Door Sixteen

Haircuts, rambling, and a drifting attention span.

Jan 25, 2012

Is it just me, or it next to impossible to snap back into work mode this year? Maybe it’s because I took two weeks in a row off in December, but I just don’t feel like I’m fully present and engaged in what I need to be doing every day. I think the weather might be partly to blame—it’s been unseasonably mild in lower New York this year, and I constantly feel like it’s either late fall or early spring. I’m just sort of floating from one day to the next.

I did just have a really great weekend, though. Jen from Honey Kennedy came to stay at my house in Newburgh for three whole days, and we had a wonderful time. Jen is terribly sweet and funny and really, really nice to be around (just ask Fritz and Bruno, who fell deeply and madly in love with her), and I’m happy to have finally met her in person.

Aside from holding the very first semester of Anna’s School for Unicorns (a.k.a Photoshop classes), I also made us some very very thick and rich and spicy and almost too delicious hot cocoa using Vosges Aztec Elixer. And tofu scramble. And burnt kale chips. And reheated pizza. I’m pretty sure it was like going away to a fancy resort for Jen! (Or, um, not…)

I got my hair cut again, too. More of the same! I’ve been back to Mariko at Dlala Salon four times now since I got the best haircut ever 8 months ago, and that has to be a record for me in terms of frequency. Can I add that NOT ONCE have I taken a pair of manicure scissors to my bangs in a fit of midnight desperation since I started seeing Mariko? Her cuts look so good growing out that I don’t have to.

It’s pretty neat having LONG hair, too! I haven’t had this much hair since I was a freshman in high school, which was…um…23 years ago. I’m going to just let it keep growing. Now that I know about layers and deep parts and stuff, it’s nice to have waves and partial buzz cuts and long bangs.

On a side note, I just want to put this reminder out there: Much like paint is just paint, HAIR IS JUST HAIR. The great thing about it is that even if you do something stupid and it looks terrible, you can always just cut your hair short and eventually it’ll grow out. As a side bonus, you get to have a million different hairdos as it gets longer. If you want a fun haircut, get a fun haircut. It’s just hair.

Fritz turned four years old a few days ago. I can’t believe he’s four already! It seems like it was just yesterday that were were bringing home this insanely adorable, sleepy lump of fur. He was so cute! (And then he ate our sofa.) Fritzy is so good now. Yes, he has his moments when he does an ultra-annoying Chewbacca/seagull vocal impersonation for seemingly no reason at all and for lengths of time that are highly unnecessary, but he’s a total snuggle bug and just an all-around great dog. He’s also really warm and he likes to sleep under the covers at night, so our heating bill is less with him around. And he’s still really cute.

Oh, clothes! I found that nice triangle-print shirt at Target! The proportions really aren’t as weird as the photo on their website makes it look. It’s quite flattering, actually. And Martha has a the same one of course.

Yeah, that’s a new black + white iPhone case. I ordered one from Society6 because I’ve been thinking about selling some stuff through them and I wanted to know what the quality is like, and I’ll be honest…as cute as the illustration (by Dawn Gardner, whose work I love) on my new case is, the quality is really, really sub-par. I’ve had a capsule case from Uncommon since I got my phone in May (that’s the multicolored one in the top photo, designed by Marco Cibola), and I love it. The plastic is smooth, strong and durable; the edges are smooth and comfortable to hold; and the design is actually embedded in case. The case from Society6 is unbelievably flimsy, and you can literally scratch the printed image off with your fingernail. I fully expect it to look terrible in a couple of months. Both cases were about $40, and while that’s pretty steep for something so small and made out of plastic, it’s definitely way too much for the ones from Society6. Bummer! It’s definitely cute, though, so I’ll keep using it until it breaks.

(Like I said, RAMBLY.)

10-hour to-do.

Jan 16, 2012

Newburgh
The House
To-Do

25 comments

The bookshelf-building project has been going well (aside from the fact that the shelves don’t really have many books on them yet), but it’s been at the expense of the rest of the house. You know when you start working on something and you wind up having to make the most giant mess in the world and then you realize you have to actually finish this other project first and that leads to a secondary giant mess on top of the first mess, and you were up until 4AM and it still didn’t make any difference and now you just feel sick but you also don’t want to live in that MEGA-MESS you created?

That’s how I’m feeling right now, and I have approximately 10 hours in which to make things better. Get it done.

TO-DO BEFORE 6PM:

+ ~~PUT AWAY ALL THE STUFF~~.
+ Cut and mount roller shades in the kitchen.
+ Cut and mount roller shade in the guest bedroom.
+ ~~Bring the records downstairs~~.
+ ~~Hang the Flentsed mobile~~.
+ Hang the String light.
+ ~~Clean bathrooms~~.
+ ~~Clean kitchen~~.
+ ~~Bring all tools and supplies to the basement~~.
+ ~~Dust~~.
+ ~~Vacuum~~.
+ ~~Mop~~.
+ Frame stuff and then hang it on the walls.

