How are you today? I'm superfantastic.

Love Thursday: I have no other post ideas Edition

Yeah, I did this once before.  But then I limited me (and you) to ten items, which made us all think that we needed to think of ten really significant/most important things.  And yet, Meg Fowler has been doing this Friday Love List thing and she lists as many things as she wants, which leads to including littler things, which makes her lists far more interesting. 

In fact, forget that I included those links because her terribly interesting lists are going to make mine look mundane.  Since you won't be going over there, I'll explain that it works this way: I tell you some stuff that I love and then you write a similar post on your own blog and put the link in my comments or you just go ahead and leave a comment for us with a bunch of stuff that you love.  Maybe we love it too.  Or maybe we would love it but we don't even know about it yet.  You'd be doing us a service.

So here we go, some things I love, in no particular order:

When a kid I'm teaching really gets something
Sour blackberries
Coming home and changing into my crazy soft yoga pants, which yes, have a hole in the leg, but it's ok since I never wear them out of the house
Sunny and 75
Daydreaming
Throw-your-head back, silent shaking laughter.  Or the even rarer (for me) right-out-loud laugh.
Iced mochas
Big goofy puppy smiles
Sheets on skin
My Reefs
Margaritas.  Boy howdy, do I love a good margarita.
Sleeping in
Football season!
And with it, the return of Brett Favre, Kirk Herbstreit, and Howie Long to my television.
The smell of basil
Long, (almost scaldingly) hot showers
The lovely, lovely woodwork in my new apartment
All of the lots of different kinds of flowers down at the farmers market
Sourdough bread
Yoplait Whips orange creme flavor.  It tastes sort of...fizzy.
Maps.  They're mesmerizing, aren't they?  Maybe it's my wanderlust, maybe it's my total lack of innate sense of direction, but I could stare at maps for hours.
New book smell
Good, soft, barefoot-quality grass to walk around and sit in
Digital cable - God help me, I'm not sure I can ever go back.

I could go on and on, but tomorrow is not a sleep-in day as I've got to get my car in to the shop since this was the first appointment I could get after that whole AC not working thing started.  Let's all think inexpensive thoughts.

And comment!  LET'S ALL COMMENT.

Some things happened since I got back from vacation too. Nothing interesting per se, but since when has that stopped me?

Everyone in the world was at Target today.  At 3:30 on a Monday!  Well, ok, it was more like the entire incoming freshman class of the UW was there, rolling their eyes as their parents trailed them with carts saying things like, "Shower gel!  Do you need some shower gel?  HOW CAN YOU NOT NEED SHOWER GEL?" 

I believe that one of these eighteen year-olds would have paid me to have his or her mother follow me around instead and shout out items from my list at me, which frankly would have been quite helpful.  Thank goodness I did not require any assistance from Target personnel because there was just no way of telling who worked there, what with every other person wearing a red Wisconsin t-shirt.

If I had been thinking, I might have avoided all of this by making a pilgrimage to the Madison area's, nay Wisconsin's, very first SuperTarget!  I haven't been there yet, but I'm pretty sure that it's going to be SuperAwesome.

Hey, did you know that I moved again?  I'm all unpacked and I've even hung a few things on the walls.  I have yet to check out the attic storage situation, so there is still a pile o' boxes and rubbermaids obstrucing my lake view.  (You have to stand at the right diagonal from one end of the window and look in the far corner, but you can indeed see the lake.)  I'd love to show you a picture of my new marble fireplace with its EIGHT FOOT LONG mantle (it's a foot and a half deep - I'm going to need way bigger tchotchkes) but alas, I have no camera.  It turns out that the hardwood floors aren't so much "new" as "what must have been under the carpet", but they're plenty nice.  Except in the bedroom where they are brand new but fakety wood laminate.  Fakey, yes, but also nice and slidey in these here socks.

