2013 Week 45: “Yes he was alright, and the song went on forever.”

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Leigh

Let’s do some more wedding talk! For our hedgehog & music-themed wedding, we tried to tie in music in little ways where we could. For our drink menu, we cut the menu into a square shape and used double-sided tape to affix it to a 10″ record sleeve. Then we put it into clear sleeve and put in on a stand. We had beer, wine, cider and two signature cocktails for the wedding. Mine was the Cuba Leigh-bre and Z’s was The Old Curmudgeon. The Cuba Leigh-bre was a Cuba Libre and Z’s was something Adam from Takito gave us the idea for. The Old Curmudgeon was Jeppson’s MalÃ¶rt, grapefruit soda, and orange bitters. Funny enough, I did not drink any of my signature cocktail because Z’s was so tasty!

Takito Tuesday with Stacy. Made veggie and tofu tempura. Saturday was all about errands. Dropped off promo items @ Orange Beautiful for Show of Hands. Dropped off stock at Local Goods. Was recommended an Indian restaurant called Tava in Melrose Park and it had such unique and amazing vegetarian buffet items. Dropped off items and checked out The Free Store – highly recommend everyone support this next time it pops up. Within 30 minutes of my stuff being put out, nearly all of it was gone, and seemingly to people who needed/would put it to use. Kiku/Megan Lee Designs Open Studio. Birthday brunch for Dave @ Delish. Did a mega clean-up after our landlord had our front window replaced and cleaned up our mantel (below). Made a new RWT card especially for Pittsburgh’s Handmade Arcade!

L&Z puppets, hiding, were made by Katie Rose Crafts! Because Z proposed with a puppet and we knew Puppet Bike was going to be our special wedding guest, we knew we would get puppets made of ourselves. My buddy Nate’s professional photos should be coming soon and I cannot wait to show those off!

Films watched 45th week of the year:

Turn Me On, Dammit! ** [ Norway ]
What’s Your Number?
Zoolander
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
A Walk into the Sea *
5 Broken Cameras ** [ Palestine ]

* documentary
** foreign language

Fave movie this week was Turn Me On, Dammit!. Z had seen this before and knew that I would like it and he was correct. Very refreshing to see a teen sex comedy where it is a horny girl instead of just some horny dude. Silly and serious at times, a very worthwhile watch. It was surprising how much I enjoyed Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Really sweet and it made me cry.

Speaking of crying: David Bowie, Lady Hedgehog crossed the Rainbow Bridge and her person, Aimee, was an amazing hedgemom to her. A few things have been happening in my world that are out of my control and reading this news Saturday night sent me into a long crying fit. You are so missed, DB, LH. Hopefully you got to meet Hoggle and Hermione and you are chomping up all the mealworms you can fit into your mouth. Being agnostic, a heaven for people seems strange to me; that scene from This is the End is kind of how I used to picture it, but an animal sanctuary in the sky where all of our beloved family pets to hang out together doesn’t seem odd in the slightest.

2013 Week 45: What does the derp say?

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Leigh

Shop Dog Joplin with Z

Took Tilda to a new vet, Wicker Park Vet – a vet who loves animals; what a concept! Dropped veggie vampire tea towels @ Plenty. FINALLY stopped at Modern Cooperative. It is THE best curated vintage furniture and home goods store I have yet to visit. Then I attended Chicago’s Cooking Up Change event with Z and Ashley – this event is really a game changer for kids with a lack of opportunities in their neighborhoods and schools – pairing high school culinary students with important area chefs to create a school lunch menu. I love that the founder of the company I work for is so passionate about it, which in turn makes us passionate about it. Friday, Z and I ran a million errands in a row and gave Katniss a bath. Enjoyed sleeping in and naps for the first weekend I can remember in months. No spin and I’ll get back into it, but for now am enjoying a little time off. Went to Nick & Erin’s lovely wedding and so happy to say it was our last wedding to attend this year. 8 down, including our own, and 0 to go. Went to Kris’ karaoke bday party! Went out with Stacy and a whole bunch of her awesome lady friends for bday drinks @ Three Dots and a Dash, which (sadly) met my low expectations.

