operation paper cut

I'm Still Here

2012-01-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Wow. So I guess I don't really know what has moved me away from this blog.

At first I thought maybe I was getting my writing fix through my Houzz articles...but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it may be due to the fact that the internet has become soaked with blogs. and DIY. and thrifting. and repurposing. and inspiring. It's not the cool thing to do anymore. Everything is trendy. People have lost touch with their lives and are living vicariously through others. I'm not saying that's a bad thing-- sometimes it IS fun. But it's just kind of strange.

When I started Operation Paper Cut, blogs hadn't been around too terribly long at the time. Many people didn't know that the word "blog" even meant something. And honestly, that's what made me want to start one in the first place. I was young. I wanted to speak for my generation from a different standpoint than many 19 and 20 years olds seem to emit. It was thrilling.

But now, the luster is fading away. The pull to inspire is hardly existent. The spotlight of showing others what they are capable of has been taken away by sites like Pinterest.

I'm not saying I'm leaving. I'll still be around. And I do plan on posting what I've been up to over the past couple months. But I'll leave that for a different day.

For now, I'm going to enjoy my last day as a 26 year old and hang some artwork that I framed this morning.

Don't worry-- you'll be first to see it. Okay, maybe second. But you're definitely at the front of the line. Line leader. ;)

IKEA Karlstad

2011-12-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

Oh hey LOOK, it's December! Yay! This means that it's almost time to bust out the snowshoes and I. Can't. Wait. One of the cool things about working at an outdoor shop is that you meet people who don't mind being out in the cold or the rain too much. Of course I have to attribute it partly to the fact that most them all own really good gear, which obviously helps. Because really-- who wants to go rainstorm hiking in a poncho? Not me. No. Oh dang it, weren't we talking about snow before? Geeez. Sorry about that. I'm just super thrilled to be tromping around the snowy woods with my friends soon. AND and and, a friend and I were hiking a few weeks ago and found the BEST PLACE EVER to carve out a sweet sled luge as soon as the snow flies. Well...second best place. Joe and I found an even cooler place over the summer, but it would take a lot more work and it's not as accessible. Ooooh dang. I'm sooo excited.

But anyhow, that's all in the future and I came here to talk about the now, so let's talk about the now. After 6 and a half years of cringing, loathing and hating our old couch, we finally have a new one. WITH a chaise lounge, of course. In dark grey, of course. And much bigger than our last one...of course.

After a couple years of swooning over the CB2 Annex Sofa, which was discontinued last year, I droopily moved on to other thoughts and found a couple new ones that I liked. These couches stayed on my lust-list for quite awhile, but over time I began to realize something that was kind of hard for me to swallow. I'm a firm believer in holding out until you can get the best quality you can afford when it comes to making purchases. And with that in mind, the months went by. And then the years. And then years of years. I eventually realized and admitted that there was [a] no way we were ever going to afford the $2500 couch I had been eyeing [b] we really needed a new couch and [c] who the EFF spends $2500 on a couch unless they've got mad cash?

And so, I snailed on over to the drawing board again and began to sketch. First I looked at the mega-box ugly furniture websites. That lasted for about 3 minutes...who was I kidding? While I am not going to spend a fortune on a couch, I'm also not bringing something that I find to be hideous into my house. Sorry...I'm sure it looks great in my best friend's aunt's house, but it's really not my cup of coffee. Enter IKEA.

First and foremost, I was a bit reluctant to even consider a couch from IKEA. But when I started browsing, I really liked what I saw. A nice, sleek sofa, in a color we liked, in the size we were after, which a chaise lounge [this was a muusssst] and at a price we could afford. And so off we went to Schaumburg, IL to scope out our options. When we arrived, we headed straight for the couch area. I was deciding between the KARLSTAD and the KIVIK and crossed the KIVIK off the list as soon as I saw it. Kind of cool, but not right for the space. I sat down on the Karlstad that was in the color I liked. Ugh. I looked at Joe and told him that something wasn't right about it. It felt....icky...and I didn't like the way it sounded when I ran my fingers across it. I got up and went to another material that I loved. But the color was terrible. I then went over to the felted one that I REALLLLY loved...but there was no way in hell that would ever co-exist with 2 shedding cats. Ah, cats, you axed my plan for a leather couch AND a felty couch? Come ON.

[Hi Clem!]

So back to the first one I went. I sat down again and was just getting the worst vibes. I was trying not to make it obvious...I was trying to love it. And I was trying to figure out what the heck it was reminding me of that was so entirely repulsive. And then it hit me. This material was the same stuff they use on all the generic couches found in dirty hotel rooms. That smooth finish with an almost silky feel. And not the good kind of smooth and silky that I expect from my BIC each morning. Along with that was the noise...the sound was driving me NUTS. I decided to do the IKEA floor loop and think about it for a bit. After we went back, I hesitantly agreed to it. But we weren't taking it home that day because we were counting on delivery. Until we found out it would be almost $400. Ha, yeah. Okay.

The thing was that we were kind of in a time crunch. We wanted something before Thanksgiving, when we'd have both of our families over. Thanksgiving was fast approaching....and so I put a second IKEA trip on the calendar and called it a day.

That day came, and down to Chicago I drove, trailer in tow, $20 in change for those annoyingly prevalent Illinois tolls. And there I was, in IKEA, eyeing the sofa, and trying to maintain some form of composure. Yeah. I was pretty fucking nervous. F bomb, I know, but it's true. Let me slide past the next 12 things that happened and say that I am currently at home, on my couch, enjoying it rather heavily. The noise doesn't bother me.....the feeling doesn't remind me of a sleezy motel.....and I think it's safe to say (and equally dangerous to admit) that I'm enjoying my couch quite a bit.

So I Painted the Interior of My Door Black...

2011-11-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! How are things? I hope you are all doing well and enjoying life. Things have been quite good around here. I haven't been doing many house projects, but it seems that every year around this time I tend to go a little crazy whenever I look around the house. As in, pretty much everything about it bothers me, and I can't rest until I make a few significant changes.

Recently I decided that I am totally over my soft and calm and airy and restful hey look, everything's WHITE! phase. And so, it was only natural that I turned around to march in the other direction.

This part of the house has been making me clamp my teeth together and wince for, oooh, about a year now. It finally came to the point where I absolutely could not deal with it any longer about 4 days ago. Sorry, I wish I could have gotten a more vibrant photo, but this corner always gives me trouble.

So yeah. I woke up on Tuesday morning, got on the internet, started my rounds, sipped my coffee, glared at the door, read a few emails, glared at the door, closed the computer [much sooner than usual], glared at the door again and eventually dropped to the basement to collect some tools and fuddled my way back up the stairs with my arms filled. Along with me came a tiny pot of Behr Stealth Black paint that I found on the mis-tint rack for $0.50 a few months ago. I threw on a knit cap and my cleanest dirty clothes, ran to the hardware store in town for painters tape and returned to tape off all the windows so I could start painting.

And then there was black. Ahh, it was perfect. And warm. And cozy. I cant wait to watch the snow come down through those windows...the black will embrace it so much more than the white ever could.

Later I pulled down the Halloween owl, hung the vintage tin sign and set my plant on the stool I had used when I was painting the door. I should also mention that I painted the trim in this corner to be the same color as the walls. The grey door within the white trim has bothered me since the day it was painted 2 years ago. Joe laughingly questioned my decision to paint only the trim in this corner, as opposed to all of the trim in the room. [Breeeaath.] Okay, so first of all, it's such a subtle change that you hardly even notice the difference in color. And second- who ever said there were rules for painting and why is this considered to be strange? [head shake. ugh.]

The next day I decided that the black door felt too heavy, so I painted it again.

I'm totally kidding. But it did feel rather heavy since there isn't much black in the room, and it was too much of a focal point. So I decided to hang a print that I love [cole gerst|option-g] but haven't had a good place to put it. And as you can see, I hung it on the door. Which, of course, is another thing that will most likely be questioned by someone at some point. But again, there shouldn't be rules to this sort of thing, and I'll be sure to let them know how I feel. So anyway, after the print was hung, I thought that I needed some more yellow to balance it all out, so I grabbed the rug that had always been under our shoes, threw it down and called it a day.

I really really like it. A lot. It feels so much more stately and sophisticated now. And comfy cozy toasty. I've been wanting to raise my umbrella plant for some time, and the stool is only a temporary solution until I finish [start?] my tree stump table. I'm also going to get a new light switch cover soon. I'm pretty excited about it all, it was just what I needed to feel better about the space. Until a few minutes later when the TV wall got under my skin. But that's another thing that's bugged me forever, so I kind of expected that to happen.

Alright, that's all for now. I have a few more projects in the works as well. I hope this means I'm back...I miss it around here.

DIY Halloween Gravestones

2011-10-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! What's new? Not a whole lot here. Joe and I have the day off together (!!!) and we're going to try and find a super huge washing machine so we can wash our 10' round flokati. Oy.

But before that, I wanted to show you a fun weekend project for you and yours. DIY gravestones with fun epitaphs. Easy, cheap and sure to make you laugh, I encourage you to try your hand at these on your next free day.

Check out the DIY over on Houzz! My favorite part is coming up with the epitaphs.

Okay, well off I go! Have a great weekend. :)

Studio Action

2011-10-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

It seems to be around this time every year that I find myself with inked fingertips and a yearning to cut up my (dwindling) stash of old medical books, gathering a pile of clippings to be carefully tweezered over and glued onto new art pieces.

Ready to be towed through the escalating pour of evening darkness, I started this piece a couple nights ago and it has been slowly (slowly) progressing, as they generally seem to do. One of my favorite things about mixed media is that I don't have to work as quickly as I do with block printing. I can shuffle my scraps around throughout the course of the work and nothing has to be entirely trusted until it's glued down or penned out...and even then, I can always undo the liars.

A few scraps have been added since taking this photo, but now I'm pretty much at a standstill as I broke my almost $30 nib. Uuugh fckshtdmn. I'm not sure if I'm more bummed about the fact that I have to shell out $30 that I will have to wait until my next paycheck for or if I'm bummed that I have to wait in general. Probably both. I got to a point last night that my ideas seemed to stream together and I was excited to start drawing my raindrops. Ah well, worse things have happened. Like the time a customer at my work said "I really like that shirt!" and I replied "Oh, thank you!" only to realize she was talking about the one she was buying. Rather than playing it off like any halfway decent person would, she had to make it awkward for me. Come on, lady.

And speaking of ladies, Moonshadow is my studio mate and she excitedly follows me to the basement every time I go down there. She really likes to be involved and seems to enjoy when I'm doing things around the house, whereas Clementine is more of a couch kid and would rather me stay on the couch so he can lounge on me (as he's attempting right now.) Plus, Moon likes to go down there because it's musty and she can find piles of sawdust and cobwebs to roll in. I like to call her Pigpen. Sometimes I envision those little squiggly lines following her around like they did to Pigpen on Charlie Brown.
+++
So anyway. Other than art stuff, I've been doing the year end yard thing. I have to admit-- I am so very glad that garden season is over. I left the garden high and dry sometime in June or early July...I think I mentioned that...and really haven't had the desire to go back out there all year. I avoided it like the plague, unless it was dark out. The yard generally seems to overwhelm me, which is really quite a drag; it's 1.68 acres and there is always a bunch of shituff to be done. Of course, I don't really *have* to do most of these things. But that's the problem- in order for me to be able to chill out and enjoy the space, it seems as though things have to be a certain way, and for things to be a certain way takes up almost all of my free time and by the end of the day I don't want to sit and enjoy what I've just done, I just want to get away from it. And then I resent it. It's a vicious circle, really. I hate it. I think that will be my next goal in self improvement, although I am a bit nervous as it's kind of a far-fetched goal. We'll see. For now I'm going outside to attend Ganglefest 2011. So far I've cut down 5 juniper bushes and have 7 or 8 more to go...I have no idea where I'm going to get rid of all these branches. They're huge and prickly and would be a bitch to cut them smaller and an even bigger b to set flame to.

Welcome to My New Purple Kitchen

2011-10-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

So I have a feeling that when I mention that I painted my kitchen purple, most people usually think PURPLE. You know...Royal purple...Grape juice purple...Minnesota Vikings purple...Dimetapp purple...Crown Royal purple...All things-that-I-don't-like purple. It's easy to see why so many people have negative connotations toward the hue. I mean, just look at that list. Yuck, right? But the purple I chose is more of a fuchsia-y tone, and I couldn't be more pleased.

I had been set on re-painting for a little while now, but always leaned in the direction of slate blue. The first time around didn't turn out as dark and chalky as I had hoped, and I kept envisioning this beautiful slate blue wall to frame the view into our long, snowy Wisconsin winters. I thought the contrast between the slate and the snow would be pretty much perfect.
But then one evening after work I was sitting at the kitchen counter, dragging about being in such an anti-cooking funk that had started sometime around the melting of the snow. I remember staring at the walls for a while and thinking that it was to be blamed on my summer schedule. I don't get home from work until 7 or 9 in the summer, and by that time concocting a full meal sounds less than appealing. The problem with this idea was that my summer schedule had gone through the yearly rotation and I had recently transitioned to my winter job. The latest I'd get home from work would now be 4:30 or 5.

So I decided that I'd get some new wooden spoons and a couple other things I'd been wanting, paint the room slate, and then I'd be good to go. Of course, I would have to start planning meals again but that was fine. And then it occurred to me. Changing from "steely blue" to "slate blue" was the furthest from what I actually needed...I needed a color that was fun and bold.

While I do appreciate and even envy color in other people's homes, it's something I've never had an easy time with in my own. Our house is in a quiet town. It's rare to see more than 20 cars drive by in the day. Whenever I come home from Madison, it's like I dip into this mental valley of somber. So after driving through the golden flats surrounded by beautiful rolling hills, and pulling into my driveway to see the pale blue facade of my home, the last thing that would feel right would be to walk into a house filled with oranges, yellows and reds.

I knew that purple would be zingy enough to wake me up and would hopefully give me the energy I was seeking. It's still on the cool side and it matched the tone of my living room quite nicely. Rather than spending a lot of money on paint, as I naively did in the past, I read some terrible reviews on the paint I had found, cringed a little, and decided that I was going to try it anyway. Something I never, EVER do if I read bad reviews. But something told me I'd be okay. So off I went to get a gallon of Behr Forest Berry. It's a paint and primer in one. I know, something you should never use, right? Well, whatever. It worked just fine for me.

And I love it. I think I danced around Joe and sang how much I loved it all week long. It's fun and refreshing and so much more lively. It fits my recent mental status perfectly. And the funny thing is, I hadn't realized how depressing the blue was until after I painted. It's made a huge difference in my mood when I'm in there and has even prompted me to be a little bit more okay with color throughout the rest of the house. The color makes me feel like I can add more warmth in the living room...I've been thinking about a new rug so I can move the flokati into a different room. But before I get off topic, especially since I've already typed your eyes out, here is what it looked like before:

So so much better, right? Yeah. I really love it. A ton. Although, I must say, the blue was a huge improvement from what it looked like when we moved in. Ugh, that was just terrible. Here's a quick photo for kicks:

So yes. There is still a lot I want to do to the kitchen, but for now I will try to be happy with what it is rather than what it is yet not.

Hey It's October

2011-10-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

Did I do this last year? Totally cut out for like 2 or 3 months and then swoop back in? Well okay...so I suppose I haven't really totally cut out. I did check in here and there. But that aside, I think the end the lull drawing closer and closer as the days tick by. We'll see.

