Quest for Culture

Well, the Crazy Week-Long Economic Development Course is over, I've had a 3-day weekend to recover from it, and I think that finally -- after 3-ish months of emotionally draining pregnancy scares, physically draining pregnancy-induced nausea, holiday travels and fun, crazy work schedules, and otherwise general upheaval -- my life will start to stabilize again. Hopefully this will mean more posts here. I know they've been dreadfully sparse as of late, but now that my immediate future is looking relatively calmer, I'm hoping to remedy that sparseness. Plus, we've only just signed up for hi-speed internet (the cheapest on the block, but hi-speed nonetheless) which will replace our pokey old dial-up sometime next week, so that should make the whole blogging experience much less...painstakingly slow.

Aahhh...so it's good to be back. Blake and I had a few adventures over the weekend. We were on a Quest for Culture, which is something [not too] surprisingly difficult to find in this little nook of the Midwest. On Friday, our searching took us back to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Rumor had it that the year 2007 at the IMA meant free admission every day. So we went to scope it out. And also to see the European gallery, which was closed for renovations when we went during the summer. My, oh my! Is that gallery HUGE! We spent, goodness, 2.5 hours JUST in that gallery. It got to the point where I had to stop and rest at every single bench we came to -- and there weren't nearly enough benches! (Okay, so there were plenty of benches...I just have issues.) I told Blake that when we make it up to the Chicago museums, we'll have to pencil naps into our visits. But all fatigue aside, there's some pretty amazing stuff there -- Picassos, Rembrandts, Monets, you name it.

On Saturday we happily stumbled on a bit of culture that we weren't even looking for, but were pretty thrilled to find. I'd heard a rumor that there was this warehouse of a grocery store on the south side of town called White Feather Farms that was only open on Saturdays from 8-12 and which sold fine cheeses at cheap prices. It took us a while to find the place because, seriously, it's nothing more than a shack of a garage. But inside is piled more imported European food stuffs than I've ever seen at one time. They also sell spices at remarkably good prices, which I'll probably be back for one of these days. But, oh -- the cheeses! After drooling over all the different cheeses at beautifully low prices, Blake and I walked away with some Havarti, Gouda, and a delicious block of mellow cheddar. We've been living on cheese and crackers ever since, soaking in the charmed life of Wallace and Gromit, and planning our next visit this coming Saturday.

In a whirlwind of releases and sustainings over the last two weeks, I've lost my titles of Relief Society teacher and Activity Days leader in exchange for that of Young Women's 2nd Counselor. I'm sad to have to walk away from my Activity Days girls, but I'm happy to think that, as the counselor over the beehives, I'll be gaining a few of them back in the next few months. (As for no longer getting to teach Relief Society...I'm not too sad about that. Let someone else enjoy the blessings, I say!) After attending two YW Sunday meetings and one mutual night activity, I can't say that I'm totally able to fulfill my Quest for Culture here. Although, on second thought, maybe I can, especially if by "culture," one can be meaning "teenage hormones." Boy howdy, are those hormones ever-present and incredibly strong! I was thinking, as I sat listening to weepy sniffles in YW on Sunday, that hormonal teenage girls aren't too different from hormonal pregnant women. They are both able to cry at the drop of a pin, they are both overly concerned about their body image, and they both experience unexplainable mood swings. I think I'm going to fit right in.