summer in full swing

there is something about the 4^th of july that announces that summer is in full swing. maybe it’s the red and white checkered table cloths with slices of watermelon laying upon them that is so ironically summer to me.

talk of fireworks never seem to excite me and i always think that im not much for liking them and then i see them and it’s a whole other ball game. i grip k’s arm like a little four year old child and point with wide eyes and repeatedly ask him if he just saw it. we had walked out of the restaurant we dinner at with perfect timing for it was dusk and the rain had stopped. logan square residence had  been patient enough and could contain themselves no longer. logan erupted at all its seems and on our walk home we were surrounded on all sides with shimmering displays. we sat a while on the stoop and watched three different displays for a few, relaxed, and agreed that this was much better then trying to watch the city fireworks and dealing with all those people!

summer was very much so in the air at azalea ruby’s first birthday party which was held at bemis woods. flowers from be joy’s mothers garden were lovingly arranged on all the picnic tables. babies in dippers were slashing in the kiddy pool and doggies were running around. i can not believe azalea is one already. it feels as if we were all just gathered in the woods for her baby shower. it has been a joy to watch her grow and change over the past year. she is an amazing child filled with joy.

summer can be smelled and tasted in the organic locally grown veggies i got at the dill pickle food co-op and lightly steamed for our lunches. as i was slicing the carrots i walked over to k shoved it under his nose and proclaimed “this is what food should smell like!” i made a very light sauce from tapioca flower, water, braggs, and honey (from the greenhouse B&B) let it thicken and toped the veggies with it. light, crisp, clean flavors.  we had quite a nice lunch as we discussed why i could not keep a blueberry bush in a pot because it needed to be mulched over the winter and you could not do that if it was in a pot so therefore i could not have one. one day i will live somewhere where i have a yard and can grow food, till then it’s the farmers markets and the dickle.

summer finds me happy and health although will a little to much free time on my hands and being a little to lazy with it. i need to good creative out little right now and possibly have some interesting photo shoots in the works. i need to be doing more yoga. time to get back to my five day a week yoga routine.

b&b and r&r

city life is demanding and overwhelming and once in a while you just need to put the break on. away from friends, phones, internet, tv, and jobs. away form the 100 some odd things we feel compelled to do every day and if we don’t we feel unproductive. getting away is far more then a breath of fresh air, it’s good for the sole.

k and i made a break for it to celebrate our three year anniversary. just a quick two day break and then back to work. i did the planning this year and as we sat in bumper to bumper traffic trying to get out of the city on a holiday weekend, my best friend of three years was unaware of where the day would take us. now im bad at surprises, i get to excited and want to spill the beans and i was bouncing with anticipation.

now i must thank my amazing parents for letting us barrow a car. unlike the first time our car was stole then found, this time around it is yet to be found.

soon the city was far behind us (well not sooo soon with all the traffic) and when we took our exit off of 57 i felt as if i had arrived in another world. farm land of corn and soy as far as the eye can see. yes sadly i am sure that most of it was gmo’s of monsanto or something or other (90% of soy grown in the illinois are) but that did not stop me from enjoying the view and feeling a sense of calmness.

our destination for the evening was the greenhouse bed and breakfast in kempton, il. now i had never been a guest at a b&b and did not quite now what to expect and if you know me you would know that i always need to make things interesting. the green house is not your average b&b but an organic permaculture b&b. lots of people that come to stay come and learn about permaculture from mark who for a long time was involved with csa and is an organic farmer and bee keeper. i found him to be extremely knowledgeable, open, sharing, and very hospitable. in fact guia and mark are remarkable people and a joy to be around. both talented gardeners and guia is trained in culinary arts.    

i came to know about the greenhouse through mama be joy. she gets her beeswax for her organic skin care business from them. 

the day found us pulling into the drive way at about four pm. we were greeted by some very cute and happy doggies and some squawking chickens. i must say again that these dogs were so happy. they had the life, not a care in the world! i became very attached to the 8 month old puppy pixie. she had spent most the time we were there fallowing me around and wanting to play and be petted. in fact when we were leaving guia asked me jokingly if i wanted to take her with!