Today we went to Dr. Evermore's Art Park, which absolutely blew my mind. I'll be sure to get more photos the next time I go, but for now just imagine living in a heavily surreal carnival-like world filled with herds of welded metal creatures in every direction you turn and endless amusement over the fact that you can actually touch these things. Oh man. I was totally geeking out the entire time. I highly recommend a visit if you're ever traveling through central Wisconsin. For real.

Later this afternoon, Joe and I also started Operation Shrub Removal: Part II in the yard, which was mostly gratifying except for the fact that now we have to fill these areas with different shrubs because there are huge holes everywhere now. The ones we got rid of today were junipers, and I'm pretty sure that one of them had a span of about 10'. Ugh, those things are so gnarly. I called it ganglefest, because they are really ugly and gangly and you have to lop like mad before you can even think about sawing them. I made the task more fun by naming my loppers Cindy. 10 points if you get the joke.

Anyway, that's all for now. But like I said, this house and project hiatus that I took this summer seems to be ending, which can only mean that there are more blog posts to be had in the near future. So till next time...

Rack = Finished

2011-09-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hello hello! I just made the worst enchiladas in my life and I'm recovering from the disappointment through blogging.

Today I finished the rack that I used my new design on. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. :)

Check out the DIY on houzz if you are feeling so inclined.

3 things:

+ I painted our kitchen. Purple! Photos to come, but you can catch a small glimpse in the last post.
+ Scarf and sweater weather is here!
+ We're getting rid of our hot tub on Saturday! This is awesome! We've saved about $30 a month after we unhooked it and lots of money on chemicals. It came with the house but we're happy to move onto better things. More to come on that topic.

New Design

2011-09-13T05:10:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Yesterday I was sitting at a red light and I started thinking about blogging and how it seems to come in waves. For awhile I'll blog like crazy...and then it suddenly seems as if I've jumped ship. Ah well, that's life I suppose.

I'm on training day 8 of 8 at my 'winter' job. I have to leave in a little while but thought it would be nice to check in first. I can't stay long...I have to shower, get ready, make lunch and figure out what I'm going to wear all within, ooohhhh, the next 56 43 minutes. Soon I will start at 6 a.m. and that's usually when things go awry. No time for coffee, cereal and internet before work? Heh, that always screws with me more than I wish it would, but anyway...

Last night I started carving a new block. You'll see the freshly inked pattern soon. I work with rubber whenever I do patterns that I'm going to print on wood because it transfers much better than wood to wood or linoleum to wood. On my list of things to get are nicer tools (one day...one. day.).

But everything on said 'list to get' is on hold right now, because I am currently saving my pennies for my solo canoe...a Bell Merlin II. It's used and I'm getting it for a great deal. Kevlar. Super easy for me to sling up onto the Pilot...and perfect for a person my size. I can't wait. :)

Still

2011-08-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

Hello to anybody who still comes around these parts. Blogging has really taken the back seat this summer. While I do have a lot of fun projects planned, I have been in such an anti-project, anti-house funk.

It could be subconscious efforts to kill my perfection issues. Or that I've embraced some new escapes. Or that I am tired of not having "fun" things and who wants to buy more paint when there's a solo canoe on the wish list?

But it's most like a combination of all those things. This summer I have been enjoying life at a slower pace. Going with the flow. Trying not to care about things that don't really matter. Like the damn garden I spent hours upon HOURS cleaning up this spring. Yeah, gardening is fun and all, but sometime in June I realized how much it stressed me out, how much time I wasted to just watch things whither away, how much I resented the backyard by the end of the day. And really....what's the point of that?

I have come to the conclusion that it's never what is done, but always what's not done. Rather than exhausting my energy on trying to look find the positive, I have chosen to pick up and move to things that don't require me to actively look for it all the time.

I have to say- Since taking this new approach to the ins and outs of my day to day, it seems as if I'm the only person I know who doesn't feel like summer "flew by". I've been setting a lot of time aside for myself. I've sat in the coffee shop for hours on end more than a couple times, just to people watch and write letters, wondering how I never found the time to do that before and answering with "oh yeah. because i'm always gardening. painting. doing and re-doing just to re-do once more. running errands for various house projects. stressing. wasting."

So anyway, yes, I will return soon, once the weather cools. I've been doing lots of hiking and canoeing this summer. Hoping to do my first solo trip down the Wisconsin River within the next couple weeks. Of course I'll give you the full report once I do. See you soon.

Still Here

2011-08-11T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! I'm still alive...don't ask me where my time has been going, because I can't really tell ya. I haven't felt busy, but I've been taking it easy and enjoying the summer at a slower pace.

I know people keep saying "Oh my gosh, it's already August?!", but for some reason, I'm not feeling the "summer's almost over" emotions that most seem to be.

Anyway, nothing fun to share right now...except for this sweet outdoor space that was bookmarked the minute I saw it.

Camping this weekend. See you next week. :)

Block Printing

2011-07-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

We're in the wallows of summer and I have to say that it's ~~probably~~ the best summer I've had in quite awhile. I cut down from 5 days to 4 days at my job, and I can't tell you how much it's improved my general mood. Don't get me wrong, I do love my job, but I also enjoy having 3 days to scatter the other things that bring me happiness. By the way, this shirt makes me smile and I get compliments on it every time I wear it. Just in case you wanted to know that. $10 Target Halloween score last fall!

Anyway, after ditching my studio for over half a year, I finally found the pull to bring me back. I generally reserve making art for the winter, as Wisconsin winters are quite long (but fun if you can get outside and enjoy it) but I've been feeling the groove lately, so off I went.

This is an older design, but it was still fun to be printing again. I like the rush of printmaking; I think it's one of the most beautiful forms of art, and although I generally only dabble in small designs, it still does the trick for me. I often think about doing more "art" with printmaking, like actual images with multiple colors, but I don't think it's quite right for me. I'll leave that to the people who are already great at it. ;)

I also found a few minutes to sit down and draw a few new designs. Admittedly, this has always been the hardest part for me. But then I found a super secret magic trick. Markers. Why didn't I ever think of that? I mean, it only makes sense. Why draw with pencils or pens that only provide the thinnest of lines when you can play on the same field as the finished blocks, with big, thick, bold lines?

Anyway. The photo above were my first pattern drawings in like...2 or 3 years. They'll get better. For now I'm testing the waters I suppose. I do like the circle one on the bottom, though. It's probably going to be the next design I carve. It will be about 2.5" wide and I'll use it for coat racks and mixed media. Hoping to carve and print over the next week. We'll see.

Wisconsin River

2011-07-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

Joe and I returned home from a beautiful trip on the Wisconsin River this afternoon. Everything about it was perfect. Here are a few photos from our 48 hour adventure.

This is the island we stopped at for lunch. The Wisconsin River is a wide and sandy stretch, dappled with islands big and small. It eventually feeds into the Mississippi River.

The canoe we paddled is a Nova Craft Pal, which I borrowed from work. I'm lucky enough to have a job that offers incentives like this; it's pretty cool to have free access to boats. I'm hoping to buy a solo canoe soon, though.

After paddling for a couple hours, we decided to find an island to rest on for the remainder of the night. The one we found was pretty cool. We were hidden from all 2 of the people who passed us...we pretty much had the river to ourselves.

Camping has become so much more enjoyable since we started buying good gear. We have an MSR Mutha Hubba HP tent, a Sierra Designs Diamond Spring 15 and a Thermarest NeoAir.

The sun finally sank into the horizon and we were able to enjoy a fire while listening to the ripples of the river nearby. I was beat and felt pretty jacked up, so I only lasted until about 10 PM or so. Or maybe it was like 9:30...

Now it's morning, which is my favorite time of day, especially when camping. Time to make coffee and oatmeal! I have an MSR WindPro stove and MSR Quick 2 System, which make this task a breeze.

Once we were packed, we snapped a quick photo and got back on the river. The sun was shining and it was supposed to get hot, so we headed out to find our next site. It was Friday and I thought it may be harder to find an island later in the evening, so getting out early was nice.

I paddle stern and Joe paddles bow. It's better this way since Joe is more laid back and because I don't think I'd make a very good bow paddler since I can't steer then and I like to steer, haha.

We found our next island by about 2:00. We had a huge beach to ourselves, which was perfect for playing frisbee. By now the sky was becoming overcast with slate blues and pewter greys, which is my favorite.

It started to rain around 8:00. I'm a big fan of rainy weather because it stimulates the senses of sound, touch, smell and sight. I wish more people could appreciate rainy days. Rain coats help a LOT. Anyway, on went the rain fly and we built a fire. You can see another fire on a neighboring island, too.

We enjoyed our fire in the rain for an hour or so and eventually retired to the tent for the evening. Next on my purchase list is a tarp so we can extend our time in the rain and sun and wind.

We didn't take any photos the next day other than this one. My camera batteries were dying and I didn't feel like changing them and I was out of space on my memory card, as usual. But now we were home from our quick adventure and already planning our next one.

Once we were unpacked, I took a shower and a 3 hour long nap. Then we headed out to the Old Feed Mill to celebrate 8 years of being together. It was a great few days. Today is supposed to be in the mid 90s and I have a garden to water, so I better get going. Oh, and it's National Ice Cream Day, so I have to go to town and buy some. Ice cream is one of those things that I have recently allowed back into my life, along with peanut butter and ketchup. Oh man. Anyway, back to ice cream- our favorite non-local brand is Breyer's. What's yours?

Fire Pit = Finished (For Now).

2011-07-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

Photo post! So as you may know, I've been working on the fire pit on and off for quite some time now. Before that was the major garden overhaul. The main reason behind all the work on the fire pit (lately) was because I had an article to write for Houzz, and I needed a finished fire pit before I could submit it. It was published today, so I have officially decided that the rest of the summer will be for hanging out and having fun. Not that I don't consider house projects to be fulfilling and fun. I mean, that's why I do them. But I need to be camping and canoeing and just hanging out.

Last summer was a wash between being sick for so long and the other various sad and bad things that happened and as a result, I don't even remember it being summer last year. So I think it's time that I stop going going going on house stuff and just hang out for a bit. I'm banning myself from feeling like I NEEEEED to finish things for at least a week. I know, that's kind of short...maybe I'll try for 2 weeks. We're going to kick it off with a trip down the Wisconsin River for a few days. Photos to come. For now, here are a few fire pit shots from beginning to end. Check out the full story here. *PS: I am absolutely elated and in super high spirits after reading all the lovely feedback over at Houzz. Thank you SO much, Houzz readers! :) :) :)

Weekend

2011-07-09T21:43:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of days, I spent a large portion of my time working on the area that surrounds our fire pit. I bought these flowers to put somewhere in that general vicinity about a week and a half ago and still haven't planted them. All because I haven't decided where to put them yet. I need to just pick a spot and move on already. I mean really, if I end up hating it, I can just move them.

Yesterday I transplanted a lot of flowers and laid more mulch and did some other little things here and there. It will be a much welcomed feeling when I'm finally happy, or at least content, with that area but we'll see when that happens. Looking at this photo that I snapped today does make me happy and helps me to remember that I need to appreciate all that I've done rather than dwell on what I feel like I still "need" to do.

Sometime this afternoon I opened my mailbox and found the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living resting inside and it made me cringe a little. I think I should probably void this publication from my life because I'm pretty sure it only fuels my struggles with perfectionism. I wish so badly that there was a switch I could turn off and just be fine with things rather than spending countless hours trying to get to the point where I'm okay with something. That would be the coolest thing ever. Or maybe the second coolest thing ever. But either way, I'd love it.

House Paint

2011-07-07T05:10:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned that Joe and I did a bunch of fun things over the weekend. I don't know how much fun most people consider painting the outside of their house to be, but it definitely increased my mood, and that's coming from somebody who doesn't even like to paint.

We made the jaunt out to Home Depot on Sunday morning to look for paint. Joe yanked a small piece of siding off the back of the house for comparison sake. The idea wasn't to change the color of the house, but to make the painted wooden area off the front of the house match the siding on the rest of the house. The wood was always a little bit more lavender-blue while the rest was more of a sky blue with slightly green undertones. When Joe pulled the siding off, we realized that the reason it was different wasn't because of a bad color match, which was always the assumption I had, but because the siding had actually been painted at one time, and the wood was not. The wood was still the color of the original siding! Oy...

So anyway, while I was at Home Depot, I started grabbing swatches to try to get somewhat close to the siding color. I just wanted to paint the entire front up to the corners where the difference wouldn't be noticeable. First I picked up Martha Stewart paint swatches...of course...but didn't find anything close. Then I went through some Glidden, but nothing still. Another brand was next, and I found one that would work if it had to...and then off to the wall of Behr swatches, where I found an *exact* match. So basically, I found the same color that they used when they painted. The color is called "Harmonious".

So far we've only gotten one coat on, and haven't even touched the siding yet. We plan to do the back as well. A lot of the siding is faded and it drives me nuts! We spent a couple hours scrubbing the exterior and that alone made it look 5 times better, but paint is still necessary. More front of house photos to come. I'm sloowwllllly trucking away at the adhesive left on the cement of the deck, which is a project I started last summer. I think I'm about 90% finished, which means that I only have like 2 hours to go! Yay. ;)

HEMNES Bookcase

2011-07-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! I hope you are all enjoying your holiday weekend! Joe and I have been lucky enough to get 3 days off together, which is quite a rarity 'round these parts. We've been kicking ass on the house project list and it confirms that I do indeed have to find a weekend-less work schedule at some point in my life if I want to continue to have fun AND get house stuff done.

We kicked the weekend off with a super fast trip to MN to visit a friend and go to a baseball game. Of course, we can't make a trip to the Twin Cities without a stop at IKEA. I had a long list of things that I'd been saving for, but then I made a $200 mistake a couple weeks ago and there went over half of my budget. Ah well, such is life. But we did come home with one item from IKEA...

A HEMNES bookcase, in grey brown. I must say that I'm really super excited about it. And contrary to the popular "IKEA is such a pain in the ass to assemble!" nonsense I always hear, it was actually quite easy. It probably took about an hour, which included the various interruptions from the cats (side note: Clem is about to find a new home outside if he doesn't stop being such a dick head.)

Pay no attention to the lack of shelf styling thus far- I just kind of threw the books and decorations on half ass-edly and stepped back to breath a sigh of relief- there are no more book piles in every corner of the house! I have been trying not to collect books since we didn't have anywhere to put them, so we don't really have very many, but now we can start the gathering process. Yay!

We did a whole bunch of other stuff this weekend, although you'll have to wait a bit for the stories as we're preparing for some friends who will be arriving shortly. Joe's smoking pork shoulder on the gill and I just made potato salad- yum! Hope you all had a great wknd!

Front Yard

2011-06-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

So it's finally happening...after talking about it for almost 2 years, our front yard remodel is in progress. We haven't really done much of anything with the front since moving in (don't worry...it tends to fit in with the rest of the street......). As much as it's always bugged me, there's only so much time and ambition provided by each day. But the day has arrived.

When we drove by the house while we were house hunting, I think I said something like "No way. Never." and kept driving. Not only was I anti-ranch house, but I was also anti-old person looking-house.

