Weekend Reflection

Craving the comforts of home.

It's natural to lose your way a little bit when the weather starts to change.

I find myself morphing into the cold-weather version of myself, the summer version of me screaming for just a little more time.

Like falling asleep, sometimes it comes ever so slowly.

Small Things

It's the small things, isn't it?

http://www.khwjewelry.com

CDC Online 2

More Inspiration from CDC. Click pictures to go directly to links.

CDC Online 1

I followed a link from the blog of Cats Dreaming in Keylime and stumbled onto the mother of inspiring images on this Japanese website. I got sucked in for hours and favorited no less than 20 pictures. (That's an exaggeration, it was 19)

Also, a tangent about Japanese Aesthetic.

A follow up on honesty

It seems the consensus is that our blogs are for the brighter side of things, and I don't mind that one bit. It's good to have a "happy place" to come back to.

I loved getting feedback from you. It's awesome to have a dialogue with the Invisible Readers every once in a while. I hope we do it again soon.

Can we just be honest?‏

I read a blog post written by Susannah Conway titled "Can we just be honest?" and I really had to write my own response on the topic.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine this summer about appearances and how they can be decieving. We were talking specifically about our relationships and how they look from the outside, and I realized that I may have been giving the impression that I live a really charmed life because I don't talk about the bad stuff. Is that wrong? To project a perfect image?

It's definitely not honest.

I keep writing this blog because I can be creative on my own terms, and I love documenting my life in an aesthetically-pleasing way. The thing about that though, is that when I've had a hard week, or I'm feeling completely uninspired, I don't write in my blog. This paints a distorted view of my life, which isn't neccessarily wrong, I guess, but the point is-- it's not easy to relate to. My ultimate goal is to attract other quiet girls who have a hard time interacting with people in their day-to-day lives.

But how honest are we supposed to be?
What's okay to write about on an inspiration blog, and what's not?

Maybe we WANT to be seen this certain way. We want to look like we have it all together, and we don't lose our shit over small things-- BUT WE DO! Or at least, I do. I totally lose my cool sometimes, but I don't put it on my blog, because I don't want to perpetuate that kind of thing, and also (mostly) I don't want to come off as a whiny girl with first world problems.

So where do we draw the line?

I choose not to write about things like sex and politics and awful situations, because it's just really far from my surface interests of design and photography. I don't see how it "fits". I try to create an inviting, warm environment for people to come to and feel like they're in good company. That's what I'm all about. So if writing about real emotions more often makes people feel better, I'm totally all for that.

What do you think, Invisible Reader? Do you ever wish things got a little deeper and more "real"?

These are Things

An Etsy compilation of favorites.

Bag.

Poncho.

Stool leg-warmers.

Wool throw.

Oxfords.

Weekend Reflection

In my neighborhood there's a food cart ran by a man named Joe who makes gourmet hot dogs with names like "The Memphis".

I don't remember the name of mine, but it had sprouts, tomato, avocado, and vinaigrette with a beef frank. Amazing.

Renovations

I have this really terrible habit of browsing rental properties in downtown Salt Lake City looking for old charmers so we can uproot as quickly as possible and move into my dream home. My addiction has moved onto harder fixes--

Foreclosures.

A 3-bedroom 1890 fixer-upper for $50,000, oh God, please, no. I'm only 23. I can't afford property right now.

In the meantime, I'm reading blogs about people doing their own hellish renovations, which I get to enjoy via fabulous photography minus the actual hard labor.

This blog in particular has me pretty fascinated:

http://thehousethatkatandfredbuilt.blogspot.com

Which is where I've lifted these amazing pictures of their current renovation.

I can't wait to see the finished project. Those bones are amazing.

Living Room Details

The whole goal of my flea market adventure was to clear some space for some new things to come into the house. I've been mentally spending the profits ever since, and I think I've finally nailed down the new look.

I sort of fell in love with the idea of a nature inspired, organic-feeling living space, which really wasn't too hard to shop for. We're really lucky to have an Ikea nearby, or else I have no idea what I would have done.

The mirror was a half-baked idea that stuck. Our place is tiny, and as strange as a full-length mirror may sound in a living room, I think it's really going to open up the space a lot and reflect the light that comes in from the tall window directly across.

I'm obviously being influenced by the impending cold weather (see woolly pillow above).

The Alseda stool is going to be great for house visitors. I love the intimacy of floor seating, honestly.

We've had the Mandal 6-drawer dresser now for quite a while, and I really love it as an entertainment stand. The drawer space hides all of Trent's games and gaming stuff, as well as our ridiculous movie collection.

Baskets are great organizers. I love this one from Pier One.

I'm really glad we waited as long as we did to really decorate our place. It gave me some time to experiment and really find my style, and it's saved us a lot of money in the long run by not buying a bunch of stuff we wouldn't have ended up using.

I'm still indecisive about our curb find coffee table. For now, it looks pretty sweet.

Greetings from San Francisco

A surprise package over the weekend.

She has no idea how happy it made me.

Weekend Reflection

Sometimes I feel helpless at how quickly the time passes, yet I still manage to wish away the hours day after day- selling my time so that I can come home to the same collected possessions and wait for the next weekend to finally come.

