The final post of 2008!

I'm the first to admit that New Years' Eve is a totally overrated holiday. Every year that I try to plan something awesome and fun, I end up asleep or on the subway at midnight, or in one case, bedridden with tonsillitis in London. This year, i.e. tonight, I'm working at the Hong Kong, serving up scorpion bowls in the wee and first hours of 2009.

But one thing I do take take seriously is New Years' resolutions. And I've decided that the problem with them is accountability. We all make resolutions, or at least most of us do, but we keep them to ourselves. This is so that when we eat a half-bag of microwave popcorn and watch Cheers reruns at 3 a.m., like I did last night, no one can say "Gee, Katie, remember how you resolved to eat more nutritiously, be more active, and go to bed at a reasonable hour?" Instead, you can quietly fail and no one is the wiser.

So I'm putting my resolutions on this blog for all (i.e. my 9 readers) to see. And I'm giving you permission to nag me if I break them in the first six months of '09.

1. Do more yoga

All-One Yoga in Allston is a 5-min. walk from my house and they have a student discount, so really, there is no excuse. Plus, my ineptness probably gives others hope and confidence, so it could be argued that my presence in a yoga class serves a greater good.

2. Create a daily writing schedule and stick to it

I'm one semester into grad school and while I'm writing more, I'm still not writing every day. And I should. I should get my ass out of bed at a reasonable hour and write.

3. Submit to literary magazines and journals

I'm sure I'll get rejected my first few times at bat, but I need to at least start attempting to get published somewhere other than on this blog.

4. Eat better

I offer yesterday's food log as evidence: 1 cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese, 1 coffee, 7 beers (I went to a free tasting at the Harpoon brewery!), onion rings, fries and mac 'n cheese at Roadhouse (shared among 4 people...don't judge), 1/2 bag of microwave popcorn, 4 graham crackers with peanut butter spread on them

5. Pay off my Capital One Visa

Seriously, the interest rate is like 26% or something. I resolve to get rid of this card every year and but can't seem to get the motherfucker out of my wallet. I don't even use it, but with the accrued interest, I can't seem to pay it off.

I think 5 is good number of resolutions. I could go on with a minor list of easily achievable things (like mail back the Ulysses S. Grant biography manuscript that I decided not to copyedit back in October before the author presses legal action), but this feels like a solid "to-do in 2009" list.

Happy New Years'!


(maybe resolution #6 should be to stop using lame stock photography on my blog....)

Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year 2009 to you all out there. So glad to have made so many friends and gotten to know heaps of you better through your homes, your work and your comments on this blog :)

Thanks for making my world all that much more colourful and rich. :)

My new {Family} Poster

No one in my family (not even 2 year old Hannah) or circle of friends like Nicola. Only I do. The frame needs replacing, sure but Nicola herself is in great condition! There's just something about her gentleness, her poise...

Anyway. Fact is fact: No one likes it.

So under subtle hints from husband and 2 year old Hannah, the in laws, the rellies, the friends, I got it replaced. (Plus I have to admit, it does seem odd her hanging there solo above the fireplace when she's not our ancestor or friend or my portrait :P)

Now that space is replaced with my newest poster, {Family}.



I love it, although I wish it were larger but I couldn't afford the print price plus framing in view of recent more urgent needs. One day! :)

I'd love to do one for you in your own custom colour and size choices! Contact me via my paperbean design website :) (link above on left)

Caroling, caroling

I am a big fan of Christmas music. On my iPod, I have a playlist with 70+ holiday songs on it, from artists as diverse as Judy Garland and Bing Crosby to Mariah Carey and the Muppets. And it occurs to me that pretty much all Christmas songs fit into one of three cateogories: dirty, depressing, and stupid/juvenile.

Dirty Christmas carols, you ask? Whatever do you mean? My stepdad is responsible for pointing this first example out to me. Take a gander at the lyrics to "Santa Claus Got Stuck in my Chimney," which was originally recorded by Ella Fitzgerald in 1960:

Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney
Stuck in my chimney, stuck in my chimney
Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney
When he came last year.

