Behind the Curtain

Murder, My Sweet

This weekend I was over at the Music Box Theatre (they spell it the old way) for their matinée series. I've been in love with this theater since the moment I moved to Chicago those few years ago and especially love their choices for their matinée shows. This season they are doing a whole line of detective/noir films and on Saturday we caught Murder, My Sweet, which is a Philip Marlowe story. I'm a big fan of Philip Marlowe, mainly through the radio show, because of his smart ass remarks and the like. We enjoyed this film, I would give it 3 out of 5 stars, and would suggest you see it if you are interested in vintage detective stories. Its a bit of a winding story and you are not sure how things relate or will get tied up until the very end, which is just how I like them.

Moving House

I'm pretty much all packed up and am just waiting for the movers to come in and load all my stuff into a truck. Sadie and I will be on a flight back to Chicago at the end of the week and after a year and a half I'll finally be back home. I'm going to take some time away from blogging in order to get settled and all that wonderful nerve-wracking fun that comes with moving. The next post in the series of vintage inspired outfits will go up next week, but otherwise I'll see you back here sometime in the beginning of April.

Burlesque Festival

For those in Chicago, there are still a few performances left in Angela Eve's Twisted Tassel Fest. There are two ongoing shows running: the Star Glow Ball at the Admiral Theater and at the Glitter Glamor Party at Debonair Social Club. Apparently the Admiral is going to have more classic and vintage performances while the Social Club is going to have more rock n' roll/cheesecake theme.

For those in Boston, The Great Boston Burlesque Exposition and Vintage Fashion Fair will be upon you in a week or so. Check out the website for more info.

For those who are in neither location or can't make it to these events for other reasons, here are two videos of my favorite burlesque performances at the moment (I don't think I need to say that these are NSFW). Chicago's own Michelle L'amour with her twist on the classic balloon routine in Les Balloons and Immodesty Blaize at Miss Exotic World 2007.

La Salle Archway

A temporary arch erected over La Salle Ave. in 1910 by Holabird & Roche as a promotional gimmick for their hotel. Wouldn't it be nice if contemporary corporate gimmicks looked this pretty?

From Chicago Interiors: Views of a Splendid World, ISBN 0809275783

D + D

This image above was taken by my boyfriend at our friend's solo show this past weekend (more on that later). The sexy lady in red is none other than Miss Donovan, the brawn of 16 Sparrows. Check out the interview Jennicakes from The Sampler did with Donovan on her etsy shop and 16 Sparrows. She reveals how we accidentally became roommates, friends and business partners.

Donovan is also one of the winners of the Sew Useful Contest and did a little interview for that. This one was a phone interview, so if you would like to hear her talk about her inspiration for her envelope book, go here and scroll down a bit.

Also, my friend Dillon Yothers had a solo show at WOM space this past weekend. Due to my geography, I couldn't be there. But if you are in the Chicago area, check out his work. If not, both the gallery website and his portfolio website have a sampling of his work.

Bleeding Heart Bakery

Yesterday it was raining something crazy in Chicago. I got stuck in a good downpour while running errands and decided to duck into a bakery for shelter. It ended up being Bleeding Heart Bakery, which I have been meaning to check out since I got back in town. It is the first USDA certified organic bakery in the US and has labeled itself as punk rock pastry.  (Apparently it is extremely hard to get the 100% organic seal - your foods can't even be delivered on a truck that has non-organic food on it.)

I wanted to get a good sampling of what they offer, so I ordered a bunch of things to take home and have over the next few days. So far I made it through the raspberry scone and this raspberry and pecan crumble thing, shown in the picture above. They were both freakin' delicious. Like, seriously some of the best baked goods I've ever had. Sweet sassy, I can't wait to eat the other stuff I bought. If you are in Chicago, I highly recommend you stopping by Bleeding Heart (on the corner of Chicago & Damen) and get yourself a little slice of organic pastry heaven.

Eatin' & Printing

A bit of a busy weekend, but in the fun way...
• attended the Literago launch party on Friday and ran into Nicole Balch of Pink Loves Brown (who designed the Literago logo).
• worked on a custom order of business cards (seen above) which are enroute to Australia as I type.
• ate a hella good hot dog at Hot Doug's, known for its gourmet sausages. Talk about gourmet, my hot dog had black truffle butter and paté on top of it!
• watched the wonderful movie Paris, Je t'aime. If its in your city, I highly suggest you see it. My favorite was the story with the mimes & the last one with the American tourist woman.
• lastly, we had our Sunday brunch at the new Orange location on Roscoe. Just like the original location, everything was wonderful, but with half the wait. How lovely.

Bella Vella

For most of my life I was never a fan of breakfast. I was always too rushed or preferred to sleep in and grab a large lunch. But in the last few years, I've fallen in love with breakfast, especially brunch. My friends and I had a Sunday Brunch ritual in Savannah, and now that I'm in Chicago I'm continuing it here. This weekend we went to a new breakfast place, Vella Cafe.

Donovan has been raving about Vella after tasting a crepe of theirs at a farmers market, so we decided we just had to go to the actual restaurant. All of us loved it and really enjoyed the that it was different from the other breakfast places we frequent. If you live in Chicago, you should definitely stop by. It is located right under the Western stop on the blue line, so you can just ride the El there. What was really great about it is that at 10:30 on Sunday it was busy, but there was no wait. Quite lovely.