How is it September already? How?
Summer and I barely got to say hello to each other, much less hang out. We were supposed to spend enough time for me to get sick of all the heat and laziness and think, Man am I ready for September.
That soooooo never happened. I’m not saying I was short-changed, I’m just saying I cannot be alone in feeling Autumn has come to soon. She is way too early, and if it were up to me, I’d make her wait in the parking lot a while longer. Just sayin’.
Well, anyway, here we are. Since I spent most of the last month posting about other people, maybe now is a good time to catch up on some stuff on the homefront. For example, this is a list of 25 things I wanted to accomplish this summer:
I crossed of four.
Damn if I’m not an overachier.
One of the four things was to paint my bathroom. It was supposed to be pale gray.
It came out purple. Lavender, I suppose. I’m living with it because I’m too lazy to deal with another round of crappy painter’s tape that falls down after ten minutes, or seven seconds before the roller hits it, with me on a chair wearing dirty overalls and screaming, ARE YOU KIDDING ME PAINTER’S TAPE? YOU STOP STICKING WHEN YOU GET PAINTED ON?
If I ever get arrested for murder, there is a good chance inadequate painters tape drove me to it. Temporary insanity, my ass.
You know who must have had great painters tape, and probably just great house painters in general?
These people:
I have decided that it is Villa VilleKuella (where Pipi Longstocking lives). This one is in Elgin Illinois, and not Sweden, but whatever. I walked up to take a picture and I heard someone playing an accordion inside. And there was a horse on the porch.
Okay, that thing about the horse is a lie. But Pipi lives here and that is that.
In the genre of crossing things off lists, one of my life list goals was to see one my photos of my home in a major magazine. The good news is the wish came true (and special thanks to Maegan for letting me know!)…the bad news is the magazine failed to credit me or seek permission beforehand. Yeah, so that was awkward. There isn’t much use in getting mad at this point, and it’s still pretty nifty to see my image featured full page. It’s a tick on the list, right? Right.
In other adventures, I went on a season-long thrift store binge. By conservative estimation, I went to more thrift stores in the last month than the whole of last year combined. It has been glorious and I can’t wait to show you all the treasures, starting with this chair:
At first I was worried it was too granny, but then I asked on Instagram and Meld193 said “Vera” and that was it. If you told me an old camo print turd bag looked Vera I’d buy it. I have no control. Lola confirmed this was a good decision though when I got home and she chose it as her new favorite place to showcase her magnificence, as demonstrated by the photo above.
Then, last weekend, while buying three blue and white ginger jars at Goodwill (my latest obsession), I got into a conversation with a gal over the subject of reconstructing old jewelry which turned into a conversation on craft blogs which turned into her reccomending a few of her favorites…this and that and another one that sounded really cool and “Oh, Aunt Peaches. You might like her. She’s really far out there!”
So, that made my day.
Let’s see…what else? Did I mention I’m going to Switzerland this month? Yeah. SWITZERLAND. Maybe we’ll do a quick jump and jive over to Italy of France, because when you are in Switzerland going to Italy for the day is like saying “I’m going to the mall before parking gets bad.” I’m a little bit paranoid about altitude sickness but I’ll deal with it. And by deal with it, I mean eat a bunch of croissants.
Despite my failure to make much headway on legit goals, I crafted the crap out of August so you’ll be seeing all kinds of little projects in the weeks ahead. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but there may be more pom poms.
Get excited.
Hey! Milan is close to Switzerland!
if you drop by please let me be your guest here… or at least show you the city!
I’m Eleonora, the one who copied your book pages wall, remember? 😉
I totally remember your awesome wall! If we get as far as Millan I will absolutely get in touch!
Great! I’ll send you an e-mail with all my contact info.
Gray… yep… tricky… you know… FIFTY SHADES! Basement playroom gray was easy… but foyer gray looked like tin foil, till we did it OVER AGAIN for a perfect shade. Yep, there’s lavender gray, green gray, blue gray, pink gray, tin foil gray… and so it goes and so it goes!
http://nickicarm.blogspot.com/2013/09/picassos-on-rise.html
HAVE AN AWESOME TRIP! Go to Italy, too, and eat tomatoes… ’tis the season. Bon Voyage.