There he was in the middle of my chimney
Roly-poly, fat and round
There he was in the middle of my chimney
Not quite up and not quite down

Santa please come back to my chimney
Back to my chimney, back to my chimney
Santa please come back to my chimney
You can come back here.

Wow, right? The song takes the vagina-as-chimney metaphor really far.

I also think the allegedly innocent "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is open to myriad interpretations. I know that we're supposed to assume that what the kid sees (and misunderstands) is his dad dressed up as Santa and his mom kissing his dad. But I always think about the other possibility-- that dad is upstairs asleep while mom is playing tonsil hockey with the 19-year-old mall Santa. Or I imagine another verse -- where after Mommy kisses and tickles Santa, things progress to less PG-13-rated events. "Then I saw Mommy fellating Santa Claus..."

"Santa Baby," about a greedy woman who wants the deed to a diamond mine and a new car among other things, also has a naughty feel to it...though I think the song would be awesome
if sampled in a remix of Kanye West's "Gold-Digger." You know, to give it more contemporary
relevance.

The second category, the Depressing Songs, is where all my favorites are. I like my pop culture super sad, as is evidenced by my love of Richard Yates and Patsy Cline. Songs like "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "White Christmas" play up the more emotionally confusing part of Christmas-- the moments where, after too much spiked eggnog, you start thinking about Christmases past and get nostalgic about ex-lovers and dead relatives.

The mother of all depressing Christmas songs is of course the oft-covered "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The history of the song, which was written for the film Meet Me in St. Louis, is quite fascinating and even has its own Wikipedia page. Now the lyrics seem tame, but the original lyrics? Wrist-slitting material. Check it out:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Pop that champagne cork
Next year we may all be living in New York

No good times like the olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us no more

But at least we all will be together
If the Lord allows
From now on, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

See what I mean? Now we sing about hanging stars on shiny boughs and all that bullshit. When really, the song is about "muddling through" life. Pass the schnapps!

Finally, the stupid/juvenile carols. I HATE THESE. Examples include "Grandma Got Run Over by
a Reindeer" and "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." These songs really should
just disappear from holiday anthologies.

Now, all of the above examples are fairly old songs -- but contemporary recording artists are
attempting to add to the Christmas canon. A few years ago, Newsong came out with what might be the worst Christmas song of all time: The Christmas Shoes.

I mean, it's so awesomely bad that it's almost good. Almost.

This holiday season, I saw that Aretha Franklin had put out her first album of Christmas songs, so I decided to buy it for my mom. We listened to it in the car after she picked me up from the airport. And were immediately flabbergasted. The album panders to the most stereotypical images of a down-home Southern Christmas. In between songs, Aretha talks about chittlins. Seriously. I'm not even black and I'm offended.

The final track is Aretha reading a special adaptation of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Her version makes references to her "bro" and her "diddy" (which prompted my mother to ask, "What's a 'diddy'?") and instead of waiting up for Ol' St. Nick, Aretha is waiting for her new man to arrive. When he does show up, she runs him out of the house for not bringing adequate gifts. As he exits, instead of shouting "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night," he yells, "You'se one hell of a woman, 'Retha!"

Download it if you don't believe me.

Happy holidays, everyone -- I encourage you to sing till you're blue (red? green?) in the face
and try to follow to paradoxical advice offered in "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," namely to dance merrily in "the new old-fashioned way." Good luck with that.

What kind of person steals the Baby Jesus?

On a recent trip to NYC, I was walking down Houston Street and came upon this nativity scene. With a very key element missing.

And what had the vandals replaced our Lord and Savior with? Let's go in for the close-up:

Yep, that's a keychain. A KEYCHAIN. With no keys on it. What is the world coming to?

Happy holidays, everyone! May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white. If you're in the New England area, this Christmas is certainly going to be white. It's been snowing for over 24 hours now! And it doesn't show signs of stopping (no, I didn't bring any corn for popping).

I'm off to Colorado today (planes can fly in blizzards, right?), so posting may be sporadic for the next week or so. But I'll do my best. I know all you want for Christmas is for this blog to be regularly updated. In which case, I would recommend to aim a little higher next year.

