If I Was Green, I Would Die.

Oh I remember the good old days of Eiffel 65. I had the CD, I'm not going to lie to you. I even recall that someone choreographed a dance to that song for "Dance Day" at New Trier High School because of the popularity of the song. I miss dance day (we took off a whole day of high school classes to perform pieces student and teacher choreographed...totally unique experience that I'm not sure could be matched. We were really lucky at New Trier with our fine arts program!).

Blue was the color of the hour this weekend, let me tell you. We just hired Lee Painting (Mr. Lee in specific) to come in and do some painting in our front room(s) that all connect with each other (i.e. the Kitchen, Dining Room, and Living Room). We got the ceiling and trim painted in a crisp white color. Previously, it was off white, more of a glossy egg shell color. Bleh. The last people who had the walls painted really loved that shiny khaki look, which we felt made the room feel darker and more closed off. Immediately after the workers started (an hour or so late because they got lost coming here although they had previously been at my apartment to price out the job (?)). No big deal. It all worked out.

The Benjamin Moore coloring of the paint for the accent wall was "Philipsburg Blue" and the remaining walls were painted "Thundercloud Gray." I chose that gray color for the coordinating walls because I felt like it had a small fleck of blue in it, and that the overall streamline feel from the Dining Room wall to the surrounding areas would be cohesive. I know that it sounds like I have an idea what I'm talking about. It's really a result of my Interior Design friend (and long time High School friend) Annie, who is well versed in interiors and I was lucky enough to come home from work one day with a fun package containing a few samples of colors and magazine tear outs to further help me visualize what the room would look like. I love it. I really enjoy how the room came to life, and the colorful Dining Room rug we have that you'll see in the photos I've included really come to life. Excellent. Don't mind that the curtains were all twisted up. I guess I'll have to take those darn West Elm nuggets down and re-iron awkwardly (without any parts falling on the floor since they are WHITE, always a strange project to tackle). Ignore when you look at the wall colorings.

....and just because I have to, here is the "Blue" song.

Hi Elva. I'm Mish.

I am a necklace person in case you haven't already noticed. They are by far my favorite piece of jewelery. I'm a big fan of the "I'm ready for work even though I'm wearing a Target brand wife beater tank because I dressed it up with a huge chunky necklace" look. I think it works. I've been wearing necklaces ever since I bought an orange necklace at Nordstrom Rack in 2006. It might sound strange that I remember the first necklace that I ever purchased for myself that was not a silver Tiffany necklace or a gift. I guess it stuck with me, because once I went statement necklace, I never went back. This will certainly call for a project of some sort down the line where I'll need to focus on involving organizing my necklaces that are currently in a canvas square container of mayhem sitting in my closet. I'll certainly have to do something about that soon.

Moving back to the point. I'm getting married in a little over a year. This calls for an extra special necklace, yes? I certainly thought so. I found an excellent necklace designer from the Magazine that specializes in fashion, entertaining, and design (and I believe is only available online). It's called Rue and is totally adorable. Thanks to a friend of mine who showed it to me!

Website is called Elva Fields. She is a creative genius. I emailed their company and got a warm and friendly response back from Emily (who has two art degrees and I believe her grandmother who inspired her whole line is named Elva). She apologized for the late response and mentioned she just had a baby. Adorable. I love her already. I love personal people. This is exactly what I was looking for, to create something for my big day. Questions Emily asked me in response to my note are below. I love how personal it is going to be. I think this is going to be a great fit. I've also included some images of her beautiful necklaces. I plan to get a custom made wedding piece. I won't describe it any further since Doug might read this and the surprise factor of Mish as a Bride would forever be ruined. Happy necklace hunting!

Any thoughts on overall themes for your wedding? (colors, ideas, location, etc.)

What does/will your dress look like?

Do you have specific style ideas in mind? (color, type/shape of stone, strands, length, vintage elements/accents, metal colors--white or yellow, clasp type etc.)

Do any styles on the website jump out at you for reference?

Do you have a particular budget in mind?

Any timeline for completion of your design?

Any additional thoughts or requests?

Wilmette Life.

When I was growing up in Wilmette, I lived behind the Pioneer Press (a newspaper company producing a multitude of local papers, including the infamous Wilmette Life). It was a huge lighter brick building/warehouse looking space and I remember trying to look through the windows of it as papers were being printed, from my perched spot on top of the monkey bars that my parents had built for my brother and I in our backyard. There was a strip of grass that was behind the garage, which came pretty close to the back fence, bordering right up against the window to the conveyor belts holding the papers on it. Like most of the land in Wilmette, this is now newer condos and single family homes that have an extra 1/2 bath, a garage that's bigger than the house, and no yard (that sells for a minimum of $500,000).