Films watched 44th week of the year:

Gravity (3D/RPX)
Maniac Cop
The Ambassador *
Gasolina ** [ Guatemala]

* documentary
** foreign language

Gravity was pretty to look at and extremely intense, but there really did not need to be any backstory whatsoever. Would have been just as beautiful to watch unfold and maybe a little more pleasurable. I loved The Ambassador. After reading a handful of reviews, it seemed to receive a lot of flak, but I think what Mads BrÃ¼gger did was commendable. The afterward at the end of the film showed a number of people he interviewed had mysteriously died. Quite literally, he could have died for his art/undercover film-making. Yet another reason not to buy diamonds! The “gem” in my wedding band made by Chocolate and Steel is a lab-grown pink tourmaline.

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My perfect wedding band!

Now that’s it’s been nearly a month, maybe I will start posting about all the details of what made our wedding spectacular!

2013 Week 44: Hallo-wedding thank you cards sent

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Leigh

Rhoda in the Rho-bot costume Stacy made her

Reprinted Santa Beer cards. John Vanderslice @ Schubas. Halloween Party @ Work. Handed out candy. Hang @ Kimmi’s. Pick-up stuff we left behind @ Swedish American Museum. Dropped off packing material @ Laurie’s. Dropped off Bean Baby onesies @ Neighborly. Pick up promo postcards for Show of Hands @ Orange Beautiful. Crate&Barrel. Dropped off stock @ Rudy’s Roundup. Eliza & Mike’s housewarming party. Spin. Lunch with Megan. Received our thank you cards Thursday and finished writing them over the weekend!

Films watched 44th week of the year:

Don Jon
Save the Date
Child’s Play
A Band Called Death *
The Visitor
Himalaya ** [ Nepal ]
Deju Vu

* documentary
** foreign language

Save the Date was my film of the week. It was so adorable and wacky, just like I like my indie comedies. Don Jon blew my expectations out of the water. Was not a fan of the ending, but really enjoyed the lead-up. A few friends had been raving about A Band Called Death and I had never heard of them. Glad I watched this doc. Himalaya was beautiful and surprisingly silly, kind of like Grumpy Old Men meets Lord of the Rings, in that there was a whole lot of walking.

2013 Week 43: Meet my Halloween costume this year; David Bowie, Lady Hedgehog

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Leigh

Me, as David Bowie, Lady Hedgehog

Me, as David Bowie, Lady Hedgehog with Z as a Sad Etsy Boyfriend

If your significant other happens to be male and you happen to be an Etsy seller, then Sad Etsy Boyfriend is the perfect costume for you! Other memes I considered this year for my costume were Sports Balls Replaced with Cats and A Talking Cat!?! – you have a few days. Feel free to use them! Afterthought, I hope JV does not see my costume on Facebook because I am going to dress up and HOPE that somehow tomorrow is the day he dresses up as David Bowie also!

This week: First week of married life! The Best 2-day Mini moon @ Greenhouse Bed and Breakfast. Dragonlady! Saturday Spin (Mandee subbing) @ WPAC. Dimo’s! Boo-palooza Dog Parade @ Wicker Park. Hangs @ Amanda & Derek’s. Hallowmeme Party @ Cinnamon’s. Party @ Steve N.’s. Another party @ Jen’s friends’ house. Clothing swap @ Carmen’s. Pumpkin carving @ Kaitlyn’s. Bob Young Fan Club @ Patchwork Farms.

Basically, I need to take it easy.

Films watched 43rd week of the year:

Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey *
Smashed
Before the Rain [ Macedonia ] **

* documentary
** foreign language

Great movie week. Smashed was really hard for me to watch, considering what I know of the history of my bloodline. Really good film. No new territory was covered, but I think the film seems to be a pretty raw and accurate depiction of trying to beat alcoholism. It was weird seeing Jesse Pinkman play a character not Jesse Pinkman, but Aaron Paul was terrific in this role. Don’t Stop Believin’ was a truly great story that I hadn’t even heard about, but it could have been condensed into an hour long documentary because it drags. Before the Rain was crushing. Loved everything about it except for the timeline order which did not make sense to me. The story in reverse order did not seem as impactful as it would have been just leaving it chronological order.

