And it's Monday again...

Well, I had a grand time in Springfield! Cory and I drove down Friday and got back late last night. I will post details and scandalous pictures tomorrow.

It's almost September!!!! Where did the summer go?

-listening to Honestly by Zwan

Un-be-liev-able!

I have just received the best news! My beloved and adored Michael Cerveris is going to be performing at Ravinia in two weeks! No, less than that...Labor Day weekend...just around the corner! I am still in shock. He along with some other Broadway stars are going to be singing all the songs from their Broadway production of Sondheim's, Sunday In The Park With George.

And Sondheim himself will be there giving a lecture! Another rare and amazing event. I am just giddy and beside myself. And for those of you wondering why...I'll give you a quick little history on my slight (okay, big) obsession with Michael Cerveris: When I lived in NYC, I saw him in the Off-Broadway show, Hedwig And The Angry Inch. He was so amazing that my friends and I went back 3 times to see him. We even waited one night after the show to meet him. It was one of the few times in my life where I was absolutely speechless and felt like a big dork.

A quick side note on that story...while we were waiting to meet him, we looked over at the small group of 5 other people who were also waiting and two of those people were Ben Stiller and his wife. Yeah. So there is Ben Stiller 4 feet away from me and I wasn't even excited because I was too nervous about meeting Michael.

So there you have it. I thought I would have to go to NYC to ever see him again and isn't it just my lucky day that he's coming all the way to Chicago. I can't wait! I can't wait! I can't wait!

So many shows, so little time...

My Keane tickets have arrived in the mail and I am quite excited. Cory and I have really been living it up in regards to seeing concerts here in Chi-town. To date we've seen: Pedro the Lion, Deathcab For Cutie, Wheat, Billy Corgan, Damien Rice, Lucinda and Miller Williams, Muse, Richard Buckner, The Mutual Admiration Society and I've seen Ben Folds. Not to shabby for only having lived here for 6 1/2 months!

And coming up we have of course Keane, Richard Buckner again, and Jimmy Eat World.

And all this has brought to mind my first concert I went to when I was in 8th grade. Any guesses? Well, I am not ashamed to say, it was NKOTB. And for those of you unprivileged souls who don't know what that stands for...New Kids On The Block. Yep! I went. I screamed. I didn't cry, now! That would have put me back into the obsessive category which I was not in. Although I did have posters covering every inch of my room. Eh, I was artsy. We'll leave it at that.

So, I've been making a mental list of all the concerts I've seen to date, not including Chicago shows. It's quite an eclectic little list. And since I'm curious about other people's little lists, here's mine:

In Atlanta: NKOTB, U2-Zoo TV tour, The Pixies

In Missouri: Tori Amos, Radiohead (who were an opening band then for...) REM, Sunnyday Real Estate (twice), The Gin Blossoms, The Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Sun Sawed In Half, No Knife, The Urge, Cursive and The Appleseed Cast

In NYC: Ben Folds, Jude, The Samples, Seeking Homer, Joe F'in Cocker, and the guy who sings "Walking In Memphis," Mark Cohn, I think his name is. All of these shows blew the house down.

In Tennessee: I saw the Foo Fighters play an acoustic set in a tiny little record store. It was amazing!

So, there you have it! I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but it's time to go to work!

-listening to This Is The Last Time by Keane

The Secret Life

I was reading a book of poems this morning and I really liked this one, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's by Stephen Dunn.


The Secret Life

Why you need to have one
is not much more mysterious than
why you don't say what you think
at the birth of an ugly baby.
Or, you've just made love
and feel you'd rather have been
in a dark booth where your partner
was nodding, whispering yes, yes
you're brilliant. The secret life
begins early, is kept alive
by all that's unpopular
in you, all that you know
a Baptist, say, or some other
accountant would object to.
It becomes what you'd most protect
if the government said you can protect
one thing, all else is ours.
When you write late at night
it's like a small fire
in a clearing, it's what
radiates and what can hurt
if you get too close to it.
It's why your silence is a kind of truth.
Even when you speak to your best friend,
the one who'll never betray you,
you always leave out one thing;
a secret life is that important.

poker night

I've just finished round 2 of some Texas Hold 'Em with Jason and Cory. Yeaaaah... I lost...but I sure went out in style, let me tell you. Well, actually I'm not going to tell you because it would take too long, but trust me...we're talking serious style.

