giving thanks

First, a Thanksgiving photo montage....

Channeling a 1950's housewife in velcro rollers and my Gram's apron, mashing the sweet potatoes:


notice my Grams in the background talking on the phone...the woman never stops talking, God love her:


My beautiful sister and I -- getting started on the wine:


The "kids' table" -- (clockwise starting with me: myself, the boyfriend, cousin Nick, sister Elaine, her fiancee Jerod, brother Tommy) my brother and sister, as usual, are acting completely immature for the picture:


The traditional Thanksgiving nap, with aunt's rambunctious dog Bailey looking on (thanks for taking this one Mom):


aaaaand finally, my gorgeous pumpkin cake with whipped cream and pecan praline topping:


It was a good Thanksgiving, albeit a bit shorter than we'd expected. Nick received a call Tuesday that his father wasn't doing so well, and it was imperative that he get to Greece as soon as possible, so we cut our little trip short so that he could catch a flight Saturday. We still had a great time visiting with my relatives and eating delicious food.

The next few weeks will be hard with Nick being away, but I will be meeting him in Greece in a mere three weeks, and I've got a very busy schedule between now and then what with finishing the quarter, holiday gigs, auditions, and visiting family.

Although life has been a bit trying lately, I have much to be thankful for this year. I'm thankful for my wonderful boyfriend, my caring family, the strides I've been making in my career and on a personal level, good health, good friends near and far, and a long sought after feeling of well-being and happiness.

A Tribute to Robert Altman

Famed director Robert Altman passed away Tuesday at a Los Angeles hospital. In 2004, Mr. Altman singlehandedly changed my life when he chose me out of a lineup of thirty women to play a maid in the world premeire opera "A Wedding" at Lyric Opera of Chicago. The opera is based off of his 1978 movie of the same name and composed by William Bolcom. Not only was I able to quit my heinous day job, I got to experience first-hand the innerworkings of one of the world's greatest opera houses, plus meet lots of amazing people. And get paid for it. Here is a pic from back in the day:



Although I don't think he ever remembered my name after the first rehearsal, I did receive from Mr. Altman, along with the rest of the cast, a lovely scarf and signed card to commemorate the world premiere cast of the opera.

So thank you, Robert Altman, for choosing me for your opera, probably because I was the tallest girl at the audition. Thank you for your strange but amusing movies. May you rest in peace.

from my kitchen to yours...

Dinner tonight at chez Emily:



Prosciutto, Garlic Herb and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Tarragon Pan Sauce (sauce not pictured)
Roasted Red Potatoes with Onions
Caesar Salad

Chicken recipe (courtesy of Rachael Ray's book 365: No Repeats):

4 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts
large plastic food storage bags or wax paper
4 slices prosciutto
4 ounces (1/2 cup) garlic and herb cheese, such as Boursin
toothpicks
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock or broth
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon (about 3 stems, stipped and chopped)

Place a chicken breast in the center of a plastic food storage bag or 2 large sheets of wax paper. Pound out the chicken from the center of the bag outward using a heavy-bottomed skillet or mallet. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts.
Place one slice of prosciutto on top of each pounded chicken breast. Place a quarter of the garlic and herb cheese on top of each proscuitto slice. Wrap and roll the chicken over the stuffing. Secure the meat with toothpicks. Preheat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat with the extra-virin olive oil. Season the stuffed chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add the breasts to the pan and brown on all sides, cooking for 10-12 minutes. Remove the breasts and set aside. Add the butter to the pan, then the flour. Cook for a minute, whisk in the wine, and reduce for another minute. Whisk in the stock and tarragon and return the chicken to the pan. Reduce heat and simmer until ready to serve. Remove the toothpicks.

My boyfriend was a big fan, and I'm sure you will be too! Enjoy!

SHOUT OUT to Allison L. for winning the grand prize in the "finish the lyrics to this song" game. Oddly, that song popped into my head the other day, and I couldn't get it out. Allison L., if you are ever in Chicago in the near future, message me and I will buy you one delicious martini! Kudos to readers Elaine and the other Allison as well...who knew the answer but were not lucky enough to get here first. This will teach you to check my blog every hour, on the hour! Just kidding.
I'm about to head to a big rehearsal for my gig on Sunday singing a gigantic Mendelssohn cantata for soprano, choir, and organ. It's a great piece and should be a lot of fun. If any of you sinners want to save your souls on Sunday, feel free to do so at the 10:30 am service at Trinity United Methodist in Wilmette. I'll be in the front wearing a hideous blue choir robe, so you can't miss me.

Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat....

The holidays are upon us, or rather, the holidays have sneakily crept up behind us and...WHAM!...Starbucks suddenly has Christmas cups and has replaced the pumpkin spice latte with the gingerbread latte and peppermint mocha. Nothing like Starbucks to help remind one of the changing of seasons and holidays.
And so sets into motion a dizzyingly busy time of year. For musicians, the holidays are a time to make an extra buck here and there, and for young singers, the weeks leading up to Christmas are chock full of auditions. Add in the family events, parties, and if you're me, finishing up the quarter at school, and you've got one hell of a crazy couple of months.
Next week Nick and I will be traveling to Indianapolis for Thanksgiving with the fam. I'm really looking forward to it, since I haven't seen my immediate family members for a few months or my extended family members for nearly half a year. Thanksgiving with my family is always a good time...plenty of overeating, adult beverages, card games, and general merrymaking. I'm in charge of sweet potatoes and one dessert this year. I'm planning a ridiculously rich layered pumpkin cake with pecan praline frosting. YUM!
After returning from Indianapolis, I will be heading to Cincinnatti for my Pittsburgh Opera Center audition, then heading back home to finish off the quarter at NU. Another audition for Utah Opera (this time in Chicago, thank God), a gig singing Gretel with the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus, and some church gigs...and then I'm off to Greece for Christmas!!!! That's right, I'll be spending the Christmas and New Year's holidays with my boyfriend in his Heimatland. I'm so excited, a little nervous, and feeling a wee bit odd that I won't be spending Christmas with my family for the first time in 24 years. But as my mom said, "Christmas can be anytime, anyplace." She also reminded me that things are changing in our family; I will have a new brother-in-law soon and will have to share my sister with another family.
That aside...I'm absolutely elated to experience a new country and see where Nick was born and spent half his life. I've got some Greek tapes and a workbook, so I'm slowly making my way through that crazy script they've got. Athens seems like an extremely cool city, and I'm already overwheliming myself with all the things I want to do and see while we're there.
So, expect blogs to be sparse for the next couple of weeks, but look forward to some photo documentaries: amazing Greece pictures, and possibly some less exciting pictures of Midwestern cities and my relatives.

