Stuff I've Failed to Mention in the Past Couple Weeks

#1--I had a new post up on Shutter Sisters the beginning of the month. You can see all my past posts on Shutter Sisters by clicking here. I post every 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month, so I'll have another one up this Sunday.

#2--I got to see the band Frisbie at the Taste on the 4th of July while Cadence and I were on our mini-vacation. This was a big accomplishment for me as it was actually on my list of things to do that day. I almost missed them because they played 45 minutes earlier than I thought they were scheduled to. Luckily, I was foraging for food near the stage around the time they started playing, and I recognized their music right away and hurried over there. Cadence fell asleep after the first song, so I shot the entire set of photos sitting down at a table with Cadence in my left arm, and shooting w/ my zoom lens with my right.

#3--I took some really fun photos while on our mini-vacation. There was so much to see. I'll spare you the clicking to Flickr with a Pictobrowser (sorry if you can't see this in your feed):

#4--I made Cadence a new dress. It flippin' ROCKS. This was a t-shirt Ted used to wear back when we first started dating. It doesn't fit any more. Now it's a dress.

#5--Last last Saturday (the 5th), I had the honor of photographing The Maplewood Summer Olympics. Cadence was in the medal round for the Short Jump at one point. It's really harder than it sounds, even when you're half the size of everyone else. Lots of craziness ensued that night, including a bit of a SNAFU involving Cadence and vodka watermelon, but it's all good. Again, I'll resort to good old Picto to paint the picture:

#6--Cadence and I went to the Shedd Aquarium last Monday with my our friends Amy (the mom), Rudden and Jack. We had fun, but Cadence did run out the door with a stuffed penguin at one point (because I wouldn't buy it for her) and there were at least a couple major meltdowns. We survived, though. Fortunately, Amy is one of those friends who I know won't judge us in the present or hold this against us in the future.

#7--The day after Ted came home, we had a BBQ at our friend Yvonne's whose condo building has this ginormous patio overlooking their private beach. We really like Yvonne's neighbors and friends, so it was a good time. I had fun taking photos of the kids, and the lake and sky were just gorgeous.

#8--So the exhibit and Wicker Park Grace's Rent Party fundraiser were on Saturday. I got lucky that Tim V., who is active at WPG, was there on Saturday during the day when I came in to hang my photos. Tim is an artist and has a lot of gallery experience, so he basically put all my photos up for me.

I was surprised by how many people showed up, including folks who never let on that they would be there, like my friend Denise and her son Zachary. My brother brought a whole contingent from his church. All in all, the evening was a success. Lots of folks showed up to raise money for WPG, and I sold 4 frames prints from the exhibit and 2 more in the silent auction and received orders for a few more. Considering I had 15 pieces total, I'd say that was a pretty good night. Thanks to everyone who came out or who sent me notes of congrats or helped pick photos for the exhibit. I don't think my photography could have come this far without all the support I've gotten from you all.

And that will be my last Pictobrowser for this post. Those are the photos from Saturday night. Alright. I think that's quite enough for one post.

Oh, wait. One more thing. I've started a daily photoblog on my new website. This will be mainly about the photo and not so much about life in general, and most of the photos will be non-Cadence related. Some of the photos will be from the archives--stuff I never had a chance to post here but really liked and want to talk about. If you're interested in hearing me talk just about my photos, you can check it out.

It's Just 10 Days

In around 6 hours, Ted will be heading east on tour w/ The Tim Lowly Ensemble. He'll be gone for 10 days, the longest he's been gone since Cadence was born, and the longest we've been separated as a couple since his Germany trip when we first started dating.

We spent our last evening together before the extended separation eating brats in Lincoln Square, getting milkshakes at Potbelly and taking some goofy photos.

As most of you know, Ted is a stay-at-home dad, so Cadence spends most of her awake time with him. Not only that, Ted does 99% of the cooking and 80% of the cleaning and 75% of the laundry. Plus he works two days a week at Trader Joe's and brews a LOT of beer. I won't miss the beer brewing so much, but the cooking? I'm not sure how Cadence and I are going to eat...

I don't think Cadence realizes what's going on. We've been telling her that Daddy's going on a trip, a LOOOOONG trip, but she has no concept of that because neither one of us has been away from her for more than one night since she's been old enough to remember. To her, a long trip is going out to Grandma and Grandpa's house an hour away. We'll see how this goes...

In case anyone reading this wants to see Ted's show, here is a list of towns they are playing. If you are near any of them, go to Tim Lowly's Myspace page for more details. If you DO go to a show, make sure you say hi to Ted, and if you're lucky, he may share a homebrew with you.

