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Yesterday I turned 22 (+5). Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with me!!! It was definitely a day filled with the three things a woman wants most: chocolate, wine, and naked men!!!
1. Chocolate
In the afternoon Nadia and I met at Chocolate for Your Body. Nad got a regular mani and I splurged on a "chocolate signature". It's my party, I can splurge if I want to!
The manicure involved a cocoa scrub that made my hands nice and soft (and tasty I can assume), truffles (to eat, not for my hands), and coating my hands with a layer of chocolate.
After getting our nails all purdy Nad and I headed next door to Kristoffer's Café and Bakery
for some chocolate flan and coffee. It was a cute place but, let me tell you, I have never before peed in a bathroom that had a urinal in it. Ew.
2. wine
After gussying up our nails and caffinating ourselves, Nad and headed over to Jen's place. In the time it took to walk from the car to her place, walk down the wrong pathway and get locked in the alley, I seriously felt like my hands were going to fall off. Luckily we finally found the way in to thaw off. Then Josh called and apparently the bar lost my reservation for 15. Fuck. Isla came and drove us to the bar and they were working on setting up our table. Thankfully they were still able to accommodate us.
The restaurant we went to was Volo Restaurant and Wine Bar and it was delicious. We had good wine, good food, good friends...
I tried some marrow bones and will never ever eat them again. Honestly, I really think all those chefs pretend they like such things to be all pretentious. But how can anyone like that crap? It had the texture of sandy snot and tasted horrible. On a better note the steak tartar was DEVINE and the duck confit was DEVINE. Josh and I also shared some Seared Yellowtail Tataki, but we still haven't decided what kind of citrus was pickled.
15 people showed up, which was totally awesome. Sarah came and, despite the fact that she hardly knows me, she completely gets me because she gave me a pink sparkly dragonfly and a Victoria's Secret gift card (pink, dragonflies, and VS are three of my very favorite things). Chelsa from work came and brought a friend. Rob and Chris and Aimee showed up despite having to be at a party in Milwaukee later that night. Meredith and Isla and Jen and Alina and Jenny and Adam and Nadia and Josh came too!!! Jen gave me a cute Smurfette tee and a pink candleholder. And Nadia gave me what she described as a "lame" present of a candleholder. It totally wasn't lame! But she said it was my fake present because my real one, a pink Rabbit wine opener, didn't arrive yet...In talking about this some people overheard pink rabbit and assumed it was something else...
Josh showed me what he really thinks of me by getting me a bottle of Bitch wine.
The label is PINK and, well, I am a bitch, so it's only appropriate.
Honestly I did not expect anything from anyone, I was just happy people came out during the zero degree weather!!!
My wine was yummy too. I was bad and ordered whites then proceeded to order a lot of red meat. But ohwellz. I had a lovely white wine flight. Then I had a Gewurtztraminer. Later I also had a yummy muscado d'asti.
They brought me a yummyyummy flourless chocolate cake with mint ice cream and everyone sang and I got to make a wish on my candle, which is always my favorite part, because I wish on just about everything you can wish on.
3. naked men
After the wine bar I bid adieu to a few of my female friends and all of the few guys left and the remaining chicas headed to Annoyance Theatre. We hung out at the bar there and played the game of Memory that I found on the shelf. Did I ever mention how much I suck at Memory? Ask me exactly what a certain person said to me at a certain time and I can probably repeat our conversation word for word. Ask me to remember where the little black boy is and I go blank.
After a couple rousing rounds we headed into the theatre for SKINPROV and the perfect night of entertainment to get your mind off of the fact that your best guy friends all ditched you for another party and none of them even bothered to call to wish you a happy birthday. But who cares about that when you've got drinks and half-naked men!!!
We beat the rest of the crowd into the theatre for prime first row seatage. The show was basically a bunch of men improving scenes and taking off all their clothes. They ended the first scene by all taking off their shirts. A couple short scenes later they paired up for small scenes that each ended with "Let's take off our pants." By the end of the show (and some taking off multiple pairs of underwear) we were left with g-stringed and jock-strapped men and a whole lotta nakedmanass.
After the show we headed back out to the annoyance bar to talk with the guys, still walking around shirtless. They got me a couple of shots and I ended up having both a buttery nipple and a pussy shot on them. The one naked man told us that he'd sucked more cock than anyone else there...and then introduced us to his lovely girlfriend.
We stuck around until they closed, drank some drinks, chatted up the bartenders, then headed off to Uptown Lounge...mostly because it was just around the corner and fucking freezing.
The bar definitely wasn't my cup of tea. Mostly because I hate talking to people I have absolutely no interest in. And because every three minutes the waitress came up and asked us if we needed anything else. We stayed out till about 4:30, well past the text message the guys sent to say their party was over.
All in all my party was totally awesome and I am so happy that everyone came who did! I have tons of amazing friends and I am glad they came out to share my night of turning 22+5!!!
INCRIMINATING PICTURES HERE!
Today was our departments Christmas party. Yes, yes, I know that Christmas was a while gone by now, but we're busy people damnit.
So a bit after noon we took the rest of the day off and headed to Quartino for lunch. We had three pizzas (I ate two: one topped with bunches of fresh spinach and one with a slab of spicy but yummy sausage), Italian "sliders" (a small sammich of fresh mozzarella (made in house) and tomato), nice pillowy gnocchi and green beans, and a sulumi platter of Duck Prosciutto, Bresaola, olives, artichokes, cheeses, and a few spreads. Yumyum.
When they brought out the dessert menu I was told that since we were also celebrating my birthday that I had to order dessert so I got some yummy profiteroles stuffed with chocolate sauce and vanilla gelati. When they delivered it everyone sang Happy Birthday. But then the restaurant staff brought me a cup of gelati with a candle so they sang again. I passed around the cup but was ordered by the boss to eat my whole dessert myself. Done and done.
