Humble Abode full of the Food

Holy Shiitake mushrooms and snakes alive!
It's be 45 years since I've written a blog post. I've also had it on my to do list (which is ever evolving and always very long) for that amount of time. It's even written on antique paper.

Let me catch you up in the short version. ie, incomplete sentences fashioned as bullet points.

• Forensics season 2012-2013 ended with a bang. GAC=8th in the country AFA style, 15 quarter finalists, 4 semi finalists, and Shelby as our first persuasion finalist. Boom shakalaka.
• Junior year is over. I said what?
• I have been home for 2 days, came back took a final, and moved into the new apartment a la College View for summer at GAC
• Class of 2013 graduated. I was at baccalaureate and cried more than most of the doting mothers there. It's embarrassing to be me.
• Coached 1 speech camp. Gonna have 3 more.
• Had a s'more. Wanted s'more. 
• Working at Summer Academic Programs again, this reprise with Karin. 
• Living with Karin.

Ok great! You now have the chapter titles to my auto biography.

Now for the interesting things... sort of....

We are going to be supreme chefs this summer. How? you ask? Easy. I'm a boss. 

Let me chronicle these cooking adventures thus far. 

Prior to Perham camp/graduation, I made bruschetta and pasta for those friends sick of the caf.  We're talking the kind with garlic and olives and the other kind with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. Was it good? It was so good I might make it again. 

Pasta? Red sauce, red wine, other things I found, and mushrooms. You want more details? I am a cook that mixes and matches, somethings can't be taught my son. 

Two nights ago: Grilled cheese with gouda, avocados, spinach, and feta. Karin thought it was so good she almost fell over.  Damn it feels good to be a chef-ster. Sort of. Ok, I'm not that cool. I tried?

Last night: Pasta with white sauce, asparagus, spinach, and pepper. Quite good, but took a 2 in the round compared to the grilled cheese extraordinare vibe I have. I also made some exquisite coffee cake muffins. So that's ideal. 

Karin may be a little paranoid about the air-germs, but over all I think it's a good set up. We're making it work for the best I believe. 

Tonight's menu is far more elaborate than ever before. Why? Because we never have Saturdays to ourselves and don't understand what else to do... so we're going to cook. Updates to follow.

First step: Buy a blender. 

Through the fog and over the ice

Welcome back from our commercial break to this wonderful little ditty that is being typed in a moving vehicle.

Just on our way back from the K-state UNL swing in Lincoln, and what a super weekend it was. We laughed, we cried. We won. I'm do pleased to be part of a team that is passionate about what they do. Not to mention this community. I mean, holy crepes, they're fascinating and I know with a good degree of certainty that these are the people that will change the world. Straight up make a difference. For instance, Jose. He's from Hastings and I'm impressed every time I talk to him about the things that he works to do with his community. You go Jose.

Let's see, other things going on..... Choir tour is in less than a week. I have music to memorize. But I don't have any of it with me for this lovely little ride. So there's that. But we get to leave Minnesota for some lovely weather in California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Pretty ideal if you ask me. So what up world! Bad news is that I have to be packed for that by tomorrow so they don't have to pay baggage fees. Guess I should figure out that nonsense. I hope I remember my contacts-unlike what I did this weekend..... Performing blind. Easy when it's just you. Harder when you have to follow a director. Woof.

Well I think I'll wrap some things up here. I have assumed the role of keeping Cadi awake on this drive. Per usual.

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (read: Remembered)

Well good gravy.
It's been about ten years and a day since I posted here. Guess I should make my life count, or at least for the last day of 2012 by blogging today. So that probably includes like the 12+ events of 2012 or something like that. We'll see where that goes.

1) Baby niece Amelia born.  She's so suitably fat now and I'm such a proud aunt!

2) State 2012. I think I cried for the whole damn thing. Every moment and it was super. We get to do that again in 2 months? I'm so ready to cry for several hours.

3) Watching my friend Ch-low Rad-cliffee do what she does at AFA. That was neat.

4) Surviving NFA to the surprise and accolades that we didn't expect. I've never been so genuinely surprised and overflowing with pride for what we speechies do.

5) Baby nephew Pete born. Although he looked like a grumpy old man for a while, he's learning to smile and getting cuter all the time.

6) May 18, 2012. I have a voicemail of Vanessa giggling.