(Contest: whomever can finish the sentence that is the title of this post, which is a children's song, wins....A shout out in my next blog. And maybe a drink if I go out to bars with you.)

A yelper.

I've hopped on another bandwagon and joined Yelp. I found the site through a Myspace acquaintance, and I've been addicted for a full day now. Simply put, it's a site chock full of reviews of anything and everything. I was most excited about the restaurant reviews, since I am always on the lookout for an interesting restaurant to try. Also, it will be an excellent means of cataloging the restaurants I've visited and the food I've had at each place. Check out my profile!

as promised

Halloween pictures...

beginning of evening, mixing daquiris at my place:


a "black-eyed pea", a pirate, a geisha, Babs Bush (complete with "my son is an idiot" button") and a gypsy:


doing my geisha-dance:


dancing to "Private Dancer" at my place with Cleopatra and a pirate:


at the party, with a naughty French maid and a sexy St. Pauli Girl


more party (aaaaand my inebriation is beginning to show):


cackling on the couch (somebody cut her off for pete's sake!):


final stages of evening, post tripping on kimono and spilling beer on my face:


All in all it was a good night of spooky fun...did it remind me of undergrad days? Yes. Did the bruise on my knee the next morning remind me of when I fell off the porch at Robert's and bruised my bum? A little. Was it fun? Oh hell yes.

one happy girl

Nick arrived home safe and sound yesterday from Greece. And he didn't come back empty handed!!!! Along with about 10 lbs of sweets from Greece and Madrid (his connection was in Spain) he brought me this beauuuutiful necklace:

Doesn't he have FABULOUS taste? I tortured the poor thing by making him come to my choir concert in the evening (heinous...I'm a couple of weeks away from being done with choir for the rest of this degree, thank heavens), then we went out for a simple dinner at Pasta Bowl down the street. We returned to our usual Sunday routine today: I get up (whine-ily) for church, Nick stays home in pjs until I return, we go to brunch in the neighborhood, do our weekly grocery shopping, then watch Sunday night television. And sometimes I do a stitch of homework. But usually not.

In other news, I scored student tickets to Salome at Lyric, so tomorrow evening we will be heading down to the opera to see Debbie Voight take it all off. Wooooooo! No, in all seriousness, I've heard it's a fabulous production, and I'm really excited to hear her sing live. I saw the opera in Vienna over three years ago, and it was mesmerizing. It will be well-worth the "B" I will probably get in choir this quarter for skipping rehearsal. Who cares about grades at this point anyway? These days, I don't think anyone considering me for a job would care if I could read or correctly punctuate sentences. There is probably a direct correlation between the quality of my high notes and my IQ. The better the high C, the lower the IQ...

Hope everyone had as wonderful a weekend as I did!

EEEEEEEE!

I feel like a child waiting for my birthday party to start. You know that feeling you used to get when you were a kid and you just couldn't WAIT for a certain event to happen and hours felt like years? Well, that is how I feel today. Doesn't help that I didn't have much to do today...had a coaching, attended an hour-long class, went to lunch with the first-years...sat on my ass and watched TV for like 5 hours. Now I'm finally getting ready to go out for sushi with my girl Jia-Yee, but really I'm just giddy and counting the hours until I get to pick up Nick! Inevitably, I will wake up at 5 am and not be able to get back to sleep due to excitement. Good thing I'm a grown-up, and I have Xanax now. :)
This must be love...childlike giddiness at the thought of seeing my guy after two weeks of separation.

Flying home

T-minus 2 days until my sweetie comes home!!!! While I'm sure he's not ready to come back to the freezing temperatures we've been experienceing here in Chi-town, I am SERIOUSLY ready to have him home. It must be true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Two weeks is a bit too long for me though...my brain and body are starting to subconsciously say "where IS he?" Cheesy as it may sound, I feel like a small part of me is missing; something inside me feels a little empty.
Not that I've been sitting around pining for him or anything...since he's been gone I've done the following:

1) attended one (1) ridiculous Hallowe'en party dressed as a geisha (pictures forthcoming). got a weeee bit too drunk, tripped on my kimono, and now have a giant bruise on my knee.

2) sang two (2) concerts: graduate opera scenes performance as Susanna in Figaro, where I was felt up by Eric, Andrew, and Alejandra. (yes!), and a concert at my church last night with two other women which went splendidly and was really a lot of fun.

3) suffered two (2) small mental breakdowns, one due to the head cold I'd been warding off for a couple weeks now moving onto my vocal cords, causing me to wake up Monday morning unable to phonate. luckily it moved into my chest by Wednesday, so I coughed it out and went on with the show.

4) got an audition for Utah Opera apprentice program! YAY! and sent my materials to Pittsburgh

I've been a busy girl. But now I'm ready to have my boyfriend back on this continent where he belongs: trying to get me to watch sci-fi with him, hogging the covers, whipping me up a batch of rice krispie bars. 2 more days!!!!!

mental health day

After a bit of a crazy weekend, I declared today a mental health holiday for myself. There wasn't much going on for me school-wise, so I decided it was a good day to focus on me and my well-being. I did a hard run on the treadmill, which felt great (God bless my building management for putting those treadmills in the laundry room). I am (perhaps psychotically) thinking of training for the marathon next year. I've always enjoyed running, especially the endorphins, which was the goal of my run for today -- to achieve that euphoric, post-workout state that feels so damn good. Sooo, I'm trying to get my weekly mileage up and keep it steady, which can be difficult, because I am easily distracted from my workouts. I know that I will hear some protests from various members of my family, most notably my grandmother, who once told me that running too much would mess up my "lady parts". But I think I'd really enjoy training and the sense of accomplishment that comes along with achieving such a lofty goal. At this point it seems likelier that I could run a marathon than get into a young artist program...so maybe I'm projecting my need to achieve one of my goals onto running. Psycho babble!!!
Anyways, I'm getting off track. After my run, I made an appointment for a manicure and pedicure at my MOST favorite salon in the whole city of Chicago, T.G. Nails on Southport. It's reasonably priced, and they give you the most amazing massage along with the mani/pedi. So after making some lunch, I drove up to my old 'hood to get my nails done. I think I'll always have a soft spot for 3251 N. Southport, since it was my first apartment and reminds me of a very special time in my life. The neighborhood is so quaint and gorgeous in the fall. After my relaxing pampering session, I headed back up north for a session with my therapist. Those who know me well know that I talk about my therapist a lot. Truth is, she's been a big part of my life for the past 9 months, and she's helped me make some really positive changes. I no longer believe that only crazy people have shrinks. I feel really lucky that I found someone who understands me and who has been able to help me with some important self-discovery.
So, it was a good day for me. Everyone should declare mental health holiday every once in awhile!

