Things I Love Thursday

playing pretend - My friend's wife hates that he LARPs. She refers to our DR weekends as "grownups going to play pretend in the woods". While I believe she meant this as a negative comment, I think that's exactly what we do and I am not ashamed. People tease me relentlessly as I practice new voices and talk to myself with puppet eyes attached to my hand. LARPers are considered the geeks of the gamer geeks but I could not be happier to bear this title. Playing pretend keeps me young and helps me from taking life too seriously and I can't wait to get back to it next month.

beautiful fall days - Whether or not we are ready for it, fall has hit Chicago. I had a lovely Saturday of errands walking out in the cool weather in my NU hoodie with a hot cup of coffee.

best run of the year - I've been having particularly painful runs this year. For whatever reason my shin splints have been really terrible. However, somehow I managed to get them stretched out early on in the race and the Bucktown 5K went better than any of the races I've done yet this year.

lady dates - Since I was already right around the corner when my race finished, I got to spend the morning drinking coffee and eating delicious Stan's donuts with my lovely Elise and I also got to give baby D a good squeeze before I went home.

the most comfortable sweatpants - Seriously, RAM racing, all of your races should forego the usual running shirt and be replace with the amazing unisex sweatpants we got for the Bucktown 5K. At the end of every day I just cannot wait to get home and put them on for the rest of the night. Warm, comfy, and, because they're unisex, a size small which makes me feel a lot skinnier than I am at the moment.

one last week without homework - Tuesday night I will start back to the world of going to class and spending all of my week nights reading. I'm really going to miss my evenings of leisure.

productive work conversations - So, after being a bit disappointed that it appeared I would not be getting a promotion after all, my dean pulled me into his office on Monday evening. He wanted to get a better idea of everything I had taken over since Donna retired and reassure me that he was still planning on getting me the correct job title and pay. It was a great relief.

choir - The one thing I have missed more than anything since I moved to Chicago has been the opportunity to sing on a regular basis and I have missed being involved in a choir ever since I dropped my music major back in 2003. When I saw that NU's Music Academy groups were going to be performing Mozart's Requiem (my absolute favorite piece of choral music) in the winter quarter, I knew that the fates were telling me it was time to suck it up and start auditioning again. Despite my insanely terrible audition nerves, less than a week of preparation, and five years of only singing in the shower or the car, I had a good audition. The woman was extremely complimentary and, while she's waiting to hear all of the auditions, I will be in one of the music ensembles when I'm able to start rehearsing with them in the winter quarter. This has been the best news I've gotten in a very long time.

Things I Love Thursday

dragon con - I have loved the con scene since I started going to Wizard World four years ago. This year, I went bigger and better and flew down to Atlanta to spend four gorgeous days at Dragon Con with my cousin, Heather. All of the con goers that I encountered were respectful of each other and the city and the staff of all of the hotels and local businesses. I went to panels on puppetry, makeup design, and voice acting. I went to Buffy trivia and Doctor Who discussions. I met Amy Acker and Todd McIntosh. I went to panels with J. August Richards, Emma Caulfield, Julie Benz, and Cary Elwes. I got tons of free swag. This kind of event with nerds en masse just makes my skin tingle and smile a little bit bigger.

my ob/gyn - I know this is a little weird to say but the truth is I have never been comfortable in a doctor's office. I have a very hard time talking about my physical self and that goes double at the lady's doctor. However, my doc (and her RN and her front desk staff) is just the kindest woman and has put me at ease ever since the first time I walked into her office. It's good to be able to trust your medical team.

pushing my limits - I tried to do a half marathon on Sunday. I really only ended doing about a 15K and didn't get in nearly as much running as I would have liked due to a terrible lack of training, being sick and sore from my previous weekend trip, and a summer of way too much indulgence. But now I know where my current limit is. Just how far I can push myself. So now I know what to aim on breaking over the next year.

my support system - Summer was rough and I had a bit of a breakdown Monday night. And nearly every person who is important to me came through with flying colors and set me back on my feet. I got words of support, pictures of boobs, and the moopit bought me dinner and spent the evening binge watching True Detective with me. I'm incredibly lucky to have them all.

dive bars and good friends - I spent all of last night drinking cider and shooting the shit with the Tinsleys. It was great conversation and the awesome bartender enjoyed talking to us so much that she gave us a round on her. The lovely walk through the suddenly cool fall air of Chicago was pretty great too.