After lunch we headed to 10 Pin for some bowling. It's a cool little place (I actually always expected it to be bigger) with a nice (but expensive) martini menu (I had a yummy peachy keen martini) and giant screens of music videos playing above the lanes. The first round sucked. I came in dead last. The second round I had the second highest score. I attribute that to the fact that for that round the scoring screen had turned to PINK. The next round we did a face off of marketing vs. pr with the losing team having to buy Starbucks for the department. Alas, marketing lost :-( I was horrible that round. The next round I did better (because the board was now a different shade of pink), but we still managed to lose again. Ohwellz.
 
  
 
 
2007 was both the best and worst year you could ever imagine. OK, so definitely not the worst year ever, but at the same time I feel kind of shitty that I didn't suck it up and accomplish the two biggest things on my list. I'm still living with the parents and I'm still single :-( Other than that though I had one of the most amazingly awesome years you could ever imagine! Thank you so much to everyone who helped make my year so sweet! Highlights definitely include Nadia and Bryan's wedding, the Illinois road trip, Warped Tour exhibit at the Rock Hall, the Krystal Square Off, meeting Kurt Halsey (and him recognizing me!), and meeting Pat Bertoletti (and him remembering me!). Oh! And the Kwik-e-Mart...and my birthday...and skiing...and cicadas...and well...I guess a whole lot more!
Despite the fact that this year I also completed my masters in writing, I think i probably can sum up the year best in the 10,328 photos I took...
(Don't worry, I didn't really post here all 10,328 photos. But sorry they go so fast, I had too many!)
For those brave ones, below the cut is a recap of my "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" 100 in 2007!!!
Continue reading "2007 rocked my socks" »
In the last month of 2007, I completed eight more things, bringing the grand total for the year to 55 and surpassing my goal of doing half! I had wanted to try and shove a few more things in, but I have felt pretty sick over the last couple of weeks, so I didn't get to everything I had planned. Still, I'm pretty happy with the fact that I actually completed my goal this month!!!
Here's my December:
4. Pick a hair color and stick with it
I've been a blonde the whole year...and haven't even dyed it since early August!
25. See Second City
Unless something goes terribly wrong (knockonwood) I'll be going tonight!
28. See at least 3 plays
I saw Good Boys and True this month and two plays last month!!!
30. See plenty of Opera
I saw Doctor Atomic one and a half times this month and with that I officially saw a whole lof of opera (though not nearly as much as I could have seen)
38. Watch The Science of Sleep (looks interesting)
I rented it yesterday and watched it last night. I'm not sure yet what I think about it. Honestly, I have no idea what happened and have no idea how it ended but I still thought it was interesting and amazing. But don't ask me to tell you the plot because I don't know what happened.
59. Learn google analytics
Eh, I learned it enough this year so I am officially crossing it off the list.
85. Bake once a month
This month I baked a buche de Noel and it was damn purdy.
90. Make a ginger bread house
I never said it had to be a good gingerbread house.
Stay tuned for the year-end recap and my new plan for 2008...
I think I am in contention for the worst gingerbread house ever made.
See, I lack the two qualities necessary to succeed in the gingerbread world: patience and precision. My dough was too crumbly. I didn't bother to try to make even, straight pieces. I didn't bother trying to make a slanted roof. I burnt the gingerbread. The icing was too runny.
The melted Jolly Rancher windows came out surprisingly nicely.
Trying to put it together I just kind of held the pieces in place and dumped as much frosting as possible over it in hopes that something would stick.
I just spent my entire day on this damn thing because the weather is too crappy to go anywhere and someone cancelled the ski trip I was supposed to be on right now.
If it survives until tomorrow I might try to decorate. Might.
Stay tuned for gingerbread watch 2007...
28. See at least 3 plays
When did I get so laxidasical about theatre? It took me eleven months, but in November I saw House's "The Nutcracker" and "The Sparrow." Two down, one to go.
30. See plenty of Opera
So I missed Caesar :-( But I saw Die Frau :-) Four hours of opera is definitely plenty of opera :-) But I know I will see one more this year!
65. Finish my masters
Donedonedonedonedone...I hope. I don't technically have my diploma. But I got a B+ in my last class!!! Totally awesome grade for hardly putting forth much effort!
79. Go to Las Vegas
Been there, done that, will certainly do it again...
83. Knock off at least a few of the following Illinois Attractions:
j. The Golden Pyrimid House
Aint it purdy?
85. Bake once a month
This month I baked an apple tart.
What do you get when you put two scaredy cats on top of the tallest building in the United States???
A bit over a year ago I was in Austria talking to CanadiaJason(eh) and he was asking me about Chicago and where I have and haven't been. He brought up the point that we never really do the touristy things that our cities are known for. I've been to the Sears Tower before, but not since I was probably eight or so.
Heather has never been to the Sears Tower at all, so, since she was in town, Emily, Heather, and I headed to the top. It was really fun...except for having to wait in 50 different lines and the penny pressing machine eating my fifty-one cents. But Chicago looks so different (and equally as awesome) from above. It also wasn't nearly as scary as I remember it being. :-)
Afterwards we headed over to Macys and Michigan Avenue for some shopping. At the Macys FAO Schwartz we discovered "Giant Microbes"...So everyone expect me to give you herpes or mad cow or lyme disease for Christmas. We found burgers at some little local bar because they didn't have a line. We visited Heather's coat and my ring. Then we headed back to Emily's to watch Monster Squad and chillax (and learn Heather's trying on clothes song) before grabbing sushi at Wakamono where I discovered I love sushi if it is good sushi (coughnomoretakingmetocrappyplacesjoshcough). They gave us a free appetizer of inari - we had no idea what it was but it was of the tastiest things I have ever had...turns out its a pocket of deep fried tofu stuffed with rice, it's really sweet and really tasty. I got a soft-shell crab maki and it was amazingly good. Half of the pieces were like normal sushi, and the other half had the tentacles all poking up, which made for a quite amusing experience of trying to stuff the whole thing in my mouth, because once it was in I had very little room to chew.
