new puppy

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photo courtesy of apple.com

i got an iPhone :) 

now, all I need are some black rim glasses and I will have completely fulfilled the stereotype. I don't care, I love it like a puppy.

My 12 seconds of internet fame and glory

ladies and gents, I made it on design*sponge today!! it is one of my most favorite blogs and I've always wanted to be featured on it for doing something cool! Today was my day!

My superfun work friend Jill and I did a little eco-craft project to celebrate our inaugural Green Committee meeting at work today. 

Click below to read the full story :)

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/11/diy-project-eco-friendly-notebooks.html

Chicago, election night

skyline from grant park

daley plaza

throngs coming to grant park

festive and patriotic art institute

You have to admit, whether you are an Obama supporter or not, that it was pretty amazing how enthralled in the election everyone was, especially here. I was probably just been too young the last two elections to really take note, so it was cool to be a part of this one so close to home. 

We didn't have tickets to the rally (or a desire to stand on our feet for 7 hours with 70,000 anxious Obama supporters), but did walk through downtown after work and to the perimeter of the crowd at Grant Park. It was amazing all the crap people were slinging: buttons, tshirts, you name it. 

After a few hours of walking around (with my laptop on my back, no less) we opted out of downtown and back to the 'hood for a tall beer and some food, then home to comfy couches for the announcement. 

booze cruise, 08

a motley crew if I ever saw one :)


my brother, the future politician

Well, Booze Cruise 08 went off without a hitch last weekend. (Unless you consider a few stitches in my little bro's face a hitch? he is just fine :) I like to bill it as the "best day of the summer" and I think we came close? After lots of unorganized accounting on my part, everything came together. The weather held out and was beautiful, everyone had a great time and I managed to get all the appropriate folks paid! Next year, pizza at the after bar for sure though!

why didn't i think of that

love it. typeface based on ikea diagrams. 

courtesy of designboom.com, done by jamie hearn. 

Oh, for blogs sake!

While I have no fun photos to post, or anything terribly interesting to write about, I figured my blog needed some love.  

Things have been pretty busy and ramping up with fun-ness, due to summer finally arriving (yay!). My past few weeks have been filled with a menagerie of birthday parties and cocktails and kickball games and evening bicycle rides. I heart summer. And, in a lot of ways, I don't wish it was like this ALL year long, because there's no way I/Chicago would appreciate it as much if it was. It's like this special nugget of time where we get to be silly and summery. 

So, I've been doing some of my most favorite things like riding down to the farmer's market on saturday mornings and going for bike rides and having beers on outdoor patios and eating tomato sandwiches for lunch every day! Plus, our kickball league is in full swing now, so Sundays just got a little more Sunday Funday with lots of 20-somethings playing kickball like 10 year olds and drinking beer on the field.   

The pride parade was also yesterday which is always a favorite of summer for me (and about the only time of the year when I have a bascially 100% sugar fruity cocktail because...when in Rome!) I usually take gobs of photos, but just spectated this year and enjoyed myself. Though it did rain and, in this gals opinon, drag queens and rain do NOT mix. But the show must go one, and it did! For several hours! I was still hearing the bass pumping around 11 when I went to sleep with my sugary belly-ache and tired kickball legs :)

I'm looking forward to this short week and a long weekend of relaxin and maybe some fun in the sun! 

Green Fest

Over the past year or so, I (like most of us, it seems) have been trying to become more aware of my environmental impact, in both my personal and professional lives. I think its so important to become educated...afterall, I am a member of the profession that designs and produces all of this crap!

So, I've been reading a lot and working on various projects and events, and some of that will come into the blog.

Which brings me to the Green Festival. An annual event (though I don't think its been around that long) that aims to bring together all things green. This weekend was my first experience, so I have some photos and comments below.

In keeping with the green theme, I rode my bike down to the show (against mach speed winds!) and got a discount for doing so, which I thought was a nice touch.


As you can see above, the show was a pretty good size and took me around 2 hrs to get all the way through. I was a little surprised by the amount of STUFF being sold, given the theme of the festival.


Though most of the stuff was still teetering in the hippy-dippy realm, there were a few gems in there, like this chocolate called Divine. The chocolate was yum! (you'd be hard pressed to find a chocolate I wouldn't like, though...) But the packaging is what got me. The company is a Fair trade company, and is owned in part by the farmers who grow the cocoa in Ghana. So, the symbols are are traditional West African symbols that each have a special meaning. It satisfied both my pattern and chocolate fetishes.