Sadly, the cell phone reception is, if possible, even worse here than in my old apartment.  I pretty much have to stand directly next to the front window in my bedroom.  Which is why I have observed the giant mutant racoon-bears that inhabit my neighborhood.  Also why I spent the full hour of my phone call with Microsoft customer support last Tuesday with one foot on my bed and my computer balanced on my knee.  That counts as pilates or something, right?

And in work-related news, I received an acrostic poem of my name from one of my students.  It reads:

Loving character!

Overacheiver! [sic]

Rockin & Rolling!

Is nice & caring!

Awww.  And also HA!  Overacheiver, right there in multi-colored crayon!  Who can argue with that?

Ok, probably lots of you.  In my student's defense, she didn't have a lot of O words to work with.  Organized?  Nope.  On top of things?  Rarely.  Ostentatious?  I think not.  Ornery?  Well...getting warmer, but this student is a well-behaved little girl so she hasn't seen that side of Miss Lori.  Obstinate?  There you have it.

And finally, on the Oh My God, My Job Ends This Friday and I Don't Have Another Job Yet front: on-line applications.  Why?  Why do I need to type out all of my previous jobs and what I did there?  This is why I have a resume.  Perhaps I could attach it?  No?  Really, the filling in the form?  Sigh.  (Please hire me.)

We need to talk.

Are you sitting down, Internet?  What am I saying?  Of course you are.

The thing is, there's something I've been meaning to tell you.  It's not that I've been hiding it, exactly.  I was just trying to wait for the right time to tell you.  But months have come and gone and still it never seems like the right time, so here it is:

I've been seeing someone else.

I know I should have told you sooner.  It's not as if any of this has been planned.  It just sort of...happened.  It was just flirting at first.  Just some emails.  Harmless.  Then flirting turned to dating and, well, here we are.

Don't be like that, Internet. 

He's a great guy and I think you'd really like him if you gave him a chance.  No, he's no one you know.

Well, I wouldn't say it had been right under your nose.  Frankly, I don't see why you're reacting this way.  It's not like we ever said we were exclusive.

You know what, forget I ever brought it up.  It's clear that I can't talk to you about this.  Was it too much to ask that you could be happy for me?

What if I told you that his spelling and grammar are impeccable? 

See, I knew you'd come around.

So...my sister got married...a couple of weeks ago

Well, about a week and a half ago now, I suppose.  That's why I went to San Antonio, although the next time I go it might be in large part so I can get another one of those mile high ice cream pie things.

Fortunately, the day of the wedding, people stopped confusing me with the bride.

I did get "When will it be your day?" from several of my relatives.  Always phrased that way. 

There was also the couples table next to me, which consisted of the entire rest of my immediate family.  Mom and Dad.  Dan and Dawn.  Lisa and Gary.  No room for a seventh wheel.  Come Christmas I'm sure I'll be at the kids' table with Future Nephew.

I got through it somehow...

I also made it through my toast, and everyone watching said they couldn't even see how badly the piece of paper I had it written on was shaking in my hand while I was speaking. I had a short and nice toast written and memorized, but then Lisa said she expected me to be witty, which was a whole new ballgame.  So I wrote a new toast while dinner was going on.  I told a bunch of friends that they were responsible for laughing loudly whether it was actually funny or not.  But everyone seemed to like it.  Except, perhaps, my sister who may or may not have been humiliated.

But really, I did not even make fun of her.  All of the jokes were at the expense of my family.  There are many things that could be said about my family, but an inability to laugh at ourselves is not one of them.

During that most magical time of the reception, Lisa attempted to throw the bouquet to Holly and me.  It hit the floor closer to Holly, so she had pick it up.  Yep, we are nothing if not itching to get down that aisle.  I am guessing that she didn't bring the whole caught-the-bouquet thing up with the guy she is fairly newly dating.  Unless maybe she decided she didn't so much want to date him anymore.  Because that could be a rather effective way to run a guy off, I would think.

As maid of honor, it was my duty to take money during the dollar dance.  I may have voluntarily staged a photo with the Official Professional Photographer of me putting dollar dance money down my top (see the above photo featuring lots of red cups).  Really though, I did get to pocket $20 out of the take.  Because Lisa and I had a deal that whoever got married first owed the other one $20. 

