Concerts

Since I have been a resident of chicago, my first thing  I did when I got settled was to make calendars. Calendars of concerts and shows around chicago. So far I have only had time (and money) to make it to three shows. They were each really good and I hope to see so many more in the future. It's kinda hard coming from NO good music around your area  to so much it's overwhelming. So here are a few pics from the three so far.

1. Hot Chip at Metro

Seeing Hot Chip at Metro was my first show in Chicago. I bought the tickets and went on my own, cuz well the only (2) people I know couldn't go/don't like this kind of music. Im glad I went though. This was one crazy sweaty dance party. The guys from Hot Chip were really funny and entertaining and said "Chicago" funny with their english accents. The show was great, pretty long with a mix of new songs and old ones. Everyone was so into it and at the end giant balloons dropped from the ceiling while everyone was dancing in them. So great- wish I had had someone who'd appreciate that show with me there. 

2. Pinback at bottom lounge

I have always wanted to see a pinback show since I had started listening to them way back in the day. Finally on a sunday night I saw they were going to be at a place downtown. So i bought tickets and just went by myself. Im glad I got to see them, Rob Crow and Zach Smith sounded just as good as they sound on any album. The only thing that put a damper on the show was the people around me. These 5 overweight asians (Im not stererotyping, they were) who had obviously not been out in social situations much proceeded to stand right in front of me. Not only were they huge and blocked my view of the stage in this relatively small venue, but they started to thrash around like they got confused and thought this was a slipnot show. Sorry friends Pinback is mellow as can be. No headbanging allowed. To make matters worse the one largest guy had obviously ate something that didn't agree with him and had the worst smelling gas I have ever unfortunatley been witness to. There was no escaping them either, I moved to the right...they slid to the right. They were so annoying it forced me to leave before their encore. Oh well. 

3. Crystal Castles at Metro

Crystal castles was a great show. The place was really packed with crazy hipsters and you couldn't really get a view of the stage from anywhere but the music was so good that it really didn't matter. At first Lymbic System came on. They were really good, I suggest you download them if you want some soothing mellow music--not really the best pic to open for a crazy upbeat electronic show, but hey they were good. 

Finally Crystal castles came out, they had an amazing set up- so many electronic devices to make music on that I have no idea what they were, and a drum set. The show started and went fast.... almost disappointing though, they probably played maybe 6 songs and ran off stage and the lights came on. People next to me were mad, as were many others who waited to see them only play for a tiny bit. Nonetheless they sounded amazing and really got the crowd into it. I am so glad I saw them since I have been so obsessed with their music lately. 

{There will be many more to come in the future, hopefully I'll actually have someone to go with!}

Public transportation #1

Im completely stealing this from Meghan who stole it from the email Doug sent her, it's just too funny not to let everyone else read. Oh, and if anyone can sympathize with you Doug about public transportation and the crazies on it, it's me. Just yesterday a drag queen got on the bus, but I felt bad for him, because you could tell he was totally new at the whole looking like a woman thing. He was just more or less a man with a pony-tail and makeup. Poor guy, he'll get it soon enough.

From Doug's email to my sister:

"...Second, when I got on the bus Ben was on, so I sat down next to him. He was carrying kind of a crazy amount of stuff with him, as apparently today is the journal pot luck and he had to bring a bean salad to school (weird). Not happy about the situation, Ben says to me "I feel like a bag lady today." The thing is though, there was an actual bag lady sitting directly behind us. The cruel irony of this Brandeis-educated Jewish guy in a North Face jacket choosing that particular simile at that particular moment was apparently not lost on the woman, who tapped him on the shoulder and said, "You think you feel like a bag lady, I AM a bag lady!" She then held up a Clorox bottle, sealed only by a shred of cling wrap, that had some kind of red substance oozing out of the top of it and asked Ben to touch it. When he did, she asked him why he just touched anything people asked him to. Ben later confided to me that the bottle was strangely hot. She then asked me if I could read bad handwriting, and I replied that I sometimes could, so she pulled out a notebook and handed it to me. Written on it was a rap song about Obama, the election, the Constitution, and religion. It was a little nonsensical and hyperbolic in parts, but it completely flowed, she had a better vocabulary than most college freshmen (and she clearly hadn't used a thesaurus), and a shocking ability to spell. "I scribbled that out on the bus," she said. "Pretty good for a bag lady, huh?" I had to admit, it was."

By the way, if anyone has any other amazing stories involving public transportation, email me, I'd love to start a series of stories/photos on it.

Wasting time..