Jun 27 2008 8:00P Allegheny UUC (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Jun 28 2008 6:00P Art Center (Warren, PA)
Jun 29 2008 2:00P Kirkland Art Center (Clinton, New York)
Jun 29 2008 7:00P The Miller Family Home (West Monroe, New York)
Jun 30 2008 8:00P The Advent (Boston, Massachusetts)
Jul 1 2008 8:00P Pianos Upstairs Lounge (New York, New York)
Jul 2 2008 8:00P St. Andrews Summer Series (Block Island, RI)
Jul 3 2008 8:00P St. Stephen and the Incarnation (Washington, DC)
Jul 5 2008 8:00P The Good Cherry (Forest, Virginia)
Jul 6 2008 1:15P Bedford CC (Bedford, Virginia)

HS Friends, Hapa Kids Convention and Buy/Byes

I'm going to give it another go at posting from the weekend, so bear with me. First of all, this weekend was Josh-o-rama, an event that occurs once, twice, sometime three times a year when my friend Josh descends upon Chicago and makes his rounds. This year, since a number of us Mather High alums were reunited via Facebook, more folks were able to participate in Josh-o-rama, including my very first friend at Mather, Kae.

I should probably mention that although it seems that my shutterbugging tendencies sometimes annoy Josh, it was actually because of him that I made the fateful jump from film to digital over 6 years ago. I got my very first Nikon Coolpix 995 to document his 30th surprise birthday party, and I was hooked by the instant gratification. My blog made its debut a mere two weeks later. Anyhoo, we had so much fun getting together w/ the old high school crowd we're gonna do it again in a month.

Saturday afternoon, Cadence and I met up at a Korean restaurant with some of my fellow blogger friends. I'm so glad I got permission to post this photo (their blogs are anonymous) because these kids were SO DARN CUTE. It really was like a Hapa Kids Convention. They all had a great time playing together. They're all kinda like bloggy cousins, if you know what I mean. I hope we can do it again soon!

On Sunday, we went to a Buy/Bye party at the apartment of our church friends Hilary and Katie (pictured above). Katie is going to start an artist-in-residency on a farm sometime in July, and so they put up much of their belongings for sale (hence the buy part of the buy/bye party) before they both move out of their apartment.

I love how they had decorated their home. It was like living in an art gallery. Both Hilary and Katie are really creative, so it's no big surprise. They had some cool stuff for sale as a result, like this old Polaroid Land Camera.

I also loved these beautiful rag strips rolled into balls. I'm going to have to maybe make my own and just display them because they are so darn lovely.

There was a bit of a thunderstorm during the party, and then the sun came out in its gloaming glory, revealing a huge rainbow in the eastern sky. I know it doesn't come out all that clearly in the photo, but trust me--it was beautiful.

Cadence had a blast at the party, at least after Rudden and his family showed up. It's a nice break for me when Cadence has someone her own size to play with, and I can actually talk to other grown-ups or shoot photos, depending on my mood. They actually played house at one point. With a baby and everything. I just don't know how kids learn these things...To his credit, though, Rudden did the cooking (which would more closely model our family in which Cadence thinks that daddys and grandmas are the only ones who cook).

So that's the weekend roundup. In less than two days, I will be flying solo around here while Ted goes on tour, and I don't know how much I'll be online. I'm thinking about maybe getting away overnight somewhere w/ just Cadence and me. We'll see...Aw, who am I kidding. Aint' no way I'll find anything w/ the 4th of July holiday coming up. Oh, well...

My Six Squared Birthday

That's right, folks. It's my six-squared birthday today. I'm well on my way towards the middle ages now. Let's just hope with the older will come the wiser.

I have no idea how to catch y'all up on this weekend. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were devoted to friends, food and frolicking. It was more than a birthday girl could ever ask for.

Our friends Sarah, Ben and Eleanor were in town from Grand Rapids this weekend, thereby creating the impetus for much of the fun. Ben is the Ben of Ribbons of Song and Ben and Bruno, two bands that The Tim Lowly Ensemble has played with on numerous occasions. Sarah is one of the coolest moms I know, and Eleanor is about as spunky and creative a kid as 3 year olds get.

We threw a Panini Party for folks who know Sarah & Ben on Saturday night. Cadence was SO excited about Eleanor coming over. All day Saturday she kept asking when Eleanor would get there. It was probably one of the few times when she couldn't wait for the sun to go down because that's when I told her we'd see Eleanor.

It was a great time just hanging out and eating yummy food (and drinking yummy framboise for me and homebrew for others). Cadence is quite fond of Sarah, and I just love this shot of them reading together.

Sunday evening, we hung out at a park before grabbing some awesome Thai food. The weather was gorgeous, and it was just perfect for a lazy Sunday late afternoon romp in the park.

Here's a pictobrowser of the rest of the photos from the evening. It was a total treat to be able to spend two evenings in a row w/ Sarah and Ben and Eleanor.

