2013 Week 4: Ice, ice, baby, twee cold.

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Leigh

Tilda emerging from the blankets

Had dinner with Annie @ Fat Willy’s and saw Gangster Squad. Took first Live DJ Spin class @ WPAC. Epic Burger with two of my fave coworkers. Went to Dragonlady for the first time in ages. Finally went to Township for the first time with Amanda and Derek. Sold at my first craft fair of the year, Urban Folk Circuit @ Logan Square Farmer’s Market.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/107593438/same-sex-wedding-card-gay-marriage-hand?

Same Sex Wedding Card by Arthur’s Plaid Pants

It was great to get back in the swing of things and sell at Urban Folk Circuit even though it was an icy Sunday. I got to hang with Reba (Rar Rar Press) and had a great time chatting with Jen (Arthur’s Plaid Pants) and the father/son team of North Coast Organics. I got a super tasty grilled cheese from Prairie Pure Cheese and picked Z up a small gift. I love the pairing of handmade crafts with farm grown/artisan foods. The shoppers seemed to enjoy it as well!

Also, I applied for Crafty Supermarket, which is April 27th in Cincinnati, OH. Fingers crossed because I don’t believe I’ve ever been there and I’ve heard this show is great and lots of fun!

Tweekly make was remaking Dowager Countess cards in a new colorway (pink on yellow) for the fair.

Films watched 4th week of the year:

Generation P ** [Russian]
Gangster Squad
Die Hard
Bandwagon
Hollow Man
Drive Me Crazy
Cosmopolis
Cleanflix *

* documentary
** foreign language

Generation P was my winner, though I think about 1/4 of it could have been chopped out. It lost both me and Z for a wee bit in the middle. Otherwise, it was really exciting, dreamlike, and fun to watch. I love movies based around advertising and it did not disappoint. Bandwagon was a close second. I will always love movies about touring bands. All thumbs down on Cosmopolis. What a boring, pretentious pile.

2013 Week 3: Pardon my partying.

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Leigh

Got my new glasses from Labrabbit. They RULE and I love them.

5 parties. Took my third spin class. Got to catch up with Jenny and Jen at Lula. Fantastic weekend, but 5 parties [st. sebastian day, austin’s bday, jon & autumn’s schwarzenegger, liza’s pizza, eliza’s 30th] split between two days may be one too many parties.

Tweekly Make: Moosewood Kitchen chili made with Upton’s instead of TVP. I’ve been making it for years, but it never gets old.

Films watched 3rd week of the year:

Nate & Margaret
Somewhere Between *
Any Day Now
The Color of Pomegranates ** [Armenia]
The Running Man

*documentary
** foreign language

I feel like a jerk, but I finally watched my friend Nathan’s film Nate & Margaret and it was quite good. It is streaming on Netflix. I am proud of him for making such a sweet, fun, bittersweet film. Favorite scene was definitely the mug scene towards the end.

Somewhere Between was an enjoyable documentary about Chinese girls who had been adopted by American families and are curious about their birth families/how they came to be adopted. It was directed by a woman who was adopting a Chinese girl herself and the film is dedicated to her daughter. Having been adopted myself and finding my birth mother, I felt a lot of empathy for the girls in the film, but I wish the director had delved deeper and opened some doors that we only saw a peek at that were then slammed closed.

Of note: I adapted my new year’s resolution from watching one foreign language film a week to watching a foreign language film from a different country every week. 52 different countries! This will happen. I would love to get recommendations for countries that will be hard to find films for. Countries knocked out so far: Japan, Italy, Armenia, Russia! Only 48 to go!

2013 Week 2: “I’m LOST without you here.”

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Leigh

This week, Z and I saw two movies in the theatre, which just makes me want to watch more movies in the theatre. This is 40 just made me want to re-watch LOST and watch LOST I did! Only 105 episodes to go! The first half of this week I was still limping around after my first spin class. I took my second class today (Sunday) with a different instructor and I enjoyed her class more because of her music and program. I had to take it slightly easy because not being able to sit down without help was not fun. I am really digging spin and would love to take a few classes a week, but my gym’s class schedule for the spin classes is really wonky and I am not up for any 6am class!

