thing i enjoy:

Brinner.



Kari.


Kari thinking Mom doesn't wash clothes well enough and taking them from her.


Kari being the tallest person in 10 miles around (excluding me).


Kari speaking Spanish to every person she meets, including saying hello to the old ladies in the morning.

Kari pretending to be a shark.


Kari jumping in the pool (not as good as me).


Sitting on the beach with donkeys.


Mom teaching people the bunny hop.


Dogs.


Andrew.


Andrew and dogs.


The end.

sharing

So... How you doin'?

Since Katie shared the books she's read, I will give you mine so far in 2011:

• Born to Run, Christopher McDougall
• American Wife, Curtis Sittenfeld
• Ordinary, Extraordinary People, Condeleezza Rice
• Decision Points, George W. Bush

It leans pretty heavily Republican with American Wife (fictional story based on Laura Bush's life), Condi and Bush's memoirs, but don't worry. I'm still liberally liberal. I set a goal of 75 books in 2011 and I started my 6th last night. On track!

Tomorrow, Mom, Harry and I leave for a trip to Honduras. We'll visit Kari, that one girl who is my sister. I fit everything I'm taking in one backpack. It's amazing. I'll share pictures once I get back.

I've recently been turned onto brussels sprouts, specifically their deliciousness when tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and then roasted. I've always been a fan of sweet potato fries.

So good. For reals. I had a brussels sprouts craving the other day, which is on par with ridiculous. Andrew, after saying he didn't like brussels sprouts, apparently tried them for the first time and has grown to like them.

The only bad part about this situation?

Being forced to share.

honduras

This is where I'm going when I visit Kari in Honduras in January. Yes!

a little bit of everything

So... I haven't written anything for awhile. Not because my life has been particularly exciting, because it hasn't. Well, maybe a little bit.



Scones with raisins and nuts.


Chocolate cheesecake for Andrew's birthday! It got a little cracked in the middle - I think if I had taken it out of the oven 3 minutes earlier it wouldn't have cracked... next time.

Chicken Parmesan (with window ledge basil) for Andrew's birthday dinner, recipe from Food Matters by Mark Bittman. We substituted eggplant for mushrooms.


My bruise from giving blood. Pictures are of Day 2 and Day 10. I had the bruise for two weeks, just disappearing before heading east for the JCLorst wedding.

We're not very coordinated. Also, Jake is a fight instigator while Rachel just wants to love.

And then Andrew's high school friends Ross and Linnea got married last weekend, which meant Andrew stood up in the wedding and got to dress classy-like. I enjoyed it.

They really liked those suspenders. I may or may not have encouraged some suspender-action. Your call. Also, I think that's a fantastic picture of Ross (red tie).

Window ledge basil and cilantro! It's doing pretty well in its present condition. I switch between worrying about over-watering and under-watering. They get plenty of sunlight and it's been so hot lately that I've been watering them daily to make sure they don't die. If they die, I can't eat them.

This little cilantro plant didn't turn out too well... I think too much sunlight/heat. Oh well, I can put something else in that pot.


The street broke open and gushed water last week. They're still fixing it (often loudly at 7 AM). There was literally a crack in the street and a bubble of water coming out of it. I don't know how it happened, but it flowed for 24 hours before the city had someone down there. You can see in the picture where the crack is - at a downward angle away from orange vested-dude where the water is shiny.

My DJ set from DDPP last week:

Kari - expect a CD with your package. It's sitting on my counter and I just have to write a letter, burn some CDs, find a present and then mail it. Also, I really wanted to buy a Toy Story 3 padded envelope to send to you, but I thought it might look too fun and someone would steal it.

