Great Minds Discuss Ideas

I have this print in my office.

The new year brought a sense of stability and less anxiety as I transitioned from a consultant to a full-time Project Manager. Hooray! I even traveled to Philadelphia at the end of March for a staff retreat. I'm especially excited as I was offered the opportunity to focus more on sustainability + community development.

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I read this quote by Carl Jung a couple days ago...

"Loneliness does not come from being alone, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important."

I think it translates to the loss of someone you dearly love. It also strikes me to the lonely process of being unemployed or in transition. Being unheard. Sending out all those freaking resumesssss and wanting so desperately to be heard and valued.

I'm just so grateful right now.

Let's talk about cursors

"Millions of computers are made each year and still no one talks about sustainability in the cursor industry. We should, because according to this poster they’re being cut down at an alarming rate. We’re in luck that Nathan W Pyle has designed this poster informing us about the massive cursor deforestation going on." From PUBLIC SCHOOL.

{via swissmiss}

"Colourful Language"


"The Other Numbers"

Local Food Festival

Forgetting that the St. Patrick's Day parade was on Saturday, I took the train downtown surrounded by colorful parade attendees. I skipped out on the traditional dyeing of the Chicago River (bright green!) and took a bus over to the University of IL @ Chicago. It was a green gathering- of a different shade.

FamilyFarmed.org organized a three-day expo. Thursday and Friday were marketed towards sustainable businesses, farms and not-for-profit organizations. I met up with a church acquaintance for Saturday's Local Food Festival. The exhibition hall was just the right amount of space to nibble on countless samples, talk to farmers, gather information, etc. without feeling completely overwhelmed.
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One of the main attractions on Saturday was to meet farmers and sign-up for a CSA share ~ Community Supported Agriculture. {I also learned about an apple tree share, a goat cheese share and a manure share!} Neither of us signed-up for a share because we've already made a commitment with an IL farmer. "Our farmer," Farmer Vicki, spoke at a workshop on Friday entitled Rockstar Farmers. She's such a great person, very inspiring. Brad and I are sharing a three-season sharebox, with a friend, where we'll receive fresh local produce from April to December. Since eliminating wheat from my diet, I've been very diligent about meal planning each week. I can't just pick up the phone and order a pizza :) The CSA box is a wonderful menu guide and makes grocery shopping considerably easier.

GOOD {Florida Farming}

{photographer, Jake Stangel}

"... In an effort to escape hustle and bustle of his urban life, the photographer Jake Stangel contacted Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. WWOOF, as it's more commonly known, links volunteers with organic farmers to "promote an educational exchange, and build a global community conscious of ecological farming practices." WWOOF connected Stangel with a couple who operate an organic farm in Central Florida, where he spent two weeks learning how to work with his hands and till some land ..." more here

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GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward.

Low Impact Woodland Home

This isn't a movie set... it's a family's home in Wales. What an amazing project! You can read more about it here.

{via A CUP OF JO}

Nonfiction

I realize I'm late to the buzz about "Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality." I had a long, boring jury duty summons to get through today and spied it on our bookshelf. {@ the Criminal Court building. Stayed 6 1/2 hours and got sent home} My girlfriend, Alyssa, gave it a good review. I read A LOT today; I like Miller's style.

"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes. After that I liked jazz music. Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way. I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened."

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I read "Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology" around Labor Day and I'm still thinking about the story. I mailed the book down to my brother in the north Georgia mountains. He lives in a rural community and his little sister lives up in Chicago and yet we overlap with an interest in farming/CSAs, sustainability and ways to live more simply. On a similar topic, I added this book to my Secret Santa list (that we do with my husband's immediate family)- "The Plain Reader". As we near the end of the year, I think we all tend to do a little mental cleanse. Refocus...