Christmas at bijou kaleidoscope

Thought I'd show you a few snippets around the home with its modest Christmas decor.

Christmas Tree

Okay this is going to sound quite pitiful... but stay with me...

Since young, we have celebrated Christmas every year. Church, presents, food, caroling... the whole thing.

But this will be the first year I will enjoy a real Christmas tree at my home!! It's lovely having the smell of pine in the living room. It's even lovely vacuuming up the pine needles on the carpet.

I thought of decorating the tree very simply... while it looks great, I sometimes shy away from too busy Christmas trees. Gets a bit overwhelming. I thought of just white ornaments. Can you believe, I get to start collecting Christmas tree ornaments??!!!



Yeah... we got a tree with a crooked top.

I'll need to get an ornaments organiser... how do you organise/store your delicate ornaments?

Christmas Cards

I was inspired to make a move on finally realising one of the things that I've always wanted to do... a spot of luxury cards and stamping. So I thought I'd do it this Christmas. I normally make my own tags/cards but this time, wanted something more elegant and luxurious. I love Crane & Co papers and found some for a good price... and got all stampy-like.



Presents

Zero-budgets for wrapping the few family Christmas gifts we have has made me look around my home for wrapping supplies.
Inspired by an image that has been stash away at the back of my mind:



And I've just found that Martha Stewart has a Christmas version from Dec 2004 issue:

Via Martha Stewart

I grabbed me some of my oh-so-luxe plain brown packaging paper and some oh-so-even-luxe dollar paper doilies (we don't seem to have the array of doilies you guys seem to get in the USA!):



Not as swish as some other pretty packaging but to spend $0 on packaging, I think I did pretty well!

Geelong Wine Tour shots

Early November 2008 saw my sister, husband, Hannah and I go for a wine tour in Geelong. Held every year, the Toast to the Coast tour celebrates locally produced wine and products. Here's just some shots I wanted to share:

Here's Hannah in a field of long long grass:


Here's Hannah and father walking away from us in that same field of long long grass:


Here's the moment Hannah decides to reveal: "No shoes onnnnn.. daaadddeeee!!!"


Insert mental image of that moment of horror of realising we need to find a pint-sized shoe in a field of long long grass and then the mad running around peering through long long grass for that spot of purple!

A pretty classic Dodge outside a winery.



Orchids as a side business of another winery. I love orchids.



Did ya know? Wineries often have roses growing amongst their vines. This is very important. Not so much for their beauty but the bugs that attack the grapes often attack roses first. So if their rose plants are healthy, the vines will be too!



Pretty entrance to a winery



We spent ages at the last winery because we couldn't tear Hannah away from this gorgeous blond golden retriever.



I was the designated driver of this event so I was bored and feeling rather left out until we visited a antique giant mall, Mill Markets in Geelong and I walked away with ONLY this gorgeous bedroom chair for $40.



Hope you enjoyed these shots of a relaxed and enjoyable day out with my family!

Communication FAIL, again

Because I write (freelance) for a small Smithsonian publication, I am technically a government contractor and thus, had to join the Central Contractor Registry, or CCR. But the e-mail that I just received from CCR pretty much sums up my problem with the federal government. I mean, can you make heads or tails out of this?

Dear CCR Registrant:

Beginning on December 21, 2008 through July 01, 2009, all Central Contractor Registration (CCR) Primary and Alternate Points of Contact (POC) updating their CCR registrations will be instructed to convert their Trading Partner Identification Number (TPIN) login to a self-assigned User ID and Password.

This enhancement (i.e., Release 4.08.2.3) includes the option to invite or assign multiple Maintenance POCs. Maintenance POCs will also have the ability to access and update the registration. The CCR Primary and Alternate POCs may remove Maintenance POCs at anytime. NOTE: All email notifications generated by CCR will continue to be sent to the CCR Primary and Alternate POCs. No emails will be sent to the Maintenance POCs.

CCR Primary and Alternate POCs who manage multiple DUNS registrations will be able to associate those registrations to one User ID and Password.

