veggieupdate.

my god! is that...a...TOMATO?! (it's the size of a quarter, but STILL!)









check out the zucchini plant!





hooray!

it feels good to see the fruits of our labor beginning to appear.

ha!

...you know...fruits...of our...labor...awww, you get the idea...

mighty!

do you like to laugh and laugh and laugh some more?

if so, please do click here...or here.

a public 'thank you' to ed for opening my eyes to the boosh.

i'm obsessed.

the weekend.

howdy. i'm writing to you from weekend! can you believe it? i'm "borrowing" wireless from our neighbors and blogging from my bed. ha! anyhow, i'm supposed to be writing/working on some sketches for sketchcore (and i am! i am!) but i also needed a bit of a break.

this week we've got company in town. lovely friends from the south/southwest who have come to visit. they're out and about exploring chicago as we speak.

the light in here is so nice right now. it's almost dark enough in my bedroom to turn on a lamp, but i don't want to ruin this color.

















it looks like this.

the fastest man in the world

about a week ago, sketchcore performed at a benefit for a local women's shelter. we tried out some new sketches and were very pleased with the audience response. i think the shelter also raised a nice amount of money, so everyone was happy.

after we finished our set, we headed down the street to a little local called "rose's." the inside of the bar has numerous mismatched couches, chairs, tables...it's a lot like you're sitting in your friend's uncle's basement only the beers cost money ($2 old styles!). while we recapped the evening's performance, an older gentleman came over to chat with us. he made some small talk, told us a bit about his wife who was sitting at the bar and then, he made a bold claim.

"i am the fastest man in the world."

we were amazed, of course, and wondered how he could make such a statement. "how could he prove it to us?!," we wondered.

it turns out, he could prove it to us using just one quarter. we would have to provide the quarter, but "hey," we thought, "that's a pretty cheap ticket price to see the fastest man in the world!"

ed volunteered the quarter and his hand for the demonstration. the man instructed everyone around him to remain completely still and silent. we followed his very specifc directions and the rest went as follows:

he placed the quarter atop ed's willing hand (as dunbar watched intently).

and then, in the blink of an eye...

he swiped it from ed's hand! and the dude was fast! lightening-fast!

we decided that it was totally worth twenty-five cents to see him swipe it, so we donated another quarter for a repeat performance.

later as shottsie and i were leaving, we had one last interaction with thefastestmanintheworld and his wife. the fmitw asked me why i was leaving so early and i told him that i had to work at 7 am. he asked why and i said that i worked at a daycare/preschool. "oh, i love kids" he said, throwing his head back and placing both hands on his chest as if he was clutching a bouquet of flowers. from under her baseball cap, his wife nodded in approval. "no kids, nooo kids...we had cats though," he continued, "lots of cats. messy things." his wife nodded again, pushing up her thick, black-rimmed glasses. i laughed as i picked up my bag and shottsie told the two of them to have a great night. as we turned to leave, the fmitw tugged on my arm and waved with his hand for us to come closer and listen to one more thing he needed to impart to us.

"if you knew who i was..." he said quietly, "if you knew who i was, you'd want to go home and commit suicide."

i glanced over at his wife and she was nodding, smiling and then i looked to shotts. he looked as if he had just seen an elephant do a backflip.

"ooook..." i said, "well have a great night!"

i guess being the fastest man in the world has its consequences.

winning is fun.

i've been told to write some more and i will now follow that direction!

today i'm substitute teaching two classes at work; a music class and a movement class. i'm kinda nervous, but it seems like as long as i have fun (and remember a hebrew song or two) i should be just fine. these classes are significantly more relaxed and significantly less scripted than the ones i used to teach. at my former job, i was constantly judged, graded, judged, assigned percentage points, re-trained on "selling" and then judged some more. very corporate and very grody. i'm excited at the possibility of teaching more in a place where your talents are valued and you are known as a whole person, not as a "customer service representative." i'll let you know how it goes...

in other news, i choreographed and taught a ballet for a show coming up next week at theatre on the lake. the show is "daredevils" (think i've mentioned it before) and it involves the exploration of masculinity through feats of physical risk. one of the new pieces they've added to the show is about ballet dancing which is, in my opinion, a feat of daredevilry. if you'd like a preview of the piece i worked on, click here. if you want to save it for the show, please do come see it. these boys are hard-working, fearless and pretty damn good at learning ballet in 2 hours.

also....

