2009 in photos

In years past, I've done my pictures by month. Some months have been picture-light and some picture-heavy, so these are just a random sampling. They are arranged (mostly, to my best knowledge) chronologically.


24th birthday

Ran my first 5k.

Ate a big 3lb chocolate bar with friends. And pretended to be Jesus.


Nat got married!


Lived with goofballs.

Got my master's.

Ran my first 10k in my hometown. I showed you, high school gym teachers.

Slow-danced with Jake.

Went to Irish Fest (again).

Baked a lot. Actually, the fall pictures are pretty light and mostly of food.

Went to New Haven for Halloween and dressed up like Lisa.

Had Christmas.

I'd have included pictures of my students, but that's against so many policies I don't even want to test it. They are super fun and make it easy it get up in the morning, however.

2009, good riddance. 2010, bring it on.

MPLS edition

My internet is out, it's raining and I'm at the coffee shop down the block from my house. Mom is coming for the weekend and she's bringing her bike. It looks like it's supposed to rain all day. Good for plants, bad for outdoor activities.

Here are some articles about my neighborhood:

Things to do by my house (Visitors welcome, hint hint)

A really fantastic writeup of Lake/Marshall.

And apparently the city is taking away my favorite bike lane. Sad.

I had a dream that I was at an airport with Drew and Amy. Drew was watching our bags while Amy and I got coffee. I dreamed Sarah Haskins was staring at me. I was wearing a black and white strapless dress and someone asked me if I was in Good Night and Good Luck (because it's in black and white?). We kept getting cup after cup of coffee because Amy was flirting with the coffee guy for free stuff.

The coffee shop just played a recording of a Schubert piece I played in high school orchestra. I've always loved that piece because the viola part is fantastic. I can't remember the name right now, but I think it was in F minor. I used to have it on my computer, but it seems to have been lost in The Computer/Coffee Meet-up of 2009.

adventures in cooking: curried couscous chicken salad

Since I've got nothing else to talk about (except how many jobs I've applied for), let's talk about food.

Kari and I made some delicious curried couscous with chicken salad the other night. A mix of lemon juice, apples, chickpeas, chicken and couscous made with curry atop spinach. It's a repeat recipe for sure.

I felt classy cooking for two, and then Kari left and I had frozen pizza. Oh, how quickly I declined in my culinary endeavors. On the upside, Amy taught me about the deliciousness of Frank's RedHot sauce on pizza, which I've now taken to eating on everything. It's cayenne sauce/buffalo sauce, but I love it. Mmm.

Today for lunch I went all fancy again. Quesadilla with chili powder, peppers, chicken, and garlic. I heated it on the stove as opposed to in the microwave, which was a little tricky because the tortilla was as big as the pan. I had to flip it onto a plate, then move it from the plate back into the pan. It was a lot more crispy than when it's cooked in the microwave, but a little burnt. I think in the future, I'll have to get smaller tortillas (since it was my biggest pan).

Kari's gone in Bolivia for two months so I need someone every day to make sure I haven't died. It's kind of a giant weird switch going from living with 7 other people to living by myself. A lot more quiet and a lot less fun. But Jake's at Olaf already and stopped by when he flew back last week, so we're going to hang out a lot. He's my extension of New Haven, right here in MPLS. Plus I see Drew and Amy a lot, so they're going to keep me sane.

Dance Party tonight! Woot. It's no lie... once you go your first time, you'll be constructing the perfect dance mix ever since. Love.

an earthy, sticky smell

It's currently 81 degrees and I'm sitting on my porch, enjoying the slightly cooler air as the sun sets behind the houses across the street. Weather-wise, this has been a really great weekend. Personally, this has been a really great weekend.

I've been going through "lasts" - last class period, last Spring Fling, last Friday Eucharist chapel service, soon to be last papers, last coffee hour, last YDS. It hasn't sunk in that these are my lasts, there's still some surrealistic notions in my mind, almost like I don't believe it. I know it, but I don't understand it. One month from today is graduation and I'm out of here shortly after. The unknown looms, but still theoretically. There could be endless summer evenings on this porch for all I know.

