Winter doldrums

Yup, I'm there. The "I-can't-wait-for-winter- to-end" feeling. The deep freeze, after last week's blizzard, has been grand. But luckily there is good music, hot drinks and Netflix. And phone calls with old friends. I'm on a documentary and English drama kick right now. I think Netflix thinks I'm doing grad school research.
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I enjoyed this music interview today. A whole life in a song?

"Some people write love songs about what happens in the beginning of a relationship," Bergquist says. "We've sort of moved on to what happens during the bulk of that relationship — the work, the investment, the commitment, you know? And some of it doesn't really sound all that sexy."

God, I love them. I own several OTR albums now. His liner notes always read like a beautiful and poignant short story.


(Image taken by Vana. That was such a fun trip!)

Year Beginning.

Bookends.
A wake this evening.
A baptism on Sunday.
Epiphany pageant tomorrow.
Hellooooo 2011.



In the past I've made some lofty goals in January. This year, I'll try for these four ... with perhaps a few surprises in-between.

1. Take a vacation. One that doesn't stretch for one long weekend. Or sleeping on a friend's air mattress. It's been awhile. And we deserve it.
2. Go to more concerts. We both love music + live in the city. No kids yet. Make it happen.
3. Read more classic literature. I picked up a Charles Dickens novel at the library this week after being captivated by the BBC mini-series, "Bleak House." Oh.So.Good. Watch the trailer here.
4. Live with less. Declutter our apartment. Take inventory. Donate.

Number five was to find more meaningful employment... but I can check that one off the list. My consultant position recently developed into a staff position. Hooray!

Ready. Set. Go.

{mini goals clockboard}

Year End

Hello. Again.

Logged for my own personal memory. Ten things from Twenty-Ten...

(1) L started a new job last summer as a consultant ... (that was my last blog post. life continued. blogging stopped. not what i intended)
(2) B researched Rudolf II, hyenas, programming languages, logic gates, He-Man, ICBMs, typography, druids and Scottish Blackface sheep ... (among other odd hobbies, interests + random searches)
(3) We both turned thirty ... (new decade. geez, that sounds old. but not really)
(4) L explored Columbus, Ohio while B attended the Origins Game Fair. He pitched a board game design. She roamed around Short North and German Village... (happy birthday to brad)



(5) Visited the New Glarus Brewing Company in Wisconsin ... (excellent road trip suggestion)
(6) Toured the Grosse Point Lighthouse, along the Lake Michigan shore ... (falafel for lunch. happy birthday to leanne)
(7) L volunteered at the community workday at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Madison, WI. Helped restore the monastery's 95 acres of native prairie and wetlands ... (personal retreat one day/ work day the next. monasteries are quiet. duh. but really, really quiet. the fall colors were just about to pop. nice hiking paths)
(8) B participated in Octocon 6 & 7 in Chicago - approximately 44 hours of board gaming ... (insane. but oh.so.fun)
(9) Went to a couple summer concerts at Millennium Park in downtown Chicago ... (like this one)



(10) Became Friend-Aunt-and-Uncle MANY times over ... (2010: Year of the Baby)



post-edit: (11) Celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary ... (Budos Band concert) xoxo

Vivienne and friends, Wisconsin 1974

{Limited edition print here. Love it}

I went up to Madison, WI with some family friends last weekend. I really like Madison; Brad and I have been there a few times. We crammed a lot into our short overnight- walking along State Street and the Capital Square, arts festival, farmers market, thrift stores... My 80 year-old Grandmother kept up pretty well. My cousin is in graduate school at the massive UW campus. Her tiny college apartment is on the edge of Lake Mendota. You could hear the crew team in the morning. The one place we didn't have time to explore was the Arboretum {Holt, remember when I dragged everyone letterboxing around the arboretum??}
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I capped off the autumn weekend with a dinner party. The last time all three couples were together, we were relaxing in Door Co., WI. Alyssa, your recent home improvements are lovely. I can't get over that upcycled headboard- wow! Thank you for dinner...

Talk of yesterday

**pause the background music... scrolll down.



Brad + I recently went on a little urban "staycation" around Chicago. We used a gift certificate we received last year for Christmas. On Sunday afternoon, we walked to the nearby bus stop and went on an adventure. We walked 4-5 blocks at the other end and just like that... we arrived at the Inn.

It was lovely.