WE WON A SOFTBALL GAME!

oh my crap! it's amazing! i'm very proud of our team. between the oppressive heat (110 degree heat index) and the waves of dust on the field rising up like a sandstorm, we had our fair share of obstacles. but we beat that team. to a veritable pulp. it felt good.

from california.

ren and i meet for the first time. this is a big deal because he's the first baby to be born within my small circle of college roommates. he's my first "friend baby." this means he will be showered with a huge amount of love and attention from the two other ladies in the group that are not his mother. his mom and dad are doing a very fine job of it themselves.


tracy tells a hilariously disturbing cat story at our barbeque. i won't try to replicate it, but i will tell you that it involves the "worst smell in the entire world," possible weekly vet visits and a cat nicknamed "gravy."



angie at the burmese restaurant in san francisco. we split half of a pitcher of a concoction they called a 'burmese cooler.' it consisted of delicious beer, fresh lemon and ginger. we ate samusas, 'super-star noodles' and sesame chicken. so very yum.

a trip to the bay keeps the doctor away...

last weekend i went to california to visit friends. this is one of my new friends. his name is ren. he eats, poos, sleeps, smiles and makes the most amazing sounds.

it was so nice to get out of town for a bit. i got to spend some quality time with people i love a lot. we told stories, ate delicious food, drank beer and wine and laughed a bunch.

if you're lucky, i'll post some more digipix of this the cutest baby in the world!

stay tuned...

photoupdate.

a busy weekend full of food, fun and fireworks!
mom and dad came up on sunday for a quick visit...had a lovely brunch. mimosas, bloody marys and coffee...





pool time at mike's barbeque on sunday...this casual lounging was later replaced by a furious game of pool football where a decorative plastic turtle was used as the ball. then we burnt sparklers in unison.



we hit another barbeque on the actual fourth of july...lots of fireworks in the alley behind the house we were visiting. the dudes out there were going crazy. as soon as it got remotely duskish, the fireworkbattle began. they were shooting them off in the alley, the street, wherever there was concrete and a spare match. it was a war that raged on from 8:45 til who-knows-when. we left at 11pm and it was going strong. riding home on our bikes, the smoke and smell of spent firecrackers hung in the air. a nice night...

visit!

i meant to post a pic of people and jim and amy are the lucky first subjects...

we had a nice visit with them last week...ate a yummy lunch and then hit the ol' village discount outlet. jim suggested that amy might find some maternity clothes there. :)

jim bought a shirt.

b bought records.

i bought cleets and yellow shoes (as you saw in the previous photo).

then we went to a nearby babyclothingstore and i made b guess how much this one little outfit (not even an outfit, a onesie) cost.

it was forty eight dollars.

i decided that when the time came, i would fashion little baby sacks out of pillow cases for my children to wear.

i'm at work today and i don't know why.

ahhh...here i am, at the old workplace...one hour left to go. it doesn't seem like anyone else in the world had to go to work today, alas...

i was dying to sleep in this morning. the sound of the rain was music to my ears and it felt so very good in my little sleeping cave.

it's not so bad here today. all of the daycare rooms have switched (they're growing up!) and we've got a bunch of new babies starting "school" today. so i just returned to my desk after visiting the new "threes" room where i read a book called "where is the green sheep" to one of the kiddos. fun.

i had a very nice weekend, full of brunches and family and shows and barbeques...i'll have pix to share when i do some work this afternoon. i'm continuing my love affair with my new camera...it's simply not letting up!

i got to spent time with some people that i rarely get to hang out with and i was happy about that. it's such a joy to find that you get along just as awesomely as you imagined you would...