This weekend...

What are your plans for this weekend? We're busy, busy, busy. I'd prefer to stand in a bed of beautiful seashells. Have a happy weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

*photo by 1o30

By the yard...

Did you see these stairs on design*sponge the other day? Clever. Very clever.

Reader to reader...

PRH and I are voracious readers. I don't have as much time to read as I used to, but I literally take a book with me wherever I go and have been known to spend entire nights awake reading while PRH and the babies are sleeping (the book has to be really good because this technique results in hellish mornings). I just started Oblivion by David Foster Wallace, which I'm finding difficult to get into, but thought I'd share a few others that I've read and enjoyed recently. None of these are really new and I'm not including the bombs, but here they are:

• Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
• The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
• Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) by Lenore Skenazy
• A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present by Howard Zinn
• The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

Have you read anything lately that you'd recommend?

*image found via emmas designblogg

Imaginary...

EZ E has three imaginary friends...GeeGee, DooDoo (?!), and a newcomer named Bone. Bone does bad things like tip over Kicky, run away in stores, and unbuckle EZ E's seat belt while we're driving. Here's our conversation the other day while, as per EZ E's request, I was making toast with peanut butter:

EZ E (using a weird, gravely voice): I'm sick of peanut butter! I don't like PB.
Me: What? You just asked for PB. I thought you liked it.
EZ E (using his normal voice): Oh, I like PB. That's just Bone. He doesn't like peanut butter.
Me: Well who's eating this toast, you or Bone?
EZ E (using weird gravely voice again): Not me. Peanut butter's grotty. He'll eat it though.

GeeGee and DooDoo are easy to get along with. This Bone character, however, is kind of a pain in the butt.

Stacks and stacks...

Just in case you thought our house was always tidy...this is what it looks like today. We're rearranging books and book shelves and I'm going to tear my hair out. There are piles of books everywhere (not that I'm complaining about piles of books)! My parents gave us a beautiful old industrial shelf and we decided to use it in the playroom. I took ALL of the books off and then realized that it wouldn't hold as many books as the original shelf. Oh well. PRH is going to add some shelves and hopefully that will work. I'll share photos once I'm done.

Before loves after...

I've been looking at carriage house restorations this morning and came across this beauty by architect Tracy Stone. You can see more images here. Fabulous!

Just because...

...it's been a little while since I've shared a photo of our Kicky. She's nine months old now, has a huge smile, and loves swimming lessons. She also refuses to wear anything on her head, but made a brief exception for this scarf.

On not living the dream...

Here's my pretend party from this weekend: we pulled into the driveway and didn't see a single shirtless man wearing jean shorts from the 70's, wielding half-empty cans of Bud Light (no, not even one). Instead, somehow it's the Governor's Island Jazz-Age party* and I managed to wear the right outfit! I love it when that happens, don't you?

*all photos from The Sartorialist, part 2 here, part 1 here

This weekend...

We are NOT doing anything fun tomorrow. Instead, PRH committed us to a birthday party/memorial at my sister-in-law's parents' house. Did you get all that? Egads. It's my sister-in-law's mother's birthday and a memorial for her grandfather who died last winter. Here's my question: who combines a birthday party with a memorial for their grandfather?!**

Here I am at the "party": Happy birthday! (happy voice) Sorry your dad died. (sad voice)

The whole event should be a blast (not really...that was my sad voice). I'm glad that my sister-in-law doesn't read my blog (happy voice). Have a great weekend and be happy that you don't have to attend any wacky parties. If you do, please feel free to share.

*image by hellojenuine (aka artist Jen Collins)
**OK, I'm being a jerk. I get the whole celebration of life thing. I really just don't want to go.

Keep it wonky...

I saw this manifesto on design is mine this week. I've been thinking about manifestos lately (don't ask) and think this one is pretty close to perfect. It's available via Keep Calm Gallery. I'd probably add:

• establish a signature dance move
• as often as possible, laugh until you're close to wetting your pants (a bit clunky, I know)
• keep good friends
• drive less

What would your personal manifesto include?

Dreaming on...

I love the idea of a weekend party barn. PRH and I (OK...mostly I) have come to the conclusion that the best way to deal with our whole country mouse/city mouse debate is to own two properties, one in town and one in the middle of nowhere (yes, I'm fully aware that this may never happen, but let's pretend that it's possible). Here are a few beautiful barns that I found that you may like too. The top image was found via la maison charmante and the images below are from country living...


bloomerism (I clipped this same photo from Country Home magazine a million years ago)...


bloomerism...


diy weddings...


and DC by Design...


All of these images are lovely, but the third image from the top (originally from Country Home) is the one that best captures the look I like (I'll hunt down the article I clipped and scan it). A clean, minimal party barn...perfection.

Penny rug...

I've finally started the rug I was talking about making a million years ago. It's based on this old penny rug that my parents have at their house (directly above). I'm using wool felt and decided to tone down the palette a bit. My stitches look giant compared to the tiny, perfect stitches on their rug. However, I'm sure that the abuse it'll receive from Kicky and EZ E will hide my imperfect stitches. I'll keep you posted.

Entry...