This week I also finished Season 3 of The Walking Dead and started The Following. Y’know, so I can be terrified watching them by myself! Z doesn’t like The Walking Dead – he calls it Lost with zombies! Must be why I like it so much!

2013 Week 42: L&Z wedding was perfect.

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Leigh

This week: After getting in from Concord, Z and I took Katniss’ wheel to Hannigan Household. Takito with Amanda & Stacy. Make-up test run with Amanda. Mixer run to Whole Foods with Alison and lunch @ Urban Vegan. Front chipped teeth fixed @ dentist. Prep welcome bags with Garrett’s CaramelCrisp popcorn and Katherine Anne caramels. Picked up wedding dress @ Mignonette Bridal. Picked up flowers from Kennicott. Pre-wedding madness dinner @ Dimo’s. Wedding party of awesome helped prep one last wedding decoration. Test run of the Old Curmudgeon signature cocktail. LCB designed and then I uploaded wedding program to Kinko’s to print. Picked them up and cut them. Bouquet/boutonniÃ¨re/wrist corsage prep with the best bridesmaids. Picked up speakers @ Windy City Music. Wedding rehearsal @ Swedish American Museum. Rehearsal dinner @ Reza’s Andersonville. Impromptu drinks @ Takito. Julie’s spin class @ Lakeview Athletic Club with KATE! Hair done @ Strange Beauty Show. Set up the venue (this was the most stressful part of the day)! Nails done @ Nail Palette. Finished writing my vows. Got married! Had Nate Stayed at the thoroughly underwhelming Radisson Blu. Had day after breakfast with our parents and Z’s Aunt Chris @ Janik’s. Headed off to Greenhouse Bed & Breakfast where we met Magoo the goat, Tinka and Titan the corgis, and Guia and Mark, the B&B’s owners and promptly headed out with Mark to go make apple ciders with a cider press over 200 years old!

Our wedding was perfect because it was absolutely 100% us. I’m going to break up the amazingness into a few posts. I was going to post about our favorite things, but seriously, EVERY SINGLE THING THAT HAPPENED and EVERY person who was there made our day perfect! We had written an e-mail to the most joyous entertainment that exists in the whole world, PUPPET BIKE, awhile ago if they might perform at our wedding but we hadn’t heard back, so I re-wrote the email as a letter and we dropped it off to P-Bike in Andersonville during a show. We got an email the day after saying that they would do it. AND THEY DID IT! Basically, our brains exploded with happiness. BEST WEEK EVER!

Photographic evidence of our perfect wedding:

Photo by Kirstie Shanley.

Of course, no wedding goes off without a hitch. Here were ours:
– One of Z’s groomspeople dropped out a week before the wedding.
– A couple friends and family friends were not able to attend at the relatively last minute.
– A few friends showed up late and missed the ceremony.
– One friend that we know of didn’t show up at all.
– I chipped my nailpolish right before the ceremony.
– We both forgot to put a pun or wordplay into our vows.

In the grand scheme of things, only forgetting one thing we intended to do was pretty awesome. Everything else was out of our control. And the whole thing was awesome even with those little hitches in there. I love my boo and I am so glad to officially call him my Mr. Boo.

Films watched 42nd week of the year:

Waking Sleeping Beauty *
Viva Cuba ** [ Cuba ]

* documentary
** foreign language

2013 Week 41: We came, we saw, we Concord, NH

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Leigh

Me & Llamas @ Dimond Hill Farm

Zack & Leigh @ Alex’s wedding!

Lots of stuffs that week. So much is happening right now and it’s hard to keep up with my regular blogging day of Sunday. Gah! So many wedding crafts. I can’t wait until it’s all over so I can post about all of them! Wax @ Parlor 836. Trial hair run @ Strange Beauty Show. Rip songs for Les. Dropped Katniss off at Hannigan Hedgehog Household (Christina & Shaun are THE BEST). Concord, NH –> Drinks @ Barley Pub. Drinks @ Tandy’s. Exploring Concord with Nick & Shannon. Alex & Megan’s amazingly beautiful wedding! Alex’s wedding was so lovely and it was great seeing my old friend and OFFICIANT for me & Z’s wedding get married to his one! Only two more weddings this year for me & Z to attend; ours and Nick & Erin’s! HUZZAH!

