April 2010 Archives

Touch and Go

I'm not going to be posting that much in the coming weeks, as we are preparing for the great Move-Mom-Into-Her-New-Apartment-And-Sell-The-House plan of 2010. I'll try to post about how things are going as they go. So far, things are going well, but they are super duper stressful. All in all, I am feeling good about the move and the choices we are making. Hopefully this change of scenery will be the beginning of Mom getting well and taking control of her life.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! We're going to need a lot of mental and physical stamina.

Thank you!
E

Another great photo!

Look at Team Gerdes!

Runners!.jpg

From Sterno74's Flickr

Thanks to Gena for finding this pic!

We did it!

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The 5K yesterday was awesome! I had a great time running and felt like a rockstar afterwards.

I neglected to say before that I was running under the name "Shannon Rose." Shannon said "let's run this 5K!" and signed up for it and immediately said "Oh no! I am going to be out of town!" So for the day I was Shannon.

Here are my results:
Place: 2640 out of 2929
Place in Division (F, Age 30-34): 371 out of 421
Place in Sex: 1360 out of 1587
Time: 38:48
Pace: 12:30

Yeah! I am proud of that!
Fuzzy ran with me the whole way, too, which I really appreciated.

Here are some fun photos:

Ravenswood Run 5k
Look who's sleepy!

Ravenswood Run 5k
We ran into Becky and Dori beforehand, and when we had this pic taken, Becky said "Look tough!"

Running Dork.JPG

Wha?

When I am doing a marathon choreography session, sometimes I get really sleepy, and things like this happen:

"Cross walk w/arms camel crane Step R cross left W/arms like flapping or on a horse x4"

Yeah.

I know what I mean by this tonight, but who knows if I will remember tomorrow?

Another Badass Video

I am creating such an arsenal of badass dance videos for inspiration here, and this one is no exception. Brilliant. Perfect. Creepy. Wonderful. It gives me chills and I can't stop watching it.

The XX, "Islands"

I want to make music videos.

Get Your Rear in Gear

This year, Fuzzy and I will be participating in the Colon Cancer Coalition's Annual Get Your Rear in Gear 5K walk and run. Want to join us? We would love to form a team. Leave me a comment or shoot me an email if you do. It is Sunday, May 23rd in Oak Park at 9am. We will be running in memory of David Reid.

If you would like to make a donation towards my run and this great organization, you can do so here.

Thank you!

Updates and Stuff

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Hi Friends....
What a couple of weeks it has been. How are you all doing? Things have been kinda rough here, but they are looking up. First of all, the NY Trip and my work event was a huge success. It was really nice meeting all the Board members I email and talk to all the time and put faces to voices. There were lots of hugs. It especially tickled me knowing what a shocker it must have been to them that I do not have long brown hair (which is what one person told me she thought I had) but instead super super short blond hair and giant tattoos. HA! Take THAT! I am who I am. The event went really well, but it was all kinds of hard work, but I got to spend the next day in Brookyn with my homey Erica, which was awesome. I watched her teach theatre to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, then we picked up Ariel and ate at an adorable place called Pies and Thighs. Ahhh, I miss my beloved South. The rest of the night we just laid around a watched tv--it was the perfect way to decompress (and recover from a wicked hangover.)

A couple days later was the big ole birthday. It was a hard one, I have to admit, and it kind of blind sided me. I've been suffering a lot from low self esteem lately, and I felt really dumb getting any kind of attention on my birthday, but yet I wanted it to be special. Yeah, I don't know either. What it resulted in was lots of tears for 2 days. Poor Fuzzy! He was so sweet and did so much for me, but I was just a blubbery mess. I don't know--I've just been really angry lately--angry at how things have been going, angry at not knowing what I want to do or who I am, angry that I've had practially had the same conversation with Mom every time I talk to her for 2 years, angry at McDonalds for making such crap food that makes people feel like shit, angry that Dad is dead, just ANGRY. And on top of that, feeling like no one should want to talk to me or be my friend. We've been a lot more social these days, which is a HUGE step, cause usually I don't want to leave the house, but these days when I go and have a fun time, I come home feeling really dumb and like I made an ass of myself, even when I know that I didn't. I finally put it in words the other day, "I am suffering from low self esteem right now" and Fuzzy was like "yeah, this is nothing new." It was a shock to hear, but also a wake up call--all my anxiety that I've been suffering from is a part of it, too. The fear that I have about going to parties is directly related to me feeling insecure about what I would say to anyone and how I would handle myself in a social situation. Thank goodness I am still going to therapy and I can work through it. Now I know what I need to work on, you know? Anyway, I was blown away by the sweetness of all my friends--I had the office surprise, lots of sweet emails and cards, I had flowers delivered to my office--all AMAZING things! Thanks everyone! The night of my bday, Fuzzy, me, Hanson, Kate and Dan and I went to the Brauhaus and drank a 2 liter glass boot of beer:

beer boot.jpg
(pay no attention to that giant honking right arm)

