The Real Dirt on Farmer John – Must See!
So, I’ve been meaning to post my review of this movie, The Real Dirt on Farmer John on my site for a week now, but haven’t had a chance. My co-worker Heather told me I had to see it because she had just met the main character in person at her local farmer’s market and actually went out to visit his farm. So needless to say, I chucked it on my netflix queue and waited for it to arrive.
The film is about John, the farmer + artist, who is an outcast in his community and overcomes adverse conditions in overall life and in his farming experience. What I find to be the most amazing thing about the film is the amount of digital footage that had been captured over the last 25 years. From 8 mm home movies shot on the farm in the 50’s and 60’s to modern video – you really get this whole-hearted, humorous, heartbreaking and spirited life drama that feels so personal and intimate. You are basically watching his whole life in video snippets with personal narration.
I really don’t want to give away the end, but he ends up finding his way, transforming his land and building upon Angelic Organics – where people work and flourish providing fresh vegetables and herbs to thousands of people every week. People like my friend Heather get a box of veggies and a newsletter every couple weeks and enjoy the benefits of one of the largest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the United States.
You HAVE to watch this movie.
Great Weekend, Condo Update, Studio Space ;)
Hello!
Bobby and I (and Kurty) had a great time I had this weekend with Mom + Dad Fiocca! They were literally only here for 1 day but it was really nice to see them and hang out. They stayed in a corner suite at the Dana Hotel and Spa looking down State Street with floor to ceiling windows…it was pretty cool (more pictures here). We spent the day walking around the area and eating good food. We came back to the hotel in the afternoon and watched a movie. haha. It was really fun and I’m so glad we spent time relaxing and hanging out because that’s exactly what I was hoping for. :)
The photo to the right is us standing on the bridge near our new condo building on Saturday. We took a cab over there to show my parents and they were really excited to see it. I almost forgot how excited I was 2 months ago when they pushed back our closing…but since we went back I’m super excited again. :) We are literally a week away from new closing date. WOO HOO. Lets see if we really get to close this time! ha! Continue Reading →
Quick Trip to NYC
Guess what?! I have a few minutes to tell you about my trip to New York - the short version: Flight was good, nice hotel, had some drinks at a neighborhood pub with Andy, Frank, & Jill (photos), got some grrrrreat food at a Landmarc resturant – best filet I’ve ever had in my life (Ding~!), more drinks, zzzzZZZZZ, little dizzy waking up at 7am, showerd in a tiny bathroom, walked down to McCall Pattern Company, had a great design meeting, got the full-on tour of all the inner workings (which was super fun and interesting), ran over to the SOL for a quick photo op, and headed back to Laguardia for a pretzel wrapped hot dog and some juice and a early flight back to Chi with Jill! Quick trip, quick story~haha!
CAD, Updates, MIA, Art Show, Condo, Broccoli Quiche
So, the Growing Up CAD show went really well and everyone had a great time. I’m glad Nick and Lee were able to come – we had a really fun night that night (except for the fact that I bumped my head really hard on Nate’s ceiling LOL) – you can see pictures from that night on my flickr set and you can also see the Chicago Art Department Photos here. Here’s cool shot of a couple checking out my piece. :) Bobby and I were really happy to have won one of the silent auctions and got to take home art from Jen Rosenthal. She was one of the original peeps in my Go Go Video class at CAD 3 years ago.
I’ve been a bit MIA lately – just have a lot going on. Doing artwork at home and selling it on etsy, planning a couple of art shows with a friend at work Nick Haas, working on some really huge projects at work that are taking up every bit of my patience, will power, and focus…in fact tonight I think I’ll be working from 7-10 on more designs that are due tomorrow. What’s fun and exciting is I get to go to New York for the design presentation in December…that will be a blast. :)
I absolutely cannot wait to go home for Thanksgiving and see my family and play with my nephew Alex and relax a bit – I’m hoping to get down to Delaware and visit with Jess and Josh for a night and celebrate their birthdays. Depends on if we have enough time to get down there and back without upsetting my family – it is the first time they’ve seen me in a LONG time. I definitely want to try and make it – I’d love to see you guys!
The condo is looking closer to finished now than I think I expected for November and that’s really exciting. :) We still have to wait until February to move in but some of the lower floors will be moving in in December/January. It’s gonna be so awesome to have our own place! yay!
I’m off to work or I’m never gonna get stuff finished for tomorrow! Hope everybody is doing great. And a big thanks to Kurt for the sweet a$$ brocolli quiche he made tonight. Yum in my tum! lol.
FrankenMeg
Check out this blog – FrankenMeg – I especially love the cooking videos. The girl who is the co-founder of this site is an old friend from high-school + I am assuming the guy is her husband. Of course this is interesting to me because its someone I know, but at the same time I love cooking and I’m totally into it…there’s one video on there for some kick ass BBQ sauce too. Very cool – I am inspired to cook Lobstah! And I am inspired to make more videos! Thanks FrankenMeg!
