My days. My nights. My life. Lived well.

My June in pictures and some words. (I’ll fix the formatting later on some of these pics. You can click through and see the big ones over at Flickr.)

Week 1

The first Thursday night in June, we attended a lecture by the architect that designed our house. Then we went to Dairy Queen in another part of town.

After that, we headed to the Melody Inn to see Greg’s band Vodka de Milo.

I liked this picture of Justin that I took:

And I like this one of Greg, but mostly because you can see me in the reflection of his sunglasses.

Then, The Cocaine Wolves took the stage for their Royal Feast album release show. I can always count on Mr. Steak to give me at least one totally goofy face just like I can count on Munciana Holmes to give me a couple of windmills:

I was a little burned out of taking pictures of bands at the Melody, but I did notice that the band members each chose a different kind of shoe (L-R: work boot, cowboy boot, Adidas soccer shoes, classic checkered Vans).

The best part though was having Rob out with me and seeing a bunch of friends we haven’t seen in awhile.

Although Rob has gotten better about me always taking his picture, he still doesn’t like it:

So it is only partially because of my vanity that I take a lot of self-portraits. It is because I am my most willing model. Well, and all that inanimate stuff that can’t complain.

The next night was First Friday, and I guess I had worn Rob out because he wanted no part of my Fountain Square shenanigans with Greg. There was an opening at IMOCA that featured photos of Evans Woollen (the aforementioned architect who built our house) buildings. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across two photos of our house before it had been added on to. I immediately texted pics to Rob:

The next day, I stayed home and cleaned. Nico supervised.

Then Rob and I went to dinner at Thai Taste where I tried their Bubble Tea. We stopped and bought a little scratcher house, and Nico was the first one to check it out.

That Sunday, we headed up to South Bend for Dylan’s 5th birthday. It was a pool party, but we didn’t end up swimming. We did however enjoy the visit from the Snow Cone truck.

The next day, we went back to my brother’s to hook up Dylan’s Rock Band birthday present and we also played with ShibuyaCamera on the iPhone.

After we got Rock Band hooked up, we headed over to Joe and Carisse’s to hang out a bit and had a good laugh telling each other to “Git-r-done”. We came back from The Bend on Tuesday, and I spent the next couple days organizing and purging some stuff.

Week 2

On Thursday night, one of Rob’s bands had a show at the Vollrath which is in kind of a dodgy part of town. I dragged Greg along with me, and we had fun cracking ourselves up. We decided to leave and head to the Melody Inn after we helped Rob load his drums out, but we ended up staying for one more drink. Greg’s reasoning (according to my Facebook status update) was “I just saw a girl walking outside in bare feet so I don’t know if it’s a good time to leave yet”. I felt very Baby in Dirty Dancing in my jean shorts and stripey shirt, and the line, “I carried a watermelon” kept running through my head.

Of course the night ended with Greg drunkenly demanding I play ELO’s “Telephone Line” on the jukebox.

Friday, I went for a walk-jog after loading up my phone with new music. Then on Saturday, I headed over to the Indieana Handicraft Exchange to browse the goods. I texted Rob this selection of Cat-er-pillows and he chose the one with the Monocle, whom I brought home and he named Reginald.

I was just getting ready to come home when Greg showed up with Tommy T. There was so much going on that weekend. In addition to the Handicraft Exchange, there was the Talbot Street Art Fair and Gay Pride Weekend. Walking around the Talbot Street Art Fair, I ran into one of my favorite teachers from Clay Middle, Mr. Choinacky. I talked to him for a minute and then we were all hot and hungry so we walked over to the Varsity Lounge for a grilled cheese and to cool off. It was our way of celebrating Gay Pride. Just as we were leaving, Greg got a call from another friend who was at the Lockerbie Pub and told us to come over and hang out. At that point, World Cup had just started and I told Greg, “You know they’re just there for World Cup, right?” Then he countered, “They wouldn’t call me to hang out for World Cup.” I bet him $5 that the gathering was World Cup celebrations, and when we got there I won. We hung out there for a bit, and I finally went home again because I knew that We Are Hex was playing that night and I wanted to see them.

On Sunday, I went back to the Art Fair to talk with Mr. Choinacky more and we had a nice little visit as he was packing up his booth.