I'm ready for my close-up

This movie is coming out in a couple of weeks:



starring yours truly as a woman in a black pants suit and black pumps who walks in front of a guitar store that Will Ferrell is inside. Ok, you're probably confused right now and wondering why I haven't mentioned before that I'm a famous movie star....well, it's probably because I'm not. Let me take you back to June 2005. Andrea and I had just spent the previous year whoring ourselves out for any possible chance of getting paid to be on stage, sing, act, or dance (in my case "dance"). One evening while perusing Performink, we saw a call for submissions to be an extra in a movie being shot downtown. Oddly, the address for the submissions was just a few blocks down from our apartment. So, one day while I was temping, Andrea walked our submissions down the street (and stalked the building a little bit).

Fast forward to a few weeks later. Andrea and I both get called to be extras! We were elated. The only downside was that we were not called on the same day. We were both instructed to bring five different outfits of varying styles and to show up at 6:30 (ugh) am. We were not told how long the day would be, but our compensation was roughly $10/hr. Worth it, we thought, for a chance to be an extra in a movie with big names.

Boy were we wrong. I showed up at the prescribed hour of 6:30 am (on a Saturday, nonetheless) and waited in a dingy room with the other extras for a couple of hours. There were donuts and muffins, which I guess was cool. I wasn't too hungry since it was so early, so I didn't each much, which would soon prove to be a fatal mistake. We were then instructed to show our "wardrobe" choices to the costume people, who would then decide which "costume" we would be wearing for the shoot. Of course, they chose the most uncomfortable outfit I brought, my black pants suit that was purchased post break-up when I was in a freakishly skinny state but that I still somehow managed to squeeze into, a white blouse, and black pumps. Then we waited some more.

Finally, we were taken out to the "set", where we waited some more. It was a fairly warm June day, not exceedingly hot, but warm. Too warm for a black pants suit. By this time, it was about 11:00 am, and my stomach was starting to rumble. After some more waiting, we were placed into positions for the shot. Basically, we were spaced out evenly on the sidewalk, given shopping bags or purses, and told to walk straight ahead. We would do this for a few minutes, and then they would yell "CUT", and we would go back to our positions and do it over. And over. And over. Often with long periods of standing and waiting between the shots. By this time, my feet hurt, and I was starving and sweaty. It went on like this until about 2:30 pm, when we they finally decided to feed us.

The lunch was the high point of the day. "For the Stars" catering put out a fabulous buffet of gourmet food, and we extras snarfed it up like we hadn't seen food in ages. Then it was back out to the set. For more walking. And waiting. Around 6:30 pm they told us we could leave, and I hobbled home and swore never to be an extra again.

In short, the day was not too enjoyable. I did get to glimpse Will Ferrell through a glass window, but that was about it. On the upside, I met some interesting people, scored a free gourmet lunch, and made $80. And I got off much easier than Andrea: her day took place in a dingy hospital on the south side and didn't finish until 3 am. But she got to meet Queen Latifah and Emma Thompson, so I think that redeemed the experience for her.

The moral of the story: being an extra is not glamorous. If I actually make it on screen, that will be another story. I will milk that for all it's worth -- so go see Stranger than Fiction and look for a tall brunette in a black pants suit looking grumpy, sweaty, and hungry. That's me.

pupoween!

At the risk of this blog becoming one of those sites devoted to the ogling of adorable animal photos, I bring to you more photos of pups in costume. Forgive me, but I just lose it everytime I see a dog dressed up for Halloween. Few things can make me laugh like a little pug on a motorcycle:



or a pup in a weiner suit:


Ok, there are a few other things that make me laugh that hard, namely fart jokes and bathroom humor (re: South Park), my sister, and Will Ferrell to name a few. But pups in costume is on the top of the list these days.

This picture is my favorite though. His face is priceless.


I promise that's it on the puppy pics. I'm thinking of taking my inspiration for a Halloween costume from the pups this year...and going as a giant hot dog in a bun. But a sexy hot dog in a bun of course, because we all know what Halloween is really about: girls dressing up in "costumes" that closely resemble street walkers. If only I could find a giant spandex crocidile suit....

sending a shout out over the ocean...

My sweetie is flying over the ocean right now. We got some bad news this weekend; his uncle in Greece passed, and he had to leave immediately. The poor one is now on a fifteen hour flight -- luckily he secured an aisle seat -- with his height, being cramped on an airplane is no fun at all. He took plenty of movies and video games, so I imagine now he's immersed in a sci-fi movie or a Star Trek game. I'm not sure when you'll get internet, Nick, but this side of the world misses you already!

A Review of All Things Pumpkin - Part III

I know it's been awhile since I've reviewed a pumpkin treat, but don't worry....I've been eating a lot of pumpkin lately, and I'm ready to share. Today's treat on a pedestal is......

THE PUMPKIN DONUT



Now, I am not a huge donut eater. I have maybe two or three a year -- I'm no health nut, but I usually stick to the high fiber cereals for breakfast. But Friday morning my sweetie brought me something sweet for breakfast, and oh was it glorious. This particular donut came from Bennison's Bakery in Evanston, but I'm told they can be found in most bakeries and grocery stores at this time of year (apparently Krispy Kreme makes one). It was delicious: moist, sweet, with just the right amount of spiced pumpkin flavor. The frosting was the perfect accompaniment; I believe it was a simple buttercream. This one gets five stars from me -- definitely my favorite pumpkin treat thus far.

Acts of God

Yesterday, I received a contract for my building's new wireless internet service -- whoopee! No more stealing from Anita. Anita, if you're out there, thanks for the two months of free wireless service. You rock girlfriend. For once, I acutally took the time to read through the contract, and I found an extremely interesting clause:

12. Lessor shall not be liable for any delay or failure in conformance of any part of this Agreement to the extent such delay or failure is caused by flood, explosion, accident, war, strike, embargo, governmental requirement, civil or military authority, Acts of God, inability to secure materials, labor or transportation, acts or omissions of common carrier, or any other causes beyond their reasonable control.

