Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Weekly Wednesday Meltdown

Don't have a mid-week meltdown! 

image

Here's something to do tonight to forget how rough your humpday was.



Meet Luke Boyce of Shatterglass Studios (based out of Champaign-Urbana). Luke is an award-winning filmmaker and co-owner of Shatterglass. You will have the chance to soak up his knowledge at this lunchtime lecture series put on by the Graphic Design department at Parkland College and is sponsored by 40 North|88 West and CUDO

See him today, at Parkland College in Room C118 between 12-1pm.

Luke Boyce, pic from Meet the Pros Website

More information on Luke and the Meet the Pros lecture series available here.

Friday, January 25, 2013

For Funsies

Two things I have to self-promote:

TONIGHT, my husband's band "Cody & The Gateway Drugs" are playing Cowboy Monkey with Decadents and Finer Feelings. Three really awesome bands, go get a cocktail and sit back and enjoy. Link to the FB event page.

aren't they pretty?





Then, there is the magnificent Porkapalooza happening this Saturday at Big Grove Tavern. If you've never heard of this event, I feel sad for you but also happy because we're changing that and your life is forever effected (with an 'e'!) This is the forth year of this event, put on by Surfabilly Freakout, the radio show I've been involved with for years now!



The deets:
Porkapalooza IV…Porkadelic!
Saturday, January 26th
The Bacon Room at Big Grove Tavern (One Main Street, Champaign, IL 61820)
Bacon Room Doors 7:30p (music begins at 8:30)
• Food & Beverage available in the Bacon Room
• Big Grove Tavern open regular business hours (217/239-3505 for reservations)

Thanks to our porktastic sponsors!
Triple S Farms, Ippatsu Salon, Pepsi Cola…Champaign-Urbana Bottling Co., Exile on Main Street, Furniture Lounge, Dean’s Graphics, WPGU 107.1 FM & Surfabilly Freakout Radio


For funsies, pics from previous years of Porkapalooza:





See you this weekend!
Chelsea

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Weekly Wednesday Meltdown

Don't have a mid-week meltdown! Here's something to do tonight to forget how rough your humpday was.


image

Meet a space cowboy!! Or better yet, the actor/director/musician Cory McAbee! Cory is coming to Champaign TODAY for a meet-and-greet, made free to the public by the support of an Urbana Public Arts Grant. This is a part of the Champaign-Urbana Film Society's Visiting Filmmaker Series. 

Cory is best known for The Billy Nayer Chronicles (stemmed from his band The Billy Nayer Show), Sundance Film Festival's first multi-media event in 1995. Then, in 2001, for The American Astronaut, a story about a space cowboy! Okay, it is more serious and Westerny-cool than that. But he is a cowboy of sorts, and there is space involved. A perfect combination if you ask me. Check IMDB to see the full synopsis and its 7.1/10 rating. I'll be honest, I've enjoyed a lot of movies with a much lower rating...

Meet him tonight at Crane Alley in Urbana at 8pm. Desserts and non-alcoholic beverages will be served :)

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Weekly Wednesday Meltdown

 
Don't have a mid-week meltdown!

Here's something to do tonight to forget about how rough your hump day was:







Photo by Cheri Vestal Manrique

Watch local girl group Seventeen Sisters live in your own home! They are playing the Double Door in Chicago tonight, but don't want you to miss out. The Sisters go on at 10:30pm, but there are multiple great acts before them that will also be featured on the live stream! The group will be streaming tonight's concert at no cost online here: http://gigity.tv/event/671/

Another thing to do today is to volunteer in our community! According to cuvolunteer.org, there are multiple opportunities today. indi go Artist Co-Op is looking for help running the gallery, especially on Wednesdays! Location: 9 E University Ave, Champaign, IL
Contact: YooJin Hong at 217-721-0860 or email indigo.coop at gmail.com to find out how you can help!

Friday, January 11, 2013

TGIF and stuff.



What's that? I missed the Weekly Wednesday Meltdown? No.... it can't be! Yes. It be. (ha!)



