very sad

thing to wake up to this morning.

nothing

nothing like working at home on your brand new ikea desk that you found on craigslist for $120 cheaper, next to a bunch of peonies and a glittery owl, with tea and cookies. if this was all taking place at the cabin i would just die.

cabin fever take 2

i tagged along with al to the golden gate park casting pools this week. he practices there using his vintage fenwick fiberglass rod, scored at an estate sale. i usually take a book and sit on a bench while he casts, but this time i got a few photos of the anglers club because the light was nice and everything is in bloom. this club must have some pull because it's one of the nicest city maintained buildings in the park. i find it really charming and wish he would join the club so i can get inside. it was built on feb. 22, 1938 A.D. according to the front door plaque.


it reminds me of the cabin we saw up at russian river saturday. we have high hopes.

mikado

i walked down to the church street apothecary (yes, that name is now "illegal") this week to grab a little gifty for bonnie and saw this funky plant called mikado. i needed something to put into the pot portion of the set of ceramics my dad bought in greece back in the day... probably 40 years ago. this thing is so cute, looks sort of space age and i like that contrast with the pot. i love this little pot as well, it's self lined with a removable inner pot that is red clay. apparently the mikado's blooms last for up to 10 weeks, they are just little buds now. my dad will be excited to see the set on display. i didn't realize this photo was so blurry, but i'm too lazy to go take another one.

bamboo

back from the frame shop and the price was just under what i had predicted. $357.89 later and the low poster never made it out of it's tube. ooof, art is expensive. anyway, much to the dismay of one cheap pete's framer, i chose this black bamboo. i couldn't help myself. it should be ready before the lowry's arrive next week.

preference

i find art to be so personal, i guess most people do, and i was thrown a few years back when a friend gave me this print. at the time i wasn't that taken with it, now i absolutely love it. it reminds me of the cross hatch projects we had to do in school, and i love the simplicity of it.


a couple of months while ago strolling at the alemany flea market with leigh, i came across an old seagrams poster "the game fish cyclopedia." i didn't have much money on me, but the price was right and i snapped it up for al. the colors are still so bright, it was printed in 1947 but had been kept away from light.


it occurred to me this morning that i bought art for someone else, something i thought i would never do. i just couldn't stop myself. some of the fish are gone now, but it's such a cool reference to see where things used to be and al knows almost all of the species listed.


i need to get this thing framed before the family arrives, but this thing is quite large. luckily it was only $40, it will probably be about $400 to frame (i really have no idea, that number is random). i'll take along my small stakes low poster to see if i can get that done as well. al got that for me. it's an endless cycle of art giving....

wrought

we got the $17 estate sale chandelier up this weekend. it's not working of course, not plugged in, but i still wanted it hanging in the hall. i love the shape of it, but might paint the fake candles black (or whatever color i paint the chandelier if i paint it one day). it adds a little something fun to the hallway, and it needed to get off the floor before the family arrives next week.

where to start

leigh tagged me to post about what my "style" is. i'm not sure where to start. i guess for me it's all about color and old stuff. too bad we live in a very white house now, although sometimes that can be nice. we just miss having some color on the walls. i want to have a turquoise room one day. i don't know if al can stomach this, but he's pretty open to trying things, and i think once we painted a color that intense, it would have to stay put for a while.


i fantasize about having a large installation of heath tiles in my future home. this fireplace looks particularly awesome because it's so bright against it's black health tiled background. i find any bright color combined with black stunning.


i love complicated bedding patterns if it's done well. i hate too many large puffy pillows, but this one is just right. you see a few different pinks all working as a team. the pop of the gold and green pillows is perfect. i really like this entire house, posted on sfgirlbybay yesterday. you can see some other bed photos with different combinations and i would love to do this, i just don't have room to store all those blankets.


one of my most beloved items here at home is the avocado green sofa i grew up with. i've always loved it and it sat in our living room in north carolina where it was hardly used. when my parents decided to replace it, my dad shipped this baby from north carolina to me in sf! it came with all my grandmother's china and i bawled while i opened all the boxes. i have some other family pieces, including a china cabinet originally owned by the lowry's (grandparents), which had been passed down to my parents, then to my sister, now it's with me. my grandmother's dishes (which she purchased for her own mother) fill it now.


