adventures | kimberly ah

Oct 13 2014

Jackie Lakely at Gather

My artist-friend Jackie is showing her latest series of paintings at Gather, an arts and crafts studio/children’s play place in Evanston. On Saturday, Peggy, Naoto and I drove up for Jackie’s opening. Jackie combines painting and mixed media collage in most of her work. This particular series is The Alphabet Series–twenty-six pieces that incorporate objects and animals representing each letter. With few exceptions, Jackie’s work is bright and vibrant and layered with paints, papers, patterns, textures and colors. We had such a fun time walking through the alphabet and finding all of the bits and pieces within each painting to represent the letter. For instance, Party Cat above has carrot cake, candles, cups of coffee, cookies, cupcake, cat…Many of the pieces had a bit of phone book, the Periodic Table of Elements and postage stamps (!!!) worked into them. Hillside House is a great example of these tiny details. The elements of hydrogen and helium are there, plus a tiny map of the hemispheres, some H phone book pages (including the number for my favorite place, Hala Kahiki tiki bar!!), and the best part….…the vintage cancelled HOMEMAKERS postage stamp!! It was so much fun looking for these tiny details. My pictures really don’t do justice to Jackie’s work. The layers and textures get a little lost on a computer screen. But if you’re in Evanston, go see it in person! Kids or no kids, Gather is a really neat space, and obviously I think Jackie’s work is worth the trip.

From top to bottom: Garden Friends (starring Jackie’s greyhound, Alex), Night Lights, Bluebird & Bear, Party Cat, Hillside House and Red Tent. Jackie has a post on her blog where she shares some details about the paintings and you can see more of the paintings.

Tagged adventures, celebrations

Sep 24 2014

7 Comments

adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, summer manifesto

Plot #6: I Picked A Loofah

I finally picked a loofah! I’m not sure it’s really ready, but this particular one kept falling out of our plot and I was nervous it would get stepped on. Plus, when I picked it, it had a giant slug on it (which I touched by accident and that is not a feeling my memory will be erasing anytime soon.) It was the lightest-colored*, most hollow sounding, biggest loofah on the vines, so I figured I would sacrifice it to see how “ready” the others might be.

So the next step is to cut into the experimental loofah to see if it’s “sponge-worthy.” (Sorry, I couldn’t resist a tiny Seinfeld shout-out. Also, totally different “sponge-worthy.”)

I will report back soon, along with some fall garden shots. Our tomatoes are really slowing down, but with the crazy gorgeous weather we’re having this week, I’m thinking maybe a few more Juliets will emerge. Cheers to a perfect early fall!

*I should note that the loofah looks really green in this picture but it’s significantly lighter than that in real life…maybe Presley’s eyes are bringing out the greenness?

Tagged adventures, food, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

Sep 17 2014

LWA Social at the Forest Park Library

On Saturday, I attended the LWA Letter Social at my public library (as mentioned in this post.) As usual, I regret not taking more pictures. Kathy and Donovan had an amazing spread of stationery and mail art supplies, an array of rubber stamps and four fantastic typewriters. I used the Tippa pictured above and it typed like a dream! It moved like butter (or buttah!) I wrote a letter and two special thank you notes (which I will be sharing soon!) and had a great chat with all of the other women writing letters. (It was all women, a coincidence I just realized.) A few of us came back to our place and enjoyed Negronis and funny conversation. After everyone left, I wrote some more letters and postcards until dinner. I’m officially staying on top of my to-be-returned pile and it feels great!

Tagged adventures, cocktails, forest park, mail art, snail mail

Sep 16 2014

4 Comments

adventures, crafty adventures

Renegade Craft Fair 2014

Last year, we were in Japan during the Chicago Renegade Craft Fair and I really missed it as part of my “end of summer” routine. I love going to Renegade, so when it rolled around again this summer I knew to keep the weekend open.

I didn’t buy very much and as usual I had “non-buyers remorse”. I wish I had researched better before we went. I usually comb through all of the sellers’ sites and make a wishlist of things to look for, but I didn’t do as much investigative work this year and I missed out on a couple of things that I wish I’d seen. We got about two-thirds of the way through the fair and the crowds were picking up and we were hungry!! So, we skimmed through part of the fair, which was fine by me because tacos were waiting for us at Naoto’s office. Plus, there’s always the internet…I picked up a lot of business cards and can purchase from the comfort of my pajamas!

