no, not really, im just pulling your leg. well, figuratively anyway. no this weekend we kept ourselves quite busy actually and it all started on friday...
[cue the harp as we flashback]
[friday]
well friday during the day was just a normal day, but friday night was the fun stuff. at some point earlier [i honestly cant remember when, could have been that week or the week before, beats me] my wife had caught wind of a party at the cincinnati art museum based on one of their current exhibits - surrealism. well, being the party animal that she is and having the affinity for surrealist are that she does, she was quite intrigued by the prospect of an art museum surrealist party, and once she looked for more information and discovered there was also to be dancing, drinks and catering from one of our favorite restaurants - the teak [http://www.teakthaicuisine.com/] - and a fashion show on top of all that... well. she was going, with or without me. so eventually she talked me into it [which didnt take too much, i could see how she was glowing with excitement, and im not one to kill her little dreams] and so we planned on going.
well, friday night was the party. it was supposed to start at 8pm which was fine with us, i usually get off work around 5:30pm, so that should give us plenty of time to do whatever we needed before then. well things got a little more complicated when on wednesday or thursday our favorite friend, amanda [manda], invited us out to the fore-mentioned-on-occasion wine tasting at whole foods. well, we were quite torn, we havent been able to go in a few weeks now, maybe more than a month. so we really wanted to go, but they start at 6 and we had a party to get to at 8 and then there was traffic to consider... so we were going to play it by ear.
as it turns out, when friday afternoon came, i didnt end up getting off work till nearly 5:45 so we decided it would be best to not go to wine tasting [sorry manda! we still love you!] and instead went home and got spiffed up for the party. well, it didnt take us too long [more for karen because it takes her a little while to squeeze into her extra-tight-sexy-jeans sometimes, heh, love you sweetie!] and by 6:30ish we were ready and decided to do a little dinner date pre-party. well we discussed it and decided it had been a while since either of us had been to deweys [http://www.deweyspizza.com/] and we love their salads [and well, obviously the pizza] so we decided that would be a nice little date spot for the evening.
deweys was delicious as always, we decided to share a big greek salad [the wife's fav!] and then split a build your own calzone with pepperoni, canadian bacon, black olives, and the various cheeses and sauces that come loaded inside. well, dinner was quite satisfying for me, karen felt it was cold, but i tasted her half and it was hot to me, i think shes having temperature issues or something... after dinner it was about 7:30ish so we decided to get on over to the party a little early and beat some of the crowd [if there was any.] soon enough we were parked and heading to the door where we discovered a short line had already started, so we got in line and started in on the nights festivities.
we stood in line till the started letting people in at about 5 till 8 and it moved pretty quickly for us [we were maybe 15 people back] and before we knew it we were in. well my first judgements of the party were a guy singing opera in the lobby quite loudly as we waited [im sorry, did i say loudly or obnoxiously?], some acid-trippy lights they had playing on the ceiling in the lobby [lame-o] and from what we could see down the corridor there were spraypainted styrofoam and hanger centerpieces on a few small tables [gag me...] so i wasnt really in the best mood to start out. call me judgemental, but i wasnt enthused so much at this point. well, after we got our drink ticked and the caterer met us at the door with a huge tray of chicken screwers, i decided things might not be so bad, haha. in the main hall there was a dj playing some much better music than the dude singing and it drowned him out completely, not to mention there was a full bar waiting for us, and the chiken scewer was awesome... so i was in better spirits soon enough. =]
well we got a drink and wandered out to the courtyard where a lot of people were gathering to enjoy the weather, drinks and more catering that was floating around. we stayed there for a little while and tried some spring rolls that had something in them i couldnt quite place but were quite delicious and some beef skewers that were a little sweet for my tastes, but quite perfectly cooked.
