Hiatus

I know this blog has been on a 10 month hiatus. If anyone still has me on their blog feed, this is what's happening:

I think I mentioned before that I started this blog while living in Chicago to both keep in touch with family and friends back home and document my time there. Since moving back to Minnesota, my life hasn't been too exciting and I see most people fairly regularly anyway. And I update my life pretty regularly on Facebook.

I quit my job in August to go back to school full time. I finished my first year of my English Master's program at St. Thomas and decided to go full time and finish in two years. I'm taking three classes right now, which is considered full time. I'm facinated by my classes and very impressed with the English program at UST. I'm writing my essay this spring on Zitkala-Sa, her trilogy and her relationship with Col. Richard Henry Pratt of the Carlisle Indian School. I'll also be taking my final class which is TBD.

Amidst my grad school craziness, I'm applying to PhD programs for next fall. My first application is due December 1st, so it's coming up quick. I'm very much in panic mode. I've been working so hard for as long as I can remember to get to this point. Now that I'm here, I'm freaking out!

If all goes as planned, Tim and I will be moving out of Minnesota this summer. Possible cities include: Seattle, Chicago, Evenston, Atlanta, College Park MD, Gainsville, Durham, Philidelphia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse.

Eep! Wish me luck!

I may be starting a new blog centering around food and books (since that's what my life has been about lately). Stay tuned.

Honeymoon Day 7

Our last full day in Seattle! It was such a great trip and I'd go back in a heartbeat. It's such a relaxed and beautiful city. Easy to site see or just hang out.

We walked down to Pike Place Market which was only four blocks from our hotel. It's so much fun to just eat your way through the market. We had: crepes, gyoza, teriyaki chicken, donuts and chai. Under the market (it's multiple levels) there's this thing called the gum wall. It's exactly what it sounds like: a wall where people have stuck their ABC (already been chewed) gum for years. It's both disgusting and facinating. We saw the first ever Starbucks, but it was packed full of people so we just peaked our heads in and walked on by. Of course the fish market was super cool. We got to see a bunch of guys throw fish, and if you ever had to watch the FISH video at work, you'll recognize the guys working there.

We continued walking down the Sound to the Seattle Aquarium. This was a lot of fun. The sea otters were entertaining (we couldn't stop watching their shenanigans) and the skate fish were hilarious.

We went back to the hotel and had a glass of wine before heading to the Seattle Mariners vs. Yankees game. The Mariners had just built a new stadium and Tim wanted to check it out. The Mariners beat the Yankees 3-1! The stadium food is out of this world. Instead of having a company trucking in dome dogs, local restaurants rent out the concessions. Garlic fries and clam chowder!

Overall, I couldn't have asked for more in a honeymoon. I had so much fun just hanging out and adventuring all over the city with my new husband!

Honeymoon Day 6

Tim and I took a ferry out of Pier 52 to Bainbridge Island. We spent the day walking around the island. It's pretty charming. I imagine it to be like Stillwater if it was on an island. We had brunch at the Streamliner Cafe, stopped at a bike shop, wine store and window shopped. Before we went back to the city, we stopped at a confectionery for homemade snickers fudge. Yum!

That afternoon, we took a bus to Ballard to see the locks and salmon ladders. I had to convince Tim that this would be a worthwhile trip, and it was! The observation tunnel was really neat. You get to see the salmon gearing up to go through the next ladder. They seem to try so hard and we were all there cheering them on.

After watching the salmon, we walked down Ballard Ave. and had dinner at Thaiku before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Honeymoon - Day 5

Sometimes I forget I have a blog.

On the 5th day of the honeymoon we hopped on the monorail and traveled to Seattle Center, the site for the 1962 World's Fair and the Space Needle. We walked around a bit and went to the Experience Music Project. The building, designed by Frank Gehry and founded by Paul Allen, is pretty rad. It's inspired by Jimi Hendrix and from above looks like a melted guitar. I really enjoyed the history of the guitar exhibit and seeing Kurt Cobain's guitar (from the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video). The grunge exhibit was pretty rad too.

In the basement of the Experience Music Project is the Science Fiction Museum. Admission is free with EMP entrance, so Tim and I thought "why not." As we were looking at everything, we noticed little tags by all the pieces that read, "From the Paul Allen Collection." My theory is that Paul Allen wanted somewhere to exhibit his nerdy science fiction memorabilia but knew that few people would visit on their own volition. So he built the super awesome Experience Music Project to entice visitors to see his science fiction collection.

