Beth: Let’s make a dinner with no meat tonight.

Sam: OK, how about lamb?

Sam posted a recap of our weekend and trip to the famer’s market but let me tell you how much I heart Sunday night dinner at the Spratlins. When we are both home and around we generally try and stick to that schedule. It is such a fun time- Sam does most of the cooking and I watch and clean up after the damage has been done.

This is the week of Samuel’s birthday- yay! Last year due to wedding festivities Sam’s birthday got a bit overlooked but this year I am doing it up right for him. It also happens to be Total’s birthday too:) This was a strategic move based on our ability to remember things- Total loves sharing a birthday with Sam.

We have some key to-dos in our life right now and the one at the top of Sam’s list is to find us a suitable dwelling. It is his second job these days, he has feeds going into his igoogle page the second a new property is on the market that fits our needs and criteria. I think he may go get his real estate license and take it up as a hobby. Everything that we want is pretty desirable to others because they are generally properties that are in financial distress and are going for Filene’s basement prices. We declined to pursue our original offer after the bank counter offered because we wanted to put an offer in on another house. Which we have done. This deal is not set to take quite as long and we are crossing our fingers that we get it! However, in true Spratlin fashion we are lining up other showings to check out as back up plans.

My momma and I went out last evening to State in Lincoln Park for a girls dinner (read more wine than food) and then a brief DePaul soiree. She is working in the city twice a week for Fr. Chris, a priest who heads up the St. Vincent DePaul parish. My mom seems to have a knack for finding the coolest/cutest priests around. We are currently coordinating a Polark Family + Favorite Priests in the Chicagoland area dinner at Topolobampo. That will be a good blog post.

My dear friend Christiney is just 11 weeks away from giving birth to a baby girl. Her bump is so cute- she is one of those people that wears pregnancy perfectly. Her baby shower is next month and will be super fun- it is at the Signature Room in the John Hancock. A frilly fancy baby shower; is there any other way to go?

Spratlark Industries had their first RFP  (request for proposal) of the year come across our proverbial desks a few weeks back- we answered and won- so that is great. 1 for 1- 100% in the new business department is pretty good. We did some of these projects in ‘08 and then committed ourselves to the not for profit project of all things wedding in ‘09. The one we are focused on now is parent and kid oriented so we are submerging ourselves in all things mom + baby.

I act as the project manager and Sam is the creative director in our personal project endeavors. It works out pretty well because we do this in our day to day careers so it is a natural fun extension of that. However we get to say when, who and how much which is exciting. We hadn’t committed ourselves to a name for the business which is ironic since we sell business identities and the like but I think we are pretty good with Spratlark Industries because it makes complete sense.

One of my favorite things about Total is that he is completely dependable when it comes to kiddies. Kids naturally gravitate to doggies, but parents have to be super careful in the city since there are some bad eggs out there. Total is no exception and whenever we are at the park kids run at him with arms wide open; bubbling with excitement. It always give me a good feeling when I can say he is a friendly doggie and will sit/stand still as the child navigates its way around their first dog pet. It is so cute.

Happy Spring:)!

I am eyeball deep in my new job which is great. The clients and work are interesting and will be good experience for me. I have almost met everyone at the office with just a few people left - we are around 60 peeps. The canine thing is really fun- I have met close to 10 new doggies, all with their individual charm and quirks. Total is going to have his first chance to experience Designkitchen life very soon.

We met with a real estate agent to get the ball rolling on a new home a few weeks back. He basically told us that based on what is owed on the mortgage and what the place would sell for now we MIGHT break even if we get a little lucky. If we don’t get a little lucky we would have to bring a check to the closing. Boo. I hate being people the news talks about. When I was unemployed, every time they mentioned the unemployment rate and how bad it was I always thought “I dislike being bundled into that group of people!” since it is such a generalization. Now we fall into the “bought a property that isn’t worth what it was worth when it was purchased a few years back” group. It will all work out soon enough and then I hope we are out of the news for good.

I look forward to the next couple of months because it is bound to get warmer. The three of us greatly enjoy our Smith Park strolls so the rise in temps mean we will be able to get back to them more often. Mick Po is graduating from BC with a job which is exciting. The not as exciting part is that he will be living in Boston. As much as I find Boston to be a nice city I would like my family to be centrally located. I guess both my brothers prefer the eastern time zone and the shorter flight to Europe?

back to school, to prove to dad I am no fool. Lots of things about going to work feel similar to when we went to school as kids. Now, I pack my gym bag, lay out my outfit, put together nutritous snacks and go to bed pretty early. 

I started my new job yesterday and so far so good. I am getting a little time to become acquainted with the ways of the office and some intros into basic best practices around here to run a project smoothly and successfully. They are super buttoned up which is really great.

A few office treats are that if I want, Total can come to work with me and hang out- they also play music overhead that can be adjusted per section per floor. It is such a small thing but a little background music is kind of nice. Maybe I will learn about a new secret cool artist before the rest of the world.

When I was on job sabbatical I still always looked forward to the weekend- weird but it totally makes sense. Sam is off on the weekend and around to hang out with and so is everyone else for that matter. So here’s to working hard and playing hard. Cheers!

I was able to see a lot of good coming out of my departure from Ogilvy for a long time. New opportunities, time to plan our wedding and getting tipsy on weeknights to name a few. But recently I was slightly pessimistic about the process and it was becoming a bit of a chore. I was losing sight of the bright side. I am of course grateful for my offer and to everyone who has so graciously given their recommendations, connections and support to me during my search. I am happy that the firm that hired me seems to have taken a fancy with me and I am equally as thrilled to be part of their operation.

Something I missed identifying as invaluable during this process are the connections I made. I met the CCO at DraftFCB, the Director of Client Services at Tribal DDB, the Director of Digital at BBDO, a couple of exceptional recruiters and some key HR folks. These connections are priceless and something that definitely should not be overlooked. Some great Ogilvy peeps were responsible for some of these connections and I look forward to paying it back and forward.

I am excited to meet a bunch of new people and grow my network. I will have to strategize my outfit for my first day of work, but a lot of clothes have been gathering dust for some time so many of them will feel like new. As I have mentioned before, my dad always said live close to where you work, well this fine employer is less than 2 miles from our house. The office is small at 70 employees but trendy and nice and located practically next door to our gym. Here is a link to Designkitchen’s website.

I am the sous chef in the house. Sam can cook, grill, cut and create with the best of them. My knife skills are appalling and scary so I assume the gathering, question asking and cleaning roll of the process. However I am able to combine pre-made ingredients, a la Sandra Lee. Meal making is all in the planning and we are getting better at it. I plan to take an introductory knife skills course so I can keep my fingers for most of my life and contribute some more to the cooking process.

Since you know me, you know I am not really the subservient type so don’t worry!