7) Duluth with Lady Chelle Chelle. It was more than a moment, but it was important. It includes the apple pie baking and the porch sitting.

8) Climbing trees. Want a new perspective? That helps.

9) Giving a bike to a new teammate. Warm Fuzzies all over.

10) Oreo died. I forever miss my giant feline who hated snow, loved any holiday with bags and wrapping paper, and took two arms to hold. Now my heart holds you.

11) NCA. Dinner theater. Nuff said.

12) CinCC. I successfully cried in every performance in front of large audiences because that's where you cry. Love me some Guh chuh-wire fam.

Bonus: Throwing Better Cheddars because they're worse, not better. The moments leading up to that one were good too.

Ok so I should tell someone and this is as good a place to tell people as any about my new goal to blog more consistently than this semester.  No point to having a blog that you don't use and there should be amusing things going on in my life that you may or may not appreciate.

To those of you going abroad this semester, blog because you want to read your experiences in full and not through collapsed memories that get compressed and diluted. Do it then so you can laugh about it later. Also, then I won't have to throw Better Cheddars (or rocks) at you.

So cheers to a happy survivable 2013.  Love you all.

Whirr of VHS Film in Reverse

Fun game: Drive to Bonner Springs and to eat Chinese food and listen to pretty music.

Does it sound like a Monday night flash back from high school? It should, minus the whole Bonner Springs thing, I didn't have to drive there for music or Chinese food.

But the hours spent in the car were well worth it. A mini reunion with people that after years of not talking or hearing from pop out of the wood work and make your day that much brighter. Spring, welcome back. Missed you!

But that was not  the only  surprise of the day! I had the pleasure of not only reunionizing with Allegrians, but with some Barstownians too!  Looooooonng time no talk and suddenly-KA-POW!!!!  Bamalamadingdong there they are catching you up on the oh, say, 6 years you missed in the middle. Woof. So that's my day. A series of flash backs and rewinds just to keep me on my toes.

And I couldn't have imagined a better one.

Oh for the love of Rothko

Someday, I want to be Simon Schama. Where I can say things like this, "The blaring horns of mustard-colored cabs, screeching cell phones- and those screaming into them bury the pulsating, meditative hum emanating from the sequence of paintings hung from the facades of buildings covered in a thin film of city exhaust." in a British accent and not be looked at like I'm crazy. 


Speaking of Simon, I had forgotten about baby Schama who shows up in the Rothko one. Heavens, just the best. Oh, and he cooks? Yeah, that's ideal.  That's basically what I want to do with my life. Speak in a British accent about art. 


I suppose that applies to Sister Wendy too.....  But it's a life choice. 


In later news, choir auditions were good (now I can go hug a frickin' tree!--shout out to Paige) Then some Linus: funny as per usual.  It was good to have a hearty laugh in the midst of Stressville, MN.  Shortly followed by the ever classy Midnight Express where you stuff yourself to plumb full and call it a day. 


And now that I've caught you up on my entire life, (It's the most depressing when nothing has happened and it's a really short post and then I say something expansive like, my entire life, and it was encapsulated in under 300 words.) I am hitting the books again and trying not to get distracted with art theories and intelligent British men spouting snapshots of art history.


Wish me luck!




 

My subconscious has invented adventures-I need to get out more.

Let's talk for a moment about dreams.

As of late, I have had 3 extraordinarily strange dreams. And since I'm looking to kill some time before I wander for an hour in pollen infested air and then go attempt to sing my very best for some people that will help determine my schedule next year. THIS JUST IN. CHORAL AUDITIONS HAVE BEEN RESCHEDULED. [This means that I have to care if I have a voice for the next three days and not just for this evening. BOO. Maybe all of the pollen in the immediate area will go away and I'll be singing beautifully and not carrying around a giant roll of toilet paper in my backpack because it's cheaper than tissues] I'll write what I remember of them (the dreams... I know I got a bit sidetracked) here. I hope you are as thoroughly confused as I was/am.


1) The first of these strange night visions was one that was set up in the likeness of a mystery novel. I assume it must be telling me what I should do this summer: read. None the less, here goes.

