Trachtenball, and then some...

So, Saturday night Trachtenball was fun, despite not much excitement. It's funny that getting dressed up is always something I look forward to, but that getting out of the tracht is even better. They're just a little heavy - Lisa mentioned that she weighed hers once and it was 13 lbs, probably a little heavier than the one I wore Saturday, but much lighter than the heaviest one I've ever worn - and going to the bathroom is very difficult because the underskirts are heavily starched...I've done it, but only a couple of times. Anyway, enjoy the pictures - one of me & Trey, and one of Tony & Lisa!

Saturday night when we got home we had a little issue. You see, parking in our building lot is always difficult when one is coming home late at night. There aren't enough spots for the cars in the building, so between Trey and I, we end up parking in lots that are farther out and walking back over 4-5 nights a week. It bothers me a little because it's so dark, but I guess that's what the pepper spray Mark gave me for Christmas is for.

Anyway, we got back and someone had put a cone in a parking spot to block it off. Uh, I don't think so. It had been snowing, and you could tell this person had been gone for well over 2 hours based on the amount of snowfall and no evidence of footprints/tire tracks. Now, I could've seen putting a cone there for a 5-minute trip to Wendy's. I also could've seen someone doing that had s/he had to shovel out a spot because of lots of snow, but we'd gotten less than 2 inches by then so that wasn't an excuse either. I was really pissed, and I was more mad when I wiped out (fell right on my tailbone) going to move the cone as it was really slick out and I was wearing slippery shoes on top of it. I was going to just move the cone and park somewhere else for fear of my car getting vandalized, but at the point I was so mad I just parked there myself. I'm happy to report that my car was Ok Sunday morning.

Sunday was strange without any football, but we got a lot done around the house - see Trey's blog for pictures of our little egg family. :-)

Here are 2 Trachtenball pics...enjoy! My tracht is from Kleinbetschkerek, but I'm not sure where Lisa's is from...

Hangin out on Saturday

So, yesterday I was annoyed with a co-worker who was working from home (wfh) and didn't e-mail me something I wanted to finish. Then, I was going to go into the office today to make up a few hours I'll lose when we're in TX, but I turned on the computer, checked my e-mail, and there it was, allowing me to wfh myself today. Hooray! This not only give me a little more relaxation time today, but it means I'll get some cleaning up done around here. I hate going out of town with a messy house, but it doesn't look like we'll have much of a choice...being home today for a little while will help.

Last night was Kindergruppe again - the kids are doing really well with their songs! We started a 4th one, Brahms' lullaby in German, which seemed to get mixed feelings from the kids. I saved it til the end, though, and by then they'd already danced and were ready for snacks. Next time I won't be at practice, so I'll have other folks just review it with them and hopefully the next time will be better.

After club I had coffee with Karen (Rill) and Lisa from Cleveland. What a nice time with the ladies! We spent a lot of time talking about our pets, which made me feel not as dumb for talking about my boys like they're kids, and even more talking about how to live with men. Seems I need to give my little a little advice on domestic harmony/how not to drive your wife crazy. Mark is one of those guys who just doesn't realize things need cleaning up, which is understandable to some degree, but when his wife asks him to do things, and writes it down for him because he tells her to write it down or he'll forget, and then still doesn't help...*smack*

Ok, last thing - I had to post some pictures of my boys napping today. I couldn't get them all to be in the right spots, but that's too bad I guess. At the top is Sepp, Siggy is in the middle (he was hiding under the covers so I had to pull them back, and finally is Willie. They're so cute!

Good vibes today

I don't know why, but I'm just in such a good mood today. Maybe it's because someone complimented me on my Bears scarf today, or maybe it's because I actually got up in enough time to work out this morning - I've done 4 days in a row working out prior to today, which is usually the max, and my workout yesterday was in the evening, but tonight will be so late that I knew I needed tomorrow off. Maybe it's because they've finally officially given me more responsibility at work (things happen slowly around here) and it means I won't be bored so often. Maybe it's because I had some good wine last night, I'll have a good rehearsal tonight, and this weekend will be fun. Who knows. Who cares? Oh, for those of you who asked, my shirt should be in tomorrow or Monday at the latest - another reason to be happy!

So, that'll be about it for today - please do visit Tony's blog and give him good wishes for his HUGE interview tomorrow. I will leave you with a joke a co-worker sent:

A man had 50 yard line tickets for the Bear's game.As he sits down, a man comes down and asks if anyone is sitting in the seat next to him.

