I stumbled across this designer quite some time ago, and have since been "ooohing" and "awwwing" over his textiles. Champagne taste on a beer budget leaves me doing this, instead of purchasing. Sadness. You must check out the collections. Don't ask questions, just do it. Now. Now I say! John Robshaw Textiles
P.S. The flash book is worth looking through.
Cock vs. Crazy Daisies
Pre-note: if you are a crazy farm-animal theme lover, then I strongly caution you to not continue reading further.
I complained of roosters a couple of posts back. Yes, I have a rooster in my kitchen, but it was not something that I chose to have. It will be painted over eventually!
That said, I would like to talk about those crazy people who have farm animal-themed kitchens. I remember when I was a junior in high school - my cousin got married & she had several gifts that were cow-themed for her kitchen. I didn't understand it then, and I don't understand it now. I'd much rather have cute vintage pieces, than hideous roosters (or other farm animals) in my kitchen.
I love timeless pieces that you can mix and match with other pieces. I love things that never seem to go out of style or lose their charm. With farm animals, you are kind of stuck in one theme & if you were to tire of it, I imagine it would take quite a bit of money to replace everything. With mixing & matching, you always have pieces to choose from/pieces you can put away for a fresh new look anytime you are ready for one.
I complained of roosters a couple of posts back. Yes, I have a rooster in my kitchen, but it was not something that I chose to have. It will be painted over eventually!
That said, I would like to talk about those crazy people who have farm animal-themed kitchens. I remember when I was a junior in high school - my cousin got married & she had several gifts that were cow-themed for her kitchen. I didn't understand it then, and I don't understand it now. I'd much rather have cute vintage pieces, than hideous roosters (or other farm animals) in my kitchen.
I love timeless pieces that you can mix and match with other pieces. I love things that never seem to go out of style or lose their charm. With farm animals, you are kind of stuck in one theme & if you were to tire of it, I imagine it would take quite a bit of money to replace everything. With mixing & matching, you always have pieces to choose from/pieces you can put away for a fresh new look anytime you are ready for one.
What do you knead?
It's a well-known fact that most cats knead. In fact, I had a kitty (R.I.P. Keeka 4/15/08 - love & miss you pretty girl) who was a big fan of kneading. I always thought it was neat, and let her do it, though many times her claws would come out of hiding during the process and I had to grit my teeth to get through it! It was a sweet, comforting thing my kitty would do, so I didn't mind.
However, I didn't realize that puppies also sometimes do this. I was so surprised by it, that I actually did a web search on the issue, and did come across a couple of other people who have puppies that do the same thing. My puppy has a few furry toys that I call his "babies". He'll take one of his babies and find the perfect spot to suck on (usually somewhere on the head), and at the same time he will take his little paws and knead. It is so cute! He'll many times fall asleep this way. I took a brief video of him doing it, and thought I would share it with you! Enjoy!
The Chair Nobody Wanted...
I went to the doctor on Monday, as I had been sick with a sore throat and achy body, which then lead to massive nasal congestion and a general "I want to crawl in a hole and die" feeling. Turns out I have strep throat! Anyway, so I had some time to kill before my prescriptions would be ready, and (expletive deleted) also had a doctor appointment, as (expletive deleted) had been ill before I was, but was feeling better.. just to be on the safe side. So we went to several places, one being a furniture store. We were just browsing, getting some ideas.. and just seeing if they happened to have anything that matched the vision in my brain.
There was a unique looking chair off towards the end of the rows of furniture that we stumbled across. As we were discussing the chair, the saleswoman walks over and says "Ah yes, that chair. All the men love it, and all of the women hate it." I was sort of taken back by that. I just kind of looked up at her and said "Oh, really? I like the chair."
I guess she didn't hear me, or maybe just brushed off what I said, because the whole time we were there, all she could comment about is how lucky (expletive deleted) is for having someone who would let (expletive deleted) get that chair. It was crazy! I said at least THREE TIMES that I liked the chair; that I liked odd things that others don't. I think secretly the saleswoman didn't like the chair, and therefore never heard a word I said about liking it, as she could not fathom anyone liking that chair. I started feeling bad for the chair. The saleswoman mentioned that they were just discussing how they were going to be marking down the chair; how it had sat on the salesroom floor for quite some time now.
It was the chair that nobody wanted, which made me want it even more. It had it's own unique charm. I loved the fact that it wasn't your average ordinary chair. I liked how it stood out in the crowd. I liked that it was made from recycled truck tarps from South America, and that it was considered "green". All of these little details made me fall in love with the chair more and more, and by Friday, I will probably own this chair. It was the chair that nobody wanted.. the chair that I want.