Well, Pioneer Press and I met yet again. I submitted my engagement announcement yesterday. After finding some basic grammatical errors (of course) and getting those corrected (so don't tell me if you see anything wrong in the above b/c it's going to print) it should be set to show up right before Thanksgiving. What a great gift for the in-laws, right (a framed copy? Maybe I'm dreaming but I would love that gift from a daughter-in-law. I think it is very meaningful!). I'll let you all know how that process goes! In case you care, the link is here to "Share Your News" with Wilmette! Woo! By the way, nothing exciting really ever happens in Wilmette. I pretend that it's a big deal to have this add in the paper (not true). Cheers!

RAW.

No, not RAW as in the wierdo wrestling stuff on TV. RAW as in the really expensive yet delicious salad that I purchased yesterday during my lunch break from the seminar that I was taking ("Learning to Make Better Critical Decisions" for my professional development) across the street. (The worst Critical Decision I think I made yesterday was attending an 8 hour workshop in the same stuffy conference room--thank god I brought my own snacks). I went across the street to the French Market which is located basically within the Ogilvy Train Station (I have fond memories of commuting from Wilmette and taking the train to the loop throughout my college summers and the start of my professional career. Since then, the stores in and around this station have blossomed. Don't worry, the store "Shooz" is still there which I've purchased numerous pairs of impulse buy shoes & Claire's will always be a staple on the lower level as well).

Raw. What amazing food for lunch. Sorry about the strange Blackberry photo, but even in it's fuzzy-ness, you can tell how fresh and colorful the salad is! Seriously it made a difference in my day (and also the weight of my wallet, yes, but it was worth it) yesterday. The Raw food booth at this market area incorporates 100% organic raw vegan food into all their products without altering or diminishing the nutritional content. Yesterday I had the most fresh and healthy vegetable salad complete with micro greens, beats, a zesty lemon dressing and incredibly fresh beats and avocados. Everything was perfectly fresh and cold. Their dishes feature all organic ingredients and includes fresh salads, pizzas, pastas, muffins and granola, with a focus on nut-free items.
Two ladies, Carole and Polly (what cute names, right?) created this line of food for enjoyment. Their site is absolutely adorable. I suggest you have a look. Click here

I highly recommend. Get there for lunch soon! It's on the street level near the Washington CVS.

Proposal Details.

The story involves my making Doug partake in a (probably really lame) roof-top holiday card photo session (wearing plaid and jeans with vests, our standard attire) with one of our cameras on a timer & tripod. I was going to have a friend from work take the pictures instead, but Doug suggested that we just "give it a try on the roof with his camera since he had brought it home from work." I agreed that it was worth a try.

Last Sunday, October 31st, I was having a rocky morning & decided to take a nice jog to lift my spirits up a bit. Before I took off for my run, Doug asked me specifically how long I would be gone for. Thinking nothing of it, I mentioned that I'd be gone for no more than 40 minutes (I love to run, but let's face it, I'm certainly not a "runner" and require 2 layered sports bras to keep everything in place while I'm hoping around). Maybe next year I'll train for a 1/2 marathon. That's my ultimate goal!

Back to the story.

So, as I left for my run, I remember being pleasantly surprised that Doug had interest in joining in my girly idea of making a holiday card, so I was really excited while on my run. Everyone knows I love holiday cards more than any Jewish girl should. I already started listening to holiday music on my iPod (my favorites include Frank Sinatra Christmas, Amy Grant Holiday Compilation, Charlie Brown Christmas, and of course Mariah Carey). I returned from my run feeling energized, did some of my Dailey Method planks on the dining room floor per usual, and then showered and got ready quickly, dressing up in my plaid shirt from the Gap and Gap jeans to match Doug's getup.

We were up on the roof taking our photos with the city in the background in our plaid, and Doug decided that this was the day since he had the ring in the house for a week (thank God I didn't clean out that closet like I planned to or else my Type A personality would have caused him to be forced into an unplanned early proposal!).

That day, he brought it up in his vest and was planning to propose during our picture taking. Our neighbor was up on the deck, which put a tad of a wrench in his plans. Because of that factor that was not accounted for, Doug ended up "shifting the camera to get a better angle of the city" (which was really to move to a different area of the roof so our gardening neighbor on her roof deck didn't see what was about to happen). After suggesting that we do a "jumping shot" and getting rejected by Doug (who just wanted to make sure the ring stayed in tact in his pocket), he set the camera for a 10 shot series of photos. The camera was cued. Instead of resuming his normal place in the photo, Doug reached into his pocket and got down on one knee.