Then we headed over to the Schoolyard to catch the end of the Illini Game (we won!). We met up with Emily's coworker who, surprisesurprise, happened to be friends of friends with John. Small world...but I guess being in an Illini bar it's not soooo crazy to run into people you know. Once the game was over the bar cleared out a bit and we watched crazy extreme sports, sang out loud to Bon Jovi (twice), and tried to avoid having a dance off with some old guy who didn't understand what a dance off was. Emily and Heather's friend Adam joined us...hilarity ensued.
I called it a night around 2:30, but then in the cab back to my car had the most confusing moment ever when I looked at my phone and it said it was 1:30, and I swore it was later and felt lame. Then I got to my car and saw that it was 2:30 on my car. And then I finally realized that there was a damn time change. This upset me because time changes are my favorite moments of the year. There is no more surreal feeling than watching a clock go from 1:59 to 1. And I missed it. But who really cares?
PHOTOS HERE!
General
18. Go to Bromann Park
I have a park?!?!?!
20. Go to a haunted house
Best haunted house ever.
Arts
24. See Blue Man Group
That show is still as awesome as ever...except for the caking me in banana part.
Life and professional:
72. Learn to use my iPod and get all my music on it
I'm still iPod inept and still have a lot of songs to add...but I now have more on there than just "Like a Prayer."
Travel:
80. Go to Bengtson's Pumpkin Farm
Done and done.
81. Visit a state I have never been to
This was already crossed off with Ohio, but now I can cross off Tennessee and Kentucky as well!
82. See Takeru Kobayashi
So, it's not my fault that he has a jaw injury and couldn't compete :-( So, no I won't be able to cross this off of my list this year :-( I did however see Joey Chestnut pound down 103 Krystals and Pat Bertoletti swallow like a bazillion jalapenos. That counts for something!
Food and Libations:
85. Bake once a month
S'mores Bars!
My day at the Krystal Square Off.
a report by Val Bromann
Yes, we drove ten hours to Chattanooga and ten hours back to Chicago to watch people eat hamburgers for eight minutes.
Yes, we are weird and wacky and insane.
Yes, it was totally worth it!
The whole event started at noon with "Free Krystals, games, etc. etc." We had to check out of our hotel by 11 and had nowhere else to go, so we arrived around 11:30/11:45. We saw some people in Krystal Fan T-shirts so we went to scope out where we could get some. Nad and I bought red ringers that say "Official Fan of the World Hamburger Eating Championship." Bryan got a yellow one that said "Future Champion."
The T-shirt lady showed us where they'd be giving out free Krystals. We told her that we'd never had any before and then we'd driven the ten hours from Chicago just for the contest. She mentioned that she hated White Castles.
We went and stood in line for Krystals, where we started to determine that it seemed that we were the only people there who did not live within a 2-mile radius of the event. Are we really the only crazies in the world?
So we got our Krystals. A Krystal Lady came up and took my pic because I'd put on my t-shirt and had my burger. We told her our story about never having had a Krystal before and driving all that way. And she gave us free posters! Score! She then pointed us in the direction of the Krystal Confessional where Nad and I got a video taken of us trying our burgers for the first time (see previous entry)
Shortly after coming out, T-shirt lady came and tracked us down with another Krystal person. She asked us if we really drove all that way just for the competition. Yes, yes we did. We came, of course, to cheer on our hometown Deep Dish hero!
They kind of thought that was awesome...and then kind of gave us free V.I.P. passes. !?!?!?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?!
We were kind of totally shocked!
That basically meant that we got to go way up in front of the crowd and watch in the press area. SUPER AWESOME because that meant not only did we have great seats, but we didn't have to worry about trying to find and save seats at all!!! And we'd be right there in the action! And maybe even get drooled on or something!
Nadia and I were seriously the giddiest little clams you would ever see in your life. EVER!
We wandered about collecting more awesome Krystal stuff. We got a free t-shirt, thunder sticks and pompoms! We watched the competitors being brought in convertibles (except for Sonya...how did she not get a convertible??) And then stood in line to get autographs but were only able to maddeningly score Joeys.
We went and tracked down the woman who gave us the passes and she let us through the ropes and told us where to go...which ended up being just us and the press. Seriously, I don't think any of the other VIPs knew that they could come around and stand right up front...
First were the bunnettes, then the amateur competition, then the National Anthem...and then...the MAIN EVENT (only slightly delayed due to live bowling coverage...)
All the competitors were introduced...then they were off! And my oh my can they eat!!!! and eat. and eat. Actually eat is the wrong word. Consume? Devour? Absorb? Ingurgitate?
It really was the Joey, Pat, Bob show..."Humble" Bob Shoudt was mighty impressive at chowing down burgers...especially for a vegetarian
:-)
And Joey "Jaws" Chestnut was...amazing! Seriously! I don't know where all that food goes! And then...and then...in a history making, record-shattering moment...he hit 100!!!! 100 burgers in less than eight minutes!!! Holy processed cow meat!
The Krystal Square Off was an absolutely amazing battle and ended with Joey "Jaws" Chestnut in first (103 Krystals), "Humble" Bob Shoudt in second (95 Krystals), and "Deep Dish" Pat Bertoletti in third (94 Krystals). And I can't even begin to describe how defeated Pat looked (especially since just a few weeks ago he defeated both Joey and the great Tsunami Kobayashi at Chicken Wings).
:-(
It was an amazingly awesome contest. Those eight minutes were completely worth 20 hours in the car...
Afterwards we hung around and got pics with a couple of the eaters, including Mr. Joey Chestnut himself.
Then we went and got a picture with Pat. He asked if we'd met before and said he knew he'd seen me before. (he most likely remembers seeing our crazy selves at the Jalapeno eating contest, although we were too chicken to go up to him there). :-) He also asked "You didn't come here just to see me, did you?" "[yescauseyourehot] nono, for the whole event!"
