Pendant received

It's been so long since I last posted that my terrarium pendant (or should I say, pendants, since I unexpectedly received two) has already shown up in the mail. It's even tinier than I imagined:


The instructions say to give it one drop of water every two weeks--I guess I may need to invest in a dropper. (It does say that the excess can be soaked up with a Q-tip though.) Either way, I am quite pleased with my purchase.

More terrarium fun

A few weeks ago, I posted about how I'd been wanting to create a terrarium--and, of course, I still have yet to go out and purchase the necessary supplies. But I just saw these awesome terrarium pendants from this etsy seller, which reminded me that I need to go out and do this.


At first I thought it might be a little too bulky for my tastes but apparently it's only 1 1/4" inches tall. And there's just something intriguing about wearing something that's alive (in a non-creepy sense).

Available from the same seller is an interesting variety of larger terrariums that entail some creative use of glass containers, such as the above coffee pot.

I swear, one of these days I will be making a stop to the local gardening supply store. You'll see!

Getting organized

A couple weeks ago, I saw this door organizer on Design*Sponge (I am going to refrain from using the horrible portmanteau "doorganizer" someone came up with in the comments section) and immediately thought of how Dave likes to empty the contents of his pockets every night and leave them on the dresser next to our fish tank:


Not a terrible spot, but it looks pretty cluttered. Thus, the door organizer seemed like a good solution, though I decided not to follow the tutorial exactly.


I had extra fabric from some pillows I made a long time ago, which seemed sturdy enough for the job.

I cut two equal sized pieces and sewed them together with the right sides facing to create a double-sided rectangle of fabric.

Next I used the jar of Mod Podge as a guide to cut out the circle to fit over the doorknob.

I then hand sewed the edges of the circle with some extra yarn I had.


Next came the white felt pockets. They were a little plain so I decided to cut out some random shapes from the patterned fabric as decoration.


It kind of looks like a weirdly cute monster.


The finished product in action. It originally sagged a little and lost its shape from all the weight in the pockets, so I cut down a dowel rod to fit across the top and sewed it inside, doing the same right above the bottom pocket, which had the desired effect.

Kid stuff.

The other day Design*Sponge posted these great creations from Les Zigouis. Note that they're described as clothing, toys, and decorations for children. But, other than the clothes, which would clearly not fit me, it's all stuff that I'd buy for myself. And I've been noticing that a lot lately when looking at photos of people's homes: the kids' rooms look more like what I'd want for my whole house than the adults' territory does. (Note that these are very stylish kids' rooms decorated by stylish parents--I'm talking about children who get to sit on Eames rocking chairs! What about me?) I'd like to think that this is not because of immaturity, but simply because other people are boring (whereas I am not).

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few of the "childrens" toys and prints that I've been eyeing lately. From Les Zigouis:


Come on, now--is this bag really for kids? I can't tell how big it is but I would proudly carry this around.


I love these guys. I don't know that I'd be into wearing them on my fingers but they'd be really cute on display somewhere.



Hard to tell from the package but this is a lovely garland of paper boats to string up on your wall.



Onto MummySam. Her stuffed, embroidered objects are whimsical and awesome. The description for this house begins, "Every child needs a first cottage." So does this 27-year-old child.


How about this little lady? Supposedly her name is Marge but I see her as more of an Edna.

I'm really into this sewn story--a series of embroidered images that together tell a sad, bittersweet tale.

This cat blackboard is part of the MoMA Design Store's "Destination Seoul" series (which includes lots of other really great stuff too) and really caught my eye.


Finally, while I learned my letters long ago, I love these alphabet screenprints from Petit Collage--the colors, the type, the cute animals. That llama sitting off to the side is pretty cool too. Not to mention the building blocks.

Sycamore Street Press also has an alphabet print, and just recently they've created a companion number piece. I've entered in a giveaway to win both--tomorrow we'll see if I win them for my non-kids room!

From the family archives

After including an old picture of my grandfather in a post the other day, it reminded me about all the great family photos my mother gave me after cleaning out my grandparents' house. I don't know if every family has pictures that are this cool (to be honest, I've yet to feel compelled to buy up photos of strangers from thrift stores, though I always look) but I was inspired to scan in some of my favorites and post them here. They're more or less in chronological order (with some guesses).

