Ahoy! This year again I had to dress up for Finn's school parade. He is now in French immersion first grade and I could not resist borrowing his authentic French sailor hat and going from there. I have a great pair of navy AIGLE rubber boots that completed the outfit nicely. The funny make-up isn't showing quite as bright on the pictures, just believe me it is quite ridiculous! People are allowed to touch my pompom for good luck, a French tradition.
Finn is dressing as Indiana Jones, whip, satchel, boots and all!
Hello friends! I thought I would pop in and say goodbye for a few weeks. My father has arrived from France and there is so much to do and see that my computer and anything else has lost all interest for the moment. We are being very aggressive with garden projects as is always the case when he visits. My dad is a kind of head park ranger and preservationist in Brittany and his knowledge (and ability to lift a mighty tools) is so helpful and precious to have even if it is brief.
I will be back in a few weeks and hopefully start working on a new "master project", a plaid cape and a cool asymmetric skirt. In the meantime, be well!
You may recall that the sewing room came about when we decided to split our master bedroom in almost half. In the fifties when the home was built the rooms existed separate from each other and even included a hallway (this we know from the lines on the sub-floor). At some point, recently no doubt people got a taste for large master bedrooms and even though you could never build a suite in our house, the previous owners decided to tear down some walls and pretend. Part of the pretending included building a closet in front of a window (!). We knew from the moment we purchased the place that our bedroom was "dumb" but what we could not have ever imagined is how much space we gained by building walls all over again... seems counter-intuitive but it's true. Our bedroom is still large enough for a boat of a bed, and I now have a place to work where before stood a "dumb closet", a mirror and a rug. You can see a few "before" pictures if you follow the links bellow the post.
So far only Thomas is set up with a nightstand. He is not a huge collector but likes to keep a few of his interests on hand and needs a little space to keep it all together. I let him keep his revolting alarm clock, a relic from high school no doubt. I loath that thing but don't have the heart to pry it away from him. On my side there must be compromise, a heating vent needs to stay unobstructed so I chose a round side table that should be here shortly... Looking at this you would think I love decorating when in fact it gives me terrible anxiety. I fear making mistakes that will be stay with us for years, I want things to looks unique but I need to be realistic when it comes to cost. Further more I believe that if at all possible second hand is kinder on the Earth than new... This all leads to much over-thinking. When looking for ideas in magazines, books and deco-blogs it seems like arranging rooms would be the most rewarding and exciting moment a house-wife could dream of, well I would rather peel potatoes than go through much more of this... Strange because I truly love what it all looks like now and sit here grateful for it all, I just didn't enjoy the journey very much.
As is traditional in this sort of post I will give a few of my sources for the items displayed in the pictures:
Teak Bed from Klyn Furniture, KSL Classifieds
Mirrored nightstand from Furniture Row, KSL Classifieds
Bamboo Frame, gilded by me, Goodwill
Luminary, Philippe Deshouliere. A gift
Vase, Deseret industries. Flowers, my garden
Cushions, Ralph Lauren fabric, made and embroidered by me on the B580.
See what I mean by preferring second hand? unfortunately on my side I was unable to source anything good from the usual places... I actually bought a very pretty lamp and a table I haven't seen yet... It felt weird but wanting to be done took over my other instincts.
Sleeping on such a tall bed after years on the MALM from Ikea made me believe that the cats would be moving elsewhere at night. Not at all, even in the daytime they enjoy their new perch.
This weekend turned out to be a rather memorable Mother's Day celebration: we got sufficiently along with our house renovations to move things into the sewing room. To think that this used to be a superfluous corner of our bedroom... look at it now, a light filled space to create in:
The L shaped desk is a bit of a BERNINA extravaganza, as I am finally able to unpack the new machine on loan, the B780 !!!
I had the opportunity to sew on this machine during Sewing Summit and again at the Ambassador Reunion in Aurora. It is simply amazing in its technological advancements. I am definitely in learning mode right now, trying to form the right kind of habits and setting everything up properly. I am sticking with "regular sewing" as well until my next appointment with the dealer, where we will tackle embroidery a bit further. I am glad that I staggered the meetings because I already have a few technical settings questions after a few hours sewing a doll dress. Anyway, getting too much information at once doesn't work well for me...
When unpacking I noticed already a few cool things that sets the 700 series apart from the 500. For example BERNINA went back to the hard accessory case, as it was with the Aurora (see one in profile above). I never "bounded" with the accessory pouch of the B580. A personal preference I suppose. Another neat trick is the magnetic holder for the stylus on the right of the machine. I also imagine that the laminated cheat sheet will be brilliant in the beginning.
The machine ships with an additional strait stitch plate,this will be invaluable while sewing quilt pieces or tiny doll clothes which need a great deal of support underneath. I already installed it today to try it out on a tiny dress for Serafinn, more of a prototype really (!). I did let the machine know I was changing the plate, this way there is no chance of mistakes and broken needles, which has happened before unfortunately...
So much to learn, so much to share! I admit to being a bit overwhelmed but soon to be in control no doubt! Tomorrow I am trying out a few quilt blocks, red houses or New York Beauties?
This could have been a day of epic fails but it all turned out ok. Let me explain...
