Antics

Planning a wedding for all it’s worth

Sometimes the smallest things in life are the ones worth remembering. At your graduation, it’s not necessarily walking across the stage to get your diploma that you want to remember: it’s the jokes you told with your friends backstage moments before, as you all breathlessly tried to freeze in memory the last four…or five…or six…years. [...]

Sometimes I miss my car.

There are two seasons in Chicago: Bike season and bus season. (Unless you are like my insane coworkers David and Chris, who bike throughout the year. They assure me it’s all about having the right winter gear.) Bike season has been promising to come for several weeks, doing a titillating sort of dance where it [...]

View of Chicago Botanic Garden's Evening Island, a five-acre island that is home to a carillion (bell tower of 23 bells), lots of geese, and endless bushes of Russian sage.

“Growing” up

When you grow up in a family that owns a plant-based business, you spend a lot of time rolling your eyes as your parents discuss things like what kind of lavender is growing in front of Cinderella’s Castle at Disneyland. You also live in constant fear of family vacations becoming outings to local nurseries and [...]

The benefits of cycling include but are not limited to: Not getting sat on my overly large people who want half of my bus seat, not sitting in all of Chicago's germs on public transit, fresh air, exercise, gorgeous lakefront bike paths, and thighs of steel.

A new Billings, LLC. (ad)venture

I’d like to introduce my new signature scent, Freshly Minted Cyclist. This tantalizing parfum is made daily in small batches, so each bottle will be its own unique fragrance. However, we guarantee that your purchase will contain the essences of chain grease, sweat, rubber, and bruised ego. Your special variation may also include the delicate [...]

The Trials of Being a Considerate Person

I was lucky enough to get to spend part of this week in San Francisco for work. (Yes, I know, my life is so difficult.) Though I’ve never lived in SF or otherwise spent a great deal of time in the Bay Area, I’ve somehow ended up with a disproportionate number of friends there. So [...]