first day of school. 12.

Oh hi!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, YA'LL!! (for the Cutest Cutes anyway...pre- and pre-pre school) The BoyCute 4 year old was going to his second year of pre-school and the GirlCute 2 year old was in her first alone-for-a-few-hours class EVER! Woo hoo! There was a little bit of crying, though mostly I think it had to do with the fact that OTHER kids were crying and they all just play copy-cry...but GUYS! TANTALIZE time! It was the first time that I've ever brought kids to their first day of school that weren't in my own family.

Their mother came with, and the BoyCute old was fine, went into the classroom with no problems. The usually incredibly social and talkative GirlCute lost her smile, wouldn't say a word, and was clingy with her mom for a good ten minutes. I suggested that she (Mom) wait in the hall and I'd stay with GirlCute for a few minutes and get her distracted. While she was clingy with me for a few minutes, as soon as I introduced her to the painting set (and her in her white dress, of course), she was distracted and I slipped out the door.
When I went to pick her up, she ran out and gave me the biggest leg hug I've ever gotten from her and chattered about that she'd had a great time and her new friends are very nice and she played some sort of beaver game. I have no idea what that means but I'm assuming it's innocent and apparently she's excited to do it again on Friday. BoyCute had a nice day as well, greeting me with a request for lemonade and was sweating from running around on the playground with a sweater vest on (why he didn't just take it off I have no idea).

We had traditions when I was growing up on the first day of school that involved taking a mug shot (photo) in front of a painting of our house in the front hallway. Every year we'd look back and along with seeing our various fashion faux pas, we also got to see how we'd grown or what year we got a new back pack or whatever. I got to take a photo with the Cutes on their front step (even though they were a little nervous and not smiling as much as usual) and I must say, some days are longer than others, and sometimes I get down on myself thinking "why am I cleaning a playroom with an MFA under my belt", but more often than not it's a pretty sweet job...and I hope I get to take another photo with them next year.

do i need to tickle monster you guys to get'cha to smile??

BoyCute happy. GirlCute nervous.

How did you TANTALIZE today?

walk around skokie. 11.

Oh hi!
Darn, guys! I didn't do ANYTHING new yesterday! How is that possible!? This should be 12. But it's 11. Boo. I was on such a great streak. Oh well. I did do something new today, though. Fear not. Our hero has not lost her way.

Today's TANTALIZE was, in my mind, impossible to believe until I had the very strange experience of realizing that it was the first time I'd ever done it. I took a walk around downtown Skokie as an adult, alone.

I grew up in Skokie, and as a kid went to the 4th of July parade in the "downtown" area, and hung out at the library, and went to the farmer's market, but today while I was waiting for my car to be serviced I decided to take a walk instead of waiting around at an auto repair place for an hour. I was walking around, looking in little shop windows that I'd passed in the car a million times (most of which I've still never been inside of) and then I realized...Wow! I've never walked around down here by myself!

I know, it's bizarre. But hey, once I realized it was a TANTALIZE I doubled the length of the walk, exploring down side streets that I'd never been down and sat in the gazebo at the corner of Lincoln and Oakton.

Photo to follow when I can find the memory stick adapter thing. This is why I can't have nice things.

How did you TANTALIZE today?

second city class recital. 10.

Oh hi!
Wow! Day 10 of TANTALIZE'ing! Sweet.

Today my TANTALIZE was that I went to my first Second City improv class recital.  Went out to support our friend Ollie who is the king of high fives and mixes a mean drink at my favorite bar.

He was great, and it reminded me that while I never really got into improv myself, I always enjoyed doing it when we were "forced" to in school (it's also the most terrifying section in your first few acting classes in college) and it made me want to go take a class or at least find some people to practice with. I'm a little worried that I might not be into the vibe of people that are naturally drawn to improv (no offense guys, but you "drawn to improv" types have to be taught not to steam roll...Ollie was excellent at the "yes, and") but it also might just be a blast. And I've never taken an improv class outside of the safety of a college environment. Maybe that'll have to be a TANTALIZE. It certainly would be scary and risky. Hmmmm...

I also hadn't been into the main stage space at Second City since I was, oh, I dunno, ten or eleven maybe (I know I know I'm the worst). My dad use to take us there all the time for their children's shows. Maybe I should just go one night. It IS Second City, after all.

standin' outside.

We took the train down and walked around Old Town a little bit and  (ok ok get ready, I'm about to admit that I watch HGTV's Design Star on Hulu) there was a woman I recognized sitting in a car in a driveway. It was TOTALLY this woman, Meg, from that show. I sure did want to tap on her window and tell her that I think her designs are cute and ask her if she won the show. I doubt that she did, but, I dunno, fun to recognize her! Fake celebrity and reality TV stardom is such a strange and wacky thing.

