Yup.

....annnd, I am an idiot.

I found my wallet. It fell under the front seat of my car.

Responsible adulthood resumes now.

Thank you for your patience.

Epic Monday Fail

Sometimes I want to be one of those people who can bound energetically out of bed on a Monday morning, do my hair, effortlessly throw on the perfect outfit and stride into work, the epitome of maturity and organization. Like so:

Reality is actually more like this:

Obviously this is not an actual picture of me, but a picture of Anne Hathaway from The Devil Wears Prada. But I think it gets the point across pretty well.

It all started last night when I realized I couldn't find my wallet. Possibly I left it at the grocery store yesterday? I definitely had it then, because I paid for my groceries, but I didn't realize that it was missing until I was leaving my friend's house last night after Game of Thrones, so possibly I also left it in her kitchen. I also managed to misplace both Ben's headphones and the USB cord for my iPod in between grabbing them 20 seconds before leaving the house yesterday, and actually leaving the house. Clearly, I should not be allowed to be an adult.

The more immediate issue is, I need to buy lunch at work today. No problem though, because I have some cash in the pocket of those jeans I wore on Saturday.

Guess what I forgot to grab as I was leaving this morning?
(A: the pocket cash. And my cell phone)

Guess where my wallet is not?
(A: at the grocery store. Or anywhere in my car. Or in the bag I carried my groceries home in. No word yet on my friend's kitchen...but according to online banking the last person who used my credit card was me, at the grocery store, so that is positive)

Actually the only things I managed to do properly today were a) put clothes on, and b) remember to bring the Cookie of the Month batch I am delivering this afternoon (recipe and pictures forthcoming) ... and the only reason I remembered the cookies is that I put them right in front of the door, so that I literally could not walk out of my apartment without stepping on them. Risky, but ultimately rewarding.

Hopefully I will get all of this figured out soon, but until then...happy Monday?

Movie/Book Review: "Eat, Pray, Love" (or, how I became a crazy chanting hippie)

I know I am SO late to the party with this one, but it always amazes me when a book crosses my path at exactly the right time in my life. This doesn’t necessarily mean that these are my favorite books of all time – just that somehow, my decision to read that particular work of literature lined up so perfectly with something major I was going through at the same time, that while the changes in my life opened my eyes to this book in a new way, the book in turn gave me a deeper understanding of my life.

This has only happened a few times – first, with Marcus Borg’s Reading the Bible Again for the First Time in college when I was struggling with where religion and faith fit into my life; second with The Time Traveler’s Wife right after Ben and I started dating, when for the first time ever I understood what it meant to have a love so deep and strong that you feel like your souls are permanently connected; and right now with Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love.

The fact that these are the books that have touched me so deeply just drives home the truth that keeping an open mind is imperative if you want to be really moved by something. Both The Time Traveler’s Wife and Eat, Pray, Love were books I didn’t really plan on or look forward to reading – it was the sort of thing I kind of regarded them as “popular” lit and not really worthy of my precious few fun-reading hours, but I kept hearing over and over again how good they were and finally threw up my hands and went “OK FINE I’LL READ IT GEEZ.” And then I did (reluctantly). And was surprised. They still aren’t my favorite works of literature – that particular honor goes to some combo of Hugo, Rushdie, Dostoevsky and J.K.Rowling – but they are and always will be special because, at the time I read them, I felt like they were speaking to me personally, trying to teach me something about myself.

