Soxy
Generally, our weekends start on Friday after work. But last week, our weekend festivities started on Thursday night, when a friend of Sweets’ offered to take us to a White Sox game. Neveryoumind there was rain. Our seats were amazing!
Seven rows back from the field. Situated between home plate and the White Sox dugout. It was unbelievably thrilling to be that close to the field and the players and unbelievably scary to know the netting behind home plate didn’t reach as far as our seats, so foul balls were fair game. Yikes! Needless to say, the rain delayed the game by about 20 minutes and the Angels served the White Sox for lunch. We left in the 6th inning when the Sox were losing 6-1 (though, as it turns out, the Sox made the game interesting, coming back with an additional 4 runs after we left, though still losing the game).
Friday, we received amazing news regarding our attempts to refinance. First, a little background. In order to refinance, you have to have your home appraised. It determines how much equity you have in your home and thus provides the basis for your refinancing options. Recently, the issue has been falling home values, which severely complicates if not renders impossible the ability to refinance. Case in point: a friend learned her home had dropped in value by $50K since she bought it a few years ago. Those kinds of numbers scare the crap out of me. We had our appraisal earlier last week and received the results on Friday. Our home was valued slightly higher than when we bought it. Yes, higher. Enter huge sigh of relief, fist pump and many happy text exchanges with Sweets.
Friday night, we went to a cookout at the home of friends who live in the building next door. He is a recreational hunter (don’t run into many of those in the city!) and always has a chest freezer full of game. Friday night, he grilled up some quail. Some claim it’s gamy in taste. I say it looks and tastes like chicken. Mighty tasty. We also watched the Chicago Blackhawks win in overtime against the San Jose Sharks. Go Hawks!
Saturday, some of my besties and their significant others and children got together for a lunchtime cookout. Awesome burgers (thanks to grass-fed beef) and bread salad. We contributed strawberry shortcake – a family tradition on May 22 to celebrate what would have been my paternal grandfather’s 90th birthday. He always celebrated his birthday with strawberry shortcake!
Saturday night and Sunday were much more lazy. We ran a bunch of errands. I might have taken naps on both Saturday and Sunday. We watched You Don’t Know Jack, an HBO movie about Jack Kavorkian – very interesting. We caught another Blackhawks game. And we did chores around the condo – laundry, dishes, watered the lawn. Nothing very exciting, but time to be with each other and time to get things done.
I’m certain your weekends had to be more exciting than ours was. What was the highlight of your time away from work!?
May 24th, 2010 at 6:19 am
We bought a new bed. We upsized (is that a word?) from queen to king, got new pillows and all. Can’t wait until it is delivered.
May 24th, 2010 at 6:55 am
I’m a Sox fan too but since I’m in Boston they are of the red variety.
I’m so happy your appraisal was positive. I was just bitching about our assessment and taxes going up but I guess it’s a good thing that the value is there.
I’m still sore from getting my ass kicked by Jillian Michaels last Friday. Ouch….
May 24th, 2010 at 7:47 am
Your weekend sounds wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable. I’m glad that you had fun at the baseball game. I called it a week early last week too and kicked off my weekend on Thursday night. I spent the majority of the weekend with friend from college, some I hadn’t seen face to face since the day we graduated. It was so completely relaxing and comforting, something I really needed.
May 24th, 2010 at 8:27 am
I was a cooking fool, I tried three new recipes and they were all a success( ham and goat cheese empanadas, pasta salad with pine nuts and arugula and a mango blueberry fruit salads! We had a condo bbq so we got to make the two salads.
So my hands are cut and my fingers sore but we have tons of left overs!
May 24th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Does a road trip to Indy count? Cause that’s what I did. It was a glorious time and though I came home more tired than when I left (five girls sleeping in one room = lots of talk into the wee hours of the night), I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
Also, totally agreed that quail looks and tastes like chicken!
May 24th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Dammit, I wanted to see that Jack Kevorkian thing and missed it too. I suck at TV schedules.
Very good news on the refinance!
May 24th, 2010 at 9:00 am
great pic! i’m jealous of your cookout, i need more of those in my life very very very soon.
and strawberry shortcake sounds amazing right now. my friend shannon recently made this cake and i can’t stop thinking about making it -- http://www.thedailybalance.com/2010/05/10/make-it-strawberry-shortcake-cake/
May 24th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Saturday was a whirlwind of friends, activities and fun. I remember telling Cowgirl about 7 p.m. that I couldn’t believe all the people we’d seen that day. It was amazing.
