The Refrigerator Door

so it's 2011...

2011-01-02T16:47:00.005-05:00

all the changes and plans were laid in 2010, the year of discovery and leaping. now comes the knuckle down and make it happen part....

this is the project:

taking an old 1938 diner and making it new again (which entails demo, permits, construction, rebuild) and opening a new restaurant (which entails permits, licenses, taxes, payroll, cpas, merchant services, hiring, marketing, websites, design plans, menu building, purveyor accounts, utilities, inspections...well, it's kind of big all by itself you know) and then because we're going for locally sourced we have farm wrangling, which is a whole other big ball of time and organization.

we've had delays. we're dealing with city permit issues, but we're getting there. the building is pretty much gutted, we've logged our progress on facebook and worked hard to make connections in the community. it all seems kind of unreal after coming off of 4-5 years of 50-70 hour weeks working for others on salary, to no paid job, to the next step of business owner. what a wild three months of leaping and hoping it's been.

here's to 2011 and where it takes us.

*olive, an urban dive: check it out... links are at the top right of the page

restaurant survey. do it for downtown!

2010-09-06T12:13:00.003-04:00

link it! post it! e-mail it to friends!

https://spreadsheets8.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEdJYWpZTnp0eE9Cb1d0QVVuZGxOS0E6MQ#gid=0

you know you've reached extended exhaustion when...

2010-03-04T20:37:00.006-05:00

you can't really remember what 'normal' feels like. you laugh too easy, are annoyed instantly, forget the words for simple objects, refuse to sit down because you fear the loss of energy in trying to get back moving and if just one person really hugged you and didn't pull away too quick, you know you would melt in their arms and cry for minutes with no explanation possible. luckily there are few people in the world who know how to hug like that or I'd never get anything done.

fallishness

2009-10-07T14:08:00.001-04:00

recovery bandage

2009-05-04T17:40:00.003-04:00

post op bandage. why is recovery always worse than the initial trauma?

injury bandage

2009-05-03T00:06:00.001-04:00

injury bandage...to be followd 2mrw by post reconstuctive surgery bandage

tornado simulator, cosi

2009-04-16T09:27:00.000-04:00

piccolo: small, black, high pitched

2009-04-15T10:08:00.001-04:00

three fronts in one

2009-04-14T09:03:00.000-04:00

better to break...

2009-04-13T09:11:00.003-04:00

i think the other side of the door frame had the other half of this saying...than to bend. but it was in a brewery so i can't remember!

tracks

2009-04-12T10:08:00.000-04:00

my kid & a books and company gift card

2009-04-11T08:52:00.000-04:00

still makin' 'em dance

2009-04-10T09:05:00.000-04:00

three photos that aren't mine, but make me really happy, if one's yours claim it!

2009-04-09T12:33:00.000-04:00

white board zombie art

2009-04-08T18:21:00.000-04:00

silly string, one of the top inventions of all time

2009-04-07T12:07:00.003-04:00

though i only have a few pictures of silly string wars we have them often. things get too intense, everyone grumpy? throw a can at everyone and go nuts, immediate mood changer, i do it with friends too, ambush them on my porch when they come to vent. oh and santa leaves a can in every stocking every year, it's a great fun mess!

what does a game, a fence, a castle and a clock have in common?

2009-04-06T20:36:00.001-04:00

rooftops

2009-04-05T23:16:00.001-04:00

look up, waaayyy up

2009-04-04T04:41:00.000-04:00

Quiz: name the fountain or the square in Rome...

2009-04-03T14:43:00.001-04:00

umm, excuse me but did you realize your tower is sinking to the left a bit?

