Stranded in Chicago

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As I write this, my husband and I are currently 'stranded' in Chicagoland due to a car problem we discovered yesterday as we tried to leave town and head back to West Michigan. Thankfully, my parents were able to pick us up and we are holed up at their place working today.

Friday night we had some very exciting news to toast to, so we had a nice dinner and a bottle of wine at my in-laws' with a view of the lake to boot. How gorgeous is this set up?

On Saturday morning, we recovered from said wine, made some eggs, and eventually left West Michigan around noon for a quick, expected-to-be 24 hours trip to Chicago. 

Most of the drive was pretty simple, but traffic was awful once we got into the city (there is virtually no traffic in West Michigan). It was a vivid reminder that, while Chicago is indeed a very fabulous city, it has its 'cons' just like anywhere else. Pack that one in the memory bank for when I'm missing the Second City...

^Can't wait to get out into the sun!

The weather was pretty amazing though, in the 70s and sunny, so I decided to be brave and don a crop top. I could probably get away with it in Grand Rapids, but I figure it'll blend right in here in Chicago.

We arrived at The Drake Hotel in the early afternoon. I had never stayed here before, but we booked the trip last minute and they had a good rate available, so we jumped on it. Not the most modern or updated of the Chicago hotels by any means, but it has its own old fashioned charm to be found in the vintage chandeleirs.

We quickly dropped our things in the room and headed back out. One of my best friends from college was in town, and my mom and dad were in town to see a play that night, so we all met up in the afternoon for a few cocktails at Rock It Bar and Grill.

We walked inside to ask for patio seating only to find out they were closing their patio, so my dreams of sitting and enjoying a drink outside were squandered. Oh well. Good thing we had amazing company!

After a few hours of chatting away, and a few mimosas and old fashioneds, my parents had to head out to get to their play, and they drove my girlfriend back to her hotel while my husband and I walked around a bit. It was a pretty nice day out, and we are huge fans of walking, so the fact that we could shop on the way was just icing on the cake...

Pet peeve: The board to the left says "mimosa's" instead of "mimosas." I'm just saying...

We passed this hilarious sign on our way to the stores, and I had to get a picture of it. My next plan is to find a way to put a chalkboard in our next kitchen and come up with clever notes like this for when people come over.

A few hours later, after I bought myself my husband bought me a few shirts, a dress, a necklace, and a hair bow (oh, the random things you purchase after drinking a few cocktails...), we were ready for dinner.

Hanging out in River North / Streeterville / Mag Mile is fun, but it is also extremely crowded and touristy on a Saturday night (read: tons of people randomly stopping in the sidewalk to look up at the buildings, thus causing a HUMAN traffic jam - yes, Chicago is not just the home of vehicular traffic). So, we opted to head to J. Patrick's, our old standard pub in West Town. 

The next morning, we packed everything back into the car (there wasn't much for a one nighter!) and headed up north to Andersonville. We met with some of our friends for breakfast at Lady Gregory's, and we were sitting outside when the temperature suddenly dropped like 15 degrees. It was crazy.

We started heading back and had just gotten on LSD (Lake Shore Drive) when we started hearing a weird sound in our Touareg. Eventually, we had to get off and drop it off at a nearby Volkswagen dealership. We were lucky my parents were able to pick us up and bring us home for a steak dinner!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• Do you ever do small 24 hour trips? I like short weekend trips because they are a short little surprise from life, and not quite as hard to "come down from" afterward.
• Any Midwest suggestions for a short-and-easy trip?

PROgress for the sake of Living Room PROgress

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Does anyone remember the scene in Harry Potter 5 when EVIL Dolores Umbridge says "PROgress for the sake of PROgress MUST be discouraged?" Well, ever since then, the word PROgress has been pronounced with a very dominant "PRO" in my household. And by that, I mean just me.

Anyway, I'm sorry to break the spell yesterday's naked apartment tour cast on you (I know, you're in love. It shouldn't have taken its clothes off on the first date. Bad apartment. Bad). But, the apartment decided to get a little more dressed up. Well, some of it, at least.

Disclaimer: This is by no means finished. It's PROGRESS. So keep posted for the decor - because I just spent my life savings on Etsy. And by life savings I mean not really. But still a lot. The mail room delivery people are starting to hate me, I can feel it.

<--- Enter the Living Room!

As anyone who's ever moved can tell you (so... almost everyone?), the simple act of adding furniture can make an apartment feel much less nude. We brought in our new couch (in gray, on the left), which I'm sort of obsessed with still. 

I'll take more images to highlight why exactly I'm in love with a couch. But in short: Clean lines, retro feel, and those legs! Ha.

Sidenote: Yes, that would be me watching Avatar on my first night in the new apartment. It's just so pretty!

You may also notice the black futon from the old apartment. It seems to play well with the new couch, too. They both have tufting in the seats and a similar era feel with clean lines.

