Back to School

Summer is coming to a close! Here's a run-down of what we've been up to.

We've just gotten off two weeks spent with family--one with the Thomases, one with the Boyces. They were blissful! We started off our week in Ft. Collins babysitting the kiddos while my mom and dad went to Aspen for their anniversary. We also went fishing, to the park, and had movie nights . . . but were glad when the "real" mom and dad came home! The real hard work began after our babysitting stint, when my mom put us to work laying down 10 tons of river rock in the backyard to replace the mulch! Read about it here. (In all fairness, we asked to be put to work so we could have a little extra money in our bank account until we locate real jobs.) We did squeeze in a few boating trips to Horsetooth, a daytrip to Boulder, and a bonfire . . . I was so sad to leave!!

Our week the the Boyces (at home in Provo) was awesome, too. While we were gone, Gary (my father-in-law) finished our basement and it looks fantastic! It has a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. Gary wanted to finish it because Brock's brother Ryan will be a setter on the BYU volleyball team, and he (Gary) wants to come up for every home game. As much as I love my in-laws, having them crash at our place every two weeks would be a little intrusive! So hence the finished basement so they can have their little place :) During our week with them, we ate tons of delicious homemade dinners a la Tammie, went out for Hawaiian shave ice almost every night, made an IKEA trip, and got Ryan all moved in to his new apartment. Fun stuff!

On Saturday, the Boyces went home to California, leaving Brock and I to get back to "normal" (whatever that is...). We spent the whole day cleaning/decluttering/organizing and played a little tennis. Yesterday, we went to Stake Conference (SNOOZE) and then to Aunt Cindy's for a fantastic Sunday dinner and get-together with the cousins!

We ended up turning the night into an impromptu talent show, and were blessed to hear the stand-up comedy talents of my cousin Peter, incredible piano playing from my cousin Heidi's new boyfriend Ryan, Irish fart dancing from Heidi herself (don't ask!), ballroom dancing from our cousins Ryan and Ashleigh, and . . . the white man haka from me! We topped the night off with an intense board game and a booty-shaking session to the song "Mambo No. 5."

All this fun, and we don't even drink!

Oh, and by the way, below are some links to photo albums of our last days in Chicago and quick trip to New York. Enjoy! :)

Click here for photos of NYC.

Click here for photos of our week in Fort Collins.

Sunday in New York

Getting to NYC was almost as big of an adventure as being there. Our flight left bright and early at 7:00am, so we had to hit the road at 4:45. We went to turn the keys to our apartment into the people at the front desk but of course, they can't accept them until 8am. As much as we insisted, saying that we needed to catch a flight, they refused to cut the bureaucratic red tape. They called someone who was authorized to come pick them up, so we wait for the guy...and wait...and wait. Finally, he comes down but then of course he can't find our room's paperwork to sign us out. Not our problem! We leave him with the keys and hit the road with our bishop, who was kind enough to give us a ride to O'Hare at such an ungodly hour.

I'm not sure that our bishop knew we lived 20 seconds away from an entrance to the freeway (to me, the most obvious way to get to the airport), but I didn't question him because I assumed he knew where he was going. As it turns out, he doesn't spend much time on our side of town so...he didn't lol. We went waaaay out of the way into the boonies, driving through residential areas and who knows what else. Once we finally got to the freeway, we missed the exit. As we were turning around to get back on the freeway, our bishop blew through a stop sign that he didn't see.

Cue the flashing red lights.

I'm not kidding. We got pulled over by a cop! Then our bishop couldn't find his insurance card, so after about five minutes of rummaging through the glove box the cop was just like "Umm...I'm going to go write you up...we'll deal with that later."

As you might have guessed, we missed our flight! We were five minutes too late to check-in via SkyCap. Luckily, the next flight to NYC was only 2 hours later, and we made the stand-by list! Phew! Our bishop felt so bad, but honestly, how could we be upset? The guy drove us to the airport at 4:45 in the morning! And we got to read/sleep for two hours in the airport. Hakuna matata!

Despite the nightmare of a morning that it was, it was nothing compared to the afternoon. Try lugging two 50-lb suitcases, a gym bag full of books (we went a little crazy at Borders in Chicago!), a 10 lb backpack, and 15 lb carry-on. Oh, and a purse. Now do it in 90-degree weather, 80% humidity. Throw in a smelly subway station with no disability access (aka sans elevators...have fun carrying your luggage up and down flights of stairs!), and you've got a hell of an afternoon in front of you!

But we made it! 2 1/2 hours after our flight landed, and two pitted-out shirts later, we trudged into the air-conditioned comfort of the Thirty Thirty hotel (located on 30 E. 30th St....easy to remember!).

Here's the awesome thing about being poor: your hotel room is always laughably teeny! Our bed literally took up the entire room....in order for Brock to get around to his side, he had to side-shuffle through about a foot of clearance between the end of the bed and the wall! Oh, and we had a lovely view of the brick wall of the building next to us. Sure, we couldn't see for miles...but we could watch the happenings of the alley right below us! We joked that our TV, (which was probably a 20-incher) was, when compared to the size of the room, a big screen!

