jenniferblaufrau.com

I am in a great mood today. It’s March, it’s sunny, and it’s in the 40s, which to anyone who’s just endured a Chicago winter is reason to celebrate. I’m about to jump out of my skin with excitement about the slowly blossoming beautiful weather. I rode my bike to the Latino grocery store in my neighborhood and got the stuff to make chile con queso from scratch (using the recipe that my New Mexican friend Daniel created, with lots of garlic, onions, salsa, fresh roasted green chile, cheese, and milk — the stuff is ridiculously good), and chicken fajitas with all the fixins (roasted onions, red and yellow bell pepper, and garlic; fresh flour and corn tortillas; and fresh guacamole, grated cheese, and Mexican sour cream).

The chile just came out of the oven, and the house smells like heaven. This recipe makes the best queso I have ever eaten — and being from Texas and loving Mexican food, I have tried a few! And this grocery store has some of the most amazing cheeses with various chopped chiles incorporated, such as firecracker jack, a high-quality cheddar-jack blend with both red and green chiles. I am one of the very few non-Latinos I see shopping at this store. It’s one of those relatively undiscovered secrets, and I love it. They are starting to recognize me there, and this sweet (and cute) guy in the deli lights up with this huge grin every time I go there. Possibly he does that with everyone, but I prefer to think I am special. Finally, I will be making margaritas with salt rims. Mmmm!

My friend Valerie’s coming over for dinner and a PJ party, and we are going to kick off reading Your Money or Your Life together, the third book in our reading and discussion series. It’s so much more enjoyable and beneficial to read a book with a smart friend. Our discussions are terrific, and everything sinks in much better. I feel very lucky to have such wonderful friends!

I got to interview two very smart, driven, and NICE people today, one an architect with the firm that developed the master plan for the planet’s first GREEN CITY, the other a female CEO of a very successful and fun company that she founded and which has been in business for more than 40 years. She says she never plans to retire. I learned a lot from both of them, things that I can apply to my own life and work immediately. I feel very inspired. I have gotten to interview a lot of cool people and organizations lately, like NASA (for a story on their green projects)!

And this is good, because this week, I have felt sort of aimless and ambling. I think that’s natural after the last few intense weeks I had. But I don’t want to get lazy. And this day has so far been just the kick in the butt I needed.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! :)

I live in a house in the city of Chicago. It’s a small, older house with a little front yard with a huge evergreen tree in the middle of it. I moved into a house so I would have no shared walls and could make music anytime day or night.

One of my favorite features of the house is the fact that because it is set back from the road (behind a three-flat), on an alley, and flanked by houses on either side, it is very well buffered from typical city noise. My default sleep pattern is sleeping from 2:00 am to 10:00 am, and my biggest peeve in general is unwanted noise. Low noise means I can sleep in without being disturbed, which I love, especially on weekends. I am very protective of my undisturbed sleep!

The last week or so, I’ve begun hearing the different songs of birds from the evergreen just outside my window in the morning. Though its branches are still snowy, the birds know that spring is just around the corner! And though when I am trying to sleep the chirping annoys me sometimes, I am very aware it’s not the worst alarm clock one can have.

Their songs are flashing me forward to spring and summertime. I am imagining in saturated detail how I will feel, the easy summer clothes I will wear, the biking and tennis, walking and swimming, long sunshine days, fresh fruit and pitchers of iced tea, completely different mood.

Chicago Winter and Chicago Summer are two different planets. And I feel lucky that I get to live on both of them.

And now, some pictures from this winter!

In my neighborhood:

Near a bus stop at Lawrence and Kimball:

The carpet of snow just outside my door the morning after a heavy snowfall:

The Texas sky in winter, at my parents’ house in December, where they have old, old pecan trees all over the place:

Bigger versions of these last two here and here.

This has been a beautiful, creative, successful day! I headed downtown to Intelligentsia to meet someone I pitched a services trade with recently (another self-employed woman biz owner), and the meeting was a resounding success, rich with inspiration and synchronicity of many flavors. She said yes, and then some. Yes! I need exactly what she is offering, and she needs what I’ve got. Perfect match.

The house was sunny and warm when I left. I love when the sun makes the colors shine like this.

The view from my bedroom.

"Come back soon!"

Ooooh, yummy thread, bobbins, and the beginnings of a stripey bag with electric blue detailing on the table!

Stopped at the new soaring, four-story Ulta after the meeting. Got cute hair clips and two tiny bottles of shower smoothies, in cupcake and tangerine dreams. Mmmm.

Used an art store gift card to get a tile mosiac starter kit! It's been too long since I've worked with tile!! I am so excited.

Every one looks like a little miracle to me, and I relish the sound and feel of them in my hands.

I sat in the park and did a phone interview with a sweet guy in Madison, Wisconsin while the jets and crazy airplanes whizzed by now and then, ripping open the sky, preparing for the Air and Water Show this weekend (“the largest spectator event in the US,” according to the city’s official tourism site).

I was not aiming for social commentary, just fun and play in Crown Fountain, but I could write a whole story based on this one. Right down to the American flag!

WOAH.

Wheeeee!

Dude in the red shorts is one unflappable little 9-year-old. Note the tall kid in the Jordan jersey, claiming center stage. The pink swimming tadpole is ridiculously cute.

A day made for napping in the grass.

A temporary architectural installation in the park, I believe made of a metal frame and canvas. The greyish wall-of-windows building on the left houses the company that offered me an editorial publishing job in fall 2007. I passed, in favor of my own ventures. Though it was a good offer, I think I made the right choice. I am still not earning as much as they offered me, but I am working hard to get there.

Ooooh, sun and shadow stripes. How beautiful and elegant. I want to see it at night.

I'm pretty much ready to move in.

When I got home, a good friend, with whom another woman and I have weekly self-employed business owner conference calls, called to make plans and discuss her joining in The Artist’s Way, but with her focus on her business. Since my whole goal is to make a living with my creativity, it makes perfect sense to me. The Artist’s Way program is infusing everything I do with creativity, my work most definitely included. She’s going to ask the other biz owner if she wants in, too. I mentioned it to them when I got started. I think since the other two of us are going for it, she will, too.

Wonderful developments all around. :)