cubs are world series bound!!!!!!

holy crap - in my lifetime after over 70 years, the cubs are going to the world series!!!!! they are going to play the cleveland indians. this all starts on tuesday. i'm so excited to watch it all! i've seen my blackhawks win multiple times in my lifetime. and the bears technically won in my lifetime too (i was born in '86 and the bears won the Super Bowl that year). now the cubs just need to do it!!!!!

LETS GO CUBS! GO CUBS GO! HEY CHICAGO WHAT DO YOU SAY?!

End Gun Violence

so there's a local cross stitcher by me that is totally awesome! her name is shannon downey or her crafting name is badass cross stitch. and she is totally awesome! i've taken an embroidery class from her and learned how to do french knots!!!!! (sorry i had to share that for i could never do them until she showed me how to do it). she also has some really cool patterns that you can download for free and that you can buy. so check out her etsy shop!

so in the awesomeness of shannon she is in Chicago IL and is doing a craftivism project to help end gun violence! the point of the project is: raise awareness and money to help end gun violence. so shannon put a message out on her website and asked everyone to make an image with a gun regarding gun violence in some way. then you send the finished project to her and it will be part of a gallery show that all the proceeds go to Project F.I.R.E. (Project fire is a chicago group that is an artist development employment program that offers healing through glass blowing to youth injured by gun violence in Chicago. Project F.I.R.E. combines glass arts education, mentoring and trauma psychoeducation in order to support trauma recovery and create employment opportunities for young people who have been shot or witnessed the homicide of a loved one.)

so when i saw that shannon was doing this i just knew that i had to make something for this project! shannon has been posting on her instagram some of the stuff people have sent to her and it  is amazing! so go see the images everyone made for this project. check it out here:

here's the gun that i made for the show. 

so head to the show and check everything out! i know i'll be going. i don't now if i'll make the opening reception night, but i know i'll be going to see the awesome gallery show! so you should check it out too! 

BookCon Chicago was a blast!

So i talked about bookcon before here and i went and so wanted to tell you about my fun! I went to bookcon with my friend Melissa and had a grand ole time. in no particular order here's all the fun i had that day:

-got to meet the amazing Lindy West, the author of 'Shrill'. when waiting in line to get her signature, they passed out these megaphones with 'Shrill' written on it.

-got to meet the amazing Sam Maggs, the author of 'The fangirls guide to the galaxy' and 'wonder women'. i love the stay rad in the book! hehe.


-colored on a wall with melissa. here's melissa doing it and the bird i colored. there was a bunch of coloring books for sale at the con. melissa got one of the books. as part of the selling it, there were a bunch of walls or floors like this that people could color. this was the only one that melissa and i stopped at. for it's harry potter. how could you not stop at the harry potter coloring wall?! hehe.
 

-got some cool book marks. one that says "shhhh. i'm trying to read." hehe. which i just think is perfect to have as a book mark. that way you can hold it up when someone tries to talk to you when you're reading. hehe.

-there were some cool signs hanging around the con. hehe.


-another cool piece of swag i got was an edgar allan poe doll that was knitted. that's right an edgar allan poe doll. hehe. i love it.  he stands on my dresser in my room right now. hehe.


-speaking of edgar allan poe, i got socks with edgar allan poe's head on them. so sweet! hehe.

-here's a picture of all the fun swage i got. i always got a glass of some sort when i go to a con. this con's glass was a tea/coffee mug with a spoon. i really like that a spoon came with it and that it has the bookcon logo on it. all the books i got. my fun 2 sets of socks i got. the poe doll. and my totally awesome atlas shrugged t-shirt (i love that book).


