supersized

You know what's annoying? big croutons.
Sure they're tasty and are a nice alternative to crackers for an afternoon snack, but in a salad? with a fork? Am I missing the technique or are fingers an approved method?

There are, of course, lots of annoying things in this world, least of all croutons, but they randomly came into my head today. This morning, actually. On my way to work. With not a large crouton in sight.

Happy belated thanksgiving to you all.
Sarah

one nation.

I'm a bit behind on this, I do realize, but I'm going to post about it nonetheless.
Election day is finally over! Hooray for that and hooray for change.
History was made 12 days ago and I was able to participate in the celebration first-hand at Obama's election night rally in Grant Park. i took lots of photos

finito!

Well friends...the exhibit is finally open. And I'm proud to say that it's received nothing but rave reviews and encouraging words thus far. I don't like to beat a dead horse, (what an incredibly horrible cliché) by talking about it all the time, but I'm really excited about the completion of 19 months of work :) Click HERE for some pictures of the process.

Next thing that needs to be wrapped up: this election.

amen?

mosaic of me

The above mosaic of images represents my visual answers to the questions below.
1. What is your first name? (sarah)
2. What is your favorite food? (cheese)
3. What high school did you attend? (Unity Christian)
4. What is your favorite color? (turquoise)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (George Clooney)
6. Favorite drink? (coffee)
7. Dream vacation? (greece)
8. Favorite dessert? (banana cream pie)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (wise)
10.What do you love most in life? (relationships)
11.One word to describe you? (silly)
12.Your Flickr name? (sarahcfranken)


To create your own 'mosaic of me' image: Type your answer to each of the above questions into Flickr search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows).


Here are the sources of my selections:
1. Before the world was made… the innerlight of Sarah.K was!!! :))), 2. Day 158/365: Grilled cheese - yummm, 3. Watering the Wall of Indifference, 4. frame, 5. 9. The original., 6. coffee & the city, 7. Downstairs to the volcano, 8. Mini Chocolate Banana Cream Pies, 9. Black Hmong woman Song…, 10. SCALA, 11. May & Momo, 12. light values

Signs of Hope and Change

I have never gotten political on this blog before and I don't really intend to start now, but I have to share this video with you. It's powerful, it's concise, it's the message Obama is trying to send out: that we're all in this together and we all have a responsibility when it comes to bringing about the change America needs. We are our brothers' keeper.

Music by one of my favorites, The National.

interesting commute.

I waited for the bus for 25 minutes this morning, which is an unusually long time to wait, especially during rush hour.

Since the number of people waiting for the bus compounds every minute a bus fails to appear, the final tally of people who swarmed the door was comparable in size and fervor to the group of people protesting the republican national convention last night.

Pretty intense.

When I finally got my turn to step on the bus, it was already standing room only, which was fine by me since I had a good view of the lake and the constantly changing landscape of cars riding next to the bus.

One driver was texting with BOTH hands and steering with her knee.

Then a very expensive looking Mercedes SUV pulled up and the attractive young man driving was. rocking. out. Complete with head banging, lip-syncing, and full-on-two-handed-air-drumming (don't forget the cymbal crash). What struck me as the most comical was the beautiful young lady sitting next to him looking unamused, annoyed, and very tired. Poor girl.

In the back seat of an upcoming subaru sat a teenager (looked to be around 13) reading the Wall Street Journal, while his intelligent looking parents sat up front having a very heated discussion.

The next car contained a lady talking into her bluetooth headset while animatedly flailing both her arms about. So much for a hands-free device I guess.

Make-up applying, coffee drinking, cell phone talking, radio adjusting, head banging commuters....and that doesn't even include the people on my bus.

sangria!

Then Labor Day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin.
— Death Cab for Cutie, "Summer Skin" (Off their 2005 album, Plans)

In celebration of the unofficial end to a truly fabulous summer, I made some sangria yesterday and invited some friends over to drink with me on my roof. It was a lovely dark night, the company was pleasant, and the sangria was delicious. Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:
2 bottles red Spanish table wine
1 cup brandy
1/2 cup triple sec
1 cup orange juice
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup simple syrup, or more to taste (equal parts sugar and water, heated until sugar dissolves, cooled)
Orange slices
Peach slices
Blackberries
Pomegranate seeds

Directions
Mix all ingredients together and let stand in a tightly sealed container or pitcher for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

map schmap, photo schmoto

A photo I took in Cologne, Germany was selected to be a part of Schmap.com's online travel itinerary for Cologne (specifically the chocolate museum)! Click here to check it out. It's at the top right corner.

What I think is really cool is that if you click on the photo from that link, it takes you to my flickr site :)

in the sea of humanity

Hey guys. Guess what? There are a lot of people in this city.

Of course I knew this before, but never has it been more evident to me as it was this past Sunday afternoon when Paul, Joanna and I decided to brave the crowds at North Ave Beach to watch the Air and Water show.

Yikes.

I've watched the air and water show before, but then I was a safe distance from the launching point and therefore a safe distance from the sea of humanity that congregates there. Actually getting to the beach was half the battle! It seemed like there were more people coming than going, which made us fearful that the enormous beach was actually overflowing and the people we were meeting on the way were actually fleeing to a location less populated.

We persevered nonetheless and miraculously managed to find a really good spot. Though in the sun, it had a good view of the parachute dropping point and it also provided us with some nice neighbors to chat with.

If you've met Paul, you might be able to guess what kind of day we had. By the time we left, we were saying "goodbye!" "take care!" "see you next year!" to the groups of people around us. Paul even gladly gave up his seat (which we hauled all the way from the car) to an elderly lady who was watching the show with her grandkids. What a guy. I should also mention, Paul gave $10 to the car parking attendant, on top of the already steep parking fee of $30, and told him to buy something nice for his kids. Can you believe this guy?

So, despite the sea of people, it felt more like we were in a small town watching a 4th of July parade than in Chicago watching one of the largest air and water shows in the nation.

Many of you might not have thought twice about the events of the day, but for me, it was huge! It's been pretty rare for me to experience (or even see) that type of community amongst complete strangers here in the city. Quite refreshing.

Opening Ceremonies 2008

To see some really AMAZING photographs of the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing, click here. They're all so beautiful! I'm watching the Opening Ceremonies right now, and am being blown away by the artistry of the costumes, music, theatrics, and lights. Yay olympics!