"No," he says, "the seat is empty."

"This is incredible," said the man. "Who in their right mind would have a seat like this for the Bears game, the biggest sporting event in the world, and not use it?"

He says, "Well, actually, the seat belongs to me. I was supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away. This is the first Bears game we haven't been to together since we got married in '57."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. That's terrible. But couldn't you find someone else -- a friend or relative, or even a neighbor to take the seat?"

The man shakes his head. "No, they're all at the funeral."

Up and down the stairs…

First, here’s the Bears shirt I bought. Kristin, thanks for the website – I actually found it, but it didn’t have much that was long-sleeved, and you know how cold I get all the time…

Things have been crazy, as usual. Saturday I spent time trying to get our DVD burner on the computer to work, but failed miserably. Trey will have to handle that one. I was successful in updating and pulling together my vocal resume to go along with upcoming audition applications. It’s probably not the most impressive thing they’ve ever seen, but it’s not bad. Anyway, that’s something I’ve been stressing out about lately, so I’m glad to have gotten it finished.

On that note, yesterday I went to drop off my application at the Grant Park Music Festival office. I walk in to the 205 E. Randolph building, the address of the festival, but everything was shut up – only the box office was open (that building is also a year-round theater building). So, I walk in, ask the box office girl where I needed to drop off my stuff, and she tells me to go back outside, go to the little black building next door, and take the elevator down to 2.5. Ok.

So, I do that, and find myself at the Harris Theater stage door. Fortunately there’s a security guard hanging out. I ask him where the festival office is, and he tells me to walk around the corner to a different elevator, take it to the 4th floor, and walk all the way around the hall. I find myself in the correct office, drop off my stuff, and ask the receptionist what the best way of getting back out to the street was, and she proceeds to give me directions for the reverse of what I’ve just done. How annoying must it be to work there and have to do that all the time?

Other than that, things have been moving quickly. Sunday was church and the Bears game. Church was a little disturbing to me as Monday was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, but I celebrated internally on Monday (please, let’s not start an argument about this one - I just wanted to get that out but I don’t want to start a debate here). Monday was pretty normal – Trey and I were actually both home by about 8 and got to have dinner together!

Last night was fun for me, too – Laura needed a date for the opening night of Radio Golf at the Goodman. I’m really not familiar with August Wilson, but reading the program a little, this show really fit in with his style of showcasing the common person’s experience. This was essentially a black experience play, set in 1997, and although there was a clear and more serious message by the end, it was hysterical. The Goodman does such good stuff.

Ok, that’s probably enough for now. Hope everyone’s having a good Wednesday!

Jen J

What's with your blog? I just tried to view it and it's telling me I'm not invited...

Found some shirts

Ok - found some shirts - the first is unisex, comes in medium and is 19.99. The second is specifically a women's shirt, and is so cute! But it's 31.99. Can I spend the extra $12?

Bears, Bears, Bears, Bears...

Bears, Bears, Bears, Bears,
Bears, Bears, Bears, Bears,
Bears, Bears, Bears, Bears,
Bears, Bears, Bears, Bears,
Bears, Bears, Bears, Bears,
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba....BEARS!
(the above is to be sung to the tune of "Charge")

Just a real quick post today. Go Bears! We had to listen to the last quarter of the game in the car yesterday, which resulted in a few instances of speeding down the expressway and screaming in the car. :-) I really didn't care who won the other game yesterday, but I did think it would've been kinda cool for the Patriots to have won.

I'm finally breaking down and searching online for a team shirt - I found a couple of things smaller than a large last weekend, but I didn't want to pay $60 for a sweatshirt. This morning I bought a Bears scarf at Walgreens for $10 - the same ones they had last week for $6. Oh, well. I just won't buy anything bigger than a medium because I'll be swimming in it!

Ok - that's all for now - more later today or tomorrow!

What's goin' on? (an update on life)

So, my last post was about last weekend, and now it's the weekend again - go figure. Nothing too new to report, but things will be busy this weekend. Here's a little update...

Wednesday night I went home and did nothing - I wasted time online, ate some dinner, and went to bed. It was wonderful!

