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i'm so excited! the renegade craft fair will be in chicago this weekend! my sister is coming in from michigan to go to it with me. i went to it last year and had a blast! there were so many amazing items, i wanted to buy so much, but only went home with a print from berkley illustration  (which i love)! i love the free photo booth, the music, and the food! last year i saw elsie at her booth, but was too nervous to say hi. 

sweater weather

 

 

 

i hope everyone is enjoying their extended weekend! saturday night i made a cake to celebrate getting my official photography website up! later that night steve and i decided to start watching star wars episode 3: revenge of the sith. it had been so long since i'd seen that one! sunday night me, steve, and our friend stephen hung out. we walked over to lake michigan and i took pictures of them for the cover of their ebook they are collaborating on. i also took a lot of other photos (as seen above) because the lighting was so beautiful at sunset! 

i am very excited because sweater weather is here! this is my favorite time of year. i love the cool crisp fall air; it's getting me excited for everything i love about fall! the cute pumpkins, apple cider, crunchy leaves covering all the sidewalks, corn mazes, and apple pie! i also just love the coziness of it. 

what are some of your favorite things about the fall season?

picnic + a movie

last night i went to the ravinia festival. it's the oldest outdoor music festival in the united states! there are a series of outdoors concerts & performances held from june to september. it's in highland park, il.


we arrived early and sat in the grass to enjoy a picnic. then we took our seats in the amphitheater to watch the lord of the rings -- the fellowship of the ring. the chicago symphony orchestra and an adult & children's choir performed as the movie played on a giant screen. it was amazing and i had a great time! i hadn't watched that movie in so long; i forgot how much i liked it. not to mention how good looking the character aragorn is, hehe.

beauty and the beast

this past thursday i went to see the musical, beauty and the beast, at the oriental theatre in chicago. it was my first musical! it was also something on my list of 22 before 23, so now i have another item crossed off the list!

i was given two tickets to this as one of my graduation gifts. i brought steve along with me to the show; we both really enjoyed it! the theatre looked really cool on the inside. the set looked amazing and set changes were really smooth! all of the songs were fun! steve and i especially loved the singing and dancing for the songs "gaston" and "be our guest." 

today is july 4th. i've been hearing fireworks going off all weekend! there have also been a lot of nice days weather wise.

happy july!

m.a.c. style sessions: spot on trend

last night i attended a m.a.c. cosmetics style session; it was a lot of fun! it was my first time attending one! to reserve my spot at the session, all i had to do was buy a $50 gift card that we could redeem for products at the end of the session. the session i attended was "spot on trend." the m.a.c. artists showed us three looks; they were "the everyday celebrity," "the academy awards," and "the grammy look." i was lucky to be a model for the grammy look (the face chart for this look ca be seen in the image above).

they gave each of us a welcome packet that had a notebook with face charts, the looks for the evening, and lots of space for notes to be jotted down during the session.

after the session i began to shop around! i got myself a pro color palette, studio moisture fix, and sheertone blush in peaches. 

studio moisture fix

pro color palette

for the look they had me model, i loved the eyes, but the bright lips were a bit much for me (so i took it off). here is a little snapshot i got of the makeup look on my phone (sorry for the low quality image). 

i hope to attend another one of these sometime!

iron + wine

it's officially my last week of school! i am very excited! 


this evening me, steve, brett, stephen, and brittney met up at millennium park for their free evening concert series. tonight iron + wine was performing. there were a ton of people there and it was mega hot out! after the concert steve, brett, brittney, and i went on our first double date (hehe) to the chicago diner for vegan milkshakes. it was a great night. 

america's beauty show

yesterday i attended the america's beauty show here in chicago. it was my first time attending this event, and i had an amazing time! 

