Portobello Mushroom Club

I got this recipe from my Whole Foods Recipes App. So-o-o Yummy!

The king of mushrooms really makes its presence known in this royal club. The oregano- and garlic-infused mushroom cap has a beefy texture that is complemented by sweet pepper and sharp provolone cheese. The crown of arugula adds a nutty aftertaste. Feel free to substitute fresh spinach for the arugula. Serves 2.

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
Pinch red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
2 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed
3 slices provolone cheese
1 (6- x 6-inch) piece focaccia bread, halved
3 jarred roasted red peppers, drained
Handful of arugula leaves

Directions 

Whisk together oil, vinegar, rosemary, parsley, Italian herbs, pepper flakes, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Arrange mushrooms in a wide, shallow dish and pour about 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette over the top. Turn to coat all over and set aside to let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes. Grill mushrooms over hot coals or on a gas grill over medium heat for 5 minutes per side, until nicely browned. (Alternately, broil the mushrooms 3 inches from the broiling element of your oven for 6 to 7 minutes per side, until lightly browned.) Cut mushrooms into 1-inch thick slices.

Arrange cheese on one piece of the bread, then top with mushrooms. Top with peppers and arugula. If you like, sprinkle a little of the remaining vinaigrette over the arugula, then top with remaining piece of bread. Cut sandwich in half, transfer to 2 plates and serve.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk

Join Us at the Walk on Saturday, October 16th!

Donate to Team Scheunemann
Either online or give us cash or a check (payable to the American Cancer Society) on or before October 16th.

Buy Spirit Cups! (Go Pack!) by this Thursday, September 30th!
Check out the wide variety of cups here.
4 Cups of the same team for $15. Make checks payable to Horizon Hobby, Inc.

Using Patience to Achieve Balance

Working in a deadline driven industry you would think I would be numb to anxiety by now. Not the case. Instead, the feeling of anxiety has compounded since Cadence was born. I thought I was prepared. I really did. Prepared to successfully juggle parenthood, my job, freelance work, friends, family & all the other odds & ends of life.

I read an article in the May/June 2010 Communication Arts by Wendy Richmond called "Permission to Loiter," in the article she talks about watching the ebb & flow of your life. And that when you are able to leave "white space in [your] life" new & exciting connections will appear. I want to slow down & add white space into my life. I really do.

And because I want to find white space in my life, I've recently started a daily routine of watching my creative health - recording input & output - along with my physical health - eating right, sleeping more & exercising. I have learned the two go hand in hand. I've also started planning my week out in real time rather than in pseudo time. In real time I'm more realistic about what I can accomplish in a day, rather than in pseudo time where I believe I can accomplish a week's worth of things in one day. It has taken great patience to wait for projects on my to do list to be completed. But you know, completing the project isn't the real reward - it's the journey along the way.

This post was brought to you by M. Ward's album "Hold Time."

May 5, 2010: Make Art Day

Make Art Day Rules
1. no email
2. no facebook
3. be in my studio by 8:30AM with tea in hand

FOCUS PROJECT: acadia illustrations

i completed the 5th illustration for our book by lunch!

all the illustrations together

i headed out into the sunshine at 11:30AM to meet jarrod for lunch.
indian food for the first time. mmmmmm.

after lunch i headed back to washington street & had a photo shoot with the afternoon light.



after uploading the photos & doing some visual research for my next illustration i decided i had hit a creative wall. so, i went out for a four mile run. it was nice to not have to force my mind to be creative in the afternoon when it doesn't want to be. after the run i was able to make progress on the sixth illustration. i hope this first make art day isn't my last! it was very refreshing.

Illinois Half Marathon

I accomplished my second half marathon last Saturday here in Champaign-Urbana. I completed the run in 2 hours & 2 minutes - 8 minutes faster than my time at the Fox Cities Half five years ago.

After the Fox Cities Half I swore I would never run those 13.1 miles ever again. You know you should never say never. The accomplishment of this race is dedicated to (blamed on) my loving husband, Jarrod. He signed me up. Listened to me whine. Pushed me to train. Listened to me complain. Found running partners for me. Watched Cadence during my long runs on Saturdays. And most of all, he believed in me.

During my training for this race I never wore a watch. My plan for race day was to finish so I could get my Saturdays back from the long annoying training runs. I started the race with a 9:33 per mile pace group since that was the time I had been doing right after Cadence was born last year. I guess that pace was a bit slow for me since at one point the friend I was running with asks, "You are working, RIGHT?"

When we hit the 10 mile mark I eagerly looked at my friend if she wanted to speed up. We had talked about this being the point that we would break away from the pace group. We only had a 5k left. She told me to go ahead. And I did. It was nice to let my legs speed up to the pace they wanted to go. When the last mile came I thought to myself "this mile is for my training. For all those missed Saturdays with Jarrod & Cadence. For all the lunch runs when I would have rather been doing something else."

My new PR just shows what someone can do with a little pressured training from a loved one. Thanks honey!

Motivational Artwork

The annual spring art shows, Boneyard & Artists Against AIDS, came & went during April here in Champaign. I didn't enter any pieces this year; however, I attended both events. Oh, how good art is for the soul.

