Fantastic Shapes

I got back to Seattle last Saturday and holy crap it's been crazy. Mom came for a conference so there was a lot of ho tubbing, sauna-ing, dinners, theatre, getting lost, accidentally keeping keys, and long discussions of our days. She heard Al Gore speak I made Fantastic Shapes with my body and learned how to hit myself in the head with my shoe. Same page. 

My internship at the Children's Theatre started last week. So far, I'm feeling it. The interns are great. They are all basically actors so we click better than the interns did at the Rep. Orientation had a lot of ice breakers. Kind of hate those, but I survived. And I'm not interested in showing anyone else how I "bugalow" so don't ask. We had an intern party on Friday night and we played my new favorite game Celebrity. I will teach you and then beat you at it. 

This week is going well so far. First two class were Physical Comedy and Shakespeare. I smacked my head on the ground which sucked but also recited some Macbeth which was awesome. I'm keeping a journal of everything we do just in case I teach some more. And who are we kidding, I probably will. 

I was too tired to straighten my hair so it'll be curly tomorrow. Get over it. 

Class Acts

Family Bonding time before I leave for Seattle. We gorged on Taiko and then watched Stephen Colbert in Iraq. So choice. I'd marry him. Then I was all, "Let's play a game" and before you knew it we were sipping Raspberry Sparkletini out of plastic Carlos O'Kelly's cups and chair dancing to Celebrate while we played a rousing cut-throat game of Dominoes, because yes this is the 1800s. These are good people.

I had a bit of trouble finding my glasses before I watched D2 The Mighty Ducks last night, but fret not. I found them and enjoyed every duck related joke. The quack attack is back jack! Oh my god, I'm 60 years old. 

Jesus, Take The Wheel. I Gotta Grab Something In The Backseat.

Well my time at home has certainly picked up in the last week. On a spontaneous whim Nikki and I popped in the car and drove to The Region so that we could go see the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. Suzanna sent me a link about it and I decided that it had to happen. 

We drove the four hours on Wednesday night after Nikki got off work. In true Kiki/Nikki fashion we played Harry Potter games most of the drive. We took all of the books and played the name-the-title-of-the-chapters-in-order game first. Then whoever wasn't driving would comb the books for difficult questions to ask the other person. I was wearing my Harry Potter scarf (see Jackie, I wear it) and I gave Nikki my baller time turner to wear. We probably took too many pictures while going 72 miles an hour, but we wanted to live a little. We even stopped on the side of the road next to an H for hospital sign and Nikki made the "P" with her hands. HP excitement on the highway.  We got in around 10 and I was jacked on the pop we drank. Mikey was all out of sorts from a knee injury so we high-tailed it to the basement to watch The Departed. Um, how good is that movie?? So good. I didn't take my eyes off of it the whole time. Which is why we didn't get to bed until 1:30. Bad plan, but worth it.

We got up at 7:30 the next day so that we'd be sure to have enough time to get to the South Shore Line. Aunt Theresa made an awesome breakfast and then we were out of the door. Train ride was great. No attacks from dementors to speak of. We went straight to the Museum and pretended to care about baby chicks hatching as we waited for them to call our time slot. We finally got in line and bought our audio devices. 10:23 hit and we were pretty much freaking out. The audio device played the Harry Potter theme as we walked to the first room in the exhibit: the Sorting Hat. We watched 3 younger people awkwardly get sorted into the house of their choosing and then they ushered us into a dark room to watch an HP movie montage over 8 vertical screens. Chills, my friends. Chills. We were ooo-ing and ah-ing the whole time. Magic. Harry Potter. Living the Dream.

The exhibit was absolutely wonderful. We spent two hours looking at costumes and listening to the designers point out features and discuss their details and decisions. We saw props like Tom Riddle's Diary, The Sorcerer's Stone and life size models of Buckbeak and the Hungarian Horntail. Dementors have tales that look like spines, did you know that? I didn't. We pulled out Mandrakes, shot some leather Quaffles into the hoops, sat in Hagrid's chair and quoted the movies the entire time. It was so awesome and I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much without Nikki there. It was a pretty good substitute for us not being able to see the 6th movie together so Huzzah!

We still had some time to kill before the train came so we haphazardly ran across Lake Shore Drive to hit Lake Michigan. We put our toes in the freezing water and sat on the beach for a long time. Then we pounded in a Subway foot long and hit the train back to Munster. Before you knew it we were back on the road for more driving action. We hit massive traffic and I made us listen to the Life is a Highway cover at least 3 times. Seriously, what a good song.  But it wouldn't be long till we were in the car again...

To drive 5 1/2 hours to Minneapolis! My second cousin (right? i don't know how that works) on my mom's side was graduating. I desperately wanted to go to the Guthrie to see Tony Kushner's new play so I was down for a back-to-back road trip. On top of buying awesome accessories for my, oh wait, what's that, BRAND NEW computer and iPod touch we also logged some H&M time which is always a plus. I got to see my 3 hr and 40 min show, Mom got to take notes and drink wine coolers and we both ate more cake than Delta Burke. I also had 3 Magic Bars made by the one and only Aunt Dorothy. The theme for the weekend was, "Why don't we do this more often?" Seriously--I think I'll live there one day. Good theatre, good people, good times. 5 1/2 hour drive back and now I'm planting myself in Dubuque for the rest of the week. 

