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Friday Favorites

Summer vignette 03 ◊ sew-easy-close-up ◊ Pretty Plates ◊ LADUREE TRUCK

Isn't this a feminine house. I am fairly new to Leanne Ford (last to know anything…) but we did just start watching the show she does with her brother. Some of her designs are a little out there (maybe for TV dramatic effect?) but for the most part I like her aesthetic. Her house I simply love.
Isn't this a lovely kimono? I have a thing for them – I have a full length vintage one I wear as a dressing gown but it is rapidly falling apart (those darn big sleeves catch on EVERYTHING). I also like the idea of them as a light outerwear piece. The lavender one is pretty too.
LOL! Oh how I love Celeste Barber
A Sunday Dinner From c. 1913 Recipes. Okay – this is a longer video than I usually share but you just need to stick with it. A young woman (early 20's) who has quite the following on her vintage sewing YouTube channel, decides to recreate a Sunday dinner menu from a 1913 Women's magazine while in period appropriate clothing (she even whipped up an apron the night before, for crying out loud). To her own admission she only possesses a modicum of cooking expertise but she gamely attempts ten different recipes. It is hilarious, intentionally or not, to watch the kitchen become increasingly a disaster as she works her way through each recipe. In the end she pretty much accomplishes everything she set out to. She is adorable and honestly now I want to attempt to recreate an entire meal from another era. Wouldn't that be a fun Sunday dinner concept? Here's the accompanying blog post with recipes

Happy Friday the 13th!

Are you superstitious? I'm semi superstitious. I don't exactly believe but I skip the cracks just in case, you know.

We have a no plans whatsoever type of weekend this week. The weather is going to be Springy – sunny and low 70's so perhaps a nice drive somewhere. Although we did drive all over the place last weekend. I thought the rain was going to prevent us from going to the architectural salvage yards but it let up enough to make a run for it.

There are a couple of architectural salvage yards in Berkeley. One is just stupid expensive and the other is getting up there. I want to build a greenhouse out of salvaged pieces and not have it turn into one of those million dollar projects. We looked at both places and then went out to the parking lot and got on Craigslist and found a pair for sale in nearby Benecia so we drove out there and bought them for $100. We still need a few more pieces for it to come together.

Anyway – that was a segue – back to the weekend. So no plans but that is generally my favorite type of weekend. Oh yeah – I still have to fertilize the roses.

Guestroom

I find that I tend to take pictures in the same location in my house. Kitchen table anyone? The light is fabulous there so it's my go to spot to take photos. I thought I would move into a different room today. I know I showed the guestroom in the house tour I did when I started up the blog again but it's a pretty room and I thought it deserved a closer look.

Look who made it home with me yesterday. I couldn't resist. I've always loved brass. He's just as handsome in person as he was online.

This room is pretty much the same shape and configuration as our master bedroom. Both are a decent size and have a lovely bump out where the window is. We have a comfy loveseat in this room where in the master we have my vanity and an arm chair. This room has the added advantage of an attached bathroom which I think is nice for guests.

The nightstand on the right used to be my dad's. At some point in my teen years it was moved into my room and I painted it blue. When I moved out I stripped it and just had the bare wood (a fabulous mahogany or cherry) for years. When we moved here I painted it white. And what a chore that was. No matter how much primer I put on it bled through. Even though the other nightstand is white it isn't exactly the same white so I want to paint it to match. I like how they are mismatched in shape but I want the white to be the same. Which is the same as the headboard that came out of some hotel. Annie Sloan Pure White. Absolutely the perfect white.

I hope you can read that – the pillow says "beloved" on it. Just how I want every guest to feel when they come visit us.

This drawing is just about one of my favorite things. When I first started dating Rick (39 years ago!! Sweet flipping Buddha…) his mother had it hanging in her hall and oh how I coveted it.

I mean look at him! That hat! Here's a closer look. Can anyone identify the artist? I can't quite read the name.

Edited to add: Mystery solved thanks to my friend Kimber. The artist is Vincent Capraro.

She gave him to me a couple of years ago. I think two of my favorite possessions are this drawing and the painting she did (above my piano if you want to go search back) when she was 18 years old. Those are my "if your house was on fire" items.

This is one room I am totally satisfied with. I'm itching to update other areas of the house but this room I think is really lovely just the way it is.

If anyone wants to visit just let me know. :)

Sunday week prep

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was trying to use Sundays as the day I prep for the week ahead. During the week I live and breathe in my bullet journal. I track everything I need to accomplish for work, personal appointments, anything and everything I need to focus on for the week. But come Saturday and Sunday I don't even crack it open.