I laughed out loud when I read this part. In my head, I conjured a picture of my innocent little apartment building being taken over by military force or infested by a plague of locusts (assuredly an Act of God). OF COURSE the first thing I would do is call up the management company and bitch about the internet!

I guess it's good to know that I'm leasing this apartment from some God-fearing individuals.

pups, age factor, opera, pups

I've been a busy, busy bee lately, which explains why my last two posts consisted of cute animal photos. Ok ,Ok, I'll admit, it's really because I've been going ga-ga for dogs lately. I don't know if it's my maternal instinct kicking in, but I've been yearning for a little furry canine to love and care for and spoil. I don't think my schedule (or my studio apartment or budget) is ready for a dog yet, but perhaps this summer....also must convince Nick, but I think I'm wearing him down.

Soooo, the weekend was super busy and I really haven't had much time to relax since Friday. With my cold in full effect, I drugged up on Saturday (Sudafed + Mucinex = singer's miracule cure for excess phlegm) and sang well for the Bel Canto contest. They asked for a second aria, which was a good sign, but I don't think I advanced, since most of the people competing seemed to be quite a lot older. Age is such a funny thing in the classical singing world. At my age, it seems that I'm consistently getting beaten out by people two and three years older than I am, yet if you get too old (the age seems to be 30 these days) without having a break through in your career, people consider you washed up. I guess it's a little scary, since it seems that my lucrative years are quickly approaching, and I need to be up to par. Nevertheless, the contest was a nice confidence-booster, and I felt great afterward.

Saturday evening we had tickets to the opera, Gluck's Iphegenie en Tauride starring Susan Graham. I absolutely love going to the opera. The Lyric Opera house is so amazing and beautiful, and it always feels like such a special, grand event when I get to experience an opera there (and $20 student tickets make it possible!). We had a lovely dinner beforehand at 312 Chicago and then ran into many of my classmates at the opera house. The opera itself was interesting...I had seen Gluck's Orfeo in March, whose stage director was also directing this production, so I knew what to expect. The set, staging, and costumes were very dark and minimalist, with the main characters and dancers in all black and the set without color. The singing was brilliant, of course, but the plot bored me a bit. I have to say that Gluck's Orfeo is a much better opera than this one. Regardless, it was a great time, and afterward we went out with a bunch of my classmates to Frontera Grill (quite possibly one of the best restaurants in Chicago) for drinks and desserts.

Sunday was another singy singy day, since I had committed to doing a Bach duet at my church job. I was freaking out, per usual when I have to sing something difficult, but it went really well. I think the congregation was uber bored though, especially when we repeated the A section. How in the world do you prevent people from yawning when you sing Bach?! It doesn't matter how beautifully you sing it, I still see the eyes glaze over. Hmph. After church I had brunch avec ma cousine Megan, who goes to school in San Antonio. She's a dear. It made me miss my family, whom I don't get to see nearly often enough.

As usual, it's always rough to return to the grind after a fun weekend. So I think I'll go look at some pictures of puppies to cheer me up. Check out cuteoverload.com!

"get me out of this thing..."

Happy Thursday! Almost the weekend, kids!

gimmegimmegimme

I want one. Now.

A Review of All Things Pumpkin - Part II

Although I am suffering the beginnings of a cold (which I am stopping in its tracks with Zicam right now), I bring to you the second in a series of reviews of pumpkin goodies. Today's item is unfortunately only available to my readers in the Chicago/Evanston area, as it comes from a delectable little tea shop that has several cafes in the area. And today's item is...

Pumpkin Chai Tea Latte from Argo Tea

Regretably, I burned my tongue on the first sip of the piping hot tea. Not making my beverage to immediate perfect consumption temperature = loss of points for Argo Tea. My advice: Send some minions out to Starbucks and find out how they acheive this quality. Though I dislike SB thoroughly, they have hot beverages down to a science. After the burning sensation subsided and I was able to taste again, I discovered a delightful treat. I chose to have my beverage made with skim milk, and there was a lovely thin layer of frothy foam coating the top of the liquid. Previously, I've not seen pumpkin chai advertised in any of the usual suspect coffee shops, though I'm sure they could make it upon request (the pumpkin, after all, is just a syrup). Argo Tea has taken two flavors, chai and pumpkin, each delicious in its own right, and mixed them, and I couldn't be more pleased. The spicy, vanilla-y, (I've noticed that I create adjectives by putting -y on the end of everything. Going to need to work on that if I want a career in food criticism) flavor of the chai mixes extremely well with the pumpkin flavor. I dig it. Oops, I think I forgot to get it decaf...does chai have caffeine? Yikes, that and the non-drowsy sudafed I've been popping could have me up all night. Regardless...

Rating: *** and a half (1.5 stars deducted for tongue-burning)

A Review of All Things Pumpkin - Part I

'Tis the season for pumkin treats! Since I have a bit of an obsession with these seasonal treats, I've decided to do a series of reviews about the various delectable food items that are made with pumpkin and can be found during this time of year only. Reviews will be based on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, 1 being the least desireable, 5 being the most desireable. And I'd like to welcome any reader input on the items as well! And the first item is.......


"Pumpkin Pie in the Sky" Ice Cream Creation from Coldstone Creamery.

Before today, I had never tried this Coldstone creation, but Nick has been pretty excited about it and has been checking in at Coldstone from time to time to see if this seasonal speciality has made its appearance. So this afternoon we ventured over to the local Coldstone to taste their version of pumpkin pie: pumpkin ice cream mixed with crumbled graham crackers, caramel, and whipped topping. We got one small bowl to share, which was more than enough for the both of us. The pumpkin ice cream was quite delicious - pumpkin-y enough, but not overly, in-your-face, faux pumpkin flavor. It tasted genuinely nutmeg-y and fresh and delicious. I could have done without the caramel syrup, which I thought distracted from the flavor of the pumpkin, but the graham cracker crumbles and whipped topping were a perfect accompaniment. Quite tasty, extremely rich, the perfect treat for a warm fall day like today.