(You’ll note that several of these items are carried over from my vacation to-do list from a few weeks ago. Sigh…)

If I were a bag, what kind of bag would I be?

Jan 12, 2012

Greed
Handmade
Inspiration
Vanity + Wearables

39 comments

When Julie saw that I’d bought this triangle-print day bag from Bookhou, she said, “If you were a bag…” And she’s totally right. Really, “old bag” jokes aside, this is me in bag form. Aside from the perfect print (which I blogged about in tea towel form a while back), the size is ideal. I have a reputation for dragging around huge, heavy bags that make my back feel miserable, so I’ve been looking for a smaller, cotton bag for days when I expect to be walking around a lot but want something fancier than a tote. This is exactly it.

Of course, now I also want the matching loop scarf (thanks to Victoria, who knows an Anna-scarf when she sees one!), and maybe also this beautiful pouch to store the iPad I don’t have…

Speaking of Bookhou, have you seen founders John and Arounna’s Toronto home in the latest issue of Covet Garden? It’s every bit as lovely as you’d imagine it would be.

The dining room has a black wall.

Jan 5, 2012

Newburgh
The House

59 comments

I spent the last couple of nights of 2011 painting the long side wall in our dining room black, and I’m really happy with how it turned out. The living room and dining room are right in line with each other, railroad-style, so visually it’s just a continuation of the black wall in the living room.

The house is very narrow (20 feet wide, including the entry hallway), and the black wall adds some depth to the room in a nice way. Also, since the dining room doesn’t get a lot of natural light, the dark paint has a richness to it even in the daytime that makes the room feel cozier than it did before…and, as in the living room, it brings in a bit of formality that feels right in a Victorian house. Personally, I think black walls get written off as being cold or depressing far too often! Elvis agrees, as you can see.

As in the living room, the bedroom, and the apartment kitchen, I used Benjamin Moore’s ‘Soot’ with a matte finish. It’s actually the deepest, darkest indigo blue imaginable and not a true black, but that’s what gives it that extra oompf.

(How is this plant still alive?! I always forget about it, and it’s right next to a heater, so it’s been teetering on the edge of death for years.)

Coffee + Music + Painting = My default comfort mode during vacations. Seriously, once I get going with painting stuff, I feel really good. It’s definitely one of those tasks that inevitably takes ten times longer than you imagine it will, but the impact is so worth it in the end. I can’t imagine paying someone else to paint walls for me! The payoff when the work is done is just way too satisfying.

Speaking of painting, if you want to know how I do it and the steps I recommend, shuffle over to Manhattan Nest and read Daniel’s post about the whole process. I prefer Aura over Regal, but other than that, we pretty much do things the same way, right down to the Wooster paintbrushes. What he says about painter’s tape? That’s the truth. Don’t do it. Especially in an old house. Yes, I freehand everything, even black paint that butts right up against white.

I didn’t take any full-length shots of the dining room yet because things are still looking like this, but that’s just because we’re getting ready to build new bookshelves. That’s what all of this fancy plywood is for! Yay.

P.S. There’s an Instagram gallery right here on the blog now. I used a plugin called Instapress to create it. It’s a teeny bit buggy, but good enough!

I want to be the person who can dress like this and not look (and feel) like a total idiot.

Jan 4, 2012

Greed
Vanity + Wearables

29 comments

Photos via Marimekko

Noora Niinikoski’s Tivoli knitware line for Marimekko’s Fall 2011 line was pretty spectacular. And also pretty wacky. When I look at the composed outfits, my first thought is that I want to wear all of it, including the red clogs, immediately. I’m pretty sure I’d literally look like a clown, but you only go around once, right? I tend to be extremely subdued in my dress (though contrary to popular belief, I don’t only wear black), mainly because I prefer to blend in to my environment rather than stand out. For some reason, the opposite extreme is also appealing to me!

I’m pretty sure the last time I ventured into the world of “funky” (OH, HOW I LOATHE THAT WORD) legware was a good 20 or so years ago (as evidenced here), but maybe it’s time to go down that road again. Am I old enough to have reached that point where I can look like an idiot but have it get written off as eccentricity? I hope so, because I’ve always wanted to wear a pom-pom scarf around my head like a turban. There is always the fear that I’d wind up looking like a giant infant, of course.

A few pieces from the Tivoli line are on sale right now at Kiitos Marimekko, and I am seriously tempted. Maybe just the knee socks…

< Older Posts

Haircuts, rambling, and a drifting attention span.

10-hour to-do.

If I were a bag, what kind of bag would I be?

The dining room has a black wall.

I want to be the person who can dress like this and not look (and feel) like a total idiot.

Here

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