2009 To-Do List

1) Finish painting the inside of the house, including the living room, guest room, kitchen and guest bathroom

2) Get (more) organized! Starting with that box of random stuff I never really unpacked since moving over a year and a half ago...

3) Work out at least three times a week, even if its only for 10-15 minutes (hey, it's a start)

4) Post to my blog more often

5) Live a greener life

6) Start our family! (we hope!)

Stay tuned to see me attempt this list - and Happy New Year!

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, we have conducting a little project entitled Grandpa's house. Tony and I have been living/renting my Grandpa's house in Hoffman Estates, right by Schaumburg, IL, home of Woodfield Mall and lots of other chain stores and corporate headquarters. Let's just say we lack slightly in culture. But we like the house, and we live right by my parents, who are always ready with pizza nights and helping us shovel. :)

However, the house needs work. Unfortunately, my grandparents bought the house from decorating morons, who used contact paper for wallpaper, believed in shag carpeting, and covered an entire wall of the living room with mirrored squares. Yeah, I know. And since my grandparents never did anything different to the decor of the house, I have been spending the last year trying to bring the house back to life. (My parents also have been a great help, especially with the larger projects - wallpaper removal, a new roof, and new carpeting). As we progress along, I'll post updates on the blog.

But over the weekend, we made a big improvement: the mirrored wall is gone! Unfortunately, now we have a strange grid wall that's crying for spackle.


Pretty, isn't it? The good news is that now we have no choice but to start painting the living room. The bad news is we have guests coming over for New Year's Eve, and we HAVE to start painting the living room. For now, we live with the grid, but I'm hoping to start fixing it this weekend.

Oh, and by the way, with the snow that hit Chicagoland last night, it took me over 3 and 1/2 hours to get home. Not that I want to complain too much - my brother and sister-in-law in New Hampshire have been without power since last Thursday. :(

Holiday Fun Begins!

Last weekend, I went to our first holiday party of the season (with plenty more to come!). Tony couldn't make it, due to his finals (given Friday night, due Monday morning), so I tagged along with my mom, dad, and Grandpa to the annual Schulze family party, hosted by my Grandpa's older brother, Uncle Bill. This is my second year going, and every time I have so much fun! I love watching my Grandpa and his siblings (he's one of 9!) get together and see all the spouses, cousins, and kids. The best part is the grab bag, in which we get to steal from one another. In the true Irish Christmas spirit, the Bailey's and other booze-related presents are always passed around the most.

Here are some pictures from the party - enjoy!

My mom, her cousin-in-law Denise, and me - our annual spots in front of the fireplace (note my slightly buzzed smile)

Grandpa mingling and enjoying his family

Grandpa is always the most popular

Aunt Lorrie and Aunt Pat

The Schulze Siblings: (standing) Uncle Jack, Grandpa (Francis), Aunt Lorrie, Aunt Binnie
(sitting) Our host, Uncle Bill

Busy Busy Busy!

So, if you've been following my little attempt at blogging here, you may have noticed that I've been quite absent. My sister-in-law Allison attempted (and fufilled!) daily blogging last month (visit her at http://daybydaywithme.blogspot.com), and I must say, I am in awe. I'm not quite up to the challenge of daily blogging, but it could perhaps be a good New Year's resolution?

We've been quite busy around here. Thanksgiving came and went, and the entire weekend following Turkey Day, Tony and I were sick. Sick as dogs. I spent most of the weekend on the couch, which, every now and then, is a wonderful thing to do.

As for the past week, Tony has been stuck doing nothing but finals prep for both himself and his students, and I have been working between 9 and 11 hour long days, trying to catch up on work and save my students from freaking out about their final papers. December may be the holiday season for the rest of the world, but for academics, it is finals time.

I have managed to put up most of our Christmas decorations, and will post pictures soon - although Wednesday night, I came home to a Christmas tree on the floor in the living room. Apparently, cats and trees don't mix.

Soon-to-be-bestseller

Maybe some of you know that Tony wrote a book this year. It's entitled "Mass Media, Mass Propaganda: Examining American News in the War on Terror," and it's based on his Master's thesis. It will be coming out in paperback soon, which will bring down the price (academic books are quite expensive these days). Needless to say, I'm so proud.

We just saw that Google Books has added his book! When Google recognizes your book, you know you've made it. :)

http://books.google.com/books?id=JqF5nq58tA8C&pg=PP1&dq=anthony+dimaggio#PPA7,M1

Home Cookin'

Last night, I was a good Italian wife and I made my husband homemade lasagna. I got the recipe from Tony's sister Sam, so I was pretty sure that it would work out ok - although I was a little concerned. My cooking skills are not that great, and, when it comes to Italian cooking, I know that I will never be able to reproduce the fabulous cooking of Tony's Sicilian grandmother (or so I've heard).

But the meal turned out great! Tony loved it and went back for seconds. We have both have leftovers for two more days. I consider it a success. Although, my kitchen was a bit of a disaster...

Sense of humor

When we were in Pre-Cana (the Catholic version of marriage prep), our counselor/deacon asked us why we wanted to marry each other. We had a litany of answers, ranging from common interests, common goals (kids, family, academic careers, etc.), love and respect for each other, etc., and the deacon told us that we had very thoughtful answers compared to other couples. For instance, he told us, a lot of couples will simple say, "he makes me laugh" and stop at that. And we all agreed that, yeah, perhaps there should be more of an answer there.

Yet, there are days such as right now when I realize that "he makes me laugh" certainly can help. I spent the day cleaning and decluttering our increasingly messy house (it's clean now!) and getting rather cranky, and all of a sudden, Tony turned to me and said (completely deadpan), "Didn't you want to see Transporter 3 in the theater? Cause I think you said so in your sleep." Which is the last movie I would ever, ever want to see. So I laughed and immediately felt less stressed. And, partly, I did marry him for that weird, sarcastic, dead-pan sense of humor of his.

Ok, this is a sentimental posting, but hey, I'm a newlywed. I still get mushy.

New blog!

I've been a fan of other people's blogs for some time now, and love reading them, from family member's blogs to home decor blogs, and the other day I finally broke down and said, "Hey, I could do that!" So I am.

I decided to focus on my life as a newlywed, with my lovely new husband Tony. Time has been going by so fast, and I feel that: 1) this oh-so-happy time in our lives will be gone before we know it; and 2) I am losing touch with so many friends and family because of work, school, and life in general. The older you get, the faster time goes by, right? So I hope to chronicle our new married life together, keep in touch with our family and friends all over the country, and, as a side note, feed my inner narcissism. :)

However, Tony is not much of a blogger. So I will be the main writer, and I hope you enjoy reading about our little lives here. We have a lot of things going on right now, so you will be reading in the future about: our home renovations (of Grandpa Frank's house), our new careers, Tony's published articles, our activities with family and friends, and in general things and issues that we care about. And, we hope that you (family, old friends, and new friends) will comment and help us along! Enjoy!