Category Archives: chicago
And the winners are….
The winners are, in order:Shannon - wiener piddly w/ L&V intention yarn: healing
Nell - black and white piddly w/ rosenrot
Sarah N - Gaslight Dyeworks yarn
Jennifer S - black and white piddly w/ indisch rot
Susan L - color piddly w/ wilder mohn
Lisa C - color piddly w/ Tausendschon
Marla G - L&V hope w/ piddlepouch
Carla H - SWTC Saphira
Sarah C - L&V courage w/ piddlepouch
Molly C - panopticon print
Congratulations and thank you to everyone who participated, gave, blogged, thought nice thoughts about, etc. in the Raffle! Winners, you'll be able to pick your prizes in order and I'll be contacting you all soon!
For the nerds:
This is how I did the raffle. I put each entry on one line in excel and assigned a randomly generated number from 0-1 to each entry. I then sorted by that number so that the names would be all mixed up. Then I numbered each entry from 1-358 and went to random.org to generate 10 numbers for me. Fortunately there was only 1 repeat, but it was my second to last number so I didn't think it mattered much. I went to random.org and got one more number and voila - we have winners!
09.19.08 5:24pm(3 comments)
AIDS Run / Walk Chicago 2008 Knitters Raffle
My husband and I are participating in AIDS Run / Walk Chicago 2008, a fundraiser (I’m walking, Tom is running) put on by the AIDS foundation of Chicago to raise AIDS awareness and funds for the HIV/AIDS project at the law firm where I work. As a matter of fact, 100% of the funds I raise will go to this project that provides free civil legal aid to those with HIV / AIDS.On June 6, 2008, the world will mark the 27th anniversary since the discovery of the virus that came to be known as AIDS. Even though medical advancements have changed AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic disease, we are still without a vaccine or a cure. In fact, the HIV infection rate is rising among communities of color and among young gay males. In addition, there continues to be a dire need for education as well as a wide range of social service programs—many of which have recently suffered severe cutbacks because of decreased government funding.Since it was established in 2001, AIDS Run & Walk Chicago has netted over $1.5 million to battle the epidemic. When you donate to AIDS Run & Walk Chicago, you help support the organizations whose work is so invaluable in the battle against HIV/AIDS.
I want to raise some money for the effort, but being who I am, a lemonade stand or a bake sale wasn't really my style. I'm not much of a schmoozer, so a cocktail party wasn't going to happen either. I'm not all that great at fundraising really, so I channeled my former management prof and decided to focus on my "core competancies." I'm raising money the best way I know how; I'm having a knitters raffle with a bunch of awesome prizes:
- A signed print, Contentment, by Franklin of The Panopticon
- Piddleloop piddly bags with numbers (representing the large numbers of people still affected by AIDS) with red handles,
- a few wieners piddly bags with condoms,
- a large and a small piddlepouch with sheep
- Wollmeise yarn in red - Indischrot, Rosenrot and Wilder Mohn
- Tausendschon Yarn from Germany, graciously donated by Mary Ann from NYC
- Lime and Violet Intention yarn in Healing, Hope, and Courage
- Gaslight Dyeworks yarn in 'black hole' and 'mars attacks'
- SWTC Saphira yarn (that feels exactly like malabrigo and is 100% superwash)
- Red ribbon buttons donated by the Moustache Factory
- Each prize will also include an awareness ribbon sock pattern designed by me
Here are some pictures of the prizes:
- The raffle officially starts September 2, 2008 and ends Friday September 19, 2008 at 5pm.
- A raffle entry will cost $5 each,
- 6 entries for $25 - Bronze level donation
- 13 entries for $50 - Silver level donation
- 25 entries for $100 - Gold level donation
- 75 entries for $250 - Platinum level donation
- Each prize is as pictured.
- Winners will be drawn promptly after the end of the raffle.
- Winners will be drawn in order and will be able to pick their prize in order they were drawn.
- The prizes will be shipped on Monday September 22, 2008.
