lxforever

“It’s better than I ever even knew / they say that the world was built for two / only worth living if somebody is loving you / Baby now you do”

—Lana Del Ray, Video Games

time 11:03 am feeling content wearing blue sweatshirt, black leggings…again reading ??? music Lana Del Ray, Afrojack, Ellie Goulding ready for heaven on earth with Jeff next design Jenny’s invites!

“I tell you all the time
Heaven is a place on earth with you
Tell me all the things you want to do”

February 2011:
Woke up. Wanted to cry.

February 2012:
Woke up. Was happy all the livelong day.

EOTD 2/25/12 (A SUPER Saturday!):
Woke up early. It was still dark out. Got ready quietly and had some orange-marmalade-blackberry-mixed-Fage and green tea (and of course, a grapefruit). Went out in the quiet Saturday morning to 7:30AM Level 2 yoga in Edina. Let me tell you, the Edina yoga clientele is always interesting. Anyway. Felt pretty badass to get there so early. The class was decent, not sure I really liked the instructor, but as always it felt good despite me semi-catastrophically falling not once but TWICE on an inversion…and then of course I tried it again. Typical (retired) gymnast. Anyway. Showered and got ready there, which was nice because their facilities are so darn fancy (side note…I think I have a weird obsession with showering in odd places, does anyone else have this??).

Stopped by Edina Car Wash on my way back because the Civic was too disgusting to handle. Edina Car Wash was very weird! I don’t understand it. Don’t go there. But at least my car is clean. Arrived early at Patisserie 46 and got myself a chocolate croissant and a vanilla latte. SCORE! P46 was PACKED and I had to stalk out a table. Finally got one across from a toddler in red boots (with her parents). Her name was Inga. Colleen arrives with Isaiah and we procure a NEW/better table as well as a highchair for Isaiah. We chatted away happily for quite some time, Isaiah chewing a napkin and giving me pieces of it all spit-soaked with the biggest smile on his face. How could I not accept whatever he wanted to give me when it made him so happy?! Ha ha. We had a weird incident with a tall woman who I think is a man. Eventually I had to head out to pick up Jeff for cousin’s lunch and so we said our goodbyes.

Home! Jeff had not showered and lunch was in 15 minutes. A troubling development, but it all worked out since Sunstreet is so close. Phew! Out to Sunstreet where we met up with Drums, Critie and Rambobeth. My cousins!! Christie had the most beautiful hair ever, braided and bunned-up and everthing. (I am still thinking about it, actually, and even tried to do a bun of my own at home last night…fail.) She also mentioned that my hair was looking long. YES I THINK SO! Reality! Workin’ on it. Anyway. Seeing these guys struck me with the thought that I have very good looking relatives on the whole. Like, you wouldn’t even know Christie was 6 months pregnant until she turns around (I mean, then obviously), Trike is a handsome fellow, and Elizabeth is kind of turning into a knockout. OK, /obsession with my cute family.

Lunch was delicious and amusing. I had some weirdly awesome sandwich of sweet potato mash, fennel slaw and mustard greens(?). It was great to catch up with E since we hadn’t seen a whole ton of her over the year. She’s a badass businesswoman. We discussed family stories, blueberry muffins, donut tours, “duffins”/”monuts”, Mistakes Made by Christie and Lexi/Michael B and Jeff’s Reactions, Babs/GT/Barb/Steve, and many other things. We also found out that Laura might be developing a bizarre interest in Jenny a la Chloe/Stephie 1999. “what do you think Jenny’s doing today?” HA! It was a grand old time and I was delighted and honored that Elizabeth wanted to see her COUSINS while visiting friends in MN. YES!

Jeff and I headed out into the sunny warming day to mattress-shop. He was convinced some of his back pain was due to our bed and, since I have never been a huge fan of that bed, I was game for upgrading. Off to the mattress shop we go! I thought this would take us days and annoying trips to several stores but instead we got it done at ONE store in less than TWO hours. YEAH!! An amusing woman told us she had ‘slept around’ at various other stores before choosing this one AND asked me if it was OK that she try out a bed Jeff was on ‘can I share a bed with your husband?’ Ha ha ha! We also purchased two AMAZING NEW PILLOWS that you should really really get. They are stupidly pricey BUT having slept on it once already I can attest to the fact that they are WORTH IT. Perhaps a good present.

Off to more errands. We were very happy with our purchase and happy to be together all the rest of the day. Bed Bath and Beyond…Jeff loves this store, I do not…but he said since I had ‘been so good’ I should get some candy. This was amusing and creepy (especially when we shared it with the lady), but Mike & Ike REDS it was. Off to the toy store which turned into the HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEKEND. We were looking for a present for Mason but instead spent a ridiculous amount of time fawning over all the cool toys. It’s really fun to shop for Mason with Jeff because he gets way into the ‘boy toys’. Ha. Anyway. We were in the Playmobil aisle for so long that someone came along to ask if we needed help – ha ha. Ah no. We were just obsessing over this cool pirate island…and this cool little gym…yes we are dorks. Briefly fantasized about having a night playing with toys at home but decided we could not justify it and instead got some gifts for Mason. Maybe we can play with them with him sometime. Playmobil is just so darn cool. (We also found a Hannibal Lecter action figure, which I almost purchased for Erik but then just texted him about…he texted back saying he had almost bought me a machine gun. ???)

Stopped at Kowalki’s for sushi and sampled some swordfish which Jeff decided he liked. Score! Home to smoothies and sushi. I cleaned up the house and did some kitchen chores while Jeff played videogames. Dinner was chickpea tacos followed by candyfest. The Gopher hockey team WON so that was great, and the tacos were of course superbueno. I went a little candy crazy (as you can imagine) and this meant I passed out very early, oops/big surprise. And then to bed on the NEW PILLOWS!

A Jeff day. A great day. A new day!

“it’s better than I ever even knew / they say that the world was built for two”

“I won’t break down tonight / I feel it for the first time / I feel it for the first time / I found a new place here / I’m coming down fast”

—Afrojack, No Beef

From @Horse_ebooks:

characters
chant
chant
cent-er
car
calendar
breathe
book end!
banker
attract $
attitude
answer
answer
all set
all day

—

ALL SET.

ALL DAY.

Answer answer answer.

Book End! Banker. Attract $?

ALL DAY.

ALL SET.

“I am the future, delorian doors / Will he survive? Never deceased / I don’t think I’m ever gonna rest in peace / Imma kill the game, leave the rest in pieces / Now everybody want my recipe / Tell a jealous chicken I don’t know what the beef is / I’m just making money for my grankids’ nieces”

—will.i.am

“So did you win the lottery yet?”

—Isabella, 2/22/12

time 11:40 am feeling OD’d on toast and yogurt wearing stripey too-short sweater, jeans, new little booties from…SEARS yeah I know… reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, don’t worry, haven’t finished Infinite Jest OR Delusions of Gender, obviously I have reading ADD music Ellie Goulding and will.i.am in my head ready for “being at home and doing nothing!” -Jenny next work

So I overdid it with toast/yogurt this morning. OK that’s just stupid to say. But whatever. I said it! And what can you do.

WCYD.

WCYD!!!

Anyway. For that I blame Diana’s orange marmalade, because I am in LOVE with it. I am also kind of IN LOVE with this week, despite some annoying things happening (see: having to deal with insurance people, who are all basically full-on assholes; Jeff tweaking his back yet again, poor Jeff; Jenny breaking her phone; Diana getting a stress fracture in her foot. BLAH my poor friends/lovers. OTHER SIDE NOTE: I love when my friends ask after not just Jeff/Jenny but also Diana…yes she IS that important! “Oh! And how’s Diana!” Angela said last night. END SIDENOTE). Here are some things that made this week great:

1. day off Monday…oh yeah! SHAMELESS marathon, kind of. In Love with Fiona and Steve’s Love.
2. Madeleine successfully learning a hollow position…at age 5!!! It’s SO helpful that she can do this now and understands her body well enough to do so. YEAH! OK I am way too excited about this but it’s seriously so cool when those kids pick up on something tricky like that. YEAH!
3. finding a new blog to obsess over! Yeah so I’m not a real runner, but this girl reminds me a little of EatLiveRun (though she does not cook…more that she’s mid-20s/kind of crazy) AND though she’s way overloaded in positivity, does not hold back when she’s upset. Check her out: Ali on the Run. (And yes, I found this blog through hate-reading threads…ha. But I don’t hate-read her.)
4. having a terrific night of sleep on Tuesday! I was relaxed and peaceful. This sounds dumb. Again, WHATEVER, WCYD, etc. BUT it was due to: under-caffeinating (DECAF yo!) AND less screen-time pre-bed. Recommended! Seriously, though I generally sleep well, that felt especially divine for some reason. YEAH! Should remember this. Actually feeling sleepy at night vs buzzing = good.
5. WHITE SANGRIA with Angela last night at the Lowbrow (= awesome new place) where we gossiped and celebrated the TERRIFIC news of her son getting into the (fancy) HS he wanted to attend and WITH a merit scholarship to boot…OH YEAH! Again with the good news for my friends. YEAH.
6. Another cousin’s lunch tomorrow, this time w/ RAMBOBETH…MN is where it’s at yo. Ok that’s not this week but whatever.
7. An AWESOME wedding invitation for Jenny is coming together…we are such a great team! I am really really excited about it, it is going to be so kickass!
8. Diana gave me a jar of her amazing homemade orange marmalade! YESSSS! Sorry you cannot have this unless you know her and ask politely (in which case she will give you some).
9. I keep getting invited to weird events on Facebook which I kind of love.
10. This is hilarious and bizarre – and in Madison no less – WTF? http://www.kare11.com/news/article/963717/333/Wis-man-charged-after-cooking-own-meal-at-Dennys
11. “Makin’ money for my (nonexistent) grankids’ nieces!”
12. Isabella hilariously asking if we had won the lottery yet. I made the mistake of telling her that when she’s 6.5 we will have to stop teaching her (because she needs to be in a REAL gym, eventually), and then her mom (and Diana, and I) made the mistake of telling her that IF one of us won (not “one”) the lottery, we would open a gym and be able to coach her forever, and now she just wants us all to win. “You can get lottery tickets at a GAS STATION?!” LOL!
13. Ummmmmm….I am running out of things….even though I know a lot of great things happened this week…..so now I will just list things I like…such as the number 13, because Jeff and Kelly like it!
14. This month, because I saw (almost) all of my friends (or will)!
15. Yoga!

Also it’s worth noting that this is a legit list, like, I’m not just listing this to cover up a Great Sadness Within. I think. Right? I am pretty happy. I think I have my sunlight light to thank for this…? It feels like the Other Side or something. (WTF does that even mean, whatever, I don’t know.) I am a little afraid that this newfound happiness is again a False High a la Summer 2011, however, part of me believes in it, so, we’ll see. I’ll take what I can get!

And now…it must be done. An incomplete list of events and such leading up to 6/9/12 (where is my damn social-life app?!):

-tonight: nothing. Grocery shop with Jeff. Make soup. Watch shows.
-tomorrow: cousin lunch. Mattress and Mason-toy shop. Hang Out! Work on things? See Cole?
-Sunday: swim. Draw. SEKRET PROJECTS!
-Monday: ROOMMATE JAZZERCISE
-Tuesday: An Evening with Michael
-Weds: LEAP DAY!!! coach. And do lots of leaps.
-Thurs: haircut. Much needed.
-Fri: celebratory drinks!

THEN:
-San Fran in March
-Madison for Easter? ehhhh…
-Madison 4/21 for Jenny’s shower…
-Chicago 5/5 for Jenny’s bachelorette WOO!
-Hang out with Sarah Ko sometime after that in Mpls?
-Atlanta mid-May for conference(???)
-Madison the weekend after that for Meg/Matt’s graduations. Looking at my schedule it seems ridiculous to fit this in. HOWEVER, how often do you get TWO graduations in ONE place for the price of ONE? The answer is, NEVER…until someone has twins. So.
-6/3 Madison for Rachel’s graduation…then stay until…
-6/9/12 Jenny and Hakan’s wedding!!!

Whew. That is all. Mostly it’s just May that’s crazy. Manageable though?

OK. Time to get after it. Happy Friday!

…from Jenny, 2/23/12:

RE: Graphic design ‘tricks’ –

Jenny
blows my mind!!!
all these secret things you know

LATER –

Jenny:
random question, who should i have light candles for my centerpieces?
like around 4:30-4:45 pm?
allison?
and also, would you say from pretty much now til my wedding, it is going to be all i can think about/ do?
it seems like it…

Ahahahahahaha!

“There are rules in this world, man!” -Erik “Hmmmm, you didn’t seem to follow that…” -Sue “Well, maybe he’ll start when he’s 31!” -me

—Erik/Sue/me, 2/18/12

“There’s no such thing as too many sparkles.” / “That’s weird” (re: Bil sending Diana roses, ha ha!) / “It’s really easy to get a lottery ticket, but it’s really hard to win the lottery.” / “Are you married to a boy or to a girl?”

