Tag Archives: home

Oct 11 2012
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Halloween, holidays, homemaking

The Halloween Desk

 

 

The desk, since it’s new this season, was the most fun to decorate. I was happy to hang up my new prints and to finally stick something–a glittery skull–in my curio lamp. It’s the just-right amount of creepy. The book is a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories with wood block print illustrations. It’s my favorite, and since we are reading “The Murders of Rue Morgue” for book club, it’s handy to have the book around. The little mercury glass votive is filled with vintage flashcards that have creepy words on them, like “cadaverous “and “corpse” and “heinous”. Every year, I say I’m going to make something with them, and every year I don’t…this year shall be no different.

I’ve had my foam/plastic jack-o-lantern for years–he lights up like a champ at night. The jade plant is from Trader Joe’s. (Am I the only one who has a hard time passing up the plant section there?) And I bought the little Charlie Brown Halloween ornament last weekend at the Hallmark store–total impulse purchase. Who has a Halloween tree to hang ornaments from? Clearly, that didn’t stop me from buying it…I have such a soft spot for the Peanuts gang.

That’s all for now. I’m waiting to see my mom who has some pumpkins and gourds for me before I finish decorating the dining room. And, now that I’ve shown you my tidy, decorated workspace, I’m going to move my crafting mess back onto the desk and try to finish my watercolor project before I have to go to work this afternoon.

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Oct 10 2012
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Halloween, homemaking

Autumn Nostalgia

 

I’m still struggling to finish decorating for Halloween around here. Nothing is working for me, and I have the same stuff as I had last year. That might be the problem…boredom. But really, it will be good enough, especially since we aren’t having anyone over this month and I will have to quickly put everything Halloween away and haul out the red, white and blue for the Election Party. (Typing that sentence makes me wonder why I’m bothering with this Halloween stuff…) But, the good news is my new prints from Tag Team Tompkins look great above my desk, just as I’d pictured. (I will show you tomorrow when I have better light!)

I’ve had the little autumn squirrel pin above since I was very small…1982 to be exact. It’s vintage Hallmark, and even though it’s rather cutesy and child-like, I still wear it every fall. (And I occasionally troll Etsy for other vintage Hallmark pins because I love them so…) Ahhh, nostalgia…gets me every time.

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Oct 09 2012
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celebrations, Halloween, holidays, homemaking

Halloween Treats

Tag Team Tompkins

Halloween decorating is coming along slowly this year…until motivation arrived in my mailbox today with my treats from Tag Team Tompkins! The Tompkins ladies (a mother & daughter team) turn hand lettering and paper cutting into gorgeous letterpress designs. These are (obviously) Halloween-themed, but they offer everyday designs, too. The paper is nice and thick and the letterpress impression is just perfect. I like that their shop is filled with classic black and white designs, but I love that they went all out with the silver ink on black paper for these. I’m going to hang up some twine over my desk and clip them up with tiny clothespins. (I hope it looks as good as it does in my mind.) Tomorrow, the Halloween decorating will happen. In the meantime, here is Presley enjoying her favorite October spot:

 

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Oct 05 2012
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crafty adventures, homemaking

when things fall apart…

I only took this picture to show you that I not only bought a frame for my letterpress project, but I also hung it up. But that is the extent of the home improvement projects around here…as a matter of fact, if you look closely at the background, you can see the remains of my mail call mess that still lives in the dining room. (You cannot see the mail call mess in the living room, kitchen, guest room, hallway and car, but it is there.)

So, in spite of living in a messy house, being behind on broken blog promises (The Little Red Toolbox will be back soon!), being behind on a boatload of mail, being behind in my party planning and Halloween decorating and being behind in my book club reading, I am still a happy and thankful girl…even when things fall apart.

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Oct 03 2012
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homemaking, what's for dinner

a new addition…to the kitchen

It’s here! It’s here!

Naoto & I have been talking about buying a Le Creuset pot for more than two years now…and last weekend, we finally ordered it. I don’t know why we waited so long. OK, I do know why we waited so long…these things are made to last forever (as in, if I ever have grandchildren who cook, they will be using this very pot!) and I just couldn’t decide what color I wanted! Most of my kitchen has cherry red accents, but the red LeCreuset is more orangey, so I just went with what I love–sunny yellow. It will look beautiful on a fall table full of hearty stew. And, I think it will look pretty on the stove in my blue kitchen. Plus, the color name is Dijon and really, is there a better mustard than Dijon?

