alley cat

I'm laying in bed smelling of campfire right now, which is one of my favorite states of being.  It's been two nights in a row going to bed like this.  Pretty awesome in my book.  I would smell of campfire all the time, if possible.  When I worked at a summer camp a few summers ago, we would have a campfire every night, so I basically did smell like campfire all the time.  I also smelled like dirt and leaves, which was also agreeable.  Despite it not being quite refined, I actually sort of like having chewed down fingernails with a bit of dirt underneath.  I mean, not to the degree that I look like I haven't showered in a week, but I like seeing that evidence of living.  I have dirt under my nails because I was digging in the garden.  I find sawdust particles on my clothes because I was in the garage working.  My nails are short and chewed off because rock climbing doesn't allow me to grow them long enough to warrant putting polish on.  I don't mind looking unrefined, I see it more as a testimony to living a full life.  Delightfully Tacky, Yet Unrefined?  Thanks, Hooters.


 

cardigan (similar)/thrifted :: skirt(similar)/forever 21 :: shoes/courtesy of minnetonka top/courtesy of modcloth :: necklace/handmade bag (similar)/courtesy of handbag heaven :: photos by Dan

Dan snapped these photos on a neighborhood walk.  I really like walking through alleys.  You get such a better picture of people when you see their house from the alley.  The front yard is what they present to other people, but no one cares about what you see from the alley.  You get to see what kind of backyard they keep, if they have pets, if they like gardening, if they have kids, if they dispose of couches by just dumping it in the alley... It's a different perspective and I like it.  In a lot of ways, it feels more personal.  You can hear kids laughing from behind a fence, or smell someone's backyard barbecue.  It's a more accurate way to get a feel for a neighborhood, I think.

industrial chevron coffee table diy

I've been a big fan of Ariele Alasko's work for some time now.  I love everything she creates, and have long wanted one of her pieces in my home.  I figured, since I can't afford one of her creations (shipping alone has to be crazy expensive!), I'd try my hand at emulating the look of her pieces.  I have plans for a couple more pieces similar to this one (I'm dreaming of making a pretty headboard for our bed), so this was kind of a test run.  I decided to go for a simple chevron design for my first try.  We've had the same Ikea coffee table since 2011, and I wanted something more interesting for our new living room.  
Materials 1x2 (I think I bought 6 8ft 1x2s, but depending on the size of your table you may need more or less)
plywood
stain (I used Varathane ebony + sunbleached)
wood glue
8 floor flanges
4 T's
4 6 in nipples
4 8 in nipples
16 10x 1" wood screws
saw
miter box
power drill
I wanted a similar height and size to our old Ikea coffee table, so I made mine 24 in x 36 in.  I had Home Depot cut my plywood to that size (a nice option, if you don't have a saw).  The plywood is what you'll attach all your small 1x2s to.  For a simple chevron design, you'll just need to cut your pieces at 45 degrees, and then place the angled edge against the center line of the table to measure how long your full length pieces will be.  Once you start getting to the ends of the table, you'll start cutting them shorter to fit into the corners.  Just measure as you go and learn to love your miter box.  If you have a power miter saw, that would be ideal.  I did not, so I cut each one by hand. 


Once all your pieces are cut, you can stain them.  I laid every piece out on the table how I wanted them and then stained pieces according to how I wanted it to look.  I used a black and grey stain, but you can do whatever you like.  Stain them before you glue them down, so you don't have to deal with accidentally staining the strip adjacent.
When your stain is dry, glue your pieces down with wood glue.  I did each one individually, picking it out of it's spot, applying glue to the plywood and the bottom of the strip, and then sticking it down.  Once all of them were glued down I put some heavy books on top to help squish it together.