A few days later, I was sitting in our apartment and had just opened ~~my third or fourth beer~~ a rich bottle of wine. I slid over to the internet and looked up the MLS listing again. I realized that the place had a lot of potential and that it was a really sweet deal. Any work it needed was purely cosmetic, and I use the term "need" quite loosely here. I think I even used the line "it's a really great family house" when I was trying to convince myself, which is funny since we haven't really felt the urge since moving in...

So anyway, with that preface, I bring you the front of the house:

Not terrible, right? No, not terrible at all. I think it's because you don't see the garage in this photo- I think the garage really pulls the "old lady" feel in and ties it all together.

First thing on the to do list was to rip out the "outdoor" carpet, which we did last fall. Since I don't have any project money right now, I thought that it was a good time to carry on with the agenda: remove bushes and remove railings. And all it cost me was 1 Ibuprofen at the end of the day.

My mom was in town and she kicks ass at all things house-to-do-related. Seriously. My parents burn us out sometimes! In a good way, though...they've always been weekend warriors. Anyway, after we spent about an hour and a half removing these stupid rocks and later realizing that they spanned the entire length of the bushes and that we were SO OVER rock removal, she convinced me that I should buy a tow strap (so i guess it cost more than 1 ibuprofen...) to yank the bushes out. The whole time I kept petting my transmission and telling it that everything would be okay. Kind of like the mom that tells her kid who just lost 2 teeth the night before picture day that he looks fine. Liar. Anyway, those bushes were pretty damn ferocious. But they finally came out and next we removed the jerry-rigged deck railings. And then we had this:

And a view from the front:

Aaahhhh, much better. I really dig the openness. Like, a lot. I'm sitting on my front porch for the third time ever right now. I no longer feel like I'm sitting on an apartment balcony. Or in a baby crib. Or in jail. Those railing spindle thingies were no fun.

So yeah, that's about it. We're going to get bigger columns, remove the shrubs in front of the brick on the right side of the house, add a step in the front, get a new bench and a new light fixture, some different house numbers and a few other things. Oh, and of course we're going to fix the yard, plant more trees and paint the porch. :) I can't wait!

Birdhouse Before & After

2011-06-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! How are things? Everything is pretty good here. I haven't been up to too much and have been using most of my free time towards garden sorting. Yesterday Joe told me that I should enter a garden contest. I kind of laughed because I thought it was cute but knew that I am farrr far far from being at that level and explained to him that there are gardeners and then there are GARDENERS. I'm currently just a gardener, seeking to achieve GARDENER status by about 2013. I told him that, to me, the garden is still a huge mishmash and that it still doesn't feel like it's 100% mine. He hesitated for a minute and finally said "well. it's still a respectable garden." Aw. That made me smile.

Anyway, enough words because photos are more fun. When we moved in, there were about 7 birdhouses stationed around the yard, all filled to the brims with nests. They all seem to be painted white or beige and I'm not really digging it.

So last week I mixed up a batch of purple and proceeded to paint. Nope, not happening. Over the past few days,I've realized that I'm a cool on the inside and warm on the outside kind of person. And I mean with my house...not with myself. So out went the purple and in came the orange. Admittedly, it's not exactly the shade I was after, but it's pretty damn close so I will try to be okay with it.

I also sanded the base a little bit but didn't get too far with that because I'm not really sure what I want to do yet. Paint it? Keep sanding? Replace with something that's more proportionate to the birdhouse (skinnier)? I don't know. But for now, I'm considering it done and I'm moving onto the next thing.

So that's about it for now. Have you done anything fun around your house recently?

Garden Progress

2011-06-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't been doing anything in my free time other than gardening, so I don't really have anything too fun to post.

I extended the log wall a little bit further yesterday and I'm pretty happy with it. No more unsightly shed/tools from the neighbor's side and we feel a little more hidden now.

So far we've purchased 5.25 yards of mulch and I'm hoping that does it.

What else is new...hmm, not much. Oh yeah. I dropped my phone in the toilet (the phone that took me over a year to convince Joe I should have) and I have to use the money I've been saving for my upcoming IKEA trip on a new one now. I'm trying to be okay with this, but it's highly frustrating for me to have to spend the dollars I've been stashing away for so long on a new phone. Damn.

Okay, off to work. Have a great weekend!

Terrarium

2011-06-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today is day 3 of 3 days off in a row. I'm not particularly fond of having all of my days off in a row because I always end up feeling like "what the eff i just had 3 days off in a ROW and what do i have to show for it? nothing." Being a person with grand ideas and a slim amount of cash along with a short attention span do not go hand in hand.

And so this morning I dismissed the 3 projects that went to hell over the past 2 days and tried something small. A terrarium.

When I was at a friend's house yesterday I saw 2 charming terrariums that were filled with beautiful mosses. Thinking about my own moss garden intentions that never came to fruition, I realized that I could just do something small for now until I got all my ducks in a row for the outdoor moss garden.

So I grabbed the cork lidded jar that's been sitting on my kitchen table and layered it with pea gravel, soil, sand and moss. I searched for my little mushroom figurine that I bought a couple years ago but realized that I may have given it to the thrift store. That's twice in a week that I have looked for something only to realize I gave it away! That's okay, I'm over it.

So yes- and indoor moss garden. I think this will hold me over until my real moss garden happens next year. I might start another one with just a tiny piece of moss to watch it spread and grow.

So that's that. For now I'm going to go get a trailer of mulch so I can finish mulching the backyard gardens. Yeah- after 2 years of owning a utility trailer, we finally bought a hitch so we can use the dang thing. Sometimes I wish that I had a high paying job so I could get simple things without having to save my pennies for months and months...but then I realize that I can just wait for the cars to be paid off and I won't need that higher paying job. I only have to hang onto that thought for 2 more years and then we'll be golden. :)

A Walk Through the Yard

2011-06-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

So I have to be honest here. Whenever I think about our yard, my brain sweeps through a rampant series of emotions. On one hand (which seems to have holes in it because it's not as full as the other hand...) I love our yard because it's big and that's what I always wanted...a big, huge, quiet, me-only yard. And I've got that, which is cool. But on the other hand (the heavy hand) I'm practically holding a fistful of scorpions over how ugly it is. While it has come a long way since last year, I am still having a hard time loving it because there are many things that I dislike greatly. Damn you Martha, you did this to me! (I still love you...)

But, I will get over my issues as years go by, as landscaping not only takes time and sweat but also patience and money. Luckily I have the time and sweat part down (although it is hard to keep a grip on it since I rank kind of high in terms of procrastination) and now I'll wait for that second part to come through. :-)

In the meantime, I'll pretend that everything's pretty and show you some photos. Oh- one more thing. I went to Best Buy today to buy a new camera after reading lots of great reviews. I got there and saw how chintzy the thing looked (it looked like a toy!) and had to step away. Damn. So you get the 5 megapixel photo shoot for now. :)

The deck needs to be repainted, but for now I'll admire my pretty Clematis. I stapled a few sticks to the deck as a quick fix till next year when I get a trellis.

Soon I will be growing herbs in these pots. I haven't decided on what, but there will definitely be basil and cilantro.

The pots above are set within the rock area that I recently cleaned up, and I took this photo a couple weeks ago after the lilacs drifted away from the bush. I'm actually pretty happy with the way it turned out because it was such a clusterfuck before and I didn't see it as being even half decent any time soon. I spent a few hours ripping out the gangly ground cover and repositioned/straightened the retaining rocks and am mostly happy with it, although here you can only see the steps.

You might remember this photo from the winter:

Anyway, for some reason I kept that weird metal country-chic heart sculpture that came with the house, and I'm glad I did. With the help of some hacksaw action (I cut the top half of the heart off) and an old metal barrel ring, I made a trellis for the clematis in the yard, which has yet to bloom:

I picked this bird feeder up at Marshal's last month after I had gotten a similar one for the front yard. I'm pretty stoked about it, I think it was like $9 or something.

My brother, Kevin, was nice enough to come up from Illinois a couple days early & help us prepare for our Memorial Day Weekend guests. I'm SO glad he did! He and Joe spent 7 hours (seven. hours.) splitting wood from a huge tree that Joe and my parents cut down the weekend before. While they did that, I spent 7 hours weeding and spreading mulch, which was nothing compared to this:

By Sunday, we got it stacked up between the pines that divide our yard from our neighbor's. We have 2 more trees to cut down and will continue the fence sometime in the fall. Oh and PS- I thought this would be more subtle than a privacy fence, but just as effective, so that's why it ended up there. Plus it's only about 100 feet from our fire pit. And PPS- the hosta garden needs some serious attention...so don't look at it too closely. :)

If you continue past the stack of wood, you'll come up to some really old monkey bars that have grape vines growing on them. They have seeds but I like them because they are sour and I LOVE sour! This spring, we planted 2 apple trees, although you can only see one in the photo. We are in the process of turning this area into an orchard of apples, pears, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Don't ask what we're going to do with all of that, because I have NO IDEA! Although, I am a huge fan of jam so I think I'll be doing a lot of canning (and gifting).

A little further along is a row of lilac bushes that are in need of some care, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I have my Craigslist-score rattan pod chair out there, and behind it you can see some huge ass limbs that were cut down from a sad tree last weekend. I plan on chainsawing them within the next few days (I like to cut things if you haven't figured that out yet) and also clean up this general area. The fence is dumb, I know, but I am working on it...

Another item that came with the house was this bird feeder. I ~~think~~ am sure I rolled my eyes at it since I was not a liker of cats at the time, but now I think it's sweet and endearing. AND it's carved out of wood, which is super cool. To be honest, I never fill it with seed, mainly because I forget it exists most of the time.

So that's the quick and dirty yard tour. I can't wait to show bigger areas at a time once I get things the way I want them. Eventually there will be paths and sculptures and cool ornamental trees that weave their way throughout the yard.

I must say, I'm much happier after looking at these photos all lined up than I was when I first started this post. There are a lot of things in my yard that make me smile, but most of the time when I'm out there I just feel overwhelmed and frustrated. I know I can conquer that feeling with some work, and this post definitely helps me see the things I can focus on and enjoy the next time I'm outside.

Oh, and I just found this Madison garden blog and can't wait to read it! (Oh, and for those of you who aren't in the know, we're having some major issues with our Governor, in case you clicked on that link and saw this post which happens to be at the top of the page right now. :)

Alllllrriiiiight I just talked a lot more than I typically like to so off I go!

My Studio is Finished!

2011-06-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

So this is pretty exciting for me...for the first time ever, I have a studio space that is fashioned to my liking. I am going give it all I've got to keep it somewhat orderly, and I think I'll be able to now that I've gotten rid of all the stuff I don't need and have taken the time to organize it in a way that actually makes sense.

Let's start with the before photos, shall we? Now, keep in mind- I haven't worked in this space for over 6 months and it most certainly took on an attitude that was slowly stiffened by neglect...

Yeah. I know. Here's another:

Let's get a closer look at what we're really seeing here....

I'm not lying when I say I have trouble with putting my things where they belong. Pretty much my worst flaw ever...I leave my shit all over the place without realizing it. Fortunately I live with Joe and the main floor of the house doesn't look like this because I know what would happen if it did and also because I can't really function in a space like this. Although it's not to say that it doesn't get messy when he's not around...heh, he'd have a heart attack if he ever came home early from a business trip.

Anyway, this is what it looks like after many hours of reworking the space, although I suppose calling it "finished" is kind of pushing it- I still want to get a few more things shifted, I haven't swept, and I want some new storage for under the tables.

This area will be used for mixed media art:

This sweet new vintage desk lamp was purchased at a rummage sale the other day for $0.25. I especially like the design around the ON/OFF switch:

And a packaging and shipping area:

Ahhhh...much better! I think that I will have it completely finished with another hour or two of work. I like working with task lighting rather than overhead lighting, so another light would be fun. The previous owners had the fluorescents up but I'm not planning on using them for this room anymore.

So that's that. Oh yeah, and I wrote a piece for Houzz about inspirational studios last week. Check it out if you are looking for some new ideas!

My Newest Idea...

2011-06-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took 2 naps. I'm big on naps whenever I have a day off...it just seems fitting to take a rest or two when there is nothing that I have to do. It's pretty typical for me to crash at an hour that falls during the mid-afternoon. On days that I don't have time to snooze, I usually resolve this conflict with coffee. But on the days that I do have time to drift, I usually end up ruminating over some new idea that generally pushes me into the mindset of "i need to do this and i need to do this now".

Today's drifting thoughts were good ones. And the more I think about them, the more they make sense.

I started thinking about my life as it is and my life as it could be. Over the past year, I've become pretty good at figuring things out as they come rather than poking at the endless variety of "what ifs". I am feeling pretty comfortable in this perspective, and lately I've been looking into it all just a little bit deeper. I have arrived at the realization that while I'm making an effort to live in the here and now, I've only come as far as to react to the here and now.

Basically what I'm trying to say is this: Joe and I don't have kids, and frankly, I don't really want kids. If, on the off chance, I found myself with a wild hair, I would prefer to start a family through adoption. But all of that is quite far off.

And in addition to not having kids, I don't have a career. I work 32-40 hours a week at an outdoor shop and spend a couple hours writing for a website. I don't have benefits and the paycheck that I bring home is based on the hourly wage of retail. I don't have a degree and I'm not in school.

So, pretty much, I can do whatever I want at this point, within reason. And I really have to start doing that while the stars are aligned.

So what I want to do, as of yesterday afternoon, is this: I want to get a motorcycle (a sweetly cute vintage one would be the cat's meow) and ride it across the country. Somewhere West. For a month. By myself. Next June.

If I start saving now, I think I can make it happen. A year seems like a decent amount of time to save for this sort of thing, although I may need to take a loan out for the bike. Every little bit of cash that I find in my pocket at the end of the day will go into my change jar, minus money that I want to keep for food or coffee. And as you can see, Clementine decided to help by stuffing one of his toys in the jar a few months ago.

So, while this may be more along the lines of preparing for something in the future, it's only because I don't have the funds or knowledge or time set aside to go right now. A few things need to fall into place first. A bike...a bike class...some gear...and I need to tell Joe. I haven't told him about this latest and greatest idea of mine. I'm preparing for a reaction of "yeah, okay...", but we'll see.

So yeah. That's my newest want in life. We'll see if I can pull it off.

In the closer to now timeline, Joe and I are going backpacking for the first time in a couple months. Something we've been wanting to do for a long time but haven't had the gear for. I'm not quite sure where we're off to, but I'll keep you in the loop.

For now I'm off to do some projects.

My Latest Adventures in Art

2011-06-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hey yo! How was your weekend? Mine was decent. I worked on Saturday and Sunday and then last night I realized that I work the next 4 days as well. Ugh, not exactly what I was hoping to see in the schedule book, but that's okay. I was accidentally scheduled for 5 days this week rather than 4, but as soon as I have some time off I am thinking about starting a new art series...among the other 12 projects I have going on. Oy. I love when I don't have to work and I can just stay at home and enjoy the peace and quiet offered by living in a small town.

Joe made this block print 3 or 4 years ago and I have used it in multiple mixed media pieces. I recently cropped one of my photos down to just this image for my facebook photo, and it gave me idea that I should make a mega-sized piece out of it. Like, 18x24 or maybe even 24x36. Of course, at that size it would no longer be a block print, but I was toying around with the idea of a stencil. I feel that there's a quite a void in the availability of large, affordable pieces and I'm on a mission to help fill it in. My studio is going through an overhaul right now to allow for bigger and better ideas, and I am going to work on the area for an hour or so before I head to work today. Maybe I'll have it finished the next time you visit. Probably not, though...

