deal breaker.

anybody see the 30 rock season finale this week? that show is OSF (oh so funny) and quickly becoming my favorite show on television. anyway, it ends with a chorus of pop stars singing a song about donating a kidney. however, the funniest part was liz lemon's "deal breaker" lines. i'm unsuccesfully trying to find a way to incorporate it into my everyday conversation.

so shop i did. i spent 2 1/2 hours in h&m, made 4 trips round the store and back into the dressing room. i don't find shopping all that fun when it's leisurely, so image the effort and frustration that went into a trip with such purpose and necessity. it felt like a job. i deliberated, i tried on, i put back, i tried on again, i separated styles, i spent 15 minutes sitting in my dressing room pondering the meaning of clothing...

but i came out alive, with a heavier suitcase, a lighter wallet, and less anxiety about squeezing into clothes that go up to a whopping size xs. sizes in korea: DEAL BREAKER.

i have but a couple days left in the windy city, and i'm trying to get those last minute things done before i go. the top two on the list:

1. find sunscreen that doesn't make me want to rip my face off. i've been having this issue for the last few years of breaking out in an itchy and painful rash every time i put certain lotions on my face or neck, and it took me 3 years to figure out i'm allergic to sunscreen! or atleast something in sunscreen. anyway, so i've left myself 2 days to find a product that works. (buying sunscreen in korea: DEAL BREAKER. because it all has whitening products in it.) anyway, i've looked online and i think i'll be trying to baby sunscreens that are chemical free. california baby from whole foods--anyone heard of it?
2. trying to find a way to get more pages in my passport. an even worse thing to leave yourself 2 days to do. as the korean woman at the consulate this week told me as she handed me my passport: "you need more page. finishy." it turns out i do not have a single empty page left and am anticipating evil glares from the immigration officers at the airport as they try to find a place to squeeze a stamp onto my passport. sending my passport in from korea to get more pages put in because i'm an idiot and forgot to do it earlier: DEAL BREAKER people, DEAL BREAKER.

almost on the road again.

so i've been in chicago for almost 3 months now, doing a little teaching at merit, blowing up the air mattress every night and crashing in tricia and jen's living room, running big man chance a few times a week, and that pretty much seems to some up what i've done for the last 3 months. ali left for england on tuesday, and i'll be heading out there next week, and then to korea the week after that. so it looks like our rollercoaster of a year may be coming to an end. or atleast to a pause. i feel very dubious about the prospect of actually being able to unpack my suitcase in a few weeks time. i haven't really done that for 9 months. (well, unless you include the week that i lived in an apartment in london, when i unpacked everything only to re-pack everything 3 days later...)

i will not miss blowing up the airmattress every night (and i'm guessing the people living downstairs will not miss the nightly sound of a tornado exploding overhead just when they're almost falling asleep), but i will miss staying with tricia and jen, and chloe (bean) and chance (big man). it's been nice to be so close to everyone here for awhile!

i'm on my way downtown to the korean embassy to pick up my passport with my full visa in it. and to go shopping for a year's worth of clothes that fit me so i never have to enter a little korea boutique only to encounter wide eyes, a look of terror, and a tiny little korean woman saying "nooooo noooooo. too fat. you stretch clothes." i could do without that.

squeaky squeaky

something that's making me giggle right now: i put my little purple and white polka dotted shoes (remember? the one that earned a picture on a post about a year ago?) in the washer cuz they are dirty and i'm too lazy to hand wash things. and now the rubber on the bottom has been making this outrageously cute squeaky noise against the side of the dryer for 30 minutes! eeeeee! i love squeaky noises!!!

a must see: "anvil! the story of anvil."

this week whilst running i approached a group of gangsta looking guys on the sidewalk and after not moving and making me awkardly maneuver my way around them, they barked at me. perhaps they were directing their barks at chance (jen's dog who has become my running mate), but it seemed more likely they were for me. i don't know, i didn't turn around to ask. earlier in the week, i was biking home and this guy in a car starts driving directly next to me, rolling down his window trying to strike up a converation. when i say "strike up a conversation" i mean saying rude and inappropriate thing that i couldn't quite understand. i have oh so perfected my stare-straight-ahead-pretend-they-don't-exist-i-couldn't-be-more-apathetic look.

last night, kristin, grant, ali, and i went to the music box to see "anvil! the story of anvil." see this movie!!! it's a documentary about the metal band "anvil" that had 15 minutes of fame in the 80s and still now, in their early 50s, believe they are just one gig away from hitting the tops of the charts. it was hillarious, emotional, beautiful, hillarious...go see it! find it somewhere by you! it's at the music box all week here in chicago for those in the area. here's the you tube trailer to give you a preview. see it people! see it!

chicago weekend.

twas an eventful weekend!

friday afternoon tricia and crashed on the...wait for it....beach!!! yes, i dare say i got a tan line. friday night ali and i headed to the brew and view to see the wrestler. the movie was amazing, except that the lighting was all off on the screen so anytime there was a scene at night it was basically just a big black blob. i feel like some important things happened in those night scenes that should not have been missed. i'll have to rent it...and i can on NETFLIX!!!! yup, still going strong. it's turned into a game now of high can my turnover rate of movies be so as to get the most for my money. recent watches:

1. milk
2. kung-fu panda
3. vicky cristina barcelona
4. borat
5. doubt
6. y tu mama tambien
7. the cliburn: playing on the edge
8. rachel getting married
9. brick
10. TWILIGHT!!!!! (oh the shame/absolute enjoyment...)

anyway, on saturday ali and i did a bike ride along the lake and then went out to matildas with friends, and sunday we met up with kristin and grant in hyde park for a rainy feet-soaked day of soul food (obama's favorite resturaunt!), the oriental museum, a cool bookstore, and record browsing at reckless records (of which i skipped out on to read my book and warm my toes at argo tea.)

my grandpa died a week ago on monday morning, the day after easter. we all went down on wednesday the the funeral was on thursday. it was so so so beautiful. grandpa will be missed.

weekend with grandpa.

this weekend we headed to pella--a little dutch pocket in the middle of iowa complete with windmills, tulips, windmills...anyway, it's where my mom grew up and where my grandparents still live. my grandpa has a brain tumor, so the family was all there this weekend saying goodbye. it's very sad. but it was great to see him before he passes and to spend time with the family. we'll most likely be heading down for the funeral later this week, but who knows, maybe he'll last longer than we think. death is a strange thing.

my grandma also wanted to clear out my grandpa's hat collection, so we all got one! thanks grandpa! (i totally got the coolest one...)
i'm glad i'll have a little piece of him to take with me.

make a wish...

ooooooooooh boy oh boy oh boy!

1. on march 20, i entered into the mid-20s. yup, i'm officially 25! there was indian food, there was cake, there was drinking, there was dancing, there was burrito house, there was trying to get the djs to play lady gaga all night...

2. ali is here! he came a few weeks ago and, surprise! it's much better being together than being apart. who woulda thought.

3. so, after the long and drawn out drama my life has undergone the past 8 months, it looks like i'm going to end up right back where i started. ali and i are heading to korea in may. i've just taken a job at a little school in ilsan, so we'll be living in the same place as last year. it's wierd that after all this time of america, england, america, england, america, england, visa, visa visa, it turns out we were meant to be back in korea all along. sometimes you just gotta learn lessons the hard way. (and the expensive way...sigh...)