The most I can hope for is that one day I'll realize what it is that I can do with my life that gives me complete satisfaction and support. In the meantime, I'm distracted by the glorified and garnished versions of basic human comforts-- good company, food, drink, sleep, and rest.

I learned this weekend that life is too short to spend your free time doing something you'd rather not.

And also, it's not wrong to seek approval, but be selective in who you choose to take it from.

Can you tell I've been reading a lot of Sylvia Plath?

Fall Gifts

The day before the flea, I went to the thrift store and found this wooden bowl. It's so beautifully carved out in the center. It's perfect for throwing in my jewelry. I like to be organised.

A five dollar trip to see the Eiffel Tower. It was 100% san-tourists.

I used 8 hours of vacation to take the day off and unwind on Thursday, which resulted in me in my bathrobe on the porch at 1 PM. Margarita heard my door open and came almost immediately over, saying she had something for me.

She ran inside, and I gingerly walked across our yard to the fence that separates our homes.

She came back with a glass tea-strainer, still in its box. I was delighted to see it-- as I had a strainer on my Christmas list, and here it was, two and a half months early. My excitement encouraged her, I think, to throw in the white Christmas loose leaf tea and biscotti as well. Sometimes I'm genuinely shocked at how much she's willing to offer me-- and how much I take. I'm always good on my thank-yous.

The glass is so thin and pure. It's like a flask (damn you, breaking bad, for putting my mind in a lab). My cooking is much less meth-ey though and much more "witches brew".

It's Decorative Gourds Season, Motherfuckers!

I'm going to make Martha Stewart proud and carve these babies.

Bedroom Freshening

I've been channeling all of my "I want to move into a bigger house so badly" wishes into freshening up our own space. One of the rooms I've been focusing on a lot is our bedroom and making it as humanly comfortable as possible.

I'd really love some big, fat, fluffy pillows for our bed and a nice little spot for some magazines.

I already have that bamboo trash can. Trent bought it for me as a stocking the first Christmas we were together. It was filled with a lot of really fun, amazing goodies that I got to pick out from Target. Now it's our bedroom trash can, and it fits perfectly in the space below our headboard shelf. I love it.

Apparently Ikea has recalled every single one of their roller shades because of a potential choking hazard if installed incorrectly. It's pretty maddening now that new shades aren't going to be possible for a while.

I love our bedroom. Bright, white, and comfy. A place for resting and relaxing.

Oh! and that beautiful leather basket is from Gildem. I really love their shop.

Weekend Reflection

Fall swept in on us forcefully in a matter of days. Very much like Utah. Eighty degrees one day, forty the next.

Our heater turned itself on-- which I'm convinced is magic. (Or a reliable self-sensor?)

Though crossing a narrow bridge over a moat is slightly terrifying, it's awfully romantic.

In a bout of self-sustaining thoughts, I decided to carve open this massive 20 pound squash that Margarita gifted me, scoop out hundreds of tiny seeds one by one, clean them, rinse them, and pat them dry in order to roast them at 250 degrees for 40 minutes. They make a crazy-addictive snack that are actually surprisingly good for you.

I roasted the insides too with lots of butter, sugar, and spices.

I can't tell you how pleased I get with myself after accomplishing a project like that. It makes me think I've reformed my life in some amazing way.

The cold rain has started.

Clinging onto the last bits of green in whatever way I can.

That day, I woke up to work on preparation for the flea and didn't go back to sleep until 36 hours later. It was intense, and I'm still feeling the after-effects. That flea meant a lot to me, I worked hard and earned that success.

Urban Flea Market 2011

The flea was held at Washington Square in front of the gorgeous county building. We set up our table right in front of it, surrounded by giant shady trees.

I remember when I was little seeing a giant pumpkin skewered onto the point of that statue above the clock. The guy who did it must have had to strap that pumpkin onto his back with a harness and scale the side of the building.

I had very different groups of people walking past me at all different times of the day. I made the most sales early in the morning with the early-risers. I need to remember to start high, and gradually get lower.

When we woke up, our breath came out in white smokes. We had to defrost the windows before we could drive out. I wore four layers of clothes.

By the afternoon, I was down to my undershirt and cursing my knee-high boots.

I actually had a lot of fun switching out accessories all day. I got to re-live my past with all my old things. That's the upside to selling your possessions on a table.

Next time I won't put prices on anything. The price of an object had little to no effect on whether or not someone bought from me. I offered things for free that people would turn down-- it was sort of flabbergasting.

Also, it was fun to gauge people's reactions to a price I threw out.

My very favorite things didn't really sell, or sold last. That was the most surprising bit. It actually made me really happy.

I could not have done any of this without my incredible boyfriend, Trent. He lifted, he counted, he set up, dismantled, and drove me around all day and asked for nothing at the end of it. (He at least let me buy him dinner.)

Heart of gold, I tell you.

And to the girl who bought the film + case + film-- I just realized I may not have re-loaded it with film. That thought woke me up at 4 AM and kept me awake. That makes me look like a total liar, and I really hope that you're still happy with your new camera and case, even though you may go to develop those special pictures and realize there was never any film. I'm so sorry.

I'd never been so tired in my entire life though. I came home immediately after the market and fell asleep at 5:30 PM.

I didn't get up until 9:30 AM the next day.