Snippets

It was snowing on my way to work this morning. Just flurries, nothing substantial yet. Sorry to my friends in the north who got real accumulation over the weekend. Unless you’re into snow in October, then you can keep it. I find this time of year to be a bit difficult, in that I don’t ever want to leave the house and basically just want to eat a lot and hibernate until April or so.

I’ve been up to a bit of miscellaneous nonsense lately. Barenaked Ladies played at one of our theatres earlier this month and their promoter offered staff comps (which doesn’t happen often), so Darren and I went for the nostalgia. They have a new album out, but they know what people like and played their old mega-hits too.

Kate and I trekked up to the middle of nowhere two weekends ago for Kelsey’s birthday. We got lost twice but it was worth the trip. Kels was house-sitting at this incredible place that is basically perfect except it is very far away from a Target. Quality time and foods and drinking games made for a delightful evening. Plus I ate the most delicious apple. Trust me when I say this apple was worth the mention.

Amanda threw an alter egos party at Casa Como on Saturday. The idea was dreamed up at the Stews and Brews party that Kate and Susanna had hosted earlier this year. We dig theme parties, obviously. Kate and I busted out Shawna and Donna, our inner loud Bostonian ladies, and Darren participated as my – Donna’s – Southie boyfriend John. We collectively won the ribbon for funniest costume(s?), which I think was aided by the Red Sox game that was occurring as the party happened. And now I desperately want the Sox to win the World Series.

I’ve been continuing my knitting when time allows. I made a bit of progress on Darren’s scarf this weekend. In other domestic proceedings, I re-potted my spider plant and I am concerned that it might not be appreciative. It has been fertilized and watered, so I am just keeping a close eye on it.

Speaking of plants, I acquired three air plants which arrived in the mail today. They are hanging out in a coffee cup until it’s time to go home. I actually drove in today, which is somewhat rare, so clearly it worked out perfectly and the little guys won’t have to be subjected to the cold coldness while I wait for buses.

Air plants in their temporary coffee cup home.

early inheritance

My grandma is moving in with her sister at the end of the month, which means she has a lot of stuff she no longer has room for. When she came up for the wedding she brought me and Kyle each a box of assorted things. It’s mostly dishes, actually, so now I have an absurd amount of beautiful dinnerware and no room for it but in Rubbermaid tubs in our storage closet. This particular set is blue and white Currier & Ives china. I didn’t go through all of it, but it’s in decent shape as far as I can tell. Just a few chips here and there. The box also included a random Homer Laughlin “Virginia Rose” platter. They’re the same company that makes Fiestaware, so that’s cool.

Some of the C&I pieces and the HL platter.

She also gave me a set of pots, which have replaced our chipping Teflon ones, and some silverware. This means we have a proper silverware set now. Our other set, which she also gave us, was perfectly good but the numbers were all wonky. We had four forks (seriously), eleven teaspoons, five knives, and I don’t know how many table spoons. Now we have a proper eight of each – even salad forks! – and they’re vintage and pretty.

Kitchen things are my favorite. Obviously grandma knows me well; actually I’m pretty sure I get that particular interest from her. She taught me how to bake and that was that.

Ugh, we need a bigger place and a china hutch, clearly. Somebody buy me this.

parent of virtues

It’s been a while since I posted about being grateful. I’m okay with that, since it was getting to the point where it was pretty much the same things with every post. But today feels like a nice day to remind myself.

• Work has been good to me this week. Ticketmaster offered us a few tickets to the Vikings game on Sunday and I was the only one who wanted them, so I brought Darren and his friend Mark to the game. They were Touchdown Club tickets, which meant free food and drinks and the cushiest seats ever.

• Also I got a little bit of a raise. Little is better than zero. Plus praise, which rules.
• Kyle and Jenna are married now. New sister-in-law win!

I cried a few times, mostly because Kyle cried. Betrayal! Brother tears are kryptonite.

• Got to see my family and some high school friends at the wedding, which was an excellent bonus.
• We’re going to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday. It’s the last day so everyone will probably be out of the good mead, but I don’t even care.
• The weather has been lovey. Sometimes there’s nothing better than that.

Darren is working in Wisconsin today and at least part of tomorrow (and possibly into Sunday, which will complicate Fest plans but I’m definitely still going) to make up for missing work all of last week due to a major communication fail on the part of his bosses. So we are temporarily super poor, but what can you do. We already have our Fest tickets so no big. I plan on spending tonight and tomorrow doing next to nothing, except watching Netflix and working on yarn-related projects. It shall be glorious, although I’ll totally miss his stupid furry face.

mr. and mrs. johnston

My twin brother is getting married today. Three years ago he was my Brother of Honor, and today I’ll be returning the favor as his Sister of Honor. I thought maybe I’d surprise myself and mange to hold it together, but I’m already a little teary.

