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la vie est merveilleuse
I'm off to my grand three-week adventure in Europe!! This is my first trip out of the states (never even been to Canadia)! My original goal was to have one Mr. Joe Meier all to myself in romantic places for three weeks...then Alina decided to join and threw all that out the window. Then I decided to find a hot Italian husband with lots of vineyard land and a mama who cooked up a mean bowl of pasta. But then I decided on a new plan... So, here are my goals for Europe:
1. Take a ton of pictures (duh if you know me at all)
2. Find a man in every city (what's the fun of having just one???)
3. Recreate this photo in front of the real deal
4. Eat really good food (and coffee and beer and wine...)
5. Have the most amazing adventure of my life!
So, where in the world is Valerie??? Here's my itinerary:
June 22-26: Munich, Germany
June 26-27: Interlaken, Switzerland
June 27-29: Venice, Italy
June 29-July 1: Florence, Italy
July 1-4: Rome, Italy
July 5-7: Vienna , Austria
July 7-9: Prague, Czech Republic
July 9-12: Paris, France
I'll be gone for three weeks, I know you'll miss me. I plan to keep a journal on my way, so be prepared for a huge ass post when I get back (or maybe several) and tons and tons of pictures!!
Until then...
Auf Wiedersehen
Arrivederci
Au Revoir
Bye!!!!
A certain someone said he was going to search my blog for mentions of him.
A certain someone complained when I tried to give bunny ears to the cup of coffee he was taking a picture of.
A certain someone pissed me off that he wouldn't date a woman who was saving herself for marriage.
Hehe.
In well less than 24 hours now I will be on a plane to Germany! Eep!
I'm basically packed. I think I fit everything into one carry on size backpack (with room to spare plus I didn't even touch the detachable bag it came with so I have plenty of room for souvenirs) and a small messenger bag/purse. The purse is heavy because I have 2 cameras and 20 rolls of film in it.
I don't think I ever wrote about this so I am going to do it now.
A few quarters ago in my travel writing class I wrote an essay about taking a gondola ride in the Venetian in Vegas. Basically the essay was about how I'd always dreamt of being "taken" to Europe. I always dreamed of it as a romantic adventure where I'd go with the love of my life and get to experience it with that person and have them show me this amazing place.
In a week, I'll be in Venice, staring out over the real thing.
I almost didn't want to go to Europe because I still thought kind of felt this way.
But I think that something has completely changed in me. Maybe I'm becoming the person I've always wanted to be. The kind of person who someone else could look at and think damn she's amazing. Or better yet, that I can think of myself and think damn, I'm amazing. And maybe I'm the kind of person who some day will lead the love of my life through Europe. And maybe I like that idea even more.
So as a last minute decision, I died my hair today. I really like how the color turned out. Not too exciting, same color as last time just to lighten it a bit and freshen it up, but me like:
It wasn't looking too bad, but I thought my roots might start to show more in the three weeks in Europe, so I didn't want to take any chances. :) I've gots to meet me a husband somehow.
Yesterday I went out in search of a new bathing suit for rafting. I need a new one because last year at the dunes my bikini top kept flying up and I kept flashing people. I ended up buying two. One of them was $100 marked down to $30, the other was $150 marked down to $30. Plus the store was having a 25% of bathing suits sale. So, I got two suits for under $50. I think that is awesome.
Last night I went out with Joe, etc. to Giordanos (although I didn't eat because I'm poor) and then back to his place to make chess piece horses make out (they are in love, aw) and look at his South America pics. I still say in 10 years his encounter with an alligator story will turn the alligator 20 feet long and he will have wrastled it to the ground himself. hehe. That looked like one awesome trip. Our Eurotrip will be better though because I'm there :) Joe did agree that in the cases where we have two double rooms, me and Joe will share one room and Scott and Alina the other.
Things I will miss while in Europe:
• Jenny and Adam moving into their apartment
• Thong Party Planning
• Misc. wedding planning adventures
• The Fourth of July
• The Taste of Chicago
• All my friends who aren't going :(
So, what do you do when it's 8:30pm and you're at a Payless and the shoes you want don't come in the size you need them in?
It's time for Bridesmaids on a Mission!
The Mission: Get from the Payless in Hodgkins to the David's Bridal in Lombard before they close in half an hour.
How: Any means necessary!
