Megan & Me at Antiques Roadshow @ McCormick Place

Why yes, I did say Antiques Roadshow. Fairly last minute and awesome surprise that Megan had an extra ticket. After not seeing her for ages, Saturday was a day of Megan! I may write more about our experience on the internet in future times, but for now, that’s all I have.

This week: Takito with Stacy. Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Reading & Award @ Chopin Theater. Lunch with Rachel @ Yuzu. Ukrainian Village Neighborhood Association (UVNA)/Facebook Groups Social @ Rainbo. Antiques Roadshow. Jackie’s going away party. Sunday, Z and I ran a bunch of errands and sold the tablecloths on Craigslist. People keep confirming and then bailing on me for the LAK lacquer nailpolish supplies. Craigslist people not coming through = not fun times.

UVNA Neighborhood Social Spread

The first neighborhood social the UVNA organized at Rainbo Club went off real great with Takito Kitchen donating their salsa trio and masa crackers; Alliance Bakery donating macarons; and Epic Spices donating pizza sauce seasoning. One of my fave spin instructors Mandee Miller also donated coupons for her personal training sessions. I think somewhere between 40 and 50 people showed up through the evening. Heaven Malone djed. It was a positive vibe and so nice to meet more of the neighbors in a social setting and drink Stiegl Radler.

Films watched 30th week of the year:

Romancing the Stone
Man of Steel
The Grey

Z had never seen Romancing the Stone, one my my favorites I’d watch with my family growing up. There is a lot of innuendo that must have gone right over my head, but the film is still dang enjoyable. Man of Steel was worthless – Michael Shannon could not save it. Do not watch. The Grey, however, was better than I thought it would be. I hope Liam Neeson is a good person and snuggles with wolves.

Rhymes with Twee set-up @ Pitchfork’s Coterie

This week: Christina & Shaun came over to meet the hedgehog babies. Emergency UVNA meeting about St. John’s church. Coterie @ Pitchfork – I saw Beck from afar; watched Neutral Milk Hotel and Slowdive. The last Post Perspicacious Pitchfork Party @ Nick & Erin’s – I think I am missing one P there.

As for Coterie @ Pitchfork, I had an excellent time. I ate a Temptations vegan ice cream cone every day. Lovely booth neighbors and wonderful customers. One guy bought a pink lady (Dowager Countess) tote bag from me and I saw him later and he hugged me. I <3 my customers. I'm feeling low on words this week, so here is a video of a wee tapir and its momma. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHMlmBb03oY Films watched 29th week of the year:

Cronos *

* documentary

This week and getting ready for selling at Coterie @ Pitchfork made me feel like I didn’t have anything left. One freaking exhausting week. Cronos was pretty to watch and nice to have on while multitasking.

Ian’s Birthday Dinner @ Kitchen 17

I am posting 5 days after my intended post day of Sunday because I’ve been super busy AND gearing up for COTERIE at Pitchfork. Come cool off in the tents with us. I’m near buddies Megan Lee Designs and Red Ava Designs. <3 This week: Dinner @ Thai Village/Drinks @ Hala Kahiki with Z, Stacy, Derek, and Amanda. My first attendance of a Wednesday Friendsday @ Happy Village. UVNA Board Meeting. Ian's Bday dinner @ Kitchen 17. Mica's Party. Trader Joe's. Handlebar with LCB, Adam, Amy, and Kimmi. Dropped Bean Baby onesies @ Neighborly. Made dinner for the boo who'd been in Cleveland. There is a lot of baby hedgehog news to post, but I need to sleep to ready myself for Pitchfork. And, goodnight. Films watched 28th week of the year:

Girl Most Likely
They Came Together

I thought both of these would be funnier. TCT was pretty good, but I feel like there were lots of romcom cliches not touched upon. 🙂 Paul Rudd & Amy Poehler, come on kiddos.

Art3mis’ Baby Scrunch Face

This week: Inventory at work – yowza. Z made veggie lasagna for vow dinner – repeat but with different veggies this time. I finally went back to spin to my friend Paige’s ‘Murica spin class. Got to check Art3mis’ nest for the babies and all three survived – then we have to wait until Friday to start further socializing. Went to my neighbor Judith’s to see her gorgeous weaving. Party @ Pat’s. Party @ Adrianne & Rachel’s. Wolf Park with Z, Kimmi, & Jen S – it was a really fun little roadtrip. Music Box for Snowpiercer. RWT business.

Going into the weekend, I decided to reshoot all of my paper good product photos for Rhymes with Twee with my new lightbox and that was a huge undertaking. Wowsers. The shop looks AMAZING now though: Rhymes with Twee Etsy Shop. Huzzah!

Films watched 27th week of the year:

Snowpiercer
Sex Positive *

* documentary

I watched a lot of tv shows this week. I loved the premise of Snowpiercer and n’doi, Tilda Swinton was amazing; the best. I will absolutely be re-watching it because there is a lot I am sure I missed. Sex Positive documented a figure I had not heard about in the AIDS/HIV movement, Richard Berkowitz, and was directed by Daryl Wein. I’ve seen a number of documentaries about this, but I still learned new information.

What I brought to swap:
pulled jackfruit, you’re a dahl mix, lime macaroons & malörtaroons.

My swap haul

This week: Dinner with Stacy/Amber @ Lula. Joong Boo with Jen S. Applied for DIY Trunk Show. Library. Vegan Vortex. Canada Day Party. Made food for food swap. Chicago Food Swap with Linsey @ Sur La Table downtown. Movie with Z, Heidi & Ed.

This was my third time taking part in the Chicago Food Swap. I came back with even more sweet than the first two somehow. If you’re reading this looking for a food swap tip, bring savory, bring savory, bring savory! I wish I’d made more ‘you’re my dal mix’ (tweaked this Mark Bittman recipe to be a mix). Also to note, a lot of swappers were scared of my pulled jackfruit. I used this recipe from Clean Green Simple as a starting point, but deviated somewhat. Many people had no idea what it was so they were reluctant to try it. If I make another jackfruit recipe in the future, I’ll write a descriptor like “vegan pulled pork” would have given people an idea of what it meant. It was my first time making macaroons and I veganized this recipe from Dessert Now, Dinner Later. I made a double batch and subbed coconut flour for flour and canned coconut milk for sweetened condensed milk. I also made a malört version I’m calling a malörtaroon because, thanks to my friend Rachel’s malört cake, I’ve been making malörty versions of sweets just because – also, I met Rachel’s friend Allie (working at SLT) at the swap. Chicago is endlessly small.

I’m vegetarian, but eat vegan often, so I do look for vegan items, but there were far fewer vegan items than usual even with a fairly large group. My fave swap items were: kraut & cranberry kombucha. linsey’s lemon curd! sea salt brownies. dulche de leche macarons. I picked up bacon jam made by The Cooking Cop who I enjoyed chatting with at the end. I love that food swaps are bringing together such a great mix of people in Chicago. Again, must make more savory items next time. Not sure I’ll be able to make the July food swap since it’s Pitchfork weekend and Rhymes with Twee will be selling at Coterie, but I might be a loon and still try to swing it.

Films watched 26th week of the year:

Go Fish
Purple Rain
The Fault in Our Stars

I’d seen Go Fish before, but before I lived in Chicago. Had never seen Purple Rain even though I’d always meant to. Wow, it is incredibly misogynistic and was pretty bad to boot. TFiOS was really good and met my expectations and I didn’t cry as much as while reading the book. 🙂