Sara, Adam, and Kristen.  Shredded fajita chicken and tasty steak filled our tacos, accompanied by homemade guacamole and strawberry daiquiris to fill our tummies.  

I did some shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond this year but also at Ballyea Jewelry Designs (for fine Irish inspired rings, pendants, etc).  It’s run by Bernadette Moore from OSP and is nestled in on the 6th floor in Jewelers Row in the loop. I got Aimee a Trinity Knot pendant (see above) and a toaster oven (see below).  Yet another appliance added to our kitchen means a need for increased counter space so I got and installed a knife rack as well!

On Saturday night we made plans to celebrate Aimee’s birthday again and to re-visit a new great Italian Restaurant:  Salatino’s on Racine near Taylor.  Katie very graciously drove in to be with Aimee and me for dinner (which meant a lot… thank you!).  We had an unexpected bottle of wine delivered to our table courtesy of the Castillo’s quite needless generosity.  Of course, we walked back over to their house afterwards for more wine!  We are blessed with such great friends here who we are happy to call family.

Sunday was a very full day too.  I did my weekly accessibility mass with Laura and then rushed home to have brunch with MB and BB at Meli on Grand. 

Quick review:  great space and much larger than the one in Greektown so easier to get in.  The service was extremely inattentive but, other than consistently empty coffee cups, accurate.  My Count Chocula French Toast was delicious but two more mainstay breakfast items at our table (benedicts) contained dreadfully poached eggs which is tough to get past.

Then before mass, I stood awkwardly and humbly before a group who had gathered in the church hall to sing through my mass setting.  I am so grateful to have that chance to hear the music in person.  It has already spurred some new thinking which I’ll continue to work through. 

After mass we celebrated the birthdays of Aimee and Elena, and the great camaraderie of our 5 o’clock music group with a potluck in the rectory.

   

So it’s Halloween here in Austin and it is about what you’d expect on Halloween: a random mix of people collectively realizing that they need to step up their normal efforts to stand out.  It’s been fun to see all the different costumes though!  Looking forward to this weekend already:  an evening with Jenny, Keara and Michael’s wedding reception, running (and maybe even finishing) the Hot Chocolate 15k, and I’m sure more to come!

Family, Drama, and Beautiful Singing

I need to start off on a sad note…  On Sunday, October 16th, my grandma on my mom’s side passed away at the age of 94.  She lived a full life, had a welcoming spirit, and has been a memorable, inspiring figure to so many, including me, my parents, and my sisters and their families. Grandma, you are, and will be missed!

 
The funeral afforded us that unplanned time to celebrate her life and be with our close family up in Lansing this past week.  It was a good reminder of the importance of building and supporting the family in our lives and recognizing the loving bonds of relationships that allow those families to grow and prosper.

Pardon the rough transition, but Saturday evening at the opera gave us a tragic glimpse of how those family bonds can be occluded by feuding and conflict.  Through the creative minds and talented performers of the Lyric Opera, Aimee and I took in the first of our 5 operas this season in what I’m deeming our “Opera Experiment”.  Playing on Saturday was Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.  Susanna Phillips was spectacular and, as the only real female role, shined heads above the rest of the cast.  The drama was ever-present on stage though the music itself, an archetype of the bel canto Italian style, never led you too far away from “pretty” melodies and contented rhythms.  From the Lyric’s website…

In Scotland, Lucia and Edgardo are breathlessly, desperately in love. But their two clans are bitter rivals, so Lucia’s villainous brother Enrico sets out to quell his young sister’s romance. And he deploys every devious device he can muster, including lies, forgery, and finally the false revelation of Edgardo’s infidelity.  Little wonder that Lucia is mentally crushed and destroyed, driven to madness and murder before she dies of a broken heart. 

Turns out that wasn’t the only tragedy on Saturday night as Notre Dame got outplayed by USC and lost miserably.  Avoiding that depressing spectacle, we favored the Halloween Party at Megan’s apartment instead.  We showed our creative spirits and attended, dressed up, as it were, as opera patrons.

Aimee also sang a wedding on Saturday afternoon at OSP before getting on with the rest of that night.  Then on Sunday morning, I played at the 10am accessibility mass (as I have every Sunday since the beginning of August) but this time accompanying my lovely wife.  Later it was off to Best Buy where I ordered this:  the new Canon PowerShot S100.  If it’s anything like the S95, it will be an amazing camera!  Pictures will surely be posted.

This brought us to brunch at Stax in Little Italy. I had the blueberry pancakes with black pepper bacon and Aimee got the brisket hash with egg whites (pictured below).  All in all, I was pretty impressed with the ambiance, service, and food.  The $5 orange juice was steep, but delicious. 

And for a Crowley picture, here’s a recent one of her perfecting the puppy dog eyes.  In this case, I think she was pining for some cheese (definitely not a mushroom; she demonstrated that she shares our abhorrence for the fungi earlier this week):

We closed out the weekend back at Old St. Pat’s with mass at 5 (more singing!) and a leisurely dinner at Greek Islands.  It was a great way to wind down the weekend and get ready for the week ahead.  Back to Austin!!