But I'm being too harsh here. Our room was actually really nice! It was clean, very comfortable, and the bathroom was surprisingly spacious! What more do you need? Plus, you can't beat $100/night in NYC, and the location of our hotel was awesome--right near a subway line, a stone's throw away from the Empire State Building and an 8-minute walk to Times Square. If you're ever planning a visit to the Big Apple, I highly recommend the Thirty Thirty!

On a side note, you can get everywhere via subway. Do not, I repeat, do not rent a car in NYC! It's a complete waste of money. Parking rates are astronomical and it's just too much of a hassle. A 7-day unlimited pass on the Metro costs $27 and will literally take you anywhere you want to go.

Anyway, after we settled into our room we stripped the sticky clothes off our bodies and took much-needed showers. And having been going full-speed since 4am, we were in a state of exhaustion that not even refreshing showers can cure! So we cranked up the AC, plopped into bed, and napped for about an hour. Aaaahhhh :)

We spent the rest of our evening strolling around Times Square, which was so much fun! Times Square is an overwhelming place--you've never been bombarded with so many advertisements in your life-but that's it's charm :) The city of New York has, for the summer, shut down streets 42-47 on Broadway to car traffic so that people can have more room to walk around. They've even layed out beach chairs so people can sit down for a rest!

For dinner, we ate at a BBQ place called Famous Dave's, which was very, very good. But the best part of our meal was our server, Alex. Not only did he give awesome service, but he had the most inspiring story! (Being the talker that I am, I always seem to extract these out of people!) He's an immigrant from El Salvador who just wanted to come to America to provide for his mother (his father abandoned the family when he was little). He's been living in Brooklyn for the past six years, and instead of getting a job working around other latinos, he chose the harder route and chose jobs that forced him to learn English. He's now a US citizen, has his real estate license, and owns two apartments! He talked to us about the 90-hour work weeks he used to pull in order to send his mom up to the States. It was just so inspiring (and humbling) to talk to him because he gave so much to follow his dream. It also made me realize what a sissy I am! I'm worried about getting a part-time job with a 17-credit semester coming up at school, and he was working 90 hours a week in a place where he didn't speak the language! Wow. Buck up, Kristi.

More than anything, talking with Alex made me realize something important: the American dream is still alive. For all those people (you know who they are...) who harp on the news that "The American dream is dead!" "We're past our heyday!" "Nobody likes us!" SHUT UP. That is so not true so don't you dare believe it for a second! People like Alex are risking their lives and giving everything they have to make a living here. Don't take your citizenship for granted! America has always been great, remains so today, and always will be.

I learned a lot on Sunday. How to fly stand-by, how to navigate the NYC subway system . . . but the lesson I got from Alex was the most valuable. Don't be afraid to talk to people. You never know what they have to offer.

A Day of Firsts

Welp, we've come to the end. Friday was Brock's last day on the job! His co-worker was nice and treated him to a free sandwich at Potbelly. It feels so wrong to call what Potbelly makes a "sandwich." Subway makes "sandwiches." Potbelly makes...love on a hoagie.

Anyway, while Brock was at work I met with the gal I was selling our bikes to--Irena Djuric. In case you're wondering, she's 100% Serbian. I love Chicago because there are so many people from so many different backgrounds walking around you all the time. For example, last night we started chatting with the front desk girl on our way to the elevator. Well, one thing led to another and before we knew it we'd talked for an hour! Get this...her name's Aphrodite! Isn't that awesome?! She's 100% Greek and told us all sorts of stories about how her parents got here (her dad won his ticket and visa over by winning a poker game!), and about her family back home (her grandparents live on a tiny island and own a farm where they make their own wine!). Anyway, that was a great way to cap off our night. I love hearing people's stories! People miss out on so much by plugging their iPod earbuds in their ears. If you just smile and say hi, you'd be surprised at the amazing people all around you!

Whoa, hello sidetracked! Where was I? Oh yes! Irena. Irena works in a high rise in the Loop downtown, so I headed down there yesterday afternoon to meet up with her. She and her boyfriend are leaving on a vacation to Montana this weekend, so Brock and I are going to drop the bikes off at her apartment when we're done with them. But she wanted to pay me in person rather than leave $100 laying under some rock at her house :) Anyway, it was pouring cats and dogs so by the time I got to her building I looked like I'd just gone for a dip in Lake Michigan! She, of course, looked super cute and professional. Despite the discrepancies in our appearances, she invited me to Starbucks for a coffee break.

A coffee break? What are these things, "coffee breaks?" I seem them in the movies, but are they real? We certainly don't have them in Utah, that's for sure. So, I set out into the lone world to encounter my first "first" of the day: a coffee break.

