Bringing Home the Gold

It was a great Olympics for USA volleyball! GOLD for Todd and Phil on the men’s side and Kerry and Misty on the women’s beach side. This is the first time that any country has won both gold medals. On the indoor side, the men's team also won GOLD, and the women’s team took home silver. Of course I was most stoked for Todd and Phil.

From the first round upset, to the epic 0-6 3rd game comeback against the Swiss, I Tivoed every Todd and Phil match NBC aired, and even lost some sleep watching late at night. Diana caught volleyball fever and let me watch when we were at dinner on vacation in Lake Geneva. It will be a nice break now that the Olympics are over.

I am hoping Todd and Phil get some much deserved publicity now. We now have the Golden boys and girls of beach volleyball. Hopefully they will be hyped outside of volleyball circles.




I have to give credit where credit is due. Kerry and Misty's win put them into the volleyball stratosphere. I don't think there is any argument that they are the best team in men's or women's in beach volleyball history after a second consecutive GOLD medal.

They have now won 107 matches is a row, a streak over a year long. Also, they are the only beach volleyball team to go 7-0 in the Olympics in 2004, and they did it again in 2008. Two feats likely never to be broken.

Misty is going to be on Dancing with the Stars this summer. You can catch her strutting her stuff there. Both Kerry and Misty have made no secret that they want to start families. I hope everything works out and they come back as strong as ever.

Hopefully this Olympic performance propels volleyball to new heights in the US!

Our Next First Lady?

So my dad was right: Hilary is not going to be the Vice President. Oh well, I should have known...my dad usually knows what he's talking about (especially since he follows politics as closely as I follow celebrity gossip). Luckily, there is another strong woman in the Obama camp that I am warming up to.

With the Olympics over, we tuned into the DNC last for Michelle Obama's speech--and Jody and I both liked her. A lot. She was well-spoken, smart and tough. All things that have been seriously missing for the past eight years in a First Lady. Seriously, Michelle puts Laura Bush and her stepford ways to shame.

I know Michelle has taken some heat for not being patriotic enough and for being too combative, but I didn't see her like that at all. She reminded me of women I know today that work hard, speak their minds and actually know what they're talking about. For me, she's way more relatable than most politicans and politicans' wives in the spotlight today.

I think Michelle did a great job of humanizing herself and her husband and letting people get to know them a little bit better at both a political and personal level. In terms of what she added to their campaign, I'm not really sure. A personal touch, for sure. But other than that, I don't know. I definitely agree with what I read on TPM, they need a stronger message than simply "Change" if they want to keep reaching people. Change was a good message to build momentum, but I feel like Obama needs a more concrete and tougher message at this point to take this to the next level. Hopefully we'll see more of that this week.

Fist Bump for a Baby Bump

Is it winter yet?

This year we're actually looking forward to a Chicago winter for the first time, um, ever. As many of you know, it's because on Feb. 21st, Jody and I are having a baby! Baby Schwartz, Baby Schirel, Baby Mirel Schwartz (hey, it works for the Jolie Pitt babies), or whatever you call him/her, we can't wait!

Being superstitious and having a mild case of hypochandria made the first trimester extra stressful. But, luckily, Jody knows what to do and say when I get my crazy on. My family was also on call for constant reassurance. Thanks to everyone else "in the know" for the first few months for all the support, guidance and overall positivity. We feel so lucky to have such awesome friends and family.

At this point, we aren't going to find out if we're having a boy or a girl. This is more my call than Jody's, but he's not putting up much of a fight to find out. Right now, I just want to be surprised. But you never know...I could cave.

I'm now just about into the 2nd trimester, which I hear is the best one of the three. I've been feeling better and better each week and I'm slowly starting to get some energy back. I had been cutting way back on the gym because I was totally sapped of energy. But now I am getting back into a workout schedule, which has been making me feel much better. My biggest complaint thus far is killer headaches that last for days on end...and wimpy Tylenol just doesn't do too much for me. I miss heavy-duty Advil.

Some things that I have been thankful for thus far are:
* Cheese, which is all I could handle eating for a while.
* The fact that I don't work in an office with actual people and therefore I can wear comfy gaucho pants as I start chubbing up.
* My sister Lisa who is a pregnancy guru.
* And mostly Jody who is going to be such an aweome and fun dad.

Here's the 12-week ultrasound. You can't see any arms and legs in the image, but we saw them on the screen--two arms, two legs and all that good stuff--phew.

Getting Away

We headed up to Lake Geneva this weekend and it was so nice to get away for a bit.

