- The bf and I have been talking about air plants and then I saw these. It’s unanimous. We must have them (or something like them diy style because they’re kinda pricey and that’s how I roll). (from etsy shop Mudpuppy)
- I’ve been playing around with headers for the blog ever since Thesis updated with an easy header uploader. I’ll probably be changing them on the regular since I get bored pretty easily. Also, ever since I downloaded PhotoMix and realized I could add text, I’ve been back to downloading free fonts like a maniac. I had thousands of fonts when I was a teen but lost them all in The Great Crash of 1998. What. A. Dork. (I had +/- 30 pen pals at one time and took my letter writing seriously.) Fontspace is my favorite source for free fonts since they have everything and you can type your own text in and see what it will look like as you browse.
- This great Tom Binns cuff has the lyrics to The Smiths classic song, “How Soon is Now?” engraved on it. Nowhere in the description at Net-A-Porter do they attribute the song. I think they should. (Update – they added the song info! Yay!)
- So, you know the bf’s baby got fried by a roof leak on August 5th… his baby being a 100-lb wall-mounted 50″ flat screen plasma TV that he just bough in May. Well… I calmed him down in the middle of the crisis with the reassurance that we have renter’s insurance. “It’s okay honey! We’re covered! We’re responsible adults and covered our asses!” I filed a claim, the adjuster came out, they contacted the landlord to confirm damage, etc. Everything seemed to be rolling along just fine until a woman called to tell me that because there wasn’t an actual hole in the ROOF, but rather flashing that needed to be re-tarred, we weren’t covered. Okay. What? I lost it. I could feel violent rage surging through every cell in my body. I cut her off and launched into a tirade, “Oh, I get it. This is one of your weaselly loopholes to get out of paying for our damage. Okay well, I need to calm down before we discuss this any further but I can promise you that I will not be renewing our policy with Allstate and I will NEVER seek out your services for any other property I may need insured in the future!” and I hung up on her. The bf and I looked over the policy and there was nothing stating any of this crap. An hour later and I am still vibrating on the inside but I will definitely be calling someone else tomorrow and figuring out this load of total bullshit. (I swear to god, it just never quits!)
I have two Marimekko pieces… the bf got this shower curtain and piece of fabric for me for X-mas last year. My dad made a wooden panel and it’s hanging in our bedroom. They’ve been around for so long, even my mom had their fabric framed, hanging in her first apartment.
shower curtain
enormous wall hanging
Their Autumn fabrics are now out and I can’t say I like many of them at all for wall hangings, pillows, upholstery, anything. They used to have a lot of variety. You could get these big retro patterns but you could also find an intricate clean repeat. What do you think? I think it looks dingy, boring and old… and not in that good old way.
- This past Tuesday I got a wild hair and finally redid our bathroom floor. Much like the situation in our kitchen, it was a mess but much more livable. The landlord has hired some real asshats to do work in this building. We had black marble vinyl tiles (Who am I? Liberace?). They were laid down sloppily and there were ripples. I removed up to three layers of old flooring in some spots! We also have a claw foot tub and they never once managed to put the flooring under it! Who does that? It never felt totally clean. I understand older Victorian homes in the Fan district are full of these charming little qualities (this is a college town so why is the landlord gonna care?) and I knew our apartment was a diamond in the rough but come the hell on! Do a good job when you fix something! I got three boxes of discounted out-of-print peel & stick tiles from the same weird place I got the kitchen tiles from. The only neutral thing they had was a grey stone-like pattern. Fine. If I weren’t renting, I wouldn’t put this pattern in my home (or peel & stick tiles for that matter) but whatever. It’s clean. It’s bright. It’s done. (I still need to crawl on the floor to reach and paint the neglected trim beside the tub and repaint the claw feet.) Decades of funk have been removed from my home. $27 and 5 hours of work. (Oh, and my crappy little vacuum decided to fart a dust cloud so, 1 hour of that was spent letting the dust settle and then wiping down every surface in there. Fun.)
- I got approached to do my first product review and I’m really pleased with how it all went down. No one tried to sway me into a positive review nor did they ask for any specifics other than the links I already had in mind. I was compensated with being able to pick out a couple products I adore. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do it more often for companies that I believe in. Blogging about fashion is pretty much a giant product review anyhow so it only makes sense! The post is coming soon so keep an eye out!
- Here’s a big fat review right here – the (corded so it doesn’t run out of steam, heh heh) Shark Steam Mop. I am so very in love with this thing! Get a gallon of distilled water and go to town. The pads are machine washable. The first time you use it, you may get some streaking from all the residue other cleaners have left behind. For $60, this eliminates chemicals and replacement pads a la Swiffer and your floors are sanitized by the power of scalding steam.
