Views from the rooftop deck/pool/bar of our very chichi hotel, Hotel Majestic. Our location is excellent. We love the bar up there, but were scared straight by the drink prices.

Barcelona!
It's the late afternoon/evening here in Barcelona. We have one full day left, and it's gone quickly. Our days have revolved around doing maybe one tourist site a day, then stopping somewhere and getting a snack and a drink, then napping for a few hours (!), then a late dinner. I love Spain, partly because they also love: bread, wine, olive oil, and relaxing. The food is rich enough that my stomach is kind of wrecked this afternoon, but I will suffer through! I think our favorite is the pan amb tomates (don't quote me on the language), which is basically thick sliced fresh bread, amply brushed with olive oil, and then topped with fresh tomato guts. It's yummy, and can accompany every meal. Besides the food, Barcelona is hands down beautiful. Today we did a walking tour throuh the old gothic area/roman area and the lanes and buildings are breathtaking. There's nothing like it Stateside. I love how you peer down a skinny lane and in the background you see a mountain or a building or a church steeple peeking out above, so photogenically.

Wed!
The wedding went off without a hitch on Saturday and Todd and I are officially married. Hooray! The ceremony itself was in my parents' front yard, and the weather was phenomenal: it was sunny but cool enough to be outside and kind of rare for August. The reception at the Chinese restaurant was full of food and I danced like crazy, not a little because I was so gleeful that 10 months of planning was finished.

Tonight we leave for the honeymoon, and now we can enjoy life as married people.

Thanks to Suzi for the pictures!

Yeah..
The wedding is like five days away. I'm in VA prepping and there is a lot to do. That's why I'd rather write about the movies that I've watched lately.

1. "Persepolis": As good as you'd expect! It synthesized both I and II of the books and the art was wonderful. I probably learned more about recent Iranian history than I had ever known before. Maybe that says more about my own ignorance, though. See it!

2. "My Kid Could Paint That": Also really good! For those who don't know, the story follows the adorable 4-year old moppet who rocked the art world with her paintings that people compared to the likes of Jackson Pollack. The doc originally started out as a look at the world of contemporary art and examining how people qualify art as valuable. But, then it turned into a really interesting whodunnit, since many began to question whether the kid was solely behind those paintings. Incredibly intriguing and I know that I was convinced that she didn't create many of the paintings attributed to her, although the filmmaker never really came down on any side. Oh, and her paintings were selling for tens of thousands.

3. "Manda Bala:" I just watched this documentary about crime and corruption in Brazil. All I know is that after watching it, I was convinced to cancel any imminent trips to Sao Paolo. Kidnappings for ransom occur once a day there, according to the film, and now the rich are *helicoptering* to and from their locations and buying bulletproof cars in order to escape the kidnappers.

4. "SubUrbia": This was on IFC the other day so I sat and watched the entire thing. I didn't like it at all, and I can dig some Richard Linklater, usually. Maybe it's because every single one of the characters was irritating. Maybe it was because it was full of ennui. Maybe because, as I discovered afterward, it was apparently originally a stage play put to screen (I actually commented to Todd while we watched it that it felt like the lines were being delivered as if it were a play), and I didn't expect that.

5. "Lars and the Real Girl": I will admit that I teared up at one point in this movie about a man's relationship with his Real Girl doll. Still, though, I felt like it dragged. I do love me some Ryan Gosling--even when he's kind of puffy and wears an 80s moustache.

Suitably impressed
Last night, Todd's friend, Brian, got married to his new bride, Cary. We attended the wedding which was in the Ravenswood area in Chicago and was held at a store called Architectural Artifacts.
What a beautiful venue. It's a large building with huge ceilings and various open floors and it's filled with various statues, signs, columns. They got married in the courtyard surrounded by enormous stone statues. It was lovely! It was enhanced by the rumble of the el over the ceremony and the dudes hanging out in the stairwell of the neighboring apartment drinking beers and watching the festivities.

My world has shaken
Has anyone seen the promos for the new "90210?" There's a shot of a young man that Todd and I realized was Michael from "The Wire!"I'm glad that the actor is working, but damn.

Happy Birthday, Daddio!

Happy Birthday, Little Brother!

Listless
Blah: I don't want to do anything. I don't really have an excuse since I am mostly off this summer. As the wedding presses ever closer, though, I feel: annoyed. And full of ennui. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to be married, and am excited to get married, but am not excited to plan for the stupid wedding. I have a terribly bad attitude right now, and hopefully a good work out will cleanse me.

But, isn't it funny that I feel listless, and the reason why is because I am surrounded by lists (to do, mental, etc)?

Wow!
How awesome is this picture? And how awesome is the news that our Hillary (pictured here) won the Alexander Graham Bell Association of the Deaf 2008 Rookie of the Year award???
This picture is from the article that tells all about it in the Australian newspaper Adelaide Now (Hillary works in Adelaide right now).

I knew her when.

Read It!
There's an article about Robin's delicious dumpling restaurant, Kuai, in the Dallas Morning News!

Hmmm
My very nice trainer gave me the dubious honor of telling me that I sweat the most of all of her clients during our workouts. Um, thanks? I don't know if I want to be known as the excessive sweat producer, but it's true. Especially with the humid weather now, I am positively soaked every time I leave the gym. Today it kind of looked like I jumped in the shower with all of my clothes. (Don't worry, I just did a little Googling, and it's GOOD to sweat lots, it means that you're more efficient at cooling down!).

I had a killer session this morning, in which a good percentage of it was based on doing a variety push ups while balancing on those horrid mini medicine balls on my hands. I hate those exercises with every thread and shred of my being. I want to die when I do them. Seriously.

At the session's end, my trainer asked me if I had known that I wanted a choose a female or male trainer (female, all the way, for me...it's a comfort thing). Anyway, she said that people often seem to think that female trainers are easier on their clients. In my case this is not true: I often see people (who totally appear to be in poorer fitness shape than me!) traipsing around with their male trainers and they're conversing and *laughing* through out their sessions. In the meantime, I probably spend at least 50% of my sessions praying that it will be over soon. And groaning loudly like a wounded seal. I seriously stop caring about the noises I make.

This is not to say that I don't appreciate my training sessions: they're great. It's just that they force me to do those kind of strength building exercises (e.g. push ups on the devil's medicine balls) that I effing loathe but know that I need.

So, anyway: if you need some excess human sweat, come and find me at the gym.

Winery Shower
Ah, thanks be to my favorite ADD for organizing an amazing bridal shower. We went to Potomac Point Winery just south of the beltway for lunch, gifts, and a tasting. It was quite lovely and nice to see some much missed and beloved friends (my DC contingent, if you will...and I will). The traffic down there was something with which to contend, but sweet Suzi offered to drive. Oh, and also Suzi brought this honey goatcheese cheesecake with raspberry sauce which was nothing short of heavenly and kind of made me want to cry myself to sleep with joy. Thanks for Anne for lunch, and thanks to Annie for the tasting, and thanks for Des for making these remarkable blueberry tarts that look like something from the illustrations of the "Alice and Wonderland" book (those illustrations always made me hungry). I gots some nice friends. Also, thanks for my mom for coming and for gifting me the jade that I'm sporting in the photos.
Oh, and also thanks to Suzi for the pictures. :)

Detective
So, we got a second kitty! We went to a no-kill, no-cage shelter on the northside of the city called Felines Inc. I can't recommend the place enough to people looking to adopt kitties. The volunteers are so helpful: you walk in and tell them your situation and what kind of kitty you're looking for, and they think about several cats to introduce you to. The place itself is a large house with 120+ cats wandering freely (and unbelievably, it does NOT smell like kitty litter). We got to meet a few cats and then spend as much time with them as we wanted, among all of the cats. I love that. The other shelter where we got Hef had to be all business: you named off the tab band of that cat you wanted to meet, and the people retrieved them from a cage for you. You don't have time to dawdle and play.

