26 February 2010

Word...

Megan's having a girls night tonight at her house.

It will be her first one since having Ms. Edythe...and while I don't normally post gifties here before I gift them...I couldn't resist.

(Megan...if you don't want a spoiler, stop reading now)

I decided that this first girls night needed to be commemorated for our newest girlie with a little baby bling...

Yesterday while thrifting, I picked up a very cute pink onsie with birds and trees and the sweetest pair of jeans I've ever seen.  The jeans are lined with jersey and sport quite a few pockets...

Which is good, because babies usually have a lot of accessories and they totally need pockets.

Seriously.

Also?  There's a pocket for change.  I can't tell you how many times I've been out with a baby and they expect you to pay for things for them.  Well, no more of that!  Edythe will have absolutely no more excuses to stick us with her share of the bill...that little wink and nod that suggests she'll pay us back?

Uh-huh.

...And of course, what every baby needs.  A shirt that says, "S'UP"

Cause' babies are cool like that.

And they don't talk much, so I think this pretty much says it all for her...

Well, that and a flick of the head.

S'UP?

Yeah...

Edythe can totally rock this look.

After nabbing these little goodies, I found the perfect gangsta font (which I think is Olde English...go figure) drew it out and then hand painted it on a piece of jersey I snagged from a t-shirt that is no longer in use around here...jumped into the studio, blew the dust off the sewing machine, ahem...and stitched it right on.  And all in time to still relax, eat Chinese food, and watch The Olympics.

It was a great reminder of how much I love to sew (oh yeah...) and create (double, oh yeah...) and I have a whole lot of ideas up in here (sorry, I'm pretty much all gansta now after this) for some more additions to Edythe's wardrobe...

Now we need a rap name for this lil' gal...so we can address her properly while she's hangin' in her crib.  After visiting a Rap Name Generator I came up with:



P Love
Precious Mix
Magic Edythe Angel a.k.a Lady Velvet
Lady E Brat a.k.a. Tasty Cheeks

and my personal favorite:
Furious Precious Cakes a.k.a. Lethal Tickle

Which is the perfect rap name for a baby...!

(while there I had to also do mine.  Obviously.  The best one it came up with was:  Mad Sadira Trip a.k.a. Tenacious Cash...hmmm)

Word up y'all...

25 February 2010

Corners of my Home...


The view:

Looking down towards my feet lodged in the entry way of Foolsewoode, and the combination of a wonderful vintage and very worn rug that lives there...placing itself over my wood floors, which are also very vintage and worn...and which need to be re-sealed.

I'm thinking this will happen sometime this summer.
(I may not even sand them first)

(shhhhh...)


Again with the toes.

(I really wanted to show off my new plaid wool skirt)

Standing on the 1920's hand tied Chinese silk rug that was picked up at a yard sale.  My mother and I watched it being brought out from the house and saw them unroll it to reveal a small corner of it which a plant had obviously been set on and watered repeatedly, thus causing a hole.  Upon leaving this yard sale my mother turned to me in the car as we drove away and said, "You know?  That rug would match your house perfectly...did either of us ask how much it was?"

Stop.  Back up.  Get out of car.

When presented with the question of price, the lady told us the history of the rug and finished with, "...I wanted $40, but I'll take $25..."

And we hadn't even asked for a discount as we both thought it was a steal at $40.

This rug covers almost my whole living room floor (which is saying something, but then again, rooms were much bigger back in the day) and since it has the hole in it I don't feel bad vacuuming it (which you're usually not ever supposed to do because it ruins the threads and the pile of the rugs and makes them wear out faster...but my house is really meant to be lived in...vacuuming on, walking on, and spilling on as I go about my day to day life)

When I bought the rug and we loaded it into the car we realized this rug weighs possibly as much as a dead body.

It is also about that cooperative when rolled up.

24 February 2010

Someone Has Their Eye On Me...


...Apparently.

Do you ever have that feeling that you're being watched...feeling someone's eyes boring a hole through you, only to turn around and discover that there's no one there?

Well.
You are not alone my friend...

In fact, I'm here to tell you that in my particular case?  It would seem as if I'm being watched.
(see?!  My ear infection hasn't gone to my brain and totally made me paranoid)

The above, which we shall  hereto refer to as evidence A: is a picture that I snapped in Snap Snap today.  Upon walking in, I found a bag of clothes for me to price and when I lifted them off the counter, to my utter shock and amazement this EYE was left behind.

Creepy, no?

I don't know who exactly is trying to send the message that they have their eye on me...but it would appear as if they were vintage in some way, as this particular eye is made of glass...and most things eye-like nowadays are made with plastic.