We normally like to take some kind of vacation in the summer, but this year we have our vacation to Vegas/Arizona planned for the middle of September. So we were getting a bit restless and decided to get out of town for a weekend. Lake Geneva is an easy drive and neither of us have been up there.

We stayed that Abbey Resort & Spa and it was really nice. The weather was pretty much perfect, so we lucked out there. We relaxed, hung out by the pool, went to the spa, ate too much and spent some time in town. All in all, a good time. Our favorite part of the trip was hiking around the lake on the Lake Shore path. Between all of the beautiful homes along the lake and the lake itself, it was gorgeous and pretty good exercise too.

All in all, it was a great trip and we both came home feeling totally relaxed and rejuvenated.

As a side note, Charlie spent the weekend with Steve and Jeremy and they did a great job with him. He came home quite happy and tired, as usual. Aside from doing his business on all the pretty flowers along the Southport Corridor, being afraid of the stairs and some barking in the night, I think Charlie behaved himself quite well. So thanks to the Heckrolls for taking such good care of him!

Congrats!

Congratulations to Jessica and Scott! Their baby girl Kathryn Margot Vanderbeek was born yesterday. We're so excited for you guys, and we can't wait to meet little Kate soon!

Unleashing the Beast

Phil and Todd lost their opening round match. Not to make excuses, but the night before Phil marched in the Opening Ceremonies and had to be on his feet for over 5 hours. He later admitted he had "dead legs" and was routinely getting beaten on his block. Usually Phil is the most intimidating blocker in the world, giving rise to his nickname, The Thin Beast.

Diana thinks they lost because it was so hot and muggy, due to fogging and sponsorship issues , Phil and Todd had to wear their sunglasses without lenses, just frames. I am going with dead legs...


In their other 2 Pool B matches, Phil and Todd "Unleashed the Beast" and meeched (Todd's term for destroyed) the Swiss and Argentineans. Phil utterly dominated the Swiss hitter who is 6'8' (see picture), and was killing on his jump serve against the Argentineans who are among the best passers in the world.

Phil and Todd made it out of Pool Play into the round of 16, but with the opening round loss, they have made the road to gold a bit harder. They will loose their top seed because they didn't win the Pool B. I still have faith.

Going for the Gold

Jody with Olympians Phil Dalhausser (left) and Todd Rogers (right)

We've been enjoying the Olympics quite a lot these past few days. It's been pretty exciting so far. Working from home has made it easy for me to Tivo the different events we want to watch from the daytime broadcasts.

Mostly, Jody's gotten me hooked on the beach volleyball and we've only missed a few of the games so far. The other day we watched Jody's favorite team Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser (who are ranked as the No. 1 men's team in the world) get upset by the Latvians (ranked No. 23, I think). Although I'm rooting for Todd and Phil to win the gold, I loved the Latvians. First of all, they were adorable. Then they were just so much fun to to watch--totally animated and energized. Much different from Todd and Phil, who were obviously dragging. Yesterday, Todd and Phil were back in top form and beat the Swiss team. I'll leave the more technical volleyball breakdown to Jody.

Last night we watched some of the synchronized diving before Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh beat Cuba on the beach. Jody and I never knew synchronized diving was an Olympic sport (or a sport period). I found it kind of weird and disturbing. These divers were just so in synch with each other that it creeped me out. They did everything at the exact same time, right down to adjusting their feet before the dive. I know that's the whole point of being "synchornized" and all, but still. That's not to say they weren't good. The Chinese team was pretty amazing...you couldn't tell a difference between the two divers at all and they kept getting 9.5 and 10.0 scores. Impressive.

Also with all the Olympic buzz, there's been plenty of fun stuff to read on the Internet about all the atheletes too. But this story from CNN.com yesterday took the cake as the most bizarre story I've read yet.

Old Friends and Market Days

We had a nice weekend and it was capped off by a fun and totally entertaining Sunday night.

Our Sundays usually consist of watching whatever's on TV or whatever Netflix DVD we have and ordering in. But, last night was a bit different. My friend Kate was in town from Boston with her fiance Jamie for the White Sox/Red Sox series. She and Jamie were heading to Market Days on North Halsted because one of Jamie's college friends was running the Cock Teas booth there (some sort of lemonade tea libation with a name made for Market Days).

Anyway, Kate and I lived together when I studied abroad in London junior year, and I haven't seen her since our wedding almost five years ago. So it was awesome to see her and meet her hubby-to-be. Although Kate and I only went to school together and knew each other for six months of our lives, we had and still have a really awesome connection that I think you can only have with people you study abroad with. Even if you don't realize it at the time, it's just such a fun, exciting, intense time and the people you're going through it with make such a big impact on you and your overall experience. The bonds are just hard to describe.

