2013 Week 31: Shadow’s shadow – b. April 20, 2002 d. August 1, 2013

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Leigh

Leigh & puppy Shadow

Shadow with Emo Leigh

Shadow being her adorable self

Me, Z, and Shadow at our old apartment

When we went as a family to the breeder to visit the Berner puppies, I picked Shadow out. My mom explained that we couldn’t fall in love with her because there were other families who would pick before us, but I knew that she would be ours. It turns out she had a “defect” of a kink in her tail, which disqualified her from show quality, but that defect made her all ours. Shadow passed away Thursday night. She was a Bernese Mountain Dog and she lived to be 11 years and 3 months, which is a ripe old age for a Berner these days. For the last couple years, whenever I was home in Alexandria, VA, I would hug her real tight knowing that her time was coming to an end. I had hoped I would get to see her one last time before she went, but she died 9 days before I went home and it crushes my soul more than a little bit. It will be so hard to handle being home this weekend without her there. Shadow passed away on the anniversary of Hoggle’s death, so hopefully she’ll find him wherever she is.

My dad sent this email out to family and friends who knew and loved Shadow:

“Shadow succumbed to pneumonia last Thursday evening at South Paws. She was very weak, and her passing was natural and peaceful. The staff at South Paws was wonderful.

We canâ€™t imagine a better, more eager to please friend and companion than she. We have so many happy memories of day-to-day life with her and on trips around the country. We miss her greatly.”

My mom told me right before Z, LCB, and I headed out to Reza’s Andersonville to scout it as a rehearsal dinner location and when we got to A-ville, Puppet Bike was out. Puppet Bike always seems to be there when I need it most. Thank you, Puppet Bike – that is why you’re my favorite. To distract myself (and because we have a lot to do), I threw myself into wedding planning over the weekend. Z and I met with Reba (Rar Rar Press) and we picked out type together and she handset the type for the RSVP card and printed it. Reba had a plate made of our invitation and she printed those afterwards. They look fan freakin’ fantastic. I know most brides probably say that about their own invites, but seriously, ours are the best! I do not know what we would do without our incredible friends throughout this wedding madness. Danelle & Joe [ Florence Oliver ] lasered us custom stamps with our wedding image and return address. Sunday night Z and I packaged up all the invites and they went in the mail this morning. Serious shoutouts to all friends who are helping our wedding come together.

Call off the vintage sheet hunt! After ~3.5 hours of searching at Kane County Flea Market and not finding a single vintage sheet, I gave up and decided to just buy tablecloths and then re-sell them on Craigslist. I ended up getting tablecloths for our 27 tables for ~$250. The Kane County Flea Market was not a total bust for our wedding though – I found an amazing pink doll case that we will use as a card box and some vintage fluted white plates for the Cookie Table. Next time I go to this sprawling flea market, I’ll bring some healthy snacks! Also accomplished: photographer found in our friend Nate Lanthrum. DJ lady friends Les & Beth. Things are happening.

Also this week: Tilda training. Lunch with Alison @ Upton’s Breakroom [skip the tempeh, more like tempmeh]. Card drop @ Paper Doll. Native Foods with Megan & Jess & Nick. Jason’s Bday @ Emporium Arcade. Took Katniss to the vet because she kept losing quills – her mites are worse and we’ve been given Ivermectin (usually a no-no for hedgehogs) spaced out over 4 oral doses along with a special shampoo to bathe her with weekly.

Films watched 31st week of the year:

Identity Thief
Stoker
Mongol ** [ Kazakhstan ]
Tchoupitoulas *

* documentary
** foreign language

2013 Week 30: Our wedding will be imperfect and awesome.

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Leigh

LCB & Me @ Indie Wed

Lots of bike riding! Going to Upton’s Breakroom for the first time on the second day it was open! Started addressing wedding invitations. Quesadilla! Had a flurry of Etsy orders. Rani’s bachelorette dinner! Sold @ Jeff Fest. Indie Wed with LCB!