I only read Eat, Pray, Love because of the movie. I’m almost ashamed to say that but it’s true. I can’t sleep on planes, so on the way back from Turkey I kept myself entertained by watching terrible plane movies – mostly bollywood comedies, but also the Eat Pray Love adaptation starring Julia Roberts. Unfortunately it was around that time on the flight that my headphones broke and I couldn’t understand half of what anyone was saying. I kind of forgot about it for a few months, until early May, right around the time I moved, when I saw my sister’s copy of the movie sitting on my parents’ coffee table and thought to myself, “hey, I would kind of like to know what was going on in that movie.” So I borrowed it – and was not too impressed. With the exception of the scene where Julia Roberts first arrives in India, which basically transported me back to Dehli because that is EXACTLY what it feels like to ride a taxi through an Indian city, I felt like the movie was kind of meh. I told my sister, who suggested that I read the book because, as she said, most of what is great about the book is in Liz Gilbert’s writing style and sense of humor, which really is not captured in the film. So I took her at her word and picked up a copy at my local used bookstore.

Eat, Pray, Love is not popular because it is (as I sort of expected it to be) a commercialized, overly cheesy, glorified self-help manual for disenchanted soccer moms. It is popular because it is a good book – funny, insightful, honest and thought-provoking. Ms. Gilbert does not presume, with this memoir, to instruct others on how to live their lives or to tell anyone how to walk down their own spiritual path. It is simply her (extremely well-written and engaging) personal account of how she found herself again after some very difficult life changes.

And also, I think her book is quite brave in its honesty. But isn’t it just a book about travel and yoga? Everyone practices yoga, there’s nothing ground-breaking here. Yeah, a lot of people practice yoga… but a lot of them are also really uncomfortable with the deep-diving, self-exploratory, chanting, meditating, spiritual side of yoga. Unfortunately, this spiritual meditation mumbo-jumbo is sort of the point.

I used to be skeptical, too – don’t get me wrong, I loved the centered, clear-minded feeling I had walking out of class, but all that stuff with Shiva and mantras and the subtle body and whatnot was just not for me, I thought. And then, I decided to do the Anusara Immersion. At first, my reaction was just what I expected - the tattvas totally confused me, the meditation and chanting were unnerving, and all of this talk about “flowing with grace” and “celebrating the heart” gave me the uncomfortable feeling that at any second we would all break into a never-ending rendition of Kumbayah. And then, something happened. I got it. I can’t really put what happened in my brain into words, but somehow, I just got it, and this whole philosophy and life suddenly seemed so beautiful and so right. And kumbayah didn't seem like such a bad thing anymore.

I realized how cheesy this all sounded, so I decided to not talk about it too much with my non-yoga friends, for fear that they’d have me locked up in a room with padded walls. One night though, it came up in conversation with my dad when I realized that a lot of his post-surgery hip-stretches were basically Yoga asanas, and I started teaching him some new poses, and brought up the whole thing about aligning with grace and your universal blue print.

“Yeah,” he said, “but just think of the physical benefits! It’s such great strength and flexibility training!” So I tried explaining how it’s about something way deeper than that, and he kept bringing it back to STRETCHING and GREAT WORKOUT and things that former college football players are generally more comfortable with. He smiled and kept his cool, but I could tell he was barely containing the fear that his Economist-reading, music-history-loving, business-conversation-having daughter was turning into some crazy chanting voodoo hippie. It’s funny, because I’m pretty sure that underneath his fiscally conservative, rational exterior, my dad is one of the most yogic people I know, he just doesn’t realize it (see my entry on his hip surgery for more info).

Back to the whole point – and I apologize that this is turning into more of an essay than a blog entry – Ms. Gilbert does not shy away from spirituality. She writes about her experience with dreams, meditation, kundalini shakti and spiritual revelation, in a very personal and honest way, and also in a way that makes it all seem totally normal. I think in retrospect, what bothered me about the movie was that it glossed over the more gritty, less-relatable parts of the book – the ones that deal with spirits and God and stuff. One of my favorite passages, that reminds me so much of Anusara, comes at the end of chapter 60:

“So I stood up and did a handstand on my Guru’s roof, to celebrate the notion of
liberation. I felt the dusty tiles under my hands. I felt my
strength and balance. I felt the easy night breeze on the palms of my
feet. This kind of thing – a spontaneous handstand – isn’t something a
disembodied cool blue soul can do, but a human being can do it. We have
hands; we can stand on them if we want to. That’s our privilege.
That’s the joy of a mortal body. And that’s why God needs us.
Because God loves feeling things through our hands.”