Truth be told, the original mission of the trip was to see Kobayashi in action. But alas his jaw injury had kept him away :( Ohwellz. I am so happy that we went anyways!!!
So we let Pat go because he had to catch a plane to Chicago and we had to drive to Chicago.
And then we drove to Chicago.
And that is a very long drive. (but did I mention that it was totally worth it?)
**MORE PICTURES HERE!**
Let's start with Saturday
I woke up at 5am on Saturday morning surprisingly awake. I think it was kind of like when you're a kid how you can wake up on Christmas morning before anyone else and be completely ready to go. Except instead of waiting for Santa Claus I was waiting for Joey Chestnut and Pat Bertoletti. I showered and packed up my car then went to pick up Nadia and Bryan.
Before 7am we were already on the road to Chattanooga for the Krystal Square Off, the only Major League Eating sanctioned hamburger contest, and one of their top two competitions. The Square Off is held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, 600 miles away and a nine and a half hour drive.
The drive was boring and fun and beautiful and crazy all at the same time. The road signs wanted us to play pong but we determined that may be a bad idea. We also determined that there has to be some sort of street called neutralville between the neighboring towns of brownsburg and whitestown.
At about one or so we made it to our first destination: Cave City, Kentucky. Cave City is an anomaly of a town that is basically my idea of heaven. Our first stop int he town was Big Mike's Rock and Gift Shop and Mystery House. We wandered the gift shop for a bit and then purchased our $1.06 admission for the guided tour of the mystery house...
The first room we went to was full of posters. You know the things: the sentence that has an extra "the" that you completely ignore, the drawing of the two hands drawing each other, the staircases that you can't tell which way was up, etc. etc. Pretty basic everyone's seen it stuff...
The next room was blacklight posters. A room filled with blacklight posters. That was all. They glowed. It was psychedelic or something.
And then on to the good stuff...
The next room was freaky deeky awesome. There was a water fountain and the stream of water ran UPWARDS. And there were pool balls on a ledge that fell UPWARDS and stayed there. And there was a chair that balanced on the wall and I sat on it and was like floating. And the whole room felt like I was going to topple over because it was on weird gravity-defying angles. It was hard to even stand in there!
The next room had a little house thingy and when we went in depending on where you stood you looked either really short or really tall. And then there was a ledge that looked like it was completely on an angle, but in reality was the only thing that was perfectly straight across so when you stood on it you felt completely in balance even though it looked lopsided and you were toppling over everywhere else.
Then it was on through a hall of portraits...those things that look normal at first but then change to look all freaky when you pass...and that was that. The most awesomest Mystery House ever! Totally worth the buck admission. We tipped an extra buck to our fourteen year old tour guide Alex and headed on our way.
We were going to go to the old decrepit wax museum...but it was closed...perhaps permanently :(
We passed by the KY action park (mmmhmmm) but did not go...
We stopped at Dinosaur World, which is kind of a park like Jurassic Park but I don't think the donos are real. We didn't feel like paying the $10 admission though...
Then we stopped by Wigwam Village. It's a motel...where all of the rooms are wigwams. Seriously, these babies have real beds and cable TV and everything. And are shaped like wigwams. I am so making JoeJoe take us canoeing or something around here sometime so we can stay in these :)
Then after it was a quick bite to eat and we headed off to Tennessee, Georgia, Tennessee (silly directions)...
The views through Tennessee are awesome...but we especially loved the runaway truck ramps going up the mountains...
By about seven we made it to Chattanooga and our wonderful Days Inn! Ideally we would have stayed across the street at the Sheraton (they sponsored the Krystal Square Off and so we assumed they hosted all fo the eaters there) but in the interest of saving $100 we opted for cheap motel. Once there we basically passed out for a bit watching a crappy movie. Then we walked a couple of blocks to Sticky Fingers BBQ for dinner. The food there was amazing. I got a pulled pork/half slab combo with Tennessee whiskey bbq sauce. The meat completely just fell of the bone. I picked it up an the bone was completely dry. And it wasn't fatty at all. That's a rib!
We were thinking of doing something afterwards but we were all pretty much exhausted so we went back and called it a night. Needed to rest up for the Krystal Square Off and the long, long drive home...
***MORE PICTURES HERE!!!***
1. Sometimes you tell someone that you drove ten hours to see the hamburger contest. And then sometimes that person finds someone else who gets you VIP passes to go stand all the way up in front with the press.
2. Sometimes records are broken.
3. Sometimes your favorite eater kind of remembers seeing you before :)
4. Sometimes you seriously have what may be the best roadtrip ever. :)
Recap, pictures, etc. to come later.
For now, it's 2am and I just got home after driving the entire 10+ hours (damn constuction) from Chattanooga...zzzzzzzzzzzzz
When you hear the whistle blowin' eight to the bar
Then you know that Tennessee is not very far
Shovel all the coal in
Gotta keep it rollin'
Woo, woo, Chattanooga there you are
So Chattanooga choo choo
Won't you choo-choo me home?
Chattanooga choo choo
Won't you choo-choo me home?
Yup, I'm in Chattanooga! But I doubt I'll see much of it :) Driving 10 hours Saturday to get there...watching an eight-minute hamburger-eating contest on Sunday...driving ten hours back :) but it's so worth it!!!
Watch the Krystal Square off on ESPN at 1:30pm central on Sunday!!!
Saturday
Bengtson's Pumpkin Farm
Saturday I hit up the pumpkin farm with the girls...Adam counts as one of the gils because he carries a purse.
There were tons of superneat things to do like pig races, hayrack rides, singing chickens and a petting zoo.
We went to a little haunted house...Adam and I managed to get completely lost in it and accidentally leaving through the wrong exit. Oops. Jenny didn't make it past the door.
We saw the absolutely most innapropriate witch statue thing ever.