On Monday, my cousins came over to hang out. It wasn't officially a birthday celebration, although it was my cousin Kris's and my birthdays this week. We did have cake and ice cream, at Cadence's insistence.

Another reason for the get-together was that my cousin Ben and his wife Rachel and daughter Eden are moving to New Jersey next week. Baby Eden has been one of my favorite kids to photograph, and I will really miss them. She's just great in front of the camera, and it's been a total delight watching her get bigger and bigger.

Cadence missed her nap today, and by the time 6pm rolled around, she was looking pretty beat. Out of desperation, we gave her a piece of chocolate truffle to hopefully keep her awake for just a little bit longer.

And this is how I found her 5 minutes after the truffles. Apparently, our plan failed.

Other than the total meltdown she had when we tried to wake her from her slumber (we really are stupid sometimes), she has been so sweet to me this weekend, wishing me happy birthday numerous times and telling me she loves me and that I'm her favorite friend. She's the best birthday present I could ask for.

Coming Up For Air

This is usually a quiet time of the year for me at work, but something came up that's thrown me into temporary busyness resulting in working while on the train, through lunch, at home, in the middle of the night, etc, and that's put a serious damper on my ability to post here. So here I go again with the random thoughts/updates and random photos.

Remember my voluntary simplicity mantra for the year? Well, it's the end of May, and I feel like I've gotten nowhere with that. I feel really pathetic saying this, but I think it would take an intervention like getting on a Reality TV show to get my butt in gear in terms of purging and decluttering our lives. But it's not just the physical stuff. It's my mind that needs decluttering too.

I find that I simply rush through my day, seldom taking time to notice the little things, such as these delicate flowers on the side of the pavement, these little encapsulations of purity and beauty. I don't take the time to breathe in deeply, or to quiet myself, or to connect to myself, let alone God or those around me. I wonder what it would take to change that?

So I was in the dining room the other day when I heard Cadence's voice coming from her room, saying, "Oh please don't go! We'll eat you up, we love you so!" I grabbed the camera to capture this photo of her "reading." It's the first book that she's taken to reciting, and now she walks around our home saying in the same cackly voice I use, "...And they GNASHED their terrible teeth, and they GNASHED their terrible eyes, and they GNASHED their terrible claws..." She apparently really likes the word GNASHED. It really tickles me so that she loves this book so much, because she is most definitely My Wild Thing, and that's what I love so much about her.

Speaking of Cadence, she's been under the weather the past couple days. She doesn't get sick very often, so when she does, I tend to get a little bit anxious. It hasn't been too bad so far. Just some head congestion. She tried to nurse yesterday morning and just couldn't breathe so she gave up. She later made a comment that I was "empty" and that she just couldn't do it. That made me wonder if that's how she'll self-wean, as my supply continues to dwindle, and it gets harder and harder for her to get a let-down. She must be breathing better by now because she was able to nurse last night and this morning, which I'm glad about because I prefer her to get as much breastmilk as possible when she's sick so I can pass on my antibodies.

Ted's been busy brewing up all kinds of beer. We've had lots of it in kegs lately, which is a whole new way of drinking homebrew. For those who know the joys of drinking draught beer, especially really good draught beer, you can believe that this is probably one of those no-turning-back experiences. For Ted, at least. I only drink the foamy part (and you sure can get good foam when you can control your own carbonation in a keg).

In case you haven't noticed, for the past couple months, the only shoes Cadence will wear unless cajoled otherwise are her black sparkly ballerina flats. She wears them to church, to the park, to the grocery store, to the children's museum, to the library, to the cafe, and yes, when she's driving in her little car. Needless to say, they're starting to fall apart. I finally took her shoe-shopping last night, and she INSISTED on a pink version of the sparkly shoes. Then I showed her a little less showy pair of floral canvas ballerina flats which she agreed to buy instead, and I convinced her to also accept a pair of gender neutral black canvas slip-on sneakers for the playground.

When we got home, however, she said some stuff that kind of gave me pause. She said something to the effect of "I'm a girl, so I like these shoes [meaning the flowery ballerina flats]," and she expressed less enthusiasm for the black gender neutral sneakers. As I've mentioned before, we're trying hard not to raise a little princess who will be looking for her prince in shining armor to "save" her. This is something I feel strongly about because when I was a young girl, I wanted to be a photojournalist for National Geographic, and my mother told me women don't do things like that. I know I shouldn't get too worked up about it, but it scares me how quickly this whole gender socialization thing happens.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had a post up on Shutter Sisters last Sunday. You can read all about it here.

Also, one of my photos from 826CHI's prom was picked for Gapers Block's Rearview for Tuesday May 20th. My friend Justin saw it and told me about it. That was kinda cool.

Alright, I think that's enough for now. Happy long weekend everyone!