Oh Happiest Day!

Back in June upon reading this decor8 entry which featured this picture...


I was haunted. I showed everyone I knew this exquisite portrait. I had to have one of my very own to hang here...


So I spent hours googling "painted" + "dog" + "portrait" + "cone" + "wearing" and while this search blessed me with him I was still no where near finding a coned canine to call my own.

Today the search has ended and sometime between August 6th and August 12th my very own Kranker Hund by Michael Sowa will be waiting for me at home. Thank you design*sponge for this morning's living in:amelie which featured the picture that ended my multi-month long search...

I feel decidely unhip as the print I have been lusting after for months was from a well known movie and I failed to recognize it. C'est la vie... it will soon be mine!!!

Fresno: Making Dreams Come True??

24 days from today, if everything goes according to plan, I will be an official finisher of the San Francisco Marathon. Of course a huge part of me decided to run a marathon to challenge myself, learn about hard work and dedication, and prove to myself that things I think are impossible can be achieved one step at a time. The other part of me, however, thought that a marathon would be a fantastic excuse for a trip and where better to travel then one of my favorite places San Francisco. My excitement for the trip has been mounting. I will see family and friends all the while achieving something pretty cool. However, today while digitally perusing some pictures from my March trip to the Bay Area, I started to feel a little resentful towards the 26.2 mile jog that's bringing me down to my city by the bay for the weekend. With all of the carb loading, resting, and nearly 5 hours of running how on earth am I going to be able to go shopping? This resentment turned into panic as I looked at pictures from the Alemany Flea Market in Bernal Heights that I had taken and I saw objects that I CLEARLY should have purchased at the time but didn't and now during this trip I will not be able to go back!

With less than a month left until the marathon it is hardly the time for me and my dream (running 26.2 miles) to come into conflict. There will be more trips to SF and there will be more flea markets. I let it go.

A few hours later though I started to think about the recently planned trip to Fresno I'm taking the weekend after this one. What will I do while I'm down there? A run. Reading by the pool. Watching my parent's cable. Eating. After naming all of these activies that I am absolutely and immensely looking forward to I remembered an INCREDIBLE thrift store in Fresno's Tower District with an even more incredible name -- Yoshi Now! And the great thing about this store is that it's not simply incredible by comparison. What I mean by that is this: Fresno, for me, is a little less than alluring. When I am there for too long I get frustrated, antsy, and, I'll say it, downright cranky. Anything even slightly interesting can easily be labeled as extraordinary when you're that desperate for something new. Yoshi Now! is not only exceptional for Fresno but it would be exceptional anywhere and in this respect Fresno has a leg up on Seattle. It is a treasure trove of the finest quality because it's huge, chalk full, and CHEAP!!!!

I hope they ship because a week from now I'm on my way!

Recipe for a 100% Wonderful Day...

This morning started off a little unsure of itself. I had a 5:45am running date with a friend and this commitment loomed over me even as I slept. I woke up at 2:15am, 3:23am, and 4:35am thinking it was time to get up and cursing the day I became a slave to running. When 5:15 actually did roll around my mood was not much better. I reached for my phone at least 4 times to call Mikaela and cancel but each time the excuses I thought up in my head were not good enough to say out loud despite my best attempts to perfect them. And so with no call to tell her otherwise Mikaela arrived at 5:49am (4 minutes late!) and I came to find out that she was entering into this 8 mile expedition with a similar mindset. To make a long story short: she came, we ran, the rain conquered. When I finished I looked like a drowned labradoodle. My pony tail was one giant rat's nest with odd frizz-curls framing my face but luckily an accompanying doodle-stench was absent. I say luckily because there was no time to shower. I hurriedly (and somewhat violently) brushed the rats out to create a lovely fluff-ball on my head, stuck a headband on forementioned fluff-ball, and packed up left-overs from last nights foray in Moosewood Restaruant: New Classics and ran out the door.

It being Seattle the weather on June 2nd is nothing but doom and gloom but for some reason today I decided that I would eat while I worked in order to afford myself a walk to Pike's Place. So after eating my polenta and Sicilian Stir-Fry (the rosemary, garlic, basil, red pepper flakes, and red wine are what make it delightfully Sicilian) I grabbed my umbrella and headed out. I picked up a coffee from the tourist laden original Starbucks and got down to business -- scoping out the flowers!

I did not title this entry "Recipe for a 100% Wonderful Day" because I have bad hair and woke up earlier than I would have liked so that I could run 8 miles in the rain. But I am sure that you, my ever so clever reader, know this. You have patiently been reading so that you too can know the secret to a 100% wonderful day and finally we have arrived. Hold on to your fedoras because here it is...

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PEONIES at $10 for 6 stems!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know!

Did I tell you or what?

Take a minute. Process.

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Now, get in your car / hop on your bike / board that bus and get down to the market.

Or just enjoy this picture. Can you spot the peonies??



Feeling sunny in spite of the surrounding stratocumulus',
OLIT

Time to Start Planning for Retirement...

{photo courtesy of apartment therapy. thank you.}

After over 9 months of searching this Old Lady In Training has finally found gainful employment. I am talking full time, benefited, gainful employment. While I am a little sad to have to cut back on my Friday estate sales and relegate the treasure hunting exclusively to Saturday and Sundays I am THRILLED to have more money to spend at said sales as well as cash to start tackling my "When I Get A Job I Will..." list!

Time to go celebrate (thriftily of course as the first pay check won't arrive for a few weeks)!!!


Respectfully (and "employfully") yours,
OLIT

New Value Village!

When I read this I almost jumped out my chair with glee. While Value Village is definitely not my favorite thrift store I can definitely find a gem or two there from time to time. I guess I know what I'll be doing after work today!!