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Side note, Rick Steves' book 'Travel as a Political Act' came recommended to me at Thanksgiving. Brad's aunt and cousin attended a reading out in Seattle. I'm a huge fan of Rick Steves' travel/ guide books. I'll have to check my local library stacks. {Thanks Aunt Marilyn}

nerd talk

**Brad's board game pitch went okay. He was told it was a little too violent ... stele stones toppling over sheep. { Sorry Brad, I realize your game is much more involved than my pitiful description! } He has been play testing the game for quite sometime and no one has mentioned it to be "too violent." Hmm. Maybe the publisher is too sensitive- ha! Anyways, he's going to pitch the game to different publishers. {fingers crossed}

**Over Thanksgiving weekend, we played the board game Agricola. Gaming category: economics + farming. :)

**My presentation went smoothly enough. I spoke about community development and sustainability to faith communities. A former United States Senator from IL was in the audience. She was just a simple convention delegate- as was I- no fancy political agenda. Though I am following up with her regarding any possible professional development contacts. Networking is key- regardless of the current economy! She runs a private law firm and recently launched a line of organic and fair trade food products. During the Q&A session, we chatted about sustainable farming. {fingers crossed}

She & Him

She ~ Fine-tuning a PowerPoint document to present at a convention tomorrow morning. The subject: community development and sustainability.

Him ~ Attending the Toy and Game Expo to pitch an original board game design. 2 years in the making!
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take a listen ...

Earth Festival~ take two

Additional commentary on my fall, Earth Festival project. :)

Green fete

My big fall project wrapped up today. {I took a 2-hour nap this afternoon as my reward}. I was the project coordinator for my church's Earth Festival. I didn't do all the work; I did have some wonderful volunteers helping me out. It was a casual gathering on a cool and cloudy day. I was hoping for more foot traffic but beggars can't be choosers.

I didn't take too many pictures at the gathering. I left those up to our church photographer. My good friend Alyssa was a vendor and her treasures looked lovely. Vana's boys dropped by as did my architectural mentor. {I'm sorry we didn't get a picture together, Joslyn}

The silly bag hanging from the tree is supposed to be an "eco-balloon." haha! It wasn't my idea but the other ones looked more like "green" lanterns. :) Our CSA farmer donated the delicious fruits and vegetables & colorful flowers. A neighborhood cat joined in on the festivities and at one point, decided the CSA box looked cozy.


All in all is was a nice day... Live folk music. Homemade tamales, fresh salads, yummy pie, hot coffee and locally made gelato & apple cider sorbet. Interesting vendors. A bike donation drive. Our emphasis was more on fellowship with our friends and neighbors rather than church fundraiser. We also wanted to create an opportunity for interfaith dialogue- particularly on the topics of sustainability, social justice and community development.

Festival on Saturday

My church has organized an Earth Festival for this Saturday and I'm the project coordinator. Busy week! As luck would have it, I'm on meds for a sinus & ear infection... blah. We're hoping for a beautiful morning/afternoon in the garden. {Rain, rain stay away!} We're asking attendees to bring used bikes to donate to the Working Bikes Cooperative, who will refurbish and send them to someone in need. It should be a lovely affair- live music, good food, interesting vendors, demonstrations and a nice spotlight for our community. My good buddy, Alyssa, will be one of the vendors.

Music, babies... and a compost bin

Fleet Foxes - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

On Friday night, Brad + I hosted dinner with a couple that lives around the corner from us. We met at our little neighborhood church and spent hours talking and listening to music. Melissa is having their first child early next year. An earlier rain cooled things off a bit.. as we chatted with the windows wide open.

Saturday welcomed us with her hot + humid wake-up call. ugh. We picked up that free compost bin Saturday afternoon {Finally. Get it together Dept. of the Environment} Pick-ups were scheduled at the Chicago Center for Green Technology. If you're in the area, I would suggest checking out the facility. That is, if you can actually locate the building; it's in a funky location. It's a decent resource for all things under the umbrella of environmental stewardship.

Later that night, Brad + I met up with a college buddy and his wife to see Fleet Foxes. Jayson's caption: @ the Metro, about to see the Fleet Foxes. Also, sweating profusely because it was 157 degrees in there. No joke. Amazing band but the intense humidity was a little too much for me. Let's see... water or crappy beer? Hmmm.