I'm really going to miss this place - the people, the love, the humor, the academic and personal challenges. I almost want to compare my time here to a mountaintop experience where things are awesome but you can't stay there; you have to descend for the green, flourishing valleys. But that's not the case - I feel really sustained here. Life isn't barren but beautiful like on a mountaintop, but really rich and amazing. I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet, but I know this - I leave changed. Parting is bittersweet, indeed.

At the same time, I'm itching to get back to Minneapolis. I miss Amy and Drew and Kari; seeing MOK kids for Nat's wedding was really great. Reminded me why I love them so much and shaded these past few weeks with a longing for their company. Besides the friendships, I'm ready to start working. I'm ready to jump in and get my hands dirty. In chapel Friday, Emilie Townes asked us if we could smell the wetness of clay, waiting to be molded and shaped. Without a doubt, yes.

There's an intrinsic sweetness to a cool breeze. It carries an earthy, sticky smell.

nat and owen

ben folds - not the same

So since that last post was a little stressful and depressing, at least in my opinion... Here's a something cheerier and bit of what Tim and I did last Saturday night.



Ben Folds is phenomenal. I love this song, and even the way he stands up to play. In the album version, he does some really great stuff with alternating vocals that I love love love. It was a great show and I think Ben Folds is one of those people that everyone should see live at least once.

This was also another great concert experience a few years back with Amy, Nat, and Drew:



Guster - Jesus on the Radio (acoustic)

They released the info for The Current's Rock the Garden, and I think Jake and I are going to go. If Kari and I end up living by Loring like planned, we can walk over! I hope Nat comes up to visit then, too. The Decemberists are playing and she loves them.

full speed ahead

As I've been telling Olivia lately, my mind is mushy. I feel like it's going to be mushy for another few weeks, still. I feel like there's a push regarding getting stuff done - I've got a presentation in class tomorrow, I had a paper Tuesday, I have another presentation/paper Monday and another the Tuesday after that. Then starts the round of final papers.

Looking at a calendar, I'll have all my grad school work done by May 2.

Then I can breathe again.

Kari and I are looking at apartments and it's a little nerve wracking, partially because I'm not there and partially because I don't have a job yet and partially because it's the first step in a post-education world. We're looking around Uptown and Loring Park. At least in that department, there's lots of options and lots of leads to follow. Well, Kari's doing most of the calling and touring.

I've got a list of jobs to apply for, mostly it's just the cover letters that need to be written. I also have a corresponding list of jobs where I've sent resumes/interviewed; that list fluctuates as I add jobs and I take away jobs when I get the (seemingly inevitable) "we've recieved a record number of applications and have decided not to interview you" email. Although I'm anxious to get out of school, part of me wishes I was waiting a year, when hopefully things won't be so bad. Perserverence, I suppose.

I'm flying out for Nat's wedding on Wednesday, and there's a long list of things I'd like to accomplish before I head out there. I suppose it's not stuff that I'd like to accomplish, but that I have to finish. While I'm there, I'd prefer it if I didn't have to do any work at all and can just focus on enjoying my friends and what's going to be a wonderful weekend.

I should go to sleep. It's getting harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning. Plus I have to be at school early tomorrow to prep for my presentation. At least it's something I love talking about - violence and The Passion of the Christ. I was specifically asked to be on a panel for one of my classes because of my research in undergrad. It's an honor, really.

Only four weeks until I can breathe.

Just can't win

Sometimes, I miss the Twin Cities so much that it's ridiculous. However, I also know that as soon as I leave, I'll miss New Haven. Why do I have to fall in love with all the places I live, or probably more accurate, all the people I meet in my life? Why must I surround myself with good people who make my life so amazing in every place I live? I spent my whole summer with my college roommates and Andrew and Kari and missed my div school friends, and now I miss my St. Paul people and spend my time with my div school friends.

It's so rough being me.

Also, I have lived in three main locations in my life, all with two word names: Green Bay, St. Paul and New Haven. I lived in Minneapolis for three months, but at that point I still lived in the Twin Cities.

Totally unmotivated in everything

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

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

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

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

That is all.

