31 August 2009

Putting My Feet Up...

...is exactly what I did the entire weekend. And, I think it just may have helped move this flu on its merry way. I hope it goes on to flu vacation land and not to someone else...

Which means I really don't have a lot of pictures to share. Hello Flu. Good bye Weekend. In between bouts of dizziness, going through almost an entire box of Puffs Plus...and supporting the Florida Orange Farmers and their families...I don't have a lot to report. I made it through 2 seasons of Will and Grace...and then onto Bridget Jones...

All very helpful.

I also happened to nap a lot. I should be the most well rested person on the planet after this weekend...and I'm going to ease back in to going to the gym.

Which is code for: I'm going to see Funny People tonight instead of yoga...It's like stretching for my laughing muscles.

I have to thank everyone who brought over medication, juice, crackers...and got on the phone and said in threatening, yet non-threatening ways, "You're going to rest aren't you?!?!"

Apparently I have a hard time putting my feet up...it's easier to put them down and dance. Or run around like a maniac...but, this thing kicked tush, andI knew I had turned a corner with this flu when yesterday I started the morning making coffee, something I had not done since Thursday...and ended the day making a lovely dish of veggie enchiladas with green sauce...something I enjoyed for dinner and that I can take for lunch all week.

You see, previous to yesterday, standing for long periods of time made me sicker and exhausteder...

That is the technical term for it.

Also dizzier.
(in case you hadn't gotten that up there...)

Whatever this was, really took a lot out of me...which is another reason there are no pictures to accompany this post. I'm not so sure you would have liked to see the sicker, stuffed-up, drooling version of me...

I mean, not after all the tiara goodness and whatnot.

I do have a reputation to uphold after all...

27 August 2009

If The Shoe Hits...Throw It...


Yes, there I am...standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona

This is from a picture taken a while ago during my last trip down Route 66...if it was me today?

I'd be propped up on a corner in Winslow Arizona, hanging around the neck of that statue.

Or better yet...

Laying around moaning on a corner in Winslow Arizona.

I think we can admit that the second sentence is much more lyrical, but still isn't as poetic as the original music score.

And probably? The girl my lord in a flat bed Ford would certainly be slowing down to take a look at me, and then hopefully be panicked enough to load me onto the back of her truck and take me to the nearest couch...where she would serve me lots of very pulpy Orange Juice, chicken soup, and let me watch all of the seasons of Will and Grace.

She's nice, that girl.

I'm thinking she would also probably squeeze me some fresh Orange Juice as well...

We apparently have an understanding, and besides...women are usually very nurturing.

I seem to have caught a summer cold. My mother reminds me every once in a while that ever since a very young age, both my sister and I usually get colds when it's still warm outside during the day and cold at night.

(per example: we happen to have extreme heat advisories for the next few days...being in the mid nineties during the day and the high fifties at night...nothing unusual there really, just pure desert living at its best)

So yesterday I laughed when I started sneezing. It was one of those HA! scoffing laughs...crazy allergies! Until about the middle of the day when I realized they weren't.

They were a cold.

Or the Swine Flu.

Because of course, someone had to point out that I may have the Swine Flue. Who says that? Here's a hint: Someone who wants to get hit with a shoe. I'm warning you, in case you run into someone this season is sick? Don't say that. Because if they are quick on their feet and the dizziness from the fever they insist that they do not have is not too intense, they may just be coordinated enough to take their shoe off and smack you with it.

Apparently this cold has taken away my sense of humor.

Unless you think it's funny to get smacked with a shoe...then I'm your gal.

Only, I'll let you in on a little secret: The fever that I insist that I don't have happens to be making me dizzy (by the way, just because you insist that you don't have a fever, doesn't make it so...she discovers yet again. I mean, even wearing my tiara while lounging on the couch isn't helping...it's that bad) so both my rapid shoe removal reflexes and swinging arm will probably be effected...and I don't have the energy to chase you down the street.

Not today.

Yesterday either.

Hopefully tomorrow.

26 August 2009

Look out y'all...


I finally got my tiara.

I don't know what it is about tiaras...

But, I don't know whether to start talking with a Southern Drawl or grab my scepter and start knighting people.

