The Doiliest of Lamp Shades

I guess I really like doilies.  Two thirds of what I found at the flea market this weekend resemble a doily.
One is a milk glass candy dish which has scalloped edges that make you think, "Why yes I'll have a butterscotch, thanks grandma."  The other...OH-HO the other...such a find.

As we wandered through the labyrinth that is the Rose Bowl Flea Market in 90 degree heat, we stumbled upon a cute little stall with what I would call shabby chic accessories and furniture.  I started looking through a pile of lamp shades to adorn the vintage lamp my uncle got me years ago.  The woman started telling me that she takes vintage pillowcases and turns them into great unique lampshades.  I found this one that I absolutely loved, I took it home, and put it up immediately. 
See:

Isn't it just adorable?

You can imagine my surprise when I removed the plastic wrapped around it to find that it actually looks like this:

 

I just happened to be lying in bed admiring the lampshade when one scalloped edge fell down.  I started overreacting immediately.  "What!?! I paid $40 bucks and it's falling apart already?"  The hubby walked over to the lamp and said, "Hey, I think it's supposed to do that."  He pulled down all the scalloped edges and I felt silly right away.  Not only had I been wrong, but I had bought this thing not knowing what it was really meant to look like.  Good thing I like it even more now.  As they say, 'all's well that ends well.'

Clocks Can Be Cute Too

What!?!  A clock that looks like a doily!?!
Sign me up!
As a fan and frequent browser of Etsy, I found the perfect clock for the craft room. 



 
Decoylab has a great shop full of handcrafted items, most of them made from bamboo.  Not only are there delicate doilyesque clocks like this one, there are cute little animal ones too.  You could get a hedgehog clock if you really wanted to.  I'd seen a few of these around the boutiques on 3rd street, but hadn't come across this one until I browsed Etsy.  You can bet I pressed the heart button and added this shop to my favorites. 

It's a little pricey for a 7" clock, but I think worth it since it IS handcrafted and unique.  But don't worry, the hedgehog is a bit cheaper. 

Nightstands

After two years of harassing my husband to paint the rooms, they are finally done.  I now have no excuse to leave the rooms in disarray.  He reminds me from time to time that it is now my turn to do my thing.  He in no way nags the way I had for the past few months, but I now feel eager to furnish the rooms in unique and fun pieces. 

First room at hand is our bedroom.  It is now a rich purple gray and just screams for romantic touches.  I frequented TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Ikea, but seemed to be attracted to the accessories and details of the room rather than the main pieces of furniture to set the stage for this romantic boudoir.  After months of searching  I found myself in the following predicament: I had scoured the furthest reaches of the internets and malls and came up with an empty cart.  PBteen had some cute ideas, but everything was a little too mass produced and expensive.  My next option was to thrift it. 

Yesterday my brother (the artistic eye) and I roamed around Pasadena antique shops and used stores to see if any treasures could be found.  Turns out the Huntington Collection in Pasadena, which hosts estate donations is quite a gold mine.  There are some great steals for pieces in really great condition.  Here's our find...Behold the nightstands:

  

The pair only set me back $60.  Quite a bargain for a set of Italian made wooden pieces.  With my romantic room in mind, the curve of the legs and top edges fit in perfectly.  Even reminiscent of this PBTeen find:

Only my find has a bit more character.

Now the hard part awaits...making this beautiful piece of furniture what I envision for the room.  Already bought in preparation for this feat: sandpaper, tack cloth, black spray paint, and sealing spray.  Though, I'm not quite ready to tackle this yet.
Once I am, you'll be first to know. 

It Smells Like...

Freedom.

One week away...I can smell it.
I can see it too.  When I squint really hard, I can see ...






DIY pillow projects.
And...

Bedroom decorating...

I see lots of fun projects, late wake up times, lunches on the balcony, books, home decorating finally getting done, time with family, outings with friends.  I see...
SUMMER!!!

A Spring Break That Will Live in Infamy

Ah...Spring Break.  A time to to take a short respite from the hustle and bustle of the school year.  A one week opportunity to get away from the mundane.  A last chance to vacation before the summer arrives.  But for one not so lucky teacher, it has become a week to recover from the extremely potent germs bestowed upon her by her oh so sweet students.  Like a gift really, a streptococcal wrapped gift.  One that once opened, will grace you with the most painful of swallows, fever, and headaches.  If you like that, then perhaps your students will hide in that gift a little extra surprise.  Maybe a little pink eye will catch your fancy?  Well, my students were just that generous.  You can imagine how this present unraveled on our trip to wine country.  I'll spare you the gooey details.

And now, spring break is half way over! Just thinking about it makes me ill.  It has got me chanting, "I can't wait for  summer."  I had all these great craft projects lined up, work projects to do, and redecorating to accomplish.  All I can say to console myself now is..."I'm going to do all of this...when it's summer."

With that, I cross my fingers and hope that the next few months are phlegm free.

Tah Dah!

Remember this project?

Well, it's finally done.  After a few trips to Compatto Yarn Salon in Santa Monica, lots of one-on-one tutoring, and hours on the couch stitching, I present to you the beanie of all beanies!