And while we're on the topic- do any of you ever feel weird referring to your creations as "art"? I have a really hard time with it myself, because to me I'm not really an artist. More of a creator. And the pieces that I make seem to be more worthy of being called "designs" rather than "art". Of course, if I was great at drawing or painting or something, then I'd consider the "art" tag to be more appropriate. Hmm.

Television Wall Redo

2011-06-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I rearranged the television wall (and i just realized that i completely skipped the latest piece of design advice i read- turn on the tv on whenever it's in a photo) and I must say that I like it a little bit more now. Before it was just one of those "ARGH what am I going to do with that wall!?" areas of the house, but now I can sleep a little easier.

That's really about all for now. I just got off work and I'm really tired. It's only 8:11 but I think I may end up hitting the sheets in a few minutes here. More soon!

PS: If you visited yesterday and saw the original post that was with this photo, I decided to delete it for various reasons. Thanks to those who commented on the post, I enjoyed reading your insight and stories.

Bricks

2011-05-31T05:55:00.000-07:00

Whew. The weekend of 25 people is over which means that I can soon resume focus on the blog and trek at a more leisurely pace. I couldn't believe how many hours it took to sort out the garden, but it's about 80% finished and it feels like it will be smooth sailing from here. I'll show you what I've been up to when I can, but for now I'll leave you with a very minimal (very minimal...) sneak peak.

After getting bored and frustrated with the densely grown jungle, I decided that I had to break away and do something more creative than digging and sorting and moving. Ack I felt like I was going in circles for days with all of that. So I wandered around the yard and noticed that we had some bricks out in the back corner, left by the previous owners, and I remembered seeing a few stacked up in the garage. 15 minutes later and I had a sun. It wasn't intentionally made into a sun, but I stepped back and noticed that it looked like one, so there you go. Simple but cute and it makes me smile. :)

Okay, well off I go. More soon.

Still Here

2011-05-23T20:43:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! Sorry I've been absent. I have a new work schedule (only 4 days a week!) so you'd think I'd be around more, but it seems that March-May is always a busy time for me.

I'm working on a huge (okay, not huge...gigantic) garden overhaul and it has pulled away a lot of my time. I think I'm on wheelbarrow load number 70 by now, no joke. But after spending many days digging, pulling, hauling, rearranging and chucking, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! For this portion of the makeover, anyway.

I'm somewhat crunched for time with this project, not because a Wisconsin summer only seems to last as long as a popsicle in July, but because we are hosting 20-something relatives for a 3-day-long party this coming weekend. Woah. My coping strategies will be as follows: coffee, super secret bee-line escape routes to my bedroom, a collection of earplugs (note to self, pick up some not so obvious flesh colored ones on the next shopping trip), and, of course, beer and/or jello shots. I hope they bring some orange juice ones; I can't imagine eating green jello before noon. Hmm. Maybe I should work that in.

Disclaimer: I would do this Houdini escape move with any shindig that lasts this long...not just the ones that involve the fam. And I picked up on the earplug trick from my mom at a very young age.

So yeah. That's pretty much it. Maybe I'll post a few sneak peaks in a couple days. :)

Vintage Sheets & Pretty Matchboxes

2011-05-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

So along with the chair that I found at the rummage sale last week was also a set of vintage sheets. I love vintage sheets. I asked what size they were, hoping that the answer would be "queen" because I'd love to have these in my room, but I didn't get that lucky. Instead was a stack of twin sheets & a duvet, times two.

So, of course, I bought them. $3 per set. We have 2 twin beds in the guest room and it would be nice to have matching sheets. I need to get some "feather blankets" as the cute old woman kept referring to them as to stick in the duvets. For now I'll just wash them and wait for said feather blankets to go on sale.

A few days ago on Creature Comforts, Ez posted about some cute matchstick notebooks made by Kara, who is an intern at Fossil Blog. The post reminded me that I never showed you my own matchbox covers. I made them out of decorative paper and some giant boxes of matches that I found at the hardware store. $2 and 10 minutes is a pretty good deal for this level of gratification. Sometimes it doesn't take much, my friends.

They are cute enough to leave out in the open, which is good for me since I don't tend to put my stuff away when I'm done using it. I thought that they could make good gifts for the right recipient, too. Maybe a box of matches and a nice summer candle or votive holder.

My parents will be staying with us for the weekend, but I have to work on Saturday and Sunday. Bummer. That's the one bad thing about my job- almost every weekend is filled by work. But that's okay...I feel like it makes me stronger, haha. While all the M-Fers (that's Monday through Friday-ers, not Mother Fuckers...) are waiting till Friday to go to the bar and stay out late, I wait right along with them (so I have somebody to go out with) and then I suck it up while hauling canoes and kayaks around during the hot summer weekends. Yeeeaahh. Thankfully my parents will be here this evening and I don't think I will be getting too shot-happy this eve.

Rummage Sale Season

2011-05-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last week was the the village-wide garage sale in Cross Plains, a small town about 10 miles away from our house. This particular town has lots of old houses, and my number one rule when rummaging is to stick to the older neighborhoods, as they always have the best stuff. I have yet to find anything awesome in the new construction 'hoods- it seems like that's where all the baby clothes and plastic furniture seems to end up. And let's not get into the pop-up Mary Kay stands they seem to have (that's still around?!).

Admittedly, I got burnt out pretty early on and only hit about 12 sales. The town kind of goes in two hundred ways and all the mismatched neon signs pointing in every possible direction were a little dizzying. But I did find a few small things, including this sweet weathered wicker chair, which was one of the things I was hoping to find! That rarely happens, and at $5, I thought it was a good deal.

I have big plans for the area that I'm going to keep it in, although it seems that I have big plans for everything, and that, my friends, is a bit of an issue. Damn you Martha Stewart for making me want a beautiful everything.

Hopefully the storms hold out long enough for me to finish the project. If not, I do have an indoor thing I've been working on. Tomorrow should be a good day. :)

Spring Cleaning

2011-04-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hey friends!

I hope your weeks are going well. I feel like I've been away from this space more than I wish to be...I'm really hoping to get back in the swing of things soon.

For the first time in years, my internet addiction feels a bit subdued. I have a pretty serious crush on the internet...I'd be lying if I said I haven't spent hours of my day stalking design blogs. Of course, I do take breaks from design blogs. I have to get my internet shopping lust on, after all...or at least wish list making. I don't really purchase much. And of course, there's always the other usual suspects that fill any voids I may find myself in. Flickr. Amazon. Craigslist. *cough*facebook*cough*. Yeah- website hopping is one of those things that I don't feel great about. Spending the extra hours each week writing for Houzz has made it easier to make me want to get away from the internet. I get the same way in the winter when I work on a computer all day at work.

But anyway, enough of that. Back to awesomeness. I'm hoping to post more projects over the coming months, but first I'm going to clean the blog up a little bit. It's looking a little messy these days. Watch for a new layout in the coming weeks! New tabby things to the right instead of a mishmash of whatever is there right now. Okay, I'm off to bed.

Keeping Bees

2011-04-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

Ah yes. Spring. Or should I say "spring"...

We've been the enduring receivers of 42 degree, rain sleet and slosh filled days throughout much of Wisconsin over the course of March and April. Don't get me wrong- I do love grey skies. They make for great driving conditions (we all know how much I love my drive to work...) and they're easy on those of us who have been blessed with Rosacea or other skin related nuisances. Rosacea and sun don't mix. I work outdoors a lot and sunny days are not my friends (although so badly I wish they could be).

So yes, spring has been off to a slow start. But I'm not going to lie- I'm a little uneasy about going into my Super Mega Garden Reconstruction Project 2011, so this rain and snow and whatever the hell else is falling from the sky is actually kind of okay with me. Because I know that as soon as the 63 degree days hit, it's Go Time, and there's no turning back. Not the words that a Grade-A procrastinator wants to hear. I don't mean to brag, but I am pretty awesome at avoiding things. Why do you think I blog?

Anyway. I'll step off the sleepy horse now and get to what I came here for. Bees.

After weeks of lusting, I finally bought "Keeping Bees" by Ashley English, and although I'm only on page 23, I have to say that it's one of my favorite purchases ever. Ashley has a writing style that is clever and easy to follow, and the photo to paragraph ratio is about 1:2. My kind of book for sure...I like books with pictures and I don't like books without pictures, so this is pretty much perfect for me.

Anyway, I picked this up with the intention of keeping bees next year, so it's been a nice way to fill any empty gaps of time that I find. I would highly recommend it even to those who do not plan to keep bees in the future. It's a fun read and teaches us just how magnificent bees really are.

So since I have been so delighted by honeybees lately, I'm sure you can imagine my excitement as I turned to one of the first stories in this month's Midwest Living:

More words about bees! I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Midwest Living subscription, and just as I was about to give up hope that they ever processed my subscription card, I got my first issue. Yes! Because, you know, I really needed more magazines.

Anyway, onto the next. I have shown you this a few times before, but I'm showing you again, because a post about bee love would not be complete without it.

This is the first linoleum block I ever carved. Or should I say, the only linoleum block I ever carved. I am hopeful that I will start printmaking again some day. And actually, I am going to rearrange my studio over the next few weeks and I'll certainly have printing on the brain when I do. Part of the reason I fell in love with our house was because of the potential awesomeness that the basement offered in the way of studio space. I should get on that. Maybe today.

Anyway. So that's all. Not really too much has been going on around here in my free time other than fertilizing my house plants, watching my cats sleep, working on my garden journal, writing for houzz, drinking mass amounts of coffee (i gave up on the idea of quitting), and thinking about trips that we want to take this summer. Oh, and I've been listening to a lot of music and finding new apps for my android. But that's about it.

Joe's been doing awesome things like making pizza from scratch (on the grill!) and dying eggs for me for Easter. He did one of each color, six total, and hid them along with not one but two hollow bunnies. Oh, he also got a brand new lawn tractor thing which he's super stoked about and he got his fishing license the other day. As we were standing in line for the license, I made the spontaneous decision to get one as well.

We've been trying to think of more things that we can do together, which is difficult when you have 2 people who have completely different interests but it seems to be going well. We'll see what we come up with over the next couple of weeks. We may just end up making potato guns and shooting out some newly replaced security lights or bake a 6 layer cake with gummy worms if we can't come up with anything else. Whatever we end up doing, I'm sure you'll hear about it.

Creating a Garden Journal

2011-04-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

Joe and I are going into our second spring since owning our home, and this year I decided to start keeping a garden journal.

I sat down a few evenings ago and came up with a list of things that I'd like to keep track of throughout the growing months. Then I made a rough draft of the categories that would help keep me on track-- I didn't want it to be just another unorganized notebook. I'm pretty awesome at keeping jumbled notebooks...I'm one of those people who just opens it to some random page and starts writing. Being unorganized is one of my worst habits!

Anyway. After a couple hours of planning, I made a list of what I needed from the store and went shopping when I got off work. PS: it helps to come up with your color choices before you head to the store.

What you'll need:
- 3 ring binder
- lined paper
- graph paper for plans and drawings
- plastic sleeves for articles & clippings
- magazines to gather photos & ideas from
- decorative paper to divide journal into sections
- pouch to keep supplies in
- pens, markers, scissors, tape (i'm going to get cuter tape from etsy), glue stick, etc.
- hole punch (a 3-ring punch will save you lots of time...i didn't want to buy one, though.)

Total cost: $28, although you can make yours for less. I gathered everything I needed from Target and Archivers. When I searched "garden journal", I saw directions for one that said it would cost $60...not really sure what all that money went towards, but I'm pretty happy with my total cost of $28. I think I could have spent only $20 if I had the tape, glue and ink pads already.

Total time: I spent about 2 hours shopping (i like to look at everything) and then about 3.5 hours assembling, although you could spend less. It all depends on how much you want to get your craft on...and how many photos you take and edit if you blog.

I cut my decorative paper into strips to add a little visual interest to each section. I could have saved a lot of time and some money by just using the actual piece of decorative paper, but I didn't want the journal to feel too chaotic so I decided to use thin strips on blank paper.

Once I had all my strips glued in place, I used my Dymo printer to make section titles. I ended up putting November-March in one section since gardening in Wisconsin is pretty much at a stand still during those months.

In addition to monthly categories, I came up with about 5 others as well so I could keep everything sorted out.

A now that it's finished, I can start keeping notes and ideas! I'm pretty excited to have something like this to keep me organized, and it will be a lot of fun to look back at throughout the coming years. I will most likely use the same journal until it is completely full and just keep adding paper to the sections as I need it.

In case you are interested, here are the categories I included, although I'm sure I will think of more as time goes on:

- each month has it's own section, other than the winter months
- plants and flowers: i'll keep an ongoing list of plants that i see & like.
- inspiration: i will keep my clippings in plastic sleeves in this section.
- care and keeping: fertilizing times, what works/what doesn't, problems that arise.
- plans and ideas: i put my graph paper in this section. i'll draw my sculpture and bed plans here.
- etc.

And that's how I spent my Friday morning. What are your plans for the weekend? Joe is getting off work in about 20 minutes, but I'm not sure what we'll do yet. It's really windy outside and I think it's only about 45 degrees- no fun for outdoor stuff. Ah well, it's a good day to start filling my journal. :)

New Shelf for Spring

2011-04-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I hope to be in this space a little more in the coming weeks...we'll see! It's finally garden season, so that will pretty much take over my life from now till October, which is awesome! I'm creating a moss garden and had every intention of doing it today, but I busted my effing knee on a ball hitch at work yesterday and now it's a swollen, achy, throbbing jumble that I really don't care to kneel on. Thankfully no blood was involved. We'll see if I can get this fixed up with some painkillers & coffee.

This morning I wrote an ideabook for Houzz on insects and bugs. I needed more photos that weren't entirely butterfly oriented, so I rearranged my shelf and ended up with this:

Today is supposed to hit 70 here and I've to lots that I want to do outside. I better start swallowing those pills and get on with my day. Check ya!

Magazines

2011-04-07T05:31:00.000-07:00

So there has been a growing pile of magazines on our coffee table for about a month now. It's been bugging me for a bit, but since I haven't set aside the time to flip through them yet, I didn't really want to put them away.

So I just re-piled them in a more organized fashion and I feel much better now. Although I woke up to most of them being on the floor this morning. I'm pretty sure it was Moonshadow...it's kind of her style to do something like that. I imagine she got a running start and slid on them over and over. She misses her rug rides- I put the ugly one from the kitchen downstairs and she doesn't get her daily ride anymore. Bummer.

The word puzzle books are Joe's. The rest are mine. I really like Everyday Food, but rarely make the recipes that I bookmark since I tend to work past a reasonable dinner hour. Sunset Living was a mistake on my part- I thought it was more of a DIY style but duh, it's like Midwest Living on the West Coast, minus the Midwest part. Whole Living is one of those magazines that have a few good articles but is mostly just filled with stuff I already knew. Living has been a letdown for like a year now. I think what I'm getting at is that I should just only get Midwest Living and be done with the rest, although I do get a lot of them at thrift stores so it's not too terrible.

+++++

Yesterday I started working on the yard but only spent about 4 hours outside. Then, of course, I was awake pretty much all night wishing that I had today off so I could keep doing yard stuff. The reasons I lose sleep are almost always directly related to me thinking about my current projects. Damn.