Who wants to be first?

I've always wanted a tiara, my very whole life...and honestly, I can't believe I was born without one, but then again, someone could have been that jealous and just plucked it right off my head in the hospital. I was born in the seventies you know...they took you right away from your mother after you were born.

Probably so they could snag any random tiaras....
Just sayin', y'all.

I elbowed gently stood next to DaNece and stepped on her jumped around like a maniac pointed happily into a case, grabbed the keys off the counter...what? It's my mother's store, I can totally do that patiently waiting for the key to unlock it this weekend at my mother's shop, Keystone Antiques, when she happen to point this vintage 1950's rhinestone beauty out.

I'm not sure she was prepared for that reaction.

But really, I have always wanted a tiara and have looked jealously over other people's shoulders at theirs...and anyone who knows me or has been over to my house and taken a quick glance has probably noticed that I am seriously lacking in the tiara realm.

(And yes, I have quite a few friends with tiaras thankyouverymuch, so I have been known to use my inside jealousy voice...also sometimes known as the mutter under your breath voice...For instance? Rozzilyn has THREE and acquired all of them before the age of 10!)

While I was buying it, I jokingly said that I may never take it off again...I can honestly think of a hundred things I can do while wearing it. Including but not limited to: Housework, bubble bath, party hostess, birthday girl, negotiating with salespeople, hiking, being "seen" at The Raven Cafe rooftop bar, movie watching, debating, gardening, grocery shopping...

Really. If you ask me, the possibilities are endless. It was a sound investment in my future.

In fact, I almost walked out of the house with it on my head this morning...on accident.

Mostly.

But, I didn't want to make anyone else who didn't have one, but has always wanted one to feel bad.

Cause' that's how queens roll.

25 August 2009

My New Portable Lap-Top...

I spied this little sweetie at the thrift not too long ago.

It also happened to be 15% off...so into my arms it went...it was a deal at the original price, but the percentage off made it that much more tempting.


I talked myself into buying it in the hopes of using it for a photo shoot.

I really didn't have to do that much talking though...

The roundness of the keys, the sounds it makes when I type...the fact that it has both working ribbon and the original case to it...with its little leather handle?

Well...

Home to Foolsewoode it came.


How is it that vintage typewriters, something made for so utilitarian a reason, are so beautiful and sleek to me? Or is it the fact that they're so novel now...Because I certainly find myself thinking that most things vintage are beautiful.

I'm telling you, I wanted to don a hat, slip a cigarette behind my ear, put a press pass on, and start running around town getting the scoop.

Or just sit serenely on the front porch, dappled with early morning sunlight...and sip coffee from my vintage Mt. Rushmore transfer-ware mug...and write the great American novel.

Or perhaps compose correspondence to far away friends and family on my Crane Foolsewoode letterhead stationary...listening to the gentle tap tapping of the keys as they strike the empty page.


Praying that my fingers don't get stuck between the large gaping areas between the keys...

Um, ouch.
OK, I get the need for keyboards without holes. It's probably for efficiency, but I would like to believe it's to save your manicure...nails and or the skin on your fingers.

Besides, with one push of a button, I changed my font for this post to Courier, which is a more classic typewriter font (clever eh?) But it's somehow not the same.

I think my little Royal typewriter will be living in the library for a while...

Unless I'm using it to write my blog...

24 August 2009

Chasing Summer...


At the Farmers Market this weekend...
Where I was early enough to dip my hands in the fabulous selection of multicolored tomatoes and bell peppers. I also scored a bag of roasted sugar peppers which will be decorating burritos this week...now I'm just eagerly awaiting the okra to ripen and find its way out there.


An early breakfast and photo shoot that DaNece was doing...

The shoot was for some good friends of hers complete with a very adorable baby girl.
I was reminded how fast little ones are and how easily bored they get...which means it's important to set up and keep on shooting. You're bound to get a good shot in there somewhere...and a whole lot of jumping up and down making silly faces and sounds behind the photographer desperately trying to distract.

I also meandered down to The Square before meeting Kim at The Raven Cafe for a little rooftop magic at their new bar...and treated myself to a square-full of music in honor of a fundraiser for the local Prescott High School band being invited to play for The Queen of England next year...so the square was packed with local musicians donating their talents.