So, we ended up choosing a long-haired kinda scruffy looking guy who we have now named "Detective Helldorfer" after a homicide detective on A&E's the "First 48." Todd loved the guy's name at first blush, so we've kept it in our pockets, waiting for the second cat. We call him "Detective" for short, of course. This cat had me at hello when we met him. He was relaxing amongst the cats when we first walked in. When I knelt beside him, he immediately got up to clamber into my lap. He appeared to be a sincere and true lap cat (Hef likes the lap for short stints, but prefers to snooze beside you with his paw resting upon your thigh). Todd and I both agreed that this guy was the one for us. Plus, he has these kind of big hairy paws that I love.
We brought him home yesterday and kitty has not emerged from under the bed in the guest bed room. No, scratch that: he did sit by the door and cry pathetically in the middle of the night. I woke up, opened the door, and he rushed back under the bed.

I'm being patient and letting him get comfortable at his own pace, but I'm worried that it's going to take weeks to months. The good news is that he's eating and using the litter box. Hef is curious and sometimes sits by the closed door outside new kitty's room, but for the most part carries on his usual routine of napping by the window or on the couch.

05. days left
Tomorrow is the last day of work until next fall and it'll only be a half day. Freedom! Today was "teacher institute day" which means that the kids aren't around, but you have the time to get organized, clean, file, etc. I'm thrilled.

I also want to report that I was really proud of myself during my training session last night as I did for the first time something I wasn't able to before. See, my balance and stability is kind of my weak point. One of the things my trainer always tried to get me to do was to be able to roll with your belly on one of those giant exercise balls. Eventually your shins are resting on the ball, and the rest of your body is in a plank position. From there, you move your hands up from the ground so that they rest on the barbell. The ending result is that you're kind of in push up position, except your legs are straight out. Before, I would always fly off the ball or push the barbell away trying to get balance. After one false start, I did it last night! I was psyched.

You've got to check out these wedding shots that were taken right as the earthquake hit in China. Amazing stuff.
(via metafilter)

Did I tell you? Probably not...
-My new gym finally, finally opened and everyone was biting at the bit to get into it because it's been crowded yesterday when it opened and today. Luckily they have a four story garage (I parked on the fourth floor today and it offers a pretty amazing view of the skyline). It's shiny, new, and I love the personal tvs. Today I watched "Cash Cab" on the treadmill.

I also had my intro session with my new trainer. I needed to schedule my training sessions, and had to approach a trainer to do it, so I eyeballed them while they milled around the first day. I totally chose mine based on her down-to-earth appearance and she appeared to have the smallest ratio of hair product: hair. I think I chose correctly. She's super nice and has a gentle, non-judgmental manner, which I love because I need that kind of nurturing when it comes to strength building. So we did the measurements etc tonight and she figured out where my starting levels are. Bottom line: my arms are weak, people! And my balance could be better, too. And I intend to lose some inches. So, I'm going to have my next session with her on Thursday and I expect it to hurt a little.

-We painted one of our bathrooms. It's a nice light blue-gray and I love it. I did the roller and Todd did the edges and the prep and clean up. His part was much tougher, but we both get to enjoy the pay off.

- We tried to take HF/Hef to the vet last Saturday. Key word: TRIED. Dude was NOT going to be coaxed into his carrier. We tried about three times and it was chaotic and kitty was stressed. Todd ended up getting his forearms scratched to hell and then Hef just ran away and hid under the bed. Vet for another time. We read up a little and I guess the key is to desensitize him: leave it out, leave the door open, even put his food into there. Anyone else got any good ideas for me?

-16 more days left to school (I'm not counting the last day since the kids are like there an hour and everyone gets let out early).

Super Fat Japanese Monkey

The tourists overfeed them.
You can read about it here.

I love it.

(via neatorama)

Snugglebunny.

Shiny New Gym
So, this gym has been in the works close by to Todd's and my place for at least a year now. I think it was last summer that they had their skimpily dressed employees handing out promotional flyers in the main, very crappy intersection by which it resides. In fact, we got a flyer a couple of weeks ago and I finally called today since the deal was about to expire. On the phone I was told that I HAD to come in, and with some reluctance (I wanted to go home after work, dammit!), I faced the bad traffic and went by. The place is opening in a couple of weeks and I got a tour today before they nailed me down with the contract.

Dudes, it's NICE. It has tons of equipment, and each cardio machine has its own personal television. That's high living for me. It has a pool, a resistance pool, and a jacuzzi. It's got a steam room and a sauna. It's got a room for spinning classes, one for yoga and pilates classes, and another for other aerobic classes. It has a rock climbing wall and a basketball court, which isn't my thing, but it still kind of fancy. I paid one bulk rate for the year at a promotional rate, but it's worth it since it worked out to $35 per month, which is dirt cheap in the world of gyms in Chicago.

Since it was their last day of their promotion, their theme was "Hawaiian luau" and I was kind of embarrassed for them. Everyone was dressed a la Miami Vice circa 1985 and they were "spinning records" really loudly and dancing outside the building...which is right across the street from a Target parking lot.

The dude who took me around was a nice enough guy, but kind of a caricature of himself. He was super friendly and to every person we passed he called out something like "How's it going, Big Guy!" or "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" All I could think about was how Todd would say that he'd bet that this guy would like "bro-ing it up" and watching some "Entourage." I ended up signing up for some personal training sessions (not with him--he was too enthusiastic for me) mainly because the rate was pretty good and I can take advantage of them with the summer coming up. Each salesperson bamboozled people into signing up for them, though, because immediately after signing you up, they take your fat percentage and calculate your BMI! I kind of resented that, but whatever. I'm a little scared of personal training since I'm so goddamn weak, but that's exactly why I need to face my fears. Ugh.

Todd's 30th
So this past Saturday was Todd's birthday...he's finally 30! He still looks way young, but maybe now people won't think he's 18 anymore. Regardless, it was my duty as the Future Wife to plan the shindig, and in my usual state, I left it till two weeks beforehand. We did some scrambling, but managed to get the private room at my favorite old neighborhood bar, Spyners, in Lincoln Square. We used to go there to watch/do karaoke and soak in the comfortable, slightly grizzled atmosphere. It's an earthy kinda place. Anyway, I knew that they had a back room and when I called I was told that: a.) the room was open that night, and b), we could have it.

It was great and I can't recommend this place enough for your private parties. First of all, the back room is enormous and was NO COST (way bigger than the regular bar and way nicer as well since it's brand new--you even have your own new bathrooms to use). Also, Maureen, the owner, catered the party and let me just tell you that it was dirt cheap. She put out a spread of nice salads, dips, cheeses, crackers, spaghetti and meatballs, italian sausage, pasta alfredo with shrimp, italian beef sandwiches, and shepherds pie along with german chocolate cake for dessert. It worked out to about $3.12 per person and it was GOOD. If our wedding were small enough, you're potentially talking about the cheapest wedding reception ever.

Enough about the food, though...More about the party.

Todd, Steve, and Kiley played a short set, which was awesome, and a fun spectrum of people showed up. Afterward, people wandered into the main area and partook in the karaoke with the rest of the bar. We didn't end up leaving until 1:30, which is like staying out till 6 in the morn at this point in my life. Todd had been sick that weekend, but he rallied and seemed to have a good time. Also, people brought him a lot of nice beer as gifts, so that sweetened the party for him.

So, fun times! Todd resides in the same decade as me! Call Maureen at Spyners if you have a private party to plan!

37 Days
Two teachers came up and told me that there are 37 days left to the school year, and then another teacher told me that there are 7 weeks left. People aren't stoked for the summer in the least, are they? I think what makes it so tough--besides overall teacher exhaustion--is that the weather is so glowingly amazing outside all of the sudden. It makes people all the more itchy to be free. I know that I'm excited.

