Three Cheers for Chilean Miners

"The second miner to reach the surface, Mario Sepúlveda, left the rescue capsule in a kind of victory dance, hugging family members and officials. He embraced the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, three times and presented people with gifts: rocks from the mine. He punched fists with the crowd and led a cheer: “Chi, Chi, Chi, le, le, le,” they shouted. “Miners of Chile!” The refrain echoed as subsequent miners reached the surface."

Such exciting news. Image and quote via The New York Times.

Finger Painting

Image via American Apparel

Yesterday was my first venture into American Apparel. Previously I'd only known this brand in the context of a concert when you want to buy the t-shirt and the guy behind the table selling the merch says, "It's American Apparel. Runs small."

I walk in and notice golden leotards as very strange (dare I say intimate? sounding) music is playing. I feel a little out of my element and maybe a little bit like I'm back in the 80s. Nevertheless I picked up some pretty nice nail polish, which by the way, they let you test before you buy. My nails were a rainbow of colors before I decided on mouse, berry, and pinto. Hey, they were a better deal when you bought three.

Bling Bling

These shiny, metallic silver fire hydrants are all around our neighborhood. I wonder if dogs think twice before messing with something as fancy as this.

In other weekend news: I spent most of Saturday reading (and finishing) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. On Sunday we went to the Richmond Folk Festival and heard some sweet Siberian music and drank delicious Jamaican hibiscus ginger iced tea. To finish off the weekend, last night we enjoyed a warm evening sitting outside around a fire with friends feasting on bratwurst with honey mustard beer sauce and celebrating a belated birthday. Thank you to Sam for making all of the delicious food!

FALL-ing

Happy Friday! Here's hoping that the fall weather comes back and my book lasts me a few more days. Though at the rate I'm reading it, I'll have to pick up another one soon. Any suggestions?

 Image via Hilda Grahnat

Untimely

My posts are like the mail. Untimely. I will wait and wait and wait all day for the mail to come, and sometimes 5:00 will come and go, and no mail. (It's usually here by 5:30, but I mean c'mon mail person!) So I apologize that I'm not like other blogs that have something waiting for you when you roll out of bed in the morning (I'm very thankful for those people, and feel disappointed when they've been lazy like me too). But I've been trying really REALLY hard to post something almost everyday, and if we ignore yesterday, then I've been doing pretty awesome. And as a bribe for forgetting my forgetfulness, I offer you two posts today.

Remember that sewing project I was working on?

Done and done!

I love back to school time so very, very much. I wish I had a budget and a purpose to buy dozens of notebooks, pencils, Sharpies and post-its. As a kid I couldn't wait to get the supplies list in the mail and head to the store to make sure I had every last thing. So when I saw this DIY lunchbag idea, I jumped on it. The dimensions on the front come out to give you an 8.5x11 notebook size, and it's much more practical for this stage in my life than actual school supplies are. I took my lunch to work in it just the other day.

A word about the original pattern: I ended up cutting the stripes the wrong way, but regardless of that mishap the bag turned out to to be pretty large and shapeless. I ended up making more of a rectangular bag with handles (very much like a mini paper grocery bag), lined it with cream colored canvas, and stitched red bias tape along the top inside edge. I wrote down my own pattern (for once), so just let me know if you'd like the dimensions of the fabric to cut. Or play around with a pattern yourself! Here is the link to the fabric (enter HKFEMAILSIGNUP for free shipping on your first purchase)---I got two yards and it was enough to make 3-4 bags (sent one to my sis a few weeks ago!).

Looks similar to the original post, right? I'm pretty darn proud.

Sigh of Relief

Finally done. This piece of furniture has given me a bit of trouble (I heard a huge THUMP outside yesterday and found that the wind had blown the hutch over, hence the large crack at the top), but I'm happy to have it put back together and filled with books! In person the color is an olive-y avocado and looks really nice with the other colors (not seen here) in the room. I even placed the cheerful little orange pumpkin on the shelf to ward off any UofO vibes this green hutch might give off (but truthfully it's more likely to encourage guacamole eating than visions of a rival football team).

Tights

Today it actually felt like fall! I headed out in a cozy jacket and scarf to get an iced Thai coffee this morning. I guess my brain hasn't fully converted to hot drinks yet. If the temperature continues to drop, I'm sure my single pane windows will convince me to change that habit.

On my way back, I saw a girl rocking a pair of yellow tights. I wish I could do that. 

Image via The Clothes Horse

Repurposed

I stayed busy today with a few hours of work, a typical 45-minute browse through Trader Joe's, a stop into Borders to pick up a novel for book club this month, a trip to drop off of our bottles/cans/paper to the recycling center, and a brisk walk to the library to return my nearly overdue items.

Bookcase/hutch is not quite done, so I thought I'd share these clever book clocks in the meantime. Love this blog and her brilliant pictures. She is a genius when it comes to thrifting.

What the ____ was I thinking.

A common thought after almost any creative project I take on.

Yesterday was a gorgeous introduction to the month of October, so I took my bike Trudy out to Lowe's and starting going down the list of things I needed for this weekend's big project. It's amazing how things can add up---two quarts of different colored paint, brushes, rollers, a drop cloth, gloves, TSP, one of those little paint can opener things (well, that was only 35 cents).  But still. I knew I would have to do some convincing to husby that all of the items were absolutely necessary.

Unfortunately Lowe's didn't have the paint stripper I needed, so I pedaled a few blocks down to Pleasants Hardware. An older employee helped me get it down off the top shelf when I asked him if he liked the product. To make a long story a bit shorter, he started explaining that I shouldn't strip the paint like I had originally intended.

Fine. I'm flexible.

Then he started cautioning me about my window sash project: the potential for lead paint, old contractors dying of lead poisoning because they weren't careful, how I should get paint thinner, why I should buy a $45 sanding tool, exactly how to make my simple projects WAY more complex than I ever imagined, etc etc etc. Overwhelmed! I just wanted to copy what someone did on a blog post, not become a professional handywoman with one trip to the hardware store!

I left with only some primer and sand paper. And a DIY lead test kit, so I wouldn't end up dead like those old contractors. Let's hope the rest of the project is smoother from here on out.

Time for Fall

Happy Friday! Can you even believe it's October?? It started cooling off here in the Confederate capital, and yesterday there was so much gray and rain that I thought for sure I was back in Portland.

Some good news I'd like to share....I'm officially employed! I start a part-time position at a local non-profit this Monday. I'm so excited to meet new people and get to know more about what's going on in Richmond (other than what I can take in on my daily bicycle rides....).

Have a lovely weekend!