Yes, gray is a tricky one. Since painting I have found oodles of designer resources for “perfect grays”….that would have been handy a month ago. Ha!
I have totally gotten lavender walls from a gray concept…so weird. Just start adding purple accessories and it will look intentional! what magazine did that to you??? (Congrats, tho!) Can’t wait to see what you crafted the crap out of, and tales from abroad. Because you are totally a broad.
You might be right on the purple front. I just got an orange mirror — they seem to like each other. More than I expected, that’s for sure.
What magazine was it? That’s really crappy. Also, congrats on getting spotted (sorta). I went to Switzerland once 14 years ago and all I remember is how CLEAN everything was. Everything has felt a little dirty ever since!
I have the same problem — “Swiss clean” and “everything else clean”, are two very different things. My standards have been skewed forever!
I just saw the pic in “the magazine” yesterday, and I looked and looked for your photo credit. And it wasn’t there, and I was MAD because I couldn’t tell anyone that I “knew her before she was in this magazine…” Then I thought maybe you’d sold the picture to the wallpaper people? Because they got some credit for their product (but not for the picture itself, come to think of it).
In summary, congratulations to you, and locusts and boils to them.
Haha. Thanks, Kathi. I’m going to keep my mouth shut on the magazine front – they were good enough to answer me shortly after I addressed the issue and I do believe it was a simple mistake (a concept I am very familiar with)… They have since offered to pay me their standard photo fee, and assuming all goes well, I see no reason to badmouth their name in public. Just getting in there is still a bragging point for me though, so I did!
Glad to hear you recognized the image just the same — that makes me feel special 🙂
#1. I too have had a gray taupe turn out purple on me. But only when the sun shines directly on it. And no, I haven’t repainted either.
#2. I hope, I hope, I hope that the thrift store employee who recommended your own blog to you reads this very post and gasps, realizing she referred you to you. And I hope she leaves a comment detailing her surprised response.
Liz, I hope so too. She wasn’t an employee though — we were just chatty people in line. This is what happens when crafty folks get in close proximity 🙂
I used to live near those beautiful old houses in Elgin! They made my day everytime I drove past one (and it in the right neighborhood you drive past a good dozen!) Thanks for the smile 🙂
Elgin is pretty rad, actually. I had never been. Seems so funky and old-timey…and the hills! Never seen hills like that in Illinois except on the Mississippi. Someone needs to shoot a movie there or something.
Peaches, dear, we didn’t have heat in August in Chicagoland. I ran my AC for all of 2 weeks this summer. This is not a complaint, not in the least. I spent more time sitting on the deck this summer than in the past two combined. That’s why it feels like Autumn just up and rang the doorbell and invited herself in. Summer must have stayed at the beach.
Very true. I only had to turn on the hose TWICE. That never happens. I’m all for mild summers…just wish they were a tad bit longerrrr.
I laughed out loud four times whilst reading this post. Thank you for writing like you mean it. So glad I found your blog.
I’m glad too. Thanks LP 🙂
You know the pan scrapers that come with pampered chef purchases? They are made of silicone and square with rounded corners?
BEST. Painters Tape Sealer. Ever.
You mean like rubber spatulas? I use one to clear crud off the counter…never thought of it as a painting tool. Thanks!
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I am very excited for these pom poms that you speak of. You honestly are my favorite blogger.
Thanks. I am excited too! Can you believe not everyone enjoys pom-poms? I pitty the fools!
What a shame for them! Pom poms are so much fun! But that means more for us…
I seriously LOVE YOU!
PIPPI LONGSTOCKING. Possibly the best/worst book/movie combo ever and I can’t help but love them.
Also GINGER JARS! Mine is yellow and gold and grey and I used to keep chocolate in it until one day my mini-me ate ALL the chocolate.
DID YOU POST YOUR FACE ON YOUR BLOG? i am dumbfounded. and i like your face.
Ha! Thanks 🙂
Is this in place of Augusts Bramble Patch?
No Bramble Patch for August — the whole month was essentially one big bramble patch…so, it will be back the last Friday in September. 🙂
Ok, cool
I got to the part about a horse on the porch and literally stopped reading for a full minute while I thought about how magical that would be combined with someone playing an accordion. Dream world. And then I read the next line. ( : At least there was an accordion! I just found your blog and I’m pretty smitten!