Last night was our first CCC rehearsal for the spring concerts, called Let Us Move, which will feature all American music. The title piece will be very difficult, but really cool - it really evokes images of the American landscape/Appalachian areas - and the rest of the concert will be fun, full of spirituals and other American stuff. I haven't sung anything like this since college and wasn't looking forward to it as much as the fall concert, but now I'm pumped!

This weekend is slightly less scheduled than it could be - I have to sing church on Sunday, Trey has a concert Sunday night, and, of course, the Bears are playing - but I feel like I've got too much to do. I'm trying not to be too ambitious, but I've got to get my application together for Grant Park Festival Chorus, get reprints of my headshots to send along, and I want to get a lot of cleaning done around the house, go running tomorrow, and all of that. Ahh! Before I know it it'll be Monday again.

Last thing for today - everyone send Tony good vibes. There's a potential job thing that's just come up for him that could be huge. Keep your fingers crossed!

Back to this weekend, and on to the opera

So, I promised to write something about this past weekend – it went by really fast, beginning with Kindergruppe on Friday night. I introduced a new song to the kids, but reviewed the two I taught before Christmas before that…to my amazement, they remembered both! They sang so loudly and confidently! I’m very excited about our first performance, which will be in April. The kids will be great!

Saturday was spent mostly cleaning a lot – I always feel like I’m behind in housecleaning. It’s better than it was when things were super nuts, but I’m looking forward to this coming Saturday to work on things a little more.

After a full day of chores I hopped on the train to meet T downtown at the symphony – someone in the RLCB couldn’t use their subscription tickets so lucky us! The program was great with a Spanish suite followed by Lang Lang, who’s still amazing to me. At 24 he’s still as cute as he was the last time I saw him (5 years ago), but really has incredible musical depth. He did Chopin piano concerto #1, and, as an encore, a Chinese folk song called "The colorful clouds chasing the moon" - the title made everyone giggle. The second half of the program was Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. It really brought up images of Italy for us, but man, when the brass let loose…wow! My only complaint was with the first clarinet, and I’m wondering if something was wrong with his instrument from the sounds of things.

Sunday I woke up with this feeling that the day was going to end up being longer than I’d planned. Well, after 10:30 mass the cantor for noon didn’t show up, so I sacrificed watching the first half of Da Bears to stay and sing – glad I could help out, really. After that was a bunch of errands with T.

Monday night I had a Kindergruppe meeting, and good thing because it made me look at my calendar for Tuesday and realize our Fledermaus tickets were for this week, not in March. Duh. So, last night ended up being opera night.

This is one of the two we’d been looking forward to all year, and it was really cute (a synopsis can be found at http://www.theatrehistory.com/misc/diefledermaus.html). T liked the period costumes and set, and I loved Adele and Dr. Falke, both of whom were native German speakers and very easily understood. The rest of the cast was pretty good, too. Comments are:

• Rosalinde – great, but sounded like she was having to push her high stuff on the sustained notes at the ends of things
• Eisenstein – great actor, but not good German (he was Danish)
• Orlovsky – fantastic! Her speaking voice was a little low in comparison to her singing voice, but her acting was wonderful!
  

Really a great show, and definitely worth the very late night last night! Anyway, enough for now – hope everyone’s Wednesday is going well…

Reflection on Da Bears

So, I’m sure you all know by now dat Da Bears are one game closer to da Superbowl! I will post about da weekend some time tomorrow, but for now I need to reflect on my favorite football team, and da only sport I seem to find myself looking forward to da return of every year.

My memories of Da Bears date back to when I was little and would watch da games with my dad. I would ask a lot of questions and I imagine he had fun teaching me about football. Some tings I got immediately (“why isn’t it 3rd down and 6? First it was 1st down and 10, den it was 2nd down and 8, so why is it 3rd down and 3?”) and others I still don’t get (what da hell is a blitz?), but I always had a good time.

I also remember fairly clearly Da 85 Bears and Superbowl XX. Not only did Chicago have a winning team dat year, we also got da Superbowl Shuffle, which my first grade class did for our talent show at St. Constance dat year. In a mere week’s time, we’ll know if da Superbowl Shuffle will be revived! Dis season, one during which Da Bears have been compared to da 85 team, has been quite a rollercoaster for Chicago and Da Bears, wit some really great, exciting highs, and some terrible lows. Anybody catch yesterday’s game? Wow. J Go Robbie Gould!

