A Big Fat Slacker! Where Blog Posting is Concerned...

If you follow both this page as well as my company blog you're going to see the exact same post in both places today. I'd apologize for that but I'm far too busy to let it bother me. 

Work has been great lately, I've been painting and meeting with some folks in an effort to kick start a little business again. I love the networking, love my company and my job. I only wish it didn't take so darn long to work it because by the time people are ready to hire me, Matt and I will be moving!

(hint, hint -- get me now before we're gone)

That's another thing though, the move. We are intending to take almost nothing with us because after years of living like we're still in college (in our mid/late 30's) we're both ready to finally upgrade our furniture on the other side. Of course that means we're selling it all and with me being the at home spouse right now, the picture taking, description writing and listing location decision making falls on me. No biggie its just that its a lot of work to research all that stuff and list it!

It will be nice to have a few extra bucks in our pocket to make the journey with though.  I've learned never to take for granted the free time I have (whatever that means) because I am truly blessed to be able to pursue the things I want to accomplish in life.

Which brings me to school. My University is awesome and they've scheduled me for a 2 week break in order to move. The really cool thing is that a class ends the very day we plan to leave so the schedule barely even has to shift.  Score!

So anyway, with school, work, pimpin' business and general life living, my blogs have really fallen by the wayside. I don't intend to give them up though (never!) so I hope you'll stick around for the times when I do post. And I promise to comment soon, I try to still read all of yours even if I simply lurk around the blogosphere in the background saying nothing.

Yes, I painted the picture above, it is my latest work. 
Yes you can own it if you like it. 
Yes I've been spending a lot more time painting smaller works and murals lately than full walls but that's cool, it still leaves me with tinted glaze under my fingernails at night and I love it!

Measuring a Summer’s Day

Tangerine, my favorite Led Zeppelin song of all time, comes to mind at this very moment because it just so happens I’m eating a fruit of the same name. At this time of year they’re everywhere in mesh shaped nylon baggies so no matter what store I find myself in, if I’m perusing the produce department, a bag of these juicy little balls of happiness are definitely coming home with me.

Some folks could probably have named this post Oh My Darlin’ but to me tangerines just make the world a little juicier than a Clementine. Maybe it’s because of Page’s stunningly simple lyrics full of complex visuals (if you know the song this should make perfect sense), or the delivery of those words through Plant’s haunting reflective tone, or maybe its that Jones & Bonham come in at the exact right moment to bring stability to the growing legs of the well timed guitar solo. Maybe the reason I love it is because it isn’t perfect but it’s out there to be loved anyway.

Or maybe I love the song so much because it reminds me of a nostalgic love so strong it could never be forgotten, and the person it holds in the palm of its hand was that very thing to me.

Innocent and stupid and new, ready to grab the world by the scruff of the collar and drag it along behind us as we blazed a trail. But at some point I realized he wasn’t with me anymore so I looked back to try to find him but he had mysteriously disappeared. Then I spent so long watching behind me for where he had gone that I missed the fact that life fell out of my hands and passed me ages ago.

If only things could stay so simple as Bonham’s back beat. But they rarely do, if ever. So at this time of year I find myself reflecting voraciously, as if it was an activity I’d never done before and may never get to do again.

It always starts out with the year that has just flown by in the blink of an eye and all the things I remember about it, and then it spirals into a trip down the cobble stones of memory lane.

Of course this year was struck with tragedies of massive proportions that would be hard to ignore, like earthquakes and oil spills. But it was also filled with amazing things of beauty like a close friend having a healthy baby girl or seeing a double rainbow in upstate New York.

In the past year:
♥ a good friend moved back to the area
♥ I completed the edits on my first novel and started shopping it
♥ continued to play drums every week
♥ went to countless shows (including finally seeing Bushwalla live on his own, Seth Glier, DMB, BNL and Jason [of course])
♥ one of my favorite actors died (Haim)
♥ saw my sister on her coast
♥ spent time with friends and family (on the other coast and mine)
♥ finished helping to clean out my grandparent’s place
♥ watched the final season of a long favorite television show (Lost)
♥ took on a few paint jobs
♥ walked to support Alzheimer's research
♥ spent tons of time laughing & joking with Matt (in the car and at home)
♥ went fishing (and actually caught some!) with old friends
♥ witnessed the kids in my life get even smarter as they became another year older
♥ saw a couple Sox games live at Fenway & a few Bruins games live at the Garden
♥ dealt with a flood in our basement
♥ experienced a summer full of hot sunshine (bliss!)
♥ started an extreme exercise program (P90x - bring it!)
♥ joined a Book Club
♥ signed a lease for a second year in the same place (call Ripley’s!)
♥ drank with the local townies at the Jersey shore
♥ sold a few things at a craft fair
♥ wrote most of my second novel
♥ kicked Matt’s butt repeatedly in Scrabble
♥ and so many other awesome things I couldn’t begin to list more

Well I could but would any of you read a day by day accounting of my lame-ass life? Probably not.