Enjoying the different light as the season turns towards fall...

21 August 2009

Big Head...


(sorry for the blurry picture...this was the Canon Elph...which doesn't take good close-ups...which, in this case, may be a good thing, but still makes me wonder why I didn't use the 10D? Oh...and also? You should see my drivers license picture.)

Passport.

After two years of trying...my passport renewal application is finally in the mail. I know two years is a dramatic amount of time to spend renewing one's passport, and I'm sure you're wondering if it was because of banditos or some other sort of horrible ambush laying in wait every time I started out to complete this process, but it is more devious than that.

1. I kept putting it off and then I realized all of a sudden that and entire a year year had gone by since my current passport had expired.
2. I did actually send it in, and then realized that my paperwork was old (cause it had been sitting around filled out for a year) and I was $10 short on the application fee, and they had to send it back.
3. The picture was really awful for that particular round of passportage, so I decided that I would retake the picture.

I'm not sure if this picture is any better. At least it's more current...seeing as I was much younger two years ago and whatnot.

I headed to Walgreens this week because they do indeed take and process passport photos for $8...which is a screaming deal. I made myself all up, wore something flattering and walked in. I had to search around for the photo guy, and when I found him he seemed a tad bit nervous and shifty...he quickly ran all around, grabbed a white back drop, and pulled it out of the ceiling, and then went in search of his camera. He then informed me that I had to take my glasses off...OK, although, that sometimes makes me squint when I'm going for a photo because I can't see...and then proceeded to say:

"Another thing they're real sticklers for is a neutral expression."

I must have had a puzzled expression because he followed this up with,

"Don't smile"

fine.

I suppose the next thing he was going to say is that I didn't need to wear my Lucky Brand embroidered tank top and just that little extra bit of make up?

I think I may have heard some tittering from all the people that were now gathered to see the mostly expressionless and only slightly confused girl in front of the pure white screen Mr. Shifty the Camera Guy pulled out of the ceiling.

I still don't think that I got that confused look quite off my face...but at least that will come in handy when I hand my passport over to be stamped in a country where I don't know the language...or like the first time I went to Italy and the man in the passport stamping booth kept asking me a question, and I was searching through the Italian Language files of my brain desperately trying to translate after a 12 hour traveling debacle and watching this man get more and more angry, when my then husband finally leaned over and said, "He's asking if you're here for a vacation...and he's speaking in English."

fine.

He was always a language person.

When I quickly glanced at the picture Mr. Shifty the Camera Guy took on the computer screen, I thought it looked OK (although, truth be told, I don't often like pictures of myself) or at least better than my last photo...although, seeing as everything is digital now, I don't know why everyone doesn't just take a couple of pictures and let you choose...but it wasn't until I went to pick the pictures up that I thought, "hmmmm...."

I kind of look like The Dog...you know? That dog with the really big nose and head and tiny little body?

Yeah.
That's the one.

I have no idea why this is.
I am just waiting to walk into Walgreens and see my photo on a greeting card with the message inside:

"I know what you did this summer"

I am currently tossing around theories that it was because I couldn't try to make myself look nice by smiling and it threw me of my expression game...there were a lot of people milling around snickering and staring at me by this time...and honestly, after I took my glasses off, couldn't see him or the camera, so I think I was possibly leaning forward slightly (also, people talking behind their hands about me? Makes me want to bolt...perhaps I was just trying to get a good foothold.) Looking at the picture, I think given the angle of my shoulders, one being slightly below the other, this may be the best reason why I look like I have an enormous head and a tiny body and hardly any neck...either that or I need to see my chiropractor.

Or a neurologist.
Or start working on neck elongation during yoga.

Then again, I think my picture is an accurate representation of exactly what I look like after a shoddy sleep on a 8+ hour flight...and then after I miss various connecting flights and get into what ever country it is that I'm traveling to hours after I was supposed to arrive which usually coincides with the dead of night.

Now I just need to learn how to say, "I know what you did last summer" in different languages.

19 August 2009

Mostly Wordless Wednesday...



The Little Painted Desert.