Mom and I head to Seattle on Saturday so I'll spend my last week finishing my room, eating at my favorite local restaurant, buying things cheaper in the Midwest, and trying to Houdini everything into my suitcase. The Midwest done treated me real nice. 

Week Two & Three: The To-Do List

1. Financial Confabulation Starring Mother Abba. It wasn't too bad. I ended up coming out ahead after my internship, but only by about a month's rent. Better than going in debt. And better than getting shot in the face.

2. Dentist Appointment. No cavities, suckers.

3. Finally Renew License So That It Is Horizontal. I squinted during the vision test and lied about my weight. At least now I can get into the Quest Center Bar.

4. Start A Puzzle. We got this Thomas Kincaid puzzle set and ripped open one of the 500 piece bags. The pieces aren't cut well and the shapes are so discombobulated that you're never really sure where a piece goes. I mean we had difficulty assembling the border. Now that's just sad. I'll powerhouse through it and then hopefully we can get one that doesn't suck.

5. Catapult My Family Into The 21st Century. For Mother's Day we got my mom a Wii. For her birthday she got a TomTom. I just bought a new computer with a free iPod Touch. What's next? A hover craft. 

6. Turn 23. It's really just the second anniversary of turning 21. 

7. Make A Trip To The Region. Saw all of the family I could in a 48 hour period. Dominoes, babies, and loud conversations. I'd say it was totally worth it. 

8. Memorial Weekend Explosion. I saw Jackie. Played corn hole and rang a wind chime every time I mistakenly made a good shot. Ate more food than a stomach should be able to consume. Drank for cheap at the casino. Caught up with Ms. Romaine. It was a pretty great weekend. 

Week One: A Return To Form

Tuesday--
-Fairwell McMenamins lunch with Kate then off to the airport
-Awkward man in front of me pushes chair back too far--curse words fly through my head as I try not to vomit on his jerry curl
-Land in Dubuque to a sobbing Mother Abba and a JJohns sub

Wednesday--
-Wake up early and drive to Iowa City, listen to birthday mix from Jessica
-Meet up with baby sister and steal dorm keys
-Go into back office to visit with RAs--Amanda freaked and turned red, got a hug from Jacque (???), avoided Barb and her crazy tinted mom-glasses
-Lunch at Z'maricks with Kristin, ordered Z'pesto and gossiped
-Picked up sewing machine for Mother Abba
-Hit up Joe's Place with Secretary Extraordinaire Jennifer, Amie, Amanda, Justin, Aditi, Ryan, Nick, Chong, Crystal and Bob--discuss the crumbling of Res Life and recreate scenes from Tea Time
-Dinner with Brian and Adam at Oasis--monsoon starts and we wade back to his apt
-L O S T with Brian, Adam, Katie, and Sean--two years in a row, what?
-Drive to Walmart with Nikki to get ice cream and watch bad tv
-Epic fail when blowing up air mattress

Thursday--
-Sleep in? No thanks.
-Visit with Jessica Heacock and Matt French by the piano room--yes, they get two names for being so important
-Get lunch at Hamburg with Nikki and see her office--those computer screens are huge
-Capana with Aubrey and new beau Matt
-Visit Justin in dorm and help him watch YouTube videos
-Java Juice with Elise and David--get the low down on theatre and how everyone's senior year sucks when it comes to casting
-Cheesburger dinner with Kristin, Amanda and Nicole
-Back to Green Gables to watch The Office and other NBC necessities
-Forced to go out to Brothers (yes, I did go back) with Crystal, Amie, Amanda and Justin--ran into Cara Clonch and Rebeka Stein, no where to sit, awkward run in with Burge RAs, left after an hour
-Back to Crystal's room to educate her on YouTube videos
-Crashed

Friday--
-Another monsoon happened--drenched when moving things back to car
-Stole Nikki's ID and ate at Burge--tried to remain inconspicuous, cookies still delicious, I guess I should stop saying, "last time I'll eat at Burge" because it seems to happen more often than it should
-Illegally parked by a fire hydrant to move out Nikki's stuff
-Used RA connections to get a cart and move crap three blocks while crossing Dubuque St.
-Too tired to do anything else we drive home and luckily don't crash
-Dinner with the fam--Happy Joes, you tempt me
-Rewatched L O S T finale

Saturday--
-Up early to get ready for the wedding
-Hit the road at 11:30 with only 3 cds and no caffeine
-Hour later I remedy the caffeine situation and get some Cheez-Its--so necessary
-Made it to the church by 3 to be greeted by Liz Steele, the one and only
-Wedding at 4, sat by Brian and Liz and cried roughly 3 times
-Went to Granite City to get a much needed drink in between events with Liz
-Reception at Hyvee Convention Center was gorgeous--good food, cash bar, Minnesotians across from us hate us for being from Iowa, we all made it in the slide show including a creepy picture cameo by Brian
-Danced to Gaga and the like
-Hit the road, drove too fast, home by 12:15
-Started HP6

Sunday--
-LOW KEY, PLEASE
-Star TREK again--better the second time, more starring at Chris Pine
-Mom breaks the news my room is going to be the new home to Kathy's Kraft Korner--like the KKK needs another meeting room in Dubuque
-We drink two bottles of wine as I begin to move things out and say, "well crap" all of the time

And this was just the first week. I still have 4 left. Oh Mylanta. Iowa--you keep me young.