This is Schiele,

and these are her fish.

We got her these fish after Mucha passed away. I wanted her to have something else living in the apartment with her when we were gone.

She *lurves* them. There's little kitten nose prints all over the glass on one side of the tank. It's hilarious. (The fish themselves, perhaps, find it less funny.)

9th Avenue International Food Fest

Mike and Skye were in town this year, and Katie and Nathan met us out - and it was AMAZING . . . as usual, of course. I spent the day holding beers and eating sugar-coated yummi-ness treats. Zeppolis were had by all, and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Beer.

Holding beers.

Beer. Again.

Possibly the result of one too many zeppolis.

Wait. There's no such thing as one too many zeppolis!

Beer belly? Baby belly? A question of the ages.

Good food. Good friends. More cheap beer.

It seems there's two solid facts about our street fair - it will always, in my mind, be the official start of summer - and it somehow attracts great friends to wander those 20 blocks with. There are few more enjoyable ways to spend an afternoon.

100 miles to go... I wanted to be sedated

Did the Montauk century ride this past Sunday with some buddies and had a blast. Basically rode the length of Long Island to the town of Montauk, which lies at the very end. The weather was perfect and the ride was amazing. They had rest stops every 25 miles or so that were loaded with all you could eat and drink and trust me when I say I ate... and ate... and ate. At the last rest stop they even had a Mr. Softy Ice Cream truck that was giving away free goodies to any rider that wanted one.

The 5BBC put on the ride and I highly recommend it to anyone. As tired as I am and as sore as my right knee is/was it was worth every ache. The route is amazing taking you through the richervilles known as the Hamptons and then through the beautiful seaside of Hither Hills State Park. Doing it again next year to those interested, we finished in the top 1/3 of riders, next year we'll try to keep up with the B riders (A level being the best, not being that ambitious).

The final stats were as follows:
Distance: 110 miles (had some before and after the 100 mile course.
Time on bike: 6 hours 40 minutes
Avg. speed: 15.5 mph
Calories burned: 5500 give or take

Preggers

Ignore the crazy eyes, we hadn't seen each other in a month, had just walked through pouring rain, and were having TONS of people (my former co-workers, all) ask us every question imaginable about being pregnant and babies. While feeling our tummies.


I hate this pic of me, PS, but you guys have been asking - and so here you are: pics of me looking pregnant (with one of my dearest friends in the city - due within 24 hours of each other).

Oh the pirate gets the ship and the girl tonight

Randomly this morning I put in the playlist from our wedding ceremony. (I wish desperately to this day we had a recording of our friends singing these songs . . .)

And when I got to the Indigo Girls "Mystery" I could, as if it were yesterday, feel exactly as I did when we first met. That first year we spent traveling halfway across a continent to see each other every four weeks or so. The long late night phone calls. Counting days and weeks til next he would land in my city.

Him waiting for me at the end of the gate at O'Hare with sunflowers and Gardettos.

And I thought to myself, this song has it all. It perfectly describes each of us - together and alone - and it makes me so happy.

We're so lucky to found what we have. I'm not sure how else to put it. Our mutual friends spent years trying to fix him up with every available single girlfriend they had, it seemed, but me.

No one thought we'd be compatible. And, on paper, I don't believe we probably are. But somehow it works. It sings. It dances.

We're headed down a road where our whole lives will be turned upside down, and every aspect of our life is bound to change. But one thing I know - this song will always ring true. This song will always be us.

I know in my heart, that as long as we're together, things will be more than alright.

Each time you'd pull down the driveway
I wasn't sure when I would see you again
Yours was a twisted blind sided highway
No matter which road you took then
Oh you set up your place in my thoughts
Moved in and made my thinking crowded
Now we're out in the back with the barking dogs
My heart the red sun
Your heart the moon clouded
I could go crazy on a night like tonight
When summer's beginning to give up her fight
And every thought's a possibility
And the voices are heard but nothing is seen
Why do you spend this time with me
Maybe an equal mystery

So what is love then, is it dictated or chosen
(handed down and made by hand)
Does it sing like the hymns of 1000 years
Or is it just pop emotion
(handed down and made by hand)
And if it ever was there and it left
Does it mean it was never true
And to exist it must elude
Is that why I think these things of you
I could go crazy on a night like tonight
When summer's beginning to give up her fight
And every thought's a possibility
And the voices are heard but nothing is seen
Why do you spend this time with me
May be an equal mystery

But you like the taste of danger
It shines like sugar on your lips
And you like to stand in the line of fire
Just to show you can shoot straight from you hip
There must be a 1000 things you would die for
I can hardly think of two
But not everything is better spoken aloud
Not when I'm talking to you

Oh the pirate gets the ship and the girl tonight
Breaks a bottle to christen her
Basking in the exploits of her thief
She's a very good listener
Maybe thats all that we need
Is to meet in the middle of impossibility
We're standing at opposite poles
Equal partners in a mystery
(handed down and made by hand)

We're standing at opposite poles
Equal partners in a mystery ...

What song reminds you of your loved one?

Milton Glaser - "Road to Hell"

" ...Because that is really the issue—what are you willing to do as part of your life as a designer when you are an intermediary between an audience and a client? Is your job simply to respond to everything the client wants, or do you say, “I have a personal responsibility, my sense as a citizen, to make some judgments about the implications of what I’m saying to people...”

Being a designer is more than just making things pretty. It's also, contrary to popular opinion, not the career you pick as a visual artist because it pays. It is not selling out. And it is simply not just selling.

I've been interviewing a lot of fresh-out-of-school grads lately - and this sense of greater definition of what seems like a small word coupled with a sense of social responsibility has been something I have, unconsciously until now, been seeking out. I realize looking back that the candidates I have most wanted on my team are ones who express a deep knowledge and understanding of a wider world and deeper purpose. Who know that as designers our medium is not paper or pen, not computer or mouse, but communication itself.

Story-telling. Dialog. Impetus.

What we're saying and how we're saying it are equally important.

I want to see, in my own work, as well as those I'm evaluating, more than good technique. In fact, the technique can be slightly off if the message is there. I can teach you how to make the perfect composition, I can wrangle mine until it works beautifully . . .but I can't translate for you, I can't explain a message that's not clear and true.

That's the beauty of what we do, I think. The fact that through the use of our multiple tools - through color and line, through font and placement, through a million small decisions we make about a million small things - we can move people. Entice them, tempt them and persuade them. Inform them, educate and spurn them into action.

(TBD - again)