Old Town Art Fair

A couple weekends ago Dale and I went to the Old Town Art Fair. It's a very busy art fair and one of the oldest in the Midwest. And it's big but not annoyingly so. Best of all? They have some really great artists.

Lewis Tardy does unusual (and expensive) metal sculpture. We thought the sculptures were amazing and you can check out his website here.

Another Tardy sculpture.

My favorite again this year is Nicario Jimenez--a retablos artist with works featured in the Smithsonian! He makes incredible dioramas from potato paste and gypsum powder!

I love these and can't wait to buy one! Anyway, the retablos feature traditional and everyday behaviors as well as political statements. The above feature "day of the dead" figures drinking and singing. Click on the pictures to get a better view!

A traditional retablo.

A spectacular three-story retablo tells the story of immigration to America today. The folks on the bottom are just trying to get into the country, the second floor shows police harassment of immigrants and the top floor shows dueling demonstrations of immigrants protesting and Americans response--with the police caught in the middle.

A spectacular detail of the larger work above.

Another tradition retablo.

More drunk skeletons!

You can check out Nicario Jimenez's site here.

Ultimately, we only bought one piece of art. Some girls at a nearby house were selling "affordable" art--this lovely drawing set us back $3 but I think it was worth it. Dale is a big fan of meerkats and this is a faithful representation of the little creatures.

Thai Festival at Daley Plaza

I (Rebecca) work just a block from Daley Plaza. The Plaza hosts events year round and I find myself wandering over there most days during lunch just to see what's going on. This week was the Thai Festival. There was a show everyday at noon, some food vendors, some gift vendors, and some random displays sponsored by the Thai Consulate in Chicago. The shot above is across the street from the Plaza. What follows are shots from the festival I took during the week.

Is it painfully obvious Dale did not take these pictures? I'm guessing it is. Anyway, the festival featured a Thai woman that carves fruit into elaborate flowers. Check out the huge flower/watermelon! Crazy!

The main stage featured traditional Thai dancing, boxing, fashion, and music (on various days).

These ladies were playing music on instruments I can not name.

It was a gorgeous week overall so I would get some tasty Thai food from one of the food stands and then walk over to the fountain to eat my lunch and listen to my iPod.

I also giggled while watching the birds drink from the fountain! It just cracked me up that they carefully dipped their beaks in for a sip.

Happy Hour

We met up with some pals for a happy hour a few days back. This is our friend Anne. I worked with her at my last job.

This is Tara, our dear downstairs neighbor, and Stephanie--both former coworkers of Rebecca's!

And a bonus of picture of Tara!

Coffee in Chicago

One night last week Dale and I met our friend Hannah for dinner. Along the way, Dale ran into a breakdancing troupe. They've traveled about the world breakdancing and they are licensed street performers.

I dug the pictures so much I felt like sharing them all.

Handstand!

I love this one! He's way up in the air.

Starbucks outdoor cafe right next to the Adams/Wabash el stop in the loop.

Dale took pictures of Hannah as the wind was blowing her hair.
She's originally from Flint and Dale knew her when they were kids.

Rebecca's view

This is the view from my (Rebecca's) office window. The building in the foreground is the famous Marshall Fields headquarters (that top floor is where Frango mints were made for many years).

The tall buildings in back on the left are the corncob towers. The middle tall building with blue-ish windows is the new Joffrey Tower (once the Modern Momentum building). It's not as big as it looks; it's just two blocks away from my building.

The really big one that's under construction is the Trump tower. The one in front of Trump is 35 East Wacker Dr., I think. And that Batman-like black building in the back on the right is the Hancock.

Sidney's Check-Up

I'm so behind on blogging!

Sidney had a vet appointment a couple of weeks back and I snapped some pics because he was being super cute and wasn't even nervous at all!

He is not amused by car rides.
Very curious about the vet and the exam room.

He did great and his blood tests came back all good! He's still got irritable bowels, tho! And that sucks for us. He doesn't seem to mind it too much, however.

The FURminator...

So we have a cat hair problem. With three kitties--and two that shed like mad--it's no wonder we've been considering buying a ROOMBA just to vacuum while we're at work!

I was at Petco and found a cheaper alternative...The FURminator! It's a cat brush that takes care of business! It's guaranteed to cut down on shedding and hairballs--needless to say we were intrigued. It's expensive at $40 but it's cheaper than a ROOMBA, you know?



Anyway, check out the DISGUSTINGLY huge pile of hair at sitting next to Bela and Monty as they get a second round of FURmination from Dale! That's one tightly-packed fur ball!



It's easily pulling out fives times the amount of hair a traditional brush would--and Bela seems to really like it!

Since getting the FURminator (seriously, that's its name) yesterday, Dale estimates that we have ganked about 10 to 12 tribbles' worth of out of our three cats!

I wish I had taken a video of Dale's first round of Bela being FURminated! So much fur came off it looked like Dale was shaving him down. If you check out the FURminator website, those pictures of actual hair pulled from pets is not a joke! Day two we pulled nearly as much off Bela as on day one!

Oh, and this is my FIRST video post! Exciting!