Seriously, it kind of just held its broom pole with both hands and vibrated. And then from the back all you saw was the broom head with smoke coming out. Now that's creepy.
We saw lots of animals including a Zedonk and kangaroo. The kangaroo was sleeping so the kids around us just started throwing their carrots on top of it to try to wake it up.
Then we searched out the perfect pumpkins. Adam and Jenny looked around until they found the perfect one...but then found an even perfecter one. Nadia just wanted a baby one. I chose this one:
simply because I liked the curlycue funny stem. I go for character over perfection :)
**PUMPKIN FARM PICTURES***
Statesville Haunted Prison
After the farm I bid adiue to the girls and headed off to Statesville Haunted Prison. I didn't bother to invite Nad or Jen because I figured their answer would be no anyways.
Of course, I got there way before anyone else, so I staked a place in line. The plan was to be there a half hour before it opened and I was already pretty far along in line. Finally Joe and Alina showed up and then Emily and her crew.
After paying our $30 admission (yes, I said $30) we went in...and then Emily realized that she'd forgotten one of her friends was still coming. Luckily for only $10 more dude with megaphone let him bypass that first line. Yes, I said first line. After getting chased by really scary stilt man we headed off to yet another line...where we proceeded to wait. All in all we were in line for about three hours. Yes, I said three hours. A bunch of scary dudes came around being all scary like and a dude with a chainsaw was chasing people around. At first they were scarier, but after three hours you just kind of got used to them. We did however see chainsaw guy chase people to the point of one running into the rope fence and another guy falling, summersaulting and his friend then tripping over him. Hilarity. At least chainsaw man was nice and helped them to their feet.
At one point I totally almost made out with a zombie because he started wagging his tongue at me so I just started doing it back.
Finally we made our way to the front and then were carted off into a prison cell. Then we were brought into the prison. It was the scariest haunted house I have ever been to. But also totally cool. There were a bunch of people per room and some of the rooms were basically pitch black and sometimes you felt like you were in a car wash and had to squeeze between foamy rubber walls and sometimes you had to crouch down really small to squeeze through the rooms. And there were killer klowns from outer space.
Emily, Emily's friend who I can't remember the name of for the life of me, and I made a little chain of holding onto eachothers sweatshirts.
It was totally awesome though.
When we got out the line was about 5 million times longer and considering it took us three hours we figure those who were there will get in at about Christmas...
Sunday
Bromann Park
Sunday afternoon I met up with Alina at her apartment. We grabbed some sandwiches and headed over to Bromann Park.
So, I had no idea that this place even existed until about a year ago when I googled my last name, despite the fact that it's apparently been around since the 70s. I'd never been and Alina wasn't too far so we decided to go!
Basically I think it was named after a relative from "the other side" of the family. You can read some of the history here.
It's a really cute little park. Although I think they just redid it, so I am curious as to what it looked like before. There was a little swing set and a little play thingymabob and some picnic tables. Alina and I had some girl talk and ate our sandwiches. It was a funfun afternoon and I still can't beleive I have a park named after me Shush you, it was named after ME!!! :- )
**BROMANN PARK PICTURES**
BBQ with MattyK
Later MattyK had some people over to his house for bbq and top gear watching and rafting photo viewing. MK took like 4 pictures. I guess I baklanced it out with my 200+ :)
I had steak but made a sammich out of it. He didn't yell at me for turning the steak he worked so hard on making into a sammich but said it was a good idea. :)
I have not seen Top Gear in like three years because I am never invited over to watch it. It was funny because they redid the make a car work on both land and sea experiement and actually made it to France! It was funny. I said that already.
I had ice cream in my coffee but MK would not let me have it in my wine.
Then I made him play me Rhapsody in Blue and My Funny Valentine.
Then I left.
Then I went to bedzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
**PUMPKIN FARM PICTURES***
**BROMANN PARK PICTURES**
Valerie's 100 in 2007:
Bah, it was a slow month...(well, in terms of the list...I mean I DID take a trapeze class, go to Hollywood Boulevard twice, see Pat Bertoletti win a jalapeno contest AND attend a ball...)
19. Go to Millenium Park
I figure it's safe to cross this off my list since I have now been there once on my own, once to take wedding photos, and once to see a concert...but next summer we are all going to tromp in the fountain :)
30. See plenty of Opera
I saw La boheme :)
34. Go to Renegade Craft Fair
Done and done.
78. Go to a baseball game
Go Sox!!! (and hot dogs!)
85. Bake once a month
Corn bread.
91. Chicago Wine Festival
mmmpinkwine.
Poll:
Should I do another list for 2008??? If so, how many items should be on the list? What percentage of that list should I have to complete?? (This year I had 100 on my list of which my goal is to complete 50.) Should it be a completely new list or contain the things that I don't finish this year? Any suggestions for things you want to see val do???? Leave your answers in the comments!!!!
I saw La bohème today. It was beautiful.
Except I kept comparing it to RENT because I haven't seen boheme in a long time so was never sure of all of the crossovers.
I cried though, but what doesn't make me cry I guess.
But it is really very good (sorry I am too tired to think of better adjectives).
I woke up at six to get to work an hour early because I had a ton I needed to get done. What we learned today was that when I wake up really early I forget things like how to shower. Seriously I stood in the shower trying to figur out what I was supposed to do. If you were there you'd have laughed at me. I guess you would have also seen me naked (because I at least remembered that step).
The rest of the day...we're not going to talk about that...
La Costeña "Feel the Heat" Jalapeño Eating Challenge
Amazingly, Nadia had this Sunday off. Also amazingly, we have the same stupid sense of what is fun in life. So, we took off to celebrate her independence (because she is Mexican) at the "Feel the Heat" Jalapeño Eating Challenge at some park I can't pronounce in some area of the city.
We totally proved our giddy twelve-year-old fangirl status by bypassing the alcohol and food and music and staking out the eating contest way early and giggling an awful lot and following around contestants (but mostly because we figured that they would be going to the right place).