I have never been through a terrible, gut-wrenching divorce like Ms. Gilbert has… but this book speaks to me because I feel like we are discovering the power of all this hippie meditation stuff together. I understand that path, because I am walking it in my own way. I’m not saying this book is for everyone – but it is definitely for me, right now.

Road Trip Recap 4: Chicaaaago!

I really like my early morning yoga... I went to a vinyasa class at 6am today, to sneak in some practice before work. Oh yeah, did I mention I started my new job? Well, I did. There it is. Woooo.

It feels so good to get all the kinks out of your muscles before you, um, spend your entire day sitting at a desk staring at your laptop, and I kind of like being up before most people. When I got up, Ben was sleeping. He continued sleeping as I sifted through clothes in a bleary-eyed haze trying to find something work appropriate to throw in my gym bag. He continued sleeping as I rummaged around for shoes and socks (which I almost forgot on my way out the door...yikes). And when I left...he was still sleeping... but the yoga studio wasn't!

I am so lucky to work at a company that serves healthy breakfasts in the cafeteria - so on days like today, when I'm go from yoga to work and don't have time to make my own breakfast, I know I can pick something up once I get there. Today I threw together a bowl of steel-cut oats topped with brown sugar, flax seed meal, dried cherries and PB....yum.

Ok back to the fun part - travel! On the way back we stopped in Kentucky outside of Louisville (not really worth mentioning except for the mexican restaurant we ate at that looked sketchy but ended up being fantastic), and then continued on to Chicago to visit friends and family. Two of my best friends - Kristin and Katie - live in Chicago, as well as Bens' brother and sister-in-law, and their beautiful baby girl Lillian...soon to be my NIECE!

Kristin was kind enough to host us for the night, so when we arrived in Chicago we went straight to her place and were greeted by her lovely dog Dexter. We hung out for a couple of hours at Kristin's place and chatted over tea, and then met up with Katie at a nearby Indian restaurant for dinner, where the four of us had some excellent conversations around education reform, old college/high school shenanigans, and traveling. After dinner, it had gone from cold and windy to cold, windy and raining, and we got completely drenched on the way home. Luckily we had the foresight to stop at Molly's Cupcakes for a few sweet treats - nothing cures the rain and cold quite like cupcakes and wine!

Me, Kristin and Katie at Kristin's condo

Our lovely hosts, Kristin and Dexter!

The next morning, Ben and I hopped on the bus to visit Matt, Julia and Lillian!

He didn't realize I was making silly faces.


...now we are on the same page :)

Matt and Julia live right near the libary, which is a gorgeous building.

I know everyone thinks the babies in their family are the cutest babies ever....

... but I think Lillian might actually be the cutest baby ever.

Bros.

Back at Kristin's, we packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes and hit the road back to Minneapolis. I miss my friend but I know I will see them soon at the WEDDING!

Road Trip Recap Part 3: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good

One thing you should probably know about me and Ben is that we are both more than a little bit obsessed with Harry Potter. Somewhere during the course of planning our trip down to see Nick, we discovered that Savannah was a mere five hours from Orlando Florida and the Magical Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Only 5 hours each way?? Surely we must go.

And so that is why, on our second day in Savannah, we left Nick's apartment at 6am to drive to Orlando. I really needed coffee. But I was also freakishly excited. This combination resulted in strangeness.

...you'll be seeing that face a lot over the course of this post. I apologize in advance.

The drive was relatively painless, and we were very entertained by the Deejays of Jacksonville, FL's morning show... and Jacksonville in general. Every time we stopped there, something strange happened, such as a catfight at a gas station and the woman who spent 5 minutes telling Ben about her digestive problems and wondering if maybe she should eat something today other than ice cream. But those are other stories for another time.

