The Best Day Ever

was almost just a plain old not-so-good day.

i left work after my 7am-3pm shift (which had seemed much longer than normal) after getting told that a customer had called in to complain saying that i "moved slowly" while ringing up his order, and headed (in the cold misty rainsnow) downtown on the L (the brown line) to meet up with my personal trainer/kevin's friend George at 4pm, whereupon he almost killed me with a workout that will, no doubt, make it very difficult for me to walk tomorrow.

then, i walked over to daley plaza (in the cold misty rainsnow) to the german market (where kevin and i bought our treetop spire a couple weeks ago) and floundered through the mass of beer-laden, bratwurst-stuffed, soft-pretzel-lugging, chocolate-covered-everything-indulging people to find a few presents for some unnamed people that i may or may not know, bought said presents, and headed towards the L once again (this time taking the red, on state street).

i lumbered down the stairs, through the gate, down more stairs (on my wiggly-post-work-out-legs) and ended up on the teeming rush hour platform.

there, i waited.

and waited.

finally, a train came. and it was overflowing. and i, along with most of the people crowded around me, could not fit inside. inside, where i saw two girls standing next to two open seats...the guy next to me saw them, too, and rapped on the window "move over!" and pointed at the free seats, to which the standing girls replied "there's stuff on the floor." i peered in to get a glimpse at this "stuff" and saw a couple newspapers. vomit/blood/urine/dead animal-free newspapers. and, to the standing girls i thought, "there is no law about putting your feet on old newspapers. old newspapers are not the original copy of the declaration of independence." and then the doors closed. goodbye train.

and, there, i waited.

and then, it happened.

there was an announcement over the loud speakers. an announcement about the next north-bound train. the next north-bound train was not going to be an ordinary train. it was going to be. . . . .

The. Holiday. Train.

so, this is what i rode home on:


and this guy was there announcing the next stop, instead of the normal PA-drone:



and when i stepped inside, i was met with smiles and a free candy cane and this general merriment:


and, thus. the best day ever. oh holiday train, how i love thee.

gobblesgiving

hello football. and hello family. and hello fatkid.

kevin and i are currently sitting on his parents' couch, watching the packers game with jacob and pepper. pepper being the Readers' dog for the past 16-18 (there was an unsolved discussion of pepper's age last night...and the mystery continues) years. actually, pepper isn't paying much attention to the game at all. she's laying in a brittle little heap on the floor.

we're going to head over to chuck & sherry's place in a couple hours, those are the grandparents. one thing that's really fun about getting married has been inheriting chuck & sherry. i've been without grandparents for, what, 11? 12 years? or is it more like 14? i don't know. it's been forever, basically. but now i've got them all over again. 3 of them, actually, with Grandma June in iowa. and i've never really had 3 of them before. . . not in my memory anyway. and now i do. i even have a great-grandma on kevin's dad's side. crazy.

so. to chuck and sherry's. then back to chicago for me, since i have to work from 9-5 tomorrow (fantastic, i know). while kevin will be going to see his friend chris letourneau somewhere. then chris will bring kevin back into chicago to see our place, and the two of us will head to Thanksmas right after i get off work. lots of driving. but lots of food that will make it totally worth it.

happy gobbles, everyone.

my mama always wins

that's right mother, the one that was really far away on monday.

the audition was in a church--that's fairly common in these parts, no problem there--but i'm pretty sure that the only people auditioning were all members of the congregation. . . as was the 116 year old lady checking people in.

i got offered Elaine Harper in Arsenic and Old Lace, which i would have loved doing...if Cary Grant had been involved. sadly, he was not. so i had to pass.

ugh. we shall overcome, nonetheless. lots more auditions coming up, anyway. so. there.

potentially hysterical

i've been auditioning a bunch in the past two weeks or so. . . and maybe i've been made and offer for something.

but i'm not going to put anything on the record until, well, until i decide what i'm going to do. because. i mean, geez. hilarious.

i love lists

everyone is starting to ask about Thanks- and Christmas gifts. so. i am going to compile a list on here of what i know that i want so far. feel free you purchase any or all of these items and send them to me. or bring them to me in person, and we can have a tea party. with red wine.