I am thinking that the glass material of the eye makes for a better tiny camera lens to see through?
And that little metal piece sticking out in back would be the perfect tiny microphone stand for a tiny microphone.

Come to think of it, the whole thing kind of reminds me of that scene in The Fifth Element where the bad guys strapped that camera and microphone on the cockroach so that they could then spy on the good guys?

Which would make me Milla Jovovich...

Obviously.

 
 
I totally loved that movie!
 (screw the reviewers!  I saw it twice at the theater...and I own it)

And Milla Jovovich and in all those fantastic costumes designed by Jean Paul Gautier?!  Are you kidding me...she was just mesmerizing.  I mean, I understand that I do not quite resemble Milla (mostly.  I did accidentally dye my hair that color with henna once in college)  but I'm excited that someone out there might think I'm the fifth element.

(which if I remember correctly was both love and a woman...and I am a pretty romantic and I'm a gal)

Ohhhh...maybe that's why I got in all those sequin bustiers?


Multipass...

23 February 2010

Maybe It's My Haircut...

Here's another picture Rich took yesterday when he was in.  Mostly I don't stand still for pictures...and if I do, I'm doing something goofy.  I'm still, after all these years, not that comfortable in front of a camera...it's like I need some sort of training session on how to put my best face forward...instead of how to put all my chins forward or that crazy smile that wrinkles up my face and makes my eyes into little slits...

It could be the fact that when I was sent the handful of pictures by the photographer the first thing I said is, "WHY do I LOOK like that?"

(feel free to insert eye-roll here)

Yes, I liked the light stars in my eyes from yesterdays photo, but I could stand here and dismiss all of the flaws that I see in that face of mine...which is nuts (and I'm not shooting the photographer, I'm shooting the subject)  Because really?  Really?  The expression in my face in that particular photo was just perfect...equal parts happy and equal parts I've got a secret and we may as well throw in there equal parts I may know something...

I thought THAT'S what sitting in the catbirds seat looks like!  when I was presented with that photo...Which is a darned great thing to capture on someone's face.

One of my favorite photos from yesterdays impromptu photo shoot/using my new flash stand experiments turned out to be this one...where I was looking off into space.  Which surprises me seeing as I have never been that in love with my profile.  I thought.  I also think that I was being silly when the camera was snapping...and there's really no context for this picture...no blog I could write around it.

Sort of.

Cause' you'll notice that I'm still standing here typing away
(I noticed it at any rate)

Then again, maybe it's my haircut?

22 February 2010

Fifteen Years Later...

  

I still go to the same place most mornings.  Whether I have climbed into my car or into a good pair of walking shoes...most mornings for the last fifteen years have found me grabbing my leaopard key and inserting it into the door of Snap Snap.

A door I hand painted myself over the years to reflect picture decorations and hours of operation.

Just like I painted the vintage salvaged windows that hang in my front window, just like I painted the easel to match my business cards that I set in front of the shop each morning (depending on the weather) and just like I painted the wooden sign that hangs over the shop.  Which happens to be the second sign I've painted in the last fifteen years.

Fifteen years.

I can't believe it.

I won't tell you that time has passed like the blink of an eye any more than I'll tell you that I can feel each day of the last fifteen years.  I remember the snatches of the first day in the shop...I can remember being nervous and excited.  I know now, I had not one clue what I was getting myself into all those years ago.

I was too young to even imagine.

Too young to know then what I know now...and I'm sure I will be able to say that about myself years from now as well.

I can surely sit and contemplate how many times fashion and styles have changed over the last fifteen years and how many times I've had to recreate things...redefine...reorganize...redo.

My original flier with the "wrong" phone number that I had to cross out...and LONG hours

Upon a whole lot of reflection today, I know that whatever I have done these last fifteen years has not been alone.  I have had more help over and over again...from family, friends, landlords, the handful of consignment accounts I've carried over the years, all of my customers, my buyers, my sellers, and those who do trades...and yet, I also realized that nothing that has happened these last fifteen years would have been if it was not for what I've done as well.

Snap Snap and I have a very deep relationship with each other and the community we so happily and proudly live in.

We seem to walk on this journey hand in hand

Rich walked into Snap Snap early morning today...while I was hanging up streamers and putting out cookies...making signs and getting things all ship shape (in the snow I might add)  He wanted to congratulate me and tell me how proud he was of me.  He wanted to take my picture...which was a total surprise.  He wanted to document what 15 years looked like...just like when my friend Doty walked in on day one (that first picture up there with me in the same Dr. Martens I graduated college in, the ones that helped my mother to identify me walking across the stage to collect my diploma?)  to document what day one looked like...

(it looks younger and the walls look less painted and the carpet newer)

This is when I got very very teary-eyed.