We wandered through the park for a bit - and I had to take a picture of all these Evil Eyes because they made me feel like I was back in Istanbul. Finally... we reached Hogsmeade! Hooray!!!

... there's the face again....

Personally I thought it was a bit much to have the buildings permanently covered in fake snow, even when it was 97 degrees... but the Hogsmeade buildings were adorable, and thanks to the overly-warm weather, nothing was overly crowded. We immediately hit up the Three Broomsticks for a delicious lunch of turkey leg, cornish pasties and butterbeer!




The turkey leg was delicious - actually all of the food beat most theme park food I've had. Butterbeer was cold unfortunately (I always felt it should be warm, like hot buttered rum... but I get that in Florida probably not a lot of people want hot buttered rum...), but it still tasted great - it was very rich though - Ben and I shared one and still didn't quite finish it.

Pretty sure this leg came from some crazy mutant turkey.

This is probably my favorite picture from the whole day. It's too bad the train conductor left to take his coffee break right as we got to the Hogwarts Express, but I think it's a pretty good shot anyways :) Then... off to HOGWARTS!!!

OMG HOGWARTS OMG!!!

Ahh the little village of Hogsmeade. Love the crooked chimneys. After our tour of Hogwarts, we waited in line for almost 30 minutes to see Ollivander's wand shop.

It was totally worth it though. "Ollivander" re-enacted the whole wand selection ceremony, and completely made this little girl's day (and her dad's too! He was this big, sweaty muscle-shirted bald dude, but when "Ollivander" picked his daughter for the wand demo he just started beaming from ear to ear...cutest thing ever).

Later in the wand shop I picked out my own wand! Obviously, I wasn't making it out of there without a wand, and I also bought one for my friend Tessa as a birthday present. This pic is when I was trying to decide between two wands, and the shop worker told me to "close your eyes, swish and flick! choose with your heart, not with your head."

And obviously we got a chocolate frog. And then we hit ridiculous traffic on the way home and ended up eating at IHOP because there was nowhere else convenient to stop - I had French Toast for dinner. There is so nothing wrong with that.

Welp, now that you all realize what a HUGE dork I am and probably stop reading my blog... yeah. Next up: Chicago!

Road Trip Recap, Part 2: Savannah!

After we said our goodbyes to Louise and Zingrin, Ben and I hopped back in the car and took off for Savanna, Georgia! Savannah has been near the top of my list of places to visit ever since I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil about 10 years ago, so when our friend Nick moved there to attend a grad program at Savannah College of Art and Design this spring, we knew it was only a matter of time before we found an excuse to get down there.

The drive from Knoxville to Savannah was absolutely stunning... the Smoky Mountains are beautiful and everything is so green and lush (please ignore the bug-spattered windshield in this photo...don't let it ruin anything for ya... :) ). A quick aside - one of my biggest road trip pet peeves is finding good (i.e. healthy-ish) places to eat... this proved especially true in the south. Any area of the country that would name a restaurant chain "Fatz" is ...yeah. Special.

We arrived in Savannah in the early afternoon, and were greeted by Nick, who had to attend a lecture for school...so after giving us the basic lay of the land, our gracious host went off to get edumacated and Ben and I took some time to explore the city.

Savannah is really a beautiful city - filled with flowers, serene little parks, and trees covered in spanish moss. The arcitechture is also beautiful - I wanted to buy every single one of these houses... someday...when I have millions of dollars to spare...? We stopped in the few of the parks, and I got sassed by this lion:

the little dude clearly has some attitude. So I gave him some attitude right back. Take that, lion statue!

After wandering for a couple of hours we met up with Nick for some sushi!!

The sushi was fan-tastic. I should just mention that we did not eat typical "southern food" once while we were down here - no shrimp, no grits, no biscuts and gravy. And no, we did not go to Paula Deen's restaurant... we heard mixed things about it and decided to stick with places we knew would be excellent.

