A day in the garden...

The long holiday weekend served us well. A little rest and relaxation and a whole lotta fun! We went out to see a band, made it to another Cubs game and to the Chicago Botanical Gardens.

The Gardens were more than we could have hoped for. The pictures above do not do it justice. There are more pictures of the gardens as we ourselves didn't look quite like the rockstars we were from the nights before. Breathtaking flowers, wonderful water fountains, and of course fun sculptures for us to pose with. What fun would the day be without crazy picture fun?!?! For a brief while we thought, and hoped for it to thunderstorm so we had some relief from the summer heat, but the thunder and lightning only teased us. We walked the gardens for hours and at one point looked for a place to do "steamroller" into a pond. Thankfully we thought better of it as we figured we would get kicked out or worse yet not get kicked out and drown from craps due to laughter.

While on the walk we suffered from mild dehydration, which came on quickly due to the previous days activities. The dehydration combined with lack of sleep due to our stubbornness to turn on our air led to what I can only describe as deliriousness. At one point Chels told a flower that it was pretty. Which if any of you know me led me to keep talking to that flower...The conversation went somewhat as follows...

"oh flower you are soooo pretty, you are a pretty flower, you are...you know you are a pretty flower, flower...just sit there and be pretty flower...oh you already are." (this needs to be read like the little boy in Dumb & Dumber playing with his dead bird)

Our only suggestions for visiting the gardens on your own would be to make sure you take cash. While the admission is free you do have to pay to park. They do accept pretty much any form of payment except credit/debit cards. We would also suggest not going when it is 99 degrees out with 99% humidity, as you won't look good in photos, no matter what you are wearing! Give serenity a break it can only do so much!!!

Vocabulary Chandi Style

Ok, so we all misspeak. However, we at Chandi's adventures like to turn our vocabulary mistakes into reusable new words. We then take those words and add them into our daily rotation. We would like to share some of these new creations with you all and will continue to do so as they arise. We also encourage you to share your own personal vocab innovations with us.

Here are a few to start with:

Epecially......a version of especially. Example: Do you ever feel like you have cat hair everywhere? Yes, epecially on my face!

(Said by Chelsea before morning coffee)

Pluking......a spin off of puking. Example: I am not pluking unless I pluke in the toilet.

(Said by guest after my 30th b-day bash and some friendly conversation with Jose.)

Uber douch......a very, very dorky person who thinks they are cool. Example: Wow, that dork with the leather bomber jacket and pegged acid washed jeans is an uber douch!

(Coined at the bar on St. Patty's Day)

Senale and Sernale.....combination of season and series finale. Example: That was a great senale of ER. Will & Grace's sernale kinda sucked.

(Originated on Must see TV Thursday)

Strampedeled........a joining of stampede and trampled. Example: Watch out now...these crazy animals are going to strampedele us!

(Created by Andi)

Dramastic........a coming together of dramatic and drastic.
(Created by Curtis via Erin)

Insinuendo......a uniting of insinuate and innuendo.

(Created by Curtis via Erin)

Ignorenous......take ignorant and pair it with heneous. Example: That freaking country song about the Taliban is ignorenous!

(Created by Erin)

*Curtis...we need some examples for your wonderful word creations!

More to come......feel free to contribute!

Oh the cousins......

What can I say about "the cousins".......we are a wild and crazy bunch who have grown up together and are now in the process of passing the torch to the next generation!

Who are we? Well, there are a ton of us. These pictures only capture a small group of us, but what's amazing is that these photos include representatives of both sides of my cousins! They have united once again, for the first time in twenty years! We've gone from superhero under-roos to ........hmm, actually if we could find some adult size ones we would probably still be in our under roos. So, in that aspect not much has changed. We've all grown up in size, but that's about it! When we are together we revert back to the days of old when we didn't have a care in the world and silliness defined us! I love us and I only hope that the next generation can live up to our greatness :) With that said, let's introduce the next generation of little peeps (and not so little peeps).........let the insanity guide you and never, ever be afraid to unleash the laughter......laugh loud and proud.......and don't be afraid to take it to the next level! We have paved the road.....now you must accept the journey!