On Sunday morning, I felt depression creeping in. Z and I dropped off a donation at Brown Elephant and then I dropped Z off at the Music Box. On the way home I called about 7 friends to try to make brunch plans before I went to Indie Wed. I had a false hope for brunch fall through and then I came to the realization I would have to be alone with my thoughts, so I went to Janik’s to get a sandwich. The first thing I consider a negative experience happened there after years upon years of going happened just before I ordered. I don’t know if it was just what I was putting out in the world, but that made me come to a realization. Our wedding will not be perfect and I have to accept that. I felt like Charlie Brown walking back from Janik’s, but I came back and pressed play on Animal Allies and waited for LCB to pick me up for Indie Wed.

A thing I was always CERTAIN that would happen at my wedding is not happening and a few other things that I had banked on happening may not be happening. Additionally, we realized that we had not accounted for tablecloth rental in our budget that we are trying to strictly adhere to. Tablecloth rental is ridiculously expensive, like $12 – $19 apiece and we’ll need a total of 20 at the very least, so the rental would be somewhere around $300 – $500, which is just something we cannot/will not do. If I can round enough of them up, we are going to use vintage King-size sheets. I have friends and one amazingly thrift-savvy coworker looking for me. I’m going to Kane County Flea Market next weekend to look for tablecloths and platters to use for the cookie table. I know that our wedding will be awesome regardless of whether or not a beloved musician buddy plays or not; whether we have matching tablecloths or not, etc. Our wedding will be awesome not because of these things, but because of our love and our awesome friends and family sharing that day with us.

Films watched 30th week of the year:

Katy Perry: Part of Me *
The Holy Man ** [ India ]

* documentary
** foreign language

I know that friends of mine judge me for enjoying Katy Perry’s music, but I truly have no shame enjoying the music I like; be it an indie dude with a guitar playing to a tiny crowd or someone playing to thousands upon thousands. This documentary further cemented my enjoyment of Katy Perry, not just as a singer/songwriter, but as a human being. Sure, I think the rise to fame probably changed her somewhat, but that (very slow) rise seemed to ground her as a human being and A LOT of her employees are old friends and I respect that a lot. The day after I watched this documentary, this post went up on Hatesong on the A/V Club and I still laughed, but I still admire the heck out of her and enjoy Firework myself.

2013 Week 29: A Keokukian weekend

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Leigh

The Grand Anne Bed & Breakfast (Keokuk, IA)

Takito with Jen. Spin. Lunch with Reba @ Handlebar to discuss wedding invites! Eliza & Mike’s rehearsal dinner/wedding in Keokuk, IA! Stayed at the Grand Anne Bed & Breakfast which was absolutely the perfect place to stay. Takito with Z & C-Begs. Finding out Kate & Brian got engaged!

Eliza & Mike’s wedding was such a sweet and nerdy affair. I was so so so happy to be a part of it and seeing theirs be so awesome and go off without a hitch gave me confidence that everything will work out for Z and my wedding in October. It was my first time standing up in a wedding and I thought I would be more stressed out, but it all worked out. Even my last minute speech turned out okay! 99% of the year I wear pants and have my phone in my pocket, but because my phone was in my purse, I only have two photos from the wedding weekend worthy of sharing and the second is of Z and my plush kid Rico on the way to Iowa. The nice photos will come later. 🙂

Rico getting an eyeful of ears (of corn).

Films watched 29th week of the year:

Ghost Bird *
Your Sister’s Sister
The Celebration ** [Denmark]

* documentary
** foreign language

Your Sister’s Sister was my favorite film of the week. It’s a simple little film, but very enjoyable even with a mostly unbelievable premise.

2013 Week 28: Constitution addendum proposal: Name tags for all

Posted on July 14, 2013 by Leigh

French pastries @ Shanley’s. Lunch & West Side Market with boo parents. Dinner at Alma (Pgh) with Jessica & Mike. Saw Belle & Sebastian in Pittsburgh with Jessica, Mike, & Natalia! Wedding luncheon in Cleveland.

Very busy at work and trying to sort out a bunch more wedding stuff. I was so stressed I actually skipped spin for the first week after 27 weeks of going mostly twice a week and I feel so gross about it. I still did lots of walks and a few bike rides, but my body could not handle it. I’ll be back mostly full swing this coming week. Belle & Sebastian were the best I’ve seen them in years. SO much fun to see them with our friends! The wedding luncheon was a lovely affair and so nice to spend time with friends of Z’s parents. The stressful part for me is always remembering names, which has always been my kryptonite. I was trying to get Z to agree to nametags at the wedding, but he has shot this idea down. When Z and I got home after our long drive, we did laundry, cleaned Katniss’ cage, gave her a bath and finished Season 3 of Arrested Development (rewatch) and now I am blogging. No rest for the weary!

