The Ballad of Vina and Italo

Bonus behind the scenes material.

Omg

Got Allison here. And Mitch. We're making an all new stop action feature. It's going to be awesome. This photo is the preview. Movie to follow.

Husker fan

I'm starting to cross over. Eric's been doing a fine job of teaching me the odds and ends of college football, trying to get me interested in it. And I'm actually finding questions to ask and listening to the answers. I am finally, after 30 years, becoming, in some little part, one of them. A Husker fan. Those college boys played a game today that was fun to watch and though Eric would have preferred a blowout, I loved gripping my chair in suspense (and understanding a bit more of this and that). For the record, it took a 57 yard field goal to win me over.

But I still stand by my wish for them to keep the timer running at all times. "Just five more minutes" should really mean just five more minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a lovely invitation to spend thanksgiving with friends in Bloomington, Indiana. Good food, good company, good weather.
Here are some images that resulted after a walk through the Indiana University campus:

Paint-your-own-pottery

When we were in Spokane, we had a fun time of painting pottery. Sarah picked it up and sent us a picture of it yesterday. Eric painted an "ugly mug" just for me, I painted the t-rex plate, and Sarah, the only one of us with grown-up sensibilities, did the fabulous designer plate (the only piece that you might actually be interested in buying in a store) perfect for decoration, table center piece, or cheese and cracker tray.

Big Day

Eric got his hair cut today. I sat in the waiting area and took pictures of the floor.

Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, the Providence move too. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.

~Goethe

Intimate Grown-up Dinner Party

Several of us (who have turned or are working on turning thirty this year) have been musing on what it means to be a grown up. As said before, when you put your home up for sale there is a bit of a reality check as to what the home of an adult should look like, but actually turning thirty puts some more questions in your head (what should an actual grown-up look like?). Mary had the wonderful idea that thirty-year-olds or grown-ups or both have intimate dinner parties. And I like the way she thinks. To honor this, LK and I (who are adults) thought that a wine decanter would be a great gift for someone who wants to have grown-up intimate dinner parties. But when faced with a shelf full of decanters, we froze. Not knowing a thing about wine or decanters we (needing a lifeline) called someone who did, and who kindly took us baby steps through the process of buying one. For any of you who are thinking of becoming one or getting to know any, first understand, grown-ups are hard to buy for. Secondly understand, there should be a class on being grown up. As it is, we'll just have to ask around. Thank God for cell phones.

I have no words

Saw this in the window of a record store last night...
In case you can't see, the turkey and the vegetables have forks and knives in their veggie hands.

Mary in the Act of Turning Thirty, 2008
Pixels on cyber canvas

Disturbing British Lit

Brain teaser time. Below are the titles of three famous books written by British authors. They are in "fractured brainteaser" form. Can you figure them out? Hint: Of course they were all made into movies.
1. Burr haven ewe hurled
2. Hack log were caw wrench
3. Law doff duffle ice

ATTENTION!

Chicago, returning to you today are two members of the winning Redhook Brewery trivia team! (bottom righthand pic-Eric, Jessie, John, Leah, Andrea, Michael and Baby Emily).

Old Friends

Another great thing about Seattle is that it is home to a couple old friends from Nebraska. Andrea, who dates back to kindergarden with Eric and John who dates back to 8th grade with me. They've both been great tour guides for us while we've been here. Yesterday, while Eric was in meetings, John (and baby Emily) took me around to the boat locks, university campus, a couple great book stores, an out-of-this-world video store, that might, alone, be worth living in Seattle for (it's ENORMOUS and the first floor is organized by director, the second floor by genres and the genres by sub genres- for instance the horror section has sub genres such as "vengeful acts of a wrathful god." There is a literature section of books made into movies, plays made into movies, etc. etc. etc.). This video store went way beyond the netflix selection. Some rare and unusual things required a $500 deposit to rent. Blew my mind.

And later when Eric and John's wife Leah could join us, we headed north to the little town where Twin Peaks was filmed. We saw the waterfalls and the lodge and the creepy old train cars and ate at the diner with "the best damn cup of coffee" and cherry pie. None of this means anything if you haven't seen the show but watch the two seasons sometime and I guarantee that this town will creep you out.

Seattle

Of the cities I've visited in the U.S. of A., Seattle remains to be my favorite. (Sorry Chicago. I still love you.) Top reasons for my crush on Seattle:
1. The size. I opine: 600,000 is just about a perfect size.
2. The abundance of coffee.
3. The climate. Could do without ALL that rain, but only lows of 35-40 on winter nights. I'll take mild rainy winters over freezing my toes off.
4. The quality of the mere street corner music.
5. Pike Place Market. For a chick who loves farmer's markets, this is heaven. A tourist attraction, sure, but an actual market with produce, flowers, artists and fishmongers.
6. The Space Needle. Any city with a landmark that kitschy...sigh.
7. The mountains (Cascades)
8. The water (Puget Sound)

I'll stop there before I decide to "miss" my flight and need to change the name of this blog to Seattle Days...
Chicago, you've got all the sunny days going for you. So I'll be back on Wednesday. :)

This place is purdy...

