Book Signing, Chalk Drawings, Turkey, Spoons, Dim Sum

The Saturday after Thanksgiving. I went to pick up Jason at his first book signing gig. It was at the Geneva Historical Society. When I arrived I got the most handsome author there to sign a book of his own poetry, gushing the entire time how much I loved his poetry. The author asked me out on a date. Jason did not get jealous, because this was of course him. I arrived a little early and Jason suggested I go for a little walk up and down the main drag of Geneva, to see some interesting chalk drawings on the sidewalk. Apparently during the night someone had come and written anti-commercialism messages on the sidewalks in pink chalk. Many of them had been erased, but they left "Love is Free" and "Save the Planet -- Save Your Money".

From there we drove to my aunt and uncle's house in Lansing where we Thanksgiving-ed with my dad's rather large and boisterous family. The night ended with the family tradition of playing spoons around the super long table in the basement. There were minimal injuries this year, though one person did leap over the table and do a nose-dive to grab a spoon off the floor that had fallen.

Then on Sunday we went to Chicago to meet up with some old/new friends. Kelly got reconnected with an old high school friend using Facebook, and we met up with her and her husband in the city. We got a "This Old House" style tour of their historic home that they are in the process of restoring, met their two sweet cats, and headed to Chinatown. We had Dim Sum for the first time, Sara's husband leading us through the ordering of delicious dumplings and such including the mysterious "shark fin" flavored ones, and then got a taste of Pearl Tea with tapioca pearls, yum. Sara and Brooke also introduced us to their Wii. Jason won boxing Kelly, and she thought the pain of losing would be the end of it, but the next day her arms hurt a heck of a lot. A good time was had by all.

Life is Good

Rascal skascal enjoying his freedom after Kelly had to leave town for work. He just loves having the whole apartment to himself!

P.S. - Come home soon Kelly, we both miss you. :)

Monster Bash

We had a little Halloween party for our friends. Every single guest came in costume, perhaps due to the subtle hints included in the invitation. Jason sadly couldn't make it. But I met this awesome bass-ass long-haired drummer guy and asked him to be my date for the night. I was most proud of the kick-butt brownie graveyard. I came up with the idea from the internet and long-hair executed it with pizazz. Apparently myself and Jason are buried together (although I die first) and also Mitch Hedberg is buried just one row back. Hopefully that means we all hang out in heaven.

We enjoyed the company of old friends and new. About 18 people crammed into a tiny apartment. And zero noise complaints from the neighbors, so I guess next year we'll have to try harder. Jason put together an excellent Halloween music mix that included Thriller, heavy metal, and Nightmare Before Christmas and Dexter tracks. Some people visiting from Spain totally dug our pumpkin art piece.

Pumpkin Picasso

So after I posted that gloriously plump blank canvas, I'm sure you've all been waiting with much anticipation to see how this one turns out. Well, we started out getting our creative juices flowing by sketching out some ideas, and then we dove in. Since we had no Halloween music to listen to, I picked out the closest thing possible. That's right. Sheryl Crow's "First Cut is the Deepest."






So you know who is responsible for what travesty -- Jason did the right eye, nose, and eyebrows. I did the right eye and the mouth. Then Jason signed it. This jack with preside over our Halloween Party, the Monster Bash, this weekend.

Celebrating Fall

This weekend we went on the extremely terrifying Haunted Hayride at Sonny Acres in West Chicago. Just before we boarded that hayride from Hades, we picked out an orange canvas on which to express our imagination. The selling point, as you can see, is the superior handle. According to my bathroom scale this engorged gourd weighs 19 lbs. Although I am sure this is a crude overestimate considering how much this scale informed me I weighed only a minute previously.

Door County

Our first sunset in Door County. We shared this little cove with a bunch of ducks while we watched the sun drop below Green Bay on a perfectly clear evening. That night clouds rolled in and rained on our tent, but we woke up to a perfectly dry campsite.















We took a pleasant hike around Eagle Terrace where the limestone bluffs of the Niagara Formation meet the bay. We saw common mergansers, double-breasted cormorants, and even a Bald Eagle made an appearance to confirm that we were indeed on his terrace.















Fall colors were in full bloom.














Here's some of those common mergansers. They had red heads and liked to pop under water.















Here I am at the Eagle Terrace overlook. We actually had to wait a while for the massive crowd of people to move so we could get a clear shot. I can't blame them -- the view was amazing. Also amazing -- the lady bug infestation. If you look closely in this pic you can probably see at least a million of them.















Some fall color and a view of the bay.




















Here's Jason at Cana Island, lookin' studly.















Exploring the cliffs on one of our hikes. Jason checks the ceiling to make sure it is sound for our new waterfront cave home.

This is the U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse in Sturgeon Bay. We walked waaaay out on the breakwater and saw giant monster fish that could eat Chicago.

Rohini and Jeeri's Wedding

The year 2008 has given us only one wedding, a well-earned respite after the 8 we went to last year! And it made Rohini and Jeeri's wedding today all the more special. Rohini is a friend of Kelly's from university.

It was the first chance Kelly got to see Jason in his studly suit this year. So she was definitely looking forward to it.

The day began with a comedy of errors for poor Jason. He started off the morning by stepping in dog poo, not realizing it, and tracking it into his apt. Then, on his way to Kelly's to go to the wedding, a screw with a bad attitude jumped off the pavement and impaled itself in his tire. Jason realized that his car "got screwed" and managed to make it home. Kelly drove to Geneva to pick him up to save some time. When she arrived, she discovered Jason's car now sporting the comic puny spare, the door to Jason's apt flung open and all fans going, his boot upside down in the sink with water pouring like Niagara down its sole and sides, and Jason struggling to remember the tie knot that he had perfected last year.

With a little help from YouTube, we were off. Only half an hour late after all that, we managed to slip in the back. Luckily Indian ceremonies are long, so we still got to see a lot, and sprinkle holy rice on the bride and groom. Many of Kelly's school friends had come in from out of town, and it was very special to see them and catch up a bit.

Kelly and Jason were seated at lucky table #18 (we needed it), which turned out to be unlucky because it was called dead last for dinner. But in the mean time, we enjoyed very much the dance routines performed by the couple's friends and family. Of special note was the neat ice sculpture, Rohini's beautiful red, gold and white saris, and the delicious dessert table that included a chocolate fondue fountain.

Kelly's favorite thing about Indian weddings are the saris. She thinks that there is nothing more festive than the kaleidoscope of a room full of people wearing them.