wednesday 07.29.09

concerts on the square. playing a little backgammon, drinking a little wine, listening to a little music with william. eating some dried cherries. jenny mailed them to me on my birthday from corvalis. she said they were good with wine, but even better with friends. i have been saving and taking good care of them.


-bkh

tuesday 07.28.09

filling up my water bottle at the yoga studio after a bikram class and a shower. i have never – never ever ever – been that hot in a yoga class before. i was sweating all through my shower. and all through getting ready after my shower. and all through the air conditioned car ride home. i was definitely the sweaty kid when i made it to magnus at 8 for some drinks. the water did not help; the beer did. and maybe the bike ride downtown after yoga class didn’t help out either.


-bkh

monday 07.27.09

making a toddy at barriques. ground up the coffee beans for the toddy, filling it up with water twelve hours before it’s to be drained. the morning folks take the plug out and let the future au lait and iced coffee coffee drain all day. and barriques customers love their iced coffee when the sun is shining on them. lots and lots. we make two toddies a night, typically, in preparation for the next summer day.


-bkh

sunday 07.26.09

my weekend made me thirsty. real thirsty.


-bkh

saturday 07.25.09

shooting some pool with some great people. mike – in from chicago, jen and jacob – in from corvalis, ryan – my roommate, jay and kyle – mike’s friends and my neighbor apparently. the seven of us had some beers, played some games, grabbed some dinner, and headed out on the town for a night. a night that included all of the following & more: three dancing pink bunnies, lemon drops, andy dobbins and heather vogts, red aura, somersault competitions, photo hunt, skull bongs, and campfires until sunrise. another perfect perfect night.


-bkh

friday 07.24.09

jen & jen. (and finn.) wine tasting at barriques. jenny and jacob were in town stopping by the midwest on their move from corvalis, oregon to copenhagen, denmark. they spent the day with jen and mike, and the four of them met andrea and me for an oregon wine tasting. andrea was in town on her move from delware to michigan. spent the evening drinking beers with me, tasting wine, listening to some live music. catching up on life. can’t believe it’s been… four? five? years since we lived together in the dorms. it was a perfect night.


-bkh

thursday 07.23.09

at zuzu café with william. enjoying some iced soy chais and talking music, travel, and bachelor parties. i am, apparently, an awkward photographer. this is not the first time i’ve heard that this year. see: travis, ryan, joel, colin, nick. ‘just keep on keepin on like i’m not here’ isn’t direction enough for you guys? ok, ok, point taken. i assure all my ‘subjects’ that the blog is less than widely read; my mom and i make up the total readership on a good day.


-bkh

wednesday 07.22.09

watching president obama talk about health care reform & etc. while typing on the computer (facebook). after two nights of barriques, i was pretty excited to have a whole, free evening in front of me. as much as i love keeping busy and moving in the summer, i still like a good evening of relaxing to read until i fall into a nap if i so choose (which i did earlier, and it was perfect). and i didn't feel guilty about it.


-bkh

tuesday 07.21.09

barriques with quinn – quinn!! talking love, life, and radiohead. i love shifts with quinn. some high school (junior high maybe? i can’t tell) folks came in and ordered a bunch of mocha milkshakes. and quinn made delicious excess. and i reaped the benefits.


-bkh

monday 07.20.09

barriques with ryan. hadn’t worked with the guy in – weeks? over a month? we had a lot of chatting to do. by the end of the shift ryan was ready to get going. washing off the food line cutting board or whatever with speed and efficiency.


-bkh

sunday 07.19.09

another evening at yoga. power flow class. i hadn’t been in over a week. and i was awful. definitely the falling-all-over girl in yoga class. ugh. by the time we made it to the pigeon pose – one of the last – i was ready to go go go. luckily most (all?) of the classes end with a stretching series, as opposed to strength or balance which are earlier. and i’ve always excelled at flexibility.