One thing that is definitely missing from most trade shows is a well-placed recycling program! After sampling around the National Restaurant Association show all day today, I can definitely look back and appreciate this set-up. Not only were there receptacles for each and every type of disposable thing, there were handy-dandy helpers behind to guide you in your disposal :) A+ for the trash effort.

On the left are these very cool messenger bags made from old racing sails. The simple graphics (looked like mostly numbers and letters) on the sails made for very cool bags. On the right is a sample of the city of Chicago's set-up, which wasn't bad. There is definitely something to be said for quantifying things when trying to get people to change habits. For example, this part of the exhibit talks about how you can save $5, 4 gallons of water and .003 metric ton of greenhouse gas a year just by turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth.

Overall the show was pretty good. There are some interesting ideas out there for sure, like paper made from elephant poo, and computers running on power generated by riding a bicycle. And we still have a long way to go, but at least people are coming up with innovative ideas and starting to get involved.

Gah-den Pah-ty

That's Garden Party for those of you who can't decipher the strange Boston accent that I like to throw in at random times (Tory makes fun of me to no end for that!)

One of my most favorite summer happenings happened over the weekend: the Green City Farmer's Market opened! There is just nothing better than going for a Saturday morning bike ride to chat with farmers and buy the tastiest foods I can get my mits on.

Since it is only May, there wasn't much produce to be had quite yet, but there were plenty of herbs for the buying. After a failed attempt at sprouting some cilantro seeds, I figured my chances may be better if I start with some already-alive plants!

So here's my first attempt at little city herb garden. And don't worry, those babies are bolted down to that railing! I have cilantro, 2 types of basil, mint and a habanero pepper plant (the wildcard).

I really want my thumbs to be green, so here's hoping they don't die!

The Big Easy.

Well, a few weeks later (about how long it took to recover), here are some pix and shenanigans from our trip down to the Big Easy to see Jack graduate. What an awesome time and a great day for everyone (particularly my parents!)

Thumbs up, like its 1994 :) Outside the Superdome, we are proud of our youngest sib!

Our afternoon entertainment, the "Natchez", took us for a scenic ride (a'la Huck Finn) down the Missi-sloppy, as my dad likes to call it. We McClain's likened this baby to more of a booze cruise than historical river ride, and it was just the ticket for post-graduation celebrations.

Though we did pay attention to some of the scenery. 

Because it was New Orleans, and the middle of the afternoon, we decided to do a mini pub crawl back to the hotel from the riverboat. Uncle Bob was kind enough to buy me the greatest toys ever: that weird little lizard on the end of a pencil and a voodoo doll, so I stuck 'em in my dress for safe keeping. Hey, it's New Orleans, you can do whatever you want there, right?

To the right, you'll see Jack on Mother's Day wearing an ever-appropriate t-shirt.

Overall, the trip was great. We had an awesome, sunny, humid great time and ate like it was going out of style! I love that city and am excited to have a sibling tour guide for many more trips in the future. 

a fine day for a birthday :)

photo courtesy of http://www.someecards.com

and courtesy of my friend marissa :)

Well, today's the official day. And it has been super! Probably the warmest, most Ferris Bueller-esque day we've had here in Chicago in about 6 months-74 and sunny! :)

My mom and I spent the day strolling around shopping and dining al fresco like hollywood starlets. It was perfect. We just had a fab dinner and now I am sleepy and ready to siesta...for the rest of the night! 

Tomorrow, my mom will be loose in my apartment alone all day. Anything could happen! I am looking forward to returning to reupholstered furniture and God knows what else? :)

Nonetheless, this has been a great birthday. Let it continue for another 26 days!

 

A birthday with the Windy City Rollers.

This year, I decided we should do something sort of odd (and awesome) for my birthday...so, last night we went to the Roller Derby! It was grrrreat!

I believe Roller Derby as a sport got its start in Chicago back in the 20's or 30's, but had its revival here just a few years ago (sidenote: the girl who re-started it here in Chicago is married to a co-worker of mine...). It is an all girls contact sport where the goal is to get the "jammer" to pass the pack and then lap them, thus getting 1 point for every member of the opposing team they can pass on the second lap around.

But the best part, truly, are their names. Some of my favorites: Juanna Rumble, Ivanna Beer, Tall Drinka Slaughter, Beth Amphetamine, Go-Go Hatchet, Sonya Mouthshut...just to name a few. And it is really entertaining! There's lots of tripping, clotheslining and blocking with one's bootey (not to mention beer drinking and heckling).