Thank you,
The CCR Group

BS-SP1

I *think* all this e-mail is saying is that I have to come up with a username and password for the CCR site. So why couldn't they have just said that? Seriously, Barack Obama better get on this shit pronto.

Baby boy's birthday do!

I wanted to show you what a talented and crafty, beautiful friend did for her son's First Birthday Party 4 weeks ago. Some hold it in playgym arenas, MacDonalds, parks etc... but I've always favoured the DIY at home do... and Mich shows that it is not at all hard, if you keep it simple.

The invite was a carefully selected pre-made one with a small magnet attached... it was the theme for the gift showbags at the end of the party for the other little ones. Goes to show even off-the-rack invites can be truly personalised if you allow the theme to be repeated in other areas.



Mich invited about 15 of her close friends. All but 2-3 couples have lil' ones around the same age (0-3).

The event was a satay one and since all of us hail from Malaysia/Singapore, we had very high standards for satay, sauce etc. Her family are real Asian foodies plus Mich's sister just opened a satay joint in Melbourne, so we rested easy knowing that the satay would be quality and as authentic as possible. We weren't disappointed. Mich's dad had the use of an authentic satay "oven"! (A find-in-Malaysia-only satay trough where you lay the sticks over coals to get that all-important charcoal burn and scent.) Along with the sticks were the must-haves of cucumber and onion pickle, authentic peanut curry sauce, ketupat (steamed rice cakes), chicken curry with nasi briyani (cumin rice with aniseeds). MMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!



The theme was clearly baby blue and red. Evident first from the invite, and the birthday cake-lets. Mich had prepared small cupcakes in blue and red liners, put a small dollop of icing and topped it with blue and red smarties. (The other colours were in a small bowl on the table and on the birthday cake which Mich also baked herself - never waste! Mich had bought two cake stands and stood one on top of the other and tied a red and white striped ribbon at each base.



The same red and white ribbon was also tied on the handles of the small brown-paperbags for each lil' one. The child's name was labeled on a elephant that Mich had cut out on some blue paper using the invite template. Clever repetition of something off-the-rack that makes it totally personalised!



I'd peeked inside the bag and saw that Hannah's had a deep pink tee. Which I thought was sweet of Mich... but it was only 3 days after, when I got around to cleaning the car out that I had a proper look at the Hannah-discarded-because-the-brown-paperbag-was-more-interesting tee.

What touched my heart was the one-step-further Mich took in these little give-aways: she hand-appliqued on Hannah's tee a pink mushroom! (Dunno as yet what was on the boys' tees.) So cute! I love the idea! (Can't be so bothered myself but I must say this is great inspiration I'l def take on board!)





The outside where the main event (food, of course!) was simply decorated. Mich had strung across the small courtyard a few garlands of simply made short mobiles. Circles in blue and red scrapbooking paper had been strung together and then hung from the garland.



All in all, it was such a well-planned birthday do for a lucky young boy. Well-planned because Mich was determined to keep things simple... almost understated. No fancy china, no fancy 4 course meals, no formal seating, no sit around and open gifts session, no flowers, not even a balloon in sight... she and her husband thoughtfully spent their budget instead on gifting each child-guest with something personal, something that will last past the party!

Real inspiration Mich!

Communication FAIL

I received this note from my management company on Tuesday. It was slipped under my door.

This is to inform you that on December 11, 2008, we will be performing a spot check inspection for the presence of crawling insects in your unit. Our maintenance personnel will be accompanying an employee from Waltham Services. You don't need to be home while this work is being performed. Thank you.

Um....where to begin. My first thought was, "CRAWLING INSECTS???? WHERE???? AHHHHHHH" but then I realized that I hadn't seen any. Then I started thinking about the specificity of "crawling" insects, as in not flying, meandering, loitering, or tap-dancing. Just crawling.

When I came home after this inspection took place, I realized that "crawling insects" was actually a euphemism for bed bugs, since the "personnel" stripped the sheets off my bed (and didn't remake the bed, thank you very much). There was nothing to indicate whether the presence of crawling insects was or was not detected in my apartment.

