2013 Week 38: RSV-Twee

La De Blog - Z @ Hala Kahiki
Z & his volcano @ Kala Kahiki

La De Blog - Kimmi & apples
Kimmi & apples @ Kuiper’s

We sent invites to 147 people. Our RSVPs were due back September 19th. A week before our RSVP date we hadn’t heard from over 40 people. A day after our RSVPs were due, we still hadn’t gotten cards back from 17 people, so I started texting and calling people. The absolute worst thing about wedding planning was getting the No RSVPs. It was painstaking going through our friends and picking out who to invite in the first place, so getting back each No RSVP was a true bummer. There are people I had always, always imagined there on Z and my wedding day and a shocking number of those people are not coming. And I have to be okay with it.

This week: Clean-up work on placecard holders. Went to look at wholesale flowers and brainstorming ideas. Got marriage license and celebratory Dimo’s pizza! Picked out new glasses for Z with Z. Met with caterer re: menu. I missed Vegan Mania, which was lame of me, but all of the planning has just zapped all remaining energy out of me. Drinks @ Hala Kahiki with satellite Friends & Fun group. Apple picking @ Kuiper’s with LCB & Kimmi. Linner @ Bite with LCB. Talked over the ceremony with our officiant. I feel like I am becoming this creepy gal who can only talk about her wedding, but I am trying to not be that gal. I forced myself to have two human interaction hangs that did not involve Z and my wedding this week. WOO!

No spin this week either and I feel totally gross about it because I know that once I am actually in the spin room, it would help me shrug off some of this tension, but I could not bring myself to go. Have been eating pretty darn great and exercising with biking, walking, and Wii-ing (hee). Must get back on the (spin) bike. Literally.

Films watched 38th week of the year:

Shaun of the Dead
The Woman Who Wasn’t There *
Beyond the Candelabra
War Witch ** [ Republic of Congo ]

* documentary
** foreign language

2013 Week 37: Everybody’s working for the wedding…

La De Blog - Vegan Fudge
Photo of the microwave vegan fudge I made from this Wanna Be Chef recipe. I used almond milk and added Dandies vegan marshmallows and everyone who had one at the Show of Hands meet & greet loved them! BONUS: It only took about 15 minutes to whip up and throw in the freezer. I definitely would not throw in freezer next time, but it was really hot so I figured they needed to stay as cool as possible, but I broke the tip of my chef’s knife trying to cut them. So, if you’re looking for something I really want off our Amazon registry? The 6″ chef’s knife we registered for would be ULTRA handy!

Wedding. Wedding. Wedding. Wedding. Now that it’s nearly a month away, I completely understand why so many go full Bridezilla. It is really hard to put together an entire wedding, you guys. I am again SO thankful for my friends, my endlessly amazing friends!

This week: Second dress fitting @ Mignonette. Bought paint and brushes at JoAnn’s for painting placecard holders. Applied for Handmade Arcade! A Show of Hands Meet & Greet! Kate got into town and we went to brunch @ TAKITO. Afterwards, LCB, Z and I painted placecard holders and later on that night we packaged our favors. Ate AYCE @ Sushi Para 2. Completed a secret mission. Ate at Dimo’s. Helped Donovan make centerpieces for her wedding next week with Grandma Club. No spin this week. So incredibly busy and there is truly not enough time in the day, but I am still exercising outside of the gym and biking to work a bunch. Muscle gain and weight loss still happening.

Katniss is recovering nicely and her stitches seem to have mostly scabbed over. When I’m sleepy and flip her over, it is still somewhat of a shock to see, but really, she is just as speedy with 3 legs as when she had 4 legs. She is probably tired, as Z and Tilda are, of me singing “CALL ME MAYBE!” Since watching the corgi parody video, I cannot get that song out of my head. It’ll disappear for an hour here or there, but then BAM, it’s back again. Government mind control by way of teen pop stars?

Films watched 37th week of the year:

This is the End
Haywire
Wanderlust
Stories We Tell *
Goodbye, Dragon Inn ** [ Taiwan ]

* documentary
** foreign language

This is the End was my fave this week. I belly laughed a whole bunch and I think that Seth Rogen would just be a really cool guy to hang out with during Armageddon. Did you see that pic of him and Lil’ Bub? COME ON!

2013 Week 36: Renegade Craft Fair Chicago Wrap & Tripod Katniss

La De Blog - RCF Chicago 2013 - Rhymes with Twee Booth Display
Two new cards and a reprint for RCF Chicago

In a flurry of creativity, I made two new cards and reprinted an old favorite for Renegade. I present to you Malört Christmas Card, Chicago Dibs Love Card, and reprint of Meerkat in a Party Hat Birthday Card. Listings will go up on Etsy as soon as I have some free time to take some photos.