one of my favorite corners of this house is filled with random treasures. some estate sale finds. there are a few things that leigh got for me from lisa's now closed store, the pickled hutch (back in the church street days). al's skateboard sits here, ready for quick trips to the store or a ride around the block (last year's birthday gift from me!). a snake plant sits in the old planter that was left in the basement at the ellsworth house. i only wish the wall behind it was a nice pea green.


my current dream house is for sale in portland right now. i'd like to get decorating in there...

beginning

we started charley last night. i gave up with a back ache around 10:30, but looks like al made some progress by having the entire space to himself. the colors are so beautiful, we're thinking about what we can paint that nice, rich, blue color.

crepe

al is home from work today because it's the giant's opening day game. he wanted to stay up late last night and i reminded him that i'm working now (& have two meetings before we leave at noon for the game). i went to bed at my normal time but slept in until 7:30 because he didn't have to wake up at 6. he made crepes for breakfast and said he would clean up, too. i ate mine with butter and a bit of organic blackberry jam i bought when we went up north to big hendy and fort bragg. it's starting to rain now, so the game should be cold and wet. i'm not excited.

weather

i'm sort of obsessed with checking the weather forecast and my desperate "need to know" is usually fixed by looking at weather.com or using the weather tool on my iphone several times a day. if it's raining i look to see if it's going to rain more. if it's windy (like every moment is here right now in sf) i look to see how windy.

lately al and i have been talking about moving up to portland where we can actually afford a house. i'm worried about him and the weather there, so i decided to check on it every day for a year. that was 2 weeks ago and i'm checking it for the first time now. right now it's in 49 and sunny sf, and 41 (feels like 36) and cloudy in portland. we're taking a long weekend up there soon, and i'm hoping for spring-like days. i'll soon be obsessively looking at the 10-day forecast to see what to expect.

work @ home

with the recession ending (ha!) i am now working again, and at home! welcome to my new office. it's my first time working at home so i had to sort things out & this set up will also be great when school starts. i definitely needed the larger monitor, my 13" is full of love but just so teeny. i'm finally putting my ridiculously expensive steelcase chair to use since bringing it home from work last year.

cabin fever

al has been looking at cabins up on the russian river lately. we've been surrounding ourselves with library books on remodeling, dwell magazine, apartment therapy, and thoughts of the ideally designed kitchen using heath tile. we've already decided to furnish it via estate sales. san francisco is just too expensive for us, but there are cute & affordable places up there in need of tons of work. this could serve as practice for our real home in some locale to be determined.

charley

al and i can't wait to start our new puzzle. 1000 pieces of charley harper!

new old stuff

after visiting my family in north carolina last month, my parents sent me home with their very old & loved cast iron pan. i've been in serious want for one of these for several years, and i don't know why i never bought one. i'm so glad i didn't because i love this pan. every time i use it i think of mom making cornbread back in our house in cary. we've cooked with this at least once a week since it came home and met our wedgewood. i found the orange cast iron grill pan at an estate sale recently, and sold it's mate on etsy.

calendula caress

i love this stuff but i thought i'd try making it myself using some instructions from earthly bodies & heavenly hair. i've been shaking my concoction for 4 weeks now and it's a lovely golden color. next i need to strain it through some muslin and add lavender and vanilla to the olive oil, which has been infused with calendula and marjoram. we'll see how it compares. i once gave a bottle of this to angela, i wonder if she uses it.

morning person

in my youth i was definitely a morning person, and maybe i still am now. i'm trying to prepare for a more hectic life so i want to get up early again. when al leaves for work at 6:25 he always comes back in the bedroom to say goodbye. i open my side of the curtain while still in bed, grab his digital alarm clock and place it beside me (i can't see my clock in the dark) & usually get up about 10 minutes later. i have this little race to get the bed made and open the curtains wide before my neighbor. today i won.