In cat news, we're still loving it. Todd has taken to calling him "Heff" and "El Jefe" (sp?), and we both call him "Kitty" by default, but it doesn't seem to confuse him too much. Bottom line is that he's totally dying for you to love him, so he'll come running when you sneeze. I hosted book club the other night and he immediately snuggled up between Lauren and Becky on the couch. His idiosyncracies are coming out as well. He likes to lay beside you and fall asleep while having at least one paw pressed against you, which is particularly endearing. At one point yesterday he nestled up on the cushion behind me on the couch and all of the sudden I felt a paw on my face, which he was happy to leave there for as long as possible. I kissed it and Todd reminded me that that's the same paw he uses to push his kitty litter around after he poops. Last night Todd commented that someone must have been sad to give this guy up along the way, and I agree but their loss is our gain. People, I love my cat.

Happy, Happy Birthday ADD!

lervs youse!

HF channeling Bill the Cat

HF

We haz a Kitty
Finally, after years of waiting a kitty is mine/ours! Todd and I went over to the Anti-Cruelty society armed with tab numbers of favored cats that I carefully scribed after looking at the web site. We met one young kitty who was super, super active and we could barely keep him from escaping the bench where we sat. One of the cats was out since he wanted to be an only cat, and we definitely want another cat down the road. So we decided to meet this black and white guy with cow markings. I had listed him at the bottom of my list since he was 4, and we were originally looking for a young kitty. But, he was so, so awesome. He was large and lazy and lay in our arms and accepted brushing with no squirming. It was love and he was ours. It was also a good sign that the lady who worked there confessed that he was one of her favorites.

So we had already chosen names for our future cats, and we knew that we wanted to name our first cat after this Yale football player from the late 19th century named William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger. We had first heard his name on Antiques Roadshow and it had stuck. Todd and I debated what to call him for short, since the entire name is a bit ungainly and it was decided that we would give it some time to figure out what was the best fit. "Pudge" seems like the obvious choice, but that ain't it, and we're going with H.F. (initials for the last name). It seems to fit him, and it also has a Coen brothers/old-fashioned feel to it, which I like.

Within an hour of taking him home, he crawled into Todd's lap. He also likes lying between us and accepting a crazy amount of petting. I am stoked that we found the lazy, affectionate lap cat that I have sought in this world.

WTFCNN is hilariously awesome.
(via neatorama)

This doesn't quite do it justice...
...but we tried Pinkberry while in NYC (tart! refreshing!) and Clarence chose green tea Pinkberry with chestnuts as a topping. I saw them and thought first that he ordered green olives, and then thought they might be little sausages. Either would have been a funny option.

I had to include a picture of Libby: the sweetest bunny cat. Clarence showed his method of scooping her up for a cuddle, but she eluded me.

New York!
Grace, Clarence, and Jonathan were gracious and super fun hosts, and planned visits to interesting bars, lunch at Ukrainian diners, dinner at Korean restaurants, plays by Columbia playwrights, crepes, and walks through the neighborhoods by Columbia and Barnard as well as the Lower East Side. We also took the subway from Grace's place to Clarence's place and I made the mistake of drinking a lot of coffee and water that day so Grace and Todd were gracious enough to let me get off the train and out of the subway and find a bathroom (at that point I was considering peeing in the pants). Thanks to Grace, Claro, and J for opening their homes and their weekends to us.

Bits and Pieces
Gah! Has it really been almost a month since I've last posted? Yeah, it has. What's happened in the last month? Well:
- went to NY to visit Grace, Clarence and Jonathan
- spring break for a whirlwind 3-day wedding planning extravaganza in metropolitan DC (most of the stuff got done!)
- moved most of my worldly possessions into Todd's place, so now it has become *our* place. Moving sucks so very much, but we're getting settled in here and it's getting less chaotic every day with boxes all around.

Oh, and last night we went to see Explosions in the Sky play at the Congress Theater, which is only a couple of blocks away now. It was my first time at the Congress, and I was expecting it to be kind of gross, but I liked it. It has enormous and decaying, but grand--you should see the ceiling. Plus, the main floor is sloped, so wherever you stand, you can totally see the band. It was my second time seeing them, but I really like seeing EITS live: their music sweeps you up and the increased loudness makes it amazing.

The crowd is mostly people who stand/sway quietly taking in the music, but there were some noticeably loud, noticeably drunken people. There were two girls there who looked like they had returned from Spring Break CANCUN! just yesterday: they kept on shrieking over the music and one kept on bellowing "YEAH: Motherfucker!" Todd heard the same girl yell "I'm going to see my sorority BITCHES later!" EITS is instrumental and therefore not what I would classify as a partyitup-music kind of band so I'm puzzled how those people ended up there. I don't begrudge their good time, but they were annoying, so we ended up moving across the floor to escape them. Then we stood next to two loud drunk dudes, one of whom yelled "Freebird!" at one point. Again, so weird.

Yeah, I'm a little late to this...
...but I'm such a white person.

(thanks, Don!)

Um: yum.
Oh my god, I love this collection of pictures of amazingly delectable-looking preschool lunch boxes. And they're so cute!

Look at them here.

(via pcjm).

March?
Can you believe it's March already? Not a whole lot to report, except that at the end of this month I have to grapple with the moving process...so that's fun. Although I'll be moving in with Todd and besides having an excellent person with whom to live, the future place also hosts a washer/dryer and heating and air conditioning. The steam heat I currently have, while economical, is a little spotty at times.

It's also like the season for meetings and reports for me. I've been taking work home regularly for the first time in a long time. If I didn't fool around during work hours all the time, I could probably avoid this, but I almost prefer having that fooling around time and then just sucking it up and writing reports in front of "Project Runway" (the finale is playing right now: my favorite tv night of the year).

One of my little Early Intervention guys is turning three this Saturday, so today was my last session with him. We had fun since at the end of the hour, his mom organized a wee early party for us complete with brownies. The little guy consumed five of them within a seven minute period. Dizzamn. It was nice to get to know that family, though, and I'll miss them. The little guy's seven year old sister called home so she could tell me good-bye. I just finished the 6-month progress report for my other tiny one. It's cool to see the progress that one's made in the past six months. When I started seeing Little Guy #2, he wasn't even requesting "more." The last session, I saw him bring a toy vehicle to his mom and pronounce "Mom, car!" He's also started saying "Shut up" like he's getting paid for it. Nice!

Man, I'm tired. I'm going to bed soon.

Day Off!
We had a day off today in honor of Lincoln's Birthday. Happy Birthday, Lincoln! Our school system is the only one I know of that has today off and I am not complaining. Next Monday is off too, because of President's Day. woohoo!

The good news is that I was 75% productive today. I got lots of good and healthy groceries, I mailed off some seriously errantly late thank you notes, and I went to Target and finally got a little digital voice recorder so I can record clients and students when I want to go back and listen. I also got some more toys to use with my little guys. I had been eyeing this one set of alphabet blocks: each block (each letter) is made of clear plastic and contains an appropriate object representing said letter. For instance, the umbrella has a sweet little umbrella and little beads that you shake around the represent rain. Anyway, I finally got them today. I'm thinking that these will be a hit, because they're so interesting and so good for language stimulation. I wish you could see the little zebra for "z." I'm constantly on the look out for good toys: the problem with working with 2-year olds is that they have the attention spans of...2-year olds.

Crappy weather again today. I'm over it.

Personalized pinatas.

Beeyoutiful cake

Engagement party
Katie, Laura, and me

Party Timez
This past weekend was lots of fun. We got to see Katja and Tom and their precious little bebe on Friday night. We also happened to go and see Pinebender, one of my favorite local bands, play at this place, Ronnys, which may be one of the grodiest bars I've been in. I love dive bars too, so this says a lot.