I am on book 53 for the year, which makes me within sight of my 6o books goal. My last ten books have been Codex, Lev Grossman (Not as good as The Magicians - skip Codex); Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver (seasonal recipes!); Buying In, Rob Walker; God in the White House, Randall "what I like to call ..." Balmer; Pearl of China, Anchee Min (very good! couldn't get into her Madame Mao book though); Picking Bones From Ash, Marie Mutsuki Mockett (recommend it); Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon, Larry Millett (Holmes in Minnesota - yes!); The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin (enjoyed it); Black is the New White, Paul Mooney (really funny. I want to see more of his stand-up now); Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer (about Pat Tillman's life, death and ensuing military cover up).

Ok. I have to go buy some QTips. I ran out on Saturday and it's hard for me to do without them. They're one of the things I'd bring to a deserted island. Yesterday it was difficult for me to shower and then not QTip my ears. I can't go on like this much longer.

Bacher out.

puking in public

This was the basics of a conversation on the bus by two old Catholic ladies behind me:

-the only good charity to donate to is the Knights of Columbus
-all tv is junk, it's just immoral movies where women show their "bags" all over
-the digital converter box is a tool from the government to control us
-Obama is also ultimately responsible for the digital converter box which controls us
-the digital converter box is also a tool that the Antichrist is going to use to in world domination
-therefore, Obama is probably the Antichrist
-they didn't vote for him, but one of the ladies did like Sarah Palin. They thought she was smart and moral
-she's going to plan a big role in the next election, we just weren't ready for her now
-Walter Mondale is awful.

The End.

This weekend was the Bellin Run. I had planned on running as much as I could (about 4 miles, I thought), walking a bit, and then running the rest. Well, when I got to the 4 mile marker, I was feeling awesome so I just kept running. There was a little bit midway during an uphill incline through mile 5 when things felt rough, but I made it though. Things went great all the way up through the end. I think the last water stop did me in, because just as I rounded the corner of the last block to the finish line, my stomach staged a protest. I ended up yaking twice before the finish line and then once after. But what could I do? I was on the last block after running further than I had before in my life. I wasn't going to stop and walk through the finish line... I'll take the puke and call it a win. I'd do it exactly the same if I had to do it all over (minus the suspected foul water stop). Everyone else did really well too. Anne, Sarah and I all expect to walk part and we all ended up running the whole thing; Mom had a personal record; Pete and Ethan (via stroller) started out running, but got stuck behind stroller people so they walked most of it.

Also, Pete and Carla and the kids stuck around through Saturday so I got to play with Ethan, Grace and Ali lots. They're cute as hell, I swear. I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb here, but I'm definitely their favorite. Except for Grace, because her favorite is Katie. Doesn't even try to hide it.

Kari's gone to Bolivia now and man, do I love sleeping in her bed. It is way more comfortable than mine. Also, wearing her clothes is pretty awesome too. I have also subsisted solely on her tapioca pudding. Delicious.

blaaah!

I went to the farmer's market this morning and came home with an apple pie. Not only did I buy a pie, but Olivia and Amir both bought pies. So we now have three homemade pies in our house. Potentially dangerous and definitely delicious.

Apart from the pies, my day today has slowed considerably in relation to the past 10 or so. I'm not completely done with work, but yesterday was crazy busy and stressful. I'm a relatively laid-back person (ok, completely laid back), but I just about hit the ceiling yesterday. I can only think of one other time before this when I was as stressed as I was yesterday, and then it manifested itself when I burst into tears because I couldn't pass a truck on a 2 lane highway. My body feels physically exhausted from yesterday - the arches of my feet hurt, my legs are sore, I'm out of energy. It's completely out of character for me to be that stressed, and it's interesting my body responded by forcing me to take a break. I was going to anyway, but I'm definitely moving a little slower today. I also haven't gone for a run in a week or so, and I'm betting that hasn't helped my stress level either. Signs of stress around the house include frequent yells/screams, often in the style of the "kittens inspired by kittens" girl, and jumping up and down on our couches and chairs, sometimes everyone at the same time. Yeah, we're cool.

