above the blue pool

Training weekend

2011-05-25T08:22:00.005-05:00

This past weekend our rowing group had coach Carlos Dinares in from Seattle to do some intensive training. And it was intensive! My main takeaway was: stop being weak. Stop hiding behind my pretty okay technique and actually put some power into that sh*t. Since then, I've really felt it in my upper body, which I think must mean that I'm working harder. I knew that I had been slacking, I just really needed something to get me back to pushing myself again.

Here's a video of Fran and I AFTER a little work. Better on the strong finishes, I personally still need to work on getting more "bite" on the catch, as Carlos says. But this was only the first day, so it was decent progress!

Present!

2011-05-25T08:19:00.002-05:00

Ok. All right. Ok.

I'm here. I'm here!

Next come the good ideas.

2010-12-19T20:20:00.003-06:00

In an effort to NOT make "get back to blogging!" one of my New Year's resolutions, I'm getting back to it now. Plus, I just joined Twitter and I'm kind of enjoying it, so I feel like I should keep up with my other digital communications.

I've been so enjoying the lead-up to the holidays! My classes are over and work is slowing down, so I've been able to be in the house doing fun holiday-ish things like cooking and decorating and crafting so much more often than I normally can. Also, we got a ridiculous new TV somehow. (Brian: Let's just walk around Best Buy for fun! Me: Cool, I need a new bluetooth thingy for my phone. Brian: Omg, look at this amazing tv! Whhhaaat? It's 60% off? No interest for three years?! Me: Do it. Fill out whatever papers are necessary and meet me at West Elm.) So I've been able to watch episodes of 30 Rock and Glee while I make crafts and stew. ;)

There. Those random thoughts weren't so hard to type out. Boring, but not difficult. Welcome back to me.

Po! Len! Ta!

2010-07-26T20:27:00.002-05:00

YUM.

Upon hearing that Brian had both a) lots of work at the office, and b) plans to see Predator with a friend, I promptly came home and whipped myself up a LOVELY meal of organic broccolini and grilled polenta (stovetop instead of real grill, out of propane, sadly) topped with pesto, tomato, and parmesan. Also, last week we got a Groupon for a poopload of great California wines for like, 70% off the original price of $poopload. Chilled sauvignon blanc? Don't mind if I do!

Sal and I lounged around and enjoyed the summery evening, and the polenta was so damn good that I got right back up and grilled myself another piece, this time attempting to make it a "dessert polenta." I must say, my strawberry polentacake adventure was not half bad!

For more tales of culinary adventure, check out my sis's blog for the play-by-play on this weekend's Great Hotdog Cookoff!

Dad's day

2010-06-21T14:53:00.003-05:00

So, in an effort to reach BOTH of our respective patriarchs at the SAME TIME, Brian and I hosted a Father's Day gathering, which was just us, our parents, and Brian's sister and brother in-law. And. It. Was. Lovely!

It was exactly the kick in the pants that we needed to clean up our stupid house (which, I commented to Brian last week, was "starting to look like one of those places they take kids away from permanently"), organize our deck for summer awesomeness, and get ourselves actually cooking some lovely seasonal food!

I had a fantastic time at the farmer's market (complete with sunburn), buying all the veggies, cheese, and flowers to craft our celebration. This was followed by a trip to Holzkopf's meat market, also known as My New Favorite Deli. Now, I generally leave the meatrotica to my sis, the significantly more accomplished and knowledgeable chef and sausagephile. But this time (apart from a phone consultation with said sister on appropriate kebab quantities), it was aaaallll moi. I got me some lamb sausages, shrimp, and pork kebabs, and no shortage of friendly Chicago guidance from the most neatly dressed butcher I've ever met. As I paid for my purchases, he asked "first time here?" When I said yes, a customer next to me added, "you'll be back." I will indeed.

I WISH I had taken photos of the party that ensued...our newly arranged deck, the colorful food, and of course, Sal resting under the table praying frantically for kebab spills. (He just got groomed! He is the softest!) Alas, I was too busy scarfing kebabs, my mom's salad, and my sister in-law's ridiculously yummy semifreddo. And accentuating the party mood with tunes from my iphone, which would also have been my camera, had I thought of it. In summary, I was too busy putting on a badass bbq to deal with documenting it.

But never fear! The 4th of July and my birthday are soon to be celebrated!

Happy summer, yo.

Oh Mr. Sun!

2010-03-24T17:04:00.002-05:00

Spring is almost here, and I am trying my best to crawl out of my little hole of overwhelming winterness...I think, along the way somewhere, I took a wrong turn and hit spring allergies or something. Anyway, this past week getting motivated for anything has been tough. I really want to start blogging again, however, so in an effort to get something posted, I'll just point you to my sister's newish blog. She started it a few months ago, and it's provided me with almost-daily foodie hilarity. Check it out here.

Enjoy. (ah-choo.)

Letting myself go...

2009-11-30T10:28:00.004-06:00

...and it has been delicious!

Here are the things I've made in the past week or so:

- Roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta. Oh. My. Word. These are so delicious, I made them twice. And the first time I forgot the butter/lemon juice, and it was so great that I didn't add it the second time! In fact, I believe that butter on the pure deliciosity of brussels with pancetta it would be overkill. That's right, Bobby Flay, you overdid it this time, says me. This brings me much closer to my sub-goal of cooking more, which is not always having to follow a recipe!

- Carrot-turnip-ginger soup. Okay, so maybe I got a little overconfident with the no-recipe thing, and I just "threw" in a few root veggies and stock, not exactly paying attention to the proportions of ginger to other ingredients. I thought it was a little too much ginger (although Brian was into it), and it was nothing that couldn't be covered up with a generous handful of parmesan. Better the next day, and I'm still eating it!

- Basic quiche. Had some friends over for brunch yesterday and I went back to an old standard (ok I've made it once before but it was deeeelish), compliments of RealSimple. It's all about the gruyere, baby. And yes, I am OKAY with frozen pie crusts in the tins. That's a new sub-goal: pastry and pie crusts. But in the meantime, I will not be ashamed!

- And finally, Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies. Also so good I made them twice, once regular size, once mini. So so bad, and so soooooooooo good.

It's blurry cause I couldn't wait to eat them.

Back to BK.

2009-11-18T13:46:00.004-06:00

My sister Annie and her doggie Lorenzo are moving to Brooklyn. I feel like she just moved back! Waaah. I'm excited for her though, since she got a sweet new job and what sounds like an amazing apartment. And it means I get to visit New York more!

Now that her job will be all interesting and stuff, does that mean less foodie blog posts from her? I hope not! That would mean I need to actually post more myself...

Snort.

(Just kidding-- I'm making an effort! I swear!)

Knot: Tied.

2009-09-24T19:00:00.004-05:00

You guys, you guys... we GOT MARRIED!!!

I know most people must feel this way, but there are really no words to describe the day and how perfect it was, every detail went above and beyond our expectations. Of course I'm talking about the beauty of the locations, and the decor and food and flowers and tables, because those. Were. AMAZING. But I also mean the intangible details, the things that made us stop, and gasp, and feel intoxicated: the fact that the sun came out as I was walking to my parents' house to get ready, the unbelievable ceremony, the vows that expressed perfectly how we feel about one another, the music, the fact that everyone stood around outside the church next to the lake listening to my cousin play jazz, the way everyone wove their way around Salvage One during the cocktail hour, exploring and taking pictures of all the amazing pieces, the way it looked when I turned around on the little stage and saw an absolute sea of smiling loving faces looking up at us, the incredible toasts, Brian and I sneaking away for awesome pictures, our first dance, my dad and I doing a salsa, my sister, cousin and I busting out a surprise Irish dance, the donuts, the way nobody left the dance floor, and the fact that we WERE, thankfully, able to stop during every one of these moments and actually savor it's beauty and not let it go by in a whirlwind like everyone said it would.

Sorry if that's too much. But that's how it felt.

I'm still eagerly awaiting the photos from our absolutely incredible photographer (check her out at vraiphoto.com! Seriously!), but here is a little taste she sent and one of my faves. Because, of course, all that stuff I just talked about was about these two happy lovebirds right here...

Honeymoon details to come...

Gasp.

2009-07-26T16:00:00.002-05:00

The wedding is in five weeks.

Tess!

2009-06-11T20:24:00.002-05:00

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning I was honored to have been woken up by the call informing me that our darling Susie had a beautiful baby girl!! Tess Vivian Borkin was born June 9, 2009, a healthy 7lbs., 7oz. Sus is absolutely amazing, did it all naturally and somehow had the strength to be standing up in the first pictures they sent!

I can't wait to meet this little one!

Everybody loves to see their name in print.

2009-04-29T12:27:00.002-05:00

Recently Brian and I were at a fundraising thing for this nonprofit he volunteers with, and we spent the whole time chatting with the college student interns. They were so adorable and in the middle of college excitement, getting all concerned with future plans, grad school, jobs. When I told them what I did and mentioned that I didn't know how much longer I would work there before moving on to some other unknown job, they expressed extreme surprise that "someone in their mid-twenties can STILL not really know what they want to do!"

HA! I feel like none of my friends is certain about what they want to do! But I totally understand the interns' viewpoint: once you get in a career, usually you stay there, right? That's what I always thought too.

I've had lots of other stuff occupying my mind lately, so I haven't given much thought to changing jobs in a little while. For a long time, there I was searching all kinds of possibilities, memorizing the weekly job posting days and times for certain sites, looking into programs I'd previously never considered, etc. I've felt that there isn't a huge amount of growth possible for me where I currently am, though it is fulfilling and often fun work, and I really truly use both my abilities and my education daily. And my schedule is really flexible, which can't be discounted as a perk.

Things got sort of fun lately at work, basically because one of the events I had done went really well and got me lots of compliments from my boss and confidence from those I supervise. At the beginning of the school year (I work in education at a non-profit), I felt a little lost, having been thrown into a role I never had ("YOU asked for more responsibility!" my boss snarked, even though I know they just put me in the role cause they desperately needed someone). I got some exciting program ideas, and also decided just to get started on the current spring and summer stuff and scale back a little, not think about work too much at all and focus on the wedding, the weather, and all the other fun stuff I've got going on.

So imagine my surprise when I got to work this morning and discovered a box of business cards on my desk, with MY name on them. Hilarious, since I've worked here for three years and filled out the form for the cards about a year and a half ago. What was this, some sort of reminder that I'm still attached and committed to this place? "Psst! We heard you were thinking about leaving, but look at these pretty cards! Whhoooooooo....pretty caaaaaaards..."

Sadly, that kind of worked for a second, too. I mean I wouldn't hesitate to leave if I found something else, but having a box full of my official deets on a cheaply printed card with colorful logo was kind of exciting. Too bad I didn't have it at the conference I went to two weeks ago. Sigh!

This is not a home blog.

2009-03-27T09:00:00.003-05:00

However, I do have a new home, and I'm planning a wedding, which means that lots of the time (not free time, of course-- I only do this when I should be working in some way), I find myself browsing around many many design/decor/inspiration blogs that are filled with photographs that I know I will never get around to replicating.

They are beautiful though, aren't they? My sister said that she's tired of "inspiration," and I understand the sentiment: let's just pick something and move on! But then again, that's how she and I are different-- I've never been good at making decisions. I need to look at examples first. And it's rare to have a blank canvas the way I do now, so for the moment I'm going to pretend I'm a real blogger, and pick a decor category and show you a bunch of fun pictures!!

Today's decor category (and there may only be one, ever): Plate collages!

I have a small collection of antique plates given to me by my grandmother and my great aunt. They are pretty, and fragile, and painted with really cool flowers. I'd always wanted to do something with them, and then I started noticing the trend of hanging them on the wall, but in really interesting and unexpected ways. Check it out:

From Apartment Therapy
**Bonus detail! I like this birdcage, although not the fake bird. But I have an amazing old birdcage of my own that actually housed parakeets during my childhood...what could be done with that? You tell me.

From Apartment Therapy

From Living Etc.

From Domino

Pretty, huh? Now, how in the world does one actually hang plates?!

Uh-huh!

2009-03-12T10:35:00.002-05:00

Yes I did make this soup last night! And yes it did only take about 15 minutes from start to finish! And yes it did taste delicious!

Note: I actually didn't use the fava beans or artichokes-- didn't have the beans and didn't feel like steaming the artichoke, and it was still totally yummy. This is one of those recipes where you can use whatever is in season. I definitely recommend the mint though, it really brightens up the flavor!

Spring Vegetable Soup

Serves 4

1 small bunch leeks
sliced prosciutto
extra-virgin olive oil
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup fresh fava beans
1 cup spinach
1 cup asparagus
8 small artichokes
sea salt and pepper
2 tablespoons mint

Using a big, deep pot, sauté a handful of chopped leeks and several torn prosciutto slices in olive oil. After a few minutes, pour in 6 cups chicken stock and bring to a boil. Mix in 1 cup each peeled, blanched fava beans, chopped spinach, chard and asparagus, plus 8 cut-up steamed artichoke hearts (setting aside a dozen chunks for Tuesday's kebabs). Simmer soup for a few minutes, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and top with a couple tablespoons chopped mint leaves. Serve with crusty bread and a hunk of English cheddar.

You're welcome!

Get the original post here for a limited time (Domino is closing! Sniff!)

Inauguration.

2009-02-02T21:42:00.004-06:00

We went. Drove 12 hours, stayed with Abbey's dad... crushed ourselves happily in with 2 million other ecstatic people.

It was incredible.

My newest nephew.

2008-12-15T20:42:00.005-06:00

This is Lorenzo.

Ready for the first day of puppy preschool!

