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Lightning! Thunder! Torrential downpours! Rhode Island weather has finally mustered up the courage to show its teeth. And what big beautiful teeth it has. I got to experience the first “severe weather” spot waiting for the bus stop. Armed with my umbrella and rain boots and hunkered under the little entry way to the liquor store, the rains came, the wind whipped and I felt very much glad to be a part of it. It stopped once I got into work, but little red spots keep popping up, passing through Providence and fizzling out in Massachusetts (yes, I’ve been watching the radar. you know I love watching the radar). It did put a damper on Jeff’s New York trip, though, as LaGuardia had to shut everything down until 8:30 this morning. At 8:55 when Jeff’s flight was supposed to leave, the plane hadn’t even left NY yet. At least he has no connecting flights or time sensitive meetings.

So, I managed to catch America’s Got Talent at the neighbor’s yesterday. I am a bona fide sucker for America’s Got Talent. Although I don’t care for American Idol, I love watching shows where normal people take some risks. Some are really bad risks, but a lot are really good risks. My favorite was Kevin Skinner and the runner up was the 14 year old Thia. Both were really good surprises. Thankfully they’re airing the full episodes online so I don’t have to miss a thing=).

Have a good Thursday!

So for Monday’s pathetic post, I believe I have an explanation. Exhaustion. Sheer exhaustion. Sleepless nights do strange things to my mental well-being. In fact, yesterday, after the fourth sleepless night I awoke to the “I’m so tired I feel sick” stage of exhaustion and opted to use one of my sick days and reset my batteries. I don’t know why I haven’t been able to sleep, but I had only been getting a few hours of sleep and the rest of the night I was tossing and turning or up wandering around. So yesterday I slept in the morning and then got some exercise and worked around the house hoping to wear me out. And it worked! I feel fabulous today, veritably superhuman.

But two interesting things happened yesterday. First, my day at home was invaluable to observe what my male counterpart does on a day when he has no schedule. In sum, he puts his head phones on and doesn’t leave his man cave unless it’s to go into the hallway and use man tools. He rebukes any sort of human interaction with his eyes and doesn’t resurface until I force him to eat dinner. Force him. The recipient of his intense concentration was a wallet. He’s had a roll of leather hanging around the apartment for awhile now and has been wanting to learn how to work with it. So apparently for the past few days he’s researched and read up on leather and such, and yesterday was his day to put his knowledge to use. He cut and measured and cut and measured and then wandered into the hallway with his dremel. Yep the dremel. Leather scraping tools are too expensive so he very carefully dremeled his leather down to half its original thickness because this particular leather was intended for upholstery so is too thick for things like wallets.

When the leather was the right thickness he painstakingly poked holes to sew through and stitched the leather together. It’s looking pretty cool but he realized that the top slot where the credit cards go, doesn’t hold credit cards. Just a tiny bit too small. Such is the price of experiments, but it’s been totally worth it he says.

And Sara, wondering what the high pitched whine was, came up and took advantage of the leatha. Nothing like a little cowhide against the skin.

The second interesting thing that happened yesterday was Jeff got a phone call from the North Carolina job opportunity! He’s the lead candidate of three finalists so they’re going to fly him to New York tomorrow (fly? it’s three hours away!) to see the showroom and inspect the line of furniture, and then it’ll be off to North Carolina in the next week or two. We’re so glad to know just a little bit more. The waiting gets crazy.

Anyway, I’m off to get some practicing done!

Spam. I hate spam. Is it really worth someone’s time to concoct greater and greater measures to annoy the general population? Is it really that thrilling to inundate some stranger’s blog with fake comments and rambling web addresses? Someone enlighten me.

On a different note, we had a very lovely weekend. Calm, peaceful, nowhere to go, nobody to see. We did whatever the heck struck our fancy. Since I only have to work half days on Friday during the summer (hooray for being employed by higher education!) we used Friday after noon to consolidate our “summer fun” efforts. Since we wanted to enjoy the great outdoors and eat ice cream, we ran the three miles to the end of the pedestrian trail, bought ice cream, and ate it walking home. Ice cream never tastes better than when you feel just a little guilty eating it. Saturday and Sunday weren’t too  much different - did chores, lounged, practiced, read and read and read, checked out movies from the library - wonderful things.

