That’s the view from Karen’s apartment.  Except now the view is this.

Yes, that’s a storm coming through.  She is in rehearsal and I was hoping to go run around the lake.  (By the lake).  I still have plenty of time though—hoping it’ll pass through.

Yesterday I drove in.  I got here around 1:30 and we had lunch then decided to go to the Aquarium.  We thought it would easiest for her to park at the Millennium Park Garage and then take a cab there rather than pay for parking.  We got a little "pick me up" at the Tavern on the Park first, to give us the nerve to fight through the throngs of children we would soon be dealing with ;)  It turned out that the cab ride to the Aquarium cost more than half of parking, so that was a disappointment. 

However, when we got in line at the place, an older woman came up to us and gave us "member" wristbands so that we didn’t have to pay a thing—I guess she was a member and was leaving for the day.  Rock stars, that’s us.  So we got into all the exhibits and shows for free. 

(Reenactment)

VERY hot and sweaty. 

In any case, the Aquarium was pretty cool.  My favorite part was this one tank where a bunch of the fish were hanging out in one corner, but WAY in the back there was this grumpy looking orange fish just hiding.  We left and came back to check on that fish later (maybe 1 hour later) and he was still there!  I hope he wasn’t sick or something.  We decided he just didn’t like the other fish.

The other thing that was really interesting was that I always think of fish as constantly moving around but it really seemed that a lot of them just sat still for a lot of the time.  I suppose that makes sense?  Weird though.

After the Aquarium closed we went to get ready for dinner.  Guess what we wanted to eat?

That’s right.  Sushi.

Karen wanted to go to an Improv club later so we picked a sushi restaurant near that club.  It was called Itto Sushi and ended up being fantastic.  I had some rolls I’d never had before, one with plum paste and another with fermented soybeans. 

After dinner we went to the club.  It was a place that some little groups do Improv Comedy shows every Thursday night, near Wrigley Field.  The cover was only $5, and the show was a lot of fun!  There were three different groups, and they were all very funny, especially the first group—their name was something Pizza.  I can ask Karen where the place was if anybody is really curious.

Today I’m just waiting out the storm.  Tonight Karen has a concert and I’ll go with her and then who knows.  Today is her busiest day while I’m here so I’ve also been doing some work-related stuff that came up (over 45 minutes of phone calls and busywork so far…).  Her apartment is on the 33rd floor, two blocks from the lake, so I definitely need to get out there.  Yesterday I didn’t exercise at all, unless you count walking several miles (which you probably could count, and my darned blistered feet probably count it), but I don’t ;)  It is starting to clear up outside and I’m worried it’s going to be awful and muggy.

Oh, and this is Centipede.  She slept next to me a bit last night.

My youngest sister Carrie is currently at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.  She is a viola player and attends Oberlin College during the year.  I don’t talk about her as much as my sister Leslie, mainly because we didn’t grow up together quite as much due to the age difference.  She’s only 19 years old, whereas I am at least 6 and possible 13.5 years older, depending on how old you think I am. 

I found some great photos of Carrie to share.

Does anybody see a resemblance between us? 

Okay, now for the other part of this blog post.  Carrie posted some awesome pictures from Japan on facebook. 

I don’t know what this is but I want to hug it.

This is what I am envisioning for my wedding dress cover up only a polar bear instead.

Evidently the Japanese don’t like to get too close to the birds to feed them so they came up with a different system.

A French bakery in Japan! 

I love gnomes!

Evidently these are delicious. 

As you know, Chris is playing with the Crested Butte Music Festival right now.  My friend Ginny posted some awesome pictures on facebook and I’m posting them here so you can all see what the boy has been up to.  I’m posting first and then he’ll be mad afterwards.  Better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?  😉

He’s staying with two women I know, Jen and Ginny.  No, I’m not worried.

He’s a rock star!  That’s not a viola, it’s a mandolin.  And I love the Colorado decor.

They were evidently showing off their "guns."  I never do this.

On a hike!  I told him to try not to get engaged whilst hiking.  That would be totally awkward later…

I don’t know all these people—somebody, Chris, Ginny, somebody, Jocelyn, somebody.  Ginny and I know each other from Cleveland, and Jocelyn and I lived together when we were in college (in Cleveland).  I pretty much know everybody in the music world from Cleveland at some point—I did live there for approximately a million years, or maybe 10.

Hope you enjoyed!