Our plans for Monday were to drive out to Connecticut to pick up a Craigslist Optigan and stop at Fallingwater and Philip Johnson’s Glass House on the way there and back. I tried to reserve tickets for the house tours, but they were sold out at the convenient times we’d be passing through. I was excited to take a road trip with Rob, but on Sunday night after not being able to secure the tickets, I told Rob that it would be cheaper to just have the Optigan shipped because with gas and hotels, it would still be cheaper money-wise.

It turned out that was the right choice though, because we had some crazy storms and rain come through Indy, and we ended up taking a little water in the basement. Not a lot, but I was glad we were home to monitor the situation. I don’t like being away from the house when severe weather hits. I was getting on a good cleaning/organizing roll, but the next set of storms knocked the power out for about 14 hours overnight.

Week 3

After deep-cleaning my bedroom and the power being out, I got a bit of a cold. At first I thought it was allergies, but then I gave in to the fact that I was actually sick. I had been pretty productive and able to function with it, but Rob made me take it easy a couple days and rest because he was afraid I wouldn’t get better. Somehow in that time, we managed a quick trip up to The Bend to pick up the Beetle with its new stereo!

Beans found a new place to take a nap:

I also started tap dancing lessons at the Monon Center with Erin, Jen, and Courtney. It has been really fun, and I always look forward to Tuesday nights. On that Wednesday, Rob and I headed to the Rathskeller to have some drinks with Pastaqueen and her friends before she left Indy for North Carolina. We took the Beetle, and Rob does not like this particular scarf look on me. I feel like I look like Little Steven or one of the New Jersey Housewives.

Week 4

On Thursday, I was still a little under-the-weather. Rob made me make an appointment with my Dr. since I had been sick for a week now. We headed to the Apple Store to wait in line to pick up our new phones, and I was racing the clock trying to get our phones before I had to get to the Dr. It was kind of annoying to wait, but at least I knew there was actually a phone waiting there for me. They provided umbrellas for shade, water, and I had my rainbow Apple manicure to keep my spirits up.

We got our phones activated and headed straight to the Dr., calling them on the way to let them know I’d be 5-10 minutes late. I took this picture while there, and forgot to download it to my phone before syncing and putting all my info on the new phone, so it only survives on Facebook (well, and the copy I uploaded to Flickr for this post).

That Friday was pretty tame for me, a I knew Saturday was packed full of fun for us. We did manage to try out Huddles Frozen Yogurt though. It was good and very easy to blow way too much $$$ on froyo.

Saturday, we started our day at our favorite neighborhood pancake house, before heading to a housewarming and then on to a show at Birdy’s.

I had tons of fun playing with the new iPhone camera. And Rob had a lot of fun photo-bombing my self-portraits.

On Sunday, I headed out to the Mel to show Greg the iPhone (since he was still waiting on his) and tell him all the stories he missed while he was in Wisconsin. The difference between the front and rear cameras on the phone is large, especially factoring in that you can use the flash on the rear camera.

Then I went home and made sure to set my DVR to record my old school and church friend LauraVanderkam on the Today Show being interviewed about her new book, 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think (I get some pennies if you buy it after clicking that link).

Then on Tuesday, it was time for a dentist appointment and tap dance class. I drove the Beetle all day and it was awesome, although I did end up pretty freckly without a visor. At least I wore sunscreen!

The best way to end June was to sneak up to South Bend without telling anyone, and visit Keely who was in from NYC. She was hanging out at Joe’s pool, so I drove up for the day to hang out. The weather was absolutely perfect- just beyond warm to hot and with a slight breeze. I rocked a Panama Jack look and enjoyed time with doggies and friends.

And then, just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Joe’s wife Carisse made us ice cream sundaes with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. Then I went to bed and it was July.

So, I know this isn’t really the end of the decade, but to me it feels like it is because it’s the end of the 00s. There will be no more double-zero-in-the-middle years until the year 3000. Because of that, my friend Herbie said we should call this decade the Oohs (pronounced “ooze” if you weren’t sure). It never caught on- not that we really tried that hard- so everyone is referring to these years as the oughts or naughties. In my heart, they’ll always be the Oohs.

I rang in 2000 in London with my best friend Joe. I almost didn’t make it because I had lost my passport in the clutter of my Bloomington apartment, and had to drive up to Chicago the day before Christmas Eve and use Travisa to expedite my new passport application through in one day. In classic Kristen fashion, I of course found my misplaced passport (with an awesome picture) about a week after I got back. This year, I was happy my passport finally expired so I could get rid of the picture of frazzled me that was on the replacement passport.

