9.6.09

i'm with the mustache...

Gene shrinks an Address into a Tweet:

87 years ago, our dads made us free. Yay! Still want free, but hard! Fighting, dying, burying! Need more fight tho, so dead be happy.

Okay, twits, you win. Not much lost at all.

Gene Weingarten

So. Awesome. Almost at awesome as my closet ludite tendencies....

And this city:

23.2.09

POSTSCRIPTUM

As if waiting for the subway in Billyburg isn't creepy enough... We've
got the Williamsburg subway cop kiosk to keep us on our creeped out
toes. Love it...

I like bikes!

So this was a beaut Laz & I discovered with Neil the night we clowned
around in the domestic haven of the container store while it snowed
balls on 6th Ave.

17.2.09

St. Valentine has a field day...

I'm wondering if I can actually post from my phone. Anyhoo - I love 

this photo. Tho it may reveal how domestic our tendencies are...

Hooray! Can I just say shallots, peppers, marinated chicken & cous cous? I know right? Beyond delish. And Lolo, in my Camerabag, outdid herself this time.

Love u! More stories to come.

15.2.09

i hope the blog isn't jealous...

that i made us a website to give u stuff!

i even kept with the traditional background color!
going to the movies with Sha and Em (visiting from London for a bit!)
but first i must take laundry to the launderers.
bit foremost, i must share, so we won't be horribly lost when we talk about life:

i had a valentines's day. can you believe it? 
an actual valentine! that i'm actually excited about!
(another post to come with that)

i am addicted to MoRocca180!

i am moving soon to a real apartment! hooray!

ok, well, until then, enjoy some Camerabags from around the city.
i hope this finds you well and that life is grand and not too terribly stressful.

life is crazy at the store but it beats the pants off of anywhere else!
and we have a cool billboard.

and here is me, Ma, Teenie & Me! 
good times were had when i was home. 
i gotta make it down there more than once a year.



i know we fall off of posting but i'm having a renaissance!
i like keeping you up to date.
if you're short on time, it's all good. just enjoy!
i will try & keep stuff coming and you can comment if the mood strikes you.
now if only blogger had an iphone app....

CHEERS!

19.1.09

Mmmm....chocolate...


Joshua got us a shite-ton of Russell Stover's from home. This is my dinner. You may join me in my delicious glory by feasting your eyes on my iPhone's...eye...

I miss you greatly and think of you often. 

Brian ----------------------------------------------->
From CO.  Apparently that region is full of awesome.

We had this whole conversation about how freeing it is to skip the bull of the getting-to-know-you stages of friendship and get straight to the, y'know, friendship. 
In the same night, he asked why I don't have a blog. Then I laughed a little inside and stifled my outer giggle. I do!

So I'm not kidding when I say:

Thinking of you! <3







7.7.08

I'm So Lucky You Were Born

...not to hijack your celebration of how great it is for YOU to be alive, but seriously, how would I get through moments like this:

ring ring ring ring

Me: [Unnecessarily long necessary greeting incl. name of company and time of day.]
Pt: Hi. [displeased] I guess I need to talk to your account manager.
Me: [pause] Like, just someone who handles [trepidation] patient accounts?
Pt: Uh, Kshhyeah! [as in helloooo I just took a break from tanning in my bikini to make this call what other kind of account manager is there no duh!]

And I was lucky enough to be able to think, "Oh I gotta write 2 of 1 (as I've newly dubbed you & I b/c it is more apt) about this." So thanks for being born. That gigantic gaping hole in my soul if things had gone differently is inconceivable.

Comments on your celebration to follow.

6.7.08


To be fair, it started in Brooklyn. And Friday WAS a holiday. But I knew I had no business being wrecked with CC in the first place. I couldn't even stand properly to leave at a decent hour. So we watched Cool Hand Luke and made sandwiches in the snackster. When I finally got home, it was way past my bedtime, so I turned on Psych and fell into bed laughing.

When I awoke next morning, I stumbled through the bathroom motions of splashing water in various places and rubbing goo on my teeth to get the gunk off. I looked at my toes and realized the nail polish was chipping off. And as I fiddled with bra straps that wouldn't untwist, it became clear that I did not get up early enough to pull off wearing a dress to work. So instead of completing the look, I shoved my huge feet into skull/crossbone themed slip-ons, then tied a piece of old t-shirt to my head, pretending it was a bandana. At least it matched the dress.