2009-04-02T02:08:00.000-04:00

pedestrian bridge overkill

2009-04-01T02:02:00.000-04:00

pope's wall of fame

2009-03-31T02:05:00.000-04:00

kind of impressive actually

looking through

2009-03-30T06:58:00.000-04:00

three floyds brewery, illinois

2009-03-29T00:06:00.000-04:00

sails in the water...looks like a toy but i was in a helicopter

2009-03-28T00:05:00.000-04:00

boats on a roof

2009-03-27T00:03:00.000-04:00

it's all about the light and the lines

2009-03-26T06:27:00.001-04:00

in a small suburb outside of rome, the 50th church to be built for
the jubilee of AD 2000 in 1994. pope john II commissioned a jewish
architect, richard meier to build this, which caused a stir as did
the final design!

construction camouflage

2009-03-25T06:52:00.000-04:00

in rome when a building is under construction they build a set around
it and paint it to look like the surrounding architecture. Then they
sell the ad space to pay for it. Awesome.

a sculpture I can identify with

2009-03-24T06:48:00.000-04:00

oui, paris

2009-03-23T06:44:00.000-04:00

bass balalaika

2009-03-22T03:48:00.000-04:00

balalaika is one of my favorite words

just another fountain in rome

2009-03-21T03:29:00.000-04:00

complicated simplicity

2009-03-20T03:28:00.001-04:00

holy cathedral, batman!

2009-03-19T03:29:00.000-04:00

happy bike

2009-03-18T03:25:00.000-04:00

twisted spoke... a bar no more

2009-03-17T02:30:00.000-04:00

row your boat with music and beer

2009-03-16T00:57:00.002-04:00

you can see everyone on the boat in the bell of this horn

indeed

2009-03-15T01:05:00.001-04:00

a bit of history

2009-03-14T01:20:00.002-04:00

so i left paris the first time in 1991. for about a year in paris
this was my c-bar, all the foreign legionnaires would show up and
sing drunken songs, it was a safe, fun place to hang out and play
darts right in the heart of 'downtown' paris. so 15 years later it
takes me like an hour to find a place i once spent several nights a
week (to my credit there was a lot of construction going on). so we
arrive late, last call late, but i try to go in a certain door, and
they let us in asking 'how long has it been since you've been here?'
the entrance door and the space has totally changed. the crazy thing
is, as i tell them the years i was there and who i knew, recognition
starts to play on the bartender's face. it turns out this italian
woman (see picture) not only knew some of the people in my stories,
but one of them had been there only hours before! life has some very
cool moments.

a sacred heart waits for me on my favorite hill

2009-03-13T08:21:00.000-04:00

sacre coeur, montmarte, paris

creepy ass sculpture in st. peter's basilica

2009-03-12T00:48:00.001-04:00

Detail of monument of Pope Alexander VII, with skeleton and hourglass.

Heading back towards the entrance, between the Chapel of the Column
and the left transept is the monument to Pope Alexander (Chigi) VII
(d. 1667) by Bernini, 1671-78. The door below symbolizes the Gate of
Death, above which a skeleton lifts a fold of red marble drapery and
holds an hourglass. He is flanked on the right by a statue
representing Truth or religion, who rests her foot on a globe —
specifically placed upon the British Isles, symbolizing the pope's
problems with the Church of England. Three other figures represent
Charity, Prudence and Justice.
The left transept contains the altars of St. Peter's Crucifixion, St.
Joseph (pictured at right) and St. Thomas.

my favorite office thus far

2009-03-11T07:42:00.000-04:00

that was my desk

trees, rocks and sky

2009-03-10T07:17:00.000-04:00

on the wind

2009-03-09T07:14:00.003-04:00

there's a red paraglider in this shot... sure the castle is cool, but all i wanted was to paraglide, from the second i saw it.

three days and 97 miles later (on a bike)... i found someone to take me up and got to jump off a mountain at over 5,000 ft. It makes me giggle just thinking about it.

austria

ski trail

2009-03-08T07:15:00.000-04:00

vivid

2009-03-07T07:02:00.001-05:00

resort mountain town in northern italy

2009-03-06T08:52:00.000-05:00

Hotel Ponte Sisto, Via dei Pettinari 64, Rome, 00186 off Travstevere

www.hotelpontesisto.it

This restored Renaissance palazzo lies on an ancient and narrow Roman street leading from the Campo dei Fiori to the Tiber. It is one of Rome's choice small inns. For lovers of landmarks and monuments, the location is idyllic, only a 10-minute stroll from the Piazza Navona. In neutral colors, the small to midsize bedrooms are handsomely furnished, often in cherry wood, and each comes with a moderate-size private bathroom lined with Siena marble and containing a tub/shower combination.