Estate Sale

2011-04-02T18:17:00.000-07:00

First off- Thank you all so much for the kind comments on my last post. Things are getting easier- I only shed half a tear today! That's a record so far this week...I was in the middle of cleaning the garage & found 2 stickers that I had paper clipped together a few years ago. I meant to send them to her, but I had sealed the envelope before realizing that they never made it in.

Anyway. Today was a good day. I had the day off with Joe, which is a rare event, and we headed out to an estate sale this morning. We got there a little later than I wanted to, so we went to breakfast to kill time until our number was called. It ended up working out well, although I'm sure I missed out on a lot of garden stuff. Dang! Ah well. I did get 2 wooden handled straw brooms & a garden hoe for $3.50 total. I also got a little ceramic pot, but didn't get a great photo of it.

I like to have (cute) brooms scattered around so they are convenient. Now I have 4, but I'd like one or two more. One for the garage, back deck, litter box area, potting room, kitchen and bedroom. Then I'll be set. Kind of like my need to have 5 hammers or 4 tape measures. There are some things that just make life easier.

After the estate sale, we worked on the yard awhile. I finally have a vision for the way I want it to look! First thing's first: time to get rid of all the previous owners cutsey little things that they left for us. You know- items like the ceramic boy sitting on a bench with a dog...a black witch caldron buried into one of the retaining walls, some bird figurines on metal sticks...that kind of thing. I didn't get rid of them sooner because the first summer we just lived here with everything as-is and the second summer was pretty much a wash. Third summer's sure to be a charm, I'm sure.

Ugh.

2011-03-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I learned that my penpal of 6 years was found dead in her apartment.

I am deeply saddened by this and cannot remember a time that I've been so upset over one's death.

Chelle was the person I thought about when times were tough- she'd been through a lot over the past few years and I've always admired her strength and ability to get through the roughest of times. I suppose that strength only goes so far, though...I'm sad that hers ran out.

I met Chelle through a website called PostcardX before it disintegrated. Her list of interests went on and on. Living in a small town at the time, I remember thinking I've finally found somebody who will get me.

After a couple postcards and letters back and forth, I quickly realized that Chelle was "safe" and that I could tell her anything. We had no real-life connections and therefore I didn't have to worry about her telling other people what I wrote to her. The only other person I've ever felt this way about is Joe.

Our relationship was through pen and paper only...we had never talked on the telephone and we rarely sent emails. 5 page long letters were a common occurrence. I always made cactus drawings on the envelopes...she loved the desert and recently moved back to be near it. Whenever I see a cactus at the garden store, I think of Chelle. It's weird how little things can make you think of a certain person over and over again.

I'll miss writing long letters to her when Joe is away- that was my thing when he traveled- I'd have a night or two to write and write, and I'd spend hours doing it. It was something I looked forward to.

Glancing at my front porch to see if there's a package waiting will take awhile to get over. She sent me lots of those. And her letters were the best- they always made me laugh. She was just as kind-hearted as she was witty- it was a great combination.

Halloween will never feel the same. She sent Joe and I lots of good stuff around Halloween. Tons of bat themed things...it was pretty awesome.

And the hunt for little things to send her probably wont go away for quite some time.

Cats. Cacti. Pink paper. Turkish coffee. Carrot cake. Music. The Oakland Raiders. Postcards. The Mojave. The smell of stale cigarettes enveloped within. Telling somebody that I couldn't wait to have a huge yard so I could dance in my garden without the neighbors seeing. Reading about travels. These are all things that will always remind me of Chelle.

I hadn't realized what a tremendous impact she has had on my life until yesterday. I've lost a great friend. The long handwritten letters & the reason to write with a pen will be missed dearly. Sure- anyone can write with a pen...but there is no longer a reason to. The internet has taken it from us. But Chelle gave me that.

I'm not really sure how to end this. There's not a great way to go about doing so. For now I'll be on my way & be thankful for my pine tree hanky.

Score

2011-03-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

My mom recently found this vintage army cot for $17 at an auction. I'm looking forward to using it on the back deck on warm summer days...I've been on the hunt for one ever since I saw this photo.

A few weeks ago I used up the balance of my Target gift card on a new bag. I haven't started using it yet, but it's a little bigger than the bag I'm currently using (although i love my current one and am having a hard time parting with it) & it will come in handy when I start toting a million things to and from work every day...hoodie, water bottle, coffee thermos, salad container, granola, magazine, hat, phone, rain jacket, etc etc etc. Since I never know if I'll be working inside or outside for the majority of my work day, I have to pack stuff that will accommodate the various conditions of either setting.

The green hoodie is by Mountain Hardware & is one of my favorite pieces lately. I like how it equally suits my outdoor love and my design love.

The brown bag is IKEA from like 5 years ago.

I made the rack about 3 years ago. It took me forever, but it was a really calming project & I enjoyed spending time on it.

5 things because I have run out of things to write:

+ I am having a really hard time finding bathroom lighting that I like. Damn it.

+ We bought a big window from the ReStore yesterday for $50. 30"x 86". Sweet!

+ My dad gave me a chainsaw today. To say I'm excited about this would be an understatement.

+ I started another book recently & have already tired of it. I guess reading really isn't my thing. Frustrating.

+ Our friend jokingly mentioned that Joe was a lady killer the other day. I'm still giggling! Haha, I'm not going to lie- I was (and still am) one of those "ladies". Although at 18...when it all began...I didn't really consider myself to be a lady. I remember getting a little bent when I heard people tell their kids to "go ask the nice lady". Okay, that's enough. Off I go, have a great Sunday.

Wednesday

2011-03-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

The days seem to melt into each other like popsicles in the sunshine. I think I'm almost through the thaw, but we'll see what next week has to offer.

Somehow I forgot busy this time of year is. I haven't touched my Jan-Feb-Mar-Apr to do list and have probably only done 3 loads of dishes. I think I swept twice. I finally cleaned the toilet bowl yesterday. Thankfully I have a husband who helps out, but his main thing is that he can't stand stuff when it's left out and my thing is that filth is something I cannot live with. This usually works except during times like this, when I leave my shit everywhere and also don't have time to clean. So crankiness has taken over as of late. I've been eating terribly, which isn't typically the way I handle my food consumption.

Fortunately, everything seems to be a cycle and I should be back to my preferred methods shortly. Today I woke up and was thankful that I was in the mood to clean. Whew. I have been staring at those windows for a month now and they are finally spotless (on the inside...I have to wait for warmer weather to do the outside.) I had extra time to love my plants and I'm going to do more plant stuff later on. I wish that it was in the 50s again today, but instead it's sleeting and cold. The photo above was taken a few days ago.

Anyway, I am going to compile a list of all my Houzz articles soon, but for now here is the latest: Life in a Glass House. It's inspired by conservatory and green house style. If you haven't noticed, I'm on a major plant kick lately. I love house plants. It must be our almost-half-year-long winters. Check it out if you are feeling the pull for spring. :)

Plants

2011-03-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

I got the day off today because we were supposed to hang out with some friends who were coming in from out of town, but they had to cancel. I was still happy to have a Saturday off, though! Something that I don't usually get to enjoy.

We started the day by going to a local garden store, where Joe spied this gigantic Staghorn Fern.

He really liked it so I made him pick out a small one, even though it's a different variety. It's about time he had his own plant already. I asked him what he was going to name it..."Jethro." I thought it was pretty much perfect. I also picked up a new baby tears plant but swooned over these awesome mini baby tears hanging plants they had, which were actually not at all mini...they were huge and looked like Cousin It. I'm getting one soon.

Today was about 55 degrees out, which is the warmest it's been so far this year in Wisconsin. Since I was feeling in a spring-like mood, I wore my new mushroom t-shirt, which I love. PS: this is one of my favorite areas of our home:

We did some stuff outside for a bit & I was excited to be able to look into the windows rather than out of them for the first time since last fall. I wasn't excited to see Jada's branch that Moonshadow broke off the other day. I'm going to plant it & hope for the best, though.

I bought some seeds at the garden store and realized that I could plant my lettuce today, so I took advantage of our nice weather & got out my planting stuff.

I'm hoping that my lettuce is ready in time for Memorial Day- it would be nice to use in a salad when my family comes. We're expecting about 40 people to stay over that weekend!

While I was planting the tiny lettuce seeds, I started to think about how much I like doing things but also about how easy it is to waste a day online looking at beautiful photos and thinking about doing things. So here's to less thinking and more doing this spring & summer. I've got lots of ideas and I'm really excited to start working 4 days a week rather than 5 soon.

This summer's to-do list:

+ solo canoe trips

+ start beekeeping

+ grow a garden

+ can our veggies

+ work on yard sculptures

+ learn to weld

+ write more

+ make lots of art

+ convince friends that they should drive all the way to my house

+ listen to records

+ play bass guitar

+ take a couple road trips

+ go to summer concerts

+ take more hikes in the rain

+ rummage sales

+ be happy to have a wonderful life with joe & kitties, a job i love and a house (that i still can't believe is ours).

Finished

2011-03-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

I finally finished this piece this morning & was able to clear the kitchen table as a result. Joe will be so happy about that.

Yes- I have 2 separate studio-like spaces in the basement, but I really enjoy being on the main floor because it's where my music is & where the sunlight seems to shine. It's also the most finished area of the house & since unfinished areas make me uneasy, I tend to avoid them.
This piece is 11x14 & is on a 1" deep panel. One of my favorites thus far, I think I may make digital prints of it (and some other pieces I have) if I can find a copy shop that I would like to work with. Sorry it's difficult to read some of the smaller things- I crossed the camera off my "to get" list and I'm just going to deal with what I have for a bit longer. But you can see it a little better in my flickr stream.

+++

This is the first morning I've felt okay about going into the day in quite a few days. I think I finally caught up on "me" time, which is awesome. I hate when I get in a funk...ack! Tomorrow is my day off and I couldn't be happier about it. I'm hoping to get one or two blog worthy things accomplished...we'll see. :)

Hello

2011-03-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

I hope to be back in this space soon. I miss it.

The weekend was a busy one, as was the week that lead up to it and the week that is following. My days have pretty much only consisted of sleeping, driving, working or typing. I have been trying to fit some other things in, but it's not working out very well- I really need a day to decompress before I can do anything productive. I did manage to get the bathroom sink snaked...but that's really all I've done in the past week and a half. I think I cleaned the litter box a couple times and did about half a load of dishes, too. 'Tis lame.

Last weekend was Canoecopia, the world's largest paddling expo, and it's put on by Rutabaga. Physically, I feel pretty good today...although mentally, I'm still dragging.

Anyway, I hope to be back next week with new projects and photos, so be sure to stop back then!

Hello!

2011-03-11T04:36:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! I'll be absent for a little longer, but I'm leaving you with a link to my latest houzz article.

Have a great weekend!

Monday Morning

2011-03-07T06:31:00.000-08:00

My apologies for the lack of content lately. I've been working a bunch (okay- only full time but to me that's a bunch when my "to make" list is piling higher than my amount of time allows for creating) so there hasn't been much worth writing about. But I think I might have something now.

Joe and I have a pretty strong need for a shed in our backyard, but our budget will probably top out at about $400 or less. Translation? Well, the Magic 8 Ball says "better luck next time".

But last night I came to my senses and realized that I was over-thinking it all. While I'm generally a "high-quality or nothing" kind of girl, fortunately there are loopholes in the system.

I asked myself why there was a need to build a solid structure that would last a lifetime. I mean, really- as quickly as I seem to tire of things, I think it's okay to have something that won't necessarily be standing when I'm 60. As long as it has a solid roof, I'm fine with it being more of a quirky shack than a typical shed.

My inspiration? This photo that I stumbled across last night:

From the flickr stream of lisa temple-cox.

Isn't it sweet? If I made a shed like this, I would be able to add things to it whenever I found something new (old). It got me thinking about Wabi-sabi, which has been a huge help in getting me through my perfectionistic processes. Read up on it if you are an artist or a creator of any kind- I think you'll enjoy the subject immensely. I've found it to be a huge help.

So yes. After I saw that shed, I wanted to see more.

Ideally, I would like my shed to have a corrugated metal roof, kind of like the one pictured above (found at Debra Prinzing's Blog). I'm seeking approval from my neighbors during the next hail storm, ya know? Heehee. Whatever. I let them aimlessly shoot their guns at trees, so they should have no problems with the sky pelting my roof once in awhile.

So um, this is probably just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. I found it at Aurora Suzette's website. Neat, right? So very charming...it reminds me of something you'd see out East.

Another really great photo, this shed was built from salvaged materials as well. Read the interview here if you have a few minutes.

I could go on and on. This is a great solution for us and I can't wait to start collecting materials! Once I come up with a rough plan, I will create a budget (I'm hoping to top out at $200) and go shopping. The garage is about 200+ feet away from most of our gardens, so it will be nice to have a shovel when I need it rather than walking back and forth so much. I'll keep you posted on project progress, of course.

Late Night. Again.

2011-03-03T21:53:00.000-08:00

Ugh. I tried. I really did. I tried without even realizing I was trying. For the fourth evening in a row, in addition to this morning, I sat down with my art stuff.

Many minutes have been spent clipping and shuffling and gluing and drawing. But mostly shuffling. Although I haven't found a groove with this piece yet, I'm definitely onto it. It was slow going in the middle. But to my defense- those rain drops took a damn long time to draw. They always do. I think that's why I like drawing them. And I was having quite a bit of trouble with my Rapidograph last night, which, of course, always results in inky black fingertips.

So tonight I cut and shuffled and reshuffled. I began to wonder what my hang up with this piece was. I casually looked at my table as I thought...I remember laughing because the realization that I'll never be an organized person hit me once again.

I promise that it's comfortable for me- to work next to all my art stuff when it's piled high like that. I think it's a normal thing for people who make. Please tell me that it is. Anyway, that's when I realized that I was trying to keep my new thing too simple. I laughed again as I thought about a comment that one of my friends made at an art show I did last fall. He asked which stuff was mine, and I told him they were the ones with the black pine trees. He eagerly replied "Oh! Is that the really busy piece that's over there?" I laughed and said "Haha. Yeah. It's the one that's titled "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough." He chuckled.

So yes. I started filling the piece up and it's feeling much better. I'm hoping to finish tomorrow, but we'll see.

So far I like it. But my scrap & ephemera box has dwindled to almost nothing, and I really need more. I haven't found what I'm looking for yet. I might have to hit up Etsy.

And here are 5 random things...because staying up till midnight is a great idea:

1. it's raining. that means it's almost rain jacket season and i love my rain jacket.

2. i've been thinking about canoe trips a lot lately. this is the year that i'm going to cave. more on that later.

3. i bought a new bag today with a gift card that i had. i'll show you next week.

4. i'm trying to learn one new word a day but i keep forgetting to use them. damn.

5. if i stop typing right this very second, i can still make it to bed today rather than tomorrow.

Edit: I didn't make it to bed until tomorrow. Which is now today.

Late Night

2011-03-01T22:28:00.000-08:00

At about 9:15 tonight I had the urge to drag my art shit upstairs and give it another go. Yesterday morning I gave up on having an eventfully creative day after 2 failed attempts...I did the dishes and took a 3 hour nap instead. I thought for sure that the piece I started would be one that sat on a shelf for a few months until I was ready to give it a second glance, so I quickly jumped at the glimmer of energy I found this evening. It's funny because I usually go to bed by 9:30 or 10:00 and here I am, up at 12:17am, blogging.