Did you see these gorgeous entries at oh joy? We planted morning glories by our front door this year. I've heard they can quickly turn into monsters once they've started, so I'm hoping they don't take over everything else I've planted and just...act nicely.

*These, btw, are not morning glories. I'm not sure what these plants are. Does anyone know?

Stick collecting...

Did you see these beautiful painted sticks that Jan from Poppytalk posted recently? They're by artist Ginette Lapalme and they inspired EZ E, Kicky, and I to take a stick-collecting walk this morning. I'll share our version soon.

Class of 95...

What I didn't mention on Friday was that my 15 year class reunion was scheduled for later that evening. There were only 98 people in our graduating class and I wasn't planning to go. I even got into my pajamas and climbed into bed before I convinced myself to just get up and go. I ended up having SO much fun! It was definitely a bizarre night, but the small town people-watching was amazing. Highlights of the evening included (in no particular order):

• an angry young man with a fake arm made from what appeared to be a work glove and camouflage duct tape. It wasn't a hand shape and was kind of crumpled looking, but I thought the camo duct tape was pure genius. Why waste money on multiple homemade fake hands when the one for hunting season lasts all year long?!
• me trying to explain to "camo hand man" what 'six degrees of separation' meant. He had no idea who Kevin Bacon was and seemed rather annoyed when I made a joke about the possibility of us being related. He was emphatic about the fact that "We ain't related.", which could have something to do with the next highlight
• much dancing that ended with me realizing that my signature dance move (pointer finger in the air with the occasional appearance of the second pointer finger in the air) may not be as impressive as I once imagined.

Aside from the very real work ahead of me with regard to learning new dance moves, I'm looking forward to future reunions. If a guy with a homemade camo hand can't bear the thought that he's related to me because of my pointer finger dance move, it's time to consider new moves. Any suggestions?

This weekend...

What are you up to this weekend? Hopefully going to an incredible party with tons of balloons!* Sadly, there are no balloons on our weekend horizon. We're cleaning out our basement. Big fun. Have a good one and I'll see you again on Monday!

*photo by Hannah Davis

Score...

It's been awhile since I've posted any thrift scores. Actually, it's been awhile since we've been to any thrift stores. Anyways, we went yesterday so here are our most recent finds. Above is a fabulous hand-made dress for Kicky that I've temporarily taped to the playroom wall. It's incredible! Below is a yellow paper holder...


and some vintage bowls for the playroom kitchen...


We also left with a small pile of things that I wouldn't necessarily describe as 'scores'...most namely a happy meal Star Wars toy and another little crappy toy that EZ E "needed". He's worse than his mother.

Plain and simple...

A plain little house with a simple little porch would be nice, wouldn't it? Love it!

*found via The Brick House tumblr (originally from houzz).

First harvest...

PRH has a great little garden growing in our back yard. He couldn't resist picking a few tiny carrots last night for our salads. Yum! EZ E insisted on holding them up to show you:


He's good like that.

Martha, martha, martha...

Succulents are my fave! This photo is, of course, from Martha Stewart. Of course.

Paint choices...

This image from bloesem is for my friend Ken. We've been talking about paint colors for the interior of his farmhouse (which has a lot of wood and stone) and our mutual friend suggested a grayed out blue. I love that idea. This may be a bit darker than she intended, but don't the terra cotta pots, wood spoons, and foliage look so pretty against that paint color?

On not reading in bed...

Oh yes! I am totally going to give this DIY from green is the new black a try! My initial thought was "I'd love to use these as bedside lights", but then I remembered

a) I think they'd be too bright
and b) I haven't been able to read a book in bed in three years.

Babies.

Stripes...

Wouldn't cleaning be so much nicer with these stripey supplies from Alice Supply Co.? I was recently suckered into buying two brooms from a local Lions Club (they sell them every year as a club fundraiser) and I'm tempted to slap some DIY stripes on those babies. One was a child-sized broom for EZ E that he quickly turned into a weapon...and that I just as quickly confiscated.

This weekend...

We have a low-key weekend ahead of us, which is great because I'm a little lot grumpy today. This extraordinary heat is making everyone in the A.O. household salty and miserable. I'm going to pretend that we live on a gorgeous farm in the middle of a city. Here are some more photos from the same farmhouse that I posted earlier today by ms & r ltd. Have a great weekend, everyone!

*Dad, if you're reading this, see that tub built into the deck?

Country mouse, city mouse...

I keep going back and forth about city versus country. Having both grown up in the middle of nowhere, PRH and I tend to be more 'city mice' than anything else, but I love the style of farmhouses, old and new. This one from ms & r ltd is lovely. Are you more city mouse or country mouse? Why?

Oh what a night...

I've always wanted an outdoor fireplace, but that wish got bumped way up the list after spending time on our friends' farm the other night. It was cool outside, but we sat around their beautiful outdoor stone fireplace talking and laughing late into the night. It was one of those incredible upstate New York evenings that I used to dream about (thanks, Ken and Don!). The image above is from Coastal Living and the images below are from carville landscape...

gnome...


Monte Rio...


and omni stonework...


Gorgeous, right?