Beer, birthdays and bittersweet memories

You know the game "Either Or"? It pretty much goes "Would you rather _____ or _____?" and then you have to choose one and whatever you choose says deep, meaningful things about your personality and life (maybe). Inevitably, someone asks, "Would you rather always be too hot or always be too cold?" I feel I always pick the opposite of whatever the climate is at the time because I'm fed up with the side effects of the cold/the summer. If it's summer, I say, "too cold!" but if it's winter, I say, "too hot!" But seriously. Being too hot blows massively and I'm not saying that just because it's been 85+ for several days/weeks now. Remind me of this in the winter when I'm going to say, "I'd much rather be too warm!" Although I do think I've said too cold before since when it's cold, at least you can put on layers. If you're hot and overheating, it's just hideous.

I first discovered the joy of a cold shower when I worked at Jesus camp in 2005. The best thing to do on my free Saturday afternoons was to take a cold shower, even if there were bugs everywhere. Since then, cold showers have been a staple of my summers, especially since I haven't lived anywhere with air conditioning for the past few years. Last summer when I worked at Jewish day camp, I'd come home from work, grab a beer and jump in the shower immediately. The best beer for drinking in the shower is Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, a delicious mixture of wheat beer and lemonade. I'm in love with the Shandy and wish, wish, wish like hell someone in New Haven sold it. The only Leinie's I've found in New Haven has been Original and the Trix-cereal milk flavored Sunset Wheat. If you happen to be a New Haven bar owner reading this in search of adding a Leinie's line to your bar, avoid Sunset Wheat at all costs. Go for the Shandy and you will have my business for life.

Another beer I'm looking forward to at the end of the summer is Summit's Oatmeal Stout. They only brew it for the Minnesota Irish Fair. Drew, Amy and I had the lovely experience of touring the Summit Brewery in St. Paul so we were able to get a preview of the Stout before the fair, and let me tell you, I made plans right there and then to hit up the Irish fair. I'm not a huge fan of Summit - I've always thought their EPA tastes like soap - but the Oatmeal Stout won me over with its dark coloring, sweeter flavor and creamy head (I really just wanted to say creamy head).

When I'm in Milwaukee for the Irish Fest, I think it might be fun to go to the Sprecher Brewery. I've really liked the beer I've had at Irish Fest, and I've been a big fan of the bottled Hefe Weiss and Mai Bock. Plus there's free beer at brewery tours so... there's no reason not to go.

Today's the boyfriend's birthday so we had a delicious Birthday Breakfast at Bruegger's Bagels before I ran off to take my oral exam in French (a lot of b words at the beginning of that sentence). We went to see Ringo Starr and his All-Star Band last night, which was fun. Ringo Starr's an amazing dancer. Here's my video:



Tonight there's a secret birthday surprise and then Friday we're going to the hideous Maple Grove, aka suburban consumer hell, for dinner with his high school friends and then to see The Dark Knight. Saturday we're heading to Blarney's in Dinkytown for drinking in town. Huzzah for birthday plans!

I've been around Hamline and while it's the same place I lived for four years, it's not at the same time. This becomes more and more apparent as time goes on, people move away and things change. Not that it's necessarily bad, just different. I've had the unlucky pleasure of passing by my old, beloved apartment above the Mirror of Korea and seeing lights on in Natalie's old bedroom and my old bedroom. I always think to myself, "Who do they think they are, living in my room. I'll cut them. They had better be awesome enough to deserve to live there." And then I continue on my way, passing houses and buildings where people I know used to live. The whole Midway neighborhood sometimes feels like just a facade of a life I used to know; a place that looks the same, but at its core, isn't. It's sad passing by my old apartment and not going inside, but then at the same time, I'm going to a place that's different but good in it's own right. I don't think I'd want to go back to restart my senior year over again, but I feel nostalgic nonetheless.

I never really felt this way about high school places, but I was never one of those people who thought that high school was the best time of their life - quite the opposite.

Anyway, Andrew's bugging me to go to birthday dinner (can you tell that I just add "birthday" in front of everything that happens on one's birthday?). Later, friends! PS the temperature is sunny and 91 F.

My life is so boring and so is this post

I wish I had pictures to post, but they're all stuck on my camera... I think my cord to upload them is at Kari's place. If I could upload them, they'd all be awesome 4th of July pictures showing me having a rockin' time. Woooo!

French 1002 has started up and I've got my first test tomorrow. It's all about food, so at least it's something relatively useful if I ever travel to a French-speaking land - although I'd like to think everything I've learned so far is useful if I ever travel to a French-speaking land.

A few weeks ago I hung out with my former roomies, KT George and Amy. We're hanging out again this weekend and I think we should do it until I leave. Roommate solidarity!