So what did I do yesterday/this week that stressed me so much? Well, I handed in three papers, for starters. One for GLBTQ Pastoral Care, one for Death in Music, Art and Liturgy and one for Film and Liturgy. I wrote my gaycare paper last week, so that was taken care of by Saturday. That one was on GLBTQ youth in rural/small town areas and building community. I wrote my Death paper at the beginning of the week, finishing Tuesday after going to Spring Fling and seeing the Decemberists play. I wrote that one about Imitation of Life (1959) and its depiction of a black ars moriendi (art of dying). Then I wrote my Film and Liturgy paper on The Secret Life of Bees (2008) and how it establishes the domestic as a sacred sphere, in particular, for black women. That one I wrote Thursday and finished on Friday, trying to get it done before the Community Dinner that night. In addition to finishing three papers, I also had a Community Dinner, Div School Idol and an after-party at our house. Friday morning I had to shop for the dinner, then later in the afternoon, pick up the grills and start the cooking, plus arrange the whole thing. Thankfully, I had many helpers and many hands for the task, so I was a little less crazy. I kept getting impatient with the charcoal, wanting it to light faster and be ready faster, but my friend helping me just reminded me that I had to wait for it to light up, it wasn't going to help if I kept spraying it with lighter fluid. Doesn't mean I didn't spray it around at first, cursing the flames.

So today I'm taking a break. I read a book that I picked up last week, The Unlikely Disciple. The author came to YDS and gave a talk/signed books, and it was really interesting. The author did a semester at Liberty University (Jerry Falwell's college) and wrote about his time there, presenting the students in very nuanced and interesting ways. For someone who studies religion and thinks that Christians are often viewed unfairly in simplistic or negative ways, I liked that he didn't take the easy way out and call everyone crazy or sheep-like. I'm now at 13 books for the year, which is technically behind schedule. I imagine the pace picking up once I'm done with schoolwork. Also, out of the last four books I finished (since mid April), 3 of them were for school and the last one is about a Christian college. I do this to myself, really.

Other than that, I might watch a movie? On my self-appointed days off, I almost don't know what to do with myself. This happened at the beginning of spring break, too. I feel like I should be doing work and I don't know how to not do work. I have one paper left to do, and I'm writing it on Jesus movies. It's 8-10 pages and I'm guessing I'll have it done quickly. I've written about Jesus movies so much that it's almost like second nature. It's on an aspect I haven't written about before, so it's still fair game academically. I remember when I was writing my honors project and one day I sat down and just wrote and wrote and wrote. I think I wrote the 40 page section on The Passion of the Christ in 2 1/2 weeks or something... One night I wrote 10 pages on the history of the Christ film like it was nothing. A little scary, but I like to think it means I'm knowledgable.

Kari moved into our apartment this weekend and Mom's in town helping, so I've been getting pictures. I wish I was there and not here driving myself insane. Soon, soon, soon.

Well, I'm going to go eat some pie and watch a movie. What a crazy idea, huh?

busy busy busy? not really.

I feel like I've been busy lately, but really I think it's just that my head's been out of it. I haven't actually been that busy in the long run. So here's a brief list of stuff I've been up to:

Recovering from sickness: I was sick. I am no longer sick. Well, I have a lingering, dying cough and a bit of a runny nose. It's on the way out, but last week was pretty ridiculous. I think I picked it up while standing outside for the Daily Show last Tuesday (more on that later), but Friday was pretty much lay-on-the-couch day. I went up to the school to put away peapod groceries and was dragging ass the whole way. Anyway, I'm better now.

Went to The Daily Show taping: Fulfilled a long-held dream of mine to go to a Daily Show taping. Went last Tuesday as a late birthday present to myself with a couple of friends and really enjoyed it. Jon Stewart and I had a connection... I can tell. There was a period where he intently locked eyes with myself, or perhaps he was just staring off into space, because we were sitting directly in front of his desk. Time will tell. Here's the show we went to go see.