As I spent the last year getting healthy in mind, body and soul it started becoming more clear that my life is longing for another grab it by the balls and have at it adventure. I know there’s still a couple weeks left this year so I don’t completely rule it out for happening in 2010 but it just feels like 2011 is calling to me from the future. That next year is where the great escapade will be found.

Become a published novelist? Celebrate ten years married? Get my body back in shape? Quit smoking? Something else? The world is open, and so am I, to the possibilities that exist. Bring on the adventure 2011, even if that adventure is wrapped in a moving truck traveling 3500 miles across this great country to the Valley of the Sun!

Someday I will no doubt look back on that journey and think about me and Matt taking it together.

“Does [s]he still remember times like these?...And I do.”

It’s All in My Head

For the past few weeks I have been working on a multitude of sample boards and small furniture pieces as a way to kick start my faux finishing business again. Some of the samples are redo’s of past examples that just fell short, while others are brand new and shiny examples of some of the work I can do. I have been devouring shows on HGTV for inspiration and spending a lot of time reading through posts on the faux message boards I belong to.

One might think this has prompted me to be armed and ready to get out there and tackle the world. My business cards are printed, company bio sheets are ready and in full color, the website and Facebook image galleries are updated and I even have some fantastic ideas of who to hit up for business so, truthfully, I should feel empowered.

But I don’t. All I seem to let myself feel lately is that someone knows I’m not as good as the other finishers and that they will quickly discover I am a fraud.

Yes I am fully aware that this fear is partially irrational but bear with me.

For a long time, longer than I can even pinpoint, I’ve been running around saying I want to be a writer. I want to write books. I want to write for a living. That is great because last November I took advantage of the downtime in the painting industry to do just that for the very first time. And it came out awesome. I mean awesome for a rough first draft. Put it this way, I love my characters to death. (And I'm not sure at this moment if that is pun intended or not.)

Now that I have actually written my first book, however, all I have managed to do with it is a first round of edits (on no more than the first half) and then shoved it into a corner somewhere to collect dust while I go and paint for a living.

You get that? Paint for a living, not write.

If it ever gets finished I know this book will be published, I know it will be purchased because I truly believe that the world I have created and the people who live inside it are just real enough to be relatable but just fantastical enough that real people will want to escape their daily life to visit their alternate realm.

But their world is barely constructed and I’m already trying to paint it.

Inside my head my characters are wandering around trapped inside this box and they keep looking for the door but I have gone and applied a faux finish to every corner of it, so it seems they will never find their way to escape. While I went off and made a paycheck, I boxed them inside the inescapable world and now even I can’t seem to find the door back in.

Is this what (hooker/waitress/) actors feel like? They want to act so badly that they promptly push away the grand opportunity that comes their way in order to go and get paid to set plates down in front of hungry directors so they don’t get thrown out of their apartment?

So now I have this fierce battle raging inside me because I know that all my irrational fears that I’m not a good finisher are total and complete crap. I know I am creative and have come up with a whole slew of interesting and funky treatments over the past few weeks that will be a no brainer to install not to mention fun. So here is the real thing I’m afraid of.

If I pursue a career as a decorative artist, strive to make Chucka Stone Designs all that it can be and start taking on clients all over greater Boston, I am afraid that I will somehow sabotage my own success by claiming it “isn’t what I really want to do” and promptly start whining that I really just want to be a writer again. That’s usually when I crawl back inside my own shell and have a pity party for myself that I never let anyone else become privy to. Instead I talk about how I’m ‘getting stuff together” and how I’m “almost ready” to get out there and work it. I lie to the world knowingly but I’m no longer convincing myself that it’s the truth.

So herein lies the real toughie for me. Why can’t I simply do both -- write and faux?

