Entries Tagged as 'chen-je'

Limey’s Going Away Pub Crawl

November 8th, 2011 · No Comments


Bernie, Vickie, Limey :: Rockwood Place

After 18 years in America, Limey Dave is leaving. His work Visa has expired and without a sponsor he has to go. We have done a few things over the past few weeks as part of Limey’s going away period – cooking class, dinner and football – but this past weekend was the big blowout.


Limey & Kevin :: Bar Celona


Limey & Trent :: Bar Celona


Loden & Limey :: Bar Celona

Limes will still be here for a few more weeks and then he’s off to explore the world. I think he’s still unsure of where he’ll end up. I heard Australia and Asia are in the running, as well as England, of course. All nice places to visit, I hear, so I can’t wait to see where he lands.


Chad & Limey :: John Barleycorn


Limey & Rachelle :: John Barleycorn


Wrigley Field

Limey has lived in Wrigleyville the whole time he’s lived in Chicago, so for his going away party he coordinated a pub crawl around the neighborhood. As well, he’s always loved the Cubs so he chose to make the pub crawl baseball themed. Game time began at 1:20 p.m. with a celebratory shot and then we went to 9 bars around Wrigley Field, one bar for each “inning.”


Ted, Trent, Kevin, Chad, Danny :: Cubby Bear


Natalie, Limey, Annie :: Cubby Bear


Paulie & Limey :: Sports Corner

Dallas and I actually missed the first inning at Mullens, but made it for inning two at Rockwood Place. From there we went to Bar Celona from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. Bar Celona opened the bar just for Limey, their most loyal customer, so we spent two hours here instead of one. From 5 – 6 p.m. we were at John Barleycorn, from 6 – 7 p.m. we were at Cubby Bear and from 7 – 8 p.m. we were at Sports Corner.


Ted, Dallas, Jen, Loden, Danny :: Yak-Zie’s


Ted, Dallas, Jen, Loden, Danny, Chen-Je :: Yak-Zie’s


Here’s a secret: Limey’s shot only had Monster energy drink in it! :: Yak-Zie’s


Somewhere between Yak-Zie’s and Guthrie’s we saw this snowmobile and Sara and Jess had to get on it.

We were supposed to go to Murphy’s Bleachers next, but it was too packed to get in. Limey’s entourage was about 50 people strong and there was just no way we could fit in there. So, we were going to go to an alternate, Bernie’s Tavern, but we ended up going right to the next inning at Yak-Zie’s. The final inning, beginning at 10 p.m., was at Guthrie’s, of course, and we stayed there til close.


Eric & Kevin :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Sara, Jess, Rachelle :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Limey, Maria, Jill :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Jill, Danny, Jamie, Fitz, Paulie, Kevin, Jen, Chad’s Hands, Dallas :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Dan, Limey, Maria, Jill, Danny :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Limey & Maria :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Chad, Ted, Danny :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Time to go!!!

It was a fun day and great to see all of Limey’s friends come together. He is a great guy, which is reflected in how many people made a point to be there. We were taking over whole entire bars and making them open for business when usually they’re closed. It was such a fun day. Bittersweet. I’ll miss The Limes, but I know this will not be the last we’ve seen of him. Maybe he’ll even move back one day, who knows. Hopefully we can get to see him a time or two more before his actual move date.

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Jeopardy: Chad Edition

May 19th, 2011 · No Comments


Chad’s Birthday Mug


Chad, Cousin, Dallas, Trent


Chen-Je, Jen, Jason


Limey, Ted, Fitz, Paul, Carrie, Trent


Chad & Dallas


Chad & Rachelle

In grand family tradition of playing bar games for 40th birthday parties, we all gathered last weekend to celebrate Chad’s big birthday and played Jeopardy: Chad Edition. Remember, for Brian’s party there was the Pub Crawl Olympics and for Jill’s there was Survivor Wrigleyville.


Brian setting up the Jeopardy board.


Jill explaining the rules.


