Life in Review

It's been a while, so I thought I'd update you all on the big changes in the She's Gone Rogue community:

1. I just bought 3 Mega Millions Lottery tickets.  The jackpot is up to $640 million and growing, so naturally, I had to be a part of that.  Also, I am fully aware that by tomorrow I won't be $640 million richer.  The government takes half, so I'll just be around $320 million richer.  In which case, I will go ahead and purchase this little ditty.  (On the off-chance that deal doesn't go through, please see No. 2.)

2. We found a new apartment!  It's in Lincoln Square, which appears to be a cool/young/fun/hip/awesome/glorious/safe/interesting/studious/German-food area, so that should be a good time.  We actually haven't spent much time there, other than looking at a few apartments, and it's not actually much of a better commute for Matt, and I don't actually know why we're doing it, but whatever.  It's gonna be greeeaaaaaattt.  At the very least, we'll have 2 bedrooms, a balcony, a (working!) fireplace, a bonus attic room, and laundry.... for freeeeeeeeee!  So, we'll pretty much be living the dream.  Also, we decided that in lieu of a car, I will just get an Iphone to help me wander around the streets of Chicago.  Bang!  Game. Changer.

3. We went to Denver, and we actually came back! I know, I was pretty shocked myself.  Denver is glorious.  The mountains are glorious.  The elk are glorious.  The turkey fights are spectacular.  It was pretty fantastic to see all our old friends, and I made sure to mention (more than once... with tears in my eyes) how happy I was to be reunited with all my buddies again.  Some people were embarrassed.  I was not... but I am a little bit now that I think about it.

4. I did some temp work the last couple weeks downtown.  I think I worked like a total of 8 days, and it was heavenly.  I am ashamed at how entertained I was by doing data entry for 20 hours.  I wouldn't want to make a career out of it... but I probably could.  I'm that good.  Plus, it paid for my new Iphone that I have yet to purchase.  But that's neither here nor there, as I have the winning lottery numbers clutched in my sweaty palm.

5. We will be gleefully attending a charity pub crawl tomorrow afternoon/evening/early Sunday morning.  We are very excited.

6.  I got a new Food and Wine magazine with some sweet new recipes I can't wait to try.

7.  I started running outside again.  It is muy bueno.  I can go much farther outside, which is good for the ol' waistline/thigh circumference.

8.  That is all my news.  Word to your mother.  

Sublime August

I'm turning into a regular Crafty Cathy over here in Amurca these days.  Who knew?  I finally finished my picture wall project that I've been somewhat listlessly working on for the past, eh, three years.  Why did it take so long, you ask?  Well, firstly, I had to take some pictures.  Then, I had to wait to have a wall on which to hang my pictures.  Next, I had to collect all manner of vintage picture frames.  After that, I had to buy Command Strips and hang said pictures in picture frames.  And later, I had to watch as they all fell off the wall and tumbled down up on the mantle, cracking a few frames and shattering lots of glass.  Finally, I had to double the Command Strips and place the frames ever so gently on the ancient and crumbling space above my fireplace.  Now, it is done, and I think you'll agree, the effect is glorious.

 

Boom.  Glorious.  

 

Actually, it didn't turn out at all like I was anticipating, but I've made my peace with it, and it's nice to finally have something to fill that yawning expanse of wall.  

Also, August was Cardinal Month for us here at She's Gone Rogue, and we decided that it was high time we get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.  It was in this spirit that we attended three St. Louis Cardinal games in a three week span.  Here are some highlights:

 

Garland weekend.  

 View from the box.  They call us "Big Deal Streetts".  

 

Second weekend at Wrigley.  Slightly less impressive, but still fun.  

 

Boom. Tony La Russa.  

 

Boom.  Rally caps.  

 

Correnti weekend.  (Notice their complete lack of Cardinal's attire.  Is nothing sacred anymore?)

 

Boom.  Representing.  

 

Our seats were high, but the view wasn't too shabby.  

I wish I could tell you the Cardinal's fought the good fight and won every game.  I wish I could tell you that, but baseball ain't no fairy tale world.  They lost two of the three games I saw, but still.  Sublime August.  Also, Matt's leaving me for Texas City... again.  Visitors?  My door is always open.  Especially because he'll probably leave me again at the end of the month.  

For Mary, With Love

I don't really have much to write about now that I'm back in good old Amurca, but my friend Mary is apparently bored out of her skull and has asked me to post something (anything!) for her to read.  I do this for her and no one else, because she is still stuck in India, and people stuck in India deserve a little special treatment.

Anyway, as you may or may not know, upon my return from India, I decided to hop around the USA for a while visiting friends and family (yes, it is a very luxurious life that I lead).  My first stop was to see the Correnti family in Missouri.  Because they are so powerful and influential, they had held Christmas for us until we arrived in March.  They also held our birthdays.  They're that big of a deal.  It was really fun visiting with everyone and, of course, opening all our goodies.

 

Boom.  Christmas in March.  

After MO, Matt had to head off to Kansass (that's intentional) for a short assignment, so I went to visit Aura in Oregon.  I spent most of my time helping decorate the restaurant Aura and her boyfriend are opening up.  It's going to be really awesome.  I like to think I had a lot to do with that.  Mostly Aura and I worked on this little creation:  

 

This is our hand-stenciled rug that we painted onto the floor of the dining room.  Impressed?  I thought so.

Later, Mom came to Oregon to visit and we drove the coastal road from Ashland, OR to San Francisco.  It takes about 10 hours, but we did it in three days.  No, no one has ever accused the Streett family of being very timely.  We saw some really beautiful views of the coast, and drove along the "Avenue of the Giants" through the Redwood National Park.  