Rating: * * * *

Verborgenheit

Today, I fell in love with music all over again, thanks to a man named Hugo Wolf (don't worry Nick, he's an Austrian composer who went crazy and died long ago. Interesting the amount of composers who went crazy and died....hmph). I've been trying to plan my masters recital (!), so I went to the library to do some listening. I want to do a big German set, since I speak the language fairly well. It's also close to my heart, as my time in Vienna and Graz were some of the greatest times of my life. German lieder is so beautiful, and I'm always amazed by the hordes of lieder that I don't know or haven't heard. The German lied composers were just so damn prolific! I flipped through some scores and decided to listen to his Morike lieder (songs set to poems by the German poet Morike). And that was it. I'm in love. I've sung some of his music before, but one particular piece, Verborgenheit (which means secrecy), tore me up inside. I sat in the little study carrell at the library, tears rolling down my cheeks, while I listened to this gorgeous song. It's moments like these that I know deep in my heart, I'm meant to be a musician. When I first sang through Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 in Vergene's studio at DePauw, I bawled like a baby. The other day in my therapists waiting area, NPR was playing a particularly beautiful Mozart sonata, and I felt my stomach tighten and my adrenaline rush. I can deny it all I want to and say that I'd be happy doing something else, that this profession is too much of a sacrifice, but it wouldn't be true. After I heard Verborgenheit, I rushed to a practice room to sing through it. I had to. It's been a damn long time since I've felt compelled to sing a piece of music, felt that the world might stop turning unless I sang this piece of music RIGHT NOW. For the past year, I've been forcing myself to sing. I haven't really wanted to, but I do it because I'm supposed to and because it's what I've always done. Today I sang because after hearing Verborgenheit, there was nothing else on earth I could do but go and sing it.

Today, I had to sing. And it felt so good.

no time! there's never any time!

NO time to post today until now! Gah! The weekend was fun - a little too fun, perhaps - and today I was completely crazed with school. But I sang a bang-up Marzelline's aria from Fidelio in solo class, and had a terrific first coaching with the one and only Maestro Milnes, so it was a pretty darn good day. I'm feeling on top of my game again in the singing department, and I'm feeling more and more ready to go out and kick some ass at auditions this fall. Woo hoo!
Now, back to the weekend. Friday night's events went a little something like this:

6:30 pm - Arrive at Tango Sur, a fantastic BYOB Argentinian steak restaurant in my old 'hood where Nick's brother is celebrating his birthday. Really great food and a fabulous environment, I highly recommend. Many, many bottles of wine are consumed.

9:00 pm - Head to Schoolyard Tavern, the bar directly across the street from my old apartment on Southport (Ah, memories). Pretty drunk by this point, but still manage to throw back some gin and tonics and become BFF with Nick's brother's fianccee (who I LOVE and who reads this blog hiiiiieeeeee!).

10:45 pm - Depart bar and hail cab to go to party hosted by some of my classmates for the new masters students. Pretty much hammered by this point, and Nick tells the cabbie to stop way too early, like a mile shy of where we wanted to go. Hail cab #2 and go to Dominicks and (drunkenly) purchase beer for party.

11:00 pm - Arrive at party. Create somewhat of a scene with our extreme drunkenness, though the other party guests are fairly drunk themselves. Become BFF with all the new masters students. (Nothing like alcohol to help you gain 12 new BFFs!) Find Rice Krispie bars at party and consume many of them.

1:30 am - Depart for home. Nick has left quite awhile before me due to his extreme drunkenness. Manage to get to Nick's in one piece, but have to call him repeatedly (4x) to get him to wake up from his drunken stupor to let me in.

2:00 am - Pass out.

Saturday went pretty much like this:

11:00 am - Lift head from pillow. Put head back on pillow immediately.

12:00 pm - Transfer gingerly from bed to couch. Take Tylonel and eat some cookies that Nick so lovingly bought at the store for hangover food.

3:00 pm - Try to watch Batman Begins, but end up napping through the whole thing.

6:00 pm - Go to Evanston. Feel barfy in the car. Feel like death. Nick brings me chicken soup and 7up.

9:00 pm - Realize that I left entire bag of makeup at Nick's. Must choose to a) drive all the way back to Nick's to retrieve it, or b) go to Walgreens and get the bare necessities so that I don't look like a troll at church. Choose option b).

10:00 pm - Sleep.

Though Friday's events were extremely fun, Saturday's events were not so enjoyable, which tells me three things:
1. I can't drink like I used to.
2. I'm getting old.
3. Friday's was a drunkenness usually reserved for weddings and open bar events.

All in all, good weekend. Fall is a great time in Chicago (except tonight because it's hailing) and I'm looking forward to what the rest of this season has to offer!

The week is flying by - now that I'm (somewhat) back in the swing of things at school, the days pass much more quickly than when I was working. Suddenly, it's 5:00 and I have no idea where the day went! The wonderful part about being in school is that I never feel rushed; there is always plenty of time for errands and laundry and naps and practicing when I don't spend 8+ hours at an office each day. And my apartment is looking fantastic these days, especially since I got rid of my old gigantic Dell computer and.....drum roll please....got new bedding! It's true, I finally went out and got a down comforter/duvet cover. Those of you who have made my acquaintance at one point or another during the past ten years have probably been privy to the brightly-colored reversible flowered/plaid comforter that covered my full size bed since I was thirteen. It held up quite well all those years, but it was time to upgrade. Here are some pics of the new digs:




It is SO luxurious, and it makes me want to stay in bed forever and take lots of naps. Nick likes it too, and the great thing is that it's big enough for a queen as well, so when we are able to upgrade to a bigger bed (hopefully in the near future - over twelve feet of person between the two of us does not fit AT ALL well into a full size bed) we can still have the comforter.

In other news, I was not cast in the fall or winter operas this year. In some ways, it makes me feel like a gigantic loser, but in other ways, it's just another bump in the road. The road to where, you ask? Well, I'm not quite sure yet. But this bump is teeny weeny compared to some other things I've been through in the past couple of years, so the disappointment should wear off quickly. I'm going to work really hard to prepare my audition for the spring opera, which is the opera I was most interested in this year anyway. I feel like I'm making tremendous progress with my new teacher, so I'm going to focus my energy on that. And not beating up on myself, which is a daily struggle.

Atleast I've got good bedding. And a sweet computer.