Rediscovering Balance

I always strive to try and maintain a balanced life; remembering which priorities and people are important and trying to keep myself healthy and happy. I think I can safely say that this summer was a fail as far as balance is concerned. I'm not saying this to be self-deprecating but because the only way to move on and rediscover my balance is to accept that there is a problem to begin with. 
Most of the past couple of years I have been a rock. I've been getting mostly As and Bs in school, keeping active and staying strong and healthy, being mentally stronger than I have in (I don't know) ever, powering through all of the bureaucratic crap at my job, keeping up financially, and spending time with my friends without wearing myself too thin. 
This summer was rough. I was burnt out and got Cs in my classes. I kept injuring myself and getting sick so my running training fell by the wayside. This means that the half marathon I participated in on Sunday was mostly walking and I had to cross over on the course and skip about four miles. My eating is once again out of control and I am the heaviest I have been since before I moved to Chicago. I can't afford any of the judo, archery, dancing, or gym classes I usually like to participate in. I am so off budget that I can't really afford much of anything besides rent and bills. My supervisor retired at the beginning of the summer and not only have we not hired anyone new (which means I'm doing both of our jobs), I also have still not gotten the promotion I have been repeatedly promised over the past three years. I also have a large group of people who are important to me that I haven't been able to devote as much time to as I would like. I've also been giving a lot of mental energy to people that aren't always the greatest at returning the favor. I spent last night sitting on my couch sobbing for about two hours because all of these things combined have finally broken my ever optimistic spirit. 
I don't really know what the answer is. I know I have to take some stock and do a lot of life recalculations. I know that my LARPs always make me happy so they will be staying on the calendar for the time being. I know that I need to not overbook myself so much during the week so that I can actually keep up with my homework. I know that I need to get a killer resume and cover letter together while continuing to fight for my promotion. I know I need to redo my entire budget. I know I need to take more control over my diet and activity levels. And I know that next week I have an audition to join the Northwestern Music Academy chorus because I need more music in my life. But I'm still looking at everything and wondering if I really have the strength to get it done.

Things I Love Thursday

homemade ice cream
prosecco
summer dance
long walks downtown
good sushi and lovely ladies for company
the last day of class



I swear, starting next week, I'll start putting a little more brain power into my blog. Right now final papers are taking up all of my brain.

Things I Love Thursday

I'm doing it a little different today, short and sweet, no big explanations

Quartino
Toasts that almost make you cry
El Nuevo
Family
Michigan Avenue at night
Puppy snuggles
Wildclaw in the Wild
Making fun of moopit
Lemon chicken
The Wire
Cool breezes
Fingers tangled in my hair

Things I Love Thursday

Burger fest - Seriously, this may be one of the better street festivals in Chicago. Tons of different burgers, giant dill pickles, crave bars. There is not enough yum in the world for how much I loved the food.

Being needed - I really do like that I have people in my life that know they can call me any time and I will come take care of them or just listen to their problems or whatever it is they need. I also really love that I am in a place in my own life where I can be there for other people. 

Halfway there - The quarter is over halfway done and I am in desperate need of that five weeks without class to just get myself back together. 

Dystopia Rising - This LARP is not for everyone. It is a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies, you have boffer fights, and camp in the woods and are fully immersed in the environment from game on at 9 pm Friday night until game off at noon on Sunday. And, speaking as someone who hates camping, I loved this weekend so hard and can't wait to get back in August. Much love to The Faded Heart caravan and especially Ian, who plays my in-game hubby, Gardner.

Birthday brownie - After DR, we had a little post-mortem lunch at Applebee's before heading our separate ways home. I got my birthday brownie and it was tasty.

Great birthday gifts - My mom is buying my plane ticket to Dragon Con for my birthday. This is one of the many reasons she is the best mom in the world.

Things I Love Thursday

great classes full of good discussion - I have almost completely focused on psychology classes for the past two years and, to be honest, was getting pretty burnt out. This summer I'm taking a poli sci class on Chicago politics and an english class on American detective lit. There are some familiar faces that I really appreciate and really great teachers and fascinating discussion. The quarter is already over a quarter over and I'll be a little sad when it is.

three day weekends - my summer is super booked so three-day holiday weekends are a truly wonderful gift from the gods. I got several things done around the house (don't worry, you can't tell, it's still pretty wrecked) and read through a ton of homework assignments on corruption in politics. And there may have been a few hours of sitting on the couch playing video games. 

my auren! - my favorite purchase of late, I now am the proud owner of an auren. If you don't know what that is, I'm very sad for your childhood. If you do, you understand why my friends and I exploded in geekery squeals of joy when I put it on Saturday night.

a new workout shirt - there's a sloth, it says "live slow", it's adorable and soft and I love it.

LARPer feels - LARP was a little different last week and I had honestly been dreading going because I was going to have to put some emotions into game that I hadn't had to show before. I'm truly grateful for a group of amazing friends that make it a safe space for that kind of play.

sissy visits - on her way home from her vacation, my sister stopped through Chicago for an overnight visit. She went out for after-LARP pancakes with all of my friends and hung out with her super hungover sister the next morning. The best part though was the enormous smile on her face.

beautiful wine - a few years back, Quartino had this amazing wine called Evolution from Sokol Blosser. It's made with a combination of grapes so you can't pick a favorite wine based off your usual ideas and it's truly the best wine I've had in my mouth hole. I currently have a bottle of their red and a bottle of their white sitting in my kitchen and I cannot wait to crack them open.

super tasty food - while my workouts haven't been going the greatest lately, I've had some serious motivation in the kitchen. I made a killer stir fry and some great veggies and pasta. Now if I can just get myself up in the mornings to run, send me some good vibes, folks. 

end of an era - tomorrow Donna leaves our little office family for the last time. I know I've had plenty of times where I've been frustrated with her but she is a kind, wonderful person and will be missed. I'm very interested to see where our office goes from here.