Raffle Details:
Now I bet you're saying to yourself, "Self - HOLY CRAP! Those are some awesome prizes and I definitely want to donate to this worthy cause! How do I get in on this?"
Here's how to enter the raffle:
- Go Here
- Choose your level of donation or enter in a custom amount.
- Fill out the form with payment information and click donate now
- Forward your donation confirmation email to aidswalk at kristyland dot com -if you have a ravelry user ID, please send that too. I will respond with a confirmation email (just give me a day to process)
If you would like to donate via paypal, use the button below and then forward the email you get from paypal to aidswalk at kristyland dot com. This will go to my paypal account (that's the only way I could figure out how to set it up) and I'll transfer the funds manually.
That's all there is to it! Tell your friends and Good luck to you all!
09.02.08 5:10pm(11 comments)
IT’S OVER… almost
We are about 90% moved despite- a fenderbender I was the victim of on Thursday after picking up more rentacrates in suburbialand that made it completely impossible for us to open my back door (you know, that thing that makes my car so awesome for moving)
- 8 inches of snow
- Tom getting food poisoning with requisite nausea fever and chills
- only 3 hours to move furniture and boxes using the elevator
We survived and spent our first night in river city last night. We still have to move a few more things / fragile stuff, but those we can fit in the car (which is a rental from the insurance co).
I will be so glad when this is all over.
12.17.07 7:58am(3 comments)
Movin’ on up. This sunday.
It's official. Tom and I are completely insane. Why? Well, we've decided to pick up our things and move into a new apartment this weekend. In the middle of winter. Before christmas. In the span of 2 weeks from start to finish. Again, why? Because this place is awesome.We're moving to a Bertrand Goldberg designed building on the chicago river (not the wilco towers, but river city) that looks out onto the river and the city (get it? river.. city..) from both the living room and the bedroom which are on 2 different floors. Yes, 2 floors. This is a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom duplex penthouse in the south loop (4 blocks from where I work) with a washer dryer, dishwasher, heat and a/c included, incredibly pet friendly, Heeeuuuuuuge patio deck with a heeeuuuuge gas grill on it. In the building there is a Bally's in the basement, a dog park outside, a 10k square feet rooftop deck, a party room, shuttle service for those nasty weather days when we don't want to walk to work, a little grocery store, cleaners, an atm for our bank, a doorman to accept our packages, accessible to the freeway and close to all kinds of shops and restaurants including my favorite yarn store, a whole foods, target, and a number of others. It's a few blocks from each the red, blue, orange, and green lines. Did I mention that it's 4 blocks from where I work? Tom and I calculated that we would each save almost a whole working week (40 hours) a month each in the time we won't be commuting. We'll also save on puppy walking bills because we'll be able to go home over lunch.
This new place will do wonders for some lifestyle changes Tom and I are trying to make (eat in more, exercise more, do our laundry more frequently) and we're working pretty hard to get everything packed up and ready to go. Initially we thought it would be really hard to find subleasors, but the first people who saw the place wanted it, we felt comfortable subleasing to them, and last night we signed the sublease. Everything is sorta falling into place. Hopefully the move will go easily as well :)
Oh yeah they've got trouble. Right there in river city. Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for POOL! (sorry, just had to throw that in)
12.12.07 7:29am(6 comments)
WORLD OF CHOCOLATE!
Yes, that's right. I'm going to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago's benefit, the WORLD OF CHOCOLATE. I remember watching TV shows about this when we lived in BG and now I get to attend! I'm currently working on my buffet strategy. Wish me luck.11.29.07 11:03am(1 comment)
Do you want to know a secret?
Yesterday, there was a PostSecret event at the DePaul Center bookstore, a few blocks down the street from where I work. Frank, the post secret guy, stopped by to tell us a little bit about this project that is more than a project now, his experiences from it, his secrets, some of the interesting postcards he's received and also to sign books. It was fascinating. If you haven't checked out the blog or perused the post secret books, you really should. There's something about these anonymous little confessions that make you feel like you're not really alone in the world - not to mention the benefit that individuals get from submitting secrets.I had made a few secrets of my own, but after Frank had mentioned his issues with copyrighted images (both my secrets contained them) I decided not to give them to him.
