80/35 /  by jen geigley

Wow, it's been a long time since I've blogged! I do have a semi-decent reason for being MIA, but I'll get to that another day. Anyway, we spent our 4th of July weekend enjoying our city's annual music festival, 80/35. This was the fourth year we've attended, which I think officially makes it a family tradition. 
What better way to spend the Fourth than by checking out two days of live music with downtown Des Moines as the backdrop? Here are some of my favorite moments from the weekend. 

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
The painted people.
Galactic.
Friends, friends and more friends ... everywhere you go.
Okkervil River.
Water fun in the hot sun.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.
Star Troopers with sparklers.
 Of Montreal.
Girl Talk!! (Which was way more fun that I had anticipated.)
The guy who climbed the light pole.
Balloons.
And confetti. (It was a fantastic weekend. We're still kind of tired. Hope you had a good Fourth!)

k.i.p. day /  by jen geigley


World-Wide Knit in Public Day was June 11th, and knitters/crocheters all around the world will be celebrating all week long. So I thought this might be a good time to look back at some of my k.i.p. photos from this past year and tell you some of the stories that go along with them.



On this day, I was working on a ginormous gray scarf out of Rowan Big Wool at a coffee shop downtown. A woman sat down by me and told me about her trip to Colorado and how she thought her coffee group that meets on Merle Hay had missed her.


This was taken against some very lovely hotel carpet from my first knitting retreat weekend with my pals Sarah, Amy, Nichole and Melissa. I finished knitting a sweater in one weekend.


Downtown coffee shop again, where a man who claimed to be an inventor sat down nearby. He showed me notebooks of drawings for farm equipment/machinery that he had hoped to produce someday, along with a arboretum he wanted to build somewhere downtown. He asked if I had any connections.


And yet another downtown coffee shop knitting day. A man who said he was 80 years old sat down and filled me in on the history of boxing. Sugar Ray Robinson, Sonny Liston, Willie Pep and more.


Through my public knitting escapades, I've gathered a few things. Knitters in coffee shops are approachable and inviting. (Even though I normally just look down and avoid eye contact. Usually because I'm counting.) I am shocked at how often someone will sit down in a chair right by me to chat or tell a story.

The other thing is that everyone knows or knew someone who was a knitter. A grandma or aunt or neighbor or teacher. And that relationship always comes with a story as well.

So, to all of the storytellers and chatty coffee patrons, thanks for keeping it exciting. And happy Knitting in Public day.

my first pair /  by jen geigley

Okay, at first glance, I will admit that these look pretty disgusting. But to me, they're an old friend. Perfectly faded. Kind of gross. But it's not like I can wash them. I'd wash off all of the history. Do you have any idea how many Lollapaloozas/Ozzfests/Vans Warped Tours these shoes have been through? (They may have even helped me survive a school dance or two.) It's like Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. "I never wash my pants. I like to keep the night on them."
This weekend, I'm going to a 90s-themed party. So, I found myself digging through an old box of my high school stuff. I unearthed lots of old t-shirts, some Levis cut-offs, and these old shoes. My very first pair of All-Stars, ever. I wore them through four years of high school, and drug them through every concert and mud pit I encountered along the way.
The soles are worn smooth. I used to re-draw the star and the All-Star label on the back time and time again with a Sharpie every time it wore off. Oh, and apparently I liked to draw the Airwalk logo. (This was 1992-96, and I thought Airwalks were the shit. Obviously, this was before you could buy them at Payless.) There's half of a Hennepin Ave sticker that I found on the ground after some friends and I saw a show in Minneapolis. The rubber around the soles have my old favorite bands written on them ... L7, Slayer, Rage. The '1034' you see written there is my high school locker combination. The only boys' names I ever wrote on them were the Beastie Boys.

And so. This concludes my ode to an old and slightly disgusting pair of shoes. Do you hold on to old memories/stuff like this? I'm pretty happy I kept these.

the takeover /  by jen geigley

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 /  by jen geigley

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 /  by jen geigley

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!) /  by jen geigley



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 /  by jen geigley

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.