 

View of the coast in Crescent City, CA.  

 

Redwoods.  

Before you get too jealous, the weather was really kind of terrible for our trip - mostly rainy and cold the entire time.  But.... it was still pretty incredible.  

 

My specialty, the handheld shot.  We took about a hundred of these, and this is one of the best - which should tell you just how bad the other ones are.  

Finally, the rain stopped, and Mother Nature brought us a little something special:  

 

"It's so intense.  It's beginning to look like a triple rainbow."

When we finally reached San Francisco, Mom had to leave, but Matt showed up and brought amazing weather with him!  Call me nerdy and uninventive, but the only thing I really wanted to do in San Francisco was tour Alcatraz, so I dragged Aura and Matt along with me.  It turned out to be even better than I thought!  Definitely the best guided tour I've been on (so far).  

 

A couple of nerds at Alcatraz.  

After San Francisco, Aura went home, and Matt and I flew to Arkansas to visit the Streett family.  (Don't worry, I'm almost done.)  I stayed for almost two weeks driving all over the state to see anyone and everyone I've ever met, which is my custom.  Every time I get back from AR, I say "I'm not ever doing that again.  Next time, I'm going to make all of them come see me."  But I never do.  It probably has something to do with me not having a job unlike everyone else.  Anyway, as I suspected, the Streett family is getting on just fine without me.  In fact, they are flourishing.  Will is turning 15(!) in August and wants to get a car, and Bella is the most well-spoken 3-year-old I've ever seen.  It is slightly depressing to see how well they manage when I'm not around... but of course I wouldn't have it any other way.  (Except maybe they could call me crying once in a while... "Cait!  We MISS you!  We are falling apart without you!" But that's just an example.  I want them to make up their own grievances when they call).  

 

All my little chilluns in a row.  From left:  Will, his brother Austin, Mason and his sister Bella. 

And finally, after more than a month of touring Amurca, I returned home to Chicago, the crappy weather, and my husband.  Thus ends my saga, and now I must ask you, Mary:  Are you not entertained?  

I'm Going on a Trip, and in My Suitcase...

I'm taking an adapter, a book, and... a carpet!  Yes, we bought a carpet, and yes, I know that's silly.  It was expensive, but beautiful, and everyone else was doing it, and we got all wrapped up in the excitement, and we lost our heads a little bit.  Also, we have all this cash in rupees that we can't get rid of.  Also, we had to buy it now so we can take it home today and not have to worry about it in six (or eight, or ten) months when we finally leave.  Also, don't be surprised if we buy another carpet at some point in the future.  We've grown quite fond of them.

 

Ain't that fine?  It's a 4x6, silk on silk, intricately-detailed, hand-made concoction.  

I wish we had some grand excuse for buying it, like that time in Turkey when a simple cup of tea forced us into buying that other carpet (that made for a better story than this one, but this makes for a better carpet), but we don't.  We just really liked it.  

In other news, we are, in fact, leaving today for Amurca.  Don't worry, we'll be back in less than a week.  Should be an interesting and exhausting trip.  Our old friend Krishnan (from Dushanzi... well, he's from India, but we worked with him in Dushanzi) finally showed up here last night to cover Matt's work while he's away.  It was really good catching up with Krish and watching him chug a couple nasty Kingfishers.  It should come as no surprise that he doesn't want to be in Baroda any more than we do, even though it is his native land.  He just got off a six month job in Osaka, Japan, where he ate enough sushi and drank enough sake to kill a small horse.  Consequently, he is now stuck here, with the rest of us lowly creatures.  

In other news, Baroda still sucks... possibly even worse than before.  The rainy season, which I thought was ending, has somehow re-started, right back from the very beginning.  It's been raining every day, all day, just like before.  Bleh.  However, I did see the most marvelous sight on Monday.  Four grown Indian men squatting down and cutting the grass in the courtyard - by hand.  Don't ask me why, but this brought me so much joy and comfort.  They have been at it for three days and are still not finished.  Naturally, I took pictures.  I still get tickled looking at these.

  

 

Human lawn-mowers.   

Before you all get all offended, let me tell you that yes, I see what a demeaning and terrible job this is, especially when I hear the hotel has an actual lawn mower that they won't let them use.  Maybe the ground is too wet?  Also, I seem to recall paying a 10-year-old boy $10 to cut our grass when I was a sophomore in college, which didn't seem too awful until one day I looked out the window and saw him on all fours plucking the blades with his hands.  But that was only around the corners and edges where the mower couldn't reach... I think.  Also, I was a sophomore in college and very poor, and $10 was all I could afford.  

 

I think they're probably discussing other job prospects.  

Not much else going on.  We played snooker on Sunday in the "Billiards Room".  At one point a hotel worker came in, sniffed the air suspiciously and said "Beer?".  We assured him that no beer was on the premises.  Obviously it was whiskey.  Before you judge me, I think I remember explaining at some other point that the only way to get through a game of snooker is with alcohol.  It is otherwise virtually impossible to do so.  

 

Katie and Ryan.  I know it looks like it here, but they're not dating.  I don't think.

 

That's me, showing off my unparalleled snooker skills.  I think I may have scored once.  It definitely wasn't this time.  

 

My artsy Matt picture.  He only scored once, too.  

I guess that about does it for this installment.  More information that you could have possibly wanted, as always.  I'll post again when I get back from Amurca.  You can expect that to be a quite dismal one, as I'll be returning to India for the third time, and in this case, I'm pretty sure there'll be nothing charming about it.