Easier to ask that question than answer it. Well for me at least. The logical answer is that there is no reason not to. Faux all day, come home at night and edit slowly but surely; maybe even work on the book on the weekends. It isn’t like I have a publishing house banging down my door for this manuscript (yet), screaming that they gave me this advance and now I’m over deadline or something. Nope, it’s just me and my red pen, so timing really isn’t at all of the essence.

So what the fuck is my problem?

The short answer? Me. I am my problem; my own worst enemy most of the time.

I’ll sit here taking days to craft this blog post perfectly, and I do love blogging don’t get me wrong but as soon as it is posted the normal person would grab the 190 pieces of white paper, a red pen and their imagination and go edit for the entire day. Not me though, I am bound to notice one tiny little thing that needs to be fixed on my website to make it perfect, the fact that I never added that other picture to some specific photo album, that I only have 20 business cards in my wallet so those should get printed, that I should really practice drums, that I never did update the proposal form, that I’m running low on something, that I really should write 3-4 GLR posts to front load the week, that I’m hungry, or a multitude of other distractions which will ensure I look at the clock at 3:00 and utter the words ‘wow, can’t believe the day is almost over and I’ve done nothing’.

As is plain to see, I also never got out to visit any Interior Designers, Contractors, Architects, Real Estate Agents, Decorators or other industry pros in this scenario either. So instead of even going to make a paycheck from my decorative work as at least a lucrative distraction, I sit here, doing nothing.

Sure I know it isn’t really “nothing” per se. All those things do indeed get done, but I know deep down that my need to have Perfection in my life has taken over again and that bitch is costing me dearly.

I need to figure out how to trick Perfection to get onto the box, then while I distract it with discussing the cost of the beautiful decorative treatment on the walls (ceiling, floor, furniture pieces…) that they will be paying me for I can liberate my characters from being held hostage by Perfection (for what feels like it has been forever). Use Perfection to provide the financing for Ripple the Twine.

Does that seem like an unreachable goal? Honestly, sometimes it does to me. But others likely just see it as good common sense.

So what am I going to do today? That is of course the real question begging to be answered.

Without A Doubt

My family has definitely been afflicted with various levels of hoarding and my grandparent’s house is the pinnacle of where it began. In my last post I mentioned that my aunt, mom and I took an entire day to clean out one of the rooms in the family house. While completing this task we made two piles -- one for recycling, the other for Goodwill. Since the start (long before last week), it has been a slow and steady process.

We found countless piles of newspapers, magazines, maps from their trips across the country (a future post will give details on the journals we found from their trips that I plan to transcribe and then Matt and I intend to visit every place they traveled), chotchkies, pictures, broken things, you name it and you were likely to find it in my grandparent’s house. In addition to the vast number of items that are boxed up and ready for charity, a few things have made their way out of the house and into our own homes. I have taken a few functional furniture pieces -- the table I mentioned last time plus 2 cabinets for my painting stuff, books, knick knacks, clothing and a few very, very random items.

While in my great Aunt’s bedroom we discovered that not only was she a very religious woman (which most of us already knew) but she also had a thing for astrology, fortune telling, horoscopes and the like. When I came across this little gem it totally blew me away. I turned it upside down, over and sideways trying to figure it out and next thing I knew I was asking ‘what is this, some kind of secret fortune telling device or something?’ only to discover the glass on the bottom fill up with a triangular shaped piece of something with just one word written on it ‘Yes’. It was the original Magic 8 Ball! Cool!

The fortune teller was discovered upon one of the first visits when I also acquired some of my grandmother and grandfather’s hats. My grampa was a fedora man and there were two gorgeous ones -- a grey and dark brown. I only pull them out occasionally but every time I wear any of their hats I feel like a million bucks!

Which is exactly the reason we’ve been sorting through everything before just getting rid of it; there could be cash stashed just about anywhere. Both grandparents suffered from symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and especially with my gram, as she got older and less mentally functional she hid things. With the number of things in the house that means things could be anywhere, especially in books. It’s a nightmare.

While sorting through some of the books in the reading nook on the third floor I came across this one which my mom convinced me I should at least read before donating seeing as though I’m the Green blogger in the family. This upcoming week I have some time and fully intend to do just that. Of course I have my pick of many.

There were some books as old as the early 1800’s found in the house including some that I should have read years ago but never made the time for, even though some of which I was technically supposed to read for school. A Tale of Two Cities, The House of Seven Gables, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Three Musketeers, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, you get the picture. Well they all came home plus the complete ten volume set of the World’s 1000 Best Poems, as published in 1929.