This week has been better--we've had lots of fun and I've been exercising really hard and am working on a few choreography projects that are fun. This upcoming weekend I plan to cook a lot, clean the shit out of my house, and run a 5K on Sunday morning.

In WONDERFUL HAPPY AND EXCITING NEWS, MOM GOT THE APARTMENT! What a relief! Our prayers have been answered! Christopher and I are going down in a few weeks for the move, to put stuff in storage, divvy up Dad's albums, sell some stuff, and get the house on the market. I also plan on bringing a lot of stuff to Chicago (uh oh, where am I going to put it?) and bring up some more photos for scanning--there are just so many! But those family photos are so precious to me now. This will make life better for all of us--Mom will have the care she needs and a smaller place so she won't have to worry about keeping this giant house clean and lawn maintenance or anything. Once the house sells, too, it will be a giant relief financially. It is a cute house, too--any of you Vicksburgers looking to buy? The big challenge is going to be finding homes for those 4 cats and 2 dogs, too. Again, if you are a reader and live in the South, please consider helping us out by taking one in. They are all super sweet little guys that need a good home.

More updates to follow on selling things and that process, so stay tuned.

Speaking of tattoos, I still want some. I have 2 in mind that I want to get, but now I am obsessing about something really colorful and girly on my left forearm so I can always see it. Its been so cold again lately, that my poor birds are all covered up. We were at a restaurant last night where all the servers had awesome arm tattoos and I was all like 'I have cool tattoos too!' and wanted to have something that would be visable even in the winter. Funny that shrimpy shy little me would want big colorful tattoos, but I do, and I feel like it a beautiful outward expression of the inside me.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for reading.

For your health.

Bitch Fest!!!

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Here are some things that I find to be annoying.

1) Cold Weather. Seriously, it is almost May, can we please get out of the 40s?

2) Bad Espresso Drinks. If you own a coffee shop, TRY YOUR FREAKING COFFEE! Nothing bugs me more than trying to support a neighborhood coffee shop, only to have a mouthful of freaking nasty espresso and soy. DRINK YOUR OWN COFFEE, COFFEESHOP OWNER! HOW DO YOU THINK IT TASTES?! Bad espresso only makes me want to drink only starbucks cause I know I'll get a good latte, as much as I don't want to. Take this for example: Fuzzy and I have been drinking tons of Cafe Bustello at home (ie: GOOD espresso) so we decided to get some decaf espresso for nighttime coffee cravings. He picked up some Lavazza or something. IT WAS BAD ESPRESSO. Therefore, we stopped drinking it and got some decaf Cafe Bustello (ie: GOOD espresso). Also, if you have GOOD ESPRESSO (namely from my favorite coffee shop that I won't post the name of here cause I don't want to criticize anything they do), get GOOD SOY cause nothing ruins GOOD ESPRESSO more than BAD SOY. I'm not saying this morning's latte was bad, it just wasn't that great.

3) Those damn cameras that take photos of your car's licence tags when you take a turn on a yellow to red light. Let's just say, I hope that they were triggered the other day by a phantom car that was taking a last minute left instead of a PERFECTLY REASONABLE right turn on yellow before red. Remember when we all used to just be able to drive all the time without being photographed and fined for it?!

4) Technology. I know it is great and all and my iPhone made my life way easier, but I kind of just wish that we could all stop staring at tiny lit up screens for at least 5 minutes at a time. Let's all bury them in the yard for a day or something. Sometimes it is just TOO MUCH.

5) My Damn Sympathetic Nerves. Some of you might remember that a little over 8 years ago, I had major surgery that cured my Hyperhidrosis. Well, thems hands be sweating again, during any exercise. It is so WEIRD! These dogs have been bone dry forever, and now it is like sweatapalooza. I guess my severed nerves are growing back? Oh my God, y'all, while typing this, I am starting to feel that pre-sweat pressure I used to get before they start sweating. Hmmm. Maybe I should call my surgeon? Is this normal? Am I am MUTANT? I think I must be. I mean, if it all comes back, it was totally worth it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat it changed my life that much. But MAN! That wasn't part of the plan!