So, yeah, we needed to order our shoes for Jen's wedding before I left for Europe. The Payless was stupid and didn't have shoes that came in the right sizes so we decided on David's Bridal, which was in Lombard. So... Nad hoped in the drivers seat and we were off, zipping around cars every which way. We were making pretty good time until we got stuck behind a green triumph-like car (so I see any car that looks like that and assume it's a triumph) who was going like 3 miles per hour and then got stuck by a stupid freight train, damn! So we had to sit behind this loser in the triumphthing who was old and scanning all the young girls who walked by. It was gross. Seriously, if MattyK turns into an old guy in a Triumph checking out teenagers I will do the honors of shooting him...or at least ramming into his car. Anyways...the train passes and the car turns, so we're off zooming around cars all over the place and we finally arrive at the destination: 9:01. We pull up to the front door and Jenny runs in while Nad parks. Jen hasn't been kicked to the curb yet so we figure all must be good. So Nad parks, we run out of the car, run into the store, not even paying attention to any of the saleswomen and run to the back where the shoes are to find Jenny being helped by a wonderful saleswoman who found us exactly the shoes we needed. So, when I return from Europe I shall have a pair of lilac strappy heels awaiting me. It was a brilliant night!
After our mission was completed we got some ice cream at Coldstone and came up with a semi-plan for Jenny's bachelorette party. Pottery, food, bowling, thongs...all good. Too bad I won't be there to plan any of it :(
Just got back from a lovely night in South Bend, Indiana visiting Alina! Alina invited a bunch of us out there for barbecue goodness, yum.
Yesterday started out too early when MattyK picked me up earlier than expected because he was going to be driving by my area. Good thing for him that I am a fast get readier. So he picked me up and went back to his place where I helped him mail his bills (fun) before picking up Alina at JoeJoe's place and MattH (who silly MK almost forgot to bring) before hitting the road. On the trip we discussed the perfect engagement rings..Alina is all about a small diamond that is very very expensive. hehe, love it!
At Alina's place we started cooking up the grub. The Two Matt Grilling Team cooked up some sausages, dogs, and burgers, Jen made some yum taco dip, and I made some dill potatoes and onions that I was originally going to grill, but since the only grill we had was so tiny, decided to go the oven route instead.
After dinner we headed out to play some sand volleyball. I haven't played volleyball since they made me in early high school, but it's a lot more fun when no one really cares how much everyone seems to suck at it. I tried to stare down Sid, and the Matts, boy am I intimidating. Grrr.
After volleyball, Isla, Jen, and Matt left for home but Sid and Sarah decided to stay. We went and played tennis with MattH's crazy rackets. One of them had a weird metal guard. Eh?
I didn't do too badly considering I never learned tennis and haven't played since probably seventh grade:
Me: I used to just play against the side of my school, but I'd always lose all my balls on the roof.
MattyK: And that's how you became a girl.
I decided that I really like Sarah after she not only brought PINK tennis balls but also made a rather valesque comment towards Sid. ;)
Then we all went back for a shower (unfortunately not all at the same time), partook in some giant Happy Fathers Day Cookie (Alina: Normally in a big group you don't make impulse buys, The rest of us: But look at this group!) and watched the movie Clue while playing the board game Clue. Twas fun twas fun.
We also made Alina dress up her cat:
Sarah and Sid left early and then Alina and I were up well before MattyK, so in grand slumber party tradition we put his underwear in the freezer (wrapped in tin foil to protect the ice cream, of course).
After Matt got dressed:
Us: Did you notice anything missing?
Matt: No, should I have?
Us: Are you sure there wasn't something missing?
Matt: So I didn't forget it. (starts searching around the apartment)...Well, then I feel less guilty about the fact that I'm not wearing any.
Me: Well we could play the hot/cold game, but it would be very cold.
Matt then finds his underwear and puts them on (in the bathroom of course) despite their temperature.
We then went to a kitty refuge and played with kitties. Now, I've never been a cat person...but...There was a little grey kitty who kept shaking my hand and a fat orange kitty who wanted to be brushed and a black one that just sat in my lap and a dark gray one the kept pushing his head into my hand and a black and white one that kept knocking off Matt's hat...I want a kitty!
We then were going to take a quick tour of the campus, but it was raining so we just drove around a bit and looked at it from the car.
On the drive home the raindrops on the windows looked like they had tails and were swimming up. Is it bad for MattyK that he knew exactly what I was thinking they looked like?? hehe. We also saw Amish people driving a mini van and drinking cola. Shouldn't they have been riding a buggy?
Has it been the Best Summer Ever so far??? Hell Yeah! Here's a quick recap of things past and things to come:
June 2: "Valerie's Unemployed and Wants to Celebrate Celebration!"