Yesterday, I attended my sister-in-law's baby shower. I wrapped up a few freezer paper stenciling projects. Oh, and Racquel recently opened up an Etsy shop. We had Sunday dinner with my husband's folks and grandparents. On the menu: typical Midwestern fare. Mmmm, sweet corn.

Did you have an enjoyable summer weekend??

VARMINTS

I was asked to be one of the teaching leaders {paid!} at a 2-week church camp downtown. My themes include environmental stewardship and community development. It is fairly new to the program this year as they are trying to integrate a "green" component into the camp curriculum. My first of three sessions was this past Monday. I had the younger children and we read "VARMINTS" {by Helen Ward and Illustrated by Marc Craste}. I love this book! It reminds me a lot of movie "Wall-E", for reference.

After a brief story discussion, I led them on a 2-MILE! "urban nature hike" from the cathedral campus to the zoo. The story is fairly brief but Ward breaks it into three sections. The second chapter has a bit about "...little pieces of wilderness." THIS was the theme of our trek. Myself, along with my two adult volunteers, led the children around the city... across city intersections... along residential streets... through bits of Lincoln Park... attempting to stay hydrated... and exploring this concept of "little pieces of wilderness." I asked the children to find examples along our walk.
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I recently learned that "VARMINTS" has been made into a 24 minute film. You can watch the trailer here.

CSA Farm Tour

On Sunday, Brad and I had the opportunity to visit our CSA farm. We share a weekly vegetable + fruit share and a bi-weekly egg share with a friend from church. I blogged about the farm party here.
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Last year's post- it's now an annual gathering!

De Fietsfabriek

{ Dutch for 'the bike factory.' }




I think my father's favorite part of the Wells Street Art Fair, last Saturday morning, was seeing this shop along the blocked-off street fair. As a kid, he hooked up this old school fiberglass bike carrier onto his bike. He rode his bike to work several days out of the year. He even built his own recumbent bike. What can I say, the man loves bicycles! So it didn't really surprise me that he chatted with the shop owner of De Fietsfabriek USA.

I have yet to ride my bike along Chicago's busy streets. Neighborhood streets, lakefront paths, forest preserve trails- YES!- but not along major streets next to city buses. Our CSA shareboxes are delivered 1 block away. I have yet to pedal to the local grocery store {though I have gone on foot}. But I love these bikes! Brad and I will be married six years next month and we've only ever had one vehicle. We try to utilize the many public transit options within walking distance of our apartment. Perhaps we'd forgo our one vehicle altogether if I-Go came to the neighborhood.
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I know I've mentioned his blog here before but I've been a reader of Sweet Juniper for awhile now. On a related note about bicycles, read his post about The Popscycle.

Local food system

As I was coming home from the grocery store today, I caught part of "Worldview" on Chicago Public Radio. Today's program was about our local food system and what’s happening in other parts of the world {how appropriate}. I listened to rest of the program while eating lunch.

I live in the Midwest where local produce should be plentiful but sadly it is not! My brother- and his family- operate a small, family-sized organic farm in Georgia. Whenever Dave and I catch up on the phone, we inevitably talk about sustainability and farming. Such was the case yesterday. I in Chicago; he in the north Georgia mountains.

Brad and I are CSA shareholders with a small farm south of Chicago. For three seasons, we get a weekly box of fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables. We also get organic eggs. Farmer Vicki has an amazing operation. I love reading her weekly CSA emails with recipes and details about what is going on at the farm. Very reflective for this city dweller!

Next month, we are going on another farm tour.

I won! :)

I received an email in my Inbox this morning. I never win anything.

Subject: Green Festival $800 Savings Challenge Raffle Winner "Congratulations! You have won a prize from the Chicago Department of Environment’s Green Festival raffle. You have won a compost bin. Please contact so-and-so to coordinate the pick-up of your prize."

I'm going to donate my nerdy prize to our church garden. Our gardener already uses the rain barrel we installed. Brad and I live one block from the garden so I'll contribute to the bin easily enough- ha!