By the morning after furniture placement, we were semi cleaned up. We decided to swap the gray pillows from the couch to the futon to tie the corner together a bit better.

This retro side table was already at Justin's old place. It wasn't getting much glory there, because there wasn't a purpose for it, but here, it fits purrrrfectly.

To top it off? For now, a few funny comic books, A Book of Luminous Things (Poetry from my Uncle Toby on my birthday), and a random stick I painted bright colors.

See that TV? Yea, it's special. That was my first big girl purchase after getting my first big girl job. It's been sitting in my bedroom at my parents' house ever since (because the Wicker Park apartment was so small that an oversized TV would have made it impossible to breathe).

And this wonderful credenza is also a wonderfully special piece. It was my first huge furniture purchase. After perusing Craigslist for weeks, I finally stumbled upon Department Chicago. It's run by a young couple that finds old pieces (mostly mid century modern from what I've seen on their site) and fixes them up (cleans them and makes sure they're in working order) to sell. So, this is a true 1950s piece of furniture. Most 1950s credenzas are going online for $1,000-2,000, but we snagged this for the upper $400s. Thanks to Department Chicago for getting us such a great value.

Stay tuned for the rest of the apartment!

Naked Apartment Tour

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You know, like the apartment is naked. Get it? Geez. I wonder how many bizarre search hits I'm going to get with this post title. Bring it on, Google.

So, I moved this weekend. We were "good little workers," as my mom would say, and have the place pretty much set up. There are still a few projects we're looking to do over the next few months, but for now, at least all the furniture and art is in place.

But how can you appreciate something beautiful without seeing how barren and empty it once was? Answer: You cannot. [Okay, not always true, but here it's quite important!]

Let's start at the front of the apartment. I've highlighted in yellow where you enter the apartment.

This is how the entry looked on Thursday evening, when we first showed up to move things. The front door opens onto a tiled platform.

From the platform, you step down onto the wood floor. I'm not sure how recently these were done, but they're beautiful. So beautiful :)

On that beautiful wood floor, immediately accessible from the entry way, is the living room. 

This is the Living Room wall after stepping down from the entryway. We're planning to keep this corner couch laden (as you can see in the floor plan above). You know, so people actually have a place to sit down when they hang out (instead of the last place, where you practically had to stand around).



Okay, so we just turned around and are now looking back at the front window. On the first day we were there, literally while I was snapping these pictures, the couch I bought last weekend was delivered. Here's your first snap shot of the space with real live (or not live) furniture. Hopefully the couch gives you a bit of a sense of scale.



"Look at me! I'm a sexy looking couch!" (And now the combination of this post title with the word sexy in that couch quote will lead even more people to show up on this page and find out it's just some crazy lady talking about her apartment. Sue me.)

Next, in the same general space as the Living Room, we have a second space.

Past the Living Room is what I'm pretty sure was meant to be a Dining Room. But we're not doing it that way.  Instead, we're trying to keep a lot of this space open. Imagine a cute little desk in that corner, diagonally facing the rest of the room (so you can see the TV from your desk, what a treat).

From the Dining-turned-desk-room, there's a cute cut out to the kitchen. Again, you could be cutting onions in the kitchens and watching Revenge at the same time! Life is good, folks. Or... it will be.

To the left of the cut out to the kitchen, the hallway begins (dun dun dunnn!). Let's walk down it, shall we? Come on!

This hallway stretches from the bedroom door (behind me as I took this pic) to the kitchen (up ahead to the right). Straight ahead is the door to the washer and dryer (in unit, people. Don't be jealous). To the left is a smaller hallway to more storage and a bathroom. To the immediate right, however, is some wonderful display space.

I thought you wanted a closer look. There's no lighting inside the display shelving, but I'm excited to spice it up in there. We have so many random nick nacks (is that how you spell it?) that I'm sure it'll be obnoxiously cluttered like your grandma's piano in no time.

Next, turn right to the kitchen...

After walking down the hallway, this kitchen is to the right. Tons of storage. We'll be putting a table and chairs to the left, inside a little corner nook that's hidden in this pic.

Here we are from another direction. See the cut out that lets you see out the front window? I love it. Because, yet again, it means I can watch Revenge while cooking. Or any other show. Like Nikita. Alias reruns. Modern Family. You know the drill.

Here's a shot going back down the hallway. There's a tiny little glimpse on the right into the bathroom. We'll go there later :)

Here's the bedroom...

Here's a view from the back corner of the bedroom toward the door. You'll notice on the left that they installed a white ledge that extends a few inches from the ground and floor. Might pose a problem, as we're planning to line all the furniture up on that wall to avoid cluttering things up near the door.

Here's a shot of the closet (which spans the whole width of the room, amen).

And last but not least, the wonderful bathroom...

And back in the bathroom, her I am! Proof that I really did take these pictures. And proof that, in true style, I moved into an apartment without taking off my suit jacket. 

Stay tuned for pics this week. Get excited - they will include... drumroll please... furniture!