Category Archives: 717

A wrap up

Posted in 717, high school, mini trips, religion by

Good God, have you ever had one of those weeks that just drains you completely of energy? Duh, I’m sure you have. I’ve had them at every job I’ve worked at (yes, even camp, where every day and week is not perfect, despite the idea you may have previously gotten from my camp ravings), in college both school and equestrian team related. So anyway, I had lots to blog about, but just haven’t had the energy.

We went to Chicago over the long weekend. We stayed with 717 member Marnie and hung out with her boyfriend Jannson. 717 member Samantha also came up. We really had a wonderful time, but I’ll go into that another time, because Samantha took some really great pictures that I want to share.

Wednesday night and Thursday marked the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana. I’ve been kind of bad about going to services this year. My excuse is that they start at 6pm, which is a difficult time to make on a Friday evening. Really though, it’s a poor excuse. Especially when I do enjoy going so much. I love the familiarity of the prayers and melodies. My favorite has always been the shehecheyanu, which you say any time something happens for the first time in the year. It’s like a little celebration and thank you of the good things in life. (Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech ha’olam shecheyanu v’kiy’manu v’higyanu lazman hazeh. Blessed are you, Adonai our God, ruler of the universe, who has given us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.) When I was in NFTY (that’s youth group), every Saturday night we had havdalah, the end of Shabbat service to bridge Shabbat and the coming week. We’d sit in a big circle, lights out, one person would have the glass of wine and the blue and white, braided havdalah candle, and one person would, of course, have a guitar. We’d sing, pray, and wrap our arms around each other and sway, and always end with the schehecheyanu. It was my favorite part of our regional or sub-regional events.

Also, check this out – CSA-style pastry delivery in San Francisco!

Just the things I’ve been thinking about this week. I’m going post a song now so check it out!

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Up and Moved!

Posted in 717, blogs, friends by

After three lovely years using Blogger for all my blogging needs, I decided it was time to move on. After exploring WordPress a bit and reading really great things about it from other bloggers, I made the move here. So far so good, I think. This feels….more grownup somehow? I suppose I’ve made a natural progression from LiveJournal to Blogger to WordPress. So anyway, look around, tell me what you think, I like feedback!!!

As my first official post, I’d like to recognize some of my amazing friends who have recently started their own blogs. Check them out. They’re great writers and very insightful.

Some Restrictions Apply
I met Heather through work. She’s hilarious and has serious willpower. Read her blog and you’ll understand. She’s trying out different diets, just to see how it would be to live as, say, a vegetarian, or on a gluten-free diet, because she’s curious. Heather also shares my love of cupcakes.

I’m the Dandy Highway Man
Samantha and I have known each other since sixth grade, though we really became very good friends in college. She’s one-third of the 717 and one of my best friends. These are her observations on life in general I would say. Get inside her head.

Cold As Ice Cream But Still As Sweet

I know Jen through Samantha. They are not entirely sure how they met, but it might have something to do with Bloomington. Jen has become one of my close friends since I moved back to Indianapolis. She’s a baker, too, and we’ve made a few cakes together. They’re always tasty, and not always pretty. She blogs about culture, art, fashion, Indianapolis, and maybe food.

Pie…uhm Food…Catch Up

Posted in 717, baked, food, spring by

I’ve decided on a new name for my bakery: Piebelly.

I’ve been baking like a crazy woman lately. It relieves stress, and there’s been plenty of stress in my work life lately. Chocolate chip and pecan-cranberry brown sugar cookies, strawberry rhubarb crisp, rum-soaked banana bread, hummingbird cupcakes, sugar cream pie, triple berry pie…

The triple berry pie I’m calling my best pie yet and so I’m sharing it after the jump. It’s the perfect summer berry pie: Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, though I’m sure you could easily substitute raspberries in there. I usually use flour to juice up my filling, but my aunt mentioned tapioca, so I thought I’d give it a try. Must’ve worked well, since the pie was so damn good. I also made some vanilla whipped cream, just softly whipped, to plerp on top. Delicious dessert for a few days.

In a way, this pie was also a 717 pie (the 717 being the magical yellow house that we lived in, with a fourth roommate whom we no longer speak of, in Bloomington for two years). The pie bird, a little guy with a hole in his beak that you settle in the center of your filling and then place your top crust over, was a gift from Samantha. The cheerfully purple-dotted pie dish was a gift from Marnie. Maybe that’s why it was so good!

My weekend will be filled with rhubarb thanks to Smitten Kitchen. Moist and sweet rhubarb coffee cake and little rhubarb tarts. This has most definitely been the spring of rhubarb.

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Easy Silence

Posted in 717, mini trips, Mira by

I like that we can just sit on the boat and not say a word for 45 minutes.