On top of Da Bears doing really well dis year, and yesterday winning deir first playoff game in over 10 years, I find myself having a new appreciation for da sport and Da Bears. I think dis has something to do wit da fact dat I missed a couple of seasons of sitting on my couch on a Sunday afternoon and watching da game. Dis has resulted in a first for me – although I would watch Da Bears play, even when I was single and home by myself on a Sunday, I could never name more than 3 or 4 players on da team by first and last name. Dat’s changed this year – I tink I can name 5 or 6. Tony is laughing his ass off right now, but those of you who’ve never really been dose to know a lot of sports statistics should understand how I feel.

Yesterday after da game Trey and I went on a hunt for Da Bears apparel – how do I not have a Bears shirt? Our search did not yield anything (we’re too picky) but we’ll keep looking dis week. I also want to download Da Bears fight song as my phone ring tone – gotta work on dat this evening.

You know, I guess I haven’t really said much, but I wanted to get it out – dorky musicians can be sports fans, too. Dis week, Bears shirts and da ringtone – Sunday, Da Bears vs. New Orleans in Chicago at 2!

Road trip to Chicago!

Check this out...

"Chicago's all-night party, Looptopia, will surprise everyone: Parents can send their children to a sleepover at the Harold Washington Library; docents will lead architectural tours via the L, and downtown dwellers will appreciate a quiet period with silent movies and a "silent dance party," organizers announced Tuesday.

"The Loop is often where people log their 40 hours. Our goal is to show it is a destination, a vibrant place to be beyond the work day," said Ty Tabing, executive director of the Chicago Loop Alliance that promotes State Street.

"The 15-hour Looptopia, which runs from 5 p.m. May 11 to 8 a.m. the next day, will be held from Wacker Drive to Congress Parkway and from Dearborn to Lake Michigan. It won't close any streets.

"Most events will be free."

That's part of an article from the Sun Times yesterday - the article goes on to talk about the events. For more info, go to www.chicagoloopalliance.com and click on the "Looptopia" link. Part of the fun is an Opera Idol contest sponsored by the Chicago Opera Theater. I am already figuring out how to become a part of that. :-)

Need to vent

Ok, I can’t not gripe about this any more. It’s really driving me nuts…

The other admin girl, who sits right by me, has been sick with a cold. It’s gotten better and worse again, and I think we’re on the 3 bought of being on the worse end – she’s been sneezing, coughing, and blowing her nose all day for 3 days. It’s at the point where a) if I had enough work to keep me busy at home for 2 days b) if I didn’t actually have to be in the office for the next two days to take care of things and c) if I didn’t feel like this would be too bitchy, I’d ask my manager if I could work from home for the next couple of days because I’m afraid I’m going to get sick again.

Don’t think I’m a little wuss who can’t handle a cold – I had one last month and am still feeling the effects of it slightly. Anyone who uses his/her body a lot – for singing, or for major sports activities I’d assume – will still feel the crap that’s left over from a cold for a few weeks after the cold. I think that this week is actually the first time since last month I’ve felt completely clear. If I get sick again it will put singing on hold again, bad because then I won’t feel prepared for an audition I’ve got in February.

Now, besides feeling like a bitch, I also feel bad for getting so irritated because of her situation. Maybe I’m too bleeding heart, but part of the work environment situation here is that we don’t get sick days. She’s got two kids, so if she stays home she either doesn’t get paid, or she has to deal with her kids while she’s trying to work remotely, which means she really doesn’t get anything done so she’s not getting paid. Her boyfriend (their not being married actually makes their financial situation much better, which is why they’re not married) just graduated from chef school, so he’s working on finding a better job, but he currently doesn’t make much either.

She’s also having HMO issues: she switched medical groups and is between them now, so she can’t actually go see a doctor without taking an entire day off of work - she doesn’t have a car so with the El and 2 buses you lose some time. Should I mention this is the girl who uses the homeopathic medicine, too? I realize that’s probably not the issue – the issue is that she just needs to get rest to overcome this thing…but then the cycle starts over again.

I don’t think it’s too selfish of me to not want to get sick, but on the other hand, if she doesn’t work, she doesn’t get paid and will have trouble paying rent. She’s incredibly nice and very easy to work with, and very considerate – she’s been using hand sanitizer and stuff all day. I think the last reason that I feel bad is that I knew if Trey and I had a kid, and I got sick like this, it would be the same for me, although having a car would make it easier.