A state of currentness

I feel like I've been sprinting the last few days and I am finally at a walking pace. I spoke at Northwestern University last Wednesday evening. I was one of the five panelists and easily the youngest person on stage. No biggie. The panel was organized by students for students... as it turned out. I didn't see any faculty members in the audience which seemed a little odd given that we had a lot of academic and community support when Brad and I were in college. Though we did meet in the architecture department at a small institution. Hmmm. I guess NU just rolls a different way. {I did get paid- sweet!} The panel looked at the relationship of religion to the environment. I've been actively pondering the notion of {community development/ sustainability} consulting work and I've been testing the waters a bit... so to speak.

The very next morning, after I dropped my kiddos off at school, I made a mad dash to catch the train downtown. And then hopped on a bus to the Cathedral District of Chicago. I sat in on a 3-hour Diocesan Sustainability Task Force meeting... and then made the reverse trip. After our usual homework routine, I took my nanny kiddos' back to school for this International Students Festival. I zoned out in the hot, stuffy classroom as they "learned" Korean, listened to Arabic music and had multicultural snacks. Wwaayy too much running around. Friday was intentionally much more relaxing. On Saturday, Brad helped his brother teardown his garage.
I went to a baby shower for an old college roommate. It seems like we went through a ~wave~ of weddings... and now everyone is having babies. :)
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Sunday. The Chicago Green Festival. I had a free ticket and Brad stayed home to do some fine art painting in our sun room/ studio. It was a beautiful day in Chicago! What better way to spend the day then take a subway ride, TWO bus rides {1 being a Sunday weekend shuttle. what?} and walking around Navy Pier for 2-3 hours?!! To Brad: good choice- ha!
I kid, I kid (sorta). The festival was HUGE. Isn't it ironic that the hippie-dippy types spent hours indoors? I walked briskly, grabbed some literature, free sustainable swag... and called it a day. I relaxed on the {touristy} pier and watched the boats. I have mixed reviews on the festival- overall I thought it was just okay. It seemed more marketplace ($$) than workshops.

As soon as you entered the massive room, you saw those artsy folks in the collage above. They reminded me of actors from the Redmoon Theater company in Chicago.

A collection of various things

Happy {belated} Mother's Day to all you mothers out there...
I hope you had an enjoyable weekend.

I am on antibiotic- again- for a sinus/ ear infection. My third combo since Thanksgiving. bleh. Not a fun combination when you're attempting to acknowledge your mother {and mother-in-law}. We had a full weekend with various activities. Though I probably wasn't the most fun to be around, I will admit. Sinus meds make me sooo sleepy.
**** I really need to learn how to sew clothes. How cute are these dresses?!
{via Oh Happy Day}.
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On Saturday, Brad did some fine art painting in our sun room/ studio prior to a Mother's Day dinner. {I need to take some photos of his work}. I think he's mighty talented.
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On Wednesday night, I am speaking at Northwestern University at their Environmental Intersections Panel. SEED {Students for Ecological and Environmental Development} organized the program to examine the connection between the environment and another topic. This year, the series will be looking at the relationship of religion to the environment. I will be speaking about my church's environmental and social justice committee; which I helped to establish.

Everything and Nothing

~ This song has been in my head today. It's a gray, chilly day in Chicago...

~ Brad is at an ALL DAY board game meet up today. 15! HOURS!

~ I planned accordingly... and met my friend Joslyn, for Saturday brunch, at the Marion Street Cheese Market. YUM. Oak Park is a beautiful town and seems to be a good halfway point for two ooolllddd friends {Joslyn and I met in 1st grade}.

~ As Brad conquerors the world, I am working on professional development. {And obviously blogging. And laundry. Oh and napping}... it's a chill day.

~ Our dear friends welcomed a new baby into the world this week... little Liam Andrew. They have the best kid names- Owen, Ella and Liam.

~ Oh, and Earth Hour is THIS EVENING. Switch off your lights for 1 hour: Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm.