The glory days

I had so much fun this past weekend. I took Friday off from work and spent the weekend at Michigan State for our homecoming. We stayed right in the heart of college living at the Marriott on MAC. We used to live on MAC so this was prime location once again, right across from Lou Ha's and El Azteco. Apologies, only fellow alum will understand this location!

I forgot how gorgeous the campus looks this time of year, the fall colors were in full bloom. We lucked out and for game day had a perfect fall day, crisp and sunny. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story. I wish I could take credit for the beautiful pictures, alas -- All the photos were taken by my wonderful sister and her Nikon. You can visit her blog too!

Whatsoever a man doeth.

Let the tailgating begin!

These buggers were potent...to say the least.

The official homecoming 2009 crew...

A new lunch love

Walking down Ontario during lunchtime a few weeks ago I stumbled on a little gem. Drawn in by the cute decor and promise of freshly baked bread, I stepped inside. Cozy, yet modern decor and tons of baked goods! Spying the bagels I made a mental note to come back for breakfast sometime. I ended up ordering the southwest chicken sandwhich on sourdough that came with homemade potatoe chips. After chatting with the guy behind the counter I learned this was not a chain (+1) and that the only other location is in Jackson Hole, Wymoing. You can visit their website for more.

Everything on the menu sounded delicious to me. They serve breakfast all day! From bagels to eggs cooked to order with potatoes, not to mention the strawberry stuffed challah french toast. The menu has Jewish touches sprinkled throughout, matzo ball soup, which looked delicious, and of course the homemade challah. So far I can only vouch for the southwest chicken sandwich and the buffalo chicken (healthy twist, not fried chicken!) but I've got a good feeling about this place...

And not to keep droning on and on about this, but on my second visit I got colesaw instead of the chips (to go) and it came in a really nice eco friendly, recycled container. A nice touch and another +1.

And...this is the best part -- I dropped my business card in a jar for a drawing and won a $20 gift certificate! Pathetic but true, this gift certificate made my Monday. Consider me a regular customer!

e. leaven
54 east ontario street
chicago

Summer's over . . .

A tear for that. And let's face it, we didn't even have all that warm of a summer over here in the midwest. Blah. Not a fan of fall, it just signifies what's coming, winter and those below-freezing walks to the EL every morning. Sigh. On a happier note, I brought some of my porch babies inside for the winter. Look how nice fernella looks inside!

My begonia is liking her new spot in the kitchen too, although I'm not sure how long she'll last inside.

The gardener is back

That's what I'm talking about. Just when I thought my Sunday was coming to a boring close, this showed up on my television screen. Thank you ABC for adding a little spice to my Sunday night. I've always had a thing for tall, dark and handsome. Enjoy! P.S. Looks like he'll be back for a steamy episode next week too!

Images from http://www.theinsider.com/photos/621551_Shirtless_Celeb_Of_The_Day_Jesse_Metcalfe

A salute to my alma mater

In preparation for the game tomorrow I'm giving a little love to my Spartans. We play Illinois tomorrow at 11 CST. I'm hoping we can kick some orange "illini" (or whatever the heck they call themselves) ass.

The boys celebrating after the Michigan win.








And one more thing, Love this.

My first blog post....

I am guessing maybe two people will read this post, total. But hey, you have to start somewhere. Sometimes I have a weird urge to share things via blog. All sorts of random things. New restaurants, rants and raves about city living, funny stories, you get the point. I finally thought it was a good time to start a blog. I decided on the Ditty title because it's a nickname I got in high school and a play off my last name. I am not sure why I added "love" to my topic of discussions because frankly I don't know much about it. But maybe I will learn more over the course of blogging. Let the blog begin!

Me, in a favorite place, Capri