Being the good little Mormon that I am, I ordered a hot chocolate. Irena was so sweet and even paid for me, and then we sat down and chatted for a little bit. We both love to travel so she gave me tons of great advice on how to travel on the cheap and, if seeing the world is really in your blood, to search for a job where you could work internationally every now and then. She, for example, works for a business that helps U.S. universities collaborate with international ones to set up study abroads for students.

Somewhere along the line, it came up that I wasn't finished with school yet. "Wait," she said, "are you still an undergrad?" Apparently she had thought both Brock and I were working on our Master's degrees.

"So when did you...?"

"I got married when I was 18."

"Oh! Did you know Brock in high school?"

"Nope, we met at college."

Her eyebrows raised and I noticed her eyes bat rapidly for a moment, but, being the classy woman that she was, she hid her shock. I could tell she inherently disagreed with someone marrying so young, but she didn't know enough about me to judge me on my decision. I read this all on her face within a second and immediately became embarrassed. I'd never really had to explain myself before. I mumbled something about how Mormons tend to get married younger than most, but I could tell she was didn't quite understand. And who could blame her? Tying the knot at 18 isn't just getting married young . . . it's barely legal! Anyway, our coffee break ended on a good note and I'd definitely like to keep in touch with Irena, but I rode my bike home wondering how I should have responded to her reaction.

I spent the remainder of the day packing, doing laundry, and cleaning the apartment, and then met Brock at there Halsted/Milwaukee intersection to bike to my other "first" of the day: a bar! We went to Rosa's Lounge, which is blues bar waaaay out in the boonies that touts itself as "Chicago's Friendliest Blues Bar." And it really is. There's no smoking allowed, which is so nice. Other blues bars we stepped into reeked of Marlboro. Listening to blues is cool...but coming home smelling like an ashtray isn't. The other great thing about Rosa's is that--because it's so far out there--it wasn't too crowded and ranked low on the college yuppie index. There was a good mix of people there but only about two guys who were moderately drunk...they made for good people watching :) Brock and I ordered a couple of Cokes (livin' on the edge!!!) and sat down to watch the show...

Performing there that night was Melvin Taylor, who is a blues legend. And after seeing him last night, I know why. I have never seen a man wail like he did. His guitar seemed to be just an extension of his body...my eyes could barely keep up as I watched his fingers dart up and down the neck, his hands playing under it (the "normal" way), then over it, and every other way you could possibly imagine. He even played the guitar with a guitar, sliding the strings of one over the other while he went whammy bar crazy. Then he would get bored and use a microphone stand to do the same thing. It was just absolutely insane.

We watched him play from 10:30-2:00am, and you couldn't believe the range the guy had. One minute he'd be playing his own rendition of Stevie Ray Vaughn, the next he'd be playing Pink Floyd, then some Stevie Wonder, then some slooow, down home Mississipi delta blues. His sister even got up and sang a few songs with the band! Talk about soul. This woman could belt it and was a seasoned, seasoned performer. She sang this one song called "Rock Me" and I swear, it was one of the sexiest things I have ever seen. This middle-aged, 40-something woman, wearing a modest flowered shirt and black trousers, swaying her hefty hips almost imperceptibly from side to side, ooozed sex out of the microphone like pyroclastic flow. I'd be lying if I said I didn't, if only for a fleeting moment, question my womanhood.

That's how you know you're at a legit blues bar.

Rosa's Lounge has a cool story to it. The owner, Tony, started playing blues in his hometown--Milan, Italy. Obviously, the blues scene in Italy...well, isn't...so after a while he packed up and moved to Chicago, barely speaking any English. One thing led to another, and in 1984 he opened his own blues bar, which--in the true fashion of an Italian boy--he named after his mom. Rosa moved to the States after a couple years to be with her boy, and worked as a bartender at the Lounge. Tony treats the bar like a family, not a business...and that's Rosa's charm. The title "Chicago's Friendliest Blues Bar" is more than warranted.

Chicago blues with an Italian flair...who'da thunk?

Baseball and Timeless Art

Brock has a goal of seeing a game in every baseball park in the United States...well, today he got one park closer to that goal. We saw the White Sox play the Angels at Cellular Field!

It was a great game with the perfect mix of longball and shortball. What is that, you ask? Ha! Allow me to explain, you baseball-illiterate person. (Don't feel bad! I'm only married to the biggest baseball fanatic on the planet, which is the only way I even know anything about the sport!) °Ü° Longball is what the Cubs, Yankees and Red Sox like to play...they stack their teams with a lot of power sluggers who can hit home run after home run. The Angels, on the other hand, play more shortball...a single here, a double there, a stolen base here, which adds up to run after run. Well, this game had it all! Home runs, stolen bases, the whole shebang. There was a great play where an Angels player (I forget who) got pickled trying to run home...whoever had hit the ball got tagged out at first, and the guy on third was like halfway home so he didn't know whether to go for it or get back on the bag. Well, he went for it...saw that the catcher had the ball...so he headed back towards third...the catcher threw the ball to the third baseman...and all this time the Angels player was side-stepping between the two of them, trying not to get tagged. He eventually tried to dive into third base, but was tagged out before he touched it. Shoot!

