Glam it up

Dress orgasms from award shows past:

Links probably not necessary, all from Google Images.

What's in a cup

I like to go to the local charity shop and look for cheap treasures that I will bring home, leave in a bag on the floor, and forget about for 6-10 months.

A few weeks ago I found this:

I know this doesn't look like much, but it's the teacup version of my dad's coffee cup (which he only uses for tea). To be more specific, this is "Dad's Mug". Same pattern. Same maker. Same texture. Same heft. Same heart.

It's like a nostalgia bomb, discovered 1,000 miles away from the kitchen of my youth. For 75 cents.

When I use it I can quietly hear my dad telling me not to leave it on the counter.

Owie

I've sorta been flirting with how out of shape I can get, and it's finally, truly, bit me in the ass. Allow me to explain.

Two days ago I got a cold -- no big deal -- but two days ago I also went to my pottery class for the first time in 8 months. Much to my dismay the wheels there are too high for me. I can't get the proper leverage and balance from having my left elbow on my left leg... so I do it sitting down yet on tippy toes. This does not work well, but I don't see any way to lower the wheel. Raising my seat doesn't help the problem, and there's a flywheel next to my feet, so there's no safe room to prop up my foot.

There are other, lower wheels (electric ones) but they are taken. Normally I'd roll with this and just do some handbuilding.

But I didn't. I made two slightly off-centered bowls. Life was fine.

Until yesterday. My calves, my left knee, my forearms, my upper arms, my shoulders, my hands, they are all screaming. I'm walking at like 1 mile per hour. The pain has begun radiating to my torso.

This must be what adults mean when they say as you get older, your recovery time gets longer. I've never felt so old. Clock it - 32 and I'm old.

Think my doctor will prescribe a muscle relaxer for me over the phone?

Update -- a day and a half into the pain I remember ibuprofen exists. Life is now a lot better.

Workhorse accessories

One of my goals is to subsist entirely on a very small set of awesome, me things. In cultivating this set I'm all about unique, workhorse things that set you apart and serve you well.

For example, the circle pendant gold necklace that goes with everything:

This is Carrie in Season 3, traipsing around town as she dates her new boyfriend, Aidan. Aidan is not the right guy for her, but this isn't about that. This is about a strong, sexy, circle. 

 
In building my own small collection of workhorse accessories, I too am experimenting with necklaces. I've learned that I like somewhat dainty necklaces - not too weighty or long. I like natural stones and shapes. I like gold. I like clasps that don't fall to the front easily. Sometimes, just sometimes, something will stick, and it's like you've grown a friend. Yet somehow knowing all this doesn't keep me from having 2 dozen necklaces I love and rarely wear.

Minimalism seems impossible. Guess it feels good to have back-up flair.

Foray into boyhood

There is so much I can say about this post. So many ways to take it. I'll focus on color...

Walking about in Maine earlier this summer, I saw a color combination that I had to remember:

I stared and stared until I saw the color palette of a little boy's bedroom:

All paint samples are from the easy-to-use Benjamin Moore paint color site. For the art I scoured Etsy art prints with keywords yellow and orange. This was kinda tedious, but I found neat underwater prints and a hella cool abstract map of some area in Boston. Wicked.

My dreamhouse is designed with two upstairs bedrooms for kids. Since the rooms each have a bathroom they can be rented out (when the kids move away and you start your commune) or used as kick-ass guest rooms. (Seriously, how awesome is it to have a private bathroom when you're a guest.) Barring major makeover, it's important to decide on a transitional look.

I wanted to keep the colors soothing so the kid wouldn't spaz out in there, but vibrant enough to invoke imagination. This is primarily a sleeping room. A room of solace. My kid can come play with me in the kitchen or go outside and catch bugs. The colors aim for a neutral personality -- one to grow upon -- one to inspire calm, intelligence, and creativity. 

The bolder elements are to be supplied, with time, by the beautiful child.

Looks I get

Growth

Having a garden is an amazing experience. As it grows, you grow. No need to think, "as it fails, you fail," because that doesn't happen. Ever. Gardens don't fail. They just go untended sometimes.

Here's my garden as of late-August (right), compared to my garden from mid-June (left).

In the front are lots of marigolds and herbs. Behind them my cruciferous vegetables. Cruciferous probably means crucify (cruci) those who eat the iron-rich (ferous) plant... possibly due to bad smells. Behind this is my beet square (2nd beet crop of year). Three Brussels sprouts line my right side (next to neighboring weeds) and red cabbages line the left side. Also includes: jalapeno, fennel, celery, catnip, arugula, purslane, flowers.

F-yeah

Lucite furniture

One way I know my sanity is in check is my dislike of Lucite furniture. When I see Lucite I think of petroleum. Yet many blogs, books, and magazines that cultivate what is chic and modern and stylish are telling me that hard clear plastic pieces, when used sparingly, are a real "it" component. It's hard to explain, but it feels good to look inside myself and see that I don't agree. To notice and identify your artistic inclinations can be very life affirming.

Top 10 Lucite pieces, if you say so.

The word Lucite is really just a trade name for a useful polymer. Another is Plexiglas. To make 1 pound of it takes about 2 pounds of petroleum, the internet tells me. It will burn completely to carbon dioxide and water. That's some good party trivia for you.

While looking at Lucite pieces to hate, I found a room that I insanely love. This is me. This is how I never knew I picture my dream living room. Thank you, Lucite.

Just add a bright splash of color with fresh flowers and give me my tea.

I suppose, thanks to the picture above, that clear plastic furniture isn't an abomination. But it will never be my first choice. Give me wood, stone, glass, art glass! Give me nature. Give me the beet, not the bleached sugar. Ya know?

Truth in wine

There's nothing like half a bottle of red wine to make you want to call all your friends and tell them how much you love them... but you're not drunk enough to forget that picking up the phone will kill your buzz.

I should really join Twitter. How many characters was that?

But seriously, have some red wine before calling your mom on her birthday, and shit like that. It helps the love flow.

Some of us could use the lubrication.

Floorplans

Getting the floor plan of your dreamhome right is like 90% of the making of the house. Everything relies on the efficient and feel-good use of space. Walls and plumbing don't easily adjust for experimentation, so it's important to get them right from the start.

Although ever-evolving, here are 2 of the 3 levels of my dreamhouse. These are just the walls... you'll have to use your imagination to know what all the rooms are for. Or you can write to me and I'll sell you the details for a few million dollars.

Left, Google SketchUp 1st floor (entry level / street level).
Right, PowerPoint 2nd floor (1st if you're in the UK I think).

The floorplan on the left (and below) was made using Google SketchUp. I didn't take the tutorial, and I gotta say that getting used to the program was hard. Progress was slow. At present I barely know how to use the functions that create 3-D spaces out of my 2-D one. It's also hard to edit and follow the sizes of the boxes and lines you are drawing. The floorplan on the right is made of boxes I laid over a picture of the first floor plan in PowerPoint. I know Powerpoint like the back of my hand.

In SketchUp you can spin around the property like a bird and turn this into 3-D.

Favorite Season - Fall

September, October, November, and December combine to give us a perennial finale in our calendar year.

Fall is awesome.

I love love the final quarter of the calendar year. Many people agree with me on this one. The weather is nice. There's lots to celebrate. You can begin watching your favorite cold weather movies and TV shows. Roasting lots of comfort food. Making soups. Enjoying soups with hearty beer and bread. I could go on forever, especially if I start naming root vegetables.

Hello, Fall. Welcome.

So Happy Fall to you and yours! May you have the perfect blanket and lots of apple crisp.