Under a blue moon

Friday's Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

• Love these measuring spoons from Anthropologie. Question: Do you keep your measuring spoons all together on the ring or do you separate them?  I keep them together but everytime I wash them after using just one of them I'm wondering how practical this is
• Gah!
• I love this idea of little libraries popping up all over the place.  
• Very cute balloon banner
• I am so trying this: Easy corn shucking (once we replace our microwave which just blew up....)

I should just change this blog to "Friday's Favorites"  as it is all I can seem to manage these past few weeks.  Work is the usual culprit.  Ah well - I have a job and it is keeping me busy.  I need to be thankful for that.

Meanwhile I have all kinds of small, perfectly blog worthy projects stacking up.  Once I get a little breathing room I'll have something to blog about.

I hope everyone is having a splendid Friday and has nothing but relaxation and fun on the agenda for the weekend!

Friday's Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

• Did you know that Anthropologie has their own Pinterest page?  They do!
• Ikea has a fun line of picnic wares that is very reminiscent of Liberty of London.  Cute napkins and cups (among other items)
• Sundance has some lovely earrings.  Modern or classic or sparkly (I seriously covet those sparkly one - very dainty. Wish they had a CZ version)
• Old Faithful Shop has that branding that sucks me in.  Clean and vaguely retro.  I have this colander and it is one of my favorite kitchen item.
• Coldplay AND stop motion video!

Yay!  Friday!!  What a busy work week this was.  We are taking full advantage of the gorgeous weather promised and we'll be working out in the garden.  We have a bunch of new plants to get into the ground including a crabapple tree.  One of the things we have always wanted is a pretty crabapple tree and now we have one.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

 

Friday's Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

• Love these simple planners in gorgeous colors.  I want one of each (via Creature Comforts) 
• 15 things you should give up to be happy
• Another cute graphic print I need to add to my (imaginary) collection.
• Gorgeous decorating photographed by one of my favorite photographers
• Pretty cameo 

The weather has finally turned a corner around here and it is gorgeous out.  We are scheduled to have a pretty warm weekend though - up in the high 80's.  I swear we have the shortest Springs on record. Every year is seems like we get about a week or two break between Winter and Summer.

I have a couple of projects I'm working on (to be mentioned later...) this weekend and we are having a house guest on Saturday.  Pretty full schedule!  

Have a lovely weekend everyone and Happy Friday!

4.18.12

I'll warn you - this post is going to be rambling and opinionated.  And ironic since I am basically going to be opinionated about other people opinions.

A week or so ago I shared a link to Apartment Therapy's Small Cool Contest.  I have so enjoyed seeing all the entries and how creative people can be with a small space and with expressing their own creative style.  Mind you these are people sharing their personal spaces - not designers show-casing their work.  Real people living in real homes.

I am really shocked (and a wee bit cranky) at how opinionated and rude some of the commentary is.  The rules for the contest are simple - if you like someone's space then 'favorite' it and the entry with the most favorites wins.  So to me it seems logical that the opposite of that would be to just skip over the entries that aren't your style.  But my goodness do people have to weigh in with their not so constructive critiques of the entries they don't like.  

Okay so organizing your books by color is not your thing - then don't do it.  Don't like animal skins in your decor - then don't do it.  Don't like a lot of stuff displayed - then don't do it.  No need to tell the contestant how ugly you think it is.  

The books by color thing is definitely a hot topic with very clear camps.  Personally it doesn't work for me because I *have* to have my books organized by height.  I also don't care for the color orange - so I don't use it.  Doesn't mean those that do are somehow wrong with their decorating choices.

I also see comments about certain trends being overdone (chalkboard paint, cardboard deer head, ikat anything...) or cliched.  Who cares? If it makes someone happy, and no one is making YOU do it, then what is the problem?

Don't get me wrong - I am *very* opinionated about what I like and don't like.  But I wouldn't tell someone that I thought their decorating choices were wrong.  And I would only offer up an opinion if specifically asked and I would do it politely.  

I'm not sure why this is making me so cranky today.  I think it's because it appears general good manners are on the decline as people are more freely able to interact anonymously.  The old adages 'if you don't have anything nice to say...' or 'if you wouldn't say it to someone's face...' really hold true nowadays.  And prefacing your opinion with 'No offense..' or 'I don't mean to be rude...' doesn't negate the bad manners.

Okay enough of that.  I just realized my magazines are out of order and I need to fix them.

Friday's Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

• Tutorial on DIY labeling for jars or cannisters.  I want to try it in white so it has a faux etching effect (for those of us in the US I found the products on Amazon and Ebay)
• Pricy but adorable Spring or Summer purse
• I adore this map idea for a child's room.  
• Pretty, sparkly earrings.  Nuf said....
• I've been having a nice email exchange with Dionne in England. She has an adorable brick and mortar shop where she sells all manner of lovely things including her very own cards.  She also has a website that showcases her designs.  I think my favorite are the La Femme series.

We have been having some weather around here.  Thunder, lightening, hail.  I wandered down to the creek yesterday afternoon and it hasn't quite spilled over its banks yet but it is close.  

So this weekend I intend to stay inside where it is warm and dry and work on a couple of projects.  

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

4.12.12

This past Winter we were wondering where all our rain was.  What a mild Winter we are having, we said.  Well it turns out April was stockpiling all the rain.  

It makes for a very gloomy indoors but outdoors everything is turning a lush, vibrant green. 

We are lucky to have these huge picture windows in our living room that overlook a big lawn and the trees below.  It does give the interior a bit of green glow.  Maybe we shouldn't have picked green carpet and a green couch.

