part I - chicago? may i have some more?

anthony graded me on my steely resolve against the bitter chicago cold: D-

a D fucking minus?! that's failing! i never fail! ... the chicago cold has broken me and i weep.

despite the failing grade and bitter cold, our trip was really awesome and really not long enough.

pre-trip. we go to bed around 2 or 3 on wednesday night, cleaning and packing.

thursday morning we have no water with which to brush our teeth or shower. !!
run errands with dead-rat-breath mouths.
end up showing at bekah and eric's doorstep, stinky, carrying towels and bath products, wearing mis-matched pajamas and begging for mercy.

oh. thank. god.

pack frantically, forgetting a warm pajama top, but remembering to bring 2 pajama bottoms.

on the plane, i manage to spill ginger ale directly into my crotch-al area. not on the side, not sorta-near, but directly on my crotch. luckily, my pants dry quickly and i am spared the embarrassment of meeting new people with an uncommonly wet hoo-ha.

so we get in on thursday and are picked up by andy, guitarist and avant garde audio consultant (truly). he took us to los nopales where we dined on insanely good mexican food. did i mention that it was insanely good? i'm back to work today and am dreaming longingly of delicious lime tilapia and nopales salad. eff. i am so hungry. no breakfast. :(

i also saw my first rat this evening.

kim: "was that a possom?! you have possums in the city??! abnormally large squirrels?!"
andy: "uh, that was a rat. yea, they get big here. cat-size."

awesome! city rats!

total kim + anthony chicago rat count: 4
total cities in which i've seen large rats: 2 (chicago and firenze, italia)

then out to a bar for a few alcoholic beverages. (this became a relaxing theme of the vacation.)

friday and saturday the boys pretty much stayed indoors all day mixing their CD under the tutelage of andy.

i.e. they were warm whilst kim braved the cold to venture into the city (not sure what's up w/ my use of third person today).

friday, i was able to see the art institute and it was almost emotional how incredible it was. i love museums and cities that love their museums. it was rather inspring. plus, some klee paintings! (i don't think anything will quite top the paul klee center in switzerland for klee paintings, though.) rachel actually used to live in chicago and i got to see the ando gallery (in the art institute), where she spent many a contemplative hour. so beautiful and peaceful.

saturday i met up with sleep goblin and ds in downtown chicago. we talked about their recent wedding and meeting boys online and had wild adventures in reaching the brookfield zoo. the crappy part was that we only had an hour at zoo, but we were able to see some swampy animals watch some river otters frolic. throw in a polar bear, some lions and tigers and some real animals (kids dressed up for halloween) and it was pretty cool.

ant and i are planning another trip to chicago in the spring, maybe i can see more of the zoo then.

and it was so beautiful! almost like a park with geese on the lawn.

bonus: i got to see ds mount a stone lion. unfortunately, my pics came out blurry - hopefully sg will be able to post some.

on the way back, we walked from the brookfield zoo to the metra station. it started to get dark. i almost called a cab on my cell phone, with ds' blessing.

good deed for the day: knocked on a stranger's door to inform them that a car light was left on. was invited in for a yuppie argyle party. declined, though later regretted not grabbing (what looked to be) a delicious party beverage. they got out a train schedule and were able to direct us to a metra station. hurrah! bliss! bi-pedal relaxation, 2 story trains and mood-color-change tickets.

i'm thinking it was the ashfield station, i'm not positive, but if it was, we walked 10 miles. (in addition to the 1.3 miles one-way i'd walk from the studio to the rail station each day.) i'll formulate a chart of how many miles i covered. i was literally limping the next night (sunday).

in florida, we make liberal use of our cars.

oh! and breakfasts! andy made the three of us breakfasts each morning. barefoot boys in the kitchen, ftw. i am very jealous of people who are able to frequent trader joe's.


... to be continued, i suppose i need to get some work done sometime....

50 degrees?!

there are so many things i want to post about! i feel very behind. but not that stressed, so that's a plus, i suppose.

1 - i've been wanting to post about the mug i bought from tits, like, forever ago. i absolutely adore it and everytime i have my camera out, it's in the dishwasher or at work. i figure you don't want to see my nasty tea/coffee stains all over it, so i've not had pictures taken. heart!! snap one up, yotches!

