Dining Out For Life

Lately I have waxed poetic about how much I adore my alone time, and I do adore it. However, after a certain point of self satisfying activities such as drinking wine and organizing your photos, or sleeping in late, or counting your pennies as you save up for the China Cabinet you love so much you realize that your life has become pretty self-centric. This is important sometimes, but it's also equally as important to be a contributing member of society, so when the opportunity arose to volunteer for Dining out for Life I jumped at the chance.

Dining Out For Life is an international fund raising effort that teams up with restaurants in cities across the country, and the world, to raise money for local AIDS Organizations. Chicago's night is coming up on April 28th and I will be serving as an ambassador at one of my favorite places, Bistro Campagne. A rustic French restaurant thats has never let me down, and I have dined there on many occasions.

If you live in Chicago stop by one of the many participating restaurants and grab on bite on the 28th. A portion of every sale will go directly to Edge Alliance, an organization dedicated to providing support to homeless people and families afflicted by AIDS. Not a Chicagoan? Check out the Dining Out For Life website and see when your city is hosting, it's a perfect excuse to try out a new restaurant and help people in the process!

My friends, it doesn't get much sweeter than that.

Babysitting Machine: Part 2

As previously stated I was babysitting until 1am this morning, and I just returned from another stint this evening and will go at it again tomorrow night. I am a well oiled dinner making, teeth brushing, iCarly watching, diaper changing, book reading machine. And it's all in name of love.

I love this china cabinet.

Oh and children! I love children too....

But seriously, let's get back to the task at hand. Isn't she lovely? I have eyed her for years and I decided this was the year she would be mine. Every cent from every babysitting gig I get is going towards the prize. It will be a slow climb, but in the end it will be oh so worth it.

It's almost as though I have reverted back to high school, except in high school I would have been saving up for a new pair of Doc Martins or something, now I dream about furniture. This would be another example of: you know you are becoming an adult when...


Now might be a good time for me to admit a rather painful truth about myself: I have never actually saved up for anything in my life. I know, I can feel your judgement radiating through the computer screen, but in an effort to be totally transparent I just want to put that out there. If I ever wanted something I usually asked for it for a birthday or Christmas. Or I would put it on a credit card when I couldn't actually afford it and then pay it back (with interest, of course) over time. This is not a fact I am proud to admit, but we all have the capacity to change if we put our minds to it. My mistakes of my past don't have to dictate the actions of my future.

I am currently about a third of the way to my goal and while I would love to have this gorgeous piece of craftsmanship in my home now, I am willing to wait, because I know the reward will be that much sweeter in the end.

Babysitting Machine

I babysat until 1am today. I am so tired and I have nothing to say, please forgive me.

Dishing for Dana

When Jürgen and I became engaged a few years ago I started writing a blog, or blürg, centered around our wedding planning. It's main purpose was to provide a window into the event for all of our family and friends across the country. In retrospect it was also an excellent way to document that special time for posterity, or should anyone need any info for my autobiography.

I began to read a fair number of wedding-centric blogs at that time but none compared to the sassy, resourceful and oh so hilarious Broke Ass Bride. My friend, The Parakeet, introduced me to her and I eagerly awaited her posts each day. The blog became quite the hit and has developed into a full blown enterprise of it's own. However, even with all of the excitement, the Broke Ass Bride herself has been battling a rare auto immune disease that affects both of her eyes. The result being that she has to undergo multiple surgeries and therefore acquire massive amounts of debt. I encourage, and frankly urge you to read the full story here and see if you can find it in your heart to show her support in any way you can.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Dana and she is a one of a kind, super cool, awesome gal who is destined, along with her husband Hunter, to achieve great things and I hate the idea of someone being held back because we live in a country with a broken health care system.

After you read it, take a gander around the site. You will not be disappointed!

Exploring Your City: Goose Island Brewery Tour

Last week the beverage world was rocked when it was reported that this company had purchased Chicagoland's beloved brewery Goose Island.

I am not afraid to call myself a Wino, but over the years I have developed a deep appreciation for well crafted brews, and as someone who likes to support local economies I have become a fan of Goose Island.  Particularly their Belgian style beers like the Matildia and Sofie. When I learned of the acquisition I felt it best to pay homage to the local gem and take myself on a brewery tour. I brought my pal Brandon along for the journey.

