the takeover

What a weekend. There was rain, there was sun. People arrived on scooters from seven different states. Our friend Nam got married. New friends were made. Someone won a scooter. We stayed up until 4 am one night, and 3 am the next. I took a ride or two in the sidecar. There was an all-vinyl dance party (and Pressure Drop celebrated it's one-year anniversary.) There were scooter rides all over this beautiful city. And we saw nine bands in nine hours. I think. Bo and his friends worked hard to make it all happen and the rally was quite a success. People had fun. They liked our city. And everyone kept commenting on how 'nice' we all were. We're still a bit tired but wow, what a weekend. So, for all of the people who keep asking 'hey, how was that scooter thing that you guys had over the weekend?,' here's a photo recap. Hostile Takeover II.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make the rally so rad. You did good.

rally time

It's finally here. A weekend of bands and DJs and dancing and food and scooter rides all over our lovely city. Tonight kicks off with The Bishops at the Fremont, tomorrow night is Pressure Drop (an all vinyl dance party and music celebration,) and we'll end the weekend with a music fest at Bombay Bicycle Club on Sunday. Nine bands for ten bucks. (Open to the public.) These guys have worked so hard to make Hostile Takeover the very best it can be, and we're pretty stoked to see it all unfold over the next couple of days. Hope you have a fantastic Memorial day weekend.

chevron

I've just added a new knitting pattern on Ravelry. Chevron! If it looks a bit familiar, it's probably because it's based on a tie belt by J. Crew. I had seen it online, and theirs looks like it's woven, but I wanted to try to knit something similar. It turned out to be a simple and quick project that would look pretty rad in any two-color combination.

Check out the pattern here on Ravelry ... you can download it for free.  :)

Hostile Takeover (it's this weekend!)

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Thursday, May 26, 2011
For anyone arriving early, we will be fielding some informal rides and putting the finishing touches on the rally.

Friday, May 27, 2011

3pm – 7pm
Registration will be held at Greenwood Park Shelter #1. We will be passing out rally bags, shirts, tickets, and all other credentials during this time. We will handle all late arrivals on a one-on-one basis. For those staying at Corporate Headquarters, registration will be carried out upon arrival.

5pm – 7pm
Hang out time at the park while enjoying an Iowa pork loin dinner. (Vegetarian options will also be provided.)

7pm to 9pm
Evening ride about Des Moines ending at The Fremont.

9pm – 2am
Friday night at The Fremont! This little slice of heaven will host our evening entertainment, Omaha ska legends, The Bishops!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

10am – 12pm
Brunch and informational meeting for the afternoon events at the Heritage Carousel in Union Park. We will also register and hand out rally bags to any late arrivals.

12pm –4pm
Hard Ball Scooter Ride: It may sound like a Wisconsin Dells attraction, but this ride is no laughing matter! Our ride planners came up with this gem during a PBR/beef jerky fueled “brainstorming” session. Too many details would give it away, but this ride will be something. If the Scooter Cannonball Run and the World Series of Gymkhana shacked up in Iowa, this would be their unholy love child. Throw in some geocaching with a pinch of jackassery and you have a pretty sweet afternoon. But like all scooter events, the Rockers are waiting around every corner to ruin all of your fun…

5pm – 8pm
After Hard Ball, you WILL need some down time. So grab a nap/shower and recharge for Saturday night! Dinner is on your own, so check out the list of our favorite restaurants and check one out.

8pm – 2am
PRESSURE DROP: An all vinyl dance party and music celebration. Your host, DJ Eight Ten and his special guests, will spin the finest in Motown, Jamaica Ska, Northern Soul, Rare Funk, Roots Rock, Raw Rhythm n Blues and Reggae. It is a night to dress up, a night to celebrate, a night to blow off steam, a night to be thankful for what we’ve got and most importantly…a night to dance.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

12pm – 2pm
After PRESSURE DROP, you may not feel like moving for awhile, so there will be an optional brunch at The Fremont. Start with a build your own Bloody Mary bar, then add in biscuits and gravy, omelets, and doughnuts to round out the morning.

2pm – 4pm
Scooter Show/Slow Race/Raffle/Vendors. There will be a few informal rides during this time as well.

4pm – 2am
CORPORATE RETREAT 2011: Always wanting to go out strong, we are closing out Hostile Takeover II with a multi-genre music festival. Open to the public, we are using this show as a way of raising awareness of scooters and scooter culture to the average citizen. Check out the event page for more info. Between bands we will be awarding trophies for all of the competitions and announcing the winner of “The Kraken.”
 

All scooter makes and cafe racers welcome.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

http://whatisthecorporation.com

(it's okay to) play with your food

This is something I like to call bento on a plate. It probably doesn't even qualify as 'real' bento but whatever. (This is just a grape jam 'hedgehog' sandwich with a raisin eye, teddy grahams, clementine sections, salami, edamame, and cut-up string cheese.)

And in case you're wondering what I do with the rest of the bread (no, I don't throw it away!) I usually end up eating my own sandwich, which looks something like this. Ha.

Lately, my most-used cookie cutter set is this one from IKEA. The wilderness edition, I guess. Forest friends? It's pretty cute.

 Sometimes we eat quesadilla dinosaurs who walk on raisin rocks underneath a colby-jack sun.

 Or have a edamame/peanut butter cracker flower with a fruit leather squirrel for a snack.

But all that matters is that she eats it. :) I've been playing with cute lunches for a couple of years, since Lo is stuck in that picky-eater phase. I definitely make more of them now that the weather is sunny and we're heading out on picnics and playdates more often. And I love reading bento blogs; my very favorite is written by my pal Wendy, so if you like this kind of stuff, you should def check out Wendolonia.

in my faves

Just a few projects that are inspiring me lately (and lovely things going into my Ravelry faves.)

 alicey's stripey sweater

makki's ARASHI scarf

jettshin's Urban Mandarin-UM Ambassador

neus' adirondack camouflage sweater

Olive's Afghan by Larissa Brown

Alexandra Tinsley's Bad Oyster

SweetMama's icing on the {birthday} cake

Vintage Crocheted Blanket by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas

kayanna's Springtime in Hollis

Solstice Cardigan by Cecily Glowik MacDonald

Me and my knitting pals have been thinking about starting a 'summer sweater knitting club.' You know ... so we can maybe finish a whole sweater by the time fall comes around. How about you? Do you have any big summer projects going on?

timestamp

Yesterday, iVillage posted an older project I did when Lo was just a babe, back in the very beginnings of this blog. After she was born, I photographed her holding a calendar page once a month (on her birth date, the 2nd) until she was a year old to record how much she was growing and changing.

I created a calendar page in Adobe Illustrator so I could update and print it each month. (If you like this idea, the sweet girls at Rookie Moms made a page just like it that you can download and print in Word right here.)

 At the end of the year, I had all of the photos printed and I put them into an accordian-fold album.

Looking back, I have to smile. I remember getting our first 'nice' camera the year Lo was born, but I didn't know how to use it. I propped her up against an enormous black backdrop every month and she'd try to eat the calendar page, crumple it up, spit up all over the place or crawl away. She's only four years old, but she's grown up so fast. It's pretty fantastic to look back at these photos now. And to remember everything about that little baby.