Shoppping With Mom

I was so very excited to have my Mom up this past weekend. It's been awhile since we've had a weekend in DC together and it was great. Things haven't been too stressful lately, but they're certainly not perfect, and it's always good to have my Mama here.

The main point of trip was to hit the Luckett's Spring Market. Luckett's is a popular antique store in Leesburg that Mom has read about a lot. For their Spring Market, vendors cover the grounds, selling their vintage, modern, and re-made fares.

I have a dream of making a couch out of a clawfoot bathtub like Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and this just fueled that dream.

There were a lot of great vintage offerings, and a number of items that were already revitalized and re-purposed. Since Mom and I like the fun challenge of doing that ourselves, we weren't quite as blown away as we thought, but it was still nice.

And, of course, we each walked away with a few things. Mom bought a great hutch to put on the screen porch, and I got the following.

Old Pepsi crate, basket that used to pick up golf balls, tin watering can, and a stamp holder with stamps. If only my name were "Barbara H. Taylor," I'd have my own signature stamp.

They really did have a little bit of everything, from old hen houses to a GIANT corkscrew.

Even though it rained a bit, and we should have brought a rolling cart for our wares, it was a productive day that we hope to repeat in the future.

Wednesday Words

Scene: A small group of us were leaving the office to get yogurt

Background: At a group lunch the day before, I had knocked over a water glass

Co-worker 1: Be careful, Bonnie!

Co-worker 2: Why?

Co-worker 3: It's really just best practice to always say that to Bonnie.

When You Believe More

Note: After just 7 years of having this blog, I finally figured out how to reply directly to a comment. So if you leave one, I'll reply. Promise! (How you get those replies, I don't know, you'll have to figure that out.)

Several months ago I saw an ad in a metro station that said "When you believe more, you sleep less."
I couldn't remember what the ad was for, but when googling for this post, I came across this picture:

Apparently it's for Verizon. Since I have so much trouble sleeping, I began pondering this.

I think A LOT. My brain doesn't stop. I believe (see!) I've talked about this before. It's not like I'm thinking of theorems or medical cures, most of the time it's really mundane stuff. Because of the hamster-stuck-on-a-wheel brain of mine, I examine my feelings and thoughts on a variety of subjects a lot. I definitely lose sleep often because of over-thinking things. Or, maybe, I lose sleep because I believe? That's a sad thought. I think I'll take belief over sleep any day.

Now, in no particular order, a few things I believe in:

• God 
• Feminism 
• Hard work 
• Everything happens for a reason 
• Not everyone is meant to be with someone else 
• Marriage equality 
• Racial equality 
• Gender equality 
• Redistribution of wealth 
• Democracy 
• Socialism in theory not practice 
• America isn't the best country in the world just the loudest
• Ross and Rachel were on a break
• Saturday Night Live will never be cancelled
• Baseball should only be 5 innings
• There's no way paper beats rock
• Holding grudges
• Friendship
• Words 
• Imagination
• Creativity 
• Logic 
• Intelligence making you beautiful 
• UNC basketball 
• Heaven will be a lot like Chapel Hill
• That in the end those who are fair and just and dedicated will come out on top

Photo source

Indiana Jones and the Crazy Dream

I’ve always been a very vivid dreamer. I have many dreams every night, in color, and most of the time I can interact in them. For example, if I’m having a nightmare – which I still have quite often – I can realize it’s a dream and wake myself up. I have recurring dreams, some of them for years, and dreams that feature the same fake places and people. When I take melatonin to sleep I dream real things I need to do, like paying a bill or making a list, and the next day I think I’ve done it. I even kept a dream journal in high school so I could look for consistent themes and meaning. (I actually really believe in dreams revealing latent thoughts and feelings. It’s the only new age-y thing about me.)

I say that as a precursor so you know I could blog about a crazy dream every day. I don’t, obviously, but the one I had last night is just too hilarious and crazy not to share.

I found myself in a re-creation of the third (and my favorite) Indiana Jones movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” (I haven’t seen this in several months so I’m not sure why it was in my head.)