Not that it mattered. We beat the White Sox 9-5 :) Brock and I sat in front of the cutest family. They were, of course, all White Sox fans and it was a mom, a dad, and their four daughters (the oldest of which was probably 11). The dad was really funny and everytime the Angels would make a good play he'd lean in right between us and yell "BOOOO!!!" We had a good time messing around with them the whole game :) I love baseball!

After the game, we switched over to "chick-mode" and headed downtown to go to the Art Institute of Chicago, which is the art museum in town. We wandered through it for a little over an hour and saw beautiful paintings by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Cassat, Hopper and more. I took tons of pictures, don't worry! I really need to update my Facebook photo album for you guys. Hrrmm. I'll do that once I'm at home in Colorado, so just hang on for one more week!

Here are some of my favorites...

Paris Street: Rainy Day

I'm not sure why I love this painting so much. Maybe it's because I love rain? There's nothing like the smell, feel, and sound of soft rain, and that's what this painting makes me imagine.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte

This painting is just absolutely mesmerizing. Not only is it huge (about 7'x10'), but it's painted with tiny dots, not brushstrokes. This method is called pointillism, and, obviously, not many artists other than Seurat ever attempted it because of how tedious the process is!

Nighthawks
This painting haunts me. Hopper began painting it immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Perhaps that's why utter melancholy washes over me when I look at it.

La Promenade Sur La Falaise
This is my favorite Monet. Can't you almost feel a silken breeze caressing your face? I can. This painting makes me want to close my eyes, inhale deeply, and slowly exhale throw my nostrils. Try it. Why spend an hour doing yoga at the gym when you can just look at this?

Anyway, after our trip to the Art Institute we grabbed some dinner at Corner Bakery Cafe, and headed over to Barnes and Noble where we read books for a little while. When it got dark, we biked to Navy Pier and rode the Ferris wheel! If you're going to ride a Ferris wheel, do it at night. We saw all of Chicago lit up and it was the next best thing to starlight (which, unfortunately, you don't get much of in the city!). And, of course, riding a Ferris wheel at night is so much more romantic :) Did you know that it's a rule that you have to kiss when your cart reaches the top? At least that's what Brock tells me ;)

It's Official

I can die a happy woman.

Today, Brock and I ran to Ann Sather, a Swedish breakfast place, wanting one last taste of their sumptuous cinnamon rolls before the week (and our stay in Chicago) was over. However, when we got there, something else caught our eye...the "French toast fantasy."

Imagine, if you will, a cinnamon roll. Now put that in French toast batter and warm it on the griddle. Slice the cinnamon roll in half, and fill it with marscapone...a sweet Italian cream cheese. Then, top it with flecks of granola and fresh strawberries and blueberries. Now drizzle it with maple syrup.

What have you now? THE PINNACLE OF FRENCH TOAST PERFECTION. Anybody who knows me well knows that I love breakfast foods. As such, I am a connoisseur of all things drenched in syrup. This, my friends, was divine. This, my friends, could not have possibly been improved upon. This, my friends, was the height of my 21 years of existence.

Our caloric indulgence was made even better by the fact that it was justified: Ann Sather is five miles away from us, so running 10 miles roundtrip for a taste of heaven cancelled out the hell of an artery-clogger it would have otherwise been.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE)

We've bike, ran, and walked hundreds of miles around this city. Every day it's go-go-go, and every day Brock says "Man! I can't wait for school to start up so I can relax!"

Well, Tuesday was BROCK'S DAY. Yes, I relinquished my title of Omnipotent Leader/Map-Holder and let him do what he wanted to do, at the pace he determined!

Our day began with a tour of the floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Yes mom, I know you're seething with jealousy right now. But the interesting thing is...the floor of the CBOE hasn't been open to the public since 9/11. So how did we get in you ask? Connections, baby :) Remember the guy we met on the CTA to the Baha'i temple? Well, he's worked at the CBOE since '77 and when he said he'd give us a tour...he was serious! :) Kevin G. Kennedy is his name, but everybody calls him KGK (on the floor, all the traders wear these big name badges with their initials on them). And I'm not kidding when I say that he one of the most vivacious people I've ever met. He talks to everyone and everyone knows him! "What up KGK?" "KGK, how you doin?" "Yo, KGK!" Talk about the most popular guy on the floor!

Anyway, he showed us all around the entire place and gave us a real insider's look to how the whole operation functions. A lot of it went way over our heads (the guy is brilliant), but it was still so fascinating to see this incredibly complex system that man made up. He told us, with a gleam in his eye, about the "good old days" when, before the computer boom, there were runners for each trader and people were screaming and getting into fistfights and the place was just mayhem.

He taught us about the "sign language" that traders use when they trade with another person on the opposite side of the floor. It was so cool! Despite being in a place with hundreds of people yelling and screaming at each other, you can have a complete conversation with somebody 20 feet away from you and make a multi-million dollar trade.

