Where the heck have you all been???

It's been a busy few weeks here in Chicago... and it appears that we keep missing each other. One day I'm on here starting a post, the next day you're logging on to check for a little reading material to help pass your "busy" work days... before we know it 2 weeks go by and and we're teetering on the brink of remembering what our relationship was like back in the "good ol' days". Well fret not, my avid readers; the fun continues!


Let's start with a little recap of how our summer has been going. 


Foodies Unite!
Hina & Mital hopped a flight from Philly to enjoy a weekend of great eating and a little drinking; and that's just what we did. From Longman & Eagle to Aviary. From Topolobampo to Big Star. But the creme de la creme was a 5.5 hr culinary experience at Alinea! 


Here are a few snapshots from that night; the first being a caprese salad laid out to represent a portion of Lincoln Park.


The second photo is of dessert... all I can say is Wow! The table was cleared, two silicon table cloths were rolled out, and then Grant and another chef came out and "painted" dessert right on to the table. 


18 courses of pure awesomeness! 






4th Annual 4th of July BBQ on the Roof
The Nardi Party delivered another fun-filled experience for guests of all ages; and with this showing the 4th has solidified itself as one of the highlights of the summer. In a slight twist  this year we actually celebrated on the 3rd to help accommodate those who wanted to party a little extra, but the neighborhood still put on a great showing with fireworks!

An Evening on Lake Michigan
Several of us were lucky enough to score an invite out on the water with Mandy & Dan on their sail boat. The weather was gorgeous, the sunset was sublime, and the company was even better. After a beeline out of the harbor we headed several miles straight out and turned around for an awesome return voyage back to the skyline. 


And if all of this isn't enough, next up on the tour de force is a week on Cape Cod with the extended Nardi Party. With that on the horizon you now know why I wanted to post an update so as not to leave you hanging another week. I hope everyone is enjoying their summers as much as we are... with all of this excitement we haven't missed cable one bit... no seriously! 

Bruins in Game 7 = The Last Day!

Today, Wednesday, June 15th, marks the last day that the Nardi household will have our DirecTV hooked up  for the summer of 2011. To the Average Joe this would seem like a fairly random and innocuous day, but any puck head, or anyone in the city of Boston, would tell you differently. Tonight is Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs between Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks. Hailing from the New England region you can imagine who I am rooting for... but I've digressed long enough, back to my point.

After today we are going to attempt the previously unthinkable... we're unplugging from cable for the rest of the summer. No more muggy evenings sunken into our couch, mesmerized by whatever schwill the boob-tube tries to pass off as "new summer programming". No more rainy weekend afternoons wasted in front of our 55" electric babysitter. Ok, so all of this is a bit melodramatic. Rest assured we do have a slight backup plan for some digital entertainment, but we'll get to that a bit later. 


First I'd like to thank our good friend Malisa C. for this idea; if she hadn't called me for technical advise on this same topic it's likely we would have proceeded to pay DirectTV almost $100/month in ignorant bliss. Instead we're embarking on this little adventure to reclaim our summer. 
<random thought> 
Why do all of Ami's friends and family (of Indian decent) call me (caucasian as they come) for technical support... isn't there something backwards about this?!
</random thought>


Second, other than the NHL playoffs, and a random peek in to make sure Miami was losing the NBA Finals, I have actually kick-started this process 2.5 weeks ago with a larger-than-it-appears project to create a new coffee table from scratch (trust me, there will be a future post dedicated to this little undertaking).


Third, we do have a half-assed plan to help ease us into this new DirecTV-less world (no one said this would be a G-rated blog). 

• Sports -- I can track my Red Sox on the MLB TV account through my iPad; check. ESPN also has an app for the iPad that works in only 2 states in the whole US (morons), but I can also access their live feeds through the Xbox 360; semi-check. 
• Movies -- Netflix is only $9.00/month and has apps for the Xbox, iPad, and our Droid phones; big check for Netflix!
• Some TV -- if we need to we could succumb to the acquisition of a Hulu+ account for $8.99/month. This will have to be a game-time decision and won't be happening out of the gate.
• Activities -- last weekend we went to Six Flags, the Blues Festival, and Wells St. Art Festival. Big kudos to Chicago for having an awesome summer lineup. 

Finally, and most importantly, I plan on using some of my new-found free time on this blog and my primary hobby, photography. I will update you on several photo projects that I hope to kick off, progress on learning my new lenses, updates from vacations, and so on. I use smugmug.com to host my photos, check them out any time at http://djnardi.smugmug.com/

My goal for this endeavor is to have at least 5 non-family-member followers by the end of the summer and to have brought a few chuckles to your days. Who knows, maybe you'll all be reading this on your couch while you watch your TV shows and laugh your evil little laughs... 

Death to cable companies!