Obviously, as twins, we have known each other longer than anyone else ever could. I wasn’t sure he would ever get married and honestly I’m not sure he was either. But after he had been with Jenna for a little while and I saw them together, I knew it would happen in time.

They’re so funny together. You can tell they’re best friends, but they’re also the good kind of couple who doesn’t forsake their other friends.

Kyle finally popped the question last summer. By that point, no one was surprised.

I’m a little nervous for him today. He’s shy in big crowds and I’m hoping he doesn’t pass out or vomit. I watched him almost faint while getting his tattoo, so this is a legit concern. Adrenaline is a bitch.

So at the end of the day Kyle and Jenna will be hitched and I get a new sister. This is a pretty big win for me. My other sisters-in-law are just about to turn 19, and they live in South Carolina and are not as awesome as Jennafer. She’s been family for six years, so I’m excited for her to officially be a Johnston.

I love you guys. Congratulations!

photo shamelessly lifted from Jenna’s facebook

 

documenting gluttony

So, the State Fair happened. Actually it is happening now, but we – the Wulfs and I – went on opening day. We looked at stuff, but mostly we ate, as per usual. Let’s see if I can remember everything we had.

• mini cinnamon rolls
• footlong hotdog
• mini donuts
• three flavors of beef jerky/sticks
• fried green tomatoes
• 1919 root beer
• bacon wrapped shrimp (on a stick)
• two beer flights
• bloomin’ onion
• Tremblay’s chocolates
• all-you-can-drink milk
• Turkey to Go sandwiches
• sundaes from the dairy building
• lobster mac & cheese
• coffee/tea break at one point
• cheesecake on a stick
• dosant/cronut
• porketta wings
• sausage on a stick
• cannoli
• double bacon corn dog
• english toffee fudge puppy
• more beer
• sweet corn ice cream
• cream puffs
• bull bites
• some kind of delicious sandwich
• second footlong

I think that’s the complete list? Close to it, at least. My vote for best new fair food goes to Mancini’s. They serve the sausage on a stick and the porketta wings, plus a bunch of other probably wonderful meaty items. Skip the bacon wrapped shrimp. The lobster mac was pasta, a little bit of lobster, and what we suspect was nacho cheese. Meh.

I am already looking forward to next year.

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.

This is a long post about money. My money, specifically.

I don’t read my horoscope regularly, but it pops up on Yahoo every day and I happened to glance at it earlier today:

You may be on solid ground right now in terms of money, but it would not hurt you to conserve a little bit more. Cut back on some of your excessive spending and get more aggressive in your savings plan — and if you don’t have a savings plan, you might want to get on that today. Ditch your credit cards for a while — they make it way too easy to spend way too much! You work too hard for every penny to let even one of them slip out of your fingers without a fight.

It’s an amusing coincidence, because just this morning we went to the bank to take care of some business. Business involving paying off credit cards and getting pre-approved for an auto loan.

We actually took out a loan to consolidate our debt. Actually I took it out, because I have a good credit score but Darren has no credit at all, so the interest rate is better without him. Anyway, the debt isn’t terribly high, but the interest rates on the cards are ridiculous. Consolidating them onto a loan with less than half the interest rate, plus a smaller monthly minimum payment, is going to save us an absurd amount of money in the long run- especially since we’ll be able to make payments much higher than the minimum. Once the payments go through to the card companies we are straight-up closing those credit accounts. SO OVER IT. Incidentally, paying off the CCs is on my 30 by 30 list. Nice.

As far as the car thing goes, we’ll see what happens. We’ve set a maximum allowance for a purchase price but I’m aiming to spend well under that. I obviously don’t want to take on more debt when we’re trying to get rid of it, but actually with everything else we’re doing, plus having payed off a couple loans this summer (two student loans left to go! One of them is 15 years away from repayment though) we’re not going to be paying any more in bills than we do now. Likely even less, depending on what we end up paying for le car. Plus our stupid old van eats gas like crazy, so saving money with a more fuel-efficient vehicle, which of course is what we’re looking for, is a big win. Andplusalso it’ll be a joint loan so Darren can finally build some friggin’ credit.

So that’s that. We’re also doing a lot of non-spending of extra money in general. I mean we spent plenty on vacation because of course we did, we saved for it for months, but now that’s over. Less dining out, less nights at the bar, less unnecessary shopping. Less Caribou, DARREN. More saving. That’s the goal. We want to go on more vacations, and maybe buy a house someday, so we’re making some choices now that will lead to fun things in the future. The downside is it sometimes affects how I kick it with buddies, but we’re all pretty excellent at making our own fun. Hello, toga party tonight?