The note slipped under my door reminded me of an e-mail I received when I was working at an upper east side museum. It was sent to all staff, from the maintenance/facilities manager. It said:

As many of you have noticed a fowl smell in the building. This is due to a crack pipe and we are working on it now. The smell is not toxic waste, just ground water from the garden. Smell should dissipate very shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

There are so many remarkable things about this e-mail, which is why I saved a copy of it (it was sent on March 30, 2006). The image of a chicken smoking crack, for one. But also, the reassuring statement that the smell is not "toxic waste." Most puzzling to me is the correct usage/spelling of "dissipate" in an e-mail that starts with both a sentence fragment and a homonym error (foul/fowl). Curious.

But lest you think I'm a snob, let me assure you that I make communication blunders all the time. Just this week, I had an embarrassing text message gaffe. In my phone, there are two Josh Gs: one is a new friend and fellow blogger and the other is recording artist Josh Groban.

Why do I have his number? Well, in the summer of 1997, we both attended Interlochen Arts Camp and became friends. We also briefly dated, but then I broke up with him (to date someone else). My mother still laments this decision and is holding out hope that someday Josh and I will reconnect. Clearly, we had a strong bond at age 16:


(sidenote: why am I making that face? And why did no one tell me that baggy flannels were not the best way to showcase my figure?)

We are still sort of in touch, technically-- and he very generously has given me tickets to some of his shows. Let me tell you, it's odd to stand in a sea of squealing tweens and their moms and see someone you know on stage at Madison Square Garden.

Anyway, the communication faux pas happened on Thursday, when I meant to text the other Josh G. about meeting up at a bar, and accidentally texted Josh Groban. He sent me a very confused reply, which I received the following morning at 5:36 a.m. At first, I was like, why is Josh Groban up that early? Then I realized he's probably touring in Asia or something and got my text at an ungodly hour. It's probably karmically fair that I am doomed to make an ass of myself with Josh for the rest of eternity.

Sorry, Mom.

You can take the girl out of the Midwest....

...but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl.

Tonight I attended a reading and dinner where Kevin Young was the guest of honor. I was unfamiliar with Young's work, but after hearing him, I am definitely a fan and plan to buy his latest collection, Dear Darkness, as soon as possible.

Because I'm swamped with end-of-semester assignments, I am going to simply post a poem of his that I particularly enjoy, as a native of St. Louis, Missouri. I am in the process of writing a poem about my hometown -- it's currently titled "Autumn in St. Louis County"and I started writing it when I was home for Thanksgiving. Young's poem resonated with me and hopefully will positively influence my attempt to capture, as Nelly would say, "the Lou."

"Ode to the Midwest" by Kevin Young

The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
—Bob Dylan

I want to be doused

in cheese

& fried. I want

to wander

the aisles, my heart's

supermarket stocked high

as cholesterol. I want to die

wearing a sweatsuit—

I want to live

forever in a Christmas sweater,

a teddy bear nursing

off the front. I want to write

a check in the express lane.

I want to scrape

my driveway clean

myself, early, before

anyone's awake—

that'll put em to shame—

I want to see what the sun

sees before it tells

the snow to go. I want to be

the only black person I know.

I want to throw

out my back & not

complain about it.

I wanta drive

two blocks. Why walk—

I want love, n stuff—

I want to cut

my sutures myself.

I want to jog

down to the river

& make it my bed—

I want to walk

its muddy banks

& make me a withdrawal.

I tried jumping in,

found it frozen—

I'll go home, I guess,

to my rooms where the moon

changes & shines

like television.

Mistakes I have made...

In the light of my previous blogpost Let's face it and Part 2, I wanted to confess and admit to my decorating mistakes...

This isn't easy... but here goes!

90% of our home is decorated with vintage... so rarely do I buy lamps with shades that I like. (Bought more lamps without shades!) And since my shades have been impulse, sale-on-now-stop-the-car! purchases, a few of my shades aren't sized for my lamps hehehe





So lesson 1: ALWAYS cart along all unshaded lamps in your boot so you can perfectly match size for size!