Ugh. Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. No need to respond, I just needed to get that out.

FFG returns

Well, not really, but I just learned that she has been pestering folks around here...

I knew that she's been in regular contact with the other admin girl here, the one who handles the HR stuff like health insurance, in order to get COBRA going and that sort of thing. I also knew that FFG has been asking to get together with admin girl for lunch and stuff.

I did not know that she's been pestering the one guy who was nice enough to entertain her tea thing and actually order some. Today admin girl mentioned to this guy that FFG had called and asked if he was working today - apparently she's been e-mailing him constantly wondering when she can give him his tea.

*smack*

Welcome to the world of blogging...

Tony! http://socerstud0.blogspot.com/

Now all we need is for Mark to jump on the bandwagon and we've got the whole family!

Starting off the new year right/IUD review

So, I was going to do one of those New Year's posts, but I realized that I've seen very few movies and I don't know any new songs. Plus, I've done so much reflection on my blog that you guys probably know what my best things are anyway. As for resolutions, pretty much the only one I've got is to add yoga once a week to my fitness routine (so I'm still doing a cardio/toning workout 5 times/week). I know it will do me some good, I just have such a hard time fitting in that 6th workout a week...

So, on to the IUD story - feel free not to read this if you don't want to. First, I should mention what I chose and why. There are 2 types of IUDs, a 5 year, which is plastic and contains hormones, and a 10 year, which is copper and works because it’s copper. I chose the 10 year because it lasts that long, and because I’ll have normal periods. With the plastic one, the doc said I’d probably have very light, or no, periods, and might have some spotting. With the 10 year I’d have a normal period, and it might be heavier. Something that was important to me with this whole issue was that I wanted to keep having a normal cycle, which is partially why I didn’t do something like Seasonale. Not having a period for months or years really feels unnatural to me.

Anyway, I went in Friday a little nervous, a little anxious, and a little excited. I knew it would be uncomfortable (the doc said to take some Motrin 30min before coming in, or offered to prescribe a narcotic if I wanted as long as I had someone to drive me home) but I'm really good with pain so I wasn't too worried. Before starting the doc went over everything, I signed the consent form and we were off.

It did hurt, more than expected – at the point when it hurt the most it was maybe a 7 on the pain scale, which to me means it’s not fun at all, if it went on for too long I’d cry, but it wasn’t unbearable. Felt sort of like someone was punching inside my uterus really, really hard? First the doc cleaned everything, then she dialated my cervix, and then put in some kind of measurement device, which hurt the most. She took less than a minute to trim the IUD, or whatever she did to make it the right size as I couldn’t see, and then put it in, which hurt slightly less than when she measured. After that she trimmed the strings and that was it (a note on the strings – you have to feel for them after your period, but if you don’t know what they feel like you won’t know they’re there). The whole thing took 5 or 6 minutes.

When it was done I sat up, got dizzy and laid back down for a minute, and then got back up. Was a little shakey putting my pants back on, and then walked to my car. I immediately took 3 more ibuprofen, and drove home half doubled over, praising God for the heated seats in my car, and wishing I’d taken the doc up on her offer for stronger drugs. I got home with about 20 minutes before I had to leave to go to dinner at my grandparents, and decided that if I didn’t feel better in 15 minutes, I wasn’t going. I did go, and the rest of the evening was really only as bad as having bad cramps (btw, they put in IUDs during your period, so I would have been a little crampy anyway), though I did keep taking 3 ibuprofen every 2 hours. Funny thing, too, was that I had 1 more vicatin left from when I broke my foot that I was hanging on to until I really needed it. Friday night I couldn’t find it! Ha!

Saturday was much better – I went from 3 ibuprofen the first two rounds of 2 hours, to just 2 after that, and then just 2 every 3 hours. Sunday morning I took 2 before working out at a preventative, but didn’t need it the rest of the day. Though aunt flo had left I was still the tiniest bit crampy, but that’ll pass. Right now it feels a little different than normal, but more like when you’re not used to wearing a watch and then wearing one. I’m sure that will pass, too, and if I’m good for the first month, I’m pretty much good to go – doc said that if your body decides to reject it, it’s almost always within the first month, sometimes within the first year.