... we explored the nature museum & watched roach races as part of "Bugapoloza"... uh, gross. {we also visited the butterfly haven}
... went on a fall hike around Lincoln Park and North Pond {heron sighting}
... had a lovely Italian dinner {gluten-free menu options!}
... tried some raw cheesecake {also wheat-free}
... walked around several Chicago neighborhoods
... relaxed in the city that we both love

Harvest time

Beautiful hand screen printed art print...


I'm such a sucker for these "Pure Michigan" travel ads.
I love fall in the Midwest...

Country Caravan

This song seems fitting for a road trip post. Brad + I drove down to Nashville, TN with our friends, Jenn and little Rin. They were in town visiting family.



WE... Had a picnic lunch break in Columbus, Indiana.
{First Christian Church ~designed by Eliel Saarinen}
LOVE this building. I even mentioned it in my very first blog post.



Explored parts of Downtown Nashville.



Played with little Rin. Ah, I miss that happy boy...



Brad and I went to a movie {loved it!} and walked around the Opryland Hotel.



Toured the Frist Center for the Visual Arts {beautiful building!} and made art. The Chuck Close exhibit was fascinating.


Checked out our friends' living arrangements.
{Joah + Candace's take on "American Gothic"}



And we spent a good deal of time catching up on each other's lives. We've known one another for about ten years now...
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On the way home, Brad + I visited Fort Massac State Park. Several years ago, I worked at an architecture firm in downtown Chicago- as part of my degree requirements. I supported the project manager of the Fort Massac reconstruction project. However, I came in quite late to the project and never actually visited the site. The story of the fort is rather interesting but the park itself was a little bit of a let down. I had it pictured in my mind to be much grander... oh well.

Road trip

Summer wouldn't be summer without a road trip or two. Brad + I started the season with a getaway to Northern Wisconsin with some dear friends. We're wrapping up the season with a road trip to Tennessee to see some other college buddies. Friendship is a blessing. We're both trying to wrap up projects before we take off Saturday. Work before play. Happy Summer!

A jaunt

...a short journey, esp. one taken for pleasure.
{typography image created via Wordle}

Back into the swing of things... Brad and I got back last night from our little beach getaway with some dear college friends. We rented a house- for 3 nights- up in Door Co., Wisconsin {the "finger" into Lake Michigan}. The house was right on the beach. The first night there, we homemade pizzas and built a campfire along the shore. We toasted our friendship with a little champagne... and had smores for dessert.


On Saturday morning, the girls relaxed and chatted at the beach. After lunch, everyone explored one of the lighthouses on the peninsula, went letterboxing and toured several of the little towns. We decided to experience a Door County tradition and attended a fish boil for dinner. After little Niko went to bed, we made a toasty fire in the fireplace {it was chilly and rainy}, opened up some wine and watched "The Great Outdoors" {hello 1988- ha!}. We wrapped up the evening playing some board games.


On Sunday morning, we relaxed at the house again. A few of us went hiking at a nearby State Park and then we all met for lunch at the county brewery. I found some treasures at this architectural salvage/antiques shop {more to come}. Everyone took a lazy Sunday nap, we made dinner together... and built another cozy fire.


Monday morning greeted us with a chilly rain. Vana and her family took off a little early. The rest of us lingered on the peninsula and had a late Swedish breakfast {Alyssa's suggestion}. We went to the restaurant with the goats on the roof {in the picture above} and then said farewell. Brad and I took the back roads out of the area and then headed back to Chicago. As we pulled down our street, we noticed a little neighborhood ice cream social gathering at the church across from our apartment. It was a small-town/ big-city moment.


It was a lovely getaway though a bit on the cool side. Not quite summer-beachy weather.. oh well. Thank you ladies for organizing this whole trip via email- ha! I'm very grateful for our friendship and I'm so glad our husbands get along so well, too. xoxo

***Vana posted some GREAT pictures on her blog. :)

Planned time spent not working

{fine art photograph via}

I LOVE to travel but I do not generally enjoy the lead up to travel. Can you relate? Oil change, laundry, running over to Target, remembering to bring necessary paperwork, wrapping up work projects, responding to necessary emails, packing, attending a 3-hour Sustainability Task Force Meeting tomorrow*, ETC. *We are a team focused on integrating sustainable practices into churches throughout the {Northern IL} diocese.

