day 21- delicious
dinner! bangers and mash! with baked beans and beer! i forgot to take this picture right away, so i’d had one bite…
day 22- kitchen sink
you’ve seen it before, and you’ll see it again. i found that marble cutting board thrifting. i like that it adds a bit of luxe to the kitchen. before moving into this apartment, i’d never really had my own kitchen, as i was always sharing with my grandparents or roommates. it caught me by surprise just how much i love having a kitchen, collecting cooking tools or random kitchen-y things (i have a surplus of cream pitchers & sugar bowls. and salt & pepper shakers. and teapots.) i love thinking about use of the space, and the best layout, and making tiny improvements. and while i never minded cooking before, having a kitchen of my own really made me enjoy puttering around and cooking more. i still have a lot to learn about cooking, but i do much more, much better than i did before.
in other news, remember this hat that i made? and how i sent it to vanawesone? well, he just made a video that very heavily features the hat i made him! so… i’m sharing it with you guys!
fave friday! this week: eames lounger!
oh, eames lounger… someday when i live someplace larger and have more disposable income… maybe then we can be together. don’t hold your breath until then, dear.
Source: zittel.wordpress.com via Eliza @ ifandany on Pinterest
as it says, from zittel.wordpress.com, more specifically from this post (how cool is that?!)
Source: the-brick-house.com via Eliza @ ifandany on Pinterest
found from an inspiration post from the brick house. also, those cacti are AMAZING.
Source: manhattan-nest.com via Eliza @ ifandany on Pinterest
from this post from manhattan nest. and he got that beautiful white lounger from maya:
Source: the-brick-house.com via Eliza @ ifandany on Pinterest
who doesn’t have a blog, but occasionally other bloggers who know her will give a sneak peak of her place (this is from brick-house).
and while we’re on the subject of white leather eames loungers, this was the most recent sighting:
from designsponge’s sneak peak of grace hsiu’s husky ranch, which i loved all of (didn’t hurt that morgan of the brick house helped out the styling…).
anybody else have something extravagant that they dream of having someday? tell me more!
day 8- window
a little prism in one of the few windows that gets direct sunlight in our apartment. it makes the little rainbows all that much sweeter for being rare.
day 9- red
the blumen girl i bought myself in dresde. i have a great-aunt who lives in germany who would bring me blumen girls each visit when i was a little girl. so last spring, when i was there, i was absolutely delighted when i found them in a store. this one doesn’t really go with the blumen girls of my childhood, but i like her very much. she is kept company by my diamond-toothed donkey-thugs/hellhounds.
the kitchen vignettes have been changing again. so, of course, i must update all of you as well.
my bedside. i dislike this lamp… but it works consistently, and that is more than i can say for my chosen bedside lamp. i recently pinned a lamp rewiring tutorial, so maybe i’ll give it a shot sometime and fix up my pretty lamp. i also love me some frack hack, but i also know myself well enough to know that it’s doubtful that the bed will stay in exactly the same spot…
other things about my bedside table: my father-in-law made the headboard and each of our bedside tables. i traded with a girl in my ceramics class for the little bowl.
i’ve been busy this weekend, doing things, fixing things, making things, but also drilling holes that didn’t work out, and making messes that will take a bit to clean up. bah humbug. but let’s focus on the positive, shall we?
but i made brussel sprouts with garlic, and jake fried up the eggs. recipe from nat the fat rat, and i hung this knife rack very successfully, though! slowly but surely, i’m buying us more counter space!
i’ll get some pictures of some of the other things i accomplished this weekend and share them with you!
this year i tried to use mostly recycled materials for gift wrapping. newspaper, seasonal paper shopping bags, leftover postcards (i like postcards, but i never send them…), scrap yarn, or reused wrapping materials.
the tree has never really reached a state of completion. we just keep adding things to it. some silver tinsel garlands… and then i decided to make the owl more seasonal and made a leetle silver pipe cleaner halo.
i have a hard time figuring out what to wear to certain kinds of events… cocktail parties, weddings, church on christmas eve. i stress about it. so here, for my own records, is what i wore to to church on christmas eve this year:
(forgive the photo quality. it was the evening part of christmas eve.)
