Hey, mice on a girl

I was disappointed when I confirmed that this entry's title is not, in fact, the chorus of Beck's song "Girl."

Monday evening I was walking through Owen Conservation Park and came to a fork in the path. I wanted to take the higher path through the woods, but I had only gone a few yards when a loud gobbling sound stopped me in my tracks. I looked ahead and saw four gigantic turkeys blocking my way. I hesitated. I really wanted to take that path. But the turkeys looked pretty comfortable, and they must have been at least three and a half feet tall. If you took their beaks into account, I figured there was a decent chance that the four of them could actually take me. I conceded the path. You've won this round, turkeys.

My home inspection was tonight. The downstairs bathroom and master bedroom doors don't quite latch - the placement of the holes needs to be lowered slightly in the frames - but that was the only thing wrong with anything inside or outside. The inspector was actually excited about the basement. That makes two of us.

Finally, does anyone know of any good uses for fresh mint? I made some tzatziki the other day, but I still have a bunch of mint leftover.

What a difference a week can make

Remember that condo I had a crush on? It had only been on the market for a week or so, and I noticed that an open house was scheduled for Sunday. I thought, if I really want this place, I should probably make an offer. So that's what I did on Thursday. On Thursday I also found out that someone else had already put in an offer, but they were in the "countering stages" so I could still compete. We wrote up an offer, faxed it over, and waited. By Thursday night, I was 95% convinced they'd gone with the other buyer. But I was still 5% hopeful, and that 5% was really annoying the crap out of me.

When I got to work on Friday, I noticed I had a message on my work phone and a message on my cell phone, both about ten minutes old. They were from my realtor, who had an update. I quietly freaked out, and then called her back, ready to finally have a damn answer.

They accepted my offer. Holy crap, at the end of May I'll officially be a homeowner. Or, you know, I'll own some small percentage of a home and a bank will own the rest, but whatever. I get to live there and decorate it and do what I want! I hung up the phone and jumped up and down for awhile, in a very dignified manner, and knocked over half a bottle of water onto my keyboard, also in a very dignified manner. All this happened before 9:00 a.m., so, needless to say, I was a little distracted for the rest of the day.

On tap early this week - deciding on a lender, deciding exactly how much of my savings I want to kiss goodbye (for awhile) as a down payment, and the home inspection. I'm still a bit overwhelmed, but I'm happy. It will be such a different experience to go back for the inspection, and know that it's actually going to be mine in a couple of months.

The hunt continues

I have now viewed twelve properties in person, and countless more on the internet. After an intense dilemma over whether I want to buy a condo or a house, I think I'm pretty much decided on a condo. It mostly comes down to the fact that condos take much less time and effort to maintain - and I can get a nice condo in a nice area for the price I want to pay. Houses ... I can get a decent house, but not in the areas I'm really interested in. Five years from now, who knows? But for now, I think a condo is what I want. I saw quite a few of them today, actually, and liked them all. I kind of have a crush on one particular place, but we'll see.

(Cartoon from http://toothpastefordinner.com)

Sláinte

I don't have any good St. Patrick's Day stories. This one time, it was St. Patrick's Day, and I got a shamrock shake. This other time, in high school, it was St. Patrick's Day, and a week later it came up in conversation with my friend Michelle and she was like, "Ohhh, so that's why the grocery store had all of those green cookies." This other time, it was St. Patrick's Day, and I was living in the dorms and working for hours and hours on a horrible chemistry lab, and then I finally took time out to go to the cafeteria and reward myself with a corned beef and cabbage dinner, and they were sold out. This other time, it was St. Patrick's Day, and I was working my third of four twelve-hour shifts at a hospital in Evanston, and I went down to the cafeteria there and they weren't sold out of corned beef and cabbage, and I had some. This other time, it was St. Patrick's Day last year, and Anya and I slow cooked some corned beef and cabbage and had friends over for dinner, and we also had a little themed cake, and during dessert Anya started alternating bites of cake with bites of leftover corned beef and totally grossed me out, although she didn't see anything odd about it.

They're all kind of like that.

All possibilities

One of my favorite things about a Jon Brion show is the fact that I never know what I'm going to get. I've yet to find one anything less than captivating, but the details of any given evening are impossible to predict. This weekend I had two opportunities to watch Jon's show unfold ... plus all the extra laughter and fun we could squeeze in between.

Friday night was Jon Brion at Steppenwolf. Sooz and I sat in the center of the second row, which was, um, pretty okay. The show was perhaps a bit more formal than those to which I am accustomed from Jon - but then again, I'm used to sitting at a dim table in a tiny club in West Hollywood for these performances, so the theater atmosphere was bound to be a little different. It was an excellent set, and it's evident that Jon has a genuine fondness for Chicago. I'm incredibly grateful for that fondness, and his continued involvement with the Intonation Festival, because how many other cities outside of L.A. have seen three Jon Brion performances in the past nine months? At Steppenwolf there were some minor equipment issues, chiefly with the guitar amp, but as is almost always the case (for me) it only made things more entertaining. We were treated to some staples, like my beloved "Knock Yourself Out," and Jon responded to many audience requests as usual - including "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and "Waterloo Sunset." It felt like a mini Intonation Fest reprise. Of course, last June Jon didn't combine Dylan with Nirvana - his weaving of "Lithium" into "Don't Think Twice" was a major highlight of the night for me. The Prince medley was certainly up there as well - and so was Jon's reaction to Sooz's audible gasp when he requested audience volunteers for keyboard duty. We had many friends in the crowd on Friday, some seeing Jon for the first time. I think Steppenwolf was probably a very good introduction.

