Junkn Rental Shoot

Starting in January there will be a Junk in da Trunk Girls catalog available for vintage rentals for your party, photo shoot or any other needs.  A few weeks ago with the help of my very supportive friend, we styled a photo shoot for a few of the items that will be available.  Here a few teasers until the catalog launches in January.

At first for this photo shoot, I wanted to collaborate with a bunch of different businesses and support each other but that just didn't pan out.  We did however collaborate with SmashCake & Company for the party supplies that you will see better in the catalog close up shots. All the food and beverages in the photos are from the local grocery store, that was all bought the night before.  So just in case you were wondering, yes, you can make a pretty pinterest type party with attainable food, and not have to special order everything! :)


Over-N-Out

The Last Summer 2013 Adventure

What do you get when you mix a balmy 75 degree Chicago September evening with a vantage point of what is debately my new favorite view of the city all while breaking the laws of physics with an adult beverage that smokes in hand?  Why you get an evening that is out of this world at the Adler Planetarium and their monthly adult only After Dark event of course.

It's a funny story how I ended up at the After Dark party for the month of September... I may have won the tickets by following the Planetarium's twitter feed and answered one of their weekly trivia questions correctly.  (Ya I'm a nerd, I own it and Crab Nebula for the win!) Anyway that is neither here nor there.  That evening, I saw the vast beauty of the Valles Marineris on Mars via satellite images in the show Welcome To The Universe, I learned all about different constellations in The Night Sky Live  and got to look at the Harvest moon through the Doane Telescope and felt for a minute that I was as close as Neil Armstrong had been. After the museum closed, I took a few minutes to look out at the moon and it's reflection on the Lake and reflect myself on how small we really are in this vast universe.

The point of this post is, the Planetarium at night with a DJ spinning, carrying adult beverages into all the shows, finally being able to see the stars in Chicago (irregardless that it was from the inside a building) and looking through a telescope that only astronomers get to look through was amazing and ended the summer of 2013 on a high note. Fall 2013 Here. We. Go.

Over-N-Out

20 Things

 

 

 

 

 

1. I like spicy food. But not spicy to the point of sweat + tears.
2. I may have an addiction to anything with the following ingredients: salted caramel

3. I often think about going back to school to become a nurse.

4. I can never decide whether I want to spend the last few minutes of my night browsing Instagram or reading.

5. I know more about football and players then some of the guys I watch with on Sundays.

6. I want to visit all 50 U.S. states. (Currently sitting at 28)
7. I already know the titles and characters of the books I want to write.
8. I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
9.  Somedays I’m extra introverted, it's a fault. Alone time is KEY to me functioning.
10. I must once a year go some place via plane for at least a week to explore. There's something about recycled air & just too many things I need to see and experience.

11. Since giving up soda, I love love love coffee. Partly for the taste, mostly for the caffeine, but mainly for the ritual of it.

12. My purse is always in a constant state of chaos.

13. I send myself multiple e-mails daily. (P.S. This blog post was composed entirely in an e-mail.)

14. I think going out for breakfast is more special then going out to dinner.

15. I love dancing. 

16. I aspire to be an amazing photographer one day.

17. I listen to music for the lyrics.

18. I hate shorts, but couldn't resist the dressy ones in the photo. 

19. I can’t begin my day without hitting snooze on my alarm at least 3 times. There’s just no way.
20. All I really want to do is enjoy every minute of my short time here. All day. Everyday. 

 

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Let's Talk About Da Funk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Working from home has a way of turning me into a bit of a hermit. With the exception of getting out a few hours a day for errands, client meetings, treasure hunting or deciding to work from my other office aka "the coffee shop with the green lady on it's cups" most of the time it's just me, T,  loud Pandora stations and my computer.  Which to be honest is nothing short of paradise for this introverted work horse. Being your own boss is amazing.  But lately, I've been in a bit of a funk, a funk that needs a major attitude adjustment.  I put it out there to a few of my self-employed collages only to find that they too are in a funk as well. An unispired, burned out funk. Tell me is it this time of year or is there something in the water?  How do you all adjust your attitudes any suggestion would be much appreciated. 

 

Over-N-Out 

New York State of Mind

Then:  On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was in my college dorm room getting ready for the day with the radio on when an interruption in the music came on to announce that a plane had flown into the North Tower.  I immediately turned on the TV and saw with my own eyes the chaos that was ensuing. My room mate came back from the showers to find me crying on the couch.  I walked to class as The South Tower was crumbling, campus was in complete silence.  I arrived at my creative writing class and 10 minutes in the professor sent us all home and told us to surround ourselves with people.  My roommate, floor mates and I spent the rest of the day glued to the tv and trying to call family but cell towers were down.  That night the entire campus came together in the Quad for a candlelight vigil.  I remember looking up at the sky and not seeing a single airplane and feeling melancholy.

 

 

June 2002 I left for my first visit to Manhattan, and my first visit to ground zero.  The eerie silence, interrupted every so often with sounds of bulldozers still sifting through rubble, the coldness in that particular spot in the city on a very warm day, the flowers and photos hanging on the chain link fence, and the weeping family members.  I was overcome with a feeling that New York was somewhere I needed to spend a chapter of my life. 

 

June 2003 I left my small town in Wisconsin for a summer in Manhattan for my internship working with kids from Manhattan that had lost someone on that horrific day. That summer turned into the most life changing summer of my life, and changed my perspective on the things that really matter in life.

 

 

 

Recent: Since 2003, I have been back and forth to Manhattan several times, it's a city that just calls to my soul.  But it was last summer's visit that affected me.  I had gone to the 9/11 memorial and thought I would find it sad but it was instead the most peaceful, eerily quiet and tranquil place I have ever been in the city. I went to search for the names of the relatives of the kids I had worked with. I went to the space and found the name I was searching for, it was a very humid calm July afternoon.  I put my hand a top the name and was immediately sprayed with droplets of fountain water, my eyes teared up and goosebumps ensued. It was as if he was letting me know that he was there, that he appreciated and was thanking me for coming out to visit his final resting place. That moment is something that not only stuck with me the rest of the trip, but I get goosebumps thinking of it now,  I was filled with a sense of peace and understanding that this life we all live is too short and every moment should be appreciated and never taken for granted.

 

Regardless of where you call home today, Chicago, New York the West coast I hope that you find the time to take a quiet moment and reflect, because it is in the darkness that we shine brightest.

 

 

Over-N-Out

  Nature is never in a hurry, she has seasons and everything that needs to be done is accomplished. It might not be perfect, even nature has flaws but the end goal is always attained.  Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways from the fierce wind battles they have had to endure.  But those trees, they take deeper roots, they have to in order to stand tall and survive.   Even in their uniquely bent flawed shapes they are still beautiful.  A few life lessons can be learned from sitting and staring at a tree, first and foremost a tree stands tall and proud no matter the weather that surrounds it.  A tree they never give up or surrender to the wind, they may bend and branches may break, but uproot that takes an insane gust and a pretty enduring battle. 

 

Like a bent and flawed tree we all carry our scars from our battles.  Some are physcially apparent but others we wear on the inside.  But all of those flaws put together, they make each of us who we are, a unique and beautiful part of nature that continues to battle the wind storms.  

 

Over-N-Out

It's This Weekend Y'all!

My life is pretty good. It is. But I am just searching for something to make it great-

something to make it matter. And that's the hardest part is it not. Trying to figure out what that something is. But I  go forward with the hope of that when I find it I will instantly know.


 "Pool of No Inhibitions" on the Highway 20 Ride taken by yours truly.