June 5: Celebrating Scott's b-day at Hugo's
June 6: The Omen
June 7: Museum of Science and Industry
June 11: Jenny's Surprise Wedding Shower
June 13: Rachel Cohn and David Levithan book reading
June 22-26: Munich, Germany
June 26-27: Zurich & Interlaken, Switzerland
June 27-29: Venice, Italy
June 29-July 1: Florence, Italy
July 1-4: Rome, Italy
July 5-7: Vienna , Austria
July 7-9: Prague, Czech Republic
July 9-12: Paris, France
July 19-July 22: White Water Rafting & Camping
August 12: Jenny's Wedding
August 24-28: Washington D.C./Virginia
Other things that I have to do this summer:
• Get MattH (and whoever else) to watch 2001 Maniacs and Eraserhead with me. I'm waiting on him. Perhaps while I am housesitting for my sister???
• Write the Great American Novel
• Write a new resume, put together my portfolio, design a professional website, find a new job
• Move out
• Go to Olive or Twist, 10 Pin, that restaurant/movie theater place, and that Mexican restaurant Nadia keeps talking about (is there anything better in life than guac and margaritas?? I think not.)
• Go to Bromann Park
• Jenny's bachelorette party
Other things that I want to accomplish by the end of the year (Since it is also Valerie's Best Year Ever):
• Find a man
• Learn to snowboard
• Dye my hair 5 more colors (I'm determined to have 12 hair colors this year)
• Get a new tattoo
• Get my artwork from Kurt (waiting and waiting)
• See a roller derby bout
• Go Eagle watching
• Perfect my hot chocolate recipe (not that it isn't already the best ever)
• Apply for at least one reality show
"First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That's what everyone wants. Not 24-7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that last a hundred years. Not a Porsche or a blow job or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such feeling that they can't hide."
-nick & norah's infinite playlist
I went to Andersen's Bookshop in Naperville to see a reading with Rachel Cohn and David Levithan tonight. I am a huge Rachel Cohn fan (Read Gingerbread and Shrimp) and she's one of my favorite YA authors. That is me and them pictured above. Crappy pic, hehe. And I felt like sucha dork asking for a picture. Oh well, I'm over it. They were promoting their new book Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, which is totally awesome. It was written one chapter at a time, alternating chapters between them, with Rachel writing from Norah's POV and David from Nick's. It was really interesting to hear them talk about it since they seemed so free in writing because since neither had total control of where it would go (they didn't sit down together and discuss plot or anything ahead of time) so they could just kind of write. They talked about the process and read a little from the book and took questions. I had my copy signed and picture taken and they gave out cool blank cds with a sleeve to make our own infinite playlist on. I have to figure out what to play...
SURPRISE!
Yesterday was Jenny's surprise wedding shower!
We were so afraid that she knew about it (since someone apparently sent her a gift in the mail apologizing for not being able to make it to the shower) but she was totally surprised!
We held it at Mon Ami Gabi, a French restaurant in Oak Brook. The hardest part was figuring out how to get Jenny there. Luckily Adam found a gift certificate Jenny had to Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants so he convinced her to use it and that they should try that restaurant. When she walked in to the room she was totally shocked! The whole event went really well.
We ate. A lot. The menu there is awesome:
• Baked Goat Cheese & Tomato on Garlic Toast
• Salade Maison with and Herb Vinaigrette
• Chicken & Brie Sandwich with Caramelized Onion & Apple
• Classic Quiche Lorraine (the BEST quiche I have ever had)
• Sauteed Spinach & Brie Crepes
• Pommes Frites
• Crème Brulee
• Profiterole
• Chocolate Mousse
Yes, it was family style so we all got to eat all of that. Yay! If you add in the cake we brought, we got four desserts!!!!
After foooooood, we played some bridal bingo, then Jenny opened presents. She got like her whole registry plus. I got Jenny her bathroom garbage can and some towels and soaps and such (towels for a shower, I'm so corny). Unfortunately Target never took it off the registry so she got two others of that garbage can. :( She got so much, her soon to have apartment was overflowing. Oh, and Sherry made a kickass bow bouquet for Jenny.
The shower went amazingly well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the food and Jenny was really happy so all the sneaking around was so worth it. Yay for surprise bridal showers!!
Congratulations Jenny!
More pics here!
Isla, Jen, and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry today.
