My bathroom needs your assistance

Since I last wrote, I have closed on and moved into my condo. The last several weeks of my life have revolved around fix-it projects, finding a few new pieces of furniture, etc. Now it's time to choose some bathroom paint! This is supposed to be the fun part, and I suppose it will be... until I get my Visa bill.

I've found three colors that I like, and would love to hear some opinions. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind: 1) My bathroom has white wood paneling that I plan to keep, and I'll also keep the white ceiling. The new paint will only go about halfway down the wall, so a color that might be "too much" if it covered all four walls could work. 2) My towels contain pink, orange-red, yellow, beige, and brown. The tile in the tub is a light blue. I've been doing a decent job of hiding the nonmatching tile, but it would be good to have a color that doesn't clash with it.

Here are the colors I like so far:

yellowstone

baby turtle

love & happiness

Yes, they all have silly names. But which do you prefer?

Mission accomplished

I've been looking for a record cabinet for awhile. Trolling eBay and Craigslist has become an obsession of mine. I finally lucked out last night, finding one at a good price from someone on the South Side, not too far from work. Because I have a few hundred records, I will still need one or two more (either a large one or a couple of smaller ones) to hold everything, but I really like this cabinet. It's in very good shape and I think it's pretty darned cute. Don't you agree?

Hope sweet home

I am feeling optimistic enough about the condo to post more pictures. Please continue to keep fingers crossed that I will actually live there.

  

  

 

Redecorating, vintage style

The big news in my life lately, in fact the main focus, has been buying my first home. I've been condo shopping for nine months now, had some frustratingly long and fruitless waits on short sales, but am finally under a contract on a nice place. If all goes well, it will be mine in mid April.

Now, this nice place has an old kitchen that will need to be gutted at some point. However, I have all kinds of ideas for making it not just bearable but actually fun in the meantime. I've always wanted a kitchen from 1960. (See screen shot of Gidget's refrigerator on this here blog. I'm serious.) I'm thinking that with some appliance and cabinet paint and new pulls on the fridge and cabinets, miracles can happen.

Here is the kitchen in question, pre-Charlottizing

My other big desire right now is to get a nice record cabinet. This is exactly what I have in mind. I love it so much I could die. It's the wallpaper on my computer right now. Anyway, record storage was the main thing on my mind when I heard about The Vintage Bazaar. Usually Chicago prices on vintage stuff are pretty high. I'm used to finding great stuff insanely cheap in Michigan, so after ten years here I still can't bear to overpay. However, the prices at the bazaar were surprisingly good. Oh, and the place was a total mob scene. It seemed to be crazy successful.

I did not find any furniture, but I did find some great housewares that will go in my retro kitchen.

 

 

There's coin laundry at the new place, so this might be where I keep my quarters stashed.

 

I got five of these adorable dessert dishes, and there were only a couple of small chips in the whole set.

I can't wait to move! And to have Gidget's kitchen!

Old Times Square

 Playland and Pokerino!

American Badasses: X Chromosome Edition

Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker: two badasses for the price of one

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Chaka Khan. Chak-chak-chak-Chaka Khan.

 

Etta James

  

Debbie Harry, Glamorous Badass

  

 Angela Davis, Political Badass

  

 Grace Slick

 

The Inimitable Tina Turner

Day on

I had yesterday off but decided to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. As the proponents of the Day of Service like to say, it's not a day off but a day on (I know, it's kind of cheesy). The program I participated in was sponsored by a state senator and carried out through the offices of two Chicago aldermen. It was a good way to connect volunteers with projects, which isn't always easy. I wish things had been a little more organized in advance in terms of transportation and knowing the time commitments involved in each project and if/when other volunteers would be arriving. Hopefully it all worked out for the organizations and volunteers.

I took two assignments: picking up garbage at a high school near my home, and doing some office work for the Ravenswood ArtWalk. Since I was closer to RAW, I went there first, thinking I'd put in a few hours there, then end the day in my own neighborhood. Unfortunately, I never made it to the school. There was plenty to do at RAW and no one else volunteered there, so I felt like my time was better spent by getting as much as possible done there. RAW is a really cool event held in the Ravenswood Corridor, an industrial area in my neighborhood. Nestled among the odd little businesses that run along the railroad tracks on Ravenswood Avenue are a lot of art studios and galleries. The RAW venues include not only these creative spaces, but also local businesses that offer their spaces to artists for the weekend.

The main project I worked on was organizing materials from last year's walk. A lot of random items -- posters, raffle tickets, T-shirts, etc. -- had been put aside immediately after the event and needed to be sorted, inventoried, and filed away. I made a fairly large dent in the organization project by sorting a lot of the materials and inventorying the signage. I also worked on tracking down missing venue signs and updating the email contact list. It was all fairly simple work, but tasks that are time-consuming -- perfect for a volunteer.


It was a fun day, and I felt like I was able to get a good amount of work done for the organization. But do you know what's even better than leaving with a sense of satisfaction? Leaving with some Rod Blagojevich art! RAW placed a call for Blago-themed art for last year's walk, and a few of the pieces were sitting around the office, uninstalled. I got to select a piece to keep, which I present to you in all its glory here.

I know you are jealous of me.