Rich says that this picture makes me look like a shop owner...and I realize that indeed, it kind of does.  It makes me look like I know something... It's been a long run all these days in Snap Snap.  All the lessons learned, the laughter and fun...the upsets and set backs.

Fifteen years.

I guess I know a lot of somethings.

This is my life.

And I'm very proud.

Thank you...all of you...for the past fifteen years...and those years yet to come.

19 February 2010

Ohhhh...Shiny...

Seriously.

Can you stand it?!

Much to my total delight and the part of me that really connects with anything both sparkly and sexy (because one can never have too many of each of those things in their lives) a young girl came in first thing this morning with a load of crazy inherited garments.

And?  You'll be happy to know that all of these things came from an elderly woman...

Kim (who happened to pop by to appraise me of life things) also witnessed this crazy shiny mess.  We were both wondering exactly what kind of elderly woman would possess such shiny goodness...and the answer is:  Obviously some kicky broad that we'd like to get to know better!

(After all, I'm practically dying to see what her jewelry and shoes look like!)

Dang.

Sadly, as it is, both my stage performing and attendance in local parades have waned over the last few years..so these are all going out for sale at Snap Snap instead of finding themselves in my personal wardrobe.

I know.

I'm sure you'd love to see me in one of these numbers.

I'm sure most of Prescott would, and I am half tempted to nab one of these and wear it out tomorrow night when I get together with the girls.  Only half though.  I'm sure I have some sort of reputation to protect, and I'm thinking that wearing one of these (the flowered one obviously...I think we could have all predicted that) could probably tilt that reputation into a lot of places.  One never knows about these things, and usually when one does, it's a little late.

I also acquired a stunning black Bob Mackie jacked with beaded arrows on it...and I was really tempted to keep that as well.  But, my days of fancying myself as Cher are most likely over.

Most likely.

Wow.

Have I become boring?

17 February 2010

And We Are...Each One Of Us...Stars...


Star light located in Claudine's living room, carelessly but with purpose...one strand hanging off each door of her armoire.

Originating from IKEA

Battery operated for maximum beauty and opulence

Walking through the Willo Districts historic home tour this weekend is almost like a dream come true for someone like me.  I'm the person you can see leisurely strolling through most historic neighborhoods hoping to catch a glance inside the homes that line the streets...or the person who claps their hands giddily when I get a glimpse into your home on your blog through a picture.  I love decor.  I thoroughly enjoy the way people decorate their homes, and how this reflects their personalities.

I also notice that a lot of people are a little more, um sparce?  With the amount of things they have surrounding them.  Not like me.  Not like my family.  While I enjoyed myself walking through these homes, I started worrying that things have reached critical mass at Foolsewoode
(It's not too unusual for me to have this thought from time to time)

And then all of a sudden one of the last houses we visited this weekend, had each of my companions turning to me and exclaiming, "YOU could live in this house...it LOOKS like YOU!"
And it did.

There were things every where you looked, and I thought at first that this is what these two meant, but upon questioning them further they said yes, that rooms were full to bursting but also?  Also, everything was so homey, so comfortable...like Foolsewoode is.

Oh.

Well then.

I sought out the homeowner and told her we were probably soul mates, and she laughed.  She totally got it, and I heard several things come straight out of her mouth that I have said about homes over the years.

And yes, this is what I live in...a home bursting towards it's seams...but more importantly Foolsewoode is somewhere most anyone feels like they can put their feet up, have a cuppa, and stay a while.  In fact, no matter what's decorating the house currently, I encourage you to come in and make yourself at home.  It's a home.  It's homey.  It's the legacy that was passed down through both my mother and my father...both collectors of stuff and each wonderful decorators in their own right.  Both of them have an amazing and creative eye for things and how to use them and put them together.

This?

Is soothing to me.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in a place where I could see more floors and walls than not.  Some place that looked like it was out of a catalog or a very modern magazine.  But sometimes?  I am actually able to look around and accept who I am and what I love...

I love to surround myself with things I, well, love.  Things that make me smile.  It's like living in the midst of creativity.  And yes, there's dust and the house needs to be clean more often than it doesn't and sometimes when I wander through certain rooms I sigh heavily and roll my eyes a bit because things just aren't dealt with...but there's just something about home.  Kicking my shoes off and letting my day things fall out of my hands and onto the floor before I go through the mail, throw it on some flat surface, sit down and prop my feet up...look around and sigh happily to be in my very own self created paradise.

I guess we're all just a little bit different....

Aren't we?

And that's OK too.

16 February 2010

It's Like Being Excited About Being Excited...

These are the things I find myself saying to people about the weather.