2 - insane congratulations to sleep goblin and ds on their beautiful wedding! i wish i could have been there. the weather looks absolutely amazing and they look so peaceful and happy. my only consolation is that i'll get to see them THIS FUCKING SATURDAY.

3 - i made a donation bag for the atomic holiday bazaar. one night, one bag. hell yea! if only i could keep up such momentum.... i've decided that i'm really going to try to only make bags that i, myself, would carry around. i like this one a lot. even though it's a little girly pink. :)





4 - this is the kitchen of the new house my parents are building. my mom's going to have to install some sort of ladder, methinks.



5 - mmm... my dad makes amazing, amazing food. even w/ a thrown out back.




dumplings! that's chinese red vinegar w/ ginger in the bowls.

6 - on the way to visit parents 2 weekends ago, i took some photos. yes, while i was driving. most of them were horrifically twisted, but here are a few.


this is all of matlacha. bright and brighter! very cute.


lots of fishing on matlacha.



7 - a month ago, i had the freakiest dream where i was in a hilly area whereupon i fell into a loamy, earthy maze. when i came to, i was held hostage by ferrets. ferrets in space suits.
sometimes you can tell where dream imagery comes from. in this case, i have no idea where space ferrets could have come from! maybe it was prophetic, because a week later i spied this.

first things first

ta da!!





: )

may your day be joyous and your heart merry and light!

also, filled with delicious food and NC-17 excitement.

mmm.... food and excitment. life doesn't get any better than that.



and, ON we go!

check out those immense glasses. they, thankfully, have gotten smaller as i've gotten older. that's my brother vince - isn't he a cutie?


note the younger self's impossibly large glasses. the better to see you with, my dear! obviously, it was part of my costume (my talented mom made both of our get-ups).



teehee



i have realized recently that my eyeballs stick out farther than my eyebrows.

anthony thinks it's funny, because sometimes my eyelids "press ham" against my glasses.

what this really means is that i am a highly evolved asian, which, in turn, means that in the severe cold aftermath of global warming (a la 'the day after tomorrow'), my fatty-fatty eyelids will keep my eyeballs freezer-burn free.

this is my favorite phrase at present. "my fatty-fatty eyelids." i think i got it from fatty tuna sushi, or some such food item.

anthony asked if he could call me his yellow-skinned goddess. we soon amended it to, "fatty-fatty eyelid goddess."

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

christ on a stick, i've been a busy bee as of late. running around, fro and to. and sick to boot! (thanks a lot, erika.)

i'm putting together the wedding photos i took for a friend of a friend. over 500! so i'm making a "best of the best" folder for easier viewing.

i'm actually somewhat ahead of the game with my classes and classwork. unfortunately, really behind on reading, though. like, really-super-all-kinds-of-behind.

still trying to figure out this wedding location thing. i'll have to ask parental units for their input, too. i am really quite torn. man, i am so bad at decisions!

somewhere squished in there, i'm trying to find time to do some art and craft for some upcoming craft shows. one in november and 2 in december. cleaned up the craft table - the cats had spilled my bottle of sewing machine oil and it was all over the table and is still pooled underneath my cutting mat. those wacky felines! thankfully none got on the floor or was tracked onto the bed. though i had some gardening tips i'd printed out which had become flooded with oil and now looked strangely like vellum.

GFSS last night was all too wonderful. two new people and a possible recruitment we met at the tea lounge. it was a much needed estrogen fix. we had knitting, crochet, embroidery and sewing going on. though not-so-sweatshop style with the pumpkin cookies and delicious teas, of course. i so adore meeting new like-minded people. one, weirdly enough, lives in the SAME HOUSING COMPLEX as me. small world, no? and it is *not* a big complex, by any means.

visiting parents this weekend before they head off to china for a month. they were in a car accident while in canada a week ago! my mom still has headaches, but overall they are ok. mostly sore and shaken up.

i've had all kinds of insane job offers that haven't panned out. at least 3. there's another w/in the company i work for now, so i'm crossing my fingers for that. change is good.