A lovely weekend to dress up

The 26th annual Old St. Patrick’s Emerald Ball was this past Friday at the Chicago Hilton.  In an elegant evening of dinner and dancing, we honored the families that have enriched our community through dedication of philanthropy and service.  It was also an excellent reason to get all dressed up and enjoy some time with our OSP friends and – this year, our family as well!  Please enjoy some pictures below but, as always, head over to Picasa for the full treat:

The elegant ballroom at the Chicago Hilton

My parents came down from Lansing for the night to celebrate!

And Katie came too (always looking for an excuse to get dressed up!)

My parents

Aimee and I with Fr. Tom

Continuing the “black and white” theme, we also had the pleasure of hosting Miles here for the weekend while Michael and Joanna took a weekend to be with friends and family in Ohio.  Crowley loved having someone to hang out and all in all, I think it was a pretty good first stay for Miles too!

Throw in a great steak (and macaroni and cheese!) dinner and time with friends compliments of Mark B and placing and order for a couple new iPhones, it’s been a great weekend (and that’s even before what’s shaping up to be a “You Are My Rock” Sunday at OSP)!

Autumn Trip to Paris and the South of France

I’ve only said it a two or three times as such:  “the South of France”.  It sounds a little haute-brow for me.  Before heading to the southern bits of France though, we began in Paris, where we met Megan at the lovely Charles de Gaulle airport.   For the complete picture album, click here! 

It was a long day but we arrived on the streets of Paris around 6pm and checked into the Westin Paris Vendome hotel. After realizing that it was a host hotel for Paris Fashion Week and feeling perpetually underdressed and underfunded, we set out for dinner and an evening visit to the Eiffel Tower.  Tuesday found us much refreshed and ready to take on the streets of Paris – by bike.  We “cycled” around the smaller streets and neighborhoods with the Bike About Paris company which I highly recommend.

     

After a quick lunch in the Latin Quarter, we toured the stately, Gothic Notre Dame de Paris and the stained-glass artistry of Sainte-Chapelle before heading back to Fashion Week Headquarters for some rest.  We spent the evening in Montmartre with the majesty of Sacre Coeur and the charming surrounding neighborhoods.

    

Breakfast at Angelina’s (not to be missed!) the next morning was followed by a walk along the Champs Elysees to the l’Arc de Triomphe.  Wikipedia’s article on the history was concise and interesting.

 

Finding ourselves only nominally fatigued, we ventured on to the Musee du Louvre.   One cannot help be amazed, every single time, by the vast stretch of this former palace.

 

We closed out the Paris portion of our trip with a most memorable dinner at Le Tete Allieur in the Marais district.  Traveling with Megan was super great and we are so happy it worked out.  And lastly, an honorary trip to the Palais Royale across from the Louvre to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary!  This Palais is nothing like the venue for our fabulous reception – nor could this Notre Dame ever compare to our Notre Dame!

 

The next day we were off to that part of France that is more southern than the rest.  Allow me to set the scene a bit for context:

After relearning how to drive a manual transmission, we arrived at our Chambres de Hotes on the sea.  The view below is from our room and next to it is the patio area.  It was called Villa Fabregas and run by Michel and Laurence.  They were wonderful!

 

Our first day trip was to Aix-en-Provence and included our first experience with tollways and our first experience with “no anglais” at a restaurant.

  

It is a beautiful town and one of our favorites from the trip.  Before heading back to La Seyne-sur-mer to our B&B, we stopped at a medieval hilltop town called Castellet for a look around and dinner.  We found a beautiful sunset and fresh Mediterranean seafood dishes.  Very fresh.

  

The next day we hiked to a beautiful point high above the sea to a church called Notre Dame de Mai.  The views of the Mediterranean and the surrounding countryside were exquisite (see Picasa album for more).  From there we journeyed west toward Cassis, then back to enjoy our last evening with Michel’s wonderful cooking.  We had a Provençal traditional dish and great wine.  The next morning we returned the car in Toulon and took a quick train ride to Marseille for an unexpected last day.  In addition to the second largest city in France with some magnificent churches and history, we got to experience the “Mistral” which is an intense wind blowing through the south side of France.

 

So strong was the wind that, after our nauseating (and really quite frightening) boat ride out to Ile de Frioul, the boat company decided to halt all remaining trips back to Marseille until the evening.  So while it was neat to see Chateau d’If of “Count of Monte Cristo” fame and explore a near-deserted island, it was 6 hours that we had hoped to be spending in Marseille. 

  

As we passed through the historic Vieux Port going back into Marseille, we had time for one last meal:  moules frites – and they were perfect!!  We began the long journey home through Munich and Dusseldorf en route to Chicago.  Business class never disappoints though!

 

All pictures were taken with the somewhat-new Canon S95.  As they are coming out with the S100 soon, I’ve taken it back but all in all, I was really impressed with the quality of this camera.  I can’t wait until Best Buy gets the S100 later this month!  Anyway, next up, Emerald Ball….  au revoir!