Spring Cleaning

I'm a bit of a freak about being tidy. And lately, I haven't been very tidy. I have a half finished scrapbook from my Europe trip (over a year ago!) in plastic drawers in the kitchen, begging to be completed. I have a sea of teaching books and literature readers in the middle of my living room floor wishing to be uploaded into Amazon so they can have a home that wants them. And I sifted through my electronics drawer - I have more cords and plugs and chargers of things than I know what to do with. I have no idea what they go to! What are they for? The trashcan by tonight if I don't realize their prior importance.The biggest hurdle I have, however, is a tiny stack of papers on my keyboard tray. Poetry I never got on to the computer to make sense out of it. And that's what I went to school for. And that's what keeps me calm. I've really been neglecting a lot by letting it pile up so much. I'm working on that today too. There's a writers workshop at the university I just graduated from and (thanks to an old professor pushing and pushing me politely to enroll) I need to have 6-8 poems ready by tomorrow and it's given me a goal and forced me to come back to it. I haven't written in way too long considering my need for it. That's unhealthy. It's a shame.

So why haven't I? I'd say I wasn't motivated but that falls short of the truth (by a lot). And I've been busy too: graduation, working multiple jobs as usual, spending what free time I've had with friends. I really think I forget sometimes how to take care of myself though. Quiet time and staying in and all of this "nesting" I like to do around the apartment has a purpose. It's like a built in mechanism for sanity. My favorite places in the world - the types of places I dream about and wake up to realize they were super happy dreams - are cluttered and interesting, full of so many things to look through and find that you never feel like leaving. Bubba's Garage is my store like that, although there are others (like Construction Junction in Pittsburgh). I want to surround myself with stuff I love. We can all strive to live in our own version of this place : http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/06/23/garden/20100624-chic-slideshow-3.html.

I'm going to start trying. I found a few new pretty jars. Here's my bathroom sink: body cream by Anthousa, Burt's Bees toner, antique prescription bottle from People's Drug Store, perfume samples (Curve, perhaps?), Dippity-Do setting gel, penicillin bottle that expired in 1963, antique Vaseline jar, and a lovely old Noxzema jar.

Hope you're finding pretty things too.

Inventing furniture!

With some Spring cleaning energy in my system I went furniture hunting today. Like I've said and shown before I have a very small apartment. I have kept previous couches in front of the apartment door and used the glass porch door as my main entrance in order to allow myself more flexibility.

Here is my latest solution:
I was in need of something new to sit on. I like everything to be comfy and fell for a chaise lounge from a sectional that was for sale at a furniture outlet in town. The only two pieces left over from the set were the chaise - priced reasonably low - and the wedge, which was $25! What a steal! I felt that if it didn't fit through the door, or in my living room, I wouldn't cry about the financial loss. But now that they're here, they make up a little heavenly pillow cloud to cup me in the corner as I read or watch "The Jane Austen Book Club" on Lifetime.
Basically anything but grade. But I should.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers.

My Life This Week is...

well, what isn't it?

This morning I woke up at 6 to finish grading papers (when do I not have a pile in front of me?) and then I looked at a 2 bedroom apartment in the same complex as mine. Two previous horror stories about looking at apartments: 1) man said "absolutely no pets" and I said "well I'll still look" and hung up and immediately cried and apologized to the kids and called the next morning and said "no thank you, I don't want to waste your time;" and 2) had another appointment this morning to see a property and realized I did not have time enough and called and said "well I think today is poor timing" and the man said "oh that's good, it saves me a trip. I rented that property yesterday, anyhow." Well what!? Why hadn't I been notified mister? I didn't bother asking; it was a win-win either way.

So after looking at this 2 bedroom in my unit I've decided, no, maybe I will simply not move, so I'm going at 3:30 after work (yes, I'm blogging at the office, what do you wanna say about it?) and I'll renew my current lease. BUT I still intend to box a lot of stuff up, go through all my clothes as if I were moving, get the carpets cleaned etc... so that it still feels like starting over.

Because it is.

This summer, after graduation (and Bill Clinton is the keynote, so, wow, and stuff) I will be waiting tables and babysitting. With my fancy degree I will bring soup, salad and breadsticks and thank everyone and wish everyone a good day and dream about some day paying back all my debt. Oh well.