To make up for it, let me give you some cheerful kick-off-your-weekend sorta stuff:

He's so happy :)




If this doesn't make you wiggle, well I don't know what will.


http://www.mountainproject.com/images/36/27/107473627_medium_78eb4b.jpg
Here's a clip from "I Love You, Man" that I find to be hilarious, but I can't figure out how to embed it. Click ze link to enjoy: Clipage


Between Two Ferns Screenshot


 This Funny or Die clip featuring Bruce Willis interviewed by Zach Galifianakis on "Between Two Ferns"


Avocados!
You know what else makes me happy? All the smiling faces on Common Ground Food Co-op's Facebook page. Go "like" it.




Thursday, January 10, 2013

Resolutions Schmesolutions!

I make weird rules for myself all the time. One week, I'm not allowed to eat chocolate. Another week I can't drink beer. Sometimes I delete the Facebook app from my phone. These are rules that I place upon myself randomly to try to become "a better person". I'm pretty disciplined so often I can make it the week without whatever vice and move on. I mean... it IS only a week. What if I tried to force some habit for a whole YEAR? No, I don't think I'd be very good at that. I mean, who can say what your life will be like in 6 months? You might really need that chocolate after a long day of work. That is why I don't do New Year's Resolutions. The future is just too uncertain to place that much stress on myself! Or maybe I'm just scared...

image
My resolution would def be to be able to bench press at LEAST 2 cats. Psh.. chump!

So, like any other socially engaged person, I hit up Facebook to see how my friends feel about making resolutions.

I asked my friends their thoughts on New Year's Resolutions. 3 friends gave me their resolution that they've made, and 1 listed his anti-resolution opinion. I was actually quite impressed at all responses. One of my friends, Marcus, had a refreshing goal of living happily with less. He didn't leave it there, he listed specific items he planned to purge from his life (some he already had!). Getting rid of things like the television, video games, and other electronics was his first step to meeting his goal. My beautiful mother had a similar resolution of purging unused items. She listed specifically that closets and drawers will be cleaned out and reorganized. Finally, derby league-mate Tracy listed her simple resolution of reviving a weekly cocktail hour with a friend despite their busy schedules.

I liked these resolutions because they were so specific. They seem driven. I wondered if being more specific effected the success of a resolution. Or if even the simple task of telling another person (or many people if online) would effect the success.

It appears that both of those actions, creating a specific goal and telling friends, increase the chances of accomplishing your goals! This article by John Tierney said that in 2002 a study was done at the University of Scranton following resolutioners. "By the end of January, 36 percent of them had broken their resolutions. After that, the failures happened more slowly. Half were still keeping their resolutions in March, and by July the success rate was still 44 percent — less than half, admittedly, but still impressive compared with a control group of people who had the same goals (like losing weight) but didn’t make formal resolutions. Only 4 percent of the control group made progress," wrote John.

Another friend, a derby referee actually (so... frenemy? ha!), said that he isn't into the yearly resolution. Jeff said, "I believe you have to evaluate where you are in reaching those goals and make changes by the minute not by the year." There is definitely merit to this idea. Thinking this way may also prevent rash decisions and money-spending. Instead of rushing out to get a year-long gym membership, you may consider getting a month-long trial. This could help you evaluate how often you truly have time to go (in comparison to how often you went in a dream you had the other night where you lost 500 pounds). Once you've established that, you can tailor your goal from "working out" to "working out twice a week, for 45 mins". That day by day evaluation can help you set more specific goals, thus increasing your chances of accomplishing them!

I think you can successfully merge the idea of resolution and monthly evaluation (which you should be doing with any type of goal anyway. I still don't like the idea of setting myself up for failure with a New Year's Resolution, but love the thought that it CAN be done successfully if you know your limits and push them a little.

So, how do YOU feel about resolutions? Do you say "bug off!" to the tradition or set one every year? Feel free to comment or tweet (@chiquitabandita) with your thoughts. I'm so curious!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Weekly Wednesday Meltdown

Don't have a midweek meltdown! Here is something to get you back into sync post holiday.

image

If you have kids: Babies Lap Time: Moonlight Edition
From 6:30-7:30pm the Urbana Free Library (210 W Green Street, Urbana) hosts reading/rhyming/singing time for babes 0-24 months.

Or, if you're child-free, the Urbana Free Library is also hosting the Champaign Book Club from 7-8:30pm in the Lewis Auditorium on the ground floor.

Isn't your New Year's Resolution to read more?