It was a lot of fun, if I do say so myself. For a mere ten dollars you got to see where the magic happens, sample six different beer styles and you got to take home a souvenir glass. What a lovely was to spend a cloudy Sunday.

Todd, our guide and a Master Brewer himself, was easy going and very informative.  I have been on several brewery tours over the years so I am familiar with how the system works, but every brewery puts their on spin on things and its a great excuse to drink in the middle of the day without judgement! If there is a brewery tour, sign me up!

A particular fact I liked about Goose Island was they send all of their grain to local pig farms, the pigs eat it and then they buy back the pigs to later appear on their menu. Love a company that keeps it local and reduces waste. I hope that doesn't change when the big guys roll in.

And of course, the best part of any brewery tour is the tasting. In this tour our guide really encouraged us to shout out various flavor notes and aromas that we picked up in each unique brew.

The six beers we tasted were:

1) Golden Goose (Pilsner): Didn't care for this one. Tasted like a slightly less better Bud Light.
2) Sahti (Saison Style): A beer made with juniper berries instead of hops. Very unique flavor. I very much enjoyed.  I imagine it would go well with a nice grilled Salmon.
3) Green Line (Pale Ale): Again, didn't love this one. Felt similarly to the Golden Goose.
4) Blonde Rascal (forgot to make note of the style): Brewed with lavender which gave it an herbaceous and floral nose. I liked it, although I don't think I could consume an entire pint.
5) Sneed (Porter): Yummy! A darker beer but very smooth. Nice chocolate, coffee and tobacco notes.
6) Lake Effect (Imperial Ale): Another crowd pleaser. Medium in body, caramel in color, great all year drinking beer.

A wonderful thing about Beer is it can be made anywhere, and be great. Unlike wine which really depends on the climate and region (Sorry Indiana wines...). So there are tons of great local breweries all across the country, and many of them offer tours. This is not a fact, rather a theory I have, but I feel confident enough to make that statement. Tours like this are a great activity to do with a group of friends and a wonderful way to learn about the craft of beer making. I highly recommend it!

You were allowed to take a beer on the tour, and that coupled with the tasting I was feel rather happy after the tour concluded. As witnessed by the photo below.

P.S- According to Todd, Goose Island is going to continue operating the same way and the buy out shouldn't affect the quality of their beers. I hope this is the case!

Sad Cats

Good game tonight Cats. I thought this could be our year, but alas it was not in the cards.

Still, we are proud of you and we look forward to a great season next year.

Go Butler!

April Fools

Ah the first of April. A day when it's socially acceptable to let our inner prankster to run free and torment those around us. Some live for the day, while others live in fear of it. Where did this annual gag pulling tradition come from I wonder?

On April 1st 2009 I was working at a commercial photography and digital media studio here in Chicago.  It was a pretty cool job as far as these things go. Funky atmosphere, laid back people (for the most part), an always changing environment.  It was a glimpse into the world of print advertising, because this studio works with some pretty big ad agencies. Now if only Don Draper could have stopped in to have a look at the "artwork" my life would have been complete.

That first April day, which I would like to point out was much warmer than it is currently, I was having lunch with two of my coworkers (both named Eric...I like to hang out with people who have the same name, simplifies things) and the subject turned to....wait for it....April fools. Had any of us successfully pulled off an April fools joke? None of could lay claim to such a feat, which incidentally got our wheels turning.  We should pull one over on the studio! Many ideas were tossed around and we finally settled on staging a fake client call.  It would for a project that would need to be rushed and therefore would require an emergency phone conference. But who would make this call? Seeing as I was the only person out of the three who wouldn't be required to attend an emergency meeting, the torch was passed. The game had begun.

I need to be clear about something: I may be an actor but I am no great joker. I am no improviser. I laugh when something out of the ordinary happens onstage. My lips start to quiver when I attempt to trick someone. Basically I am hopeless. Therefore the thought of having to to pull of a studio wide prank, was daunting to say the least.