The legs are the easiest part.  Measure 3in from each edge on each corner and make a mark.  This is where the first screw will go on all our flanges.  Place the flange so you can see that mark through the screw hole and then mark where the other 3 screw holes are, so you can drill the holes where your screws will go (I'm not entirely sure this is necessary, but I didn't want any wood to split when I screwed the flanges on).  Repeat till you've got all your screw holes marked, and then drill them with a bit slightly smaller than your screws, you still want there to be enough wood for your screws to grab.  
Switch to a phillips head bit and screw down all your flanges!  Now all you have to do is assemble the legs.  If you want a shelf beneath the table, like mine, you'll need some T's to hold up the shelf.  If not, just get a pipe the length you want your table's height to be (minus a couple inches to account for the wood and flanges).  I got a 6 in nipple to go below the shelf and an 8 in nipple for above the shelf.  
You can make the shelf a couple ways.  You can measure the distance between the table legs (mine were 15 in apart) and make a sheet of plywood that width by the length of the top of the table minus 2 inches.  Your shelf will sit between the two pipes, resting on the T.  Or, you can do what I did and make your shelf wider than the distance between the legs, and cut notches out.  The former is easier, the latter gives you more shelf space, but is harder to make.  My bottom shelf is 21" x 33"



I was planning on making a nice edge to clean it up a bit with some 1x4, but it took me 3 months to finish to this point, so I'm calling it good for now.  I have the wood to finish the edges so it might happen eventually!  For now, I like how it looks and am happy to finally have it done!

candid thoughts on having kids

So.  Kids.  Since I'm, like, a married woman now it's kind of what people expect from us next.  Usually people don't bother asking, because I think I'm relatively obvious about my desire to not yet broach that subject with my uterus, but occasionally the, "so when are you guys having kids?" question gets asked. Lately I've been thinking about the nature of my apprehension towards that whole kid thing.  I've realized that I'm not worried about the carrying/birthing of said child.  I trust that my body is pretty much designed to do such a thing and despite the prospect of extreme pain and possible complications during birth or prior or post, the physical aspect of babymaking doesn't phase me much (yet).  The part that is freaky? Where they hand a tiny human to you and say, "Here's your human. You made it, now keep it alive and don't fuck it up!" and then slap you on the ass and send you home with a couple pamphlets.

Okay, I know I'll have 9 months to read things and get used to the idea.  But it's still weird, is it not?  Like... you can just manifest a human being with some pretty rudimentary biological mechanics.  And then it's your job to a) keep that human alive, and if you succeed at that, then b) try as best you can to get it through 18 years with as little psychological and physical damage.  I don't doubt my ability to be a halfway decent parent, but you have to admit, it's kind of daunting looking at it from the pre-parenthood side of things.  I never had a younger sibling who I "parented."  I can barely even remember either of my younger brothers' years as infants, even though I was about 8 when my youngest brother was born.  I don't like babies, don't want to hold them, and have no interest in baby sitting, so my practical experience with kids is rather limited.


In a lot of ways, this is a big reason I want to get a puppy, rather than rescue an older dog.  While I love the idea of rescuing a dog, and want to support that wholeheartedly, part of my desire to have a dog is to learn to take care of a living creature from infancy(ish).  To train and be a mother to a baby dog before I have to do it with a person.  I know it's not the same, not even close, but it's a step.  And while I don't need that step, I want it.

I'm excited to make a person though.  I'm a lot more excited about having a 3-4 year old tiny human than an infant.  I love hearing stories about kids like Harper and Jacob and Rowan, who are developing interests and personalities, saying hilarious thing, and being silly little people.  I'm sure when I have a headstrong 3 year old who is a total brat, I'll long for the days when it would just lay around and look at the world with big eyes.  I think about how great it is to be friends with my mom, and I long to have that relationship with a child in some 30 years.  Life is so indescribably enriched through having children in a way I don't believe can be replaced with anything else, and I look forward to that.  I'm not entirely sure a human can experience their full capacity for love, joy, and pain, without having become a parent.  It's a scary thing.  Probably the most vulnerable thing you can do.  I don't know if I'm ready for it yet, but at the same time, I don't know if anyone ever really is.  I mean, you can probably think you are, but things almost never go according to plan, and life has a tendency to throw you in the deep end when you're still learning to dog paddle.  At least we have wine.

goddess vibes

The past couple days I've felt incredibly motivated to get things done.  I have tons of projects around the house I need to finish, but mostly my motivation channeled itself into starting and finishing new projects.  Either way it felt good to finish some projects!  I made a DIY bench out of an old pallet.  It's a bit rickety and I sort of just winged it, but I like it!  It might need some reworking in the future, but we have a bench on our porch now and it's awesome.  I also got inspired to create some hanging flower pots, macrame style.  And I strung up some fun lights in the backyard!  Our house is truly starting to feel like a home.  Oh, and Ruthy and I are organizing a fun blogger social event in late July, so that's happening too (deets hopefully coming soon)!  I almost finished my coffee table DIY but I don't have the right length screws, so that will have to wait till tomorrow.  Even Dan was tripping on the motivation fumes because he's been fixing up the El Camino like nobody's business.  Fixed my broken ignition, choke, stereo, and subwoofer.  Okay, well,  some of those things only had a blown fuse, but it's still awesome to have stuff working.  Feels great to actually get things done.  


dress/courtesy of adventurer vintage :: triangle necklace/courtesy of moorea seal  shoes (similar)/thrifted :: turquoise ring (similar)/courtesy of jewelmint quartz necklace/courtesy of adorn by sarah lewis :: owl ring/forever 21
This dress is actually a nightgown, but when I saw it I immediately thought it'd be beautiful styled as a maxi dress.  I just put a slip beneath it to keep it from being too sheer, and voila!  A goddess maxi dress.      And it's short enough that I don't have to wear huge platform heels to keep it from dragging on the ground.  Usually when I wear maxi dresses I have to wear huge shoes, but this one is just right. Alison from Adventurer Vintage sent it over and she's having a huge moving sale on her entire vintage stock.  She's moving this summer and needs to downsize her vintage stock, so take advantage of the discount while you can!  Enter the code "BYEBYEBYE" at checkout to receive 40% off! And since we're talking about moving sales, Moorea Seal is also offering a discount of 35% with the code "FRESHSPRING." She's retiring some of her current designs, so if you've had your eye on some of her gorgeous pieces, now's the time to snatch it up before it's gone forever!  Moorea has some awesome plans for a new store opening this summer and I'm excited to see what it's all about!

summer lovin'

I got this dress this time last year, and I think I've only worn it once since then, but the other day it was sunny and warm outside and this dress felt like the perfect thing for such a day.  I kind of felt like a popsicle.  A stripey one, like a firecracker or something.  Firecrackers are my favorite.  Whenever the ice cream truck came around (which was like twice a year in Anchorage) I always wanted a firecracker.  I actually have a box of firecrackers in my fridge leftover from last summer.  I like to have them on hand.  You know, just in case.
While I was taking these photos a strange fellow approached me with his daughter and started bugging me about what I was doing and asking me to take photos of his daughter.  Last time I was approached like that it turned into a crazy story, so I was pretty ready to get out of there and avoid another bizarre interaction.  Luckily it turned out to be less weird, concluding with him insisting I look at "the most amazing and artistic thing ever," which he thought I'd appreciate as an artist.  I thought we were going to a grafitti wall or something, but no.  We stopped in front of a pile of sticks on the side of the alley.  Oh man.  He also insisted I give him my business card so I could take more photos of his daughter, and I didn't have any on me, and the only way to get him to go away was to give him my "phone number." Which turned out to be 9 randomly selected numbers.  Thankfully I got a few good shots in before he interrupted, because I booked it out of there as soon as possible.  Oh blogging.



dress/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes/courtesy of blowfish shades/courtesy of lulu's
Dan is training for a new job where he's going to be a dedicated cook!  He used to be a "cook" and barback, and I use quotations because he wasn't really cooking food, just making tapas and other small plates and sandwiches that don't require cooking per se.  But he's getting excited about learning all these cooking techniques and I'm kind of jealous that he's getting all this sweet training and cooking knowledge!  Last night he got inspired to try and cook a steak after watching an episode of Good Eats. I don't think either of us has cooked steak before, so it was kind of an experiment, but it turned out!  It was a fun little treat since I don't really eat a ton of meat anymore, especially something like steak.  Taking a cooking class is one of my 26 before 27 goals, so maybe I'll look into it!  I just realized it's already halfway through 2013 and I'm nowhere near completing my goals.  So it goes.