This morning, I picked out a book from the library, purchased two $1.00 plastic kites for the sandy beach {too chilly to swim}, researched some letterboxes in the area and called about a fish boil. And then did some non-vacation work.

Come Friday, I'll be on vacation mode with these lovely people...

Noble Beast

I just picked up Andrew Bird's new album, "Noble Beast" for our road trip next weekend. I love listening to new music while traveling. He's a Chicago musician. According to Wikipedia- 'He is musically proficient at the violin, whistling, guitar, mandolin, and glockenspiel.'

I'm loving this song right now...

What's on your road trip playlist this summer??

person, place, thing

Brad and I heading out tomorrow morning {early!} for a little 2-day road trip of sorts. We're visiting Dr. Peterson and his family for what is most likely a *final* last hurrah here in the Midwest. Andrew was recently accepted into a medical residency program in sunny Arizona. We're eager to see them again before they finalize their new living arrangements. We're sure going to miss the Peterson's...



I just baked a strawberry-rhubarb pie to nosh on while we play board games... Mmmm. I had to use up the rhubarb that was in our CSA box.

On Sunday, we're going to a family baptism. I found a cute piece from
this shop. Sale bin find from the Chicago Green Festival! A cozy, albeit non-traditional, baptism gift.
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This is completely unrelated to seeing our friends but I just got a package with some new! shoes! from Zappos.com. I haven't bought new shoes in awhile and I did a little hunting to find some I really liked. It's going to be hot enough this weekend to break in my sandals. Our upcoming vacation, with some college friends, also motivated me on the purchase- ha! I'm soooo excited to relax on the beach with my buddies. What a great start to the summer...

Midweek cross section

It was a rainy evening in Chicago. I made this {gluten-free} bean and Canadian bacon soup recipe. Brad and I ate a late dinner and watched Rick Steves tour Vienna. Consequently... hmmm... someone is daydreaming about Europe. Actually, traveling in general. sigh. In June of 2004, Brad and I rented a house IN TUSCANY! with nine of our friends for a week! It was the perfect graduation gift we could have given ourselves. Daydreaming about that vacation got me through a lot of lloonngg nights in the architecture studio. We often considered "Rick" to be the 12th member of our group. {how nerdy is that?? very}

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My refrigerator is overflowing {okay, I might be exaggerating a little} with fresh vegetables. Every Wednesday, "Farmer Vicki" delivers her CSA farm shares to our local site. I am loving the whole CSA {Community Supported Agriculture} experience but at times, I feel the pressure to cook with- or freeze appropriately- all the veggies before the next delivery. Hence the soup this evening!
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I have been on a mostly gluten-free diet for a few weeks now. This has been several years in the making as I grew tired of feeling like crap... and not fully knowing the root cause. So I am exploring a new way of cooking. And goodness, gluten is in A LOT of foods! I've been reading a lot lately- books, g-f blogs, food labels at the grocery store {more intensely}. Though if you have some information to share in the comment section, I'm all ears!

rest and relaxation

Next month at this time, we'll soon be en route on a long weekend getaway with some dear college buddies. I just finalized the details over the weekend via a family-friend connection. Soon we'll be relaxing at a little house, in the woods, beside Lake Michigan... 6 adults and one 4-year-old little boy. And exactly one year ago from this upcoming adventure, we were in Michigan. Where we also rented a house with some college buddies. Hmmm. I am starting to see a pattern...

au revoir

This past weekend, Brad and I drove down to central IL to visit our friends before their upcoming cross country adventure. Andrew was recently accepted into a medical residency program in sunny Arizona. The boys grew up together- neighbors across the street. Brad's brother and his wife were also in town, so we had a little gathering of sorts. We had a fun-filled/board-game-playing/goodbye-weekend but I got a little distracted and only took a few photos of their adorable kiddos. {Ella's curly hair is sooo beautiful.} We will definitely miss this crew. However, we'll have a good excuse to leave Chicago's cold embrace- come winter- and plan a trip out to Arizona!! In addition to visiting with our friends, we also had Sunday brunch with Brad's aunt. It was a rainy, half-hour drive along the Illinois River... and we chatted a little about Uncle Art.

"Be well, do good work, and keep in touch." ~Garrison Keillor

An Urban Explorer in Detroit

Your NPR Name...
Mine: Lemanne Vézelay
Short, NPR nerd-humor: click to read
{Vézelay, France. a beautiful village.}
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One of my favorite bloggers, Jim from Sweet Juniper, was recently featured on The Story {Tuesday, April 14th}.