So, what did I buy? I have been eying this Peg & Awl bag for almost a year now. (Mine is a slightly larger version of this one.) I love its polished rustic feel–it’s neat and tidy and not too bulky, but also has a worn, casual feel. I love the waxed canvas and the antique deadstock red gingham fabric trim. When I read that the straps were made from antique WWII gun slings, well that sealed the deal. So far, I’m loving this bag…it’s the perfect size for my planner and my wallet and a few other necessities and the front pocket is perfect for my phone and a lip balm (the real necessities!)I should also note that the bag makes an excellent cat nap mat, according to Presley. (Thanks for leaving your fur behind, cat!) The Into the Night postcard set from New Academy Press is so good that I came home and ordered two extra sets (because I couldn’t imagine parting with this one.) The set comes in a screen printed folder with a screen printed band. I’m thinking I will be able to turn it into a tiny staple-bound notebook when I’m all done with the cards. It’s just too fancy to throw away! The postcards are gorgeous screen prints that create a scene together and also work really well as a single card.We are going to frame this set for our bedroom wall. (The bedroom is lacking in wall art, style and creative direction.)

I also bought a paper tape (which is less than exciting) and a small gift (which I will share after Christmas). All in all it was a great Renegade. The weather was perfect–cool and sunny–and the company was wonderful. It’s always fun to meet the creative people behind the wares.

If you’d like to read more from Renegade Chicago, Rebecca from Hugs are Fun has a great post on Renegade with detailed shots of some of the booths and Robyn from Robayre has a lot of great stuff to share too.

OH, and if you missed Renegade, Show of Hands is coming up on November 22 and 23. Karen and I went last year and it was as great as Renegade, only smaller. I highly recommend is as a kick-off to your holiday shopping!

(My 2012 Renegade post is here.)

Tagged adventures, crafts, diy, mail art, Renegade Chicago, shopping, snail mail, summer

Sep 15 2014

1 Comment

adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, summer manifesto

Plot #6: The Loofah Takeover

This is the south end of our plot, where the flowers and the Brandywine tomatoes reside. And yes, that’s a loofah vine growing all the way over there. (The loofahs were planted on the northeast corner of our four-by-eight plot.) I’m not so worried, since our tomatoes are almost done, but man, next year we really do need to plan our plot better! Back in the north end of the plot, you can see the loofahs are overflowing outside of our raised bed…I’ve been tucking them back into the border, but some of the loofahs are cozily making themselves at home. They sound a tiny bit more hollow than they did last week, and their color is lightening ever so slightly, so hopefully, we can pick them soon. (I know I keep saying this, but really…I have no idea when the perfect time for picking is!) It has been really cold here the past few days–sweater weather, sock weather, jacket weather cold. I’m personally loving it, but I’m hoping it means long fall and not early winter. Yikes!

How is your garden growing? Are things slowing down?

Tagged adventures, food, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

Sep 02 2014

6 Comments

adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, summer manifesto

Plot #6: Is That A Loofah In My Garden?

It isn’t that I didn’t believe the articles I read about loofah vines’ ferocious growth, it’s that I underestimated what that really meant. I’m afraid that our loofah vine is creeping into our neighbor’s plot, and could overtake the entire community garden. I think, now that summer is in full swing (finally!), I might have to go to the garden daily to reign those crazy vines in and retrain them back into our plot. But it’s totally worth it if we can actually bring the five giant loofah home. Yes, five!! I’m hoping they all make it–safely from bugs and nibbling rodents–to the stage when we can harvest them and dry them out as sponges. I’ve been using this resource as guidance. I’ve never been so excited about a gardening experiment. If all goes well, do you think it would be weird if I gave sponges to everyone for Christmas? (I guess I shouldn’t be getting ahead of myself here.) In addition to the five gallon bucket-full of tomatoes we harvested last week, I picked a few limas. I think there are probably more to be picked, but it’s hard to find them amongst the overgrown tomatoes and the loofah vines. I guess garden planning is not my strong suit. My tomato harvesting was cut a bit short the other day by this cat-sized grasshopper (small exaggeration). He was protecting a large patch of ripe tomatoes, which I left untouched because I kept picturing him leaping into my face. Thankfully the grasshopper found a new home when we went back to harvest more tomatoes yesterday. (Oh and yesterday I touched a slug…gardening is gross!!)

Tagged adventures, food, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

Aug 28 2014

2 Comments

adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, some stuff about me

Aaaaaaand, Disappointment

My Japanese class was cancelled due to low enrollment. The school called on Monday and left a voicemail on our land line (yes, we still have a land line…we are your grandparents) and I figured they were just calling to remind me about the class or to tell me which room it would be in. Yesterday afternoon I listened to the voice mail and I got the news. (Thankfully I didn’t GO to the class to get the news!) I’m so bummed. I was all excited to learn again, especially something useful for our travels next year. But, it’s not meant to be right now. And that’s okay. I’ll just commiserate with this sweet face until I feel better.