Seminal reason for things not getting accomplished:
I found a new fanfiction author (an actual author). Her pen name is Bedelia. She write equally compelling Harry Potter and Twilight stories that will keep up well past your bedtime.
Oversleeping makes getting to the pool on time for the geriatric water aerobic class I have been taking with J impossible, "Let's go running" instead I told myself (ha!). Raining sheets for hours and the will to move going with it down the drain.
I swear sometimes the first step outside is the hardest. But once it's over with the second and third bring immediate glee ( or is it relief?). Since I don't believe in motivation through looking at skinny people on Pinterest I went to itunes instead for some new music and got to this song the round about way:
Apparently it's quite popular but I am significantly out of touch these day that it is new to me.
More on the "thinspiration boards" or where I express a strong opinion for the first time and over-share.
I had the shock of my life this week when I discovered what 'Pro-Ana' means. The least amount of effort yielded dozens of well taken care of / regularly updated blogs spewing all sorts of pure garbage!
I know it's the first time I ever take a position of any kind on my blog but you see when I was 17-18 I became severely anorexic; it was only through the vigilance of my mother and at her great expense that I got better, relapsing a few time in the years following the first crisis. Getting better from such a mental illness is arduous, but it can be done, you just have to make a choice before you do your body too much harm. For example my bone density is not very good and I most likely hurt my teeth very badly and got many more cavities than sugar would have inflicted alone. I used to dance Ballet every week night now I will never see one again. I do not read Vogue or buy fashion magazines EVER. I used to cut them up and tape them on the board by my bed, a cro-magnon type pinterest board. Now I divorce any clothe that don't make me feel pretty. I purposefully choose curvy role models and quit going to any gym class where mirrors can be found (this explains the geriatric aqua gym, those ladies are too funny!). I am not happy about my body everyday but since I started running which is admittedly very recent I have a new found respect for what I didn't know it could do. See, respect is what is missing when you starve yourself, self-loathing takes its place instead.
Having a child, turning 30 then 31, 32, 33... (did I say having a child?) helped tremendously, it's about focusing outward and cutting yourself a whole lot of slack. I am getting off the soapbox now but keeping it close by just in case. I will leave you with this picture of my son taken yesterday afternoon just after he fell asleep in my harm while I was reading the most sleep inducing book about space shuttles out loud:
I am sorry I can't write much of anything at the moment, you see on saturday I picked up running. Even though I said I would never do such a thing to myself until... nope never, well Saturday I felt the call and asked Thomas for a 1 mile loop.
I ended up missing my turn and going a bit further and let me tell you: it hurt, a lot. In fact I felt that probably even my ears were bleeding and my lungs had most certainly collapsed.
On Sunday things went a little better, a little further and without the (imaginary) bleeding.
On Monday I could no longer walk down the stairs or sit down/up.
Today I went back for almost 1.6 miles. I won't tell you how long it took me because of, well dignity and stuff...
Why am I doing this? (girlfriend J. already asked)
I:
1.really want to
2.It feels like I am running off all the worries and frustrations of the day
3.feel considerably happier afterward
4.feel pretty blue in the winter months and need to pick myself up or live better through chemistry
5.made Thomas promise to kick me out the door no matter how good an excuse I make up
and finally:
Thomas bought me some fabulous ($$$$) running kicks since he believes in me and such (LOL)
Writting this means here means it will be easier to quit, which could still happen.
I have finally deciphered the meaning of some obscure (only for me no doubt) pages about feedburner and email subscriptions. I have had several readers ask me about it, and it took someone to actually give me a bit of information (bait) to get me to bite tonight. It's now possible to subscribe to this blog by email (I really hope so). In the process, my Facebook count widget went back to 2, why? and why 2? not zero. It's hopeless.
Also! I have purchased a domain for this little (no less important) hobby of mine:
chickpea-studio.com
I am pretty happy about this, even though I am still bummed that some jewelry maker stole the good url without the dash, oh well! better be happy than sad, or something like it.
Can you tell it's really late and I can barely type strait?
July 19, 2011
Just the two of us
photo credit: Finn (!)
It's just the two of us again for most of this week. I don't dread it anymore and it can be rather fun. I imagine that when Finn is older it will even be a blast. It is hard however when he wakes up at 6:30 am and decides that watching "the backyardigans" on my bed is as important as say chocolate milk or breathing...
He distracts himself while I take a shower with the camera on a tripod and the remote. It's a risk but not as great a one as hearing the front door slam shut when covered in shampoo.
December 27, 2009
Bye Bye Christmas
I hope you had an excellent Holiday. Ours was considerably better than expected since I was a bit of a Grinch this year. My reluctant decorating is coming down and it's time to say bye bye to the Mushroom tree.
Being not in the mood for the clutter than comes with "decking the halls" I stuck to my trusty toadstools this year.
They really still do it for me. It's a lifelong love. The tree itself was, this year, admittedly the worst tree in the world. It started loosing considerable amount of needles the moment it made it into the house. Plus the needles were sharp and sticky. It's coming down, with a vengeance. After I remove the hundred of mushrooms I tied on there... Which Finn is pointing out to me:
photo credit: Finn (!)
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