Spokane

Spokane has been awesome so far. Sarah has shown us the sights. And there are many! Topping the list for me has been Mary Lou's Milk Bottle, a sweet diner where that famous scene of Johnny Depp playing with his food (Benny and Joon) was filmed. A fabulous green house, and a Bing Crosby Museum. Minus Eric and Sarah making me pull them everywhere in giant radio flyer, I've been enjoying myself to no end.

Mount Rainier

As we flew over Seattle yesterday, you could see the top of the mighty Mount Rainier from above the clouds. I was awestruck.

Bye kids,

See you in Spokane!

Head shots

My dad once said that he thought that my blog should have more pictures of me. Tonight, as I am feeling particularly lazy and busy with packing (going to Spokane tomorrow to see Sarah!), and being as it is that I have an awesome computer with a photo-booth function that lends itself to hours of fun, I now post a few new photos of myself. Dad, this is for you.

Frankly my dear...

Hey there. In the book Gone With the Wind, author Margaret Mitchell originally gave Scarlet O'Hara a different first name. What was it?

Stop Action

You can tell it's getting cold outside. Eric and I are already looking for indoor things to do like, for instance, start our stop action film career. This was us just playing with the camera trying to figure out how stop action is done. Eric got kind of carried away with the credits and then somehow we ended up making our youtube debut.


For an example of better use of imovies and youtube space, you must see the Obama video our friend Adam put together. I meant to put this up days ago and now Daily Kos has beat me to it!

Annie

We had a lovely time celebrating Annie's 30th birthday last night with drinks at The Violet Hour, dinner at Feast (the chipotle barbeque salmon on corn cakes is hands down my favorite dish in Chicago, and it might be Eric's, which is just weird. We rarely agree on food) and then we finished the night with dancing at Empire Liquors, which shot way up there on my list of fun places in Chicago solely on account of the DJ playing New Kids on the Block. And here's to 30 more years of fun with Annie. She's one of those amazing, spunky, and accomplished people (lawyer, ballerina, stylista) who could kick your ass across two oceans in any battle of the wits (she's wicked smart). I never got her 5 favorite things last night (but I WILL), so here are some guesses as to things she might pick:

1. Candy
2. Animals (particularly cats)
3. Barack Obama
4. Michelle Obama
5. Dancing
6. Raindrops on roses
7. Doing wild things like reading The Fountainhead for leisure while in law school (okay, I can't remember for certain if those two things happened at the same time, but I kinda think they did and, either way, she's totally out of control in a grab-life-by-the-horns, awe-inspiring way. :)

Wistful Affection

Talking to friends yesterday, we tried to identify quintessential high school moments/places. If you had a portal that would place you right smack back into high school, where would it most likely place you? I couldn't come up with any one place or time. I'd need a list of about ten places. But after talking today with Tom, an old high school friend, I remembered that the family home of the Cunninghams would definitely be on the list. He was talking about his little sister Liz, (a little kid I remember hanging out with in her attic bedroom while she showed me her prayer card collection). She is now a senior at St. Olaf's and a stunning artist. Tom emailed this painting of Ellen (little sister who I remember in diapers, eating ginger snaps) done by Liz. So. Not only am I feeling nostalgic, I'm finally feeling thirty years OLD.

South Street Beach

South Street Beach (on the Chicago Evanston boarder) is a favorite late fall place for me. It's empty, quiet, a good place for a beast of a dog to run around. An overall fine place to enjoy the last of the good gardening and good weather. And speaking of, I think it officially turned over to Chicago fall today. Just in the middle of the day. Burrr.

Also, I just bought the Fleet Foxes album after hearing the song "White Winter Hymnal" on the radio and I think they are awesome. They are like Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young meet the Beach Boys. And at times they think a little like M. Ward.
I loved the music video too.

Trivial

In order to qualify as a grain of sand, you must be rock or mineral ranging from .0625mm to 2 mm in diameter. Geologically, what do you call the next larger size class of rock/mineral granules and what do you call the next smaller class?

(Yes, I admit, only to a geek who edited a book on Mars, could sand be interesting.)

In Chicago, the sun has grown a little brighter, the breeze a little warmer, and, as you may have heard, one of our neighbors has been elected President of the United States.

Last Night at Grant Park

Happy Election Day, People

Corn Chowder

This is a great fall soup. So easy! Here is roughly how I make it (mostly following a recipe in the More-with-Less Mennonite cookbook):
Combine in pot:
1 c. water
2-3 large diced potatoes
1 chopped green pepper
2 t. salt
2 t. pepper
1 t. tumeric
Cover and simmer about 10 min. Add:
2 cans cream-style corn
Simmer 5 min.
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. shredded cheddar
Stir until cheese is melted. Do not let it boil.

Most Documented Dog Update

It just cracks us up for some reason. We had to evacuate the condo for another open house today, so Max in tow, we hit other open houses and ran some errands. Like every car trip, he is elated in the beginning, insisting that his head is out the window and that his ears flap in the wind. The look on his face says that he is ready to take on the whole wide world. Then after an hour of not getting to get out (or come into the grocery store with us) he is mopey and deflated...but still insists that his head be out the car window.