As it turned out, getting out of that skirt after the reception was reward enough.  I don't remember it being quite so binding when I wore it in January.  I blame the mile high ice cream pie.  Also probably the week-long queso orgy that was my trip to San Antonio.  And the gnocci and cannoli.  Well, damn, let's just blame me and my total lack of self-control.  The dress and its nasty accusations have been left in Texas though, so let's not dwell on it.

I should mention that all photos are courtesy of Holly

We loves us some self-portraits.

And Amy

Nice bra strap, Lori.  Klassy.  And yet, I picked this photo over the one of us standing together since in this one, I don't appear to be a midget.  (In case you haven't been playing along at home, Amy is 6'2 and I...am not.)

I don't have any photos of my own since my camera chose the night before the wedding to completely stop taking them.  Which means that for the foreseeable future, I'll have to rely entirely on writing with the words and no pictures in updating this site.  Yikes.

Exploring other cultures: educational and fun!

Welcome to a little thing we called Drinks Around the World!

Drinks Around the World! got its start on Wednesday when Holly and I had lunch at Carino's with my brother and sister-in-law (and, by extension, Future Nephew) and we remembered how much we love their tasty, tasty Italian Margaritas.  So after a stop at Target and another stop at SuperTarget (What?  I needed a dress for the rehearsal.  And the dress needed shoes.  And we needed coffee.) we went to a different Carino's and proceeded directly to the bar.  Bongiorno, Italy!

Our next country of choice, Mexico, was dictated by the dinner plans we already had with Krystal and Melissa, to go to Casa Rio.  One simply cannot eat Mexican food without a margarita.  Unless one is Holly, in which case one has a Dos Equis.  Or dos.

It was then decided that we needed this:

So Melissa drove us to Champps, where we expanded our cultural horizons with white Russians.  "To Mother Russia!" Melissa toasted.  Indeed. 

Much later...

 

...we headed home, where Holly and I made our last international stop: Ireland.  When Holly and I drink together, there tend to be Irish car bombs, and we happened to have picked up the necessary supplies somewhere between Italy and Mexico.

After all of that food, the idea of downing a pint of Guinness was less appealing than usual, but we soldiered on.  Sometimes sacrifice is necessary in the name of multicultural understanding, and we were nothing if not committed to that ideal.

This concludes our tour.  Until next time, this has been Drinks Around the World!  (Oh, there will SO be a next time.)

Best Wedding Ever.

I simply cannot say enough good things about Sharon and Eili's wedding.  But here are some of them.

First of all, there were the place cards.  Not normally note-worthy at most weddings, but Sharon and Eili made good use of all of their cards.  Even some spares:

Oprah, it is considered poor form to RSVP positively to a wedding and then not show.  I'm surprised you didn't know that.

We also picked up our copies of what Sharon termed the "goy handbook" which would explain all of the very Jewish stuff going on.  Wedding Cliff's Notes!  Brilliant!

Then we got inside where they gave us champagne and served us appetizers right away.  We didn't have to wait for the wedding or anything!  And here, by appetizers, I mean tables and tables of different stuff as well as waiters bringing entirely different appetizers.  How am I supposed to go back to having to wait until after the ceremony to be fed?

The pre-wedding excitement also featured getting caught up with old friends from back in my civics teaching days.  Here they are outside, where we went for the ceremony.

That's Jason, his girlfriend Beth, Emily, and Angela.  And here comes the bride:

Except not to that Here Comes the Bride song, so much as this classic from The Muppets Take Manhattan.  Honest to God, it was Miss Piggy, Kermit, and the bears and chickens and things singing her down the aisle.  Awesome.

Sharon in a dress and make up was quite a thing to behold.  Although, as beautiful as she looked, I have to agree with her niece who reportedly told Sharon "I like you better plain."

Then she married Eili.