One of the things that surprsied us about the floor how young some of the traders were! Seriously, they couldn't have been a year or two older than Brock. If it's something he wanted to pursue, it would totally possible to do so (especially since Brock is getting one of the "golden" degrees: math). What a fun job that would be! All the traders are friends and each day is dynamic and different. Plus, if there ever was a He-Man Woman Hater's Club, the CBOE is it! I counted maybe two girls down there while we were touring. If I were a guy, I'd think that'd be really fun. All boys, all the time, all engaged in a competitive atmosphere.

Anyway, it truly was an incredible thing to see and we were so grateful to KGK for giving us the chance to see it! He was the nicest guy. I made him homemade mint Oreo truffles as a thank-you :)

After the CBOE, we had a very mediocre lunch at Giordano's...which is supposed to have awesome Chicago-style pizza. Blah. Maybe I'm being a little unfair to it, but what can I say? I have high expectations. Especially after eating at Pizzeria Uno! (We're going back this Saturday to cap off our Chicago adventure and I am beyond excited.) Not only that, but the service at Giordano's sucked too. You know you're at a bad Chicago pizza joint when it makes you long for Brick Oven.

While the pizza settled in my stomach, I came to a sudden realization: I was tired.

Not just "my feet hurt" tired. Not even "I need a nap" tired. I was "we've been running around for two months straight and I've hit the wall" tired! So, even though it was only 1:00, we went home and spent the rest of the entire day reading in our apartment! We even watched TV for the first time since we've been here! Crazy.

Didn't I take a nap, you ask? Isn't that what tired people do? Well guys, I'm an odd one. (News of the century, I know.) All throughout the bike home, I couldn't wait till my head hit the pillow, but then as soon as I got home . . . I didn't feel like it!

Instead, I finished reading an awesome book called No Opportunity Wasted. If you ever need a book to re-energize you and inspire you to achieve your dreams/do something crazy, head straight to Barnes & Noble and buy this! This book made me realize that, for a good long time now, I've suffocated the childlike spirit inside me and let my inhibitions determine what I do. Not cool. I wrote down a "list for life" that includes everything from reading James Joyce's Ulysses to bungee jumping off a 760 ft. bridge in Switzerland. (Remember James Bond in "Goldeneye?" Yeah. That one.) I really do feel like I've unearthed a part of me that I forgot about. I guess I got caught up in excuses...I'm married. I have responsibilites now. I can't afford it. I'm too scared to do that. I don't have time. This book inspired me to shed those excuses and live a little! I am not going through this life having never seen the Earth from outer space. Or not having run with the bulls in Pamplona. Or not having gone on a shark dive, or slept in a hammock in the Amazon jungle, or having volunteered in a third world country, or having anonymously helped make someone's dream a reality.

Oak Park

On Monday we visited Oak Park, which is a suburb of Chicago about 15 miles west of downtown. Oak Park is basically the epicenter for Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture...there's about a dozen houses of his design all within one square mile of his.

FLW is known for pioneering the "prairie" style of architecture, which is marked by horizontal lines (thought to evoke and relate to the native prairie landscape of the Midwest), flat roofs with broad overhangings, windows grouped in horizontal bands, and integration with the landscape. This style was radically different from what was populat in his day (early 20th century). While everybody else around him was all gung-ho about fancy, frilly Victorian homes, he started doing Prairie architecture (which everybody thought was ugly). And I'm not gonna lie: some of it was! For example, we saw this church he designed whose exterior was made entirely of gray concrete. It was very boxy, very linear, and very unattractive! I dunno. I really liked the style of a lot of the houses he made (although I wouldn't want to live in them..they don't look homey enough!), but a church? C'mon. You have to at least try to make those look somewhat pretty!

In Oak Park, we also saw the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway! As with every other building in the area, you could only gon inside via tour (read: $$), but we were just fine taking pictures from the outside. I took a picture of Brock pretending to reel in a fish (Old Man in the Sea? Anyone? Anyone?) and he took a picture of me pretending to yell "Toro! Toro!" to a bull (The Sun Also Rises? Anyone? Anyone?). Yes, we are reading geeks.

Anyway, after our little self-guided tour through Oak Park (which, in case you're wondering, is home to a ton of oak trees), we stopped by a local dairy store and treated ourselves to ice cream! Which was very much deserved because it was hellishly hot outside! (Of course, as soon as we stopped walking around, cloud cover rolled in.)

We headed home and ate dinner at the most amazing sub place on earth: Potbelly Sandwich Works. It's a chain that I've only ever seen in Chicago, and man do they know how to make a gourmet sub. For less than you would spend at Subway, no less! My favorite part of the meal was dessert (naturally!): a "Shelia bar." Basically imagine what an oat chocolate chip, caramel cookie would taste like if it was slightly undercooked, and you got it. Soooo good!

Sunday Funday!