So I scattered my papers, scissors and glue (photo above taken before that happened) and while I was blissfully clipping away, I started to think about what my next go-get-it move in life was going to be. It occurred to me that doing an art exhibition was probably a good direction to follow. It would be fun, challenging and somewhat nerve racking, which is exactly what I've been going for with this little life-enhancement-focus I've had over the past few months.

(yes, that's really how i hold my pen. tightly. yikes!)

I haven't really mentioned it much on here because it's kind of weird to talk about, but I've been doing this exposure therapy/etc. stuff, with the help of a psychologist, and I have to say- it has been a huge help in multiple aspects of my life. In a nutshell, it's nice to be able to do things without worrying as much, although I never did consider myself to be overly-worried (even if I slept with a baseball bat, pepper spray, a kubaton, my cell phone, the chair against the door and two guard cats whenever Joe left town, until just recently...) but yeah- I've learned that you just have to do stuff and when you do stuff, you feel better about life, which is something I've always believed. Like that kayak rolling class I took last month or the solo canoe trip I hope to take this summer...both scary things, but both things that will lead to a great sense of accomplishment once completed.

So yes. I really want to do an art show but I don't know how to get started. I have a few ideas but I'm open to suggestions too. Oddly enough, I'm not nervous about what people think about my work in general, but more about being there when they are looking at it. I mean, if I was standing in front of a photo or a painting at somebody else's show and was openly admiring it and then found out that the cute guy with the nice jeans and thick rimmed glasses who was standing 2 feet away was the person who made it, I'd just about die and want to eat all the words that just fell out of my mouth. I'd probably blush for the rest of the hour. And if it was the cute guy with the nice jeans and dark rimmed glasses who was admiring my work, I'd probably drop a pen and then accidentally kick it so I could get the heck away from there. Haha, it looks like I still have some work to do before I'm all the way through this over-thinking thing. I guess what it comes down to is that I don't really care if they say bad things about it, but it's more about if they say good things. Is that weird?

Hmm. Anyway, the piece I'm working on right now is block print, paper and India ink. The only medium I care to work in these days seems to be mixed media. I really like it because I don't get bored. If I was just painting or just drawing or just printing, I would get bored. So I mix it up and cut. paste. print.

Oh. And while I was getting my craft on, I was listening to Pandora on my phone (ummm, I FINALLY HAVE A SMART PHONE. Did I tell you that yet?! OH man, my day to day is so much better now! For real. Way better. More on that later...) Annnyyway- what I was going to say is that I started thinking about how I might mention that I had been talking to somebody about improving my thinking/mood balance/etc. and then this song came on. Check out the title. I thought it was rather fitting, hahaha.

Oh and one last thing, because I feel like I have to give a disclaimer- I have learned that therapists/shrinks/psychs/whatever you want to call them (i still haven't found a word I like) aren't just for whack jobs, emotionally unstable people or those who have been through trauma, but also for those who just want feedback on their thought processes and how to improve their day to day thinking and interaction with others (which is where I categorize myself) and I'd highly recommend it if you are looking to become a better person. Okay, I'm done talking about awkward subjects now...please don't wonder about me too much, it's really weird to be posting this to the entire world. Off to bed.

Table Before & After

2011-02-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

Remember the table I was working on a few weeks ago? Well, I finally finished it. I suppose it could use some touching up, but whatever- I'm considering it done enough.

I started with legs that I pulled from a table that I thrifted a few years ago & added a table top that I cut from a piece of oak that I had in the basement. I bought the oak for something else, but after it sat there for almost a year, I decided I would just use it for this table that I wanted.

After some sanding and swearing, I added legs and began to paint. Dark blue. It. Was. Hideous. But I decided that I did still want some of the blue to remain, so out came the painter's tape & I made a pattern around the edge & painted the table white. Once it was dry, I pulled off all the tape and this is the result:

Yeah...my Rubber Tree needs a light dusting. I pruned it last night but didn't get around to the sponge bath.

Oh. And can I just say that the composition of the photo above really bugs me? Ack. Almost a good thing...but then fell short. Ah well.

I have the table by the windows rather than by the couch where it was originally going to go. It didn't end up being right for the intended area. So now my plants have a new home & will finally get (almost) enough light each day.

Oh, and this is my newest Jade in a thrifted pot. Her name is Judi. Judi with an "i"...

Anyway, that's that. How is your weekend going? I worked yesterday but have today off. We went to Sauk to see if we could spot any Bald Eagles, but I was a little irritated and wasn't really in the mood to stick around. When we got home I made some food for a pot luck that we're going to and now I'm sitting here, blogging and drinking coffee. I told Joe that I am going to start my coffee detox tomorrow, although that was most likely a lie. But it would save about $20 a month if I cut my habit in half. We'll see. Coffee is the best medicine, in my opinion.

Lighting for Dining Area

2011-02-23T20:17:00.000-08:00

Joe did our taxes the other night and I'm excited to say that we're getting a decent return! I'm really hoping to convince him that new lighting for the kitchen and dining room is a must. There have been times that I've almost busted out the headlamp so I could see what I was stirring (I've only made the mistake of using cumin rather than cinnamon one time...ya learn to check labels real quick after something like that).

Anyway, I'm going to consider us to have a lighting budget of $500, even though I doubt that I will be able to pass Go. And by Go I mean Joe.

First, we really need a chandelier to hang over the dining room table. Which do we go with?

1. Mia Chandelier, $170:

2. Eden Pendant Lamp, $50:

Once I decide on this, I'll be able to pick the rest of the lighting. Yes! No more cumin in my oatmeal!

What do you think- #1 or #2? I'm leaning toward #1. At first I was worried that it would be too busy, but now I think that a regular drum shade would detract from the style that seems to have fallen in place.

The other thing is that the ~~upstairs~~ main floor (ah! i keep calling it the upstairs. it's the two-story-house-love girl in me, *sigh*) has a more feminine style than masculine, and while the drum shade can easily lean either way, I figure I should just embrace the chandelier.

The basement will be more masculine and I think I'd like a few drum shades down there when we start remodeling.

Dining Room Progress

2011-02-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

While 85% of blogland is sailing through house projects like nothing, there's the other 15% and myself who seem to be inching along like slugs. I have yet to find that 15%, but I know they're out there. If I can manage to get one room in my house completely finished by our 2nd house-anniversary, I'm throwing a huge party.

Right now I'm focusing my dollars on the kitchen & dining room. I took down the piece that I made last month because I just wasn't feeling it. I decided to add a shelf instead and now the wall seems much more anchored. Doesn't it feel like a different person lives here after viewing that "before" photo?! Crazy. Anyway- the shelf is just pressed particle board that I got for $7. I really wanted a nice piece of wood that I could stain, but there was no way I could spend $35 for a low-end plank of wood and another $11 on stain. So I used this cheap piece of wood along with paint that I already had.

And those are the dining chairs that I talked about in my last post. I reupholstered them with some fabric that I had, which was a super simple project that of course got effed up towards the end because even the easiest things seem to go awry...damn pneumatic staple gun cramping my style.

The paint on the chairs is chipping but I'm going to leave them as is because I am a sucker for things that are worn. Moonshadow started worshiping to the chairs right away and even showed her prized dead mouse how awesome they were. I know this because I washed the chairs last night, found Moonshadow in the living room with a battered mouse before the sun came up this morning and then noticed dried blood spatter all over one of the chairs at about 2:00 this afternoon. Fortunately, it was only on the wood. But she must have been doing loopdee-loops with it because there was blood all. over. the place.

Anyway, this is the grossness that it was before I put the new batting & fabric on:

Ugh, gross. 3 layers of moldy fabric and one layer of tattered batting that almost made me yack. For real. I started envisioning the people who may have once owned these and I got the heebeejeebees because it was almost like they were in my house or something. Ew. Ick. Nasty. Don't get me wrong- these may have been stored in a damp garage for a couple of years, but after driving by the guy that lives about 3 miles away who sets his tube tv out in the front yard to watch from his 1980's lawn chair, anxiously awaiting for the next person to drive by so he can spring up and viciously wave and scream "hiiii!", it's only natural that I think of the weirdos with old furniture first.

Oh and PS- it is taking everything in my power to leave that scuzzy photo on my blog. It's really grossing me out.

Anyway. I got this cork lidded jar at Saver's & I'm going to plant some moss in it, but until I get real moss I'll use this fake stuff that I picked up at Pottery Barn last year. As you can see, the cats have free range of the house and are allowed on the table & counters. We did try to make them stop when they were kittens but it didn't work so we decided that it didn't really matter.

In the background is the orchid that Joe got me for Valentine's Day. Isn't it sweet?! I am waiting to get a different pot to place it in, but until then I put some crinkled paper around it & secured it with hemp. I like the way it looks so I'm not in a huge hurry to find a pot.

Okay, well that's all for tonight. Sorry for all the words. Thanks for visiting. :)

New Blog

2011-02-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

So umm, I started a new blog. Nothing much, but it's over here.

In other news, I found 2 dining chairs today, which is a mission that I've been on for over a year. A YEAR. There were 5 chairs available and they were $8.50 each or $35 for all. I didn't have $35 and I kept telling myself that I wanted mis-matchy chairs but now that I have these 2 at home, I'm not so sure if I want to keep holding out for 2 more. So I might go back when she's open again. We'll see. UGH you'd think I would have learned a thing or two from my drinking glass incident.

Rack

2011-02-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

I don't think I ever showed you the rack that I made a few months ago. I had a piece of barnwood & used leftover paint from the living room. The hook is from Pier 1.

I have about 12 scarves and I like to hang different ones on it when I'm not wearing them.

And PS: Am I the only one who is sad that scarf season is almost over? I have worn a scarf every single day since September. Not only do they keep a short-haired girl warm, but they also add some visual interest. Oh...and they hide my wonky hair. My hair grows oddly at the hairline on my neck and I never knew it till I chopped my hair (when the stylist exclaimed "you have the WEIRDEST hairline...and you have 4 cowlicks?!). Um, yeah- I have to shave it to make it look somewhat presentable (on a daily basis). I have seriously considered laser hair removal but since it's not covered by insurance, I think I'll wait till I win the lottery.

Houzz Ideabook #3

2011-02-16T18:06:00.000-08:00

I'm overwhelmed by the number of comments and "likes" and "tweets" about my latest ideabook for Houzz. It was a lot of fun to write and I am really enjoying the extension of thoughts & ideas in the comment section!

Check it out if you are into all things geeky. Haha- I'm typing this as Joe completes his latest Sudoku puzzle. I'm not a brainy type and am quite far from being what I'd consider to be "intelligent", but there's something to be said about the geeky sort. Although I'm not going to say it on my blog...you'll have to fill in that blank yourself.

Okay I'll say it. They're hot.

But only if they dress the part. It's all in the glasses. Alright, not all. But like 85%. Maybe 90.

PS: Joe wears glasses now and it's awesome. I helped pick them out. Even the girl that worked at the eye doctor thought they were cool...she told him they were "in"...I could tell he wanted to put them back when she said that, but I wasn't about to let that happen.

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-15T05:18:00.000-08:00

Did you have a nice Valentine's Day? The temps hit 40 yesterday which was perfect for our lovely evening:

I mentioned that I wanted to have a fire on Valentine's Day, but as the date got closer, I changed my mind because I didn't have time to get things ready. Joe surprised me and dug out our fire pit, made a path through the snow so we'd have a good walkway, found some dry wood and brought the bench down. I added my vintage army blanket & my heart shaped birdhouse hanger. It was nice to see my beloved fire pit again. I'm almost over my fire pit cringe...if you don't know what I'm talking about, basically I ended up hating this thing because it took me an entire spring and a countless number of Ibuprofen to get through building it. And my muscles were freakishly huge by the end. Like, bigger than they normally are (HATE that).

We made smores and drank good beer. Haha, we were drinking beer that tastes better when it's slightly warm but it just kept getting colder since we were outside! But it was so nice to have a fire again. We didn't get to do it much last summer because we had a really terrible mosquito problem (the worst in years!) and it was impossible to enjoy the outdoors. I was excited that we were able to enjoy a fire again.

It's breakfast time right now and I have to say that I keep considering some microwave smores. I only had one last night because I was so full from dinner. Damn it!

Oh, PS- He got me the orchid I wanted! :) He was keeping it in our guest room and before I opened the door he apologized and slowly said "I didn't read your blog until today..." So I figured there was no orchid involved. Turns out he was just bummed because he got me a pink one and not the white one that I had mentioned. He was especially bummed because he had considered the white one that they had for quite awhile I guess & then chose the pink one. Ah! That's okay, Joe! I got an orchid! YAY! YESSS!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T05:58:00.000-08:00

I have not always been a fan of Valentine's Day. In fact, I used to hate it.

And I used to think it was a stupid holiday and I was on that "greeting card conspiracy" bandwagon for a long time. I refused to give in...

But this year I had a change of heart. Who cares if it's just some marketing scheme- you can still celebrate love even if you don't want to give into the spending spree hype.

Even if you don't have a significant other, I'm sure your friends wouldn't mind some handmade Valentine's Day cards to show that you are thinking about them.

Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers.

XOXO, Erin

+++++
The photos are ones that I've taken of things I've made over the years. They weren't necessarily for Valentine's Day, but they all seemed to have a common theme so I thought they'd be good for this post.

1. Block Printed Key Rack
2. Block Printed & Inked Recycled Notebook
3. Hand bound Journal *sigh. this makes me miss making journals.
4. A card I made for Joe a couple years ago.

V-Day

2011-02-11T04:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Joe,

I want an Orchid for Valentine's Day. I like the white ones and the purple ones. I don't like the yellow ones with purple streaks that look like dragon heads. But if it's just yellow with purple without a dragon head, that one will be okay. If you need me to pick it out I will. And if you think that you should have one too, that would be good so they can keep each other company.

Love Erin

New Plant

2011-02-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

Today was grocery shopping day which meant that I had to venture into town- one of my most dreaded tasks is going to Madison on my days off since I'm there every day when I'm working.

Grocery shopping is kind of a production because we don't live near a grocery store that's even the slightest bit decent. The one I go to is 21 miles away so quick trips don't really exist and list making is a bitch since I can't forget a single thing. The other lame part is that I don't buy produce at that grocery store because it is really bad for fruits & veggies (but GREAT for everything else and also super affordable), which means that I have to go to a separate store for all that stuff. It's really quite a pain in the ass and I think "why the eff did we move here" like 50 times on my way to Madison and then like 100 times on my way home. I always answer "because the house was a great price and I love it" but it only gets me so far with my frustrations and back I go, questioning the decision again. Ah, things will be all the way awesome one day.

Breeaaath. Okay, so anyway- since I can never justify going all that way to just go to one or two stores, my list of errands is usually like a foot long. I always make sure to include somewhere fun in an attempt to either a) look forward to the trip or b) grab a pick-me-up while I'm out since I usually end up needing one.

Today my fun place was the garden store, where I picked up a new Jade:

Oh, I love jade plants.

PS: the table that she's on is the one that I have been working on but still haven't finished from a couple posts back.

The problem is that we don't get the best light in our house so these sort of plants are kind of a challenge to keep, but they do alright I guess. I'm just happy to have a new jade! I've been wanting another one for a really (really!) long time and since I haven't been lucky enough to find a huge one at the thrift shop like this guy has, I decided just to break down and spend the $6 on a small one.