After that, it was time to party.  We headed back inside and found our table, via the table numbers, which were all photos of Sharon and Eili in front of different DC landmarks.  For the civics geek table, Eleanor Roosevelt.

There we found our favors: a Sharon and Eili-themed crossword puzzle and puzzle pens with "I was puzzled at Eili and Sharon's wedding" written on them.

When geeks go to weddings.

But then it was everyone up for the hora.  Which, allow me to say, is pretty much the most fun you can have at a wedding.

You know you are having a good party when the floor is literally shaking.

And when you have a sundae bar, which includes not only chocolate sauce, caramel, and fun sprinkles, but also coffee ice cream, then you are officially having the Best Wedding Ever.

Of course, the best part was seeing my friend Sharon so very happy.

I figured I had better include this photo since I held up the entire reception to take it.  They were being called to the dance floor for their first dance while my camera took its sweet time.

Mazel tov!

Hey! I went to New York!

First, let me tell you that the flight was pretty stellar.  The getting delayed by over two hours, one and a half of which were spent sitting on the plane at the gate, I could have lived without.  That delay was caused by "some weather" over Pennsylvania, which was jamming up traffic over New York.  I think we have this same weather though to thank for the show I was treated to in my window seat.  We flew through the most amazing clouds I had ever seen.  It looked like the Grand Canyon if it were made entirely of snow and lit orange from underneath.  Really just indescribably beautiful.  Then we flew directly up the center of Manhattan, length-wise, and close enough to be able to identify individual buildings.  And that, my friends, was worth the price of admission.

Then Angela picked me up and we sat in traffic forever.  The end.

Not really!  We got to Jon and Vanessa's around 10 and they, God bless them, had ordered pizza.  Then Angela and I slept on their giant air mattress.  It was very comfortable, but sharing a three foot tall air mattress is an interesting business.  Because when the other person gets up, it feels as if you've just been deserted on the teeter-totter.

On Saturday, we went to breakfast at IHOP.  In Harlem.  No, Bill Clinton was not there.  I was surprised too.

Then we went to the Natural History Museum.  They have a suggested donation of $15.  They phrase it that way too: "Fifteen dollars is suggested."  Do you think people make them counter-offers?  "I suggest two dollars."  Could they argue with you? 

They have lots and lots of taxidermied animals, which makes it feel, as Vanessa pointed out, like you're walking through a zoo where everything is dead.  Less action perhaps, but none of that pesky animal stank.

After we left, we were quite sleepy and decided to seek out some caffeine.  And a Jolt employee boy on the street just handed us this:

 

Which just goes to prove that old adage: you should never drink things handed to you by strangers, you giant idiot.  It tasted like the syrup at the bottom of a blue snow cone and I still needed a latte in order to be any semblance of awake.

And then I died and went to food heaven.  Also known as Little Italy.

I honestly don't know how many chocolate cannoli I ate.  I tried to buy six, but when I said I wanted half and half of the two kinds of filling, the woman took that to mean six of each and I left with twelve cannoli, which we had for dessert and breakfast and dessert and breakfast and...you get the idea.

On Sunday Angela and I went to Sharon's wedding.  Which will get a whole post of its own.  Tomorrow-ish.

And when we got back, there had been an addition to Jon and Vanessa's family.  His name is Jasper and he is oddly fascinating.

And then, Internet, I fulfilled one of the three goals that I set for myself to accomplish before this upcoming birthday.  These goals were: get a job in my chosen field, skydive, and try Korean food.  I still have about a month on that job thing and skydiving continues to be put off until I have some good health insurance, but I have officially tried Korean food.  Mmmm...dumpling soup.

On Monday, I left and spent over 10 hours in airports and on planes going from New York to Chicago, Chicago to Nashville, and Nashville to San Antonio.  Every one of my flights were delayed and I seemed to have been perpetually seated in the Passengers With Crying Children section by mistake.  The best thing I can report from that trip is that none of those planes crashed.  But I got there and things happened and I will post about those things...eventually.