How did you TANTALIZE today?

gig at fritzy's. 9.

Oh hi.
Sorry this is a day late. My TANTALIZE happened too late in the day to post it before the actual day was done, and working the morning after you finish a band gig at 1:00am makes for getting to bed asap pretty important.

Speaking of late night band gigs. My TANTALIZE involved a little trio version of Left Turn band gig at a tiny bar called Fritzy's last night. It was my first time visiting AND playing music in that bar. It had a nice little stage area and I think would work really well for solo or duo projects. Not the smallest bar stage we've played, which was a nice suprise.

The gig itself went fine, despite my cough cold, and there were  more people there than I thought there'd be. On one hand, my attitude is that if my music inspires or touches even one person than it's worth doing. On the other hand, there comes a point at which one has to ask themselves where exactly something is going to take them. I think it's time for our band to start looking to bigger and better. The little bars are fun and have their place, but I'm craving more at this point.

slowing it down a little

i should probably buy a real keyboard stand one of these days. the stools were actually perfect though.

How did you TANTALIZE today?

putting the boat back. 8.

Oh hi!
I'm now sitting in my cozy little apartment back at home, and it's strange to think that this morning (and a six hour drive ago) I was in a place that feels like a totally different universe.

My TANTALIZE today (among some other new things, including a tiny random diner in the middle of the "downtown" area that I'd never been to) was putting the Little Boat That Could back onto dry land. Billy helped a lot, like he did when we got the thing in the water to begin with...but still. It was a new experience and I now know what to do for next time.

I think I'll continue this as long as I can. It's nice to have an excuse for trying something new every day. And like Edward Albee says, "If you're willing to fail interestingly, you tend to succeed interestingly."

after we took the motor off, i paddled us to the other shore

There aren't any photos of us taking the motor off, as it was a two person four handed job. Use your imagination. It was more graceful than you might believe.

oops...you mean my OTHER right... (Billy was quite the patient navigator)

How did you TANTALIZE today?

fish off the dock. 7.

Oh hi!
In all my years of coming up here, I'm not sure if I'd ever actually caught any fish (or had the desire to even go fishing). Today I had my own fishing pole in the water and we drove the Little Boat That Could over to our friend's dock to try our luck. My TANTLIZE of the day was catching THREE fish! Two large sun fish and a small perch. They didn't know. Not big enough to eat, but fun anyway.
We found a little enclosed inlet and saw a few turtles and a huge great blue heron. It was super windy on the lake today but we still managed quiet a long trip.


 

thankfully this one DIDN'T swallow the hook. good fishy.

In other news, this morning while sitting at a coffee shop, a young woman asked me if I could take a photo of her and her boyfriend outside to send to their families. "where are your families?" I asked. The girl's are in Germany (which I could tell from her accent) and the boy's are in Pittsburgh.

Oh! And something else cool that happened! We spotted a caterpillar the first day we arrived sitting on the side of the house. He's just been hanging out and this morning he was hanging in a different position. When we got back from our fishing trip he had turned into a big green cocoon! Awesome!

How did you TANTALIZE today?

boat in the water. 6.

Oh hi!

Oh my goodness guys, today has been a wonderful adventure. More excitement in Three Lakes. Like I said, usually I get here and everything is already done and all I have to do is enjoy myself. Today, my TANTALIZE was that I had to put the little fishing boat in the water WITHOUT MY DAD'S HELP. ok ok, I had my fearless Billy with me, but STILL!! I have NO idea how my dad does it by himself. Actually, I know how he does. He's mostly in the water the whole time. We both managed to not even get our shoes soaked. We put the boat near a far line of trees, and then I paddled it to the dock where we got the little motor on it and then Billy used his scooter knowledge of chokes and 2 stroke engines to get it purring like a kitten. Yeah. I just said that.

We bopped around for four hours. We found Spirit lake (another first for me by myself being the navigator!) and did a lot of fishing. Billy caught a huge bass (between 12 and 14 inches we think) and we were going to keep it and eat it but then I felt bad for it. Lame. Next time we catch "a keeper" we'll be keeping it so that I can clean and fillet a fish by myself and eat something I caught for the first time.

It started drizzling right as we were getting back, but it was a great afternoon adventure.

unlocking the boat for the old flip n' drag

kaloo! kalay! oh happy day!

 I think that this project will certainly last for more than seven days.

How did you TANTANLIZE today?