 

Don't look too closely, or you will see how I had to stitch the cable on the edge rather than pick up stitches to knit it.  (Lesson learned: Do NOT, I repeat, NOT cut the tail end of your knitting as it will not maintain its strength.)  Contrary to my fears, the hat actually does not unravel when I put it on.  Quite an accomplishment really.

So it only took...March, April, May, June, July...5 months to complete, and now it's the middle of summer and pretty much unnecessary.  But come December, you'll see me rockin' this bad beanie round town.  And, yes...it's supposed to look like that.

Interesting Wall Ideas

Now that our walls are the perfect shade of cloud.  I need to find some way to adorn them.  The main hurdle is finding something to make the large dining room wall seem less overwhelming.

 
I contemplated a large self made oil painting, or a credenza with large framed posters layered on it leaning against the wall, I even thought about a huge watercolor to decorate it.  I also ran through putting up shelving and layering photos against the wall that way.  But I feel that our home would be full of too many versions of the layered/salon style framed wall.  So, last night the husband helped me find some ideas.

The first is probably my favorite.  I think we may be sold on this idea.  It's even in our colors!


The second is also tempting.  I was thinking I could showcase the same fabric patterns that would be featured in my quilt throw in the living room.  That way both rooms could be tied together.  I think this is probably the more affordable of the two options.

As you can see, we are trying to throw tradition out the window with our decor...at least in the dining room. :)

Cloud

This weekend we are having a painting party.  I use this word "party" loosely.  The party will consist of any willing family and friends volunteering to be enslaved in the act of painting our living area walls this misty shade of gray.  After this party is over I'm pretty sure our living room decor will be complete! And all we'll need for the dining room will be a credenza and some sort of wall decor to adorn the enormously empty wall.  Suggestions?

Just My Style

Check out this cozy/romantic/chic decor:

It uses practically all my favorite home colors: robin's egg blue, mustard yellow, white, blush...
If you click on the link, you can see all the other equally as fabulous rooms.
As you can see, with all this apartment envy, I can't wait to transform our bedroom.

Taken Over

I think this spider has taken over our balcony:



After twisting its web up in a leaf, sucking it up in a vacuum, and avoiding the balcony altogether, I forfeit.  This spider is relentless.  It works each morning to weave its intricate web.  It's quite pretty too, sometimes the patterns almost look like messages.  Too bad the creature that constructs it gives me the willies.

I read that spiders live as long as two years, so I guess it'll be about that long until we can enjoy our balcony again...wait a second, what if it has babies!?! great.

My only hope is that a vicious bird comes by and snatches it up for lunch.  C'mon birdies, it's nice and juicy!

Ode to the World Cup

This is about as sporty as I get. I heard Mexico had a crazy win today, so in honor of the motherland, and for all of you 10 Things I Hate About You fans, Rudo y Cursi fans, World Cup fans, and Gael fans...



I don't know if it's the voice, the outfit, or the rockin' scenery, but that is one HOT video.

Granny Home!?!

My brother just said that if I continue down this route of extreme crafts, my home very well might turn out looking like a Grandma's home.  Hmmm....didn't think this through.  But, if it must be so, I suppose it is my destiny.

The Craftsy Home

A home with personal handmade touches makes for cozy.  That's why I've decided to put my touch on things around our home.  After hemming our interim dining room curtains today, reading an email about making cool wedding crafts, and receiving a text message from a friend wanting a "craft day," I caught the bug. 

The bug nudged me to walk to Borders and find the Crafts section.  I perused a few sewing books and stumbled upon a book that would give me lots of fun little projects to take on, with little fabric to buy.  Yes my friends, there is indeed a book entitled: One-Yard Wonders.  For all of you who have random yards of fabric lying around, there are tons of ideas on how to use it all up. 


My first project is going to be travel place mats for future summer picnics.  (Will post when completed)

As for those curtains I hemmed today, I'm still in search of the perfect cream fabric with a large bold yellow pattern.  Until then, these will have to do.  (Check out my babies: They're flowering!)

Il Bel Far Niente or The Beauty of Doing Nothing

Yes, that's my lot these days.  I have the tough job of making a day add up to all the things I want to take from it, which is much easier than it sounds. 

On the days when I don't have to meet my gym buddy at an "early" class, my body gets the day started by sleeping in.  After my eyes refuse to be closed for a minute more, I feel a twinge of guilt for having wasted a beautiful morning.  This guilt usually compels me to go out for a late morning "run." By run, I mean jog lightly for a block, and then continue the rest of the way at a light stroll checking out the neighborhood gardens.  Right now I'm in love with this English Garden front yard a few blocks down.

After I've successfully worked out, I'll look around the house for something to clean.  Nothing too dirty of course, I don't want to waste precious time in rubber gloves.  No, I like to do something like unload the dishwasher, or one load of laundry, or on a really ambitious afternoon I'll even dust a bookshelf or two.  Like today, I transplanted a geranium into a new pot, tried to sand a leg on a wooden chair, then decided I need to enjoy a warm shower.