Yesterday I threw open the door of Snap Snap once again because it looks so darned beautiful outside.  That's also what you get for living in AZ...we have hardly any shortage of sun in these parts.  And this year, while being a typical winter of the past, seems almost untypical of the last few years.  I totally understand that winter is exactly the right time for inclement weather...snow, slush, rain...I have no complaints, whatever the weather is I'm just as happy to try to enjoy it than be upset that it's happening all around me.  It's happening, I can't control it.

I'm just finding myself a little weary of being cold this year for whatever reason (which probably has a lot to do with my monthly heating bill than not...I can't believe I pay as much as I do to be as cold as I am in my home)  And I happen to think that Mena is of the same frame of mind...I mean, look at her sweet face in this picture I snapped last week when I looked up and saw these huge flakes begin to fall and then stick?!

Mena kept looking outside and then back at me as if to say, "Really?  Again?"

I feel ya' sister.

But yesterday was simply beautiful looking outside, if not still a little cold.  I can throw open my door and stand in front of my electric heater and still be quite comfortable...I can gaze outside through my huge windows and soak in the sun.  I even did a little happy dance...

Unfortunately it was in front of one of Prescott's long time residents who looked at me and smiled and said, "well now...don't go planting any flowers just yet!"

"Oh I know.  I've lived here long enough...I'm just UM...excited about being excited about the weather?"

Yes, I've actually lived here long enough to know that you don't do any of your major planting until after Mother's Day is safely on her way if you want your plants to make it and not freeze...Unless you are planting pansies, of course.  Pansies are particularly masochistic and just thrive with their jaunty little selves under snow and ice...they love such conditions.

And.  I've also lived here long enough to know when to be excited about a break in the weather and to do a little happy dance about it before the clouds start rolling in again and change everything into something entirely different.

I also know when to be excited about being excited...

15 February 2010

Weekend Love...

...And in the blink of an eye it was over, with the smell of slightly cooked onions as the only proof I was away
(yes.  Onions.  More on that later...first things first)


I spent the romantic Valentine's Day weekend away from home...and not necessarily romantic.  But, surrounding yourself with good friends is about the next best thing.  After hitching a ride with my friend Sean in his two seater red sports car...I zipped down the mountain accompanied by very good jazz and the excitement of being in a convertible...which always makes me want to dawn some large sunglasses and tie my hair up in a scarf, flip it over my shoulder in a rather dramatic way, and hang on.  He safely delivered me to Claudine's house and we got ready and spirited ourselves away to meet Carol for dinner and margarita's at Nandos.

Only.

Claudine sweetly acknowledges my slight obsession with Anthropologie, and since we were happening down to Nandos...and since Anthropologie has also recently opened a new store on that side of town...we ran in.  For 15 minutes.  Which was the perfect amount of time for me to fall totally in love with a navy knit dress.  The one in red was also just about perfect for me.  They are still hanging there however...which is fine.
(for now)

 After catching up with Carol...whom when we were both consulted, realized that it's been at least a year (and possibly more) since we've seen each other face to face.  Which is too hard for me to believe, so we just gushed all over each other instead and made future plans to see each other sooner rather than later.




I also brought my camera, but we didn't even pause long enough to take pictures.

Claudine and I then went back to her home, put on a fire, watched the Olympics and geared up for some Guitar Hero.

The next morning dawned bright and early and Sean met us at the door of her home with a box of chocolate in each hand in honor of Valentine's Day.  He made both of us very happy and ensured we'd be his Valentine's...as there's nothing like receiving some chocolatey goodness for the holiday.

We then went over to Z-Tejas for what I dubbed My Bloody Valentine and partook in their build your own Bloody Mary bar...and it was off to The Willo District in historic downtown Phoenix for a Valentine's Day home tour.

The home tour included eleven houses and the three of us scoffed at the thought of only eleven houses to visit...

Until we took a closer look at the map, and what seems like short distances in a square of paper, is usually longer distances when you're walking blocks of neighborhoods.  But, the day was simply fantastic weather wise...sunny and 76, so it was no skin off our backs to walk the distances to see each home.

Which we did in a mere few hours, but to be entirely fair, we missed only one home.

Each of these houses is in the historic district and are dearly loved by their inhabitants.  We each picked out the house we'd want to live in (because you just have to do that when you're faced with such things) although, to be entirely fair, I live in a home that was built a few years before any of the houses we visited...and I'm just in love with it, so it would be a lateral move for me to sell and relocate.

(even if it's in my own mind)

I have to say though, the inspiration and excitement I gained from the tour was well worth my sore back and feet.  I am home and ready with pen and paper to make lists of things to do to Foolsewoode this summer.

The one thing about being in Phoenix is the beautiful landscaping.  Or, it's the total different varieties of plants you can grow down there...including but not limited to palm trees and bougainvillea...which you can't do in our colder region 7 up here in the mountains...but it made me scratch my chin and think about finally doing something to my yard.
Which may be improved by a rake.

