It’s the big 3-0 for Leslie (my younger sister)!  Go you!

Halloween.

Rock’n’Roll Phoenix Marathon 2010

Leslie and Albergo the cat, Leslie from a younger time

Leslie and her fiancé Peter

(Really I’m just stalling here…I am done teaching and I need to get a run in to counteract the ridiculous amounts of calories I ingested over the weekend…and it’s really hot.)

And I forgot to blog about my brother Jesse’s birthday a few weeks ago…Happy belated birthday to Jesse!

I used to live alone, but it’s been a long time.  And of course I haven’t been "single" in a long time.  I am NOT used to being alone.  I do enjoy my alone time, but those two are incredibly different—being alone and alone time.  Chris is gone for just a few weeks and if I hadn’t made plans to go visit a friend I think I was on the verge of imploding.  Yes, I guess I truly am that codependent and needy.  That’s why Chris and I work so well together—we are both needy, codependent, and hate being alone.  (There are a whole host of other reasons too, in fact, many of those reasons are less pathetic sounding!)

Yet here I sit, alone in Chicago…which is fine, because my friend is just out for a run and then we are getting lunch.  I spent all morning alone too, and I didn’t mind a bit.  If I were sitting in my apartment at home I’d probably be going stir crazy (I know I was by Wednesday night), but here I did a 5 mile run up and down the lakefront, then read a bit, listened to music…all totally normal stuff.  But it feels better, and I feel more relaxed and calm than I did at home.  Of course, I don’t have to worry about cleaning, or clutter, or even wedding planning for a few days.  That helps too.

I think, however, it helps most being near an old friend.  I have made some wonderful friends in St Louis, but they are all "new" friends.  Karen understands me really well, yet still likes me.  She has seen me at some very low points in my life, and some very high points.  We don’t always see eye to eye, but we get where the other person is coming from.  It’s really relaxing being around somebody like that—not worrying about saying the wrong thing or embarrassing myself (sorry St Louis friends, but I worry about those sort of things all time!)  And she gives honest, practical, advice.  I think me being here is helping her out too–

It’s nice sometimes to just be Hannah too…since I moved to St Louis with Chris I have always been part of a couple for everybody there.  My old friends know ME and Chris both together and separate.  I fear losing my sense of self (have I already?).  In fact, I’m terrified of it.  My past, my present, my future.  These are things that Chris is a part of, but I still have my own life, and I don’t want to simply be part of a couple.

Does that sound terrible?  I don’t think so…I want to marry Chris because being with him is the only thing in life that has made me truly content and happy…but part of me is that I am not content and happy BEING truly content and happy.  I like to be a bit off kilter…to have a bit more excitement, even if that excitement ends with burning my finger on a skewer, or with a bunch of bruises on my legs, or even in tears.  I want the downs in life to make the ups that much stronger.  That’s why I love classical music…you get those ups and downs and in-betweens.  Emotions make us feel alive.  I believe that Chris knows this about me and tries to protect me from myself.

I feel like I’m being really introspective and dark for 2:30 pm.  But it’s GOOD.  It’s important to analyze ourselves and our motives. 

Sorry for the deep post!  Must be the heat, getting to me 🙂

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?)