Orbs

Saturday night, a group of us ventured out on a Ghost Tour of Chicago. We were supposed to be looking for orbs but really, we were more interested in finding a good bar. Thanks Manno for setting this all up!
And watch out for the Haunted Pisser!

Peace Out!

Al won the Nobel Peace Prize today.

Man, those monks must be pissed!

300

Last night, Paul and I watched the film 300. He's seen the movie before and loved it so much he bought it on dvd. I had not seen the film before. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, even with all the gore (honestly, I was notexpecting to like it at all). But the plot was compelling and I liked the role of the Queen. I was really pleased when she stabbed the guy and whispered "This will not go quickly. You will not enjoy this. I am not your Queen." Rock ON!

So he and I both tried something new: 300 and kale. Good times. :)

My New Read

Here's the new book I'm reading! The Omnivore's Dilemma is a look into how and what we eat, as an American society. It compares our view on food to other cultures' view on food. Right now I'm reading a chapter about America's dependency on corn. So far, I find this book very interesting.

Levi's

Last night, Carisa, Michi and I headed down to the Levi's store in Wicker Park. I bought myself a hot new pair of jeans! Actually, I believe what I said while walking into the store was "I'm not leaving until I find a pair of jeans that look sexy on me!" Mission accomplished.
Afterwards we ventured over to Pint for a tasty beverage on their outdoor patio. I love that the weather is this warm in October! :)

Electronica

I bought the Massive Attack album, Mezzanine, last night on itunes. The first time I heard this album was back in college...maybe '98 or '99, and with the first listen I fell in love with this album. I'm always impressed when a friend of mine randomly puts it on. (I believe Jake randomly played it one night, before he moved to Minneapolis.)

Anyway, I've wanted the album for awhile and so I finally got around to buying it last night.

My old friend, Tamara, introduced me to Massive Attack by explaining it's the best make-out music ever. Listening to it today at work, I can totally see why she would say that. This album is incredibly hot.

They Hate Me.

So it's been almost two whole months since my friends, Carisa and Michelle, handed me a birthday card that read "Tramp" and a nice, fat gift certificate to the Aveda Insitute of Chicago. Two whole months, which according to my calendar adds up to about 14.7 years.

God passed me up when he was handing out patience.

So two whole months have passed and during those months I have called up the Aveda Institute to try and schedule an appointment for a Caribbean Therapy Body Treatment. Here's a blurb on this treatment:
A rejuvenating and nurturing hydrotherapy treatment that uses the healing touch and plant ingredients of the Carribbean to create inner calm and renew the body and senses. Treatment begins with dry exfoliation, followed by a warm, seaweed body masque and wrap to smooth and detoxify. A vichy shower water massage and restorative face and body massage complete this island inspired experience.

Doesn't that sound heavenly!?!

But for the past few months, Aveda has run out of a key ingredient to provide the Caribbean Therapy Body Treatment. Therefore, they aren't offering that service until they get stock of this ingredient.

Now a sane person would probably browse the pamphlet again and choose another spa service., but we're talking about me here and God gave me an extra dose or two when he was handing out Stubborness. So instead, I have had to wait and wait and wait for this "key ingredient" to come into stock.

I called again this past Tuesday and asked for an ETA and the poor schmuck who answered my call responded like I asked him to explain Torque. (which, thanks to Paul, I can actually, sorta, kinda explain. anyhoo...) I then asked for the phone number of someone who could tell me the ETA. He kindly gave me the corporate office number and then hung up.

So I called up Aveda Corporate, being super nice and friendly as my folks raised me to be. A nice lady, by the name of Jen, answered the phone and was very apologetic for the short supply. She explained the concept of sourcing to me and I responded that I completely understand sourcing product. It's my job to handle the sourcing of products that my company uses. I understand that sometimes you just can't get the product from the supplier no matter how badly you need it. And I said all of this very kindly and sympathetically. But I still wanted an ETA.

Jen asked to put me on hold.
She came back on with the VP of Marketing.

Holy crap.