after finishing our drinks we decided to hit the gallery and see the acclaimed exhibit. it was pretty okay i guess, there were definitely highs and lows [as i guess could be expected with most any art exhibit] and we actually saw a few quite famous pieces which was pretty cool. on the low side though, i hate going to an art gallery and having to look at a bunch of paintings that look like kindergardener work that is claiming to be fine art. i understand that some people think that painting in this manor is a valid way of expressing something or other, but in my opinion it just looks like crap and i dont go to an art gallery to see that. not to mention we were in a surrealist exhibit which is a rough genre in the first place. theres an extremely fine line between surreal and well, just plain bad art... and since when is jackson pollock surrealist? just thought id throw that in there... not sure what his work was doing in this show... at any rate, we viewed the entire exhibit and enjoyed ourselves, but noticed that the number of people was steadily increasing as time went on and soon it was getting a bit stifling from all the body heat. so we finished up and decided it was time for another drink and some fresh air.
after standing in line for at least a half an hour in the mass of writhing party attenders we finally had our drinks and had also been visited by the beef scewer and sushi fairy while we waited. [the sushi was actually quite subpar based on our past experiences with teak's sushi. its usually excellent and this was very, very disappointing...] so we ended up back outside where it was nice and cool out and enjoyed our drinks for a while before checking our watches and realizing it was almost time for the fashion show. 10:30 already?! wow, the night flew by. so we went back inside and waded through the sea of people and tried to go up to the second level to find a good viewing place for the show. well we found a pretty decent spot on the stair landing and were just waiting around until we were kicked out of our spot by a currator because some dancers were goingt to need the space, blah blah blah. uh, bummer... so we moved away and looked for another spot, found one, then were kicked out of it. grr... look around, find another, yet again! kicked out of our spot! well, at this point, i was flippin hot, i wanted to just get the ef out of there and ditch the whole stupid thing, but karen begged my to stay and calm myself down so we found another space amidst the chaos in the middle of the main floor where i was sure wed see nothing. and waited. and waited some more. and then eventually they started playing some music and a girl in the middle of the room started dancing - quite obviously something choreographed. so all eyes were on her and as the music hit a certain timing, a bunch of people in the crowd around joined into the dance... okay, i get it, i guess thats kind of cool, but lets not get carried away, theres a ton of people standing around and this chick almost kicked me in the face just now.... but no, they didnt stop, every so many beats more people joined in, and more, and more, and we all kept getting smuched further and further back into the walls and had more and more near misses with elbows, feet, head, you name it, to the face... at this point i was very annoyed... but karen was enjoying herself, so i sucked it up and watched. well after that song finally ended 20 minutes later [okay, i might be exaggerating, but you wouldnt want to have peoples appendages flying round inches from your face either...] there was some other dance/skit thing [terrible. absolutely.] and then finally they brought out a makeshift stage for the fashion show. so at this point we were ont he front row of the fashion show which was cool i guess, but it was presented by students from the fashion department at karens school... and well... out of the 15-20 ensembles presented there were maybe 3 that were cute. most of them were just awful. these kids need to have their fashion priveledges revoked and subsequently all of their work and probably their own wardrobes set ablaze.
anyway, after the "fashion" show we called it quits for the night. karen had had a great tie and was beaming smiles, so i was in a better mood as we made fun of all the tacky clothes and the models/students who were alittle too exhibitionist for their own good. all in all it was a pretty good night, we had some fun, and then went home and crashed.
[saturday]
well saturday was rough when the alarm sounded at 6am... we'd gotten to bed somewhere around midnight and 6am was cruel to say nothing of torturous. why 6am you ask? well ill tell you [because thats obviously what this is all about, eh? yeah... i totally have conversations with myself whilest blogging, its weird i know, but youre still reading so obviously entertaining to some degree as well...] karen and i had volunteered on saturday morning to participate in a community service project. basically our church was participating, along with a dozen others in cincinnati, in an annual event called "go cincinnati." for those of you from a&m, think big event lead by the churches and youre spot on. for those of you not from a&m, essentially they got together as many volunteers as they could and then we all were to go out to homes, shelters, underfunded churches and programs, and just help out in whatever way they needed. mostly this tends to involve landscaping or painting or cleaning of some kind, but as it turns out you got to sign up for your preference and there was a little area called "artistic painting" and since my wife was the one that actually signed us up online after i told her i wanted to participate... guess which type of work she put us down for? haha... yeah. well apparently one of the underfunded churches or daycares or something or other needed murals done, so we were in the group that painted "murals". now i put that in quotations because they were muralist in that they were quite large paintings and were designed to be this gaint piece that told the tory of creation, however they were on 7 different large canvas panels and well... that really not a mural in my mind. anyhow, so karen and i spent the day painting. we got day 5 of creation which has something to do with the fish and the birds and we had a lot of fun. i discovered that i am quite terrible at painting [although this is nothing new to me, just a reinforcing of earlier knowledge. im much better at the arts that have ore control and less... lets call it expressiveness, lol.] but karen was a pro and cleaned up all my messes and in the end we had a pretty nice panel.