He was technically my Christmas present to my sister Annie, although he entered our lives just a couple of days after Thanksgiving. His shelter name was Twitch, which Annie quickly changed to the more majestic and fitting Lorenzo de Medici, after the great Renaissance patron of the arts. I think he lives up to his name. Just as the original made his way into so many of the paintings and murals of the great Italian masters, so has our little man made his way into our hearts! Obviously it wasn't hard for me, I've wanted a dog my entire life, but this doggie has some major power. I have never in my entire life seen my mother pet a dog, and she actually willingly held him on her lap and fed him, while my dad slips him meat under the table!

He's our little man!

HOORAAAAYYYYY!!!!

2008-11-05T09:41:00.003-06:00

This has totally not set in yet. I am SO excited about this election, the climate, and Obama in general. I could barely tear myself away from the TV this morning to go to work, and when I walked in a group of people were standing near the elevator and we all looked at each other and cheered.

Yesterday was an amazing day-- after I voted, Shannon and I drove to Indiana to do some final day canvassing for Obama since that state was so crucial... we got back and had people over to watch the returns, and Brian got a ticket to the election party in Grant Park! I really wish I could have gone, but by that point we already had people over. It must have been incredible. I watched the speech and cried.

And Annie made amazing food, of course: kale and prosciutto soup, salad, homemade bread, and to top it all off, the most American of apple pies!

GOBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boston, etc.

2008-10-27T10:20:00.010-05:00

Unrelated to this post: I just devoured almost an entire bag of dried mango. It was the special kind that I love, the no-sugar-added stuff from Trader Joe's. I made the mistake of bringing what was left of the large bag to work, thinking I could save what I didn't eat. Who was I kidding? And while we're on the subject of dried mango, on the way home from the store the other night when Brian and I were eating it in the car, I had a particularly tough piece and when I finally succeeded in tearing off a chunk with my teeth, my hand flew to the side and the sharp edge of the mango actually scratched my face. Mango casualty.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

I raced in my very first Head of the Charles Regatta this year, the biggest rowing race of its kind in the world! The weekend before last I flew to Boston and got to stay with my cousin Dan and his wife Cedar, who are the best couple ever and are 7 months pregnant! They have a beautiful condo in Belmont that they have clearly taken their time with-- the decor fits just perfectly in the space (older, with hardwood floors and awesome trim), and they remodeled their kitchen themselves. Anyway, it was the perfect homey place to hang out between the craziness of the Charles events.

And it is definitely crazy. Hundreds and hundreds of people race there... so many, in fact, that each individual is only allowed to row in a single event. It was a curvy course full of bridges and one 180-degree turn, not so easy for a gal in a single. I practiced on Friday afternoon and it was really exciting-- I'd never rowed on the Charles before and to row past so many super old, well-established boathouses was super cool. I then had to wait the whoooole weekend to race, since my event wasn't until Sunday afternoon. I spent lots of time on the Weeks Footbridge cheering on teammates, including my dad, who looked great in his double. I had plenty of time to wander around Harvard Square, though I wish I'd had more time to walk the whole city, cause it's one of my favorites. I got to have noodles with Schutt and talk about theatre and life stages and relationships, and I wish we lived in the same place! I strolled and caught up with Paul right before my event, and he was semi-successful in taking my mind off of the incredible nervous feeling I had as the wind got stronger and stronger... and finally I was on the water! My dad and Fran helped me launch and the 5k row up to the start line felt like forever. It felt good, however, to finally be on the water instead of thinking about it obsessively. I knew that my race was a super competitive event full of ridiculously fast women, all of who probably knew the course better than me, so my expectations in terms of placement weren't super high-- I just wanted to row a good race and look decent going past the crowds! Rowing up there I felt like a lost little kid on the first day of school...petrified, yet super excited. The basin where the start line is was also the place with the roughest weather, so they started us quickly and I, unfortunately, scraped my oar on the railroad bridge at the start. That caused me to almost completely stop, which of course helped three rowers pass me almost immediately. Ironically, I steered a great course from then on! I felt like I couldn't actually put a lot of power into the strokes because I was constantly worried about steering and turning, but I didn't get passed by everyone (one of my measures of success), and nobody saw me make any major mistakes! If you really want to know what my placement was, you can look at the race website. I'm event 44. I finished, ahem, nowhere near the front. ;)

Moi, heading through the Weeks Bridge and halfway done!

The point is, I am no longer a Head of the Charles newbie, and next year I know exactly what to look for and how to prepare. And I know also to get there several days before and stay several days after, cause Boston saw not nearly enough of me this time!

Betrothed!

2008-09-22T17:44:00.002-05:00

Those of you who are still loyal readers (why? I am a terrible blogger!) are probably family and friends who already know this, but just in case...

Brian and I got engaged!

Happiness and a ring pop.

It was perfect. On September 5th I was frantically packing for a weekend in Michigan when he came home from work and mysteriously led me to my parents' backyard, where there was a picnic blanket and champagne. He proposed in the most beautiful way and I accepted (duh), after which he presented me with a pink plastic ring pop, a placeholder of sorts, until we could go looking together and find something perfect that I loved.

But wait! There's more! That night I was only told we'd be going "somewhere" at 9pm. We arrived at Juicy Wine Co., and on the lovely roof deck were both of our families, ready to toast us with champagne and cheese, and amazing pumpkin cookies ordered specially by Brittnye from One Girl Cookies in Brooklyn. And just as I was remarking that One Girl is right near Susie's house in Cobble Hill, who should walk in but Susie herself!! Unbelievable. We had a great night with our families, and I thought it couldn't get better. Just then, of course, it did. Early the next morning I was surprised by the arrival of Abbey, from the opposite coast. She, Susie, Annie, Brian and I went on our first ring shopping trip all together, and I couldn't imagine a more special group to have there.

Our moms were wearing the same shirt by accident. Isn't that weird?

The week continued... as an additional surprise, Brian planned a little extended weekend trip to Mexico City, a place I've always wanted to go. We hit museums, Teotihuacan, tons of restaurants, and even more neighborhoods. And when we got back to Chicago, I found the perfect ring: an Art Deco antique from the 30s.

Can you even believe all that?! I'm so lucky.

Plans for the actual big day are in the works, and we found a venue, which means we can chill a bit and just fantasize about possibilities for just a little while longer. I'll post more details when we've chosen an official date...

iSummer

2008-07-30T00:11:00.005-05:00

Remember me? I'm back from Insane Six Weeks of Summer '08! It was a good one, a nice mix of your everyday summer rowing competitions seasoned with a little improv study and topped with a birthday-time family reunion. I don't know why I say I'm "back," because not much has ended except for races. But still.

In other news, I got an iPhone! Holy crap, I know. It was an AMAZING birthday present from Bridget, Bill, Patti, and Brian, and it has definitely changed my life. But not in the annoying way, where I always look at it and not at real people. At least I think. Instead, it helps me keep up with correspondence and items that I would otherwise not get to during the day and have to deal with late at night (like I'm doing now), and also allows me to not have to call Brian once a day to ask him to go into my email and find some essential bit of information that I neglected to write down. And, it has GPS. GPS, people! For some reason this blows my mind, probably because I've experienced GPS very very few times before. Like, there is actually a dot that represents me on a map created by an object in space. And it helped us find our race course in New Jersey like seven different times. Unreal.

That's all. I don't talk about many things other than rowing and iPhones these days, it seems. At least I'm talking about something.

Inspiración.

2008-06-08T12:51:00.003-05:00

Am I alive? Yes.

It's been a long and extremely busy few weeks. First, my organization put on the first Chicago Mexican and Latino Book Fair, which was a great success and a ton of work. However, because of the event I had the pleasure of hosting several amazing artists from Latin America. First, this woman stayed with me for a weekend, and she was incredible. A children's book author, storyteller, singer, and social lecturer from Mexico, she entertained me for two days with stories, hilarious wordplays, and songs. Literally. She pulled out the guitar and sang for me in my apartment. And after that, we lent the apartment to four members of Teatro Trono, an incredible youth and street theater/arts group from Bolivia and my favorite performers ever. People at work kept thanking me for driving them around and making sure they got fed and stuff like that, but it was a serious privilege to go to different schools and workshops and watch them mesmerize kids and adults alike.

So there was that. And THEN, it was Memorial Day weekend and the whole sculling (rowing) team went up to our teammate's beautiful house in Michigan on the St. Joseph river. We rowed for five hours each day, cooked a lot, ate a ton, napped, got massages, nursed our hand blisters and sore muscles, watched World Championship rowing races on DVD and generally chillaxed as much as we could while still being competitive. I seriously did not want to leave, ever.

Double race pieces...

Now I'm trying to get back to that long lost place where I cooked the veggies that we get delivered each week and actually spend time in the apartment. But it's like 90 degrees, which makes me not want to be inside with our dinky fan. So we'll see.

Fennel and apples and chives, oh my!

2008-04-29T21:24:00.004-05:00

Things I haven't been doing much of: sleeping, blogging.

Things I have been doing a lot of: rowing, improv, COOKING!

Let's talk about that last item, shall we? Okay! The story behind it is, we joined a CSA with Brittnye a few weeks ago. If you're not familiar with CSAs, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and when you join one, you regularly receive a box full of veggies and fruit from local farms. You're supporting local food production, in this case organic, and you get whatever is in season, whether it be root vegetables, apples, or garlic. In our case, we actually get home delivery once a week, and the produce comes from several local farms, so we always get lots of different stuff.

This has revolutionized my life.

I was already trying to cook more, but this... this is special. I was unprepared for the joy I would feel at peeking out the back door and seeing that non-descript gray cooler box waiting for me. I pulled out the surprises one by one, gazing at them, smelling them, feeling their weight in my hands. Fennel! Leeks! Carrots! Kale! Everything I sliced emitted amazing aromas, even the shiitake mushrooms. If you know me at all, you know that I normally stay far, far away from any type of mushroom. I've tried to like them, I really have. But in this case, I didn't have to try. Those babies had me at "oh, what's in this little paper bag?" They looked so fresh and were so aromatic that I promptly made a fennel-mushroom sautee and loved every bite of it.

And it's only gotten better from there. Between in-depth gmail chat conversations with my foodie sister, emails/phone calls with Brittnye (Brian's foodie sister), and some quality time with Marcella Hazan, a sort of magic began. The thrill of seeing what I could do with what had arrived on the back porch--knowing the quality of everything was always great--became addicting. Roasted beets, leek pesto, the best freaking green beans ever... I think I'm in love.

Happy Spring!

Oh wait, I have a blog too?

2008-04-06T19:17:00.002-05:00

Yeesh, sorry about that. Busy couple of weeks, much less time spent with computer! A few things I've been up to (#1 is the reason I didn't use the computer at work, and #2 is the reason I'm always too exhausted to do anything once I get home):

1. The Fourth Grade Play that Would Never Die finally kicked the bucket. Thank god. I didn't think I could spend any more time telling 9-year-olds to speak up. For those who don't know, it really doesn't matter, but this was the culmination of a drama residency I did at a couple of schools with fourth graders. Of course, everyone wants to see a "product," so we had to do something and the whole process kind of took forever, with every day the last week becoming a big effort. Still, the performances were cute, and the kids really amazed me with their effort and ability to memorize lines and blocking. And the parents got pictures and video, which is ultimately what's important, not actually be able to hear the lines, right?

2. It may have been a week ago, but I believe I'm still feeling the effects of Physical Challenge Weekend 2008. It all started with the fact that about a month ago I started rowing again, a lot, with a new intense coach. I didn't plan it that way, but last weekend I ended up having to do a 6km erg (rowing machine) test on Saturday and then the Shamrock Shuffle on Sunday. It really wasn't all that dramatic, but I was proud of myself for never puking throughout the whole weekend and getting through both events better than I expected! Since then we've been able to finally start rowing on the water, so it's still taking up most mornings...

That's what I've been up to, pretty normal stuff. Be back with more exciting things (hopefully) very soon!

Cold feet?

2008-03-12T09:59:00.001-05:00

Is it appropriate to wear flats yet?

Cause it's like 42 degrees, but it's so darn sunny.

I don't think I can bear to put boots on one more time.

A project.

2008-02-27T10:19:00.005-06:00

You know how there are some blogs that you get in the habit of reading, just because you stumbled upon them? Well I have a few of those. There's one in particular that I love, the blog of a friend of a friend (actually the friend of a sibling's ex-boyfriend, if we want to get technical). It's just a regular blog, pretty because she has web design experience, and I really like her writing. After I read her posts I often find that I begin composing posts in my head with a similar voice, which of course never come out like I wish they would. I think there were a few times when I almost even met her in person, but I never actually did. Several times I've wanted to comment on her posts, but something stopped me...maybe I liked being a secret reader, or maybe I just didn't want to startle her. Silly, I know.

Anyway, I've decided to rip off her new idea, which is part group project, part blog challenge: inviting readers of the blog and friends to submit photos, self-portraits to be exact, with the theme "Your Environment." That can mean whatever you want it to mean. The catch? Photos should be taken with either webcam or old-school digital equipment only: think PhotoBooth, plain digital cam, or even cell phone. No altering of images at all except to add borders.

For example:

Self Portrait with Salad Bowl

Feel free to either add your photos to the Flickr group here, or post them on your own blog. Or hell, send them to me and I'll post them for you if you want!

Go!

Clear air.

2008-02-26T07:38:00.003-06:00

It's hard to blog every day when you're in the middle of nowhere with not even cell phone service, let alone internet. Which is where I was. For a few days.

On the weekend we drove like a million hours to Hayward, Wisconsin, where Brian's friend's family has a house. It's one of those places that's decorated with images of frolicking bears, moose silhouettes, and old-timey snowshoes. The whole area was blanketed in white, and we spent our time playing games and cooking in the warmth, as well as snowmobiling (or "snow machining," as Susie says Alaskans say), across the vast, frozen lake. I was as freaked out as my mom would be at first ("On a frozen lake?!"), but it took me about three minutes to become accustomed to the air on my face, the bouncing over treacherous bumps, and the high speeds. I would have called them breakneck speeds, except that when we got back Brian made my wussy ass get off the snowmobile so he could take it, alone, up to speeds of 100 mph. I guess I wasn't quite as daredevil as I thought. But whatever! Anything that requires a full face helmet (see photo) is adventurous in my book.