We started the morning off by going to Maxwell Street Market, which is a HUGE market that goes on every Sunday right by where we live! I read about it in our guidebook and was expecting a few booths set up selling fresh produce and what not, but boy was I wrong! The market goes on for blocks and blocks, with people selling everything from tomatoes to tires. Seriously, I couldn't believe it.

After MSM (haven't you heard? Acronymns make you COOL!) we were sorely tempted to have a "grunt day" from church because it was so stinkin' hot outside (remember, we have to bike 15 miles roundtrip to get there)! But I am proud to say that we sucked it up and were blessed with funniest sacrament meeting we've ever been to! Some highlights...

1. Brother Brown. He's the eldery man in the ward who raises his hand after every question the gospel doctrine teacher asks. We're not quite sure if he's all the way "there" or not :) In any case, we knew we were in trouble when he got up to the podium and opened up his Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants and Bible. Ooooh boy! The next 15-20 minutes were him speaking about his grandfather, aunt, his great-great-uncle, burial plots (?!), and who knows what else. Seriously, it was the most incoherent thing I've ever heard! I was on the brink of cracking up the entire time! (And so was the bishop!)

2. A 12-year old boy who got up and started his testimony like this: "Well, I was just sitting down there with my dad when Elder So-and-So got up to bear his testimony, and I'm 12 years old so of course it's not like I'm paying attention or anything..."

3. The ward chorister. I don't know his name, but he is the funniest chorister ever! He's this chubby, jolly Mexican guy who wears glasses, and he always gets so into the songs. He'll even cup his hand to his ear if we're singing too softly!

4. Speaking of singing, we were singing the closing hymn today and--with one verse left to go--the person giving the benediction goes up to the podium to pray. We weren't done with the song so everybody just kept on singing...and she just like, stood there and laughed because she'd gotten up too early!

Our Sunday ended with a concert at Millenium Park (where we'd heard the U.S. Coast Band last week). It was something called the Chicago Human and Rhythm Project, and it was basically just a lot of people tap dancing to jazz. Not gonna lie: it was kinda boring. I'm not the biggest fan of modern "chill" jazz music to being with...it's too mellow and un-fun! Plus, tap is only cool if it's excites you! We watched a group do an interpretative tap dance called "Flying Turtles."

Not very exciting.

(I'll admit that it was pretty cool to watch because they did some really unique formations and rhythms. However, the dance itself went on for about eight minutes...there's only so much flying turtleage I can take!)

Harry Potter and The University of Chicago

On Saturday we hauled our little booties down south (hey, your booty would be little too if you biked 10 miles a day!) to the Museum of Science and Industry again. Yes, I know what you're thinking..."didn't you already go there?" And we did, but this time we went as a group with all the other interns to see the special Harry Potter exhibit there!

As of two weeks ago, Brock had never seen the movies nor read any of the HP books! Hellooooo living under a rock. So I decided to socially educate him and introduce him to the films--which he loves! This was great prep for the HP exhibit, which showcased props and clothes from all the movies!! It was NEATO FRITO!! We had just finish watching the third movie the night before, so we were careful not to look at certain props so as not to give anything away in the upcoming movies! (I myself have only read up to book four, so I was especially careful because I hate spoilers!) But it was really fun to be walking around the exhibit and be like "Hey! That's the shirt Ron wore in that one scene!" or "Hey! There's Harry's textbook!" or "Whoa! There's a quidditch ball!" :) We are by no means Harry Potter geeks, but it was still awesome! We couldn't believe how detailed everything was! Movies truly are magic. You could tell that the people behind the HP movies really do their best to create their own little world...and man do they do a good job. No detail is too small. For example, in this once scene a professor hands Harry a stack of books. You never see the front covers, just the spines. But even so, each book had a detailed, illustrated cover on it...just in case. I was thinking...if I were an actress, having such realistic props would make it easier for me to act more realisticly. I'm sure that's a major reason why the prop and set creators go to such great lenghts.

After the Harry Potter exhibit, we headed over to the Osaka Japanese Garden. I was pretty stoked for this because I'd never been one before, but as it turns out my hype was unfounded: the garden was teeny! More like the Osaka Japanese Yard. Yeah, there was a trickling waterfall. Yeah, there was an arching bridge. Whoop de doo. Onward!

What I really wanted to do that day was to visit the University of Chicago's campus. Or should I say Oxford? Because you really couldn't tell the difference! Not that I've been to Oxford before (just seen pictures!) but it really was like stepping back into 19th century England. The buildings are all Victorian and covering in sprawling ivy. We stopped into Rockefeller Church (which is on campus) and it was incredible....stained glass, massive pipe organ, soaring celings, gargoyles, the works. Walking inside it literally took my breath away. It was as if I'd been teleported to Westminster Abbey or Notre Dame or some other vast European cathedral!