Last night, I mailed them anyway and it was incredibly freeing. I'm making more :)
10.25.07 6:44am(1 comment)
AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
Yesterday, the cubs released tickets for the championship series (if they can get their shit together and get into it, of course). I, like many other dutiful cubs fans waited in the "waiting room" eagerly standing by to be randomly selected to be one of the chosen few to purchase tickets online. I never thought I'd actually get picked, but what the hell. It's the cubbies right?Then I got picked. I quickly filled out all the necessary information and with the thrill of any cubs fan purchasing tickets to a championship game, I clicked submit. I made it! I was going to have 200 level tickets on the 3rd base line to Game 3 of the Championship series!!! I was on top of the world with 2 tickets for me and Tom and 2 for the highest bidder on ebay (possibly the bankroll for our first anniversary trip to Paris).
It took forever for my credit card to validate, probably because of the heavy load of all the other lucky cubs fans. I never received my email with the tickets in them (which I also attributed to the load), but my credit card was charged so I thought I was golden.
Still today, no email, so I called tickets.com who told me that there were no tickets for me, but they'd be happy to take care of that charge. Thanks. Thanks for that.
It probably won't be a big deal after all, the dbacks are beating the hell out of the cubbies anyway. I just never expected to get my very own taste of the curse. I had come so close only to be crushed, CRUSHED I say, under the hoof of the billygoat. Well, such is the life of the cubs fan.
10.05.07 10:53am(5 comments)
Dude. Dude - hey. There’s something wrong with your car dude.
This morning, Tom and I were walking to the train; you know how we do. After a block, we came to an intersection and heard a loud, long honk- not uncommon in the city. Usually when you hear a honk of this kind, someone is being a severe asshole. So naturally when we heard it, Tom and I looked towards the noise to see what sort of assholery was going on. We saw no such thing and the car kept honking. And it didn't stop.As it turns out, what we were seeing and hearing was a saab circa early 80's with an obvious electrical problem. It kept honking as we crossed the street and naturally, Tom and I laughed our asses off. Finally, it stopped for a little bit - only because the car had stalled out. The driver restarted the car and thus the horn. As the car putted away, the honk continued to sound. Loudly.
Hey- it still runs, right?
09.06.07 7:54am(3 comments)
Grrrr!
Tom and I have rearranged our bedroom so that the headboard is against two side by side windows on the north side of our apartment. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but the dogs have really taken a liking to getting up on the bed and then either putting their little wiener paws up on the window sill or getting their entire wiener selves up on the window sill to look out the window and growl at the occasional passerby. We find this incredibly adorable. And we are so lucky to have two little doggies who protect us from all of those bad people outside.The other day, Tom was playing with the doggies on the bed and I was laying there watching them. It was a nice day and so the windows were wide open, letting a cool breeze in for the doggies to sniff at and plenty of access to growl at the people and other doggies who dare pass below our window or across the street outside. For a bit, the breeze wasn't as strong and there wasn't anyone going by so the doggies abandoned the excitement of the window and rediscovered their love of burrowing in the covers. Tom, not pleased with this development, started trying to get the doggies to come over to the window sill and, you know, be cute at us. His strategy was to put his front paws on the window sill like the doggies had and perhaps they would follow suit. He did it once and no dice, so he roughed around with the doggies a little bit and went back to the window.
Without looking to the street, Tom puts his paws on the sill and lets out a big GRRRRR!!! Just as he looks outside he sees someone on the street below looking up at him with a very puzzled look on their face. I see him rebound back on the bed saying, "Oh! There was someone out there!"
It was incredibly adorable. So now I try to get Tom to put his paws on the window sill and growl at people outside, but fortunately I haven't growled at anyone yet.