Tagged adventures, forest park, Japan

Aug 27 2014

4 Comments

adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, some stuff about me

Back To School

My Japanese class starts tonight! I am very excited and a little bit nervous. I’m nervous mainly because I don’t know what to expect, so hopefully the nerves will go away after the first class–this is supposed to be fun after all. I promise to report back soon.

The sweet chopstick rests pictured above are a gift from my friend Mollie. She picked them up during her recent trip to Disney World. We don’t have any chopstick rests around here (nor do we have proper chopsticks!) so these were a perfect present! (Plus, she got one for Presley–how sweet is that?!)

Tagged adventures, forest park, I *heart* Japan

Aug 19 2014

5 Comments

adventures, gardening

Mom’s Arbor

For Mother’s Day this year, my dad built my mom a fantastic Asian-inspired arbor to frame the steps to their backyard. He finished it in July and Naoto and I got a chance to see it in person over the weekend. When we were growing up, our yard was pretty plain, mostly grass and a giant vegetable garden. Now that my parents are semi-retired, they spend a lot of time gardening and collecting a variety of perennial flowers and greenery. The arbor adds a little architectural touch to their otherwise free-flowing garden. They found the design for the arbor in a thrifted old woodworking book that is full of projects for yards and patios. It’s amazing the gems you can find in seemingly outdated books! Not that we would ever want to make Presley jealous, but we kind of fell in love with my parents’ neighborhood cat, Fred. Fred isn’t really his name. My dad just calls him that. He originally belonged to my parents’ neighbor but now just kind of divides his time among the houses on their block. He was super laid back, fell in love with Naoto and charmed us into petting him every time we went outside. If we didn’t think Presley would eat him, we might have brought him home with us! But as my dad said…”Fred wouldn’t stand a chance around Presley.”

Jul 31 2014

2 Comments

adventures, Naoberly's Noodle Tour, what's for dinner

Naoberly’s Noodle Tour: Slurping Turtle

Our ramen tour continued last weekend with a trip to Slurping Turtle in Chicago. I read about Slurping Turtle in this Thrillist article of the best ramen shops in the country. It didn’t take much coaxing to get Naoto to join me for another ramen adventure on Saturday (even though yet again, it was super hot and humid outside.) The nice thing about Slurping Turtle for us is that it is a quick train ride away. It’s in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, which is a quick walk from the Clark & Lake station. We made it downtown in time for an early lunch (which may explain why the restaurant is pretty empty in my pictures.)

The restaurant is very different from Misoya. It is sleek and modern, offering booth seating and a giant communal table in the middle. There is a full bar and the Slurping Turtle menu offers more than ramen–there are appetizers, bao, bento boxes, sushi and rice dishes. We went for the noodles though. Because it was Saturday and because we rode the train, we decided to get a drink. Naoto had a Sapporo and I had the Groundhog Day cocktail–gin, Luxardo Bitter Liqueur, Yellow Chartreuse, Grenadine and lime. It was really refreshing and reminded me of a Negroni.

The Trillist article recommended the Roasted Chicken Shoyu Ramen, but unfortunately that was not on the menu. (It seems that Slurping Turtle changes their menu with the seasons, so maybe it will come back?) Naoto got the Tonkotsu ramen, which is similar to what he had at Misoya. It had homemade ramen noodles, braised pork, bok choy, pickled mustard greens, braised mushrooms and scallions swimming in the salty pork broth. It was really good, and I liked the braised pork. Though it was definitely different than the grilled pork of Misoya, it was seasoned well and was really moist and tasty. As you can tell, Naoto really enjoyed his bowl of ramen. He liked the addition of the chili oil and he loved the homemade noodles.I went rogue and ordered a cold noodle dish, the Hiyashi Chu-Ka. It had homemade ramen noodles, carrots asparagus, kabocha squash, broccolini, seaweed alongside crab sticks, shrimp, pork and ham gently tossed with a citrus-soy dressing. I am a sucker for anything with a citrus-soy dressing and this dish was the perfect cure for a hot summer day. I loved everything about my dish. It was fresh and hearty. The homemade noodles were firm and held the dressing perfectly. The citrus-soy complemented every bite of noodle, meat and vegetable without overpowering. Between this dish and my cocktail, I was a cool cucumber for the walk back to the train. Before we walked to the train, we stopped downstairs to use the restrooms. I had to take a picture of the cutie turtles on the restroom signs. I’m not sure what the fruit basket turtle was all about but the guy in the smoking jacket pretty much stole my heart.