At work, everyone was super cool. While I'm studying for this massive test I have to take,  Paolo comes  to tell me a manager needs to see me downstairs, stat! I'm all nervous until I realize there is not, in fact, a problem. Only a cupcake. Which I couldn't finish, so I shoved it into my locker. I even took it with me after work when CC and Duchess took me to American Apparel after work. Not that I found anything I wanted, but fun times were had trying on hoodies and staring at the mini-vid of the girl making fifteen outfits out of one slinky dress.

The problem was this: everyone asked where I was going to hang out. I didn't have an answer. I got numbers and made vague promised to launch a massive text campaign after dinner. Josh and his dad meet us at Benihana. Tati and Jesus join us for festivities  cause there is nothing more fun than chatting away while a chef tosses shrimp tails into his hat with a knife. It's sweet of Josh's dad to take us out to dinner and we're having such a good time, we invite him to come along for drinks. This is only awkward after I realize that I have nine-hundred text messages to send and I don't even know the name of the place we're going. 

It doesn't help that Tati decides now would be a good time to tell me she's gay. I'm all thinking she's messing with me again, talking about some breakthrough with her therapist. Nope. She was late to dinner because the girl she was making out with is so awesome, they lost track of time. I'm looking just ahead of us to see if Josh's dad is hearing any of this as she explains the liberating feeling of having sex with a girl.

When we get to the bard, I spend the first half hour clambering to keep up with the text conversations I've started, while keeping the vibe with the people sitting in front of me. Emily shows up with someone who's heard an awkwardly disproportionate number of stories about me. We hug and I try desperately to remember what she'd said his name was. Luckily Jonathan shows up when dude goes to the bathroom so I don't have to look like a fool introducing them. Emily cuddles with Josh, we tell stories of practical jokes gone awry, Shauna shows up and all seems well with the world.

Tati's been working thirteen days straight so she's gotta go home. Then CC says she's not comin' out. Which I respect, seeing as how she bought me lunch. But I was looking forward to hanging out. The waiter goes home so we have to settle the tab and start ordering from the bar. I end up putting in $30 to cover my own drinks. Now, it's not like I ordered a round of $10 shots, so I just shell out. Jesus feebly offers to give me twenty bucks, but by then what am I gonna say? On your birthday, friends will usually take the check away from you. If that doesn't happen, it feels a little cheap to be like, "Gimme a twenty to cover part of what I just paid..."  While everyone else avoids eye contact because they don't wanna pay any more than they have already. Cause Josh took us to a mid-town bar that charges 3.75 for a flipping Sprite. 

Then Chad shows up, ready to party. So we keep drinking even though I can tell everyone could prolly call it a night. But Birthday means obligation, so  Shauna buys me a car bomb and Josh puts his dad in a cab. Then, of course, Emily informs me of her plans with Josh. Which start with an F and end with brains out. As she's leaving to move back to London in a couple of weeks, I say "More power to ya!" and promptly order another whiskey.

Once Emily took Joshua home, we decided to blow that popsicle stand and head uptown. Funny how we end up at Sip!, Tati's bar. She finally gets a break from bartending, and we go to her place anyway. This was fun times. Chad and Shauna both live uptown so we're not far from home. Shauna and I got shrimp and Chad shared the Tzaziki that came in a bowl the size of his head. We laughed until they closed at 4 and Chad covered the drinks cause he makes more money than either of us. When we finally rolled out it was pushing 5 and the sun was threatening to show itself. I left the two at my corner and assumed they were going home. 

Josh buzzed in sometime later but I didn't see him. My head was still a little spinny and it was all I could do to press the buzzer. What got me up at 11am was the sudden and irreversible urge to pee! I heard the shower come alive behind the closed bathroom door and I knew I couldn't wait it out. I trotted up to campus and went to the student center. I got juice to nurse my hangover, and only then do I check my phone. It's been on silent since the last bar and there's one new text message. It's from Chad: "I have to wake up at ten. It's almost like what's the point..."  Sent at 5:20am. Too bad I didn't get it till noon. FAIL.

So now I'm on my way to work for a meeting. Maybe some insight before all hell breaks loose Friday. Just had to share the events of the evening.  I don't even quite understand it yet. You'll prolly understand how I feel about the night. I do feel like to dropped the ball there at the end. Sigh. All I've got to show for my weekend is Cool Hand Luke  on my phone. CC put it in my iDisk. Thank heaven for the public folder. Paul Newman makes me feel better about my own failure...to communicate...