In the den I pulled this out of a basket or a bag or randomly off the floor and just started laughing, I mean when she bought it the name was probably very futuristic sounding. Like back in the 1980’s. In fact this tube of goo might have been one of the only things we found in that house that represented that particular decade. Well that and the jelly belt that was sticky from melting. Oh yeah.


Earlier decades were thoroughly represented as we discovered by the mounds of 1960’s and 1970’s poly print fabrics. This one was in a paper bag with the thread, pattern and zipper, just waiting to be created. Not to mention the receipt for how much all of it cost; just over $10. My mom and I are going to work on this together; Mom rocks, so does the dress on the far right.

This year for Christmas Matt got me a laptop tray. Mine has a lifting, tilting top, a lip to stop the computer from sliding forward and legs that fold underneath for easy storage. Looks familiar… Of course this one is a little beat up and wood not plastic. No one needs it and I immediately thought of my Mother in law. I know she reads so this could be a perfect little giftie for her. I’m going to clean it up, paint and faux it then send it on down just because. But shhh, it’s a surprise so don’t tell!

Overall it may seem like a lot of stuff has come into my home and I’m just perpetuating the cycle of collecting and perhaps that is partially true but for the most part I am only taking what I know will be created, gifted, read, worn or used as a functional item…

In fact I asked the Syco Slate if I should throw away the Stain Master 2000 after taking the picture for this post and it responded not surprisingly:

Week(s) In Review: A Pictorial Adventure

So where have I been, yes that would be the question considering that, unless we’re connected on Facebook, no one has heard from me in weeks. I don’t call, don’t write. Yeah, ‘dropped off the face of the virtual Earth’ (yet again) is pretty accurate. But I have done some amazing and fun stuff in my electronic absence.

And the train continues to roll so rather than sit here for ages typing out all the details of my recent misadventures in construction, paint, music, old friends and pastry, it occurred to me that a nice array of photos is surely a much lazier way to share the information.

And retain it for that matter. See? Really I’m just thinking of your time. Yeah, that's it.

So without further random babble from me, here is essentially a month in review…

A whole bunch of these got painted, glazed, varnished, etc. over the past couple weeks for Chucka Stone Designs, and more will be done this week (plus I might actually finish the furniture pieces this weekend, amazing!)

I hosted a week long giveaway over here that I enjoyed promoting.

This holiday came and went & Matt and I thankfully didn’t feel pressured to celebrate (because it is a silly tradition started just to make people feel bad who are single and obligated who are together so the card, chocolate, flower and jewelry industries can live on for one more day. OK. Jumping off my soapbox now…) But my mom sent us this card and it was very sweet of her!

The FINAL season (sob) of Tuesday night crack began. (Yeah I know he’s not on the show anymore but he was my favorite character and he did make an appearance in the first episode this season. Plus he’s hot, so there.)

We had a chance to catch this guy’s act live, and solo for the first time, which was so much fun! We were right at the edge of the stage in the Red Room at Café 939.

Then I started doing a whole bunch of this. (Thanks for the video still shots This Old House)

Of course that job is in central Mass so that meant I was in this a lot. Don’t worry, my car wasn’t recalled. Baby drives great.

Even though painting and plaster is a great workout it was good to do a little of this in addition to keep loose. Climbing ladders requires a certain level of already in shape-ness so as not to fall asleep on the sofa every night at 10:00. Oh wait…

I have been helping to clean out the family house which desperately needs to be finished and sold. My Aunt, mom and I spent six hours in this room getting it to look this empty. I wish I were kidding. But it is done now and so we celebrated with subs (hoagies, wraps, whatever you call it in your neck of the woods -- sandwich filling in a long roll). I took this round table home and it is now gracing my back hall under the window; it looks perfect with the bench on the other side, since they are a matching set.

Of course Thursdays have still been all about this. Wouldn’t miss that for anything!

Had a chance to catch one of my mom’s favorite performers, Seth Glier (on piano), this past Friday night. I can see why, wow this kid has talent!! At only 21, he has a long career ahead of him. (He plays SXSW every year so if you’re near Austin, TX go check him out!). Plus he remembered my mom on sight by name, asked her later what she wanted to hear and made a point to come over and apologize that he didn’t have time to play it after the show was over. Now that’s class.