-the con was totally sweet. there were tons of authors there that you could meet (there were panels at the con, but i didn't go so i can't say anything regarding them. though i'm sure they were totally sweet!). and there were tons of booths selling literature and selling literature related things. hehe. overall i had a great time. i would totally go again, but sadly BookCon has already said that they are going back to New York next year. so i'm not going to be able to go to BookCon next year. but if you can go, you really should go!

march cross stitch finished projects

so march was national craft month and i finished two different cross stitching projects this past month (and no this isn't an april fools joke), so i thought i'd share what i've done.

the first project is a key chain i made for a friend of mine. i got the design off of pinterest. and just used the colors i thought my friend would like better. my friend has a couple of dogs and she just loves them so i knew the paw print would be perfect for her! you can't see the back of the cross stitch, but it's just black felt sewed onto the plastic canvas that i used to make the keychain. i'm really getting the hang of making the keychain cross stitch.

sorry my hand looks a little goofy in the photo. 

the second project i finished was a project i had been working on for a couple of months. it's a design of the chicago land area. i got the design from a designer by the name of SatsumaStreet on etsy. i really like the design that she made and i just love the colors that she uses in all of her designs. but it was nice to just have a design just for my hometown, good old chicago.

i haven't framed the design yet, but i'm going to. i'm going to frame it different then i've ever framed before. normally i go out and buy a picture frame and just frame my work. but this time, for this project, i'm actually going to frame it in a hoop. when i do i'll take a bunch of photos and post on here. for i have a feeling it will be an adventure. hehe. this project is going to my mom. she loves chicago and she's been eyeing the design the whole time i've made this, so i'm going to give it to her.

C2E2 2015

so this past weekend i went to C2E2. i had a blast. it was tons of fun to go. i saw so much and did so much i'm just going to list it off in no particular order. hehe. here are my pictures from the weekend.

-saw amanda connor a comic book artist. didn't get her signature, but i got to see her. which is cool.
-saw chad l colman from the walking dead. my cousin got his signature and a photo with him.
-saw tons of costumes. a cool spy vs spy costume. it was a father son duo who did it. saw a cool mystique costume. saw a cool white bandages 5th element constume. saw tons of spiderman, captain america, stormtroopers and others.
-hung out with my two cousins. for one cousin it was her 3 time coming with me. for another cousin it was her 2nd time coming with me.
-got to hang out with two other friends of mine at the convention also. always nice to see more people at the convention.
-i dressed up in my wheel of time green ajah shawl one day and another day i dressed up as captain america.
-brought my spiderman bag with me to hold everything and got some compliments from it. my sister made me the bag and it's perfect for the convention. hehe.
-bought the offical pint glass from C2E2. it had the logo of the beer they had created for the convention. it was called galaxy hero. i didn't drink the beer with the same name, but i made sure i bought the pint glass. hehe. every convention i go to, i always get some kind of cup/shot glass/coffee mug. it's just a tradition i have. sometimes its an offical thing. sometimes it's captain america. hehe.
-i bought a card game called chrononauts. i actually bought an expansion set. i have the original card set already, but i saw an expansion and i had to get it!
-almost got a tattoo but there was a $100 fee and the tattoo i wanted wouldn't cost anywhere close to that if i just went to a local tattoo shop. so i decided not to get one.

overall had a good time. walked tons and tons. my feet hurt like crazy on sunday. hehe. check out my pictures from the weekend. will definitely go again next year. it's a nice local convention to go to. i suggest for all to go.

A morning in Chicago

as the irish girl that i am, i went to chicago this morning in celebration of st. patricks day. i didnt go for the drinking or for the parade. i went for the river dying. i had never seen that before. it was pretty cool. here are some pictures. also i heard a story that the guys who do it will go out after they've colored the river and they will sweat green. thats how strong the dye is. 

stanley cup champs!

hey look a post that isn't about my precious moments cross stitching. hehe.

the blackhawks are the 2013 stanley cup champs!!!! with hard work and determination they have done it! that's twice in 4 nhl seasons. how awesome is that! here are a bunch of photos. go hawks!

 the guys celebrating after they just won.

 johnathon toews with the cup.

 duncan keith celebrating with his new born son. here he is posing with him sitting in the cup. parenting- he's doing it right. hehe.

 the guys celebrating in the locker room.

 patrick sharp holding the cup at the parade in chicago.

 the celebration in chicago.