08.28.07 9:04pm(2 comments)
Everything’s coming up Kristy
Wow - it seems I've had a streak of strange yet incredibly awesome stuff happen to me lately. Now, my birthday is on Sunday, so I shouldn't be so surprised that good stuff has happened or that I've received some great stuff in the mail. But this is borderline strange.It all started yesterday with one of the worst storms Chicago has seen in a long time. Tornado and thunderstorm warnings - wind, downed trees, rain, more rain, and still more rain. Tom and I come home to no electricity but set ourselves up with some candles and thai delivery, so we were all set. Never thought I'd knit by candlelight, but it was quite fun and very Old Timey feeling, you know, Tom and I sitting in our parlour, he reading, me knitting. Then my Mom confirms that she is indeed stranded at the Chicago airport for the evening and there are no hotel rooms to be had. So around midnight, I head out to O'hare, which is bustling like christmastime because the storm had finally passed over and planes were landing while Tom stays at home to setup our massive, full-size, air mattress with the heated mattress pad. I got home having rescued Mom from sleeping in a terminal. We chatted for a bit, giggled like school girls, went to bed late and got up early the next morning so that she could make her flight back to Tulsa. Mom had a short visit, but it was a really nice one.
Work today wasn't all that great, but it was a blessing that I was busy. I would've likely face-planted into my keyboard on more than one occasion had I not had constant activity and also that EXTRA LARGE SUPER OH MY GOD BE ALL AND END ALL OF ICED COFFEE from Dunkin' Donuts, coconut flavored with milk and splenda. I got a present at work from Tom's parents of some earrings (that will go perfectly with all the brown stuff I've been wearing lately) and this charming little ceramic pot with a lid that is painted in bright colors, says "be happy" on it, and is just the right size for me to put my diet pepsi money into :) I've had it all of 5 minutes and I put it to one of the most important jobs on my desk - holding my key to maintaining caffeination. That's like right up there with the computer and phone.
Tom and I, tired from the previous evening and having just endured an hour and twenty minute train ride headed to Tank for some excellent sushi and then home. This is where it starts to get really good. I notice a small box above the mail slot and grab it while Tom fetches the mail. I also received a few cards and then head up the 3 flights of stairs to see the puppies and open my loot. So at this point, I have two cards, a box, and then Tom grabs a bag from the kitchen with another present left by J & A, our lovely friends and daily dog walking divas. They got me some fancy soap, and uglydoll, some nice roundy glass magnets that say some cool stuff, and a card with a dog on it! How did I get so lucky to be friends with such awesome thoughtful people?
Next it's the box. Now I've already noticed that the return address says "Hot Topic" so I'm not quite sure what it could be, so I naturally rip open the box. On top is a notecard from Torrid (a plus size funky clothing store that is owned by Hot Topic) that says, " Thank you for entering our contest! We're so excited to tell you, You've won an.... IPOD NANO! xoxo (torrid logo)" WOAH! I won something! Wait - I entered a contest?! I don't remember entering a contest. Still! I won something! Yay! So I unwrap the torrid wrapping paper to find none other than a HOT PINK 4gb ipod nano!!!!1111!!1111!! How cool is that! I <3 Torrid. Seriously. They have super-cute stuff and they give me pink technology. What is more to love?
After I get over the shock of winning something as cool as an Ipod, I open my cards to find two very sweet ones from Gramma and Grampa and Tom's Mom and Dad. And on top of that, the wieners were being absolutely adorable. I was being killed with kindness. I had no idea what to do with myself. So naturally, I decided not to hit the bed as I had previously planned, put my cards up on the fridge with my new magnets and loaded up my Ipod. I mean what else is a girl to do in that situation!?
If that's not all, Tom and I were chosen to be extras in the filming of the latest Batman movie. Tomorrow we'll head downtown bedecked in our subdued, earthtoned, navy or black attire suitable for late fall / early winter and try to get a glimpse of the Bat, the batmobile, somebody famous, and possibly to be in the movie ourselves - if not noticeable. Happy Baturday! The only other downside to hanging out in winter attire (free food!) in 80 degree, humid and possibly rainy weather is that it starts at 6 am. S'alright. I was going to bed early anyway.
This is turning out to be the start of a very awesome birthday weekend :)
08.24.07 8:49pm(6 comments)