While waiting at the La Costeña booth Nad says "Just look for the mohawk!" and then not 2 seconds later we look up and, low and behold, Pat Bertoletti is heading our way...and then he stands RIGHT NEXT TO ME before seeing the people he was looking for. Did I mention he stood RIGHT NEXT TO ME? Did I also mention that I am a dork and can't believe that I got this excited about competitive eating??? And the eaters????
So once his crew takes off we follow them, because we assume they know where they are going. And then we held our position right in the front of the "crowd" (AKA, we were the only ones there besides, who we guessed were, Pat's family and friends...) And then we probably made fools of ourselves by giggling and staring and they probably totally knew that we were giggling and staring...but whatever.
Oh! And Pat was totally drinking straight from a bottle of Pepto-Bismol while hanging out. And that was kind of awesome.
Once the competition was about to begin (it started late, I heard later that some of the contestants had a hard time finding the place...it WAS hard to find) a crowd started to gather.
And then it was time to begin!
Ryan Nerz came out to do brief bio-interviews with some of the eaters...and boy did they come out!! (who knew that so many people would want to shove themselves full of jalapeños?!?!?! )
The lineup included Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, Rich "The Locust" LeFevre, Hall "Hoover" Hunt, and Erik The Red Denmark...just to name a few.
Pat downed chocolate milk while being introduced, which is awesome, because you know I always think the best plan of attack to being able to eat a lot is to fill up your stomach beforehand...right?
Then everyone was introduced and the countdown began (in both English and Spanish)...5, 4, 3, 2, 1!
And they were off, within seconds pepper upon pepper (and plenty of milk) were being consumed...
And after a couple of minutes a couple of them totally looked like they were going to have a reversal of fortune (or at least like they had rabies).
And then after six-and-a-half minutes of the eight minute competition...THEY RAN OUT OF PEPPERS!!!!
WHAT THE HELL???
So...they had to cut the contest short. Which kind of bites (no pun intended) because as in any competition there is strategy, and to change the rules in the middle kind of muck things up.
But anyways...
We waited and waited with anticipation as the number of peppers consumed by each contestant was tallied up.
And then...the winners were announced for the truncated six and a half minute competition (It was supposed to be eight)...
In Fourth Place: Hall "The Hoover" Hunt (110):
In Third Place: Rich "The Locust" LeFevre (120):
In Second Place: Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas (141):
And...
In First Place...
Our Hometown Hero...
PAT BERTOLETTI!!!! (191)
Who is now, officially, the jalapeño-eating champion of the world!!!
Woohoo!!!
So, it was a totally awesome experience, and my first MLE event I watched live. I didn't get to meet any of them because I was too chicken and shy to go up beforehand, and then afterwards no one came out right away and we didn't want to wait too long.
But did I mention that it was totally, 100%, completely, amazingly awesome?
More Jalapeño Eating Pictures Here!!!
Renegade Craft Fair
After the contest (and a run...OK...slow long powerwalk to Babies-R-Us) we dropped off Bryan (I don't think I ever mentioned that Bryan came with us...eh, he's not important) and then headed off to Do-Division Festival and Renegade Craft Fair.
So, the do-division festival was kind of very lame. There was some not-completely terrible band with no one watching them on one end, and some god-awful techno crap on the other, and a couple of generic food stands and merch tents in between.
We got some food (I had some fried raviolis and a lemonade) then headed on to Renegade.
The Renegade Craft Fair was totally cool, and I don't think I've ever used the terms "kind of awesome" and "totally cute" so much as I did there.
Basically it's a more modern craft fair...you know, no doilies or anything like that, but IPod covers and two-headed sock monkeys instead.
My only gripe is that we got there at around 8ish and they closed at 10, but a bunch of people were already packed up and gone, or were in the process of packing up. Lame.
There was so much nice stuff. I totally wanted a pink two-headed sock monkey...But I could not afford it. I also totally wanted all the jewelry from Sofia Masri. But alas, I couldn't afford that right then either :(
p.s. Now you know what to get me for my birthday ;-)
I did pick up a cute little cup/vase thingy with little bee on it and a "to do list" pad of paper that says "get of your ass and..." because that's totally me.
And that was my Sunday.
p.s. Thome hit 500 yesterday. He was so saving it for bobble head night :(
More Jalapeño Eating Pictures Here!!!
Valerie's 100 in 2007:
35 36 down...a million to go...
7. Stand up at my sister's wedding
27. See the Kurt Halsey Art Show at DVA
40. Go to free movies in the Grant Park
66. Develop a good "5 year plan"
- I don't know if it's good, or if it's a plan, but it is what it is.
73. Go golfing (at least to a driving range)
81. Visit a state I have never been to
Ohio!
100. Freddy's Pizza in Cicero (Chicago Mag voted it Best Gelato in the city)
Substitutions:
So, I made plans to go white water rafting on October 12...and this happens to be the date of both Around the Coyote AND the Music Box Massacre:( So, alas, I will not be able to attend either. I believe it is unfair to not be able to cross these off because I will be out of town doing something even more dangerous and fun, so I am allowing a couple of substitutions (it's my list so I give myself permission)...
34. Go to Around the Coyote
This will now be substituted with
34. Go to the Renegade Craft Fair
35. Go to the Music Box Theatre - Music Box Massacre
This will now be substituted with
35. See a movie at midnight opening night
Oh look! I already did that! :) I went to see the Simpsons at midnight when it came out :) so...
35. See a movie at midnight opening night
:-)
Friday:
Nadia picked me up and then it was off to Cleveland! OK...sort of... First, we took a pit stop at Freddy's (it was basically on the way). Nadia indulged her childhood memories of thick pizza squares and some limoncello gelato...I got myself a fried artichoke (YUM) and some pistachio gelato (DOUBLEYUM).