-bkh

saturday 07.18.09

oh just hanging out in my room. playing a bit on the computer, snacking on some veggies and hummus. took a few hours nap after the a.m. shift at barriques, and then settled in to the empty house. ryan and nick were both gone for the evening – a rarity for any of us to have the house to ourselves – so i wasn’t going anywhere but downstairs. i couldn’t even motivate myself to go out to DQ and blockbuster to rent ‘he’s just not that into you’ or something awful like that. so i just enjoyed a documentary on the kennedys, and a movie about the jacksons. and half a bottle of wine. awesome.


-bkh

friday 07.17.09

biking home from monroe street. met zach at barriques for a (delicious and dangerous) margarita tasting, then went across the street to trader joe’s to pick up some garlic, dried fruit, and almonds. went home for a little rest and home-cooked dinner before heading back on out and downtown to meet zach, jen, and nick for a shoeless revolution show. seeing the uw-l guys jam out at the stage door makes me oh so happy. and seeing all my fellow-former-uwlers in the audience makes me even more oh so happy.


-bkh

thursday 07.16.09

watching the brewers game. eh, well, hanging out with nick and ryan (ok, and liza) while they watch the brewers game. typical night in the house. and we're at a typical time in the evening when nick migrates from the couch to the floor (hence the pillow in hand). fast forward a few minutes and liza has at least one paw and her head resting somewhere on nick. just a typical night at mckinley.


-bkh

wednesday 07.15.09

playing catch fetch or whatever with liza. she’s got that crazy look in her eye - so excited to be playing and so upset i'm taking pictures instead of playing. crazy dog. she’s gotten pretty good at dropping the tennis ball in hands instead of on the ground. which really is a neat trick. she’s also gotten pretty good at dropping the ball at my feet and staring at me, and was practicing for the two hours i was sitting in the backyard. not a really neat trick. she’s just a multi-talented dog.


-bkh

tuesday 07.14.09

claddagh with tracy and liz. tracy – my manager at barriques – hosted a wine tasting for us barriquers. each month the new wine by the glass menu means another staff tasting. a few of us went through the 10-12 new whites & reds, and then the three of us headed over to middleton for ‘power hour’ – half off happy hour prices – for a drink. which meant $1 MGDs and $1.50 rum & diets. happy tuesday.


-bkh

monday 07.13.09

barriques with liz. it had been so long! so much catching up to do. however, the customers were streaming in in an seemingly endless line. liz is showing, with authority, the progression of coffee beans from light to dark roast on the wall, trying to help the nice gentleman pick out his dark beans. settled on the kenyan (not dark) ground for a cold press. excellent choice, sir.


-bkh

sunday 07.12.09

heading out in the backyard amidst ryan’s tents and hammock. looking up some more information about a detox/cleanse diet my practitioner clinician primary care health provider told me about at my appointment a few weeks back. i was pretty pumped to start it out, until i saw how much money it’d cost to buy the vitamins supplements foods etc. turns out i’m not quite that devoted right now. though after the great weekend of food & drinks with the fam, i could probably use it.


-bkh

saturday 07.11.09

at a new zealand wine tasting. brought the fam to the barriques on monroe street for some vino before the booze cruise on lake mendota. zach met the hansons and shared trivia about nz and their wine. such as – did you know a gooseberry is a kiwi fruit? to which my mom asked – so, what does that mean for gooseberry falls in minnesota? excellent question.


-bkh

friday 07.10.09

the family’s in town! mom dad and sister meg in madison for the weekend. started off the jam-packed weekend with a tailgate at the duck pond with jen, jason, and jen’s mom. watched the madison mallards take on the alexandria beetles or whatever. don’t ask me who won – i never know. we headed out a bit early to catch some music at la fete on the east side.