Saturday we went out to Fogo de Chao with Todd's parents and his brother and sister-in-law, and I have never been to one of these Brazilian meat-fests before. People, it was clazy. There were something like 16 kinds of meat ready to be plied onto one's plate, and I couldn't keep up. I managed to try about five different kinds, but next time I go to this place I'm going to not eat anything else in preparation. I'm not going to skip the excellent salad bar there, even though I know that's how they save money on their customers.

Afterward was our engagement party, put together by Kiley/Steve and Rob/Eileen. They chose the upstairs bar at this cool Mexican restaurant in Logan Square called El Cid. It was the perfect place since there was room to spread out, the staff was great, and it was just loud enough that you could talk to people. Friends came and mingled and Kiley and Steve provided personalized pinatas and a beautiful cake while Eileen and Rob provided decorations. I had a great time, and couldn't have asked for anything more perfect.

On another note, it snowed MORE over the weekend. And today it was 42 degrees so there are seriously moats of melted snow one needs to wade through. I got some super precious pink plaid galoshes this weekend, and I was glad for them since any other shoes are hopeless in this slush.

Hoorah!
Done with this hellish day, y'all.
The Meeting from Hell was as long as expected, but all of my prep paid off and it went relatively well. Two of the people who attended commented afterward that my presentation was solid, and I felt that way too. By the end of the third meeting today, thought, I could barely sit up straight.

But, after school I managed to get a hair cut, drive home (and find a good parking place!) in the deepening snow, drop off a rent check, do early voting two minutes before the end of the last day, and get my book for book club. It's funny how one becomes more productive when one's plate suddenly cleans up.

On another note, I have a new favorite kid I work with. He's three and has a head of bright red hair and has the Irish-est of Irish names. I love holding his hand and walking in the hall to my speech room because he moves like a mile an hour: it's almost like we move backward, we're so slow. He's mellow and I think naturally quiet, although his language is getting pretty awesome at this point. Anyway, his absolute favorite activity is to play animal sounds bingo, where we spread out all of these animal pictures and then listen to a CD of animal sounds. We've done it enough now, that he beats me to my over the top loud animal imitations (you haven't lived till you've heard this kid say "gobblegobbleGOBBLE"). Last week he melted my cold dead heart when he pointed to the picture of a chick and said: "So soft?" It killed. This week he expanded it to: "Baby chick so soft?" Talk about a Cute Overload living experience.

Also: I'm watching "Muriel's Wedding" again, and what an odd, strange movie, but it draws me in every time.

Lastly: it's supposed to snow between 7-12 inches tonight. Jealous?

When it rains...
I'm halfway through my week o' crap. For some reason, everything has culminated into this week. I have several large meetings at work (which all require lots of paperwork) including the Meeting From Hell (which is tomorrow), report cards were due, and I had to do this massive training for Early Intervention. EI is my side job that is fun but the credentialing process is a gargantuan pain in the ass.

Let's talk about the EI training first: it's usually three days in person, but they did start online modules (this year!) so you can do those and then attend a one-day mandatory meeting. The one-day mandatory meeting? Doesn't occur for another few months, so it had to be today. I'm grateful since going for ONE day is waaaay better than going for three, but I'll complain still. See, I was initially told that the online training would be like an hour and a half or two. Wrong. It ended up being 26 different modules that ranged from 15 minutes to 45 minutes each. It took me about a week to get done. Oy. The in-person training today was definitely relatively painless, though, and it was nice to get some questions answered and to meet some other providers.

[Another observation: Early Intervention people tend to have little terms for the kids, which I love. Usually it's stuff like: "little guy," or "kiddo," or "little one." Today I heard a new one that I adore the most. The trainer referred to the kids she sees as "cookies."]

The training today was at a far-away suburb, and because of the terrible weather last night, the roads were covered with fresh salt. I drove on three different highways and by the time I was nearing my destination, my windshield was absolutely frosted with salt and I was helpless since my windshield wiper fluid was frozen solid. Every time I tried it, my wipers would spread the salt around, kind of like frosting a cake. It was getting kind of scary, so much so that I ended up pulling into a little side street so I could wipe stuff down (yay for Clorox wipes!). But, as I pulled into the side street my tires lost traction on the accumulated snow and my civic did a complete 180. It was extremely frightening, but luckily, no one was behind me and no one was coming. I just took a deep breath, righted the car, and got the car into some random parking lot.

My level of bitterness at that point for having to haul ass to the way out suburbs and risk life and limb for a training I didn't want to attend? High.

So, yeah, the training ended up being okay and I got home safely (although I did get a random scattershot pebble/rock hit my car causing the tiniest of cracks).

Now I have to prep for Meeting from Hell tomorrow. The good news is that I am slated to present first, and I will get it over with. In fact, I feel almost ecstatic that it will soon be done with and I no longer have to dread this damn thing! And after that, two more meetings, and lots of kids to make up.

I foresee being dead to the world tomorrow evening.

Sick as a dog
I've been sick all weekend, and--MAN--does it annoy me that I never get sick during the weekdays and I'm taken out for the count on my weekends. It was weird: I was feeling great Friday evening, but as the evening wore on my throat got raw and my body temperature went up. I spent the entire weekend sleeping and napping, and am spending this holiday (Happy MLK Day!) in my pajamas and sleeping off the rest of this sickness. Today I can finally swallow without immense pain, so I think I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow (just in time to get back to work: hooray!).

This has been the sickest I've been in a long time, so it's definitely a little strange. I've actually had to cancel plans and appointments because of it, which rarely happens.

Back to the couch.

Did I tell you about last weekend?
Hillary was visiting from Australia and we had a NU-reunion-ilicious weekend and hit up lots of spots. It was super fun to see her and all of the NU ladeeeez so much.

I also watched two very good movies:
1. The Lives of Others: Todd and I watched the DVD, and it was grrreat.

2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: I went with the NU girls since the book was a book club selection (one of the books I skipped, though), and the movie features speech therapy. It was beautifully filmed and I bawled at the end. Luckily Lauren came prepared with Kleenex.

I heartily recommend both movies.

Holy Crap.
I am one lazy bastard. It's been over a month since I've last posted. I don't really have a good excuse, except that I was on break from work (which was like the two fastest weeks in the history of time), and visited home and got to catch up with the entire family. I slept, ate lots of delicious food, watched an entire bus load of movies, shopped, and caught up with friends when I could. Todd joined me in DC before New Years, and we rang in the big event at Matt's place again in the company of Anne and Nate, Suzi and Tom, and Annie and Ben and all of the other guests.

This was the first week back at work, and it's been slowly, slowly getting my act together. Right now I'm knee-deep in lists: I need to submit my certification forms for being a SLP (which involved a wild goose chase of signatures), resubmit a form to get my official IL license, take some free online course to re-up my Early Intervention temporary credential and plan a wedding. Dude.

Interestingly enough, I was filling out one of the above mentioned forms today and as I was filling in dates, I realized that this marks my one year anniversary at my job: one year exactly. Time sure does fly, people.

Oh yes: and I'm also attempting to get into fighting shape and am back on South Beach Diet. I finished the first of the initial hard two weeks. I erred a couple of times, but for the most part I'm pretty proud of myself, and even within these past two weeks, I can feel my general appetite shrinking. What do I love most about SBD? The amount of avocado one gets to eat. And that it doesn't keep me from drinking coffee. And sugar-free fudgsicles. I'm down three pounds after this first week, which even though is 99% water weight, is motivating like crazy. Last night at book club, which is like my most favoritest snacking time of the month, I managed to stay away from BOTH the red wine and the delicious dips and basil rolls that Sarah made. Trick of the trade: sit far away from the snacks and eat a big dinner beforehand.

I lerv:

This super obese Chinese baby. Aw, he's so chubby, he can't walk or stand!

(thanks, Lisa!)