- This blog has been at a new host for over a week now and I love it! There’s a lot more you can do with the WordPress.org platform on your own paid hosting site regarding plug-ins/widgets, ads, backups, etc. If any of you need advice on switching over from WordPress.com to the .org platform, please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. I will gladly walk you through the process. It does take a week to transfer over an existing domain. Ugh.
- Isn’t this jewelry catchall adorable? Find it here.
- I don’t have Photoshop so I was looking for something similar to Polyvore where I could add pictures to make a collage of sorts. Snapfiles is where I always go to find freeware software and it’s where I found FotoMix. I think a lot of you will enjoy using it. It’s super easy to figure out. The white background works well for the Polyvore style layouts. I also got Poladroid. It will make any picture look like a Polaroid! You can play with the settings for smudges and tilts. Here’s my first one. God I love her makeup! (at Katie Gallagher)
- Finally switched from IE to Firefox. I feel so 2005… like finally giving up an AOL or Hotmail email address.
- Oh! I found out that the cholesterol medication Lipitor can cause anterograde amnesia (unable to form new memories), which is exactly what my mom has been experiencing for a frustrating 2+ years now. I talked to her doctor and they switched her to something else. Keep your fingers crossed that this mess will settle down since we were seriously thinking it was Alzheimer’s or dementia.
- I’ve been pondering the time wasted on over-explaining and dumbing down. Lately, there’s been a radio commercial asking people to bring their Civil War memorabilia to a show like Antiques Roadshow. They say that they want to hear your stories, where it came from, family history etc. I wondered why they wasted radio time when they could have just said, “prepare to give provenance”. I really dislike when people tease the use of a “five dollar word“. Those beautiful concise words that sum up entire concepts are my favorite! (Is there a word for that?) I think when you cater to a deficiency, you encourage it. Why is it so hard to look things up and learn something new instead of complaining when someone is proficient with the English language? PS: my friend MJ‘s boss sent her this and I just about died (I love semicolons):
- I’m seriously thinking about buying a foreclosure home. Not now (maybe in a few years) but I’m researching FHA loans and the entire process. It’s a serious long-term goal I’m setting for myself. It’s too far off for the bf to panic but my parents are being super supportive. Considering my mom was a real estate agent & FHA inspector and my father owns a construction company, I have access to tools, discounted supplies, advice and help. We’re a land investment type of family. I’ve stepped up my game on saving up for a down payment. I’m getting my ducks in a row all Suze Orman style over here! Whether we’d like to live in the home or flip it after some fixing up, this will all be based on situation, location and the state of the property (and the economy) upon purchase. At this point, it’s all about patience, saving up and research. Scary exciting stuff!
- I finally went to the South of the James Farmer’s Market. I am in love with that place and so glad it’s going on until December 4th! I bought grass-fed beef from a local farmer for cheaper than at the grocery store. (It comes frozen and sealed so you can make it back home safely.) We bought beautiful heirloom cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, blackberries, and had tacos and breakfast burritos. I’m getting flowers, bread and more next time! Perfect way to throw together a special weekend dinner and get yourself out of the house on a Saturday morning. Here’s a Flickr pool of Richmond farmer’s market photos.
- This particular comic is wonderful! It compares Orwell and Huxley’s fears for our future. Yeah, we’re screwed.
- For all you suckers out there (I’m one of them), aren’t these lipsticks adorable? Of course, after a few uses, they’ve lost their charm but good grief! So cute! $25 each here. (via and all over the web now because us suckers for cute… we are legion)
- Oh hey! Did you notice I changed the look of my + & – posts? No big deal but I think it’s simple and cute!
- This post from DI$COUNT about what luxury is to them… yes.
- This entry from Postcards from Yo Mamma. Seriously, why? It happens to me all the time.
- The bf went out of town two weekends ago. While he was gone, I picked up a box of his favorite chocolates. He brought me back French tarts from a bakery we love in Maryland. This is why I have my next entry in the minuses…
- I don’t own a scale and judge my weight by my jeans. There’s no denying they’ve been a bit snug lately but the cold hard truth hurts. I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago and got weighed. I’m back to the most I ever weighed, about 2 years ago- 128lbs. Two years ago it was sitting on my ass drinking beer. This time, I barely drink, and it’s from sitting on my ass and bad food choices. This may not be a big deal to some of you but it’s kind of a big deal to me. I like the way I feel and look when I’m around 120. My body does not like this extra weight. My skin changes. I physically feel like yuck. I’m only 5’1″ and it means that if I don’t reign it in, I have to buy new clothes and I am NOT buying a new wardrobe because of laziness and shoving cheese in my face. Things have gotten real around here in the food department. It’s salad time but, I hate the gym. Hate it. I would rather all that sweat and effort have some instant results so, hard labor is more my style. Yard work, psychotic cleaning, etc. It’s on.