The Secret of the Roll Top Desk

Though I had had no intentions of becoming so thoroughly entrenched in the daily affairs of my home town, this mystery couldn't be ignored. I found out that the local jewelry store had been experiencing some major problems with deliveries recently. Suspecting something rotten, I began to look into the situation. Turns out that someone had been holding up the delivery truck and stealing all of the valuables! (Dun Dun DUN!) Naturally, I stumbled along with some clues, (I'm really just trying to put the pieces together here... It must have happened, because the first clue couldn't have been the last one) and got my friend _________ to join me. (I have no idea who this person was. Chances are that I was actually Nancy Drew and this was George-yes, the girl/BFF of Nancy- are extremely high) (I don't know how I feel about my subconscious portraying myself as a red-head.....) Regardless, we went into this mysterious room, where the carpet was shag avocado and the most important feature was this roll top desk, seemingly an antique. I had a specific hunch about the contents of this desk.  So closing the door to this room carefully (this is a mystery, there is excitement, I'm not supposed to be in this room) and knelt down next to this desk. I opened the drawers on the right hand side of the desk all the way. The desk was entirely empty, but there was nothing behind the drawers as I had suspected. Disappointed that my big clue turned up empty, ___________ and I left the room with nothing to show of our adventure.

Another transport of jewels had been intercepted! Once the coast was clear, I dragged ____________ back to the room where the desk was, sure this time we would catch them in the act! I opened up the same drawer, this time to find a hidden panel. When I touched the corner of the panel, the plank swung open to reveal this mysterious alternate desk (basically just like the real one, but on the other side... it was weird). As with most roll top desks, the one had several little drawers (I assume to be used for office supplies and really small children). I opened the first drawer, nothing. I opened the second drawer to find the entire thing filled to the brim with pearls! ___________ and I looked at each other thinking we had finally cracked the case. Then there was a knock at the door. Someone had found us finding them.

[Dun Dun DUN!!!! CLIFFHANGER!!!]

And then I woke up.

2) The second dream I had was somewhat less logical and more frustrating than anything else.

What I Wouldn't Give for a Cookie

The forensics team was eating in the Caf before we went to the theme park. (This is going to happen) I was really hungry, and no loyal Gustie can pass up an opportunity for Frost-Your-Owns [hence forth referred to as FYOs] decided to get 2 of them-purple frosting with blue and white sprinkles. Yum. Everyone had just left, and Hannah and I went to go put our trays on the tray rack.  Well, the tray rack was moving extremely fast and only had the top rack of trays.  Needless to say this was going to make me putting my tray up there very difficult. Somehow I managed, but in this endeavor, I left my SSI drawstring bag (including my car keys) also on the rack. But worst of all, I left my FYOs on the tray too! Woe! I realized this as Hannah and I were waiting in line to get on the pendulum roller coaster. Realizing that we weren't going to make it on in that rush, I rushed back to the tray rack and grabbed my now soggy bag and keys, but figured I should get those cookies while I was there (obviously not concerned that they could have been equally wet) and after two attempts to snag them off of the carousel,  Hannah convinced me that this was a less good idea than I had thought. Sad Panda. By the time we got back to the ride, Dr. Dean was there and Hannah and I were the only two in line, so we got on the giant roller coaster (conveniently located right outside the Caf).  This thing was huge and involved some kind of water feature.  So Hannah and I climbed aboard, and prepared to get soaked.

And then I woke up.

I'm still craving a FYO.

3) I'll warn you, this one is the strangest one yet. Very little of it will make any sense. I'm sorry.

Mammalian Denizens (a phrase I have learned from my Physical Geography class.. who said I didn't pay attention)

I went to what seemed to be a horse stable with the intention of learning some sort of derivation of polo that involved caribou and narwhals. Stay with me here. Apparently, you had to learn how to ride caribou before you learned how to ride narwhals. I'm not quite sure why, but you did and they were similar, so that's all I know. This stable had both caribou (to practice) and then once you managed to catch your own narwhal (think Avatar here) you got to ride one of those. But they had narwhals to practice with (both riding and catching).  I am so skilled, I knew the basics of narwhal riding and had started the course over again to help those who were with me. Now Cadi was there, and the other person was either Courtney (a current freshman on the team) or Elizabeth (an incoming freshman).  Regardless, Cadi was an expert caribou rider, and was seeing if I could teach/help the under class men. So even though I was pretty good dealing with the caribou, there was a sudden flood in the stable. The tanks that had held the narwhals had been opened and they were swimming around. Our task was to test our skills at capturing the narwhals, while riding the caribou (again think that scene in Avitar where Jack uses the the smaller flying reptile thing to catch the big flying reptile thing). I'm watching Courtney/Elizabeth freak out because she can't control her caribou and Cadi is yelling for me to help her figure it out. After taking stock of the situation I am yelling over the sound of the rushing water, for her to follow what I do-shift her weight, hold on tight and move forward etc.