Not to be confused with the Big Painted Desert. Or upon further reflection, maybe that's just called The Painted Desert? It looks just like how I remember seeing the Painted Desert in my youth...only it's smaller. Which could be the reason someone prefaced the words "Painted Desert" with the word "little"

There are just no coincidences.

Or creativity when it comes to naming things apparently.

I'm thinking perhaps this is the start of the famed desert...I mean, even The Grand Canyon has a start...

All natural monuments start somewhere
(feel free to quote me on that)

Whatever the case may be...it was hot and windy and sandy...and it was the kind of windy that blew the hot sand into your eyes. Which makes me grateful that I wear glasses...because of the extra eye protection. The pieces of sand were no smaller than at the Big Painted Desert...and it was already kind of reminding me of my last dental visit when they kindly sandblasted my teeth for me.

18 August 2009

The Meaning of Friendship...


From Left: Me, Angela, Kim, Heidi, Amy

Last night, I was lucky enough to get together with a lot of my favorite gals I went to high school with.

Oh...didn't you know that?
That we all still stay in touch?
That we still like each other enough to get together...IM on facebook, read each others blogs, email, and send pictures.

Well, we do.

And the older I get the more I can look at each and every one of these amazing women (and the one's who could not make it last night) and realize how lucky I am to have them in my life. We were gathering because Heidi is in town...and we're saying good-bye to Amy as she's off to Hungary this week to start a new adventure...

From Left: The same as above...only a totally different view...you gotta really get us from each side to appreciate everything we have to offer.

Each one has been there through every major transition I've ever had since High School...each one offers their own gifts and support...and each one has my back.

Still.

No matter how far away we are or how often we get together.

With the exception of Amy...I met all the other gals when I started attending the High School...Amy and I began to be Pal's in Junior High. I can remember when starting the High School that combined both of the Junior High's in town, that I was worried that I wouldn't have any friends...and then Kim and I started talking one day...and that was that. This group of girls, most of whom had been attending school together for many years before just absorbed me and became the best friends I could ever ask for. I found myself thrust in the middle of some very funny, intelligent, and beautiful women indeed.



Me after plopping down in the broken chair...which almost resulted in me catapulting backwards off the porch...

We had adventures galore, resulting in a million and one stories...stories of the groups of us together, and memories of the times we spent in the solitary company of each other. Of course, there were disagreements between us, which is just bound to happen between women in a large group...but as time goes on, it seems as if that has faded into the past too...

Along with our youth...

hahaha...just kidding ladies! Actually, someone posted a comment on facebook that we all look the same and it looks as if we're at school waiting at the bus stop...

When you have a group of people like this in your life, I think it keeps you perpetually young.

As I look at these pictures...the happy smiling faces of each and every one of us, my eyes fill with tears. I know how insanely lucky I am to retain each and every friendship...and those of the people that couldn't be with us. No matter how our lives have twined in and out of one another's we know who each other are and who we have been in only the way that someone you've known longer than you haven't can...we know each others stories. I know stories of love, happiness, and heart ache...I know the obstacles that we've each faced and moved through, some better than others...and as I downloaded the pictures from last night, my heart caught in my throat when I noticed Angela's arm thrown casually around my shoulders, her hand holding onto my arm...

It's because of these women, that I also know a fierce love and a sense of belonging.

Thank you ladies...for everything.

17 August 2009

Have You Slept in a Wigwam Lately...


This is the slogan that is proudly displayed on the neon sign that hangs above The Wigwam Motel in Holbrook Arizona...a wonderful remnant of the quickly fading Route 66. I can vaguely remember driving past this motel when my father took my sister and I for a Tour De' Indian Ruins/driving all over tarnation/camping vacation when I was a teenager...

I can also remember perking up...which is saying something if we can all remember our hormone induced teen years...uncrossing my legs for a moment and taking a break from, "are we there yet?" instead pointing out the window and saying emphatically, "I want to stay there!!" I think I remember my father rolling his eyes, which probably caused me to slouch down in my seat, recross my arms and sigh loudly...and mutter about the unfairness of the world.


In the name of all things kitsch and fabulous and fun on Route 66...I am going to go right out on a limb, and say, "I want to stay there!"

