I've Worked Too Hard For This To Be Sunday Cherry Lime Rickey

Sometime between Beer-Thirty and Cocktail O'Clock comes the point in the day when you realize that you've just been too ambitious, and whatever you're planning to do with the rest of your day isn't going to get done. This is the point in your weekend when it makes sense to whip up some sort of cold drinky thingy and sit on the deck watching the kids in the midst of their latest terrifying project. Everyone is going to be happier if you just put away the to-do list.

This particular drink happened in just that way. It's an unreasonably hot day and we decided that heading out to the Arts Beats & Eats festival wasn't going to happen in the wake of buying/assembling new deck furniture, doing 6 loads of laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning the kitchen, and getting the kids ready for the first day of school. Margaritas sounded perfect, but we're out of tequila, we forgot to put mixers on the grocery list, and if we wanted to head out again we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. Something fruity and light sounded good, so the bourbon was out. The giant bottle of fancy-schmancy cider was either going to be way too much or not nearly enough, since we're expecting company for dinner tonight.

A quick survey of the kitchen reveals: (1) lots of liquor (2) lots of citrus (3) tonic water, diet Coke, and Anna's lemon-flavored sparkling water that we previously decided tastes like Lemon Pledge. Hmm.....

I've Worked Too Hard for This to be Sunday Cherry-Lime Rickey

juice of 2 limes (juice fresh ones, don't use the reconstituted stuff)
about the same amount of maraschino cherry juice from the jar in the fridge that you forgot about after the cupcake-decorating party
3 oz. cherry vodka
1 oz. creme de cassis (or a cherry-flavored liqueur, if you have one. We didn't so I improvised)

Shake all these ingredients together in the nifty bar shaker you got for your wedding shower and only recently rediscovered. Put 3 maraschino cherries into the bottom of a tall glass, add some ice, and pour half the contents of the shaker into the glass. Top with sparkling water (preferably not the stuff that tastes like Lemon Pledge, but if that's all you have the vodka will blunt the worst of it) or Sprite. Stir.

Take out on the deck and compose a blog post while you sip.