Shutterbug Mama

...hi, folks...i'd like you to meet cadence's little friend ada grey...she is the daughter of my friends jenn and john, who are two of the coolest people i know...we went to the MCA for the megaperformance of john cage's musicircus on sunday afternoon with jenn and ada...

...coincidentally, ada was the bestower of the birthday gift to cadence that has become one of mommy's favorites...she gave us a kick ass mix cd! a mix cd that starts off quite appropriately with the white stripes' 'we are going to be friends'...a mix cd that contains interpol, wilco, sleater-kinney, the magnetic fields, spoon, ida, zapruder point, and other mega cool bands...a mix cd that came with LINER NOTES, i'll have you know...

...so back to the musicircus...this was a megaperformance made up of numerous simultaneous performances all going on on the grounds and in the building of chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art...it was free to the public, and there were a ton of people there despite the intermittent rain outside...

...it was a wild and raucously fun time! there was stuff going on everywhere, and you just kinda had to go with the flow of bodies streaming from one performance to the next...

...the really cool thing was that you could also look at the art while you were there, and it was a different experience amidst the chaos and noise than what you would expect sans crazy performances...sometimes it was hard to distinguish what was actually part of the museum exhibits and what was part of the performances...

anywho, more photos are over here on my flickr account...

...here she is, the lovely little one year old...our very own cadence joy! this is on the way to her birthday party on saturday...we'd rented out a fieldhouse at a park in glenview, which is the suburb where my mom lives...it was only $10/hour to rent for glenview residents, so that worked out...

...well, we survived the birthday party, but BARELY...like what were we thinking inviting 250 billion people? it was quite overwhelming, really...i was touched though that so many people showed up...we had like 60 people there counting the kids...my best friend josh flew all the way from CT to be there, and ted's cousin connie and her husband ben and son perry drove all the way from iowa for the party...

...cadence was pretty much an angel for her party, which was surprising considering she hadn't had her morning nap...she got so exhausted halfway into her party that she fell sound asleep...her cousin mackenzie had to tickle her awake so we could do cake before all the guests left...

...cadence was pretty stunned and not quite awake when we all sang happy birthday to her, and she looked around at everyone wondering what in tarnation was going on and why all these eyes were so fixed on her little body...she had very little interest in her cake, even though grandma had prepared a little smash cake just for her...no smashing going on here...a little thumbing, maybe, but definitely no smashing...

we definitely could not have pulled off the party without the help of our families, esp. ted's parents, my mom and brother, and ted's twin siblings jason and lauren...ted and i were so stressed out...i mean, there were more people at this party than at our wedding...i hardly took any photos at all, and i was lucky to get a few bites of food in me...i didn't get to taste the cake until we got home that night...

anywho, there are a few more photos here on my flickr account...not much...

now you'd think that we'd just call it a day, or a weekend even, and crash once we got home...but no...we got back in our car and drove out to edison park (far NW side of chicago) to have dinner with josh, connolly and chris, and another friend from high school named jen roberts whose birthday we were celebrating...we ate at a mexican restaurant called don juan, and they sure had kickass food there...the sangria was yummy too!

so that was cadence's very first birthday...

...exactly one year ago today, teddy and i had the privilege of welcoming our little cadence joy into the world...she has changed our lives forever...yes, we've lost out on a bit of sleep over the last year, but we've gained so much joy and good times in return that we wouldn't have it any other way!

happy 1st birthday, our dearest cadence bundle-of-joy!

now, let's par-tay!

…goodness gracious, this has been a busy week! and it’s only TUESDAY! i’ve even got cadence making phone calls for me, i’m so busy!