On the evening of Friday, April 16th the Scheunemanns headed out to see a friend's work at BeeMi Gallery. Then, we went over to the Krannert Center to listen to some music from around the world. Cadence enjoyed dancing in the spacious lobby.

On the morning of April 17th Cadence & I went to see another friend's paintings in Urbana. I was surprised by the large amount of work in & around Lincoln Square Mall. Plus, there was a kid's event going on. Perfect for Miss Cadence.

On Friday, April 23rd the Scheunemanns went to the opening for Artists Against AIDS. Cadence had her first chocolate covered strawberry from the spread of hors d'oeuvres. She let out a giggle when she bit down. What girl wouldn't?

As we were walking around I pointed out different pieces to Jarrod that I enjoyed. After we made our way back to where we started, Jarrod pulled our checkbook out of his back pocket. "Did you know I brought this along? Which one do you want?" My bewildered reply went something like, "huh, what do you mean?" You see, the Scheunamanns are currently on a tighter than normal budget right now, and buying the Beautiful Graphic Blue Bird Painting that I wanted seemed very frivolous. So, we left the show empty-handed.

The Beautiful Graphic Blue Bird Painting did not like being left at the show. During my six mile run the next morning I didn't stop thinking about it. My thoughts went something like this: "How do I expect people to pay to hang my art on their walls if I'm not willing to pay for original art to hang on mine? The Beautiful Graphic Blue Bird Painting is more than just beautiful, it represents this season of our life. Our awesome little house. Our cute neighborhood. Our love for finding big joy in simple & small things." I had myself talked into needing that painting.

Needless to say, that beautiful painting is now hanging on my wall. And every time I look at it I am reminded of the joy of this season of our life.


The Beautiful Graphic Blue Bird Painting is by Lisa Kesler. She named it "Distant View."

When I grow up I want to be an actress, Mom.

If you haven't already seen this video on Facebook you need to watch it! Oh-so-funny.

Cadence Cuteness

In celebration of spring like weather (& her last molar coming in!) Cadence played dress up with some winter clothes that were being put away, took a walk with Aunt Sara & Mommy & went to the park for the first time of the season with Mommy & our great friend, Dave. What a great couple of days.

Date Weekend

Aunt Sara took on the challenge of staying with Cadence for an entire weekend to give Jarrod & I some time away. We appreciated her kindness & the time away immensely! Jarrod found a great resort for us to stay at, Eaglewood Resort & Spa. I did protest at first about staying there since I'm not really a fan of their brand typeface. I really should not have, the food was great & the atmosphere was elegant.

On Saturday, after getting out of bed at 10AM & eating a relaxed breakfast, we found a city park to run our scheduled eight mile run for our upcoming 1/2 marathon. It was fun to run in the snow & together. We have had to run all of our runs separate since one of us has to stay home with Cadence. After the run, we visited IKEA (Jarrod had never been there!) and then filled our tummies up at the Melting Pot in Schaumburg.

Thanks again, Sara!

Ranger Roy

I've been slowly working on illustrations for a children's book that Jarrod & I are tag teaming on about Acadia National Park. I completed my forth illustration this week & got photos taken since some of the first ones had started to fade! I am super excited to start looking for a typeface that will work well with the illustrations & convey Jarrod's written word perfectly.

So, without much further ado, I would like to introduce you to Ranger Roy.

Operation Stimulus 2010

Event Dates: January 28-30
For the third year running I had the opportunity to work on all of the marketing pieces for the conference Operation Stimulus that the Denver Transportation Club puts on in Denver, CO. Below you will see highlights of some of the work.

Marketing Piece #5
Because of limited funds for marketing this year we used emailable PDFs to spread the word about this year's event. We created five different marketing pieces, updating information as it came in, that could easily be printed &/or forwarded on. I made a change in branding to update the overall look of the marketing pieces for Operation Stimulus 2010. One of these changes was introducing the font Expressway for all secondary copy. I kept the typeface Stencil for headings & the like. I also created pictorial images to represent the different portions of the conference. Much like transportation signs, these pictorial images gave you visual clues of what was going on at this year's conference without reading a word.


Program Cover

One of the Speaker's Spreads

One of the design changes I made inside of this year's program was putting the speakers in order by the time they would appear according to the schedule. By doing this I was able to put ads on the speaker spreads, which are naturally higher traffic areas in the program & reinforce when this year's breakout sessions were.

Schedule of Events Spread
This year I redesigned the schedule of events to highlight the what, when & where of the conference for the attenders. This way they could get needed information at a glance.

Recap Piece
We sent out an emailable PDF much like the pre-conference ones to thank this year's sponsors & let people know when next year's event will be.

One Whole Year Old!

Happy First Birthday, Cadence Rose!

Fat Camp 2010

Three of my great friends from high school & I have made it a tradition to head up to Upper Michigan & decompress for a weekend in January. We call this weekend Fat Camp. We eat healthy food, take long snowshoe hikes in the snow, enjoy the on-site sauna & de-stress. For some reason (babies & busy schedules) it has been three years since there was a Fat Camp that we all attended. We all left the weekend refreshed & reconnected. It was such a great exercise in letting go & relaxing. I really don't understand why we don't do it more often! Enjoy some of my favorite photos from the weekend.

Oh how I love snow.