Yuriy.

2008-02-21T20:37:00.007-06:00

Yuriy was the first person to ever teach me how to hold an oar handle, when I was 15, and I knew him for eleven years after that.

He taught me about form and power, discipline and endurance. He was the best motivator I ever encountered, and an incredible personality. A former Soviet women's rowing coach from the Ukraine, he knew how to guide people gradually yet constantly, pushing them past their thresholds and making them realize their strength, while at the same time making them laugh. He helped me carry my boat to the dock every day (even though I should have done it myself), and when he patted my back and said "good girl," I knew he approved of my work. And I wanted his approval-- if I knew he was waiting for me at a practice, very few excuses could cause me to skip it.

He was kind, and aware, and an entertainer. A constant presence at the boathouse, he touched the lives of so many, my entire family included. I can't imagine what it will be like without his greetings at the gate ("Good moooorning! You sleepy girl?"), his tools and his tinkering, his buzz words ("jump!" "special squats" "rest time!" "ups! ups!"), his coach boat zipping around and causing waves for everybody, or his classical music playing while we suffer on the ergs. One of the last times I saw him, he asked if he could accompany us to Argentina to work as our "personal security." I wish he had! When I row I'll miss looking at his handwritten workout plan taped to the stern, but most of all, I'll miss things like his facial expressions, his voice, and the possibility of in impromptu waltz with him on the dock.

He lived so well, though, and I can only hope to be as strong and committed as he was at his age. He will continue to inspire us, and he will be missed.

Glory hole, indeed.

2008-02-11T12:35:00.000-06:00

Possibly the best part of learning a new skill is learning the unique terminology. I thought rowing vocabulary sounded dirty (e.g. the coxswain commands you to take harder strokes but avoid catching crabs), but now I believe that glassblowing may win the prize. "Puntie," "annealer," and, ahem, "glory hole" are just a few of the everyday gems. Add to that the fact that you work with glowing, radiating pits of heat, and it's pretty much amazing.

Omg, glassblowing is so wacky and cool! Let me be clear, I didn't actually do any literal blowing this time, apparently that's just another part of the technique and the next step for me, if they get me back in the studio for more classes. But I DID get to wear sunglasses and use a long-ass stainless steel pole and tools to gather, heat up, apply color to, and mold some super duper hot glass! My class was one-on-one and I left a lovely paperweight cooling in some crazy machine that gradually takes it from like 960 degrees to zero.

Apparently that process takes a few days, so I don't technically have my creation in-hand yet. And I have no idea whether I will actually pursue this kind of thing further, but I do know that I loved it, that I can now talk intelligently for a very short while on a new subject, and that it was an amazing, fun present. Thanks Bri!

Craftacular.

2008-02-08T07:59:00.000-06:00

So if my last post was late on Wednesday night (10 is late for me!) and the next one is early on Friday morning, does that count as a Thursday post? How about two today?

Crap, better get thinking.

What's really on my mind is the fact that I'm having the craftiest weekend ever! First, a long long time ago (Christmas 2006), Brian gave me the awesome gift of an intro-to-glassblowing class. It's one of those things I'd said I had always wanted to try, and he definitely delivered. Unfortunately, I couldn't get myself together to schedule it until now. I'm super psyched, all I know is that it's one-on-one and I get to make my own object.

Continuing the crafty trend, I am going to finally begin setting up a few silkscreening things. It won't be the beautiful workshop where I learned serigrafia:

Papelera Palermo, te extraaaaaño!

But I'm excited to make some of my own stuff. Now if I can just manage to not get too distracted...

Throat of Fire.

2008-02-06T22:05:00.000-06:00

When we were in Ecuador, we spent a while enjoying a gorgeous area, full of mountains and waterfalls and hiking and biking and thermal baths, which also just happened to be right under an active volcano. Active, as in constantly puffing. The last time it erupted was in 2006, and then it erupted today!

Holy crap!

According to AP/NYTimes, the volcano shot ash 6 miles into the air, and 3,000 people had to be evacuated. Sounds like the land in the area is greatly affected and sort of cut-off for the time being, but no major human disasters reported, fortunately. I hope people can begin to experience this amazing area again soon.

Isn't it crazy?

Nameless Blog Challenge

2008-02-04T13:08:00.000-06:00

Let's face it, I've been wanting to be one of those people that updates her blog often. And yesterday I found this thing.

I should totally do this! Right? Should I?

Thoughts?

Ha!

2008-02-04T10:33:00.000-06:00

The game was exciting at the end and all, but more importantly, this was my very favorite Super Bowl commercial:

Brilliant.

(Addendum: Because I made too many toffee almond bars for the Super Bowl yesterday and I didn't want to be surrounded by them at home, I left a tupperware full of them in the kitchen/lunch area at work. They were gone within two hours. I'm just saying.)

Falling Slowly

2008-02-03T22:39:00.000-06:00

Have you seen the movie Once? Because if you haven't, you should. I'm not one to do Oscar lists or anything like that, but I thought this film was particularly beautiful, simple, and different.

It's a musical of sorts, but nothing like you would expect. The film is about musicians, and the actors in the leading roles are musicians in real life, and composed and performed all of the songs. I just found their performances to be so honest and sincere, and the music so melodic, that I'm thinking about it long after seeing it about a month ago. Check it out! (If you're interested in more, the stars, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, were interviewed on NPR's Sound Opinions about their quick rise from struggling musicians to international stars.)

And 57 layers of clothing.

2008-01-23T10:57:00.000-06:00

It's a little late (like almost a week), but I must mention that Susie and Josh came to town last weekend and it was the best time ever! This is always the case when they visit, though, so that part isn't a surprise. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to matter at all what we do when they visit, it's always a fun time. The reason this is fortunate is because over the weekend we had the coldest. weather. ever. That special brand of crystal clear, frozen-inside-of-nose-burny-fingertips weather.

But did we let that stop us? No, we did not! Below are some of the things that were accomplished over those three days (because it's always about quantity, people!), despite the great icy adversity we faced. A tally o' fun, if you will:

1 aMAZing batch of toffee almond bars;
1 birthday party with endless bite-sized hors d'ouevres (mmmm...pigs in a blanket...why are you not more present in my life? );
2 meals at Sunrise Cafe;
1 game of Apples to Apples;
1 all-inclusive game of Wii bowling;
2 games of Wii boxing. Dave made it look like dancing and Josh made it look like an example video of how the Wii remote should ALWAYS be strapped to your wrist;
1 unexpected and deeeeelicious meal of homemade beef stew and macaroni and cheese (courtesy of wonderful Pete and Robin);
1 very large table of teachers at brunch at Flying Saucer, made possible by the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.;
Countless long overdue, overly detailed conversations about nothing and everything.

I like "list posts." Pat on the back for good reflective practice! Miss you Sus and Josh...

To-go coffee will do.

2008-01-16T10:18:00.000-06:00

Okay, maybe at 6:45am in Chicago I've been awake for a considerable amount of time and I'm either exercising or freezing my butt off outside, while at the same time when we were in Argentina I was still sleeping! Maybe at 12pm in Chicago I'm usually quickly finishing what's left of my lunch (the rest of it having been surreptitiously consumed at my desk between 9:30 and 10am), while in Argentina I was having a leisurely cup of coffee from the french press or, let's face it, maybe still sleeping! Maybe between 2 and 5pm here I am rushing to or from a school for programming, trying to answer the phone in the car while simultaneously inserting a hands-free earpiece, operating a stick shift, and executing a left turn in heavy traffic, while in South America I was seeing a cultural sight, going on a boat ride, working on a silkscreen project, or volunteering at a youth arts organization! Cereal versus steak! Alarm clocks versus the tango!

But do not feel bad for me!

Seriously though, do NOT feel bad for me. I jest. Yes, we had a wonderful time and we'll never get to be that carefree again, but this post is actually about how I am happy with being back. Our transition back into "real" life has actually gone quite beautifully, if I do say so myself. First of all, we timed it perfectly, getting back the minute before Christmas. Just in time for warm houses and festivities and stockings and trees. For dancing to the music I brought home while getting the house ready for the family party, for my sister's osso bucco and ridiculous almond tarts. Then there was moving back in, and New Years, and having the chance to just reorganize everything. (Again, "organization." I'm on it.)

I've even been fine so far with the cold and going back to work. I have a lot of high hopes for my job in general and it looks like (fingers crossed) things may be going the way I want them too. I am busy and stimulated and taking on more responsibility. And the best part is, I'm only working with one organization instead of three.

Again, it's been less than two weeks back in full swing, but it's been great. I wouldn't mind a big, delicious, inexpensive steak though.

Another year, another blog header image.

2008-01-09T08:55:00.000-06:00

Hi! I'm back. Happy New Year!

Thank goodness I'm one of those people who thinks change is usually exciting and fun. Brian and I were able to leave everything and be really excited about taking off on an amazing journey, and get excited about coming back and starting new (or slightly new) lives. To celebrate the return, I figured out how to put my favorite Buenos Aires picture on my blog header. (There is some thinking about maaaybe switching blog services, but I'm not quite ready. Not because I don't like the change, but because I'm indecisive. Something I need to work on. So we'll see. For now, new, colorful, antique soda bottle image! Yay!)

I've never been big on New Year's resolutions, or at least not public about the few I've had in the past. I have had a considerable amount of time to think about how I want things to be, though, now that I have this weird sort of "fresh" start. A friend of mine told me about the idea to have a "theme" for what you're going to focus on for the year ahead, which I think is great because it's a) really fun to think of the possibilities, and b) very positive all around. For example, another friend's theme was education, which would involve her learning a language for a foreign trip, and various other classes and self-enrichment type things, that are fun for her and not work. If I were to choose a theme, I suppose it would have something to do with organization. I hate the way that sounds, though, like I need to buy a bunch of coordinated boxes to contain my clutter (I do). In my version, it's sort of a mental organization, a shift in attitude to one that involves lots of thinking ahead, procrastinating less, and finding ways to be relaxed, clear-headed, and proactive about things. It definitely involves work, and home, but also friends and love and art and social consciousness.

So we'll see. Aren't those bottles pretty?

Friends, family, countrymen.

2007-09-12T10:05:00.000-05:00

As you may or may not know, Brian and I have finally embarked for several months in South America. While I suppose that there is always the possibility that I´ll write an entry or two on this blog while we're gone, I´ll most likely just be posting on our new travel blog, La Llave Grande. Photos, stories, the occasional video, and an explanation of the name can be found there. And updates will be frequent, I promise!

Here's a video of me petting an iguana.

Brain hurty.

2007-09-04T21:56:00.001-05:00

I don't have all that much to say right now, without going into a huge thing about how stressful these last few days are turning out to be before we leave for an amazing trip! Let me just say that I am NOT complaining. I am fully aware that most people do not get to take four-month trips to South America, and that it's going to be outstanding. I just wish it was Monday and whatever I didn't get done just was going to have to be done by someone else! Brian is in the same situation, so when we get home at night (after doing actual work, like "jobs," rather than trip preparation-y stuff like getting malaria pills that, while not necessarily fun, is still pretty exciting), we just whine about all the crap we have to do, wish we had hours just to pore over a guidebook and figure out exactly where we might want to go, feel guilty that we didn't get enough done that day, and fall asleep much too late.

So anyway, here are some really random exciting things:

-Dave and Shannon moved to Chicago over the weekend!! I love them. Even though they have more stuff than God.

- Brittnye has a really cool blog and a while ago she posted about one of her favorite artists, Francine Turk, and then the artist contacted her and wants to meet!

- I get to go to REI tomorrow and buy packing cubes! I think they're going to save my life. These are the kinds of things I get absurdly excited about.

Time to start the final Harry Potter so I don't have to lug that baby on the plane...

...and then, Susie got married!

2007-08-23T00:11:00.000-05:00

I cannot describe to you how much fun I had at Josh and Susie's wedding. My best friend in the whole wide world married an amazing man, surrounded by all my other favorite people, with an awesome soundtrack, at a summer camp!!

That's right! And she looked good.

Many times that weekend I heard people exclaim "How will anyone ever top this?!" And the answer is, they can't. However, they can certainly imitate it. So, to make things easier, I used Josh and Susie's wedding as a model to create my own guide of exactly what to do if you want your wedding to be the awesomest:

- Surround yourself with all of your favorite people, preferably for a whole weekend.

- Hold a competitive event, like the "Josh and Susie Wedding Olympics" held the day before at the camp, to the delight of all the guests. Include physical challenges, beer, and lots of trivia.

- Stuffy rehearsal? Nah! What you want to do is have a rehearsal barbecue, full of delicious food prepared and planned by Zack and Susie's fam.

- Bonfires: Have more than one, first of all. And at them, do things like make s'mores, listen to mandolin, and watch impromptu fire dances.

- Try to have a ketubah signing. I'm trying to figure out how I can do this even though I'm not Jewish, cause it's so cool. You might think it's going to be a quick, legal-ish thing, but everyone present, who think they will cry at the ceremony, will lose it 20 minutes early. (No photos, we were all too busy crying...)

- Make your ceremony super personal and gorgeous. If possible, have your brother play mandolin, and have it officiated by your mom's cousin, who is a cantor and who not only sings beautifully, but makes everyone cry with her personalized, inspiring words.

- Have yummy food!! And an ice cream sundae bar!

- Make the dancing the best EVER. Have a DJ who looks like he's not having fun, only because he's SO SERIOUS about keeping the party going. Groom must do a chair dance, a breakdance, and a spotlight slow dance with his best guy friend. Try to end the night with "Total Eclipse of the Heart," a song so perfect for the moment that everyone on the entire dance floor spontaneously begins a slow interpretive dance, ending in the bride and groom being lifted up by their friends and slowly spun around, symbolizing their love rising above everything, or perhaps they themselves aligning like the moon and the sun in an eclipse. Heh.