Ruined my laptop with coffee and ended up getting a new one: Spilled my travel mug of coffee alllllll over my old laptop at the coffee shop on Saturday morning while working on the murder mystery community dinner. It was pretty much shot and I knew that, after having several friends who had spilled liquids on their laptops. Anything I could have done to save it I would have had to do right away, and I didn't realize it. Anyway, I was able to turn this frown upside down because I now have a Mac! I love it and all of the operational quirks were way easy to pick up. The guy at the Apple Store was talking to me like an idiot, showing me how to use the internet and email program as if I've never used them before... I couldn't tell if it was because I was a lady or a first-time Mac buyer. He made some comment to Jake and Tim about how they could help me load Office onto my computer, and Jake said, "Well, she probably knows more about this than either of us." Damn straight, old guy at the Apple Store.

Applying for jobs: I've found a couple more jobs I'm applying for in Minneapolis - two with Americorps that help with literacy or college applications and one with as a religious community organizer working with congregations around social justice issues. I'm pretty excited about the last one... I think I'd be good at it and it seems like an organization that would push me to do my best. I'm also getting really excited about the possibility of moving back to the Twin Cities, even with all of the cold and snow. I won't lie; I kind of like the milder climate here, but I'm ready to settle down and live somewhere for awhile. My friend calls it an experiment in putting down roots, and I tend to agree with him.

Returning to MPLS/GRB: I'm looking foward to my spring break and heading back Midwest-side for a week and a half or so. I'm flying into Minneapolis for a few days to hopefully interview for jobs... if not, just see friends and Kari. We're also running a 5k that weekend I'm back, so huzzah for that.

Running: I took a break from running because of the sickness, but I'm back and trying to up my distances for my runs. Right now I'm hovering between 2 miles and 3 miles on a regular basis, so I'd like to make the longer distance more regularly. Some days it's a pain trying to find time to go, and I generally don't like going in the morning because I don't feel like my breakfast provides enough energy for that. Usually I like going in the mid afternoon... it's a good time for me. Plus then I can shower after that, and don't have to get up earlier to shower.

Ok. That is all. Goodbye.

to-do

Things I'm looking forward to doing post-graduation:

pay off student loans
make enough money to pay off my student loans
read for fun
have a church home
grocery shop on a regular basis
live with Kari
set my coffee maker to make coffee automatically in the morning, put it in my travel mug and ride my bike to work

Is that sad? (except the Kari part)

Totally unmotivated in everything

There's less than a month until I'm back in New Haven, and only two weeks that I'll be around here in the Twin Cities. As excited as I am about going back, I'll miss being here (although not the heat... screw 90+ humidity).

I'm reeeaaaalllllllllly ready to be done with my French class. It's just dragging on and I'm not interested in waking up at 7:30 every day anymore to go sit in a loud room to hear people talk in French. There's only a week left, so that's good. I feel if it were any more than that, I'd go crazy. It was pretty easy to pick up at first (maybe because a lot of it was repeat from high school), but now it's harder to learn everything so quickly. I feel if I had more time to digest the stuff, I'd be better at remembering it and all of that, but there's just so much that's similiar it's hard to distinguish and remember. I also feel like the instructor isn't as good at teaching the material as the one first session, so it's probably a combination of all those things. I'm ready to not have class for awhile, before the semester starts up again.

Last weekend when Mom and Erich were here, we had tons of fun. We rode our bikes all around Minneapolis and drank a ton. And saw fireworks! Exciting.

I'm feeling a little less than motivated, so we'll do this the quick and dirty way:
The Dark Knight: Awesome
Flogging Molly at Irish Fair: Awesome
Irish Fest in Milwaukee with Matt, Erich, Mom, Kari, Dawn(?): Awesome
Andrew's multiple birthday celebrations: Awesome
Baking cookies with Kari: Awesome
The cookies that didn't have enough flour: Not so awesome
Margaritas with the MOK kids, Watry and KG: Awesome
Next morning: Less than awesome

That is all.