This morning Jeff rode the bus all the way to work with me and we sat and had coffee for a while. He’s visited me at work in the summer before, but not on a day when I’m the only one in the office. As we were sitting there, alone and quiet (in the sub-zero temperatures, we both kept our coats on), he looks at me and says “So, um, on days like this, what exactly do you do all day?” And I felt calm and secure knowing I have a new sympathizer in my glassy-eyed “office babysitter” syndrome. But to answer the question, I surf the internet. I have my blogs to peruse, my news to inspect, and new recipes to find. And I read. I read Jane Austen, I read Alexandre Dumas, I read terribly boring books on democracy and American individualism. And I try to impart a schedule in my day by having tea at 9:30, lunch at noon, and an afternoon wander over to the neighboring office. Schedule gives me purpose. Before July is out, I’ll have to start a crafty project (knitting leg warmers for sitting at my desk?) to keep my spirits up. Occasionally I’ll have a work-related task, but no amount of stretching makes the task last beyond an hour or two. So that’s what I do all day. My job is excruciating, I know.

Ha! You thought my birthday was done last week, didn’t you? Don’t you worry, this girl knows how to milk a celebration for all it’s worth. So Monday was the “sing happy birthday and blow out candles” celebration. Jeff made an amazing cake all afternoon and our housemates brought various food and we ate and we talked and we laughed. It was great.

Check out Jeff’s baking skills -he made a three layer chocolate cake with frosting in the middle and perfectly sculpted sides. I make cupcakes.

Yay! It’s still my birthday!

Perhaps the highlight of the evening was when Jesse expostulated on the importance of Rhianna’s song “Umbrella” and his careful explanation of a “pimp chalice” (see image below), which I’m still not entirely sure I’m clear on. To be exact, I’m not entirely certain I understand said chalice’s purpose. On second thought, it’s probably better that way.

Oooh! And I got a 30 minute massage from Tabitha!! I’m going to wait until I’m good and stressed so I can get the maximum benefits=). After Monday was over, I thought my birthday was done, fini. But then I got a card in the mail Wednesday and am expecting another package next week. This is great! We should have birthdays more often.

Until next time.

To recap, we were instructed to write a short bio for mingling purposes on Saturday. You tell me to write a short bio? I will give you a complete story. So, of course, it was way too long and nobody really read it, but it was cute and I had fun doing it, so, also of course, you guys get to read it.  And although most of you know the brief history of our lives, some of you don’t, so it might be informative. So there you go.

Meet Teegan. As a child, Teegan was quiet, adorable, and very studious. Meet Jeff. As a child, Jeff was hell on wheels. He did whatever he wanted and managed to spend his entire year of kindergarten in the principal’s office. Jeff and Teegan had very little to do with each other. Until high school. Jeff and Teegan played high school tennis. Teegan still thought Jeff was hell on wheels but thought it was kind of charming. Jeff thought Teegan wasn’t too bad either. And they fell in love over Gatorades and conversation at the gas station on the top of the hill. This was in Kearney, Nebraska. A year later, they went to Colorado for college. Jeff got his degree in Industrial Design at the Art Institute. Teegan got a degree in English at Colorado Christian University. Part way through college Jeff asked Teegan to marry him. So he did, and they were married right after graduation. Their first years of marriage were spent in a tiny town in Kansas where they worked for a luxury furniture design firm. Teegan wrote copy for marketing and public relations. Jeff made lighting. Although Kansas was a riot, they decided to strike out east. Jeff got accepted to RISD’s master’s program and Teegan tried to find a job writing copy to little success. With bills calling, Teegan took a position in the Office of Student Conduct at Providence College, which is an excellent conversation starter. Two years later, Jeff graduated, and Jeff and Teegan are waiting for the heaven’s to declare their next adventure. Teaching in Rhode Island? A job in North Carolina? They can’t wait to find out.

So the job in North Carolina thing. About that. One day Jeff was browsing jobs online and came across a post for a designer for Baker furniture (the furniture division of Kohler faucets). Two things struck his fancy: it wasn’t in New York City, Chicago, or LA; and he was well qualified for the position. He gave me a call, I looked at it and one thing struck my fancy: it wasn’t in New York City, Chicago, or LA. So he applied and he’s been interviewing for it for almost two months. He’s had three phone interviews, taken a personality test, just completed a lengthy assignment, and is waiting for the final response. If they like his stuff, they’ll fly him down, he’ll have to give a presentation, then they’ll take him out back and strip search him and make him take a lie detector test. Not really about the strip search and lie detector test, but it feels that extensive. So we’ll keep you posted!

And for the addendum on yesterday’s post, scroll down to the second to last paragraph on the Shafrika! post. I forgot the most important moment that completed Saturday’s adventure!

(picture from Broadwayworld.com. You can read the article here.)

I just read the last post and must apologize profusely for the mixed up jumbled confusion of paragraph two. There was a lot of ’splainin going on and clarity didn’t seem to be priority number one. Ah well. Such it is in the world of self-indulgent blogging.