my favorite hotel

2009-03-06T07:47:00.001-05:00

puddle pictures

2009-03-05T00:04:00.000-05:00

venice, piazza san marco (st. mark's square)

we've been expecting you

2009-03-04T07:35:00.000-05:00

a bubbly welcome

2009-03-03T07:29:00.000-05:00

window texture

2009-03-02T07:18:00.001-05:00

austria

hidden scrabble truth

2009-03-01T06:34:00.000-05:00

the entrance to narnia found

2009-02-28T03:57:00.000-05:00

you might have to click on this one

one stands out

2009-02-27T03:56:00.000-05:00

you're a go for confession

2009-02-26T00:51:00.000-05:00

see the little green light? That's how people know if a priest is in
there waiting. These confession cabinets are everywhere! It's like
the drive thru at the bank!

morning in austria

2009-02-25T08:28:00.000-05:00

get your beads on!

2009-02-24T10:36:00.000-05:00

when last were your toes kissed by sunshine?

2009-02-23T08:37:00.001-05:00

a shadow i cast

2009-02-22T08:35:00.000-05:00

best cubicles ever

2009-02-21T08:34:00.000-05:00

Three Floyd's Brewery

fill the glasses already

2009-02-20T08:32:00.000-05:00

wine tasting in cleveland

if i were a gnome, you'd find me here

2009-02-19T08:24:00.000-05:00

street ghost dance

2009-02-18T01:06:00.000-05:00

the long bar in chicago

2009-02-17T01:25:00.000-05:00

before I found baseball

2009-02-16T07:43:00.000-05:00

the last wedding i threw

nothing blew up, it's just an awesome sky

2009-02-15T00:50:00.001-05:00

st. augustine west, at the same time i shot the east view (posted on 2.2.09)

valentine scar

2009-02-14T00:50:00.000-05:00

we all have one

root art from my garden

2009-02-13T08:31:00.001-05:00

like a man's tattooed arm wrapped around a heart

andre the giant: perspective

2009-02-12T07:45:00.002-05:00

erector set build and thanksgiving table

taking truth in advertising strangely far

2009-02-11T10:37:00.000-05:00

classic

2009-02-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

eric and erin's wedding 2008

favorite spots at grandpa's cabin

2009-02-09T04:45:00.003-05:00

grandpa is a snowbird, i can hardly wait for him to migrate back to us. we've been spending summer days here since i was five, he'll be 91 this year. a day visiting grpa goes exactly like this almost every time: hit the pool while grpa wakes up, about 3pm go back to the cabin (grandpa exclaims 'hi kiddos') hugs, visit and have happy hour (wine with cheese, crackers and olives) ...play a little not-so-friendly penny poker, get grpa a beer, do whatever chore he's come up with (while he sits, watches and drinks the beer), ride around the camp grounds on the golf cart, get grpa a beer, build a fire, make dinner AND dessert, eat, (grandpa will now make some comment on dinner and rate his approval), clean up (i wash, he dries), get grpa a beer, make s'mores, (grpa comes out to inspect the fire, sometimes i build one poorly, just so he can enjoy pestering and fixing it) enjoy the embers and the night sounds in the woods, get grpa a beer, play a few loud rounds of cut throat dominos, (he keeps score...always) 9-10pm pack up the car, hugs all around and wave all the way down the lane! (some summers we manage this visit once a week, some summers once a month, i'm hoping for once a week this summer!)

this is grpa, george to you. and that's his beer.

skatn

2009-02-08T09:32:00.000-05:00

there's something great, in a silly way, about roller skating with a huge pile of friends.. as adults... sneakin' out to the car to share your bottle of jack, and still remembering how to stay on your feet and do that leg crossover thing on the turns. i think we were laughing too hard and too drunk to seem creepy to the young kids.

