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. 

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!

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!