As excited as I am about the arrival of our new kitchen workhorse, it couldn’t come at a worse time. Naoto works tonight, while I head back to the airport to welcome home our latest group of Honor Flight Chicago veterans. I work tomorrow night and Naoto works Friday night. I really want the new pot’s maiden voyage to be one that Naoto & I share together, so our first meal in our shiny pot of sunshine will have to wait.

But, we’ve already chosen our first recipe–Braciole! It will be my first attempt at classic Italian cooking…and I promise that I will participate more than usual in the preparation…usually I just grab a glass of wine and watch 😉

I will (hopefully) be back tomorrow with regularly scheduled postings…Mail Call and beautiful fall weather has taken over my life 🙂

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Sep 27 2012
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gardening, home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Home is a 1970s Apartment | The Autumn Balcony

My friend Peggy gifted us her old wicker loveseat last week. I am in love with the thing…it will be a perfect spot to cozy into with a good book next summer (and hopefully a few times this fall). New furniture means musical chairs–moving things around to make it work on the balcony. Since the spring, we’ve had a separate dining and seating areas out there. The wicker seat gives us more seating options for guests and makes it feel a little more living room-y out there. I love it.

Saturday, Naoto and I spent some time outside in the breezy sunshine trying to spruce things up on the balcony for fall. It’s that awkward time in the season when you have fall mums mixing with summery blooms, but–to me–the more blooms the better. (My mom was saying that she hasn’t bought a mum yet because her pink and purple petunias are still blooming like crazy…I told her I solved that problem by killing my petunias off in August!) Next spring, I think we will move the bird feeder and switch around the chairs and loveseat, but for now, we’re going to keep things as is (since most of the furniture will be coming in soon for the winter). I would also love to paint the floor grey–it’s this weird pale hospital-y green now–and get an all-weather area rug and outdoor pillows to make things even more comfortable out there.

The balcony is five by twenty feet, which is both big and small to me…big for an “urban” apartment and small for a girl who dreams of a country home with a wraparound porch. But it works for us to have a little cafe table for two and a seating area out there.

We were super-lucky to furnish and decorate the whole balcony with second hand furniture (the love seat, the green chairs and the black plant cart), sale items (the cafe set, shepherds hooks and all of the pots and plants) and gifts (the bird feeder and all of the bird houses were all made by my dad). We almost bought some stuff at Ikea when we first moved in, but my parents found the green chairs and table on Craigslist for half the price of ONE Ikea chair…isn’t that crazy?! We are so thankful to them for keeping an eye out for good second hand stuff!

Just for good measure (because all of the other posts have before & afters), here is what the balcony looked like when we first moved in…isn’t it amazing what a few flowers and some furniture can do?

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Sep 20 2012
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home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

settling into fall

I’m not a huge fan of smelling up the house with fake fragrance. You can keep your Glade Plug-Ins and that weird air freshener that automatically sprays when you’re in the room. But I do enjoy a nice, subtle candle scent every now and again. And I tend to change out my scents with the season.

My favorite candles lately are Paddywax. I just put away the summery scented Newly Mown Hay. (It smells deliciously of Saturday mornings in my childhood home when all of the neighbors mowed their lawns.) But the days of yard work, flip flops and sunhats are numbered. The air feels crisp and the nights are chilly. It feels so good to sleep under our heavy blanket with the windows open, blowing in fresh fall air.  Yesterday, I pulled out the cold weather candle: Edgar Allan Poe. To me, it smells like fall–nice and spicy warm cardamom, absinthe and sandlewood. I’m going to light it tonight and curl up on the couch with my book club stories for October. We are reading three detective stories, in the spirit of Halloween, and one of them happens to be Poe.

Breaking out the fall candle opens up the gates for fall decorating…and pumpkin lattes…I see some autumn bliss in my future…

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Sep 19 2012
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celebrations

planning…election party 2012

I love politics. I love the strategy, the speeches, the photo-ops, the over-analysis from pundits, the debates, the fact that adults in Washington DC can act like children and somehow it’s totally acceptable… I love how Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert have such a keen eye for the craziness and I love that Saturday Night Live ups its game on election years. (Oh, how the candidates give us so much to laugh about!)

