Pottery Barn Just Gets Me

I was looking through my pile of catalogs a few weeks ago and stumbled upon this picture. Something in my very soul just responded to it.

1) The sunlight streaming in
2) The console itself....I have learned that I love consoles of any kind. Any time I see them in a catalog, no matter what their style - modern, classic, shabby chic, vintage - I just love them. I dream of having a place to put them. Behind a couch? Yep. In a hallway? You betcha. Against basically any available wall? Absolutely. And then I dream of just filling them with things. I like to put things in things.
3) Flowers in any kind of galvanized bucket or vase just makes my heart skip a beat.
4) The various greenery in creatively structured but believable haphazard disarray. That is so me. I like things organized but never FULLY succeed at it, so that if, for example, I'm setting up for a wine and cheese party, inevitably at least 10% of the cheese will end up in my hair. And the wine glasses will absolutely be covered in fingerprints. Hence my love of candlelight.
5) Those huge baskets on the floor. OK, lets be honest....baskets of virtually any kind. But I love things that can store other things and be pretty from the outside. (Again - putting things in things). The only kind of basket I don't love are ones that look like Easter Baskets. Unless they are being used as actual Easter Baskets. Any kind of pastel color or colored design usually kills it for me. And I tend to only like baskets with over the top handles if you are using it to shop in a farmers market or carry your gardening tools to the actual garden.
6) That actual mini-gardening basket. Yum.
7) Multiple sizes of those standard clay pots. Yes please. And that one pot on the floor that is overturned? Please. I can barely breathe when I look at it. Kinda goes back to #4 a little, but I love it so much, it gets it's own number
8) A door with glass.
9) Those mini-hydrangeas themselves. One of my all time favorite flowers.
10) How warm and welcoming it all seems. I kind of just want to hug this hallway. I picture it being so cozy. I would walk in and breathe a sigh of relief and contentment.

This picture brings me comfort. It speaks to who I am. It actually wouldn't be my very first choice of a Pottery Barn room. Some of their offices and living rooms are dream rooms and fill me with longing. Mostly because they are shot in rooms with AMAZING WINDOWS. Which I have learned is the key to all things. But still....there's just something about this picture. It UNDERSTANDS me.

It just gets me.

friends

Alison and Sarah.
Like two peas in a pod.

Here they are at lunch in Brooklyn today. And as always, in classic form.

Friends from Geoffrey R. Boka on Vimeo.

Here's a link to the pictures

A Vodka Malted

The other night Alison and I met for dinner before seeing the invited dress of American Idiot (amazing). We had a lovely chat, and a couple of lovely cocktails and I ordered a second drink for myself. With drama all around us (mine at work and hers in her move), it seemed like the obvious choice. She hesitated about ordering her second (silly girl didn't drink the first one fast enough, THAT was the problem), so I suggested we share mine.

Maltshop style.


(the author would like to be forgiven for the use of bad iPhone photography)

I believe I initally suggested, "You can share mine. We can share it Milkshop style. No, wait. That's wrong. Milkshake style? No. Geez. MALTSHOP Style." And then I decided I will forever after refer to this as a Vodka Malted. Which is what Hugo Peabody so charmingly attempts to order in Bye Bye Birdie at a bar he is far too young to get into. And that made me smile.

Other than that though, this story basically has no point.

Happy Friday!

Dinner With Friends

Saturday night at Jane with friends. Clay was down from Boston. His roommate from West Point was in NYC for business. Add a little Alison, a couple of guys named Matt and stir well. It mixes up for a wonderful evening.


(Our technical staff has asked me to inform you that should you be so inclined, you can get a bigger higher resolution version of this video by clicking on the "hd off" button and it will send you to vimeo to see the full res version which can even be watched full screen. Readers who have big-screen-hd tv addictions interests should take note of this.)

I'm Not Afraid

Spring is springing.

I am flat out WEARING a yellow peep toe slingback and a flowy blue scarf.

I flat out am.

I am not afraid.

