Milwaukee, Heavenly Desserts & Dirty Rotten Insults

We drove to Milwaukee yesterday and it was like our own private holiday. I would post some pics but I think J took the little camera along on his wedding shoot today. Or he hid it from me. He's like that, you know. (no hormones here, none at all)

There is something about travel, and going somewhere new together. Especially now with a little family memeber in tow. I get to walk around, looking at a shrine to Mary for example, but I'm not just looking at a shrine or a shrub. I'm pregnant first, and then I just happen to be looking at something. I feel like I should glow- not in the normal pregger glow, but actually give off light. Green, perhaps. I guess that might frighten the populace, but it's such a great SECRET!

And then...AND THEN!

I had the best cheesecake I have ever tasted in my entire life. It was a tough decision between that and the creme brulee- but not to worry!! Because they somehow put that sugar surface on the cheesecake and bruleed that anyway. It had the lovely crispy/toasty surface and creamy cheesy heft. I sensed the use of generous amounts of evaporated milk. Oh. My. Cow.

On the way home we bonded by thinking of the best body-related insults for each other. Most of them are not worth repeating, but many involved fungi and infections. We laughed so hard the car shook a little. Yeah. We're ready to be responsible adults.

Baby picture #1. In the interest of fairness I'll make the next one pink.  

Apparently they do grow on trees... 

Do they franchise homes yet?

I just don't get as much done here at home.

I need the atmosphere of a coffee-shop (the music library at UW is apocalyptic- all cement in the basement and woefully uninspiring). Yes, the atmosphere and the fat-free raspberry steamers. So you see my dilemna.

I'm thinking that a requirement in our next home will be the ability to add a little starbucks on the main floor. My dad's one of their greatest supporters- perhaps he can convince them...

Now we wait....

I had no idea how impatient I am. It has been what, two weeks, and already I wish I were showing, I wish I could feel it move, I wish it would get here sooner.

This is supremely illogical in light of the fact that I simultaneously have one million things to do for my degree, and I really want that degree now. I think if I have it, it will be okay to relax in the year of the baby and still have a chance of getting back in the game if I want to. I know that everything will change, but you know what people say; the career will be much less of a priority. I just want a chance to build some serious music into my life. Right now, I don't want to give up the idea of having something more than a local orchestra and teaching from home. No point in worrying I know, but again, I'm good at it.

Each thing in order- not one of my strengths. Probably gotta learn that with kids around. Hmmm.

Wedding weekend.

Don't you think a rabbit running through your ceremony, stopping to stand just in front of the bride, and then hopping off into the shrubbery must be one of those medieval signs of fertility or some such? It was the most exciting moment of the event, although the gardens were completely perfect. A lot of the couples we play for seem so... reserved. They smile (lips closed) only at the pre-scripted moments. I suppose they could be nervous- but then you'd think they'd loosen up at the receptions. Perhaps they're just shy folks shoved into the spotlight in funny clothes.

The other couple were poster children for tanned, toned wedding tawniness. They did choose some funny tunes- probably the only couple this year to use the theme from Willie Wonka {can't wait for the new one to come out!}, and in the middle of the ceremony everything stopped so we could play the love song from Phantom of the Opera. Funny little interlude, if you ask me- but then, I suppose all those great opera arias are also taken from stories of horrible human relationships.

In between those two days, we watched the new Star Wars (chuuuuh Khuuuuuuh= darth vadar), and had a great conversation about why some folks think Christians just have some massive intellectual or self-esteem failing. That belief in God is a form of supreme weekness.

AND we managed to do our Bible study! We talked more about the Sermon on the Mount definition of gentle/ meek/ etc. I am constantly amazed by the fact that if I will just for one second think about God while dealing with people, it's almost EASY to treat them well. It's not like it's some huge struggle- if I will just remember that.

Saturdays the BEST DAYS.

We slept in. I had further wierd hormonal dreams. My father-in-law had a girlfriend, I got bit in the neck by a rattlesnake, my mother-in-law was a shrub (we were patting her branches to console her). It was stranger and stranger the more times I had to get up and pee.