…last night, our fam went to the abbey pub to see our friend ian moore play a show…ian’s the one we visited for his son’s bday party on vashon island while we were out in seattle…it was an intimate show, although the room is pretty big, so it wasn’t very smoky at all, which was great cuz we could keep cadence with us during the whole show instead of taking turns going in and out of the music room…the only thing about the abbey is that the sound tends to be really loud, like ear-piercing loud…we made little ear plugs for cadence but she kept trying to take them out, which was hard for me to monitor since i had her slung to my back….she finally fell asleep halfway through ian’s set, and i just held her in front while sitting down and kept my hands over her ears…i think i better start looking for some baby ear muffs…

…anywho, sore eardrums aside, ian and his multi-instrumentalist kullen fuchs played an awesome set…i miss seeing his former tour buddy chris dye, but i have to say that kullen is the fastest trumpet draw you’ve ever seen…he’s literally singing harmony and playing the vibraphone one second, and a beat and a half later, he’s blowing that trumpet right on cue, on perfect pitch and clear as a bell…i couldn’t believe how long he held some of his notes without passing out from lack of oxygen…

…alana waters, a friend of ian’s who he always stays with, sang harmony on ‘wedding day’ and ‘kangaroo lake’ like she did at the uncommon ground show back in june…it was great to see her again…she’s really cool and sweet and also a mom!

…she was also nice enough to take a photo of us with ian…interestingly enough, after all these years, the only photo we’ve taken WITH ian as opposed to OF ian was in a photobooth at schubas…so i decided it was high time for a proper family photo with him…

…we also got to hang out with gary, ian’s chicago merchman extraordinaire…he introduced us to a beer we’d never heard of before…it’s from ireland and is called Smithwycks…ted says it’s kinda like a mix between guiness and newcastle…i wouldn’t know, but it tasted just fine to me…didn’t leave a bitter aftertaste at all…

…all in all, it was a lovely, all-be-it late, evening…we didn’t head home until close to midnight…cadence was great for the most part, even though she’s been pretending to be shy around folks she doesn’t see all the time…she did loosen up towards the end though, and she even gave her own little performance on the piano in the abbey pub music room…

…it was great to see ian play again…he did this version of will the circle be unbroken that would’ve sent chills up and down A.P. Carter’s spine…ian is one of those performers who you just have to see live…he’ll blow you away for sure…

tonight, he’s opening up for paul weller (lead singer in The Jam) at the vic…he put ted on the guest list, but i’m gonna stay home with cadence and recuperate from last night…ian is really excited to be doing this tour with paul, who is one of his idols…i’m sure it’ll be an amazing show tonight! and some lucky somebody will get to go with teddy instead of me!

it's been a long day today...ted decided to go skating at the wilson skate park at 8:30 this morning...cadence and i tagged along cuz she's never seen her dad skate and she's never been to any of the chicago beaches...oh wait, now that i think of it, ted may have taken her there without me once...well, she's never gone there with ME, so to me it's like it never happened...anywho, she slept through the whole thing, so i STILL haven't had a chance to show her our beautiful lakefront...

there was this lady talking really loud on the cell phone...after she got off, she noticed cadence and went ga-ga over her...she was really excited about getting a stack of rolling stones from the 70's out of storage...she'd kept saying on the phone something about stones, and i had imagined to myself that she had a rock collection or something, but i guess it was a different kind of rock...that's one of the cool things about chicago...you always run into these colorful characters who are kooky but really nice...

ain't these shoes lovely? i don't buy cadence a lot of shoes, cuz they're really a waste of money for a tike who can't even walk yet and who prefers to pull her shoes off as soon as she gets in her carseat...but i really like these...they'll be esp cute for the fall, and i'm hoping she'll be walking sometime in the next several months, but that's doubtful cuz she just LOVES to speedcrawl...

so cadence finally woke up when i got back to the skate park from the beach...we got to see her daddy skate a little bit...here she is playing with her zipper...she's the granddaughter of a mechanical engineer, ya know...

...and here they are...the two partners in crime...in CUTENESS crime, that is! yeah, i think my hubby and baby are just absolutely adorable together...

...after the skate park, ted had plans to meet up with his coworkers at welles park for a game of ultimate frisbee, so we all walked over there from our apartment...cadence and i visited the playlot while her dad got all sweaty again...cadence absolutely adores the swings, and she cries when i take her out of it...there were tons of babies and little kids at the park, and it was a lot of fun...cadence loves other little kids...