The Robie House can also be found near campus, which is Frank Lloyd Wrights self-professed "masterpiece." It was really cool to see a FLW home up close instead of just in pictures, but we didn't spend too much time there because we had a big FLW day booked up for Monday :)

When do you think that home was built? I would have guess the 1950s-60s...all brick, very square, flat-sided...it looks befitting, doesn't it? Nope! This house was built in 1909! All the other houses are these grand, flourishing Victorian homes and then BAM this thing shows up. It makes you realize what a visionary/non-conformist FLW truly was!

We also walked to the place where nuclear energy was first created in 1942. A Henry Moore sculpture called Nuclear Reaction commemorates the spot. Winding our way back towards our bikes, we made a quick stop at the Oriental Institute, which is a suprisingly impressive museum of ancient cultures on campus. After a quick look at a 14-foot stature of King Tut (excavated from his tomb!) and about a half hour of meandering through the exhibits, we were super tired and ready to crawl into bed!

Then we had to bike 7 miles in the rain to get home. It will be so nice to have a car again!!

The Lincoln Park Zoo

On Friday we (re)visited the Lincoln Park Zoo. We stopped by there way long ago, but were so tired from biking around (lost) all day that we only visited half of it. I made Brock promise me that day that we'd come back to see the rest, and on Friday he held true to his word!

Hmm well I'm sure you've all been to a zoo before so there's really not much to say. The awesome thing about the Lincoln Park Zoo is that it's FREE! Parking is like $12...but parking bikes never costs a dime :) We saw lions, jaguars, leopards, tropical birds, small mammals, marsupials, rhinos, seals and some of the cutest owls ever! I wuv aminals :)

The zoo is located right next to the Lincoln Park Conservatory, which houses tropical ferns, orchids and a zillion other plants. It kind of feels like you're walking into a Jurassic Park-y forest! I went inside and took pictures of orchids and ferns and Venus fly traps while Brock napped in the park.

Really, the best way to write this post would be with pictures, but I don't feel like uploading right now. I promise to do so within the next few days and post a link! :)

Baha'i Temple

I love how I get all caught up on blogging (e.g. like last Tuesday) but then somehow seem to slink into the sludge of lagging-behindness! Don't worry. I'm going to write my heart out today!

Last Thursday we did something really super cool, but before we headed out we needed fuel for the journey, which we opted to get at Frontera Grill. It's this really hip Mexican restaurant for white people. Seriously, you know you're not getting real Mexican when there isn't single amigo to be found in the place. This was fancy, urban Mexican food for rich people who would never think of buying a $1 taco from a taco stand (even though it would probably taste better!). Of course, everything on the menu was a little too pricey for lunch (and we weren't that hungry anyway). Luckily, the menu had a section of platitos..."little plates." Brock ordered cow tongue tacos (not kidding...they tasted kind of funny, but not that different from beef!), and I ordered these little masa corn cakes topped with shredded barbacoa. And let me tell you, the menu wasn't kidding when they said these plates were little! We thought it would be like a sterotypical overpriced Mexican place with huge portions (even for "small" stuff), but oh how wrong we were. Frontera had the portions of an upscale French restaurant! But it was okay. Like I said, we weren't terribly hungry and we just wanted to try the place. Our waitress was a little curt with us (you could tell she was irritated that we didn't order anything big), so our overall impression of FG? Overrated!

After lunch we went to hop the CTA to head up to Wilmette (a suburb). I know what you're thinking...no bikes?! NO! No bikes! Wilmette is like 30 miles away so we totally splurged and payed $9 for roundtrip CTA fares! CRAZY I KNOW!! We are so wild. Of course, this being the first time we've paid for CTA ever during our whole time in Chicago, we had no idea that the purple line train only ran during rush hour periods. So we paid the fares, went in the station, and had to wait around for over an hour for the first train! Ahhh...you live, you learn!

The ride to Wilmette took about an hour, but luckily we we sat down next to the funniest group of men ever. They were all rich white guys who had just finished their working day at the Chicago Board of Trade. They told us we were guests on their "show," which happens M-F from 3:00-3:45 on the purple line :) The ringleader of the group, KGK (Kevin G. Kennedy), was a really funny guy and even offered to take Brock on a tour of the Chicago Board of Trade floor! The floor has been closed to the public since 9/11, so it was a pretty big deal...especially since Brock wanted to see it so bad. He gave Brock his business card and as it turns out, he's the COO (Cheif Operating Officer) of a securities company! What an "in!"

Anyway, the reason we went to Wilmette in the first place was to go to the Baha'i temple. There's only seven temples in the entire world, so it was really good to see! Not to mention stunning.



The temple is nonagonal...meaning it has nine sides. The symbol of Baha'i is a nine-sided star, the number 9 representing perfection. Baha'is believe that God has manifested himself in different prophets throughout the ages: Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Zoraster, Buddha, Krishna, etc. This being so, all religions are tied into one with one divine purpose: to uplift mankind. Bahai' has been around since the mid-1800s, and has about 5 million members worldwide. It really is a beautiful religion the promotes unity and equality. There's much that can be learned from their outlook.