Oh, and while I'm here- I wanted to mention that my first and second ideabooks have been published on Houzz! Check them out if you have 10 minutes & any interest in design stuff:

Get Your House Guests Talking
Interesting Privacy Solutions

Okay, 'tis all for now. More soon.

Lazy Day

2011-02-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

Today I'm being faced with the "day off but can't find the motivation to get off the couch" mood. Fortunately, this only happens occasionally. UNfortunately, I have to take into account the number of days I have handed over due to the fact that I may have had a leeetle bit too much to drink the night before and add it to days like today. That number seems a little bit too big to me. I'm pretty sure that I have decided to hang that lifestyle up for a little bit, right back where it was before I found it last summer. What can I say- good friends equal good times and good times equal good riddance. Sort of. Bleh. Ick. Bad.

Anyway. Today I woke up with the intention of writing my ideabook for Houzz (check) and then doing a few little projects (not check). Instead, I woke up, laid in bed for like an hour (not usually my style at ALL!) finally got up only to sit back down with coffee in hand, read a bunch of right brain vs. left brain articles, dabbled with my houzz thing a bit, took a nap, made some more coffee (so much for 2 cups a day), finished my houzz thing, took another nap, listened to some music, threw around the idea of starting a new blog, made half a sandwich, wished i made a full sandwich so made another half to equal a full and then decided I could spend a few minutes blogging. And that's where I am with my day. It's 3:00.

The Moon must have been feeling slightly ignored so she perched herself on top of the record player, where the cats normally go if they are trying to get a point across. She sat there and stared at me for a good ten minutes. Ah, they make me laugh. Clem spent most of his day in his hotel room (i.e. third shelf of the linen closet) until he realized I was taking a nap, which is when he decided to come lay on me. I wouldn't mind if he wasn't such a lug, but God damn he is heavy. I'll probably end up needing an organ transplant after he smashes them up a little more.

Yawn. I'm finally feeling like I'm at the point where I can start my day--I got enough down time to be able to get a few things accomplished now, I think. I have tomorrow off as well, so whatever I don't finish today will happen then. Mostly painting stuff. My friends laugh because I have paint on pretty much every article of clothing that I own except for my good jeans and expensive sweaters. Yeah, it's kind of pathetic. And it's a constant reminder that I really need new clothes because here I am wearing the same 3 painted t shirts over and over again.

2011-02-08T05:28:00.000-08:00

Hi friends! I started back at work last week and I haven't had much of any time to do Erin stuff. Joe can tell you how I start to get when this happens.

The table I'm working on hasn't moved since last week but I'm hoping to finish tomorrow.

I know you are bored by these books posts as of late, but I just wanted to say that I scratched the house book ends idea and made this thing instead. 3 scraps of wood, a jigsaw, 6 nails and some pink spray paint.

Anyway, how is your 2011 going? Have you done anything on your list yet? I took a kayak rolling class the other day since it is my eventual goal to start whitewater kayaking and it's really a great skill to master. I'll cut to the chase & say that it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I really, really hate being upside down in the water. I had a bad experience the very first time I did a wet exit and it's been downhill from there. I thought this course would help but I suppose I wasn't ready. Next time I will be. I think my biggest issue is that I haven't swam in years so I'm just not as used to the water as I should be. Swimming is no big deal, but being upside down in a kayak is a little unnerving. Oh well- I tried. And I will try again.

For now I will get ready for work. It's day 6 and I am not a 6 day in a row kind of person. Not because I don't love my job- because I do- but because I am itching to do stuff around the house and I can't do those things during the work week! Oh well. Tomorrow is a day off so I will catch up on errands and Thursday is also a day off so I will catch up on projects. :)

Hi!

2011-02-03T20:02:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in the table reveal. I started back at work today and I kind of forgot what it was like to have the hours of 7:00a-7:00p occupied by things other than projects, blogs or whatever I wanted.

Joe is still gone on a trip for work but should be home in about 45 minutes. Yay! I was just sitting here thinking that I have never had so much time to myself before. I do enjoy my time to hang out alone but I miss Joe a ton & am really happy that he is coming home tonight. Although I'm not sure that he'll really be in much of a mood to chat after his long day at the airport. I'm hoping that Clem chills out by then- he is really cranky this evening and keeps throwing himself on the ground and is trying to bust out of the windows. And he's bitching about everything.

Well that's all for now. I should probably see what he's freaking out about. Moonshadow's boyfriend is probably here or something. He comes around looking for a warm place to go and it causes quite a stir with Clem- such a pain in the ASS.

New Table

2011-02-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

I'm snowed in today (again) and it's the third day in a row that I've spent by myself, home alone all day & night. It's really not that bad, actually. I can find lots of things to do while Joe is stuck in Dallas, where they are having their own weather issues. :(

I couldn't leave the house if wanted to...when I say that I'm snowed in, I'm really snowed in. I'm out of project $ and project materials, so I had to think outside the huge long "winter 2011" to do list. Good thing I'm awesome at making lists and not following them.

I've been wanting to replace this table for awhile now. I picked it up at a thrift store 4 years ago for $5. I've never really liked it much...

As you can see, I even tried setting it on an angle to see if I could make myself like it. Nope.

This morning I realized that I had what I needed to try something else & got started after a couple cups of coffee.

My soon to be potting room will never actually be a potting room. You know that, right? As much as I said I disliked basements when we bought our house, I have officially taken over the entire thing. Bass guitar in one room. Laundry (clean!) all over (allll over) another. Studio in the middle. Packaging materials and tools in another. And then this one. My winter workshop. :) Yes- I'm quite lucky to have so much space.

I made a circle & cut it out of a piece of oak that I had laying around. Er, pretty much a circle. There is one area that makes it not so circle-y. But I have come to the realization that I am not a woodworker, nor do I care to be one, and you can't perfect every single project that you attempt without going nuts. I've tried. Pretty much set myself up for disaster- nothing was ever good enough and what's the point of doing a project that is supposed to be fulfilling if it just puts a damper on your mood? So yes. I have recently learned to just let things go and I've been much happier since.

The bolts that come out of the legs that screw into the bases were too long to work with the table top that I made, which called for my all time favorite thing: hacksaw action! I love hacksaw action. So much.

I screwed the bases on and then added the legs. So far so good! After yesterday's attempted and failed project (let's not talk about that...) I was feeling a little discouraged after effing up something that was so EASY. Ugh. Still not over it. Anyway, yeah- in case you were wondering what's on my thumb nail, it's fingernail polish. I don't wear fingernail polish because I don't like colors on my nails. Too distracting. So I tried this shimmery nude shade on just one fingernail and proved yet again that I'm not a nail polish girl. Do you see how scratched off it is?! Yeah. I've never been that good at being a girly girl.

Next was priming. I like to dress like a ninja when Joe is out of town in case I have to kick somebody's ass. So far people have been pretty lucky. Moonshadow is my guard cat.

So unfortunately, you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see the reveal. Ah I hate doing that! Daylight is quickly escaping and I have to make a second attempt at shoveling the back deck and the roof. Our friend should be here any minute with his plow to help clear the driveway. So so thankful for that right now.

Houzz

2011-02-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I got an email from Sheila Schmitz, the Editor over at Houzz. Imagine my excitement when I read that they were looking for another contributor & that they were wondering if I'd be interested.

Woah.

So fast forward through a phone call and a bunch of emails- I can officially say that I am the newest contributor for Houzz! I couldn't be more thrilled. This is a wonderful opportunity for me!

My first ideabook was published today and I'm in the process of gathering photos & writing the commentary for my second one. Since I really enjoy writing and pretty much live for interior design (and spend a countless amount of time poring over design blogs and photos) this is perfect for me! I'm pretty stoked.

If you haven't heard of Houzz before, basically it's a huge collection of photos that have been submitted by architects, designers, photographers, bloggers, etc. You can save photos that revolve around a common theme in what are referred to as "ideabooks". It's really awesome for anybody who has ever found themselves clipping magazines or saving hundreds of design photos in folders on their computer. I'd highly recommend checking it out if you are into decorating, photography, design, DIY, or if you are simply just a visual person.

Anyway, that's all for now. Stop by and say "hi" sometime!

*the stairs in the photo above are by Elite Metalcraft Co. Ltd.

Book Ends

2011-01-31T15:36:00.000-08:00

This morning I posted about these sugar bowls that I got for $2 each at Michael's. Well I decided they looked like little houses & bought 2 more.

I paint markered them up and called it a day. At first I was worried about drawing straight lines but then I got with the program- Erin, these are $2 sugar bowls. Seriously.

I couldn't decide what style house I wanted them to be so I just went with 2 that were opposite. 1 Modern & 1 Foursquare.

A word on the books- While I love "Sh*t My Dad Says" on tv, this book sucks. I think I got to page 20. I don't have patience for poor writing...and like the guy really remembers what his dad said when he was 3?" My mom has this thing that she HAS to finish any book she starts reading. Totally not my style.

Anyway. this is probably about 1/6th of my book collection. Weak, isn't it? I know. Don't worry, 2011 is the year of traveling and book buying.

Speaking of :year of", I never did do the list I wanted to do on my birthday. I think about this whenever I start to get bummed about not being able to travel or have many fun toys. But when I look at my list, I realize that will all balance out in the end and that I'm doing just fine. :)

Here it is:

Age:
18: Met Joe
19: Moved to my first apartment, with Joe. Yes!
20: Got engaged! For the record, I hate that word.
21: Got married!
22: Moved to Madison!
23: Found a fun job that I enjoy!
24: Bought a house!
25: Bought a second car- we each have reliable cars for the first time ever!

When I look at it that way, I see that I'm moving right along. Lots of things to buy & places to travel over the next 5, 10 and 20 years. We're hoping for an East Coast road trip and a Portland, OR trip this year. Next year we'd love to go to Europe.

PS: taking any and all suggestions for great places on the East Coast. Especially flea markets or antique malls! That part of my list is rather sparse.

Okay, off to make soup!

Cream & Sugar

2011-01-31T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Friends!

I hope you all had a great weekend! We really didn't do a whole heck of a lot so I don't have any photos to share today. I have one, but really, it's not much.

It's just to say that I found a new sugar bowl to replace this one. I loved that vintage sugar bowl dearly for quite some time. I remember gasping at Joe at 4:40 a.m. on many, many mornings "aaah! please done pick her up! please!" (thankfully we don't have to get up that early anymore). It was my very first thrifted item for the apartment. I bought it when I was 20. Oh, how thoughts have have changed since that post! Green is not my favorite color any longer. Least favorite? Maybe. Okay okay, not least favorite. We'll leave that slot for any color ever referred to as "skin". Ew. But I set green on the back burner and don't see it re-entering the house any time soon. Although it is one of "my colors" as far as clothing goes, so I guess I can let that slide if I find something good. I think my cringing comes from where we live now- in the summer, EVERYTHING is green during my drives to and from work. Oh, the drives. Scheduled to restart tomorrow. Oy. I just grow tired of colors I see everywhere. It's a good thing I don't live in Ireland.

But anyway- yes. A new sugar dish. $2 at Michael's. The cream thingy is for when we have extra people over in the mornings, but as I sort of guessed, it doesn't have the strongest pour. The spout isn't pointy enough. Oh well.

But that's all for now. I have 6 books that I have started since Christmas and I have 6 books that I haven't made to page 30 yet. I'm a terrible reader. I'm really trying hard to get better at it, but it's tough the internet has all these pretty photos and then there are all the other things I could do instead of reading. Like...the dishes. Or...finding my way to the internet again. I know that when we have a spot dedicated for it I will be better. But for now I will just keep trying to stick with one of these books and hope that I find a chair for the soon to be library.

Plants

2011-01-28T12:24:00.000-08:00

Jada got a new pot the other day. She is getting smaller by the month and her old pot was starting to look too big for her. I know- plants are supposed to get BIGGER, but I keep having to clip branches off because of an over-watering problem last spring. Although I think she's finally good to go.

I also got a new pot for my Rubber Tree because the other one I had was only temporary. I picked up this clay one from IKEA while I was in MN the other day &I'm very proud to say that only $20 was spent during that trip. $10 for the pot and $10 for a super cute stuffed alligator guy who is going to go in the library...when we have a library. UGH all this bookshelf porn that's been floating around the internet lately has me wanting more books. But the real focus should be on finding a chair. I think I need to just stop looking for a gently used one & just buy new.

Ah well. Oh PS: I gave the IKEA pot a little scarf which I cut from a blanket from IKEA. The blanket had a hole eaten through it by a mouse & I was getting a negative tinge whenever I saw the blanket so I cut it and now it's better. HATE me the negative tinge.

Anyway. I pretty much wasted my entire day doing nothing. It's 2:17 and I managed to eat 4 cupcakes, some lunch and I also did the dishes. And I repotted my rubber tree. Oh and I did do some other stuff that I just ended up undo-ing because I didn't like it. I might go snowshoeing, I might not. We'll see. For now I am going to do something other than type and swoon.

Cupcake Flags!

2011-01-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

I turned 26 today.

Joe went to the grocery store this morning & bought stuff to make cupcakes. RAINBOW cupcakes! Those are my favorite. While he was making them, I decided I wanted some flags to put on top.

So I gathered paper scraps & toothpicks:

X-acto'd them to size:

Folded & Flagged them:

Stuck them in the cupcakes:

Decided that the elephants wanted to come, too:

And next? Cupcake eating followed by snowshoeing.

Thrifting. YES!

2011-01-25T16:16:00.000-08:00

So today was my day of awesomeness. Awesomeness being nothing on the agenda but thrifting and a phone call. I didn't even have to feed the cats or clean their box or listen to Clementine bitch, which was so so great. And to think that one of the reasons I was on the fence about this trip was because I didn't want to leave my cats...ha, that was a stupid.

The reason I'm here (Minneapolis) is because Joe is on a business trip and I have one week left till I return to work, so I figured I should take a vacation from my vacation. A guy that Joe is working with said something like "wait- your wife is with? what is she going to do the whole time???" Um, was he kidding?! Hello, I'm in the thrift store and shopping meca of the Midwest, duh. Some people don't get it.

So yes. I woke up at about 5:00 this morning (and quickly realized that I would never be a good candidate for studio apartment living...I don't envy that lifestyle one bit, I've decided) and waited and waited for Joe to wake up. Being that we're in a hotel with no restaurant attached, there's really not a lot that I can do other than just lay there and wait since I didn't want to wake him up.

Anyway, so he finally woke up and I started planning my trip. My thrift store extravaganza trip. The Thrift Shopper is the best site ever when it comes to this, by the way. So I got all that scribbled down & then it was time to take Joe to work (at the doll store in the Mall of America, haha) and I went in to get some coffee for my big day, went back out to the car and plugged in like 10 thrift store addresses into the GPS & started driving.

I finally made it to my first stop & I was very let down by it (and 16-mile-one-way drive) and then even more let down when the other thrift shop out there didn't seem to exist. All that driving for nothing! So back I came and hit up 4 or 5 that were closer to my hotel.

And then it happened- my first find of the day. I was excited to come across this huge spool of thread, especially because I'm currently on a mission to gather more materials for wrapping packages. And because it was the prettiest shade of blue & I thought it would look nice if I kept it out on a shelf in our soon-to-be-library.

$1:
Pretty, right?