Twas fun, twas fun. It was a free day but we had to pay to see the Divinci exhibit which was hypercool. Divinci is a nutball, seriously. Like the guy was into art and medicine and science and math. And he'd come up with all these crazy ideas and actually go through with them and build them even though they didn't work. I can't even make eggs. I really liked all the flying devices because I am a faerie with wings that don't work and want to fly. Mayhaps I shall build myself some flying wings. The three of us built a big bridge that actually held human weight. It went much better than our attempt at the small scale one.
We also saw the fairy castle which is, has been, and always will be the epitome of what a house should be. I love that place and want to shrink myself down and move in.
One thing I noticed is that kids are stupid and really don't care if there is a line for things. Multiple times I was waiting in line for something and a kid would just run in front of me and go to whatever it was. Stupid kids. And stupid parents. (which reminds me of what I forgot to say yesterday about the Omen. It seriously is one of the best pro-abortion movies out there.)
All in all though, it was goodgood times. Here are the pictures to prove it:
  
 
  
 
  
Later I went to Starbucks with Nadia. It was the first time I've been in there since the remodel. It looked nice but it would have been good if they actually added more places to sit. Boo. We talked about certain things that I can't talk about right now and the creepy things that happened at her work on 6-6-06. Seriously, she came in to a bunch of broken glasses, one of the phones kept playing the hold music out loud out of no where, and then one of her computer screens started showing everything backwards. I told her I'd have quit right then!
Happy 6-6-06!!!!
I was sad this morning because no one wanted to see the Omen with me, but the Jen called and said she wanted to go!!! The theater was packed but luckily jen mowed over a couple of twelve year old girls to score the perfect seats. The movie kicked ass, it was actually for the most part very well done. It stayed very true to the original, which is one of the truly greatest horror films (great as in quality, not great as in how I usually mean great things). All the elements really fit together well, and it is well thought out. Go watch the original, or the remake but really the original. I only really had 2 problems with the film. 1) They seemed to have this red motif where the color red showed up a lot, in coats, robes, flowers, etc. I found it to be noticeably trying to be something, but I couldn't figure out what. Like it wasn't just red before someone gets killed. I'd probably have to watch it a few times to figure out if there was rhyme or reason to it, but it didn't seemingly pose a purpose. 2) They did the makeup on the old burn victim priest to look like that old sith guy from star wars (I think that is correct, but I don't watch star wars). It seemed fake and unnecessary. But overall it was well worth it!
When I asked Scott later about why he didn't want to go, he said he was a coward. So, of course, I called him the cowardly lion and make this:
Hehehe.
In other news I tried on backpacks this morning at REI and determined that I am not meant for backpacks. My shoulders felt like I got rope burn and my back hurt (I have back problems and have thrown my back out before). I decided I need to get a small pack and pack light as hell. Everyone might just have to deal with me being a little smelly. Hehe.
Happy Birthday Scotty McHotty!
What??? Val didn't take pictures?? Shame shame.
Went out for Scott's birthday tonight at Hugo's Frog Bar. I am broke so I only had one drink, even though the food looked really good (I did try a bit of the calamari though, and it was soso good, I mean not chewy at all, it was so tender you didn't even realize there was squid in there). All of Scott's friends who I have never met were there and I really liked them. Scott was even told that I had to be invited more often. Yaymorenewfriendsforval! One of the guys kind of asked me out I think. Which is weird mainly because I have never been asked out before. He's supposed to call me later to possibly do something on Friday. Umm, I'm too tired to think of anything else.
Happy 6-6-06!
1. Today was my first official day of being unemployed. No frantic RE/MAX phone calls yet. How did I spend my day?? Shopping of course. hehe
2. There was an Americas Next Top Model marathon on VH1 on Saturday. Season 1, which is the only season I have never seen. I was semi-hungoverish (yeahyeah, I can't hold my liquor very well at all) so I basically spent my entire day in bed watching it. You can tell when I've been watching to much ANTM because at the Jewel on Sunday I was practicing my signature model walk down the aisles and when I stopped to pick out the right taco seasoning I broke into my end of the runway poses.