26.6.08

Blog needs some PICTURES!

Calling all halves! Now accepting photo submissions! Find below: "Guinness, Staircase, & Soccer" as well as "Nate at The Local"




Surreptitious Shot of Soccer fans and bartender. I wish I had a better photo of this guy--he ran out at one point and took Nate's drink saying, "This beer has WAY too much head. I apologize. Let me fix this for you." Wow.

4.6.08

Hey, I can HEAR you snorting 'loser', y'know!

I do not like this thought upon waking: "Wow. I should definitely have SHUT UP way way sooner than I did last night." I am not sure if that feeling is made better or worse in instances where I went to bed already thinking, "Wow. I should really have shut up." I would like to say that I am a person with patience, someone who has a sense of decorum, someone you might describe as graceful. I would like to be charismatic and energetic enough to win people over to my way of thinking. I would like to be described as effective.

Instead, I sat at a birthday party for my friend last night, drinking too much beer, eating food that I didn't want, yelling about the failure-to-workings of my office. Saying things like, "I'm glad to be leaving," when I really meant, "I'm still frustrated that I haven't done all I could to MAKE it work." The faces of the people I was talking to SHOULD have shut me up. They were reflecting an impatient, imprudent, impudent, cad. A complainer. A psycho. Though I had no choice, it was a real act of bravery for me to rise from bed this morning. It was made no easier by the fact that I was lucky enough to be perfectly spooned against ncd's back and drooling all over his freckles.

I was so happy sleeping. Sleeping transformed a guy who was one of my main stressors yesterday back into the beloved. After all, if her were not so near and dear to my heart, he would not have the ability to be such a pressing source of anxiety, right? Gosh, makes you want to write a love song, right? Something along the lines of "you put my sanity and self image in a garbage compressor just to test it's metal..." I know--pure genius.

So that was Tuesday. Tuesday is normally quite calming what with its being yoga day and all, but when that is what happens when you ditch yoga for drinks.

Have abandoned this post, but thought I should post what I have and then I'll start afresh this week. I think that should be the theme of this week: start afresh...again and again and again if necessary (and it will be).

7pm tonight I'm supposed to meet "the Crew" people at Boca Chica in STP because Sarah Perry is in town. Was in an organizational mood and ready to keep up the 3-week tradition of listening to a stack of records and seeing what it produces, but I'll gladly ditch that for a margarita and SPerry.

ncd is at the MOA with his class today. b went with. I really wish I could see that. Just before his birthday, one of ncd's students asked him if he was going to bring cupcakes and he said he didn't think so, but anything was possible. Said student then went to ncd and said, "Your brother's bringing us cupcakes for his bday." So amused was b that he did, in fact, bring in cupcakes later that week. Ha-sucka!

And for now I'll leave you with this image: last night, I didn't go to sleep until just after 1 am when I finally put down my book, Crispin, after finishing the last of the beer I was drinking. Is that wrong? It felt grrreat!

Found out yesterday that Michael went with my misunderstanding. When I originally wrote him the note telling him we'd probably have to move out (this was at the beg. of May), I stated that we'd be leaving at the end of July. ncd informed me that our lease is up at the end of June, but when we talked to Michael yesterday, he said he was counting on the end of July. This is good in many ways (buys us all some time, for example), but makes the end of July/beginning of August ridiculously busy.

Happy Monday. I cannot believe it is only the time it is.

2.6.08

The Truth About Cats & Dogs

So, I just had a walk through the twilight of my adolescence. 
Janeane Garafalo versus Uma for the adorableness incarnate that is Ben Chaplain.
Sigh!
What's funny is how I couldn't turn it off. I must've seen this film like seven times at the 99 cent theater in Dale City. That and French Kiss. But unlike Cats & Dogs, French Kiss didn't give me that feeling in the back of my throat like my tongue was actually a rope that slid down my esophagus, so that every time I swallowed I felt a yank on the knot that tied it to my stomach. The scene where they decide to get shitfaced and see what happens, both of them vying for his affections? I'd be a different person if my early HS years weren't characterized by that peculiar sensation that comes when you realize someone is indifferent toward you because you're not...you know, someone else.  

