updates

i've been in the apartment for five weeks. two IKEA journeys, one Affordable Portables trip, several Bed, Bath & Beyond excursions, and one jaunt to Target later the place is looking good in my little humble opinion.

i painted and put up bookshelves. i think that's what i'm most proud of - the painting happened after work, a couple hours every night for a week:

i've got my design books on the left, my other books & electronics on the right, pictures and stuff on both. the TV and laptop share the table in the middle (the screens are the same size) (which makes both the computer feel big and the TV feel small). i have creature speakers, which are definitely powerful enough to rattle the windows of this studio.

i love having all my photo frames and nick-nacks (sp?) in one place.
there are other favorites...

a friend warned me of how boring it might be to live all your apartment life in one room, but it splits up nicely. you're totally unaware of the "bedroom" half when you're on the couch.

this room is tan, where the other's green... but the light color is a sweet setting for the orange. i'm also pretty seriously considering a mural on that blank wall. i don't want anything more hanging on it, but it needs something. i'm thinking of taking the leftover paint, making it a shade lighter, and replicating an art noveau poster i've seen in a deck of cards i bought at the museum of modern art in Japan. any opinions on that one?

ps.

tiger was a great choice.
the colors on screen are actually brighter,
which i honestly didn't think was possible.
plus all the iLife stuff was upgraded and overly addictive.

LOVE IT

one of the many things i'm up to

a couple of picts from last friday's State Radio show and opening band/guy, White Buffalo. they played great sets, covered Jimmy Cliff, and basically rocked out. I got to hang with the band afterwards, they are - all hyperbole aside - they are some of the coolest people i've ever known.

White Buffalo:

and then there was my favorite band of all time.

like usual

everything else has gotten in the way of posting (like usual). it's been over a week, and it's not like nothing's happened - a lot has happened(like usual). i think a lot of it has to do with my camera being a crank again (like usual). when i don't have pictures, i feel like posts are boring. i might start posting work along with my usual stuff, i have a lot of projects going on (everybody now: "LIKE USUAL").

but yeah, everything's been vaugely good. great, even. i've been working pretty hard with Wunderman and Dispatch, and i'm planning on learning some new skills - capoeira and flash. saw state radio last weekend, going to two more concerts before the week's out. i also paid off a credit card. i feel surprisingly satisfied with myself. i'm hitting a routine, but it's a more dynamic and colorful one than before; what was a burden, a rut, felt as failing to be something better a year ago is now peaceful. there's room to breathe here. for possibly the first time ever, i feel okay about doing the same thing every day. for the first time i can remember, i'm okay with things pretty much as they are.

more later.
oh yeah - LATER WHEN I UPGRADE TO TIGER! very exciting. for those that don't know, that means my computer will be a lot better... my refusal to keep up with the times means i couldn't do some web-savvy things like watch music videos in iTunes. there are more important consequences of upgrading, but that's what I thought of first. whatever.

anniversary

this marks post #201.
the 200 mark has been reached and passed.
is that a big deal? uhhh. not really.

lamentation

last night it HAILED
and this morning it RAINED
and my SOCKS are WET
and my MAKEUP is GONE.

happy monday everyone!

sprinkles on the cupcake

i took a few picts of my SWEET BALCONY
that faces south and came with furniture.

here's a blurry one with a little context...
see the city :)

this might be too much info for some people,
but i also have the hula girl shower girl curtain...

detail for those who know, love,
and miss the shower curtain girls we had in iowa.

i really, really dig this apartment. let's just acknowledge that again.

notes

city city exhaling the city
two people kissing by the train
two people fighting at the bus
a grandmother whistles.

i lived with a girl
who said i'm intense about everything
but i enjoy it, exhaling my city windy city
THE HUMANITY its grace:
if you give something permission to shine
i find it usually tries to.

our intensity, it's so fine a thing
to laugh at no one but yourself
desiring to love on total strangers
invading your space, your mind, your heart
let the sun shine!
oh let
the sun shine in


and then, something i read this morning about protest:
"Four decades ago, unrest thrived on a heady mix of ideology and hope. The current protests are fuelled by fear and insecurity. ...The 1960s protesters rejected mainstream society. Their modern brethren are angry at being kept out."

possibly the most modern, accurate, piercing thing i've read in months.

crossing my mind

i woke up at 4am, picked up my head, ingested the orange streetlight glow on my walls. i started to whisper to myself in half-delierium as i waited to slip out again:

...i wonder if ice cream would taste different if my tongue was textured like a cat's tongue.
...i miss eric calling me at 4am with his rumbling darth vader voice.
...he never followed up with me about that bar thing. i was going to design coasters.
...my framed design camp coasters are still at my parent's house. crap.
...oh God, gary's still in China. i wonder how that's going.
...maybe my goldfish hates me. he always looks cranky.
...ooooooh. i forgot he died a few days ago. how sad.
...i like how MacGuyver is making a commercial comeback.
...i wonder what Jeff Parker is up to. i bet he's a musician.
...someday i'm going back to cambodia.
...one side of the bed is lower, and i'm going to fall off the edge of the world.
...like shel silverstein, where the sidewalk ends. falling up.
...i need to read/draw/mellow out more often. maybe get a new sketchbook.
...i'm going to eat my oatmeal out on the balcony in the morning.
...if i open my eyes i won't fall back asleep, but i WILL listen to iron & wine.
...counting sheep is so lame.