Jason just got it this morning from Springfield. He's only here for the weekend, so we have another "Cram-in-everything-cool-about-Chicago-in-2-days" weekend ahead of us. It makes me exhausted just to think about it. But it will be fun!

I'm watching the women divers right now compete on TV while the gentlemen finish their game. These gals are so in shape!! It just, chukehhlkkfgrrrrr...

I'm hearing some cheers from the other room, I think Cory will be coming out the Poker Champ of the evening. Finally! We haven't had dinner yet and it's after 9, which is way after dinner time unless you are in Peru...which we are not. But we are going in February!! Did I mention this!? For my Grandfather's 80th birthday. Me, Cory, my dad, step-mom, 3 brothers and 2 sisters. Plus my Uncle and all his Kids, and my Aunt and all her kids. And all my other family that lives there. It will be quite a party! I can't wait.

Buffulo wings are calling...

-listening to End of the World by The Cure

Two odd things happened to me today. Enjoy. I sure did.

Odd Thing # 1
Time: 9:45 am
Location: The Jewel Osco on Clark Street, near my apartment

I'm pushing my cart down an empty aisle when I suddenly become aware of the music playing overhead...Could it be?...Nooooooo, surely not...waaaaait...Wait!...It is!!! It's the New Kids On The Block! Now, whyyyyyyyyyyyyy would any grocery store have New Kids playing in their store? And not Muzak, dear friends, which would have been beyond disgusting, but the actual song with Jordan Knight actually singing.

And what's worse, I'm ashamed to say, is that I knew all the words! I hadn't heard that song in years, and I mean many many years...and yet, there I was, softly singing I'll Be Loving You Forever. Disgusting.

Odd Thing # 2
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: The Red Line Lake Stop

I'm waiting, along with a million other people, for the train when some soft guitar music starts floating my way. I look around and see a man who is...Asian? No. Hispanic? Nnnn-no. I conclude that he's Asian-Hispanic, which is not a combo I come across very often, if ever.

Well, he's got a guitar alright, but he's also got a violin...and they are connected! So he's got a violin under his chin, and the end of it has been somehow strapped on to the end of his guitar which he is also holding. He's playing a slow Hispanic song and using the violin bow on the guitar strings...then on the violin...then back to the guitar. THEN, when I thought I couldn't be impressed anymore, he starts tap dancing. So he's got 2 instruments going along with a dance and it's actually good. Finally, to top it off, he adds an amazing whistled out song to the mix. I had to give him some money, it was just too bizarre.

-listening to Sample In A Jar by Phish

And she's off! Well, kind of...

My flight just got cancelled. Faaancy! American Airlines was nice enough to call though and let me know. They claimed mechanical problems were to blame and I am now on a late afternoon flight versus my preferred early afternoon flight. More time with the pugs, I guess, right?

Last night we had a big grill out with the whole family here plus some, bringing the grand total to 12 people, 7 of those being my immediate family! We had quite a feast, let me tell you, so much so that I didn't even have room for cheesecake. I know! Who doesn't have room for cheesecake? Well...me obviously.

Right now, I'm taking full advantage of the washer and dryer before I leave which eliminates one whole trip to the ghetto mat. I actually own a new washer and dryer but we couldn't bring them to Chicago since they are not apartment friendly, which is very sad indeed.

Time to go finish packing...well, maybe after a quick game of solitaire on the computer. It's so addicting!!! I can't help myself!!!!!!

-listening to All at Sea by Jamie Cullum

Manicure Madness

I made the grave mistake of getting a manicure the other day, thinking it would be a relaxing and enjoyable experience. The guy doing my nails was Vietnamese, and no offense to any one from Vietnam, but I wanted to punch this guy in the face after everything he put me through! I'll jump right to it.

After he filed my nails, he began to trim my cuticles. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, he cut three of my fingers, as in three of my fingers were bleeeeeeeding, and one quite profusely. He acted like it was no big deal that blood was getting on everything. At one point he grabbed a paper towel and pressed it down on the most damaged finger and when he lifted it up there was blood all over it! Then he told me to go wash my hands. Thanks.