*If you look very closely at my desk, you can see my Richard Wagner action figure next to my computer. Nick got him for me at a comic book store. I like to keep him in a nice 'Heil Hitler' arm position.

wedding woes

As I think I've mentioned before, there is going to be a big wedding in my family next June. My little sister by twenty-two months is getting married! It's very exciting - not only are family weddings pretty much the most fun event EVER, I'm gaining an awesome brother-in-law who is quite handy around the house (he just painted the entirety of the exterior of my parents' house BY HIMSELF) and an excellent cook. Many points in my book. I'll have to be on much better behavior at this wedding than I was at my cousin's wedding last June (I'm not sure I'm ever going to live that one down) since I'm the maid of honor.

Suffice it to say, the wedding is a big topic of conversation in our family these days. On the phone with my mother the other day, she told me she'd had her first nightmare about the wedding; it had something to do with my sister putting on a sweater vest over her dress and refusing to take it off for pictures. Last night, I had my first nightmare about the wedding. For some reason, I was riding in a boat to the wedding, and my mother was driving. Suddenly, I was thrown from the boat and completely drenched. That's really all I remember, that and frantically trying to get dry. I'm really not sure what all this means...any dream analysis experts out there?

Some people have asked me if I feel strange that my little sister is getting married before I do. Truthfully, it doesn't bother me in the slightest - in fact, I think I'm getting the better deal. Being the oldest child, I've always been the guinea pig. Everything always happened to me first, so naturally what I did or what rules my parents made for me set the precedent (to an extent - all y'all oldest children know how the youngest sibling always gets away with shit you never would have gotten away with). For the first time in my life, I'M NOT THE GUINEA PIG! When it comes time for me to get married, my mom will be an expert; she'll whip out her big "wedding binder" (yes, she has a wedding binder), and planning that puppy will be cake.

Lastly, I've heard through the grapevine (and that lovely thing they call a sitemeter) that I have international readership! Soooo, here's a bit SHOUT OUT to all my readers in Athens, Greece! Tomorrow prepare for my take on tonight's Desperate Houswives Season Three premiere.

Toi toi toi

Wish me luck...my audition for the fall and winter operas is thirty minutes. I've got a brand new, never performed aria on my list, so I'm a little nervous. I got an audition with Chicago Opera Theater today too! It's next week, which is a little too soon for my liking, but I'm not missing the opportunity. So here I am, back in the singer-world. More about that later.

Kisses and hugs! I'll let you know how it goes.

School Dayz

I've got to say it...it's going to be tough for me to post when I'm not getting paid to sit in front of a computer and do nothing, hence, get paid to write on my blog. But I will not disappoint you, loyal readership! School starts tomorrow, and so today I "moved" back to Evanston, since a lot of my belongings had accumulated at Nick's over the summer. Evanston was alive once more, and there have been a lot of exciting new develpments, most importantly the appearance of a new Italian Coffee Bar right down the street that has, like, 24 flavors of gelato. Cha-ching! Although I am a city girl at heart, there are lots of good things about my apartment, such as hardwood floors, living across from the post office, a significantly easier parking situation, and my coffee pot. Class doesn't start until 10 am tomorrow, and I'm SO looking forward to getting up at 8:30, brewing some Folgers, and watching the morning shows while I get ready for class. It will feel like such a luxury after three months of schlepping my body to work early every morning and gulping down a latte to wake me up. I'm not the first to say it but...the real world SUCKS!

In an uncharateristically festive move, I attended the School of Music BBQ tonight (mostly for the free food, but under the guise of being social and mingling and all that crap). While last week I was feeling extremely apprehensive about returning to school, I'm becoming more and more excited about it. I went to Office Max and got a new tote for my new Macbook (loves it!), some pens and pencils. I organized my things and packed my bag and started to feel that "first day of school" excitement. I've always loved school - there's something about the fall that stirs it up in me and brings back memories of school supply shopping with my mom and siblings, getting excited about new teachers and new crayons, football games, gleefully moving back to DePauw after what felt like an interminable summer of being at home and away from friends and independence. School is different now; I feel less like a student and more like an adult. I have to pay bills and manage my little household and concentrate on the future. But still, it's nice to walk down the street, lined with trees whose leaves are beginning to change, and see kids with backpacks, coffee houses packed with young people working on laptops, feel that spirit of a new school year beginning in the air.

So, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. It won't be long before I'll be shoved back into the "real world", where 8:30 wake-up times are unheard of, free time is scarce, and most likely, I won't be surrounded every day by other people who love what they do. So here we go.....Masters degree, year two.

Sniffle.Sneeze.Cough

I'm running around like a madwoman today, trying to train the new temp they brought in while acting as the assistant to the (extremely needy) CEO, since his assistant is on vacation. We've already had two altercations, and he already hates me for the day. I made the grave mistake of asking him if he wanted to take his calls or if he wanted me to take them, to which he replied "I don't take my calls. Too many people call me." Mind you, the phone has rung about 3 times tops in the past two hours, and most of the time it wasn't even for him. Of course the one time it was for him I was away from the desk doing another chore, and he glared at me as I scurried back to the desk. I cannot and will never understand how people justify this sort of behavior - even if you are the CEO of a damn company and you have a golden stapler. Sheesh.

All this craziness will NOT keep me from blogging, however! My topic for this morning: household pets. In the households of Nick and Emily (we like to say we have two households: our suburban home-my studio apartment in Evanston-and our urban dwelling-his 1 bdrm in Lincoln Park) there is a standoff on the matter of household pets. Nick loves kitties, I'm deathly allergic. I'm a dog person, he's not so fond of them. Every time we pass the Paws adoption storefront near his apartment, he has to stop and ogle the kitties in the window. Once in elementary school I had a friend sleep over who had a cat at home, and the mere act of sleeping somewhat near her cat-hair infested pillow caused me to wake up unable to breathe and with my eyes swollen shut. Ask anyone who knows me and they can probably tell you in great detail about my various allergies. But I digress. Yesterday, while I was getting ready for work, Nick called out to me to come watch the TV. The feature story on Good Morning America was about a new Hypo-allergenic cat. They had a girl who was deathly allergic to cats holding the cat close to her face for an hour - no symptoms. Nick was very excited at the prospect of possibly getting to have a beloved kitty someday. He became less excited when he saw the price - with shipping, nearly 5K for the cat. FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR A CAT. Does it live for 50 years? Does it shit gold coins? Will it clean my bathroom and make me a chicken dinner? For five grand, I'd hope so. Don't think we'll be getting one anytime soon (Emily breathes inaudible sigh of relief).

Super Temp!

I finally got around to fixing/posting more Door County pics. Check 'em out!