just noticing

this blog is so much better with the bigger pictures.
i'm just saying.

let's start with the fish

i've done it. i've gotten back downtown after being gone for almost a year. all credit goes to my mom for finding it, i found one apartment on craigslist.org and almost abandoned my search when i arrived on the doorstep of that nastiness. instead of going home, we picked up a Chicago Tribune and drove around the city for two days, calling people and saying "are you home? i'm downstairs and would like to come up."

after much of this, we found one man who is renting me what is in my world the best apartment in the history of apartments for lisa. here is a photo tour:

i have a fish who i've named fishy-fishy. that and "little man" are the only things i've called him. which is funny because i'm not at all sure he's a he.

my kitchen is only big enough for one cook at a time, but all the appliances are very nice and i have my own set of dishes. a very new experience for me :)

this is my now-empty living room, which will be painted a mossy green and be filled with two bookshelves and a TV stand in the middle. right now there is a little TV, a lone chair, an IKEA lamp, and creature speakers.

this is my "bedroom," which has a curtain separator. these walls will be painted a really light brown, which is great camoflauge for my deer (hiding in this picture behind the flowers on the left). i suddenly miss my guitar, which went to my friend Jason a few years ago. the guitar and the deer used to hang out. anyway.

THIS IS THE VIEW FROM MY WINDOWS.
15th floor, south facade. welcome to chicago.
the green lights way back on the right are the sears tower.

my south view rocks and i have little lights to celebrate that.

there's also a balcony, but i forgot to upload the picture of it so it'll come later... for now, this is where i see myself for a few years to come. i'm planning on having it all pulled together in time for the April 28th premiere of the Dispatch movie in Chicago, in case any of those kids need to get away for a minute, maybe my joint can be the crash pad...

on the mend

the morning after the wedding, dad got in a bike accident.
it was ugly.

he was in the hospital for a few days, but he's home now.
i took this picture the morning of mandy's wedding before i left for the hair salon; i just think it's adorable. this was before the broken bones.

dad's doing really well, he's back at work today, but hopefully he won't have to stay until 5. to quote Anchorman, he's kind of important... people know him... he's kind of a big deal. so he's roughing it for now until he gets to commandeer the couch later.

wedding/high school reunion

oh man, it was already a week ago. mandy and nick have been to their honeymoon and back, and now are on their way to virginia where they'll be for a couple years. but before that life is all up and running, there was a beautiful wedding to kick it off.

we started first thing in the morning with the hair. this was a great way to start the day because the last time mandy did her hair like this was in junior high Decembers when she needed sausage spiral curls coming out both sides in pigtails for her ballet role in The Nutcracker.

the curlers had to be removed one by one by all of us...
it was a team effort

afterwards we went over to a clinique counter at old orchard and got all prettied up. mandy's been to this counter a few times (practice runs) and this make-up girl is pretty great.

in the afternoon we went to the hotel to get ready-ready (as opposed to kind of ready) for pictures and the evening. this picture is mandy's dress hanging out with mandy's mom.

mandy's brothers are awesome and i've known them since they were little weenies and now they're all grown up and 007-ing it.

it's almost time here - mandy's helping her dad with the final touches

nick and some of his buddies are in the navy, so they showed in their spiffy uniforms. mandy and nick walked out under... i forget what it's called, there IS an official name for it... whatever, they walked out under four swords and two of the four officers are pictured here.

mandy made her own wedding toppers - herself as the bride, and embracing her role as providing a lifeline to her deep sea diver husband :)

mandy and her dad at their first dance... this is a moment of my own wedding i'm already nervous about, my pops and i on the dance floor. he's become a little weeper, which will make a total wreck out of me.

THIS is the high school reunion aspect of the night... cassie, tyler, joe, kendra. also at this table were, at any given time, at least four other new trier victims.