Films watched 41st week of the year:

Breaking Upwards
Lil Bub and Friendz *
Admission
Late Marriage ** [ Israel ]

* documentary
** foreign language

Breaking Upwards remains one of my favorite romantic dramadies of late. This was a re-watch for me, but it’s just so enjoyable and I love the music. Really great week of movies for me. It just makes me happy that Lil Bub is alive on film. Her adorableness is hard to handle. With so much going on, watching movies is at least a way I can somewhat de-stress.

2013 Week 40: Farewell, Saturday spin class. I knew ye well.

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Leigh

It’s funny because I am pretty sure Z would have called me a weirdo if I did this exact same pose while waiting for the Shanleys, but nope, he thought this was perfectly normal.

Found the perfect present for a parent gift for both of our parents. Started searching for the perfect readings. Evened out placecard holders on one lunch break with a band saw! Placed flower order. Dentist appointment. Dinner with Shanleys @ Handlebar. Bought cellophane bags to use as welcome bags and part of what we’ll put in them – we’ll give out at rehearsal dinner since nearly everyone is staying all over the city and not at our host hotels. Dinner @ Fat Willy’s Rib Shack – their veggie burger is unexpectedly outstanding! Made labels for cookie table. Made table numbers. Made menu. Bought frames for memorial table and finalized photos with Z. Started making banner for card box. Had a migraine that started Saturday afternoon and I only feel 100% 3 days later. I celebrated my actual 10-year anniversary in Chicago by ordering my standard artichoke/garlic pizza from Pizza Metro 2 and watching The Walking Dead, Season 3. Probably contributing to my stress. Derp. 🙂

When I went to spin on Saturday morning, the sign-in sheet had a name other than Julie on it. I didn’t panic, because occasionally a sub will fill in for an instructor. Then when the instructor Kayla said she’d be our Saturday instructor from now on, I held my breath trying to process this information. Julie turned me from someone who ABHORRED exercising to someone who LOVED getting exercise in the SPIN room. For 9 whole months, I saw her almost weekly and she was a huge inspiration to me becoming a more active person; a happier person. Hell, I could have given birth to a SPIN baby in that time. So, having a different Saturday instructor who had a VERY different style that I was not a fan of; pushing the resistance to the max, no heart rate monitoring, 9 minute climbs and NO SCHEDULED RECOVERY; felt like the rug was pulled from underneath me. My plan of dragging my bridal party to a Julie class the day of the wedding is kaput. To add insult to injury, the only class Julie is now teaching at WPAC is at 5:30 A.M. Yes, A – M. Gross. After the wedding comedown, I need to try out the Sunday class instructor. I’ve heard she is good, but Julie is my exercise spirit animal.

Films watched 40th week of the year:

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters *
Scream 4
The World ** [ China ]
A Dog Year

* documentary
** foreign language

If you are an animal lover and film lover, you should bookmark that page: Does the dog die?. Sometimes I am not good at maintaining my Netflix queue and things wind up at the top that I am not ready for. We received How to Die in Oregon right after Jeff killed himself and it sat around for 3 months until I just mailed it back. I still haven’t watced it. Similarly, I received A Dog Year not too long after Shadow passed away. I looked up on that handy website and saw that a dog died in the film and I was still too fragile to watch it, so it sat on the dvd pile for a couple of weeks. It ended up being pretty great for a dog movie. Yep, I still teared up, but at least I was ready. Thanks, DTDD?

I wish I had seen Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters on the big screen. His photographic process is inspiring and the end result is simply stunning. I also love that he brings commerce to what seem like sleepy little towns. Reminded me a lot of Marwencol. Even though Gregory Crewdson and Mark Hogancamp’s photography styles are polar opposites, they seemed to have obsessive processes when it comes to getting the perfect shot. Kind of like me and not being happy with the guestbook I made for the wedding and waiting until it was perfect to me. I know that practically no one would notice, but *I* would notice. I’m only getting married once, so it’s going to be up to the high Rhymes with Twee standard, okay!?