Lobster Roll: cook, clean and eat this New England favorite from FrankenMeg on Vimeo.
Hot damn, I’m cookin’!
I’ll explain.
I always had this impression that I couldn’t cook – or the delusion. Never really tried to do anything outside of the easy stuff like instant mashed potatoes, prepackaged meats/fish, and canned/frozen veggies. Well, I’m here to tell you, real food is so much better! In the past 3 weeks I’ve cooked a homemade dinner at least 6 times….and I’ve made a cake and a dessert for a couple of parties. I realize it’s not easy to do every night because most times I have to make an extra stop at the grocery store for real veggies/spices….but it’s way more fun when you just enjoy it. I didn’t think I would but I was wrong.
Growing up my mom always cooked and took care of absolutely everything and no matter how AWESOME that was (thanks mom!) – I think I just never thought about cooking, since it was always done for me. All through college I’d eat ramen noodles, mac-n-cheese, weird combinations of random things I found in the pantry, lots of snacks and fast food – I don’t know how I got through college on that and beer…it was neither healthy or energizing.
Well here’s the news – I THINK I”M A CHANGED WOMAN. ;) Last night I made yummy Cajun Pasta with real tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, asparagus, green peppers, cucumber, chicken breasts, and spicy sausage, all mixed with some olive oil, paprika, oregano, black pepper, garlic, linguine and Parmesan cheese. It was soooo good and yeah I had to cut up a lot of veggies and prep some stuff but it turned out perfect and tasted delicous. Yay!
Friday Night at Home…
:) Just wanted to say hello tonight – I’m having a really nice night. Listening to John Mayor live (thank you kurty), drinking a glass of merlot, making garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and fillet minion (seasoned with chopped onion and garlic). Bobby just came inside from fabricating a metal frame for a digital sign in the backyard. It smells so damn good in here and I still have 10 minutes on the fillets. Just smelling all the good smells and smiling. Wanted to say hi. Hope everybody has a nice night.
Oh, and for those of you who don’t know Justin Winget has a blog. It is here: http://www.justinwinget.com
Finally, the family meets!
So I know I’m about a week overdue on updating you guys about last weekend AND didn’t write anything about my birthday yesterday yet…but I’ve just been busy doing all kinds of things so I haven’t had time yet. If you didn’t know though, last weekend Bobby’s brother Lenny and mom Suzie came to visit and so did my parents! We did all kinds of stuff, went to the Shed Aquarium, the Architecture Tour, to a bunch of restaurants and bars and walked around the neighborhood and did a lot of relaxing, talking, and drinking coffee. :) I think everybody had a good time and got along great so I’m so happy about that. I’m also happy Bobby got to spend some time with his brother and mom – he’s always happy when he gets some quality time with them. Lenny left a few days before Suzie and we wish he could’ve stayed longer. My parents brought food and wine and birthday cake and it was all really great. I’m really happy with how last weekend turned out. I had lots of fun! Here are some PICTURES FROM THE WEEKEND that Lenny took!! (Check out Lenny’s other pictures too, he is an awesome photographer!)
Yesterday was my birthday and Jess took me to get a manicure at Pinky Nails early in the morning before her big wedding event (which I hope went really good!) and then Bobby and I made lunch at home and talked and actually ended up going out to the burbs to try and sell the car, but didn’t work out…then came home later on and rode our bikes all over the city and down to Navy Pier and there were some fireworks going on, so that was a nice surprise. :) Riding our bikes in the city seems to be one of our new favorite things to do…it’s always interesting and we always see new things we’ve never seen before.
Today I’ve been hanging out with Bridget – we went to Feast for lunch (which by the way had a delicious spinach and pear salad – YUM), got pedicures at Pinky Nails and went shopping for plants and pots for her and John’s garden…. Tonight we are making BBQ’d salmon and corn on the cob and sitting on the porch to enjoy the fabulous weather. Yay!!! Bobby is working all day in the burbs or I’m sure he’d be with us. :( Too bad he has to work!
Anyway thanks to everybody for the birthday wishes and gifts. My nails are looking good all around! You made my day! Hope everybody had a nice weekend!
Last Night
Last night was fun…we went to Clybar with a bunch of people for Sachin’s 28th birthday party. We hung out there with everybody until about midnight and then went over to Mark’s house for my boss Andy’s birthday bash…people were wearing wigs and hula hooping on the roof and I believe I got a policeman’s hat and was wearing that around…can’t wait for the pictures (note the sarcasm << got that one from you – The Dawes). Anyway today Bobby and I are getting plans together for next weekend since our families will be in town. Yay! I think its gonna be great…I just have to figure out all the food, do a serious spring cleaning to the apartment, and figure out what/where everyone wants to go. We’ll have a full house…but it’ll be nice since we don’t often have lots of house guests.