(I left the shoes in the shot because that is just how it is around here.  I have shoes everywhere.  As soon as I sit down I kick them off.  Just keeping it real....)

This picture gives you a better idea of how green it is out there. After months of grey and brown the green is a welcome change.  Not visible in any of these pictures are all the azaleas and camelias that are blooming.  If it wasnt pouring rain I'd go out and take a picture for you.  They add a lovely bright pink to the landscape.

I would also go out and take a look at the creek to make sure it isn't in danger of flooding.

I hope where ever you are you are enjoying a lovely Spring and that you are staying dry.

 

4.9.12

Every Easter I like to make treat bags for all the kids.  Okay the kids are between the ages of 19-32 but who wouldn't like getting a treat bag?

The ones I made this year would work for any occasion, not just Easter.   The blog post I found them on was dedicated to Valentine's Day.  They would be cute for a tea party, a bridal shower, for Mother's Day, May Day, a birthday party; really - just about anything.

I found them on Oh Happy Day!

The were very simple to make and your only limitation is to what color crepe paper you can find.  If I was going to do them for a bridal shower I might skip the yellow stamen and dip the end of the toothpick in glue and then glitter for a little sparkle.  

 

Friday's Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

• Absolutely the most gorgeous DIY Easter Eggs.  I would do them in a soft turquoise too
• Clever Easter cupcakes
• Keeping with the Easter theme - I love this painting by Toshio Ebine
• Some Etsy prettiness for your Friday: Vintage baby brush and comb * Boullion cups and saucers * Teapot
• I'm having so much fun looking at all the entries for the Apartment Therapy Small Cool 2012 contest.  Can you even imagine living in the teeny tiny category?  Yet they make it look so doable

This week went by fast - I've been in class for the past two days which is a definite change of pace for me.  I have to actually get dressed and look presentable to go into the office.  

I hope you have a relaxing weekend and lovely Easter Festivities if you celebrate.  We are doing our usual extravagant brunch.  I have some treat bags again this year (here are last years) that I'll share on Monday.

4.4.12

Just a quick post on a quick project.  I have had this hose-bib hose hanger** for years.  Not sure where or when I got it but I've had it for about 10 years.  It started out white but years of sprinklers and inclement weather have taken their toll.

It didn't matter that it was slowly rusting because it was hidden behind a rose bush.  

When we did the landscaping work last Summer we removed all the plants along the front of the house (where the hose hanger lived). They have since been replaced with lower growing plants and the rusty old hose hanger stood out (and not in a good way).

We also did some work at the back of the house - replacing the decrepit walkway behind the garage.  

I decided the hose hanger could live back there but would need a face lift since it would be very noticeable (no hiding behind a rosebush).

This was an easy fix.  I just took a wire brush to it and scrubbed away at any loose paint and dirt.  Then I painted it with a rust inhibiting spray paint in a dark grey/brown color.  

I ended up putting three coats on the front and two on the back.  My painting skills are really deficient but I am getting a little better with spray paint.  The trick is multiple light coats.  No rushing (as I am wont to do).  

This isn't a very glamorous after shot, it is the backside of the garage after all, but I like how tidy it looks.  The hose was just in a heap on the walkway prior to hanging it.  We will fill the area with some stones to keep the dirt from splashing up on wall.   We just planted some hydrangeas and rhododendrons in the planting bed.  They are joining the azaleas that we transplanted from the front of the house last Summer.  Hopefully they will fill in quickly and provide some color and interest along the backside of the garage.  

 **I've been calling it the wrong thing for years!  It's not a hose-bib (which is the faucet) it is a hose hanger.  Sheesh.  Slinking off now....

 

4.2.12

My sister Kate and I hit up the Alameda Antique Faire on Sunday.  

We met up around 9:30 (after a rather harrowing romp through a very shady part of Oakland thanks in part to a misguided GPS system and in part on my absolute lack of direction) and braved the biting winds. No rain but my goodness was the wind sharp and cold. 

My plan (and $100 budget) was to buy vintage European linens but the two vendors that were there last Summer were nowhere to be found this time around. 

Both of us were rather bewildered by the predominance of mundane items (say - a burlap pillow or a jelly jar) that bore the Chanel logo. It was weird.  Does anyone think that the house of Chanel is really licensing their image to be slapped on a poorly constructed throw pillow made out of landscaping fabric from the Home Depot?  I don't think so.

There was a great selection of chandeliers and dressers.  And one perfectly formed skeleton that Kate was eyeing (it was a little bit out of her budget).

The one thing we did see that both of us loved was a birdhouse that wasn't for sale.  It was being used to keep the vendor's tablecloth from flying away in the wind.  I did take a picture of it.  Kate and I are pretty sure we know a couple of guys that could build us one.

 

I ended up buying a small table that I thought had a pleasing shape and is perfectly sized for a bedside table.  I have one of the those spindly decorator rounds covered with a tablecloth in the guest room that I've been wanting to replace for years.  Not bad for $40.

(sorry for the next two pictures - my camera batteries died and these were taken with my cellphone)

If anyone has been to the Alameda Antique Faire you know it is acres and acres of vendors - and it never fails that I'll find some large, bulky thing at the farthest point from the front entrance so I (and anyone hapless enough to be with me) have to lug it about two miles back to my car.

I also bought a doorbell cover plate.  I don't even know if I can retrofit it so it will work at our front door.  Right now we have a plastic, rectangle affair.  I'll need to see if I can find a round button type doorbell to fit.  

So even though my linen vendors were missing it still was a pretty productive day.