I also lerv:

Abandoned baby hedgehogs.
(thanks, Todd)

Missing in action
Yes, I have been a quiet bastard on the blog here of late. It was a mixture of things: work was extraordinarily busy for some reason and trying to get my mind wrapped on where to begin on planning a wedding pretty much took me out of commission. I have never wanted a fancy and extravagant wedding, but balancing this with also wanting to include more than three people on the guest list has proven to be a challenge for me. Because I didn't realize it before, but having a wedding is crazy expensive. I know, I must be like one of the few people on this planet, excluding your neighborhood toddlers, who didn't realize the extent of the cost. Now mama knows.

So, the past few weeks of planning has involved a mammoth amount of wheel spinning. We've explored so many venues and combinations of venues and each time there was *something* that didn't slip into the best place. We've looked at places from both of our respective parts of the country. We've crunched numbers. And I would usually come out feeling exhausted and stymied.

But, on Friday we were out at Beat Kitchen, sharing a Thai chicken pizza before seeing This Will Destroy You (who were great, by the way, even though they were like eleven). And this one place that we like to go popped up as a possibility for the reception. And we both got super excited about it because it would be: fun, casual, slightly (okay, very) kitschy, have room to fit everyone, have good food, and be a hell of a lot cheaper than most places that we've looked at. Why hadn't we thought of it before? A phone call was made and we're penciled in for now and I am extremely relieved and thrilled at the prospect of getting this settled into place.

In other news, it's like three weeks till winter break for me and Hallelujah! I'm still enjoying my job, but for some reason, this onslaught of referrals and meetings has popped up and I can't go to the bathroom without someone stopping me in the hall to tell me about a student they want me to observe.

The Happiest of Birthdays to Robin, my favorite older brother!

The News!
As most of my loyal blog readers know by now, Todd and I got engaged last Wednesday night! We are excited of course, and I'm doing a good job of reeling myself in now and reminding myself that planning a wedding shouldn't take over my life (it took me a couple of days to get through the initial panic of "what do I do?!" to get to this point, admittedly). It's all about getting married rather than the wedding day, which, while it should be fun, isn't the main event.

So how did it happen? Well, Tuesday was our three year anniversary since our first date (the blog entry can be found for it dated November 7, 2004--I would have linked to the specific entry, but it was proving to be challenging). We ended up going out for our fancy dinner on Wednesday since I had already had book club scheduled on Tuesday (I do love my book club). Todd made reservations at Marche on Randolph Street, and (lucky us!), Wednesday is their night of their Prix Fixe deal. Marche was fun and yummy and looked like it bought decorations off the set of Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge." (see more about Marche at the end of this entry)

We had a great relaxing dinner and then headed back to Todd's place where we were going to relax and watch a DVRed episode of "30 Rock." As we were about to walk into his door, I was yammering away in the hallway, and Todd paused and stated "I got you a present." Next thing I know, he was on one knee with a box in his outstretched hand. People, I was flabbergasted. Flabbergasted, but thrilled. While I knew that we would eventually get engaged, I figured that it would be early next year or something. It was then that I found out that Todd's been planning this for months now, researched and found the ring on his own, and even called my parents last week for permission. He did an excellent job of picking a ring and keeping it a secret, although he did confess that in the elevator from the garage up to his place he had to concentrate on "acting like [him]self."

So: yay! I'm constantly distracted by the awesomeness of my ring; I've never been a jewelry kind of girl, but I'm lerving the shininess. And of course, I'm so happy to make it official with the best dude ever.

Note: Y'all, RUN to Marche for their Prix Fixe deals! It's 28 bucks total and you get any appetizer, main course, and dessert you want off of the menu. I chose the steak as my main dish and that, alongside my french onion soup and my bittersweet chocolate cake flanked with mint chip (with fresh mint leave tastiness) would have normally set me back $51. My steak dinner alone normally costs more than the price of the prix fixe meal! I'm overcome by value and it was all super delicious. Go, go, go!

Struck
So I recently sent Robin a bunch of my favorite "This American Life" episodes, because I know that he's going to be putting in long hours when he's opening another branch of Kuai, and he'll want something to entertain him either at the restaurant or driving back and forth to the restaurant. He called tonight to give me feedback on some of the episodes that he's listened to so far, and one of them includes one of my absolute favorite acts: an oral reading of the short story "Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story" by Russell Banks. I remember when I first heard that story when it aired I was dumbstruck. It is such amazing writing and reverberates with sadness.

Robin told me that he found the full short story online (the reading is slightly abridged on the show), so I googled it immediately and found it here. I suspect that it's even more powerful when you hear the most excellent reading of it on the show, so you can find that here. Get ready to pay attention for awhile, though, because the entire reading is 42 minutes.

Annie in the city
Annie came to town this weekend! Her family comes from Chicago originally, so she didn't need to do any sightseeing. This meant it was a very relaxed weekend, and lots of popping off at our leisure to do whatever suited us. The best kind of vacation, methinks.

The weekend revolved around prioritizing the kinds of cuisine that Annie can't obtain in her current city of Gainesville, so we had: Thai, Chicago hot dogs, Mexican, Mediterranean, dim sum, and heavy metal burgers at Kuma's Korner (which, incidentally, was just featured on "Check Please" this past weekend, so even though we got there before 5 pm on Sunday, there was still a wait). We did quite well for ourselves.

Now we're launching into a busy week: lots of assessments, meetings to schedule, and report cards to be done and distributed. This is the last five day week for a while, though, since next week is Veteran's Day, and then the week after that is Thanksgiving. Sweeeet!

I also love this
This website is Overheard in New York.

Some of my favorites:

Old man to two-year old: Man, talking to you is like fucking talking to a brick wall.

--F train

Overheard by: trieze

Subway performer: Can you guys help me out? I take pennies, I take hundreds, I take business cards... Hell, I take white people's shoes and socks! [To random passenger] Awww, shit, girl -- I take phone numbers, too! ... You like White Castle? Daaamn.

--Downtown 4/5 Train

Overheard by: Bemused Spectator

Nurse to hobo next to her: Aw, hell no! You fucking stink! [She pulls out a can of air freshener and hoses him down.]

--A train

This blog knows what amuses me
I love the use of flagrant and unnecessary quotation marks on public signs, and this blog does as well:

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

Things that have brought tears to my eyes in the last 24 hours, no joke.
1. I was watching a stupid Lifetime show about this medium, Lisa something, who communicates with the dead (I know). I even watched two episodes. Yep, I did. And I totally wept like 90% of the time.

2. I just watched a PBS "Nova" about people who trained for the Boston marathon. They were from all walks of life, all ages, but were all pretty much sedentary before training. Something like four of the people crossed the finish line when the race was wrapping up and it totally made me weep! They were so proud of themselves and had worked so hard and many had family members running the final stretch with them to cheer them on, and it was all very heartening.

Lazy days
So my plan this weekend was to sleep off this cold! Mission almost accomplished since I've pretty much taken it easy all weekend and while the cough is still present, it's less...mucous-y than before (yum!). Yesterday we went shopping for much needed items like socks and underwear and then cooked dinner in. We also watched several episodes of "Freaks and Geeks" again. There are few things that I can watch over and over again, but that DVD set definitely qualifies. Maybe also "Strictly Ballroom," but since I don't own that, I haven't really put it to the test yet.

Today it was a pleasure to see that "The Darjeeling Limited" was showing at the Davis Theater, around the block from me. I love me some Wes Anderson, but I wasn't expecting something amazing since I had read such mixed reviews of the movie. I really liked it though: it was touching, and interesting, and Wes Anderson always picks such sad-faced, clever, perfect-line-delivering cuties to star in his films.

And the week looms ahead: lots of meetings, therapy, and paperwork to look forward to. Yahoo!