-bkh

thursday 07.09.09

working from home/uploading pictures. multi-tasking, i’d say. one of my favorite past-times. felt a little sick and distracted (from feeling sick) around 4 at work, so headed home for a 15 minute (read: two point five hour) nap and then to work from home for a bit after. trying to get in all my work before heading to the duhks show la fête de marquette later on. kinda felt like having to get the homework done before going to caribou – or whatever – with my girlfriends in high school. guess some things never completely change or go away.


-bkh

wednesday 07.08.09

dinner at zach’s. he made lasagna (two! meat and vegetarian!), salad, and served crackers & cheese and fresh from new zealand pinot noir. delicious and delicious. got to hang out at his new place right downtown – which i am sure is even more awesome when not dealing with concerts on the square parking – and continue catching-up from his extended leave of absence from the states. and, i scored the entire pan of veggie lasagna to bring home. he is too good to me.

-bkh

tuesday 07.07.09

closing barriques with leah. hadn’t worked a shift in roughly three weeks. so i was a bit rusty. erin came to visit for a bit. which was nice; made my night. i so rarely have visitors. and so rarely have visitors on come in on purpose. especially now that andy fled to houston. awww :(


-bkh

monday 07.06.09

spent the evening running errands – verizon wireless, michael’s, target, and finishing off at the mall with aldo. ended up making more than i spent. felt good to get all my returns back in my bank account. it had been a while since i’d ‘ran errands’. reminded me of spending weekday afternoons out in maple grove with my mom. except this time i didn’t go to the grocery store, and i didn’t sit in the front seat of the cart holding cardboard boxes she gave me to doodle on (read: distract me from being bored/asking her to buy all the delicious colorful sugary foods at eye level). and she wasn’t paying for the stuff i bought this time around.


-bkh

sunday 07.06.09

the oh-so-familiar drive back from the west. heading out of sauk city on the last stretch to madison. the vw sees this route on a weekly basis as i head out to unity in sauk for various meetings from the medical foundation. the brown bridge indicates the loss and return of cell phone reception, based on my direction. sauk city does not allow my cell phone uninterrupted service free of dropped calls. i tell my one friend from sauk – who’s a republican – that sauk city censors the democrats/liberals by cutting us off from communication. tricky town, sauk city. i’m on to you.


-bkh

saturday 07.04.09

hanging out on the dock in la crosse, post-boating the mississippi, with korey & kelly. met up in la crosse with k1 & chris, erin, and connor for a perfect evening of boating - complete with a michael jackson soundtrack, thanks to kelly. we spent the rest of the evening in bodega in the company of jenny & jacob, jeidy & mike, joe gullo, steven ‘gangster of love’ miller, and dozens of other bodega friends made throughout the years and along the way. an epic, and patriotic reunion to our alma mater celebrated with lemon drops and root beer barrels for all.


-bkh

friday 07.03.09

hanging out in the backyard with the roommates and ryan’s co-worker, peter. tried to go see ‘public enemy(ies?)’ but were beat to the theater by hundreds of other madison movie-goers. good thing we rushed through our sushi happy-hour and beer to make it there on time. opted for a quite evening in the backyard having some drinks, talking, and playing some euchre. and, uhm, playing catch with liza.


-bkh

thursday 07.02.09

heading to the terrace with ryan. leaving the ramp from the capital area, going to the campus area. meeting up with erin and her fam for some live music - jackie greene playing a free show on a perfect evening. a celebration before another vacation day. apparently most of madison had the same bright idea. though, the terrace is packed to capacity most pleasant evenings, regardless of vacation time. the beauty of the avid outdoorsy madison folk.


-bkh

wednesday 07.01.09

hanging out in the backyard with zach. having some wisconsin spotted cow and catching up. hearing about his adventures for the past nine months in new zealand. well, trying. but liza was throwing (yes, throwing) her tennis balls and tires at zach to get him to play with her, which made conversation a bit more difficult. we seemed to manage alright. or, at least enough to make me want to spend an long vacation (months?) down there. zach millis + ryan klein sell the place well.