3. I never wrote about the spelling bee! Damn shame. ABC televised the National spelling bee on Thursday. Oh the drama. They did these hilarious little profiles f some of the spellers. They were real dramatic-like like they do for real athletes. They were priceless. There was one kid who spelled a word wrong and was sent packing. Then the judges figured out that they're word list was wrong and she had spelled it right so they brought her back in. The final two came down to a girl who seemed to actually have somewhat of a life and a...Canadian??? How the hell does a Canadian even get into the NATIONAL spelling bee? And, they kept giving the Canadian French words. WTF??? Finally the girl got out on the word "weltschmerz", which she started spelling with a "V." I wouldn't have spelled it correctly, but at least I knew enough that a German word starting with a V sound starts with a "W". So, I never liked spelling bees as a kid, so I don't know why I love watching them now. In fact, whenever we did the classroom ones I'd purposely spell the first word wrong so that I could sit down. I never had any desire to spell in front of people.
4. I turned in my second draft of my story for class today. I hate turning in second drafts because my writing always gets a lot worse before it gets better. At least I am done with school for the summer.
5. On the radio today I heard Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" 4 times. 3 of those times were right in a row. I also heard James Blunt's "Beautiful" 3 times. Silly radio stations all playing the same songs. I also heard a commercial for a Tiffany concert in June. I seriously thought for a moment that I drove through a time warp to the 80s.
"If we learned one important thing tonight, it's that lint is not sexy"
-Nadia on why whipped cream can be bad because it gets all sticky and attracts lint. And I am not talking about whipped cream being on ice cream...
Notice the inconspicuous bottle placement?? Ohyeah.
So what if I was 45 minutes late to my own party? Damn mapquest.
The kickoff party to my best summer ever was slots o fun. It started with dinner at Stir Crazy with Jenny, Adam, and Nadia. Yumyum plum crazy chicken and mango margaritas. We called ahead to put our names on the waiting list. When I got there they said it would be a couple minutes. 20 minutes later, me and Jenny go up and ask about it, the girl says "I think she is already seated." Umm, no. hehe, Adam had some good quotes about Jessica: "She watches rainbows and names all of her toes." Hehe. Jessica is Jenny and Adam's "special" daughter. She was born in a photo booth that takes two people's pictures and shows what your kids would look like.
Adam and Jenny had a wedding (not their own) in the morn so they had to split after dinner and Nad and I headed to the bar.and proceeded to be 45 minutes late because mapquest is stupid and didn't tell us the right way. :(
Once we got to the bar, it was tons of fun. There were in fact 3 men in kilts performing. There was lots of alcohol. There was a table to dance on with a built-in stripper pole (yay for outdoor patios with umbrella tables.) There was good conversation about pants, sex toys and ummm, that's all that really matters. MattyK, Jen, and Scott came out (yay for them and boo for those who did not). It was good times, good times.
Here are more pictures:
 
 
 
Job is done and it's time to party! Here's a quick look at what lies ahead:
June 2: "Valerie's Unemployed and Wants to Celebrate Celebration!" - aka getting drunk at the Kerry Piper
June 5: Celebrating Scott's b-day at a Frog
June 6: The Omen (someone want to go, please?)
June 13: Rachel Cohn (one of my favorite YA authors) and David Levithan at Andersons in Naperville
June 22-26: Munich, Germany
June 26-27: Zurich & Interlaken, Switzerland
June 27-29: Venice, Italy
June 29-July 1: Florence, Italy
July 1-4: Rome, Italy
July 5-7: Vienna , Austria
July 7-9: Prague, Czech Republic
July 9-12: Paris, France
July 19-July 22: White Water Rafting & Camping
August 12: Jenny's Wedding
August 24-28: Washington D.C./Virginia
There might be a trip to Great America in there (maybe I'll ride a roller coaster, eep!), a wedding shower, a bachelorette party, baseball games and other miscellaneotries.
In the in between times I hope to write the Great American Novel, read all those books I keep buying, help Jenny with any wedding goodness, hang out, and, yeah, maybe find a new job.
My work just threw me a going away "rave" complete with funky colored fake hair things for everyone, crystal tattoos, and a white castle crave case. Here's me and my boss at said "rave":
Hehe. it was awesome, I'm really going to miss some of the people I work with because they do kooky things like this.
Explanation for why it was a "rave": When I first started the president at our company was convinced that since I was so shy and quiet I was really hiding my secret life as a raver. Once he asked me how you go about finding where the raves were. I replied that you go up to the counter at a store and give them an egg (I swear I saw this on Growing Pains or some 80s show when I was a kid) and then they let you in. So, yesterday and today everyone kept coming up to me with hardboiled eggs with directions to our conference room on them and the time of the party. It was priceless.
A couple of the agents gave me going away presents. One gave me a memoir of a woman who took off to Europe and another gave me a surviving Europe on the cheap guide and a journal. :)
Despite the fact that I complain a lot, I will miss it here.
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