Pictures! Finally!

Ali and I on the train at Bay Beach


Andrew and Grace on the train


Peter, Carla and Katie!


Kari got something in her eye so she wanted Dad to fix it on the kitchen counter.


Ethan, which is really Pete in a baby body.


Me and my cousins!


Mom flicking the geese away!


That damn otter sleeping in the log

Mom and Sarah

Life without Kari

Kari comes back soon!  I'm not going to lie; my life has been a little stagnant since she left.  Well, not completely boring.  On Friday, Andrew, Drew, Amy, Jeff Matzke and I went over to Katie George's swanky apartment and played board games - Andrew is surprisingly good at Apples to Apples and I'm not sure why.  It might be a fluke.  We'll see.  Then yesterday Drew and I went to the Twin Cities Pride Festival.  They were giving out a ton of free stuff - I got some cool buttons and two reusable grocery bags.  Pretty awesome, if you ask me.  Someone was also selling a "I (heart) MPLS" t-shirt that I wanted, but I'll just have to show my TC love some other way.  

Friday was the last day of the first French session.  Now I have a week off until the second class session starts and I'm going to sleep in every day!  Awesomeness!  It's nice because now we can leave for GB earlier for the badass 4th of July weekend coming up.  Fireworks!

I've been riding one of Kari's bikes around while she's been gone.  The 84 bus that goes up and down Snelling is either 2 minutes early (so I miss it) or 5 minutes late (so I miss my connecting bus to the U and am late for class).  It's only a 20 or 25 minute bike ride, so I'm leaving the house at the same time anyway.  Now that Kari's coming back soon, I'm not sure if she'll want it back and I'll ride her other, shitty bike or not.  Anna and Amy bought some bikes at a trade sale this past weekend, so I'm going to see if after Anna gets it tuned up, if I can ride her extra bike.  It's a road bike so that's a step in the right direction.  I'm planning on buying a bike once I get back to New Haven.  Through craigslist, I found a guy who fixes up bikes as a hobby and I emailed him and he's going to fix one up for me between now and when I get back.  There weren't a ton of bikes for sale when I looked this week so it's kinda nice to have it all taken care of ahead of time.

I'm going to go make hard-boiled eggs from the massive pack that Kari left here.  I can't eat 18 eggs alone, plus I haven't had hard-boiled eggs in a long time.  Ok, May was the last time, but seriously, before that it had been a long time.

50 books update:

Lincoln and Douglas - about the 1858 Lincoln/Douglas senate debates

The Mermaid Chair - pretty good

Right now I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife (KT George lent it to me) and it's pretty good.  Interesting concept and how she structured the book/how the time travel works is interesting.

If anyone wants to read Kari's blog from her trip to Peru, she's been updating it while she's there.  Here is the link:  Peru!

Life in June in MSP

Everyone is leaving me.  Mom left on Monday for Bulgaria, Andrew went to his friend's cabin today and Kari leaves tomorrow for Peru.  Am I smelly or something?  Seriously, I can shower.  Just please come back and be friends with me.  

Apart from my whining, things have been good with me.  Busy, but good.  I actually feel more busy now than I did during the school year, which seems kind of backwards to me.  I have French in the morning and I work most afternoons, so I'm out the door by 8:23 (to catch my bus which when I'm on time, runs late, and when I'm late, runs early) to be at the U by 9 (the saga of the late bus has me arriving 3 minutes after my class starts... boo).  Then I eat my packed lunch at the U, catch the bus to downtown St. Paul and work during the afternoon.  Then I take the bus home and get back around 5:45 so I can do my French homework.  The days I don't work are nice just because I have the afternoons free and I can do my homework so I can have fun at night with Kari or Andrew.  