HAVA NAGILA
so that's the bare bones. the day was beautiful, the wedding was full of loving people, and i had to give a speech. it went well, surprisingly; i always point out conversationally that i absolutely failed my public speaking final in college because i had to leave the room to be sick. and since then, i shake uncontrollably when i have to speak in front of people and it only nerves me out more (irony at its best). when the best man was doing his speech i could feel my heartbeat in my ears and my hands were making my fork rattle on the table. when todd handed over the microphone, i looked at mandy and made a very clear decision - i began by explaining how i wrote a speech and left it over in my purse because there was something better to say.

i had a conversation with a woman in the lobby post-ceremony, pre-reception about how i know the bride. the story is that we met behind the diving board at the local public pool the summer between 7th and 8th grade. she came over to my house that day, i slept over at hers that night, and ever since we've been anchored souls to each other. so i took a clear look at my girl and explained how i told this lobby woman that at any point in our relationship, at any day that i've known her, i've known she's amazing. and watching her grow in this relationship and in the wedding planning shows me more about her and who i love so dearly and it leaves me thankful and proud to be her friend.

then i turned the attention on to nick and said "and the guy you brought home... he's awesome. nick, i'm so proud to be able to say i adore my best friend's husband."

so cheers to mandy and nick - and the whole wedding party ;)

one of the crazier weeks of my life

today is sunday. since last sunday:
1. mandy's wedding
2. dad's bike accident
3. moving back downtown.

and now i'm in bed on sunday morning, blogging for an hour before i get ready for church. as soon as the blogger picture thing is fixed, i'll post all about it.

i'm gettin back downtown

last weekend was an uproar. i broke a heart (and my own in the process) and had a crying-induced migrane (i always get headaches when i cry, but this was blindness and nausea to boot). i went over to betsy's and she made me sit still so we could watch Rent and eat pizza. i slept it off on her very comfy air mattress and woke up sunday to go apartment hunting with my parents.

and now i've gone and signed a lease...


my new pad is in the Sandburg Village. I'm on the 15th floor, facing South.

i have a balcony with chairs and eventually chamomile tea.


this wall will house my lifelong dream of having an entire wall of shelves for all my books and collected randomness from other countries... we're going to paint the wall (and the short wall with the kitchen opening on the left)... i'm thinking a mossy green.

so i'm set to move in a couple weeks from now, i'm already packing and making an IKEA trip with mom tonight. i've never owned pots & pans before, they were always given and taketh away by whomever i was living with at the time. i'm very excited to be less than two miles from work and have a SOUTH VIEW of the city!

straight from the spider's mouth

Got it from Speak Up.
this link is hilarious.

bored-ness gone away

this weekend had three major points to it... it feels like there is too much to say, so much laughing and adoration and late-night calls to owen. frosting and song dedications and strange british men; storytelling and catching up with family and now blogging in front of the fire, going back over these fresh pictures and feeling very content.

1. mandy's bridal shower

fresh flowers, fresh food

mandy and her mom

carrie's mom made the signature book
(blue fabric & seahorses to match wedding's nautical theme)

serving up dessert

this cake from Dominics has a famous side effect... everything within three feet of it turns blue. tongues, teeth, lips, fingers, clothing, floors, countertops, everything. we discovered this when we used to work summers at the Starlight Theater at Gilson Beach. one cupcake led to another, and at one point frosting dyed our hair blue. so making every person mandy loves eat it at her shower was kind of a personal victory. grown women speaking like adults with their wild blue tongues.

2. bachlorette party: Howl at the Moon

i really dig this place. i'd never been before and thought it sounded good; turns out mandy's a regular down in florida where she's been living. oops. i didn't know. it's a dueling piano bar where you submit songs - the more you tip the bigger the show they give your music - and we got them to do a triple-threat-smackdown of the three versions of "i can't help falling in love with you." this picture is the back of mandy's head (that's what the veil is all about)

disclaimer: none of us are big drinkers. seriously. i know i'll talk about bars, drinking, etc, but this is only documented because it's mandy's first shot EVER. that's how much we're not big drinkers. but anyway, we had one here and it was very good.

so this unhappy looking fellow in the middle of us women was a brit we met. he was part of a dozen guys from england who took their boy out across the pond and to chicago for some stag fun. dude, if only i could handle taking mandy out of the country :)

3. visiting madeline rose hernandez

madeline rose, aka Maddie, tiny little sleepy thing who curled up on me and slept all afternoon. it was heaven. she's so sweet. she's the two week old baby of my cousin jeff and his wife effie.

mmmmmmuhhhhhhhhhhh

SO BORED right now. i'm sure it won' t last long.
realized i haven't posted in a week
and realized the past four days have been all work and no play.

let's rectify that, shall we?

more from the new setting

today was amazing, as is every sunday. just you wait until they start streaming the sunday messages from the church's website, i'll link to every last one.


today, dave was teaching from ephesians, talking about submission and what it meant in the way that paul was teaching it. dave said, "we have amazing human rights that we fight for, we're told that not fighting for them is a sign of weakness... [dramatic pause] ...we even have to fight for our right to party."

"just making sure you're all still with me."

the big 2-5

betsy sent me flowers :)

another chapter in the dispatch story

so for happy hallmark lovers day, instead of having a boy to have fun with, i had fun with a bunch of boys at Schubas tavern... pete francis ("formerly of dispatch") and his entourage were rocking out a valentine's day show and playing some classics.


this saxaphone player, "craiggie d," is magnetic.
he's fantastically fun to watch.


and then there is pete.


this is the best valentines day in a long while :)