Thought I’d include an updated picture of us, since I haven’t posted any lately. :) Hope everybody had/is having a great weekend! I’m going for a bike ride.
UPDATE: There are 485 photos floating around at work of my boss Andy’s birthday party…couple of embarrassing/funny ones of me too! …I’ll upload some later….but here’s one more for the road – bobby, rene, and me with a policeman’s hat on…haha. :)
Rush Hour Chicago
So this weekend, in addition to 1. going out Friday to Dylan’s to meet Bobby’s co-workers (who all – strange yet hilarious – decided to wear matching t-shirts and blazers), 2. hanging out at Bridget and John’s place Saturday with Amanda and a new friend Jen from the UK, 3. going to a kickass Cubs game in the freezing cold yesterday, and 4. having a big pasta dinner at our place with J.Win and Mandy last night…we made it a point to head over to Sandro’s Photography Studio in Ukranian Village for a 
Rush Hour Tasting on Saturday evening – we were VERY pleasantly surprised.
There was a performance with violinist Jasmine Lin and cellist Clancy Newman – such a great pair. This was one of the coolest concerts I’ve been to in a long time. I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been a huge classical music fan – but in the same right I was pretty much blown away by the talent and emotion displayed by these two human beings and their instruments. This event may have changed my mind. :)
Experiencing a concert like this in person is really intense and satisfying. It’s like the two artists were having a dramatic conversation or interaction with music. I could hear anger and excitement and love as well as soft whispers and loud shouts. It was seriously really cool.
And all the money raised on Saturday funds Rush Hour Concerts every Tuesday of the summer at St. James Cathedral in Chicago. If you have a free Tuesday, you should check it out…we’re glad we did. (Big thanks to Rebecca Levy – president of the Fanfare Committee for inviting us.)
Living the Life
So today I was typing back n forth with Kurt on IM, like we do every day (almost seems like he’s right next door or down the street ~ ahhhh the sweetness of IM)…anyway I was telling him that last night I went to Rene’s place for taco night and all the girls from work came and we drank margaritas and talked and played cards until late and tonight after work I was going to meet up with my good ol’ web editor friend Nicolette (that I worked with for two years at SAIC) at the Lovely Bake Shop. I was saying how I was gonna finish up some stuff and bike over there since it was such a nice day out, and he said “Well aren’t you just livin’ the life?” and I was like “huh?”
But then after a couple seconds I got it….and I AM living the life. I’m designing websites by day (which I must say is pretty much what I’ve wanted to do with my life), I’m going to themed dinners with co-workers (next week is Italian night at Libby’s), I’m doing yoga with Tracy Von Kaenel once a week, I’m meeting old friends for coffee and buscuits (and corn chowder), and biking to and from work….and although things are non-stop…life is good and interesting and I’m happy. This is like a 360 from last year in the burbs, working corporate, having no social life, sinking into my couch with depressed thoughts and no motivation.
My heart is happier today and that feels awesome.
And I hope you all are finding happiness too, because you deserve it.
Colorado Update
So just got back from Colorado on Sunday night…had an awesome time with everybody…it was so nice to see Amy + John + Graeme (haven’t seen them in forever!) Everybody had fun skiing except me, haha. I ended up sitting it out the whole weekend with a pinched nerve in my shoulder. The sharp pains started happening on Friday and gradually got worse and then Saturday they were still there but they were fading. I felt like a bit of a lame-o but I had fun drinking beer and periodically hanging out with everyone as they came down the mountain for breaks. We went to Vail on Friday and A-Basin on Saturday, In Vail we met this so-called famous bull rider champion, John Baker, that supposedly was having a million dollar winning streak. (See above photo with weird guy with big mustache. haha.) He was nice and we all hung out with him that evening thinking he was really cool and interesting, but then we got back to Frisco and googled him and found out we had been punk’d. Couldn’t find his info anywhere, so he was obviously pulling our leg. WHAT A WEIRDO!
Made for a funny story so I’m satisfied with that. haha.
Saturday night and Sunday we were in Denver…had a crazy dinner at The Corner Office Denver including things like Lobster Mac n Cheese and Chicken and Waffles….”World Comfort Food” its called. I also might add that my Coors Light was very tasty. (Guess you had to be there to think thats funny.) haha. After that we came home and played guitar hero and talked til the early hours of the morning. :)
Sunday I had my first ever Bloody Mary and then we hit up a Rockies game in some very nice weather which was lots of fun. Afterward sadly we had to head home. A big thank you to Amy and John for their hospitality and lodging. We had a great time and hope to see you guys in Chicago this summer!
Oh yeah P.S. I’m going to upload my photos tonight and I’ll update this post with a link to them. So check back for more pics. :)