Plus, the sponsor bar has a party bus to take ya to and fro the match, and the best $7 you'll ever spend on a buffet afterwards. I most definitely ate 2 corn dogs.

If you have the means, I highly recommend checking out a match somewhere. One of the more unique sporting events I've ever witnessed, and one hell of a birthday celebration!

And finally...Living Room Before/After

You can't really see, but in the first After picture (aside from Tory's tootsies), you can see the edge of my coffee table, which is actually my old desk, sans legs! And the TV stand also came from St. Louie. It is a large piece of furniture that used to be at my granny's house. It was an adventure getting it up the 4 flights of stairs to my place!

Closet Craziness!

All I can say is that a guy definitely must've built this closet! When I moved in, the 2 bars in the closet were running horizontally across the closet (so there was one in front, then one back behind it). I thought, "Oh no, this just won't do!" (Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee)

So, I took them down, decided to paint it the kitchen teal color while I was at it, then took some shelves down to make room for the bars to hang one above the other, longways. Now I have sort of a junior walk-in! I hung a few rows of hooks on the other side to accommodate my huge scarf and belt collection, so the space gets tight if I eat a big meal, but it'll work!

Now I just need to fill it with clothes that compliment the wall color...hah!

Boudoir Before/After

I know, the girl before me had hideous taste in paint. But I knew it had potential! Not much to say here...the real fun was with my closet...up next!

Workspace Before/After

The thing that really sold me on this place was the little "art nook", as I like to call it. It is about 8ft. wide, and the perfect space to tuck away my computer (and its many corresponding parts). As you can see from the before, the old desk just wasn't cuttin' it. 

Lucky for me, mom and dad came to the rescue and helped me to devise this DIY desk! We went to Home Depot and got a piece of wood cut to size and covered it with this fun geometric fabric from Ikea. Then, we used a file cabinet on either side as the "legs" and, voila! Insta-desk! 

Above the desk, I hung many of my favorite pieces of art for inspiration. And the old library card catalog on the desk came from my mom and dad's basement :) I remember that from when I was a kid and have always loved it. Now its mine!

What a difference a workspace makes!

Kitchen Before and After

I wanted to go for a sort of fun, 50's color in the kitchen, so I chose this muted teal color (with the help of my fabulous interior design friend, Jill). I had one of those, "oh shit" moments when I rolled out the first bit, but now I absolutely love it! 

The main thing this kitchen was lacking is cabinet space. So I decided to hang some of the pots and pans to clear out space. Now I feel like Rachel Ray when I cook! Plus, as you can see, the kitchen gets awesome light and is quickly becoming my favorite room.

Everyone loves a good makeover.

To the amusement of all my friends and Tory especially, unpacking and settling in to my new place took slightly longer than expected. True to form, I decided that I needed to paint pretty much every square inch of the place...and thought I could knock it out in a weekend (oh please, I know).

Now, almost 3 months later, I am finished situating and love the new digs. I finally feel at home after living in the company of giant, fire-breathing bugs (and neighbors)!

So, without further ado, here come the before and afters! Some of the before shots are from when I first saw the place, so there's a lot of the previous tenant's stuff (and awful taste in paint colors).

Meet Cherry Bounce.

The inspiration for the name of this blog comes from a concoction my grandpa used to make, aptly called Cherry bounce. The "Cherry" come from the bing cherries used in the recipe. And, though I'm not sure exactly where the "Bounce comes from, I remember the last time I drank it (when this photo was taken) that my dad said it was because it wanted to bounce right back outta' your stomach! (And that's the truth!)

The recipe, now held securely by my Aunt and Uncle, calls for all sorts of wild things, such as a 5th of Everclear and 1lb of rock candy. And making it is a mild labor of love, as it takes 6 months to stew and brew and must be shaken once a week.

It seemed to have an appropriate tie to the blog, which plans to mix lots of different and odd ideas into one big, messy jar :)

Let's get started, folks!

Hello and welcome to the inaugural Cherry Bounce!

I have decided to move away from the mass emailing and into Blogger for a variety of reasons:
#1: It will archive all posts and make everything more searchable.
#2: I can make the posts much more visual with photos, colors, etc.!
#3: It is a better format for posting quick ideas and thoughts, rather than sending a bunch of consecutive emails.

I don't really have an agenda for topics, but am hoping to just write about my art life outside of work. For starters, I'll post some photos of my new place. Then, who knows?

For those of you not familiar with Blogger, you may post a comment at the end of a post and say whatever you like!

Alrighty, let's get bloggin!