my morning started out with me taking the train all the way down to chinatown at 7:30 am. we were given a swag bag upon arrival. the student conference started at 8:30 am. ted gibson (ted has styled people such as angelina jolie, mila kunis, and zoe saldana) talked, along with yolly ten koppel (famed educator from the netherlands). there was a little fashion show, in which some students from my campus took part, and they got to walk on stage with the models they did hair on; it was great!

after the conference we were able to start walking around to all the exhibitors! i ventured off on my own. i really enjoyed watching tigi's stage and paul mitchell's stage. i tried out the shellac, no chip manicure in black! i love it! it's so shiny and pretty. 

here is some video i captured at the tigi stage. i love the hairstyles! 

at the modern salon booth, you could text in to enter a chi flatiron giveaway. i was lucky and won one! before i came to claim my prize i chatted a little with brig van osten, the season 3 winner of bravo's "shear genius." she even autographed my magazine! she was sweet and gave me some good advice. 

can't wait for america's beauty show 2012!

on a night like this

i had a lovely weekend. my mom and sister came to chicago on the train from michigan to see me! they came saturday afternoon. their first stop was to the student salon at my school. they were my first-ever clients that actually requested me, so i felt pretty special that day. after i was done with their services we went downtown to the willis tower (formally known as the sears tower) skydeck. we viewed the entire city from the 103rd floor. the views were amazing and i am so glad we chose to go at night time. all the lights were so beautiful! i was also brave enough to step out on the glass box. 

sunday morning we went out for brunch at chicago diner with some of steve's friends. later my cat got to meet poncho peligroso for the first time (they seem to love each other as you can see)! that night the boys (steve, stephen, brett, and poncho) had a live poetry reading online.

our monday morning started off with a tour at the make-up artistry school here in chicago. the tour was set up for my sister; my mom and i went with her. she really enjoyed it and may come back to chicago in april to start the program. we went out for lunch, went to the field museum, went to m.a.c. cosmetics, got our make up done at bare escentuals, had vegan red velvet cupcakes at sprinkles, and then ate a late night dinner at the chicago diner. 

my family went back to michigan today. i really enjoyed my weekend with them! come back soon, mom and becca!

snow day

chicago was hit with a blizzard tuesday afternoon and it finally ended earlier today. we got around 21" of snow. steve and i took a little walk around our neighborhood this afternoon to check everything out. all the cars parked on our street were blocked in, and some on a nearby street were completely covered by snow. 

i was also reading online about lake shore drive (an expressway in chicago along the shore). there were hundreds of abandoned vehicles because of terrible driving conditions and accidents. many people were eventually forced to leave their vehicles. (see pictures here)

tonight we're expecting a deep freeze, temperatures expected to get as low as -20° f. i'm happy i don't have class again tomorrow!

here comes the night

yesterday steve and i went on a little trip to the art institute. we explored the impressionist art, new media and design, and also checked out the thorne "miniature rooms"; it was so cute! they were these little rooms modeled after victorian era homes mostly.

after the museum we walked outside and saw all the buildings were lit up. it was so beautiful, so we decided to stay downtown for a bit longer and enjoy it. we walked around in millenium park, watched people ice skate, and took a short video (which you can enjoy below). later steve asked me if i wanted to go out to chicago diner for some vegan hot chocoate, which i really enjoyed.

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it was a fun night! here is the video i took in millennium park:

(all photos taken by me, except photo #2 taken by steve.)

hand in glove

i've been busy going to school and preparing for the holidays these past couple of weeks. i still have my perfect attendance record for school and i usually service a client or two a day now. the way things work in the salon are becoming a little more familiar to me. when i was first starting out on the salon floor i was a bit nervous. i also had one bad experience with a client, but since then i've been able to set my fear aside (for the most part). also, i am almost half way done with my program! only 5 more months to go, yay!

i'm so excited to be going home to michigan to see my family very soon. i haven't seen most of my family since i moved here in august. i have all my gifts for them picked out and wrapped. i know everyone will love the presents i picked out for them!

