While Liam was traveling cross country, lots of other people had traveled across the world to all gather and celebrate Nan’s birthday. While we were sorry to not be there in person, it was great to drop in via skype and get to say happy birthday to Nan! Along the…

We had a pretty uneventful week here while Liam and his friends went on a big trip last week! Hopefully his schedule will allow a blog post with photos from his trip soon. In the meantime, I can share a few maps showing where they went. Starting in Urbana-Champaign, he…

What says spring more than a college student coming home over spring break? That visit coinciding with a new composter in the quickly thawing back garden! Liam arrived home on Saturday to spend a few days with us before heading off on a camping trip with some college friends. We…

We had a really warm day on Friday but it came with some very intense wind storms. John’s flight returning from Boston was delayed several hours, and our block was cordoned off for about a day due to a downed electrical wire dangling over the street. The wire itself was hard…

Here’s a news roundup of what cndkmen have been up to so far in February. First, we enjoyed our annual visit with Anne. New this year: no snow, not so cold at all, dinner at SoHo House, and a walk on the Bloomingdale Trail (aka the 606). Anne’s flight was delayed so…

While on a business trip to San Francisco last week, I had some downtime, so I decided to meet up with an old friend from our San Francisco office, Matthew Wilcox. While advertising is full of English planners for some reason, there aren’t a lot of Irish planners, so myself…

After hearing testimonials from Colette and Colman about how rice cookers have a transformational effect on one’s life, we decided to take the plunge and buy one. Liam has this same model at college, he commented that it’s like having a helpful little friend around. I think of it as…

The weekend after we returned to Chicago, Miles and I went to Wicker Park for his eye appointment. He now has vision insurance and got a new pair of glasses and a year’s supply of contacts. We also, Sydney-style, had to stop for a coffee. Here’s Miles and his coffee at…

You know how it is, on a vacation with so much great food, only some dishes get photographed. This is my salad from a very cool place in Surrey Hill, where we went for lunch one day. And this potato lookalike is, somehow, ice cream inside a crispy potato skin.…

Missing the annual New Year’s Eve party at the Groves house was sad, but Sydney did its best to show us a good time. Thanks to Colette’s suggestion, we bought tickets back in September for one of the viewing spots near the harbour for best viewing of the outstanding fireworks…