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!

2012 Week 52: “There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes.”

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Leigh

Photo by our dear friend Kirstie Shanley. Happy holidays from the BooHaus Family. Katniss not pictured because Tilda would have tried to eat her.

This week:
Christmas at the Hansen’s was great. We had the big dinner Christmas Eve and then had Christmas breakfast at 9:00am. Z and I headed home from Cleveland early because a giant snowstorm was heading straight for it, so we got back to Chicago Christmas night. Since we had already requested the PTO off, Z and I ran a whole bunch of errands. I went to the post office to mail some LAK lacquer I had sold [funny enough, it went to an acquaintance whose future mother-in-law had purchased it for her]. I set up my new phone at T-Mobile. Exchanged a purchase at Kohl’s. Grocery shopping at Jewel. I picked out my new glasses [Shuron NuLady in Crystal Brown] from Labrabbit. They weren’t the vintage frames I went all swoony for last week, but they are very me and will look nice. Went to Kimmi’s bday party Saturday. Today we took down the Christmas tree and decorations, slightly rearranged the living room, and did some general clean-up.

Also this week, I started watching The Walking Dead. I watched Seasons 1 and 2 and I am fully into it. Z watched the first five episodes with me and gave up because he said it reminded him too much of LOST. The further I got, the more I agree with his statement. It is a lot like LOST, which is probably why I am enjoying it so much. Funny though, because I have never been a huge fan of zombie movies, books, games, etc. Kind of like how I enjoyed Friday Night Lights but avidly hate baseball (& most sports). I enjoy watching the relationships, but every time there is a walker attack, I can barely watch.

End of year post/2012 resolution wrap/2013 resolution list coming on Tuesday.

Films watched 52nd week of the year:

Les Miserables (2012)
Housekeeping
Pink Ribbons, Inc. *

*documentary

Les Mis was freaking outstanding. I thought the cast was stellar. I loved the set design and costumes. I’ve had the songs stuck in my head and I can’t stop singing them. Zachary has been less than stoked. 🙂

2012 Week 51: “We can hardly stand the wait. Please Christmas, don’t be late.”

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Leigh

Zachary and me at the Christmas Story House in Cleveland.

This week: Eye doctor. Sweet Home Chicago exhibit @ Harold Washington Library. Christkindlmarket. Tried on glasses at Labrabbit and fell in love with a pair of vintage frames, but Z doesn’t like them. Mailed my Friends of Leigh Gift Exchange package and Letters to Santa gifts. Hideout Holiday Sale. Dinner with Juli, Dan, Eliza, Mike, and Z @ Bite. Service Call in Munster, Indiana with day job’s National Sales Director. Got my chipped (from grinding) front teeth repaired. Packed. Work Christmas party. Drove to the Cleve. We were nervous about the weather, but there was no snow until about 20 miles from Z’s family house. Slept. Went to West Side Market. Ate at Market Garden with Z’s parents. Went to Christmas Story House. Ate at CROP Bistro with Z’s family. Went to MELT with Kate and Brian. Tilda has been really good. We are so proud of her. We have had quite a year with that little dog.

Can’t believe there is only a week and a day left in the year. It boggles the mind.

Films watched 51st week of the year:

The Woman in Black
The Mechanic
Premium Rush
The Queen of Versailles*

*documentary

Good week for movies. Premium Rush ruled. Definitely one of the most enjoyable films of the year.

2012 Week 50: Be an Elf, baby.

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Leigh

Gifts for Peyton; one of the two kids we picked from the USPS Letters to Santa/Be an Elf. Isn’t that dress the best thing ever!? I love doing this more than any other holiday things and next year, you should think about it as well. Special thanks to Megan for going crazy at H&M and buying such darling clothes for Peyton and Amanda for all the books! I heart my friends!

This was a very productive week. Did mega errands and got rid of a lot of stuff. Went to two work-related holiday parties; ICNC’s at Garfield Park Conservatory and Z’s at LuxBar. Saw HellCab at Profiles Theatre. It was SO fantastic. Went to three most excellent holiday parties Saturday night. Had a lovely potluck brunch party where friends brought in gifts or helped wrap for the Be an Elf letters we had picked. I made the buffalo chicken dip again and a veggie version by sauteeing two boxes of tofu, which was a big hit as well! I also made these Martha Stewart blueberry scones for Beth’s bday.

Films watched 50th week of the year:

Baraka*
Still Crazy
Restless

*documentary