1. a mandolin
2. 'Once' piano music
3. Lynn O'Brien piano music
4. ankle socks
5. a toaster
6. a mandolin case
7. a kandinsky painting
8. how-to-play-mandolin music books
9. mandolin music lessons at Old Town School of Folk Music
10. an agent


all of these are serious. except for the last.

but, hopefully, i'll be able to get that one as a Christmas present for myself. because the artist in me is starting to suffocate within the corporate walls of retail.


as far as what kevin wants? i have no idea. but if i could guess one thing, which he would never think of, but would secretly love if he actually go it:

1. bubble bath bubbles

i would also love it. because then, once every 3 months when he gets a hankerin' for a bubble bath, i won't have to watch him squeeze half of my bottle of shampoo into the slowly rising tub.

good morning?

i'm off to work. please note the time.

also, feel free to send flowers, chocolate, money, kittens, or ice cream along with your sympathy cards. thank you.


(furthermore, i'm making a me-website. it might take awhile, but it's happening.)

fraud!

and that is how you get a new credit card.

we don't have a thermostat

and so we got very worried about frostbite. but we were then informed by our condo-lady that the heat gets turned on in the boiler room on november first. crisis averted.

also, today is salsa day.
furthermore, i am currently watching Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for the first time, and adding it to my to-do list.

come in, we're open.

what a week

i've been in rehearsal for The Mercy Seat all week, and no where else, it seems. mon-wed, kevin and i pretty much only saw each other around 3 or 4 or 5am.....when i would be getting up for work, and he would be crawling into bed. it's been exhausting, but also really really fun. the show is coming together, and tonight is our first preview. . . even though we haven't sold any tickets for it, which is not a bad thing considering we've only really run the show twice at this point. . . but there will definitely be people there tomorrow night.

today is mostly busy-body stuff for me, too. finding nice books at thrift store for set dressing, doing dishes, stopping by work to write my order, and working out-since i've missed the past two days because of tech rehearsal. . .

being busy is nice. i like it.

i am a bear

my past 48 hours or so:

sept. 11, 2009
4am: wake up, eat breakfast, get ready for work
5am-1pm: trader joe's joys
1:30-3:30pm: pumpin iron at Xsport, then showering off the sweats
4-7:30ishpm: mercy seat rehearsal at profiles
7:30-8: drive home, run inside, change my shirt, run outside, run to el, miss train, sit and wait
8:15-9pm: ride downtown
9ish-10:30pm: stars of Lyric Opera @ millennium park
10:30-11:30pm: el with kevin to the paulina brownline
11:30-12:45am: play with my brothers and sisters from u of i acting '08 at c. dale's bday party
1:45am: get home and go to bed
6:10am: wake up, eat breakfast, get ready for work
7am-3pm: trader joe's joys
3:30-4:30pm: pumpin iron at Xsport
5pm: say goodbye to the kevins that are going to the suburbs
6pm: start watching a movie
7pm: take a nap before going to labrada's bday party at 9pm
12:20am: wake up from nap on couch, move to bedroom
9am, sept 13th: wide awake and it's morning.

geehhddit? a 14 hour nap? whoops.

sssssseptember

that happened fast. september getting here, i mean. we've been in chicago for almost a year already. a whole year. yeesh.

kevin had a sketch show tonight at The Spot with both The Other Other Guys and World's Best Dad. the latter of the two is the one he kind of founded/invented/started up with a couple guys from his improv classes at IO. it was a fun show, with a musical improv group, Rhythmn Method, sandwiched between kevin's.

on monday i started a new project with Profiles. i tricked them into thinking that i'm a stage manager. and i'm stage managing their production of The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute. i've never been a stage manager before, and always imagined that it must be a completely horrible job; scheduling, dealing with annoying and needy actors, fixing all the problems, being the first to arrive and the last to leave, keeping track of line notes and blocking. . . things like that. . . lucky for me, Team Profiles are the best people in the world and i won't have to deal with any of those problems. mostly, anyway.

i am very excited about being part of the show, besides. it's going to be great. come see it.

our next rehearsal is tomorrow night from 4-7. at 7:08 i will be picking kevin up from our condo-home and heading to my rent's place for Brad&Ruth'sWedding EVE. this is also very exciting. as weddings normally are.

furthermore, i joined a gym on saturday, have worked out 4 days so far this week, and plan on continuing to do so for the rest of this month. remind me of that whenever you see me.

i also plan on eating more vegetables. you're welcome.

fact.

working at 6am makes for a lot of boring evenings.


annnnnd goodnight. . .

as promised

these are some things that we've been up to:

george died. but these nice men brought him back to life.














after we paid them loads and loads of money, of course.

there was a party-of-sorts. . .














this is what sketch comedy does to people.



i helped the Profiles Panthers to their first victory of the season. . .















during. . .


the. . .




playoffs. . .
















by being an incredible team manager

slash photog

slash cheerleader.







then on tuesday, i went up to see dave and donna barnes with the veverka sisters.















we windsurfed.