...after ted pulled a butt muscle, we just hung around a bit...watched a bunch of folks playing horshoes in the pit...that was pretty cool actually...it just looks so absolutely impossible to nail that stake, but they do it, and it's a lovely sound when they make their target...kinda like a basketball going 'whoosh' i guess...

we ate lunch with a couple of ted's coworkers at the bad dog tavern...they have a great outdoor SHADED patio with lovely flowers and a really yummy brunch menu...it was nice to spend time with some of ted's coworkers, esp. rhino (ryan) who we've gone snowboarding/skiing with and who is one of the nicest guys i've ever met...

anywho, i'm exhausted now...it's been a loooong weekend...and i still have to make goody bags for cadence's party...

i'm totally stealth blogging...i'm supposed to be in bed, but i was up late working on posting photos of cadence to a foam board for display at her birthday party next saturday...i was gonna post captions for all the photos too, but you know what? i think that would be going a little overboard...

so since this has to be a quick one, here's a photo i took of cadence w/ her grandpa larry last saturday at st. catherine's irish fest out in west dundee...this is the first photo i've taken of grandpa holding cadence...i know, i suck...

and here's all four generations in one photo (counting uncle dave who's sitting in the background)...this is at the booth for auntie lauren's Tropic of Coffee, which is her gourmet beverage catering business...

i am terribly busy at work and preparing for this birthday party...oh, and we still have to buy cadence a present! yikes! and then there's music to be prepared for the party...ted's begged me NOT to make mix cds for the birthday party, but you know what? i'd probably develop a twitch if i didn't pick every single song that was playing for every single minute of that party, so guess what i'll be working on all next week?

alrighty...i needs me some shuteye...

well, we're back in the windy city after just a little under a week in seattle...it turned out to be the vacation of a series of unfortunate events...but in light of all that's going on, i'm gonna count my blessings and be thankful that we had a home to come back to...

cadence was as excited as mommy and daddy as we drove to the airport...just look at them teeth! scary, eh? imagine having to see THAT latch onto your nipple!

we had a lovely flight...cadence did great with lots of playing and minimal fussing...boy, was i relieved! the landing in seattle was beautiful, with the mountains and the sound illuminated by beautiful sunset light...couldn't have asked for a prettier landing!

after a little confusion with the car rental due to a lack of what we considered appropriate car seatage, we made it to charles and ali's house in the beacon hill neighborhood of seattle (note to self: always take our own car seat...it's worth the bulk)...it was probably 2am chicago time when we got to bed...

we got rained out of bumbershoot on sunday while waiting in line to see son volt...cadence started losing it, so we didn't wait it out...we were soaked and freezing anyway and wouldn't have enjoyed the show i'm sure...oh well...and then we lost our tickets for monday, so we didn't get to see the decemberists or iggy pop either...

at least i got to see damien jurado and his band on the big screen outside the packed out EMP sky church...that was as close as we got to seeing anyone we'd actually planned on seeing at bumbershoot aka bummershit...

but we had happy times too! staying with charles and ali was lovely...ali can cook, ya know! she inspired me to do more in the kitchen once i got home...haven't started on that yet, but i'll get to it one of these days...i'm gonna make me some biscuits and gravy, damn it!

anywho, here are some highlights:

family photo at waterfall park

and with charles and ali...

pixie and squido, charles and ali's cats...cadence LOVED them!

charles and teddy snuggle together...these brothers love each other very much! now ain't that sweet?

at bumbershoot...before the deluge began...

clapping during bumbershoot with auntie ali

uncle charles shows cadence the beach at discovery park...don't he look good with a baby?

cadence's first ferry ride...we took the ferry from west seattle to vashon island to visit our friend ian moore and his family...ian's youngest son levi was turning three, so we got to go to his birthday party...it was a lovely, peaceful time after the craziness we'd experienced at bumbershoot...

cadence was pretty sick by tuesday, probably because of the cold soaking she got at bumbershoot...she slept a lot in the car after that...sometimes in the middle of eating a cheerio...

it was great spending time with charles and ali...cadence totally loved them...she went right into ali's arms the moment we walked into their house...and she loved playing with uncle charles's curly hair! and the kitty cats pixie and squido provided numerous reasons for her to squeal and gurgle and make a number of other cute sounds...

if you wanna see all the photos, here they are on my flickr account...

...like how many blog entries have that title i wonder? like a gazillion? anywho, we ARE in fact leaving on a jet plane in 4 hours and teddy's yelling at me right now to get going but i wanted to say adios for now cuz i'm nice like that...

ciao!