It's my last week here in the office before school starts on Tuesday, and I've totally adopted the "it's not my problem" attitude. I realized that I'd actually started to care about this job on Monday when there was a mistake in the lunch I'd ordered for a meeting. I went all bat-shit crazy trying to correct it, and then I thought, "Whoa...when did I go from 'bored temp in a cubicle who is occasionally asked to type documents and make phone calls' to 'power temp who is in charge of ordering lunches and freaks out when they aren't right'?" It's actually kind of amazing the amount of responsibility these people have given me. I've had to select several menus for their National Convention in November (thank God I won't be around to hear about it if they suck), plan sight-seeing outings for spouses on a retreat, take dictation (does anybody do that anymore? maybe I should put it on my resume, because I'm awesome at it)...the list goes on and on. Truthfully, it's been a great learning experience; I've learned more at this job than all my other temp jobs combined.
Thankfully, next week I return to my real career! I am excited to start the school year, but also a bit anxious. I haven't been singing much at all this summer, so I fear that I'll be a bit rusty. But I have a new voice teacher, which I'm really excited about, and several interesting classes - and coaching with the one and only Sherrill Milnes. Ack! I'm hoping that a fresh start will make me more excited about singing and my career. I think it will. I was revising some of my resumes yesterday, and I realized - I've worked damn hard to get this far! It's not time to give up yet!
One tidbit of humor: Yesterday I had to send some emails from the President's office while he was away at a retreat. I kid you not, there is a golden stapler on his desk. I laughed so hard I cried. And then I sang "I've got a golden stapler" (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tune) quietly to myself for the rest of the day.

Tune In

Richard Chamberlain is appearing on Nip/Tuck tonight. Mr. Chamberlain is, to this date, the only celebrity I've ever met.* In 2004, when Andrea and I were single ladies living like rock stars, I attended the opening of Scrooge The Musical starring Richard Chamberlain as Scrooge. Andrea was a swing in the touring Broadway production, so I got to be her plus-one to the opening night party. When Andrea introduced me, he hugged me and told me I was pretty! Richard Chamberlain! Aaaah! So I'm pretty excited to see him on TV tonight, not to mention that the show is ridiculous this season. Tune in, or Tivo it if you gots one of them fancy gadgets.

*Actually, I've also met Robert Altman, and actually worked under his direction, but that is a tale for another post.

das bier und die madchen

I'm just now getting around to posting about my weekend. Yesterday was nuts at the office, and I didn't get a chance to post my pics, and I really couldn't do my weekend justice without showing you all this:


Nick, his friend Alex, and I, hopped on the train and headed north to Lincoln Square, the city's German neighborhood and home to a rousing early Oktoberfest. It was PACKED with yuppies slugging back enormous beers from plastic souvenir steins and eating bratwurst, sauerkraut, und strudel. There was a polka band playing a very odd assorment of songs; at one point I think I heard them do "Achy Breaky Heart." Although that could have been my imagination because by the end of the night I looked like this:

Notice the girl in the backgroud looking at me like "what a crazy bitch." By this point, I had consumed about one and a half steins and was feeling pretty good. So naturally we decided we needed ice cream and went to the Cold Stone nearby. All in all, it was a good time - bier trinken in a festive environment, late night ice cream, and I got to have a little Deutsch conversation with an old man cooking bratwurst who pronounced "du sprichst gut Deustch" - Ausgeseichnet!

Saturday was gloomy, but we had committed to going to a housewarming/end of summer party for one of Nick's former assistants. Unfortunately, the party was in Joliet. Gross. It was also a Hawaiian themed party, so Nick had stopped by Goodwill and gotten us some shirts. Regrettably, I have no pictures, but I looked cute - my shirt was a bit big so I tied it up around my waist mid-riff style, wore some cute new beige pants, heels, and my authentic Hawaiian beaded lei from a Hawaiian girl who once played my daughter in an opera. Upon setting foot into the party, I realized I had made a grave mistake. The other party guests were mostly people with babies, and they were mostly wearing hooded sweatshirts, jeans, and those plastic leis from the party store. Oh well. I got my baby fix, since the host of the party had just given birth two months ago to an adorable baby boy, and I also got this cute little guy:

Nick and I stopped at Kohl's on the way to the party pick up a gift, and we saw these little adorable stuffed giraffes for $5. We got one for the baby, but...I needed one too. I just love giraffes!

thoughts on 9/11

As I sat on the bed this morning, my wet hair dripping onto my shirt, I became a bit transfixed on the 9/11 coverage. Everyone has a story; everyone will always remember where they were and what they were doing when they found out that the United States was being attacked. When I was a little girl, my grandmother told me she'd always remember exactly where she was and what she was doing when she found out President Kennedy had been shot. It never ceases to amaze me, how the brain works; how certain moments can be called up in a split second and vividly relived. As an adult, I possess many of these moments myself. The day my grandfather died, the day my serious boyfriend left me. I, too, recall 9/11/01, but not so vividly as other people and certainly not so clearly as I recall some other moments in my life. At the time, I didn't know many people living in New York; I was a sophomore in college in Indiana. I remember rolling out of my top bunk at Alpha Phi, stumbling toward the shower, but being stopped by a sobbing Andrea in the hallway. Nobody held class that day. We all just sat in the classrooms of the music building and watched the news, and people made phone calls and comforted each other. I remember one girl in my choir whose mother was killed; I didn't know her well, but I can still remember our director telling us that the girl had gone home, that they still didn't know if her mother was alive or not.
I guess I was surprised at my reaction to the coverage this morning. I tuned in just in time for the moment of silence, and I said a few prayers. I was moved by the tributes and the spouses reading the names of the victims. Although I've been troubled by the world's desire to turn the terrorist attacks into a profit just five short years later (re: Hollywood blockbusters, books, etc), the remembrances today were genuine, and I felt as though people were truly drawn together. No matter where we were, our individual stories of that day are not self-important or insignificant, they bring us together in a way that only a shared human experience can. And that shared human experience will hopefully ensure that nothing like this will ever happen again.

Three Cheers for Friday!

1. Three cheers for Northwestern insurance! who miraculously got their shit together overnight and got me my medicine this morning. I'd like to say it's because they function so well, but I suspect it's really because of the hint of insanity in my voice that the woman detected over the phone.

