New Bikes!

We got new bikes! Very exciting! The photo above is my new Trek.

And this is Dale's new Le Mond!

We love them! Dale was a smarty-pants that got us a great deal. He did some work for a Trek shop on Michigan Ave. and took a store credit and an employee discount. So it was almost a barter deal that landed us some sweet new toys.

Dale also got a new pair of shoes that he loved so much he had to take a pretty picture of them!

Chicago Bears Dude

A Chicago Bears football player was filming a commercial on the street a few weeks ago near Dale's building. He took a few photos.

There's been a ton of commercials and films shooting in the city this summer, including the next Batman movie, Angelina Jolie's new movie and numerous commercials.

Chicago Bears dude.

Near Dale's Office

Construction near Dale's office.

The view from the conference room in Dale's office building.

On the street in the city.

Megan & Maddie

My friend Megan and her daughter Maddie came to spend the day in Oak Park! We had a great time. I took them to The Spindle (which is close to becoming history to make room for a new Walgreen's--GRRR!). We also did some shopping, played with the kitty cats, and grabbed a bite of Mexican food. Yummy!

I also got my first look at Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple. The admission price is a bit steep at $8 but only because there's not much to it. It's still a lovely piece and they will hopefully restore it with the pricey entrance fee!

Stephenie Meyer Book Signing

I've been turning all my gals onto my latest guilty pleasure--Stephenie Meyer books! She writes very entertaining (slightly trash-tastic) novels. Her latest is Eclipse and since I'd pushed Rebecca P. into reading the first two novels, we decided to go together to get the new book on the day it was released--August 7--and it just so happened that the author was in Naperville doing a book signing on the release date.

The event was such a huge deal that the signing was moved from the book store to the local college auditorium. We got there about 15 minutes before the doors opened and found quite a line! It wrapped around the building.

We felt a little old among the crowd of mostly teen gals. We were mostly bitter because it was roughly 1000 degrees with 100% humidity! Still plenty of time for a self-portrait!

The line wrapped around the entire block. When we got inside, we were handed a copy of the book and Stephenie Meyer gave a brief Q&Q. She then sat down and signed each book of each person present. There were 1,000 seats and it was sold out! And people brought all of her other books to have them signed as well.

Because the book is a sequel lots of folks got started as soon as Stephenie left the stage to start signing. We were 650 and 651 of 1,000!

We patiently waited our turn, enjoyed the complimentary water and Stephenie's favorite treat--chocolate chip cookie dough!

And finally--at 9:30--we got our books signed! Stephenie told me she liked my name and I told her that I am a fan of her most loathed character--the guy that is the greatest threat to the main love story--Stephenie gave me a high-five after I told her I am "Team Jacob." We had a moment and it was the bee's knees!

Isadora Ink featured on The Daily Obsession

Exciting news! My craft website was featured today on a cute blog about shopping.

Check it out here!

Moulin Rouge Bedroom

Dale and I started cleaning up my vanity--it was my great-grandmother's and I've had it since I was a little girl. It's been pretty beat up. In addition to having about 100 years of use, it's been moved multiple times (and sustained a broken leg), has evidence of having been refinished in the 1950s (you can see the power sanding marks in some places), and been kept in smoking homes up through the early 90s. It was dark, dank, grimey. So we started cleaning and couldn't stop ourselves. Above is how it looked after we cleaned the crap out of it. Dale convinced me to let him fix it so I sat biting my nails and waiting for the results. And they were amazing:

How beautiful does that wood look now? WOW! He was just starting to add a layer of shellac to it.

This is the other side, which wasn't in quite as bad of shape. Pretty! This will be part of the Moulin Rouge Theme Bedroom I'm working on. Should be finishing in 2015 at the rate I'm going!

World's Tackiest Headboard

So, Dale woke me up one night two weeks ago and let me know that the World's Tackiest Headboard happened to be right outside our bedroom window--waiting to go into the trash.

I was thrilled and we immediately scurried down the stairs and scooped it up. Of course, nothing can be simple! My goal was just to spray paint it a fabu gold and blue and use it as a free and easy piece in my dream Moulin Rouge-themed bedroom! I want to live inside the elephant in Moulin Rouge! So I started cleaning it tonight and it's filthy, of course. But worse yet, the paint--both layers of it--is coming off on my cleaning rag. And it's lovely hand-carved wood underneath! Gah! Now I am going to have to strip it in order to paint it because if I paint it, it will just flake off! *sigh*

Anyway, you can follow the progress of the World's Tackiest Headboard here, including the newly uncovered wood beneath the tacky paint.