Friday, August 26th, 2011

Today is MY LAST DAY WORKING AT BUFFALO GROVE PHYSICAL THERAPY!!  This weekend my parents will be coming out with the trailer to help us move, and then we will be IOWANS again :)  I'm so happy!!  I even think that my subconscious is happy because last night I had a dream that Iowa State destroyed the Iowa Hawkeyes in football 91 to 19.  It was the happiest dream that I have ever had!  So yeah, I'm really looking forward to moving back to the great state of Iowa!  It's going to be a lot of work this weekend moving, but it's going to be worth it!! 

Sunday, August 21st, 2011

Today I was very amazed that Elizabeth agreed to come and try my favorite sushi place with me!!!  I am very happy that we were able to enjoy Sushi Para one more time before we left for Iowa :)

Looking over the menu...

Elizabeth getting her "grabby grabby sticks" ready!

My first plate: Mountain Roll, Under Control Roll (middle), 2 Salmon, 2 Eel.

Elizabeth's order: Spicy Salmon roll, Philadelphia Roll.

Elizabeth trying a spicy salmon piece!

Brian Eben elegantly eating exquisite eel.

My second plate: 2 salmon, 2 tuna, a Godzilla roll (middle), and an American Dream roll.

The American Dream roll pieces were a mouthful!

Ok, to summarize our order:

• Edamame appetizer
• My First Plate:
• Mountain Roll (Avocado & cucumber inside with tuna and chef's spicy sauce on top) - 8 pieces
• Under Control Roll (Spicy tuna inside with shrimp tempura and tobiko on top) - 8 pieces
• 2 pieces of salmon sushi
• 2 pieces of eel sushi 
• Elizabeth's Plate:
• Spicy salmon roll - 6 pieces
• Philadelphia roll (salmon, cream cheese, scallion) - 6 pieces
• My second plate:
• Godzilla Roll (spicy tuna wrapped in seaweed, deep fried, topped with tobiko and chef's spicy sauce) - 5 peices
• American Dream Roll (shrimp tempura, tobiko, cucumber, eel, and avocado) - 5 pieces
• 2 pieces of salmon sushi
• 2 pieces of tuna sushi

 I will miss you Sushi Para!!

Saturday, August 20th, 2011

Elizabeth and I are very excited to be moving back to Iowa soon!!  We've both got only one week of work left out here in the 'burbs before we're ready for the move, yet there still seems like there's so much left to do!  Yesterday I was busy getting a drug screen and a TB test done (which I need before I can start my new job).  Elizabeth had to work until late last night because her office had changed locations.  Then this morning I drove down to Naperville, IL to have my CPR license renewed.  Then this afternoon I finally finished the rest of my thank you letters from our wedding.  Plus we still have to pack!  It will all be worth it though once we're finally settled back in the great state of IOWA :)  Oh, and one more thing I'm looking forward to... Cyclone football starts in 2 weeks from today!! 

P.S. - HAPPY 6 WEEK ANNIVERSARY ELIZABETH!!

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

What I did today:
1) I woke up around 6 AM at the Comfort Inn at Marshalltown, IA.
2) Had a continental breakfast at the hotel with Elizabeth, then got all dressed up.
3) Went to an interview at SportsPlus, a Physical Therapy & Sports Rehab clinic, at 8 AM.  I met with the owner, Scott Carnahan, and had a nice talk & tour of the clinic for about 80 minutes.  I end up being offered a great job there with excellent pay & benefits, and I am set to start on September 6th! 
4) After we check out of the hotel, we meet up with our friends Sam Drella & Dave Helmer.  They showed us their place and then gave us a nice tour of the city. 
5) I drove from Marshalltown to Davenport, IA.
6) In Davenport, we stopped for gas and an early dinner at Red Lobster to celebrate the new job :)

Elizabeth enjoying a salad at Red Lobster.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Elizabeth's trout, mashed potatoes, & broccoli.

I ordered a pot with 1 lb of snow crab legs, some shrimp, scallops, sweet corn, & potatoes.

Crab pot.

7) After our nice meal, I relaxed in the passenger seat as Elizabeth drove the rest of the way to Chicago.  Before we got home it started to rain fairly heavily.  Elizabeth maintains that it always rains more often when she drives.  We got pretty soaked just on the walk from the car to the apartment.
8) Now we are watching the movie Paranormal Activity 2 before we wind down for bed. 

Monday, August 8th, 2011

So right now I'm getting very excited to move back to IOWA!!! I have less than 3 weeks left of work in Buffalo Grove, and we're busy trying to hunt for jobs & apartments!  We were in Des Moines over the past weekend looking for apartments, and I have an interview coming up on the 13th.  So exciting!!  If all goes well, we could be living back in central Iowa at the start of September in time for Cyclone football season!  It's a little stressful for us since neither one of us currently have a job lined up, but we are still really looking forward to being closer to friends & family :) 

So over the weekend when we were not looking at apartments, we were able to spend some quality time with a few friends and enjoy some delicious Des Moines fare.  Saturday for lunch we tried some chicken wings at Jethro's BBQ, and then on Sunday we had broasted chicken and some bacon-wrapped tater tots at the Highlife Lounge.  Oddly enough, both of these places have been featured on one of my favorite shows (Man vs. Food), but that was not the main reason we went to each.  At the Highlife Lounge we even ordered the same thing that he does on the show. 

Bacon-wrapped, deep-fried tater tots.  They have a bit of jalapeno in each one.  Healthy right?

My two-piece broasted chicken with mashed potatoes & green beans. 

Breast, leg, corn, and mac & cheese that Elizabeth enjoyed.  

So in my last two blog posts I've described 3 different Man vs. Food restaurants that I've recently tried.  Obsessed with food much?

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Today Elizabeth and I are celebrating our 3 week anniversary! It's still kind of crazy to think that we are married finally!  Being the good husband that I am, I picked out 3 white roses for Elizabeth because she had white roses in her bridal bouquet.

Then to help celebrate, we decided to go out for Gino's East deep dish pizza last night.  Because we will hopefully be moving back to Iowa soon, this will likely be one of the last times that we are able to enjoy authentic Chicago-style pizza (at least as Illinois residents that is).  Basically it was on our Chicago "bucket list" to enjoy some deep dish pizza one more time...

The pizza menu at the Gino's East location in Barrington, IL.

This place was built in a very fun way.  There were different types of alcohol bottles that were embedded into the walls (whiskey bottles, wine bottles, even the small 1-ounce bottles).

There was also colorful artwork at each table.

After a long wait, our pizza is finally here!!  We ordered a "Meaty Legend" because that is what the Man vs. food guy ordered when he went to Gino's East in the Chicago episode.

A large "Meaty Legend" loaded with pepperoni, sausage, bacon, Canadian bacon, and lots of cheese & sauce.

Another great thing about ordering a large pizza is having lots of leftovers...

As you can see, there was a LOT of cheese!

One slice hardly fits on the plate!

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Wow, with so many big changes in our life recently it's nice to be getting back into the normal swing of things.  So today was just an ordinary day... woke up and went to work until 7:00 tonight.  Nothing much that stands out about today... EXCEPT THAT ELIZABETH BOUGHT A CAR!!

Hmm, I wonder who is driving into the parking lot for the first time with that fancy 2006 Toyota Camry...

OMG that's Elizabeth!! 

Let's see, wedding on July 9th, honeymoon to Cancun July 13th - 20th, buying a car July 26th.  What else will happen this month??