I generally have good intentions of getting things done but let's be honest I'm more a fly by the seat of pants kind of person on the weekends. For example I have been meaning to fertilize our rose bushes for going on three weeks now.

There is something about having my daily to do list written out and checking it off that just makes things get done during the week. I suppose that is the entire concept of keeping a bullet journal. Write it down so it isn't forgotten or that you aren't vague in your intentions.

So what do I want to get done on Sunday? Well I want to set up my bullet journal for the upcoming week for starters. I want to do my breakfast prep for the week. I want to water the house plants. I want to meal plan. I want to put fresh linens on our bed. All of these things make me feel like I can face the week fully prepared.

You would think that if I have the same to do list every Sunday it would just become a habit and I wouldn't need a list to go by. But that's not the way my personality works. I get all enthused about a routine and then three weeks later it is out the window. I'm hoping by using my bullet journal on the weekend that I'll get these things taken care of. It's very satisfying making those check marks.

So my plan, and goal, is to have my regular chores listed along with the various things I hope to accomplish over the weekend. They needn't necessarily be chores – it could be a lunch date with Rick, or a birthday celebration, a visit to some interesting place. Make the time for things and they will get done. Especially if there is a check mark involved

And of course there are the miscellaneous chores like fertilizing. Which I still haven't done yet even though I'm on here yapping about it.

Friday Favorites

. ◊ Away ◊ { b r e a t h e } ◊ Happy Sunday

What a pretty candle. Although I will have to say I am not really a fan of the scent of the Capri Blue candles – they all smell the same to me. Kind of aggressively tropical. I might overlook it for this one though
Have you seen Target's new home decor line Opalhouse? Loads of pretty things I'll never buy because of my color phobia (haha!). Although I do have my eye on this handsome peacock
Since we are on a home decor, avian kick here today – isn't this a lovely towel ring? Such a pretty detail to add to a bathroom or kitchen
Omigod this trick Costco does is so annoying! I mean dried mangoes shouldn't roam around the store as much as they do – but they are never in the same spot twice

This has been kind of a quiet week. I think everyone is on Spring break. Except for me, that is. I had a delightfully low number of meetings at work this week.

We are scheduled to get rain today and tomorrow which kind of squashes our plans to go to the architectural salvage yard to look for french doors. When we replaced the french doors in our sitting room I made Rick hang on to the old ones. I knew I could re-purpose them and I've come up with a plan for a small greenhouse for behind the shed. It will be a lean-to of sorts made of old french doors and/or sidelights. It will be the new plant infirmary.

I hope the weather is kind to you – where ever you are. Happy Friday!

Mantel Refresh

I did a quick mantel refresh yesterday. Out went the rabbits and in came the flying pigs.

I am in such a styling rut at the moment. I kept pulling out different candlesticks, lanterns, vases. It all just bored me to tears. Part of my problem is a debilitating case of symmetrical-itis. It's incurable.

It makes it hard to style things when they have to perfectly balance yet you don't want to over do pairs of everything. As I look at the pictures I should have either picked the urns or the candlesticks. Not both.

I love that little cherub. My mother in law gave him to me years ago. He's napping in a clam shell.

I think part of it is that we have lived here for five years (and three days…) and this isn't a house where you can easily move the furniture around to freshen things up. The placement of the windows and doors makes it kind of hard. So everything is feeling a little stale to me. The only option is to play around with all the accessories.

I am pleased with the color palette. I find the whites, muted greens and shimmery crystal very soothing. It's funny when you look at my Instagram account there is a lot of pink but in real life not so much (and before you say anything Rick – I'm not talking about my sweater collection….).

I tend to favor a kind of retro, muted green (not quite mint and not sage) and if you pair it with too much pink it goes into that overly shabby chic circa early 1990's look. Next thing you know I'm wearing stirrup pants with my sling back flats. Or was that the 80's?

I'm not Catholic but I do love my Immaculate Heart of Mary statue. She is another peaceful element to the decorating. I'm starting to warm up to the mantel a little bit.

Here's another thing – I'm very drawn to eclectic styles of decorating like Linda Rodin and Betsey Johnson but I could never in a gazillion years see myself styling my own home like that. Or do you remember when Mary Englebreit had a magazine called the Home Companion? I loved that magazine and everything in it. So warm and exuberant.

I think what I'm going for is calm and nostalgic. Like the Virgin Mary and flying pigs which is a bit eclectic in its own right.

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