my affliction

it's not a sickness or grief, thank heavens, but rather this – expensive taste.
very expensive. ann getty expensive. the kind that loves ormolu-mounted
porcelain vases, japanned and carved giltwood bureau cabinets, and walls
covered in antique chinese textiles. a bit of a challenge for someone
whose income doesn't come remotely close to satisfying this condition.

just the other day i went to house of fabrics to look for some frames for some
antique botanicals i want to put up in the room makeover and every frame i
picked out was a larson juhl.

and again this morning, i received an email from j.crew about their 20% off
outerwear sale. having worn the same coat for the past 2...or is it 3 winters now,
i don't think i can bear to wear it again this year. besides, it's missing some buttons
and isn't even warm enough for this climate.

anyway, i followed the link, and quickly scanned what they have to offer.
every coat that caught my eye–like this cashmere twill–cost around a grand.
why couldn't i go for something in the under 200 category?

to be honest, even if i had the means to live in a house like the one above
or buy any one of these coats, i know it wouldn't make me any happier
than i already am. and i'm pretty sure i'd be nervous about spilling or
pulling a thread, since i tend to run into things like rose bushes.

how about you? what's your affliction?

image credit: photo by lisa romerein for 1stdibs

the world is a wonderful place

this past friday, chloe and i had a yard sale. 

have you ever had one? if so, you know 

how much effort it takes to put one together.

before i began preparing for it, i had grand

aspirations of having everything priced, 

fending off the early birds, and selling it all!

the craigslist post and the signs we put up the

night before advertised the sale as beginning at 

10:00. 

by 11:00 a.m., one person had haggled 

me down to $3 for 27 jars of testors paints. 

by noon, i began to think i had wasted a lot of 

time for nothing.

but as the day went on, things gradually picked

up. though it didn't come close to my expectations 

of hundreds of people and hundreds of dollars 

made, i did come away with a few wonderful 

experiences and learned a few things.

1) giving things away isn't costly and a waste of money
since we weren't about to bring it all back in the house, g. and i went next door to our neighbor and told her she could take whatever she wanted. she chose some books, including a copy of david sedaris's me talk pretty one day, a sisal rug, and a messenger bag she said the boys would get a lot of use out of. all these things had been sitting in our basement forgotten for months. the rest went to big brothers big sisters. to know that someone will actually use these things makes me wish i'd done this sooner.

2) from here on out, we'll buy less because we don't need as much as we thought
how many candleholders do we really need? i told g. the next thing i buy will be something to replace something that's old, like a new cardi-jacket, though i'll need to have a few more yard sales before i add this to my wardrobe.

3) objects that commemorate a life i aspire to but do not have are a burden
there are many, but a perfect example of this is the pilates ball i bought five years ago and used only once. i want to tone my abs and increase my strength, i really do. really? what about the pilates abs rower i  purchased last april? turns out no one wanted either one, so i kept both. in this case, the guilt continues.

4) objects that commemorate a life i once had are a burden
i designed jewelry that was picked up by upscale boutiques and anthropologie, and i loved doing it. but that time in my life is over. i have other interests now like photography and writing. all the drawers of beads and lace remind me of this. not that that's a bad thing, but why hold onto these things when people like amy (my last customer) could make her own necklaces from a collection of vintage czech nailhead glass beads?

5) i love talking to people

this was the highlight of the whole day and gave me a chance to meet our neighbors and others who share some of the same interests...like krystal who bought some of g.'s screenwriting books for a friend moving to l.a....and the girl who bought our t.v. combination vcr so her boyfriend could watch his old anime videotapes.

when you take the time to get out there and listen to peoples' stories, you realize the world is a wonderful place.

good things come to those who wait

we've had this gilded frame
leaning up against a wall
in our studio for a couple
years now. i've been saving it
for something magnificent.
i finally found it rummaging
through g.'s paintings he keeps
stacked on a shelf. and in this
room she now gazes out at us
preserved behind glass.
i love her.

art wall + stairway = accident waiting to happen

feeling inspired after seeing what
jen did with her new brooklyn
apartment in just 4 weeks, and hating
myself even more for having
empty frames on this wall for almost
a year, i finally filled them with still
lifes, photograms, a sun print, a marbled
endpaper from an old book, and my absolute
favorite...a drawing g. did.

here's a peek of it through the banister.
it's the one of a lady with a tattooed neck
right above the moth.

it lay sequestered away in one of his
sketchbooks until i did a barbaric thing
and released it with an exacto blade.

already, i've nearly toppled a few frames on my way
down the stairs when i should be looking at my feet
and not the art. i'm a bit on the clumsy side, so this
just further complicates things.

in our last apartment, i fell down a flight of stairs
while painting the walls. naturally, i took the gallon
can of chalky white paint with me, which meant the
dingy brown stairs went next on the list of things to touch up.
it ended up being a huge improvement and so it was meant to be.

it seems everywhere i look...

i see classical sculpture.
have you seen anthropologie's
october catalog?

and this twinkle by wenlan dress?

when i saw the winged figure,
it reminded me of the
victory of samothrace
i wrote about a little
while ago.

i've attempted working with
marble, and have great respect
for those who create something
like this. i once took a class in
marble sculpture through the
smithsonian when we lived in
washington, d.c.

my unfinished project is still at
my in-laws. it's too heavy to
ship, and each time we visit,
i forget to bring it back with me.

i also still have the chisels and rasps,
and though i'll never use
them again, i don't think i'll part
with them. too many great memories...
like meeting g. for indonesian food
and slipping into the national gallery
for some inspiration.

images credits: anthropologie