Congrats Sus and Josh, I love you both!

First, we went to Vieques...

2007-08-20T09:18:00.000-05:00

So we're just back from a long, ridiculously fun, wedding-filled two weeks away. The first leg of our trip began on the beauuuuutiful island of Vieques, a tiny little place that's part of Puerto Rico. Vieques has a turbulent recent history due to the fact that it was used as a U.S. Navy testing site for many years, but thankfully the Navy was protested out a few years ago. Now, even though the island is still dealing with serious after-effects, it is a simply gorgeous, mainly untouched place filled with secluded beaches and wild horses, not to mention the coolest bioluminescent bay ever.

Anyway, that's where we began, for the wedding of Anna and Eoin. I couldn't imagine a more apropos setting and celebration for the most laid back, fun couple ever. The wedding itself was a lovely, heartfelt ceremony on a beach, followed by a reception at an amazing villa on the island. And this was no stuffy reception. The DJ groom and his DJ best friend, not to mention their crazy Irish companions, kept the party going for the entire night, and partway through, everyone threw on their swimsuits and jumped in the pool, MTV Spring Break-style. I always thought destination weddings were small, intimate, quiet affairs, but clearly they don't have to be!

Don't get mad/If I'm laughing/Blame the caffeine...

2007-07-12T17:23:00.000-05:00

Thanks, Hot Hot Heat, for articulating how I've felt many times this week! Don't really know what I'm writing about, just seemed like a good time. I should do that more often.

It's been a crazy week, full of late nights and early mornings (because of my new improv class and practice for the upcoming rowing race this weekend, respectively). But you know what wasn't like that? Our vacation in Door County last week! That's right, the Conways have done the globetrotting thing, torn up the Mediterranean, not to mention the East Coast, with cousin fun, uncles' crazy stories, and general zaniness in their various attempts to reiunite as a family. Logically, the next stop for Conway Fest 2007 was...Wisconsin! My aunt and uncle just got a beautiful house by the bay up there, and to celebrate, the seven children in my dad's family and their spouses and offspring descended on the penninsula and took full advantage of beautiful weather, yummy food/wine/beer, outdoor activities, and water. It was one of those vacations where you feel rested all the time, and whatever you choose to do with your day is always the perfect choice. We went up for the 4th of July, but I also celebrated the big 2-6 there (on the 7th), with a cousins-only pontoon ride the day before, and Dad-and-Annie-made pancakes on the actual day. Siiiiiiiiiiighhhhh. Lovely.

Pontooooooon! And Annie's tatooooooo!

Edumacation.

2007-06-24T21:49:00.000-05:00

Three years ago, Brian and I were just getting to know each other, going on dinner dates and trying to always look and sound sweet. Something I often forget is that he was also just beginning law school. He was negotiating a new place, bringing home amazingly large textbooks, going to writing seminars, and meeting a sudden new group of friends, all while we were figuring out who we "were." It was a crazy time, now that I think about it.

Know what else is crazy? The fact that two weeks ago, Brian got to put on an enormous, awesome robe and octagonal hat and stroll through a beautiful, tree-filled quad to receive his law degree! He was also given one of those super cool academic hoods (one of few reasons I regret electing not to attend my grad school commencement...). It was all quite exciting. He may always be fairly relaxed about grueling things like law school, but it was not an easy achievement, and I--and many others--are so very proud of him. Now all he has to do is pass the bar (no big), and we are outta here!

Doesn't he look happy?

Congratulations, JD!

It was raining, but he didn't seem to want an umbrella.

2007-06-04T12:20:00.000-05:00

This little guy was sitting on the bench at my bus stop this morning.

And he didn't even move over to give me room to sit.

Giraffes riding tricycles.

2007-05-21T20:31:00.000-05:00

Andy came to visit this weekend! Among other fun things such as brunch, drinking, and toffee-covered peanuts (in reverse order), I showed him the moped, and he looks nearly as silly on it as Brian!

Speaking of silly:

Lefties with Giant Noggins
or, Maybe The Best Picture of Us Ever

I am proud. And exhausted.

2007-05-16T20:47:00.000-05:00

Are you in the Chicago area? Do you like theatre? Yes? No? Who cares! Come see our play anyway. It's called Origami Wings, and this is a very bad version of the promo postcard:

When I say "our" I actually mean a group of kids between the ages of 14-18 who may or may not see me as a director, friend, authority figure, or influence of some kind.

In case you don't know, for the last eight months, I have been working at a place called Free Street with my friend Paul, teaching theater and writing to a group of high school students. They were part of a city program that pays high school students to be involved in the arts, which basically means that the students literally get to be working artists well before they will ever realize how ridiculous and unheard of that is. So we eventually wrote a play, which is very cool and, in my opinion, nothing like regular high school theater. We had two shows this weekend, and have three more next weekend, May 24th, 25th and 26th.

Check the website for more details. It's past my bedtime.

Moped Diaries.

2007-05-08T21:31:00.000-05:00

One: We got tickets to South America for September! This has long been a plan, but we finally buckled down and made reservations. Chicago to Guayaquil, Ecuador, baby.

Two: In a fit of impulsiveness and spring fever, we bought a moped! It was definitely old, cheap and a great deal from some kid selling it on craigslist, but it runs wonderfully and has already provided hours of fun and entertainment, both to us and to the people on the street who stare and sometimes laugh. Here's what 6'3" Brian looks like on it:

Check out our sweet hog.

Ouchie.

2007-04-26T10:16:00.000-05:00

Brian and I started rowing this week, me for the first time in about a year and a half, and him for the first time ever. So far we've been practicing indoors on ergometers (rowing machines) on account of rain. It's exciting to begin again.

And we are in pain.

Instrument of torture and occasional fun.

Goodbye Blue Monday.

2007-04-11T22:55:00.000-05:00

Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favorite authors, died last night at the age of 84. I wish I could write about him more eloquently. So it goes.

I first read Vonnegut, like many, when I was assigned Slaughterhouse Five in a high school English class. I devoured it, loving that it was funny and political, and had a unique voice and absurd characters (Kilgore Trout, anyone?). I suddenly realized that I shared that love with my father, and that many of Vonnegut's novels, long-ago read and dog-eared, had in fact surrounded me on shelves at home for my entire life. Eventually, his short stories spoke to me too. I adapted one ("The Long Walk to Forever," a tale the writer himself described as "a sickeningly slick love story from The Ladies' Home Journal, God help us") for the stage in college, an experience which led Graham Atkin to talk to me about directing, which in turn made me think seriously for the first time about maybesomehowperhaps pursuing a career that involved theatre in some way.

So I guess Vonnegut influenced me--like countless others--in a lot of ways, some direct, some not so direct. Here, for no particular reason, is one of his drawings of an asshole:

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some reading and re-reading to attend to.

Aaand, the old shelves are back.

2007-04-04T12:31:00.000-05:00

It could not have been more like a TV commercial.

Over the weekend, Brian and I got super motivated to overhaul our closet-sized, closetless guest room/office in order to make it an efficient storage and workspace, as well as a place where more than one visitor can stay at a time. We scored a ridiculously nice (like, handcrafted pretty wood) futon on craigslist for 50 bucks, including delivery. We couldn't believe our luck, so we cleared out all the junk that had accumulated in the room, and set to work on our most space-saving task: wall-mounted shelves. which involved multiple hardware store trips for things like toggle bolts, but finally we drilled the massive holes it required and installed the track on the wall that would hold the metal strips and brackets. We sighed and gazed at our new storage with satisfaction.

Anyone who knows me knows that I usually take an absurdly long time to do things like pack, unpack, and organize. So it was incredible that this changeover happened in the space of about a day and a half. I eagerly spent much of my day on Monday going through our crap and deciding the most efficient, user-friendly, and attractive way to arrange books, office supplies, and a printer on our new shelves--of course breaking it all up with the occasional objet d'art. We patted ourselves on the back; how clever are we for utilizing all that untapped vertical space! At one point I put yet another (cute, striped) box on the shelf, stood back, and mused to Brian that I was a little afraid about the load-bearing capacity of the shelves. How did we know how much was too much? The wall is a bit crooked, so how did we know whether wobbliness was normal, or cause for alarm?

"Really, it's fine. It's just that the wall is a tiny bit curved, so it looks weird, but it can definitely take weight. See?" And Brian demonstrated by pressing with just one finger on the bottom shelf, looking at me with an expression of calm certainty. He was right, these things were strong. I once went through a whole year of college with every textbook I owned balanced precariously on several shelves that were mounted into nothing but a thin piece of drywall, so unstable that I dared not breathe on them, and I never had a problem.

My nod of agreement turned into a tiny yelp. We barely had time to lean backward as we were assaulted by a sudden crashing and watched in horror as one side of the shelves collapsed completely. All of our books, files, cute boxes, and printer fell completely off of the wall and landed in a heap on the floor. We stared, panting, at each other and at the earthquake-worthy mess on the ground. I let out a panicky giggle.

I half expected a voice-over to pipe in as we surveyed the damage with confusion. "Got shelves?" or "Need help?" would flash across the screen in front of our helpless expressions, followed by information for businesses or services designed to assist schmucks like us. The next day, we filled the drill holes.

Love in the library.

2007-03-26T23:58:00.000-05:00

Audrey and Scott got married last weekend, and the ceremony and reception at the Harold Washington Library were beautiful. Ever since I was a kid I wondered what it would be like to have a wedding there, and this one did it well. The Winter Garden was filled with yummy food, music, and 1000 votive candles.

While reviewing my photos of the evening, I realized that one distinct theme emerged. Not the happy couple, nor the toasts, nor the first dance. These pictures documented, by and large, the fact that Brian had a lot of fun that night. And this is not because I am his girlfriend and like to take pictures of him! No. As you'll see, not only was he in the wedding party looking sharp in a tux, but he also found time to dip his mom:

Dance with the bride (while she's being filmed by wedding paparazzi, or so it seemed by some of their behavior and bright lights):

Grab the groom's ass:

And strike poses like this:

Throughout all of this, of course, we worked on our emerging wedding dance choreography (wherein we make up a new ridiculous dance at every wedding we attend, especially when there's a band playing) and took full advantage of the post-dinner, post-dessert chocolate fountain. We had lots of fun together.

Me encantan las montanas!

2007-03-26T08:37:00.000-05:00

We skipped town and went to Vail over St. Patrick's Day weekend...a far cry from dancers, parades, and green beer, but well worth it. We had such a great time once again! I'd never been to Colorado, and was of course blown away by the mountains:

We also definitely felt the need for speed, so Brian and I both got helmets this year.

Hot.

So we skied during the day, all day, then came back for the traditional hot tub and dinner, followed by wildly competitive board games. There were plenty of other antics, several of which involved this jacket, inexplicably left in the rental house:

And then there was this fiasco...

...which was when everyone who was still awake at 3am on our last night attacked those sleeping with all of the weird mountel animals on the wall in our rental house. I, in case you couldn't guess, was one of the ones sleeping (and, incidentally, blindly swatting at that stuffed "jackalope" that my dearest boyfriend is holding close to my face).

So, in conclusion, we had a blast. I needed a little vacation more than I thought, it was 60 degrees and sunny the entire time, and I was inundated with breathtaking views and hilarity at every turn. I can't wait to see where we go next year!

Leading lambs to water...

2007-03-13T00:21:00.000-05:00

I've been downloading a fair amount of music lately, and I've come across a lot that I like. I'm no snob, but I have to mention a few. Beirut, for instance, with its gypsy instrumentals behind indie vocals, is incredibly interesting, as is the newest (not that new) Belle and Sebastian album. And you know who else I heart? Mickey Avalon.

If you haven't heard his music, he's this crazy glam-trash-rapper whose lyrics are pretty dirty (sort of like a male Peaches), and as Brian points out, he says his own name a lot, but all that is totally part of his scandalous charm.

Well, hello there.

2007-03-11T15:03:00.000-05:00

It's spring...

...and I've been sick of my blog's look for a while. This is only a temporary solution, I think. I need to become better at the technological side to get exactly what I want, but now at least we're not assaulted by all of that blue-green mishmash. Ugh. I'm not sure if I should switch services (to typepad or wordpress or something), or if I should just work a bit harder to learn ways that I can customize and personalize my blog a bit more. Thoughts? Help with html/ideas for easy blog customization? Feel free to leave them in the comments...

I haven't posted in over a month!

2007-02-24T18:29:00.000-06:00

Eek! Does anyone even read this anymore? I apologize, I really do...I just have to make a better effort to post more often, even when I feel like nothing interesting is going on.

I did, however, spend Presidents Day weekend in the Bay Area, visiting with many of my top favorite people ever in the whole wide world. I stayed in Oakland with Dave, Todd, and James, and visited San Franciscans Allie and Lizzie. Todd had a birthday party full of exciting tapas and drinks and music and dancing, and the rest of the weekend I pretty much spent either enjoying a meal or in transit to a meal, which is just the way I like it. I managed to eat homemade tapas, Thai food, gelato, pork chops, French bistro brunch, New Age-y Berkeley food, and Indian food. (That description may have been entirely for Susie Schutt, I'm not sure.) Mmmmmm. And the weather was warm and I walked in Golden Gate park and through the Mission, and jogged in Oakland, happy and sans winter coat. And the best part of all? Sus was there with me! We reunited on the West Coast and had a lovely little tryst. Our long distance relationship is going very well, I must say:

Hetero life partners, 2gether 4eva...

Boxes

2007-01-18T22:43:00.000-06:00

Okay, I hope you've seen this. We here have been humming the song for weeks. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it immediately, because it is also very important that you watch this immediately after. That little gem has apparently already been viewed by over a million people, who knows how quickly. Thanks to the lovely Abbey (aka La Palta) for making my week.

