Crystal Madrilejos

Design & Creative

I apologize if you had problems viewing the site this morning! I forgot to change it back to “public” last night.

–c.

Uncategorized

New Look

If you haven’t noticed, our blog has a new look. Tonight I played around with different layouts and this is what I ended up with. I still haven’t wrapped my head around how these layouts work so it was a bit frustrating at times. I’m going to play around with it a little more since I’m not 100% happy with it, but it’s a start. We’ll see where this goes.

This image is currently my desktop and it makes me really happy.

[Photo by John Rawlings. Available to purchase at Condé Nast]
– c.

Uncategorized

Teatime

I could use one of these right now.

Taken on 12/17/08 in Brighton, England.
–c.


Yes, it’s almost time!
– c.

Uncategorized

If only…

Rainy Opening Day at Jacobs Field

Rainy Opening Day at Jacobs Field

Thanks to Stephanie over at even*cleveland, I have a new obsession. I’d never heard of Polyvore before and I can’t get enough. If you haven’t played with it before, now is the time. Register and start creating outfits. And if you want to check out some really sweet ensembles you should check out even*cleveland‘s “imaginary outfits” here. Some people can get really crazy with their layouts, but personally I enjoy Stephanie’s more pared down look. If only I had so many things to choose from…
–c.


It’s been over a week and I’ve been too swamped to post this wonderful news! Some of you are already aware, but last week I was featured on the blog spruce [décor]. I was interviewed for the “Midwest Minute” section and am super thankful to Lissa for having me. You can check out the feature here.
–c.

This past weekend went by so fast! I’m sure it’s because we actually did something. Friday night we drove to Toledo, Saturday morning we went to the Indiana Dunes State Park on our way to Chicago to see the Eccentric Soul Revue Presented by The Numero Group. Right after the show we drove 4 hours back to Toledo and woke up 4 hours later to drive to Cleveland for the Cavs game then out to a late lunch with Andrew’s brother and his girlfriend! Whew. But we’re getting too old for this. It totally kicked our asses. We got home and went to bed at, no kidding, 6pm and woke up at 6am.

BUT I had an amazing time and it was so nice to be in Chicago again with friends, eating good food and seeing amazing music. It was even nice to take a long drive (though Andrew might disagree with me since he did the majority of the driving.) If you haven’t heard of The Numero Group, you should check out their site here. I can’t describe them better than they have themselves, so you should check out their “About” page. Their mission statement being:

“…to dig deep into the recesses of our record collections with the goal of finding the dustiest gems begging to be released from their exile on geek street. No longer would $500 singles sit in a temperature-controlled room dying for a chance to be played. No more would the artists, writers, and entrepreneurs who made these records happen go unknown and unappreciated.”

“Numero releases are sound with substance, living at the nexus of song and story. Scrupulously researched, painstakingly re-mastered, and with an attention to detail that is unmatched in the reissue field, the end result is a top-of-the-line compact disc.”

Highlight of the show being:

The Notations, singing and dressing like bands don’t anymore: matching blue suits with black patent leather shoes without a trace of irony.

Syl Johnson. I can’t even pull out points from this performance. I was amazed that he is still doing what he does at his age. And scared because he is still doing what he does at his age. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I was surprised he didn’t throw out his hip with all his gyrations and hip-thrusting.

• The brass section. Serious.

–c.

If you have a chance, you should see this documentary. You can find out more information about it here. We were fortunate enough to have seen this movie two weekends ago at the 33rd Annual Cleveland International Film Festival.

It’s a documentary about a community and what happens to when its livelihood is threatened. It takes place in Cairo, a city of 8 million people with no official garbage collection service. For decades, the Zabbaleen, a community of about 60,000 people, have become the unofficial garbage collectors of the city. They’ve made their living collecting and recycling the trash of the residents of Cairo. But in more recent years, they’ve had to compete with foreign garbage collection companies contracted by the government to do the job they’ve built their lives on. The film focuses on three young Zabbaleens and follows them as they “come face to face with the globalization of their trade.”

“Each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.”

It’s a fascinating film, not only the overall story but the boys have such character it’s hard not to find them endearing.

–c.

If you haven’t seen this trailer, you must watch it.

–c.

Well, yes, have some fruits & vegetables. (I just decided I like an ampersand in there instead of a long, boring “and”) is germinating – for a lack of a better analogy. Our first meeting went well. Having everyone present to share their thoughts and ideas was great. Like we’ve said, we’re no pros, we need help. And together, with all of us doing our research, I think we’re going to be just fine.

Our soil test came back and looks good! It’s 65°F today! I even opened a window to let the warm breeze in, which may have been a bit premature, I was freezing two minutes later and closed it. But, things are coming together!

Our soil, in not so layman’s terms.

–a.