And a plan.

After totally exhausting ourselves wandering around in other people's neighborhoods and peeking into their lives, we went back to Claudine's house to unwind, rehydrate and cook some Cincinnati Chili.

Although, to be entirely fair...it was Claudine that was cooking the chili...it was at my request, because I'd always wanted to try it.  Claudine has made this dish and mentioned it so many times that it was high time for a bit of a taste test...while the chili was simmering, we ran to the store for the toppings of cheese and onions...and I was jonesing for some vanilla cookies with icing...which were completely sold out due to the holiday of love.  The bakery hostess pointed out that they had all these sweet little heart shaped cakes instead...and wrapped up two to go!

 

 I'm here to say that waiting for the chili was well worth it, and was such an easy recipe (from my vantage point on my tush on the kitchen chair) that I think it will be a staple in the future of Foolsewoode.  I mean, chili with totally unusual spices served over spaghetti noodles?

Wrap it up and I'm good to go!

Topped off with a few bites of vanilla and chocolate heart cakes.

As a matter of fact, there was so much left over chili that Claudine sweetly wrapped it up for me to take home...including a little baggie of cheese and a little baggie of fresh cut onions...which is where the onion in the car smell originated from.  After putting these things in their rightful containers, I placed them in a bag and Sean and I got ready to go back up the hill.  Well, the problem was that the container of chili was full of very hot chili..and I not so smartly placed the baggies of cheese and onion on top of this...

Needless to say, we rode most of the way home with one window cracked due to the overwhelming smell of onions that were permeating the Sean's small sports car.

It did not occur to either of us once that because of the heat from the chili...we were effectively slowly sauteing the onions, and this I only realized when the minute we pulled up in Prescott, I lifted the bag out of the car and noticed that my shredded cheese was melted into a greasy lump...and my onions were mostly now sauteed.

Lesson learned.

Sauteing onions in a baggie makes a car smell like onions.
For days afterward.

Also?  Throwing your leather jacket on top of the offending bag to try to staunch the smell of onions also makes your jacket smell like onions.

Oh well.

I had a fantastic weekend...and I'm now off to enjoy my Cincinnati Chili left overs...which is in my refrigerator.

Which also now smells like onions.




12 February 2010

Valentine's Day Weekend...

Happy Valentine's Day Weekend!
(or as I like to call it when I'm feeling especially snarky, Singles Awareness Day)

Whatever you believe Valentine's Day to be about...an expression of love to a significant other only or heaps of love for all your friends and family...I hope it's a happy day for you.

I am always holding out the hope for romance.  I'm a romantic type of person.  I like that about myself.  Sometimes though, you can find me crossing my arms and tapping my foot impatiently, but there you go.  As it is, I find myself being drawn to more hearts in my life.  I have them peppered throughout Foolsewoode, and I'm usually wearing at least one heart in the form of jewelry.

It's a reminder that no matter what else is going on...I am loved.

Sometimes it's little reminders like that, that get me through the day.

In past years, I have usually always tried to get everyone who happened to be in town together for dinner and a movie...so we'd all have a date for this night.  So no one would feel left out...no matter what their relationship status was.  There's no reason to feel lonely and not celebrate some kind of love.

I mean, I know one can argue that you can celebrate love just as easily on the other 364 days of the year...but let's face it.  Valentine's Day is celebrated as one day (which is probably why they call it Valentine's Day)  And because of this, Love just happens to get all amped up February 14th as a total bonus.  So grab some roses and candied hearts and chocolates...pass a Valentine's card to someone you love and admire...create your own celebration!

This year I am celebrating by taking myself out of town.  This weekend will find me celebrating Love with good friends on location...somewhere else entirely.  Affording me a little break from my every day routine.  There will be Mexican food and margaritas, a Historic Home Tour, and who knows what else.

Happy Valentine's Day to you...no matter how you choose to celebrate, make it fun in your own special way.

10 February 2010

...And I'll Wear It Tied Around My Neck If I Have To


Onions are apparently this season's cure all.  Or always have been only that we've somehow lost onion wisdom in the progression of Modern Medicine.

In case you haven't already heard:


In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu.  Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died..

The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy.  When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then).  The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and placed it under the microscope.  She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion.  It obviously absorbed the virus, therefore, keeping the family healthy. 


According to some hairdresser in AZ.  She said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her customers.  The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop.  To her surprise, none of her staff got sick.  It must work..  (And no, she is not in the onion business.)

The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home.  If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere.  Try it and see what happens.  We did it last year and we never got the flu.

If this helps you and your loved ones from getting sick, all the better.  If you do get the flu, it just might be a mild case..