My Day Kind of Blew
It started out with finding a flat tire on my car in the morning. I walked past the Mustang parked in front of me and its windows were all smashed out and I was all like: "whew! I escaped it!"

Until I started driving and heard the crunching of the tire rim. Not a good sound. So I pulled over and attempted to change the tire myself. I've never unearthed the donut before or examined my tire changing equipment, so it took me a little while to figure out where everything was. And then it took me a long ass time to try to jack up the car (the civic equipment sucks). I was lucky since this nice old Asian dude stumbled upon me and helped me out, especially by loosening the lug nuts because my weak-ass was unable to budge them. So instead of taking me like five hours to change the goddamn tire, it only took about 45 minutes.

Got to work about half an hour late and came upon a whole bevy of emails talking about paperwork issues. Lots of paperwork fixing followed. Annoying.

Left work to go to this tire repair place by Todd's place. It's very small, is always hopping when I've gone by, and it seriously looks like a shack. It is a shack. I walked in expecting to be greeted with some order of how things went down, but it's not like that. You basically wait, and wait, and wait until it's your turn since there are only two guys working and they're in demand to say the least. I finally got someone's attention and he looked at my tire and discovered that some jerk stuck something sharp in the side and now my year-old tire has to be replaced. What jerks who slashed it! I'll remind you that this is almost exactly one year since my car got bashed in by some drunken asshole back in Lakeview, so maybe my car is just cursed in late October.

Anyway, the good news is that they had a replacement tire on hand and once we got going it took like 10 minutes to get the tire replaced. And everything in total cost $30, including the new (used) tire and labor. These guys charge $5 to repair a tire so you can imagine how busy they are and what a wide spectrum of clients they see. I also got to watch them repair tires, which was a learning experience for me.

I'm still pissed about the whole thing, though. The good news is that there's supper club tonight and we're visiting a Vietnamese place in Argyle that features seven courses of beef. It's the little things that keep me going.

Mucus
I got it! I attended a regional SLP meeting this past Friday and everyone was coughing the exact same: rumbling with lots of phlegm. Yum!

Can I tell you about the past weekend, though? It had a lot of fun things attached. They included going out on Friday night and seeing Mirhiya along with NU girls Megan, Lauren, and Katie. Mirhiya moved to San Francisco with her husband and baby girl mid-program, so it was really cool to be able to catch up with her.

The next morning I woke up at 7 a.m. even though I didn't want to and was all turbo productive which included a trip to the grocery store, the post office, and a work out all before I met Jenny for brunch at 11 am. I know! After that, Todd and I met up and we wandered around Ravenswood and enjoyed the fricking phenomenal weather (it was in the 70s all weekend and sunny!). That evening we met up with Steve and Kiley for Thai food before heading over to a Halloween party. And my time at the party lead to me having to spend all of Sunday on the couch. And that was my Sunday.

Hope that your worlds are mucus-free!

I'll shout my love from the rooftops again
for "The Wire." There is a spectacular article about the show and David Simon in this week's New Yorker. I also watched about six episodes this weekend from the first season on Todd's on Demand. I didn't remember most of the details and I found it less stressful viewing it this time around with the knowledge of what happens to the characters you see. Season four, though, stressed me out completely (but stress that I respect!) mainly because there were characters who I loved a lot (Randy, anyone?) and I wouldn't be able to bear if if the story screwed them over (which it did, as it turned out, and I was forced to bear it).

Season five is the last one and it's supposed to come out next year, and I can't effing wait.

Our Little Corner of the World
Wow. We just got back from the Yo La Tengo show and it was beyond great. The Lakeshore Theater is so comfortable and intimate, first of all, and because it's a real theater, there's zero bar back-talk and no smoke.

Also, run, don't walk, to see this particular Yo La Tengo tour because it was so laid back and more acoustic and organic. They wanted questions from the audience and asked for requests and had no apparent set lists and chatted it up, basically, and saw where the night went. We saw the 7pm show and there was another one at 10:30, and I wished that I could have stayed for that show as well because it would have been a completely different show.

So, the YLT show at the Vic in Chicago was great, but I think that this wins out as the best YLT show I've ever seen (and this one makes five, if you count Pitchfork 2006, which I really shouldn't because I totally wasn't paying attention since they were one of the last bands playing at the tail end of the festival).

The Booty Don't Stop
We went and saw the FOUND Magazine tour again last night (the title of this post from one of the best, most hilarious finds mentioned). This time it was at this place called the Heart of Gold. I had never heard of the place, but then found out that my grad school/book club friend, Jennifer, knew the dudes who opened it up (it's their apartment and they wanted to have an art space). Heart of Gold ended up being very impressive for an apartment: it was enormous enough to have both walls for art to hang and a huge open room with a stage. They had even fashioned a fancy bar but since there was no liquor license, they accepted suggested donations. FOUND was great, of course, and a super fun thing to do on a Tuesday night. They're still touring, btw. To my dear brothers (who I know would love it), go and see these FOUND shows:

ERIK:

December 09, 2007
Austin, TX » Alamo Drafthouse, Time TBA, 320 E. 6th St.

ROBIN:

December 10, 2007
Dallas, TX » The Public Trust, 8 pm, 2919-C Commerce St., 214-760-7170

Beyond that, this past one was a long weekend. We had a visitor in town, so did it up. The weekend included:

1. Performing karaoke for the first time ever with Dave at Spynners. This was a major first for me, because while I love seeing karaoke, I have never performed. This experience ended up being lubricated by a warm, accepting crowd, and lots of 80s songs to choose from. I did sing along with Dave both times, though, if that makes a difference.
2. Walking all through downtown on Saturday afternoon. It was hot, but we did get to walk by and see all of the hullabaloo being set up for the marathon the next day (which ended up having to close down early because of the ungodly heat).
3. Watching the Cubs lose in the playoffs.
4. Brunching.
5. Walking along Montrose Street Beach and sitting by the lake and enjoying the view. I'd never been to this beach before and it's HUGE and has large expanses of grass as well as beach, so I'm officially impressed and am going back.
6. Going to see some blues at Blue Chicago which was downtown. The place is nestled within a busy block with a bunch of clubs populated with some soooooper obnoxious, frosted-tipped denizens. But Blue Chicago itself was deserted and, with a $10 door charge, a steal when you consider how fun the band was. The lead singer was a voluptuous, suggestive lady who was a true party catalyst and managed to persuade the paltry crowd to get up and dance.

Work continues to be busy, but I had my second official session with my very first, personal Early Intervention client today. He's two and tow-headed and such a football-loving boy. He's also like 25% intelligible. It's fun, though, and the hour goes by quickly. I'm still at the point were I'm marveling that I get paid for this. It'll probably take me a few more years before I become all callous and cynical.

Ask me why I'm excited about tomorrow, though. We're going to go and see Yo La Tengo play at the Lakeshore Theater!

Also, I'm currently watching Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares right now, and that shit stresses me out.

The Last Days of Summer
Okay, so it's not officially summer anymore but this weekend sure felt like it was. It was in the 70s both days, sunny, and priceless weather.

Saturday, we went and lunched at this place in Ravenswood called the Over Easy Cafe which was recommended by Jenny and Amie. It was love at first taste and it is in my top 10 brunch places. Maybe not quite at the level of Bongo Room for me, but pretty close. I had eggs and avocado and chorizo (MMMMMMM) and Todd had this apple bake pancake thing with cinnamon butter which was--let's be honest here--like eating fresh baked apple cake. It was the size of apple cake too. So: vote yes to the Over Easy Cafe!

Afterward we walked off our lunches at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I had never been there before since it's situated not-very-conveniently in the Northern Suburbs. It really was lovely, though. Pretty and easy to get around and not too crowded and really, really peaceful. I liked how many little benches and nooks there are that one can sit down in and just contemplate. If it were easier to get to, I would consider getting an annual membership because they have bike trails and running trails and just over all very serenity-inducing. Plus, the weather was perfect with just the slightest tinge of a breeze fluttering the leaves.

