Friday, February 15, 2013

Vintage Bazaar in Chicago this Weekend

One of my favorite events in Chicago is the pop-up Vintage Bazaar. This Friday night is the Night Market at Chicago's DANK House in Lincoln Square for dancing, vintage shopping, food and cocktails.  If you are busy Friday evening recovering from Valentine's Day then stop by on Saturday and vintage shop from 10-5 for free. You can find more information on The Vintage Bazaar website. I have a friend arriving from London  to stay for a few days and we will be playing in Chicago throughout the weekend, I'm hoping I can find time to stop by the Bazaar tomorrow.

On other news, my kitchen remodel is complete! Just in time for out of town guests who are popping into Chicago over the next 3 weeks. The picture below shows my new floors and appliances.

I hope you all had as lovely a Valentine's Day with your valentine as I did!


Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Trying to Find Time to Read Fifty Shades...

These days it seems like the only time I have to read is when I find something interesting online such as this article on the Top 5 Page to Screen Adaptions and Fictional Boys We Want to Date Who Would Make Awful Boyfriends. (I agree with the movies and characters in each article).

It's been a busy few weeks, my kitchen remodel is nearly complete but not without a few major disasters along the way including:
  • The plumber installed a water line for my new fridge and a gas line for my new stove. 2 days after he completed the work I randomly walked into the storage room in my basement (the room where the water heater and water lines are) and into a puddle. The plumber did not sauter the new pipe completely and it had sprung a leak, spraying the back wall of my downstairs bathroom wall for 2 days. Needless to say I freaked out and called him, he did come over immediately and fix the problem. He will also be re-drywalling my basement wall.
  • The new vinyl floors that were put in by a friend who had done floor work for me before were a total disaster. He removed the old vinyl floor in the kitchen but did not remove the plywood subfloor, instead he installed the new vinyl over the buckled subfloor. I then had to hire someone else to remove the new vinyl floor disaster and install new ceramic tile. In the process of removing the mess my new floor guy discovered multiple subfloors in the kitchen, removed them and installed tile, he really did a beautiful job. The kitchen looks very modern and the floors are warm and cozy. 
Over the weekend my new appliances were hooked up and I'm having fun relearning how to cook on gas after years of cooking on electric. The kitchen is freshly painted and I am currently working on sanding and painting my new wood table and chairs. I plan on hanging some artwork and then the kitchen remodel will be complete.

In the meantime I have been trying to find time to read the Fifty Shades trilogy which apparently everyone has read except me. I started Fifty Shades of Grey about a month ago and frankly the writing is so bad it's a struggle to get through it but I'm determined to finish the books which I know will be made into movies. The awful writing reminds me of another series that became a sensation, the Twilight series but I never finished the first book, I couldn't stand the writing or the character of Bella. Strange cause I surprisingly enjoyed all the movies.

In the first 5 weeks of 2013 I have sold multiple items from my Etsy store, Lively Vintage. In the past week alone I've sold 2 items of clothing and a vintage wicker train case. My parents have shipped me some items from the estate of a family relative who recently died in her 90's and I may add some of the items to the store. Maybe when I go on vacation to LA, San Francisco and Napa with Paul in a couple of months I can get some reading done on the multiple plane rides. I doubt it but I will pack the books...