Inspired by Biedermeier

A few weekends ago I took a mini trip to Milwaukee, where I happily spent hours alone in the Milwaukee Art Museum.

It was delightful:

One of the weirdest parts for me was a quick immersion in Biedermeier, which is a particular style of European home furnishing developed in the early 1800's:

I credit my 3 semesters of college German for seeing that word, hearing it perfectly in my head, and transporting me to this episode of SATC:

Now I'm finally able to fully understand this scene: Man, stands from couch, struck with awe - "Is that Biedermeier?"  Woman, perky, intrigued - "Inspired by Biedermeier. You have a good eye."  Man, gleeful and in love - "I'm like addicted to Architectural Digest."

And thus, Miranda's hopes of bedding Jeremy Fields were dashed by interior design.

Even more!!

Paint desktop backgrounds!!! 

Or are they called wallpapers? Either, I think. Whatever. I know you're terribly excited so without further ado:

Seasons Greetings

Matchy matchy

I took a break from my first ever viewing of The West Wing (I'm marathoning through season 2 at the moment) because I feel it is high time for another SATC wardrobe highlight. As promised, here is the blue holey shawl:

I cannot adequately express how much I detest the word shawl.

This is from season 2 when Carrie is secretly dating Big again. When Big sees her in this he says, "Wow. You look sensational." And she does. And he means it. Then they have passionate sex and her diaphragm gets stuck up there. TMI?

Would this shawl be as dynamite without the blue eyes that match it? I'm.. not.. so.. sure. Part of the allure here is how much it brings out her eyes. Regarding the holes, I once read in a Pantone book that see-through things are universally flattering because our skin naturally matches us, and matching our natural palette is the easiest way to flatter ourselves. So with the shawl matching the eyes and the skin matching the.... skin, Carrie pops in this. 

Sorry, brown-eyed girls. You'll have to take comfort in knowing you're genetically dominant.

Holiday dress-up

I don't dress up like a lady very often. Or ever. Come Christmas my mom would love if I donned a dress. Or a heel. Or more jewelry. Or more make-up. Long story short, she'd love for me to look more like a lady. Like my potential.

It's gotten to the point where I'm afraid I can't pull off a dress. There'd be too many comments. 

LEAVE ME ALONE I JUST LIKED THIS DRESS AND FELT LIKE WEARING IT IF YOU KEEP COMMENTING ON MY LOOKS I WILL NEVER WEAR A DRESS AGAIN LEAVE ME ALOOOOOONE!!

Instead I'll frolic in dresses vicariously through this post. Key to me with dresses are sleeves, knee-lengths, color/pattern, and the term "machine wash". I present to you some lovely dresses I cannot wear on Christmas day:

left, left-center, right-center, right

Was it good for you?

The first concert I went to was in 1998 to see Pearl Jam when they toured for Yield. To this day I'm not sure a better 3-4 track combo exists on an album greater than No Way - Given to Fly. But this isn't about that.

This is about live music, something I used to enjoy. Nowadays at medium or large scale concerts my ears may be happy, by my eyes are assaulted. I'm speaking of this:

Get your god damned phone out of my face and put your stinky arm down. I'm not tall enough to avoid this view, and even if I was I think the LCD screens would still be highly disturbing. Not long ago I was at this concert (pictured above) and in addition to the people taking constant pictures and uploading them onto Facebook (I'm totally fine with you doing this once per show) a few assholes near me actually recorded the whole damn thing. 

FOR WHAT!!?!

Back about 6-7 years ago I spent an entire fireworks show taking pictures of the spectacle, watching it through a 2 by 3 cm viewfinder instead of with the intended panoramic display. How stupid of me. I never look at those pictures. I missed the show. I missed a heartwarming fourth of July family event on a boat with my grandparents -- something I know now I'll never get the chance to do again. Instead of recording my feelings I recorded specs of light in the sky with my 40 dollar film camera. As you can imagine, the pictures were shit. If I took one picture that day I wish it would have been of the fireworks lighting up the faces of my loved ones. But no. I learned a lesson that year.

Back to concerts -- knock it the fuck off people, or I will stop trying to improve your cell phone battery life with my day job. Enjoy the show with your senses, not with your electronics. Let the professionals do that. Just be there. Just experience it. Take one picture and then cool it. My blood pressure begs you. In return I will try to refrain from accidentally putting my elbow in your kidney.

First crushes, Eddie Vedder edition

Reading my junior high diary reminded me of some of the boys and men I had crushes on back in the nineties. Mostly boys. And then there was a man - Eddie Vedder.

Today this crush endures. Behold my dream man as he is today, 12-12-12, during the Sandy relief benefit:

singing Comfortably Numb with Pink Floyd, like any superpower might do

I wonder if Eddie's virtual presence in my life is what cemented my thing for men with long hair. While we're on that train, soulful eyes and killer cheekbones don't hurt either. I sometimes think about Eddie's wife and kids and wonder what they know... what's this man like? I have a friend who met him at a wedding and he reported that Eddie was "like a small, old, poet". That sounds about right. My crush is not on Eddie Vedder - how could it be? It's on a man with a microphone. A man with a baritone that makes my knees weak. A small, old, poet.

If I ever have the luck of meeting him in person I hope I can remember to say just one thing to him -- Thank you. Thanks for enriching my life. To offer something in return I'll probably ask him if he has any questions about the periodic table.

Secret words

Cleaning out my childhood bedroom over Thanksgiving I came across my junior high diary. We're talking 7th grade. We're talking 2 decades ago. Although I was on the edge of being embarrassed while I read it, I ended up enjoying quite a few laughs. I wrote a lot about report cards, sports practices, my spoiled little sister, and where all of my friends and crushes fell on my scale of brain power. I was seemingly obsessed with brain power.

Here are a few choice quotes:

 - If I ever have a husband and he reads this I would like him to know that I have no boyfriend and I never plan to!

 - School is so boring! I spent the entire day daydreaming. I must have the next twenty years of my life planned.

 - I got a perm today (spiral).

 - It was ninety degrees today. I hope it gets cooler. The hole in the ozone is making the seasons warmer.

 - I'm really scared about 3 things. They are life, death, and puberty.

 - Thank goodness I'm smart or I might have no future whatsoever.

 And the most epic of all:

 - I didn't know it but I got my first period. It was gross. I am so disappointed. God didn't listen. I wasn't supposed to get it until I said the secret word!

Ahh, memories.

Colors of my garden

The colors in the garden were a sight to be seen this year.

Girl's room

A while back, madly inspired by colors in a picture, I took a stab at roughly designing a boy's bedroom. Well now I can present to you the rough designs for a little girl's room, inspired by a piece of art on Etsy:

Happy Dreams

I love the bright colors. I love the dreamy, whimsical sway. But what wall color does it go on? I'm thinking greenish blues or maybe a peach:

Left color from PowerPoint palette. Rest from Benjamin Moore.

Ahhh, now we're talking.

Now for some prints to hang on a different wall:

Prints from single Etsy shop: red-orange, peacock, leaf, pink-red, peach

But I know what you might be thinking. My daughter loves pink pink pink pink and nothing but pink. She'd never go for this!  Not so, my friend. Behold the special pink area, just for her:

She might grow out of pink but this is her long-term room. Give her these friendly prints and loads of good pink bedding!