Total side note: I love that Eliza’s Google calendar says “Get married” on their wedding day. Z and I are very psyched for their wedding in Keokuk, IA!

Films watched 28th week of the year:

Herman’s House *
The Bling Ring
I’m So Excited ** [ Spain ]

* documentary
** foreign language

Great movie week. I enjoyed all of these a ton, but each one had a flaw that stayed with me:

The ending in Herman’s House broke my heart. Why make a documentary with no true resolution!? I do realize that a documentarian cannot film subjects forever, BUT this ending felt like the end of Bully felt; missing.

The fact that Sofia Coppola knows and likely hangs out with all of these celebrities that were victims of The Bling Ring‘s burglaries just felt so weird. Sofia probably called Paris up like: “Oh, hi friend. Can we shoot a few scenes at your place? Yeah? Cool.” While I found it very enjoyable and beautiful like all of her films, there’s no one to root for in this one. These kids are utter slimeballs.

I *loved* I’m So Excited, but Bruna’s main scene threw me for a loop. As a feminist, I was horrified and couldn’t help but compare this rape scene to the polar opposite ones in The Skin I Live In. Rape is never funny and for AlmodÃ³var to imply that it is after making TSILI is disgusting and shocking to me. The film is so enjoyable, but it’s hard to remove this from souring my impression of the film.

2013 Week 27: Michael Shannon is tall, y’all.

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Leigh

We’re on a boat for Derek’s bday!

Really busy week at work. Became obsessed with Candy Crush Saga – GAH! The Evens @ Logan Hardware. Celebrated Derek’s bday on a BOAT that Amanda had rented. Fireworks @ Katey’s house. Sushi-making. Spin! Breakfast @ Toast 2. Simpatico @ Red Orchid Theatre [starring Michael Shannon – neat to see him in person and boy is he tall].

Toast has one of the best breakfast burritos I have ever eaten.

Films watched 27th week of the year:

Marwencol *
How to Live Forever *
The Descendants
Blood (O Sangue) ** [ Portugal ]

* documentary
** foreign language

Marwencol was fascinating and I’ve never seen anything like it before. Neat to see an artist coming into his own. Creative born out of brutality. I had never heard of it, but Z had already seen it once before. Definitely worth a watch.

Found a list of Top 100 documentaries as voted by PBS viewers that someone had posted on IMDB. So awesome that I’ve seen SO many of them. I love love love documentaries. I’m going to add the ones I haven’t yet seen to my To Watch list.

2013 Week 26: Fami-leigh fun!

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Leigh

Me & Dad, pre-having our butts kicked @ spin

Mom & Dad in town. Lunch @ Shokolad. Mr. Klein gave my parents a tour of PortionPac! First fitting @ Mignonette – they got to see progress on my dress right after I did. Dinner @ Takito. Spin with my dad @ WPAC! Nature Museum. Dinner @ Bite. Whirled News Tonight @ Improv Olympic. Breakfast @ Big Jones. Parents left. Canada Day Party @ Elisse’s.

Taking Dad to spin was really fun. Julie asked me last week if she should take it easy on him and I said probably a bit easier would be good, but that did not happen. My dad knew when to take it easy though and I’m glad because she really kicked our butts in class that day. It was great to show him something firsthand that I’ve been so passionate about since the beginning of the year since it has truly changed my outlook on exercising.

Films watched 26th week of the year:

Distant ** [ Turkey ]
Kumare *
The Tales of Hoffman

* documentary
** foreign language

Kumare was excellent. I think he set out to do something he hadn’t really thought through the aftermath of, but the reveal turned out alright with most of his “followers”. I share Vikram Gandhi’s mindset that you don’t need organized religion to accomplish great things spiritually and mentally. I feel that believing in yourself is something that does not often come down the pipeline in organized religion and it’s nice that Vikram showed his followers that this power was inside them all along. A doc must-watch.

Distant was one of the most boring films I’ve watched this year. I just watched it this week and I took nothing away from it. Do not watch!

2013 Week 25: Eyes of the bull

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Leigh

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.