I was looking through my wedding planning binder (yes, I have one!  yes, it’s pink!) and found a list of Do’s and Don’ts.  Let me share some that I liked best and will presumably find most helpful, with my thoughts in italics.

Do’s:

Maintain a sense of humor.  (no problem!)

Be receptive to your parents’ ideas, especially if they are financing the wedding.

Register for gifts; consider a price range that your guests can afford. (what?  It’s MY day.  They can suck it up.)

Eat well at the reception, especially if you will be drinking alcohol.  (But my dress will be fitted!)

Keep a smile on your face; there will be many photographs taken of both of you. (There are always many photographs taken of me.  I just usually take them myself)

Try to spend some time with each of your guests and personally thank them for coming to your wedding. (Do I have to?  I hate my guests…)

Expect things to go wrong on your wedding day.  Most likely if something does go wrong, no one will notice it but yourself.  Relax and don’t let it bother you. (Easier said than done…I’m sure…)

Don’ts:

Don’t get involved in other activities; you will be very busy planning your wedding. (Like working at a job?)

Don’t be controlling.  Be open to other people’s ideas.  (Again, what?  It’s MY day.  They can suck it up.)

Don’t try to impress your friends.  (Then why are we getting married???)

Don’t invite old boyfriends or girlfriends to your wedding, unless both you and your fiancé are friendly with them; you don’t want to make anybody uncomfortable.  (We’ve done something different and ONLY invited old boyfriends and girlfriends.  Should be interesting.)

Don’t schedule your bachelor party the night before the wedding.  You don’t want to have a hangover on your special day!

Don’t drink too much during the reception; you don’t want to make a fool of yourself on your most special day!  (I’ll save that for all other days.)

Don’t flirt with members of the opposite sex.  (Really?  On the one hand, how can I talk to people without flirting with them?  On the other hand…really?  This had to be included?  Really?)

I found this photo last night while looking for some other photos.  I think it’s great evidence of the fact that I have ALWAYS had wonderful fashion sense.

Oh, and I used to be a blond.  Here’s the weird part (weird to me at least):  that is BEFORE I played the violin.  How crazy is that? 

I’m not materialistic per se, but it doesn’t mean I don’t love getting presents.  What girl doesn’t?  (Especially on major holidays, of course.)  Chris’s mother insisted on buying us an engagement present, and in typical Hannah/Chris fashion we waited a long time to tell her what we wanted.  Actually we wanted until we finished our registry.  Then she also wanted to go ahead and get the wedding present she (well, I guess technically both his parents!) wanted to get us before somebody else did.  What does this all mean?  It means FIVE GIANT BOXES from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  Two came last week and contained three pillows. Today when my folks and I got back from lunch there were three more boxes stacked up in front of my door.  WHEEEEE!!!!

Okay, I may be too excited.  I’m honestly not just getting married for the presents, but, gosh, I’ve been giving presents at weddings for years now and it’s finally going to be my turn.  I have never been one of THOSE girls who just wants to get married (Chris might argue with me, but he would lose that argument.  12 years buddy.  I waited 12 years.) but I am most certainly excited about our upcoming nuptials.  Or at least the party, the dinner, seeing all of our friends and family together in one place, and getting a ton of gifts, and finally having some decent stuff to my name.

Also I need more bookshelves for all of my books and music. 

She chose to perch on the box that seemed most precarious.

Before the boxes showed up (which I was worried about getting before I skip town) my parents came back through St Louis.  If you recall they were in town the other weekend.  After that they drove to Boulder, Colorado to visit my sister and attend a variety of concerts there.  They were on their way home and just stopped in for lunch.  We went to Basil Spice.  They didn’t stay long as they wanted to get on the road again. 

My father plans to be back in town in September as part of his "bike across america" trip.  Or at least he is planning to bike here, bike the Katy Trail, and continue on to Phoenix and maybe on to the Pacific ocean then.  Yup.  That’s where I inherited my hard-coreness from!

I ran outside tonight.  I considered going to the gym, but I wanted to give it a try.  The heat index was about 100 when I set out.  It wasn’t THAT bad, but it was tough—luckily the sun had basically gone down, but I still felt pretty weak by about the halfway point and ended up having to walk much more than I anticipated, and felt pretty faint for the last mile or so.  I also probably hadn’t quite eaten enough though, so I can’t entirely blame the heat.

It’s late, I’m off to bed!  I would do a delayed post, but MEH you can just read this in the morning if you want :)