ian in chicago!

...our friend ian is in town...he's playing a secret show at uncommon ground tonight and then a show at schubas tomorrow night...we're so glad he's doing the uncommon ground show cuz that's a smokefree place and we'll be able to take cadence...she loves watching folks play guitar and sing, so i'm sure she'll enjoy it...uncommon ground is one of my favorite music rooms in chicago for acoustic shows...the food, desserts, staff, ambience are all great for a lovely evening out...i haven't been there since they expanded, so i'm looking forward to it...i just hope we can find parking cuz there's an afternoon cubs game today and things can get kinda crowded over there...

so my friends chris (connolly) & chris (kettlecamp) and kris (olarn) came over last night to keep me and cadence company while ted was at a drum clinic with his best friend brian out in the burbs...kris hadn't seen cadence yet because he's been so busy spending as much time as possible in his motherland thailand...that and the fact that he lives in romeoville (50 miles SW of chicago) has made it hard for us to get together...and the fact he keeps getting sick so often! it was nice to hang out with these guys again...wish josh and lielle could've been here too...ya hear that, josh? we miss ya! you too, lielle...

...my cousin inho was in town last weekend for a wedding, and he came by the APT to see teddy and cadence while i was at work on monday...now did he wait for me to come home so he could see me too? oh, no, siree...so it's obvious who he REALLY wanted to see! who could blame him, though, eh? well, hopefully we'll be able to visit him soon once he's settled from his move from san diego up to arcata, CA...i've always wanted to visit humboldt county, so this will be our chance...

...anywho...i'm not sorry i'm missing cornerstone this year, as it's gonna be pretty frickin' hot for the foreseeable future down there...but i'm kinda put out that bill mallonee isn't making a trip to chicago after the festival like he normally does...what's that about?! i haven't seen bill play in like forever...and he's got like a gazillion new songs that i'm missing out on...sheesh...*sigh*...we love bill...we really really do, and i want him to see cadence before she gets too much bigger...i think the chances of him seeing her before she turns one year old are pretty slim...why do babies have to grow up so fast?

happy 9 month bday, cadence!

...yesterday was cadence's 9 month birthday...that's 3/4 of a whole year!!! my, how time flies...isn't she looking more and more like her daddy every day? i'm sure her goofy faces are inherited directly from his genes...no goofiness in MY dna, oh no siree...

...well, i've got a new photo series of cadence...it's called the sleeping cutie series...i took these on father's day at ted's parents' house while cadence was napping...i was so glad i got a chance to take some photos of her in this dress while she was lying still...ted and i LOVE this dress...cadence actually picked it out of the gymboree racks herself...she was supposed to wear this to my cousin ben's wedding rehearsal dinner, but stupid me forgot to pack it...but since ted loves this dress so much, we decided father's day would be a perfect day for her to wear it...see the rest of the photos here...

oh the joy of cadence joy

i just love her great big chubby cheeks...i could kiss 'em over and over and over and over and... well, you catch my drift...

she LOVES bristle blocks! grandma and grandpa keep a box of them for her at their house...

just look at that big silly grin! she is definitely a happy baby, and i am so thankful for that...

happy father's day!

to all the dads out there...

a whole new me...

...well, it was inevitable...i knew i was gonna get sick of my crazy long hair now that i've got cadence constantly in my arms...and last week's heatwave in chicago was the last straw...i made an appointment w/ my friend connie's hair stylist on wednesday, and now my hair is all gone...this is the shortest hair i've had since my 1978 bowl cut when i came to this country...

just to give you an idea of how long it was prior to being chopped, this picture is of the donation i'm making to locks of love with the 16" that got cut...locks of love is a non-profit that donates hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged kids who've suffered long-term medical hair loss...i was at miss mia's BBQ on sunday and mentioned to another mom that i planned on chopping my hair, and she suggested that i donate it...i'd heard of locks of love before, so i was glad that she reminded me...hopefully they'll be able to use it...

it's really weird not having all that hair...i know this may sound silly, but in some ways, i hid behind my long hair and drew a sense of identity from it...people have always known me by my really long hair, and now i don't have that any more so i feel a bit naked and vulnerable...

the good news is that in a couple weeks, once it grows out a tiny bit, i can make really cute indie rock ponytails! i can't wait for that! and then when they're a little longer, it'll be cute indie rock pigtails! so i guess cadence and i can grow out our hair together now...oh joy!

roadtrip part three

we left josh and lielle’s around 1pm monday afternoon and headed towards the yale university campus on our way out of town to have a look-see…i called up caleb to see what he was up to, and it just so happened that he was on his way to meet our friend todd kennedy for lunch on campus…that was just perfect because now they could become our tour guides on campus AND we got to see todd, who had been busy the evening before when the new haven crew came over to josh and lielle’s…i thought we’d be leaving for chicago without seeing todd, but fortunately that was not the case, and he got to meet cadence after all…

this photo isn’t of caleb and todd, but just a couple of suits walking through the campus…but in retrospect, this COULD be caleb and todd 50 years from now…anywho, i digress...i just liked their suits and what seemed to me their engaging conversation…

this is todd leading us to the main library...see that really tall building in the background? that houses all the books and stuff for the library...we're talkin' major forest here...