Jeopardy Team Representatives: Carrie, Limey, Ted

For Chad’s 40th birthday Jen rented out the beer garden at Fizz, but since it was raining, we were in a heated tent. We paid $35 for all the drinks we could drink for 4 hours and Jen arranged for some really delicious food to be served as well. At the appointed time, we all gathered to play Jeopardy. When we arrived Jen had given us each a number: 1, 2 or 3. This was to sort people into 3 teams. I was on Team 2: Team Burrito House. We chose Limey to be our team representative. When the answers were presented, Limey had to yell Burrito House to buzz in with the correct question. The other teams and reps were Ted for Team Guthries, Team 1, and Carrie (and later Danny) for Team Syracuse.


Chad


Getting intense!

These were the categories – For the Jeopardy round there was The Man and His Bans, Potent Potables, and Movies & Music. In Double Jeopardy there was Chad’s Sports Follies, Brushes With Fame, and He’s Had a Job or Two. The Final Jeopardy category was Location, Location, Location and the question was about how many places Chad has lived in Chicago. Jill and Brian constructed the Jeopardy board. Jill played Vannah White, flipping the answers open, while Brian did his best Alex Trebec, reading the answers off. Jen was the scorekeeper.


Chad had to charade out one of the Jeopardy answers.


Jeopardy crowd.


Final Jeopardy


Chen-Je with two winning girls, Caroline & Loden

The game got really heated with everyone screaming to ring in and shouting answers. Before Final Jeopardy my team, Team Burrito House, was in the lead by far! We could not mess this up! Well, leave it to Limey…. he wagered something like $4,000 more than we even had, which seems to be breaking the rules to me, and then we lost everything, and then some, when no one on our team know how many places Chad lived in. Wah wah wahhhh…


Cousin & Todd


Baltimore Bomb


Baltimore Bombs


Jill & Dallas

Chad’s high school friend Todd flew into town from Maryland and introduced us to a new shot called the Ravens Bomb. Well, when he’s tailgating at football games he calls it that, but we were opting to call it the Baltimore Bomb. In Baltimore they drop a grape vodka shot into a cup of Red Bull energy drink. At Fizz they only had Monster energy drink, so we used that. Check out the awesome custom shot glasses Fizz had. Perfect for bombs. As for the Baltimore Bomb? It tasted awesome. The grape vodka tasted just like grape soda. Todd did warn me that they will sneak up on you if you are not careful, but I only had two. They were flowing pretty readily, though. I think they did sneak up on some people. Or… it could have been the other bombs…


Chad’s Birthday Cheesecakes


Dessert: Carbombs or Cheesecake?

Of course a night out with all these guys is not complete without Irish Car Bombs. Right as Trent was ordering a round, Jen was in the other room gathering people for cake! Ed (remember The Baked Escape) made two white chocolate raspberry swirl cheesecakes (with a chocolate cookie crust) for the party. So delicious. I’ve had this one a few times. It never disappoints. Just as the cake was being cut the Irish Car Bombs arrived. So, choose your poison: Cheesecake or booze. Or both. Why not? Actually, I only had a tiny sliver of the cake and passed on the bombs.


Todd & Brian


Dancing around the birthday boy.

After this, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t feel very drunk, but there was a lot of dancing. And Ed sent me photos of things this week that I only vaguely remember happening. So yeh. Kind of proud that us old people can still have a good time!

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Jen & Chad’s New Years Eve Party

January 1st, 2010 · No Comments


Jen & Chad


Dallas, Chen-Je, Paul


Jen & Halle


Diane, Quinn, Kristin


Chad & Jen with their new niece Halle


Rachelle & Cousin


Family Photo: Brian, Jill, Halle


Phil, Abby, Ed. Baby Jonah is in the bjorn!