Speaking of our soon-to-be-library, books have been one of my most sought after items at thrift shops lately. Building a library from pretty much nothing takes a long time, unless you have a huge budget. And since I can't convince my mind that I have time to build a library, I've been getting all my books from thift shops. I highly recommend it. I really like hardcover books and I really REALLY like old hardcover books. It's an aesthetic thing. I wish you could see how gorgeous the book cloth on this book is. Well, okay- I know you can see it. But I wish you could feel it. Oh god, it's so good. One of my favorite finds to date.

$2

AND the illustration & print is in metallic green ink. I picked this up & knew that I had to have it before I even opened it. And then I opened it: "And so we bought Stillmeadow. Although Jill always said Stillmeadow bought us. We lived in New York Ciry, I was raising my daugheter in a sixth-floor apartment about the size of a station wagon. It had what I called a sometime elevator for it did run sometimes." Okay, this is where I admit to you that I have not read a book since grade school (not a lie) because I haven't found one that will hold my attention AND because I hated reading in school but since I could write well I just took notes and aced the papers. Suckers. Anyway, this one will hold my attention. I know.

It was at that time that I thought "I need a basket" and as I was walking back to the book section, I spied my next find on a wall full of scarves. The minute I saw her I pretty much lost my breath and said "Oh, Vera". How did I know it was Vera from so far away, you ask? Because Vera is that good. So good that I have never even seen a Vera scarf in person but knew what I saw within half a beat of a heart.

$4

After I found it I started to think about the Vera book I've been wanting & how I never did buy it for myself from Amazon like I had told myself I would. I decided that I would buy it when I returned to my hotel if I had any money left in my thrift-fund by the end of the day.

I was near Edina so I drove over to West Elm. I mainly went in to look at their styling rather than their items, since I haven't been too excited about their stuff for quite awhile now. On my way out I started looking at their book section and I remember thinking that I don't like the fact that these design stores are selling random books just because they'd look nice on your coffee table. And then I shut up. Because...could it be?

Any guesses? Any at all? Come on you have to guess because I let the guy wrap the thing just so I could play this game with you. Okay, I'll give you a hint. It rhymes with Sara. And I was just talking about it a minute ago. And it was only $9.95.

Yeah. I know. And at $9.95, it was a steal. Even better than the price I was going to pay for a used one on Amazon. Friggan awesome, right? Right. This just goes to show that January is indeed the best month ever. Other than July, September and November. I like those ones, too. And I didn't even realize that those 4 months are every other month, minus March & May. They're alright too I guess.

Okay, back to reality here. My last stop was at the Goodwill across the street from my hotel. I walked in & spotted these cuties right away. They are so French to me. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. Trust me though, I know French when I see it. It comes with the gig that one takes on when they are part French (moi). Haha, like how I worked that one in? I do.

$1 each:

Aren't they great? Oh man. So good. I love their fashion sense, don't you? There were 4 total & I walked around with all 4 and made the spontaneous decision to put 2 back right before I got in line. I wanted somebody else to find them, too. And I kept thinking about my Portland trip (which is happening in 2011) and how I need to save for it so I had to stop spending $ even IF it was my birthday soon and even IF they were only a dollar each and even IF one broke how I'd only have one left.

And then I got back to my hotel and made my phone call and started to take photos of my new stuff and I got to these glasses and started to get sad about leaving the other 2 behind and my mind was having fist fights with me and I couldn't make them stop so UGH I got in my car and drove across the street and walked back into Goodwill, being sure that I wore a different scarf & a hat this time so they didn't think "isn't that the lady that was just here" and then I walked over to the shelf they lived on and got them. Along with 3 other things that I didn't see earlier.

And now I'm happy.

Yeah. I know.

So NOW it's 6:12 and I have like 4 or 5 hours till Joe gets off work. The Wild play the Blackhawks tonight and this is the first and only game I will get to watch this season. Against the Hawks. Which is awesome. So part of the determining factor of me coming to MN was the fact that I would be in Wild territory & that I would get to watch a game since we don't have cable at home. I walked into our hotel room & quickly noticed the 15" tube tv that is bolted to the dresser so I can't even put it on the bed to watch it.

So I'm going to shower & go find somewhere to watch it. Like, at a bar or something.

Before & After: Entry Doors

2011-01-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

Hey friends! I hope your January is going well & that you are crossing lots of stuff off your to-do lists! I have a 4-month list spanning Jan-Feb-Mar-Apr & I am just about a quarter of the way done! Of course, we'll see how things continue to go once I start working again. I'm hoping to still have a decent amount of momentum, but we'll see. My parents are visiting soon and they always kick ass at this sort of thing so they'll get me back in gear if I happen to slip!

Anyway, here's the latest before & after!

Before, like waaaay before, when we first moved in. August 2009. ICKY!

And with the help of some paint & removal of ugly things:

I'd still like to get new doorknobs and the runner is just temporary till I find what I like. Oh, and of course something to replace the hanging tri-star. New switch plates are to be found as well, but I need to even the switch box dealies out first.

Look closely & you'll see what I did while everybody (or seemingly everybody) was watching the football game (PS: Joe is a Bears fan and like the only Bears fan around here)...

I removed the trim that hung across the glass on the the door, scraped the gunk & paint markered it! I decided to just do freehand lines for now. If I get bored, which I will, I can just scrape it off and start over! For now I like it quite a bit though. I got the paint marker for $2.80 at Michael's. Inspired by this post, but I didn't use any contact paper.

Okay well that's all for now. I'm in Minnesota right now (!) and I gotta run- Joe is getting off work & we're going out for a bit. Oh and PS- Goodwill is across the street from our hotel so you know where I'll be tomorrow. I also plan on hitting up West Elm & a few other goodies (IKEA!) that we don't have in Madison.

Birthday Present = Ordered

2011-01-21T22:10:00.000-08:00

So of aallllll the things I want (neeeeeed!) I chose to get this for my birthday:

The Roksana Sweater by Prana.

Don't ask me why I didn't get a decent pair of pants for snowshoeing.

I don't want to think about the compact drill promo offer that I forgot about.

I thought that a Kettlebell & workout DVD would be a lame gift.

I can't find a winter coat that I like so scratch that till next year, again.

Somehow I don't want anything for the house, which is so weird.

And everything else costs like $200 or more.

So this should be getting here soon...just in time for me to wear it to work.

While I do love cardigans & cute blouses, this is really more me.

I like the back because it's striped like the arms are...super cute!

Painting

2011-01-21T06:52:00.000-08:00

I just slapped a second coat of paint on the long wall in our basement.

I kind of wonder how long it will take to cure because I estimate the temperature to be about 52 degrees down there.

I like to walk around the house sans-socks & wear t-shirts when I can because it makes me more immune to the brisk temps that Wisconsin outdoors has to offer around this time of year. I do cheat and wear a hat when I'm inside, though.

I have to warn you- when you come over to my blog party make sure you bring a hat, mittens and probably a scarf, too. Everybody tells us that our house is cold. And I know that it's cold. But to me cold is comfy and hot is not. Hot is Rosacea and I hate her and avoid her at all costs. Our house is not drafty so I like to keep it at 65 degrees. Sometimes I'm nice and bump it to 66 when we have guests.

Anyway, back to my point here. Paint. $5 mis-tint paint from Home Depot, mind you. The color doesn't pick up very well on the camera & it's not as periwinkle as it looks in the photo, thank God, because I don't ever want to see periwinkle in or near my house again. It gives me bad visions of Joe's old Periwinkle Prowler (Which was actually a dusty-blue 1999 POS ford escort).

Oh and I should mention that those are my favorite work jeans and they've been through quite a lot of projects with me. Unfortunately I can't wear them in public or when people drop by when I'm project-ing because I got a nice tear in the thigh to lower ass cheek region. I might patch it. Technically I can wear them to the hardware store in town and feel okay about it because a) our town has a nude beach and b) there aren't many lookers 'round these parts so it's not like I have to step it up in the first place.

PS in case you are wondering, the jeans are "favorite boyfriends" by American Eagle. Some of the only jeans I can find that actually fit right. I just thrifted another pair in the same size and they are way too tight because of all that fudge I ate last month, but I'll stretch 'em & soon they'll fit like a glove. Hopefully that happens like mega-soon because I can't wear those ones out in public either without looking like a teenage girl who thinks she's a size __ when she's really a size __. I see a lot of that happening at the mall.

This Is How My Brain Thinks

2011-01-20T10:17:00.000-08:00

So this piece only took like 10 times longer than I had ever anticipated.

And it's not even finished yet...

I want to add something to the middle area, maybe. I'm thinking either a few words or something else. I'm open to any and all suggestions, by the way.

My level says it's straight but the photo says it's a little crooked. Dang!

The dining room is slowly coming along! I painted the table the other day and I'm still on a mission to find some chairs. A never ending mission. Why is this so hard?! Part of me wants to do a long bench across the wall so I can sit and read and look out the window all loungey-style. But the problem is that the table would end up being too close to the wall in order to eat from the bench & that side of the room wouldn't be weighted right. It's a funky area to work with, really. My other thought was to do a floating shelf all the way across & use it as a bar area.

Thoughts?

I think that I'm going to do something like this to the window on the door. It leads to the garage but I don't want a shade on it so I thought this would be a good alternative.

One day I hope to do wood floors, but that's probably far off & who knows if we'll still live here by then.

Onto other things...

I can't help but to love blue & yellow when it's paired together. I keep thinking that maybe I want to paint our bedroom this color and get a yellow quilt, but I don't know. I'm having a really hard time committing to a color for our bedroom! But I do love this blue. A lot. And it seems to be a favorite of everybody who sees it.

This room is the soon to be library & the bed is only temporary. I'm hoping to find a chair with a bold yellow pattern that's also comfy for reading on, but no luck yet. I wish furniture shopping was as easy as magazine shopping! Magazine shopping is too easy. But not as easy as it was when Domino & Cottage Living were still around. Ugh, I'm still not over it.

Anyway, I went to move the bed a little bit to get it straighter for the photo, and it wouldn't budge- it felt like it was glued to the floor! So I laid on the floor & I realized that the leg was IN the floor. I'm not too terribly thrilled about this, and noticed that there are also dents from the bed on the other side as well. WTF?!

Do you see that gouge?! Oh, it hurts so bad! Oh well. I suppose it will help with my quest to let things go. Ha. Yeah. Huge help...

I have 12 more days off before I return to work & I hope to make a pretty big dent (hmm...i seem to have dents on the brain. note to self: don't bring car anywhere today) in my to do list during that time, so I suppose I should get going. That wall isn't going to paint itself! Which is really too bad, by the way...every time I paint I think "huh. is this what carpal tunnel feels like?" and then I end up painting with my left hand. I love a good challenge. Even if it's as weak as this.

Purple

2011-01-19T10:35:00.000-08:00

I was reading a post that I wrote 4 years ago and it said something like "my favorite color is green and my least favorite color is purple."

A few years later we moved into our house and I began to loathe green. I will still wear it, but I don't like it in my house. Now I like purples and blues and greys.

Even the cat's toys are purple. I love this little glitter ball & Clem does, too. It's his favorite and he carries it around all over the place. He cries if he can't find it. It's kind of annoying.

After I painted these birdhouses, I started to wonder if maybe I should keep those hues for indoors and have orange and reds and yellows for outdoors? Mix it up a little, ya know?

Joe bought me this necklace from Stone & Honey last year. It's a bitch to keep clean (for me) and it's a little tarnished. But I still love it. Note to self: I really need to get some jewelry cleaner.

I didn't have anything new to post about today. There haven't been any projects worth sharing, but I hope to finish the piece I'm working on for the dining room today.

I was supposed to leave for Madison like an hour ago but I haven't left yet. I haven't even showered yet and I never did eat breakfast.

I'm dreading the drive.

Any time I go to Madison I feel like there is so much that I have to do. Right now there are 6 places on my list. One includes the grocery store, which is always a huge production. I haven't even made my list yet...

It's days like this that I jump on realtor.com and look at houses closer to Madison and then I remember why we moved out here in the first place...

Because unless we wanted a teeny tiny house with a teeny tiny yard or one that needed a lot of work or one that I could reach into my neighbor's house from my bathroom window, it wasn't going to happen.

Damn it.

Projects

2011-01-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

Somehow my almost-3 weeks off of work has quickly dwindled down to 2. We had house guests over the weekend so we were busy getting ready and entertaining for a few days. Yesterday I was finally able to get back to my to-do list & I hope to have 3 more things crossed off by the end of the day!

The funny thing about to-do lists, for me, is that I always manage to find something that I want to do that's not on the list. It's never a conscious decision, either. And then I feel bad that I spent hours doing something that wasn't on the list, so of course I have to add it to the list just so I can cross it off. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this...

The photo above is an example of what I'm talking about.

Today I was supposed to finish painting the table, finish painting the basement wall and also do something else that I can't recall right now. But instead, I ended up spending like 2 hours working on this piece for the dining area.

Oh well- it's only 12:15 so I still have lots of time to do those other things.

So anyway. I think I might return my new camera that I went on and on about needing for months and months (years?). I hate to return it because I got a good deal on it and I had a $50 gift card to use towards the purchase...but it's just not really living up to my expectations. It's not very user-friendly, I'm not impressed with the macro setting, the editing software isn't fun...on and on.

And also because I haven't owned a sufficient winter coat in 5 years and seriously need one. So I figure if I return my camera, I can buy a coat. Sure I have a wool pea coat or 2, but I'm not about to go snowshoeing in it. And the damn things don't even keep me warm.

AH I hate money.

Thankfully there's $5 mistint paint at Home Depot so I can press on with my house projects during my time off. People tell me that if I stop spending money on house stuff then I could buy these other things I talk about. There are 2 things that bother me about this: 1- I hardly spend any $ on the house and the small amounts I do spend go much further in creating happiness than the large amounts I would have to save for these other things I want and 2- I need my house to look nice otherwise I. will. go. crazy.

True story.

Operation Paper Cut

2011-01-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hey- you want to know what's really super awesome? I only have to work for 10 hours between now and February 1!

I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am about this. Not too many people get an opportunity for an extended break from work, and I'm all about it. Or at least I am right now. We'll see how I feel during week 3. Luckily that's my birthday week and I have some fun things in mind.

Sure, I'm going to hate myself in a few weeks when I don't have a paycheck to deposit. But I am going to be working on a couple of large scale art pieces between now and then, so there is always a small chance for a few bucks to be made.

Right now I'm finishing up a commissioned piece that I've been working on for months...uuuugh. I hate when things take so much longer than you'd ever imagine.

It's made of paper cuts and I'm having lots of fun revisiting the xacto knife life.

Now I want to do a super huge piece for Joe and I out of paper cuts! I should turn that into a mid-winter project. Cutting paper is actually very relaxing. Unless you cut yourself, of course. But really- you become pretty immune to that after a few times.

+++

5 things because I feel like it:

1. I'm listening to a Sonic Youth LP right now & it's making me want more records.

2. The photo above was taken with my new camera. I don't know if I like the new camera or not yet- it's kind of finicky, to be honest. And not in a good way.

3. Clementine officially knows how to turn the ceiling fan on. He thinks he's cool when he does it. And I think he is, too, except for the fact that I then have to turn it off and I can never figure out how many times to pull the chain to get it there.

4. I tried getting by with just 2 cups of coffee today but by 2:15 I pressed another pot's worth and now I'm on cup number 4. BUT at least I'm not at 6 like I was 2 years ago. YIKES.

5. Have you read this entry on Kasey's blog? You have to watch the video she links to & also visit his blog when you get a minute. If, of course, you tend to lead a visual life.