2. Three cheers for Dunkin Donuts! Much as i hate the fast food industry, I love me some Dunkin Donuts. Call me a hypocrite, go ahead. But for a mere $2.39 today, I got myself a honey bran muffin and a medium cup of delicious flavored coffee. The immigrant workers in the DD in my train station are cheery, and we always exchange pleasantries. The other day one of them complimented my dress. And it sure as hell beats Starbucks...their drip coffee tastes like filtered dog shit, and a tall latte alone costs me more than my entire breakfast at DD today.

3. Three cheers for the choir at Trinity UMC (the church from the Home alone movie)! I returned to my church job last night and felt all warm and gooey inside by the end of rehearsal. The people are just so darn nice, and now that I've been there almost a year, it feels like a little family. The rehearsal consisted of about 25 minutes of singing and an hour of chatting and eating cake and coffee. Gotta love getting paid to chat and eat cake.

Have a great weekend everybody!

fury

I am FURIOUS with Northwestern University right now, so I need to do a little bit of venting. One would think that such a prestigious university would have its shit together but alas, they do not. Not even CLOSE. Today's incident is merely another to add to the myriad of problems this University has caused me since I enrolled. I went down to Walgreens about an hour ago to pick up my prescription for the new Paxil "controlled release", which is supposed to remedy the sleep problems that I've been experiencing as a side effect of the regular Paxil. The woman told me that as of August 31, 2006, my insurance had been TERMINATED. TERMINATED. That insurance that I paid 2K for last year had been TERMINATED. Ok, I think you get the point. So, I stomp out of Walgreens and back up to the office (the Walgreens is literally on the ground floor of the office) and get on the phone with NU insurance. The woman calmly assures me that "this is a common problem for everyone right now" since things rolled over to the new school year as of September 1st. School doesn't start until September 19th, and apparently, until that time, my insurance is in some sort of state of limbo where they won't pay for anything. The woman said that the only solution is to pay for the medication out of my pocket and get reimbursed at a later date. This further ignited my fury, but as I have been dealing with these people for a year now, I know exactly the sort of tone and vocabulary and assertiveness needed to properly bitch out a Northwestern employee. I told her that this was unacceptable, that I cannot afford to pay for a prescription out of my pocket right now, and asked her what would happen if, say, someone had a life threatening emergency or condition during these precarious three weeks of non-coverage. I explained that, while my condition was not life-threatening and merely well-being threatening, this gap in service puts many people at great risk. I refused to accept this paying-out-of-pocket as an answer, and in return she received all of my bitching gracefully and promised a return call from the supervisor. (Which two hours later still hasn't arrived). I've got about 200 bucks in my bank account, two overdue cable bills, and a credit card bill that badly needs paid off--I really can't afford to charge a shitload of medicine at this point. And I need a good night's sleep so badly that I'm willing to go to great lengths to procure this medication.

After I got off the phone I had the following conversation with Mary in the cube next to me:

Mary: "Are you sure you don't want to work for us? We could really use your phone persuasion skills here."
Me: "Do you have good health benefits?"
Mary: "Yeah...geez, that was really impressive. I don't have the balls to talk like that to people on the phone."

I think she was referring to the part where I berated the woman about Northwestern having such poor administrative efficiency for being such a highly regarded institution. Highly regarded my ass. The school underwhelms me on a near-daily basis.

I'll briefly talk about the other crises I faced (so as not to bore you much more):

-being assigned, for some unknown reason, two student ID numbers, one with the correct SSN, one with the incorrect SSN, which resulted in having none of my loans disburse during Winter quarter and having to repeatedly make appointments with financial aid and get cash advances so that I could eat and pay my rent
-being denied free counseling because they were too "booked up" (presumably with all those affluent undergrads with "stressful" lives) although i must say that i love my shrink, even if i do have to pay $25 a session
-having continuous battles with health services. their rules and policies are really beyond me, and i can't even begin to understand them

Now, this is just a hypothesis, but based on what I've seen and heard at Northwestern, it is HIGHLY political. I know, I know, everywhere is highly political, but I've never seen anything quite like this. My educated guess is that most of the people working in administration are friends of friends of higher up people...and so on. Perhaps if they started hiring qualified people to run things, there would be less mishaps and the students, espcially the grads and doctorals who rely on the University for their livelihood, would be much happier people. I know I would.

Door County trip part the second

more sunset photos





Sunday we went to two of the state parks and did a bit of hiking.





And what vacation photo log would be complete without a montage of Emily eating photos? I've eaten my way through eleven countries and upwards of thirty states, and this trip was no exception:

Door County cherry waffles for brunch,


Fried cheese curds, a Wisconsin delicacy,


and following our strenuous hike, a Wisconsin bratwurst


Mmmmm Door County tastes good.

Door County part the first

Once we finally arrived and slept like the dead for eight hours, we got up to explore the town near our hotel, Sister Bay.

We couldn't have ordered up more perfect weather, and I was so happy to be out communing with nature.

After some time with nature, we spent the afternoon touring three Door County wineries. I found this hat, which I think sums me up pretty well...



Our favorite winery by far was the Simon Creek Winery. We enjoyed some wine and took in some live music on their patio/garden.


We took a brief pause from wining so that I could milk this giant cow.

And we enjoyed a beautiful sunset while we dined and had drinks to finish the day.

Wicked, car troubles, Door County, sadness that the weekend is over.

The weekend flew by, as usual, and now I'm having a bit of a letdown from the last five wonderful days. Isn't coming home from vacation the worst? Luckily I have TONS of pictures to remember it by (see the next two posts as well):




Thursday: Mom and Elaine came to town for an afternoon/evening of shopping, dining, and Wicked. We had cocktail hour at Rosebud downtown, we dined at Trattoria 10, which was FANtastic, and then saw the much-anticipated Wicked. I was pretty impressed and only flinched once at the vocal-cord-hemhorrage-inducing belting of the lead. I was however, perturbed by the popcorn and candy vendors peddling their wares up and down the aisles. It's a PERFORMANCE people, not a baseball game!

Friday was a bit of a harrowing day due to being rear-ended on my way into the office (on the one day I was actually driving my car, of course). Luckily, there was no damage to my car (GO CHEVY!), but unluckily, in my panic after being hit, I locked the keys in the car while it was still running. Dad is getting his money's worth from AAA this year, since this was the second time I've had to call them in a month. Exhausted and frazzled, I went to work for a few hours, and then Nick picked me up and we attempted to leave town in a hurry. The City of Chicago was not having it. Eight hours later, we finally made it to Door County. But boy, was it worth it...