So, the weekend. New York. Shafrika.To begin, we found out the the professor and his girlfriend are now married. So I can use clearer modifiers like husband and wife, which is helpful. It would also be helpful to give you all some background. If any of you know my mom, my mom and the wife would have been best friends in high school and college. They would’ve burned bras together, marched in protests, and demanded the right for women to wear pants in the workplace. They would’ve sunbathed at concerts, never cut their hair, and been angry at Nixon. But while my mom was hitchhiking to Colorado, the wife was adopting babies from all over the world. She was molding the perfect American melting pot where tolerance and diversity would be on display. And six adopted and four birthed children later, she had a complete family. Everything would be beautiful and lovely in this theoretical relationship between my mom and the wife, until their early 30’s when my mom jumps the bra burning ship and switches teams. Today, if we put the two of them together, it would quickly degenerate into a melange of personal insults and demeaning jabs at each other’s intelligence displayed such intensity and vigor you’d think they were campaigning for their very lives. But still, they’re so very much alike it weirds me out.

Anyway, the show. The show was a musical and was the autobiographical account of Anika, the first child who was birthed by the wife. She recounts what it’s like to be “the white girl” of the family and how having black brothers and sisters changes how she interacts with the world. I thought the musical did a great job touching on all the shades of racism and asked some good questions. Since Anika was telling her story, we got a lot of insight into the wife’s life and  the musical did a fantastic job with the touchy parts of the story - jail time for one of the kids, divorce, those sorts of things. Anika also has a phenomenal voice and the acting was awesome so it was definitely a treat.  Oh and did I mention that we didn’t have to do a thing? That there was a bus and we had three full meals and endless beer and wine? Yeah, pretty awesome. But the thing that sealed the deal, that clinched the clincher, was when we all gleefully sang We Shall Overcome (with an additional verse that the wife had made up long ago) at the top of our lungs on the bus ride home. And somewhere, somebody laid down their hate and hugged a person from a different race. Such is the power of that song.

Oh we did have to write a bio for the mingling on the bus purposes. Which I had a fun time doing, but I think I’ll share it with you tomorrow as it includes a bit of news I haven’t shared with a few of my blog readers yet =).
See you tomorrow!

Good morning, world. You look so much different now that I’m the big 2-6. The birthday festivities of yesterday catapulted me into the age of maturity, wisdom, and knowledge that is known as the mid-twenties. Ha! Right. Yesterday was truly a lovely day. Sara brough up some gorgeous flowers and a breakfast snacks and then we grabbed Jeff and our other neighbor Tabitha to go to a late breakfast at Julian’s. I had arugula, tomato, basil and goat cheese hash. Lord Almighty was it good. Then Jeff took me to Pixar’s new movie, Up. I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob. Then with dinner at Providence’s Italian District on Federal Hill, and dessert at Pastiche, I was a happy, satiated woman. Not to mention I’ve gotten a box or card in the mail everyday this week, so I’ve had a perfectly celebrated birthweek.

But! The piece de resistance of yesterday was a little certain phone call from one of Jeff’s professors. This is the same professor that let us stay in his cabin in Vermont last year and has the grad students over a couple times a year. One of his girlfriend’s daughters is a playwright in New York and is performing one of her plays off Broadway. So his girlfriend has chartered a bus, invited all her friends to fill it, and is driving everyone to the city to watch her daughter’s play. She’s also catering the meals, taking care of the tickets, and has arranged it so everyone can meet the cast. Her boyfriend (the professor) called Jeff to inform him that a couple of people couldn’t make it and invited us to go instead. Um, yeah, of course! So tomorrow we’re taking a chartered bus to an off-broadway show and enjoying catered meals on the way. So excited! This is the play we’ll be seeing:

The professor’s girlfriend adopted nine kids from all over the world, so the daughter wrote a play about it. And as the girlfriend remarked “What would you do if your daughter wrote a play about you raising her? Rent a bus and invite your friends”. Sounds like it has great potential for being awesome.

So anyway, I’ll let you know how it goes and I hope you all have a great weekend!

I am really terrible at practical jokes. Awful. I either give it away before the jokes been had, or I give it away while the joke is being had. It makes me feel really really bad watching someone squirm in discomfort, akwardness, or inner turmoil at a something I personally concocted and implemented. Jeff, on the other hand, is the master schemer. He plans, he schemes until he has a brilliant plan worked out in the minutest detail so that everything is pulled off in such style and grace that he’s had me convinced he’s missed his calling as a con man. So, when our downstairs neighbor, Sara, off-handedly mentioned that her fiance, Jesse, hated horses, Jeff, in his evil mastermind, thought it would be a perfect idea to give Sara and Jesse a romantic evening at a local ranch, complete with trail rides and horse training for their wedding present, which of course would be done with the sole intent to make Jesse squirm and feel uncomfortable while accepting this seemingly generous gift. Sigh. Sorry Jesse.