Naoto & I have been hosting election parties since 2004. The party in 2008 was the best, complete with Election Bingo, campaign cocktails, Chicago-style hot dogs and Presley dressing up (under much duress) as an elephant.

There are less than fifty days until election night, and I am in full planning mode. I’ve been stocking up on red, white and blue paper-y goodness, washi tape and (non-partisan) election buttons. I’ve been digging through my collection of vintage political paraphernalia (George H.W. Bush paper dolls, anyone?) I’ve been pinning ideas for cocktails and snacks and decorations like crazy. I’ve been trying to talk Presley into dressing up again. (She put her paw down…she will not be dressing up in 2012.) And I’ve been researching televisions…because we want our guests to be able to see the results on our TV.

That’s what is keeping me busy today. (That and master bath remodel planning…) Do you host an election party and wait up to see the results with all of your friends? Or do you go to bed and catch the news in the morning? And if you’re not in the US, are elections a huge deal where you are?

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Sep 18 2012
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handmade=happiness, homemaking

handmade is happiness #1

Naoto likes to joke that my iPad is my favorite gift (Presley gave it to me for my birthday this year. She is very thoughtful & generous.) While I do use the iPad quite often, I would never consider something hard, cold and electronic as my fave…no matter how much I use it.

But he did get me thinking, what are some of my favorite gifts? So, I’ve decided to share some of my best-loved gifts here on the blog…

One of the first gifts that came to mind are these kitchen towels that my mother made for my wedding shower.

Growing up, I knew my mom had embroidery supplies, but only because we pilfered the floss for friendship bracelets. It never occurred to the childhood me that she actually could embroider…so imagine my surprise when I opened such a heartfelt and handmade gift!

When visitors see the towels hanging in my kitchen, they are sometimes surprised that I use the towels. (What else am I supposed to do with them? Keep them folded up in a drawer?) Well, I do use them, a lot, for everything from drying dishes and drying herbs to sopping up messes (everything I do in the kitchen results in a mess lately) and wearing them as aprons. And every time I use them, I think of my mom, the ultimate mother & homemaker. xoxo

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Sep 13 2012
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home is a 1970s apartment

home is a 1970s apartment | the guest bath

No, Dear Readers, that is not a “before” picture you see above. This IS our guest bath…

Sorry for the weird pictures, but it was difficult for me to capture all that yellow. Yellow walls, yellow trim, yellow floors, yellow sink, yellow bath and yes, a yellow toilet.

The yellow toilet and the yellow bathtub do not bother me very much, but the sink and the vanity are the first things I want to change…that weird fake marble counter top grosses me out. It never looks clean. (P.S. That stack of boxes in the mirror reflection is left over from the mail call mess that needs to be cleaned up today.)

Don’t you love the fancy tile? (The shot above was taken the day we moved in and it actually gives a more accurate depiction of the yellow walls.) I hate the tile, too, but I’m not sure if we’ll ever change it since the shower curtain covers the bath area and the only people who will see it are our occasional guests. Maybe I’ll feel differently if we have kids and the bathroom gets used more. And both of our baths have towel bars in the shower…is this a 70s thing? At first I thought it was weird, but now I think it’s quite handy!

Our apartment had (or still has, in some cases) no shortage of gaudy seventies light fixtures. This gold one with crystal accents is the most ornate of them all (thankfully).

We would like to work on painting and changing out the light fixture and vanity after we do a complete overhaul of the master bath (soon…soon…) I’m thinking we will paint the walls a shade of warm grey (there are beige tones in the flooring to consider) and paint the trim white, like the rest of the apartment. Once we paint, I will also replace that old Martha Stewart (for Kmart!) shower curtain that I’ve had since I moved into my first apartment in 2000. (I still have the matching towels, too…does anyone else hang onto things for so long? I swear I am a reincarnated Depression Era grandma!)

Is it weird that I kind of love that giant gold mirror?

The only art in the room is this screen print from Animal Sleep. I bought it in 2009 and held onto it until we hung it up last year. (I really need to be better about hanging up my art, right?) One of my favorite commercials of all-time is the Rozerem commercial “Your Dreams Miss You” (with the beaver, Abe Lincoln and the diver). This print reminded me of that commercial and of dreaming…it makes me smile every time I wash my hands.

So, that’s the yellow bathroom…and I have to admit it is mild compared to the 1970s goodness of the master bath. What do you think?

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