2013 Week 25: Eyes of the bull

La De Blog - Archery Bow Range

Mountain Goats @ Lincoln Hall. LCB bday dinner @ Bite. Jason Anderson @ Den Theatre. Biked to Etsy Craft Party (Craft Bar) @ Mignonette Bridal. Archery @ Archery Bow Range. Printed a custom order of 73 Matthew Crawley moleskine notebook cahiers for an event in Oregon! Dropped more Bean Baby onesies at Neighborly and picked up their collaboration with Begyle, Neighborly Stout, at West Lakeview Liquors! Spin x2 and 9 mile bike ride another day. Woo!

Great week of awesomeness. Archery Bow Range was incredible. Thanks so much to our friend Elisse for telling us about it. It was a belated birthday present from Z and we had such a great time. I hit the yellow center area a couple of times, but I never broke the bull’s eye’s enter. Aspirations! After an hour of shooting, my shoulders and bow fingers hurt though! I will totally be back. It is very affordable to use their equipment, but I could see it becoming a very expensive hobby. Yep, totally just looked at custom bows on Etsy!

Films watched 25th week of the year:

Walk Away Renee *
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid
Lore ** [ Germany ]
Zazie dans le metro ** [ France ]

* documentary
** foreign language

All quality movies this week. I think Lore was my favorite. Gorgeous cinematography and score. Truly interesting to see the end of World War II from the perspective of Nazi’s children. Definitely worth a watch.

2013 Week 24: Goodbye Z-Boo & Francois [Pet Society]

La De Blog - Z-Boo in his finest duds
Z-Boo in his finest duds

La De Blog - Francois & Z-boo sharing one last drink
Francois & Z-Boo sharing one last drink

I posted this on FB the night before the shutdown of Pet Society was supposed to take place, but I feel it’s worth posting here: “Pet Society shutting down tomorrow has been strangely hard for me to handle. Z and I both had pets that we put a *lot* of hours into maintaining. Granted, we had not been on much since we moved into this apartment, but it’s weird knowing that this thing we invested so much time, care, and money (only me) into will cease to exist tomorrow. Sad face.” I had a stint of loving both Packrat and Farmville, but my love for Pet Society ran pretty deep because it was beautifully designed and the in-game activities were addictive to play. Zachary and I both spent a lot of time on it back in the day. Okay, I enjoyed it mostly because it was a really twee game and it was fun and very easy to spend hours exploring the world fishing for crazy fish and decorating your house. Back when Z and I were both actively playing the game, our work lives were not the best work lives we could have had and it was nice to have something uncomplicated and adorable to check in on. When we moved into this apartment 2+ years ago, we checked in less because my desktop had poor wireless signal and Z’s laptop ran the game slowly, but we would check in on the kids from time to time. We’re both genuinely sad to see our pets disappear. I don’t think either of us will want/need to enter a world like that again, but it was nice when we were there. I know Z-Boo and Francois will take good care of one another. They are best friends, after all.

This week: [REDACTED] @ Constellation [John Hodgman, Doug Benson, David Cross, Brian Posehn, 1/2 of Superchunk, Kyle Kinane, Cameron Esposito]. Played Pet Society on the night I thought was the last. Spin x2 Man Or Astro-Man? instore @ Saki. Epic neighborhood walk & breakfast at Handlebar with Eliza. Grilling @ Amanda & Derek’s.

Films watched 24th week of the year:

The Tragedy of Man ** [ Hungary ]
Brighton Rock
Behind the Burly Q *
The Impossible
The Ugly Dachshund
Struck by Lightning

* documentary
** foreign language

This was a really great week for films. The Tragedy of Man was incredible. Seek this film out and watch it. Every one of these films gave me something different. Being a huge Glee fan, I’m very proud of Chris Colfer [Kurt from Glee] for writing and starring in Struck by Lightning, which was very dark and clever. The Impossible was very rough to watch because it was so realistic. I had to look away during a few scenes. Really good we followed it up with –> The Ugly Dachshund is a Disney film I had no idea even existed until I stumbled upon it on the internet. Thank you, internet! The film is filled with some of the best animal hijinks I’ve ever seen. CG, you have nothing on live action hijinks! Fans of dogs in general, or specifically doxies or Great Danes, will love this film!

2013 Week 23: For whom the Bellwether tolls

La De Blog - Tiny Cover Band @ Hideout (Bellwether)
Tiny Cover Band @ Hideout (Bellwether)

My dayjob’s new hire orientation held Wednesday and Thursday at work left me wiped out this week. Shipped goods to White Rabbit in Iowa City and started selling my veggie vampire tea towels at my beloved Plenty Grocery & Deli. Celebrated my two year anniversary at PortionPac. Sold at Bellwether this weekend, which was a really awesome multimedia treat. There were at least 5 other festivals, a half 5k, Dose market, and both Cubs and Sox were in town that I knew of happening, so we had mega competition. Attendance was on the low side, but everyone who was at Bellwether had an excellent time. Lots of happy faces taking part in the workshops, watching the mobile and stationary bands, enjoying the dog parade, checking out the vendors. I had been meaning to check out Tiny Cover Band for a few years now and I finally got to see them! Jack (Ethically Engineered) and I had the best booth neighbors. Worker B came down from Minneapolis to hawk their honey and honey-based skincare products. New favorite honey!

I hurt my back from all the standing at Do Division last weekend while wearing improper shoes, so I took it easy on the gym and subbed long neighborhood walks in for spin. I did however made it to my favorite class before Bellwether started on Saturday.

Films watched 23rd week of the year:

Dangerous Living – Coming Out in the Developing World *
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives ** [ Thailand ]

* documentary
** foreign language

Uncle Boonmee ethereal and beautiful; a win. Dangerous Living felt so dated and it is always weird to me seeing/hearing Janeane Garofalo be serious, but I bet it was groundbreaking at the time it came out.

2013 Week 22: Love is love is love.

La De Blog - Me, Megan, & Cookie

Saw my first and possibly last movie at the Patio Theater; they are closing for the summer since they can’t afford to pay to fix the air conditioning. Spin x2. Squasht by Les 3-Year Anniversary Party! Dropped off favors for Aubri’s bachelorette party and I hope she liked them! Dropped off goods at Local Goods. Dinner @ Takito with Stacy. Sold at the mostly rainy but very fun Do Division and had Eliza and Esther fill in for me while I was at Ginny & Gabe wedding happenings! Attended Ginny & Gabe’s wedding and got to see so many friends I hadn’t seen assembled in one room in years!

Ginny and Gabe’s wedding was the first civil union Z and I had been to. There was so much joy in the room. Definitely some of the best vows we had ever heard. Ginny is a very longtime friend and former roommate. I have seen her grow up so much and when I met Gabe, I knew that Ginny had found her other half. These women are meant to be together but our state does not allow them to be legally married. I know we’ll change this soon. I feel that common sense will overcome. It must. When did you choose to be straight? Love is love.

Films watched 22nd week of the year:

Star Trek: Into Darkness
Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers *
The Story of Mr. Sorry ** [ Korea ]

* documentary
** foreign language

I was let down by the first two films watched this week. I mean, I enjoyed both of them, but I had high hopes for both. ST:ID was fun, but I loved the first of the reboot series so much that I knew it’d be hard to get even close. And come on, a documentary about garlic!? Anyone who knows me would think I would love it, but it was way too lovey dovey hippie wippie for me. Also, there were far too many dead piglets being stuffed with garlicky filling. I would love to see an actual history of garlic. Can someone kickstart that? I will back you.