Vida

Everyone wants his parent’s, or friend’s, or partner’s undivided attention — even if many of us, especially children, are getting used to far less. Simone Weil wrote, “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” By this definition, our relationships to the world, and to one another, and to ourselves, are becoming increasingly miserly. ( via ) Technology.  What a tricky thing to balance.  Yes, I have an iPhone that I use and enjoy.  But when I am with someone else, the phone goes in a bag or somewhere else.  Unless something is happening and then I absolutely explain that to the person I'm with so I have to monitor it & I always keep the person I'm with informed about what is happening.  One of my biggest pet peeves is when I meet up with someone and they have their phone sitting on the table while we eat and when it goes off they stop whatever we are talking about to monitor their phone.  Ugh.  Kind-of makes me want to scream every ...

Have you Chicago folks heard about all the new ride sharing programs (peer-to-peer rides) coming around right now? Lyft launched in San Franciso a little over a year ago, but started in Chicago May 10th.  Have you noticed random cars riding around with a pink mustache on the grill of their cars?  I saw the mustaches before I knew what they were for and was quite confused.   ( source ) What does their mustache stand for?  According to their blog : The pink mustache is a smile.  It's the goal of finishing your ride a little happier than you were before.  It's the belief that people are inherently good.  It's the idea that a great conversation on a trip across town can result in a new friend, a job offer, or even a hug after a tough breakup. It sounds like it functions like a cab.  There's a meter and suggested donation, etc. SideCar This is a donation peer-to-peer ride share program that I keep hearing about has been around since March. ...

Starting tomorrow night I'm traveling personally !  I feel like pretty much all month, I've just been struggling to keep my head above water so I really, really need a break. (You think my family will be offended if I sleep all week?  That's really all I feel like doing right now.) June was such a blur.  It doesn't really feel like it happened.  I was basically in Chicago for 6 days this entire month and I have a list of friends who reached out to me to get together who I didn't have a chance to see.  One text message literally said:  "Friend date soon, please!"  Dear friends, sorry I've been a bad friend for the month of June.  I hope to do better soon... although honestly, I don't have all that much control. But next week I hope to have some relaxation. Tomorrow Karen is going to come pick me up at the airport.  I love watching the people waiting for their loved ones at the airport.  (Yes, maybe it makes you think of the intro ...

Growing up I used to make head wreaths with these flowers in the summer  all the time I loved them. I still do. Kel & I went for a walk the other day and made them for ourselves.   I loved smelling the flowers the whole time I wore it! It's a summer essential!

I love all these ideas coming up about public space art!   (via Ted ) There are various event happening in Chicago through the 22nd for Version 13, which takes on social and urban issues and promotes cultural works in public spaces.  All the events in the festival explore the idea of an "urban operating system."  " This June 14 through June 22 2013, we're inviting you to demonstrate your skills, share your ideas and your visions to build a better city." ( via ) Here is the schedule !  There are so many awesome events happening, so if you are around, I recommend checking one (or more) out! Here are some photos from Version Festival so far. Update:  You will never believe what I saw on my morning run Wednesday across the bridges to Ohio City in Cleveland!  Market Garden had this Before I die I want to... chalkboard on the side of their building!!! I saw one folks!  They really do exist!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!  And a very special Happy Father's Day to my Dad!! As I thought about what to write in this post, I wrote about 3 different posts.  But I choose one in honor of being an adult and being decisive.   I still remember growing up washing dishes with Dad.  I didn't understand why we had to rinse off the soap after we washed it.  I mean the dirty food was off the plate.  He didn't pause for a second and said, "Well, we have to wash off the soap.  How would you like the next time you ate off this plate for it to taste like soap?"  Bam.  It totally made sense. Dad always has a way to break things down so I never feel stupid with my questions and he always keeps me learning.  It's sort-of become a joke with Rubina that anytime I mention an article I've read, it's understood my dad sent it to me.  He keeps me up on the world's happenings by mostly sending me articles he knows I'll find int...

My week did not have a strong start.  Here's a tiny look at the beginning: -wake-up call at 5 Monday to get to the airport for my flight -flight took off a bit late and then during the flight the pilot comes on the PA to announce we are having mechanical issues and turning around to land in St. Louis -we all had to get off the plane & wait for another plane to come 3 hours later.  At first, I chatted with Karen and we discussed her coming to the airport to have lunch with me, but that didn't work out so I ended up waiting around  working in the STL airport for 3 hours.  As I told Karen, "At least I'm with my peeps."  (Cardinals fans were everywhere !) -I finally arrived to meet my co-worker in Houston to find my thought that we would be spending at least 12 hours in the hospital everyday working confirmed.  *Sigh* -my co-worker and I had all kinds of negative energy going on -I got up to run Tuesday morning in the dark.  I was so excited to ...

Every so often my parents bring me eggs from my uncle's farm.  If you ever have the chance to buy some farm fresh eggs, take this as your encouragement to do so.   I have several reasons to say this: -it's pretty much a guarantee the chickens are treated much better in this environment -as soon as I crack the egg I can tell the difference! I baked a little Saturday and used one egg from the store, one egg from the farm.  The one on the top is from the farm. Can you tell how much darker it is?   Immediately I noticed how much larger it is, the rich, darkness of the yolk, & it plainly looks better.   Yum!

I know I get a lot of sun while I run (you should should not see my shorts line) especially on my face. The other week we (Molly, my gym buddy, Margo, my yoga instructor-who actually reminds me so much of my amazing Luna boss and I love them both) were chatting after yoga and Margo started saying how I need to protect my face.  Which is not the first time I've heard that, but usually I say I don't want to wear sunscreen because I don't want to get it in my eyes the entire time and the person that told me to put on sunscreen has no response.   Margo had a response.  She said to wear a hat or visor.   I asked Karen if she had any visors around that she doesn't use and she brought me one.  Saturday I gave it a try for the first time for my 16 mile run.  It was a perfect day in Chicago:  beautiful sunshine, perfect breeze. After a stressful week, which didn't include much sleep, I tried to play catch-up Friday night, but I think most of all th...

Have you ever heard the saying that summer in Chicago doesn't start until you go to a street festival?  (I may have made that up, not sure.) Well after Saturday, summer has officially started for me x2.   My friend, Vicki, really wanted to see Helado Negro  and asked me to go see him with her at Do Division .  ( Helado Negro = Black Ice Cream) I hadn't heard of him before, but I really liked him and Vicki was on cloud 9!  We were definitely front row, center :) He sings in both English and Spanish and his latin man moves were awesome.  (Vicki & I both commented on them so it wasn't just me.) Yes, it down poured for a song and a half, but luckily Vicki had an amazing umbrella so we didn't have to miss a second.   After we watched him, we walked around for a bit before leaving for Maifest  in Lincoln Square where we met up with a few more friends.  I decided to put my bike on the bus and ride with Vicki to the...