Despite my current state of exhaustion I am experiencing a little personal bliss. The spring cleaning that I have blogged about as needing to happen finally did last week. My apartment is impecable. I have applied for a promising job lead. I PRd at the Whidbey Island Half Marathon yesterday. My salvaged crown molding shelves were successfully hung. And best of all I have the return of Glee to look forward to tomorrow. I have been trying to think of things looming over my head to be done when I get home today but since I am in a bit of recovery state from my race yesterday a run is not mandatory and thusly I am coming up with absolutely no "shoulds" for my afternoon. What is an old lady in training to do? Well, I'm thinking yoga with my dear neighbor and probably reading while the Glee soundtrack (volume 1 as my sister has my volume 2) plays in the background. Oh yes, I also plan on taking and posting some pictures of my newest decorative endeavor!!
Respectfully yours,
OLIT
Monday, April 12, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Cranky With Envy...
My neighbors (well the people in the stately home next door to my apartment building) are doing some serious gutting and remodel work. I am happy for them. That is until I am attempting to make my own shelves out of salvaged crown molding and am trying to get a GIANT nail through an even GIANTER piece of wood and I can hear their construction workers and their electric tools working away with ease as I incur wrist injuries.
That's all. Hopefully I will have pictures to post when (and if) this project is finished.
OLIT
That's all. Hopefully I will have pictures to post when (and if) this project is finished.
OLIT
Monday, April 5, 2010
Quote I love...
While browsing a bookstore today in search of my next read I stumbled upon a quote that I keep thinking about and so I shall share it. Excuse me if it's a little heavy for a Monday but I get so excited when I find someone who has been able to put into words something I myself try over and over to articulate and cannot quite figure out what the thought sounds/looks like out loud/on paper.
"All the lives we could live, all the people we will never know, never will be, they are everywhere. That is what the world is."
- Aleksandr Hemon
Respectfully Yours,
OLIT
"All the lives we could live, all the people we will never know, never will be, they are everywhere. That is what the world is."
- Aleksandr Hemon
Respectfully Yours,
OLIT
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Cure for Inspiration Blahs...?
The past few weeks have been a little "slumpish" for me. I know myself well enough to know that my surroundings greatly affect my mood but the problem with this slump has been that I have had NO motivation (due to said slump) to clean up and create a space that will inspire, encourage, and calm. I have found myself spending very little time in my beloved apartment and whenever I do set time aside to be there and clean I come up with very convincing excuses not to (such as the sun is shining and I should be out there enjoying it, or the rain is falling and I should be out there enjoying it, or if I leave for long enough and ignore the problem it will cease to exist). Over the weekend I even bribed myself. I bought a lovely new (and on sale) floral duvet in hopes that a new "bedscape" would be enough to kick me into gear. After dragging my feet I finally started the process yesterday and let me tell you I think I have about a solid week before things are back in ship shape around the place. My bedroom has gotten so out of hand that in order to organize I had to make an even bigger mess and I haven't even gone under the bed yet. The thing of it is, and I knew this would be "the thing", as soon as I got off the couch and got started I did not want to stop. I am sitting at my desk dreaming about cleaning. Counting the minutes until I get home and get to work on unearthing the treasures beneath my dust ruffle!
My google reader has been sorely ignored lately as well. And I am sure this has contributed to my lack of motivation and inspiration when it comes to all things domestically chic and blissful. Today I did some serious blog reading time and sure enough my motivation not only to decorate but to get back out to my estate sales and thrift stores is starting to surge through me again. Here are a few of my personal jump starters:
Hoping everyone is having an inspired Wednesday,
My google reader has been sorely ignored lately as well. And I am sure this has contributed to my lack of motivation and inspiration when it comes to all things domestically chic and blissful. Today I did some serious blog reading time and sure enough my motivation not only to decorate but to get back out to my estate sales and thrift stores is starting to surge through me again. Here are a few of my personal jump starters:
Hoping everyone is having an inspired Wednesday,
OLIT
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Really? Wednesday already?
When starting this blog I fully intended to update nearly daily and now here I am almost a week after my last post with very little inspiration to work with. I have some ideas but am feeling a certain amount of laziness and so will put them off until tomorrow or maybe even Friday if I feel like it. But in the meantime I will put up some pictures of the centerpieces I worked on this past weekend for my grandmother's 80th birthday party.
My aunt, mother, and I headed to Lowe's on Friday in search of flowers to use but were hit by divine inspiration and opted for potted herbs and vegetables the guests could take home and place in their own gardens.
That evening I hammered out and flattened forks to be used as table number holders in the pots.
The next morning after my mother and aunt transferred the plants to terracotta pots my cousin and I made numbers for the center pieces, wrapped the pots with ribbon, and inserted the flattened forks.
Once we arrived we were able to put the centerpieces down, check with the seating charts, and finally add numbers to each plant.
All in all I was very pleased with the final results!!! Nothing like a good centerpiece project to get me going!!
More soon.
OLIT
My aunt, mother, and I headed to Lowe's on Friday in search of flowers to use but were hit by divine inspiration and opted for potted herbs and vegetables the guests could take home and place in their own gardens.
That evening I hammered out and flattened forks to be used as table number holders in the pots.
The next morning after my mother and aunt transferred the plants to terracotta pots my cousin and I made numbers for the center pieces, wrapped the pots with ribbon, and inserted the flattened forks.
Once we arrived we were able to put the centerpieces down, check with the seating charts, and finally add numbers to each plant.
All in all I was very pleased with the final results!!! Nothing like a good centerpiece project to get me going!!
More soon.
OLIT
Thursday, March 18, 2010
OLIT Flies the "Friendly" Skies
For those of you who know this Old Lady in Training then it is no secret that I do not care for airplanes. For those of you who do not know me then I shall educate you...