-bkh

tuesday 06.30.09

becky & lina! becky & lina!! in town (reedsburg) ‘on holiday’ from london for the week! came into madison for the evening. after putting in a sushi take-out order, we headed to target to pick up some items the ladies forgot in reedsburg. including mountain dew. the rest of the night was spent back at the house in front of ‘sex & the city’ with nick.


-bkh

monday 06.29.09

digging my wallet out of my purse. trying to get enough energy to go to the grocery store. but even after a vacation day from work, really the only appealing thing was a(nother) nap. and i had such big plans including, but not limited to: yoga, bike rides, coffee, thrift storing.


-bkh

sunday 06.28.09

driving from atlanta back to madison. southern illinois? and here the jammed-packed weekend in the south comes to an end. kara erin and i woke up bright and early after a night of wedding and wine to hit the road and drive straight through the day. there were many casualties on the windshield on the 12-or-so-hour drive. and even more michael jackson tunes coming out the speakers.


-bkh

saturday 06.27.09

kara ‘k2’ larson’s wedding! ahem, mr. & mrs. david johnson. the split lutheran – jewish wedding was held in an art gallery just outside of atlanta. a perfect setting for the gal. and a perfect size for the wedding. the groomsman performed a few songs for the couple, including 'hallelujah'. and the bride & groom beamed and glowed the whole night, never taking eyes off one another. a perfect wedding for k2. absolutely perfect.


-bkh

friday 06.26.09

dinner with erin in atlanta. after an afternoon of exploring all the suburbs have to offer, we decided on a local ‘italian oven’ restaurant for our exciting first dinner in atlanta. what were we expecting? not really sure? but certainly not the perkins of italian joints – complete with checkerboard AND paper (with crayons!) tablecloths. we made sure to take full advantage of our special dinner by treating ourselves real nice. wine, fried food platter, bread & olive oil, salad, and two main dishes that easily could have each served four. the table, meant for four, was not big enough for our appetites. we could barely muster up enough energy to collapse on the hotel beds in front of ‘headliners & legends: michael jackson’. (we somehow managed.)


-bkh

thursday 06.25.09

nashville! and where the hell did all the confederate flags come from?? kara ‘k1’ miller, erin martison, and i took off from madison bright and early for a straight drive (ONLY to stop for dairy queen) to nashville. made excellent time. settled into the hotel, cracked open a bottle of wine, and headed downtown. checked out a local souvenir shop for k1 to grab a postcard. there were some blonde ladies – french i assume from the accents – purchasing america maps. a true souvenir, i suppose. i wonder what will become of those maps back in wherever home is.


-bkh

wednesday 06.24.09

unloading the car getting it ready for the big roadtrip. went directly work – east side for dinner with colin. only to head directly back to west side barriques to stock up on vino for the drive south. the drive east – west was much more pleasant than the opposite. who knew it would take so long to drive through dt madison in rush hour while summer construction is in full swing and concerts on the square is kicking off? lesson certainly learned. (and probably just as quickly forgotten.)


-bkh

tuesday 06.23.09

enjoying a sweet fruit salad (in my handmade bowl!) and wine in the backyard. working on the ‘to pack’ list for the big road trip to nashville, atlanta. brainstorming all the things i could ever possibly need for a four day or so trip. the fruit was delicious and sweet after sitting in the fridge in the sugary minty concoction i put together 24 hours prior. the wine, to my disappointment, was not-so-tasty. perhaps wine does not keep for three weeks after being opened - who knew?


-bkh

monday 06.22.09

grabbing nick dinner at whole foods. took the (somewhat) short walk to whole foods to pick myself up some fish oil and multi-vitamins, as recommended by dr. mallory, and a bunch of fruit (probably also endorsed by dr. mallory). and to pick up a deli sandwich for my hungry roommate. ham & cheese. on whole wheat bread, of course.


-bkh