Chicago blackhawks

On Saturday I went to a local bar with some friends and watched the Chicago blackhawks beat the LA kings to move to the Stanley cup! Go hawks! I really hope they win the cup again. Once in my lifetime was amazing. Twice would just be unbelievable! And I would love it. So let's go hawks! Do it again!

Here's a photo of the hawks with the clarence campbell cup (that's the cup that is awarded to the team that wins the western conference in the nhl).

c2e2

this past weekend was the chicago comic entertainment expo (C2E2). i went friday and saturday. friday i went by myself. that's right i took off work to go to this. hehe. saturday i went with my cousin. for my cousin it was her first convention so it was cool to show her what they are all about. i hope she enjoyed it and will want to go to more. i know i love going to them! hehe. over all i had a great time. makes me super excited for dragon con this year! hehe. for pictures of my weekend, go to my flickr and instagram.

here's a random breakdown of the weekend. in no particular order:
-this year i dressed up in costume for the first time. friday i dressed up as captain america. it was cool for it was the first time people stopped me and asked for my picture. which is always a compliment. means the hard work that went into the costume paid off. saturday i wore my steampunk costume. my sister made the harness i wear for that, so i was excited to display it for the first time. my sister can sew that is for sure! hehe. no one asked for my photo in my steampunk costume, but i did get some compliments about it.
-got to see my friend jimmy. he was my boss when i worked at a comic shop, so it was cool to see him.
-got to meet some of the people that work for challenger comics. i have been chatting with them on twitter, so it was nice to put a face to the group. all of them were very nice.
-the swag i got this year was: captain america piggy bank - which really it's just a nice cheap bust of captain america. captain america/red skull salt and pepper shakers. a signed poster from cbldf of lil depressed boy. a captain america travel mug. i'm very excited to take that to work. no one will confuse my drink for theirs. hehe. a really sweet necklace. a comic that jae lee did the cover for. i love his art work, he is amazing! a replica river song journal. i'm going to use it as my own journal.
-i got robert atkins signature. he's known for his g.i. joe stuff. but he also has done some marvel work. he drew a really cool cover for spiderman.
-saw some really cool costumes. harley quinn, the joker, batman, iron man, steampunk, dr who, captain america and so many more.
-i saw one of the dr's i work for there. it was cool to see him outside of work. you never think of the dr's as 'normal people' but really they are. hehe.
-the 501st legion: vader's fist were there. they are always at dragon con so it was cool to see them at c2e2. they are people who dress up in exact replica's of star wars empire troopers. their costumes are always pretty sweet.

so over all i had a great time. i was on my feet all weekend and now i'm ready to just lay down for many many hours. hehe.

the move

so as some of you might know, i've recently moved out of the city. i'm not city girl any more. but i will get to say that i lived in chicago and that was cool. i'm back in the burbs and rocking it as always. my room is a mess but i'm slowly putting everything where i want it. i will miss living with my old roommate ashley, but it was time to move on.

i'm excited about my new place for a couple of reasons:

