L-R: Lily, Ben, Katy
It would seem that every time that I try to make a conscious attempt to update this online diary (also known as a "blog"), my best efforts are thwarted by factors including, but not limited to: work, snow, a precocious child, NBC's Thursday night lineup, Bulls games, alcohol, crippling laziness, writer's block, chores, reading The Hunger Games, deeming it to hard to type in a Snuggie, eating soup, work, eating soup in a Snuggie, Facebook, broken vacuums, sleep, pie and of course, work.
So in the vein of one my favorite shows, Lost, which was prone to many a clip show, wherein they'd recap a whole season in one Benjamin Linus-packed hour, let's hop into the Handfelt Time Machine (Lily's Radio Flyer, tricked out to look like a DeLorean) and go way back to December 2010/January 2011 to see what kind of ambiguous mysteries we can unlock. And yeah, I fast forwarded through most of those clip shows too.
Over Christmas Break, we spent a week back in Iowa holed up with Ron and Susan, eating tenderloins (stay tuned for the Tenderloin Challenge), watching movies, napping, having a few beers with old friends and walking the desolate wasteland that is the Waterloo/Cedar Falls malls.* In other words, Classic Iowa!
Lily celebrated her first birthday on December 30th inside the hallowed halls of The OP on University, where she was feted with gifts, kisses, cupcakes and an Elmo smash cake. The pizza (taco pizza up in your grill!) was tremendous as usual, bringing a tear to this pretentious Chicago bastard's eye.
Everyone was all like, "Wow, he's really getting emotional about his daughter's birthday. What a man. " (Slow clap)
Little did they know it was actually tears of joy, mixed with pain, resulting from the glorious flavors of The Grinder, combined with the fact that I rubbed my eye after touching a jalapeno. No, not that kind! Wait, what?
Regardless, it was quite the milestone for Lily, and she celebrated her first foray into the world of sugar by waking up like four times that night. She was just. that. excited.
For New Year's Eve, we headed down to Cedar Rapids (in theaters now!) and hit up the eclectic Gringo's with Cory and Gretchen for some fajitas and margaritas, before taking in a late showing of True Grit, which turned into a True Nap for the girls. You can't stop this party! Go ahead and try, but it will not stop! This is like the Black Eyed Peas at the Superbowl!
Fast forward the clip show to January. Lily takes a sudden and rather shocking liking towards wearing sunglasses and running around the apartment nude, post-bath. Not both at the same time, although that would be really cute. Daddy works a lot and Mommy cries. Just kidding. (Only about the Mommy crying part. I think. Katy?)
Katy makes Bumbleberry and Key Lime pie in consecutive weekends. My waistline expands, as does her idea of creating a pie empire in Southern Wisconsin. We go to a Bulls game and Las Palmas. While there, I wear a hat that Katy got me for Christmas. Is this newsworthy? Doubtful, but there are no deleted scenes in this clip show my friend.
We stay at The Elysian again and I party like it was 2010 at the Elysian...again. Lily becomes adept at climbing in and out of her wagon, briefly leaves Sesame Street for a dalliance with Yo Gabba Gabba (Elmo, meet Brobee), and decides that she prefers sprinting over the stroller when in public.
We survived Snowgasm 2010 thanks to heavy meals from Turkish Cuisine and heavy doses of Arcade Fire, I perfected a bomb-ass pancake recipe, Lily got a new chair and we got a bunch of art framed. Dear Lord, I'm running on fumes here. Don't make me break out another 'Ben in a hat' mention, cause I will.
I'm finished!
We've got a busy next couple of months, which means that I'll either have a lot to blog about or an excuse not to blog about it. The smart money is on the latter, but never count out a guy in a newsie hat to deliver the news on time.
*Sample exchange at College Square Mall:
Me: "Do they even have a Gap here or anything?"
Katy: "No, but look. That store has a bunch of wolf t-shirts if you need one. And who doesn't?"
One of the few times I took the Snuggie off over at Mom's house. After this photograph, rest assured it went back on, post haste.
*Sample exchange at College Square Mall:
Me: "Do they even have a Gap here or anything?"
Katy: "No, but look. That store has a bunch of wolf t-shirts if you need one. And who doesn't?"
One of the few times I took the Snuggie off over at Mom's house. After this photograph, rest assured it went back on, post haste.
We were the most dapper people at Gringo's, partly because we were the only people at Gringo's. 
Trouble comes in various forms. This form of trouble will give you an open hand slap and then run away shrieking. 
Katy's bumbleberry pie a la mode. Son of a hoo ha, this was good. 
Baby Gaga
The Lomo at Las Palmas - Pork tenderloin with bacon and Victoria beer braised brussel sprouts, butternut squash puree and blueberry-habanero compote. Life affirming. 
Bulls game. The hat! (Katy bought it for me, so you can't make fun of me)
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