We spent some more time wandering the lovely streets of Savannah....

Admiring the sunsets...

And of course, eating great food! Ben and I set aside one night for a romantic date at the Local Eleven 10, a restaurant that features local and seasonal ingredients.

Above is a pic of me holding their Lemon Rosemary martini - mixed drinks are super hit-and-miss for me, but this was honestly one of the best drinks I've ever had. Delicious!

...this one I took partly as an excuse to get a shot of Ben looking all James Bond-esque with his martini, and partly to capture this lady behind him who is inexplicably wearing a wedding gown and veil, and who looked like she did not want to be there at ALL. I really want to know what the story is there...

Our entree was a porkchop with apricot chutney and sides of greens and asparagus. Yum! After our fancy dinner we walked over to the local legion to meet Nick for a couple of drinks and pool. $2 happy hours can't be beat!

...wine from a plastic cup. Surely nothing is classier than this.

My favorite lunch spot by far was the Sentient Bean, a coffee shop and cafe that served all number of awesome vegetarian, organic and hippie-ish food. It seemed like a popular local hangout for SCAD students, and was right next to the city's only (from what I could tell) organic foods store.

I ordered a BBQ tofu wrap, which was to die for.

... below, one of the more interesting food combos I've seen. Fried chicken and chinese food? Really???

Ben and I in our favorite park.

For our last night, we went to Leopold's Ice Cream shop...a Savannah institution and another of Nicks favorite places.

Aren't these two adorable?! My favorite thing about their friendship is that occasionally they will start speaking to each other in random accents like it is totally normal, and just go on like that for several minutes while I shake my head in wonderment.

...my cone: lavender ice cream with sprinkles! I'm a sucker for strange and unique ice cream flavors, and also for sprinkles...this was the ideal combination of the two.

Back tomorrow with our most exciting road trip day of ALL TIME... get excited people!!!

Road Trip Recap Part 1!

Well, here I am at the coffee shop again! I've been on a nerdy kick lately so I've been skimming through my old beat-up copy of "The Birth of Tragedy." I wish I was still in Alice Hanson's music history class, because now I really want to write an essay - I know that sounds extremely nerdy but I've always been fascinated by how music and art can drive social movements and vice-versa, and one of the most perfect and chilling illustrations of this is Germany in the late 19th/early 20th century... Schopenhauer, Wagner, Nietzsche, how their work and their views on aesthetics inspired not only other artists, but entire social movements and their later influence on Hitler, and his reciprocal influence on/control of the music of his time... really amazing. Maybe I'll bore you with a blog on it later.

Anywhoo... today Ben and I are off to Bombay Bistro to sample some food for the Rehearsal Dinner! I am really excited for the rehearsal dinner - Ben's parents are catering it at their house which I think will be so much better than eating at a restaurant. Our friends will be able to hang out for as long as they want, we will actually be able to relax and talk to people... I can't wait.

On an unrelated note, if you want to check out the choir I sing in (The House of Hope Motet Choir), go here and click on "Featured Audio." That's us, baby!

I also thought I would take this opportunity to recap our recent road trip! We drove all the way down to Orlando and back in a week, if you can believe it, and saw lots of friends along the way. Our first stop was in Knoxville, TN to see some of Ben's co-workers from India - Louise and Zingrin Shisak. They are both musicians, and Zingrin just finished his graduate studies in Piano in Knoxville. Now they are moving back to India to teach at a school in Nagaland. The Shisaks are such sweet and fun people and I am SO glad I was able to meet them before they left!

Zingrin cooked up an amazing chicken curry (from the 660 Curries cookbook), and after dinner we went for a walk in their neighborhood - I have never been to the south before but was amazed at how lush and green everything was! Even the air smelled amazing - like grass and flowers, it was like a constant perfume.

We had a great time in Knoxville and would have loved to stay longer but we had to take off for our second stop... Savannah!!! (Stay tuned for LOTS of pictures!)