Still.

I still want to say there.
I still want to sleep in a Wigwam...

And it is with pure physical force (I would like to think it was will power, but I know myself better that that) that I drug myself away again without staying a night.

Well that, and someone had to show up to open Snap Snap today.

So, it was with deep regret I tore myself away yet again from the giant tee-pees...with their fiberglass (I would assume) construction...the sweet details in the flaps of the tee-pees being permanently held open with entry doors in the middle, so that you unlock the door to your own sweet Wigwam paradise...down to the diamond shaped windows on each side.

What does a wigwam need with a diamond shaped window?

Well...it's to put your air conditioner in of course!

As it was, at least I was allowed the luxury to pull over and grab some snap shots and walk around...Although, The Wigwam wasn't open yet for business and I didn't get to tour a room or chat up the owners (this is still a family owned motet...) I did thoroughly enjoy winding among the vintage cars that sit out between the Wigwams...

I've read that they are various cars owned by the family that runs the Motel over the years...and are a fantastic collection that just adds to the feel of the place.


I have to admit that it's more fun being an adult and I've learned to trade "I'm making great time" with being poky and stopping when I want.

Although, I did not get to stop at the Jack Rabbit Flats trading post to ride the giant plastic Jack Rabbit...but you can bet I'll be going up again with my cowboy boots in hand to ride on that baby!

Because honestly, I don't know if I can live in a world that has a giant plastic Jack Rabbit with a saddle on it...and wrap my mind around the fact that I do not have a picture of myself of it...

I mean, honestly...

What's the point?

Not stopping at the Jack Rabbit kind of reminds me of that trip long ago that we took with my father and not stopping at The Thing...Pure Route 66 curios and roadside attractions advertised on billboards kept us from being bored, and I honestly remember being very sad that we didn't get to see what The Thing was.

My father said he didn't want to pay the admission fee.

I just read the admission fee is $1.

And don't click on that link up there and go all the way down the page...because it shows what The Thing is.

Of course, now I know.

And I saved myself $1.

But that is not the point.

...By the time I travelled Route 66 through Arizona, The Mother Road had actually been replaced by the superhigway that still snakes through our state...thus killing off the Burma Shave signs and many fantastic small towns and businesses..all in the name of "I'm making good time!". And *poof* there goes even more colorful fun plastic neon American history..

Looking back, I am delighted that I got to take that trip with my father, and I honestly wonder what his recollections of traveling with a teenager and a her younger sibling was? My father was my first introduction to Route 66 and I know his family took many trips using The Mother Road to visit family when he was a child...you can bet there are a million crazy stories of sometimes crazy and cramped family road trips.

It's a wonder he would ever brave taking us anywhere by car after those...

But, I think deep down inside, travelling by car as a child builds character and draws you together like nothing else...no matter how traumatic you think it is at the time (giggle) I also find it a bit amazing that I am now travelling down those roads once more and revisiting what's left of Route 66 in greater detail than before. I have to tell you though, it is very hard for me to not think or want to step out of the car and into this piece of American History during its hey day (because I have always found myself being nostalgic for time periods I've never even lived in...) but I am enjoying taking in the experience and documenting it before it all disappears for good.

It's kind of like this nostalgic interest was put in place years ago...waiting for me to grow up and remember.

And...

I still want to stay in a Wigwam.

14 August 2009

Sampler...


I was absolutely shocked and thrilled by a couple of happy surprises at the thrift this week in the form of Samplers...

Actually, I was kind of blown away to look down on a small chair and find these little sweeties all folded and waiting for a bit of recognition...and still hold fast to the story that one day someone will find me fainted dead away with something clutched to my chest in the middle of the Thrift. I immediately recognized these textiles, but was also a little suspect. It's not every day that I run across a sampler to buy...as they are a quite old form of handiwork...but as it happened I grew up with several hanging on the walls of my family home, I snatched picked these up happily for myself.

Or my mother...
I can't quite decide who's home these will eventually reside in.


I took them over to my mother's home last night for a bit of authentication...and in her Sampler wisdom she believes they are probably European. European Samplers may not be as rare as American Samplers, but we decided that since one is actually dated 1858, that I shall frame them so they may be displayed properly no matter where they happen to find a home.

