Best Shot Monday--Short and Sweet, Literally

I'm actually going to post something short and sweet cuz it's actually been pretty busy at Chez Moi. This is Cadence sitting in Giddings Plaza in Lincoln Square. I just love her blouse, which I think I got for like a dollar at the thrift store. Or was it eBay? The pants are definitely eBay.

So the one week I post just one, would you believe Tracey bends her own totally unenforced and unwritten rule and posts three?! Go check out every one's Best Shot(s) Monday at Tracey's Picture This!

And stay tuned for more rock 'n' roll! Chamber Strings! Baby Teeth! I got 'em!

Three Thoughts Thursday #4

#1—I've been thinking lately about my "past" lives. No, I'm not talking about "past" as in previous lives, but as in the totally different people I've been over the course of my 35 years. It's just so weird to think back to the various identities and sets of beliefs and circles of friends I've had. I've even had a number of different names. You'd think I couldn't make up my mind on who I was or something.

It's always a little awkward when I run into someone from one of these former lives. I have no idea what they've heard through the grapevine about my life since I last saw them. It's especially weird if they just assume that I'm the same as I ever was, especially regarding my thoughts on God and the Church (and by Church, I mean mainly the evangelical church in the U.S.).

Sometimes, though, it's a pleasant surprise to run into someone I haven't seen in a while. Like yesterday, at the Common, when I ran into a guy named Dave Fleuchaus who I used to go to church with. It was a very brief encounter, but still really nice, and I got to introduce him to Ted and Cadence. It's funny how a flood of memories can rush back from when you were essentially someone else. I sure do miss a lot of the people…

#2—Whenever summer rolls around, my thoughts drift towards the Pacific Northwest, home of my favorite city to visit—Seattle, WA. Surrounded by mountains and water, built on hills, draped in breathtakingly green raiment, covered by deep azure skies, and soaked in bountiful sunshine—summers in Seattle are simply gorgeous. I know they're notorious for their drizzle, but that's really mainly during the winter months. Summers totally make up for it.

There was a time when you could fly roundtrip to Seattle from Chicago for around $180. I think I visited there 3 times in a 9-month period back in 2002/2003. Ted went last year to drink beer with visit his bro Charles and sis-in-law Ali while I moped at home with Cadence. Now I'm itching to go back, but we've decided that we won't take any flying trips this year, unless it's Ted's dad who's doing the flying. Now that we have to buy a ticket for Cadence too, we'd have to spend at least $700 on airfare alone to go most places far away enough to justify flying. But still…

I really have a hankering for some fresh (flying) seafood at Pike Place market.

Or a REALLY AWESOME latte on Capitol Hill.

Or a picnic in Discovery Park.

Or watching folks busking on the street corners.

Or some really greasy pizza on The Ave.

Or a late night stroll through Red Square in UW.

Or just hanging out in Charles and Ali's backyard. And I could go on and on…

#3—I think I'm a total sap sometimes. It must the be whole getting old thing again.

Meet Me At "The Common"

There is a new coffee shop in the neighborhood. It's called The Common Cup, but the coffee ain't no common coffee; it's GOOD. Of course, I've only been there twice in the past 20 hours, so what do I know.

Yeah. I'm already on a first name basis with one of the managers, Chris.

We've been a Metropolis family for a while, so I was a little skeptical when I saw that they used Intelligentsia, but I have to say that the coffee was excellent. I still think Metropolis can't be beat for the tastiest coffee in the city, but for a neighborhood coffee shop, The Common Cup sure exceeds my expectations.

They get their sweet stuff from Red Hen Bread which has some of the best baked goods in the city. Cadence ate that whole cookie almost by herself. We were lucky to get a bite or two.

In addition to excellent beverages and treats, The Common Cup provides a a place where the community can come together. They are already displaying art by local artists and plan on supporting local musicians as well. There is an overflow room that will be used for gatherings such as knitting circles and book groups. And their tip jar? They donate the contents to a different local non-profit every month.

I don't think we'll stop going to Metropolis, but it's nice to have a coffee shop we can walk to that we can depend on for a quality cup of joe.

This is a Public Service Announcement...With Guitar!

For y'alls coming here looking for photos from the Detholz! show last Thursday night, look at the post below from Saturday, June 2nd. Or just go see the slideshow of the photos on my Flickr.

I'm just posting this because a bulletin was sent out from the Detholz! myspace that directs folks to my homepage for the photos from their show, and I'd sure hate for folks too impatient to scroll down to be disappointed upon finding just photos of an extremely cute toddler.

Best Shot(s) Monday--Busy, Busy, Busy.

Happy Monday, folks! It's been a busy shooting week for me, so I don't know how I'm going to pick my favorite ones. I guess I'll have to pick one or two from each shooting session.

This one is from the Memorial Day BBQ at our friends Jeff and Lena's. It's one of the rooms in their historic Victorian fixer-upper. There's a lot going on in this photo that may not be all that obvious upon a fleeting glance. Ok. I'll just leave it at that.

While home with Cadence one night while Ted was out gallivanting, I got bored. I happened to look over at our mantel, and I thought to myself that I really liked our "grey" walls (they're really blue, but don't say that to Ted's face). I then thought, "Huh. That's mantel's pretty high off the ground. If I put Cadence on top of it, she'll most likely sit still." I don't know why I didn't think "Huh. That mantel's pretty high off the ground. If I put Cadence on top of it, she'll most likely FALL OFF." Just call me optimistic, I guess. Or a bad mom. Or stupid. Or all of the above.

Anyhoo, I was bored and getting sick of watching the Sound of Music again, so I cleared all the junk mail and artwork off the mantel, stuck my handy dandy SB-400 on my camera, grabbed Cadence (who happened to be wearing nothing but a diaper) and plopped her down on the mantel. According to my timestamps on the photos, she was content up there for all of 4 minutes and 53 seconds.

I love the negative blue space of the first one, and the layers of blue, white, brown and white in the 2nd one. I guess you can call this the birth of the Mantel Studio.

Well, the next day, I placed Cadence in our fake fireplace just underneath the mantel, and HEY! Guess what! Instant white background! You can call this one the Fake Fireplace Studio. I just love how Cadence's hair is sticking up here. It's most definitely post-nap hair (a.k.a. bedhead).

I think I elaborated enough on my photoshoot Thursday night at the Metro in my previous post, so I won't post photos of the bands, but I did really like this one that I took of a couple who were watching the show in the balcony. People-watching at shows is really fun.

Saturday we had Middle Eastern for dinner. Well, as you can see, Cadence went to town with the hummus. The interesting thing is that she generally doesn't play with her food and is one of those types who goes into hysterics if she gets a little ketchup on her finger from dipping her soy dog. I guess hummus must feel like beauty paste or something.

So that's it folks. Sorry I suck at narrowing down the really good ones. I must be biased or something. Please go and look at other folks' Best Shots @ Tracey's Picture This.