Seriously, if I had pictures this'd be way more interesting.

In other news, I just finished my 39th book of the year, which means I'm way ahead of schedule and only 10 away from completing my goal of reading 50 books cover to cover in one year! Whoo! Right now, I've read over 11,400 pages and the year is just over halfway done. Crazy!

Ok. I promise pictures next time, I swear.

Life without Kari

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

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

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

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

50 books update:

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

The Mermaid Chair - pretty good

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

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

Winter break, numbers style

Number of...

Times told by my dentist my teeth looked perfect: 1

Political Mario/Luigi '08 t-shirts received: 1
Sizes too big of said t-shirt: 2
Days of Bush left in office: 383
New Presidents to elect this year: 1(!!!)

New digital cameras bought: 1
Best Buy camera salesmen who hit on me while buying camera: 1
Boyfriends in vicinity while being hit on by Best Buy employees: 1

Instances of sushi eating: 4
Instances of making sushi at home: 2

Times I myself have driven between Minneapolis and Green Bay: 3
Times driven through a snow storm/falling snow: 3
Forays into the ditch on the side of highway 29 because of said snow: 1
Cute cousins that missed Christmas because of a snow storm: 3
Christmas services attended: 1 (down from 2 last year)

Books planned to read cover-to-cover* in '07: 50
Actual books read in '07: 47 (48 if you count the Clifford children's book I read last week)
Books planned to read in '08: 50
Books sitting on my desk waiting to be read: 10
Books finished in November '07: 8
Months it took to finish the first 8 books: 2 1/2

Roommates reunited with over New Years: 4
Champagne bottles emptied: 2
Hangovers of roommates: 0 (down 500% from last year)

Boyfriends who left the country on New Years Day: 1
Weeks until I see him: 9 1/2
Weeks I'll be in Ireland visiting: 2
Days until I return to New Haven: 11
Upon my return to New Haven, number of weeks until I see Andrew: 8

Times I want to watch this video: 10 billion

How much I wish I was an otter, floating and holding hands: very much.


*My goal is defined by completely finishing a book, front to back. Unfortunately, this rules out a lot of books assigned for classes based on the sole fact I only read specific sections of those books, not the whole thing. I've read parts of more than 50 books, just not 50 whole books.

MSP!

Here's some brief highlights from my visit to the Twin Cities so far:








Today Amy gets back from Indiana, so we get to see her and reunite in all of our roommate awesomeness. It's good being back with my old friends again. Nat and I were saying that we're more reserved with other people - not that we're not ourselves, but we're different. I know personally I swear less and make less sexual innuendo when I'm not with my roommates. But I suppose that's just me.

Andrew leaves tomorrow for Ireland, so we're hanging out today and it'll be fun. More pictures to follow.

Right now I'm watching a crappy Sandra Bullock murder movie that I've seen the end of on TV probably 4 or 5 different times, but never the whole thing. It's probably 20 or 30 minutes into it (if that), and now I realize there's a reason I never saw the whole thing. It just sucks. Here's my tip - avoid Murder By Numbers. Sandra Bullock suuuuuuuucks.

On Christmas Day, my family and I went to see the new National Treasure movie. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a good movie, but it's entertaining. You know, plot holes, some cheesy lines, overacting, the works. Dad liked it, and both him and Mom talked their way through the movie - "it's the second desk!" ect.

I also saw Blood Diamond for the first time the other day, and let's just say, Leo is hot. I mean... conflict diamonds are horrible and we should strive to end the demand for high priced diamonds which put countries in civil strife over the gems. No seriously, Western meddling in the affairs of nations with resources in high demand has proven to be disastrous (diamonds, oil... hell, even spice in the Middle Ages). We should not mess things up elsewhere, anymore. Let's try that for awhile.

Tomorrow I have doctor and dentist appointments, then either tomorrow afternoon or Friday morning I'm heading over to the Twin Cities to see the roomies and Andrew before he leaves for Ireland on the first. It'll be fun. Nat's coming up for New Years and it'll be the first time I've seen her since graduation. MOK Unite! We're going to come together and form some monster evil fighting machine, like when the Power Rangers fought the Puddys. Sweeeeeet.

Ok. I'm going to watch the rest of this horrible movie.