The studio does a lot of work for pharmaceutical companies and our thought was it would be easy to create a brand name for a drug that no one would be able to prove didn't exist. At the time I was taking a very strong pill called Accutane in an effort to combat by years of troubled skin (blast my parents for passing on their bad skin genes!) which happens to cause very severe birth defects should you become pregnant while taking the pill. They aren't kidding around about that either, on the inside of the packaging are erie drawings of babies with horribly deformed heads and no ears. It's a serious drug.

Well we might be the most brilliant, or demented people on the face of the planet because we chose to draw upon that horror and created hilarity! Yep, I was going to act as an account executive for a major ad agency that would be producing a big, glossy brochure outlining the abhorrent side effects of a new drug: Isoplex (derived from the generic name for Accutane, Isotretinoin).

However, it was not to be some frightful brochure, no we wanted the images to depict deformed babies in cheerful settings in an effort to juxtapose the happy with the horrific.

(As I type this I am realizing how terrible this sounds, but I assure you it was funny at the time).

Back at the studio I was prepped with the proper terminology so I would seem legit and we created my character. My name was "Emma" and I had to be of British origin in order for no one to know it  was me on the phone. I called the studio from my cell phone, then proceeded to page Eric over the loudspeaker, and then I stole away to the prop room to begin the tom foolery.


Eric assembled almost the entire office: all of the partners, the producer, her assistant, quite the crew. These calls with clients are taken very seriously. Eric introduced me to everyone and I could hear that they were all using their "business voices" their "we need to impress this important ad exec" voice. I couldn't believe I had signed on for this...but I began the speech.

I started with the standard ad world lingo about the timeline, the type of campaign etc, but then i unleashed the absurd ...

It went something like this (do your best to imagine it in a very realistic British dialect):

"We want these images to be  shocking, SHOCKING, but funny at the same time. The babies should look very happy and be placed in settings that are otherwise pleasant experiences. As one of the side effects is a cone shaped head and no ears perhaps that baby could be at a birthday party. Another side effect is the babies legs are born fused together to form one giant leg, otherwise known as Sirenomelia (this is not an actual side effect, but it is an actual genetic disease that is absolutely tragic and I am going to hell for sure), so perhaps that baby could be in a swimming pool or laying on a large rock. And the final side effect is an underdeveloped heart so we would need to see the baby looking cheerful but show an internal shot of the heart, oh and maybe this baby could be at a picnic?"

You would think the insanity of this request would be enough for them to sniff me out. On the contrary my friends, the bought every word of it. Hook, line and sinker. Then the real fun began...

Eric: "Emma, since the baby has a cone head anyway, in the birthday party shot instead on putting a cone shaped birthday party hat on it, how about we put just a big puff on top of the cone head as if it were a party hat?"


Me: "Brilliant! That's exactly what I am looking for. Maybe we can even make it look sort of like a graphic novel, maybe the images can have thought bubbles coming out of them saying things like 'I am so sad my baby doesn't have ears' or something like that. We really want to juxtapose the serious nature of these side effects with the pleasantness of the images. They need to be serious but shocking. SHOCKING!"


Producer: "What look are you going for in the casting of the mothers and babies?"


Me: "We this brochure is going to be distributed internationally so we would want them to be ethnic. But you know...not too ethnic." (people say stupid stupid stuff like that all the time apparently)


Eric (the other one): "Emma, you sound British are you from France?"

This comment was apparently met with a conference room full stares as if to  say "France? What is wrong with you? How could you say that to a client?!?!?!"

This continued on for about fifteen minutes and miraculously I had answers to all of their questions, and they were oh so interested in everything I had to say.  Imagine a chorus of yes!, absolutely!, and emphatic uh-huh's!

It was all too good and too much to handle, I knew I had to wrap it up quickly before my cover was blown and as they asked me for an email addressed I burst into the conference room and yelled a victorious "APRIL FOOLS" and proceeded to quickly sprint away for fear of the venom that might be dripping from their eyes.

Thankfully everyone had a good laugh about it, and I was surprised (dare I say, SHOCKED) to learn that this was not the most outrageous client call they ever had. Which if you think about it, is kind of frightening.