Josh always says he would love to go back to seventh grade, armed with the knowledge he has now. You know, to show those bastards what he's made of. To fuck with them a little here and a little there. I fundamentally disagree. If I awoke in the hell that was my seventh grade, I might actually just hitch-hike to Seattle and find Nirvana. Just to say I saw a show. I'd follow the Dead for awhile before Garcia died. If anyone asked why, I'd say "Just because I can". I might convince my parents to buy stock in Microsoft for ten years, then sell it to buy stock in Apple. But I damn sure wouldn't be concerned with the girls who pulled my hair, calling it weave. Or the boys who called me names. The teachers who hated my potential because they figured I'd never live up can kiss my ass. Just like the ones who gave me the wink-and-nod to go forth into greatness deserve my undying respect and affection. But never do I dwell on such stale trauma. Perhaps Josh hasn't had anything major to throw him into existential crisis lately. Perhaps his last point of such crisis was adolescence, and so it's where his story fodder lies. Whatever the case, I find it amusing that he craves to thumb his nose at his pubescent aggressors. While I would much rather fall to my knees in humble prayer, thanking the good Lord that I made it through, limbs intact.

25.4.08

I Ate

...but first I drank beer at the Herk. I must say that I enjoy Herk beer more than most any other beer I have ever had. It is the only beer that I actually find myself craving...almost like it's a comfort food.

...and then we picked Ceara up and walked around Lake Calhoun before our 8:30 reservation at King and I Thai. As we picked up Ceara, we saw our downstairs neighbor, Barbara, all gussied up and going out somewhere. Where? To King and I Thai to benefit The Aliveness Project for people living with HIV/AIDS. Ha!

Here are the photos from our lope.



We saw Babs again at King and I. I had a delicious basil and cucumber martini.

23.4.08

not much...but hey!



























i'm walkin to work and there this was right outside the store. sheesh, right? i mean wha? how beauteous & weird!

21.4.08

Trying to hold on to some concentration...

We left after work on Thursday for Chicago and got in around 11:20p, had a beer with Mike and Liz Espinoza and then fell into a very deep sleep in their basement. On Saturday, the plan was that Mike and Nate would go stand in line at Wrigley to get good bleacher seats (we had tickets, but they're general admission so it's worth waiting to get a good spot). In the meantime, Liz would take care of some business and I would go to breakfast with Sarah (Justin was working). However, Sarah called Saturday morning sick with a stomach bug. So I happily waited in line in the gorgeous weather, watched batting practice, and actually stayed engaged with the game (it really makes a difference when I'm close enough to any sport that the players are clearly animated instead of specks). Here is a photo of Nate, my diastema, and me (seriously, I ain't seen suck a gap since that one model--what was her name?--and I was thinking the other day, Would she get a modeling job in the Extreme Makeover era? I couldn't decide.)



Right after the game, we took the L back to Mike and Liz's house, then hopped in our rental Mazda 6 (which provided Nate with endless driving fun)and set off for the rehearsal dinner in historic downtown Naperville. The dinner was delicious and it was so exciting to see Anna. Although she and I only spent a few hours together when she lived in Minneapolis I found her vivaciousness totally enchanting and feel much closer than our acquaintance probably justifies. I met her sister, Mary, who is the way coolest. I get the impression she helped a LOT with the planning since Anna and Scott live in D.C. Complete and utter charm clearly runs in the family since I would totally look Mary up to entice her to hang out when I'm in the Chicago area in the future.

Overall the rehearsal dinner was a little awkward. Nate was not in small talk mode and I was not feeling charismatic enough to overcome the fact that I was the 'and guest' part of our connection to the couple. The looks I got from the Oles upon introduction clearly showed that the last time they saw Nate he and Kelly were together and I was an object of novelty and youth. I'm so completely old (ass)hat that I found this both amusing, but my amusement wasn't really shareable since they didn't say anything. The other funny thing about the rehearsal dinner was the clear deliniation between Scott's friends who all grew up on the east coast and were super posh, and the Oles, who were clearly midwestern. For example, the east coasters wore their suits all evening. They are clearly comfortable in suits, wear 'em to work every day, and have nice ones. The Ole men mostly removed coats, like, "Dude, we WORE it here, that's totally good enough." I agree. After the dinner Nate and I spent a little time chatting with people at the bar next door, but most of them went home and eventually ended up in a corner with beers chatting our ownselves up.

