The Sweatshop of Love Blog

I’m barely awake right now. Having just gotten done with my inbox, I don’t have the energy to do this right, but just to set it up for tomorrow, I’m a huge failure.

I set some straightforward goals for this weekend:

1) Finish my sock.

No. I’m close! But no cigar. Not a lot of knitting time this weekend. You just can’t knit and throw a bocce ball at the same time.

2) Finish The Hours. No. Brought it, didn’t even open it. I’ve still got 18 pages left. Pathetic, really.

3) Tigers at 25/18. Yes! Actually, they are at 25/18, though I can’t really take this as me winning. I’m reminded almost daily that I have no effect on baseball, no matter how much I try not to curse them.

4) Gain four pounds. Weight upon arrival? 135.1. Weight upon leaving? 138.2. Failure, though those 3.1 pounds are for sure rumbling in my tummy tonight. I’m glad there are only 3.1 of them to gurgle.

Full report tomorrow, when I will be in Portion-Control, No Dessert land.

Eat your heart out, New Wave. Actually, don’t, because I will be seeing you in like 4 hours. Actually, I don’t even know what ‘eat your heart out’ means. Bygons.

I set up the card table on the porch and, as you can see, I’m enjoying a big salad, the sunshine, the fresh air, and working! Right now all I can thinking about is the Peanut Butter Cup and Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream in my freezer that wouldn’t be a temptation if I were at New Wave, but still. There isn’t a cloud in the sky. I’m rocking my outfit of choice this summer, the wife beater/skirt combo, and feeling good.

Ok I just got some ice cream.

Last night Mother Nature appologized to us about the last two games we tried to go to by handing us the nicest baseball night yet. It was so warm I got a waffel cone. My hands didn’t need to be hidden away in mittens so I turned the heel on my second sock.

The Twins did not have a good night. PT’s face says it all.

(Yes, the Tigers won. I know that is what you were really concerned about.)

Despite the loss, the anti Detroit sentiment (so I wore my Tigers shirt! Whatevs), we had a great night. Anytime you can see a ballgame without getting wet/hypothermia, it is a great time.

I feel like I haven’t taught in a long time! Group class tonight, then Pattern Reading 101 tomorrow night, then we are off to Michigan for the Memorial Day weekend. My mom is texting me up a storm, my grandpa already has our Friday planned, starting off with a big breakfast at The Peppermill, followed by baking. Snickerdoodles and carrot cake, to be exact. The forecast is looking great for little Allendale; upper 60s, lower 70s and sunny through Monday, which is what we need considering we will be residing in a tent in the front yard. But, anytime you can sleep in a tent without getting wet/hypothermia, it is a great time.

That said, Allendale=dial up internet connection=no Allyson till next week. My goals for the weekend? Finish sock, finish The Hours, the Tigers at 25/18, gain 4 pounds. I can do it!

Have a great long weekend, blog friends.

In an effort to be more productive this afternoon/not be depressed, I’ve decided to get out. I don’t know what the deal is lately; I get home from work between 1:10-1:30, make some lunch, do some cooking, sit to do some work on my computer and at 3:30-4:00 I hit a wall. Why am I sitting at home? Why aren’t I a) working a real job? b) trying harder to be a real person? c) at least cleaning the bathroom? d) standing on a street corner begging for students? e) being MORE.

The funny thing is that I do a lot. I never turn the tv on in the afternoons unless there is a baseball game to watch. I’m pretty dedicated to this blog, I do a lot of writing and reading and cooking. I plan classes and write patterns. I’m not sitting watching Maury. I guess when you are kind of self employed not feeling like you do enough comes with the territory. I could always be doing more. There are always things I mean to do but still don’t get around to, even with all the time I have to do everything. I think everyone feels that way, though.

So, here I am at New Wave Coffee, where I teach most of my classes. It is good to be with people and not just with the cats (sorry Pudge and Velma). It is good to have an excuse to keep my clothes on. And it is good to have an excuse to sit at a table, at the computer, a notebook open next to me, my planner open next to me, and feel on the ball.

Feeling pretty pretentious, though. PT let me borrow his fancy new Mac because my old lady doesn’t have wireless internet connection, so I’m sitting here with PT’s Mac, listening to my Ipod, however old and refurbished, blogging. The only thing missing is my black rimmed glasses, Threadless t-shirt, and pink leggings. My friend Nomi came in a bit ago and we are sharing a table out of necessity; I was lucky enough to snag this table just as someone was leaving. She spotted the Mac and grazed it lovingly with her hand.

“Oh is this the new one? Its so nice.”

“Oh it isn’t mine!” I was quick to point out. “It is Pat Tracy’s. He let me borrow it.”

“Wow,” she awed. “He must really like you.”

Seriously. Only 1% of all laptop owners have Macs, which I find hard to believe considering I look around New Wave and all I see are Macs. I can safely say I will never own one, I’m just not that high of a roller. I hope to always be dating a boy with one, though.

Thanks to Mark Bittman, PT and I made this amazing meal last night. Mussels and homemade linguine in spicy garlic sauce. We pretty much just made the recipe up, but if it hadn’t been for Mark, we would have just eaten out of the fridge. Mussels are only like $2.99 a pound! Who knew? This was one of the most expensive meals we have ever made, and it cost under $8 for both of us, and PT’s lunch today.

So, here I am at New Wave. I’ve emailed everyone that needs to be emailed. I’ve written this blog. Now for the real work. I’m writing a book. That is right. I’m sitting in a coffee shop, writing a book on my boyfriend’s fancy Mac. GOD. If the 15 year old Allyson could see me right now, all skinny and cool. The 15 year old Allyson, still 180 pounds and zitty, never having had a boyfriend, living in the woods of Allendale, MI, would lose her shit.

Yesterday PT and I got up early and biked downtown to check out the new modern wing at The Art Institute. It has been a LONG time coming and we were both really excited that it was finally ready for visitors!

We biked down Monroe towards the Art Institute and right away we saw something we had never seen before; people were walking on the bridge over Monroe, connecting Millennium Park with The Art Institute! We parked our bikes and were immediately greeted by people from Target with chips, water bottles, and pamphlets about the new wing. Target was sponsoring the opening weekend festivities, including free admission, and the chips were a delicious snack.

We walked through the doors and into this gigantic room! It opened at 10:30, we got there at about 10:35 and this picture was taken at maybe 10:42. I think all of Chicago was as pumped as we were because the place was packed, and this is as empty as we would see it.

We worked our way through the first floor, which was where the featured exhibits were. By the time we got upstairs and to this balcony, opposite the entrance where the first inside picture was taken, it was hard to move around comfortably, there were so many people there. We didn’t mind.

We were here checking out some free art!

Mom – LOTS of Picasso.

To say that the setting for The Modern Wing is distracting isn’t right. ‘Distracting’ has a negative connotation that I certainly don’t mean. The way that all the outer walls are all glass keeps reminding you where you are. You are between the beautiful and historic Grant Park and the biggest rooftop garden in the country, Millennium Park. Both parks are between Lake Michigan and the breathtaking Chicago skyline. Why would you want to have walls when you can see these unique landmarks and monuments all the time?

My favorite part of the Modern Wing was the Architecture and Design exhibits, naturally. I loved this display of chairs and lamps.

I really wanted to sit on that wire chair. It can’t possibly be functional, right? And I’m pretty sure I’m going to try to give my wall blue felt cancer sometime very soon.

While we were looking for the balcony and the bridge we were so excited about walking across, we stumbled upon this terrace that everyone was very adamant no one walk on.

After some serious searching we found the balcony. We think you can only get to it by walking through the coat check and into the elevator hidden around the corner, but it could just be all the people were hiding the normal entrance.

When you walk out of the museum and onto the bridge you get the full scope of the Chicago skyline. This picture is looking north west back onto Monroe, where Target rolled out the red carpet to welcome everyone into the Modern Wing. Below are the South Shore and Metra train tracks.

You can see the balcony at the top of the museum.

PT and I kept having those ‘holy shit, we LIVE here’ moments. If the opening was in January we would probably be less amazed, but this city is amazing from May-October. It is tolerable in November, December, and April. But it is May, yesterday was beautiful, the view of the city from the balcony and bridge was breathtaking. The new Modern Wing is one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. All of these things are less than 5 miles from my house.

Despite getting yelled at for:

1) PT’s bag was too big

2) No water in the museum

3) No water on the bridge (but chips are ok)

4) No flash (that was an accident!)

and awkwardly running into a boy I kinda dated for about three seconds, the Modern Wing gets two enthusiastic thumbs up.

We took a walk over to Lake Michigan and said hello to Opera, and the fishes. I tantalized PT with stories of what Lake Michigan is like on the other side, which we will be seeing next weekend!

We were tourists in our own city, which is good for you, once in a while. To get a chance to be a tourist in the city you live in is something not a lot of Americans get to do. PT and I took advantage of it yesterday.

I finished my sock during the Tigers game last night! I got to knit happy because they have been looking great this series (told you).

I even got started on Sock #2.

For lunch we had potato stir fry with broccoli, carrots, onion, and green pepper.

To get me to not dump him after the baseball debacle this week, PT made me Avocado-Mango Chicken for dinner last night.

It was excellent! I told PT I could still dump him at any moment, and it is all resting on the next Tigers Twins series, but I appreciated the dinner.

I’ve just been notified that tonight’s dinner will have a clam element. PT discovered Mark Bittman’s blog this morning and might be getting carried away. He is talking home made pasta with spicy red clam sauce and muscles? This is going to be good.

It is dangerous to be as erratic as baseball is. One moment you have a 5-0 lead and three outs later your are trailing 6-5. One moment you feel good about the decisions you’ve made in the past few months and one conversation later you are laying in bed on a rainy day questioning everything.

Tuesday at this time I was riding high. The Tigers were coming off a sweep of the Indians, the rest of their May schedule was looking relatively easy; all mediocre teams till the first week of June. I was thinking we could get up a few games on the Royals and hope things fall into place in June. Magglio would be back. Bonderman would be back. Carlos Gullien would be back. Two of three in the Metrodome seemed possible.

Now I’m reading about these games I had to witness over the past three days in bewildered awe.

A) How did I not kill someone?

B) How could I have thought I was watching a good team?

C) Why am I dating a Twins fan?

D) Why do I like this stupid, boring sport?

E) How do you blow a 5-0 lead?

F) How do you give up a walk off grand slam to JOE FUCKING CREDE?

G) How do you not score with two men on and no outs over and over and over again?

Bewildered. Awe.

So of course if I live 7 months of my life on the Detroit Tigers Emotional Roller Coaster how can I expect the rest of my life won’t get pulled along with it? I have no idea what I’m doing with my life. One of these days I’m going to wake up and think, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing with my life,’ and it won’t be immediately followed by me thinking, ‘You are young, it doesn’t matter’. Most of the time I think I know what I’m doing. Today? Not so much. Today I should have a 9-5 with benefits and an actual pay check that is direct deposited into my money market savings account. Today I should not be sitting at home at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon blogging, I should be in an office somewhere in heels doing some bullshit.

Tomorrow, though, I will feel better. The Tigers will win tonight. Jackson is pitching and the As are terrible. They can’t lose 4 in a row, they just aren’t that bad. And I’ve seen bad. It will be sunny tomorrow, which will help. The Modern Wing finally opens and is free through the 22nd so I won’t have to think about how I could have used those $12 towards food/my cell phone bill. That will help, too.

Tomorrow it will be more important to me that I get to eat as well as I do, with all my cooking time. More grilled cheese with fresh bread. More homemade lentil soup. More freshly chopped salads. More homemade pizzas and cookies and crock pot things. More homemade pasta.

But there is a difference between knowing you are going to feel better and actually feeling it. Tomorrow I know I will feel better. Today I’m feeling down in the dumps – stupid for quitting my job, stupid for not valuing money like I should, stupid for not trying harder to make money, stupid for loving things I have no control over. Stupid for being sad. Stupid. In need of cupcake. Stupid. In need of bad romantic comedy on hulu.