Wedddddddding

So, my big sister is getting married on Saturday. For some reason, the only thing I can think of is what I'll be wearing to the rehearsal dinner... Being the maid of honor for my posh, sylish, successful older sister freaks me out a little bit--I have to really up my game in the wardrobe department...

So clothes are on the brain. Unfortunately, there is no money to be spent, and somehow none of the dresses in TJ Maxx actually fit. I don't think they really fit anyone. It's weird. Maybe that's why you shouldn't shop at TJ Maxx...

So I suppose I'll have to wear something I already have. I mean, I have about a hundred dresses. But this is the big time, people. If I'm gonna wear that purple one, I have to stitch up the tear under the boobs. Cuz it's a fricking wedding...

Ohhhhh no.

Okay everyone, I have a confession.

I am addicted to yahtzee.

I played it for the first time in the bed and breakfast with Frank less than a week ago. And now I feel the need to play it all the time. Monday I made a pogo.com account just to play yahtzee, and now I find myself playing it all.the.time.

I even like to play on the laptop so I can take it with me when I go to the bathroom--never gonna miss a turn!

I'm serious.

The last game on pogo, I got 375 points. And three of the five members in my little yahtzee game room were like "gg linds!" which I guess means good game? And I enthusiastically responded "ty!" which, of course, means thank you! Oh man, that just makes my day.

The One-Year Wonder

Frank and I celebrated our one-year anniversary this weekend. Actually, the anniversary isn't until tomorrow... but we celebrated early, and it was one of the best weekend adventure's I've ever had!

We spent Friday night at a sweet Bed and Breakfast in Pleasant Hill, MO called the Mulberry Hill Bed and Breakfast. It was a in a huge Victorian house in a small town a few miles south of Kansas City. Even though our room was decorated like my grandparents' house, we absolutely LOVED it there--we watched Food TV for the first time in months (no cable here!), played Yahtzee (my first time--can you say "addicted?!"), and watched a movie on our new MAC BOOK PRO while playing in the jacuzzi! They also had a hot tub right outside our room, but it stormed all night and we just spent the evening in.

We went to dinner at a little Italian restaurant in Greenwood (a few miles away) called Perazelli's. You wouldn't think that you could order the best Italian meal of your life in small town Missouri, but this place was amazing! Our breakfast was provided at the B&B, of course, and it was ridiculously amazing (oh, forgot to add that we got complimentary dessert in our room before bed, and this innkeeper KNOWS how to make brownies!!!!).

We drove back to Kansas City on Saturday and spent the 100+ degree day at Oceans of Fun! Unfortunately just about everyone in KC had the same idea, so it was a little packed... but we really enjoyed ourselves! After spending six hours at the park (no joke!) we made a take-n-bake pizza at home and watched the sixth Harry Potter movie (which ended our marathon...). I, of course, sobbed like a baby for about an hour afterwards. Poor Frank...

Sunday started off normally with the typical four hours of church choir, but afterwards we had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (literally across the street from our backyard--score!) and bottled our homebrew. Then we went to a pool party with Frank's chorale friends, drinking beer and basil mojitos in the water until we couldn't stand the cool evening breeze (WHAT? Finally!) any more.

Of course, in a party for chorale folks, my month-old chorale audition was foremost in my mind. I still hadn't heard yay or nay and after a month's worth of waiting, I was worrying it wasn't going to happen. BUT, strangely, as soon as Frank and I got home that night, I had an email from the group's assistant that I had been offered a position in the choir! Talk about coincidence! And good news! I am now officially a professional choral singer--I get paid for this gig--in a grammy-award-winning chamber choir! With my boyfriend. Woot!

Wednesday, for the actual anniversary, we have to go to church choir rehearsal... But we're making the best of it by going out for fondue afterwards. I think? What a great weekend--I'm happy with it all. And what a nice relaxing break, probably the only time to relax before Cortney's wedding in less than two weeks... wish me luck on THAT rollercoaster!

Peace-out!

Woody Strikes Again

I love that even if a Woody Allen movie is absolutely terrible, I'm always bawling by the end. Because somehow Woody has managed to wrench a beautiful ending out of every circumstance--good, bad, or poorly acted.

I'm saying this because I spent the past two hours watching one of Woody's recents (Whatever Works, which, by the way, stars the amazing Larry David) with my newly-sprained foot icing on a pillow. Frank and I decided to check out a sushi bar across the street, and after an amazing meal, in the euphorea that ensued, I stepped in a hole on the way home and sprained the BALLS out of my ankle. I have terrible ankles and have sprained each one quite a bit, but this was one was particularly painful. And poor Frank, who has to be out of his apartment by tomorrow, went by himself to clean and move his stuff out...

I feel awful. The poor thing. There's so much work to be done, and I can't even stand on my own! But he just called and agreed to bring me home ice cream. And I realized, even if the day ended in a sprain, poor luck, and even this terribly-written blog, it was still beautiful in the end.

Thanks Woody.

In Which Lindsey Slowly Loses Her Mind:

Okay, here comes a rant. I think...