I feel like 2009 was a year where a lot of things finally clicked and I made huge steps towards being the person I really want to be. I was going to do a whole decade wrap-up post, but a friend on Facebook reminded me that the decade doesn’t actually end until the end of next year. Honestly, that’s OK, because I want to really spend some time if I’m going to write about a whole decade of my life.

When it comes down to it, the last decade is kind of summed up by the person I was when I was ringing in 2000. I’ve learned so much about myself in the last 10 years, and I’m almost to the point where Kristen v.2000 with the clutter and flakiness because of it is gone. And I’m totally OK with that. I’ll tell my stories from the last decade another time, and I will definitely talk more about what I’ve been through in 2009 in more detail in the near future because it was truly a transformational year. Right now I’m going to enjoy the last moments as Kristen v.2009 and dream a little about Kristen v.2010.

I have been reflecting on the last 10 years through my iTunes library. You can listen to the soundtrack of my last decade over at Blip.fm

Happy New Year!

I will leave you with a picture from 2000. Not of me, but a daily life snapshot of my surroundings the day I got my first digital camera to remind me of who I was and who I want to be.

My messy studio in Linden Gardens, London W2, 9-17-00

So, the sliding door install guys are done and I was sitting outside talking to my friend Jen on the phone. This black BMW X5(or was it an X3- the SUV crossover one) pulls in my cul-de-sac and parks next to the woods between my house and my neighbors and sits in the car blasting the Beatles and then gets out of the car, walks into the woods and drops a CVS bag filled with Sutter Home mini wine bottles and gets back in the car and drives off while I shout, “Thanks for littering, asshole!” while trying to get the ENVIRONMENTAL plate number off the back. A trip into the woods to collect the litter revealed that while today’s drop was full of wine, there were also empty boxes in another bag leading me to believe that they’ve been here before. Then while I was picking it up a black mustang with a late-teen or twenty-something couple with a Cali plate drove by in my cul-de-sac for no apparent reason.

So, let this be a word of warning that we cul-de-sac dwellers are watching all the time. Do not let the false sense of security you get from no traffic passing cloud your judgement. Take your shady shit elsewhere. Kthxbye.

Update: I think the wine was being hidden to drink when she leaves her house on foot by a neighbor whose husband has been diagnosed with cancer. I think it’s the lady who lives behind me on another street. Sad.

So, this weekend I headed over to the IMA for the Indianapolis International Film Festival.  I honestly meant to take in more of the festival, but I’ve been kind of busy. But I told myself that no matter what I would at least make it to the screenings of people I knew. Tomorrow (or today-Wedneday the 22), I’m checking out my old friend Travis Betz’s movie Lo. It’s a fiction work, and I’m excited to go and catch up with him and see what he’s been working on. He’s always been so talented and I’m excited for this screening.

Anyway, another old classmate, Gita Pullapilly, had her documentary screen on Saturday and Sunday and I made it over for the Sunday matinee. It also opened at the IFC Center in New York this weekend as well. The movie centers around 3 elderly Bangor, Maine residents who show up to thank the troops returning home from Iraq or Afghanistan for their service. The first stop in the US on the soldiers’ trip home form the war zones is Bangor International Airport. The 3 greeters that are featured all have ties to the military, but the movie isn’t really about the troops and the wars. Instead the focus is on the 3 troop greeters who show up no matter what is going on in their own lives to say thank you to the soldiers serving overseas. It doesn’t get overly political and instead offers a glimpse into these lives, with a touching exposition of what it’s like to age in our country. Anyway, it was really good, and I cried (and it seemed like a lot of people were crying). It’ll be on Netflix soon, and you can add it to your queue. You can also head over to the site and check out the screenings page to see if there’s one coming up in your area.

Just watch the trailer, and you’ll get the gist.

Edited to add: While I think the main strength of the movie is the story of the troop greeters, I can’t believe I forgot to mention how nicely the movie is shot and edited. From a technical point-of-view I found it a joy to watch. When setting the scene, there are quick cuts used, but not at all in the “I’m trying to be edgy” sense. I found the visual treatment to be nicely styled, but not overdone and it allowed the story to shine.

This is a classic YouTube favorite of mine (and Rob’s). We ask each other questions in this voice all the time while tilting our heads.

I’m off to meet Rob on an independent movie shoot. I’m going to do some photos from the set. It’s super hot in Indy today, and they’re shooting outside.