I do all my own stunts

O Christmas Tree

Last year around this time I did something perfectly antithetical to my character.  I didn't decorate my home for Christmas.  I'm serious.  Not a light, not a candle, not even a poinsettia made its way past my front door.  I really don't even remember the reason why.  The only plausible explanation is that I went temporarily insane.  Not decorating is so...not...me.  I'm the girl who showed up at 8:00 am on my then boyfriend (now husband's) doorstep with a 7 foot tree, fully ignoring his declaration of not being a big fan of holiday decorating.  Sorry Brian, if you're going to date me, then you're going to date Christmas too.  

I'm happy to say that this year, I'm back to my old self.  I unearthed the boxes and dusted off all my decorations.  Oh how I've missed this!  I am positively delighted every time I walk through the door to the wonderful smell of our Christmas tree.  I am gleeful when I drive up to our house at night to see our front porch all lit up with lights, garland and a wreath.  Having missed out on it last year, I felt doubly sentimental when I unwrapped all of my favorite ornaments and put them on our tree.  Each one is imbued with so many memories.  Most of my ornaments came from my mom, who has impeccable taste and has been selecting exceptional ornaments for me each year of my life.  All her choices hold special significance and represent something of importance in my life.  The nutcracker below acknowledges my childhood as a ballet dancer and the many Christmases I spent as a Lemondrop in the Nutcracker.  Isn't it lovely?

These days my mom buys ornaments for both myself and my husband.  They usually complement each other like these beautiful birds she found on a trip to Argentina.  They are made out of hollow gourds.  

My knitting obsession hobby prompted the purchase of these fancy sweaters for Brian and I.  Aren't they adorable?  

Another of my favorite ornaments was a gift from my friend Sarah.  This Lenox ornament holds a picture of my fluffy love bug, Oscar, when he was just a wee pup.  Sarah was with me when I picked up Oscar and brought him home with me for the first time.  She even puppy-sat him for a week when he was only about 9 weeks old.  

Some of my most memorable ornaments came from my first Christmas in my own apartment.  As I said before, my mom has been buying me ornaments every year of my life, but when I moved out, my ornaments...did not.  She kept 'em.  I guess I forgive her.  Harumph.  Well, my first Christmas on my own, I couldn't face a bare, pathetic tree, so I made my own ornaments.  These ones have become doubly special to me because of the memories they conjure of the excitement of being on my own for the first time.  

They were quite simple to create, but they are colorful and bright - a special part of my Christmas decor every year.  And of course, I had to do it:  the Washington Huskies ornament!

Brian's mom also bought him an ornament every Christmas as my mom did for me.  She, in contrast, let Brian take his with him when he moved out.  We have an entire box of lovely little ornaments marked 'Brian's Specials'.  This is one that always makes it onto our tree.  Brian's mitt.  

Many of Brian's Specials have a charming vintage quality to them.  I love this little wooden guy.  (Although it is definitely not vintage.  If you look closely, you can see that it says 'Millenium 2000' on the champagne bottle).  

Another of Brian's favorites is this little wooden santa.  He has a kind of gnome-like quality to him, pointy hat and all.  He is perfectly at home amidst the woodsy greenery of our tree.  

How do you guys feel about your Christmas ornaments?  Which ones are your favorites?  

Hard at work

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It is without a doubt my favorite holiday of the year.  One I look forward to for months ahead of time.  How are you spending your holiday weekend?

We are using the few days off to stay as far away from any retail establishments as is humanly possible.  Our To-Do List is a mile long and we are busily filling it with check marks.  

Oscar is helping out in his usual manner:  by being cute.  

Cool Greens

It's official.  The first day of Fall is here.  

To celebrate, I planted a few cool-weather veggies in my garden.  

I am currently reading the book, One River, by the ethnobotanist Wade Davis.  It is about his explorations in the Amazon rain forest and the biological and cultural discoveries he made studying native uses for plants, specifically psychotropics.  And before you point it out, I am fully aware that I am a huge nerd.  

Moving on.  I came across a little passage last night that has been knocking around my brain all day.  In One River, one of Wade's colleagues points out that the widely accepted idea of plants responding favorably to gentle human voices and calming music is utterly ridiculous.  "Why would a plant give a shit about Mozart?...And even if it did, why should that impress us?  I mean, they can eat light.  Isn't that enough?"  

It is damn impressive, isn't it?  And miraculously, we get to eat the plants.  