I think that something that is approximately 152 years old deserves no less.

Truth be told, I have never been as enamored with primitive things as much as my mother is...but the older and wiser (ahem) I get, and the more I do my own handiwork, I have come to appreciate the kind of amazing quality of work that went into the things that people made before mass marketing. Samplers were just that...a sample of what you could do. Each one is amazing and different in it's own way since they were created by the person who was embroidering them. Most I have seen have alphabets (these one's are each missing the letter J and there are 2 alphabets that are missing W X Y and Z...I have no idea why this is, but there you go) which is the single reason I even recognized what these could be. I remember that my mother also had one that showed examples of ways to patch holes in cloth and I believe there were some buttons sewn on there as well...cut work and several unique stitches...with some samplers being extremely ornate and some being very plain.

Samplers are beautiful and personal artwork made by the women and young women of each era, and since they are so varied and different, you can ususally find something to completely swoon over on each and every one you see...my mother happily ran her hands over these cloths and sighed while saying, "I just love the flowers."


The larger of the two and the one that is dated in beadwork (which my mother has never seen) also has the initials L G on it...and has the most amazing samples of handiwork done in wool thread...which we thought is very close to some sort of crewel work. If you could see up close you would notice that the work is so fine and incredible it could make your head swim. It is only slightly stained and has a lovely finished border which surrounds it.

The smaller of the two had my mother a bit stymied as it seems to have been done on a fabric scrap...which she decided made sense, but it is only finished off on 3 of the sides...it almost reminds me of a tea towel because it's worked on the very bottom half of the fabric. It seems much more basic and primitive when compared to the other one...We both loved the little animal on the bottom which looks to have something hanging from its mouth, but have no idea what it could be seeing as it seems to be missing its ears...and my mother decided since it was done in counted cross stitch that it would have made her crazy to attempt to do it herself.

My mother is an accomplished embroiderer, quilter, spinner, and hand maker herself and has taught me to do such things starting at a very young age (I think my first embroidered piece...which I still have and should be framed and hung with these was done around age 5) We spent many happy nights in my youth hunkered down working on individual pieces...so when my mother thinks something would drive her nuts...she's not whistling Dixie.

Secretly? I never thought I would have a chance to buy a sampler that I could afford, so I put it right out of my head as a must have...I am honored to be the guardian of these to Samplers now and I am starting to think that these might just look pretty darned nice hanging in the studio...

12 August 2009

Mostly Wordless Wednesday...


Don't these look good?

I think they would look better if I wasn't craving Mexican food

all. the. time.

lately...this must mean something...

only what?

11 August 2009

One Potato...Two...


This weekend was Farm Day at the Farmer's Market.

I have no idea what this could possibly mean seeing as far as I'm concerned, every day is Farm Day at the Farmer's Market. Although, there were goats and llamas there this week, and there aren't usually goats and llamas there...I don't think they were for sale though. Seeing as I usually don't spend more than $20 at the market, they probably weren't in my budget.

Actually, I probably shouldn't say that, because I have no idea what an organic locally grown llama or goat would bring nowadays...but I can only assume that it would be more than $20.

Maybe it would be $30. or $32. but even if that is a great deal for a slightly used locally grown organic farm animal...I think we can all argue how important it is to stick to a budget in these economic times.

Unless they were delinquent organic farm animals. And really, even if it is a good deal, that would just be opening up a whole other can of worms.

Also.
There were worms at the market.
They make good compost you know.

Well their castings do...not the actual worms I wouldn't think.
(castings = fancy word for worm poop)

I think we can agree that as easily distracted as I am, it was a good idea that I decided to just stick to the organic produce. Which can bring up any amount of personal angst...cooking for one is always a little harder than cooking for more than one, because of my inability to judge portion size. Luckily I'm usually I'm at the market with various friends, so I can easily talk someone into splitting something with me. Seeing as I can't usually eat a whole share of what is on any given table before it goes all fuzzy and bad and lays in wait to attack me whenever I open the fridge...

Also? My new fridge is tiny.