And now this morning I’m finishing coffee and writing. Not to mention eating one of these; purchased after dinner with friends in Davis Square last night. Yum!

The month in review has now commenced. Holy crap, can’t believe it’s just about March already! Bring on the warm weather, yippie!

Semi Broken Thoughts for Friday All About Painting

I painted yesterday so as I sit here typing all I can see is splatters of primer all over both hands (yes I have to look at the keyboard when I type) and it is making me think of all things related to painting.

There is something completely satisfying for me at the end of a very intense day of ladder work, cutting in and rolling that I find tough to explain but of course I will try. When I paint (I don’t mean faux, that I actually do have to think about some of the time), I can just zone out and sing along to music I don’t even like that is blasting from the jobsite radio. I eat my lunch out of a cooler. I can wear whatever I like. Sweating is a definite. A workout is involved all day long. I can accomplish a little or a lot each day and no one is there to bitch about it as long as I wrap the entire job on time.

Yesterday I cut in and rolled out the walls in two entire rooms and began cutting in a third in about two hours. Our time was limited as the other kid who was cutting up carpet on this particular job site had gotten a ride there with my dad and had to be back for his other job by 3:00. My dad is protective and since this isn’t in the most desirable area he doesn’t want me there alone so I left with them.

I knew our time would be short so I cranked ass on purpose. Matt and I are going back this weekend. There are three rooms upstairs and 5 rooms downstairs to finish priming. Considering my performance yesterday I’d say between the 2 of us we will have those banged out by mid day on Saturday.

A lot of times I’ll eat lunch on the fly which means I chomp away on my sandwich with one hand while I cut in with the other. I of course did that yesterday because of the limited time but because I didn’t want to eat paint, I first wiped down my left hand with a Wet-Nap. Immediately I started to chuckle because, well, of course I had a Wet-Nap in my ‘Mom Bag’.

When I was working with the awesome faux ladies in Long Island I used to bring my lunch and other stuff everyday in a tote bag. The gals dubbed it the Mom Bag because anything you had to go to your Mom for, you would likely find it in my bag. The current contents include stuff like - straws, plastic utensils, hair bands, Wet-Naps, band aids, ibuprofen, girlie stuff, hand sanitizer, lotion, tissues, cough drops, change, napkins, and usually a roll of toilet paper and a plastic shopping bag but both of those are at the current jobsite.

Hey you just never know and I was a girl scout so I like to be prepared (although I think that is the motto of the Army or something but no matter, it’s a good one to keep in mind).

Taking off at the end of the day after having rocked it like yesterday always makes me feel like I just went to the gym for a couple hours, it is fulfilling but I am totally drained. I fell asleep on the couch last night and this morning my shoulder is definitely killing me but I don’t even care. Tomorrow we are planning on spending a healthy eight hour day out there then another 5 on Sunday and I go back for at least 4, maybe up to 6 on Monday which should take me through just about the end of Phase II of the job. Once the plumber, electrician and my dad (the finish guru) get through the place I will be back out for a couple days to complete the final bits.

This is my meditation.

Visit the whole Zen crew of BTP peeps…
Bridgete, Ginger, KC, Bree, Kate

Well Look at That, BTP on Thursday This Week

It just occurred to me this morning that we will be in Pennsylvania seeing Dave Matthews Band in fifteen days. Can not wait! It has been a couple years since seeing them on Randall’s island and admittedly it will be odd without LeRoi but I have a feeling this is going to be one of the best tours they have ever done because a big component of it is about honoring the man himself. So excited to be able to be a part of it.

Twitter is still holding my interest somewhat but I fear this might be one of those things I drop eventually just because of the strange time commitment involved. Time will tell on that one though I guess. For now I’m still there but posting / reading only about twice a day.

Hello sunshine, thanks for joining us again. We have certainly missed you’re cheerful disposition these past five days.

I’m not sure just how it happened but sometime in the last year I have become a stay at home mom without any kids. Suddenly I’m like a little chef and I even sometimes do Matt’s laundry. WTF? It isn’t entirely a bad thing (especially on nights like last night where I conceptualize the most amazing garlic butter and white wine breaded scallops, coconut rice and maple glazed carrots) but it is just such a far departure from the person I have always thought of myself as being it will take some getting used to that’s all. Understand, he doesn’t force me to do any of this stuff, I take it on myself, and cheerfully at that, so I think that is why I am mystified.