"Chelsea" + "Andi" = Chandi...Now you try it!

So, everyone can have a "ch" and "andi" to their "chandi". It's easy, fun, and efficient, especially for those pairs of people who are always together! See, instead of saying two names you can save precious time and energy by using one simple and catchy name. Here's how it works....

Chelsea + Andrea= Chandi or Chandrea
Tammy + Jason= Jammy
Travis + Shauna= Travauna
Ed + Terry= Ted or Teddy

Now you do it......
Nicki + Scott= ?

Beth + Scott=?
Kristen + Mark= ?

Suzanne + Mark=?

Marsha + Tom= ?

Drew + Meagan= ?

Sue + Peg= ?

Leave us a comment with your answers and feel free to offer up your own creation!

Andi's Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very bad Day!

So, not all things about city living are fantabulous. A car...having a car, parking, driving, traffic, etc. is definitely one of the hardships. Andi and I began learning this lesson day one and continue to learn as we go.

Let me start from the beginning and bring you to the final straw....Andi's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

The day we moved here as we were packing up Andi's first place she got her car towed....OUT OF HER OWN PARKING LOT! Ridiculous....we know!

(Reenactment: "Yeah, did you tow a honda with indiana plates. Ok, well I'm going to need you to bring it back!)

Yeah, they don't do that, so we had to ride in the moving truck with some less than "gentlemen" movers. Long story short...we got the car back.

Next experience......another towing, but his time by the lovely city of Chicago. This time it happened right on our street. Apparently it is important to read the fine print on street signs...just because it says in big letters "Snow Advisory: No parking when there is two or more inches of snow" and it is a nice sunny day that doesn't mean your car won't be towed because somewhere on the sign it also says "or on Thursdays". Whatever! Again...long story short, after two less than fun, long trips to the city lot (which can only be described as a bureaucratic toilet bowl) Andi got her car back again!

After all of the wonderful towing adventures we began parking Andi's car in our "secure" garage in our building. One would think this would solve all of our worries, but nope! After a few weeks in the garage Andi realized that a leak in the ceiling of the garage was staining the hood of her car. The landlords said they would fix it and in the meantime she should park in another spot that wasn't being used. Great! No worries....right? WRONG!

As we pack up to go to Frannyville to celebrate the next generation of crazy cousins, Andi realizes that someone who lives in our building has keyed her car with the words "My Space".

(Reenactment: Oh snap Chelsea....somebody freakin keyed my car. I'll be back. I'm going up there.....I am furious!)

No joke! Not only was she parked in a spot she was told to by the landlords, but somebody who lives among us actually had the nerve to do such an immature thing. Who does that? So, after some angry calls, notes, and some serious shaking....we got on the road to begin our weekend.

The bad car karma should stop there...isn't that enough? You would think. As we are making on way on the skyway we slow to approach the toll. What happens as we do? You guessed it, someone rear ends Andi's car. Yep...it's true! I didn't know at this point who to feel bad for, Andi? or the poor, young boy who hit her and who was going to have to feel her wrath! However, she managed to keep her cool (after screaming in her car and banging her fists a bit!)

So, that about sums up Andi's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and the long tradition of having a car in Chicago that has lead up to this!!!!!!

It's official...we are in Chicago...and we're bloggers!!!

Here at Chandi Adventures we think it is very important to keep you, the Chandi consumer, happy. Awhile back Chelsea and Andi decided to incorporate their greatness into one entity, thus Chandi was born. With that in mind they, along with some of their fabulous friends thought it best to develope a hobby, if for no other reason than to keep them out of trouble. The creation of http://theadventuresofchandi.blogspot.com is a combined effort to chronicle the 'extra-ordinary' awe-some journey of two young, hip, single urbanites and their adventures in the windy city. Hold on and enjoy the ride!

Disclaimer: *(Remember to keep your hands and feet inside at all times while the ride is in motion) **(We are professionals do not attemp this at home or without proper adult supervision)