Well.

You can only imagine what I was doing after I left Snap Snap yesterday.

If you guessed:  Running to the grocery for a yellow onion, you'd be correct!

I then went home, peeled it and cut the bottom off (just in case it needed to be cut as well, because some of the web sites about onions said that the onion needed to be sliced and spread around a plate) and put it in a bowl.  I then carried it around from room to room with me.  So, no matter where I was, so there was my onion.

I don't know if it succeeded in doing anything more than making me crave Italian food...but my cough was a lot looser last night (I did start taking cough medicine as well though...but the onion was a lot cheaper)  Which is making me feel relieved.  I'm not sure if I should have placed the onion around earlier in the season to prevent from even being sick at all, but I certainly hope it's pulling the flu toxins out of the air as we speak.   I mean, Mena was very interested in it last night and had to sit quite close to it and smell it and gaze from me back to the onion.

I can't imagine what was going on in her head.

Oh wait.  Yes I can:

"Stop coughing and look at me woman!  (looking at me) Have you gone stark raving mad?!  (looking back at the onion) Is the fact that you now have to sleep propped up on two pillows so you don't cough every breath finally catching up with you?!  (looking back at me) Get me some Italian food!"

Anyway.
Said onion didn't turn black from the amount of toxins in the air at Foolsewoode like one of my friends suggested it might...but it probably will if I leave it in that bowl long enough.

As it is, I am willing to try anything to get rid of this thing.

I'll wear the onion around my neck

I'll cut it up,  and tie it to the bottom of my feet

I'll slice the onion into rings and wear it on the sides of my head as Princes Leah hair

Because having this cold/flu? Is like having (and I'm trying to put this delicately) a combination of bronchitis and bulimia.  Because sometimes when you get started coughing, you...um.  Well, let's just say that I'm really hungry, nervous to eat anything, and I'm loosing weight.

Come on Onion!

09 February 2010

Window Shopping For Love...

This morning I found a really great bird cage.

I'm not sure why this particular cage jumped out at me (except that it's cute and distressed and is topped by a wonderful tin roof and hearts cut into it the frame of it) but I found myself thinking that it would look good in a Valentine's Day display for Snap Snap.

I'm sure if we pop open my head to examine my psyche close enough, that  there's some deep seeded meaning about why I associate love with a cage.

And your love being caged...and how you need to set it free...

Or sometimes looking at our pasts, we should have put some of our lovers in cages?


Whatever the case may be...I decided that this cage would probably fit well in the window.  Also?  I love bird cages with or without the love association...so what the heck!

I decided that I would enjoy it if there were little hearts flying around in the cage...like butterflies, hearts to me look like wings...and birds have wings...and sometimes they live in cages?

Maybe I feel repressed with Valentine's Day looming in the distance?  Which is strange because I totally believe in love and romance...

Methinks my quick association with Love in a Cage is bothering me.
(I'll be happy to entertain your theories in the comments)

I purchased some wonderful rose paper not too long ago in eager anticipation of my handmade Valentines that usually roll out this time of year...but I have put these off to the absolute last minute.  Making me cringe because I think this year I may forgo the making of Valentines all together.

What?!?

I know.

The image as me of Superwoman probably just slipped a bit in your mind just then, didn't it?  Well...join the club, the image started slipping for me when I thought about running around in public in a leotard.

You know?  I can handle the cape and tiara...but the leotard?

I don't think so.

Cutting up paper hearts and putting them in a cage and then putting that on display in the window of Snap Snap is like one giant handmade Valentine...and really, when you think about it?  It reaches a much larger audience.

So Happy Valentines Day!

All I'm saying is, at least it's a prettier display than my pedicure.  And of course, all those little paper hearts flying around are much prettier than the place where I pushed a thumb tack through the top of my thumb when I was attaching little flying hearts to the inside of said cage...Leaving me with the very accurate observation that all thumbtacks are not created equal, and the fancier colorful ones aren't as strong and tend to bend easily...

(especially when they hit bone...I'm just sayin')

08 February 2010

Valentine's Day Pedicure...ish...

 

I gave myself a pedicure this weekend, and I thought it would be a fun idea if I did it more Valentine's Day theme...so I got out a toothpick and painted little pink hearts on the nails of my big toes.
Um.

Now.

It may be that I'm totally delirious from battling The Winter Cold/Flu:  Part Deux...the chest cough years.

Or that it's hard to paint anything with a toothpick as a brush...and onto your toenails.

Or it may be that I was channeling Lord Voldemort (only because I was watching Harry Potter:  The Sorcerer's Stone...)  cause I'm telling you?  Upon further scrutiny while said toenails were drying...the heart on my right toe?  Looks like Voldemort's head when it was on the back of that other guys' head under the turban?  Which was ick in the movie...