This week it happened to be potatoes. (and green beans, but I haven't gotten my half share of that right yet, cause they went home with someone else for the time being and we keep forgetting to split up the shares) Yes...there were scads of the most beautifully colored potatoes I've ever seen...red, purple, regular colored...just fantastic! And I couldn't possibly pass them up.

I scored a whole big basket of mini taters...

See?

I placed them next to my rapidly aging hand for a size comparison.



Yes. There are a lot of wrinkles there...and I would like to think that some sort of moisturizer would help, or a trip to Madge's nail parlor to soak in some Palmolive, but there you go.

Um, that would be for the hands, not the taters.

I moisturize my taters with butter as it just so happens.

Organic garlic butter I bought at the market...good for lactose intolerant people and everything. I just can't stop eating in on bread.
But, I'm sure it would be great on the potatoes.

Which are small...

I'm calling them bite-sized taters...and if I wash them all up, they will cook up perfectly without any slicing...that is, if I can find them and they don't actually go down the drain before they go into the pot.

The cat is calling them a waste of money...but what does she know?

She almost got an organic locally grown llama for a brother.

10 August 2009

Sleepover...


Feeling the need for a bit of rest and relaxation? Having a hard couple of days week weeks time lately...I would suggest a girlie slumber party...complete with your favorite snack foods and rich desserts. Things you don't normally let yourself have unless it's a special occasion. Fantastic pink drinks in the form of cosmopolitans. Good entertainment in the form of movies and addictive British TV series...All wrapped up with some great company...wearing your silk PJ's for almost two days straight, lounging around on the couch...and not getting up unless it's to refill your shaken iced tea (a recipe you've created on the fly with a bit of Starbucks inspiration to guide you) or to grab something else to eat...or to let the dog out.

While DaNece and I didn't do the regular sleep over things like paint our nails or braid our hair...we didn't make crafts or sleep in our sleeping bags on a hard floor...we're more sophisticated (in the form of having a private guest bedroom made up just for me, with an actual bed...sleeping on the floor doesn't feel quite as good as it once did...ahem) instead we found ourselves giggling our way through our staycation, stopping movies for some serious food and even more serious conversation...solving the problems of the world...and kind of hiding out for a while. When I left early in the evening on day two to wander towards home, I felt very relaxed and renewed...and ready to start this next week in a very different way

There's nothing
like having a weekend choc full of fun...but every once in a while, I am finding that it's just as important to let a little relaxation in as well. No pressure, no errands, no goals, no cleaning, no jumping in the car to run...just pure putting your feet up and resting. I find myself having a hard time relaxing sometimes...I get a bit caught up in the go go go of regular life and sometimes feel guilty if I sit with my feet up...but I am learning the world spins madly on even if I should decide to sit and be...which comes as a huge relief.

Cheers to a good week ahead.


07 August 2009

Welcome Home...


After the total home make-over, I thought a new welcome mat may be in order. I have a huge soft spot for welcome mats (often making my ex threaten horrible things if I were to bring another one home...) and I often like to change my welcome mats for the seasons.

I'm not actually a Pisces, I'm a fire sign...my chart being a little water void, so maybe this little mat will help balance that out for me? It will, at the very least be a very cheery thing to come home to...

If I can stop staring at the house and look down that is.

I'm off to enjoy a fun weekend:

*A special celebration dinner for Matthew's new career

*Early Saturday yoga and other plans with DaNece

*Cleaning the inside of the house and lots of creative endeavors in the kitchen

*Totally enjoying the fact that upon waking up this morning, I noticed that the shadows are slightly different...leaning towards fall. The temperatures are also moving down for the next couple of days as well...fooling me a little into wanting to plant myself in the middle of a pumpkin patch somewhere.



05 August 2009

Foolsewoode Redux...

Foolsewoode Before:



Foolsewoode After:




A permanent face lift in the form of a fresh new coat of paint (or in the case of the Sun Dried Tomato...several coats of paint...ahem) I have been planning and waiting for about 7 years to paint Foolsewoode, as I've never been overly impressed with the stark white with green trim that this house was painted. First, I needed to do a few other improvements in the form of insulation, roof, rock work to the foundation, plumbing, pergola, and gutters...