5th street sunrise

2009-02-07T04:11:00.000-05:00

he will sell you a cd however

2009-02-06T10:37:00.000-05:00

a need for spring

2009-02-05T04:13:00.000-05:00

cub's game

2009-02-04T04:14:00.000-05:00

check-in dance of happiness

2009-02-03T04:17:00.001-05:00

storm on the way

2009-02-02T04:00:00.001-05:00

st. augustine

blue

2009-02-01T03:59:00.000-05:00

one of those 25 things, things

2009-01-31T20:39:00.006-05:00

1 i love making lists...but not about me

2 i'm into pillows, i have 7 full sized pillows on my double pillowtop queen sized bed

3 super sharp pencils make me happy, i've got a 60+ year old crank wall mount steel sharpener that moves with me to every place i live

4 i buy one case of thin mint girl scout cookies every year, freeze them and dole them out cautiously like they were gold for the next 12 months

5 i haven't purchased a single piece of furniture in my home, everything is handed down antiques or pieces i was asked to permanently store in plain sight

6 i am a really creative speller, but i can proofread the hell out of anyone else's work

7 i abhor the contracted verb, [ain't] spoken or written, it's going to bother me the rest of this list, that the word is up there

8 i had three brothers (all younger) but one died when i was four. i used to scold him in my head when i had to do all the mowing because he would have been old enough to share in the chores

9 ....we had 2.5 acres and a push mower, dammit Ben

10 number nine is my favorite number, and it's divisible by three which is my second favorite number

11 i love heights and i like to jump off things

12 i have never gambled with my own money... not even those scratch off thingys

13 i'm on my 3rd passport and have visited/lived in 23 countries. i backpacked europe solo for 2 1/2 years when i was 19 (too young to be scared and too stupid to realize i should have never stopped!)

14 in my early thirties, i was a stage hand (in-town concert roadie) for 3 years, as a fun side job. i used to climb 3-5 stories on a wire swing ladder to run truss spots (spot lights hanging over the stage) and had my jeans catch fire once by pyro that went off too close to my rig. my kids were 9 and 6 at the time... i still get cool points for this

15 i'm a fine solderer... i used to solder components onto motherboards for computers for my dad and built my first digital alarm clock from the circuit board up when i was 12... it still works

16 i love, love, love a fine pen, quality paper and good handwriting

17 i believe in karma, murphy's law and gravity..... i've learned to have a healthy respect for electricity and bi-polar, menopausal women

18 i broke a man's nose once, he attacked me, i didn't like it, i also didn't like the feeling of breaking someone's nose... don't make me do it again

19 i drive fast, chicago or tennessee in 4.35 hours fast and i've never had a speeding ticket.

20 i knock on wood religiously anytime i say something like...i've never had a speeding ticket

21 my favorite foods are grilled cheese sandwiches, rhubarb smoked duck, and anything brought to me in bed

22 bubbles and silly string, absolutely two of the best inventions of all time

23 my eyes turn a totally different shade of green if i sit in a sunbeam for a while

24 i clean when i'm really pissed off, lucky for others it doesn't happen that often... less lucky for the house and it's occupants though

25 this should be the best one right? it's the last one... shit, i'm not always great at being put on the spot like this, everything just goes straight out of my head....

26 (25+1) great, now i'm an overachiever

have a seat

2009-01-31T03:58:00.000-05:00

airplane graveyard

2009-01-30T03:57:00.001-05:00

krissy's purse

2009-01-29T03:50:00.001-05:00

m&m experiment

2009-01-28T03:49:00.000-05:00

important public service announcement

2009-01-27T09:46:00.000-05:00

and now you know

lego jeep "with realistic cape action"

2009-01-26T11:44:00.000-05:00

by connor

solo

2009-01-25T03:32:00.002-05:00

solo my way

solo lucas' way

sorry, couldn't help it... jager bombs, man.

quote

2009-01-24T20:54:00.001-05:00

"i used to worry, then i read a report that said 10 out of 10 people die"

bella, the movie

breakfast fare

2009-01-24T10:50:00.001-05:00

restaurant omelet

Tom's famous Cheeto Omelet

a rather unwelcoming window

2009-01-23T11:37:00.000-05:00

tropical jungle posing

2009-01-22T09:36:00.000-05:00

adrienne and mindo

graveyard, lizards and ornate gates

2009-01-21T09:34:00.000-05:00

we glue/paint ads, this is what austrians do

2009-01-20T12:34:00.000-05:00

2009-01-19T07:39:00.000-05:00

the question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.

~ayn rand

roma on the hill

2009-01-19T02:33:00.000-05:00

bacon done right

2009-01-18T07:48:00.000-05:00

no one ever says 'I want to come back as a jellyfish' but it doesn't seem like a bad pick

2009-01-17T01:45:00.000-05:00