jen is having a yard sale on the 21st, which will hopefully mean that i'll have the entire house cleaned out by then. ... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! we can wish and dream. that is my goal, though. i've only done half-assed purging in the past. we're talking full-on enema. anything that's not bolted down or necessary? out the door! ("necessary," of course, is a very flaky and relative word.)

and chicago! i must research chicago some more and finish my scarf i'm knitting! so i will be warm and cozy whilst walking the windy city (mayhaps w/ sleep goblin by my side?). looking at beautiful art. i have a desire to walk around with some hot chocolate. maybe minty.

so i'm still breathing and buzzing and doing my crazy bee dance. buzzy bee. superbuzzy even. my cup is full and to the brim and i simply cannot add anymore. i think i'm at that euphoric stage of stress. if there is such a thing. i'm kind of making things up right now. i'm strangely giddy, possibly from lack of sleep, but i'm really enjoying it right now. *le sigh*


and thank goodness it's friday!

thursday's shuffle:

the jealous sound - all albums
iron & wine - our endless numbered days
the origin of love - hedwig and the angry inch
wig in a box - hedwig and the angry inch
venus - frankie avalon
tammy - debbie reynolds
peace of mind - boston
trackstar - castor, tracking sounds alone
gone for good - the shins, chutes too narrow
stumble then rise on some awkward morning - a silver mt zion, he has left us alone
magic dance - david bowie
south - three mile pilot, another desert, another sea

possibilities

so here are the two places anthony and i are thinking to have our wedding:

1 - davis island garden club


front of the little house


sneaking around the back


pussyfooting some more


patio! lights? dancing? cake?


from the patio towards the gazebo and the water


sneak peak inside - a wedding had just occurred the night before. the chairs are kinda ugly, but they have white (albiet plastic) chairs available for $2/each.

overall impressions: intimate!



2 - tampa garden club

stupidly, i think i accidentally deleted the photo of the outside! the website has a picture of the front. long lawn that leads to the road and the bay.

i admit to liking this place a little more, mostly because anthony and i went to a valentine's day dance here when we were first dating. awww....


the view of the front from the side.


um, somewhere around the side, i think. possibly the entrance?


the view towards the water from the front


side area w/ cute little faux bridge.


this was some side room that you could cordon off for the ceremony, i like this idea a lot. except i wouldn't close it off, maybe leave it open w/ the columns and something gauzy. i like gauzy.
hehe - you can see ant's face on the left in the reflection.


the main room. there's even a stage!


overall impressions: grand!

the part of the poisonwood bible that always hits me in the gut (i.e. makes me cry and wonder about the strangeness of life and happiness and guilt):

the belly of the plane groaned open and we were delivered abruptly into the benign spring air of fort benning, georgia.

it is impossible to describe the shock of return. i recall that i stood for the longest time staring at a neatly painted yellow line on a neatly formed cement curb. yellow yellow line line. i pondered the human industry, the paint, the cement truck and the concrete forms, all the resources that had gone into that one curb. for what? i could not quite think of the answer. so that no car would park there? are there so many cars that america must be divided into places with and places without them? was it always so, or did they multiply vastly, along with telephones and new shoes and transistor radios and cellophane-wrapped tomatoes, in our absense?

deep breaths, deep breaths

so..........

life = hectic.

things i am attemping to accomplish:

1. find a wedding location
2. catch up on reading for my classes
3. finish assignments that are due on wednesday
4. purge the house
5. clean up the garden (again) & save the life of my jasmine plant
6. redo gfss website colors, possibly entire site, but that's for later. yea, later.
7. update and redo my portfolio completely. actually put more photos up.
8. breathe
9. not stress out.

so far, so good. i'm staying mostly calm. this weekend will be much needed.

jen got anthony this figure from the USF ceramic artists' sale. i wish i knew who made it, though she may know a name.



anthony has cleverly given the rabbit a toupee! guess what it's made out of.



THOMAS FUR. hahaha. he pet thomas rather thoroughly one day and gathered up the insane amounts of fur he sheds on an hourly basis. by quickly and deftly rubbing the fur between his fingers, he was able to fashion a beautiful and stylish head covering!


and here's just a random photo of dave and brian at the new world brewery show.