Anyway, if all goes well, that’ll be it for 10 years. Trey and I went out to celebrate Saturday night…funny story there is that we each got sprigs of rosemary sticking out of our dinners, which he thought would be fun to take home and try to root, like we do after Kirchweih. How funny would it be if the sprigs of rosemary we got at a dinner to celebrate our infertility started to root?

So, there you go – I hope this was informative for everyone…I know I would’ve liked to have found something like this to read. Also, before my original doc mentioned on IUD a few months ago, I’d never even considered it because I thought they were for older women, or that you couldn’t get one if you hadn’t had a baby, or something like that. Obviously it’s a little more intrusive than your conventional pill, patch, or that kind of thing, but all in all, so far so good. If it stays that way, it’s really worth it!

Finally, please feel free to ask questions if you want...

What I thought of Wicked...

Happy Saturday everyone! I’m very happy to have gotten to sleep until 8 this morning. Probably could’ve stayed in bed a little while longer, but Trey was up and getting ready for work by then and it’s always nice to actually get to talk to him in the morning. Topic for today - Wicked review. If this post doesn’t get too long, I’ll talk a little about my IUD experience from yesterday. If not, I’ll do that tomorrow or Monday, unless people really just don’t want to hear about it.

Wednesday night Trey and I got to see Wicked, courtesy of Moet et Chandon – they did a bubbly tasting at Trey’s store in conjunction with a Wicked promo and had some comp tickets that no one stayed around long enough to win. Hooray for free tickets! I must admit that I wasn’t expecting too much – yes, it’s gotten a lot of hype, including very high ratings from the gay guy in my office who’d know, but it’s also one of those shows that every teenage girl is gaga over, plus I wasn’t really familiar with any of the music. Overall, I really did like it, though it took me until about the middle of the first act to get into it. I would certainly recommend it to others, but first, the negatives...

The very first thing that hit me was that everything was amplified. Most of you are probably saying ‘duh’ but I realized that T & I haven’t seen anything but opera or other classical music in a few years, and all of that is done without mics. The Oriental in Chicago is much smaller than the Civic Opera House, but probably not as good acoustically. Plus, the singers are singing over synthesizers, and they haven’t necessarily been trained to project the way opera singers have. Anyway, so that was a little weird at first, and it did get annoying when the sound guys decided to have fun and crank the speakers up – there were a few times I was wished I’d brought earplugs because the decibel level got too high.

The only other negative I have is that, after talking to my brother I found out that the musical does not follow the book very well at all. Though I thought that the musical was incredibly well written story line wise, and that this prequel meshed very well with the original story, it was annoying to find out that most things didn’t happen on stage the way they did in the book.

Now, the good – the flipside of my last comment is that I felt the story in terms of the musical left very little lacking in terms of explaining the original Wizard of Oz. Trey will crab that the Tin Man and Scarecrow each became those characters too late in Wicked, but it didn’t bother me much as the timing actually worked incredibly well with everything else that was going on.

Something I really liked and appreciated about this show was that it had a lot of great lessons and morals – any teenage girl who gets out of her bubble head long enough to pay attention will learn a lot. One of the most important lessons, reiterated and reiterated, was that nothing external can make you happy – you have to make yourself happy through your own thoughts and your own mind. Receiving love, happiness, or some kind of tangible possession did not make the characters who’d wished for those things happy – it only made them more miserable.

Another theme that kept coming up was that nothing is really black or white. You come away from the show thinking that maybe the Wicked Witches of the East and West weren’t necessarily bad people, and that Glinda really wasn’t all that great. This is something that Trey didn’t like, but I did.

Now, other aspects – the effects, lighting, and sets were great. Costumes were very whimsical, exactly what they should’ve been for this show. The music, I came away thinking that none of the tunes were terribly memorable, but I do want to listen to the soundtrack again. I bet I’ll find that some of them will stick.

Ok, so that’s a long enough post for today, I think. Questions, comments? Let me know. Have a great day, all!

Blogs to check out today...

So, work is a little crazy, and we haven't been home at night (last night we saw Wicked!), but there are some great other posts today...check out my sister Kristin and my mom Evi's blogs!

Happy New Year & reflections

First off, Happy New Year to all! What a wonderful day yesterday – I told Trey before bed that yesterday really could not have been a more perfect one to start a new year. As I never got around to doing the Thanksgiving post I’d intended to, I may get reflective toward the end, so be warned!