6) Zipper Pulls. I have this problem in that I keep breaking my zipper pulls that I put on my jacket. You know why? CAUSE I FREAKING USE THEM TO ZIP MY JACKET! Guh! If your whole product is going to be about tugging and wear and tear, why don't you REINFORCE your attachment ring?!

That was fun. It feels good to vent.

I'm in an Ad!

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Look for me in the upcoming issue of Urban Velo magazine, sporting my favorite line of bags, PoCampo

UrbanVeloAd.jpg

Adding to the awesomeness, Fuzzy took the photo! Go Team Gerdes! Go PoCampo!

Daunting

Whoa, would you want to audition in front of this table?

The Apes Auditioners Get Their Judge On

A bunch of people did at Impress These Apes auditions last week!

Thanks to Fuzzy for the photos. From left to right are Steve, Paul, Me, Ken and Bryan. We were trying on our "I don't like it" faces.

A Dream Come True

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I've been to a lot of concerts.
My first was at age 7.
My first 4 years in Chicago were a constant battle over buying either food or concert tickets.
Yet, my whole life, I've had one major sadness or concert regret, and that is not having seen Soundgarden before they broke up.

I can still rock out to Soundgarden like nobody's business. My friend Jessica and I listened to Superunknown every other day our senior year in high school while getting lunch from the gas station Taco Bell (alternate days was Poison's Open Up and Say Ah.) The first time I heard Audioslave, I got pissed that someone had stolen Chris Cornell's voice, until I found out that it was him, and then I wanted to see THEM in concert. I crank my 90s alternative station in my car almost daily.

But this week, something magical happened.

Soundgarden is headlining effing Lollapalooza!!!

In Chicago. Where I live.

Soundgarden.

After several grueling days of thinking, I realized today that I would always regret not going. So we did it, we got tickets, and I am so excited, I can barely breathe.

3 days of amazing music. Seriously, take a minute and go to www.lollapalooza.com and take a look. SOUNDGARDEN!

The only downside is that my darling husband, who is 9 years older than me, was not a teenager when Soundgarden was big, and is therefore, not a fan. And homeboy has 3 1/2 months of me making constant references to songs and lots of singing. Poor guy.

Soundgarden!

Bizzare

This is by far the weirdest candy I have ever eaten in my life.

Sour Patch Chillerz

I'm not sure I like them, yet I can't stop eating them.

Minty sour? I didn't know we needed this flavor combination. I am still not sure we do.

Some Facts About Me

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Facts about Me

10 Years Ago

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I got this birthday letter 10 years ago from my Dad. It will make you cry. It makes me cry every time I read it. I am blessed to have found it recently. 10 years ago, I was just about to make the move to Chicago. My Dad always told me it was the thing he was most proud of me for doing. I still cant believe how sweet this letter is, and it makes me so happy to know his feelings. I miss him so much.

dadletter

Read the Large Size.

31!

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Today is my birthday (and my Memaw Bane's, too!) While Shannon and I were out of the office for the event last week, Rebecca filled in for us. Today, we walked in to this amazing wonderfulness!

Office.jpg

Thanks, Rebecca! What a great surprise!

I'll be away a little while

I am going to NY this week for our big work event on Thursday, so I am not going to be blogging this week. Things are crazy, yo! I am excited to go to the event that I work on every year, though, so that is good. I'll get to meet Board members and colleages that I talk to every day but never met. It will be tough work, but I am looking forward to it.

Next week, I'll be around more, though it will be a busy week, too. Apes auditions, my birthday, etc.

Yeah!

Tricia and Christopher Easter 78

Lookin' Good Afro-Mama and Pimped out little Christopher.

Let's check in on the Fly Daddy.

Fly Daddy and The Finesse

Whoa! Supa-Fly!

Trish and Dave know how to party.

BEES NUTS!

bees nuts.jpg

Thanks to Melissa for the photoshop work.
The bees are Katie and Christopher's.
Spaghett is Spaghett from Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job.

COMEDY!

Happy Birthday Katie!

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Katie!.jpg

Happy birthday, Katie! We are all so blessed to have you in the family, cause we love you so much. Thanks for liking my brother, yo!

Even if you weren't my sister-in-law, I know we would still be best friends.

Happy Day!