We drove back to casa d'espinoza and waited for Adam and Trisha to arrive. They arrived around 12:20p and slept downstairs with us. We got up in the a.m. and donned our wedding get-ups (Trisha was showing off a sweet bandage under her nylons where she scalded the crap out of herself in the morning on her drive to work). We set forth to find somewhere to kill time before the ceremony and feed ourselves at the same time. We headed up to Aurora/Wheaton/Naperville where the wedding was and by some stroke of luck, drove by a billboard for Walter Payton's Roundhouse which bore a flag stating it was one of Esquire magazines best bars of 2008. When I suggested this to Trisha over the phone she passed it on to Adam whose reaction was ecstatic. Apparently he and Cantus once stayed in the hotel nearby and he was familiar with the place. It did turn out to be great--they have a blonde chocolate beer that has a more intense chocolate taste than any dark choco beer I've ever had--totally stunned me! (p.s. Trisha was telling me that she had a comparable beer mixed into a MALT when they visited Oregon once. Sign me up!)

The wedding happened at 2 at Anna's childhood church.

We went to the hotel afterward to check in. Trisha and I took a nap while Adam and Nate watched basketball. The reception didn't start until 6 and it was in a gorgeous house at an equestrian center. Cocktail hour was in the house and a combination of Oles and hired hands played in a string quartet while we drank whiskey and chatted much more easily with all assembled than we had the night before. For dinner, we were ushered through a windowed hallway lined with candles in hurricane glasses of varying sizes. The reception hall was a square and the walls were all windows. The colors of were Tiffany's aqua and white--tres fresca! The ceiling was wood and hung all about with wires that had 2 or three lights like candles glowing through frosted glass on. The speeches, all three, Glen's (Anna's Dad), Jeff's (Scott's best man), and Mary's(Anna's sister) were fantastic: funny, touching, but never uncomfortable or schlocky. The acquintances I amassed and Nate deepened include Jonathan Smith and Amanda Smith (nee Johnson) who live within sight of the new Yankees stadium. Jonathan strikes me as someone you would get along with quite immediately and he has a band...don't remember the name of it, but if you get a chance you should go to a concert and say hi. Or maybe you already know him/them?

Yesterday Nate and I set off around 10 and made it back in time for his softball practice. I walked Aoife (Ben and Jamie's wheaton terrier) around Lake Nokomis and then returned to my unit plan. Yeah, the unit plan basically explains why I've been such a crackpot at communication this week. In fact, instead of writing a blog at work I should be making little lesson plans, but I ain't. I'm puttin' you first even if it is to tell you that I probably won't be able to phone before Thursday. In the words of Kris & Jen, "Don't be mad." I didn't realize this dang thing was due this week until last week's class and I have NO idea how I'm gonna finish it. I spent part of our drive down ('til it got dark) and most of our ride back working on it and it is still a wee fledgling and looking sort of mangled as if someone is using tongs to birth it. Only this week's class, a bunch more work to get ready for next week's class, and then that is it for classes that I have to take before student teaching. Just don't let me forget to take the Praxis II, okay?

So I guess here I go to get back to it. Forgive me for not proofreading this. And here is a parting picture of Adam, Trisha, Mary, and Nate.

16.4.08

Taxes done!

Now all i gotta do is erase the fibro from my weary bones and get crackin on that screenplay....


but here's a  pic from the subway. just a moment i noticed between strangers. they always sit on opposite ends of the bench. never fails.

14.4.08

...and another thing

Funny, I hadn't thought about that article about our inability to accurately predict the decisions that will make us happy in the future. Lo and behold, as soon as I forward that, here's another article about other things we're not so hot at predicting.

Happy Monday Back on the Horse

For your viewing amusement, here is a picture I found of me at graduation. I remember when I had Justin shavey shave it off that I was convinced it would grow enough before our next Ole Choir concert (graduation) that it could pass as just 'very short'. Seems awfully short, but that Dr. A didn't mind, as you recall, just said, "Girl, whatdjou do to your hair?!" Ha!



Happy Monday. I'm 2 hours in and 6 to go, baby! Oh, and my computer is telling me that perhaps I already used my iWork trial so is that bad? I'm I still gonna be able to just feed it the numbers and download it or will you have to actually mail me the software?

Lovies!!!