We're heading to the farmer's market- should be fun. Cheese curds and organic squash anyone?

Being pregnant is amazing. And I have a pregnant friend who will run with me!! We've gone twice and I already feel comfy running with her. It takes a while for me usually- to be able to chat, to not worry about slowing her down. AND, she will prattle on with me at length about all the little things about being preggo that make normal folks' eyes glaze over. (almost (as yet) invisible amounts of tummy squishiness, thirst-o-meter, parenting fears, husband training techniques)

Alright, we're off. Gotta get back and get some work done on my project. It's been decided- the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu will be my own private obsession this summer.

Wierder and wierder.

In my old life, I rarely remembered my dreams- but no more, my friends. These are class-A, sci-fi channel wierd.

The winner so far? How about this: I'm in an A-level orchestra, and it's the summer season, so we're at this cool venue and it's semi-outdoors. I spend a lot of time running up to the stage where I can't find my seat and then back down and around the audience, backstage, random scaffolding everywhere. Finally the tunes get going and I'm enjoying playing along. I look up and above the stage there's this sort of arch structure and on it there are about 5 women from the orchestra, playing their hearts out. One of them is Anjelica Houston.

They are jamming along, one of them has a mid-sized drum that seems to sort of... undulate.. each time it's struck. Anjelica keeps dropping this feather and reaching too far out and down- she balances on one foot on the arch and does this ballet-lookin' move that makes me dizzy just to watch. If a breeze came along, she'd fall.

And then I wake up to Jonathan's hideous screeching alarm clock (seriously- you should hear this thing) to which he has some annoying attachment even though it's huge and ugly and from the 60's. I think if I had just never said anything but bought him a modern one, he wouldn't have dug his heels in quite this deep... well, live and learn, Miriam.

I walk around most of the day in the mood of whatever dream befell me the night before. So not only does this take over your body, apparently the mind is soon to follow.

This is NOT my body.

Wierd. I haven't gained any pounds on the scale, but my middle is softer and fuller already. Last night we grilled out with friends and I thought I was going to explode after. My favorite jeans felt awful, and I didn't eat that much. A lot of the books say to not drink much with your meals, and I had 2 sparkling soda waters. Ouch.

Looking around on the hallowed internet, I see pics of women about as far along as me and some are totally "showing", while others still look basically flat. I can tell already.

One chick I know was still flat at 15 weeks, but that just isn't normal. It's not that I am obsessing with this, it's just that it's surreal to not be in control of your body.

I'm going for a run. I think I'll take the kid along.

The post heard round the world. (well, our world)

We are just a little bit ahead of schedule. Most of our vast readership has been told in person or we've attempted to tell you, so if you read it here first, we apologize.

We are pregnant!!

Everything has changed about our choices for next year. Well, actually, we have basically the same options, but now they seem so much more important.

Do we move away from friends to be closer to parents?
Do we give up the chance for J to have a degree from Columbia?
Will the house sell? (there are no less than 4 up for sale on our circle)
We're WHAT?

Many of these will answer themselves. If he gets a good job in Portland, we'll go. If things don't start to remove themselves as barriers to NYC, we probably won't go. If the house sells and we're feeling like we can work it out, then NYC is possible.

And we're accepting submissions for names. Names! It's going to be an actual kid. Funny how thinking of names/ and boy- or girl-ness makes it much more adrenaline-filled.

Well, Ma'am, it must have been the crack pipe.

So up pulls the nice little van and the plumber comes in with all sorts of neat tools and a lovely light to shine on the dust under the sinks.

Until the second the doorbell rang, I had been madly flinging everything from under the sink into the tub. Good thing we got that super-sized soaker tub. Nail-polish remover, shampoo I don't even remember buying, pretty bottles of smelly things. Why is TP so expensive, anyway?

The poor plumber.