My brother, Joey, was in the Indy role. I was the sidekick. Not sure if that meant I was the requisite female character or if I was his rotund friend, Sallah.

For the first part of the dream we were in a church with lots of hallways and people. (Including a few people from my real life.) I assume we were in a church because the last time I saw Joey was for his wedding, in a church with many hallways. This church was very bright and open though. We were told by several people that we were going to go meet a knight.

As I dreamt this I was also picturing scenes from the movie, which really made it interesting.

Joey and I began walking down a hallway, knowing we were going to have to choose the Holy Grail. As we walked I told him, “This time, when you take the holy water to Sean Connery to heal him, don’t leave me. I get lost so easily and it’s really confusing around here.”

We got to where the Holy Grail should have been, but instead there was a dish full of bracelets. Some fancy, some simple. In my head I knew that in the movie you would die if you picked the wrong one, but in this scenario there was just a mini earthquake. The more you got wrong, though, the stronger it got.

As we looked at the various bracelets, Jennifer Lopez appeared and picked a very silver and gaudy charm bracelet. I knew this was wrong and said, “Early Jews didn’t like ornamentation.” The ground shook and then J. Lo. was gone.

I then chose a simpler bracelet, and the scene kept flashing between the bracelet and the Grail from the movie. At this point the knight appeared to congratulate us for making the right choice. (He wasn’t there the whole time like in the movie.)

Then my alarm went off so I have no idea how we got holy water back to Sean Connery. Or why, in my own dream, I was the sidekick and not the star.

Fountain Friday

Trevi Fountain

Rome, Italy 

Legend has it that if you throw a coin into Rome's Trevi Fountain, you will return to Rome again. It has been almost 7 years since I did that, I haven't been back yet, but I'm sure I will one day.

Wednesday Words

"The people don't like to be conquered, sir, and so they will not be. Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars. You will find that is so, sir."

-John Steinbeck, The Moon is Down

Pinterest Challenge: Tiered Organization Edition

I missed the last one but I'm back and linking with Young House Love, Bower Power, Sparkle Meets Pop, and RedBirdBlue for a Pinterest Challenge.

Confession: This is how my bathroom counter looks most of the time.

Shameful, I know. But, if you'll notice, I at least have a container of some sort for just about everything. I do this in all areas of my life and is my not-so-secret as to how I rarely lose things. My most common bathroom items were in little bowls from Anthropologie.

Cute, but they take up space. They also sit by the medicine cabinet organizer (that has never been in the cabinet) and the contents of bowls and organizer would seem to jump out and mix up and just make a mess.

I've seen a number of DIY tiered organizers on blogs and Pinterest for awhile, and have casually looked for white plates. When the ladies announced this season's challenge it kicked me into gear to find some plates, find the candle holders I already had, and get to building.

Here is the pin from Brooklyn Limestone that I've had on my DIY board for 41 weeks. I did it on a bigger scale in a different way, but hers has been in my head for awhile.

The Crate and Barrel outlet near work had plates on clearance that happened to be three perfectly different sizes. They happened to be from the same line, which meant they were all the same shade of white, which soothed this OCD perfectionist's heart oh so much. (And probably soothed the minds of the employees as they wondered why this woman kept going from one side of the store to the other, comparing seemingly identical white plates, and holding them out in the air in different formations.)

I didn't start taking photos until after the spray painting, but I bought some pretty plum paint and taped the center of each plate so just the rim showed. I also painted two silver candlesticks I had but were no longer using. Then I glued everything with Gorilla Glue and let it sit for a day.

Enter cute horizontal storage that still has room for individual containers. (I still have the bowls and thought about using them, but I like the cheap acrylic containers I grabbed from The Container Store.)

It even inspired me to finally put the organizer inside the medicine cabinet.

It's basically just transplanting the mess a foot higher, but what remains is pretty.

Why I Love Rihanna

Part 1: The Concert
Last week it was finally time for my January birthday gift from Shana: Rihanna! This is one of the best surprises/gifts I've ever received. I didn't even know she was coming so to have Shana tell me way back in January that we'd be seeing her, in our city, in person, was just wonderful.