Missed Connections

I’m looking for two stunningly beautiful women. One has long brown hair and a friendly smile. The other has short brown hair and four tattoos. I know they were both in Bloomington this past weekend, as was I, but we missed each other. We were all there, our little yellow house was there, but we were not together on the porch of the yellow house. All is not right in the universe. Everybody knows it sucks to grow up and everybody does and so weird to be back here. Let me tell you what the years go on and we’re still fighting it. {Ben Folds}

We went to Lake Monroe this weekend to play on Adam’s parents boat. Exactly what I needed. A few days away from work, parents, stress. I’d forgotten how much I love lakes and trees. OK, that’s a lie, I never forget how much I love being outside and away from buildings and cars and general busyness. All felt right as I paddled around in that lake, peeing without regard for anything, drinking beer, and floating away on my back as the sun blinded me. Saturday night Adam and I stood under the clearest night sky I’ve seen since camp. I spotted a shooting star and we marveled at the Milky Way. (I remember when I first spotted the Milky Way and realized what it was last summer at final party. I ran around telling everyone what I had seen, only no one was excited as me. This weekend I was thrilled when I got to share this solar tidbit with Adam.) I love feeling small in the midst of nature. I hate feeling small in comparison to people.

I have unfortunately discovered my favorite summer drink at the end of the summer: sangria. Best sangria ever at Plum’s in Zionsville.

Oh, bee tee dubs, Mira’s new favorite summer treat is cicadas. Yes, those nasty bugs that hum incessantly in a steady rise and fall all summer long. She eats the little fuckers right off of the ground. She sometimes even carries them in her mouth until we return from our walk to the apartment where she runs to her pillow to devour the buggie bug. Sick dog, sick.

Hippies, hipsters, and rock n roll oh my!

Posted in 717, mini trips, music by

Lollapalooza 2008.

Sam, Marnie, and I spent the weekend in music heaven. We’d talked about going for a couple of years and this year we’re finally all in the area at the right time. So we got our tickets and personalized our band schedules on Lollapalooza’s website. Generally speaking, when I have incredibly high expectations for something, especially a mini trip, I am usually disappointed. This weekend proved me so very wrong. I had the most amazingly wonderfully time with my two beautiful friends. We talked ourselves out about boys, old friends, gossip, work and tons of other random things. On top of the fabulous company, we had fabulous music. Two days of band hopping in the most incredible setting. Every time I looked up at the Chicago skyline that surrounds Grant Park, I was amazed. This festival full of dirty, music loving people plopped down in the middle of a huge city. It’s pretty cool. Prime people watching. Plentiful tattoos and dreds.
Friday night Sam and I got into town just in time to meet Marnie outside of her apartment and book it to Grant Park to see Radiohead. They’re a pretty diverse band and I was very impressed with the show. (as a side note, I’ve never listened to a lot of Radiohead.) We then met up with Jannson and some of his and Marnie’s friends plus Meredith and spent the night dancing and singing at a bar called the Hang Up. We didn’t get to bed until 5AM. When the girls of 717 party, we do it right!
Saturday morning we woke up with a little bit of our voices gone (what happens when you try to talk in a really loud bar) and kinda hungover. On our way to the park we stopped at Walgreen’s where Sam bought Bounce sheets, which are supposed to work like bug spray when rubbed on your arms and legs. Not sure if they kept the buggies away but they smelled really good:) Our Lollapalooza line up for the day was as follows
Dierks Bentley (yeah country at Lolla!)
MGMT
Explosions in the Sky (OK, kinda, we heard them as we stood in line for the bathroom/ice cream)
Okkervil River
Broken Social Scene
Wilco
Wilco was great. Also really enjoyed MGMT and Okkervil River. Despite the hangovers and minimal hours of sleep the day was still good. Thank God we went to bed at a decent hour that night. It made all the difference on Sunday I think.
Sunday morning we had breakfast with Marnie’s old roommate (most amazing cheese grits I’ve encountered in the north!) and then took off for the last day. Line up
What Made Milwaukee Famous
The Whigs
John Butler Trio
Amadou & Mariam
Iron & Wine
Gnarls Barkley
The National

I really enjoyed all the bands we saw on Sunday. What Made Milwaukee Famous was a really great accidental find. John Butler Trio absolutely blew me away with incredible guitar picking and jamming. The National, well they’ve been my new favorite band lately and they did not disappoint. Unfortunately Sam and I had to leave to get home and missed Kanye West. Even more unfortunately we screwed up the I65 detour and ended up driving all the way to South Bend on I80/94. Awesome.
I’m dragging a bit today thanks to getting to bed at 4AM on top of all the walking and sitting out in the sun we did, but it was all so very worth it. I can’t wait to really investigate all the new music I discovered. Yay for my ever expanding music collection! Can’t wait for Lollapalooza 09 ladies!!

If I could be anywhere

Posted in 717, Green Cove, North Carolina by

I’d like to think I’d want to be here. There is absolutely no reason why here wouldn’t be the first place I’d choose right now. I’m disgustingly happy most of the time. My friends are silly, great drinking buddies, fabulous listeners and excellent email writers. My job is fun, challenging and exciting. My apartment is covered in tiny black hairs thanks to my puppy. I’m riding again, which makes me indescribably happy. My boyfriend, when he puts his arms around me I feel completely safe and content.

