Ren Fest 2011!

I have a thing for traditions. In that I really like them. There's something awesome about having something planned from year to year that you look forward to. I welcome all proposed traditions!

The most recent tradition I have participated in is going to the 2011 Renaissance Festival with Courtney. This is the third year in a row for me and my second year with Courtney. As we were walking back to the car this year, we decided that this was a tradition that should continue next year and beyond.

We don't go to participate. We go to see people in costume, eat awesome food, and browse odd and interesting stores. Courtney came home with a mug made out of a tree trunk! Where else could you find such a treasure?

We also make it a point to take our photo in every "face-in-hole" opportunity. Check out some of these doosies:

The King

The Queen

The Ren Fest knows what's hot.

Just precious.

So awkwardly alone...

Will and Andrew

See how much fun you can have at the Renaissance Festival?? We drank hot mead and ate yummy foods. I bought a mug and some honey sticks. I guess it is destined to rain every year that we go, but that's alright, we still manage to have a pretty good time.

We've always just been to the Kansas City Ren Fest, but I should really look into what happens here in Chicago. It could get even more interesting and weird here - which would be awesome!

Have a great week!

H&W

Ghosts and Gangsters on the Chicago River

Months ago, I purchased a YouSwoop (similar to Groupon) special that was half-price kayak tours on the Chicago River. I thought it would be such a cool way to experience the city! I've done a couple of architectural tours on boats, but this was entirely new! And I've never kayaked before, so I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into.... Here's a peak inside of our trip down the river.

See that annoyed look on Andrew's face in this first picture? It's probably because tandem kayaking is hard! And frustrating! Imagine trying to figure out something where left is right and you're trying to do it the same time (and in tandem!) with someone else. Good thing he keeps his cool because I just had to stop paddling and just sit there a few times because I was getting frustrated :)

He looks happy...

I wanted to take more pictures, but I was a little nervous to take my phone out too often for photos.... This is a bridge. Obviously.

 The theme of our tour was Ghosts and Gangsters of Chicago's history. We learned a lot about the types of people who lived in Chicago first (talk about a rough crowd!) and some of the tragedies that have happened and are said to haunt the city still.... Creepy, right?

Such a cool view to be down on the water looking up at these awesome buildings!

The Merchandise Mart. It used to be one of the biggest buildings in the world. It even has its own zip code!

Okay, we seem to have figured out how to kayak together, he seems happy now.

I'm probably thinking, "Wow, it's really awkward to turn around in this kayak. I hope it doesn't capsize!"

I got a little wet on the tour, but Andrew had it way worse than me. Plus, he wore a gray shirt.... Which makes it a lot more obvious.

If you kayak or have always wanted to, I highly recommend doing this. Neither of us had ever kayaked before, and despite being frustrated at working together at first, we got the hang of it quickly and had a good time. It was a very interesting way to see the city!

In other HUGE news, I won an iPad 2! Crazy, right??? My gym was holding a summer incentive program for people referring people to the gym. Lindsay just moved in with us and on the last day of the summer special, we went down to FFC (that's my gym!) and signed her up. We both got our names in the bag and they drew mine for one of the grand prizes. Lindsay was sure they rigged it (maybe because I asked the membership guy to rig it....), but when we asked him later, he assured us that someone else drew the actual name. So anyway, that was pretty awesome and I'm SO excited to play with it. If anyone does facetime, you should call me on my email - hannah.smith14@gmail.com!

That's it for now! Later gators!

Love,
H&W

Lollapalooza Madness

Hello long lost followers! I'm still kicking. I'm alive. I just haven't made time to blog the last few weeks. And now I have to backtrack more than a month to tell you what's new! And my mind is swirling with new stuff that I want to blog about now... So hopefully I'll stay on top of the ball from now on!


So let's go back to when the weather was a little warmer (it's getting chilly already here in Chicago!) and Lollapalooza was the main event. In case you aren't familiar with Lollapalooza, it's a three-day music fest. Tons of shows going on (usually 3-4 going on at any given time) at various stages in Grant Park. It's a pretty big deal. If you think back to one of my older posts about my Summer To Do's, you might recall me mentioning this. Courtney came back into town for the festival, so I was pretty excited for fun, music-filled weekend. Unfortunately, now that she has a big-girl job, Courtney couldn't get into town until late Friday night. Lollapalooza is three days - all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And it's not terribly cheap. So here I am, by myself, but determined to get my money's worth. So Friday morning, I head down to Grant Park to listen to some shows by myself. It was not as lonely as I thought it would be (how lonely can you really get when surrounded by hundreds of people?) and I really enjoyed just hanging out listening to some jams. For those of you music buffs who will appreciate this, here's who I went to see each day.


Friday:
Smith Westerns
The kills
cults
The mountain goats
Black cards
Tinie tempah
Bright eyes
Ok go
Ratatat

Saturday:
An horse
Friendly fires
Mayor Hawthorne and the county
Local Natives
Eminem

Sunday:
The Joy Formidable
Noah and the Whale
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
Lissie  


You'll notice that we didn't go to as many shows on Sunday. That's because a HUGE storm cloud starting moving in and Courtney and I looked at each other and said "yep, I think it's time to go." We did had XBox 360 ponchos (thanks Will) and we didn't make it quite home before the skies opened. But thanks to our ponchos, we didn't get too wet :)


It was a fun weekend and I would love to make it an annual event to do with Courtney. If anyone wants to join next year - let me know! We have a couch for you to sleep on!


Here are some photos from the weekend.

Eminem - Probably one of my favorite shows. So fun and exciting to be in such a huge crowd. The only problem was.....

.... it was SUPER muddy. Gross, right???

One of the larger stages. I think this is Local Natives. Great show.

Also, Courtney and I made Butterbeer!! And I drank it in my Harry Potter mug, of course. Want to try the recipe yourself? Find it here

Courtney and me at dinner before she headed back to KS. Notice we are sitting on the floor, but at a table... Very authentic Thai apparently if you get to sit at a recessed table like this. Pretty fun!

Will and Courtney

There you have it - a look into Lollapalooza. Look forward to posts about our new kitty, Ducky, Walter's ouchie, kayaking on the Chicago River and more! Have a great week!


Love,
H&W