Then we headed to the city to pick up the boys (Bryan and Jim) and swap cars and then we were finally off!...But not before driving around the city for about 20 hours and stopping at the Skyway McDonald's (I'd never even known that that place existed until earlier this year. It's a McDonald's...smack dab in the middle of the highway. And it's kind of scary.)
So then we were finally off to Cleveland! On the way we discovered the great musical stylings of cereal (otherwise known as a promotional Halloween CD from General Mills that was in the car for some reason...catchy stuff), sang aloud to Kelly Clarkson (at least Jim did), utilized ghetto mapquest, stopped at a gas station that accepts cereal as payment, and ate some symbolic cheetos (because I wouldn't let anyone eat anything orange on my roadtrip).
Then we finally made it to Cleveland!!!!
We checked into our hotel and asked the desk clerk for suggestions on anything that would be open at 11pm in the somewhat-deserted at that time of night downtown area that would still have dinner. The guy rattled off a few places but he was hard to understand because of his "off Cleveland accent" (aka, Jamaican). Then some random dude told us he'd take us in his limo. Nad and I declined and Bryan whined but we weren't about to get into some random dude's random limo.
We walked a couple of blocks and came across the restaurants that we think the Jamaican dude was telling us about, but, surprise surprise, they were all closed.
Luckily one of the places that looked like it was just going to be a bar and was open turned out to be a restaurant and so we ate and watched some Sox. I had a yummy steam and cheese and mushroom and onion sammich on garlic bread with cheesy bacony fries (because I'd left my bird seed in the car). The garlic bread made it. Then we wandered back to the hotel, stopping to check out the guitars (like the Chicago cows) and Jacob's Field, which was kind of right there in the open.
Saturday:
Saturday we headed out bright and early to go see the thing we actually went to Cleveland for in the first place...THE WORLD'S LARGEST RUBBER STAMP!!!!!
Ok, OK, so maybe it wasn't the entire reason for going to Cleveland...but I think it's awesome!
So after we pondered the greatness that is THE WORLD'S LARGEST RUBBER STAMP we headed off another block to see what I guess technically was our whole reason for going to Cleveland: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!
We basically went because we wanted to see the Warped Tour Exhibit. There was a Clash exhibit there too, which made it even better.
The Hall was pretty oddly laid out, but we got to see a lot of neat things (sorry, no cameras were allowed, so no pics for you :( ). I liked it a lot because music photography is some of the most interesting photography you can find. I love it.
The Warped Tour exhibit was cool, especially the Lisa Johnson photography and some of the really random things they displayed (I especially liked the hair clippers used to keep the mohawks coming!)
Other hall highlights: Michael Jackson's rotating glove, Madonna's wardrobes that look really well made compared to others, wondering why the Monkees weren't featured :(, wondering why the hell they had a special music of Ohio exhibit until we realized we were in Cleveland, Pink Floyd Wall, weird mesmerizing TV installation, the Hall, the Clash, hearing everyone who commented that they never knew the Clash had more than one song, what may be the World's biggest Hot Dog, Fries, and Coke (The hot dog was actually used to fly Phish into a concert once)...
All in all, it was a pretty fun museum!!!
After the museum we headed back to the hotel to grab the car and then took off looking for the "house with the leg lamp in the window" and we found it!!!
This was the house that they filmed "A Christmas Story" at. It's apparently in Cleveland! Technically they just shot the outside scenes there. But some dude in California bought the house for over double its market value and fixed up the outside and did what he could wit the inside to look just like it did in the movie. He also paid over double what the house across the street was worth to build a gift show and museum. Crazy.
It was kind of neat though. They fixed it up with everything from the leg lamp in the window, the turkey in the oven, the BB gun in the corner, soap on the ledge, and a Red Ryder comic on the bed.
I can't believe I paid $7 to see it, but it was totally worth it I say!
After the museum we wandered the market a bit, grabbed some yummy coffee, and went on a Brewery Tour of the Great Lakes Brewing Company! I've never been on a brewery tour before...not like I like beer, but it was still interesting. Especially since it was a small 25-person operation and not a giant beer conglomerate. They gave free samples (technically we had to pay a quarter to abide by the law). Notyum.
We did dinner at the Great Lakes Brewing Company restaurant. Nadia and Jim both partook in the beer sample...For $10 they got 4-5oz. samples of all nine beers that they had on tap. Since I do not like beer I ordered a Coke, but I wanted beeryness so I go the Stilton Cheese Soup that was made with beer (YUM) to go along with my Pretzel Chicken (I think there was beer in the mustard sauce too).
Jim said that I look like Luke Wilson. Which then resulted in the following conversation:
Bryan: She looks like Helen Keller.
Nadia: Do you even know what Helen Keller looks like?
Jim: Helen Keller doesn't even know what Helen Keller looks like.
We capped it all off with chocolate chunk ice cream that was also made with beer (SOOOOOOYUMMMMM), who knew beer could give ice cream such a good taste!!!!
Sunday:
Before heading back to Chicago, we decided to check out the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. We saw Dinomasaurs, and stuffed creatures, and glaciers, and earthquakes, and butterfly photography and Balto the Wonder Dog.
There was some dog training demonstration going on where they had doggies doing an obstacle course right in the middle of the museum. Of course, the doggies were in a smaller space and much closer to the crowd than they were used to so some of them got distracted. Like one who instead of going through the tunnel decided to come say hi to us, and then went into the tunnel, paused for a few moments, and then came back the same way. Toofunny.
Anyways, they museum was literally filled with dogs wandering around. Odd.
What we really cared about though: Jewels!!!
I picked out all of the pink stones that would be appropriate to include on my future engagement ring. They are all in the photo gallery. Gentlemen, take note. :)
One last note: On the museum and rest stop, etc. there were signs on the window telling people that they are not to bring guns inside. Umm, thought that was a given! Who knew!
So, that is Cleveland in a rather large (dare I say World's Largest?) Nutshell.