we are awesome.



kevin cut his own hair. . . while i was gone.














don't worry. i fixed it.


and today i made muffins. successfully.














with blueberries and raspberries. and they are yummy.




and now it's halfway through august. yikes. kevin's job with UIC has been extended through december, so that's a relief. now he'll have more time to look for a replacement. . . which he already spends a lot of time doing. . .

i'm in another acting class at Profiles. on mondays. it's a brand new masters class that they invented only for previous students, which is fun and exciting, but already halfway over. next up is another project with Profiles. . . but i'm not going to talk about it yet. so keep your pants on.

promises promises

i will do this sometime this week. and there might even be pictures, but i'm not promising that part.

and, kristen. i have no idea what you're talking about with that ham business. explain yourself.

we painted!

opening & closing

this story begins on thursday.

on thursday, the show i've been working on since may finally opened. a show, you say? what show? This show. it went pretty well, especially considering that we only rehearsed in the performance space twice prior to opening night. and the last time we were in there was this past sunday for our final dress. that gave us 4 days to say. . . oh that lighting is going to change? and that sound cue? and this and that? okay. . . we'll try it out. in 4 days. at opening. yikes.

but, like i said. it went well. there was only one near-disaster, which yours truly helped us avoid by doing some silent-screaming at a fellow actor from backstage "No! Do Not bring that table off! bring ON the couch! put the table next to the Couch!" during a set change. crisis avoided.




we had dressed up and, looking stellar, we went to the chicago ale house across the street after the show. kevin couldn't come to the show because he was at a rehearsal for his own show that goes up this wednesday. it's The Other Other Guys. with the erics and friends. come see it.


such a relief to finally be up and running. our next show is saturday the 27th. so. there's that.
























next:

Friday.

keep in mind we've been waiting for this day since may 28th. but really since we started looking for a condo in march. or april. whenever it started, it's been going on for Forever. at least, it feels like it.

9am. it began.


james bachmann, our magicman realtor came and picked us up. and we headed out on the open road. destination: empty bank account.





we headed straight to 5828 N. Ridge to complete the final inspection. a few things weren't quite up to par after the inital inspection, so we hoped to find everything fixed up and in tip-top shape.
we were surprised to find a new railing had been installed right inside the front door, so no one would die falling down those little steps. we were not surprised enough, however, to take a photo of it. sorry. all the windows had received new screens, and could all be opened and closed without issure. good. check. check. our gorgeous side by side refridgerator includes an ice maker, which kevin was extremely excited about and turned on immediately when he entered the kitchen. much to his chagrin, no ice had been made when he opened it again 2 minutes later. james assured him though that there would be some there when we returned from closing. . .

and then Kristen Anderson called! that's her right there! our first technological visitor! hooray!

another issue from the inspection was the brand new stove that didn't work. it still doesn't, but not because of kevin & james. even though this photo is of them fixing the stove. . . after they broke it. but really, we think we just need to have the gas turned on. which makes sense. obviously.














then we went on a hunt for the bike storage room. kevin and i had stopped by at some point last week and snooped around outside, and we'd seen it through a window, but we couldn't find a door to it anywhere. annnnnnnnnd then it started raining. but james kept trying all the keys he had in every door there was.
then it started raining harder.
still, no luck. so we gave up, just as the downpour began.








we then ran through the alley to find safety within the Jetta. mildly soaked.









we got on the road, headed now towards Skokie & its Affinity Title, where the closing was to take place. the monsoon was getting ridiculous, and we had some time to spare, so we took cover in a target parking garage. and, because why not, we went into target to bide our time.

the following video is real. it has not been altered in any way.



luckily the target bore a starbucks, so james bought us some bevies. kevin got some green-tea-milk-shakey-thing, i got hot chocolate, and james got a big plain black coffee. blech. but he paid for us, so, perf.







we swam back to the car, hit the road, and arrived unharmed to Affinity!


james kept getting us all excited by baiting us with our future keys. we were salivating. a lot.


the only thing standing between those glorious keys and us? a whole lot of money. and a giant stack of papers.

Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign!







so many papers and calculations and signing and thinking. it was very informative. and exciting. and kristan, our attorney, kept saying '2039' like it's no big deal, but really i think we can all agree that thinking about '2039' gives us all a pretty big "Yikes!" feeling in our insides. at least it does me. jeepers that seems like lightyears away. let's not think about it.

LOOK AT THIS!!!

The Giving Of The Keys!!!!

The Receiving Of The Keys!!!!

and not only did James give us those keys, he also gave us champagne!

