7th (5th) inning (weekend) stretch

in baseball they have the 7th inning stretch, where you stand up, stretch, contemplate leaving, and mentally and physically prepare yourself for the last two innings that await you.

last weekend for me was my 7th inning stretch, except that instead of 7th it was 5th, and instead of innings my life has weekends. (unless you count august camping weekend, followed by tall ships and bdays in the month of August)

in terms of baseball my life this fall has been inning after inning of over-the-fence out-of-the-park home runs. two studer family weddings, two ND football games, 4 consecutive weekends of out of the park home run scale fun.

week 1, labor day weekend: Studer wedding #1.

we hopped in the car to drive to st. louis to see my cousin Christy marry a handsome lad Steve. we got to: see both sides of the family, witness a beautiful wedding, play with camera features, introduce the Studers to Ted Drewe's (who doesn't need a custard break between ceremony and reception), hang with the siblings, and make fabulous memories

week 2: ND vs Michigan AND North Shore Century

we hopped in the car to drive to South Bend to see the Fighting Irish take on the wolverines. This year was the first during which we sprung for tickets...we put in for 3...thinking we'd get 2 or at least we'd sell the third....needless to say this was game one of three... The Irish fought hard....and we took some framable pics.

we then drove home, so we could get on our bikes and ride and ride and ride and ride the next morning. claires and I were slow....so we took naps while nick rode an extra 12 miles. 52.5 miles later we all completed our ride...and had new bike gloves raptor hands to show for it (and yes that is how we described our pose to the stranger who took our pic)

Week 3: ND vs MSU

even during my time at ND I never made it to an away game (unless you count the sugar bowl of 2006....but that doesnt really count as an away game) so this weekend we headed off to East Lansing to hang with K^2 and Tod^2 and catch some Irish vs Spartan action. We saw K^2's family then Tod^2 took us to sparrow tailgating land where we had free drinks, and free food, free beads, and FREE VISORS! and we met this delightful man who sat in front of us, more accurately, paced in front of us, yelling at the players by name...checking his laminated roster if ever he was unsure who deserved the yelling.

Week 4: Studer Family Wedding #2

this week we headed off to Burlington, Vermont, the land of ben and jerry's, maple syrup, color changing leaves, the lake monster champ, and hippies. This is NOT the land of the coat factory, despite the atrocious claims of one individual. here I rocked my hat while waiting at JFK airport for Airforce One to clear the area, here we ate tons and tons of ice cream, my dad molested a cow, we saw lots of pretty trees, tasted vermont, toured the magic hat brewery, searched for the lake monster, danced the macarana, witnessed another beautiful wedding, this time joining my cousin Greg with his girl friend of 10 years, Sara, and paid $300 to fly out of town on a US Airways puddle jumper after jet poo canceled our flight home less than 8 hours before it was to take off

week 5: the stretch.

we entered week 5 plan-free and 100 % excited for it. we cleaned the apt, put up halloween decorations, then sneaked north to wisconsin to pick some apples and the occasional contraban pumpkin. it was delightful.

....

by now we have entered week 6: the camping trip part 3. tomorrow morning we head out...next weekend we cheer the irish to victory in person one last time for the year...3 weeks from now I sleep in.

squirrels

squirrels spend the summer gathering acorns and burying them beneath the ground to munch on through the winter months. i spend my summer gathering berries and burying them in the freezer to munch on through the winter months.

first there were the blackberries. 7 heaping full gallon buckets with the help of my family.

then the blueberries. 28 pounds with the help of my migrant worker team.

amy-squirrel is quite satisfied. AND we found some treasures on our way home...our secret beach, notre dame ave in the middle of nowhere, and a new favorite michigan city dining establishment.

when does your vacation end?

my mom and I are at my grandparents in kentucky. we are trying to decide when to hit the road and head back to chicago. we found a chalkboard and made a list.

it is not making the decision any easier since both can be done in one day...and we have three days. to leave and make it home for nickface's birthday or to stay and have one more day with the grandparents. why can't I be in two places at once?

workin' girl

my little sister has her first job. ok not her first job, but her first job where she'll let me come visit. in fact she not only has one job, but two. I'm just not allowed to visit at one of them so that doesnt count.

she spends the morning at job one...underground in a cave, or more correctly a limestone-mine-turned-office where she preps patient files for scanning, then in the afternoon she heads to Sheridan's to scoop custard (not to be confused with it's counterpart ice cream served 20-25 degrees colder) and make concretes for the masses.

Here I am allowed to visit. Here I am actually encouraged to visit with my half price family discount. Here, I took tons of pictures to document the experience and had her manager ask if I was obsessed with her job. Here, therefore, will be the site of my sister's first job, at least as i will remember it.

penthouse and fireworks

went downtown tonight to have one more dinner with tim and papa deloitte and to scope out the penthouse. we settled ourselves into the swanky diggs,

then headed out to rock bottom brewery for some delicious chicken waldorf salad, a couple of beers (extra large thanks to our mug club membership......next visit = free mugs!)

then back to the penthouse for a tour and surprise fireworks! time to test out the new camera's fireworks setting to capture the fireworks in all their brilliant colors. see tim's video here!

all this followed by el times with lots of drunk cubs fans including the people who were "el surfing" aka standing up without holding on and seeing who would fall first....too bad I didnt quite make good enough friends for a picture...and there were no good angles for stalker photos...since we know I dont have to actually be friends to take pics :)

London day four

Having a few troubles with pics and words coming together correctly when I blog from the iPod touch.... So bear with me. Things may be better after we get to bath when I am not three floors away from the computer.