1. i have a bigger room, so that is always nice. 
2. i now have a desk, which before i was using a tv tray as my desk. i posted the pictures of my new desk (the one with all the comic book characters). so i'm also excited about my desk just looking totally awesome! hehe.
3. i have a small cabinet dedicated to all of my crafting stuff/hobbies. for i have multiple crafts/ hobbies: i cross stitch, scrapbook, make random things, write, do photography. so i have all of those supplies in this cabinet. i'm very excited about that for before i just had everything scattered in different boxes and bags.
4. i have to say i'm happy that i can now have glutton in my apartment. my last roommate was a celiac and that means she is allergic to wheat/barley/rye (all have glutton). so when i moved in with her i agreed that there would be no glutton in the apartment. and i was fine with that. but i have to say i'm glad that i don't have to worry about that any more. i don't know how people deal with that allergy all their lives. power to those people. so i went grocery shopping for the first time for the new place today and i was excited to be able to buy 'normal' food; ie: bread, ceral, pop tarts. 
5. there's a ledge that runs all the way around my room and i've been able to put most of my nick-nacks and picture frames on it. so that's been nice. before i just put all of those things on my book shelves. 
6. there's a living room. my last place we didn't have a living room. how we set up the apartment was that ashley's room was the living room and then i had the actual bedroom as my bedroom. we used the kitchen/dinning area as the living room. so in my new place there is a living room and i'm very excited about it. i got a couch from my cousin to put in there and i'm excited to just sit in there and read my books.

so those are just a few reason's i'm happy about the move i have made. don't get me wrong, i loved living with ashley and living in the city. but i work in the burbs and most of my friends/family are in the burbs. so it is all around better in the end. i will definitely miss living with ashley and all the fun we had together. she is a great friend. we lived together for 2 years. so it is the end of an era. but it is now the beginning of a new one.

hockey is back!

just a short post. i have to say HOCKEY IS BACK! as upset as i was about the lock out, i'm still super excited that hockey is back. blackhawks are 2-0 so far. it's going to be a shortened season, only about 45 games. so lets go hawks! kick some butt. and no worries, you didn't lose me as a fan. i might get annoyed and tired of the whole mess. but i'll always be a fan. so one more time, LETS GO HAWKS!

letterboxing fridays

just have to say that memorial day is for the soldiers that have died. veterans day is for the veterans that are still around. 

my friend jimmy calls fridays 'dance party fridays' and i would have to agree with him. i agree with him for (as some of you don't know) i don't work on fridays. hurray for that! i work four 10hr days (boo!) to have friday off (yeah!). so it seems the last couple of fridays have become letterboxing fridays for me. it's a great way for me to get out of my apartment and go enjoy the day/city.

this friday i went to graceland cemetery and st boniface cemetery to find two different letterboxes. both of these cemetery's are in chicago and for the very first time i drove in chicago to get to them. (yep that's right, i'm a real city girl now, ive actually driven in the city. after over a year of not doing it, i had to break down and drive in the city. it was the only way to go to the cemetery's without a huge hassel. i've been in the car while someone else drove in the city, but i never had to be the one. i have to say it's more fun driving with someone in the city then driving by yourself. specially if they know more about the city then you do - i don't know too much of chicago's history.)

graceland cemetery is a beautiful cemetery and is a famous one for chicago. just a couple of the famous people that are buried there are: marshall field (the store owner), william w. kimball (piano maker), dexter graves (hotelier). there are many architects; including the guy who created the layout for what chicago's downtown would look like - to make sure the lake front is not clogged with businesses and to have beaches and such. while i was there i saw a coyote running across the field. i couldn't believe it. and it wasn't a fox, for it was bigger, it was definitely a coyote. the monuments and sculpting of the gravestone are amazing there! it's just beautiful. -- so the letterbox i found at graceland was a mystery letterbox. which means the clue didn't tell you what city or forest preserve or cemetery it was hidden at - the clue gave you clues as to where it was hidden. this is the first time i've ever been able to figure one of those out. (i know i'm slow. and the only reason was, i had been to this cemetery before - i have an old relative buried there. she doesn't have a headstone or anything, but she's there). so after you figure out where the letterbox is, it then has normal clues like every other letterbox. this letterbox had you start at the kimball monument and walk a little bit. this letterbox was hidden in a crevasse of the stone wall that partially surrounds the cemetery. the stamp was a piano. i enjoyed my time there very much.

