I am now a Reds fan

we’ve decided to go look for Reds jerseys at goodwill. thursday night was totally awesome!

the game started at 7:10. we got there at around 5:45, pulled into our free parking space in the stadium parking garage, and got directions to the diamond club area from a security guard. we walked into the diamond club and started to giggle with excitement. inside was an immense buffet table with desserts, salads, meats, vegetables, bread, fruit, it was amazing. they seated us in a booth and as we had never been there before, explained that everything was included except “gratuity and the cab ride home.” Mairead’s friend had tried to tell us that we had to pay for alcohol but that was not the case (not that we drank a lot, our stomachs were too full of tasty tasty food, we just liked to prove him wrong). we of course tried a little of everything on the buffet, my favorites were the fruit tart, bi-color mashed potatoes, turtle cheesecake, and andouille sausage/vegetable thing with cajun sauce that was very good. mairead liked the caesar salad, roast turkey, cheesecake, and bread (I passed up the bread as I didn’t want to get full too fast, having learned my lesson from restaurant-crawling). after dinner, we headed out to find our seats.

in.cred.i.ble. we were front row, right behind the Reds’ batting circle and next to the dugout. Mairead even had an awkward exchange with David Ross, the catcher when he was up to bat. we tried to stare down Joey Votto (as he’s supercute) but he pretended like he didn’t notice the two crazy women in the front row. our waitress brought us popcorn, nachos (oh you know I had to try the nachos), peanuts (which I actually didn’t eat there, just stole and brought home), and beer. I explained to Mairead what was going on during the game. I do actually enjoy baseball (who knew?). we tried to figure out who the guy was sitting behind us as people kept coming up and asking for his autograph (actually we noticed his date first, she was wearing heavy makeup and stilettos to a baseball game so we made fun of her for a long time before we realized her date was supposed to be famous). I chatted with the drunk mom sitting next to me about how sad it is when your kids grow up. The Reds lost to the Astros, 4-3.

we can’t wait for next season.

prayer and…karaoke?

so at work we have prayer in the mornings where we stand holding hands in a circle around the front desk, read a reflection (usually from a 40 days of purpose desk calendar), give our personal intentions, someone leads us in a prayer, and then we go around hugging everyone who was in the circle. we have some very emphatic pray-ers so there are usually some “amen!” “thank you jesus!” “yes lord, oh yes lord” and moaning during the intentions.

I am a pretty prayerful person, but I have to admit that some days I have a sudden desire to go to the bathroom when Essie goes around ringing the prayer bell. my desk is right next to the front desk so I challenge myself to participate. it’s good for me. plus it is very obvious when I don’t do it.

today we had a nice reflection (something about having a purposeful life I think) and some good intentions (“thank you lord for mercy connections” “we pray for an end to violence in our city” “lord, help us get our grant money I just applied for”) and then a prayer for the abolishment of the death penalty (awkward, as I learned last week several people in the circle are actually pro-capital punishment). this means we’re done, right? so I did my quick squeeze of the hands I’m holding and turned to hug Bro Bob when Bro Bob said “umm we’re not done yet.”  Then Ron, our front desk guy, whipped out his karaoke machine (like you do) and proceeded to sing “I Believe.”

take it from me, it’s difficult to be prayerful when someone is singing karaoke.   even when the person is a good singer, which Ron is.  I would not actually recommend it as a form of prayer, as I spent the whole time trying not to notice the ridiculousness of the situation and saying to myself “stop laughing!  we’re praying for people who’ve lost loved ones to violence!  it’s serious!  you should be looking contemplative and prayerful!”

christmas

I, for one, think that my sister and brother-in-law should come to Cincinnati for Christmas. here are some reasons why:

1. our parents are coming.

2. Cincinnati BBQ: there’s a place people rave about, and I’m planning on taking our parents there over Christmas. we have to see what Cincy BBQ is all about! aren’t you intrigued???

3. you miss me.

4. we could go to a show. playing that week in and around cincinnati: nutcracker (duh), a christmas carol (also duh), white christmas (live and in person!), a midsummer night’s dream, the frog princess (a musical version of the fairytale), striking 12 (rock musical version of the little match girl), and reclamation: the last battle of the nutcracker (I actually don’t know what this one is but it’s at one of the modern edgy theaters in town so it could be anything).

5. art museum/conservatory in the park near where I live are free and have holiday exhibits. the conservatory is quite large. our mother will enjoy it, I think.

6. you’ll need a break from your in-laws by then (even though I’m sure you’re loving it, everyone could use a break sometimes)

7.  graeter’s ice cream.  (yeah this is just for Jeremy but it’s really tasty!  so it counts!)

8.  pool in my basement.  come visit!  go swimming!

9.  I’ll still have to work.  this means you can spend lazy mornings making breakfast and sleeping in and renting movies from the library and being on vacation without having to run around constantly doing stuff.  there’s no vacation speed in cincinnati.

10.  you can afford it!  two people can fly round-trip from kansas city to dayton/columbus/cincinnati (though no one flies into cincy cause it is more pricey) for around $300!  and you’ll have ME picking you up from the airport.  or our parents.  whichever.

I really don’t think you have an excuse.  when will you be arriving?

oktoberfest!!! + other fun things

This weekend was oktoberfest! there was all kinds of german food and beer and music and rides for the kiddies (though we didn’t have any kiddies so that didn’t matter so much). cincinnati oktoberfest is supposed to be one of the most authentic, though I’m not sure what that means. the food is the most german? the beer is the most plentiful? the music the most polkay? anyway, it was a good time. I ate a brat with kraut, horseradish, and mustard and an apricot/almond strudel. and drank a couple of different beers whose names I cannot pronounce or remember how to spell properly. sorry.

that’s right, folks! eating strudel at cincinnati oktoberfest is Alex and Alix of University of Illinois fame! I had my very first visitors this weekend! it was totally sweet.

I also finally got my own car this weekend (which was good as Mairead took our other car to South Bend). so I got to drive the Ale/ixes around Cincy and show them the sights. which didn’t take long. I meant to take them up to Jungle Jims but I forgot. next time!

we also went hiking in Mt. Airy Forest, this big forest in the middle of the city until it got hot and we got hungry so we stopped in a shady-looking but cheap and tasty family restaurant in a random section of town. I thought of Cali as they serve breakfast all day. Alex got french toast.

Re: Back to School!

sorry Kate, it’s a bit long for a comment so I just threw it in over here.

I live in a school.

our washer and dryer are in the basement, and once I forgot my laundry downstairs so I had to run down to get it during the school day. so I ended up walking through an elementary school with my arms full of my thankfully clean laundry (because of course I forgot to take my laundry bag). I tried to be sneaky…but it turns out even in mercy montessori they stick kids in the hallway if they get in trouble.

one day Mairead went down to the vending machine to get a soda and met a kid. wouldn’t of been awkward except she was in her pajamas. she said something to the effect of “hey man, what’s up?” and he got scared and ran away.

p.s. tell brett I said hi