So I go wash them and as I'm coming back to sit down, that one finger has pooled up again with blood at the base of my nail. I sit down and he starts painting my nails with clear polish. I keep thinking, what's he going to do when he gets to my bloody finger? (The other 2 bloody fingers were just mildly bloody.) Well, he just paints right over it so now I have this nice orange tint to that finger because blood is trapped underneath. Pleasant, isn't it?

But the worst part about it, besides my pain and suffering, sniff sniff, was to think how absolutely unsanitary that was!! He took that nail polish brush, put it on my bloody finger and then put that brush back into the bottle. What if I had AIDS or hepatitis? You don't let your nails tools or brushes come into contact with people's blood!!! What about the next person he uses that polish on??? I guess they'll have a little extra protein added, compliments of my blood, at no extra charge!

Then, as this is going on, I look up and notice a handwritten "Sanitation Guidelines" poster. The first rule stated all employees and customers MUST wash hands before service begins. Hmmm, that's funny. My Vietnam man sure didn't wash his hands before sitting down. In fact, he filed my nails, stuck my hands in some hot water to soak and then went and worked on someone else's nails before coming back to bloody up mine! No handwashing occurred. What if he bloodied up the other girl? And I wasn't told to wash my hands before he started.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr. After it was all said and done, I showed my step-mom and she couldn't believe it! So she called the owner over, which was the lady who did her nails, and she and my guy got into it in Vietnamese- which wasn't awkward in the least, no. Then he looks at my step mom and says with a 1/2 smile, "She had hangnail. Must cut. If it bleed, we don't care." And those were his words exactly.

And just to clear the air, I didn't have any hangnails. None. So whatever, If it bleed we don't care-man. He better pray he doesn't cross my path in a dark alley one night, because he'll be getting a cuticle trimming to end all cuticle trimmings.

So ladies, be careful when you get your nails done. And if you're ever in Knoxville, TN, DON'T go to Nail Art.

I'm going to play with the pugs.

-listening to Riders On The Storm by The Doors

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring...

It's a rainy morning here in the smoky mountains...well, okay, I'm not actually in the smoky mountains, but I can see them from my window, so it's kind of like I'm there...oh, just humor me!

Tennessee has been grand so far. Kobe and Miko, the pugs, are as cute and fat as ever.(Fat being the operative word in Kobe's case.) And today was the kids first day of school. Seems a little early, doesn't it? August 12? I remember starting school at the end of August or even the beginning of September! Times are changing, I guess. Pretty soon we'll end up adapting to the Japanese school structure and go year round! Now there's a thought to make you want to spit out your morning coffee. (Lucky for me I don't drink coffee.)

I'm here until Tuesday and right now I am about to go for a jog, okay a fast walk, with Jay Anne (my step-mom for those of you who don't know), before it starts downpouring. And I'll be sporting my new sneakers, thank you very much. Nothing like getting a new pair of shoes!!!! And on sale!!!! Ladies, can I get an Amen?

- listening to Ramble On by Led Zeplin

I'm off to Tennessee!

I'm heading home to see the fam this morning, pugs included, and I am one tired girl.

Last night Cory and I went to see the band Mutual Admiration Society....amazing, just amazing. It was Nickle Creek with the lead singer from Toad the Wet Sprocket with the bass player from Led Zeplin and someone else on the drums who was famous and old but we didn't recognize the name (Pete Thomas.) Together they just took my breath away! It was such a fun show, like a bluegrass, variety show-hoe down!

It is my favorite concert to date (with the exception of Muse, but that's a whole different category.)

Our friends Jen and Eli came in last night, and with my mom still here we had a full house! I wish I could stay and hang out, but alas, Tennessee is a'callin'!

I did have time to give a little impromptu baby accordian show for my guests last night at around midnight. It went over quite well- except maybe for my mom who was asleep in the next room. (Sorry, mom.)

-listening to...nothing! It's 7:29 in the morning and people are sleeping folks!

The pictures are in!!!