I have been officially living in Kansas City for two weeks, now! As in, I am living with ALL of my stuff in my new residence, with an actual Kansas City address!

(By the way, when I just typed Kansas City, I typed "cansas city". Seriously).

I started the moving process four weekends ago, over the weekend of July 4th. It was exhilarating to pack up and move out of Bloomington, and Frank and I lit a fire under ourselves to make the move really efficient. I was crazy proud of us.

What we forgot, however, was that Frank also had to move out of his place. So, after we were completely moved in with my stuff, we realized that Frank had a whole other apartment of HIS stuff waiting to be packed and hauled. And neither of us wanted anything to do with it.

Fast forward to this week, almost a month later: have we packed Frank's apartment yet? Not really... We STARTED last night, and gave up when I saw just how many cups he has (yes, Frank has a LOT of cups). We have to be out by Saturday. And Frank works an insane amount this week. But then, once we DO pack it up, where are we putting these boxes? In our adorable living room? Uh, no. Does this mean we're shoving the 20 lb boxes of kitchen ware in the basement until I know what to do with them? I suppose so. Thank god we have a basement.

Last night we were so frustrated by the prospect of MORE MOVING, that we went to the garden instead. And spent an hour or so there, weeding, picking, rearranging pumpkin vines... Pumpkins, by the way, take up a LOT of space. I mean, we planted 4 pumpkin plants, and now they've taken over our entire garden, wrapping around tomatoes and crushing peppers. No one even knows what to do. But our garden is awesome and is now supplying us with endless cucumbers, adorable patty pan squashes, cherry tomatoes, okra, and enough other goodies for us to get excited about SOMETHING during the mess of this move...

Hopefully next weekend we will be DONE. And I will take a thousand pictures because this townhouse is too gosh darn cute not to document on the internet.

I write like...

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

...as was determined by analyzing one of my blog posts. So, there you go.

It's amazing what technology can do. During one of our many road trips to and from Indiana for our big move, Frank and I got really in to Radio Lab. You NEEEEED to listen to it. It's interesting, funny, provocative, ecclectic. I can't say enough about it. Anyway, we were listening to a short about a computer program that is being used to analyze whole books and use this data (about word usage, vocabulary, etc) to infer things about authors' brains. And basically a study was done about Agatha Christie and her magnum opus of mystery novels, and the data showed that at a certain date her vocabulary took a sharp drop and kept getting more sparse until her career ended. And using this information, researchers inferred that she developed Alzheimer's at this time. She never went to a doctor for these symptoms and therefore was never diagnosed, but sources say she was sure something was deeply wrong with her and she was becoming lost.

This example is poorly written, but it's amazing to me that computers can be used for these things. And what an interesting Radio Lab! Go listen to it, and others. And call me :)

Any way, Frank and I have officially moved in to our new townhouse/duplex in Kansas City. We LOVE it here, despite the outrageous temperature in our master bedroom. It's huge, all hardwood floors, two bedrooms/two baths, a basement, two garages... and, just like Frank's old place, there's chipmunks who live outside our front door. It's a dream. Maybe pictures later for anyone who actually reads this.

So, now I'm here. So long Indiana. It was fun while it lasted... kind of...

Corn Chowder.

I went to Berkeley and San Francisco for the first time about two weeks ago. I suppose I won't really blog about that (at least yet) since I haven't blogged at all in a few months... but what I really wanted to say was I went to the best restaurant EVER.

We were rehearsing in Berkeley for the afternoon and needed lunch, and Dominic stopped in his tracks when he saw a Smart Alec's and begged us to go in. It boasted great soups, which made me a little weary, because I almost never crave soup. But whatever. Dominic was about to have a heart attack, so we went in.

Thank God for his palpitations, because it was one of the best meals I ate in California. Smart Alec's advertises itself as a healthy fast food place with amazing burgers and sandwiches and its famous air-baked french fries (sweeeeeeeet). But when I saw corn chowder on the menu (AND it comes with fresh baked bread!) I knew that was the route I was going to take. Well, I also got a half a sandwich. But that's not the point.

Us chowing down.

The point was this ridiculous corn chowder. Right after I ordered it I realized it was vegan. How can a chowder have no dairy? I freaked out a little, but MAN was it amazing. The best texture I've ever put in my mouth. Not too creamy/watery, BURSTING with sweet corn flavor. This thing was my new boyfriend (sorry Frank).

And the first thing I cooked when I got back to Missouri was what I hoped would be a replica of that amazing bowl of chowder. I searched online for "dairy-free corn chowder" and got a lot of weird-looking things, but then I stumbled upon something that looked a little more like what I had. And I cooked it (omitting the greens). And it was fabulous. And here it is.

One pot of this stuff made about 6 servings and it kept for about 5 days in the fridge. Each time I warmed it up I added some more soy milk. Warning: Frank tolerates it, but doesn't really like it. But then again, he's not really a soup person, or a vegan person, or a polenta person. But man, it's my new favorite thing.