The VP of Marketing, also a lovely lady, apologized for my inconvience and said that they will work on coming up with an alternate "key ingredient" so I can use my birthday gift card. (Oh you bet I told them all about Carisa and Michelle and my birthday...I never let a moment pass where I can talk about my friends. or my birthday.) She offered to call the Chicago location, work with them on creating a new product and then have them call me to arrange an appointment.

I was ecstatic at this customer service! And I waited patiently (well, as patient as I can be) for someone to contact me to arrange an appointment. And lo and behold, Brad called me! And he told me that he's grateful for the challenge to find a new "key ingredient" and could I come in sometime in November? So the appointment is made and I'm super excited.

Cut to last night.
Carisa, Michelle and I are sitting around watching America's Next Top Model. I relay this story to Carisa and then I ask, "I wonder what the new key ingredient will be?"
Michelle responded, "For you, urine."

Great.

Growl

Being a cougar isn't all that bad. In fact, it could be worse. It could be much, much worse. I could be this girl.

Demi Moore and I are both shaking our heads in disbelief. Poor Brooke Hogan has gotten it all wrong.

The Best Part of Turning 30

Angie and I booked our cruise this morning! Yipee! I love traveling! When Angie turned 30, she and I took a week long trip to the Riveria Mayan in southern Mexico. Now that I'm 30, we're going to cruise around the Eastern Carribean together. We leave out of Miami, with stops in Nassau, Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas and St. Juan. What a brilliant way to spend a dreary week in February!

Yay!

Farming

my sister wrote up a recent conversation she had with my 4 year old nephew, Gavin. (see batman/spiderman photos below). And Max is such a vegetarian...it's obvious that he and i are related. he will eat everything on his plate except the meat, which is exactly what i do. :)

The setting: Gavin, Max, and myself are sitting at the kitchen table eating supper. I have made a meal of barbecue beef ribs with a tangy, brushed-on, sauce. I also cooked some broccoli with a cheese sauce. The ribs took me 3 hours to make. I first boiled the ribs for 2 hours and placed them on the grill. I combined several ingredients to make the sauce and cooked it for 10 minutes on the stove before brushing it onto the ribs and grilling it.
Gavin: What is this?
Me: Barbecue ribs
Gavin: What animal does it come from?
Me: Cow
Gavin: What part of the cow?
Me: The back
Gavin: Why the back?
Me: I don't know
Gavin: How did the farmer get it off of the cows back?
Me: He had to kill the cow first.
Gavin: Do farmers have guns?
Me: Some do, but the farmer doesn't shoot the cows.
Gavin: So how did the farmer kill the cow?
Me: *sigh* he probably cut the cows neck.
Gavin: What does the cow do before his neck gets cut?
Me: What?
Gavin: The farmer goes "walk, walk, walk, walk, walk," and then cuts the cows neck. What did the cow do before it got its neck cut?
Me: Oh. Probably nothing. The cow probably didn't know that was going to happen.
Gavin: *pause*
Gavin: I want to be a farmer when I grow up. Except I just want to grow broccoli.
Me: Good idea.

I think tomorrow we will have vegetable soup.

(Of course Max only at the broccoli)

Big Things Come in Small Packages

This is my nephew Gavin. He's 4 years old. He recently asked why people have to die when God doesn't. He said he doesn't think that is fair.

Gavin is wise beyond his years.

I think he gets it from me. (Oh snap! And it's not even National Arrogance Day!)

Jay-Z and Sadyonce

Sadia was in town from San Fran this weekend, and I got about 3 hours to hang out with her. And we made it a very productive 3 hours. :)

Update

OK. It's official. This book is boring me to tears. Seriously? This is 2 of my friends favorite book ever. It lost it's 'funny' at about page 160.

Autumnal Equinox

Happy Fall, y'all!

To My Friend, Karla

Thank you for being the type of friend that I can have a deep, intellectual conversation with. Thank you for listening to my side and taking the time to ponder your response. Thank you for offering up alternate ways for me to look at other people, the world and myself. Thank you for sharing your stories and experiences with me. Thank you for having the courage to challenge me to be a better person.

I love you, too.

This is Awesome

Here's a pic of the upcoming film Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

I loved the first Elizabeth film and I am really looking forward to this sequel.

*update: Paul and I never made it to 3:10 to Yuma last night. I will see this movie but it's just so hard to summon up the strength to be inside, and quiet, for 2 hours. Especially when the weather is as lovely as it's been these past few days. But the forcast looks chilly next week so perhaps I will go then.

Fracture

Michi and I watched Fracture last night, while sipping on some 312. We both enjoyed the film even though Ryan's character was a bit too cocky for our liking. (insert crude joke here)

Anthony Hopkins is sooo good at playing one scary mother f*cker.

random fact I learned last night: when running an ink pen on the bottom of a person's foot....if their toes spasm down it's a sign of health. if their toes spasm up (towards the chin) it's a sign of brain damage.

you guys really ought to start believing me when I say the facts I learn are random.

Catch Up

I met up with Precious last night to catch up on life and whatnot. She's been in NYC for the past 7 weeks working on a dance internership-type thing. (Good lord my brain is not functioning yet....)
Anyhoo...she danced her ass off in Manhattan all summer and had a fairly good time doing it. (Despite the drama queen roomies she had to put up with.)

It was great seeing you again, Precious, and I'm looking forward to our lakeside excursion!

Box Office

There are so many films out right now that I want to see. Here's the list so far:

3:10 to Yuma (sorry Aaron, I'm hoping to see it this week)
Eastern Promises
Once (I want to see it one more time in the theaters)
The Brave One
Becoming Jane

I think it's about time I go on a movie marathon.

BlueTooth

Saturday night, Sarah, Paddy, Paul and I went down to the south side to watch the White Sox play the L.A. Angels. It was a fun game, even though the White Sox lost. Afterwards there was a spectacular fireworks show!
Throughout the game, Sarah and I eyed the cotton candy that all the little children were eating 'til finally Sarah broke down and bought a bag. We enjoyed Paul's mustache, turning cups of beer green and laughing at our blue tongues/teeth/gums.
Sugar is fun!

Yay, Books!

I started reading A Prayer for Owen Meany this past week, thanks to Karla's strong recommendation. I can vividly recall sitting on her living room floor, in Studio City, and listening to her read the Christmas pageant chapter. She got to laughing so hard I couldn't understand what she was saying. I love it when books have that effect on people.

This book is laugh out loud funny and I don't come across many books that make me laugh out loud. So, even though I'm only 100 pages in, and the book is about 700 pages long, I am already offering up my recommendation as well.

Happy reading, y'all!

Outta Mind, Outta Sight

Paul and I (along with Timmy and a whole crew of other folks) saw Wilco last night at Millenium Park. I'm still undecided which was more beautiful: the music or the skyline of the city. I'm glad we got in one more night at the park before the weather turns too chilly.
A random bit of info that I learned last night: a motor takes energy and uses it to rotate a propeller while a generator rotates a propeller in order to produce energy.

I told you it was random.

I've Decided I Hate This Couple

On a Date With . . . the Founders of True Love Revolution, Harvard’s Abstinence Society

LAST Valentine’s Day, Justin Murray and Sarah Kinsella sent out more than 800 pink greeting cards, one to every female freshman at Harvard. The two seniors stayed up nearly all night, taping candy hearts to the notes, which read: “Celebrate love, celebrate life, celebrate you: Why wait? Because you’re worth it.”

Founders of Harvard’s new abstinence society, True Love Revolution, Ms. Kinsella and Mr. Murray have been going out for a year and a half.

On a recent date at Border Café, a Mexican restaurant in Harvard Square, they sit on the same side of the booth, linking fingers and stroking each other’s hair.

This is about the extent of their physical connection. “We don’t push it,” says Ms. Kinsella, sipping a lemon-lime Margarita. “We pretty much stick to kissing and cuddling. At night, Justin will walk me back to my room, and we’ll hang out for a little while. I’ll give him a back rub or something, but, yeah, then he heads back to his dorm.”

The couple have been the target of some mockery — Mr. Murray recalls snickers of “there goes that virgin” as he passed a table in the cafeteria, and some students objected to the Valentine’s Day cards as antifeminist. But their society has attracted 50 members since they started it a year ago, and it will continue next year without them, after their graduation.