And then I woke up.

If this doesn't make you question my sanity, I don't know what will.


Anyway. those are the dreams I've had recently....  This is what I get for getting more sleep than usual. Good grief.

Snot No More!

Let's have a discussion about Netti Pots. Yes, I'm going to go there, and guess what, you don't have to! Too bad, it's going to be a slick ride.

I think they're magical. The pure freedom after sloshing the contents of your sinuses into a sink using a cleverly engineered low pressure straw system.  Stunning really. And let me tell you, even though I'm still battling this allergy thing, there are those priceless moments of being able to breathe without your own breath rattling in your ears. Hearing what's actually around you instead of the muffled shouts of your mind. No big deal. I just thrill at those few minutes.

And I have heard of the deadly zombie parasite/alien thing that can eat your brain if you don't use your Netti Pot correctly, but I promise to use only suitable water sources that have been purified and not pull any water from the Minnesota River.

And to the athletes who are grossed out by the snot being squirted from my nose, too bad. Sorry not snotty. (see what I did there? That was clever.)

On a totally different note, we had our choir banquet this evening and it was precious. With everyone chatting and watching the slideshow and handing out funny awards. Keep it up cool people.

And lastly, do not underestimate the power of the crossword. They are addictive and they are currently keeping me very amused. For serious. Just the most interesting, and by that I mean frustrating. But still, I'm intrigued, and that counts for something.

Weather... and other tales blown in from the recent past

"With the chance I've been given, I'm gonna be driven as hell!" -Legally Blonde the Musical
Well, there's that for a study night. Me. In the library. With a soundtrack. Nothing that different from normal. In all probability, it's a little different considering that I'm in the library, disrupting the majority of studying students with my dancing and sneezing. I'm not sure if I'm using this quotation as a sense of motivation for myself now that speech is done, that I identify with it, or that it's just freaking catchy. But regardless, I'm sticking with it now.

Oh yes, MN has caught up with the rest of the world, it's allergy season here and that means I'm probably the most worthless here pretty soon. The good news is that Voice Juries are done, and so is the Forensics showcase (Pictures? Some are really attractive, so be jealous: https://picasaweb.google.com/116804446869401815266/ForensicsShowcase?authuser=0&feat=directlink), so the meetings are wrapping up and so are my speaking obligations. That means that my semester is also getting progressively less fun. Instead of performing, talking, or having any kind of strange adventures, I'm stuck with the regular kinds of adventures you can have by making regular days awkward days around the people you don't know. Sound familiar? Need I remind you about all of the strange people I happen to wink at? Or the ones that "judge" (read: envy) me for dancing recklessly in the library? There are many of those occurrences.

Other things of interest as of late. Let me list them, everyone loves lists.

1) Dancing in the down pour of rain with Vanessa. I mean this was of biblical proportions. The kind that you envision flash flood warnings coming from. We got out there within the first 10 minutes of the rain starting and the drains were already over flowing, the puddles in the street over ankle deep, and people everywhere! So much splashing and being wonderful individuals. Needless to say, I have a few goals in life, and one is that when given the opportunity to dance in the rain: do so with glee.

2)Tornado watch at GAC. Silly Minnesotans. Rain does not equal deadly twister. And if it does, get me cell service and internet in whatever hovel of a basement of a building you are going to sequester me. Boo.

3) Found out some rooming things (not for sure, but it's gonna happen) for the summer. Ava, me, Mariecus, and Colleen. What a splendid group full of all kinds of amazing wonderful adventure potential.

4) Speaking of summer, if you are reading this and like to get letters, give me a holler and an address for the summer and we shall initiate Letter Leader Board Phase 2! I write letters like I listen to Ke$ha: all da time. And often her lyrics make an appearance in said letters. It's a good deal.

5) Choir tour. This actually happened before #1 over here, but it deserves mention. It was fun, we survived it. Saw some GAC history, laughed a little, met some good people, sang pretty. Yup.