Urban Explorer
"Economic decline has left Detroit with many abandoned buildings. Jim Griffioen lives in the city and has been documenting the destruction of some of those buildings by "scrappers," people who strip abandoned buildings of valuable metals.

Jim is most interested in schools. He's taken photos of trees growing through books and other things left behind. Recently Jim has gone beyond documenting what he sees and is reclaiming what he finds. He collects abandoned library books and other school supplies and gives them to community centers. Jim talks with Dick Gordon about his explorations and how his view of the city has changed..."

More on his work here.

Flickr set: Detroit Public Schools Book Depository/ Roosevelt Park Warehouse

Bromance

My mind is still on job searching! but this program on Fresh Air got me thinking. {{Side note to the blogging community... do you have any professional development websites to share? Let's join forces together!}} Sooo, Terry Gross interviewed the actor Jason Segel- "who stars as an obnoxious best man in the new "bromantic" comedy I Love You Man". Did you catch the entertaining radio interview??

In part of the interview, Segel spoke about the differences men and women have when it comes to making friends. Yup, we're different alright- especially when we look at post-college life. For instance, I just joined this Sustainability Task Force and attended my first meeting last Thursday. I now have one new Facebook friend and I'm in communication with another "new friend" to meet for coffee this week. Just. Like. That. And then there is this little thing called blogging. I've "meet" several creative, insightful {new} people online.

I think Brad owes me an enduring THANKS! because it was Holt and I that initiated a coffee meet up in January, 2007. We talked for three hours on that first girly date. And as luck would have it, our husbands ended up liking each other, too. bonus! {*That is Brad + Tony on the Texas State House tour while we were in Austin, TX. Awww, boys and Christmas decorations.}

From my experiences, it always seems to be the girls that initiate these dinner parties, too. Now, don't get me wrong, my husband has several friends. Good friends even. But his circle doesn't seem to grow. He seems completely content on his circle of childhood and college buddies. Content isn't a bad thing. I'm using content merely as an observation. Going back to the interview, I just thought Segel's male perspective was humorous.
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I should note, my husband is going to an all-day board game meet up on Saturday. ALL. DAY. They met online and they camp out at this guy's church for hours! and play board games (and eat). Though I highly doubt they "discuss" the sort of things us girls talk about over coffee. Just a hunch. :)

pleasant remembrances

Graduation trip with friends... Cortona, Italy
Summer 2004... after graduate school
The group... 11 in all, 1 rented villa, 1 rented car

I miss college.
I miss seeing my friends all the time.
I miss doing things on a whim.
{... like hopping on a train to travel to Rome or Lucca.}
{... or going to a concert. In the middle of the week.}
{... studying with your girlfriend. Over coffee. But really, you're talking.}

Our friendly dinner gathering was organized a couple weeks in advance.
It was a wonderful evening just the same.
A little has changed, though. Kids.

Because I'm cold.

December 21st (one day late). It is the shortest day of the year. And The Darkest Night of the Year. Happy winter greetings from Chicago! It is SO COLD here in the Midwest. Yesterday the windchill was 30 below! ugh. And I thought, hmmm, last Sunday it was 78 degrees in Austin, Texas.
I hate you winter but I love Calvin and Hobbes.

One more post about Texas- because I'm cold...


Unlike Springfield, IL, the capital of Texas has a thriving downtown. I'm speaking mostly in regards to urban planning, local businesses and cultural institutions. However, our dreadful Governor gave our state's capital another gloomy tale. Basically the only thing Springfield has going for it right now are the Abraham Lincoln sites. That is unless G-Rod closed those due to budget cuts {like the Dana Thomas House}.

But I digress... hello Austin!! After we surprised! Holt! and after lunching on some Texas comfort food, we toured the state capitol building.

Baby Alice's first letterboxing experience happened to be at the Austin Nature and Science Center. She was lucky enough to find the stamp just moments after a feeding at the Birds of Prey exhibit. Awesome. Go Alice!

We filled the remainder of our weekend with the card game Dominion, local FOOD joints and more sightseeing. What was the name of the yummy tamale place?? Tony took us past Austin City Limits but alas there was no signage on the studio. I'm such a PBS nerd.







THANKS for the great visit Tony, Holt and Alice! When it warms up, please come see us in Chicago!