Grand Old Summer

Yikes! Time is flying by, and I'm getting more and more behind on blogging.... Well, let me start catching up! Back on Sunday, June 7th, Tomkin, Chloe, and I walked down to Grand Old Day. Each year, Grand Avenue blocks off a couple miles of streets and has a big party. We spent a couple hours just wandering up and down, checking out vendors, people-watching, and enjoying delicious treats. Tomkin was the main photographer for the day--I encouraged him to take pictures of anything that looked interesting, and he got some great shots! He gets right in the action to get pictures of people--or dogs! We saw some art cars--pretty crazy/funky designs. And I got my face "kissed" by a Vulcan. We saw (and heard) our friends Hanna and Michael (aka Langer's Ball) playing outside the Irish store. Chloe's favorite part of the day was finding food on the ground--plus we shared some of our snacks with her. By the time we got home, all of us were pooped, so we took a nice nap. Then we exercised to the series premiere of "Glee" (I liked it more than Tomkin did), read, and watched a little TV.
That Monday, Tomkin headed into the office, and I made my weekly shopping trip to Target. That afternoon we both took Chloe for a walk. Tomkin met with a couple, and then he chatted on the phone with my friend Adolfo about economics (one of Tomkin's big interests these days--and Adolfo is a Senior Economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago). Then Helena came over to perform a healing session on Tomkin, who was still recovering from his bike accident. She showed me what to do, and then we both performed the healing ritual. It really seemed to make a difference--Tomkin's demeanor was noticeably different when we were done. We all headed over to Pizza Luce to chat and catch up. Helena is one busy woman these days! It's always so lovely to see her.
On Tuesday the 9th, Tomkin met with a couple and went to the office. I went to the Hour of Power workout class with Helena (one of those experiences that feels really good...once you've made it through), then did some housecleaning. Tomkin and I took Chloe for a walk, and that evening I had a premarital counseling session and Tomkin met with a couple. Business has really been booming! For the rest of the evening we just watched some TV and relaxed.
Wednesday we all (including Chloe) went over to Tomkin's parents' house for lunch. Tomkin met with a couple, and I went to Red Nails for a pedicure. Much to our delight, JimDog came over and joined us for dinner! We don't get to see him very often these days, so it was great to catch up. He went along to Tomkin's poker game, and I had a premarital counseling session, then talked to Mom.
On Thursday I biked to the YWCA to swim, and then I went and hung out with my friend Jill and her three-week-old son, Christopher. I hadn't seen her since her baby shower a few weeks ago. She looks great, and the baby is adorable (and so good!). We went for a lovely walk along the lake, then sat outside at a coffee shop and talked. I ran to Target (amazing how sometimes my weekly two-hour trip just isn't enough!), and then Heidi came by to drop off a housekey so I could cat-sit while she and her family went away for the weekend. Tomkin had a full day, too--first off, he bought a new bike! (They had to order it, so he didn't get to bring it home right away.) Then he had two wedding rehearsals. We walked Chloe, and then we watched a couple episodes of The Colbert Report while they were in Iraq. Good stuff!
Friday morning we drove out to Lakeville to look at a leather couch and loveseat that Tomkin found for sale on Craigslist. I had offhandedly mentioned that, at some point, it would be nice to put a loveseat in the spot that was occupied by a chair and Chloe's crate. Well, when Tomkin wants something, he goes for it! So he started searching and found this furniture. We liked it, and the price was right ($400 for the set!). Tomkin threw in some extra cash to have them deliver it (a few days later). I had a premarital counseling session that afternoon, then had some frustrating phone calls with my insurance company. They had applied my last two checks to Tomkin's account instead of mine, so they canceled my insurance. Argh. (Flash forward to June 24th--things pretty much seem to be straightened out now. I hope.) Tomkin got his stitches out, then went to the library and the office. Then he performed the wedding of Kristen and Dave, the couple with whom we went to the dog park a couple weeks ago. He picked me up after the wedding (which was a Rice Park), and we headed to the reception at Sweeney's Saloon. I had no idea that they had an upstairs area or that it was so nice! We enjoyed some delicious food and drinks and had fun talking with the bride and groom and their sweet, fun families. After that, we went home and watched a couple episodes of "The Vicar of Dibley." I'd been telling Tomkin about it (it's one of my all-time favorite shows), and it was fun to introduce him to it.