In the Fall I'm going to Berlin, however. Doesn't that just make everything feel super? I'll be there for three months for an internship that I will fill you in on later but, all in all, it's incredible and I couldn't be happier.

There is always so much future to be looking forward to. You just need to see it.

<3
-L

Sometimes Time flies

I haven't written in a long time. Sorry.

I'm in my last semester as a grad student at WVU and working three jobs. While applying for a real job/career post-graduation in early May I've had very little time for being crafty. Christmas I was snowed in and didn't get home until days after I had planned to leave, but we created a makeshift tree from the dressform nicknamed BB and my green apron. One string of holiday lights and we were set - what's more "in the spirit" than this?And it's "green" too! No need to store a big artificial tree or chop one down. It's a space saver (esp. in my small apartment) to think outside the box.Recently I decided that, since I'm going to have to move soon and I don't know where or when, I'd like to complete some of my potential projects that I have lying around. This way I don't end up moving two huge boxes of corks and an empty frame, but instead move a corkboard. It only took two nights and felt very worth it. I had been thinking about it forever, and in a world where I have no idea what's coming next it is nice to have something I could control for once.This isn't the best photo, maybe I'll replace it later, but you can probably tell it's a bit large. I used it to hide a box of guinea pig snacks that is underneath a low lying corner table for a while. It was nice on the floor. I'm trying it out over the sink for now, but since I'll be boxing everything up in a month it's probably best not to make new holes in the wall. I think the dark frame looks nice around those light corks.


Any suggestions for what I ought to do if no jobs come through before my lease it up? I'd love a house boat or a neat Airstream <3

Pretty pleased with myself

I've been busy getting those spongy corks out of the house (they had stock piled... ah) and, with about 70 to a wreath, I made three more after the last post. They don't have bows yet, I might enlist a friend to help me make them pretty. Look at all those regular corks, forlorn in the foreground.

I also made four lamps last week for my mentors. A pretty blue Dellitori (sp?) bottle, a Little Black Dress bottle (which was lovely and had a lovely cork as well), Jim Jim (for a man named Jim, imagine), and a stout Dos Lomos bottle for one that lived in Argentina.
I reuse bags when I can, and the Anthropologie bag was lovely for those of you who shop there.

Finally finished!

How long did this take? Too long, but mainly because I was picky about having too many of the same corks close together. I have about fifty Ecco Domani, Kendall Jackson and Robert Mondavi corks, but I wanted this wreath to have a lot of variety. I think my next wreath will merely have three or four brands repeated and I can finish it a lot quicker. Working at Olive Garden part-time really helps me acquire more corks than humanly possible (if I were drinking my way to a final product) so I end up with a lot of the same ones.

Speaking of, I need to be at the OG in 40 minutes, so I better get moving soon...

All you need are some eyelet screws, heavy hanging wire and time... just drink as many different brands of wine as you dare to acquire multicolored and interestingly designed sponge corks.

Doesn't the bow just look excited? I left enough wire on either end so that I could easily twist them around one another with a pair of small pliers and they naturally made a hook. Here's another image so that you can kind of see the wire twisted at the top. I'm not a great bow maker, however; any suggestions?

:)

It's beginning to be Fall outside

These days I'm writing about Norway, and have been using the slides I purchased last year around this time to help. They're incredible: vacation photos from a couple in the 60's and 70's. They had three magazines from Norway alone, and their images are just lovely. I feel lucky to have found them. I am the type to really care about the unclaimed slides of strangers with gorgeous photos of themselves, in love and traveling.

What are the legal stipulations to publishing these prints? Does anyone know?

AND - I need good holiday gift ideas. Things that are inexpensive but nice, typically homemade or repurposed. Here are a few sites I think are a good start:

I love the napkin rings here -
http://www.curbly.com/ModHomeEcTeacher/posts/5587-sixteen-recycled-handmade-gift-ideas

For those of you who can sew, or like to cook, or know a chef -
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/42826/apron-made-from-repurposed-jeans-skirt-back

Or you can get your own ideas from looking through - http://hottiehomedecor.com/index.html - they repurpose sweaters for the home. Talk about "nesting."

http://myrepurposedlife.blogspot.com/ - She does this one thing with a bowling ball - wow - and a few great sewing machine projects. :)

Let me know what you do when it's time to budget crunch.
Hope you're doing well.