The weekend + one more resolution

I was with my parents out for most of the weekend, which means I got to savor both the garden and a lovely full sized kitchen. Always a delight. Lots of cooking going on here. I'll have a few recipes to post later this week. In the meantime, I am lazy, so you get pictures.

Insanely juicy oranges from the garden

The grape vines are still dressed for fall

In other news, I'm jumping on Joslyn's bandwagon (read her lovely explanation here) and not buying anything new for the next 3 months. Except I'm wimpy and I've decided to take it literally. I will buy nothing new for the next 3 months, which means that my thrift store obsession can continue. After all, I feel like buying used things is slightly different - more of an attached experience, less mindless acquisition. Also cheaper. Or maybe I'm just justifying this to myself. What do you think?

Massive full moon spotted while driving home - much bigger than it looks in the picture

One week in

The new year has been around for a week, and I think I'm doing pretty well. So far I have...

* Given myself a day in bed with plenty of frivolous reading



* Indulged myself with two massages (the first one was so painful - turns out it's not easy working huge knots out of your back - that I needed a second one to recuperate and now I feel awesome)

* Taken a long drive down Mulholland with D, chasing the sunset from east to west and stopping along the way



* Woken up early enough each morning to sit and drink a cup of good tea and read a book before I have to get ready for work

How are you guys doing with your resolutions?

More adopted furniture

I'm supposed to be writing about furniture today, but first I have to tell you how amazingly awesome the concert was last night. Watching Gillian Welch and David Rawlings together, in a tiny concert hall that used to be a movie theater, was magical. Goosebumps and lump in my throat magical. If you ever get a chance to see them, you must.

And now back to the furniture. Living in a neighborhood full of apartments means that the dumpsters frequently have furniture piled up next to them. Sometimes it is just what you would expect - broken Ikea bookshelves and sketchy couches with exposed springs - but every once in a while I find a sad, neglected piece of furniture that desperately needs a home.

Like this guy ... I'm not even sure I'll be able to figure out how to rescue him, but isn't the shape cute?



When I picked him up I was horrified because it looks like someone glued sand all over him. And then I had a friend over and he said "Oh yeah, they used that sand spray paint." Sand spray paint? I googled it and apparently such a thing does exist. And it looks exactly like you would expect. I'm not sure why one would want a table to look like a sand sculpture, but I guess someone thought it was a good idea.



How do I go about this? I think my first plan of attack will be to try to strip and gently buff the textured paint off, to get back to the wood finish. If it fails, I will do a thin coat of stucco to cover the texture and top it off with some glossy paint. Do any of you talented readers know anything about refinishing furniture?



Of course, if I ever get it finished, then I have to figure out where to fit it in my apartment. I'm thinking for now it could be a little foot of the bed bench.

Me, in blogland

Today I'm featured over at Lynne's amazing blog Tea for Joy, as part of a new project she is doing. Lynne always has the best style finds and inspiration, and now she is doing a series of posts on 2009 style resolutions. The questions are insightful and really get you thinking, so you should head over and see what it's all about.

As a bit of belated holiday cheer, Nesting blog has posted their top five finalists in their gingerbread house contest...and I'm one of them! That's right - you can go check out my gingerbread creation right here. D and I collaborated on it and it is very (very) loosely based on the floor plan of Case Study 22, one of my favorite Los Angeles houses.

And in real life, D surprised me with tickets to see Gillian Welch and David Rawlings tonight! Her voice makes me shiver and his guitar playing is insanely good. If you aren't already in love with them, I highly recommend this CD to start.

Cozy cornbread

Is it still cold and drizzly where you are? Or at least cold enough for a cozy winter dinner of cornbread and soup? I may be prejudiced, but I swear that my mom has the best cornbread recipe. It's a little rustic, not really sweet at all (allowing me to drizzle honey on top with impunity) and dead simple.



Mom's cornbread recipe

Sift together:
1 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Stir into:
1 cup cornmeal

Cut into flour mixture (using a food processor or a pastry knife):
1/3 cup soft butter

Beat together:
1 egg
1 cup milk

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just blended and pour into a well greased 8 inch square pan. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 25 minutes.

The dirtier the better

when it comes to flea markets, that is. Nothing makes me happier than stumbling upon a random, slightly run down one, preferably staffed by people that look like they might possibly be on the run from the law. I think the deals are better and the sense of excitement is exponentially greater.

I picked up these darling vintage Wedgewood tea cups this weekend. I have dreams of a collection of mismatched tea cups and saucers. I might have been able to bargain down from $5 per cup, but I was too intimidated (the only downside to sketchy flea markets).



Whenever I buy vintage kitchenware, I bring it home and bleach it, just to be sure I'm not getting any weird germs. Take it from a scientist - a 30 minute soak in a 10% bleach solution will kill absolutely everything, so you'll have nothing to worry about.

If you'd prefer your tea cups shiny and new, check out these beauties from Anthropologie. At $18 for a cup and saucer, they aren't exactly a steal, but I'll admit that they tempt me.

Quiet thoughts

If any of you are actually able to read, through your champagne induced headaches, here are my resolution-ish things for the new year.

Slow down. I love this stage of my life with D, I love our apartment and our neighborhood and our friends and I want to bask in that for a while without thinking too much about the future.

Indulge myself a little more. I have no problem buying things for other people, but I tend to get embarrassingly cheap when it comes to little things for myself ($5 for a box of Tazo tea? I usually pass). This year I will buy myself little luxuries that make my days more rich. It's cheap in the long run.

Be a little selfish with my time. I tend to get overbooked and overextended and I feel guilty saying no to anything. I'm going to start making sure I get a little bit of time, even just 15 solid minutes a day, to sit quietly and think.

You'll notice I don't really have any concrete goals, which I'm sure is the way you are supposed to do this. Also, all my goals are a little selfish. I guess that makes this the year of being selfish, but in a good way. Hopefully.

I hope you're all on your way to starting a lovely new year!