After late-night merriment, a lovely walk to brunch, and a few hours of quality dining room table time, Uyen and Heidi and Paul and I headed out Saturday evening to meet Kris for the Badly Drawn Boy show at Metro. The show was sold out, much to our surprise - but due to a combination of luck and more luck we were able to come up with exactly five tickets to the show. I am not terribly familiar with Badly Drawn Boy, but I was impressed with what I saw. Gwen had cautioned us that Damon's shows could be a mixed bag, but he seemed to be in an excellent mood on Saturday - full of appreciation for the crowd, interesting tidbits about the songs, and amusing asides. All that, and the closer: a rousing singalong version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." I am officially inspired to check out a full Badly Drawn Boy album. Saturday night wound up at the Raw Bar with a late dinner, Bossa Nova band, and complimentary vodka shots. We started Sunday with even more booze and fun, meeting up with Laura and Kristina for a wonderfully delicious brunch (including raspberry mimosas) at Sweets and Savories, largely thanks to Sooz's Paul, who is awesome. The fuel would come in handy for that night's main event: Jon Brion at the freakin' Hideout.

I can only imagine this is even more true for the longtime Chicago residents, but I find it hard to express how utterly perfect it was to see Jon play in that room, surrounded by so many of my friends. (Well, I meant I was surrounded by so many of my friends, but I guess Jon was too.) The booths, stools, and scattering of tables up front made the cozy atmosphere even better, giving us space to mingle and chat while still maintaining some breathing room (and no fear of losing our spots). But to see Jon there, playing along with Thax, introduced by Tim, on a stage where I have actually performed (I'd rather not discuss it further) ... crazy. Jon made himself right at home, and gave a near three-hour performance that was everything I could have hoped for. It was the informal, intimate compliment to Friday's show, complete with audience participation, singalongs, guitar shredding, vocoder action, and the entire second half of Brian Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets. Jon played one of the most blistering versions of "I Believe She's Lying" that I've had the pleasure of witnessing, slayed Gwen with some Roxy Music, gave us all the chance to holler along with the Bee Gees, and ended with a fantastic ukulele rendition of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town" ... and a promise to come back soon. I can only hope.

How many amazingly great weekends can a girl have in Chicago within the space of a few weeks? At least two, and I'm willing to continue research on the subject.

(Check out a few more photos here)

Midweek bulletin

There is nothing exciting going on right now, but there will be this weekend. It'll be Chock Full o' Brion Weekend in Chicago, and it will be awesome. Slumber party!

I actually viewed a property on Tuesday with my realtor. My quest to buy a home has moved from the giddy "wee, I'm going to buy a home!" stage to the semi-terrified, "oh my God, I'm going to buy a home" stage. Basically, any time between now(ish) and, say, early June would be the ideal time for me to make the purchase. Actually, late May or early June would be absolutely perfect, but I can't exactly wait around until then and just expect to find the right place within that small window. So suddenly every new listing I get is truly a potential candidate, and it's freaking me out. I liked the place I saw Tuesday, but I can't just snap up the first place I see. But what if that really is the right place, and I just happened to see it first? Well, that's enough from my brain for now. But holy crap, I'll be so relieved when I have made a purchase.

Finally, the composed Thai and Vietnamese salads served in our cafeteria have on the side the tastiest dressing in the history of ever. It causes everything it touches to become instantly delicious, and I must find out what is in it, so that I may recreate it and eat it always. I think I can taste cilantro, vinegar, and perhaps ginger, but beyond that I'm clueless.

Sentimental Lady

Maudie and some yucky wet snow arrived in town late Thursday afternoon. We had a chance to walk around downtown a bit and see the capitol and State Street (I kept telling her how beautiful everything is when it's not early March) and then we met up with Amy and Kevin for dinner at Cafe Montmartre. We live in the same city; I can't believe we don't see each other more than we do. I guess that makes it more of an "event" when it does happen. John and Pat had their stuff strewn all around the Sidecar, and were setting up merch. We decided we didn't need Autumn Defense tote bags. While we were finishing dinner, the AD did their soundcheck. It was full of covers (and "Written in the Snow") - I remember Pat singing a portion of "In My Life," for example.

A little later, Nicky found us and told us that a table had opened up in the main room right next to theirs. We happily migrated, and had great seats with a fine view of the little stage for most of the night. There were two openers that night, which I hadn't expected - foolishly assuming that "Ferraby Lionheart and the Singleman Affair" was one whimsical band. As it turned out, not so much. The Singleman Affair started things off around 9:45. They were pretty good, although the films projected on the background screen during their set were kind of distracting. Especially the films that actually included the band members. Ferraby Lionheart came next. (Side note - I really hope that's his actual name.) He wasn't bad, though his songs seemed a bit generic. Unfortunately, in true Momo fashion, by that point I think there were about ten people in the room paying attention to him at all.

The Autumn Defense had their full band assembled, and were loud enough to drown out most talking and bottle clinking. I have yet to actually listen to their new record, but I recognized some of the songs from seeing them played live in the past year or so. The band definitely added a lot, I thought. We also heard some "oldies" like "Tuesday Morning," "The World Will Soon Turn Our Way," "Bluebirds Fall" from their split EP with Hem, and of course "Written in the Snow." I still want them to play "Wellspring" again someday, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen. They ended with a quality Fleetwood Mac cover, "Sentimental Lady."

I've been somewhat negative about the ambiance at Cafe Montmartre in the past, but on Thursday I thought everything worked out well. There were a decent number of people there (at least before 12:00 or so), but it wasn't super crowded - there was room to breathe, and plenty of open sightlines. And due to the aforementioned band, any talking was more or less drowned out. Hey, one for three so far. It's not bad for a batting average.