couches!

the reupholstery begins saturday! thursday is for fabric shopping and wondering what i've gotten myself into. will report back!

new bike and eager eyes

i am now officially an urban cyclist! i bought an old raleigh marathon; it's beautiful and probably from the 80s. wouldn't it be lovely if my bike and i were the same age? i will do more research on it tomorrow at work.

as for furniture, i am on the prowl. i've made a list of things i want by the time i move in, and have been trolling. craigslist seems to be going on an up and down swing, but recently there is a ton of stuff i LOVE - and almost nothing i can afford! see exhibits a, b and c:

incredible tables that i want for my bedside:





i actually went to see these and was underwhelmed. they were in the cambridge antique market, where i picked up my bike.

then there is this couch, which is the PERFECT counterfoil to my sectional:



i am in love with it. but i called the seller to ask if she would be willing to sell the couch separately, and she said i needed to find two friends who wanted the couches. sigh.

and, finally, the perfect desk, although luckily i think it is too big for my space so i can cease to pine:





now: i am a craigslist purist. i find it mildly insulting to sell things on the website for more than, say, $300, except for MAYBE cars. (maybe.) it's not a highbrow site; this is not the place. however, collectors are now posting shit on the site, as are consigners, people are doing the research and finding out that they have a vintage heywood wakefield coffee table, and prices are soaring. where has the deal gone? i ask you.

in other news: how hard do you think this would be to make?



because i love it. show me a person who doesn't need a tufted velvet headboard, and i will show you a person who is not living life to the fullest of its wonder.

also, in the works for this site: redesign. (or rather, first design.) coming hopefully soon! i need to brush up on my code, and design programs generally. but i think it will be fun.

p.s. managing the stress a little better. i made my lists, i toned it down on the weekends, i rocked this long weekend, and here it is almost the end of the week and things have gone fabulously without my really paying attention. i finally repotted that begonia, and (insofar as this is a possibility for a flower trying to hold it down under fluorescent lighting) it looks fly.

surrogate nesting

i just realized that in the absence of an actual place of my own, i am going overboard on trying to nest in spite of this lack. i'm skipping a party right now to read design magazines (and maybe watch a movie) in my sublet alone, while all of my housemates are out in various places. i would feel extremely lame if this weren't a massive improvement over the past four fridays, on which occasions i've simply fallen asleep for a good sixteen hours to recoup after the exhaustion of the week.

in other, more positive news, it turns out we have a full woodshop and a ton of space at work (duh!) so my couch reupholstery can take place there! this means i don't have to buy any tools or do anything; what i mainly need to do is tell machine shop ron what size staples i need and bring in some fabric and paint. i may have mentioned that i love my job and everyone i work with, but just in case that wasn't clear: i love that place.

also! we are moving to a different space in the building - one that is three stories tall with an actual glass ceiling. i am not even going to pretend to want to break that one (as a fancy secretary), because this means i will have direct sunlight at my desk all winter long. i had some serious seasonal affective issues the last time i lived outside of florida, so that goes a long way towards easing my mind. (and yes, i was already decorating my new space in my mind. HAVE TO MOVE.)

magazines!

so i went out monday night and rocked my shit at the harvard coop, just before it closed. i picked up:

domino (super excited about it! that cover alone...)

real simple (i cave; i love it - although i have to say that i find it ironic that the url displayed when you look at their homepage is not real simple at all)

craft magazine (hmmm. overpriced, but maybe awesome)

aaand one called boho. i would be lying if i said i wasn't a little ashamed that i got suckered by it, especially because i am such a walking, talking advertizement for stuff white people like. but it had such pretty paper...

i tried to buy lucky, but it confirmed what i've suspected for a while: no matter how progressive, no matter how exciting, no matter how fun, i really don't like fashion magazines anymore. i still LOVE fashion and take an almost fanatical interest in how i look.

but i have so much more fun creating looks with what's available on the ground, and i think that other categories of magazine are better inspiration in terms of shapes, colors, textures to juxtapose. fashion magazines feel like the children's abridged classics series of design: totally dumbed down.

hmm... maybe since writing my thesis (on dress and identity in sex and the city), i need more of a challenge. the fashion magazines, at the end of the day, all felt the same to me.

p.s. this past weekend was the first one since i moved to boston on june 13th that i haven't had to look for any kind of housing. absurd, but true. it was such a relief! i went to a lovely italian market in watertown, had friends over for a vat of sangria, unpacked my clothing and other than that, did absolutely shit. it felt so great!

magazines?

this is a random opinion poll. i am firing my magazine subscriptions back up, and i am not sure what to subscribe to! good features and articles are important, but also a crazy attention to color and layout, because these are the same magazines i am going to be cannibalizing for my inspiration wall.

i have sorely missed bust since i left for portugal and am REALLY excited to get it back. and domino's features (namely everything that is cheap) are pretty encouraging. but what else? i kind of hated ready made's book, but the magazine is a genius idea (in theory). there was a book i LOVED put out by a magazine that folded, i think, with a title that had something to do with a budget and having good taste.

i love lucky magazine's books (they made my job as a stylist much easier, but will i love their magazine?) and i have a secret love for real simple that verges on obsession even though i am totally not their target demographic (i don't have kids); i would read it on the sly when i babysat.

so: good pictures? amusing writing? what do you read? any thoughts welcome! tomorrow i think i am going to the coop to browse the selection and see what feels like a keeper.