Bonne Annee!

2007-01-09T10:07:00.000-06:00

Well, hello there. Happy New Year! I have, indeed, been back in town for a week now, but I can't be expected to write a "January" blog post if the 55-degree weather keeps confusing me into thinking it's a different season, right? Clearly, overcoming procrastination was not one of my New Year's resolutions. Whatever.

Anyway, Quebec 2007! First we went to Mont Tremblant to ski for a couple of days, testing out our ski legs and new gear. This here is my favorite picture:

Dramatic, n'est pas? And here's Brian looking wicked hot in his one-piece:

So after an exhilarating (and freezing) two days on the slopes, we set off for a few more days in Montreal, where it is beautiful, full of francophones, and yes, also quite cold:

We did visit the basilica, the art museum, the campus of McGill, and Old Montreal. But in general we spent a great deal of time just walking the city, which was a great way to experience it, and also the perfect reason to stop every twenty minutes for un cafe au lait.

We were even lucky enough to meet a hip Montrealer who worked in a store full of vintage and handmade clothing, and she directed us to two nights of fabulous dinners and a really fun New Year's dance party. Oh, and I must recommend Chez Phillipe, the wonderful bed and breakfast where we stayed and had absurdly good food and pleasant conversation every day. The place is decorated with comfortable, trendy Ikea cuteness and each room is named for the fruit whose color is represented in the paint on the wall. The best part? Our room was called the Mango Room!

So that concludes my short photo description of our lovely little trip. I may be physically back in Chicago, but I'm still mentally somewhere else. It's a good state of mind.

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-25T12:48:00.001-06:00

Here's the closest I get to a holiday card...

Wishing you the best!!

You can't catch me!

2006-12-25T12:44:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to put these photos up for a while, and I finally had a free moment. Brian's semi-dying of what looks to be strep throat, so I'm being quiet while he sleeps as much as possible to get better for our trip to Montreal that starts tomorrow!

Anyway...a few weeks ago I was asked to do some storytelling at a winter wonderland event put on by one of the preschools I work with. I really wanted to use puppets, so after wracking my brain for a good puppetworthy story, I chose The Gingerbread Man. It's actually kind of a weird tale, since the main character gets eaten in the end, but he was kind of an ass anyway. And, as I found out, little kids do NOT CARE. They just like seeing puppets run around chasing each other.

And what funny puppets they turned out to be! Of course I procrastinated, and of course I had to make elaborate puppets, so the night before Brian and I stayed up late, making ears and noses and getting high off of craft glue fumes. In the end, I fell in love with my little handmade darlings, and the storytelling went very well.

Here are two of them, the horse and the rabbit, both characters that try, and ultimately fail, to catch the sneering gingerbread boy.

And here are the others. The clever fox who, I am well aware, looks perhaps a little bit more like a mouse or maybe a ferret, but I couldn't for the life of me find a redder sock than that...and of course, the unfortunate gingerbread man, who falls for the fox's helpful ruse and gets unceremoniously devoured in the end.

Ahhh, the holiday spirit.

Peeps.

2006-12-05T11:15:00.001-06:00

Brian and I are now back and recovering from a wonderful, long weekend in New York. Brooklyn specifically, since we only spent a couple of hours in Manhattan. I must say, we did a fantastic job of seeing everyone and balancing culture with brunches and partying. The good Dr. Science beat me to the descriptions of Annie's party and our evening at the Brooklyn Museum. He did a better (and more thoughtful!) job of describing it than I could, so I suggest checking it out here and here. The sculpture by Ron Mueck? Blew. Me. Away. It seemed to have a similar effect on everyone else there too, apparently, since volunteers and security guards kept asking people to stay back and not get so close to the artwork. It was just so hard not to want to examine every hair follicle and vein on these astoundingly lifelike (and giant and miniature) sculptures. Go check it--and the other current exhibits--out at the Brooklyn Museum if you're in the area.

I got to spend lovely time with my sister and her nanny charges...three tiny little fashionable Manhattanites who live in an absurd townhouse on the Upper East Side (someday I will do a blog reflection on how that kind of upbringing must be). We saw a sketch comedy show, partied with Abbey, Brendan, Zack, and the Grahams, and had sushi with Andrew. My only regret is that I picked a weekend when my hetero-life partner was only in town for a short while...Susie and Josh went to a wedding in DC, so we had to resort to staying alone in their apartment, hugging their teddy bears. Sniff.

And upon our return, we were given a classic Chicago welcome of snow, ice, and wind chills of 0 degrees. The good news is that I got a new coat and hat, and also it turns out that our apartment is particularly cozy when we can look out at the snow-covered roofs of the neighborhood. The bad new is, it's snowy and icy and the wind chill is zero.

Time for some hot chocolate and clementines.

2006-12-05T11:15:00.000-06:00

Brian and I are now back and recovering from a wonderful, long weekend in New York. Brooklyn specifically, since we only spent a couple of hours in Manhattan. I must say, we did a fantastic job of seeing everyone and balancing culture with brunches and partying. The good Dr. Science beat me to the descriptions of Annie's party and our evening at the Brooklyn Museum. He did a better (and more thoughtful!) job of describing it than I could, so I suggest checking it out here and here. The sculpture by Ron Mueck? Blew. Me. Away. It seemed to have a similar effect on everyone else there too, apparently, since volunteers and security guards kept asking people to stay back and not get so close to the artwork. It was just so hard not to want to examine every hair follicle and vein on these astoundingly lifelike (and giant and miniature) sculptures. Go check it--and the other current exhibits--out at the Brooklyn Museum if you're in the area.

I got to spend lovely time with my sister and her nanny charges...three tiny little fashionable Manhattanites who live in an absurd townshouse on the Upper East Side (someday I will do a blog reflection on how that kind of upbringing must be). We saw a sketch comedy show, partied with Abbey, Brendan, Zack, and the Grahams, and had sushi with Andrew. My only regret is that I picked a weekend when my hetero-life partner was only in town for a short while...Susie and Josh went to a wedding in DC, so we had to resort to staying alone in their apartment, hugging their teddy bears. Sniff.

And upon our return, we were given a classic Chicago welcome of snow, ice, and wind chills of 0 degrees. The good news is that I got a new coat and hat, and also it turns out that our apartment is particularly cozy when we can look out at the snow-covered roofs of the neighborhood. The bad new is, it's snowy and icy and the wind chill is zero.

Time for some hot chocolate and clementines.

And I can peel them all in one piece.

2006-11-27T11:09:00.000-06:00

I've spent the last couple of days slowly emerging from a turkey, stuffing, root vegetable, pie (thanks, Aunt Eileen!) and chocolate meringue cake (thanks, Brittnye!) haze...wondering what month it is and what exactly I do for a living. Thankfully, this weekend represented the commencement of one of my favorite times of year, where we're surrounded by little colorful things that give us great joy.

Clementine season!!

We have absolutely no food in the house (I just ate the last of our leftover couscous with questionable broccoli), but no matter! I could subsist entirely on these little glowing orbs of sweet deliciousness...my mother gave me a large bag of Clementines yesterday and I skipped home in delight. No need for groceries, I'm covered until I decide to buy an entire crate of my own.

I hope everyone's holiday was lovely!

All I've got at the moment.

2006-11-18T12:29:00.000-06:00

Here I am again.

And here are some funny things that I found out through Brendan's blog. It may seem lazy or lame for me to have a post that rips entirely off of a friend's postings, but he's seriously been entertaining me lately.

First of all, I really like these comics.

The guy who writes them is a friend of my sister's ex-boyfriend, but oddly enough, also happens to be the ex-boyfriend of a friend of a completely unrelated friend also. Most of them are just normal, clever, and interestingly-drawn comics, but my favorite is when, instead of writing the story and having the artist illustrate it, he makes up stories for her pictures:

See the rest here.

Also, Brendan himself made a brilliant short film that should resonate with anyone who has ever tried to decipher Ikea's non-verbal instructions...

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if this new "Blogger Beta" dealie is all that it claims to be.

Estaba el senor Don Gato...

2006-10-31T13:51:00.000-06:00

I'm actually sitting right next to the bowl of Halloween candy I've reserved for trick-or-treaters, and eating straight out of it. Awesome.

Halloween pretty much happened over the weekend for us, as it did for many people. Despite my ass-kicking cold, we had a great time. Brian and I had some trouble thinking of costume ideas, so we ended up going with our original concept of Kevin Federline and pregnant, brunette Britney Spears. It turned out great, if I do say so myself. Brian managed to look like a total trashball complete with tight wife beater, blazer, chin scruff, and pinstriped fedora, while I somehow became unrecognizable using only a long brown wig and small pillow. Random people guessed our costume, and familiar people didn't recognize me, which I say fits the criteria for sweet Halloween getups.

Finally, the "real" photo:

This week I'm more immersed in the Day of the Dead. I've been working on an arts residency with several other artists in a local elementary school for the month of October, centered around Dia de los Muertos. It's so fun, and because of it I am now the proud owner of a dancing skeleton puppet and various other crafts, several sugar skulls, picture books, and I can sing an entire ballad about cats, cemeteries, and skeletons in Spanish, with accompanying gestures. Next time I see you, remind me. I'll give you your own performance.

I'm not dead yet!

2006-10-25T12:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, alright, okay. I took a little break from blogging because I was busy enough that I didn't have time, nor did I really know what to post about. And now I'm back. Interestingly, the couple of weeks that I didn't post were a period during which I was constantly looking forward to a different time. And I think that I felt, somehow, that if I wrote about them they would not change as quickly. Strange, I know.

I spent a large part of those two weeks as a substitute teacher. Shudder. As much as I know that there are plenty of competent, interesting people who work as substitutes, every time I hear the words "substitute teacher" I still think of the weirdest, most awkward, least qualified individuals ever, and as a result I don't really respect subs. So I didn't like to think of myself as one. The circumstances around my short stint as a substitute were very specific, however. In August I interviewed for a possible job as a theatre teacher in an elementary school. It was complicated, however, because although I have a degree in Educational Theatre, I do not currently hold a teaching certificate. So the principal told me to get my transcripts evaluated and look into certification programs, and in the meantime to acquire a substitute teaching certificate, since he might be able to have me teach theatre as a sub in the meantime. So I did all that. And once I got my sub card, he said "I don't have all the theatre details worked out yet, but I really need a sub in this one classroom for awhile." Turns out their teacher had randomly retired, they didn't have a new teacher, and I was really starting to need the money. Yarrr.

So I did it. And on the first day, I found out that it was a class of 7th and 8th grade special ed, which in this case meant an awful-sounding, puzzling category known as "trainable mentally handicapped." There were only 13 of them, but it was the widest range of abilities and special needs ever. Two were non-verbal, two could read and multiply, and everyone else was at a different place in between. It was a wild two weeks, but I have to say, quite entertaining. This was a very funny group of kids. There was none of the usual maliciousness and self-hatred that you might find in a typical group of 12- and 13-year-olds, and a healthy dose of crushes and sexual urges. Classroom management was not difficult (thank god), though enforcing the "no touching each other" rule was not so easy. Also, there was no "curriculum" to follow, nor textbooks, so every day was sort of up to me. Some funny shit happened. Burps and farts were totally commonplace, hilarious to all but not grounds for ostracizing anyone. I had glue puddles on desks, some pretty major odor-control issues, and a kid who cut a one-foot-wide hole in the crotch of his sweatpants one day. And not everything went wrong-- I had some of the most successful impromptu dramatic storytelling sessions I've ever done in that class, and we did some wicked collages and M&M math lessons.

Aaaaanyway, so that's over now. It wasn't a horrible couple of weeks, but the principal ultimately dragged his feet for a long time, and in the meantime I got another job. So there! Now in addition to my high school theatre stuff, I'll be working on a grant project with the Chicago Teachers Center, helping to enhance early reading initiatives by modeling and training staff in ways to integrate the arts into their curricula. Fun! The people are great and I like the work already.

In other fun news, Brian and I went to Traverse City over the weekend to visit my dear friends Andy and Lizzie, who both should have blogs but don't. We had such a good time, hiking on sand dunes, admiring pretty leaves, seeing movies, and eating, eating, eating. Best. Hot. Apple. Cider. Ever. It was so nice, in the midst of all this, to get out of town and relax and have a good time. I've never been so happy to not get phone calls!

Now I have to go...valuable Halloween costume planning time is being wasted!

Time to take a stroll.

2006-10-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

This week I began teaching a theatre apprenticeship for students of a specific high school. It's done through Freestreet, a well-established youth theatre company, and After School Matters, a city organization that pays students to learn and create in the arts. It's a pretty sweet deal, because since they're paid, we got to interview kids in order to "select" those that will participate in our apprenticeship. (Never mind that we let in everyone who interviewed...the fact that many of them made it to an interview outside of their high school on a half day of school was enough of a demonstration of committment for us.) And we've gathered a pretty great group. I haven't worked with high school kids in a while, and it's very refreshing to teach a group that you can actually reason with, and who I don't have to trick into doing every single thing. Who knows what they will eventually do--the idea is for them to learn many aspects of performance and writing and then devise their own play--but in three days they've already become so comfortable with one another and in being creative and (somewhat) uninhibited for three hour stretches. And they seem to like it! And they're pretty decent writers! So, while working until after 7pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays is not the most ideal situation timewise, I do look forward to it each time.