The remaining days of last week were fun – we did some wine tasting with Kristin and Jonathan for their wedding. I wish we would’ve had a video camera to get footage of Kristin not liking the wines, especially the driest red Trey suggested. Not only was a the normal “eww, this is nasty” look she typically gives, but there was a series of faces that had me concerned she was going to lose her dinner right in front of us…and all from a tiny sip of wine no bigger than what you’d typically get at communion. Jonathan and his mom did like the one red quite a bit, the McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Shiraz – a great bargin for less than $10 – so they’re all set for the wedding! Music will be a snap for them as well, as they’re not nearly as picky as most other folks.

Friday night I got to be domestic and cook for Trey, something I love doing, but don’t get to all that often (he cooks for me, too, if he gets the chance to, and really, it’s best when we can cook together). I found a super easy recipe for mustard seen crusted chicken that he and I both loved, so it will become one of our staples for sure. Saturday I took advantage of my free day and did lots of straightening up at home while Trey was at work before we met Kristin & her crew, Tony & Lisa, and some others at the Yard House. Didn’t try and any new beers this time because I had my heart seat on some Rogue Hazelnut Brown – I think Rogue is from Oregon (?) so I’m betting Martha can get it really fresh? Lucky girl!

Sunday morning was double duty at church, and one of those rare Sundays that I really screw something up. Fortunately no one but me and the organist had the music, no one in the congregation knew the piece, and the organist stayed with me despite my unusually poor sight-reading skills. Then it was back home to veg out after a long week. Trey worked until 8, and picked up some Lou Malnati’s on the way home which we enjoyed with a bottle of Pillar Box Red, both of which made the abominable performance of the Bears quite a bit less painful. At midnight we popped open our bubbly and had black-eyed peas and crashed. Monday we did a bit of shopping together before heading over to Oma’s with everyone – again the 4 Rill kids were together! Lisa, being the good German girl she is, survived it all, too, so we’re happy (Onkel Walter, you will see a picture soon!).

Now, on to the reflection of the year…this one’s been nuts for us, too. Less than two months into it we found out that we would be coming back to the states quite a bit earlier than anticipated, which meant lots of hasty good-byes and last-minute rearranging, the anxiety of coming back without a dwelling place or jobs, getting a third cat back with us, and doing it all with one of us having a broken foot. I think it’s a credit to us and to how much we’d grown over the previous year that we got through it so well and came out still so strong. Time spent together since we’ve been back has been less than we’d like, but I think we’re each enjoying more because we’re not taking it for granted.

Also, within a short period of time back in the Chicago area both of us were actively pursuing musical opportunities as well, both together and separately. I still marvel at how lucky we were to have found each other in the first place, because most weeks one or both of us is gone on three separate weeknights because of rehearsals and at some point during the weekend due to a performance or rehearsal, but that’s Ok with both of us because we’re doing what makes us happy and is so important to each of our foundations as human beings. We’re looking forward to working much more this year, and doing a little bit together again.

Warning: this paragraph might be TMI about my birth control. Something else that I’ve been working on for several months is our long-term birth control. I’ve been on the pill for almost 8 years (except for that brief stint with the Nuvaring, which I loved until I got cystic acne), which makes me paranoid every time I’m later taking a pill than I should be, and which I believe is the main reason for my now very low sex drive (why else would an otherwise healthy 27 year old woman who’s attracted to her husband never be in the mood?). I found a great doctor this fall, who happened to suggest an IUD, something I’d never really considered because I thought it was only for older women. I did more research and decided it was best for me, she figured out the insurance stuff and got it all ordered, and then the wacky medical group to which she belongs decided they were no longer going to do IUDs on anyone, period. Well, three months later things are finally working out and this Friday I will get my copper IUD, which will cover us for 10 years!

Something else that has helped recently on the no kid front is the research I’ve done on child free organizations. Yes, we love kids, but we don’t want any of our own, and knowing that there are lots of other people out there who feel the same way is great. I’ve got plenty of ammunition the next time someone tells me I’m selfish, and some better ideas on what to tell people who respond with “Oh, you’ll change your mind” in order to shut them up. I’m fine with being the cool aunt, and if life ever calms down I think I’d really welcome the idea of becoming a foster parent, but that’s it.

So, that’s probably long-winded enough for now. I’ll post more in a few days – good luck to all with starting out the new year and getting back into the swing of things!