6) OH (not Ohio, that was three weeks ago), last weekend (honors day and that stuff) there was this dance milieu that was the shit! Pardon my French, but seriously, the best. Props to all of you dancers out there who happen to read this. Our Place, In Place was super spectacular.  Gave me shivers every time.

7) Speech people are fascinating individuals who tend to make regular life more interesting just by using facial expressions that don't typically appear in daily conversation. I like that.

8) Apparently one of my projects for the summer is going to be burning discs off of my hard drive...  My computer seems to think that it is full of pictures and music. How silly.

9) Cross words are fun and occasionally make you feel smart. Thanks Ch-low for that tip. I'll now sometimes feel smart while I am maintaining my A in Stats.

10) There may or may not be an escaped State Hospital patient running around on campus. We have had many alerts but I like to think of him meditating in the arb, or streaking the football field, or just watching the mysterious dial in Nobel, or climbing the art building. Mostly because those are the first things I'd do if I escaped the State Hospital in St. Peter. Chances are that he's hitched a ride someone, I would be hard pressed to climb a hill after working so hard to get outside walls.

You lucky mallards, two posts in a day. Dig it. Live it. Love it.

Two days-one post. It's environmentally friendly.

Ok, here's the quick and dirty of yesterday because I'm a day behind and I need to catch up with the start of a new week. Ready? Go!

1) Francesco: The parentals and I decided that they should probably see the area where I actually live. So we met up to have dinner at Francesco's.  This is actually called Otello's (Stop saying Otello, it sounds pretentious) but Francesco's really the highlight, so that's what we shall call it. He was his usual jovial self, all kinds of quips and giggles. The 'rents seemed to have fun.

2) Baptism: After wandering around Trastevere for a bit (including some churches) we finally decided to grab some gelato (that's what good Italians do right?) and sit on a nice little bench outside a church (duh). Well we decided to actually go in to take a look around after we finished our delicious treats. And low and behold, there was a service going on in about 20 minutes. So we listened to the choir practice (see #3) and waited. Well, not only was it a service, but it was ALSO a baptism. So we had sort of accidentally crashed Andrea's baptism. But I'm still cheering for him, so I think that counts.

3) English: When we had first walked into the church, we realized that we had sort of stumbled in on a choir rehearsal. Now you know me, I'm a choir geek and proud of it. So I'm contentedly listening and suddenly it hits me. They are not only singing in English, they are singing gospel. "This Little Light of Mine" to be specific (there are many reasons why I love this one).  The greatest part was that they had pretty thick Italian accents with their English gospel. SO FUN. I kind of loved it. I'm not going to lie. And by the time they put on their wizarding robes (come on, dark blue with a shiny silver collar and a matching shiny stripe/sash down one side? Wizards). And basically when they started singing "Oh Happy Day" I was putty in their hands. Not because they were amazing or anything (they were fine, don't get me wrong, but I am a self professed choir snob), but there was so much Italian-accented joy.

Ok. On to today!  Woohoo! I love this speedy thing!

Today I slept in a bit and eventually wound my way back to going to lunch with my parents and going to see beautiful art!  I've got such a winning life.  It was really a Baroque weekend. I didn't fix anything (bah).  But we went to Santa Maria dell Vittoria, home of St. Theresa in Ecstasy.  Bernini? All the time. SO GOOD. Not even a joke. After a bit of that, we made our way back to the Pantheon area to San Luigi dei Francesi.  This is the stunning home of three (count them, THREE) Caravaggio works: "The Calling of St. Matthew," "Inspiration of St. Matthew," and "Martyrdom of St. Matthew".  Artgasm? Yes. Very much so. And I have no qualms admitting that on the internet. They are all beautiful and fantastic, and lovely, and stunning and my life is now complete.

After a far too short nap, the parentals and I went to dinner before going to the big show. You all remember Kozmic Blues? Well Daniele and Gina are also in another group called Heart and Soul with two other people. And they were playing at a place called the Fonclea.  It was late, but awesome. I was incredibly sad to leave early (class? what class? I don't have class.) But the choice of song was excellent (I mean, you can't go wrong with Rock and Roll, it just doesn't happen. And sung in 4 part? Yep, sold).  PLUS we got all of those CDs!!  Hashtag winning.

Loving life and going to bed.