A Midwestern Love Letter

I had forgotten how enjoyable summer activities are in the Midwest. Sultry evening air with a storm on the horizon is what my daydreams are made of. Midwest summer brings festivals with yummy food, fun music, drinking, carnivals, and baseball. This weekend we had tickets to the Red Sox at Cubs game so we spent the weekend in Chicago and the burbs. It was super warm with sporadic storms. We spent Saturday relaxing and helping Alex with some homework. Then we headed to a fest in Elk Grove.

The smells and sounds and lights just immediately bring a smile to my face.

We sat people watching and I realized how happy I am to be the age that I am. Although I enjoyed my formative years I am so glad to be done with them. Watching these teens reminded me that being on the diving board of thirty is a good place to be:)

Some of my brother’s friends joined us for fireworks and then games. I won a fish (I own that game!) but I wanted a hermit grab since Anne Frank our fish is not a sociable fish. One of his friends wanted a fish but won a hermit crab. So we swapped! Our new addition is Oliver Arnold, the largest hermit crab I have ever seen! It was such a fun night.

Fathers Day is not an easy day for me. So when I got tickets to the very rare Cubs v Red Sox game I was pleased!! Although I was one of the first to buy tickets I ended up with obstructed view.
But Alex and I made the best of the game. We even took a rickshaw!

I did not realize that the Sunday tickets I had were to be a night game. We had to be back in Iowa for life on Monday. Alex is now as dedicated a fan as one can ask for! It was also his first night game. It really is so enjoyable to experience the game with a newbie. He just makes things even that much more fun.

Too bad the Cubs sucked and lost. We did enjoy some Chicago dogs and Cracker Jacks.

I even taught Alex about the rally cap (too bad it didn’t work).

We didn’t get home until well after 2 am and I swear I thought I was going to calm asleep on my computer today but the lovely evening with my favorite new Cubs fan at Wrigley Field is worth some sleepiness any day!


Such a wonderful weekend. Thank you friends and family. And thank you Midwestern summer.

Bloody Good Time

If you know me at all you know my deep love for Bloody Mary’s. I can drink them any time and any place. I am frequently made fun of when I order one in the evening at a bar. I recently realized I also have a penchant for taking pictures of my Bloody Mary’s. I foresee some cravings!!

Some restaurant in Illinois with my mom and Mandy.

Bar Louie in Printers Row Chicago with my mom and Alex

A bloody hell martini at Graze in Iowa City with Alex.

At Capones in Cedar Rapids with Carolyn.

At 320 Main near Long Beach with The Shepler’s and Cecil’s and Pam.

At Dave and Busters Addison with my mom, Alex, Andy, and Josh.

At Sharkeys Hermosa Beach with Faith.

Big Sur with Alex

Catalina Island with Faith and the birthday camping crew

Ohare airport. Solo

Palm Springs with Alex and Paige

So I actually could go on but I won’t:) so who wants to go have a bloody Mary with me?

Blood Money

I never went to school in a “college town” so I never really knew about plasma donation. However moving to Iowa with no job threw me in the plasma deep end. I donate twice a week and am saving for a trip to Hawaii! I documented my view. It’s a series of appointments, outfits, and shoes!

Mt Vernon

Since it seems I will be in Iowa for awhile longer I am trying to take in the sights. My favorite so far is the quiet little town about 25 minutes outside of Iowa City called Mt Vernon. It has been described to me as Bedford Falls from Its A Wonderful Life. I think thats fitting. It has a main street running through town and that’s where all the action seems to be. This is where all the goings on happen, like the chocolate walk, and the holiday festival. A few weekends ago my friend and I went to experience “Chalk the Walk”, the annual chalk festival.

The whole main street was shut down so local artists could create a masterpiece with chalk!

If you had your own chalk you could add to the street art.

It was a gorgeous day out. We put our name in at the much talked about Lincoln Cafe and strolled around enjoying the small town quaintness.

Each major square was one piece of art. The artists were sponsored and spent hours perfecting their squares. It was fun to see all the ideas and the intricacies that went into bringing them to life. Especially since the medium was chalk!

We were concerned it may rain, since when we arrived there were menacing clouds. I can’t imagine being one of the artists and having to stand there watching your uncompleted work wash into the sewer. Luckily the clouds broke and the sun came out!

In the middle of all of it there was a huge picture in the works. The town had taken a postcard and broken it into tons of squares. For a $10 donation you could draw one of the squares helping to complete the picture. My friend and I accepted the challenge and received a difficult square.

It was so fun to get dirty and artsy. I think we did a pretty good job! We walked and took it all in until our grumbling stomachs steered us back to the restaurant to check on our table. We had a great lunch and then moseyed back to the car.

My second trip to mount Vernon was as lovely as my first( I attended the holiday festival in December). It’s a nice reminder that there are unique and fun things to do outside of a city sometimes. Thank goodness for that!

Shoes

So if you know me even a little you know that I have a huge place in my heart (and my closets) for shoes. I took that love and photographed my week of foot attire.

Brand new Kate Spade heels. They make me think of the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz. I slept with these on my bedside table so that when I awoke the next morning I would be bound to have a great day!

I participated in One Day Without Shoes. It was a cold day and my toes were freezing. It was an eye opener to think how uncomfortable I was all day and I work and live inside! My mission to get everyone shoes is even stronger.

My beautiful TOMS cordones. One for One!

Black suede flat boots from Target. Comfy and cute!

Color blocked heels from Target. They even look cool at a dive bar in Iowa!

These are a few of my favorite things

So the photo a day thing is over. I lost the creative drive in that one. But I am working on a few ideas. Today Alex and I are having a dont get out of bed all day kind of day. I even filled my camelback so I wouldn’t have to keep getting up. I love days like this. I was looking through all my photos on my phone and was so happy. It’s always nice to have a reminder of how lucky you are to have such amazing people in your life and to be so fortunate to get to do so much. So I’d like to share a few of my favorites.

Such fun I have:) now back to our marathon of Downton Abbey!

Photo A Day Failure

So I was doing so well with my photo a day project. But then I got the flu and it all went down the toilet. So there is a missing 2 weeks. I will start anew this week. But in the meantime…

That is the Rough Riders mascot. I may be in love:)

Lilly at the library doing some reading.

Alex enjoying Wicker Park after my birthday party.

I have some pretty great friends in Iowa City. To celebrate my birthday my friends Alex and Carolyn hosted me, Alex, and our friend Sam. The weather was gorgeous so we dined on their porch. We had from scratch homemade pizza, yummy salad, spiked lemonade, and the most amazing homemade cake ever!

I drove to Chicago three weekends in March. I guess sometimes it’s kinda pretty.

Spring has sprung! Actually it has felt more like summer, but who is complaining?