PICTURES HERE
All this energy calling me
Back where it comes from
Its such a crude attitude
Its back where it belongs
All the little kids growing up on the skids are goin
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Jumpin gene genies, moody james deanies goin
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Mama knows but she dont care
Shes got her worries too
Seven kids and a phony affair
And the rent is due
All the little chicks with the crimson lips go
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Shes livin in sin with a safety pin
Shes goin cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
I got some records from world war two
Ill play em just like me grand dad do
He was a rocker and I am too
Oh cleveland rocks, yeah cleveland rocks
So find a place
Grab a space
And yell and scream for more
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks, cleveland rocks
Three! four!
Three! four!
Three! four!
Ohio!
WEDDING PICS ARE UP!!!
PICS HERE!
Notes on captions:
1. I did not caption them at one in the morning, so they are not interesting.
2. I don't know people's names, so I avoided labeling people.
3. I gave up captioning all of them and so they all say the same thing.
Congratulations Jennifer and Dale!
Friday
After getting my hair and nails done it was off to the city to check into the hotel and head to the rehearsal. The hotel (Hyatt Regency Chicago) was pretty sweet, but very very crowded...but we had a damn nice view of the river.
We got to the rehearsal a bit early and the woman there wouldn't let us in, so we met up with Jen, Dale, and some of their friends at a bar down the street, where I had a delicious bellini.
Once the start time was finally nearing we all headed over to the mansion and started rehearsing. I guess there isn't much to say about a wedding rehearsal except that we rehearsed a wedding.
Afterwards we ate a lot of pizza and salad and cannoli and got even more jewelry from Jen (I wore five times as much jewelry to the wedding than I normally do), then we called it a night.
Before bed, Nat and I went to explore the hotel...which definitely looked more exciting on paper. We did, however, see some other celebration going on in one of their ballrooms where everyone was wearing a ridiculously large hat costume. No clue.
Saturday
Saturday Nat and I got ready while watching American Gladiators. Then after being bored just waiting around we headed to Jen's hotel room to wait for the other bridesmaids. Finally everyone started to arrive in their fabulously individual little black dresses (we each got to pick our own dress, the only rules were black, knee-length, not shiny). Then the photographer came and we finished getting Jen dressed, met up with the boys, and set off for photos!
Now the photographer...well...kind of bugged me. She kept telling us to smile and laugh and look at the camera so we'd look happy. So she got a lot of pics of us being fake. But then when we were actually talking and laughing and having a real good time, she didn't take pictures. And then for most of the pics she had us throwing our hands in the air doing jazz hands or wave or something stupid. I mean, couldn't she have taken some pictures of us being natural? Or just pretty? Or taken the hint that we weren't ta-da-hand people? Whatever, I'm sure they turned out fine.
So, we went and took pics at Millennium Park, by the river, and by the Field Museum (I didn't get any pictures of any of these, because I wanted to be camera-less in the pictures.) Then, just as it started to rain, we headed off to Glessner House.
We all piled into the conservatory to freshen up, look down the windows at people coming, put together our bouquets (we just took a couple calla lilies and tied them together ourselves), and try to fasted Jen's 99 cent ebay veil to her head. Then we went out and took some family pics and then lined up for the ceremony.
The ceremony was beautiful and sweet and I really liked the minister while she was ministering (even though she was a bit of a complainer while she wasn't). We set it up so the groomsmen all walked out first, then all the bridesmaids (since there were more bridesmaids then groomsmen it would have been awkward to try and pair up).
The ceremony was outside in the courtyard, and it rained a bit, but it wasn't too bad and no one seemed to mind.
After Jen and Dale were officially married, we got to eat! (my favorite part as always, food!) There were some yummy appetizers of pigs in a blanket and stuffed mushrooms and an olive oil bar of different breads and different flavored oils. Yum! And, of course, the bar! (Just beer and 2 wines...but wine is all a girl really needs).
We were all entertained by the musical styling's of the "Wandering Endorphin" Although he stood and played his guitar. I was kind of expecting him to wander.
Towards the end of cocktail hour it started to rain a bit more so everyone piled inside for dinner (luckily that was set up for being inside anyways).
Dinner was a pasta bar, where basically you picked your ingredients (I had shrimp, veggies, green fettuccine, and alfredo) and they cooked it for you right there. It was totally yummy.
The maid of honor (Nat) and best man gave their speeches and we found out that Dale is a break dancer! Who knew!?!?!?!
By that time the real photographer had to go ( :( ) but that meant that I had to step in and become official.
So then it was time for cake cutting, first dancing, and PARTYING!!!
We moved the dancing outside. It was still raining and the dance floor was wet...
and dresses got pretty muddy...
But WHO CARES!!!
So we rocked out in the rain to Jen's iPod, danceddanceddanced, and tried to convince Dale to break dance.
It was an amazing wedding and a superfun day and I am very happy that Jen asked me to be a bridesmaid (even though I always told her that she was too old to be mine) and I'm happy to now have Dale as a brother (finally, someone else in the family who can appreciate things like the Simpsons).
The next morning I made Jen toss me her bouquet in the hotel parking lot, since she didn't want to throw it at the wedding (and if she had thrown it, it would have completely fallen apart).
So...after being a bridesmaid three times in this past year, I finally caught the bouquet. :)
(still more pics to come...but there are so many it's going to take a few more days until they are ready...)
Congratulations Jen and Dale!
My oldest sister got married this weekend! I now have a brother!
:)
I, of course, took a million and a half photos (especially since for most of the reception I was the official photographer), so it may be a bit of time before I can post them, and the recap.
For now I will just say that it was a beautiful wedding full of fun, love, and dancing in the rain :)
but that's a given...
manicure.
pink, of course.
my first ever.
she gave me a hand massage.
i have purdy nails :)
haircut.
my first in a year.
i know everyone else likes it better short, but i like it long.
last night I dyed my hair while chugging most of a bottle of wine.
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