Well it’s that time of year where I spend painstaking hours shooting ridiculous scenes of my animals to fill a 12 month desk calendar with the utmost joy. You can get your very own Ugly Tribe 2014 Desk Calendar by simply requesting one! That’s right I am so amazing that I’m giving them away! Woah! If you’re not convinced you need one immediately please take a look at the 2012 Ugly Tribe Desk Calendar here.
To request simply leave a comment here and/or email me at brianna.connelly@gmail.com
Well I had a great weekend! It’s my last one here in Chicago before I leave for Thailand on Saturday!!! (WHAT TIME FLEW BY!) On Saturday I got a new iPhone 5s for my trip/life. Ever since I updated my 4s to iOS 7 it was just so slow and the battery would not even last for a few hours. The upgrade came at a good time because I’ll be able to use this new one on my trip as my primary camera.
Anyhoo. I met up with an old Mullen (my high school) buddy who recently relocated to Chicago and finally got to eat the November burger at Kuma’s Corner – the immortalized SLEEP burger. Pretty much it is a ‘Thanksgiving style burger’ with cranberry, gravy, turkey burger, topped with tempura fried stuffing and sage leaves.
Yesterday I accidentally got into the holiday spirit… I know what you’re thinking – “But Bree it’s only the middle of November!” I know I know. BUT Since I’ll be gone for Thanksgiving I had to set up and shoot all the photos for my annual Ugly Tribe Calendar this weekend. That meant I got to buy/set up a tree – I didn’t get to decorate at all last year so this year is gonna get nuts.
Then being such a coconut milk/almond milk enthusiast I was super super excited when I saw that this year there are even more holiday/seasonal flavors for the non-bovine ‘milk’ drinkers. So far – So Delicious is winning by miles and miles.
In terms of CRAFTS! I know it’s seemed a little dry here lately. BUT I’m gift making so I can’t very well put up photos of people’s future gifts. But do note that I finally bought the contrast color for my sweater and have been marathon knitting gifts so once I can give those gift I’ll post all the photos here. I did manage to use the sewing machine extensively last night/yesterday afternoon during the Chicago Tornado watch 2013.
It was a super busy, but fun weekend – Now on to the busy week before I jetset to Thailand on Saturday!
Godspeed!
xxx
GFK
November blog challenge for Flashback Friday:
Obviously in my home Halloween is a big deal. But not really for me – for my animals…..
I tried to do this every :10 of the hour, but honestly most of those :10s I was sitting in my doom cube at work. That’s boring so here are 10 photos that may or may not be from :10.
DANG – November Daily Blog you’re good.
Of course I changed a TON of things in my life this summer, but I will be really candid here in saying the best epiphany that occurred to me was that I should always come first. Has it gotten to the point where I’m annoying about this ‘authentic self’ yet? Over the summer I realized that I had given so much of myself away in the hopes that someone would finally come around and change/give back for me that I had essentially lost myself entirely. I felt like I wasn’t able to do anything that I really wanted – ever. Not to mention I didn’t stand for anything really and was someone I didn’t want to be. I also accepted that I cannot drink at all anymore. I’m sure many of you have known me to throw back a few over the years, so it may be shocking that suddenly I’m sober, but it is the best gift I have given myself. The time was right to cut that out of my life in a rather un-dramatic way. I can look back now seeing how much I’ve done and just kind of wonder where I would be if I had phased that out a long time ago. But, I digress since giving that up was not a big deal at all. I finally feel like I’m on fire. I’m able to concentrate, give the appropriate amount of energy and be motivated about anything I choose.
I generally dislike summers because they require me to re-examine my life and my status quo. This summer was no exception and ultimately, I walked away with the foundations for the authentic self that I am falling hard in love with everyday as well as the gifts of joy and contentment through sobriety. You should always put yourself first. I learned that over the summer and now that it is deep into Fall, I have never been more content and happy.
XXX
GFK
Today’s November challenge is ‘Your first pet’. I grew up with a revolving door of GSDs, but my first pet that was all my own was Leopold my pug. Obviously, if you know me he is a HUGE part of my life, identity, and personality. Almost everyone says their dog ‘is a person in an animal’s body’ but Leopold seriously is human. He can express his exact emotions with a single look – he can be moody as all hell – he even gets mad if I don’t share my apple. He will forever be the first member of the tribe and my little bubbie.
Roll the Leopold William Edward VIII photos.
If you wanna check out more pictures of Leopold here is his Flickr Set.
The blog challenge for Sunday was “A time when you felt unstoppable” – this is easy.
It’s right now.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so ‘on’ in my life. I have a clear head – I have hobbies – I have goals – I have connections – I have fun – I have healthy relationships – I have awesome animals – I’m eating well/feeling great – my job is rocking – plus I have some majorly insane travels and tattoos coming up.
I’ve talked a lot about ‘DO’ and the only reason my life is so unstoppable and ‘on’ right now is because I just started doing. Reaching that authentic self is so exciting. I’m meeting new people who not only share my interests, but are supportive and kind. By doing, I have put that positive energy out into the world and it is finally coming back ten-fold for me. I can promise you this I will never compromise again. Ever. Being the authentic me I am supposed to reach is what makes me unstoppable.
After our Russian Tea Time food comas wore off we decided to go to a Chicago landmark – SuperDawg. It’s a really cute drive-in northwest in Chicago that is just adorable. I always bring peeps here from out of town and it’s always a hit.
Since it was almost midnight we basically went home and crashed. I tried to stay awake for Monsters University, but I just couldn’t make it. All the food got to me. Rest was necessary.
Sunday morning we went down to Chinatown. I had driven through it on Archer Ave, but never stopped. I had heard great things about Minghin Dim Sum and it was AMAZING. I ate like ten pork/shrimp dumplings. The short ribs were really really good too. I think Iris was bummed she was there with the ‘white kids’ but she was able to use her Catonese speaking wizardry to order for us the most delectable dim sum. Now I want another dumpling.
Basically it was a BLAST weekend. I had a great time showing them around. The moral of this tale my friends is that I want you to come visit and when you do we will have a super awesome fun time.
xxx
GFK
The challenge was a day in the life – this is a typical work day. Sometimes I do these things sometimes not. Creep on my day…..
Over the weekend I went to KNITXMIDWEST in Des Moines, Iowa. It was the most fun weekend I’ve had in a long time and I always have a blast on the weekend so that’s saying it was OFF THE CHARTS FUN. The knit event took place in an adorable little lodge in a state park outside Des Moines. When I walked in on Saturday morning… I LOST IT. First, I finally met Jen at MakexDo – who’ve I have been following on her blog for years. Then I looked around and there were porcelain kittens, and yarn, and crafters, and candy, and pink, and just oh my glob. I kept feeling like I needed to run into the woods and scream ‘I AM THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN ALLLLLL THE LAND!!!!!’
Anyways, I’ll do a few more blogs about the weekend and the awesome awesome awesome knitting friends in Des Moines coming up – here are some pictures that made me barf rainbows. Again a HUGE GIANT KITTEN/RAINBOW BARF/GLITTER FILLED THANK YOU goes to the gals at Hill Vintage and Knits and Jen.
ghostfaceknitter.com 