Things That Do Not Mix Well

PMS

Being damn near 30

Getting mistaken repeatedly for your sister, the bride, and having to tell person after person NO, I AM NOT GETTING MARRIED.

Just so we're clear here, I am not hankering for some big-time scarypants commitment.  My irritation had much more to do with the Look of Pity that followed the realization that I'm the spinster sister.  The "poor dear, maybe someday" look.  Don't think I don't know it by now.

Yes, there was a first half of this trip that I have not yet told you about

But right now I am very sleepy, so all you get is this anecdote from today, the first full day of the San Antonio/my sister's wedding portion of my trip.

I was at the pool in my parents' subdivision with them, my brother and sister-in-law, San Antonio Roommate Holly, and Lisa and her fiance Gary.  When I noticed what appeared to be a giant insect swimming toward Gary.  And I very helpfully shouted:

THERE IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING SWIMMING TOWARD YOU.

Which, naturally, alarmed him.  The thing turned out to be a frog and the situation was diffused by its removal from the pool.  But it did make me wonder about my ability to be of use in a crisis situation.  That "definitely" was just window dressing there, wasn't it?  Wasted time.  It wasn't as if Gary would have doubted my sincerity if I had been more brief. 

What next?  IT DOES NOT SEEM UNREASONABLE TO THINK AND I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT I AM UNJUSTIFIED IN DISPLAYING SOME DEGREE OF ALARM WHILE POINTING OUT  THAT YOUR HOUSE APPEARS TO HAVE VERY POSSIBLY CAUGHT SOMEWHAT ON FIRE?  God help us all if our survival ever depends on my ability to speak concisely. 

Coming soon:  My trip to New York!  The Sharon and Eili's Wedding Recap! 

Coming much sooner:  Brushing my teeth and going to bed! 

Nighty night, Internet.

Tantrum Over

I realize that I sound like a jackass whining about having SO MUCH TO DO before I go on vacation.  Poor me.  Yeah, I know.  I said I know, Internet!  Drop it already!

Moving right along. 

These are the three books that were left over after the last full box of books was packed.  I'm pretty sure there's some key to my psyche here, but I'm not about to go putting a lot of thought into that just now.

Amateur psychoanalysis will be accepted in comment form, so long as it is flattering to me.

Look what Target made me buy for Future Nephew.  At the rate his parents are going, after his birth we'll be calling him The Infant Formerly Known as Future Nephew (Yes, Internet, I know we could just call him Nephew, but that is not only boring but also completely lacking in pop culture references.  Stay with me here, people.)

It is a wee fuzzy blanket with a lion head in the middle.  And in case you couldn't read its name:

 

I have officially become THAT cheesy.  The lion's name rhymes with mine.  Send help.

This item not only inspired a fantasy wherein it became Future Nephew's favorite thing in the world, from which he refused to be parted, but also a peek into the future.   Future Nephew is a teenager (any teen age will do) and I am making him sigh deeply and roll his eyes by habitually bringing up Roary and how he was your favorite thing in the whole wide world and the two of you were so cute together and I GAVE HIM TO YOU BEFORE YOU WERE BORN. 

Future Nephew's internal monologue is going something like this: Good lord, woman, let it go already.  It was #teen years ago.  Why do you have to be so embarrassing?  Not only am I embarrassed to be seen with you, I am embarrassed by your very existence on the same planet with me.  Crazy old bat.

Then I will smack him upside the head.  Yes, it was his internal monologue, but by then I'm pretty sure I'll be able to detect even mental use of the word "old" in reference to me.  Young whippersnapper will have it coming.  Back in my day, we let our aunts prattle on and on at us uphill both ways and we liked it.

Remember in that last post how I was all "What if I pack the tequila?  Ha!"  Well, tonight I have been packing both tequila and margarita mix, along with roughly half of my worldly possessions, so blame for this post and any inanity and/or typos therein should be assigned to one Mr. Jose Cuervo. 

Buenos noches!