There Is a Loud Sucking Sound...

...and it's coming from this blog. Yes, lame-age abounds around here these days, I totally admit it. It's been a rough week, people.

So Monday through Wednesday, I had this meeting in downtown Chicago with other folks within the compensation world in my industry. My boss asked me to make a presentation about our company and our compensation practices. I was totally stressed out because 1) if given the choice between a root canal WITHOUT anesthesia and speaking formally in front of total strangers, I would gladly pick the root canal and thank the Lord for my good fortune; 2) I knew I'd be the LEAST experienced person professionally in the room; and 3) I just don't know my sh*t as well as I should.

To make matters worse, Cadence kept me up most of Monday night, so I went into this meeting on Tuesday with only a couple hours of sleep. Plus, I was starting to feel a cold coming on. Last, but not least, I was scheduled to give my presentation at 4:30pm, right before everyone would be heading to their hotel for the cocktail reception at 5pm.

I can't tell you how the presentation went as I've permanently repressed the memory, cuz everybody knows that anything more painful than a root canal without anesthesia (except for childbirth) should qualify for automatic repression within the memory banks. All I know is my boss didn't fire me on the spot, so it must have been okay. And no, I'm pretty sure I wasn't great.

Anyhoo, if that whole debacle weren't bad enough, I developed a migraine Tuesday night (from lack of sleep Monday night) and had to sit through Wednesday's meeting with a bruised head. Thank goodness it was a half-day meeting. I'd had plans of going on a photoshoot as long as I was downtown, but instead I went straight home and threw up. I missed our friend Erik's birthday dinner, and my head kept on hurting right into Thursday. Plus, I developed a full-blown cold by Thursday morning and couldn't stop sneezing, which made my headache worse. I stayed home from work, but I barely felt well enough to attend the Tim Lowly art reception/music show that evening.

Nevertheless, I really wanted to see Tim's art as he is one of my favorite artists, so I dragged my sickly self (actually, I should say WE dragged OUR sickly selves, as Ted is sick too) out of the house to see the show. I'm glad I did, because I hadn't seen most of the stuff he was showing, and it's pretty flippin' rad. That's Tim in the photo above, wearing the Tim Lowly ensemble t-shirt that the lovely and talented Katie Schofield embroidered. And that's my good friend Amy taking some Super8 footage.

I also took some of my favorite photos in a while, so click on the photo above for the whole slideshow. You can also see some of Tim's artwork, as well as photos of the music show that followed the reception.

This is actually my favorite photo from the night. It's just kinda wacky, ya know? Tim says it looks like a scene from a play, and I would have to agree. Katie C.(the violinist) looks like she's about to say something really poignant. And Matt looks like he's just gonna ignore her. And then there's that bottle of wine off to the side...

Tim's really nice to let me bring Cadence to all the shows. She was running and dancing and hopping around a lot, and at one point found her way onto stage. She told me she needed to talke to dada. No, really. That's what she said: "I need to talk to Dada." And she was totally serious.

Speaking of the munchkin, she's turning 3 on Monday. Another reason we're kinda stressed in this household. We're not having a party or anything--just cake w/ immediate family, no kids or anything. I'm glad we planned it that way, cuz I don't think I would've wanted to host a party w/ other folks' children in the condition I'm in right now--all snotty and achey and whatnot.

So that's the scoop, y'all. I'm sorry I've been bad about responding to comments or catching up on your blogs. I hope things mellow out in October...

The Busiest Weekend EVER Part Due

So after Rudden's birthday party, we high-tailed it back home to get ready for Ted's show w/ the Tim Lowly Ensemble that night. They were playing at the Dawghaus Café, a new eatery/venue right on the lakefront off of Sheridan and Grandville in Berger Park (which also happens to have our favorite playground in the city).

I was especially excited about this show because my friend Sarah and her daughter Eleanor were going to be at the show, as Sarah's husband Ben was opening up for Tim's band under the moniker Ribbons of Song. With the awesome playground right next to the venue and the lovely lakefront as the backdrop and the weather totally cooperating by 7pm, I knew we'd have a good time. And Cadence was totally psyched about playing with Eleanor again.

Here's Ben performing.

Here's our friend Ryan playing some percussions for Ben. Note the lake behind him!

Here's Ben and his smoke machine. Kick-ass!

And here's Eleanor playing on the playground next to the cafe. She's one spunky kid — super creative and funny and cute and smart.

Cadence had a blast playing with her.

Here's Eleanor sharing her milkshake with Cadence. Note the worried look on her face. Needless to say, I had to get Cadence her own smoothie after that.

I took some photos under the streetlights that line the trail next to the lakeshore, and I'm kind of surprised at how much I like them.

I don't do too much night photography any more now that I'm usually home trying to get a toddler to sleep after it gets dark. I used to love doing nighttime street photography with my little Nikon back in the day, and I'm starting to remember why.

Did I mention there was a full moon Saturday night?

