Everyone needs a little adventure in their life.

M, The Jew, and I had planned a trip to Chicago back in May (I think).  When I say planned, I mean M and the Jew were drunk and bought tickets using M’s leftover Southwest credits.  The real plan was to stay at M’s Parents place for a week and eat, drink, and sleep to our heart’s content.

As the date for the trip drew near we were no more prepared than we were in May.  Seriously, things have been a bit of a train wreck lately (more on that some other time).  We recklessly packed our things (including some dirty laundry) and managed to get to the plane on time (we also managed to squeeze in shots of bourbon before hopping in the cab).

The flight was horrible. Turbulence and poorly behaved children.  We hoped that it wasn’t foreshadowing of things to come.  I had planned to sleep through the entire flight (It’s been a rough week).  No such luck.  After 20 minutes I woke up.  I put in earplugs but they weren’t enough to drown out the voices of the kids behind me.

When we landed in Chicago it was pouring.  The luggage coming in at baggage claim was soaked.  Then yet another delay,  the ramp was closed due to lightening.  They were holding our luggage hostage.  Then M’s dad was stuck in traffic and wouldn’t be able to pick us up.  Three sad faces.  We were tired and needed a snack.

Things eventually came together.  Our luggage and our ride showed up.  We arrived at M’s parents place safely.  We were fed and put to bed.

Day 1:
We woke up rather early. There are routines at the Parents’ house that interfere with sleeping in.  The “plan” for today was to go to the Korea street festival and go out for indian food on Devon Ave. Done and done.  Bonus: a cool picture of M with a 40 of Sake and a straw hat.

We roamed around the mall after our food crawl.  The Jew needed sunglasses.  No sunglasses, but people watching and heckling was in full effect.  When we got home I went swimming in the sweet “R” shaped pool.  Then it was a quick LAN party to upload pictures from our adventure on to the FB.

After dinner we wanted to go out and see some Chicago nightlife. It was fairly uneventful.  Apparently Chicago’s version of Hipstertown had been overrun by yuppies.  We plan on going back to the last bar of the evening.[get name from M]. Since M was driving, the Jew and I were drinking.  I came home drunk.  The Jew was somewhere in between drunk and tipsy.  Needless to say we needed food.  The Jew wanted White Castle for some strange reason.  Thanks to the iPhone we made that dream come true.  I had indian leftovers at the house (Excuse me, why can’t more places serve veggie hashbrowns?).

Day 2:
Up at 11am.  Yes, we got to sleep in.  I don’t know what time we came home and passed out. The menu for today was Chinese and Thai.  M and the Jew actually went running this morning.  I do not run <strike> (I will probably swim later)</strike>.  We got a late start leaving the house. Today’s menu was Chinatown.  We went to lunch at Joy Yee’s (4pm is now lunch time).  Then we roamed around.  Sunday night is “family” dinner at M’s parents so we ended up making a small feast in their kitchen (I love the accessibility and granite counter tops).  We stayed in the rest of the night eating and drinking.  Needless to say, we slept well once again.

Day 3:
Today I was up at 8:30 for some strange reason.  We made it out of the house by 11.  We hit the field museum.  DINOSAURS! Then it was off to fancy dinner at Custom House.  The food was ok.  It was well thought out but poorly executed. The textures were off.   We ended the night dancing at Fizz.

Day 4:

Today was a full day.  After our usual breakfast of leftovers we headed to the Art institute.   We split up to cover more ground and I ended up seeing the whole thing (I could spend days in there). We made plans to go out to for tapas at Emilio’s with M’s family.  Yet another feast.  I was tired.  I passed out after dinner.  M and the Jew went out for drinks.  I didn’t even hear them come home.

Day 5:
The Jew’s last day in down.   Not so much food grazing today.  We had a low key day.  Chicago Safari.  Frank lloyd wright houses, Oz park, and   Licoln park.  M and I have dinner with an old friend.  Surprisingly decent indian food for the suburbs.

Day 6:
Lazy day.  M and I slept in.  I had to scan some paperwork to refinance my house.  we hit the Costco and the H&M. Then it was Green Zebra for dinner.  My favorite fancy dinner so far (there will be pictures).  We drank A LOT at dinner. Then we met some friends for drinks later.  Chilling out before driving home was a must

Day 7:
We went back to Uru Swathi for brunch.  We got to go orders of samosas and aloo gobi before leaving Devon ave.  We had planned to lounge by the pool before leaving but it was looking pretty dreary.  We ended up packing and chilling out.

Overall it was a great vacation.  I spent more money than I intended but at the end of the day, you can’t take it with you when you go.

(David Weaver) A-List photos from the Austin Monthly bachelor issue release party at Gables Park Plaza on 07.27.10.

M and I went on an adventure Wednesday night.  Well, it wasn’t the quite adventure that we had planned it to be.