cadence thought the campus was cool as long as she was being carried in her ellaroo...maybe she'll wanna go to yale someday...well, there's goes our retirement...

the yale library had some major card catalogage going on...i haven't seen or used these since probably high school! i can barely alphabetize my cd's anymore, let alone look up a book in one of these things...

and this is the interior of the library...sheesh...i thought i was on the set of lord of the rings...those were some massively impressive walls...i don't think i've ever been in such a beautiful library...you could give some mighty fine sounding concerts there, but you'd probably get shushed by the librarian...

we ended our tour at the new haven cemetery, which proclaims to all its visitors and residents that 'the dead shall be raised'...there are some really old graves in there...this photo's for todd, by the way...

our tour was only about an hour long, but it was nice to get a look at the campus and to hang some more w/ caleb and to see todd...

more later...

roadtrip part two

the morning after my cousin's wedding, we headed for hamden, CT to visit my best friend josh and his wife lielle...unfortunately, i got a stinkin' migraine on the way which made me extremely nauseous...so the first thing i did as soon as we arrived was to run to the bathroom and throw up...which i did for the rest of the afternoon...i became very familiar with josh and lielle's toilet...i was bummed out cuz i was supposed to go out and hang with caleb and kathy and audrey (who live in nearby new haven) that evening, and i was in no condition to go anywhere...so they came over to see us in hamden...it actually worked out great...i looked sick and gross but i didn't really care...i was just glad they got to meet cadence, and it was fun hanging out...and when lielle came home from work, she came bearing many yummy things to eat for everyone...lielle is like the hostess extraordinnaire and she made everyone feel welcome and even cooked up a storm for dinner...

i was feeling much better by dinner time...i think the sight and smell of lielle's cooking healed me right up cuz i didn't wanna miss that meal...it was fun hanging out that night with josh and lielle, and cadence had a blast with them too...she loves her uncle josh and auntie lielle!

the next morning, lielle cooked us another gourmet meal and we had a lovely breakfast of slowcooked omelette, her dad's famous salad, and toasted artisan bread...i was glad teddy was handy in the kitchen and could help out cuz god knows i'm good for nothing in there...after a leisurely meal, we hung out for a couple more hours...it was really good to see them, especially with cadence getting bigger so fast...

more later...

roadtrip part one

so here's a bit of a summary of our roadtrip in photos...i wish i could say i took a lot of pictures, but to be quite frank with you, i was rather preoccupied keeping cadence occupied...but here are a few of the highlights...

i think i already mentioned that we stopped in lancaster,pa on the way to new jersey...and this flower basket was hanging at the corner where queen street meets chestnut in downtown lancaster...denison's former apt (where he wrote some of his songs including 'dain' from whence come the lyrics about queen street meeting chestnut) is kiddy corner across the street...lancaster was a lovely little city, and ted already wants to move there...we partook of central market, which has one of the oldest farmers markets in the country (since the 1700s)...we saw a lot of amish and mennonites, and they were some of the loveliest people you'll ever meet...

so we made it new jersey, and we had a lovely rehearsal dinner with all the relatives...we were pretty beat though from all the driving, so we were happy to relax by the hotel pool on saturday since the wedding wasn't until 3pm...here's cadence all decked out in her pool outfit looking like she knows she's da bomb!

...it was cadence's first swim out of the womb, so it took her a little while to get used to the idea of being in water for a reason other than bathing, but once she caught on, she loved it!

...it ended up being really nice weather for my cousin ben's wedding, which was a relief because it had rained cats and dogs the whole day before, and we were getting tired of the rain...the wedding was lovely, although we saw most of it through the window on the doors to the chapel because cadence was being a LOUD baby...she was probably REALLY tired...overall, though, she was great and we got through the reception just fine...

more later...

"where queen street meets chestnut one block west of you..."

for those of you who are wondering what the significance of this intersection is, well, denison witmer refers to it in his song 'dain' on his 'safe away' album...i made sure we visited the site as long as we were in lancaster, pa on our roadtrip to my cousin ben's wedding in new jersey...

on the move...

...well, it's official...we've got a mobile baby in the house! cadence began maneuvering herself around the room pretty well since her very first crawls at grandma and grandpa's house this past sunday...it's still kinda awkward looking, but she's definitely gaining ground, and we are so screwed because we're just not ready for this...actually, we're beaming with pride at our little one! she'll be walking before we know it! *sniff* sniff* sniff*...

...so we're leaving in the morning for a roadtrip out east...first stop will be the rock 'n' roll hall of fame in cleveland...gotta pay homage to woody, ya know?...then on to pennsylvania dutch country to lancaster, denison's hometown...gotta go see where queen street meets chestnut, like in his song 'dain'...then we're off to the main reason for our trip, which is my cousin ben's wedding in princeton, nj, which is saturday...then off to josh and lielle's in CT and hopefully we'll get to see the rest of our CT posse (caleb, kathy, audrey, todd, pierre)...we'll only be in connecticut for like 24 hours and then we have to head back to chicago because i work on wednesday...

...alright...back to finishing up packing...