My friend Erin is a member of Ag47; a nonprofit that matches teenage girls with mentors who help them create art of all kinds. They threw an event Saturday called Exquisite Corpse at Challengers Comics. I made the cookies below for the baked good sale (recipe below). The event was a huge success with a great turnout and me and Miss Alison each left with a piece of artwork drawn by the girls and mentors.

Tweekly Make: Made vegan almond butter cookies using this recipe and subbing almond butter for peanut butter and agave for honey. They didn’t turn out like PB cookies, but were still pretty good.

Films watched 2nd week of the year:

Anonymous
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Kevin *
Umberto D. **
This is 40
Hungry for Change *
The Godfather, part II
Detention

*documentary
**foreign language

So, The Godfather films did not blow me away, but again, I am glad to finally be watching them. I still have to watch part III, but I’ve heard that’s the worst of the lot. After watching Quill last week and bawling my eyes out, Zachary suggested Umberto D. for my foreign film because it’s about an old man and his dog. This movie was very affecting to me and I was shaking in anticipation of what would happen. I liked it, but it was very hard for me to watch. Films with dogs are often pretty hard for me to take. Most enjoyable film this week was Detention. It felt like a film mash-up of 80’s and 90’s romcoms, music videos, and horror, with the pacing of Scott Pilgrim.

2013 Week 1: So this is the new beer?

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Leigh

I used the crock pot I won at the work holiday party to make something just mediocre – recipe hunt has begun. First Vegan Vednesday was super easy. Lunch with C Begs and Mike @ Bite. Work Book Club @ Inspiration Cafe. Went to the first new-to-me restaurant (see my resolutions post), Amitabul. Took my first spin class at WPAC and can barely walk and sitting down is worse. New Beer’s Eve @ Kris & Joe’s. Tilda training with Erik.

Tweekly Make [this is what I’m calling my version of make great: For New Beer’s Eve, I made Chocolate Stout beer bread with this recipe (my make great for the week). I used North Peak’s Dubious black chocolate stout.

Chocolate Spread Recipe, adapted from here

1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
3-4 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp almond milk

Mix with hand mixer or stand mixer until smooth and creamy.

Next time, I would heat the coconut oil to bring it to liquid form pre-mixing. I didn’t and mine remained lumpy. It was a HUGE hit spread onto the chocolate stout bread though.

Films watched 1st week of the year:

Sleepwalk with Me
The Five-Year Engagement
Looper
Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog **
(A)sexual*
Orphans (2007)
After Porn Ends *
Craigslist Joe *
The Godfather

*documentary
**foreign language

Excellent first week for films! Faves: Sleepwalk with Me, Quill, (A)sexual, Craigslist Joe. So, I finally watched The Godfather. I don’t feel like my life has changed, but I am happy that I’m 1/3 done with the trilogy.

2013 Resolutions: Let’s wrap last year up and tie it up with a bow.

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Leigh

I did great with all of last year’s resolutions except for the USA stuff. That one has been a hard hurdle to jump over, but slowly and surely, it is becoming easier to find stuff made in the USA.

2012 Resolutions:

Update the La De Blog at least once a week.

Get fit with Wii Fit.

Watch at least one documentary a week.

Stop buying so much stuff not â€œMade in the USA.â€

2013’s resolutions are already go and I feel I can keep them up. I just took 2012’s and built on them.

2013 resolutions:

Update the La De Blog once a week.

Watch one documentary and one foreign film a week.

Make something great once a week. [inspired by my friend Erica’s lovely make great blog. I don’t know for sure that I can make something great every single day, but I can commit to once a week.]

Go to at least one new to me restaurant a month.

Read at least one book a month.

Continue getting fit.

Continue buying “Made in the USA” as often as possible.

Every Wednesday will be Vegan Vednesday!