We took the monorail back downtown and hopped on the streetcar, cleverly titled the South Lake Union Trolley (S.L.U.T.). We just rode it to the end of the line and back. I'm sure you can guess why.

We went back to the hotel in time for the free wine tasting. The hotel is kind of artsy fartsy, so in the restaurant where they serve the wine, they also have watercolor paints and paper in case you get "inspired." Tim did the crossword puzzle while I painted images of the puzzle words. It was pretty silly.

After the wine tasting, we took a cab back to Seattle Center to have dinner in the Space Needle. Tim made sunset reservations. Unfortunately it was a little too cloudy to see a pretty sunset. We still had a blast though. The food was alright, not too impressive, but the view was fantastic. After dinner, we hung out on the observation deck for a bit before heading back.

Honeymoon - Day 4

My aunt and uncle live in Tacoma. They picked us up Tuesday morning and drove us out to Mount Rainier. It was an amazing trip! We drove up to Sunrise Point, hiked about half mile and drove back down. We stopped in Greenlake for ice-cream on the way down.

We went to my aunt and uncle's afterward for dinner and my cousins came by to visit. My aunt and uncle have a great view of Rainier from their house. This was my favorite day of the trip.

Turkey Day!

Happy belated Turkey Day! Or Tofurkey Day! I had a blast Thanksgiving weekend. Lots of traveling, but lots of fun.

Tim and I drove up to the Staples area of Minnesota to spend Thanksgiving with my family at my grandparent's house. Everyone was there, including all the cousins, and we had a blast. It seems that every year the family gets bigger and bigger.

We drove home that night to prepare for a big drive in the morning. Friday morning we headed down to our old stomping grounds of Chicago for Matt and Julie's wedding! The drive down was fine. We pulled the car in front of our old house to walk to the best Thai restaurant ever for some much anticipated pad see ewe. As we walked down the block I said, "Wouldn't it be funny if it wasn't there anymore?" But when it wasn't there anymore it wasn't funny at all. So we drove down Diversey to Renaldi's pizza - best Chicago style pizza ever.

We decided to meet Matt at his place by UIC and he was just getting ready to meet the guys at Daley Plaza for some ice skating. I haven't ice skated since I was a little thing on two blades, so I was a little nervous, but I had a blast. I think I'll be scouting the thrift stores of a pair of skates of my own.

Ant Jean and Denny were more than hospitable as usual and let us crash at their place. In the morning Tim and I hit up Oak Brook Mall and walked around before heading back to the house to get ready for the big night.

The wedding was a blast. I even got Tim out to dance. Matt and Julie fed us well, I heard some of the best speeches ever, and the playlist was awesome - and of course Julie looked amazing.

The next morning Jean made a great breakfast, but the snow began to fall and we thought we should get on the road before it got too bad.

Congrats Matt and Julie. You guys are the best - you're what we miss in Chicago. Thanks for the great time.

Honeymoon - Day 3

Tim and I got up early and took the #66 bus to the U of W campus. We walked around trying to find breakfast in the University District, but since it was Labor Day everything was closed. We finally found the Portage Bay Cafe, had breakfast and then walked over to campus. It's a beautiful campus. We walked around for a while and then stopped by Trabant Coffee and Chai for some fancy chai and the NY Times crossword puzzle.

Our friend Josh moved out to Seattle last Spring, so we thought we would meet up with him and have him show us around a bit. He met us at Trabant and drove us around the neighborhoods. We ended up at Zayda Buddy's for "Minnesota Style Pizza and Beer." It's strange going to a Minnesota bar in another state. It's like getting an outside perspective of your home town and drinking expensive Premium in bottles. Josh dropped us back off downtown at the hotel later in the afternoon.

After relaxing for a bit, we went in search of a good Irish pub near the hotel. We found a couple, but they sucked. We ended up at the hotel bar for some drinks and food. The hotel bar is an old bourbon bar, so Tim felt the need to order a fancy bourbon. Of course he hated it and plotted how he could get rid of it without drinking it. He finally choked it down and felt like a real man. For me it was just entertaining to watch.