Rainbow Chard, Kale, Broccoli, Lettuce ('Bistro Mix')

As I was preparing my soil and meditating on the wonders of photosynthesis, I also thought about my little garden and what it means in my life.  Heavy stuff, yes.  I had so much fun with all the summer bounty I harvested this year.  I don't think I've cooked a meal in the past 3 months without using at least one ingredient from my garden.  Truly amazing.

Then, I had a sudden flash of clarity.  An 'aha moment', thank you Oprah.  I know why my back yard veggie plot is so appealing to me.  I get it.  It's laziness.  I'm serious, I love my garden because I am lazy.  Three steps off my back porch, a little snip, snip.  Voila.  Dinner is served.  Of course there are other benefits:  Having access to literally 'just picked', organic produce.  The feeling of pride and accomplishment in growing your own food.   Witnessing the marvelous life-cycle of plants.  Those are nice.  But saving a trip to the grocery store, that's gold.  

 

This winter garden is my attempt to prolong the laziness for a little longer.  Hopefully these cool weather veggies will help me do that.  Pray that they don't drown.  We are in Seattle people.  

Let's do some math

Shall we?  

        +

              ÷

                                

                 x

( + )

                 =

Miraculous, right?

I have a bit of a problem.  I tend to frequent the funky home decor boutiques way too much for my own good.  I luuurve them.  From totally glammed out refurbished vintage pieces to dusty french flea market treasures.  I covet the modern, the retro, the indie, the kitschy, the classic, and sometimes even the fugly.  I think the extraordinary Freddie Mercury said it best: I want it all, I want it now.  

Unfortunately, what hinders me in having it all, having it now, is the slight problem of not having enough space.  Just kidding.  It's not having enough money!  I almost had you there for a second, right?

For all you locals, I was at the marvelous Revival Home and Garden in Georgetown recently.  If you haven't been yet, you must go.  It'll make you want to die.  And you have to stop by Great Stuff next door.  The name says it all.  Anyway, I was just salivating over everything in Revival Home and Garden one Saturday morning and fell in love with these white twiggy mirrors.  I had to make them mine.  Sadly, purchasing them was out of the question as I was not in the mood to place a second mortgage the house that day.  So, I decided to steal borrow the idea and make them.  

I used Oregon Grape branches from our back yard.  I cut them into about 4 inch pieces, primed them, painted them and then used my trusty glue gun to attach them to plain, inexpensive mirrors.  

The twigs kind of bring a funky, log cabin-ey feel to the room.  A little rustic, but the white paint keeps it looking fresh and modern.  I suppose they won't really jive with everyone's design aesthetic, but mine is pretty darn eclectic and these homemade twiggy mirrors fit in great.  

What do you think?

30 minute kitchen makeover

Simple, quick, color infusion

Just terrible, right?

We live in an old house.  The kitchen is surprisingly large for a home built in 1938, but it is very poorly laid out.  No counter space, few cabinets and an empty, awkward corner that is absolutely bare.  

Also, the kitchen has lime green trim.  Lime green.  It has been my private (now public) shame ever since we moved in 3 years ago.  Why not just paint, you ask?  All I can say is, 'cosmetic fixer' is a painfully delicate euphemism for 'you better be ready to work, friends'.  We have already painted 90% of the interior surfaces of this lovely menace of a home; our paintbrush bristles have worn down to frayed, pathetic nubs.  Also, as I previously described, we've spent a lot of time slaving in the yard.  We're tired, OK?  

To help alleviate the lack of counters and other waist-level surfaces in our kitchen, my mom generously donated this cafe table which was formerly used in one of her cookie stores.  It's entirely authentic, even down to the discarded wad of chewing gum stuck to the underside.  (Who does that?).  The table, while functional - it made a fine mail-collection receptacle and additional dish drying zone - just wasn't very cute.  

It needed an upgrade.  Preferably one where the resulting cuteness vastly outweighed the amount of effort involved in achieving it.  I'm tired, remember?  

Much better, right?  

Here's what I did:  I bought a piece of colorful, retro-inspired fabric, hemmed the edges and used fabric glue to attach a matching grosgrain ribbon.  No, Heidi, Michael and Nina  would not be impressed, but I don't care.  I believe in fabric glue.  It is my friend and would never betray me like my venomous sewing machine.  

Quite an improvement, right?  It really took less than 30 minutes.  It was so simple, I might even make a new one for fall.