We had nosebleed seats but I didn't care. (Obviously.) She sang and danced her heart out for 90 minutes, and Shana and I danced and sang (and sweated) our hearts out with her. I knew every song, almost every word, and so did everyone else.

She didn't talk between songs, which was criticized in a review I read, but that's not what I came to see. I came to see her perform. Which she did. While she had about seven wardrobe changes, the stage set was pretty simple, not too distracting, which I appreciated. 

It was a Monday night and I had a client meeting the next morning, but I was just so happy and hyper I didn't fall asleep until after one. I'd do it again and again.

Part 2: The Performer
A lot of people find my love of Rihanna almost antithetical to who I am and what I stand for. I don't feel the need to defend this, but I will anyway.

A lot is said* about her as a performer, generally criticizing her clothes, song content, and dance moves. I can’t say I like everything she wears, says, or does, but I like the vast majority of it. Yet I do struggle sometimes with the fact that being a Feminist is such a huge part of who I am and how I choose to present myself, and I do not believe in women using sexuality alone to define themselves.

But, I also believe very strongly in women having the freedom and confidence to discuss and portray sexuality without judgment. I admire Rihanna for embracing her sexuality without shame.** I appreciate that she is authentic in her actions and doesn't say one thing and do another. She knows what she likes and she owns it.

Beyonce was taken to task for wearing a skimpy leather negligee at the Super Bowl, which took the focus off her talent and to her body. I both agree and disagree. Powerhouse-vocalist Adele’s body is talked about quite frequently, and she’s generally covered head to toe. But how is that different, it’s still all about the appearance? Both are talented vocalists and complicated women either way.

I think society is still very uncomfortable with a woman telling us exactly what she wants. Many are more comfortable with the Taylor Swift-brand of faux innocence that continues to exalt purity and base a woman's worth on her virginity. Which is unbelievably wrong. I’d rather be watching a performer confident in who she is, how she looks, how she performs, than both hiding behind and perpetuating arcane societal pressures. If the point needs to be hammered home while wearing a short skirt, than let's try it.

It’s a delicate balance to be able to embrace sexuality and not be defined by it. I don’t have a solid answer. It’s complex. Just like a woman. Just like most people. And I just love Rihanna for trying.


*A lot is also said about her personal life and this is all I will say: I despise Chris Brown and will never forgive him. I believe that outsiders rarely, if ever, understand the intricacies of another couple’s relationship. There is psychological proof that women often go back to their abusers. If I ever saw Rihanna, I’d hug her and tell her she could do better.
**In a way, by the way, that men in hip hop have always done, and in a much more crass manner. Tell me one rapper who has never grabbed his groin on stage and then we can criticize Rihanna for doing the same thing.

Making it my own

I've been in my new office space for about six months now and finally got around to decorating it. When I bought the printer's blocks and realized I didn't have a good space for them at home, I figured I'd take it to work. I started thinking of ways to make a gallery wall work, but was too intimidated/lazy to try. 

Then I found a small painted floral canvas in a gold frame at a vintage store in Old Town, and suddenly everything clicked. I went through my stash of "things to one day frame" and my stash of frames and this was the result.

 

And because I like when people do things like this, here's an explanation of everything.

 

I spend so much of my life in this little space, so I'm glad I can brighten it up and make it more me.

Things To Blog About

Things I need to write about, which will be done in random order as the inspiration strikes. Keep me honest, friends.

• Brother's wedding
• Brother's rehearsal dinner
• Wedding shower for brother's fiancee
• Trip to Disney Land
• Trip to Santa Barbara
• New duvet
• New office decorations
• Rihanna concert
• Friend's cape party
• Bringing back Fountain Friday
• Adding Feminist Friday
• List of stupid things I do that make me question how I function
• List of things I believe in based on an ad I saw in the metro
• Finish the draft I have on camping as a child
• This awesome t-shirt I'm wearing today, which was a Christmas present: