The Edge of Glory: Napa Valley Style

Eileen here.

As you all probably by now know, our fearless leader Katie will soon be departing this fair country to defend our freedom in Afghanistan. In the spirit of true patriotism, Katie and I spent 4 days in Napa, California indulging ourselves in fine food, fine wine and of course the spa as a last hurrah before she leaves for a whole year!

Pictoral highlights:

Day 1 (Tuesday): Pedicures! Complete with a crisp chardonnay and cheese platter that included lavender infused honey (because everything is apparently more delicious infused with lavender). Katie selected a classic red color, while I got peer-pressured into the brightest neon pink we have ever seen!

I was henceforth referred to as Her Royal Highness Napa Valley Barbie



Day 1 (Evening): Morimoto's tasting menu. The food was incredible, the wine was even better....trust me, when you throw the money at the Omikase menu, the sommalier pays at smidge more attention to your particular pairings....

Morimoto's minced toro platter. Eat it with the metal spatula, eat it with chopsticks. Incredible either way.

Something fishy delicious carpaccio.

garlicky anchovy vegetable dip situation.

watermelon wasabi sorbet. You cannot eat this with chopsticks. We will not tell you how we know this.

foie gras infused custard with duck breast. Chef Morimoto suggests you enjoy each bit with a dab of wasabi to round out the taste. Indeed Chef, indeed.

Pork belly, blue wagyu medallions, lobster claw with meyer lemon infused creme fraiche. Done, done and done.

Something chocolate for dessert. Like we needed it.


Day 2: Early workout to offset the previous evening's indulgence, breakfast in the Concierge lounge followed by a trip to the spa for a relaxing round of body scrubs (there was a point where we were smothered in honey and grapeseeds and wrapped in cellophane.....it was awesome) and facials. Once we were relaxed and rejuvenated, we spent the afternoon poolside with snacks, wine, and a couple of good books

(Katie's reading about politics, I read social sciencey books, are we surprised?). That evening we had appetizers and Pinot Noir in the lounge, went back to the room to watch a movie. I think that our goal to Go and Be and Stay was a success....we didn't leave the resort all day!

Day 3: (Thursday): After 2 days of spa relaxation, we finally emerged from our hideout to experience the other offerings of the Napa Valley. Matt came to meet us...he was NOT invited for the first portion of this trip. After a swing by our favorite haunts (Conn Creek and Mumm), we had the pleasure of experiencing the St. Helena bocce league night that our friend Paul is a part of.

Thursday evening we went to Ana's in St. Helena which is locally famous for its Thursday night Karaoke. We were all set to rock out to Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory, but of course the DJ doesn't have it yet, so we had to fall back on some old favorites (e.g. Total Eclipse of the Heart; Heartbreaker, Holding out for Hero), and my favorite homage to the Navy's most fabulous officer "Take My Breath Away" (I'm talking about Katie here, not Tom Cruise)

Day 4: To continue our theme of excess and indulgence, Katie, Paul Matt and I went to The Kitchen Door for brunch, and gorged ourselves on fancy flat bread, Kobe Burgers, Bread Pudding etc... no pictures to prove it but the meal was delicious! After a quick swing by Stag's Leap for a tour/tasting (thanks as usual to Paul's connections!), Matt and I had to leave paradise for a dinner with his parents before hopping on a red-eye back to Boston. We left Katie behind to do further damage around Saint Helena and San Francisco with Paul.

A lovely Small Town 4th of July!

Hello Friends! Happy Two days after independence day!

This was possibly the most picturesque 4th of July I could possibly imagine. My friend Whitney and I headed to the little Kansas town of Wamego, about 30 minutes east of Manhattan. Wamego claims itself as the Kansas Town that Miss Dorothy Gail, from the "Wizard of Oz" Hails from. There is even a winery with "Witch in a Ditch" red wine! Naturally, before hitting up the big carnival and parade, We stopped in for some free air conditioning at the "Oz Museum".

Museum Hopping. Wamego offers many museums full of things that are very very old, Scary mannequins that look like J.Crew Models, and extensive miniature farms (complete with raisin poop!). Also a giant stuffed buffalo. Welcome to Kansas!

How Funny! It was really hard to me to obey the "Do Not Touch" sign.

We got homemade ice cream and brownies....

Obviously, it was very, very gross.

Tilt-a-Whirl, new friends, old friends, small town patriotism. I conclude that this 4th of July was, for me, just like a Hayley Mills movie.



PS. 4 days until HILTON HEAD!!!!! This is how excited I am.

Love you all!

Lisa

A Crash Course in Social Loafing

Disclaimer: This post is intended to be humorous and entertaining. No offense was intended to any of the mentioned parties.


As the resident Ph.D in the group, I feel it is my obligation to educate you all on the pitfalls of what we in the world of Social Psychology refer to as "social loafing" and "diffusion of responsibility"

By definition, according to Wikipedia, (because I'm too lazy to look up a more legitimate source... like the Intro Psych book that's 10 feet away from me. Don't judge, I just ran 13 miles.), social loafing is a phenomenon that occurs when people exert less effort when working in groups than when they work alone. As the number of people in a group increases, people begin to experience what we call "deindividuation," in other words, their role as individual doesn't seem to matter as much, and therefore they will do less work toward the desired goal of the group. Individuals start to feel as though they have less responsibility towards that goal, and will assume that someone else in the group will take responsibility for the necessary actions.*

Say, for example, you're cooking (on the stove). You have 4 helpers who are all eager to assist you, but also busy with other tasks, and are also well aware that they are a single member of your "helper team". You request (to no one in particular) that someone clarify a pound of butter (because what's better than more butter?). Several minutes later you notice that there is no butter on the stove and your recipe is now ruined. What happened? What most likely happened is that everyone in the room assumed that someone else was taking care of your request, with the end result being that the task was never completed. This phenomenon is the reason why when you get CPR certified, you learn that you must always point to a specific person and ask that THEY call 911. This is also, tragically, the reason we had to learn, as a society, the hard lessons from the case of Kitty Genovese.


On a less sobering note, you may be wondering why I am giving you this crash course in social psych? While I'm fairly certain that Meghan's 3rd graders truly are amazing, I highly doubt that that is the most interesting thing going on in the lives of the 4 Kranz Sisters in the last 3 months.

For example:
1) I know for a FACT that Meghan ran the San Diego Marathon last weekend.
2) I also know that Lisa has written music, recorded a video and posted it on YouTube
3) I ALSO know that I graduated from grad school for the 9th time and have pictures to prove it.
4) I was also recently informed that Katie has been given orders on her next big international adventure.

These are just a few tiny morsels of knowledge that I possess about our ever exciting lives. So why has no one blogged? Some might say that we, as a group, are engaging in the aforementioned social loafing, and are experiencing diffusion of responsibility. The only alternative explanations are that a) we are boring. b) we are lazy. c) we are too stupid to type words.

So, the question I pose to you all now (in the words of Mom): Are we stupid, or lazy?

Or, in the words of A.A. Milne "get out of my chair, dillhole"

*To any of you readers out there who have more expertise than I in this area (I'm looking at all of you Brandeis-ers in particular), don't judge me if my descriptions are not comprehensive, see my comment about the running. and the 13 miles.

My amazing class!

Just a quick post from me, Miss Kranz.

Ah! It's state assessment time! I love this time though because I really get to see all my students push themselves and they grow a ton! It's incredible to see! Our theme for state assessments each year is "Rock the Test". We set goals for ourselves, wrote them on paper guitars, and hung them around the classroom! They loved this!

After state assessments each day, I allow my kids to have free time. They need the break. We were jamming out to some tunes, some kids were dancing, and I took this video! Oh the joy that I find each day in my classroom!

Love my kids!


"I promise you every day your children will learn something. Some days they'll bring it home in their hands. Some days they'll bring it home in their heads. And some days they'll bring it home in their hearts."

--Valerie Welk

So much happiness!!!

This will be an incomplete story.  It was just so wonderful, my brain couldn't contain all the Happy Birthday memories.....

My friday, February 4th started out innocently as ever.  My 9 am class was cancelled.  I was thrilled,  I had opened my first K-State mainstage show the night before, naturally I was exhausted.  In no rush to clean (because my parents weren't coming up until Saturday, my birthday) So I bummed around my dirty house, took Amadeus for a walk, went to my favorite coffee shop for a cup of coffee and reading.  Nice, relaxing morning before my afternoon classes and my show that evening.

I got an unusual text message from my father at 2:00, while sitting in Theatre history.
  "hi lia. on our way." Oh Dad texting.  He must be confused on his new smartphone.
"On your way WHERE?!" I was panicked....  My house was a mess, I had class until 4:30, so no time to go home and clean up before they arrived.

Oddly enough, my Roommate, Lauren, didn't seem panicked about this at all.  (out of her personality. Typically she would be panicked and upset that I was SO disorganized not to know when my parents were coming....) Turns out...she was in cahoots with Meghan and had known for a month that this was happening. I'm now afraid of how good a liar my roommate is.

Somehow, I got the house cleaned and I got showered by 5:00.  Mom and Dad came over, always glad to see them, and after about 15 minutes, In walked Eileen and Matt......!? Of course, Meghan had a video camera and was recording my reaction to this.  Katie is a terrible liar and tried to convince me (via text) that she had no idea any of this was going on, but when I walked out after the show, there she was in Nichols Theatre Lobby. Oh Katie.

The next day was a typical Kranz vacation day.  By typical I mean we went on a dramatically long walk up until we had an hour before we needed to be somewhere. Dinner at Olive Garden was lovely.  Wine and a martini later, The sisters left my phone number for the waiter (we later established that only works ONCE in your life), and after the show headed out to Aggieville, the notorious K-State Bar district.  All of my friends loved my sisters ("4 Lisas?!")("Now I understand how Lisa happened....")

This is the point where I don't know what happened anymore.  Another sister must pick up the story from here.  Its probably funnier from their perspective....

Also,  I'll point out that there are no photos from this because "new" facebook has blocked people form lifting photos from the site. Blame facebook for the lack of photography. Another sister took pictures, I'm sure of it. 

Love,
Lisa

Joe Kranz is......

The most interesting man in the world....

When Uncle Joe helps to bring a hospital ship to an impoverished and victimized island nation, hurricanes change course and lose their strength.

Champagne ages 20 years instantly when he walks into a room.

Clams and quahogs climb out of Wickford cove whenever Uncle Joe throws a clambake at FishCamp just so they can attend the party.

UNCLE JOE is.....the most interesting man in the world.

Meta Blog

I am going to write a blog post. This introductory paragraph will begin with a statement about the fact that I am blogging, and will outline the key goals of this posting.  I am blogging. This blog will consist of the following sections: A) I will state who is writing this blog. 2) I will state that it has been a while since I have blogged. d) I will post some sentences and/or pictures that illustrate some of the recent events of my life

A) This is Eileen.

2) It has been a while since I have blogged. I wish I could go all Hyperbole and a Half (hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com) on you guys and post a fantastic hand drawn picture of myself looking forlorn over the fact that I am remiss in my blogging responsibilities. That being said, why not give it a try:

I am very good at WordArt.

d) The following paragraphs will consist of one recent and major event in the lives of the Kranz family. (Warning: This will contain a demonstration of my superior photography skills).

So now that we have that out of the way.... 2 Fridays ago I flew into Baltimore for the Army/Navy game. At the risk of blatantly exaggerating, I will say that the weekend was easily one of the most legendary weekends in the Kranz Family history.  Upon arriving at BWI, I was picked up by Kate, Meghan and Dad (both of whom had blown in from Kansas (not a typo) the night before. We went to lunch near the Inner Harbor at the Cheesecake Factory, and noshed on some appetizers and beer while waiting for Uncle Joe to show up! Once he arrived, Katie, Meghan and I departed from them to go run errands to get ready for the big day.  Dad did not want to go to Dallas so he stayed with Joe and went to the USNS COMFORT Christmas Party instead. WE on the other, WENT TO DALLAS, and it was fun. First stop: Town Hall to pick up the Keg and a smattering of other tailgater necessities (read; more beer, rum, peppermint schnapps). The Pathfinder was already super full, but that did not stop us from our NEXT errand: Sam's Club. At this point Katie was beginning to feel the weight of the burden of being in charge of the Class of 2002 tailgater, especially when the hamburger buns filled up a third of the shopping cart and we still had Eleventy Billion more things on the list.

We are very good at Tetris.

Eventually we made it through Sam's, managed to jam everything in to the car and made it back to the house by 10pm (via Travis' for the giant stock pot for chili and a couple Dark and Stormies...).  By 1am Meghan and Katie had the car packed, Eileen had successfully busted out a massive vat of chili and buffalo dip (while finishing off a bottle of Gainey Cabernet...). Don't be fooled by this picture, the venture of the evening did NOT actually kill Meghan:

Dead Meghan

Alarms went off at 6am. We needed to be on the road by 6:30. Coffee, showers, primping (you need to look fabulous for Army/Navy).... out the door by 7:00- not bad! We swung by Wawa to pick up coffee and off to Philly we went!  No pictures from this part of the morning. ... even the best photographers have to respect the fact that the wee hours are no time for pictures.

We arrived at the parking lot around 10am and began a whirlwind tailgater set up, complete with MASSIVE grill, Blimp, mimosas, breakfast burritos and hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps.

Katie getting the hot chocolate going

The Blimp!

Needless to say the tailgater was a HUGE success:

Is that a White Russian with Muscle Milk?

Vince tried to drink the buffalo dip with a straw (a spoon was more successful...)  

Our Fellow Party Planners

Uncle Joe and Dad showed up around 10:30, at which point the party really started.

Skip and Sue Dirren arrived on the scene to say hi with their daughter Missy (who used to babysit us in Virginia Beach!)

At 2pm it was finally time to go into the game. Football was played, Navy won (!!), photography was made:

Uncle Joe was betting on Army.

You can see Navy's score above them if you look closely!

Hey, and Pokey was there!!!

After the game of course everyone was in the mood to celebrate, so we headed back to the site of the tailgater and continued to party into the night. Our new Boston friends came back with us and joined in for a rousing round(ssss) of Flip Cup, which Dad and Uncle Joe took part in too, amazing!  This was a life changing moment. Dad played flip cup.

Flip Cup: Dad vs. Uncle Joe

Team Fish Camp! (With our new friends from Boston!)

Finally around 8 the cops came around and told us we had to close up shop... which means we spent wellllll over an hour CASUALLY cleaning up the party.

Question: How do you extinguish a parking lot bonfire?

   Answer: the Keg.

At this point the fact that we had been "celebrating" for 12 hours was beginning to sink in.

Back in Annapolis... crashed out at the Westin bar. (reiteration of the Dead Meghan theme)

Uncle Joe wants to tow something with his monstrous truck- we have it on record that he is hosting next year's tailgater!

Joe's Harrier.. I mean truck.

All in all, it was a weekend for the books. Beat Army!!!

In Conclusion, the above blog posting covered the following points: a) I am Eileen. 2) I blogged. d) we went to the Army/ Navy Game. This blog was intended to be both informative and entertaining.  Title of the blog... Naive expression of football..... Modulation and I hold a high note!