I finally found some time to post all the pictures I've taken over the past few weeks. You can use this link to take you to my yahoo photo website to see them all: http://photos.yahoo.com/corywilk

Here are the new albums I've added: Cruise, Boat Tour, Millennium Park, Zoo Party, and I added some pics in the Chicago album. All I have left is to add pictures from Erica's wedding.

I picked 4 of my favorite pics to post here: The Bean at Millennium Park; Me, Lindsey and the bride Erica at her wedding reception; the 5-week-old tiger at the zoo party; and lastly a view from the Architectural Boat tour.

Enjoy!

P.S. The listerine-chigger bite relief remedy worked about as well as trying to start a fire in the rain. So after several friends suggested I should just give in to the clear fingernail polish trick, I decided togo ahead and give it a whirl. So far so good, but its only been 24 hours so, I'm still leary...

P.P.S. I'm off to see The Manchurian Candidate with my mom and Cory. It better be good...

Six Degrees of Separation

It's 8:06...I'm watching the news and trying to figure out my plan for today. My mom arrived yesterday from Kansas City for a little visit- actually a big visit; she'll be here through Tuesday and today I am going to take her into the city for her very first glimpse of Michigan Avenue!

But first, I have to tell you about the gift she brought me, it has quite a story with it and a little bit of mystery! She gave me this beautiful gold plated cuff bracelet that has been in the family for awhile, but which originally came from Edward Trelawny who was an English author and adventurer who was close friends with Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley. And of course most of you know that Mary Shelley is the one who wrote Frankenstein.

Well, Trelawny gave this bracelet to Mary who then passed it on to we think a daughter-in-law, who then gave it to a woman named Pamela Redmayne who was good friends with my great grandparents on my mother's side. Pamela gave it to my great grandfather in England to give to his wife- who then passed it on to her daughter (which is my grandmother) who then gave it to my mother, who just gave it to me!

It's beautiful. I feel like I step back to the 1820's every time I put it on. The mystery is that we don't know why Trelawny gave Mary the bracelet. I've been researching quite a bit only to find out that they were close friends who wrote letters to each other a lot and that he gave her a half serious marriage proposal at some point which she refused, but that's all the info I've gathered. So I'm on a mission. It would be great to actually verify that this is where the bracelet truly originated.

In the meantime, it's a fabulous story, isn't it? To think that the bracelet on my wrist once graced the wrist of Mary Shelley....It's quite a thrill.

-listening to Night and Day by Frank Sinatra

Tortured in Chi-Town

I am DYING over here, folks!

And its all from the Petting Zoo Birthday Party which not only left me with the vivid memory of almost getting trampled by a camel, but it also left me with quite a few chigger bites...terrible, horrible, wake you up in the middle of the night itching so bad you want to shoot yourself-chigger bites.

I'm about to go try the newest homespun remedy: applying listerine to the bites. I'm desperate here and I'm willing to try anything. And to anyone else who might have been attacked at the b-day party (chigger not camel), my sympathies are with you.

-listening to Comes A Time by Mutual Admiration Society (which I will be seeing in concert next Monday!)

Top 10

I've compiled a Top Ten List of my past week's adventures. Read what you want to, skip what you want. But remember... Jesus doesn't like a skipper.

Drumroll please!

10. Boat Tour, anyone?--Two weekends ago we had friends visit: 2 from Boston, 1 from St. Louis and 2 from Springfield, MO. We had quite a packed and exciting few days! Sunday morning, we met up with the Springfield Folks (Brian & Katy) and ventured out on the Architecture Boat Tour. None of us had experienced it yet and I must say it was very enjoyable. My favorite part-- getting mooned by a kid as we floated by his lakeside home.

9. Manchester vs. Munich--Yes, I, cotton candy loving Katy made it to a packed out Soldier Field to watch the highly anticipated soccer match of Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich. Here's a quick highlight of the unbelievable event: 60,000 fans, an amazing game, a gorgeous German goalie, and $6 cotton candy that was worth every penny!

8. Tapas!-- After the game, Brian, Katy, Cory and I headed up to Evanston to Tapas Barcelona! This little place, my friends, has the best sangria in town! I give this joint 5 stars! Mmmmmm!

