IPhone art

Not much time to paint these days, so I bought a painting iPhone app.
and hope to make little drawings during my daily commute.

Uncle fun

With no real plans yesterday, Tory and I were free to just use our
memorial day to putz around. What better place than Uncle Fun to go
exploring. My fav store here in Chicago...possibly anywhere. Drawers
filled with 10 cent weird plastic toys, fake vomit, bouncey balls, you
name it.

The modern wing.

The new modern wing at the art institute opened last week, so Tory and
I went to scope it out (amidst throngs of people). It is so cool
(gush). This was my fav, but I can't remember who did it! Note to
self: It's across from the Jackson pollock.

Choo choo

Ridin to st lou in style on the amtrak with plentiful snacks, my guy,
a road sodie and a power hookup for the laptop. Sweet...

Someone funny on the loose with chalk

Cards

Finally made it to ikea today and got some more of these little frames
so my wall o'tory cards is up to date again. Just think, some day they
could fill an entire hallway...

The scent of spring

Walking home from work today, very much enjoying the spring smells :)

If it's good enough for Guy Fieri...

Tory and I have become avid watchers of the show "Diners, Drive-Ins
and Dives." It is on Friday evenings, so when we choose to be lame and
stay in, we always catch it.

We always salivate and moan and groan over the delicious food, but
never as much as when they are at a barbeque joint! When we saw them
go to a place called Smoque here in chi-town, we had to give it a try.

So we got a zipcar (convertible mini cooper!) and headed over
yesterday. Needless to say, the meal was eaten in silence and it was
the only one we had all day.

Fantastic brisket and peach cobbler.

I love my street in the spring

Davie's Chuckwagon

We spent the past few days in Denver, remembering the life of one
he'll of a guy, Kelli's dad Krugger. I like to think we shared a
common taste for photography and miscellaneous antiques. But Krugger,
God love him, had a special place in his heart for local diners and
unique restaurants and he knew Everyone everywhere. I'm sure he had a
good chuckle on Saturday morning when we visited one of his favorites,
Davies' Chuckwagon, for some good old fashioned diner breakfast before
the service.

Al Hirt

Favorite tree

This is my favorite tree. It is my turn-around point when I run through the park. As you can see, it looks like its been through its fair share of Chicago winters, ice storms and windy days. It just reminds me to keep chuggin' along. As I recall, it is a beautiful tree in the spring and summer, when I usually run that path. Come June, I'll post another picture.

New Painting

I did this painting as a wedding gift for a friend, and finally finished it this evening. This thing has like 5 layers of previous paint/collagework underneath, and has been going on for several months (the wedding was in July!).

But, it really came together this past weekend and I'm super happy with the finished piece. I used a lot of imagery from an old gardening book because they are both super earthy and her husband used to do landscaping. So there are pieces of landscaping drawings in there for texture. Since they are newlweds and just bought their first house, that seemed an appropriate center to the piece. See the detail below.

I am tentatively planning to have a show this summer (yay!) and am going to start regularly painting again. I'm also going to green up my art by using salvaged and scrap wood, as well as more water-based and low VOC materials for the materials. Stay tuned for more art news!

Howdy

One of the fun perks of my job is poking around at our warehouse where we store all the antiques for the stores, and build all the various stuff. Occasionally they will get something at an auction that ends up being a little too "racy" for our stores, so they then have to re-sell it. Whenever I'm there I like to shop around and I recently scored this little beauty!

Its an old pinball machine top that still lights up!



This saucy little cowgirl makes it too-hot-for-Potbelly. I think its hilarious and promptly struck this pose when they brought it over to the office for me.

Cherry bounce on cherry bounce

After receiving a decanter of Cherry Bounce for Christmas from Uncle Bob and Aunt Bev, we McClain kids decided we'd better get started on our summer batch! So, we got together for a little bounce-makin'/Super Supper Saturday party at Nate and Lisa's.

As you can see, the supplies alone could kill several small animals. And, after the first taste, we were all feeling a little like we might die. But we had a great time, see below for the play-by-play.


After emptying our Carlo Rossi wine jugs (mostly into the sink, but some into our tum tums), we started adding the cherries.

Adding another bottle of booze...Cherry Bounce contains, liquid-wise: Bonded Bourbon (Wild Turkey), grain alcohol (Everclear), and Cherry Brandy. Jack had to drive outside of Cook County to get 190 Proof Everclear because it is illegal here.

Adding a long string of rock candy.

As the tradition goes, you taste the Bounce after 6 seconds/minutes/hours/days/weeks, then it is "done" after 6 months.

That first 6 second taste is basically like taking a shot of everclear. I now have chest hair.


sour face from Jack.

The crew with our Bounces named (from left to right) Dace Bounce, Balls-Deep Bounce, Man Bounce, Little Boy Bounce, and KampersandM.

It was one of the coldest days of the winter, which seemed appropriate for such a party. After several tastings and some rockin mac n' cheese casserole, we were ready to again brave the cold.

This batch will be ready right around Booze Cruise time in July...I smell trouble :)

Just for kicks

Best thing ever...I designed these shoes on Nike ID and am in love. Given the choice of basically any color imaginable, you can see that I went a little wild. All the ladies stare with covetous eyes when I run by. hah.


And, the best part, you get 5 letters per heel to put a message. I chose "Hot Buns" because, duh, it is hilarious! Imagine runnning behind me (as you're coming up to pass me, obviously) and reading that. Hahah, whatever works, right?

urban window awesomeness

I love Urban Outfitters, and especially their rad music/photography themed window display. I've been researching window display ideas for work and this one really stood out.

Viva la Peacekeeper!

Jack's band, Peacekeeper, performing at The Cubby Bear and being filmed by Comcast!



Peacekeeper bringing down the house a few weeks ago at Phyllis'. As you can see, Matt played a few songs with the band. Totally awesome, fun was had by all.

new kitchen chairs

left: before, right: after!

my mom worked her magic on these great chairs we found at an antique store over the holiday break. authentic shabby chic from the 30's...i heart them.

we built this city on rock n' roll

and apparently abe lincoln did as well...Yes, that is the Lincoln Memorial singin' along. Well worth a watch.

brrrrsville

I took this photo last week on my way into work when it was -10 below zero. It has been very cold and snowy in Chicago this month. It isn't so bad, and I'm not really one of those cynical Chicago winter people until about March. However, I could do without the -10 days.

And while most people think it is crazy, I love running in this weather (after most of the ice is gone from the sidewalks). Maybe its because my legs go numb so I can't really feel anything and can just focus on moving forward. I just love feeling warm from running in such cold weather. Or maybe I'm just my father's daughter? 

I loaded up my ipod with liquid sunshine (a bunch of cheesy, bubblegum-teenybob music) when I got home and ventured out for a jog...dressed like the younger brother on A Christmas Story. I used to always focus my healthy efforts into intense work-outs and since I have shifted to eating more healthy I've discovered that exercise can be a nice little icing on top. So I can now just go for a jog without timing exactly how long it is, or worrying about how fast (or slow more likely) I am going. 

Since the beginning of the year, I've also started making a conscious effort to work more reasonable hours and put a hard stop on my days. And, as many people told me, its amazing how much more productive you can be when you know you are on a timeline. I think it will be good for both me and the job to take better care of myself this year and focus on what's important. 

In years past, I've always made some pretty intense resolution lists and shared them with everyone. But this year I've just vowed to do things that make me happy. This means cooking more, painting more, running more, resting more and seeing more of my friends and family. Maybe even having an art show this summer?

Time to hit the showers.