[karen's cell phone photography is quite impressive i think.]
so when we were finished it was around 12:45 [we finished a little early because the event ended at 1]. well, after the working part they had set up a giant lunch for all the 6500 volunteers, the homeless, and whoever else decided to show up at one of the big parks in downtown. there was going to be over 1000 #'s of pulled pork, and sides to go with it and if that wasnt enough it was being prepaired free of charge by 10 or 12 [i cant remember which now] of the top chefs in cincinnati. so that was really cool... however, logistically it was going to be a nightmare. we know the park in question and there is no parking around it, only street parking which would fill up in about 2 minutes, not to mention 6500 people in one park waiting in line and such... well... karen and i arent really big crowd people [if you hadnt caught on to that by now...] so we decided to obstain but instead get bbq on our own because it sounded really good.
we headed over to city bbq [http://cityqbbq.com/], our bbq spot in cincy, and had a very nice lunch. even more nice because instead of 6500+ people crammed into a small space it was just us and like 2 other couples enjoying our lunch in their giant restaurant. =]
well at this point the day gets a bit less interesting. after lunch i got a haircut a few doors down, then we got some coffee at starbucks a few doors down again [because we were out and needed a few more bags of the stuff] then went home and exhausted from the day so far and lack of a good night sleep the night before we passed out for a nice long nap. around 4ish we got up from the nap and then my wife decided it was time for spring cleaning and we spent the rest of the day and night cleaning the house from top to bottom. eventually, around 9ish i think, we stopped and had dinner and watched a little west wing season 5 [yeah baby!] before going to bed.
now ill be honest with you, it wasnt just spring cleaning we were doing - although it was definitely that time again - but also my in-laws called us up last week or the week before and informed us that they were planning an improptu visit to cincinnati over the memorial day holiday weekend so we were also preparing for their stay. the house had somehow, although im still mystified as to the how in question, managed to get in a nice disaster and was definitely not in parent approval shape. im still searching for the evil culprit[s] that destroyed our beautiful home and caused us so much pain in cleaning it, so if you hear anything make sure to call me and let me know where theyre hiding. ;]
well, at this point, my lunch break is over, so we'll have to do sunday and monday at another time. although, theyre less about spring cleaning...
hope you all had a great weekend and are having a nice week as well. if you havent done so yet you need to go check out my brothers blog and pictures, his house is damn near finished now and i think they started it like last week or something? its getting built CRAZY fast!
adios!
4 comments:
No dust bunnies in our house :-) we aren't coming to see how good of housekeepers you are, but to enjoy your great company and that hot salsa Karen talks about. We also are in the mood for sushi even before reading about it in your blog.
The Art Exhibit party sounds so awesome! In my head I was imagining some really fancy place, like you see on TV. I'm also from Texas City where there is nothing nice, so you see why I'm thinking like that, hehe.
Yeah, I did my spring cleaning a few weeks ago, however, nothing ever stays clean when you have a 2 year old running the show half the time!
Good post!
I'm also not into Pollock, or people flailing their appendages near me, but...hey, it sounds like y'all still had fun. (:
You guys get more done in a weekend than we do in a month. Seriously. Productive people! (:
well, i dont HATE pollock... these were actually kind of interesting, lol, but im definitely not going to tell you why, lol!..... i just dont understand how they had any kind of relationship to surrealism, i mean, at all. none. zero. but whatever, im obviously no art museum curator ;]
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