My grandfather's on the left. I don't know why he's on a farm (he's from
Jersey City).

Not sure who these people are.

My grandmother was a stylish lady.

I think one of these ladies is my great grandmother, who I never met. Not sure about the kid in the carriage though.

My mom as a yawning baby.

More people I don't know (besides my grandfather on the end). The kid really makes the picture.

My mom marching in a parade of some kind (she's the one looking at the camera). The girl behind her is my favorite part of the picture though.

My boyfriend looked at this picture and said, "I can't picture your mom riding a bike." But I've seen that--what I really can't picture is my grandfather riding a bike, as he was pretty much sedentary the entire time I knew him (he was a mailman and supposedly upon retiring vowed never to walk again). This picture is taken at their summer home in the Poconos. The expression on my mother's face tells you how excited she is to be there.

I love the colors and light in this picture.

How does he manage to look so refined in that hat?

In the kitchen at the Poconos house. I like this photo despite the blurry foreground.

In addition to the white painted rocks and pink flamingos, they also had ceramic deer lawn ornaments that my brother and I used to pretend to ride.

One of my favorites. He really is citrus royalty.

This reminds me of a Stephen Shore photo. How many people match their outfits to the curtains in their hotel room?

This picture reminds me of a surveillance photo for some reason. Maybe it's the European flair (ha). According to the postcard-type images on the left, they're in Gdansk, Poland.

Cookie madness

While rummaging through the refrigerator this weekend I noticed that I had some eggs leftover from the last time I made muffins, and figured I had better do some baking to use them up. (I don't really eat eggs otherwise.) After searching through my new favorite website Cookie Madness for a recipe that only called for ingredients I already had in my possession, I ended up choosing this oatmeal cookie recipe from the back of a Quaker Oats can. (Cookie Madness shows a photo of the can, which is hard to read. Thus, I am not linking to them for the recipe, but the site is worth checking out if you're looking to do some baking.)

The dough (I added chocolate chips to the recipe--how could it hurt?).


All balled up and ready to go in the oven.



A crazy, streaky photo taken through the oven door. You can barely see the cookies (which are by now well on their way to being edible and delicious), but it looks cool.


And finally--on the plate, cooling, and waiting to be eaten.

By the way, I've still got one egg left. Maybe these are next?

House tour: living room, part 4

This week's house tour focuses on a little set-up I have next to the bookcase.


The organ once belonged to my grandparents (see photo below). After they died my brother and I insisted that we should keep it so it sat in the hallway of my mother's house for awhile. Then my mother decided to sell her house and promptly shipped this thing all the way to Austin, Texas, where I was living at the time. (I guess that proves how badly she wanted to get rid of it.) So it's been around. I don't really know how to play it (and it really doesn't sound cool, it sounds like a church), but it makes a nifty side table.

Here it is in its original habitat.


I bought these old tintypes at a flea market on 19th St and they sat gathering dust for a couple of years before I figured out what to do with them (they don't really fit into any traditional frames, which was the main problem).

I ended up buying a few cheap, larger frames, spraypainting them black, and cutting a tintype-size shape out of black paper to use as a matte.


I like the contrast between the black and white and brightly colored creamers (an eBay find). (I really should have dusted before taking the photos!)


I love starburst clocks, but since I can't afford to buy the real thing, this much less expensive reproduction (which quite resembles these George Nelson ball clocks) makes a more than adequate substitute. The hanging art is from a printmaking class I took in college. It's actually the chipboard printing plate, which I think looks cooler than the actual prints it produces.


I remember wanting to experiment with using text to create a pattern. I should have just used random letters (I tend to dislike actual words and phrases used in artwork, preferring the aesthetic use of type disconnected from any literal meaning). But I instead made a reference to "Bullet in the Brain," a short story by Tobias Wolff that I was a bit obsessed with at the time. Maybe I'll replace it if something else that I like better finds its way into my hands (especially since wall space in my house is becoming pretty scarce). But for now it stays.