So I haven't really had much time to do anything now that I started work. I go to work, come home, make some dinner, try to squeeze in a run (although that hasn't been happening since I now need to wear underarmor leggings and earmuffs when I go running by the lake), and then usually collapse in bed no later than 10:00 pm. I am officially old and a loser. Oh well. But I seem to have more than enough time at work to do....oh anything and everything. My first week went by pretty fast, but the same isn't happening for the second. I am finding myself going to other people's cubes asking if they have anything for me to do...please! Im begging for work so I don't sit and stare at my computer, but hey I'm getting paid, and after listening to one man on the train at 6:00 saying how he was just going to his second job where he works till 3 in the morning, only to wake up for his first job at 6am... I'm thanking my lucky stars.
Well the weather is def changing. The leaves are all pretty and falling, and our street and sidewalks are lined with crunchy leaves. The temperature is also getting lower and lower each day it seems. Today was 40's when I woke up and was the first day there was frost on the cars. Good thing I went out this weekend to the North Face store and splurged on a jacket that will save my life in a few weeks to come. This will be my first cold halloween. When we were kids we always wanted a costume that wasnt too hot... where kids here need costumes that include masks (to shield your face from the wind) and gloves. Speaking of Halloween I think i have come up with a great creative idea (yet again, I'm awesome lol). Im not saying just what but it involves ordering a 4XL shirt online.... going to be great. Luckily Katie's (my roommate) parents will be here on that saturday so maybe they'll dress up with us, haha.
I must say I dont get much done on weekends either because lets face it, this town loves to party, and by party I mean watch football all weekend long. It' Saturday, wake up throw on your alumni colors and head to (well if youre from the midwest) any bar... we, on the other hand, go to the one SEC/USC bar, which is actually pretty close to our house. It's nice because the Gamecock alumni club meets there, and we have fun (except on games like last saturday). College football during the day, rest, and then out at night. Sundays are even bigger for Bears, Browns, etc. fans. We hope to go to a Bears game sometime soon. I have never been to an NFL game before.

Thanks to my big sister, I got to book my flight to thanksgiving. I am not going home this year, but instead I'm flying out to columbus OH to have thanksgiving with Meg and Doug. I also just tried an Apple Crumble recipe similar to the many I ate in Ireland, that will be my contribution to the dinner, ok maybe I'll help out with something else but don't get your hopes up! jk. Should be fun because as much as I miss my family and can't wait to see them, I'll be happy to still be in cold weather for thanksgiving. Roasting a turkey in a sweater in our driveway in 78 degree weather never really felt like Fall to me. I wonder if it will have snowed by then? Paste a picture of my head in one of the chairs in the dining room for me Shan, k?

Working girl

So i have started my job here in Morton Grove at Publications International. I like it pretty much here, its just getting out here that takes a toll on me and my energy. My starts at 6, I wake up get ready, make  a lunch and catch the bus that I ride for about 30 minutes to the Metra station.  I take the Metra into the suburbs to Morton Grove where I can (luckily) easily walk to my office. From there I work from 8:30 - 5:00 and then start the long commute again. 

Here is the metra train i take:

And a pic of my desk at work...I had to decorate on day one.

a mess of logos...

Friends from school asked me to help them out with designing a logo for their new frozen yogurt shop they are planning on opening up in Vegas. Called "Yolightful", they wanted something fun and hip and from their thoughts I have started brainstorming my ideas. Keep in mind the logos are all still pretty rough so who knows what the end product will look like or if my friends will even like any of these ideas. 

Here are my ideas sketched out on the computer:

and here is what I wrote to them, explaining each one. 

Grouping #1: This is a random logo i thought of that mixes the 'Y' with the 'L' shape. I dont know if it reads Y and L very well, but its just an idea. (oops and i just realized it's missing a 't', I'll fix that.
#2: I'm kinda drawn to this one for it's simplicity. Again, fonts can be changed and anything, but I thought it might be interesting if the little "plus" sign was used in place of the letter 'T', then this symbol could be your symbol placed all over things throughout your brand in different colors, shapes, etc.
#3: This is my original idea, I drew the font myself, theres different variations of it, becuase some look more fantastical to me, I still like it but not sure if it reads "Yolightful" quickly and clearly enough. Oh but I thought the peices that make up the letters could be incorporated into your logo and around your brand, that might be cool.
#4: Ok I had kind of become drawn to this "o" square shape, and thought that that could be turned into your logo or symbol that is repeated throughout everything. Whether you want to septerate the Yo- from the -lightly or keep it together, I just thought it was a fun shape to work into your logo, I still need to work on that idea, but its a start.
#5- Taking the "Yo" from group #3 font, i just added it to some hand lettering. For some reason I keep seperating the word, I feel really drawn to the YO, but that is your decision. I felt this idea mixed the fun "y" from the previous font, with some fun hand lettering.
#6- Again, just trying to play around with that boxy 'O'.....
#7- And again... trying to do some more with the seperation of YO...
#8- Random just sketching out writing out Yolighful

Tell me which you like the most. 

Marimekko

I started a new painting after finding a "Dick Blick" store nearby.....awesome. I had never actually been into a DB store before just always orderd from their catalog, so having a large one just 1.2 miles from my house (or .2 miles from the Clybourn stop on the el) is just really great. So i finally got some art supplies since I left a good about of my papers and canvasas in the move. 

Below are two tapestries that inspired the start of my painting: (they are not mine)

I had seen the lower tapestry in CB2 (which is the super fancy Crate & Barrell) for a ton of money. This one is "Ystavat" by Maija Louekari. I really liked the simplicity of it and I wanted to try to make something as sketchy and together as this. After looking up the designer Maija Louekari, from Finland, I have found a lot of other "Marimekko" designs, which I'm pretty sure is just the company, but all of their fabrics have these really great simplistic outline designs. 

So I attempted my own version with this crazy picture I fell in love with of old men wearing some sort of 3D glasses. Awesome. Once again I can only do like one style. I attempted to make it abstract and outlined and sketchy.....and it turned out cartoonish. Its ok it's fine right now, but its not Marimekko. I plan on fixing some of it. I like how the orange background doesn't touch the outlines and is messy, but now I think im going to add some gray washes to the faces for some depth if i'm going to completly abandon this "marimekko" style.  Oh well I will attempt again, maybe on something not people, since I can only do them like this.