I’m kind of excited about this, actually.

This is the part where I totally plug our new bank. We recently left Wells Fargo and joined Affinity Plus, a credit union based in Minnesota. It’s a non-profit, and everything is wonderfully straightforward. I researched a lot of CUs for a pretty long time before I made the choice (I wear the pants in the family, I guess? Everything was thoroughly discussed but the legwork was all me) Their employees are trained in every area of the business which has been so helpful. They want their customers to succeed and that has been very clear to me in every interaction I’ve had with them. Plus there are so many little things that are awesome. Participation rewards, for example. plus they have a program called Stash Your Cash, where your debit card purchases are rounded up to the nearest dollar, and the extra amount is deposited into your savings account. We’ve only been with them about a month, but it’s been a very good month. I’d recommend them to anyone. Bonus: the fellow we worked with today noticed Darren’s extensive customer service background and let him know that Affinity Plus is hiring like crazy, and said to use him as a reference if he was interested. He even gave some interview tips. Cool!

All this to say that my horoscope today was bizarrely accurate. Well played.

Wizard World Wrap-Up

Previously: Day One | Day Two | Day Three

I actually don’t have much left to say. We arrived home at about 11:30 last night after a long day of travel.

After checking out of the hotel yesterday morning, the five of us and our luggage crammed into Austin’s car (Austin’s mom’s car, actually) and headed to the convention center one more time. We ate first, because we were starving and Adobe Gila’s opened at 11. it was 11:15 and we were the first customers. Tacos!

While all of our meals on this trip were delicious, I wish we’d had more of a chance to explore Chicago’s culinary scene. We just stuck with what was in walking distance from the convention center. Next trip, perhaps.

We only spent an hour at the convention. We wandered the entirety of Artists’ Alley, Darren made one more purchase, and then we were off to catch the train downtown.

CTA’s blue line makes me appreciate our smooth, modern light rail even more. But it was much better (read: cheaper and faster) than a goddamn cab ride.

We made it to the Mega Bus with about ten minutes to spare, and scored better seats. Eight and a half hours later we were back in St. Paul.

I would absolutely go again, but I think next time we will fly. Maybe we’ll hit up another city? there are nerd conventions all over the country so the options are plentiful. For now, I am happy to finish up the summer at home in MN. Although I do wish I didn’t have to work… back at that tomorrow.

Wizard World Day 3

Previously: Day One | Day Two

Today began with our being stuck at a railroad crossing for an absurdly long time, resulting in my being late for the John Barrowman Q & A. I saw most of it, but was standing in the way back so none of my pictures turned out. He sang. His parents were surprise guests and were completely hilarious. His mother said that if he had been the first born child, he would have been the last. Toward the end, he brought his husband on stage and they both dropped their pants, revealing superhero unders.

Since it was Saturday, the place was completely packed. It took a long time to find Darren and the Boys after the Q&A, but one I did we immediately went to lunch at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. After flaming cheese saganaki, drinks, and gyros, this was definitely our splurge meal and was completely worth it. Darren’s bloody mary was outstanding and I had a cucumber gimlet I hope to replicate.

There were two Doctor Who panels scheduled this weekend. Yesterday’s was two hours long and was listed as a celebration, so I expected more of a party. I showed up late to it anyway because of Stan Lee’s Q & A so I only stayed a few minutes. Today’s was a standard 45 minute panel. It was packed! The panelists were three people with a lot of Whoniverse knowledge, but the whole thing was a little bland over all. I’d rather sit around and talk with people, rather than just watching people talk.

In the end, I could have spent all my panel time with Wil Wheaton and John Barrowman and would have been thrilled. I cannot say enough good things about either of them.

Most of the day we just walked around taking pictures. Darren decided he was going to take photos with cosplay girls and try to look awkward in all of them. Most of the pictures are on Darren’s phone/Facebook, but this is the gist:

the “hover-hand” was a big part of his schtick.

I hung out with Jay and Silent Bob.

Please note my outfit. Later in the day, we were checking out a booth and some random guy came up and asked if he could take a picture of me. I was startled and confused by the request and all I managed was “Me? No.” He was nice about it and after the initial shock I felt bad for not pointing out that I wasn’t in costume or anything, because maybe he thought I was? But my mental reflex was something more like “what the fuck who are you why would you want to take a picture of just some woman standing around is it because my dress is short OMG” and I was creeped out. Sorry, random dude. My answer would still be no, but sorry I didn’t explain why.