Also this week, I went to New York for 24 hours to help my sister move. My mom was there too, and we made a lot of progress in a couple of days. Annie, of course, found a lovely apartment on the most beautiful block in Brooklyn Heights. And in a matter of days. It has tons of character, a sweet lofted bedroom and massive high ceilings. It was sort of a last-minute move, and it was imperative that she get the majority done before Thursday, because that is when she left to GO TO PARIS FOR FASHION WEEK. Yes. Mais oui. To clarify: she is a nanny for a family in Manhattan, and the mother owns a designer boutique in Soho, a job which necesitates trips to fashion shows and meetings to scout potential buys for the next season. This mother also just had another baby two months ago and he's too young to leave at home, so Annie gets to accompany mom and baby, strolling with the little guy through the streets of Paris until the designated times when they meet mom for feedings. They also stay in an exquisite hotel and fly first class, and at the end of it all she gets paid for her "work."

Speaking of jobs, I still definitely don't have another one! Teaching theatre after school is definitely not going to cut it. And it's very stressful. Today is an absolutely gorgeous Saturday, and I'm sitting at home worrying about credit card bills and loan payments. How messed up is that? I have get out of the house!

Oh, and another thing to distract me from my woes: I'm reading Interpreter of Maladies, the new One Book, One Chicago pick, by Jhumpa Lahiri. It's really good so far! And I feel such civic pride!

Don't put me in a box, man.

2006-09-29T12:46:00.000-05:00

Unless of course, it is because I am smaller and can fit in the box in order to more efficiently screw in the runners for the drawers that will eventually be in this box, which is not actually a box, but the beginnings of a lovely new buffet/sideboard thing for the dining room!

Me in my jammies with screwdriver

Putting this thing together was not so encouraging, since all Ikea pieces tend to reveal their utter flimsiness as soon as you get them out of the conveniently flat-packed box. I looked skeptically at the wavy, paper-like piece of particle board (which actually featured a piece of duct tapeholding it together) that was supposedly to become the back of this piece. But Brian and I set to work, and got it together in record time. And I love it! It's exactly what we needed in that space. Now we can mingle with guests over artfully arranged platters of cheese and crackers. And most importantly, we don't have to throw the mail on the floor.

More pictures of little apartment details to follow, as soon as I borrow Mom and Dad's camera again...

That's right.

2006-09-21T22:37:00.000-05:00

So we're just trucking along...Brian's had class all of this week and last, but it's finally over as of today. Tonight we celebrated the end of it, giving ourselves heartburn and delirium with Bite's delicious Thai green curry and chocolate cream pie. Ouch. Hopefully this weekend we'll be very nearly done with the additions needed in the apartment, like a kitchen table and living room chairs. It's looking good though. In the meantime, I've also become completely addicted to thrift stores. I've always liked them, and in high school went all the time for clothes, but nowadays I'm finding myself seeking that treasure hunt all the time. You know the one; the feeling that the perfect armchair or dinette set is always just around the corner. And along the way I've also discovered a previously untapped desire for funky painted plates, weird coat hooks, and colored glass vases. Who knew?

In other items, I like this article in Dwell magazine about Chicago. Maybe it's because it's an interview with a Chicago architect, but journalistic pieces about the city rarely mention such specific, cool things. Also, he talks about scullers rowing in the Lincoln Park Lagoon at dawn-- holla, Dad!

Ow.

2006-09-11T22:35:00.000-05:00

Let me first preface this post with the assertion that the vast majority of my move-in process has been great fun, and not at all painful. Brian is back, and we've had a hilarious time moving our crap in and finding furniture and other cool things. We've broken down and disposed of most of the boxess, started sanding the kitchen table and hanging artwork today, and our office is the coziest. I wish I didn't have to ever find a job, so I could spend my days arranging things.

However, there are a few things about moving in that I could live without. One is the absurd amount of stupid stuff that refuses to budge from the living room. Another is the fact that every time I run an errand to a store to get all the "things we need," I inevitably forget several important items. And finally, there are the injuries. It's kind of unbelievable how many times I've yelled "ARRRRGGGGHH!!" during the last week. Here are a few examples:

1. Awhile ago, I (think I) broke my pinky toe, and it pretty much healed. Not much you can do to speed that process. But I banged into Brian's foot and broke it again. Then, the very next day, I ran over that same toe with the shopping cart at Target.

2. I kicked a drill while wearing flip-flops. That was just dumb.

3. Moving the couch up the three flights of stairs was the hardest thing ever. That whole fiaso resulted in bruises on my shoulder from banging it into the hallway wall, an ouchie foot from momentarily setting the couch down on it, and a scraped ankle from kicking the corner of a wall while shimmying the damn thing in the door. But the couch was such a great find that it was worth it.

4. Brian and I decided to use a sander in the kitchen, which was not a good idea and which caused sawdust to gently float in the air and settle on top of everything, and also to clog our lungs and invade our eyes. Awesome.

But, in the end, there is very little visible evidence of my injuries, and very much visible evidence of a happy apartment. So I think it's worth it.

Something so special about that phase...

2006-09-04T00:14:00.000-05:00

My life is in flux! Transition! Upheaval! It's one of those times where I think about certain things all the freaking time, and then other, more important things, just slip my mind. Like what day it is. Or to stay at home to let the painter in at 3:30. Or to call that potential employer back.

Here are some things that make my mind go all wacky:

- I don't have a job. Although I have several possible options simmering, those options are all very uncertain and hard to imagine, and I sort of wish I could do all of them at once (although it's unclear whether I will get any of them).

- I have no furniture at all in my apartment except for a table and chairs (which are, admittedly, quite cool).

- I am really sick of the look of my blog, and I just want it to be pretty, and I don't understand CSS.

- I miss my sister and Susie and Abbey.

- I have not seen my boyfriend in six weeks.

Here are some exciting things!

- I very well might get a really cool job soon, and in the meantime it's also pretty fun to not have to go to work or generally do anything.

- I got a haircut that I really like. One of those that make me go "hee!" (And also part of that whole "my life changes, hence my look changes" thing.)

- Even if I can't redesign it, at least I have more time to post on my blog. Which is the important part.

- My parents have been so wonderful and hilarious.

- Our new apartment is so cute and bright and airy, and I can't wait to fill it with awesomeness.

- Brian gets home in less than two days!!

Strangely, when I'm feeling at my nuttiest, things are also so easily definable somehow. Clearly Brian will be back, I will find some furniture, some job. In the meantime, there's something comforting about being able to chalk up every forgetful blunder, emotional reaction, or skin breakout to everything that's "on my mind." Sweet.

How did they do that?

2006-08-31T23:26:00.000-05:00

I love Ok Go already, but this made me love them so much more.

Thanks, Brendan and Annie!

I have an assignment to finish...

2006-08-29T08:55:00.000-05:00

...and yet, Abbey got a new MacBook with a built-in camera and effects. Which would you choose?

Seriously, I am thisclose to being completely done with everything related to grad school, and I am fascinated by nothing but how utterly creepy I can make myself look.

There was another one, but Brian said it made me look like The Predator, so I refrained.

And I even scored bootleg Baile Funk CDs.

2006-08-22T17:07:00.000-05:00

Well, Senhor Boal made very sure that we had plenty of extra things to do before and after his daily workshops, so updating has been a little tough. I'm still in Rio, the program ended Sunday (Woohoo! Done with grad school!), and I'm now in a charming little hostel with free internet and free time.

I have very few plans for these last few days. I've been hanging with friends of mine from the program that stayed also, and we've been stumbling upon some pretty great ways to spend time. Yesterday we took the bomde (streetcar) up to Santa Teresa, a gorgeous old neighborhood high in the hills. The bomde itself was an experience in and of itself, because it's so much more than just a streetcar. It was part charming San Francisco open-sided, wooden-benched, "ding-ding" streetcar, and part amusement park scary rollercoaster ride, complete with sudden stops, dizzying heights, and frequent losses of electricity. It starts in the business district and immediately travels across the Lapa Arches, which are extremely high above the street and no wider than the car itself. It was hilarious. Here's a very tame picture of it:

...it's so much freakier and more fun at night.

Anyway, today was unexpectedly great as well. A friend of mine from the program has a Brazilian friend who has begun an NGO in one of the favelas (slums) here, and he took us with him to visit a famous NGO/community arts organization called AfroReggae in another favela. It's the organization that the movie "Favela Rising" is based on. We got to see their facilities and watch young kids singing orignial samba compositions and doing Afro-Brazilian dance, all in these crazy centers whose walls are covered in the most beautiful grafitti art, in the middle of the favela. Apparently AfroReggae--which started as a music group and branched out to arts education--has made unbelievable progress in bridging the divides between rival factions in the favelas and reduced what was basically a war zone to an almost violence-free area, giving youth alternatives to gang and drug activity, which is pretty much the only other option in favelas. I kind of couldn't believe that I had somehow ended up there today, it was like we were still in our class doing a site visit or something, but I was just having a day hanging out in Rio.

Rio-diculous!

2006-08-16T18:06:00.000-05:00

....Aaand, Brazil. I have arrived for the final leg of my ridiculous summer journey, and it's going rather well, not that I ever doubted it would. I arrived here on Sunday morning without issues, and since then I've been balancing some really stimulating workshops with a fair amount of relaxing beach time.

The reason I'm here is to do a course with Augusto Boal, a pioneer in the educational theatre field. Just a little background in case you aren't someone like the good Dr. Science who knows this already, and I'm sorry if it's a bit too verbose...Boal developed a methodology called Theatre of the Oppressed, in which a group of people examine their specific ideas of oppression and dialogue about ways to break the oppression through the language of theatre. In this form of theatre, spectators become spect-actors by offering alternative solutions to breaking the oppression, and actually trying out their ideas onstage. The entire thing becomes what he calls a "rehearsal for change." There are many, many facets to his practice, which includes a massive body of games and image work, but that is the absolute most basic gist of it. This week we are learning about his techniques called the Rainbow of Desire, which attempts to explore people's more internalized oppressions (or "cops in the head") and ways in which they and others would deal with them. It's all quite fascinating, as is the opportunity to work in Rio's Theatre of the Oppressed Center. I've found Boal to be quite accessible, as well as committed to challenging us and engaging in constant dialogue.

He's also the cutest ever. He's in his seventies now, and he's this spritely man who wears flowered shirts and jeans and grandpa Reeboks. He has always been known for his huge mass of curly gray hair, but now he seems to have cut it in some sort of longish layered dealie (the "Rachel"?), which is even better. He is as articulate as his books, and full of stories. He also has an amazingly trained staff of "Jokers," or facilitators of this kind of work. So it's going well.

As for Rio, it's incredible. I don't know if it's the beach, the mountains coming straight out of the water, the music, the people on the beach and running by the water, or any other of a million things that have stood out to me, but I'm loving it here. I need to come back for a longer time very soon. And I NEED to learn Portuguese, because even though a mix of English, Spanish, and mutilated Portuguese words has served me fine, I hate how mute I feel here, and how pretty the language is when people who actually know it speak it. I have to say though, I'm getting a lot more today than I did yesterday.

So yeah, that's me. I'm here until the 24th, and I have several days to explore after the program ends. More later!

Dublin, Week 3 (and 1 and 2...)

2006-08-10T07:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I am still in Dublin, and the program is, unbelievably, coming to an end. It's been both the quickest and most packed 3 weeks of my life, which made blog posting difficult, besides the fact that my internet access was always about a 3-block walk away. When you have time for the 3-block walk only at midnight and the choice is between blogging and talking to Brian or sleeping, I think the decision is obvious. But I feel like I need to just do a general overview of what I've been up to, even if it's a bit longer than I might like.

My time here is also really hard to synthesize. We've been staying on the campus at Trinity College, in the building where Oscar Wilde lived when he studied here, and we get to work in the Samuel Beckett theatre. Trinity is the most beautiful place, it's this 400-year-old walled campus, full of cobblestones and right in the middle of the city.

I think I've interrogated theory and looked at my own practice during these 3 weeks more than I have throughout my entire master's program. The whole program is focused on community-engaged theatre...and there's no one definition of that. Much of the first week we got to see many different examples of community-engaged theatre in Ireland, meeting tons of people and seeing their programs. We saw shows in Dublin, got to see kids perform at their famous children's theatre (The Ark), traveled outside the city to Dalkey and Dun Laoghaire where we got to meet people who run Heritage Centres, and spoke with artists who draw the most amazing stories out of people and then, somehow, have them render those stories artistically. And at the end of it all, we made up wee performances with the help of the Upstate Theatre Company at the top of a mountain in Cooley.

We've worked with the most amazing tutors. We created our own educational workshop projects around specific plays, learned about facilitation skills, and began devising original performance pieces around a number of themes. In the middle of it all, we spent an entire weekend in Belfast, which was a really intense experience. We worked mainly with the Educational Shakespeare Company, which showed us an unbelievable amount of work. We were able to visit a prison and have a workshop during which a group of incarcerated men did a reading of their original adaptation of Macbeth. We were able to see work with homeless youth and kids, and beyond the ESC, we were able to look at how people just go about doing theatre in that city. As for Belfast, we were given a pretty complex picture of the place, and saw how the community is still very much divided, and how it has worked to heal itself in many ways. It wasn't easy to see-- to not understand the context and to try to piece together what you think, while being plopped in the middle of where the Loyalist/Republican conflict happened. There were times when I didn't understand the work and when I really connected with it, and still other times when I felt I was a spectacle in the middle of it. It's hard also to feel like you're being barraged with the conflicts and sub-conflicts of the place, and to try in the midst of that to observe how the city itself is really very vibrant, and for the most part people are still going about their lives.

Aaaaaanyway...and then this week we came back and everyone worked their asses off to devise original performance pieces, which came out beautifully. My group used the campus of Trinity College as inspiration for a site-specific piece, which involved text and movement and singing and traveling audiences. It was the best! I can't describe it, and I don't have pictures of it yet to post (because of the whole can't take pictures of yourself while performing thing), but I will as soon as I get them.

So I'm almost done, and right now I have to finish my final papers and all that. I really wish I could have had a witty, pithy way to sum up my experience that would make everyone laugh. If I had had wireless internet in my room, it might have worked. But there's always Brazil...