For a few years, M has wanted to check out the Austin Monthly Bachelor Party.  She’s come close but never made it into the door.  This year, due to her web 2.0 skills, she was able to RSVP for the both of us to get in.  The plan was to get dressed up and meet some interesting dudes.

I arrived at M’s in a ridiculously short dress and heels (I don’t usually wear short dresses.  I am already a tall girl.  Short dresses and heels make my legs look freakishly long).  M threw on something equally daring and we set off for the Gables (BTW.  these are some very nice, but expensive, apartments).

We arrive and there is valet parking (score!). The attendants showed their appreciation for the outfits (they were cute).  We have only made one snarky comment on the way to the table to sign in.  Things were good.  Or so we thought.

We arrive at the party, only to realize that we are the misfits.  Two lone hipsters in the plastic jungle (riddled with Cougars, I might add).  It was like some ladies night on West 6th with dollar drink specials (oddly there were no men cashing in on this).  Everywhere you turned, label after designer label.  At least there were free drinks.  Grey Goose was a sponsor so M and I started on Vodka (survival tactic).

We did a lap and decided to go outside and observe the wildlife from the other side of the glass.  we grabbed a copy of the magazine so we could do some research before the formal introduction started.  Most of the guys seemed really interesting.  There were some we considered adding to our list of future ex-husbands.

When we went back inside we discovered a field of gift bags by the door (and a girl wearing something that resembled an Ikea pillowcase that was trying to be a dress).  We didn’t feel like carrying anything, besides drinks, so we left them behind (after checking out the loot inside).  The bachelor intros were…(well there is no better way to say it)… Lame!  First of all, there wasn’t a mic.  The MC, host, whatever she was, ended up using the DJ’s headphones.  You could barely her her adlibbed intros over the commentary from the jungle floor.  When all was said and done, we took advantage of a few photo ops, grabbed some wine, and went outside.

We did a lap around the patio to confirm that we were, in fact ,the misfits.    Oh well.   It was getting late so we made one last ditch effort to communicate with the one bachelor that we would actually run into  in real life.  There was a split second when the Fun^3 Fest guy wasn’t surrounded with cougars and we took a chance and inquired whether or not he was bringing Sleigh Bells.  Then we asked if any other people asked about the fest.  In this crowd.  Only one person.  We chatted for a bit about music stuff and a mutual friend.  Then we asked who we should contact if we wanted to get press passes.  It was obvious that he was looking for fan girls to fawn over him vs. people that are interested in his business.   Not at all what I expected.

Overall, it was a not-so-eventful night. M and I caught up on a few things and got to test drive some dresses that hadn’t made it out of the closet yet.

Superman/Clark Kent - Superman Fan Art (546265)

…are never in the same place.  The same is true of M and myself when it comes to relationships.   One of us is always single.

I mentioned it to 2.0 a week or so ago and he asked if we did it on purpose so someone could be there for support.  I said that was not the case.  It just happens.

Thursday night before the Flossy show, M and I went through the full chronology of our friendship and I was right.  She asked if she should ditch 2.0 so I could date someone [Obviously she was kidding.]   I told her that it really shouldn’t have to be that way.  One of these we will go on a double date.  Just not now.

Image from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

In the last few weeks I have made the executive decision to remove a few people from my FB news feed.  Why?  Because life was getting to be a bit like a B movie.  Sure, Web 2.0 has a lot of benefits.  You get to keep in touch with people all over the globe, but at the same time, there are just a few things you don’t need/want to know (or you will go CRAZY).

As we all know, the classic B horror flick contains several scenes where the audience tries to tell the actor/actress not to do something.  “Don’t go in the basement!” or “Don’t open that door!” or “Get the fuck out of there, something is going to kill you!”

My version of that is deleting people from my feed (I don’t “un-friend” them).  If I really want to know, I have to make the effort to go to their profile and read their wall.  But as we all know from experience, that is a bad idea.

Image from Creating Passionate Users

You know how M and I decided that we were going to enjoy men like we enjoy food, well it would be nice if they had some sort of expiration or “best if used by” date.  Last night we had CSA Friday with Owen’s dad and the scientist.  [As usual, we made a mountain of insanely good food.]  Anyways, the scientist had requested hummus and we had a long debate over the shelf life of tahini.  It had been living in the fridge for over a year since it was opened, but it smelled fine (Believe me, rancid sesame is not a good smell).

This morning while I debated the need to stay in bed vs. the need for coffee I pondered the whole, “How do you know when it’s over?”  There’s no expiration date, bad smell or curdling to look for.  There’s no pop up timer, or life meter (or game over for that matter).

Any suggestions or signs to look for?  If any of you says, “you just know,” I will send one of my people over to kick your ass.

IMG_0298, originally uploaded by Limorama.