—Isabella, 2/18/12…bless her 5-year-old heart

time 4:29 pm feeling great, kind of buzzy wearing leggings, leg warmers, and light blue sweatshirt reading Delusions of Gender music ? ready for whatever’s next, I’m on it! next work on Jenny’s wedding invites

What a kickass weekend and what a kickass February we have ourselves developing here. Hear, hear! You heard it here first! Heard it with my own ears! Etc.

EOTW:
Friday I finished up my work early so I could hit up the dentist and then the waxing lady (having these two things in a row = masochism at its finest, no?). The dentist appointment went very well and for some very weird reason it restored my optimism…feeling hope! We talked about kids and friends. I then stopped briefly at Patisserie 46 for a snack of a coconut roche and started organizing things for Jenny’s wedding…whew! Then the salon place which was fine, we talked about old-school Jeeps with wood doors and weird winters like this one. Yeah!

Home to clean up and make dinner like a WIFE. Some interesting eggplant dish I made up and can probably not repeat (this always happens w/ eggplant), alas. Jeff finally got home from work/grocery shopping and we ate very late. Watched Modern Family which, quite honestly, let me down quite a bit. I’m really disappointed in them and in how they present certain things and also disappointed there’s not more of a backlash. Hmmmm. Eventually I passed out on the couch a la STEVE and went to real bed.

Saturday, up early to hit the gym before all the jerks. It was peaceful and empty and wonderful until about halfway through. But still. Nice to be up and about and OUT early on a Saturday. The day was glitteringly sunny and gorgeous which made everything more pleasant to experience. Great cardio workout, then to Target for a few extras plus FAGE (duh). Home to breakfast and then Jeff came home too. We eventually cleaned up and were on our way to Erik’s birthday celebration at Sue’s. Sue served us soup and sandwiches and Erik opened his gift. “Is this a single ticket to a game?” Heh. Sue read us a history lesson which I enjoyed but she kept having to shush the boys. Amusing in all ways. “Peas porridge hot”?? The sun beckoned us to the park for a romp with Barney (the dog…) and a walk for us all. “Walk beside me and be my FRIEND!” Ha ha!

Sue and Erik hopped on the swings for awhile which was great, except it made Barney crazy. Then on to the middle school park where we discovered some amazing/amazingly DANGEROUS equipment…hmmmmm. I of course could not help myself and hopped up on one piece, almost killing myself in the process, and started swinging around. Erik then swung me around further/faster until I realized I seriously might die if I couldn’t hang on (it was tough). (It was like this weird merry-go-round in the sky that you held on to.) FINALLY SOMEHOW we slowed it down and I escaped. WHEW! Hilarious though.

Home to a quick snack then off to the UMN meet (Jeff stayed home to watch hockey). Diana brought Bil (his first gymnastics meet!) and AGAIN we met up with Isabella and her family which was an AMAZING hit and made my night in every single way. She is seriously too cute and great and her family is too. “She just thinks you’re part of the family now,” said Susan (her mom), because Isabella is fretting over me telling her that we’ll have to send her elsewhere for gymnastics when she’s 6.5…awwww. She enjoyed quite a few dance parties and was amusing with Bil/Diana. “You take the people to school…” “who are the people?” “your kids!” “I don’t have kids!” Ha! She was enthralled. She also said she wanted both a husband AND a boyfriend…I told her this was definitely possible but that she had better clear it with the husband and boyfriend first. Not sure if her mom minded me encouraging polyamory BUT (a) she is 5 (b) as per the “married to a boy or a girl” comment above, clearly they are progressively-minded. So fun. Her family is great. PLUS it was great/cool to welcome Nebraska to the Big 10. They are SO GOOD!!! Seriously the new best in the Big 10. Watch yo backs Michigan/Penn State.

Home again to do taxes/watch Friends with Jeff, after grilled cheese. I NAILED IT with those taxes and I am happy to report we fared VERY VERY well, as I said earlier. DONE AND DONE. We stayed up too late and eventually went to bed. But feeling very accomplished!

