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!