Sunday we had a lazy morning and then joined Sarah at the lake-front park in Evanston to celebrate her 30th (happy belated, Sarah!). She and Mike organized a picnic and it there was a pinata and home-made lasagna and birthday cake, and birthday celebratory leis. Super fun and more picnics need to be had before the weather turns officially unwelcoming.

That's my weekend roundup. I am feeling blah and have the slightest cold and am always blowing my nose. So, be glad that I didn't get you sick like I have Todd!

Cuteness Level: Extreme.

Here's a story about baby orangutans and baby tigers who have befriended eachother in an Indonesian zoo.

Apparently it won't last too long once the tigers start leaning toward chawing on some meat. But it's unbearably cute in the meantime, right?

(via neatorama)

So Proud Indeed
The night was winding down, the last guests were sipping at the dregs of their drinks, and the last dance was impending. We were at Todd's friend, Kip's, wedding this past Saturday, and it was 10:55 with the wedding reception coming to a full-stop at 11. Kip was dapper in a white vest and his bride, Meredith, was lovely and serene as ever in her gown. It was at this time that the dj demanded that everyone in the room (everyone!) come out to the dance floor and to please form a circle around the bride and the groom. People obliged but with some hesitation, since the dj had lost the crowd's faith throughout the night. He was kind of bossy: at one point he commanded Kip and Meredith to come out the dance floor to slow dance to...and he played the "Barney" song. He played the whole thing and the gracious bride and groom danced to it, grinning and bearing it.

Anyway, back to the evening's last moment. So we all gathered on the dance floor in wait and dutifully formed a large circle around the couple. It was at this point that the dj breathed into the microphone something to the tune of: "We're all enjoying ourselves right now, but we need to remember that the troops are out there fighting for us and our freedoms." Downer. Then what came over on the speakers but "Proud to be an American" (because at least I know I'm free), and we all swayed along with it as the bride and groom yet again danced to indulge the dj and his whims. The most absurd moment at a wedding yet, and all I can think of it Kip and Meredith who now remember their last dance as a dedication to their country. Isn't the last dance supposed to be all about leerrrrvvvvv?

Beyond that, the wedding was fun though! That previous Friday I caught up with Bonnie and Laura and it reminded me of grad school--the good parts of the grad school experience. Sunday, we were lazy and did some cooking, went for a walk, and that's basically it,

Oh! But I can't forget to tell you about our last supper club, which was last night. This time we went to Lula Cafe in Logan Square, the cutest, hippest little place in the neighborhood. We had specifically picked Monday night to avoid the crowds, but--alas--in the previous week's Reader they had named Lula Cafe's Monday Night Pre-Fixe dinner as one of their 40 Most Favoritest Things About Chicago. And the crowds descended. So we waited for an hour for a table, but the weather was nice outside where we waited so it was okay. And I had the Pre-Fixe meal which is their "Farm Dinner" and it was...mindblowing. My love, it comes forth. So Lula Cafe has got to be on my regular rotation, but I need to go at like Tuesday at 3 p.m. or something.

This makes me laugh till I cry.

What is it about it this time? I think it's the fat baby looking seriously pissed off in addition to having an enormous gourd.

(Thanks to Todd who sent it to me. Also his commentary:
That kid is all "You take this thing off my head, then you check that blood sugar, and you check it fuckin' GOOD, if you have diabeetus."
in reference to that commercial with that old dude with the walrus moustache who used to be in "Our House")

Watch this (if you haven't already, of course)
This past weekend, we watched "Junebug" and it was great. Moving without being in your face, but funny at the same time. Amy Adams was something to behold. I really, really liked this movie.


Beyond that...
It was a lazy weekend. The weather was beautiful, which was nice. I managed to catch up with the erstwhile Megan, Laura, and Katie for a fun dinner party, and Todd and I hit the mall on Saturday. Don't be jealous of my mall experience, you guys.

Todd's wisdom tooth is coming in and is causing him intensive pain, so let's send him our best until he can get it all sorted out.

Fall's Here!
The cooler, crisper has arrived and I am grateful. I am done with summer. It's nice to crack open the sweaters again and pull out the light jackets and smell autumn.

Plus, I'm finally hitting my stride again at work and have my schedule just about worked out and have pretty much seen all of the kids that I need to have by now. I ripped an idea off of another SLP and posted a big tree trunk in my room with branches that reach out. Each of my kids decorates a leaf that sports his/her speech and language goal. which we then stick up on the tree. It's a great opportunity to practice using some spatial concepts (e.g., "Do you want the leaf on the top/bottom, middle/sides, left/right?"). Also, as the seasons change so do their goals, so in the winter we can do new ones (snowflakes this time) as well as budding new green leaves in the spring. Neat idea, huh? Definitely worth ripping off. We've been using glitter and glue and let me tell you: it doesn't take much to entertain second graders. They effing love some glitter and glue.

I've got a kid on my caseload now (he transferred in) who's a selective mute, which basically means what it sounds like. He's a stubborn little bugger too. I met him today and he answered every one of my questions with gestures and facial expressions. Then, when we were playing a copy-me kind of game I tried to slip in some vocalization and he stopped abruptly and gave me a look like "Ah, you have waaaay underestimated me." He's going to be a tough nut to crack, that one. In my opinion selective mutism isn't really an SLP's bailiwick and it seems more of anxiety issue if the kid can talk in other circumstances, but the kid's got goals and I need to work with them.

Jackie's wedding weekend
Congratulations, Jackie and Brian!

We flew out to Denver on Friday afternoon so we could attend Jackie and Brian's wedding that Saturday. We got to the airport in plenty of time so decided to bide our time in the Chilis in the airport, which is seriously the most happenin' of happenin' places in O'Hare. Who knew? We should go and hang out there all the time. When people get off the plane to visit, I'll be all: "Naw, we aren't leaving the airport...we're hanging at CHILIS HERE!" (Too bad if you land at Midway: we're still training it to O'Hare.)

Our flight to Denver ended up being delayed for two hours due to weather reasons. This would have been only mildly annoying if we weren't trying to rush to Jackie and Brian's rehearsal dinner that night in Boulder. If our plane had landed on time, we would have been kind of late as it was. With the additional two hours tacked on, we missed dinner entirely, so we ended up just tumbling into the (very fancy) hotel and crashing like clazy. It was midnight my time, after all, and Grandma likes to be in bed early. We realized afterward that our entire trip took nine hours door to door, and driving would have only taken a few more hours maybe. How did that work?

Jackie and Brian's wedding was lovely. Cozy and perfect and filled with friends and family who love them. They had a bagpiper at their ceremony! And they know the way to my heart, because the food was yummy too. Their ceremony was in the early afternoon and the reception was in the early evening, so in between, Todd and I hung out with his old bandmate, Ryan, and Ryan's date and his parents, who were also attending the wedding. I must mention how great the dj was as well, because he took *every* request! Maybe I was the only one asking for them, but he earned my devotion forever since he played "Bizarre Love Triangle" with no questions asked. I was a dancing fool all night. I even danced to "Achy Breaky Heart." The wedding lasted from 6pm till midnight and I enjoyed every second of it. I hate going to clubs, but I love dancing at weddings. I need to go to more weddings (get married, people!).

Although we didn't get to Denver proper, we did spend a morning in Boulder and were struck by how fresh everything was. This opposed to Chicago, where the streets smell like pee and exhaust. Plus, every place we went to in Colorado, from the airport to the hotel to every restaurant to every place of commerce we passed: it all seemed brand spanking new. Also very different from Chicago. Granted, our scope of exploration was limited to say the least, but still. I had last been to CO to visit my dearest Suzi and her family back in 2000 and was struck by how pretty the mountain line was on the horizon. I was still struck this past weekend: you can't beat those mountains. In Boulder we ate a delicious breakfast place called Foolish Craigs and strolled through Pearl St where we stumbled upon the very tiny Pride festival there. Also, we stopped in a candy store where Todd bought some Necco wafers and inhaled them in about five minutes. I only am reporting this because after looking at the nutritional facts, we discovered that one package contains 55 grams of sugar. That cracks me up a lot.

