pretty messy

This photo is so lovely!

I like the Bohemian 60's French apartment my mind wanders into, the scent of fresh market flowers and the chime of jars filled with cheap champagne. The garden courtyard rings with laughter and the sound of a bicycle bell as the nerdy teacher in his tweed suit (with elbow patches and one shoe untied...) rolls in from his afternoon classes.

That's about it. I could add in details for the pretty print on the table cloth, and the fresh strawberries from the window box. There are the pretty cloth flats near the front door (with its brass handle and the A-line jacket hanging on its hook), the tea kettle with it's bright blue lacquer and the pretty white dishcloth hanging from the oven.

If I can't live in France and sip wine with my pretty French friend, at least I can twist my hair into this messy Chignon and add a little extra eyeliner. It's almost the same thing.

photo courtesy of This is Glamorous, courtesy of hiphipgingin

Harmonia Axyridis

Lady bugs are pretty little things. They are round and gentle, and it always seems like good luck when they land on someone. I'm pretty sure someone told me it was good luck once, and I believed them. I like lucky things happening to me, and if that means a round little beetle with bright red wings and little black spots is lucky, fine.

As it happens, I came across a website called the Lost Ladybug Project. Apparently ladybugs are disappearing from their native territories, and people are wondering why. They're also encouraging kids and ladybug enthusiasts to take photos and help the Project find out where the ladybugs have gone.

I'm pretty sure they've all moved into our house.

This may sound a little surprising, and you might be thinking to yourself, "Um, I don't think I want to read this anymore, this girl is a little bit nuts."

But I'm a little bit serious, too.

I have come across approximately thirty ladybugs in our house. I think they might be the Harmonia Axyridis, but it's hard to tell (I'm not really a ladybug expert). I have begun to read a little bit about them, because it's almost like I'm too lucky.

Lady bugs keep the plant-eating bug population low. They have even been introduced from Asia into areas where nasty plant-eaters were destroying crops. They are disappearing, some of them so rare that they haven't been spotted more than a couple of times in the last 10 years (in areas where they used to be abundant).

If you're like me, you'll start spotting them everywhere you go (on your curtains, in the bedroom, on the couch, in the window sill...), and also out walking, perhaps on some pretty wheatgrass. And if you want to be part of the Ladybug Project, you'll take a photo or two and send it in so they can start tracking where the ladybugs have gone.

Who knows, you may get lucky.

all that glitters

If I had my own house and it had pretty wooden stairs and I could just go crazy and do something fun, I'd make mirror mosaic risers.

If I had a big loft area or a barn, I would hang multi-size disco balls from the ceiling, all grouped together in their awesomeness like I saw at a club once (Upstairs in Victoria, BC).

If I had a rockstar condo I would make a wildly glittering backsplash.

And finally, if I had anywhere to wear them, I would absolutely bling out some heels and prance happily about.

Oh, the ifs.

If this and that and the other thing, then...

My house would be crazy looking, and I would be that crazy neighbor with the mirrors everywhere. My boyfriend would probably move out after too many nights of stumbling in the dark and being taunted by his reflection.

If.

photos courtesy of "this is glamorous"

peace out

This dining room makes me happy and I feel calm just looking at it. I love the simple soft colors and the white shimmering light. The bright poppies on the table are just the right amount of pop (tee hee, pop-pies). I love the wood accent over the counter, and the simple yet unusual wine rack.

I think I'd add some cushions to the chairs, but they do look cool.

I want to put socks on and wander around with a cup of coffee, peeking into cabinets and touching the edges of things. I'd curl up in a corner somewhere and settle in a pool of light to read a book.

I would probably fall asleep. Which would be weird because it's not my house and Keri Russell might get a little uncomfortable.

Keri Russell's house in Elle Decor (from Black Eiffel)

new and tiny

Lucy Katherine was born on the 26th of May.

She's perfect and tiny, with lots of black hair and copper skin.

Her mother is blonde and has lovely alabaster skin with freckles. She says she couldn't believe it when she saw her daughter for the first time and thought, "That came from me!?"

(The father is from Venezuela, he may have had something to do with that.)

I heard her gurgling and chirping over the phone, her tiny week-old voice hardly a voice at all.

She sounded pretty cute but I'll need photos to confirm it.

Welcome to the world, Lucy.

up it goes

If your house burned down, it'd be sad. Awful, frightening, heartbreaking, and sad.

If you could run in beforehand and pick out a few cherished items, it'd be a little less sad.

If you took a pretty photo of the items, and then had a few other people do the same thing with a few of their cherished items, it'd be art.

My list of things to grab if the house was burning down:

Small wooden box of vintage and silver jewelry.

Birthday boots, brown leather.

Hard drive with photos.

Metal straight pins from Peru.

Two scarves from Thailand.

Camera.

Recipes.

Box of baby clothes and handmade toys.

Small metal 'vase' with dried flowers from when I was a kid.

That one love letter I requested and was actually given.

I'm pretty sure this list would make me cry if my house burned down, and I'd add a few hundred more things (like my silver cutlery, my favorite heels, a few vintage dresses, and all of my art) but it's a pretty good start. I think if I lost everything else (not including people or dogs) I would be pretty okay if I had these things.

I'd like to put it out there that this doesn't mean I have a good plan and I feel like my house might burn down. I'd really rather not ever have to deal with that. But I'm glad I have a list.

photos courtesy of black eiffel

but really courtesy of the burning house

yarrr!

Sometimes focusing on something else is a good idea. Otherwise you might hiss in someone's face and tell them they're ridiculous, controlling, and dumb as a stump.

You could focus on writing a poem, maybe look up angry poetry or quotes. If you were me, you'd do all of them, just to distract yourself in an attempt to calm down.

"When I am angry I stab a newspaper with Mom's ironwork scissors..."

"If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?" -Sydney J. Harris

"Anger is one letter short of Danger." -anonymous

These are all pretty good. I like the one about anger being like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

In other news, Sascha ate nearly a gallon of another dog's kibble. We're waiting for it to come back and visit us, and hopefully not on the carpet.