My amazing painters (also the team that is working on resotring and eventually painting the oustide of my mother's home) started this project last week with a shorter time frame in mind that the project actually took. Apparently, when painting red...it's so dark that it is streaky enough for the need of 2+ coats on most of the surfaces. Lucky for us, I chose the Sun Dried Tomato for the accents (the screens, inside window trim and doors) but it was still quite time consuming.

The fact that I now have red doors and window sills makes me swoon with happiness.

I am so utterly blown away by the results of the painting (and believe me, at one point Taylor and I were standing looking at the house both trying to reassure each other away from the statement, "boy...it sure is brown!" by telling each other that it would be fine once the trim was painted on. Of course, after having a stark white house with green trim...it would certainly seem that way)

After having planned this project in my head for so long, it was almost a bit surreal that it was actually happening (after all, 4 years ago when I had the pergola put in, I had it matched to what I thought was going to be my eventual window trim color...it was perfect!) and I could barely picture what Foolsewoode would look like with new paint. I think the house finally looks like a house. The color weights it down and makes for some pretty classy lines, making all the details pop a little bit more. We used a color palette chosen from the Historical Arts & Crafts Palette from Sherwin Williams, the body is Craftsman Brown, the window trim is Roycroft Velum and the accents, screens and doors are Sun Dried Tomato (which is not part of their historic palette, but one that I grabbed on an accidental whim) in a semi glossy BEHR paint that looks both very rich and very permanent (and will be helpful in protecting my old craftsman wood)

(They also painted my wicker chair and ottoman and my patio table cream as a total surprise bonus!)

My only real complaint at this point is that the sky was so overcast this morning while I was taking the pictures, I think they could have been much better. There's one shot that I want to take to show you how well the rock and the roof look with the new colors as well...but it will have to wait.

As for now, I am having a hard time leaving the house because all I want to do is stand outside and stare at it...and every time I come home it's like an amazingly happy surprise. I think a party may be in order.

(Meena is also happy that the house is done...no more power washing, closed windows during the hottest week of the year, or people there all day doing things...)

I highly recommend:

Double Action Contracting LLC
Taylor Burk (928) 830-3816
Sean Smith (928) 533-7479

For their professionalism, extremely hard work, great clean up, all the prepping (sanding, washing, repairing, and caulking), their happy attitudes every day they showed up to my house, and their overly reasonable bid to do this job.

I am one happy gal!
(Especially when I open my red red door in the mornings...)

04 August 2009

Teaser...


Today is the day...the very last day for the big project at Foolsewoode.

Things will be complete...cleaned up, cleared away...and back to normal...only, more colorful and classy...

At least in my opinion.

I am truly delighted with the results.

Before and after tomorrow...

03 August 2009

How's Tricks...


I know.

I totally promised before and after pictures didn't I? Well, there hasn't been any after to take pictures of, seeing as we've hit a bit of a snag, and the project had to be put down for the weekend.

The project should be done by today, so there's something.

All I'm at liberty to say is that it is coming along well, and will be an amazing finish...and if I say any more then the giant chicken will carry me away.

(apparently giant chickens really don't like surprises ruined)

I had a lovely weekend however short it appears in retrospect...Saturday DaNece and I met for a late breakfast, which turned into a hair re-do for her (complete with product and color) other girlie types of things and ended with pizza and a movie...It was fantastic!

Sunday I popped down to Seligman with Rich to get a Route 66 fix.

Sunday night
I was lucky enough to be invited over to Kim's for a greasy yummy dinner with her and her two darling girls. I love these girls and have been lucky enough to know them since their births...they are smart, polite, well spoken, and beautiful with just the right amount of silly thrown in (kind of like their mother) We ate, danced...and performed tricks in the living room (things like cartwheels, roundoffs and headstands...and I lamented the fact that I didn't have the camera, because there's nothing cuter than seeing a child who is "this many" as she holds up 4 fingers...do a headstand on a pillow...her crazy cute grin and sparkling eyes...) and I left worn out and happy with a stack of pictures drawn just for me, the promise of more fun nights like this, and a bit of a sore body...

(it was all the tricks)

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