I had no idea what he was doing and said "Doug why are you kneeling for the photo for our holiday card, I wanted to do a jumping pose here." Well, duh Mish, he was trying to propose. I thought he was joking and just kept saying "DOUUG what are you doing?" I guess I knew what he was doing when he started to try to get his prepared speech out, but spurted out two words of the first sentence of it, looked like he was going to pass out, then said "Mish I love you. Will you marry me?" After a few minutes of shock (basically what the 10 photos all look like) I said yes and gave him a big hug. I didn't really even notice what the ring looked like right away because I was so surprised! After I said yes, he pulled out flowers and wine that he hid (not sure how I missed it on the roof-guess Holiday Cards distract me!) while I was getting ready.

What a clever way to propose. Well done, Doug!

Better than Niro's.

There was this totally disgusting restaurant/amazing at the same time (that was really tasty after a night out at Station 211 in Champaign off Green Street at the University of Illinois) that was called Niro's Gyros. I used to either order their gyros or the chilli cheese fries. Ew. Apparently they have a super low technology website located here. I may poke around there for kicks to see why my waist line was out of control in college. The recipe I made below it about 1/2 the calories and about 75% fat that Niro's. Have a look!


(No I didn't take the photo which accompanies this post. I couldn't get a good one. I will keep everyone in the loop as I search for a used high-end very high quality camera to be able to take much better photographs for my blog).


We grilled the fish. You can either put on the grill (using the same olive oil, salt and pepper toppings) or follow the original directions below that instruct to broil it. Doug is getting really good at making the grill marks perfectly done, so we are using that tool as much as possible before it's freezing outside. This meal was totally fresh and delicious. You'll really enjoy it. I would also suggest putting it on a bed of greens or something if you are going for a lower carbohydrate option. I think that could be really tasty as well.

Ingredients for the Fish:

• 1 1/2 pounds tilapia fillets
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray

Ingredients for the Tzatziki Sauce:

• 3/4 cup plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt (I used Fat Free yogurt).
  
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (I used a garlic press and it makes them smoother that way)
  
• Remaining ingredients:
• 4 (2.75-ounce) Mediterranean-style wheat flatbreads (pita's work just fine)
• 1/2 cup vertically sliced red onion (about 1/2 small onion) (we put these on the grill, too)
  
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut into 12 thin slices
• 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
• 1/2 small English cucumber, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup) (I added more since it was super fresh tasting)
  

Preparation

1. Preheat broiler.

2. To prepare fish, brush fish with oil; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place fish on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 6 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

3. To prepare tzatziki, combine yogurt and next 5 ingredients (through garlic) in a food processor or blender; pulse until smooth.

4. Spread 2 tablespoons tzatziki in the center of each flatbread. Divide fish evenly among flatbreads. Top each serving with 2 tablespoons onion, 3 avocado slices, 2 tomato slices, and about 6 cucumber slices; fold in half. (I ate mine without bread because I was obsessed with the taste of the avacado with the sauce on my fish but both ways work).

I got this recipe from Cooking Light. That's where the image is from in case anyone comes looking for me with handcuffs. It's their photo.

Look at their site for more amazing menu choices. This is one of my top favorite cooking magazines! Click here for the Cooking Light Website.

ENJOY!

At Least I Have a Cute Dentist.

Disclaimer: Doug, I'm really sorry if you are reading this now because you'll know that I'm already doing a good deal of wedding planning secretly (well maybe not so secretly anymore after this post). I'm just too excited. Don't worry, I won't engage you nor my father until I have all my initial browsing/investigating/and availability searching all figured out. Then I'm happy to hear your suggestions or ideas.

One of the first phone calls I made was to my favorite candy store, after getting engaged. And yes, I will write more about the engagement story when I have a moment. I have decided (after the roommate glanced to my computer screen and as I was about to upload our photos from the proposal he said "are you sure that you want to share those? They are private") to keep the images taken on Sunday as between Doug and I, since it was our moment. I hope you don't mind. Anyways, I digress. Candyality. Best candy store ever. It's located close by to one of my first Chicago apartments, on Southport in Lakeview (right by the Brown Line stop). Although my taste buds are slightly shifting from a vodka all night and gummy candy after-hour snack, to a red wine and dark chocolate palette, I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for whatever magical gummy bears that are available via Candyality.

This place knows their stuff, let me tell you. It's one of those old school looking places with the clear bins that don't stay open when you try to scoop up the treats. They also have sugar free options (stay away from those, I don't want to ever get into details, but it's really not worth the misery to follow after eating a handful).

So, after contacting this lovely little shop. I am now in contact with the Wedding Candy Specialist (if I'm ever unemployed again, I guess I know my new position I'm applying for). I'm going to be ordering bulk pineapple gummies and maybe some of those delicious dusted grapefruit triangles for my wedding sweets table. (Yes, I'm having a sweets table, and yes, the only colors allowed on there will be white and black...dark chocolate that has a brown tone is allowed, too, don't worry).

And yes, my co-workers and I have an excellent (cute) dentist 3 blocks away. I guess it's worth the cavities!