I SUCK at hanging pictures/items on the wall. With the 3m hooks, we're good... but wall hooks, I'm horrid.
Clock isn't supposed to be right there. Should be evenly spaced from the white Ikea frames.



See the picture below I made for my husband for Fathers Day? It's crooked. Because I had to use hooks.



Lesson 2: Know what isn't your strength. Counter your impatience by baking a cake, clean the bathroom... anything to avoid hanging that picture despite the $4 spirit level husband just gave you. Wait for the husband to get off the lounge home to hang the stuff.

I love painting walls. I'm quick... I painted that master bedroom in a day, with primer and 2 coats. Myself. Husband hates painting... but I'm not the most... neatest... Oh I don't mean splatters everywhere... but I mean not touching the trim and architraves. I didn't bother to tape off the trim because I also meant to paint the trim white... but I lost steam.



Lesson 3: Just in case you lose steam painting the trim... or have a hungry family to feed... and don't want to sand the cream gloss on the trim to repaint it white gloss, do a diligent job and be more-than-yourself-anal about detail.


What are your duh-duh-whoopsies?

Observations from behind the bar

Recently, my job description at Hong Kong Harvard has expanded from just cocktail waitressing to cocktail waitressing and bartending. On either Friday or Saturday, I get to tend the "baby bar" on the third floor, which serves only beer and shots. It's a totally different perspective, to be behind the bar -- there is more respect and less groping. And I have a great view of the dance floor, which if you've been to my place of work, know is highly entertaining.

Hong Kong reminds me a lot of Toad's in New Haven: it's a cheapish college bar where you can do tequila shots and drink Bud Light while (almost) shamelessly dancing to hip hop and Britney. I myself only went to Toad's three times in four years, and once was to see a They Might Be Giants concert. But the other two times, I did what you're supposed to do in such establishments -- binge-drank like it was going out of style and made a fool of myself on the dance floor. And watching people at Hong Kong has confirmed my worst fears of how ridiculous I must have looked.

My new vantage point offers phenomenal people-watching opportunities. FYI, how you interact with your bartender says more about you than you realize.

Some observations:

Girls tip better than guys

Everyone told me that being a cute girl would be my golden ticket and to wear low-cut shirts to get more tips, but I've found that unless the girlfriend/date is watching, some guys don't tip appropriately. What is appropriate? $1 a drink. Period. Pretty easy. Even with beer, guys. I'm getting paid $2.65/hr, people.

Yes, I am making conversation with you because it's my job. Most likely I do not want your phone number

I mean, I won't be offended if you try to give it to me. I'll probably be flattered. But don't wait by the phone, dude.

Don't be a creeper on the dance floor

Last night, there was this shady dude whose signature move was to sneak up and stealthily freak-dance on unsuspecting girls. When they would finally notice, they would get this horrified look on their faces and run away. I saw this guy do this literally 400 times over the course of two hours. Don't be this guy.

You know how you think you look really fierce? This is what you actually look like:


What you order does say a lot about you

When you ask if I can make you a Sex On The Beach, I am judging you. Especially since there's a big sign over my bar that says I only serve beer.

It's Saturday and I'll be back at Hong Kong again tonight....so drink responsibly! Your bartender is watching you.

Mimosa

I am happy to see that Pantone Color Institute has chosen bright yellow, the Mimosa, as the colour of 2009. It's very similar to the yellow I chose for paperbean design a couple of years ago.



"Mimosa, a warm engaging yellow, brings hope and optimism during a time of economic uncertainty and political change. Inspired by the Mimosa tree and the sparkle of the renowned cocktail, the 2009 color of the year represents the hopeful and radiant characteristics associated with the color yellow."

I love this shade of yellow. It's the shade I plan to paint the fireplace and two walls in the home office space to complement my yellow art wall.



via Apartment Therapy.

Tagged!

One of my faithful readers tagged me with a I Love Your Blog award! Thanks Fashion Hayley!



The rules:
1. The nominated is allowed to put the picture on their blogs.
2. Link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate seven other people and link to them.
4. Leave a message on those people's blog to make them aware that they're nominated.