It's Coming to Get Me

Life transitions are interesting. And by interesting, I mostly mean scary. And they cause me to sometimes throw up my hands in a huff. Or throw myself on the bed in (mock) despair. Or just flat out ignore them. And by that I mean, an excessive amount of time is spent watching HGTV. We've been talking a little about the next step in our lives. Someday we want to buy a house. Someday we want to have kids. And that raises a whole mess of questions. Location-wise, Finances-wise, Lifestyle-wise, Career-wise. The list goes on. Because at the moment, those Future Things don't seem to match up easily with Current Things. And I don't have answers for any of it.

We're not changing our lives tomorrow. Or even all that soon. But I have known for a while - felt for a while - that there is an imminent change approaching. And there are times I feel at peace about it. But I realized this weekend that sometimes even my "peace" about it, has been largely a "Well, this is just gonna have to get itself figured out! 'Cause I certainly can't do it! So there!!" Which is less Actual Peace and more like a game of Hot Potato.

It's interesting to realize/be reminded of just how much of a control freak I can be. Of course, you wouldn't know it to look at me. As we know, I don't remotely Have It Together. I don't have my life, my house or my desk organized within an inch of their respective lives. There is absolutely toothpaste on my bathroom mirror and here's what, it’s been there since last week. I'm in the middle of about 9 books. It takes me a full 3-6 weeks from the time I realize I need a haircut to the moment I actually call to make an appointment. For the life of him, Geoff canNOT get me to use an Inbox. I lose clothes in my closet. On a semi-weekly basis. So I'm not THAT kind of control freak. My control issues come out in stealthier ways. Ways that nearly always involve insuring that Risk is as low as possible in any given decision. Remember those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books? You know the ones for kids that would say, "You come to a red door hidden in the base of the building. If you open the door, turn to page 23. If you don't open it and keep going down the hill instead, turn to page 72." I would always read where both options would take me BEFORE I actually chose an option. Largely because I wanted to read the longest story I could get. But still... Walking into any big change in your life is hardly risk-free and certainly doesn’t come with any guarantees.

I know(/hope) that there are Other Things lining themselves up to be next in my life, and Those Things will cause my life to look a lot different than it looks now. And I want Those Things. I don't know a) the road that will get us there b) what kind of place it will be or c) how I will like it there. And I think I won't know 90% of those answers until we stumble upon that road. It took me two years to work up the courage to move to NYC. And I have never regretted it. And I know the same will be true of the Next Stage. Even with all its unknowns. But for the moment, we're just going with where we are. And hopefully actually learning to have peace about it until we get there. Minus the Hot Potato.

I Survived

I've come through to the other side of some work busy-ness and it's lovely to breathe again. But oddly, it's left me with little desire to blog. If I'm honest. So I don't have anything interesting to say.

1) I still really need a haircut. (Which is absolutely riviting information, I know)

2) Last week we got a RIDICULOUS gift basket at work full of various kinds of sweets and treats and it has been sabotaging my healthy lifestyle attempts absolutely every day since.

3) Tuesday was a big day. I met Jessica Lange, Hugh Dancy, Ben Wishaw and most excitingly of all, the most amazing St. Bernard named Katie who I seriously almost stole. She lives on 11th Street. I am so going to stalk her.

4) Geoff said he would take me to the wine bar on the corner by our house for dinner tonight, since I am finally slightly free of being tied to my desk. I am excited.

5) I am thinking about several more important/serious-ish Life things these days and haven't fully processed it all. I may or may not process it here. But if I do, at least there will be something of slightly more substance for you all to read.


Yes, let's hope I will be able to regain my blogging mo-jo shortly, shall we?

What is Better Than This?

Trampoline Dog - watch more funny videos

Busy Poetry

Work is busy.
A complicated project
Is causing me to be MIA
And to crave salami sandwiches.

(for serious.
it's weird.
and no, i'm not pregnant.)

Friday was Alison's birthday
It rocked.
I have yet to blog it
As I am lame.

I wish I had a time machine
So I could skip this week entirely.
But never fear,
I will make it somehow.

Apparently via more italian subs
than I've ever eaten in my life.
I'm sorry,
But
They help so much more
Than salads.