 kimball's grave

 where the letterbox was hidden (well behind the tree that is)

st boniface cemetery is right down the street from graceland so i just hopped in my car and went there next. it is a much smaller cemetery then graceland and doesn't have as amazing sculptures there, but still is a nice cemetery. while i was here i saw two hawks fighting over a dead prey - a mouse. i couldn't believe there were hawks in the city, but there they were, two of them. this stamp was in memory to the carvers grandmother. and where you started the clues was from the carvers grandmothers grave. the letterbox was hidden under a stone by statue of st joseph. i hate bugs, and when i lifted the stone to get the stamp i was grossed out. but still made sure i got the stamp. hehe. i must say i was disappointment with the stamp, but at the same time, it's about the journey of getting the stamp and not the stamp in it's self.

 the grave of the person's grandmother - where you started in finding the letterbox

 the letterbox under a rock - there were so many bugs!

c2e2

on friday (yesterday) i went to c2e2 (chicago comic entertainment expo). it was fun. after being to dragoncon, i can tell how small c2e2 is. but that's ok. nothing wrong with a smaller comic convention.

-i got to see sean autsin (rudy or samwise gamgi). it was cool to see him. also saw tom morello (guitarist for rage against the machine).
-there was some cool stuff there and some cool costumes. there was one full out steampunk costume, but more marvel and dc costumes. there was a harley quinn that had a HUGE mallet.
-there was a little boy dressed as the joker (dark night joker) and there was a guy dressed up as batman walking by him. the boy said hi batman and the guy turned around and said i'm watching you joker. the little boy just smiled. it was cute.
-i saw jimmy, my old boss from when i worked at the comic shop. it was cool seeing him.
-at the convention i bought a captain america cookie jar. that's right a cookie jar. i know your jealous.
-also there was some props from the captain america movie. it was pretty cool to see that stuff.

over all a cool convention and a good start to convention season. the next one i go to is dragoncon in september which i'm totally excited about. c2e2 was a cool first convention of the summer. go to my flickr for some photos.

here's me with my captain america cookie jar.

chicago zine fest

so i got an email today stating that chicago is having their 3rd annual zine fest this weekend. i'm very excited about it and will definitely be going! the authors that are reading on friday, i don't know any of them, but it's always exciting to hear new material and meet writers. so if anyone wants to go with me, just give me a call/text.

get a ticket, get picked up

today is my 26th birthday. happy birthday to me. 
a friend of mine sent the story below to me and i just had to share it.

A Chicago police officer allegedly turned a $132 speeding ticket into a pick-up opportunity when he later tracked down the female driver and asked her out, saying the least he could do for the money he cost her was to treat her to dinner, according to a lawsuit the woman filed in federal court.

Evagelina Paredes filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago, accusing police officer Chris Collins of violating her privacy, according to the Associated Press. She alleges that after she was ticketed on Oct. 22, Collins searched for her address in the motor-vehicle database and left a handwritten note on the windshield of her car, which was parked outside her apartment in the Chicago suburb of Stickney, asking her out on a date.

In the note, a copy of which appeared was included in the court documents and was obtained by the Associated Press, the 27-year-old police officer tried to woo the female driver with humor and a seemingly heartfelt plea.

"It's Chris … that ugly bald Stickney cop who gave you that ticket. … I know this may seem crazy and you're probably right, but truth is I have not stopped thinking about you since. I don't expect a girl as attractive as you to … even go for a guy like me, but I'm taking a shot anyways."

"I did cost you $132 - least I can do is buy you dinner," the note reportedly read.

The scenario is not that far off from the "meet-cutes" of Hollywood romantic comedies. In the 2011 hit "Bridesmaids," Kirsten Wiig's character starts a relationship with the traffic cop who let her out of a ticket for a broken taillight.

Arguably, it's a lot less "cute" when it happens in real-life.

Paredes claims that the note caused her to "suffer great fear and anxiety." In the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified payments in damages, saccording to the Associated Press, she alleges that Collins used his position as a police officer to "manipulate" her into going out with him. Collins declined to comment to the Associated Press