In Arlington we had attempted to grow herbs and flowers on our balcony but it only got a little bit of sun everyday. Here we have this awesome shelf built right onto the railing just outside our back door so a couple days after we moved in we planted basil and repotted a flower that was still living (despite being in the house with me) since my mom’s party back in April. I am happy to report the flower is doing well and the basil is beginning to sprout already. I am totally looking forward to using it in homemade sauce later this summer and into the fall.

When we went to the liquor store down the street on July 3rd to pick up beer for the cookout on the 4th, I laughed hysterically when I read the sign over the building.

OK Cable Guy…you can show up any old time now. Matter of fact you only have an hour and a half to do so and I would love if you actually made it on time. (Edit since first writing this -- dudes have come and gone, network is set up and cable too woo hoo! I like being legal but Matt is going to have to reprogram the clicker I think, nothing is turning on & off like it used to. We have so many components it is not a shock, but that is just not my area).

In order to work off some of this spread which magically showed up after eating, well, too much spread, Matt and I started an early morning workout routine. Early as in 6:00 AM. Yeah, that lasted exactly one day. I am just not a morning person. So now we are walking in the evenings instead. He gets home a little before 7:00, we eat and digest then about 8:00 we head out to pound the pavement. We have gone every day this week so far and I really have been enjoying it so much more than trying to drag my tired, albeit jiggly, ass out of bed at that ungodly hour. I never understood why gyms aren’t open at 1:00AM.

Do you ever get the sense like you were born to do something; that your whole life is an effort to work up to fulfilling one specific goal or purpose? I wonder this kind of stuff all the time but in turn it scares the hell out of me to consider that once that life purpose is achieved, what is left to live for? Does a new goal or purpose just magically appear to pursue or are we just supposed to ride the wave of the one true thing as long as possible and then live happily ever (though possibly bored) knowing we achieved our allotted success in life?

I have a couple paint jobs coming up this summer, in fact one starts tomorrow, and I am really excited to be doing this again. Not only is it going to be another great way to stay in shape both physically and financially but it will be nice to get back out in the world of contractors again. Sometimes it gets awful lonely working as a writer, enjoying nothing but my creativity for conceptualizing adjectives. So it will be nice to be able to do something less brain and more brawn for a couple weeks, where I can also have an actual conversation with another person every once in a while too.

Can someone please explain to me why banks charge money for dipping below a minimum daily balance? Um, hello, if you charge a fee isn’t the account going to continue to remain below that minimum? Perhaps that is the point, bleed the customer dry so you can pay your enormous debt back to the government right? I guess it is really us paying back the debts then huh? Not to mention how can you do this to a person who not only holds five separate accounts with your institution but someone who is a small business owner and has had an account with your establishment since 2000? Not like they charged my personal account of course, they hit me in the business account. So I called to inquire why I was charged the fee in the first place, due to the fact that I had received a letter indicating fees were waved for June and I was charged the fee on June 3. Apparently from what the Customer Hindrance Representative told me, the billing cycle for June ends on June 3. Say what? Oh and gee isn’t it a bummer that now you have been charged the “maintenance” fee for July as well since today is the 9th; looks like you never put any more money in there. Well thanks for letting me know that my business sucks this year. Apparently yours is thriving now on my loss right? I can only imagine how many other people are going through this exact same thing with TD Banknorth. Sucks for them, my money will be coming right the hell out of their institution by tomorrow morning and going into a local bank instead. All over $30. You know that is a gallon of paint I just lost. Totally not cool.

OK and shake it off…

I posted a vid over at GLR today showcasing Kermit the Frog singing Its Not Easy Bein’ Green and in my travels to locate it, this one popped up too. Freaking hilarious.



Visit all of the BTP Crew:
Ginger
Bridgete
Bree
Kate
KC

You? If you’re doing BTP Thursday (or any day) link back to here and let me know so I can give you the appropriate holla!

Out of Sight Out of Mind

My apartment is only about 600 or so square feet so it has become an art form trying to keep the “stuff” in it to the bare minimum of essentials, not to mention locating the perfect place to store what does come into this space. There are five rooms including the bathroom and although I would ideally love about another 200 square feet, this size is actually not too bad most of the time. It only bothers me when the chaos in my house starts sinking into my mind and I want to throw everything away. Like today for example.