Sunday I woke up a few times and eventually got enough sleep. Gah. I was fussy in the morning and this did not bode well so got back in bed. Eventually Jeff got me out and up and going which was good since it was a little bit late. Yogurt, tea, meditated (god who am I) and then off to brunch with Daniel who was in town visiting his sister/niece. We met at Hazel’s which Diana and Bil had suggested the evening prior…my NE connections at work! Hazel’s was a delight and the service impeccable. When I arrived they said it would be a 25 minute wait BUT were extremely apologetic (which they should not have been, it is Sunday brunch for Pete’s sakes) and offered me a cup of coffee for the wait…divine! Daniel shows up and also procures pre-brunch coffee. What a good idea, Hazel’s! They also gave us a sample of a butterscotch-bacon donut…WTF/awesome indeed. We discussed server errors, PC viruses, and general IT mismanagement/amusement. Finally we were seated and were happy to hear the specials included a fancy hash/egg combo…done and done. It was good to catch up and it always make me happy to hear of good things happening for my friends. YEAH!

On to swim after a VERY LONG time looking for a parking place…oh UMN. (I wound up parking in the same spot I’d been in the night before.) The day was STUNNINGLY gorgeous and sunny and warm AGAIN and I walked to the Nat soaking it up. I called Jeff to say “it’s such a nice day!” but he did not answer, alas. Swimming was a bit chaotic at first but I eventually wound up in a sane/calm shared lane (vs. 294079023742 people in the Crazy Lane). Always a good time and necessary to work off that caffeine (oops).

Back home and got obsessed with mattress shopping. Any advice, friends?? I ordered the ConsumerReports.org subscription even but its mattress section was kind of lacking….grrr. Still, I think I’ve got a Plan. I’m way into just DOING THINGS and GETTING THINGS DONE lately and I can’t stop. Call me and I’ll get it done. All of the things I was telling myself I ‘should’ believe or ‘logic’ FINALLY I am starting to maybe believe? Maybe? IDK? I hesitate…but still. Perhaps it can be a self-fulling prophecy this time…

Finally showered, made myself strawberry pancakes and settled in to work on Jenny’s wedding invites which turned into writing this massive update. Still. A good weekend worthy of recording. This February I am managing to see almost all of the people I adore, too, which makes it even better. So YEAH to that.

I am NAILING 2012. Things are going to go our way this year. I can definitely feel it. We are owed a good year and I really think it’s going to happen. I only hope this feeling lasts!

Hate-reading hath brought me an epiphany.

Everything I touch shall turn to gold.

You heard it here first!! And now…partytime!

So while I knew everywhere I needed to be whilst I lived/grew up in Madison (well…vaguely), it’s very apparent that I did not once look at a map to give context to the ol’ haunts…hmmmmm. West, East, South? What’s that? Damn.

I should improve on this before WEDDINGFEST2012.

“Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in the world. I cannot conceive of any other explanation. I am convinced that there is no other, and that if the world has indeed, as I have said, been built of sorrow, it has been built by the hands of love, because in no other way could the soul of man, for whom the world was made, reach the full stature of its perfection. Pleasure for the beautiful body, but pain for the beautiful soul.”

—Oscar Wilde, De Profundis

“But of all these friends and lovers / there is no one compares with you / and these memories lose their meaning / when I think of love as something new / Though I know I’ll never lose affection / for people and things that went before / I know I’ll often stop and think about them / in my life I love you more”

—Beatles

“The natural born programmer had little choice as to the vessel he was created into, nor the place and time he was created. Nor do any of us. That’s what we are coping with.”

Amazing comment from a Krugman post – you should read the whole thing here.

Basically saying that just because YOU (general YOU) have been able to find success in our crazy world as a [so-and-so], it does not mean EVERYONE will be able to. Your skillset may have just come into being/YOU may have just come into being at exactly the right moment.

So. To all the haters (AKA Republicans…jk. Not really.)…

Anyway. The last time I remember feeling this good in a February was in 2008. Notice a theme?! I have no idea how long this will last but I will take it. Yeah!! YEAH! I thank my sunlamp for much of this (AKA my mom getting it for me). OH YEAH! & good music. & silly Jeff!

We had a very lovely Valentine’s day. We always say we’re not going to do anything, and more or less we did not, BUT we did get each other little gifts surprisingly, AND goofed off around the house/killed a bottle of wine together all evening long. “GARCON!!” Ahahahahahaha. We are weirdos. Jeff also posted a very very nice message on Twitter which I promptly misinterpreted…FAIL. But, SO NICE! Awwwww.