There was a unique looking chair off towards the end of the rows of furniture that we stumbled across. As we were discussing the chair, the saleswoman walks over and says "Ah yes, that chair. All the men love it, and all of the women hate it." I was sort of taken back by that. I just kind of looked up at her and said "Oh, really? I like the chair."
I guess she didn't hear me, or maybe just brushed off what I said, because the whole time we were there, all she could comment about is how lucky (expletive deleted) is for having someone who would let (expletive deleted) get that chair. It was crazy! I said at least THREE TIMES that I liked the chair; that I liked odd things that others don't. I think secretly the saleswoman didn't like the chair, and therefore never heard a word I said about liking it, as she could not fathom anyone liking that chair. I started feeling bad for the chair. The saleswoman mentioned that they were just discussing how they were going to be marking down the chair; how it had sat on the salesroom floor for quite some time now.
It was the chair that nobody wanted, which made me want it even more. It had it's own unique charm. I loved the fact that it wasn't your average ordinary chair. I liked how it stood out in the crowd. I liked that it was made from recycled truck tarps from South America, and that it was considered "green". All of these little details made me fall in love with the chair more and more, and by Friday, I will probably own this chair. It was the chair that nobody wanted.. the chair that I want.
Birds of a feather...
I'm in the process of redecorating/remodeling my dining room/soon-to-be living room, with a little help of course. I have no carpentry skills what-so-ever; I just play the project engineer. I'm pretty excited about the project, though it's a bit slow moving. While I do like certain aspects of my current dining room, there are other things I could live without. The previous owner of the house I reside in took some courses in faux-finishing. Now don't get me wrong, if you faux-finish right, it can look fabulous, and the previous owner did an excellent job... there are just some things I don't care for, such as the brick wall, the sky, and the bird on the wall. Yes, you read that right - there is a bird painted on the wall. On top of the brick wall. Both on the wall. And there's even a moon, but it's pretty faint. Did I mention there was a jet in the sky?
Anyway, to get back to my point - the previous owner also painted faux-tiles above my kitchen stove. No, not just any old tyles - but tiles with the image of a rooster. I know many people love roosters, and have rooster themed kitchens, but.. they are not for me. I've always hated the look of the rooster, even as a kid. My sort-of step-grandmum had them all over her kitchen and it horrified me. Even the real bird isn't eye-candy, so what are people thinking when they decide that they'd be great to adorn their houses with? I know what you're thinking.. "Why not just paint over the rooster?". Ahh if it were only that easy. My kitchen wall is also faux finished. That means I'd have to repaint the entire kitchen to get rid of the rooster, and that's just not on the top of my list of priorities at this moment, especially considering my current dining room remodel/makeover. There are also 3 roosters on faux-finished cupboards in my laundry room, but I suspect a little steam will help me peel those off, so those are not a priority either.
So to sum it up, 4 roosters, 1 bird, 1 sky, and 1 brick wall. These are the things I do not like about my house. Everything else is fine. Even the color in my current dining room is fine, though I am changing it because I have a pretty clear idea of how I want my new living room to look, and the current color is not in my picture. However, the current living room/soon-to-be dining room walls will probably remain the same, so the new dining room may have a similar feel to it, for those of you who are perplexed as to why I would change my current dining room *points to Mina, Wendy, Beth, etc.* Stay tuned. It may take awhile, but I will eventually get the makeover done, and will post follow up pics to the ones below. Enjoy!
10 million strong and growing....
Mina and I had it all figured out. We were taking our vitamins as planned, and even compensated for the missing calcium by adding an additional Viactiv Calcium Chew. What kind of vitamins were we taking, you ask? Well, those would be Viactiv as well. The Viactiv Multi-vitamin chew seemed to have a beneficial amount of the daily recommendations for nutritional supplements. That is... until one day, on a whim, I decide to be smart (in the ass kind of way) and compare the Viactiv to the Vitaball. To be honest with you, we were both in shock. Are you aware the Vitaball is fairly comparable to the Viactiv chew? So this new information wasn't good enough.. I had to be even more clever and compare it to our well-known childhood friend - Flintstones! At that point, our jaws were on the floor, and our finger and thumb were in the shape of an L, resting on our foreheads. Yes, my friends, Flintstones vitamins are actually better than the Viactiv chew! And to top it off, we hadn't realized that the Viactiv chew has zero iron in it (Flintstones does, of course!). All these years, you grow and mature into adults, thinking you need to move on from your childhood. Little did you know that there are good, familiar friends that are still better for you than your new grown-up adult impersonators. One last fact before I'm done ranting about vitamins: Flintstones Complete vitamins are far less expensive than Viactiv. On that note, I will leave you with a little quote from ze lovely Mina: "Now when we are in the cafeteria, I can trade you a Dino for a Pebbles!"