another nikon bites the dust...

...yes, it's true...my 5 month old nikon coolpix 8800 konked out on me...i have no idea what i did, but there's something wrong with the lens motor, and i get this fatal 'lens error' that doesn't let me do anything...it's still under warranty, so i will ship it to be fixed, but quite frankly, i don't want the damn thing any more at all...*sigh*...why oh why did i not get another coolpix 4500 with the lovely swivel lens??? i took some photos with my friend nanette's 4500 this past weekend, and that just reminded me of how much i loved that camera...and i still swear i took better photos with that camera than this klunker i've been lugging around...8 megapixels my ass, what the hell did i want with EIGHT megapixels???

...so i go on vacation to my favorite city in the world in two days and i have no camera...i think it'll be a good experience for me...i will just enjoy being with my family and take in the sights instead of being glued to my camera's LCD monitor...i'll still have ted's canon powershot, which takes okay pictures...at least i won't have to carry that huge 10x optical zoom camera...i am so tempted to go on ebay right now and just buy another 4500...but i won't...i'm a mom now, and i have to exhibit a tad bit of self-discipline every now and then...mouths to feed, ya know...

...lots to do before we leave thursday afternoon...tons of laundry...packing... cleaning...creating an itinerary...researching all the free wi-fi spots in seattle...i'm glad i get to work from home tomorrow...i don't have to waste time commuting...

...i'm really looking forward to this vacation...we'll get a taste of some cooler fall weather while we're out there...not sure exactly what we're gonna do, but there's plenty to choose from...

love at first sight

3 years ago yesterday was when i first laid eyes on my teddy…i know, i know, i tell this story every year…but for those of you who’ve never heard, i first saw teddy while he was setting up his drumkit at a show at the empty bottle…the band he was with at the time (watchers) was opening up for duvall, which was the band i was planning on seeing that night…

i credit numerous people and forces that be for making it possible for me to see and meet and eventually start a family with teddy…

first, my cousin ike…he got me into the whole indie rock thing when he made me a mix cd years ago with music by the likes of the innocence mission, over the rhine and johnny cash on it…

then there’s the garden coffeehouse curated by my friend chris langill, where i went to see miranda stone play one night and was introduced to pastemusic.com…

pastemusic.com introduced me to the music of denison witmer, pedro the lion, bill mallonee, damien jurado and many others…

i went to see denison play live at a little coffeehouse in rockford, il…he invited me to his show the next night at schubas…i was hooked on chicago’s live music scene ever since…

then there’s my friend matt d. who i used to go to church with…i ran into him one day in the city and we chatted about bands and music, and he told me i should check out a band called duvall, which was made up of former members of the smoking popes…

and then there’s bill mallonee, who i went to see play a show at the abbey pub, where i met his manager tim white of the wildwood agency…

that led to one having coffee with derek becker, who was about to come on board with wildwood agency, one august 24th morning…as we were finishing up our meeting, i mentioned i was going to see duvall at the empty bottle that night, because my friend matt had recommended them so highly…derek told me that a coworker’s band called watchers was opening up and that i should go check them out too…

and it’s a good thing he did, cuz i was hanging out w/ my friends connolly and olarn at greekfest that evening and may have skipped the opening bands if derek hadn’t given me the heads up about watchers…and that’s when i first laid eyes on teddy setting up his kit and i thought to myself, ‘oh my god he’s hot how am i ever gonna talk to him?!!’ luckily, his frontman came up and talked to me after the show, and he introduced me to teddy a couple weeks after that, and the rest they say is history, and it’s still in the making!

YAY!

happy 11 month birthday, cadence!

thrumming!

pre-vacation anxiety

next thursday, i will embark on my 6th trip to the lovely emerald city aka seattle, WA…teddy, cadence and i are visiting our rockstar brother and sis-in-law charles and ali…i call ‘em rockstar cuz to me that’s what they are…they do things like ride their motorcycle up to yukon territory and hang with the bears and caribou for 3 weeks…or blaze cross country and roll into our post-wedding karaoke/pizza party dressed in leather…they are way cool like that…and we’re gonna spend a handful of days with them soaking in the cool seattle sun…maybe visit bruce lee’s grave…spend two days at bumbershoot, which will end with iggy and the stooges…spend some time with our friend ian and his family…

this will be our first flight with cadence (unless ted’s dad takes us up in his plane before then which is not likely)…i’m a tad nervous… how will she react to being confined to an area of approx 8 cubic feet for 4.5 hours? and what if the pressure change makes her little ears pop painfully? will we be the parents with the bloody-murder-screaming baby surrounded by glaring passengers? what if someone buys the ticket for the seat between ted and me (we’re taking cadence as a lap baby and i bought the window and aisle seats in our row in hopes that we would get the whole row to ourselves…selfish, ain’t we)? will they have a diaper changing table in the plane lavatory? will she poop during the flight? and what if she won’t sleep once we get to seattle? or when we come back home? what if she gets her night and day mixed up? and do they sell 7th generation diapers in seattle? should we lug our stroller on the plane or just buy a cheap umbrella stroller when we get to seattle? are we even gonna need a stroller since i'll be wearing her most of the time? will cadence survive two full days at bumbershoot? how will she take naps? where will she sit when she eats? should we take her little chair with us?

so these are just some of the questions i’ve been chewing on these past few months…i’m sure everything will work out okay…i just need to chill…

baby, you can drive my car...

"yes, i'm gonna be a star!"