I am a person who likes things to be clean and orderly; there is a place for everything -- after I am done using something it lives in its home until the next time I need it. Right now I am busy working on top coating all the parts and pieces of the behemoth entertainment center Matt built out of free pallet wood and scrap plywood (in fact we only spent about $70 on this entire thing including hinges, hardware, paint & lumber). The thing is massive but everything is flat and the doors and shelves come off so one might think it would be quick to paint; one would be wrong.

Here is the piece in its finished state prior to Matt attaching the doors. This is before it came home to meet my mini roller and paint tray.


Top section will hold speakers on either of the ends, whatever in the 2 middle sections. Middle section -- random knick knack stuff in the small left side shelves, TV in the largest opening, components on the right. Bottom section will have slide out shelves and is meant to house media (all our cd’s and dvd’s are in books for maximizing storage space but since we still live in the dark ages we do still own a bunch of video tapes too). I assure you, something gets lost in the translation because this thing is huge. By huge I mean taller than me; let’s just say I will not be the one dusting the top of this sucker once it’s installed.

So Matt took it apart and he and B moved it out of their basement and into our very small apartment about a week ago. It needed a bit of wood fill on screw holes and general imperfections (on the pallet wood especially) then I sanded it down and was ready to paint.

Since the top piece is so convoluted with shelves and spaces, it made its way up onto risers so I would have more space to work around it. Unfortunately the height of the permanently installed shelves is pretty short and sadly there was just no way to get a roller into some of them so most days I have had an arm full of paint from using the brush.

Because I did not want to do 400 coats of the dark chocolate brown color we chose, I went with a deep grey primer and sealer. Free advice people, anything really dark (reds, purples, navy blue, forest green, etc.) is so much easier to paint final coats when using grey primer as opposed to white. And generally speaking the shelf grey is cheaper than a tinted primer too. But I digress…

Painting the doors and shelves was an interesting challenge because my third drop is somewhere at my Dad’s house so I had to improvise by strategically placing them on elevated surfaces all over the house, like the side of a chair or my tool caddy. Luckily there are only six doors and two shelves because this is substantially adding to the messy feeling everywhere.

Insert my hysterical cackling. Paint fumes could have something to do with this of course. Good thing it is water based paint and varnish or we would really be in trouble.

Watch in awe as the vein on the side of my head simply pops next time I trip over a brown door as I try to get into a room other than the living room!

So now I am waiting for the top coat to dry so Matt can attach the hardware tonight, flip this enormous piece so I can do the underside (it will be visible when the lower section doors are open) and then secure the pieces together before placing this baby where it belongs, thus allowing for a vacuum to roam freely throughout this house again. I can not wait to breathe clean air.

Silver lining? The house will feel huge after this is installed.

Top Five

I feel like I am living inside a John Cusack movie right now. As if all the dark and twisted happenings have this undertone of humor that everyone else gets but I never experience because all I do the entire hour and forty minutes is brood. Admittedly his earlier films, like Sixteen Candles, are a bit light and fluffy for my current mood, but his independent stuff after the 1980’s turned up collar era is pretty close to how I feel.

In High Fidelity, one of my very favorite of his performances, it was all about music, how that related to his whole life and what about it defined all his relationships. He made top five lists for everything in his life; the entire movie was based around that premise. So here are some of my own top five, in no particular order.

Top five things I do all the time

Wake up and immediately pour a cup of coffee the size of my head. This corresponds with the fact that I do not speak until at least half of that cup is ingested. Some days it is the entire cup. Believe me this is safer for everyone involved.

Say please and thank you. And mean it. Common politeness is so underrated in society today.

Look at southern California. When the weather report comes on and the meteorologist shows the picture of the entire country, my eyes immediately go right for SoCal. Most of the time I miss the temperature here in the north east because I end up lingering so long over on the other side of the country.

Over analyze. Both a blessing and a curse I guess. As a writer I tend to put this quality to good use most of the time when typing away but in other areas of life it can become a bit tedious. There are days when I really wish I could be one of those blissfully unaware types, a person who never questions anything because they have no idea that they should. It would be so cool to truly be able to live in the moment without my brain always wondering what it all means.

Start things that I never finish. School, countless novels, career paths, relationships, living my dreams. The list goes on an on and it makes me good at everything but great at nothing. This is not to say that I never finish anything however, it is just that my moods and interests wane; sometimes the big things I was so enthusiastic about at first bore me after a period of time and I need to move on.