He tried everything, and could not get the water to drip the way I had promised it would. I SWEAR it did- if you cupped your hands under the faucet to fill them, the water would spill out from somewhere under the sink. He gave a valiant effort.

As he packed up and left, he said without cracking a smile, "Well, keep an eye on that." Bless his heart.

Simon on the floor.

J- He's been going back and forth from the couch to the linoleum all night.
M- Yeah, it's too hot for him up here.
J- He hasn't been snoring for a long while now.
M- Yeah, but I can see he's still breathing.
J- I guess he is still alive.

THAT is how much and how loud this dog snores, people.

Here's a lovely example of the snore-free model:

How many roads can a man walk down?

Many, apparently.

One goes to NYC, with running around the reservoir & watching Orpheus Chamber Orchestra rehearsals (not to mention concerts), & just walking down the street has the potential to expand your mind.

Another goes to a small college in Portland with a law school opening. Turns out most profs have either got one of the top 5 schools on their resume or they have an LLM (the degree he's considering), but they might just look at his incredible experience and see what a fab prof he'd be.

A new one goes to a firm in Portland that sounds too good to be true... prayer would be great on that, internet.

Along all of these roads runs a nice little grassy path called FUTURE POSSIBLE IMPENDING PARENTHOOD. We'd like it to line up so that exactly about this time next year, the world would be a-changing.

Yep, many. We'll keep you posted...

Rachael...oh Rachael! You put the ho in ho-made, baby! 

A day at the Mall.

We were bored, it was a nice drive. We didn't even buy anything. Not even a cowboy hat or those red flame cowboy boots. We did take tons of pics, including some seriously creepy ones- have to show you those on Friday the 13th, maybe.

Here's the hottest thing around.

Mall Moose

Someday I'll be good at this. It's a recurve bow, and I want to shoot things with it. In the class I took I once fell into the big styrofoam sheet we were shooting into while trying to remove an arrow. It broke into 3 pieces with a totally unnecessary CRRRRACK. The class was in a big indoor horse arena, so it echo...echo...echoed. Still cringing over that one.


Do you think we'll ever make it West? Because if not, I'm just gonna start wearing these anyway.

Look, Josh and Tiff! It's doing so well!! 

Where to Begin?

To Do:
1. Sell house
2. Paint toenails
3. Get a committee of 5 to approve me so I can research & write my project for the lecture-recital (~15 pages)
4. Send one thousand resumes to random new york institutions
5. Pray (mostly in gratitude. Geez, fifth. Not exactly on-target yet with the whole faith/trust/joy grouping.)

I think I'll start with 5, then head directly to 2.

We are on our way to the big CITY! And I am mostly excited! I can't stop with the exclamations, though! Guess that's the anxiety?!

Door County Extravaganza

Lovely lake- this is the pure sweet water of Egg Harbor. Ain't it purty? Jonathan whisked me up there right after the recital, and wouldn't say where we were headed. By the time we got there it was dark, which made for a lovely revealing in the morning.

Just like the honeymoon, he did it all- found it online, saved up, ordered the extra-super-romance-enhanced suite, WITH rose petals (that's a sight to see! Just like in those soap operas my friend Flo from Long Island liked to watch.) and flowers and whirlpools. Plus there was a bald eagle soaring by. Not sure how he arranged for that one.


So here they are, the ingredients for a fabulous weekend get-away. A spent recital skirt, cameras, zippy little honda, libations & lots of CDs. We favored Gillian Welch, David Crowder, Willie Nelson and Madonna.


Ready to frame. We found some incredible dilapidated buildings. I'm such a materialist- all I could see was all those old hinges and appliances rusting out and think "$$$$$$". In Montana, those places would have been picked clean by now. One old long building (worker housing?) was leaning back at least 4 feet and you could see under it, where there was standing water and wierd cement blocks and trolls. In one creepy room there was a light-pull hanging down tied like a noose.


Door county- created with Miriam's allergies in mind. But man, the non-lethal foods were AWESOME!


Husband of the year.