- We had a big rainstorm on Thursday and on the sofa, while I was being a dork on my laptop and the bf was being a dork on his Xbox, we heard a loud pop. The bf saw a flash of light and the TV cut off then back on. We sat stunned for a second wtf-ing a lot and then ran to check it out. Water. From the ceiling. Leaking. On the 50″ plasma TV the bf bought himself after his tax refund. His baby. Fuck. It’s still working but of course something has been fried. How crucial? No clue. Thank god for renter’s insurance. I’m gonna make a call on Monday and see what we need to do. Oh, and the landlord needs to fix that leak.
I keep seeing these wonderful prints I want on my walls. I never wanted to decorate with small wall hangings. It starts to feel messy. A few large pieces were fine with me but now, I’m starting to justify a few groupings in my head because these prints are so great!
All from Little Paper Planes. Click picture to be taken to it.
Someone is finally selling prints of particle tracks officially licensed from CERN. I am sooooo excited. I have been searching for so long. I even wrote to CERN to see if they were selling prints but they have bigger fish to fry. Media Storehouse has them in different sizes, framed and unframed.
I want to get a few of them in smaller sizes and hang them together. These are the ones I’m considering. Sorry about the watermarks. Nerds unite!
Bubble chamber particle tracks. Coloured image showing a collection of tracks left by subatomic particles in a bubble chamber. A bubble chamber is a container filled with liquid hydrogen which is superheated – momentarily raised above its normal boiling point by a sudden drop in pressure in the container. Any charged particle passing through the liquid in this state leaves behind a trail of tiny bubbles as the liquid boils in its wake. These bubbles are seen as fine tracks, showing the characteristic paths of different types of particle. The paths are curved due to an intense applied magnetic field. The tightly-wound spiral tracks are due to electrons and positrons.
*
*
*
Streamer chamber photograph of 220 charged subatomic particles spilling out from the collision of a high-energy oxygen nucleus with a nucleus in a lead target. The picture was obtained by the NA35 experiment at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory outside Geneva. In addition to the 220 charged particles that leave a track in the streamer chamber, physicists estimated that a further 80 electrically neutral (& therefore invisible) particles were created in the collision. From a run in November 1986.
*
No idea who nominated me, and it was most likely a joke but, being in the list of contenders for RVANews’ Class of 2010 as “most artistic”, is hilarious to me. Last year, my blog was nominated as “best kept secret”. I of course didn’t win that and I won’t win this.
If you want to check out what makes me so gosh darn artistic (other than my general love for amazing works by others), check out these posts of copy-cat art I’ve done on the cheap for my apartment. post 1, post 2.
This post will help you make your own.
The floor pillows are done! I made them yesterday and it took less than 1.5 hours! I’m not going to give you a huge tutorial on making pillows because it’s the easiest thing on earth to sew (next to curtains).
I did not make removable covers. A lot of people are using pillow forms inside covers these days and a small 12″x12″ form will run you about $7. (Enough polyfil to stuff two 12″ pillows is about $5.) Making pillow covers is also more complicated than simply sewing two pieces of fabric together and they don’t make forms big enough for what I was doing. I simply bought poly-fil and stuffed the hell out of them and finished the hole under the sewing machine.
Home decor fabric comes rolled up on a tube and not folded on a bolt like most garment fabric. You get a piece that is usually 54″ wide with upholstery fabric and about 44-45″ wide (folded in half on the bolt) with normal fabric. Get your measurements straight and give yourself about 3-4 extra inches of both length and width for uneven cuts at the store, selvage (the finished edge by the manufacturer that could interfere with your print) and to give yourself a 1″ edge away from your stitch (seam allowance).
My pillows are rectangular because for each pillow I got 1 yard of 54″ fabric = 1 pillow a bit under 36″ x 27″ (I only had to pay for 1 yard for each pillow = $24 total)
I didn’t use pins because the fabric was heavy and I didn’t iron because I’m lazy and really didn’t need to.
After I had sewn all the edges with a 1″ seam allowance, leaving about an 8″ hole for stuffing, I trimmed the corners so they wouldn’t bunch up and turned them right side out.
via
I poked the corners out from the inside with the tips of my scissors so they would be clean. Now, this is the part where most people would stuff and finish the hole and be done but, I wanted finished flange edges so, with the pillows right side out, I ran the edges under the sewing machine again, about 1/3″ in. This also gives the edges some extra reinforcement.
So then I stuffed and stuffed and stuffed some more and closed them up under the sewing machine, which was a pain in the ass and really should’ve been done by hand, but whatever.
Here they are! They’re super puffy right now but the bf is already lounging all over them so, they’ll flatten out a bit soon enough.
If you have any sewing questions, please feel free to ask!
<!--