So Kate and I were roommates in our flat that we shared with four other people, and from the very beginning we just clicked. So I wasn't too surprised that it totally didn't feel like it had been five years since we last saw each other. No awkwardness or anything. It felt just like old times with her...just a little more tame than our late nights across the pond!

Of course, I can't say the same for our surroundings. Market Days was far from tame. But it was total entertainment, that's for sure. Seriously, Boys Town rocks out on Sunday nights. There were more drag queens and male daisy dukes than I could count and everyone was having a great time. Jody felt like he stuck out in his Cubs Fukudome T-shirt. One guy even came up to him asking what "Fuk a Dome" meant. It was pretty funny. Then a fun treat at the end of the night was running into Steve and Jeremy too!

So, Kate, it was great to see you and meet Jamie! Good luck next month with the anti-wedding and hopefully it won't be another five years before we see you again!

Neighbors...Who Needs 'Em?

Sometimes I really hate condo living. Since our next door neighbor moved out and started renting her apartment a few years ago, she's successfully managed to rent it out to the worst tenants possible. They're not psychotic or anything, they just suck.

First there were the noisy college kids who partied all night long, squeezing as many loud, obnoxious people into their tiny space as possible. Then came the also noisy but slightly older 20-somethings, who were not only loud, but also had horrendous music taste consisting of techno, techno and more techno. Oh yeah, and they were home all the time and blasting it at all hours of the day. I'm sure it was really great for my career to be doing business calls when it sounded like I was in the middle of a club at noon on a Monday.

Next came the seemingly sweet married couple who were so nice in the hallways and elevator...but were so loud behind closed doors.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that all of the past tenants, with the exception of the marrieds, were chain smokers? Awesome. Love that second-hand smoke pouring right through our paper-thin walls, especially the one that comes right into my office.

Now, we have a new guy. At first he seemed harmless. He was quiet and older, so he must be responsible, right? Wrong. Turns out we have yet another chain smoker.

Honestly, I don't know why our neighbor insists on renting her place to all smokers. I'm guessing the apartment stinks like stale cigarettes so only smokers would want to rent that place. But, it's really starting to make me mad.

And poor Jody. He's stuck with the unfortunate job of going next door when I'm at my wits end with second-hand smoke and everything else and asking the new neighbor to please keep it down or to please try to smoke out on the balcony. He hates doing it, but he's much better at doing these kinds of things than me.

So my question for anyone out there is, are there any good air filters or purifiers that can help us breath a little more safely? The second-hand smoke is disgusting and totally unhealthy, and I've had enough. Also, anyone know how to go about making your condo building smoke-free? I mean, I'm pretty tight with our association president and he's just not into it. Maybe it's just time to move...

Who Knew Cakes Were Funny?

This was one of my favorites that I saw this weekend. To read the commentary on this freaky cake, just click here.

The other day I was talking to Courtney and she told me about a blog site that she discovered called Cake Wrecks. The concept of the blog is to highlight weird and funny cakes with some commentary about each cake. Honestly, it sounded kinda lame to me. I mean, I like cakes as much as the next girl, but I'm not terribly interested in reading about them. But, Courtney insisted that this site would crack me up.

And she was totally right. Big thanks to Courtney for introducing me to Cake Wrecks. I'm sorry for doubting you! I spent way too much time this weekend reading this thing, and it will now be regular blog reading for me because I really need another way to waste time online.

I had to go through a couple of posts before I really started laughing, but then it just got better and better. The cakes on there are beyond bizarre and the blogger's commentary is hilarious.

So if you're having a bad day or just looking for a good, random laugh, check out http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/.

Strike a Pose

Oh boy, it's finally August! We've been waiting for August all year long.

Yes, we're excited about the Olympics. Yes, August gets closer to our much-need Vegas/Grand Canyon/Sedona vacation. And yes, August means only one more month until new Gossip Girl. But none of this is why we've been counting down to August '08.

Turns out, August is the month Charlie makes his supermodel debut! Yup, he's this month's coverboy for the Skinner Park Dog calendar. Sure, he shares the page with two other neighborhood pooches, but neither of them can hold a candle to Charlie's version of "Blue Steel" and his lovely windblown locks.

Jody's expecting doggy modeling scouts to start calling any day now. I'm just hoping I can take him for walks without the paparazzi hounding us.