a concert, a bagel, a festival and a concert

On Friday night I had the privilege of seeing Keren Ann perform live. She had such a great energy and genuine love for her music, which made it hard to have anything but a positive experience. It was also interesting to see the distorted trumpet being played to create many of the unusual and unique accompanying noises. Most of the audience (a relatively small crowd) seemed to be dedicated followers and were really into everything. Keren seemed to enjoy the company and closed the show by inviting us to join her on the tour bus at 6AM the next morning for the ride to the next venue, in Minnesota. "The thing about being on a bus for ten hours at a time is that you're so excited to finally get somewhere. I'm so excited to be here in Chicago and I can't wait for Minnesota."

On Saturday I met Jared after his concert rehearsal. We walked down Dayton to admire all of the old houses and then got bagels. From there we made the longer walk to Old Town for the Wells Street Art Festival. There are so many festivals every weekend in Chicago during the summer and I love it. I usually make an extra effort to go to the Wells Street Art Festival though. Jared and I wanted to visit the booth/tent of Rollin Karg in particular to see his new glass art designs. I walked away with a beautiful piece that has a flower design on top and swirling patterns along the side. I believe it contains dichroic glass or layers of metal oxides. It's fun to look at the different patterns happening inside and to consider the process of its creation.

All I've done so far today is lounge around. Well, actually, I did clean out my fridge because the bean salad I made last weekend wasn't agreeing with itself anymore. Anyway, I've been struggling with a migraine since yesterday morning, so I thought it best to take it easy. My doctor prescribed me something last year which helps to dull the pain, but it's still hard to ignore at times. I'm planning to go to Jared's last choral concert of the season a little later this afternoon, so I hope my head can improve a bit.