Anyway, the temple itself is magnificent. Its brightness comes from poured concrete filled with flecks of white quartz, and is covered in intricate carvings representing all the world's major religions; the Jewish star, Christian cross, Sanskrit swastika, and so on (betcha didn't know that Hitler stole his trademark symbol from Dharmic religions!). Beautiful gardens and fountains surround the temple, and inside it has a soaring ceiling that is just absolutely gorgeous. You walk in through one of the nine doors and it's all just one big chapel (over 1000 seats!), but despite how huge the room is, everything is extremely quiet. If a mouse farted, you would hear it.

I'd been wanting to go to this temple since the moment I saw it in the guidebook two months ago, and I'm so glad we were able to get out there. Wilmette is a beautiful suburb and it was so nice to be somewhere quiet for the first time in two months! No police or ambulance sirens. No cars honking. Just the windy rustling through the trees. It made me long for home! As fun as it is living in a big city, and as much as I love being so close to so many things, the suburbs have a lot going for them too :)

Our Trusty Steeds

Allow me to briefly segue out of our daily activities and show you the method by which we have been getting around to them: our bikes.

These are the second-hand, Earth-saving, stick-it-to-ExxonMobil bikes that we bought two months ago for a grand total of $125. They've served as our trusty steeds through sun, wind and rain..be it a 1-mile jaunt to the grocery store or a 15-mile ride to church. They are also probably solely responsible for keeping our weight down this trip, because heaven knows we've eaten like pigs!

As much as we love them, we are ready to give them up. Yes, biking is better for the environment. Yes, biking gets you to your destination just as quick (or quicker!) than taking CTA would. But it would be nice if our seats were a little comfier, or if our bikes would go a little faster with less pedaling. It's always so disheartening to see a Lance-Armstrong-wannabe zoom by you on his $5000 lighter-than-air road bike without breaking a sweat, while you're huffing and puffing to turn your wheels one rotation.

But hey, they're second-hand. They've got character! They're vintage! We've heard estimates from our good friends at the Trek bike shop that they were made during the late 60s-70s. For how cheap we bought them for, it is pretty cool be constantly getting random compliments from strangers on how "sick" our bikes are (this happens all the time!). Plus, we never have to worry about them getting stolen because...

A) Who would want to steal our bikes when they're parked next to ones that costs 10X more?

B) These bikes were made in the day. Stealing a seat or tire off of one of these ain't easy!

Anyway, they're about to be sold off to one of many interested buyers on Craigslist, and we're sure they'll be just as faithful and dependable to that person as they were to us.

It's been a good ride :)

Life's a Beach...

Wednesday was a fabulous, easy day :) We were pretty tired from being on our feet/bikes for all of Monday and Tuesday, so we took it slow. My next sentence will contradict that statement: we started the morning out with a run. Haha but it was only a mile so it doesn't really count!

We ran to Lou Mitchell's, which is this famous breakfast place in town. It's where all the rich businessmen who work in the Loop go to for good, down-home food. No frills here. The service is fast, the food is reasonably priced, and the waitresses call you "honey." If there's a wait (which there usually is in the morning) they hand out free donut holes and Milk Duds to those in line (not quite sure how that combination came to be...but it works!). Lou Mitchell's has been around since 1923 and is located at the very beginning of Route 66. Yes, sing the song in your head. I know you want to. "It winds from Chicago to L.A....."

Anyway, I ordered French toast (what else!) and Brock got two eggs and sausage. Except when they brought out his skillet, it looked more like 22 eggs and eight links of sausage! It was crazy! On top of that, his egg order was served with two pieces of toast and fresh hashbrowns...all for like $5! It was insane. On a sidenote, his hashbrowns were pretty much the most amazing thing ever. You could tell they had been sliced from real potatoes that morning. Awesome. My French toast was a little under-cooked and soppy, but I couldn't have cared less. I was just happy to be there :)

Brock got called in to work early on Wednesday because the Cubs were playing an afternoon game...and he got to go to Wrigley again! Seriously, what an internship. Sure, it's not paid, but heck if you're not gonna get paid for something have it be getting sound bites in the Cubs' locker room standing right next to some of the biggest names in baseball!

We met up after work and had a picnic dinner at Ohio Street Beach. It was so much fun! We had delicious homemade BBQ chicken bacon sandwiches. For dessert, we bought some brownie bits and a Snickers bar at Walgreens . . . delish. Talk about the dinner of champions! Not to mention the envy of every seagull in Chicago. I'm grateful to God for creating the world . . . but seagulls? Seriously? Couldn't He have at least made them larynx-less? Whoa try saying that five times fast. Larynx-less larynx-less larynx-less.

Afterward we just lay on the beach and watched little kids run around in their cute little swimsuits :) I love watching families with small children and knowing that someday that will be Brock and I. But not quite yet :) As fun as I think it would be to have children, laying on the beach alone with your hubby and chatting for an hour sans interruption is pretty fun too! :)