I HATE FLYING!!
As an old lady in training I am obviously irritated by the swelling of my feet that is inherent in air travel but beyond my own physical discomfort there are SO many other reasons to avoid flight. One - it is unnatural. Two - I don't care if people say it's the safest way to travel... I've seen enough Lost (one or two episodes) to know that it is DANGEROUS. Three - with it's three main components being take-off, 30,000 feet above ground suspension, and landing it is completely 100% horrifying. But unfortunately it is also the most convenient way to get from Seattle to the Bay Area for a weekend trip. Yes I have been looking forward to this for weeks and YES I am so thrilled to be scooped up by my friend this evening and whisked away to San Francisco for some catch up, good food, and a beautiful city I just wish that Seattle would do a better job of making me want to leave it. Perhaps if I felt it urgent to leave the Emerald City then this flight would be weighing on me less as a potential disaster and more as a "cannot come soon enough" escape plan.
What's strange is that last week at this time I could not wait to get down to California and now my feelings are more along the lines of, "Oh California, I love you but can't you just come up here for a visit?" What has changed since last week? I guess if I had to narrow it down to three things they would be the following:
1) I am still riding high from Monday's completely lovely day of birthday merriment (not to mention the most perfect $1 ice cream cone that McDonalds has ever produced)! Why would I want to leave the people who plied me with wine, Pike's Place lunch, red vines, pie, spicy, tortellini, laughter, and allow me to get cheesy and say love?!
3) After searching for worthy Bay Area estate sales to pounce on this weekend (cannot seem to find any) I decided to peruse estatesales.net and see what I would be missing out on here this weekend. Bad... no awful... no HORRENDOUS idea. Turns out a Ballard estate sale has the final puzzle piece to my ever growing "dog portrait" collection.
I say all of this knowing that the second my plane touches down in San Jose my heart will be skipping beats with excitement for a weekend of family, friends, sunshine, and warmth but in the mean time it makes it so much easier to get carried away with my ritual of flight dread by convincing myself that I should just stay here for the weekend to enjoy the delights of my PNW home or at the very least to snatch up Rolph (clearly by Rolph I am referring to the pipe smoking dog pictured above who's sure to go quick at this weekend's sale).
But since I know I am ultimately giddy about my trip home I will try and concentrate on ways to help me get through the flight instead of reasons I shouldn't go through with it.
1) Beer.
2) Trashy magazine featuring the Kardashian's that I would feel guilty reading otherwise.
California Here I Come!
I HATE FLYING!!
As an old lady in training I am obviously irritated by the swelling of my feet that is inherent in air travel but beyond my own physical discomfort there are SO many other reasons to avoid flight. One - it is unnatural. Two - I don't care if people say it's the safest way to travel... I've seen enough Lost (one or two episodes) to know that it is DANGEROUS. Three - with it's three main components being take-off, 30,000 feet above ground suspension, and landing it is completely 100% horrifying. But unfortunately it is also the most convenient way to get from Seattle to the Bay Area for a weekend trip. Yes I have been looking forward to this for weeks and YES I am so thrilled to be scooped up by my friend this evening and whisked away to San Francisco for some catch up, good food, and a beautiful city I just wish that Seattle would do a better job of making me want to leave it. Perhaps if I felt it urgent to leave the Emerald City then this flight would be weighing on me less as a potential disaster and more as a "cannot come soon enough" escape plan.
What's strange is that last week at this time I could not wait to get down to California and now my feelings are more along the lines of, "Oh California, I love you but can't you just come up here for a visit?" What has changed since last week? I guess if I had to narrow it down to three things they would be the following:
1) I am still riding high from Monday's completely lovely day of birthday merriment (not to mention the most perfect $1 ice cream cone that McDonalds has ever produced)! Why would I want to leave the people who plied me with wine, Pike's Place lunch, red vines, pie, spicy, tortellini, laughter, and allow me to get cheesy and say love?!
2) Seattle decided to have a "this" kind of a day...
... whenever Seattle has a "this" kind of a day my old love San Francisco, who occassionally beckons for me to once again pine away after its beautiful albeit astronomically expensive cityscape, suddenly pales in comparison to the everywhere you turn mountain peaks, blue water, and overly excited vitamin-D deficient Pacific Northwesterners.
3) After searching for worthy Bay Area estate sales to pounce on this weekend (cannot seem to find any) I decided to peruse estatesales.net and see what I would be missing out on here this weekend. Bad... no awful... no HORRENDOUS idea. Turns out a Ballard estate sale has the final puzzle piece to my ever growing "dog portrait" collection.
I say all of this knowing that the second my plane touches down in San Jose my heart will be skipping beats with excitement for a weekend of family, friends, sunshine, and warmth but in the mean time it makes it so much easier to get carried away with my ritual of flight dread by convincing myself that I should just stay here for the weekend to enjoy the delights of my PNW home or at the very least to snatch up Rolph (clearly by Rolph I am referring to the pipe smoking dog pictured above who's sure to go quick at this weekend's sale).
But since I know I am ultimately giddy about my trip home I will try and concentrate on ways to help me get through the flight instead of reasons I shouldn't go through with it.
1) Beer.
2) Trashy magazine featuring the Kardashian's that I would feel guilty reading otherwise.
California Here I Come!
OLIT
Monday, March 15, 2010
All My Boyfriends - Birthday Edition
After a glorious weekend in Vancouver and an incredible day celebrating my birth I retreated to my bedchamber ready for a good night's rest. But when I stepped through the door I was blinded by my dear sweet Rinaldo covered in jewels ALL for me and so instead of sleep I'm having an all night birthday fashion show!! So what if I'm spoiled... it's because I'm worth it!!
Respectfully Yours,
OLIT
Respectfully Yours,
OLIT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)