Today, on my way home from school, I had to stop out in the country. I had a little errand out there. But, dear readers I just wanted to share this pic with you.

I always travel with my D60… Except for when I go to school. This was taken with my iPhone. It got me thinking… I’m starting to get the travel itch (bug).

Don’t get me wrong, I love Austin, but I need a weekend in the country or something like this. How lovely is this picture. I pulled over on the side of a country road and just snapped a few with the phone.

Man, Texas is beautiful country.

I might make the clothes but M is definitely the more fashionable of the two of us.  Here she is sporting the “Chairman Mao Mu’umu’u”  from my Smoke House Dresses line.  The design was based on this dress from Browns Fashion and the dress was made from a polyester house dress.

M has been around for most of my semi-pro sewing career.  She has inspired a lot of my work and has definitely pushed me towards being a better designer.

Thanks M for being my “Tim Gunn” for the Smokehouse Dresses line.

Truth is, I don’t know.

I had dinner with some friends this evening, and I begun lamenting about how horrible my life is, how lonely I am, how I am unchallenged, etc. All because a friend tried asking me that very question.

But you know, that’s not really a good way to look at it.  I know it, even if I don’t act like it all the time, that it will get better.  I will finish school, I will end up doing something I want to be doing instead of this limbo stage… *it will get better*.

I’ve been feeling kind of shitty lately, well really for a while, and I’m not sure.

Let’s see I could make this into a rant about all that truly sucks in my life right now, but I feel it would be better for my emotional health to really try to think about all the thinks I do love.

Here’s my list:

1. My dog: He’s been my best friend for a long time, and days when I talk to no-one at school, or anywhere else, I always have him.  Even if he cannot respond in kind, there’s some part of me that realizes it doesn’t matter if he responds or not.  It’s more about me telling him stuff, really any stuff, that makes me feel the slightest modicum better.
2. My friends (I’ve been through worse, yes, but now I feel like this rough patch is truly being helped by long, if not unnecessary conversations with my friends.)  Even if they are tired to death of hearing my woes, they’ll listen, and it’s that listening that’s my “therapy” so to speak.
3. My family, I guess really I mean my aunt.  She’s seen a lot more than I have and the wisdom or experience is really helpful.  That being said I’m not trying to discount my family.  Sometimes it’s a little harder to share certain things with them though.
4. School: I don’t really like anyone I go to school with, but it’s pretty easy to get my A’s. I’m not saying that it’s boring.  All I have to do is my work, and it’s interesting and I get my A’s, just because it’s not super challenging doesn’t mean I don’t like it.  On top of that, it’s something to occupy my mind.

Maybe it’s not about waiting for it to get better though, there’s something to be said about taking positive action toward the course you want to see yourself on.  And even if I don’t feel like it will get better now, maybe I should try to take that stock in the things that I *do* have.

I read a study the other day saying that people in the Netherlands (or maybe it was Denmark) were the happiest in the world.  They have the most trust in society, are hard workers who do their job because they like it, not necessarily for the money, and seem to have the most stable emotional health of anyone in the world.  When asked how they are, the thing they say all the time is “It could be worse.”

I think that’s perhaps the best way to look at things.  It is totally true, and at the same time takes some stock in your present situation now.  I’ve been trying to say that when people ask how I am.  Sometimes I can’t say that, sometime I feel horrible, but most of the time I’ve been able to say it.  Maybe if I can say that more often I’ll finally live by and realize the repercussions of that statement.

So, dear readers, I really don’t know what I love about my life the most right now.  And I not really sure I ever will, but it could be worse, right?

The topic of baggage has been brought up on several occasions.  I am working on the train case and M is working on the backpack. Neither of us what the 23 piece luggage set from Darjeeling Limited.

I recently saw Up in the Air with my Yenta (yes, I have a Yenta now).  I will save you from the details since I don’t want to clog this post up with spoiler alert warnings.  I will say that the film was brilliant.  But what else would you expect from the man that gave us Juno and Thank You for Smoking.

Back to the backpack…

George Clooney’s character (the lovable asshole), is a motivational speaker.  His pitch is about a backpack (I am still trying to figure out if the backpack speech has anything to do with the book by John Bytheway.)

How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life… (more…)

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Right now, I have two friends going through some personal stuff that they would rather not talk about. They are tired of explaining what has been on constant replay in their heads.  They would like to talk about something else.  Ironically, both of them decided to skip town for a few days in the hopes of clearing their heads.

This got me wondering…Why can’t civilians get the same deal as Government officials and celebrities.  They have people to run damage control.  They can go into a press conference and not have to talk about certain things. Or, should they decided to talk about one of these touchy topics, they only have to say it once, and then they are done.

As a friend, I have decided not to ask these people what happened or why these things occurred.  It’s not my business.  Besides, it is pretty obvious that they are not in a good place right now.  I merely listen and ask what do they need.   You should do the same.