Yesterday was also about: CFML + other aventuras, TREATS! like truffles + wine, and GTD. Also Erik and I sort-of making fun of Jeff via phone conference call. The problem is, we both adore Jeff but we also adore provoking him. It’s too good.

Now: managing the Social Life. Upcoming events include such things as:

-HH w/ Jackie/Kari
-Nebraska meet w/ Diana
-Erik’s bday celebration
-HH w/ Angela
-Roommate Jazzercise part deux
-an evening with Michael
-and more.

I also need to get: malt shop w/ Cole, celebration-drinks, skating double date?, and time w/ Jeff’s dad+wife on the calendar. Also eventually a larger HITF meetup perhaps?

SOCIAL LIFE!

Also need to GET ORGANIZED for 6-9-12. GET AT IT. GET after it!

GTD. GTD!!!

Later.

“Yeah…I married a hockey player.”

—me, 2/12/12

“The only thing that’s different is time passing.”

—Katie D, 2/12/12

“…having friends by our side, or even just thinking of them, makes any challenge feel easier.”

—some random psych study, via MPR

“I thought it less like a lake / and more like a moat”

—Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism

“Goals – why bother?
Get Organised
Friends
Focus on What You Want
Feeling Good
Everything is Connected”

—@Horse_ebooks

“…from my friend Dominick…..’s.”

—Hakan, 2/10/12

time 6:59am feeling weirdly emotional and sad wearing fuchsia sweater, cords reading nothing…FAIL music Death Cab etc ready for time machine and/or bilocation next board the plane

NOTE: NOT actually uploaded at the airport/on the plane (but yes on the planeT), I’m connected but not THAT connected, ha

—

“We should hang out in Madison sometime, you and me and Danny and Daniel.”

I try not to get into it too much anymore here, because I read things from 8,9,12 years ago and I’m a little weirded out by what all I wrote, but some things just strike me and I have to get it out. That little offhand comment above from Katie from yesterday is one.

It’s weird to see people again after a decade or so. Especially when that decade is basically your 20s, and you spent your time before then sheltered and nerdy and living more or less the good, crazy, typical HS life. Then, everyone had more or less the same life. A decade later, people have gotten married, moved, started careers, changed careers, gone back to school, bought houses, and all kinds of other little developmental things and firsts and experiences, etc. But you’re still the same people? Is it indeed just time, after all?

(“And you’re MARRIED!” Daniel said in June, as if it were something surprising or new. Yeah, I thought, DUH; there was nothing new or surprising about that; I’ve been married for awhile; it’s such an obvious and integral part of my life. But when you’ve been away, when you were last friends at 18, I guess it is new, and does seem weird…just a lot that happens in all those particular years.)

Of course, we won’t be hanging out with “the Dans” again, but that all started 14(!) years ago right around this time, which seems both hard to believe and so far away all at once. Oh LIFE!

Anyway.

I think I touched on this earlier, but there are some people out there with whom you just make a connection. It’s true, I don’t have a particularly hard time making friends, and I tend to find _some_ kind of connection with a lot of people pretty easily. But there aren’t all that many whom I just feel I can strongly trust, who just ‘get it’, with whom I could just hang out for a good long while.

And then time, geography, space. That geography is a tricky beast, unfortunately.

And your 17/18-year-old brain makes some good friend decisions after all. (& maybe not the 20-year-old one, when you let things go, but WCYD?) What you wanted in a friend at 18 might not be so far off at 30, either. If only you’d gotten to know certain people earlier and kept them around, longer, if you could.

When I arranged to see Andrea when I was in Chicago last July, I was nervous, so freaking nervous. And when it finally happened, so glad. This time I was excited and happy to have lunch with her and knew it would go well. And then sad when I left, because here’s the thing: so easily and happily I could see myself slipping back into being her friend, if she would have me, and I would be so lucky. But time, space, geography. LIFE! But either way, it makes me grateful to have had her in my life, even for a time. You don’t get to know someone like that just anywhere.

(Also, I might be making this all up and be delusional. Sorry if I am, LOL.)

In weird ways it makes me anxious and sentimental for the FUTURE, which I know makes no sense, but whatever. As in, who knows who you might meet? Who knows when the next kind of connection like that might come along? And who knows when you might lose one, too? It happens.

EMOFEST! The Land Before Time. I hope you have enjoyed this and that I have not embarrassed myself fully…OH WAIT, ha ha. Too late. Anyway. I’ve been walking through the airport on the verge of tears, in one of those Moods – missing Jenny, missing Jeff, craving bilocation (stolen from Michael’s wish), a little overwhelmed at both the future and the past and everything in it. All the mysteries. Feeling grateful.