By the time I was done getting myself clean it was already 1:30!  Whoa, time flies.  At this point I started to get hungry, so a trip to the market was in order.  Oh, the market when  you're not in a rush can be a pretty magnificent place.  I filled my cart with cheeses, bread, vegetables, fruit, wine...all the essentials. 

The freedom of eating anything you desire all at once is pretty refreshing.  No one's there telling you, "That's not a meal!" or "Where's the meat?" or "You should really eat better."  Nope, just me, telling my tummy, "Let's try bread with vinegar and blue cheese, maybe some arugula, ooooh and those sweet farmer's market strawberries."

Good thing I listened to myself, it was a tasty meal!

Now, as I sit on my balcony (a.k.a. new favorite spot) I realize my day is but 5 hours old, and I wonder how I'll fill the remaining 10.  But I'm not too worried, I'm sure I'll find something great to do.

This art of doing nothing really is grand!

Curtain Envy

No.  This is not my living room.  But, I wish it was.
If I had free reign to make our home as girly as I wanted, I'd definitely pick pink curtains like these.  Alas, I live with a man that begs me not to make our living area frilly and full of floral prints.  That doesn't mean I'm stuck with geometric shapes and navy blue.  Oh no, wait till you see our beautiful living room.  I managed to incorporate just enough floral, some yellow, white, and gray.  It's pretty great.  As soon as our curtains are done, it's coming up.

Sewing Machine Cover

My first craftsy project of the year is complete. 
A pattern out of a paper bag, a hand wound bobbin, and 3 or 4 hours later: tah-dah!


Check it out:

It even has a few pockets to carry scissors and thread in case I want to carry the granny party to a friend's house.

Of course there's also an opening at the top for ease of portability.

Gosh, it feels good to create a pattern and see it through. I've decided that as a teacher there are so many unknowns, so many challenges that are out of your control and sometimes insurmountable, that it is comforting to create your own challenge and succeed.  So, here's my first challenge.  Tangible success!

Hobby #1

I've decided that life is much more enjoyable when you're creating things.  So, I've picked up a few new hobbies.  First on the list: become a master knitter.  Some might say this was a hobby for a grandma, but I think the grannies got it figured out.  They really know how to enjoy life.  I mean, I practically have the same energy level as a 70 year old so this should be a perfect match.  Any hobby a granny can do, I can surely do.  Right?

Well...sort of.  I'm starting to get the hang of it.  Here's the project at hand:

Only... imagine it in a mustard yellow, and slightly lopsided (I presume it will be lopsided when I'm done).  Let's see how long it takes to finish it.

Start Date: March 2010.  Date of Completion: TBA.

Stay tuned for a picture of my version...I'm sure it'll be ready by Christmas. :)

Temecula

If you don't want to travel quite as far as Napa, and don't mind feeling like you're driving through the bowels of Southern California, aka the I.E. (Sorry friends from the IE), I recommend giving Temecula a shot.  When you mapquest Temecula, it will lead you to a cheesy mainstreet with all the trimmings a standard mountain town entails.  You know, saloon doors, antique shops, brick buildings, the works.  I suggest you drive past all of this hoopla into the hills which house the wineries.  There are a few Inns that you can stop at which offer guests free tastings and meals.  We happened upon one called The Inn at Churon Winery.

It was somewhat cheesy, but very quaint. We joked that it was as if we were in the hills of Tuscany...kind of. We checked in around 4pm on a Friday, and got $50 off our stay (the hostess was very nice).  After freshening up, we headed to the 5pm tasting and appetizer hour.  Once our palates were ready for dinner we decided to venture back to the main street area.
One delicious find: PUBlic.  Oh goodness, if you are a fan of seasonal and local fare, this is the place! I had the most delicious pork chop with apple, cinnamon, cranberry compote.  mmm...my mouth is still watering.  We walked around a bit and then headed back to the Inn, and our cozy, fireside bed.

For under $300, this luxurious getaway was a steal!  Too bad it was our last hurrah before 4 months of losing my husband to the County Hospital.  Bye bye honey, till then we'll have Temecula!

I Do

 

I have been searching for a free way to edit my photos.  I have found it! Thanks to other great blogs I now have a tool to distract me for hours and hours.  I love it! I do.

The Daily Torture I Like to Call the 101

Sure it looks pretty at night.  But at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, it's a whole other beast. 

I remember when I first had to switch my route to work from the 10 to the 101.  I was initially inspired by the beautiful rolling hills of Hollywood at sunrise, all those historic buildings off the freeway.  Yes, I was drawn in by her looks, then crushed by her fury.  When one stalled car after another extends your commute by 20 min.  that love doesn't last.  For this my friends is what I usually see:

Needless to say, I have fallen in love with my ipod.  I realize after months of listening to the radio, it's junk and sometimes fuels the anger that is already bubbling.  So, when something like Passion Pit comes on with their upbeat songs, I can't help but bob my head and tap my fingers.  When your body reacts like that, there's just no way road rage will take over.  And believe me, I work hard at controlling that demon.  That's why I need  some suggestions for some good bouncy music to counter the non-movement happening on the freeway.  Something along the lines of Phoenix, Matt and Kim, Postal Service, Death Cab...would be nice.  Can you help a sister out?