the next thing we did was ask mark for a tour of the house, garden, orchard, chickens (and 1 month old babies), well everything. did i mention they have guineas? i had never seen one before!

then k and i proceeded to lay lazily in a hammock with books but not really reading. the sun was shining in our faces and the trees were filed with singing birds and i relaxed and was at peace. when was the last time i laid in the sun and read? i need to do it more often!

around seven guia called us in for a amazing home cooked meal with veggies grown in their yard. for desert we had berries, most from their yard, with vegan sour cream. the flavors were fresh and it tasted like summer. after dinner k and i sat on the front porch and watched the sunset over the farm land through the flower garden. next we laid in bed with our books and waited for the stars to come out.

come out and shine that night they did. mark armed us with cups of tea and a bowl of popcorn and we sat on the back porch wrapped in a blanket. it was nearly a new moon and not a cloud in the sky. the stars were bright and crisp each constellation could be made out and we could even clearly see the milky way. you don’t get stars like this in chicago. the fireflies came out and did a little dance like they were from the nutcracker and pixie could be heard running through the tall grass and barking a cows.

we slept well that night.

in the morning guia fixed us a amazing breakfast and packed up our lunches for us. i purchased some honey from mark and k laid in the hammock for one last time. sadly it was time to go.

the next part of your anniversary adventure was about to start. after a forty five min drive we pulled up to reed’s canon rentals  where we were loaded into a van with the two kayaks we had rented and were dropped off at the kankakee river. our twelve mile trip would take us through kankakee state park on the river. this so happened to be some of the cleanest water in il!

we took our time and starched our trip out to be about five hours on the water. we made frequent stops and explored Indian caves, picnicked and ate the amazing lunches guia had prepared for us, and most importantly spent time with each other. the kankakee for most part is a very clam river and at points we stopped peddling healed hands and gently floated. it was peaceful and dragonflies and butterflies danced on our kayaks.

this trip made thankful for my life and the people in it. it made me thankful for my relationship with k and the three beautiful years we have shared together. he is my best friend. we work hard and we may not make a lot of money but we have a lot of love and know how to have a good time.        

World Naked Bike Ride

WARNING: THIS BLOG WILL CONTAIN IMAGES OF NAKED PEOPLE

my dear friends i finally had the pleasure of  riding my bike naked through the streets of Chicago, well almost naked…. i did wear my little hot yoga shorts. i was surprised how many people were all out nude… mainly men!

so the entire point of the world naked bike ride  is to promote independence from oil and positive body image. on our 3 ½ hour, 14 mile, ride through the city (yes including michigan ave) we hit up and protested at two bp stations. i find this very fitting given the current situation.

 the mail slogans chanted in this years ride were “ less gas more ass” , “ im nude but im not crude” or right and then there was the all out right “fuck bp”.  i found it interesting how people stuck in cars of traffic were trying to high five rides. we drew huge crowds, people running out of bars and clubs and gathering on the streets, people on mich ave coming out of posh restaurants and shops. for the most part people were cheering us on and chanting with us.

until about half way through the ride when we stopped at oz park did i look around and say to my friends oh man there are a lot of naked people here! it’s kida interesting being naked in such a large group of people, it’s not sexual and you defiantly forget that your naked, or that that’s not normal anyways. you start to feel very comfortable being naked with a large group of naked people.

 

this is a video of me getting my back painted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU_BKcFfMzc

try that link if the embedded video is not working

this video is taken near the end of the ride. we stopped and blocked the 6 way intersection of north, milwaukee, and damen in wicker park. needless to say a very traffic heavy area on a saturday night. people started picking their bikes up over their heads and dancing. i was surrounded by naked dancing people with bikes over their heads... naked dancing people far as the eye can see. it was quite amazing.

  and the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBNjUOgk8zE

sky

we chicagoans have been privy to some rather intense weather lately… go figure its chicago right? last friday we had winds so strong the blew out windows on the sears tower (no i will not call it willis that’s just stupid)  . really 77mph winds? i was out riding my bike in that.

well that might be the reason i started coming down with a pretty bad could the fallowing day. then i got k sick. so last night we were both in our pj’s, eating thai food, drinking herbal tee like some cute old couple or something, well minus the pile of tissues.

about half and hour before sunset the rain broke and we had the most amazing sky i have ever seen in chicago. i mean this sky would make a texas sky and a washington sky jealous. k and i ran down stairs and sat on the front stoop, pj’s and cups of tea and all. surprisingly the thick heat had not broken even after the storm. the images i took and that i am lovingly sharing with you do not do justice.