Meg & Chad


Jill & Halle

This was the 5th year in a row that we have gone to Jen and Chad’s house for New Years Eve (2008, 2007, 2006, 2005). The party there has become very family friendly as many of our friends have children now. It is nice that there’s a place for our friends with families to hang out that is nice and relaxing and has other kids to play with. It was fun to see everyone and to meet Abby and Phil’s baby Jonah for the first time. He was the youngest at the party, only 6 weeks old! Kristin made a ton of food, plenty of pupus and some roast beef sandwiches, so we went to the party for dinner and stayed til about 10 p.m. before heading to our second party of the night.

Like last year, we gave Quinn his Christmas gift at the party. It was a tool box with tools in it and a book about a monkey with a tool belt. Quinn loved the tools and wouldn’t even open the book once he saw them. Then we finally got him to open the book with the use of the tools. Pretty funny. Now he can help Chad with “projects” around the house. Quinn also got to help open our gift for Halle, which was the Friend Brigade. I saw these for sale at Renegade and bought a set from their creator on Etsy.


Quinn excited to have a gift to open


Tools!


Using the tools to open the other gift

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Thanksgiving at Brian & Jill’s House

November 28th, 2008 · No Comments


Brian Carving the Turkey, Wrigleyville, Chicago


Quinn, Wrigleyville, Chicago


Quinn & Dallas, Wrigleyville, Chicago


Dallas: “Quit interrupting me while I’m watching the Cowboys!”


At the adult table: Chad, Quinn, Jen, Brian, Jill, Meg (and me)


At the kid table/sports enthusiasts table/unmarried guy table: Chen-Je, Limey, Dallas

This year we didn’t go to Vegas for Thanksgiving because we just bought our condo. We didn’t go to my brother’s house because he spends Thanksgiving in Stevens Point, WI, with his wife’s family. We didn’t go to my parents’ house because Dallas only had one day off and we didn’t want to spend it driving 4.5 hours each way. Every year Brian and Jill have Thanksgiving dinner for their family and friends who are in town. We had lots of fun visiting with everyone, playing with Quinn and Vegas (Brian & Jill’s dog), watching 3 football games, and playing cards. Quinn’s new thing is to kiss everyone. It’s not even a kiss really. He leans his head next to yours and says “Mwah!” So cute. Everyone was bragging that they’d gotten more kisses from Quinn than anyone else.

The food at dinner was so delicious. Jill made an oven turkey and Brian made a fried one. Jill also made green bean casserole and stuffing. Jen made butternut squash soup and mashed potatoes. Chad baked pumpkin pie. Kristin’s mom made a pie and sent it over. Meg made a cranberry jello mold. I brought a bottle of Sasha’s wine (Eno Wines) from and baked cookies. Dallas made spring rolls (more on that later). Chen-Je brought several bottles of wine. I remember really liking the Alamos Malbec.

It was kind of nice to call a cab Thanksgiving night and go home. I don’t think I’ve gone home on Thanksgiving night for years!

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Jen & Chad’s New Years Party

January 1st, 2008 · No Comments

Ed
Ed

Dallas
Dallas

Trent
Trent

Quinn
Quinn

Greg
Greg

Jen, Quinn, Shenjay
Jen, Quinn, Chen-Je

Cards
Hold’Em

Skill Kill
Don’t Ask

Shenjay
Chen-Je Downing an Irish Car Bomb

Champagne
Champagne

Brian
Brian: “2008, Bitches!”

Jill
Jill: “I married that guy?”

Danny & Caroline
Danny & Caroline

Every year (2005, 2006) we go to Jen and Chad’s house for their New Years party. We like it because a lot of our friends go, it’s casual and laid back, and there’s no battling crowds in a packed bar or paying megabucks to get into some fancy club. Also, no need to try to get a cab on the busiest cab night of the year, since Jen and Chad are only a block away.

This was Quinn’s first Christmas and New Years. I think he made it til about 8pm. Maybe next year he’ll make it to the countdown.. probably not, though!

I like the photos I took this year, although a few of them are fuzzy. I think the liquor was making my brain fuzzy and I didn’t always check all the settings. Oh well.

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