Super-duper-moon

We ventured outside for a rare celestial event last night, a total lunar eclipse with a supermoon. It's an event that hasn't happened in 33 years and won't happen again for another 18. We had our fingers crossed for a clear sky, and when we went out at first, we saw nada. Clouds everywhere. It was a beautiful night to be outside though, temps right around 70 degrees and dry. 

As we walked home from the 606 elevated trail (where we went to get a good view), we could intermittently see some of the moon, and we realized the eclipse was happening, the shadow was slowly covering the moon and it looked like a crescent. The moon was still white, which I didn't understand because everyone was saying how it was going to be this red/orange blood moon.

We grabbed a blanket from home and headed to the park nearby. Then, at the end of the hour, the clouds completely cleared and there it was. The the red harvest moon! I guess the shadow had to be completely over the moon to create the red glow, and I'll admit it was pretty cool.

Conversations with a two year old

This is my best friend's son. Isn't he just the cutest? They live in a different city, so I don't get to see them very often. It's tough because he's growing up so fast that he almost looks like a different kid every few months when I see him. And of course there's that selfish part of me that doesn't want him to forget who I am.

Thank goodness for FaceTime! This week I got TWO calls out of the blue because he decided he wanted to talk to me! We talked about baseball, ice cream, naps, castle and man...all the cool stuff that two year olds are into. And of course the guy with the drums (my husband).

Hopefully I'll make it into town soon to see them in person!

Festival Season In The Bag

Riot Fest 2015 is over* and thus closes another music festival season, or zips up the bag as it were. I always pack up my music fest wares, credentials, schedules and whatever else into a ziploc bag, and at the end of the summer I throw it into a box in my crawlspace.

I've never been much of a scrapbooker, as much as I wanted to be. I still have a half-finished scrapbook from high school, with all the other crap intended to go in it in a box with the book. I'll get to it one day... riiiight... It's usually when I'm looking for something specific in the box that I come across all those old memories (what day/time did so-and-so play at Lolla 2005???). Or when I move, but I've been living in the same place for almost six years now.

Who knows, maybe one day I'll have kids that will enjoy going through the boxes, trying on my wristbands and checking out the bands on the schedules noting who made it big and who they've never heard of.


*here's our Chicagoist coverage:
Day One
Day Two 
Day Three

Interviewing Me

Riot Fest returns to Chicago today, which reminded me about an interview I did at the fest last year with indie leather crafting co. In Blue Handmade. This time it was me being interviewed, which was weird since I'm normally on the other side asking the questions, but I think I did ok! They asked me about writing and journalism as part of their Between The Lines series where they talk to all types of writers--journalists, poets, songwriters, etc.

Thanks again to Katie and the In Blue Handmade crew for reaching out and being so cool to work with!

SUP!

That's not me, but I looked just like that. (Chicago Paddle Co.)

This Labor Day holiday weekend had it's ups and downs, but one of those ups was on a paddle board!

I went with my friend Irene up to Hollywood Beach to go Stand Up Paddling. I was nervous, but it wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be. I didn't even fall off once! It's still a challenging workout though, especially for your core.

The season is pretty much over, but I'm looking forward to getting back out on the water next summer (or the next time I go on vacation!). I might even try a SUP yoga class!

Making the cut.

Very dramatic moment last night as I cut my finger with one of our brand new wedding registry knives. It's not too bad, but it was scary because there was a lot of blood. Luckily Husband was there to take care of me or I would have been in a much bigger mess.

There's something weird about being in the moment you get hurt, it's almost like you're outside your body watching it happen. I literally felt nothing as I watched blood pour out of my finger, but I also didn't move, so it's good that someone else was there to direct me to the sink and clean me up. Shock is a crazy thing, isn't it?


On a related note, I think I need to take a knife safety cooking class. Do those exist? I thought I was being careful when in fact I was being very dumb.