Campus abstinence clubs, which first sprang up in the South in the early 1990s, are a new concept at elite (and liberal) institutions in the Northeast.

Ms. Kinsella and Mr. Murray got the idea from similar, recently formed groups at Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Another is in the planning stages at Yale.) The clubs have parties and study sessions and sponsor lectures and discussion panels that encourage abstinence. M.I.T.’s group even has a pledge, and about half of its 40 members have signed it: “I commit myself to make an effort to live a chaste lifestyle. A chaste lifestyle involves using the gift of my body honorably and respectfully.”

Not coincidentally, both the M.I.T. and Princeton clubs call themselves the Anscombe Society, after the English philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, a staunch Roman Catholic who condemned contraception.

The new clubs declare no political or religious association, and True Love Revolution takes no stance on birth control. Personally, Mr. Murray and Ms. Kinsella oppose contraception, and say their religious views “enrich” their ethical and moral opinions. They met at a retreat sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Catholic Student Association.

To make their argument more palatable, they never mention God when describing their reasons for waiting; instead, they rely on words like “dignity,” “self-respect” and “empowerment.” Mr. Murray, who likes to quote Freud and Nietzsche, says the decision to abstain is about self-discipline: resisting titillating feelings.

Ms. Kinsella interrupts, giggling, “You always use that word!”

“What? ‘Titillating’ is an O.K. word.”

“I can tease you,” she says, leaning her nose into his shoulder.

“Every time I say that word — and I don’t say it all that often — you laugh. Um, anyway.” He redirects his attention toward his fajitas.

Mr. Murray and Ms. Kinsella say they are uncomfortable with a campus culture that equates abstinence with being ugly or inept. Both are slim, preppy and attractive. They are articulate about their feelings, with few of the awkward pauses and dangling, half-formed sentences that litter conversations about love.

“Justin always takes the time to make sure we’re doing the most we can for each other,” Ms. Kinsella says. “We have little relationship status check-ins: how are you feeling? Is there anything on your mind?”

“Am I doing everything I can for you?” Mr. Murray adds. “Should we go on more dates?”
The two are a “hair’s breadth” from getting engaged. In the fall, Ms. Kinsella, an anthropology major, will go to Georgetown Medical School, and Mr. Murray, a government major, to Georgetown Law.

They bat away worries from friends that maybe they should try sex first, just in case. The answer is no. Ms. Kinsella says abstaining is a matter of emotional health.
Taking small bites of her salad, she quotes from a course she took on female behavioral biology and describes the “awesome effects” of the hormone oxytocin, released during orgasm. “When people have that bonding experience with someone and it ends,” she says, “they tend to feel heartache.”

A few months ago, the club was host of a forum called “Living in a Hook-Up Culture,” which they hoped might help students warm to the idea of commitment. Nearly 60 people attended. Someone in the audience posed the question: “Can anyone here honestly say they’ve had sex and not felt emotionally connected in any small way?” No one raised their hand, Ms. Kinsella says.

Mr. Murray (who refers obliquely to a time when he had “different values” about sex) says his friends automatically assume the club was Ms. Kinsella’s idea. In fact, he first proposed it. Laughing, he quotes a reader’s comment in The Harvard Crimson: “Of all the tests girls have ever given, making your boyfriend publicly co-found this club has to be the toughest. I hope she’s at least really hot.” Mr. Murray quickly affirms that she is.

On a campus known for its lackluster dating life, Ms. Kinsella and Mr. Murray make a point of planning out their evenings. After dinner, the two wander, holding hands, down J.F.K. Street toward the Charles River for a walk along the water’s edge. It’s one of their favorite spots. This night, Ms. Kinsella has to get home to work on her musicclass project, a choral piece she set to the rosary prayer “Hail, Holy Queen.”

There was a time when Mr. Murray’s friends gave him a hard time for coming home alone — the couple avoid sleepovers. Now friends don’t bother.

“They know it’s not because I ‘can’t get any,’ like they say, but because I’m making a deliberate choice to respect the woman I love,” Mr. Murray says. The evening ends as it has nearly every night of their senior year: he gives Ms. Kinsella a kiss, says “I love you” and walks 20 minutes back to his dorm room.