Keys! Champagne! Keys! Champagne!

and then the condo was ours. so we celebrated! with food! and milkshakes! and a chicago-style-hot-dog toast!

and after our bellies were full, we drove back over to 5828 to prance around our new ICE-FILLED (see below) condo that we OWN with our own Beings!

annnnnd then james carried kevin over the threshold.
because, duh.
what else would they do?

SO NOW WE OWN A CONDO FOR REALZIES AND YOU CAN ALL COME VISIT!

The End.

keep your pants on

there should be more to say on friday.

the waiting IS the hardest part

no word yet on the condo-front. believe me, the moment we find out, everyone will know about it.

also, remember how it's june and cold and everyone is grumpy about it?


off to work for me. . . early this morning-7am til 3. and then, a lovely nap. and then three days off. i'm crazy-tired these days, so it has been a long time coming and i am incredibly excited about it.


in other news, we have been married for a year. wow.

new job starting next week

Woo! I'm going to be a researcher at UIC for the summer. I'll keep you posted on what that actually entails. But for now, I'm saying goodbye Archaeology. To say adios here's a list of misconceptions people have about archaeology.

Misconceptions about archaeology that people ALWAYS have:

1. There are no dinosaur bones. Ever. That's paleontology. Watch Jurrasic Park.
2. There are no whips. Watch Indiana Jones. However, there are sassy women.

Here's a more professional list:

http://heritage.ky.gov/kas/archmyths.htm


Also, this is a temp research job for the Summer, hopefully it will be extended until November. Or I'll find something more suiting by then. Otherwise, you might see me saying Welcome Back Archaeology. Which is not nearly as fun or funny as Welcome Back Kotter. Let's face it, I'm not John Travolta. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZmlBTgaLEI


One last thing, in case you forgot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8DP5w9JdUQ

good news!

the GasMan is coming!!!

. . . on may 13th.

so, til then we will continue living in our 1800 house.  the night before last we even took an old school bath.  with the help of our electric tea kettle.  an hour of boiling, dumping, waiting, boiling dumping, waiting later-a bath was born!  it was like being 5 again.  with a big green plastic cup for in-lieu-of-shower-pouring and everything.

no pictures were taken, however.  unlike when you were 5.  bath-time photos aren't so cute when you're a grown up.

this must have been what it was like in the 1930's...

cold showers and nothing in the oven and empty refrigerators. and everyone smelled bad because they never used the cold showers and there were long lines to buy twenty-bucks-a-loaf-bread and everyone's up-hill-both-ways-shoes had holes in their soles and despair ravaged the land.

that is what it was like before they invented TV, right?

what i mean to say is: they turned our gas off. the people.

we discovered this on wednesday night. right now it is monday night. the stove is still unrelentingly silent. and the shower is still glacial. personally, i have showered at the gym everyday since the incident, with the exception of showering at allyson's on saturday. as far as kevin's showering habits are concerned. . . i have no idea. brendan, who left us "for good" yesterday managed to shower twice in our lovely claw-footed-freezer, though he said there were extremely loud, involuntary, and painful noises that went along with each of them. sadly, neither kevin nor i were ever in the apartment when either of those showers took place. sigh. . . if i could turn back tah-yme. . .

long story short: regardless of the fact that after we moved in we explained to them what our apt number actually was due to an initial confusion of 2FR and 2R, the people continued to have our address listed incorrectly, and therefore we never knew that it was us that they were warning about an upcoming disconnection. thus, off went the gas. and off went kevin's temper. and many phone calls were had and attempted by yours truly (all the while wishing that i had even a glimpse of the genius of megan becker's negotiation skills, of which i have none). and our outstanding and outlandish bill was finally paid.

and now, we wait. patiently.
thanking the heavens for our george foreman grill and his extraordinary panini abilities.

in other news: we went to champaign this weekend. and this happened:
and so did this:
obviously. fun was had by all.

. . . especially rachel.

slow down.

here it is again. in a slower and more controlled fashion. . .

With. Some. New. Beauties.




the inspection went really well yesterday. only a few minor problems--no screens in the windows, one window won't stay open, the brand-new-gorgeous stove didn't turn on but was probably just hooked up wrong--but nothing major to worry about.

daddy, we will probably enlist you to make a little railing for the front steps. . . so put your thinking cap on.

and now i'm looking on craigslist every day for a free piano. there are tons on there.

we have friends!

and these are just the ones that we remembered to invite.
there are lots more. we promise

and once we're done jumping through hoops, we'll have more parties.

of the warming kind. . . but for now:

friends.

and james called. with good news. so we made him come.



















and then we had a baby concert.