See, normally, I would quietly side step my way out of this picture knowing that this sort of thing isn’t my sort of thing. But, in order for it to be good, real, tangible, Jeff needed a copy writer. And copy write I did. We needed a gift certificate, a letter, and an itinerary for this honeymoon getaway with as much emphasis and horse paraphernalia as possible, and we had ten days while Sara and Jesse were in Wisconsin getting hitched. So I picked out a ranch in western Rhode Island, took a few things off their website, wrote up some stuff, and Jeff layed it all out on professional letterhead and everything. It was a thing of beauty. Since we put a lot of effort into it, I couldn’t resist sharing it with you. Unfortunately due to the size of the blog layout, it didn’t quite work to insert the actual formatting that Jeff did, so here’s just the copy, with the name and information of the actual ranch omitted out to protect the innocent, of course.

This was the gift certificate blurb. Jeff had it with an official authorization number and signature of the “ranch manager”:

<Insert ranch name here with a possessive apostrophe ’s’> honeymoon getaways are the perfect retreat for you, the love of your life, and your love for horses. This all inclusive honeymoon package treats you and your love to a romantic weekend of horseback riding through the beautiful Arcadia park, freshwater swimming, decadent meals and a relaxing evening at the Ranch in our honeymoon suite. You will also get the rare treat to a first class horse care workshop by our trained staff, which will give you a glimpse and first-hand experience at the ins and outs of maintaining your very own horse, and teaches you the skills you need to provide a clean and comfortable barn for your equine friends.

Then, of course, we needed a letter from the ranch that expressed their knowledge of their arrival and the planned itinerary for their stay, which was awesome.

<Insert Ranch Name Here>

<Insert Ranch address here>

West Greenwich, RI 02817

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Marsh:

Congratulations on your wedding! We are excited that your friends have chosen <insert ranch name here> as your honeymoon destination. We hope that your stay will be a memorable way to start many years of marital bliss.

Enclosed you will find an itinerary for your stay. We have you scheduled to arrive Saturday, July 11^th and leaving the evening of the 12^th. If you have any questions or concerns, please give us a call at <insert ranch phone number here>. You can also visit our website at <insert actual ranch web address here> for directions and to find out what we’re about.

We look forward to your stay.

Sincerely,

Seth Tolstedt

Ranch Manager

Jeff, of course, made up the ranch manager’s name, and created his signature. Sounds so believable, huh. And then, the itinerary.

Itinerary and Information:

Saturday

Upon your arrival, you will get a tour of the facilities and get to know your horse. Your horse has been specially chosen for you according to your level of riding expertise. Should you have any problems during the course of your weekend stay, we will make sure to accommodate you with a fresh equine companion.

Late morning, you will begin your workshop with a professional horse trainer. You will get hands-on experience with grooming, saddling, and riding your horse.

After a hearty lunch, you’ll embark upon a 3-hour trail riding adventure with an experienced trail guide. He or she will provide you with the necessary tips and tricks to ride like a professional.

At your return, you’ll receive a quick lesson how to clean and cool down your horse, as well as brief instruction how to care for your horse’s stall.

Once your horse is ready for the night, head on over to the Ranch mess hall for a romantic dinner for the two of you and our other ranch guests.

Sunday

We’ll rise and shine early for a campfire breakfast before you hit the trail. Your trail guide will meet you at the stalls and will observe you, and help as necessary, prepare your horses.

Your morning will be spent riding through Arcadia Management Area and will end at Browning Mill Pond where your trail guide will leave you to enjoy a lovely picnic lunch.

You are welcome to return to the ranch at your leisure.

Upon your return, make sure to cool down your horse and prepare the stall as your weekend will be drawing to a close.

Things to know to prepare for your trip:

* Riding experience is helpful, but if you are in need of assistance, our experienced trail guides will be happy to help.

* You must supply your own sleeping bags and toiletries.

* Please bring clothes suitable to horseback riding and barn maintenance. Jeans are a must, long sleeves are preferred, and boots are available for rent.

* Also bring a hat to shade from sun and protect against ticks during the summer months.

* This gift certificate is non-refundable and must be used within 90 days of issuance.