Okay so it's my turn to award this to some others...

I have heaps of blogs I love reading but I had to pick just seven...

1. The Shopping Sherpa
2. Making It Lovely
3. Ish and Chi
4. La La Lovely Things
5. Mini Modern
6. More Ways to Waste Time
7. Pink Mohair

I was also tagged by Fashion Hayley to do Six Random Things about Me so here goes!

1. When I'm upset, I clean.

2. I can't stand my pens used by someone else. I know it's anal... it's creepy... but all my pens have to be just mine. My fear: I hate my pens dropped.

3. A good chair makes me weak at the knees... one can never have enough of them either.

4. I love chocolate, but only dark chocolate... and never chocolate on its own, but I like it over fresh fruit or with nuts. (And not raisins or dried fruit...)

5. I have too many collections. And I have more I want to start... but I need to cull my addiction.

6. When I drive, I add up numbers on the plates of every vehicle coming/passing me. And I give myself 2 seconds to add them up. I can't stop this.

Let's face it... Part 2

Wow I am so touched by the response I got from Let's face it blogpost.



I also wanted to make it clear that I wasn't complaining about the lack of commenting by ex- and current- lurkers on here. Far from it! (Although it's so nice to meet you all!!!!!!!)

My point of writing that was to share my frustration and inner agitation at being so much less than some big names we've seen in the interior design worldwide scene and some like myself, who strive to make their home a place of beauty and inspiration... and who succeed in their aim.

Thank you so much for letting me know that my uneducated, small steps have in some way inspired you. In turn ... please know you very largely brought me out of this mellow-ness.

(Btw, it was husband's idea that I share with you how I felt... because he also felt that I needed to see myself, and my attempts through my readers'/someone else's point of view. He is proud of my work, but he's too close to me to fully appreciate the value of my attempts. I could paint the room mission brown and install ochre furniture and shaggy red rugs and he'd still say I'd inspire him!)

5 things I am thankful for

On the actual day designated for giving thanks, I often find myself more concerned with how whatever vegetable side dish I'm preparing for dinner will turn out than reflecting on what I should be thankful for. This year was no exception, and while I'm happy to report that my brussel sprouts and carrots were a big hit, I'm still a little behind in my thanks-giving. So here we go, 4 days late.

First, the obvious:

1.
Although it's been said many times, many ways-- THANK GOD OR WHOM/WHATEVER IS UP THERE THAT HE WON.

2. Puppies!

My family in St. Louis got a new puppy as an early Christmas present for my youngest brother, J.T. The puppy is a mini Dachshund named Luigi (nickname: Louie). Watch this clip of him learning how to climb down stairs and your heart will melt a little:




On a related note, my friend Karl sent me this photo, which he described as "a snapshot of heaven."

So as to not offend Maude, the fat calico with whom I share my bed, I probably should expand this to be thankful for animals or pets in general. I owe that to her, especially since I tied a green-and-red striped holiday bow to her collar today. She is not pleased.

3. Friends, both silver and gold

I've made some new grad school friends in the past few months in Boston, and I'm very thankful for that since my little studio can get quite lonely. But I'm also thankful to still be in touch with friends from high school, college, and the years I spent in NYC after college. I'm actually a hard person to fall out of touch with -- I'm pretty tenacious about maintaining my friendships. Once you befriend me, you're stuck with me.

4. The Groon

My Dad told me an anecdote this weekend about his salad days at the University of Arizona. Apparently, he once got caught cheating on a pop quiz in an Anthropology course. One of the questions asked about the prosimian primates that represent the bridge between two classifications of mammals. The correct answer is lemur, but my dad hadn't done the reading and decided to copy off another student. Both my dad and this other idiot wrote down the same nonexistent creature: the Groon. I imagine the Groon looks something like this:

The Groon represents my bizarro family. Fractured and odd as we are, we have some good times together.

5. You!

Yes, you. I know it's cheesy of me to say, but seriously, thanks for reading. It's been six months since I started this blog and I'm still getting the hang of it, so I am very appreciative that anyone reads it at all. So...thanks. And keep reading, please.