Top five favorite finishes

Stripes. Tough to complete because there is so much prep involved but they are one of the most versatile, gorgeous finishes. They can be done in so many different ways (product, color, size, etc) to achieve the perfect effect. The boys nursery is done in nine inch wide, alternating, strie stripes. It gives a wallpaper effect.


Brick. Talk about prep time but very loft chic!

Stainless steel. I have not actually installed this anywhere yet but I am dying to do so! Want to hire me? I’ll put it on your backsplash, kitchen cabinets or anywhere that sleek look is desired. Go ahead and give me a call. Have brush will travel.

Stone with veining. Another fun finish for its versatility. It looks really hot in a bathroom as tiles under chair rail.

Crosshatch. This picture shows a chameleon beige base with a pearl glaze in very flowing crosshatch basket strokes. Everywhere in the room and at all different times of the day the finish presents entirely different. For example on the lower right wall it looks like a solid color but in late afternoon the skylight above shines off the pearl and it reflects beautifully.

Top five movie quotes

“You’ll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle.”
Lester Bangs, Almost Famous

“My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage.”
Aunt Frances, Practical Magic

“But I am an artist. I am an artist. Hey! I am an artist!”
Samantha James, Just Friends

“On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.”
Narrator, Fight Club

“What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”
Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

Writers Flood

Recently a friend, one I wrote about a while ago in relation to pretzels and metaphors, came over for tea and we got to discussing her insane dating adventures as if they should maybe be written into a book or something. Since I am a writer that tiny “maybe” turned into a pen, notebook, outline and introduction of a -- life story, fiction, non fiction, autobiography, complete fabrication. So the story will go something like this: My friend is a completely fictional character, all the men are completely fictional characters, the situations they find themselves in and conversations they have are completely fictional; but it is all based on things that have actually happened in her life. I guess the movie credits will read “Based on a true story” or something to that effect. She wants that Gilmore Girls chic to play her in the movie and although I have no idea who that is, maybe the wheels can get rolling now on making that happen.

She and I have been friends for a very long time and all joking aside I am honored she would trust me enough to take all the painful, albeit hilarious, situations that come from dating as a single, divorced mom in one’s mid thirties and spin them into a fun story for the world to read. She is not putting any pressure on me to finish anytime soon because in her own words “there will be plenty of material for years to come I’m sure.” This got me thinking about where material for stories comes from and how I have been so inspired to write for the past year after such a long drought before that.

It occurred to me that I was trying to quiet the inner artist for a very long time, attempting to work at jobs where I was unsatisfied doing nothing more than bringing home a paycheck every month because I thought all I really needed was the money to pay my bills. That was so very wrong because I was miserable everyday even though my bank account was overflowing. It was truly the cliché double edge sword. Now that I have decided it is time to do what it is I was meant to do, there will be no stopping me.

Since age twelve I have wanted to be a writer, and have been journaling since, but now, twenty years later, I am finally pursuing that career path. I chalk it up to the need for life experience to draw from to express my true voice to the world. Even though furious typing is what I see myself doing on a daily basis to fulfill my life, it is not just writing these days that finds me flashing the creative bling.

I have become obsessed with creating many forms of art for fun from digital photography to mixed media collage to website creation to crafting and of course faux finishing.

I bought myself a cute little point and shoot digital that resides in my purse now everywhere I go because you never know where inspiration might appear. A couple weeks ago I came across this sign at a crosswalk, I thought it was cute.



Matt cringed when he saw a photo of himself that I took at a concert the other night but I turned it into something else and he loves it now. Is he cute as a cartoon or what?



My Designer contact in the world of faux asked me to create a sample board that would look exactly like the tile her client was insisting she have on her walls in a powder room. After arriving at the proper base color it was just a matter of applying the plaster like product in layers of various colors, stippling it, veining and spotting the board with glaze. Not too shabby (although the scanned copy looks more pink and does not show the luminous quality of the plaster layers as well as the sample board).



Even though these pursuits are fun I have come to the conclusion that they are really just vehicles to help me stay inspired to write more. Be it this blog, articles published online or the brand spanking new, self published Random Lunacy zine I am selling*, there is no way I will be experiencing a block as long as I keep my eye open for the creative nuances of inspiration the world has to offer.

* Shameless self promotional plug: You can buy my zine by clicking this link or the photo of it above & right. Currently it is only for sale through my online Etsy shop but that could change with Volume 2 due out first week of June 2008!