Jeff put it on some nice card stock, sealed it all with wax, and then we got the whole house in on it. We wrote a little note and all signed the card. It was evil. So upon Sara and Jesse’s return, having had only a few hours of sleep from an early flight, we piled into their apartment and excitedly told Jesse to open his gift. Which he did, and read the whole thing outloud saying things like “Oh my gosh, you guys, is this for real?!” and “Are you serious?” and exclaiming how “Wow” the whole thing was. While Sara, who knew it was a prank, was nearly having a coronary from containing her laughter. When he read through the whole thing, I couldn’t handle it too much longer and explained that it was fake. And then Jesse breathed a sigh of relief and revealed that the last time he was on a horse he was 8 and cried the whole time. And he was hoping that the ranch would provide helmets.

So ends my first successful prank. But I’m not sure if I can do it again. Watching Jesse try to be excited while knowing that he was secretly dreading his weekend of bliss, was more squirming than I care to do for a while.

My friends, I don’t think I’ve seen so much rain in my life. It has rained and rained and rained. Mr. Sun came and visited for a Saturday here and there in the past month, but it’s been a long time since he’s come to stay. Personally, I’m not opposed to rain or cloudy days, but a little summer sunshine would go a long way about now. And, it might stop all the complaining about the weather. I am personally opposed to that.

We’ve been trying all week to shift gears back to normal, but it’s been a pretty rough transition. I wake up every day thinking that it’s Friday, Jeff lays in bed debating whether or not he’s going to take the bus with me until 7:25 when it’s too late to shower and get ready anyway, and we spend our evenings eating off of paper plates and watching Wipe Out online. And my middle name has been ‘flaky’. Teegan Flaky Nordhues. I think I’ve dropped my cell phone, left my check book, forgotten phone calls, missed buses, been caught daydreaming, more this week than any other time in recent history. Perhaps it’s time for me to engage. And I think my landlord and the natural gas and electrical companies would agree.

So, on the blog agenda in the next couple of days: recital footage (hopefully!) and the brilliantly coordinated efforts of the latest practical joke on our downstairs neighbor. Stay tuned!

By the time graduation was over, I promptly checked out. I stopped making food. I stopped taking pictures. I fell asleep in strange places and positions in the back mini-vans. I was spent. So the pictorial aspect of the rest of our guests’ stay, relies heavily on pictures I’ve filched from other family members.

Sunday after graduation, my parents left on a 7 a.m. flight and Jeff’s family stayed to do some sightseeing. High on the list of priorities Sunday was to get Jeff’s little brother Greg to Newport to play tennis on the grass courts. He joined a round robin tournament and we stayed to watch him for a while. He sported an ear to ear grin that said “Ok, sitting through the recital was worth it. Sitting through a four hour graduation was worth it. Talking to strangers for hours and hours was worth it. I’m going to be ok.” While he played for a few hours, the rest of us went to go get chowda at the Black Pearl (delicious!) and wander. When Greg was finished we piled the seven of us into the mini van and headed to Beavertail Lighthouse and Park in Jamestown. Since it’s beautiful and I don’t have any pictures, here’s a website for you to check it out. It was absolutely freezing and started to rain and Jeff had grades due the next day, so we didn’t stay long.

Monday was Boston. Everybody but me headed to Boston early because I had the pleasure of getting my yearly doctor’s check up and a tetanus shot in the morning. Which turned into a heckuvan ordeal when, after my shot, I made it to the elevator to leave and promptly turned hot and clammy and barely made it to a chair before I passed out. Awesome. So after laying with my feet in the air for awhile, I felt better, ate some lunch and hopped a train to meet the crew. I got to Boston just in time for the hahbuh cruise, which took us past the U.S.S Constitution and gave us a good view of all the historical pieces of the Boston skyline. I love hahbuh cruises.

This is Jeff and I waiting for the boat to arrive:

Jeff’s friend John then marched us all over God’s cemented creation showing us the Boston sights, and we had a lovely dinner at Legal Seafoods. This was the day I decided I love Boston. It’s charming and beautiful, and far more peaceful than our New York experience was. Still don’t think I could live there, but I plan to take more time exploring this summer.

We got home pretty late Monday night and Jeff’s family said their goodbyes since their flight was early Tuesday. Greg stayed with us through Saturday doing manly things with Jeff - tennis, climbing, science museums. Teegan, of course, worked.

All told, it was a wonderful time. We were so thankful our family came out to celebrate with us! Now, our lives seem colorless and uninteresting and blogging about how my office is registering a temperature of 62 degrees seems unworthy of your attention. But once the shine wears off, no doubt I’ll find the little things interesting again =).