Archive for the ‘play’ Category

terrific weekend

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Got to Knoxville around 8pm Friday and met up with Sonja for dinner at Patrick Sullivan’s. Quickly followed with Sierra Nevadas and some patio conversation at Backroom. Then back to my place for scotch on the patio – nice to meet you Derrick.


Slept until 2pm Saturday (a perfectly respectable 8 hours). A day packed with errands and heroic accomplishment of the mudane. Went to Aaron’s in the evening for billiard’s (boo – I’m terrible), Rook (thanks to grandpa I should put this on my resume), and general silliness.


Sunday – to Concord Marina for a trip on Michael’s boat to catch up with Aaron, Al, Leslie and some new folks. Feeling left out, I jumped in the lake with everyone else – praying the vintage dress recovers. Afterward: truly delicious food including my submissions of crab claws, feta-n-spinach stuffed mushrooms, brie with asian pear, honey, and cracked pepper, and seared tuna (pseudo-recipe at bottom). Additionally – tho not by my hand – tomato salad, potatoes, and bbq chicken and corn from the grill. A feast. More cards, the camel walk, and lots of laughter. Having a face that ached from laughing all night made sleeping on a couch with no pillow and a tiny blanket seem like my kinda problem. Up the next morning to cook breakfast and watch movies (a strange film fest of Super Troopers, Up, and District 9). A perfect lazy-with-friends follow up to all the action. Finally, one last cookout before we had to declare the holiday weekend over.


I was a bit sad to drive off to return to the cubicle on Tuesday. But at least genius totally surprised me and picked Perfect Day to ease the trip.


In a skillet: shake some soy sauce, use a garlic press to crush a few cloves, rip a handful of cilantro, squeeze most of a lime, and crack a bit of pepper. Add a big hunk of sushi-grade tuna and press the mixture into both sides. (If you don’t take precautions here, your hands will smell like garlic for a few days – even the stainless steel trick was no cure for me.) Store it in the fridge to soak up the goodness while everything else cooks. Ready? Take the tuna outta the pan so that you can get the skillet hot hot – then cook the fish quickly – seared outside, rare inside. Cut the tuna thin and layer on a plate with avocado slices. You can slice the lime and throw that on the side of the dish too. I hadn’t tried this before but it turned out great and I will be enjoying it again soon. It’s all about the cilantro and avocado, so if you are one of those who thinks cilantro tastes like detergent, read the article below so you feel better and skip this dish.

soapy spice

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Dispatches: Ice Bears

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

pregame at downtown grill and brewery.
at 5:51

sheer madness after the second period. everyone was on the ice takin it all off and throwin down.
at 9:22pm



why are we skating 4 on 3? because that is the total number of players on each team not in the penalty box.
at 9:49pm

and the game ends with 10 minutes to go: fayetteville only has 2 players left. final score: ice bears victory 9-4
at 10:06pm

postgame at downtown grill and brewery.
at 10:30pm

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What a Happy Day!

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Got to sleep in. My luggage finally returned from Chile (thanks to some guy that doesn’t speak English e-mailing the address on my baggage tag to say the suitcase was in Santiago and did I want it. Absolutely nothing to do with the weeks worth of frustration on my part trying to talk the airlines into giving it back.). Went to the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge from some atom age fun, to be remembered later with an awesome Manhattan Project patch and astronaut ice cream. And then Razzleberry’s Ice Cream Lab for homemade scoops. Ended with a long meandering drive home through the less traveled parts of Knoxville.

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turn to the left

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

lovin dior’s spring – it’s as if he asked amy sedaris, dolly parton, and scarlett o’hara to consult on the line.


dior elle

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South American Saga

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

I am home. My budget was blown, my luggage (and my business casual wardrobe) was lost, and my trip was an utter fail. But with all that went wrong I still feel lucky. News comes in from Chile, people are still waiting to get out of Santiago, and many are trying to get in to reunite with families. I understand that my problems are nothing comparatively. It’s difficult to find a balance between properly respecting the tragedy and telling the crazy tale of the-mba-trip-that-never-was.


Like many others, my plane to Santiago u-turned very close to our final destination, stranding me in an airport for hours with a dozen+ mbas and thousands of frantic worried travelers. The language barrier was a nightmare. My flight schedule was Atlanta to Lima to Santiago. In my time zone: 5pm Friday to 3am Saturday. At 1:30, an 8.8 earthquake rocked Chile, killing hundreds, displacing over a million, and shifting the earth’s axis. A few hours after leaving Peru, I was back in the airport looking for information, a suitcase, and a way outta there. This was the beginning of a horrible relationship with the airlines. I wandered the airport for about 12 hours until we were given a hotel room to wait in until decisions could be made. Basically, the Santiago airport was closed into the foreseeable future, the mbas were stranded and completely confused, and the locals and our families in the US were desperate. Meanwhile, joe worked at home to find me a flight.


I was told my luggage was never in the system and no one would be able to find it. I left the Lima airport in miserable shape (prior to my trip, I had slept 4 out of 48 hours thanks to finals week) and desperate for a bed and a shower. Many, many calls later (and Joe’s trip to the Knoxville airport) things begin to work out. From the hotel, at 6pm Saturday, I found out i would be flying Lima to Atlanta Monday at 1am. I spent the evening with 3 other mbas (Mark, Brian, Sally Rose) in Miraflores in Lima. I managed to buy some clothes and get a shower and a short nap. The hotel provided a dinner buffet of Peruvian fare accompanied by traditional music and dance. Then an hour by the rooftop pool with an excellent view of the city and some time to calmly reflect on what was going on around me. And then I slept for 11 hours in what felt like the softest bed imaginable. I am so thankful for this 16 hours in between the days of airport madness. Because everything was so stressful, it was difficult to get in the moment and enjoy the city. But I am happy that I had this experience and that I took a risk and left the airport. And really thankful that I was able to get back in and on a plane the next day.


Sunday, I left the hotel at 10am in order to get back to the airport and to the luggage office that closed at noon. A nice cab ride over along the coast made me optimistic. Sadly, I spent hours talking to everyone in the airport remotely associated with luggage. The airport baggage office pointed to the airlines. LAN and Delta each blamed each other and bounced me back and forth. Finally, I was told to wait until 10pm when the Delta office opened. With 9 hours until i would be able to get any help and 12 hours until my flight, I hit the lounge for a Pisco Sour. Then dinner at McDonalds (couldn’t resist). About this time, I started to get a little stir crazy. I was in a huge space surrounded by a ton of people, all speaking a different language and felt utterly alone. So back to the lounge, another Pisco Sour. I met some Canadian girls from my future flight and we wasted time until Delta opened – they with stories of a 6 month trek through south america and me with my shitty airport fiasco.


The place I had been pointed at to get a boarding pass and find my bag – the office i had waited for? Still no clue what that door went to because it never opened. So I went down to Delta’s check in counter to find a huge queue snaking through the airport. I got in hoping they would be able to print my weird-ordered-from-some-lady-at-knox-airport-not-sure-this-is-gonna-work boarding pass. Luckily, the line went quickly. They started printing my ticket and looking for my luggage. No they didn’t have my bag, LAN must have it, maybe it never left Atlanta, no LAN has it, oh they don’t have it, oh here in the computer its in Fort Lauderdale and when I land I should fill out a claim in Atlanta. At this point: please just give me a ticket. I got a seat request that could be turned into a boarding pass at the gate. I quickly stifled the panic – nothing had worked so far, how could I possibly think there would be a seat on this airplane? Less than two hours until takeoff and I still had no boarding pass?! Then I get through security and find myself at the gate. with pat, senor-mba-airport-horror-story, and what does he have? the same kinda seat request – I felt doomed.


Both of us found our way onto the plane: sore, tired, and stinking, yet victorious. And after an uneventful ride back, I landed in Atlanta at 8am Monday. And there was Joe – my hero. He rented a car and drove to Atlanta to pick me up and take me home. Atlanta airport claimed my luggage was sitting in Lima still and I should fill out a claim ticket at the Knoxville airport so that i don’t have to drive back to Atlanta when my bags find their way. Taxi to the hotel where my car was parked and then finally, really, I felt like I was headed home. Drove to Knox airport where Joe had parked and spent more time looking for that damn suitcase. LAN wouldn’t fill out a claim because Delta checked the bag originally; Delta wouldn’t because LAN had accepted me as a passenger and that meant accepting my bag. The best guess is that the suitcase is sitting in some dungeon in Lima waiting with thousands of other bags to get sent to Santiago where they will be sorted at some point. Some point far away, after the Santiago airport opens, after everyone’s bags makes it there, and probably long after my strange baggage claim from Knoxville Delta working through Miami LAN is misplaced or misunderstood. That lost luggage is probably a lost cause.


Now, I am at home with the best husband, back in touch with friends and family through the miracle of cell phones and internet, a dog who wont leave my side, a bed shaped like me with my favorite blanket, water that won’t make me sick, and almost two weeks of freedom until school demands me back. Lucky indeed.


Days later, we are still celebrating my safe return. And laughing about this last little bit of the trip:
we are broke-ass-broke and drinking from a $200 bottle of scotch. Blue label is described at bottom of blends section:
johnnie walker
And here’s the story on that one:
When it became clear that i was stuck in the airport and needed to run all over the place with an extremely heavy shoulder carry-on bag, I went on a hunt for the cheapest carry-on sized bag with wheels. The lowest I could find was $300. But then at the duty free store I found a rollie that was free with the purchase of $220 worth of Johnnie Walker products. So of course I chose the option where I saved $80 and got $220 of free whiskey. Since I had to shop according to customs limitations on bringing back booze: one bottle. I wound up with a bottle of blue label to bring home and a bottle of red label to leave with the 3 mbas staying in Lima.
Just so you know it tastes like silk in a woodfire.


total time from knoxville to knoxville = 72 hours
time of it in a car/bus = 10 hours
time of it in an airplane = 18 hours
time of it in an airport = 29 hours
time of it exploring actual foreign city = 15 hours

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Ze Enfant Tarzhay

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Interested to see what Gaultier can really do with a Target line. After some disappointment with previous designers, it could go either way. It’s all about the fabric so higher pricepoints could save what should be fabulous from sloppy itchy messes. Debuts 03/01 and I will be out of the country. The past collaborations – Anna Sui, Alexander McQueen, and Rodarte – have all looked great and had a nice variety but the materials and fit have been horrible due to having to stay in Target’s price range. Fingers crossed they have figured this out by now….


gaultier target

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In Retrospect

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Because folks are still asking me what is the big deal with McQueen…a very short video.


mcqueen youtube



The things that speak to me are his mastery of both grace and edginess, an ability to speak of Dior and noir in a single breath, the address of the gothic and the modern – a reference to the past and the future, femininity, theatre, fear, empowerment, and of course, serious respect for a fabulous hat.

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Birthday Fun

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Celebrated in suite 7 with Joe, Azad and Mark.

And then to Backroom.

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Weekend Downtown

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

After a nice breakfast at Market Square Kitchen, settling in for paper writing at Old City Java.

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Fall Break

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

I had a great extended weekend and it came at a critical point – I needed some time off.

Highlights included:

Shopping at Sanctuary Vintage – this great store is closing and everything was 75% off. In addition to some cute slips and several dresses, I bought an Alfred Werber gown that is now the most lovely thing in my closet. Joe picked up some suits including a daring blue western-y leisure suit and some wild plaid.

A yummy crepe and chocolate croissant from The French Market with Sonja. Later, we went to see Where the Wild Things Are which was beautiful and sad and dangerous and sweet.

I got to do a bit of cooking as well over the long weekend which was awesome. I love making food and it has been sad that I haven’t felt the motivation or had the time since I started the MBA. It was so nice to be slicing and grilling and spicing and taste-testing again. Dishes included:
red curry soup with noodles and shrimp served with salmon cakes and remoulade.
jonah crab claws with melted butter and lemon and sea salt – simple but effective.
chocolate gelato with fresh raspberries – this wasn’t really cooking, of course, but had to be mentioned.
tuna steaks grilled inside potato slices with olive oil, fresh dill, lemon, garlic, pepper and pink australian salt served with caramelized onions and walnuts and curried deviled eggs – the spicy tumeric-y mustard of the eggs was so good with the other dishes.

A pile of spooky movies – this is a household tradition when the Halloween season rolls around. There won’t be a party this year because I will be at a conference in California the last weekend of the month so we are just going to celebrate right up until I leave.

A very nice date with Joe to Sobu: wine and sake and asparagus rolled in new york strip and diced saucy tuna over seaweed salad and coconut-crab maki and eel-california maki and creme brulee and raspberry cheesecake – shared and delighted in. Some much needed sweetheart time

zzzzzzzz = the best part of the break was momentarily dispelling the sleep-deprivation.

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