P.S. I am trying to insert a bunch of pictures and I've even uploaded them, but for some reason this persnickety Irish computer won't let me insert them into the post right now. I'm working on it.

Just wanted to say that I'm alive...

2006-08-01T10:17:00.000-05:00

...and extremely intellectually and artistically stimulated, and very, very, busy. Dublin is amazing. I promise I'll write more later!

So, apparently I'm still in school

2006-07-21T15:12:00.000-05:00

I'm such a deadbeat. No, I'm not still in Amsterdam. Annie and I made it home and I even got to stop in Queens just long enough to say hi to Susie, Zack, and Graham, and to hear all of Astoria erupt at the ending of the World Cup final game. Since then I've had a wonderful two weeks at home, during which Brian and I found a sweet apartment (September 1st, get ready for cuteness), and even celebrated at my lovely friend Kelly's wedding in Savannah! We kind of couldn't believe how hot and humid it was down there, but nevertheless we had a great time.

Dare I say it...I'm packing for my other ginormous trip right now. I'm off to finish my grad program on a study abroad trip in Ireland, after which I'll just zip over to Brazil for week for another course. After that I'll be decorating my new apartment and hyperventilating daily about my lack of employment and my plethora of loan payments. For the time being, however, I'm psyched!! I can't wrap my mind around the idea that I'm leaving for a little over a month. I've had a little trouble deciding what to bring...

...so I'll probably overpack just a tiny bit. Updates to follow, for realz this time.

Euro trip?

2006-07-08T14:34:00.000-05:00

Aaaand...I'm not home yet. Annie and I are stranded in Amsterdam for a night. We don't even know how it happened, just suddenly we were in the airport in Amsterdam and some expressionless lady from the airline was telling us that we wouldn't make our connecting flight because our first flight was delayed, and the next thing we knew, we were given "overnight kits" and shuttled to a hotel. A couple hours later our bellies are full and we are the proud owners of wooden shoe keychains. Both of those things helped immensely, since before that we were pretty much a wreck.

So that sucks. The only good thing about all of this is that we were bumped to business class. So much for my funny return post filled with pictures. All I'll say is that my birthday celebration with my cousins on the boat involved some very, very hilarious (and well-documented) karaoke. Now I have to make some phone calls.

Nouveau message.

2006-07-06T09:14:00.000-05:00

Bonjour!

Okay. I know that I made this big deal about this being a travel blog and all, but here are three legitimate reasons why I haven't posted yet:
1. Internet service on the cruise is 50 cents a minute. Highway robbery!
2. We have had almost no free time when on shore.
3. I have been sick with some fierce, um...G.I. issues.

But now I'm in France for the first time, which is quite exciting! My parents and sister and I had the most amazing lunch in a teeny bistro in Nice. And tomorrow I finally get to see Aix-en-Provence, which Brian has been raving about. Before this we went to the Amalfi coast, Rome, and Florence. It's lovely to see family that I don't often see, and to go to so many cool places. However, cruise travel is also very strange to me. If I had to attach a general theme to it, I would probably pick "Buffet." That applies, most directly, to the food situation. What's up with the constant food? I mean CONSTANT. The only reason I haven't gained 10 pounds on this trip is because I literally have been too sick to eat. But the travel part is also a buffet of sorts too, since you just get a little of everything. I find it a little stressful to have to spend such a short amount of time in one place each day, but whatever. I'm certainly not complaining. The positive side of a buffet is that there's something for everyone. And it is kind of amazing that my 6-year-old cousin is just as occupied and entertained as my 83-year-old grandmother. And my whole, 26-person family on this trip is highly, highly funny.

Barcelona was absolutely stunning, we spent about four days there at the beginning, just Annie and I with Bridget. We saw tons of stuff, and had the perfect mix of seeing significant things like museums and architecture, and doing relaxing walking around and having sangria on the beach. I need to go back there.

Alright, family is gettintg antsy, as usual. Time to find un cafe, I believe. More later, and pictures when I get back, for sure!

Afloat.

2006-06-26T10:19:00.000-05:00

So a year ago (or maybe more) I updated my blogger profile, and in the "About me" section, I wrote "Packing and unpacking." Funny how that's still totally true. And with that...

Welcome to my TravelBlog!

It's just becoming a travel blog by default, since I will be blogging while traveling for the next few months. I just spent a lovely week at home in the Chi, spending QT with Brian, running around getting ready for my trip, seeing my parents. And now it's far too early in the day and I'm in my sister's apartment in Brooklyn. You see, tonight she and I leave for Barcelona for a few days before our entire family gets there and we all go on a cruise. I've never been on a cruise before, let alone Conway Family Boat Extravaganza '06; I'll let you know how it goes. Anyway, right now Brendan and I are sitting across from each other on matching Powerbooks, having coffee and tooling around on the internet before we both go get Mystic Tans. That's right, yo.

So yeah, Barcelona here we come! I'm definitely excited for that, I've never been there. More when we get there, I promise. I've been berated enough for my blogging laziness. This is it, folks.

Crap, I forgot to download that Catalan podcast so I can brush up...

Crap.

2006-06-15T23:43:00.000-05:00

Leaving is hard.

More on that later.

The unclassifiable.

2006-06-05T22:25:00.000-05:00

Some things:

1. Danielle Gasparro is wonderful. Check out her music, and also try to see her live. Fun fact: she's Andrew's temporary roommate.

2. I am packing to move again. Already? The good thing is, for some reason I actually seem to have less crap than I thought! This is amazing, since every time I've moved I have been completely and totally floored by the amount of useless shit I own. This change may have to do with my impending divorce from my hetero-lifemate of six years (something I cannot yet actually face, let alone talk about), or it could have to do with the fact that said housemate and I, when packing to move to NYC a year ago, made some last minute, er, deposits, in the alley, of some very large piles of stuff that we simply didn't know where to stash at the last minute. So the last move was productive. But don't get me wrong, the amount of useless shit I still have is astounding. Astounding! Why on earth was I ever sentimental about Disneyland postcards? Why do I mysteriously have so many of my sister's high school pictures? And why, oh why, have I never organized my photos and continue to lug around torn, disintegrated envelopes full of them? The other good thing, however, is that I'm becoming less attached to crappy things and so very much more willing to chuck it all. God, it feels good.

3. Remember a few posts ago when I posted a picture of me in a scooter helmet, looking coy? Well as it turns out, I didn't look quite so flirtatious the entire time I was wearing that helmet. I also, apparently, did dances. Like this:

I just thought you should see that.

4. Back to this: Holy crap, I'm moving again? I don't even have a truck reserved and my stuff is supposedly being taken back to Chicago this weekend. I'm going to try to focus on how well I'm doing at throwing out crappy knick-knacks.

Fleet Week 2006: Success!

2006-05-29T23:13:00.000-05:00

Well kids, I am now about to expose my real reason for relocating to New York City...to snag myself a sailor during the much anticipated yearly celebration of Fleet Week, when all those ships dock in the NYC harbor and the Navy lads go looking for fun. And did I ever bag me a seaman! Check him out:

Okay, okay...he's not really a random naval officer I picked up in a bar, and he may not actually have taken me to the Fleet Week ball. But we did have lunch at Cafe Bar in Astoria, Queens, while he was all gussied up in his dress whites. Doesn't he look sooo Top Gun?! "He" is my dear friend Andrew, a rabbinical student here in NYC who has worked as a chaplain in the Navy. He had a special meeting with an admiral, so he got to get dressed up, and we decided to make an afternoon of it. Hey, those creases take time!

Turns out it was a weekend of Andrew fun, which is a special brand of fantastic. Today we spent all day at his sweet place, reading Hebrew children's books about where babies come from, cooking a meal of fajitas, mango salsa, and peach-apple pie, and watching many of our very favorite episodes from the Buffy box set.

But that was only the end of my day. After a night of salsa dancing and a slumber party with Annie and Brendan, we got up this morning and walked around Fort Greene with our coffee mugs. Then Annie whipped up a brunch of pistachio french toast and ricotta fritatta muffins.

You know, just your typical Sunday morning spread.

Hold your breath!

2006-05-15T22:44:00.000-05:00

Brian says that even when he visits, he checks my blog and is very often disappointed that I haven't posted. Even though I think he's sort of setting himself up--it's not as if I could slip away from his company and secretly write a blog post, after all--I have to agree that I've been lax.

But lots has been going on! First off, Anniepalooza 2006! That's right, our li'lest Conway graduated from NYU amidst much fanfare and an entire week of festivities. Even David Blaine showed up and was unsuccessful in stealing her thunder, even though he set up his little bubble literally outside the building where Annie's commencement happened, and attempted to break the world record for breath-holding pretty much at the exact moment she walked across the stage. (Seriously I'm not kidding, after they called her name and I realized there were still 150 names to go, I went to the bathroom and watched, from the balcony of Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, Senor Blaine being dramatically pulled from his tank after seven minutes. Pretty freaking weird.)

My parents were in town for an entire week for this, which was way fun. Both my sister and I realized how little our mom and dad get to see of our actual lives here, since whenever they visit it's only for a weekend. They got to see where we worked--and in my case, got put to work themselves helping with the kids activities I was running at the time--and we all ate very well for much of the week. At the end of it all, we were rewarded with the NYU school-wide graduation last Thursday, which is a somewhat ridiculous affair conducted in Washington Square Park. It involves a full hour and a half of students processing into the park, which I had the privilege of watching on closed-circuit TV in a nearby building, because there isn't enough room for more than two guests per student in the park! It was a nice ceremony, however, and several of the speeches were pretty good, and I was so proud of my little sis!

Brian also arrived for a short visit on Friday, and we actually stayed quite well-rested while still managing to do new/fun/cultural stuff. That's kind of a feat for a short weekend, but it's becoming more and more important to me to fill my time with the experiences that this city offers, while I have the time. We saw an amazing documentary that was part of the Sundance festival at BAM called American Blackout, which was about U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who challenged the disenfranchisement of black voters in 2000 and 2004. We also finally got to hit up Barcade, which is the simplest and coolest bar concept ever: good beers (including hand-pulled), and tons of classic 80s arcade games! Seriously, we're talking Galaga, Frogger, Tetris, Super Mario Brothers...I would not recommend going if you plan on talking to anyone but the person in the "2 Player" game with you, however. Once you start slamming those buttons and feeding those quarters, there's no socializing happening, unless it involves competitive, one-syllable yells.

And lastly, my sister and her BF, the newly birthday-ed Brendan, got themselves a pretty blue Vespa. I got to go for a ride on it, but don't worry, I was safe.

Updates.

2006-05-06T10:19:00.000-05:00

I am so ready to be done with this semester, for so many reasons. I'm trying to finish up two final assignments, and it's taking me waaaay longer than it should. It's frustrating. I need to have time to think about other things.

I'm currently in huge limbo right now about the decision of where I'll be next year, NY or Chicago. I don't want to think about it right now, but since it's consumed my thoughts for the last week or so, I thought I'd mention it.

So Sus, Josh and I woke up on this beautiful Saturday morning and watched the series finale of Six Feet Under as a family. We've all been watching the episodes at different times, but we all waited to watch the last one together. How is it that the end of a TV show can seem like the end of an era? It was amazing, and heart-wrenching, and I went for a run after and could only listen to soft, melancholy music. All of us talked about how we love the characters and how this is the only show where we truly think about them like we know them. Sigh.

In other news, my parents are coming to town today for my sister's various graduation events, and they're staying the whole week! Fun fun. They've never been here for that long since we moved here, and we're both excited for them to see actual parts of our daily lives.

Back to work. Once I'm done I'll post more, I'm sure. Ha. Speaking of which, I wish I knew how to redesign my blog template myself. It's just too much work to learn it now, but I want a new look.

Where does the time go?

2006-04-25T21:37:00.000-05:00

I actually have negative time to be posting this week. I haven't been slacking, I've been busy having fun and, well, being busy. Brian came for a lovely extended weekend, and we were also graced with the presence of our long lost friends, the fabulous ATF and Lizzie. They joined us all the way from northern Michigan, a far-off land where all they eat is almond-crusted whitefish and cherries. We took them for big city food like dim sum and, um, italian...and we hit museums and bars and the hookah.

It was awesome. And I completely neglected my work, which is how it should have been. But now I have four papers due and I should have been in bed an hour ago. Yar!

On another note, for so many many reasons, I can't believe it's almost May.

I understand a love of shoes, but come ON.

2006-04-05T22:05:00.000-05:00

We have lots of magazines in my apartment. Only one is technically mine--RealSimple--and that was a gift, but between the roommates we subscribe to TimeOut, The New Yorker, Blender, Harper's, and Cook's Illustrated. It's a lot of freaking breakfast-time reading material, to say nothing of the tremendous weight our coffee table bears.

So it was kind of out of the ordinary the other day, while I was standing in a mind-boggingly endless line at the drugstore just wanting to buy a snack for the train ride home, that I began eyeing a Marie Claire on the rack by the register. This is the reason they put those magazines there, because people buy them impulsively at the last second, and I knew that. I knew it. But I was facing an hour long train ride home, I was exhausted and not in the mood for my novel, and I'd never really read that particular magazine. And besides, the real reason I finally decided to buy it was because the largest, most prominent headline on the front had to do with hairstyles and related ideas, and to be honest I need a haircut so desperately right now that I think about my rat's nest a lot. So I bought it, as a guilty pleasure, and I really wish I hadn't.

Ugh. These are the kinds of magazines that sociologists and psychologists talk about. It's not Cosmo, because everyone, even subscribers, knows that Cosmo is ridiculous in a more overt way, what with hot pink covers and their same "HOT sex!!" headline every single damn month. It's much more difficult to take all of that seriously, even though I'm sure people do. But something like Marie Claire, which masks itself as a more understated, straightforward fashion and human interest glossy, is what I believe is doing more damage.