And I just love this group hug with Sarah and the kids.

It was a perfect night and perfect place for playing music.

There was this one big super bright light illuminating the stage, and it was perfect for shooting with my superfast 50mm lens.

There WAS this one really, really loud cricket, but I thought it added to the charm and ambience of the evening.

Oh, and there was this big beautiful spider web right behind Tim. Spiders are awesome, even though I'm scared to death of the ones living in our home.

After the show, a bunch of folks (but not Sarah and Ben and Eleanor, who were all pooped) came back to our place for homebrews. We drank beer and talked until a little after 1 am. Man, what a long day.

Oh, Cadence didn't go to bed until midnight, and then she woke up at 4am whimpering and contorting her body in pain. It was either gas or constipation (probably the latter, as she pooped in the morning). I was so desperate for sleep that I finally ended up somehow upside down on the bed with her on top of me, tummy to tummy. I didn't get out of bed until close to 9:30 the next morning.

On Sunday, we went to church and then came home so Cadence could nap for a bit. As soon as she woke up, we had to run out the door again, this time to Tim and Sherrie's house where he and Ben and Ryan and Jan (Tales from Tuckaway) were playing a house show.

Cadence and Eleanor got pretty raucous, and Tim was recording the shows, so Sarah and I were mostly outside with the girls.

We did go inside for a bit between sets. Here's Sarah, Eleanor's mama, sitting in Tim and Sherrie's living room.

At one point, Eleanor's dad Ben threw out lollipops at folks in the living room. Cadence, being the deprived child that she is, didn't know what they were until she saw people putting them in their mouths. She then started begging for her own "popsicle." I relented, but explained to her that this was a special treat, and like Christmas, would come around only about once a year.

And here are the two girls, sharing a chair and toasting lollipops. It doesn't get any better than this, they're thinking, I'm sure.

Alas, soon after, we had to say goodbye to Eleanor, who had gone sans nap all day and finally collapsed in her mama's arms right about when they were going to be heading back to Grand Rapids. We miss you already!!!

OK. That's about it. We went out for the best tilapia tacos on the planet with Hilary, Katie, Matt and Ethan afterwards and didn't get home until close to 9pm.

So minus the sleeping and napping, we had pretty much been going nonstop from Saturday morning 6:15am until bedtime Sunday night.

It sure was fun, though.

Dance. Music. Music. More Music.

It's been a busy weekend and then some around here. I took a lot of photos, and I'm just too plain tired, busy and lazy to say much about them, so please excuse me while I let my photos do most of the talking.

Saturday night. Berry UMC Accessibility Project. think/dance collective. Kick-Ass.

These ladies are doing something really cool.

Check them out at http://thinkdancecollective.org/.

And their musical selection was absolutely top-notch. From John Cage to Imogen Heap to Anathallo to Half-Handed Cloud and more. And I hear Liz, the artistic director, is working on a piece to Maggie's Farm (by Bob Dylan). THAT I want to see.

After think/dance, it was their siblings/friends Anathallo's turn to perform.

This was my first time seeing Anathallo live, although Ted and Tim and gang have opened up for them.

They've got quite the following, selling out shows left and right on their recent west coast tour.

And it's no wonder, as they play a kick-ass show, complete with synchronized dance moves.

And yes, Erica IS the only girl in the band. Lucky her! She also has this one dress with princess cap sleeves that I totally confess to coveting...Not that I'd fit into it or anything.

On Sunday, Ted's band, the Tim Lowly Ensemble, played at the Artists of the Wall Festival in Loyola Park in our neighborhood.

Shoes were apparently optional.

Our friends Jenn and John and their daughter Ada joined us for the show. The girls enjoyed their all-ages show.

They also enjoyed a greasy bag of BBQ pototao chips. The perfect snack for a hot, humid day! (Uh, NOT!)

Cadence loved running around on the beach and stepping all over people's artwork. Thank goodness my brother Jim showed up cuz I sure as hell wasn't gonna chase that little sprite around in that heat and humidity.

And because a dance performance, indie rock benefit show, and outdoor festival show weren't enough, I went to see the Get Up Johns at the Red Line Tap last night.

These guys are a close-harmonizing, traditional-country-crooning, fiddle-and-mandolin-and-guitar-toting duo from St. Paul, MN. It's just absolutely beautiful music, probably one of my favorite genres.

They're also good friends with my friend Caleb, whom they will be seeing on their current tour eastward.

So as you can see, things have been quite busy around here. It's taken a toll on us all.

Cadence has been taking these long, late naps around dinnertime, which means she's up until all hours of the night. It's so hard to keep an exhausted toddler from falling asleep. She actually crawled into bed and went to sleep by herself in this photo. I was wondering why things were so quiet, and by the time I realized what had happened, it was too late. She was sleeping like a rock. Hopefully, tonight she'll fall asleep at a decent hour, cuz Lord knows her parents want their bedtime back.