And even further ick on one's toe.

Specially since my toes were meant to be all romantic this week.

Drat.

I just hope this doesn't bode for a scary Valentine's Day later this week.

And then...when I decided to finally break out the Digital Elph today to take these pictures?  I was all concerned about the flash ruining them...because usually I don't use a flash if I don't have to.  But, I think flash on the toes seemed to be the only way I could get the full Voldemort Peducure feeling.  And then I thought, of course the flash would be fine...my toes don't have eyes.

Mostly.

This was after I had to redo the photo shoot because although the first pictures were dim...they were still useable.  Only, there was something weird all over my toes when I was editing them in iPhoto.

It was sock fuzz.  Seriously.  From a pair of socks I am continually worried that the heel is going to wear out of, so where all this extra sock fuzz was coming from is a total mystery.

This has been a very trying pedicure.

05 February 2010

Doing the High Kick With Popcorn...

As I stare into the face of the end of yet another week...I'm a little amazed.  It went by so quickly.  Why is that things go by so much quicker now?  Is it my age?  Is it like they say...you'd better watch out or you'll snap your fingers and it will be gone like that?

It could be the fact that I had an extra long week the last two weeks and I got to take Monday off this week, and I happen to be creating extra drama.

Just sayin.

I'm also looking into a couple of days to myself and the inevitable onslaught of potential plans that pop in and out of my head which would be enough to fill up a week of days off.  I'm feeling like not making any concrete plans instead, and just watching them come and go through the drive-in theater in my head...potentially fun activities peppered with dancing candies and popcorn...holding hands, doing the high kick.

I mean, really...Is there anything quite as magical as anthropomorphic food?

Perhaps.  But watching happy food hold hands and dance around does make one pause.

I think I shall spend the weekend instead recovering...recovering from the onslaught of jeans at Snap Snap the denimy goodness covering every workspace and spilling out all over.  The inevitable running out of hangers...

And this whateverIhad cold/flu thing not too long ago coming back for a visit...hopefully it will be brief because it's moved into my chest...and I'd rather it not take up residence there for too long in there thankyouverymuch.  Cause, it's making me tired, and interfering with my gym time.

And heavens but Foolsewoode needs a once over by someone with a vacuum in one hand and a duster in the other.

So...for all of you with big plans this weekend, I hope your every wish comes true...for the rest of us, I hope we find an easy rhythm in which to enjoy ourselves.

04 February 2010

Still Life With Ice Cube Trays...

 

Allow me to introduce the newest latest greatest member of our clan (I crossed out all those words above, even though they all apply here...because her mother recently remarked she likes it when I write and cross out words...)  She was born not too long ago, and was so excited to meet us that she came early.She's wearing a jaunty jester hat that my mother kindly knitted for her tiny baby head.

Which smells divine
(her head, not the hat...)
Just like all new baby heads smell.

The very smell that when one is confronted with, usually creates a biological tightening of the mother parts of you leaving you a little breathless...which of course, makes you inhale more creating a rather diabolical circle of feelings.

If you could bottle New Baby smell and New Love Smell, you could rule the world.

Anyone who knows me could probably tell you that I'm currently holding onto the dream of having kids someday.  I've been noticing as of late that I am feeling like someday is coming quite fast, and I am tenuously holding this dream near my heart still...but sometimes?  I feel like it's slipping away.  But, it's my crazy dream...and I'm gonna hang onto it until those sands in that particular hour glass run through my fingers and I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I'm tired of only being Aunt to this that and the other.
(all of whom I love dearly...but you know what I mean.)

Bringing me to a rather fateful conversation I held with Claudine the other day on the phone...she had called as she sometimes does during lunch only this day she was letting me know about a news story she'd heard only that morning about a new fertility study.

You know when a conversation starts out with, "I'm not sure I should tell you..." that you may be in trouble from there on out.

Apparently the gist of the study was that fertility wise, you're just fine and dandy up to age 30...and then?  Well something horrible happens to all of your eggs and you're less likely to get pregnant and if you do there's only 3% left...so good luck!

3%?!

What the heck have I been worried about all these years??
I mean, why sweat it out month to month not knowing if you'd not planned adequately?
Who does these studies?
Was this study trying to promote teenage and young pregnancy?
And more importantly, what the heck has happened to all these eggs?

Are they just falling out all over the place and you don't even know it?
I find it strange no one addressed that issue.  There's like a gazillion eggs in storage somewhere in your body and then *poof* just like that on your 30th birthday there's a rash burglary and you're left with 3%.

I'm not buying it.