gifts both necklaces
target grey cardigan
jones new york ruffly blouse from eons ago
forever21 belt
j crew, thrifted grey wool skirt
h&m tights
it’s a mystery! boots
dkny, thrifted my seasonally bright green coat
i find with every passing year, i get a little more festive. about every holiday. and i LOVE me a christmas tree. most of my childhood and young adulthood involved fake trees. pulled out from storage at the right time, they were incredibly convenient. but where oh where is the romance in convenience? don’t bother looking, it ain’t there.
at this point in my life i don’t mind wrestling a real tree. i don’t mind finding pine needles all year long every time i clean.
i love the hunt. i love the smell. i love putting on some corny movie to partially watch. i love unwrapping the ornaments. some from jake’s childhood and family, and some from mine. and some that we have accumulated together.
it’s grand, innit?
some details. apparently it’s really hard to find a christmas tree after 5 pm on a sunday night. who knew? we tried about three places, and fortunately, lowe’s was open til 7. so at 6:55 we scampered into lowe’s, didn’t get too picky in our selection, and walked out with a christmas tree. her name is agatha christ-tree. because i enjoy amusing myself. we don’t have a proper tree topper (yet), so we’ve been using this owl piggy bank. i have tenative plans to spray paint it silver. maybe. for now i’m perfectly pleased with it the way it is.
how goes your holiday decorating? knitting? gift-purchasing? baking?
banana republic outlet black cardigan & grey boatneck tee
handmade necklace!!!!
target skinny jeans
kmart blowfish bootie knockoffs that i bought right before an out of town outdoor wedding when it was pouring rain. it then proceeded to clear right up, and i changed into the sandals i’d intended to wear for the reception.
necklace! inspired by this here pin (pretty, right?). i bought the silver and red beads at joanne’s during the pinterest challenge week, but they never turned into anything. then i found the above referenced pin and knew just what to do with them. so the next time i passed a bead shop, i scrounged around in there until i found the black beads. strung on fishing line, which i just knotted at the back, and then i (very carefully) held over a flame until the knot kind of melted together.
what else is new in the kitchen, you ask? oh, thanks for asking!
we finally hung the pendant that i got on sale at west elm the day of my mini-spree! 1 sale pendant shade + 1 ikea light kit = new softer kitchen light! whooo! or, more direct light for my kitchen crafting! whee!
marble cutting board, found at a village discount outlet for $2.
remember how i put up that wish list recently? well… does anything below look familiar?
target blouse, cardigan
j crew green chinos
unknown quantity braided belt
halsingers my comfy clogs
canvas gifted bag!
i happened to mention my wish list (maybe a little loudly) around my grandparents, and they totally heard me! so i got an early christmas present! wheee! it’s massive. i could, for example, fit an entire litter of kittens in it. or, more specifically, sgt. grumbles and soy sauce. do you think joe and tessa would miss them? probably not, right?
in other news, i’m totally sick right now. i revert to a giant child when i’m ill. mind you, i’m always this close to being a giant child anyways, so it isn’t hard. advil cold and sinus and tea are my current constant companions.
i’ve had a request to show off some of my recent aquisitions! i got this butter dish at west elm, where it battled it out with this owl to come home with me. but form + function won over form by it’s lonesome. shown here with my jugenstil tile from a berlin flea market (forgive my pretensions, i just get so much joy out of being able to say stuff like that), our two sugar bowls (yeah, we need two. we’re just that sweet), and my little salt & peeper.
as an interlude before i re-start my sweater, i knit up a quick hat:
it still needs some blocking.
lately, i’ve been dreaming of using maps to wallpaper a room….
(plus i always love those vertical bookcases.)
or just a wall.
now i just need to pick a wall… and amass some maps.
(both pictures found on pinterest. first one from here, second one… doesn’t seem to have an origin. if anyone knows, let me know, and i will give credit where credit is due!)
as summer is starting to wind down…
i worked on something that i’ve been planning for a while.
mums are easy to keep alive, right? i’ll give it a try!
nommy nom noms.
i need to get these re-soled. has anyone done that before? how much does it usually cost?
the only kerchief i own is the same color i’m painting the bathroom.
and a quick shawlette is getting knit up! (the scarf is done, and awaiting pictures…)
ifandany 