 

32 miles and counting

i must sincerely apologize for the lack of boggling lately. since the start of my new second job at rei i have had two days off. the first was when k and i photographed a wedding for our friends. well i mean it was there wedding. the other day off was my fathers 50^th birthday party. i believe that it was the best birthday party ever and it lasted from 11am to 5pm. i still can’t believe that my father is actually 50. i never ever want my parents to get old. they remain youthful and extremely active and i look up to them so much.

this last sunday, my parents, a few of their friends, k and i all participated in bike the drive. they close off lake shore drive and allow bikers to ride on it. you start at jackson and ride north till the end of lsd, turn around and ride south till the museum of science and industry, then back north to jackson. i believe the entire trip is 32 miles.

i ride a bike most days and k rides up to work in evanston and back most days. however, we don’t usually do long distances. we were not at all tired of riding after the 32 miles and would have loved to keep going. the major restriction was that i needed to be showered clean and at work ready to go by 11am. we were both a little surprised how easily we rode the 32 miles. i was also a bit taken back a how much i enjoyed it. yes of course it was insatiably beautiful to be on lsd early in the morning and watch the sun come up over lake shore drive. but what i enjoyed the most (well besides being with my family) was not having stops light and cars. i felt like i actually got stretch my legs and ride! non stop and at a desent speed and for a girl that does 99% of her bike riding in a urban city that was quite a treat.

i believe that my dad and i will do the ride for awareness again this year but i would also like to do the 62 mile boulevard ride  the late night and will and i are planning to ride for world naked bike ride. i don’t really know why i don’t participate in critical mass but I really should start. in addition i really would not mind doing some light racing. my mother is about to do her first min tri at age 45! i forget how much she needs to swim but she needs to run 3.5 miles and bike 15. not to bad. i have just re-picked up swimming. i have a pool in my building and last year i didn’t use it a single time! what a waste! this year i am doing laps.

in addition i have always been opposed to the idea of running as a sport. so much impact on the knees especially when swimming and cycling when done right are no impact on the body. besides it had always been one of my least favorite things to so ever. i would like to give it a second chance. i live right next to the lake shore path which would be great to run on and in have treadmills in the work out room of my building for the winter. who knows maybe next year i can do a tri with my mom? Maybe even the chicago marathon? i had always wanted to do something like that but never thought i could, well now im beginning to think that i totally could.

to keep this up i want to go kayaking like no other! k and i have not been in a long time and i really don’t want to go on the chicago rive again. it smells! however, i don’t really know where else to go kayaking. we usually go out to washington/ oregan for an extended time in the summer and do all kinds of amazing things and camp but that will not happen this year due to our jobs. it breaks my heart and makes me what to scream we are going to go for a few days at the end of next month for a friends wedding and i am really hoping that we get to go rafting at least one time.

at rei i work in footwear and have been helping a lot of people with boots for hiking trips. these trips sound amazing! i have never done more then a day hike, i have never been back packing and i really really want to. i would love to camp in the red woods for a few days and im hoping k and i could make that happened soon. also, i am scuba certified and k is about to take certificating classes. we for a while have talked about going to Costa Rica. k went there with friends when he was younger. i have been many tropical places but not there. well we can go diving for a few days and then go hiking in the cloud forest. i really want to do that.

also after a long break i have once again returned to my obsession to bikram yoga. i am considering participating in the il state asana championships this year. however they don’t know when it will be yet this year. the reason i want to do it is all the extra training. last year my yoga studio did competition traing twice a week after the regular class. I think that extra training would really help me go deeper in my practice.

the main point is that im just trying to be healthy. i have always had a horrific immune system and i feel as if i am finally starting to strengthen it. i feel like i can do things i ever thought i could do before and that is just empowering.