48 Hours is Too Short.
We got back from Lake of the Ozarks yesterday, and it was...perfect. Purr-fect. We got in late on Friday night after wrassling with some horrendous Chicago-Labor-Day traffic. The weather was sunny, warm, and flawless. We boated both days and ate delicious home-cooked meals each night. Afterwards we gathered around Todd's parents' formidably awesome fire pit. It caused me almost physical pain to leave yesterday morning, but what had to be done had to be done. Two days is better than no days, I suppose.

Now it's back in Chicago, which is steaming haawwwwt.

School officially started today, but my day was slow since kids are getting back into their routine and I've got to get the schedule worked out with the teachers.

Day 2
Second day of work complete! I'm glad to say that I got assigned my old school and also a charter school one day a week. Charter schools are a little of a mystery to me and this one didn't download any of their caseload information onto the school-wide system that we access, so I have no clue what my caseload there looks like. I think I'm just going to show up tomorrow and see what's what. It was good to be at the old school again today, though, see some familiar faces and scrape the cobb webs off of my materials.

Yesterday was an all day meeting for SLPs which was pretty laid back, but sadly was located in the Southside of Chicago (I believe the Bronzeville area, or at least close to it) so I took the main highway, 90/94, to get to it and that experience so blew. It took me over an hour to get there because of congestion and construction and all of that. Blech.

Today I took the main highway again to head south to pick up my shiny new laptop for work. I assumed picking it up would be a breeze since all of the specialized services people (OTs, Psychologists, Social workers and SLPs) were assigned windows within which to show up, check in the old laptop, and then tote off the new one. How much time could it take? Ah, silly me. Three different lines were involved and two hours of waiting all together. The SLP behind me was getting more and more pissed off and was getting ready to maul anyone she suspected of cutting. She was getting ready to blow. It would have been funny if I didn't have to wait in the first line for over an hour. The new laptop is pretty neat, though, so I suppose it was worth it.

Afterwards I had to zoom (or, "zoom," since the highway was crawling with traffic again--at 2:35pm!) all the way to the north to get to my dentist appointment. Seeing as scheduling with my dentist involves a month's notice, I was desperate to get there in time since I needed to get these two cavities taken care of. I got there ten minutes late and ended up having to wait another 20 minutes, but I realized I was so tense from trying to get there in time I had to stretch out, take some deep breaths, and decompress with a couple of quality People Magazines. But, bottom line is that cavities are filled (hurrah!), it didn't cost me hardly anything, and I no longer fear that my teeth are going to fall out from neglect.

Tonight is supper club (Moody's Burgers with the best beer garden ever!) and then tomorrow Todd and I hit the road to head to Lake of the Ozarks to visit his parents at their lakehouse and do some boating and whatnot. It's only for two days, but I'll suck the marrow out of those 48 hours as needed.

Why does this crack me up so much?
So lol-cats tend to be kind of lame, and this is kind of lame too, but I seriously crack up every single time I see this picture. I was trying to figure out what it is, and I think it's the walrus tongue and the walrus expression and the absurdity of it all.

Seriously, every single time I see it, I start laughing.

Betting and Racing
So, I've got two more days till work starts. It's kind of surreal, but as Sarah described in her blog, the first week should be pretty laid back what with meetings and setting up rooms and stuff and it's only three days long! And then next week is only four days long!

This past Saturday I accompanied Todd to his company's party at the horse races. I'd never been and I found it amazingly large with manicured lawns and a huge track. I also learned that jockeys are extraordinarily tiny: besides being of smaller stature they are slender as young beanstalks. We went to look at the horses closeup along with the jockeys and I gawked. Besides the free food, cocktails, and guidebooks, the company also allotted each couple with $20 to gamble. That was good because girlfriend is too cheap to be betting her own money, and good thing too since we ended up losing about $10 of those dollars on $2 bets (and coming out $10 ahead since we got the rest in cash). We did end up winning a couple of times and once we won 10 cents. 10 cents! Others we talked to came out with $40 in winnings and then we talked to someone who had lost $400 of their own money.

The rest of the weekend was fun with a surprise birthday party on Friday night, a Life and Times show on Saturday night, and then the Bucktown Arts Festival on Sunday with a trip to the best bar in the world, The Map Room, afterward. The weather was amazing all weekend, especially after the monsoons that descended this past week.

And that's all I've got!

Fatty!
Neatorama posted about the Michelin Baby Syndrome.
The blog also links to an article about the syndrome of which I was too lazy to muddle, but you can find it here.
The picture came from here originally.

During the closing of a conversation with my mom today:

If you're bored, remember that you should keep calling your parents.

That was so awesome, I had to blog it (with my mom's permission, of course).

Wow.
David Simon, writer of Homicide, the man behind the eponymous tv series, also "The Wire" is a hero of mine, and apparently he's very salty.

There's an interview of Simon by Nick Hornby (TWO of my favorite authors in one enclosed piece) in The Believer Magazine, and here's the first part.

NICK HORNBY: Every time I think, Man, I’d love to write for The Wire, I quickly realize that I wouldn’t know my True dats from my narcos. Did you know all that before you started? Do you get input from those who might be more familiar with the idiom?

DAVID SIMON: My standard for verisimilitude is simple and I came to it when I started to write prose narrative: fuck the average reader. I was always told to write for the average reader in my newspaper life. The average reader, as they meant it, was some suburban white subscriber with two-point-whatever kids and three-point-whatever cars and a dog and a cat and lawn furniture. He knows nothing and he needs everything explained to him right away, so that exposition becomes this incredible, story-killing burden. Fuck him. Fuck him to hell.

I found this from this link. And I've never heard of The Believer, but I see that it's a branch of McSweeneys. Now girlfriend needs a subscription (gift idea for those who don't know what to do!)

The Life of Leisure
So it appears that the temping gig that I was set up for to start today fell through. To be specific, the contact person for the company never returned my temping guy's calls, according to him. I found that out yesterday afternoon. The plan now is to go for a week and a half long gig in the week before I start my regular job again.

So my vacation is extended again, which makes me half happy (more free time!) and half sad (dipping into money in the bank that I thought I could leave alone). My last paycheck of deferred pay from my regular job comes Friday: dunh dunh DUNH. Basically, I'm trying not to spend money that I don't need to in the meantime, which means LOTS of reading of books from the library, playing on the Internets, lolling in front of bad TV, and working out.

Oh, and there's ever standing talk of a Chicago Teachers Union strike in case the next contract doesn't get settled. If there's a strike that means no pay for those days, so...yeah, got to be conservative with the monies. [Actually, I'm pretty confident that they'll work it out, since the other unions--like the ones for the janitors, custodians, food service workers--settled with the Board of Education earlier this week. And I doubt that Mayor Daley wants all of these kids running around unoccupied and the bad rap the city might receive when Chicago is vying to be an Olympic host]. We'll see how it turns out.

I just checked out a book from the library called An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned But Probably Didn't. This is important, because while a lot of things were passed onto to me throughout my education, the amount that has actually *stuck* with me is pretty pathetic. I'm going to try to post a new fact that I've learned every day while I have this book, so get ready, people. Because daytime TV is definitely not keeping me sharp.

Speaking of books, we had another book club meeting last night and it was a funny one since NONE of us who attended had read the book (or even looked at a copy). Only four of us attended, and we were all ones who work in the schools and have been home all day. I guess we couldn't find it in us to track down the book, but it was still a good time.