For the tolls - because they don't let dump trucks on the FDR

Die Hard (today's recipe is from drinkspub.com.  All of this healthy eating is getting in the way of my mixology tasting)

2 oz Everclear® alcohol
1/2 oz vodka
2 oz grapefruit juice

Put your shakers away kids!  Stir all ingredients together in an old-fashioned glass 1/2 filled with ice cubes, and serve. (you can definitely tell that this wasn't my recipe.  The directions have no pizazz)


My first apartment was on the third floor of a beautiful brownstone.  Laundry was in the basement, and worked on an honor system - you drop a buck in a basket whenever you washed and dried.  Because of its' proximity I actually hated doing laundry and worked it out so that I'd only have to do it about 1-2 times a season.

I r e a l l y hated doing laundry. 

Then when I moved into the house, I bought a washer and dryer that made the task of laundry more convenient.  I returned to the land of "foundation garments" and all was well with the world.  When I moved to Chicago into the first condo, it came with one of those all in one washer/dryer dealies, so I sold my washer and dryer and went to town on the new one.

Now in my new place, I don't have a washer and dryer in my apartment, but it's literally right outside my rear entrance, so it sort of feels like it's in my unit. So much so, that I often run in and out of the laundry room in the buff to add bleach and/or retrieve a small load.  The other tenants have to enter from outside, so I'm really hoping that no one catches my early morning streaking.

This washer and dryer are coin operated - cheap, just a dollar - but it's quarters only.  This poses a problem for yours truly as I hardly ever have any cash on me, forget about case quarters (Case quarter.  That's old school speak right there).  So this morning I threw a load in while I performed my morning constitutional (hint: it ain't the walking one) and much to my surprise chagrin I didn't have enough quarters to dry my load.  I ended up laying everything flat around the apartment and over the shower door, but I also vowed not to deal with that foolishness again.

 

This is what fifty bucks worth of quarters looks like

I went into the bank and exchange 5 crisp10 dollar bills for my little jar of goodness and convenience.  I'm sure that teller wondered if I was planning on hauling gold from the Federal Reserve Bank in about 20 dump trucks, but she smiled as if she too had been at the laundromat without the necessary two bits.

Now on to the whites.

Remember that driving gig?

Cinnamon Prince

2oz Irish Cream

2oz Crown Royal

1oz Goldschlager

cinnamon stick for garnish

Mix all ingredients sans the cinnamon stick in a cocktail shaker over ice.  Shake it like your hands would be shaking if you were meeting the President of the United States.  Strain into a martini glass and lean the cinnamon stick inside the glass for garnish and enjoy!



Remember that driving gig?  Well I had the pleasure and the incredible honor of driving in the motorcade of the one and only President Obama, aka Mr. President, aka El Capitan, aka the Cinnamon Prince when he was in Chicago a few weeks ago!  And I met him! And it was awwwww-some!  So how did someone with a shall we say "questionable" driving history get to drive all through downtown, up and down Lakeshore Drive, to his house (and actually down the street vs just 500 feet away like all of you regular folk) with total disregard for all traffic laws and with a police escort?

Because I'm made of awesome sauce and you're not.

Well you may be made of awesome sauce too, but your sauce won't be quite as awesome as my sauce until you have a friend who calls you one night and asks you to drive around town with the President of these here United States.

Get your game up, kids.


So... how was meeting Mr. Obama you ask? Great and nerve racking all at the same time.  Nearing the end of the night after he finished a speaking engagement at Navy Pier, he came out to shake our hands, thank us for our service (because you know that this was a volunteer gig. We're talking about the gub'ment here) and to take some photos with us (there were 7 of us).  And let me tell you - our President has some serious swag.  He has this effortless "cool" about him and as he strutted over to me - yes he struts, not walks - my heart was in my chest and I was trying not to smile too hard as if meeting dignitaries was a regular occurrence for me.  I was as poised as possible as he shook our hands and asked our names, and considering that one of the other female drivers totally forgot her own name, I think that I did well.


It was a truly amazing experience and they actually asked me to do it again last week but I had some can't miss meetings that kept me from being able to put the pedal to the metal for the Leader of the Free World again.

I wasn't able to get very many pictures, but here's a few of the helicopters arriving and departing from Soldier Field.  The ones that we took with him will be mailed to us (and yes I'm checking the mailbox daily).

Check out the secret service and bomb sniffing dogs

Military helicopters filled with important guests and reporters

Mr. President's helicopter that brought him from Air Force One

So what did you do over the last few weeks?