lately

I'm sorry for the sporadic posting (thank you Clueless for the vocab), but it has been a crazy couple of weeks over at the Lazybones-Morning Man house.

From the flu to pneumonia to bronchitis, and that doesn't even include all the friends and family we've seen going in and out of the hospital for various reasons over the past few weeks. We all just can't seem to catch a break, although we do seem to be catching plenty of bugs.

It looks as though our house will be a tissue free zone in the very near future, but for now we're still taking it easy, and going to bed early...and not blogging.  I promise I'll be back soon, and maybe I'll even share a new wishful wednesdays post!

Drink Plenty of Fluids Everyone!!

mani mondays

Simple can be fun, this week I just went with a fun pink (peach daiquiri by essie) and a wacky color (lickety-split by sally hansen) for a "french-tip" look.

 Just a bit of tape and you're good-to-go!

It actually reminds me of the watermelon nails I did back when it was the middle of winter. Now it's spring...and still snowing!

the squared circle

On Saturday The Man took our friend Rod and I to a new burger place.  We were all set to go to DMK burger (which is oh so delicious) and half way there The Man changed his mind and turned the car around to head to The Squared Circle.
And I'm so glad he did...

The Squared Circle, which just opened it's doors last month, is a wresting themed pizza/burger joint created by TNA Champion Lisa Marie Varon. All the burgers are stuffed and covered with amazing combos.  This is what we decided to order:

I got the Screamin Demon - Cheddar and Fresh Jalapeno Stuffed, with pork rinds, pickled jalapenos, cheddar, and cholula aioli - with a side of Sweet Potato Fries

The Man got the Windy City - Gouda Stuffed, with sauteed mushrooms, onion rings, avocado, gouda, and aioli - with a side of Duck Fat Fries

and Rod got the Hillbilly Paradise - Merkts Cheddar Stuffed, with cheddar, pulled pork, Kentucky bourbon bbq sauce, Merkts Cheddar and mayo - with a side of Onion Rings

They were amazing.  The burgers are a house blend of Angus ground beef and brisket, they are so juicy, and the cheese stuffed inside them gives them an extra punch in flavor.  The pickled jalapenos on mine really made it, and by the end I was so full, but it felt wrong to leave any part of the burger on the plate.
 
Next time we go we might have to try the Duck Fat Deep Dish Pizza.
Whoa!

mani mondays

Happy Monday!
Did everyone have a wonderful weekend?

We stayed pretty busy and mostly focused on what food we were going to eat when (not that that's different from any other weekend). The Man took me out to a new burger place that was so delicious, I'll definitely be telling you all about it later.

dream house {shell house}

This house has been in our computer's toolbar for over a year now, and I finally thought it was time to share it with you. I know it's been popping up all over the over the interwebs over the past few years but it's just so beautiful you're going to have look at it again.

This is called the Shell House . . .

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Designed by Kotaro Ide of ARTechnic Architects and fabricated out of reinforced concrete, this home is located in the woods of Karuizawa.  Karuizawa is a town in the Kitasaku District of Nagano, Japan, and a common summer get away for residents of Tokyo.

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Built in 2008 the Shell House is used as a vacation home, and as such was designed with minimal maintenance in mind.  Most vacation homes in the area are wood villas that easily decay, this is why Ide chose reinforced concrete. From reading about the mechanical system, ventilation system, and the ideas behind the shape of the structure you can tell that a ton of thought and research went into building the home.  Everything was taken into consideration, including what happens to the house while you're away. Like the automatic antifreeze system that will kick in when the temperature outside drops below freezing, and the dehumidifying and ventilation systems that run year round.  All of which are energy efficient, and make it so there is less to fix or worry about when you come for your vacation, so you can just sit and relax in your beautiful secluded space.

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I cannot get over how gorgeous and unusual this house is.  How incredible would it be to drive up the rocky path and know you get to stay here for the weekend?!

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Floating fireplace? Yes please!

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The Shell House = A Dream House

date night in the suburbs

Saturday night The Man and I had a suburban date night.  Around 5pm, when The Man was finished at the shop, we drove out to Schaumburg to buy some frames at IKEA.  We got there and realized that, without knowing it, I dressed to match the swedish super store.

(cobalt blue and bright-ass yellow, oh yeah!)

We bought some IKEA swedish meatballs, but were too hungry to wait until we got home to eat, so we stopped at Portillo's.  Chicago dogs, onion rings, and sodas so large they'd get your arrested in NYC.  Portillo's is a chain restaurant in Chicago, they've got burgers, hot dogs, Italian beef, bacon burgers, chilli dogs, and fries fries fries. You can tell it's a midwestern kind of place from the menu alone.  When deciding what to eat I looked the menu up and down and noticed this:

Yeah, it's the kind of place that doesn't understand vegetarianism... and it's delicious.

Home improvement and hot dogs, that's my kind of date!!

mani mondays {easter!}

Happy Bunny Day!!

We used Easter as an excuse to have some friends over on Saturday night, I tried to dress up the house a bit, but I don't have much in the Easter decorations department. 

We got some flowers at the Trader Joe's and I cut them down to put in this herb pot trio (do you remember it from my indoor greenery post? I went out and bought it!).  I tried growing herbs in there but I'm terrible at keeping plants alive, the basil I bought died within a week.  But I love the look of bunches of short stemmed flowers, they're cuter that way:

We didn't paint eggs this year. I've forced egg dyeing on my friends almost every year since I came to Chicago, but this year it just seemed like too much work.  I'm also always left with about 2 dozen hard boiled eggs to eat by myself, which gets a bit gross a few days in.

Since there wasn't any egg dyeing, I broke out all my pastel polish colors and went crazy painting my Easter nails.

We kept it mellow on the day of and went to see a movie at our favorite theater.  The Man picked G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and it was Awful!!!! But seeing a movie and going for a walk is always a good time (especially when a movie only costs $5.50 a person).

So, do you have any favorite pastel moments from the weekend?