i also got myself a couple little gifts, hehe. one of which was from h&m. they had a 50% off sale on their coats, so i got a new one. it only costed me $35; i love it! 


we had our first snowfall here a couple of weeks ago. i love the first snowfall, it's so magical, but then i quickly get tired of it, and steve and i think about how much we should have just moved to san francisco, haha.


hope everyone is enjoying the last weeks of the year!


exactly 2 months from today it will be my birthday, yayyyyyy!

renegade holiday craft fair

this past weekend i went to the renegade holiday craft fair here in chicago. i went with my boyfriend steve and our friend stephen. it was huge! there were so many artists there. 

i bought a holiday gift for my sister from species by the thousands and a magnet from the mincing mockingbird. the magnet is so cute! it has a picture of an owl and then below, it says "can i get a who? who?." 

we also got our photos taken in the magbooth (as you can see)! i love the magbooth. i totally want to rent one of these when i have my wedding someday.

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this past weekend was quite lovely. thursday night steve's family arrived in chicago to visit with us. friday we all got up early and headed over to wicker park. we stopped in a couple of thrift stores, an urban outfitters (where i got a cardigan and a cute little pair of shoes), and a bike shop.  after that little bit of shopping we went to have lunch at the handlebar. it was delicious! after lunch we went back to the apartment, relaxed for a few hours, then got dressed to go to the chicago symphony orchestra. 

this is what steve had.

this is what i had. yum!

saturday was pretty much a day dedicated to good food. steve, joe, and i spent most of the day together. the rest of steve's family headed downtown to michigan avenue.  once steve, joe, and i woke up, we walked on over to the chicago diner for brunch! after brunch joe rode his bike around. he had a lot of fun riding it in the city. steve and i met up with him at whole foods, where we bought vegan pizza ingredients! we came back home and rested up a little bit. joe went out to a bike shoe shop. once he got back we began making the pizzas! while joe finished up the pizzas, i began making two apple pies! like i said, this day was totally dedicated to good food. 

it was a nice weekend. 

all photos in this post were taken by andy roggenbuck.

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we carry on

i have successfully completed phase 1 of my hair school program! 

i am so happy to finally be finished with phase 1, only 6 months to go! my instructor said i have perfect attendance, which i am very proud of and i hope i keep up with it through the whole program. i cannot believe i've already put in 3 months at this program. the time is just flying by! my wellness break starts on sunday. i have a much needed week off from school. over break i want to work on some hair designs to photograph. i'd really like to get a portfolio of my designs built up so i can start working on set at photo shoots for other photographers.


below are pictures of the pixie cut i had to do for finals. we were given a certain amount of time to cut, air form, and style. i really liked how mine tured out!

hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

i'm with you in rockland

this past weekend i went to the music box theater with my boyfriend steve and our new chicago friend, stephen. we saw howl. i really liked the movie. james franco (allen ginsberg) and jon hamm (jake ehrlich) looked very handsome. i loved all the outfits and hair. i adored the scene with allen ginsberg and his boyfriend peter orlovsky outside sitting back to back. so cute!

september weekend

this past weekend my sister, becca, came out to chicago to visit me. she was also my model on saturday for my hair school's practical exam. we had to perform our first cut on an actual person, moving up from those mannequins! becca really liked the way her cut turned out, and i did as well. 

after the exam, i took her out to the chicago diner. we both had yummy vegan 'pork' tacos and then shared a platter of chips with salsa and guacamole. after dinner we headed down to the loop for some shopping! 

sunday we went out for lunch at the pick-me-up cafe. after lunch, steve, becca, and i went to millenium park. one of becca's suite-mates at college sent her to chicago with a teddy bear. becca was supposed to take pictures of the bear at places in chicago, so we did some picture taking at some popular places here in the city, then chilled until it was time for her train back home. 

i'm so happy my sister was able to come and visit me (and be my model)! come back soon, becca!

all photos taken be me (jessica kirsch).