I've discovered a new favorite tv show that I knew I was going to like ahead of time, merely because of its subject matter:  the BBC's Robin Hood.  I am in love.  Robin is smokin' hot.  Not to mention the show has really good characters and plots for each episode.  You'd think that the Robin Hood storyline would get old quickly, but no, it doesn't.  The biggest problem now is that Andrew's going to his friend's cabin for the rest of the week so I have to wait until Sunday to watch the two new discs I just got in the mail today.  He thought it was kinda cheesy at first, but pilot episodes are always a little off from the rest of the show.  TV shows have to stretch their legs and they need time to move past impressing tv execs in the beginning to impressing the general audience, and sometimes that's not allowed to happen (ahem, Studio 60, I love you).  Now he likes it, just like I knew he would.  I also think everyone in my family would like it, so everyone in my family should watch it too.  I love it and I liked it first (ha, Kari).

I'm glad to be back in the Twin Cities.  I forget how much I like it here.  I like the Midway but I wish I lived closer to either one of the downtowns (maybe Minneapolis because I like the light rail).  I've noticed that I can't stop looking at the Minneapolis skyline.  When I'm driving by, when I'm walking, whenever.  I don't know what it is about it, but I like how it looks and it makes me feel like I'm here.

Long overdue update!

Well, I've successfully handed in papers, moved out of my apartment, flown home to Wisconsin, enrolled at the University of Minnesota and returned to the Twin Cities for the summer... all in the past week.

It was my great grandma's 90th birthday party this past weekend, so I was able to see my extended family for the first time since Christmas, plus we all congregated at a bar with pictures of the pope. Not too shabby, if you ask me.

I wish I could have spent more time in Green Bay, but my summer class started today so I needed to be back. My mom got a cold this weekend, so I could have stayed at home with her to cook her soup and take care of her! We went to downtown DePere for the Memorial Day parade, which was fun. Kari says she wants to be a Civil War re-enactor after seeing them in the parade. I got sunburned.

Today was my first French class since high school. It was pretty good... A lot of stuff I remembered quickly and some I didn't. I looked up my instructor in the U directory and apparently she's not even a PhD student but a Masters candidate. I don't have any problems with her teaching the course or anything, it's just a little depressing that we're at the same education level and she's teaching a class. True, it's Beginning French, but still. She's getting paid to be there and I'm the one paying her. When do I get to start teaching classes? I think I'm going to put together a syllabus on Jesus movies for a teaching opportunity through the residential colleges at Yale. Non-professors apply to teach self-made seminars at the residential colleges, so I'm going to apply for that at the beginning of the year. I'm going to work on my syllabus over the summer and get feedback from the various advisors/professors I've worked with over the years. Take that, French instructor! Just kidding. She seems cool.

I told Kari that after one day of class, I can already tell the difference between MY schools and a public state-school education. hah, it's fun pretending to be elitist. This is the third university I've been enrolled at... lots of fun.

Andrew comes home on Saturday! yay! I'm excited. I miss him.

I've passed the halfway mark for my 50 book goal. I finished Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love before I left New Haven and The Dracula Dossier (soon-to-be-published) the other night. Now I'm 30 or so pages into Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer, a book I've been wanting to read and one that Tessa highly recommended. Exciting. Now that I'm a U of M student, I'm going to get an ID card tomorrow so I can check books out of the library. When I told Kari, she said I was like the guy in Breakfast Club who gets a fake ID so he can vote. At least I'm not committing voter fraud.

February in pictures

Kari and I at the Spice Girls concert

Tessa and I!

My birthday cake and my candle!

I had to bake my own birthday cake... what is that about?

At least I have friends...

The view across my desk, out the living room window... I get a lot of work done obviously. A fine example of New Haven's exemplary plow job.

My birthday present from my grandma - new shoes! I got the exact same kind as a pair already owned. New shoes (left), 4 year old shoes (right).

My birthday present from Kari, an otter floating in the water.