OK fine, so stop rubbing it in my face, you say. Here’s the thing – if you came up to me right now and asked me that question, If you could be anywhere, where would it be – my answer would not be right here. First instinct, easy. Camp. I want to be there every single day. I want to be in the middle of summertime in the mountains with my Green Cove girls, not having showered in three days and feeling clean. Next I might say Bloomington. I miss our porch, I miss Sam and Marnie always being a room away, I miss our smelly neighbors, I miss classes and campus, I miss IUET, silly crushes, not so silly crushes, beer at 2pm, and yes even Jimmy John’s. I’d say Raleigh lastly because that’s where I found myself and I might have left a little bit of the old me there when I moved home. I want to be roommate’s with Bette again and work at the coffeeshop. I want to go to Chapel Hill for Shabbat dinner. I want to ride Clyde with Hilary. I want southern accents, Harris Teeter and sweet tea.
So what if we are never happy where we are? What if, despite everything, a little part of us longs to be somewhere else? I always thought I was lucky to have two homes, here and camp, and that’s still true. I just wonder if it’s possible to be content where you are and miss everywhere you’ve been at the same time.

glad to have a friend like you

Posted in 717, friends, Green Cove by

the sign of a true friend

  • she offers to let you borrow her underwear when you’ve forgotten yours
  • she says if she gets her own place first you can totally…you know…bring guys over
  • she comes to get you at 6AM the morning after a late night to take you to your car so you can drive home to your family emergency
  • she’s there for you after she tried to warn you about him and never says “i told you so”
  • she’s there for you when you get it right the second time
  • she reassures you that you’re not trashy when you’re certain that you are
  • she has late night hot pocket eating/kitchen floor posing sessions with you
  • you im each other from down the hall. or even better when in the same room
  • she laughs at you when you do stupid things like pee in your pants but she never tells anyone
  • you can tell her even your most embarrassing thoughts without your face turning red
  • sometimes you hate her, but most of the time you love her
  • you can call her for no reason at all and end up talking for an hour
  • you’ve read your diaries out loud to each other and died laughing at what they say
  • she’s been your pee buddy, whether it’s in the woods or because the bathroom door is open
  • she knows without asking that when you got home from the bars you ordered the big 10 from pizza express
  • she’s warded off unwanted romantic attention your manager showered on you. countless times.

i will be corny and happy that i have the most lovely girls ever.

the romance equation

Posted in 717, relationships by

I just finished a wonderfully hysterical book called Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. It’s sort of a parody of the Jane Austen genre. Now I do like Jane Austen but I love a good parody and laugh even more. Nothing better than a little sarcasm and over the top dramatic and flowery descriptions and overdone characters. An excerpt from the book,

“She knew from experience that intellectuals thought the proper – nay, the only
– way to fall in love with somebody was to do it the very instant you saw them.
You met somebody, and thought they were ‘A charming person. So gay and simple.’
Then you walked home from a party with them (preferably across Hampstead Heath,
about three in the morning) discussing whether you should sleep together or not.
Sometimes you asked them to go to Italy with you. Sometimes they asked yout o go
to Italy (preferably to Portofino) with them. You held hands, and laughed, and
kissed them and called them your ‘true love’. You loved them for eight months
and then you met somebody else and began being gay and simple all over again,
with small-hours’ walks across Hampstead, Portofino invitation, and all.”

I like this quote because it rings true and there’s a certain sense of silliness to it as it doesn’t take itself too seriously. For instance the set up, that this is the way intellectuals fall in love, mocks the way people have standards and formulas for love, which doesn’t follow a formula. But of course this is the way it should be done. This method for falling in love works today too though. I mean how many times have you or one of your friends met someone at a party, walked home with them discussing the possibility of sex at three AM, “fall in love”, and a short time later moved on to someone else? Happens all the time. You make plans, it all seems so easy and then it’s over. Really just a fabulously annoying pattern that maybe one day will lead, completely on accident of course, to the right one. Dating is a pain in the ass. As is being single. Done and done.

Tonight I miss Bloomington in a way I haven’t since I’ve moved. The weather has temporarily cooled off for a bit and it feels like a late spring/early summer night in Indiana. Bette and I are determined to finish the large amounts of Corona that Ang’s cousin left in our fridge last weekend. So I opened one up, took it out to the front steps along with my laptop and started making a mix (or three). All I could think of was last year around this time when Marnie, Sam and I would sit on the porch and drink beer or play beer pong in the front yard or watch tv in the living room with all the windows open. I miss my roommates and I miss those nights second semester. Funny how when I look back on them I don’t remember all the drama with Jaime or the stress of graduating or the family stuff that exploded in my face right about this time. I like that I remember that time as just peaceful.