We’ve basically seen the whole convention several times over and most of the Boys were ready to roll out, so we came back to the hotel early. Darren, Dougal (his mom seriously named him Dougal), and Austin are doing their nightly gaming here in our room while my kindred-food-loving-spirit Jordan sleeps in the Boys’ room. I’m hanging out with my new friend Tiny Tenth Doctor.

We have a few more hours at Con tomorrow before Darren and I hop on a train back downtown and catch our MSP-bound Mega Bus. Not excited for that trip, but it will be good to be home.

Next Up: Wizard World Wrap-Up

Wizard World Day 2

Previously: Day One.

The convention floor opened at noon today. We got there a little before one o’clock and wandered some more. I picked up a couple posters at the Doctor Who Store and oggled John Barrowman at his signing booth across the aisle.

Darren and I ditched the Boys and grabbed lunch at the Five Roses Pub. Delicious food is delicious. Once we got back I hopped in line for Wil Wheaton’s Q & A thing. What a delightful human being.

A photo of the video screen.

Instagram style

After Wil imparted his nerdy wisdom upon us all, it was time for Stan Lee’s Q & A. The thing about Stan Lee is he’s 90 years old and ridiculous. Darren asked him a question and he totally copped out on the answer, but what can you do? He’s old and gives zero fucks.

Instagram version

Screen photo version

Tomorrow is our last full day at the convention, and I’ve got a pretty decent list of things to see. Sunday we can hit it up for a couple hours before we head back downtown to catch the ol’ Mega Bus. Vacation is awesome but I miss Enli. Darren and I both have Monday off as well, which was a wise decision I think.

Obviously I’m posting a lot of photos on Instagram, so instead of reposting them all here I’ll just direct you to my account there. Good times, guys. Good times.

Next Up: Day Three.

Wizard World Day 1

I am sitting on a pretty comfy bed at a Marriott in the Chicago suburbs. Three of Darren’s nerd friends are trying to figure out how to hook their XBox up to the TV. There are snacks. We have just returned from the first day of Wizard World Comic Con.

Darren and I left our pets and our apartment in the hands of a friend (so don’t even try to rob us because she will kill you) and spent eight hours yesterday (our anniversary. woo!) on the Mega Bus. Cheap, yes, but not the best way to travel. There were not a lot of seats available when we boarded and that left us in a pretty uncomfortable space, and we were facing backwards. That coupled with Darren’s wrist fracture discomfort – he has a huge brace which he totally took off today even though he’s not supposed to, that crazy fuck – made for kind of an annoying time. Luckily he has a Percocet script, and hopefully we’ll get better seats on the way back.

Early morning on the bus.

Wisconsin hills.

Then, after much confusion regarding public transit downtown, we ended up taking an expensive cab ride to our first hotel. Hate cabs, by the way. Hate them so much. Taking the train back downtown on Sunday should be easier. Anyway, the first hotel was fine, perfectly well kept, but dated. No big. We found alcohol and Subway so we had a tasty/cheap anniversary dinner.

Watching Master Chef in our first hotel.

There was free cereal to eat this morning and the shuttle took us to the convention center for free. The downside was we had to check out at 11 (we dawdled until 11:30) and the convention didn’t open until 3:00.

So we waited in line. One was already forming when we arrived and although we spent three hours waiting in lines, it was surprisingly worth it. The line only got longer, so we got in ahead of lots of people. Plus the people watching was pretty excellent; I should have taken some photos. There was a Doctor Who family in the VIP line next to us. Dad was Fourth, little boy was Fifth, teenage daughter was Clara, and mom was Romana.

Once we got in, we wandered. Darren’s nerd friends (henceforth known as “The Boys”) were still on their way from Indiana, and we needed them before we could get to hotel #2, so we had to drag our luggage around with us.

There was a red carpet-style photo area, but we selfie’d it.

Eventually the Boys arrived and we could ditch our luggage in the car. We wandered around more, made a few small purchases and took note of future potential ones. We’ve both got our eyes on lots of great nerdy art that I think is going to take over our hallway. Jordan bought Darren a James Hance print (h/t to Eric for introducing me to his art) and I’m trying to decide which one I want from the same booth.

After super tasty cheeseburgers but kind of slow service at Kings, (I missed getting in to a panel I wanted to see because it took so long for us to get our bill) we spent another 45 minutes at the convention, where I found the Doctor Who Store and this dalek.

When the convention closed, we returned to a dead car. Oops. The lot attendant helped jump the stupid thing and we made it to hotel #2, which I mentioned in the beginning is a Marriott and is pretty nice. We have a little balcony. The bed is soft and there is classy art. Vacation!

Nerds, nerding.

Next Up: Day Two.