The first thing I noticed that pissed me off--though perhaps trivial--was the aforementioned hair feature. The biggest part about that was this huge pull-out of different celebrities' hairstyles, meant to give everyone the perfect for their face shape. Clearly this was not going to be the final authority on hair, but in this large spread of 80 pictures (literally), there were perhaps two with curly hair. This kind of stuff has pissed me off since I was twelve, but I was just sad to see it continue.

But that's not even the worst part. The "big features" that this magazine boasts? An investigative report into the "unbelievable duties" of Japan's sex volunteers, men who volunteer to deflower women who are nearing or past 30 and are still virgins. Thank goodness these men are around to, as the article says, help embarrassed "good girls learn about lovemaking"! Next up in the Features section: "Could you give up your razor for a month?" Gasp!! And my personal favorite: "I surfed naked for a pair of Manolos." Aside from an interesting article about human trafficking, that was pretty much it. Now, I know no one expects freaking Marie Claire to be changing the world, but can we ever begin to revise our idea of who exactly reads these magazines? Am I overreacting? It's true, most people pick these up so they have a fluffy read, and that's why I bought it too. But the readers do have brains, and sometimes I feel that things like this are actively trying to turn those brains into molasses. That's all.

Sigh.

Springy-dingy.

2006-03-31T00:07:00.000-06:00

I had several very pleasant and funny interactions with strangers in New York City today, which can only mean one thing: spring fever. When you grow up in Chicago, you have a lot of trouble trusting balmy breezes that occur before May. You are very tentative in your enjoyment of the first warm front, because you always believe that it's some sort of evil ruse and in five minutes you'll be knocked over by a frigid wind or buried in snow. This is not the case here, at least not today. Never since I moved to New York (in the heat of last summer) have people made eye contact and smiled so much, and never have I been entertained so thoroughly by random people on the street/in an elevator/driving a cab. It was the only thing as refreshing as the 70-degrees-and-sunny weather.

I thought my day was going to thorougly suck when the 6 train arrived and I wasn't able to get in any of the FOUR (4) different doors I tried, because it was so packed full of people. I was running late, so I walked outside and jumped in a cab operated by one of the funniest characters I've ever met, a middle aged man who immediately told me I smelled good and that I could have any job in the world, especially in the hotel business, which he knows because he was a head hunter once. He can read people. Then he told me all about the jobs he's had, which include owning a restaurant in Mexico City and currently owning a deli in Westchester. What was he doing driving a cab? Who knows? I didn't ask, because I was too busy being entertained by his exhaustive analysis of my "genuine" and "charming" character, and his subsequent prediction of the most appropriate career path for me, all based on what he could see by looking in the rearview mirror. I gave him a nice tip, and when I reached my appointment and got in the elevator, a very small, very scruffy little man in a green messenger outfit who could have been anywhere between 35 and 60 years old told me in a raspy voice that I looked pretty.

So there you go. And the rest of the day continued with me smiling at people and them smiling back, other people smiling at each other, lots of how-are-you's, and very few public obscenties.

Powder.

2006-03-27T19:24:00.000-06:00

I apologize. I haven't posted in a long time, and this one isn't particularly interesting. But it has a picture! Oooooh!

As I mentioned, Brian was here for a whole week, and besides when he was following me around to various jobs and other responsibilities (like basketball games, where he became a ringer for one of our absent players and kicked ass), we did actually do fun stuff, like picnic in Central Park and see movies.

Aaaaand...then I went skiing again. In Lake Tahoe. I know, I know, I went skiing only three blog posts ago, but because of a travel voucher we had, I had the chance to fly pretty much for free and I jumped on it. Brian was there, as well as an assortment of other fun people. And I confirmed my skiing addiction. Also, skiing at well-known places with real snow and mountains with actual high altitudes and views of a huge lake is really freaking cool.

See? There's me, and unfortunately--it was taken with my camera phone--you can't quite see the lake in the background, but it's there.

I tell ya, coming back was difficult. Leaving four days of vacation, skiing, and hot tub behind, then having a layover in my hometown airport and not being able to stay there, then coming back late and jumping into everything early today...it was tough. Still, you know what? I may eat my words, but I think spring may have begun.

At least the hardest parts of my job sometimes end up being so absurd they're funny.

2006-03-14T22:08:00.000-06:00

Today, I had a rubber chicken thrown at me. Not as a joke.

In more positive news, Brian's spending an entire week of his spring break here! Woot!

Hey guys!

2006-03-09T22:22:00.000-06:00

Starting a class and a new internship in the same week makes Margaret a very busy girl. No time for pondering blog post subjects these past few days. However, I'm not cranky in the least, because I get to run around doing all my stuff in freakishly nice weather! Seventy degrees? I'll take it!

Anyway, recently I was able to get together with most of the readership of my blog, two wonderful people who inspire me, and this was the result:

Susie, me, Graham

I think Graham said it best, as always. I wish I could have you both around all the time!

Ski bunny!

2006-02-27T22:03:00.000-06:00

Ohmygoodness, I love skiing! We went to Camelback in Pennsylvania, and not counting the one time I went for a few hours at a crappy ski place in Wisconsin seven years ago, this weekend was my first real time skiing. So. Much. Fun. I feel like I learned pretty quickly--thanks to my expert and supportive companions, Brian, Sus, and Josh--and although some tumbles are inevitable, I avoided any gigantic wipeouts and achieved high speeds on some decidedly non-beginner runs. I was very proud of myself. I'm already trying to finagle a trip to an even more intense ski destination sometime in the near future...

I think I looked the part, n'est pas?

I heart the Olympics.

2006-02-19T14:30:00.000-06:00

I love everything about them, winter and summer, from the endless colorful flags to the theme music to the teensy weensy gymnasts and the ripped skiiers, the outfits, the surprises, the scandals (speaking of, isn't Bode Miller an ass?), even the heartwarming TV profiles of the medal favorites, complete with shots of ever-supportive family members and training montages set to trendy music. Love it.

Zack asked me last night what even I would compete in if I had the chance to do any in the winter Olympics. I expressed interest in the obvious figure skating, and he said he'd always wanted to learn luge, but we both agreed that in the end, you really can't argue with short track speed skating. It's just so intense.

Back to my weekend o' work.

Sad? Depressed?

2006-02-17T16:46:00.000-06:00

Just not yourself? Need a lift? Why not look at some weird pictures of baby animals?

Click on the picture. Come on, try it. You know you want to.

Aaaaand...there goes my morning.

2006-02-16T09:46:00.002-06:00

Ummm...I don't really have anything much to say. I'm too distracted by GoogleChat at the moment. One more reason for an unproductive day? Check.

What are our thoughts about this new GoogleChat feature? Not that I haven't enjoyed the few tentative conversations I've had with fellow gmail-using friends, but it also seems sort of strange that it was unveiled so suddenly by Google, who just seemed to decide that it's one of those features that everyone wanted, like auto-forward or the ability to create email groups. Then again, I'm sure they do focus groups on this kind of thing all the time, right? Either way, it seems like a good way to get people to never not be connected to Google. As my dear friend ATF (who I'm chatting with at this very moment) said, and I quote, "for a company whose motto is Don't Be Evil, Google sure found a good way to make sure people can't do their jobs." Good thing I don't have a desk job now. My question is, where was this feature over the last two years, when I literally spun around in my desk chair to pass time at work?

Oh, and I won't go through a lengthy description of my Chicago weekend, but it was absolutely lovely. Brian outdid himself again, and I *almost* got to stay an extra day because of this "noreaster" (why the hell do they call it that?) that dumped snow all over New York. The weekend was full of fun surprises and seeing people...so much so that we ended up cancelling all plans on Sunday and instead watched many many episodes of "Entourage." Perfect.

And I already think my job is awesome!

2006-02-08T23:17:00.000-06:00

Today was the best day of work ever. Like, seriously. The first graders I worked with, who are already pretty much my favorite, reached new levels of brilliance, complexity, and cooperation in all of our dramatic activities, several of which I did in my most recent graduate level course. A few actually giggled with delight while doing their extended work with partners. Extended. Work. With. Partners.

Really.

Then--and this is the crazy part--the middle schoolers, all of whom I wanted to fling off of the stage headfirst last week, spent an entire hour engaged, having fun, encouraging each other, and doing some of the best improv I've seen in a while. And they were nice.

Whaaa...??!

And of course, a potential employer just called.

2006-02-08T10:52:00.000-06:00

I just had a cavity filled for the first time in my life. (oh, the shame!) Halfway through the procedure they had to give me an extra injection because I'm such a wimp when it comes to mouth pain. Now I'm sitting in a lounge at school, compulsively biting my numb lower lip, poking my cheek, and wondering if anyone can actually see the right side of my face drooping, because that's what it feels like.

And I desperately want a cup of coffee, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to keep it from dribbling down my face. This sucks.

Coming soon to theaters near you.

2006-02-02T22:30:00.000-06:00

Today I had one very fun and energetic experience in a gymnasium, and one that made me very anxious and hoarse. The fun experience was our 3-on-3 game tonight, which I look forward to every week. Team Friendship, unfortunately, only won one of our four games this time around, but we had a small group and we played pretty hard. (On an unrelated but interesting note: tonight we played at a very small and poorly-lit gym at a public school in Midtown near Times Square. The gym is on the 5th floor, and on the way up we passed a person who looked like a janitor, arranging bags of garbage, while wearing a very visible, large handgun in a holster on his belt. Now I know this is New York City and all that, but a janitor who's packing? Meh?)

The other gymnasium experience I had today involved a very large and psychotic group of children, ages four to nine. Some context: I run various activies at a wonderful after school program in Brooklyn. On Thursdays, we have something called "Clubs," wherein each child signs up for a club--such as Cooking, Dance, or Photography--and they stick with that club every week for four weeks. It's great. Since almost all of my activities are arts-based and I wasn't exactly full of club ideas this month, I decided to volunteer for the "Fitness" club for the youngest group of kids. I had high hopes; I was working with two great co-workers, and I just knew that it was going to be different, more meaningful than all of the silly gym activities these kids do every day. If all went well, I might have the little ones doing Down Dog and Warrior pose by the end. I soon realized how misguided I was. Do you know how children act in gyms? I knew, I really did, yet somehow I thought it couldn't possibly be that way with my awesome club. Even today, on day two, we struggled to get them to follow our supercool warm-up stations and after half an hour managed to get them into formations that could be called lines for relay races, as I muttered "I hate Fitness club...I hate Fitness club" under my breath over and over. By the end, however, we had managed several successful races, and I let them play one fun game of "Cleaning Up Your Backyard," wherein teams attempt to throw all balls and beanbags from their side of the gym into the other team's area. I allowed myself a sigh of relief as kids enthusiastically helped put the balls back into the bag I was holding. Then I got hit in the head with a beanbag. Sigh.

So it wasn't the greatest hour in the world. But fortunately, the next hour I got to spend time with my MovieMaking club, otherwise known as The Best Club There Ever Was, Ever. It's a small group of creative, considerate, committed fifth graders (who else though that kind of phrase was an oxymoron?), who are totally into planning and writing our upcoming film, "The Case of the Missing Staff." We produced a whole storyboard today, people! I felt like I was in the writing room for a big-budget film. I love my job.

And you'd think I would make time to post every day.

2006-01-25T09:08:00.000-06:00

I am such a colossal time-waster sometimes, and I really don't understand why. Granted, I did become a professional time-waster during my last job, where I spent a year and a half in my very own office (with door that closed). During days when--if I was lucky--I would have one short meeting and/or an assigment that took approximately one-fifteenth of the time my bosses alotted, I found new and innovative ways of filling the hours, most of which involved ridiculous and compulsive internet news, oddities, and blog surfing, but also occasionally featured some great chair-spinning and window-staring.

But now that I'm back in school, I know how to buckle down. I did it last semester like a pro, writing papers and papier mache-ing masks into the wee hours, but for some reason I am most certainly not doing it now. I've spent the last five days just trying to bang out a short final paper for the intersession course I took in January, and every day I disappoint myself. I blame it on the fact that all of my free "schoolwork time" happens in the morning, before I have to depart for my afternoon job. This just doesn't work well for me, and it has nothing to do with me wanting to sleep late. I am often the last in my apartment to go to sleep, and I wake up early every day with the best of intentions and a solid plan in my head. But then I have to make coffee and eat. Then maybe exercise. Then check my email, of course. And then by the time I'm showered, it's time to leave, because it takes me an hour to get to work. Seriously. I'm not pretending that I'm the most focused person ever here, I most certainly take too much time doing little things in the morning that could wait for later. So all this, combined with my falling-asleep-at-9:30pm syndrome, and the best daily result is maybe one crappy page of notes. Ugh.

A wise blogger once pointed out that no matter how early you start, you will always use the exact amount of time alotted to complete an assignment. I take comfort in that.

Crap. Now I have to hurry or I'll be late for work.

Two great things.

2006-01-23T23:33:00.000-06:00

1) Our 3-on-3 team won all four games tonight! Go Team Friendship!

2) I find this hilarious.

Sleep, round two.

2006-01-19T22:08:00.000-06:00

Well I am just the tiredest girl there ever was these days! Every night since I got back, right about 9:30pm, I have an absolutely enormous, golden retriever-type yawn and I fight off sleep unsuccessfully for 20-30 minutes before dragging myself up from whatever surface I've been slumped on and make myself actually brush my teeth and put on PJs. Last night I actually fell asleep on the phone with Brian for about half a second, to my horror and his amusement. I was thoroughly convinced that I had responded to what he said, but I think now that it was only in my dream, since all of a sudden I heard him faintly say "babe...?"

Tonight after watching Deadwood I yawned again and put my head down on the couch. Next thing I knew Susie was putting a blanket over me, and I was murmuring that it was the best thing anyone's ever done. I woke up half an hour later with my contacts plastered to my eyes and a pain in my neck.

Maybe 2006 is the year of the nap.