Katniss is just fine after her surgery. See a video here. Even with one less leg, she’s still getting around just GREAT. She was already so low to the ground, it seems she barely notices. The only bummer is that the amputation cost Z and I a bit over $800 total. We submitted the paperwork to VPI. Fingers crossed they pay a large chunk of this madness. Some think we are crazy to have pet insurance, but then things like this happen. This is where I warn again that if you are looking at getting a hedgehog, please know that the chance your hedgehog will end up having some form of cancer is EXTREMELY high. Please read the Common Ailments section of Hedgehog Central to see what you are very likely to face if you are considering adopting a hedgehog. Being a three-time hedge-mom, I can still say that I feel they are absolutely still worth it for me, but please think it through.

Also this week: biked to Neighborly and dropped off more Bean Baby onesies. On the way up there, my brakes were making a terrible screeching noise so I dropped my bike at Comrade Cycles for them to realign my wheel and decided to leave it for a complete tuneup. Love, love, love Comrade. Cannot say enough positive things about those dudes.

Renegade Craft Fair was this weekend and it kicked my butt. Lots of amazing old customers and new. My boothmate Jessica (di Palermo Body) and her friend helper Ashley were awesome and we traded, so now I have some Linger soap! Her soap and body goods are even more gorgeous in person. With all the stuff that has happened in the past week, it’s no wonder that my body gave out. I stayed home sick Monday and took two naps. I had to pull myself off the couch to go to my second fitting @ Mignonette, which luckily was a breeze. Stopped at Z and my new obsession Dimo’s and grabbed pizza. Nothing helps body aches like pizza, right?

Films watched 36th week of the year:

Rip! A Remix Manifesto *
Sinister
A Talking Cat!?!
Bamako [ Mali ] **

* documentary
** foreign language

If you are reading this post you likely have nothing better to do, right? Well, let me give you something better to do – fire up your Netflix Instant Queue and watch A Talking Cat!?!. Z and I were almost cry laughing throughout so much of it. I think it may be my runner up for Best Worst Movie of all time.

2013 Week 35: Happy 10-year Chicago-versary to Z & I !

La De Blog - Jen with pig face mask
Beware the pig mask.

Drinking Buddies @ Landmark. Cake tasting @ Luscious Layers. Girl dinner gone wild @ Carmen’s (see photo above). Quesadilla la Reyna del Sur during a hail storm, drink @ Violet Hour, Co-worker Devon’s band (Lights Alive) @ Double Door, drink and fried pie @ Handlebar. Spin, Daniel Clowes exhibit @ MCA, pizza @ Dimo’s. Z and my 10-year Chicago-versary midwestern potluck party [Z’s Chicago-versary was August 1st and mine is October 6th].

Wow, looking at the list of everything I did last week – no WONDER I took many naps. So much stuff is happening. Wedding blanks are getting filled in. This week I really need to concentrate on making some new stuff for Renegade and then it’s ALL wedding stuff from then until our wedding October 19th. Whoa my gosh! My boothmate I was matched up with for Renegade is Jessica of di Palermo Body from New York and we’re super excited because we scored a corner booth. Come see us at Booth 174, South side of Division at Hermitage. These things sometimes shift around, but that’s the ballpark of where we will be! Can’t wait to see my awesome customers there – I’ve got some last minute surprises up my sleeve!

There is lots of happy stuff going on, but I should note some sad news. Z took Katniss (our hedgehog) in for our vet follow-up re: mites. The mites are gone, thankfully, but she had started limping and not putting much weight on her back right leg. We feared this was a side effect of the oral ivermectin since it can cause neurological damage. Z talked with Dr. Horton about it at the appointment and she took an x-ray. As it turns out, bone cancer has taken over Katniss’ back right leg and our choices were amputation or chemo. It was a no-brainer for us because there are plenty of very happy tripod animals out there, but it is still very sad to think about our happy Katniss with one less leg. We take her in on Thursday to have her leg amputated. Hedgehogs get many different types of cancer, so for her to have lived to be 3.5 and be absolutely healthy up to this point was great news, after having two hedgehogs with cancer. This comes at the stupidest of times, right before our wedding when we are trying to adhere so closely to our budget. The cost will be somewhere between $500 – $600 and we’re not sure how much VPI (our pet insurance) will cover of it, if anything. Sucky curveball to be thrown. Silver lining: I have an awesome friend Christina who is a fellow hedgemom who will watch Katniss and medicate her twice a day for pain while we go to Alex & Megan’s wedding and then have our own and mini-moon. Hedgemoms are the best moms.

Films watched 35th week of the year:

Drinking Buddies
Waiting for Armageddon *
The World’s End
Maria Full of Grace ** [ Colombia ]

* documentary
** foreign language

I am probably a *tiny* bit biased, being a featured extra in buddy Joe Swanberg’s Drinking Buddies, but I loved it. Z and I have been watching Joe grow up as a filmmaker in the time that we’ve known him and he has really come into his own. Favorite scenes: fight scene & malort scene. Only the REAL Jeppson’s malort, of course!