7. All aboard with Joan Cusack--Cory's work threw a big party on a cruise boat right off Navy Pier. I had cab issues and almost didn't make it aboard on time but luckily I did because on board was none other than the super talented Joan Cusack herself! She's married to one of the CEO'S or something like that, hence: she came along! I didn't talk to her or anything. I would have felt like a big dork, I'm sure. But it sure was nice to be in the same room, or rather, on the same deck, as someone as talented as her. It was quite a treat! And the cruise wasn't too shabby either.

6. Saved!-- I went and saw the movie Saved with my friend, Kate. It was really good! I thought it would be so-so to possibly good, but I really liked it. I definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it yet and are in the mood for a good flick.

5. Millennium Park! Fancy!-- Finally....I made it out to millennium Park. I had been wanting to go since it officially opened but had been too busy. If you've been, skip down to #4. (This will be an allowed skip.) For those of you who don't live in Chicago...you need to come up and check it out! My favorite things there are the two 80 Ft. + tall (screens) that display closeups of peoples' faces. Water poors down them and every 14 minutes or something the people purse their lips and water shoots out and it looks like they are spitting. It's quite amusing, to say the least.

4. Wedding Bells-- On Thursday, Cory and I hit the road at 12:30 and drove on down to Missouri for what turned out to be a very busy weekend. I was a bridesmaid at my close friend, Erica's, wedding. Everything went splendidly except for this one groomsmen (whom I didn't know)...Ben. He missed the entire rehearsal and then showed up at the rehearsal dinner as we were all eating dessert. That's like those weird people in college who would show up for the last 10 minutes of class. WHY?????????

Then on the day of the wedding, Ben, another groomsmen AND the groom himself were MIA. Pictures were to start at 2pm and by 3pm there was still no word from any of them. Erica was not too thrilled. Well, the groom and the other groomsmen finally show up. Where had they been, you ask? Looking for Ben. Yeah. Turns out Ben had overslept somewhere and no one could find him. What a guy, I tell ya. He deserves the following awards: Loser of the Year, Worst groomsmen of the Decade. and my personal favorite, Idiot of Planet.

3. Petting Zoo Birthday Party-- This, my dear friends, was quite an unbelievable party. The guest of honor was Elvis, who was turning 3. And his folks came up with the wild plan of having the Exotic Animal Paradise (SPFD, MO) bring over all their baby animals and put them in the backyard for everyone to pet. It was crazy to say the least! They brought two teeny goats, a baby baboon complete with diaper, a baby llama, a pony, a baby donkey, a baby camel- who incidentally went a little nutso and had to be put back in the truck,- and my favorite...a 5-week-old baby tiger!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you hear me??A baby tiger, folks! Oh, he was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I think I need one now. My landlord said no dogs, but he never said anything about baby tigers...

2. Hysteria-- We have no a/c in our car which makes for very long and uncomfortable road trips. We were maybe 4 hours into our trip back home last night; I was driving and about ready to shoot myself in the head when the radio angel saved the day! I had just flipped to a new radio station when I heard the DJ announce they were getting ready to not only play some Def Leppard, but the whole entire Hysteria album! Someone pinch me! I instinctively did the Arsenio Hall arm in the air move with an excited "YEAH!!" to which Cory gave me the, You are from another planet, aren't you?- look. Hysteria just happens to be one of my all time favorite songs. I'll admit, I've even called in and requested it before. I'm not ashamed. Needless to say, my drive became a whole lot better.

1. Last week at the nursery-- Wednesday is my last day for the summer session. And let me tell you, I am SO READY for a break!

And that's it folks! I have pictures of all these events and should have them posted on my yahoo photo page in the next day or two.

Good night from my air conditioned bedroom.

-listening to The Audience is Listening by Steve Vai

I'm Back! (Well, unofficially)

Again, my apologies for not posting on le blog. I had practically zero computer access for the past week and a 1/2 and literally was just not able to even get online.

But fear not! I will return tomorrow morning with a full update on all the crazy adventures I've been having.

I just got in from a long 7 1/2 hour drive and am going to beddy-by. So, until tomorrow...

-listening to fox news on tv