Got up this morning and went to Easter mass at a small church we walked right by while trying to look for it. It was a music less church unless you count the many cell phones that went off during mass. And the priest was a slow talker and a monotone talker, but I guess this makes you apperciate church a lurch at home
after church we came home, ate some more english breakfast then jumped on the tube to head to the thames for a boatride tour (chock full of good bad jokes that will add comentary to thevpics that Ivr taken for those of you unfortunate enough to see pics with me near by) to grenwich where we set our clocks by THE official time.
After setting our clocks we headed to a tavern dickens used to frequent to grab a quick bite and another pint of cider and then off tothe national maritime museum...( boats....yes please!)
we ended our grenwich trip via footpath under the Thames in a long tunnel connecting grenwich to the isle of dogs, we then walked around canery wharf before catching a train back to the city in search of mcdonalds to top off our Easter with a cadbury cream egg mcflury. Delish .

London....day 3

pics of telephone booth fun, climbing on lions,attempted visits to the eye, and the portabello road market in Notting hill
more pics on my picassa page!

London day two

Woke up today after a fabulous ten hours of sleep....which is sadly probably moIre that I've had since Sunday total... To be greeted by a English continental breakfast...cereal yogurt fruit ham and cheese slices rolls and criossants...lots of which made for a fabulous english lunch while stuck on the tube, then headed out for seeing the sights day two... Beginnging with a tube ride during which they made the announcement " please disregard the next message" and then proceeded to announce "there has been an emergency everyone must vacate the station immediately" thank goodness for that first announcement !
changing of the guard at buckingham pallace which in luxed a pop music concert by the guard band, another bought with a rain storm, rendezvous with ems, a quick stop in a coffee shop ro warm up, then off on the tube for our trek to the tower on London. This prooved to be tube adventure number two of the day when we suddenly stopped between two platforms and saw train off for nearly fifteen minutes before we were up and moving again, only to have to get right off and transfer to a double decker bus since the line was closed for the moment any farther ahead

At the tower saw a few jewels...including a 513 carat diamond in the moat heavily guarded place in all of London ( this is where the crown jewels are kept) oggled some more diamonds, decided I like oval or brillant cut best, Walked the wall around the castle, checked out some armor and artillery and took some funny pictures.
Next stop: English pub for some fish and chips and English ales. Dad got a little silly started asking where the wold boars for the sausage come from and so we decided it was time to go. Scoped out millenium bridge the globe theRe're and the Tate modern before heading back for the night....though we has to leave again for a cadbury egg and hot chocolate run.


Pics tomorrow morning perhaps before heading to the portabello road market and the travel book shop... Yes it will be a nottinghill kind of day.

London day one

Got to the airport today with much difficulty since we were apparently brain dead and nick was apparently on the worlds fastest blue line and had volunteered to fo his good deed for the day so I had to rendezvous at a later stop because I was slow and didn't get there in time yo help the old lady off at rosemont... But we made it and stumbled yto the American airlines counter to check in--- but couldn't find the normal people check -in so checked in with the first class man.... Too bad where you check in does not magically change your seat assignments.
Arrived in London at about noon London time... Aka about 6 am London time after eight hours of being cramped into a very small ball( note to self: get high paying job soon so I can upgrade my flying arrangements to business or first class) stumbled through customs and perhaps one of the most unhelpful airports ever (no arrival board for the whole airport really???) waited for
My parents to get there then headed out for our first tube experience.
Oyster cards .... Check
maps of the underground .... Check
mind the gap... Check
made it to our hotel, met up with Emily, ate some kebabs( meat lettuce garlic mayo tomatoes all wrapped up in a pita) met emilys flat mates and tried to force leftovers on them, then headed out into the london rain once more to see some sights.
Big Ben .... Check
westminster .... Check
London eye.... Check
trafalger square.... Check

Piccadilly circus.... Check

stumbled back home for some much needed sleep.

Pictures soon as soon as I borrow my parents computer!

stations of the fish

My parents were in town last weekend and my dad wanted to have dinner on friday night at a fish fry. so I scoured the internet reading church bulletins till i found one that was reasonably close. St. Hilary's it would be. it promised fried fish, mac & cheese, fries, sweet table, coffee, and a cash bar. they suggested to stop in before or after stations....we decided we'd go during. and thus we have the stations of the fish.

station 1: make fish faces in preparation

station 2: dive in...being sure to get your $8 worth

station 3: hit up the cash bar...nothing like helping out the parish a bit more

station 4: let the catholic guilt take over and hide the remnants of your second helpings you couldn't handle.

station 5: play with your food.

station 6: make more fish faces since you've now eaten your weight in deep fried fish

station 6b: make turtle?? faces.