May 24th, 2010 at 9:09 am
I took a road trip to Milwaukee (from Chicago) with friends. The weather was brisk but the trip was so much fun! I’ve stocked up enough cheese to last several months. Mmmm.
May 24th, 2010 at 9:23 am
That picture is lovely! Such seriously AWESOME seats. Even if your team didn’t do so well (still the beginning of the season -- so many more games to play).
Sounds like such a wonderful weekend. I think the more we have of those, the better life is.
I bought a bike this weekend to celebrate my birthday (which is actually today) and went on a ride on it alongside Matt. I was pretty exhausted after just a bit (because I’m so not in shape), but I hope to make it a regular thing. If this rainy weather will let up that is!
May 24th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Congrats on the refinancing news! That’s great that your place is worth more than you bought it. :-)
We watch the Jack Kavorkian movie too….interesting.
May 24th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Yay, so glad you got good news about your house! What a relief.
The highlight of our weekend was definitely the scenic drive through the mountains. So lovely!
May 24th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Thanks for the lead on the HBO Movie about JK. It’s really weird the facination that I have with Serial Killers and other seemingly sick individuals. I know what I’ll be watching tonight.
Also? AWESOME SEATS! I’ve been to a few Phillies games but no seats that amazing yet!
May 24th, 2010 at 10:47 am
i love going to baseball games. lucky you! i haven’t been in a few years. sad.
hannah’s recital was this weekend. that took up ALL my time. BUT we did get a date night last night FINALLY. so glad for that.
May 24th, 2010 at 10:53 am
That is awesome that your condo appraised higher than when you bought it. That is fantastic news!
The highlight of my weekend was hanging out with nephews. They are always generous with the hugs! It’s hard to say who had more fun playing Candy Land or Hi Ho Cherry-O. I enjoyed it as much, if not more, than they did!!
May 24th, 2010 at 11:00 am
that’s amazing news about your house! HOORAY! and my oh my am i jealous of your game hunter friend. yummmmm quail…
May 24th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Sounds like a great weekend! My highlight was being able to entertain on a SUNDAY night and not have to worry about staying up too late since we have the bank holiday today. We had a big supper, ice cream by the river, and then a big board games night which I’ve been craving for MONTHS! Also, booked tickets to a big West End musical in London for when we’re over there later in the summer, which is TOTALLY exciting :D
May 24th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Yay baseball! I’ve been watching the Subway Series and stayed in both Friday and Sunday night to watch. Unfortunately the Yankess seem to be channeling their inner bad news bears these days, because not only did they lose both games, they truly sucked at it.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
There is nothing better than an evening baseball game. Especially with seats like that! Wow!
Congrats on the house news! That has to be a huge relief. I know several people who aren’t able to refinance because they bought at the peak of the market and now they’re under water. But it seems that things are picking up a bit, around here at least…
I love the strawberry shortcake tradition! It’s one of my favorite summertime desserts.
May 24th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Awesome picture. I gotta admit, Baseball is the one American sport that I’ve never really been able to get into. Basketball I love, Football I love. Baseball. Dunno, seems a bit slow to me.
May 24th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Congrats on the refi! That’s great news!
We went to a “field day” party at the park where we played a bunch of games -- egg toss, obstacle course, relay races -- my hip flexors have been crying since Saturday.
May 24th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
We’ve been SO busy -- but we love it! Dodgers game on Friday night, lunch with friends on Saturday, and a full day of church stuff on Sunday -- wouldn’t ask for anything more :)
May 24th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Your weekend sounds awesome! Those photo from the Sox game is great. Such a fun after work activity. I haven’t been to that field in a long time. I was in vegas and it was hot, until I got back here and it was HOTTER! WTH?
May 25th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
I went to a White Sox game and never left the party garage area (have no idea what the official term is!). A bunch of friends had booked the patio for the game, so we go to the interior area and have hot dogs, etc. and then the game gets rained out. Boo!
Also, I need to watch that Jack K. movie. Did I ever tell you that before I moved into the city he was my neighbor? Because he totally was. And just seemed to be the nicest old man.
May 25th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I *love* the color saturation in that photo at the top of the post. Wow!