—

And now up in the air. For the record I am overtired and missing both Jenny and Jeff to pieces, desperately wishing for bilocation as I am up in the air between my JJs. You know. The usual.

I had SO much fun in Chicago with Jenny and Hakan and hanging out in their fantastic Chicago life! They really have a good thing going and despite my older-sister overprotective qualities (sorry…ha), I am really excited to see their life together play out, because all signs point to it being great upon great. Here’s to a wonderful 6-9-12, and beyond!

My flight was delayed Friday…drama and annoyance as I SUPER annoyingly detailed on Twitter, ha, oops, but then I got in and life was grand. Jenny picked me up and we made our way to their spectacular apartment downtown. Some food and lots of catching up and LOTS of texts from Hakan trying to get us to come out with him (LOL!), and before we knew it Hakan was home bearing a little tulip plant (“from my friend Dominick….’s” HAHAHAHAHA!). We spent the weekend EATING and joking and doing wedding-y things, which was great fun!! Figured out invites. Plotted registries (“NOT made in China!”), went shopping, tried on bridesmaid dresses (which one? Gah!). Got Hakan mac and cheese (note: not wedding related). Etc.

Jenny made not one but TWO amazing feasts!! An incredible crepe bar Saturday morning (she is so good at that!) AND a fondue feast Sunday night, cheese and meat/veg! Sooooooo good and fancy. Thank you JJ! So fun.

Lunch with Andrea was great and at a really cool place!! Southport Grocery at her suggestion. I had a cardamom rosewater Italian soda and we all shared a homemade pop tart. (I am reading too many food blogs if I get this excited about this but whatever, lol.) Fun to chat. Also Andrea explained Pinterest….hmmmmm.

Also it was good to be in Chicago for that faux-East-Coast mentality of doing things in your 30s instead of 20s. I forget how…MIDWESTERN MN is, sometimes. (and if not, I have my accent to remind me…)

And of course we went to Fox and Obel – super good and well-done, with a bottle of wine to boot – and fun to go for dinner. Nice to spend so much time with just Jenny and Hakan. Watched Contagion at night which freaked me out which is dumb since I’d already seen it? Ha. AND lots of playing with the cats. So cute! They just love Jenny. Big kitty hugs!

Sunday was a great day (“I feel so productive!” as Jenny said). Got up and scurried to level 2 yoga. WHOA! Good class but very hot. Really fun to do with Jenny though. A little like gymnastics together (but less scary, heh). (Note, no, we did not end up going to Chicago Style which was fine – there were too many other fun things to do!) Then off to meet Hakan for brunch at Feast (a real place)! I love their fancy and amazing Chi life 🙂 and all the good food. We also got a second hit of Argo Tea (no lo tengo in Mpls) and then to JCrew to try on dresses, fun and good. THEN to Leonidas for a grand chocolate tasting and QT w/ JJ. Quality everything. Talking about friends. Enjoying amazing chocolate and mochas (whew!). The good life! Thanks Jenny for sharing it.

Then home? And some shopping? Registry attempts. Lots of walking. Cold but very sunny! So fun and a nicely relaxing time. (“for a relaxing time…make it Santori time” ok sorry haha) Finding a couple great bday cards for my pops HA!

Then beers with 1997(& 1993, & 1998)partner-in-crime Katie. Weird but good. Stirring things up etc. See above. Map Room was really cool! And “C”-mas presents to LX from KT. (“I love that you still hang that ornament!”)

And back to fondue with J and H. Fondue FEAST, that is. And then bed and now back to MN. Such a fun, great weekend! THANK YOU JENNY & HAKAN! 🙂

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Now back to MSP which is good. I missed Jeff a LOT. (Yeah I’m kind of obsessed w/ JJs…ha.) Looking forward as always to the usual life with Jeff. The Good Life.

(2011 changed me – yeah, every year does, but moreso than others, this one – and I don’t think I’ll ever take my time with Jeff for granted again. Or a lot of people, but, you know. He is…THE BEST!)

Life! Happy hearts’ day, if you celebrate (we don’t really, but you never know). Here’s to love!

ETA: And then when we landed we flew RIGHT OVER our house! FATE. KISMET. Etc.

#FedValentines

Amazing, amusing, dorkily captivating.