Seriously.  Is this why some people talk about not being able to sneeze or laugh uproariously when they get older?  Is it because of all the eggs falling out and not a weak bladder like they claim?

It was at this point after talking about all the above that I laughed it off and told her that I knew plenty of people whom got pregnant in their 30's with absolutely no problems.  And sometimes?  Those people got pregnant on total accident even.

That night she went home and found the article and read it out loud to me.

Like either of us needed to hear any of this.

I mean...didn't some woman just get pregnant and deliver a totally healthy baby naturally in her 50's not too long ago?

I countered back with all sorts of statistics and on and on we went, round and round the baby carousel, until we got dizzy and got off for a bit...

Ending the conversation she gave a loud sigh and said, "I'm just worried.  I mean, do you think we should go somewhere and freeze our eggs?  Just in case?"

"No"I said,

"No...I don't think that will be necessary...I think will be much more economical if we just stand over an empty ice cube tray and sneeze."

I guess I should go to the store after work...

03 February 2010

Mostly Wordless Wednesday...


Finding myself exactly in this position this morning.

Well.

Not on that particular bed per say...
That's Mena's heated window bed.
(yes she's sleeping on a down cushion...we are big believers in down here at Foolsewoode after all)

I was more in my own fluffy down nest bed.

Rudely awakened by a beeping alarm during the middle of a not so particularly good dream (if I remember correctly) but woken after thinking, "it's still dark outside!"  Which it usually is when I wake up to shuffle off to the gym.

I was rationalizing that I could easily skip today and make up today on Friday instead, but realized that I would only probably sleep another hour or so...and probably more fitfully than restful.  And I notice that I don't have the same energy throughout the day when I don't work out...and I also remembered that I am currently staring into the face of a birthday with a zero at the end of the first number...and if not now, when?
So, I left the kitty sleeping while I got my groove on to Universal Religion 3...

Which also happens to be perfect driving music if one happens to be scaling up and down Mingus mountain towards the historic mining town of Jerome Arizona.

It's the rhythm of the music that matches the curves of the road that really does it.

Which happens to be the exact same rhythm that makes me lift my feet a little higher and faster while participating in cardio...

I'm not saying that it totally erases the yawns...but it certainly helps.

PS  It did not escape my attention that Armin Van Buuren released Universal Religion 4...It's currently being downloaded from iTunes.

02 February 2010

Naughty or Nice...


Have you ever just had one of those days that you felt as if there were an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other?

Not anything scary...but the cute cartoon versions acting as distracting temptations?

Something that can turn that smile into an inviting purr with just a small bat of the eyelashes...and a come hither finger crooked in just the right way?  All the while looking out from under your eyelashes just giving a peek to the expression in your luminous eyes...accompanied by the thought that just for today?  You may be able to get away with just about anything.

Before you then roll them at yourself, accidentally close your leg in the car door and get on with it.

I've got that mood.

Bad.

I decided rather than hit the world running with this feeling I would try to observe myself in an indulgent aunt sort of way...and celebrate this whole mood realization by donning one of my favorite tops.  The one I spied at The Lucky Brand store back when DaNece and I were traveling to visit Steven at Disneyland...simply because the shirt in question had embroidered wings down the back of it (and you know how I love to think I can fly...which may be why I spontaneously burst into tears at this weekends viewing of Avatar 3-D when the main characters flew together on their dragons, swooping together side by side catching each others eyes...I'm thinking there was more to it than just the act of flying...companionship love sharing something with a partner the feeling that I was overstimulated by 3-D glasses over my actual glasses really good special effects?) As I gently picked up the tee with the general reverence topped with curiosity reserved for all things Lucky Brand (cause you never can tell what they're going to put on their shirts) I turned the black tee over and noticed that there was also something embroidered on the collar line of the garment.  I then reached over to put it back on the stack of tops because I was expecting some sort of Peace or Love situation happening up there and I've already lived through this fashion statement a couple of times in my life and it makes me feel old and tired...but stared in wonder at the Naughty on one shoulder complimented by the Nice on the other embroidered in a tattoo sort of font...and threw it over my arm in delight.

Well then.

I had every intention to write this post about how naughty I am by not checking in here more over the last few weeks...but how nice it was that I am now...and on and on about my weekend and what I've been up to as of late...making lists and columns under the Naughty and Nice headings.

And then I had the thought, as I pulled my new to me designer jeans up up up...for the millionth time this morning, that maybe if I don't get suspenders that there will be something very naughty and not very nice happening if my pants just spontaneously fell down at some point today...

Although, that version of naughty and nice doesn't have quite the same ring to it as the flirty version that I was clutching to earlier, does it?

Cause' if my pants fall off, I'll probably fall down...and there's nothing nice about that.

Although, it would be kind of funny.

Just sayin'

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