Newest acquisitions.........

I've been wanting a vintage typewriter for awhile now.  I looked on Craigslist several months ago and was surprised to find a number of options for sale.  Ideally I wanted something retro and funky, and a fun pink or aqua color, but sadly, I found those options to be A LOT more expensive than some of the other typewriters up for sale.  Like $400 expensive.  Definitely NOT in the budget.  Especially for something that I'll probably use once a month, if that, for various scrapbooking projects.  My co-worker's husband actually sells stuff at a flea market in Lynnwood on a weekly basis, so I figured she probably had her finger on the pulse of vintage typewriters.  I asked her to keep her eyes peeled for me, and pick up one for me if she saw one available.  Less than a week later, I was with typewriter!  Check it out:

She's a beauty!  Gray in color, with dark green keys, and a cool brown retro case.  And the best part?  It works and it was only $5!!  Pretty much scored on that deal.  I like the way journaling with a typewriter looks on scrap pages, and hopefully I'll bust out a page or two soon.  I checked to make sure all the keys work, and they do, except the V gets stuck in the down position and has to be raised up by hand.  No biggie considering V isn't the most popular letter in the alphabet.  I'll manage :)

My friend Brenda stopped by on my birthday to drop off a little package and say hello.  I didn't open the package while she was there, but she mentioned that it was for me to use in my scrapbooking.  I was intrigued for sure!  What would she get me to use in my scrapbooking that I didn't already have?  So after she left I opened the cute little package and was surprised to find these:

Hand forged barber scissors -- so awesome!!  What a unique gift!  They included a little piece of paper with their story: "These scissors have been made in India by a family that has been making scissors for generations.  The blades are hand-forged carbonized steel and the handle is cast brass.  Each scissor is signed by the maker.  In addition to having great decorative appeal, these scissors are excellent utilitarian tools for the home or office.  You will still find a Nai (Barber) sitting on a street corner in India using such scissors to trim hair or a beard.  To prevent the steel from rusting, a thin coat of oil has been applied to the blades.  If used regularly the scissors will not rust, but when not used a thin coat of mineral oil will keep them rust free."

How cool is that?  The maker of my scissors is named Parveen.  I will definitely be using this tool in my scrapbooking.  Thank you Parveen for making such a great pair of scissors, and thank you Brenda for finding them and thinking of me when you saw them.  You are a great friend!

The Spuzster

It has been a week since I brought little Spuz-a-relli home and he is settling in to his new digs quite nicely.  He has a few favorite spots to hang, none of which are the little pen that I have set up for him in the basement for when I have to leave him home alone.  I wouldn't want to be confined to a pen either, so I can't blame him for the few retaliation poo's he has taken in said pen.  But, he's not house trained yet, so letting him have free reign of the upstairs isn't an option at this point.  He had his first appointment with the veterinarian yesterday, and I was happy to find out that he's a healthy little guy, weighing in at 9.25 pounds.  You'd look at him and think he weighed more, but he's all floof.  He only weighs one pound more than Frank, but looks like he's about 3 times Franks size.  The vet did discover one thing -- little Spuz has infections in both ears.  So he's on drops twice a day for 10 days.  I figured he had something going on with his ears because the smelled sort of funny, and he was pawing at them a few times a day.  Poor kid.  Anyway, his ear pawing has lessened even after only three treatments with the ear drops.  I'm sure he'll feel better soon, and lucky for me he takes the drops like a champ, just a lil' bit of wiggling :)

I've scheduled his first appointment with the groomers for next week.  I'll be so excited to get his hair trimmed so I can see his adorable face.  I'm sure he'll be pretty freakin' pumped too, he can barely see from behind all that fur!!  Seriously, his eyes are almost totally blocked by a combination of the hair that hangs down from his forehead, and the hair that sticks up from the sides of his nose.  I would go nuts.  Speaking of nuts, he has them.  And they are going to get snipped in two weeks.  I also scheduled him to get neutered and microchipped in a couple weeks.  So he's going to have a busy few weeks with his various appointments coming up.  I'll have to get him an assistant to help keep track of his schedule.

 
My mom was in town for a few days this week, and she fell in love with Spuz.  And I think he fell in love with her too.  I think he loved having someone pay attention to him, literally all day long.  If he wasn't laying on her lap, she was making sure he was happy.  She took him outside every hour or so, chased him around the yard, gave him as many belly rubs as he could handle.  Cleaned his ears (much to his chagrin).  Napped with him.  I think secretly she wanted to put him in the car with her and take him back to Moses Lake.  I'm sure I'll plan a trip over the mountains for sometime this summer so Spuz can visit my parent's digs and play with their Westie, Bailey.

I'm still adjusting to my life with a dog again -- and I've missed it.  Part of me will always miss Milo, but it was time to move on and welcome another dog in need of a home into my life.  I feel pretty lucky I found Spuz!!

Shabby Chic Couch Makeover

I purchased my couch in the fall of 2008.  And less than 3 years later it looks terrible.  The fabric pills, the pillows that form the back of the couch are scrunched and malformed..... I kinda can't stand the couch actually.  But, replacing it isn't top on my priority list of things I'd like to spend money on at the moment.  Here's what my couch looks like:

 
Pretty gross, huh?  While my mom was here visiting this week, she came up with a great idea to make the couch look freshened up, without spending a ton of money.  The inexpensive fix?  Pillows.  Big colorful pillows.  We threw out the three large back pillows that came with the couch, and switched them out with some fun, bright, shabby chic pillows from World Market.  And I love the difference!!

Pretty cute, huh?  I love the way they look, and the pillows will give the couch new life for another year or so until I want to throw down the cash on another couch.  A couple other DIY changes that I'm working on over the next few weeks / months: switching my boring dresser knobs out for some cool, mismatched, vintage looking knobs, and painting an old wooden IKEA bookshelf a bright, vibrant aqua!!  I'm looking forward to working on these inexpensive projects.  Of course I'll post photos as they come together!

Any DIY projects you're excited about that you'd like to share?   

Birthday Birthday!!

Well, I turn another year older today!!  Does that make me wiser?  Maybe.  Did I take 600mg of ibuprofen at about 6am because my joints hurt?  Definitely.  Some parts of getting older aren't super awesome.  But so far I think I've done alright :)  I am truly blessed with an amazing family and awesome friends.  A house I love.  A cranky, aging cat that I love unconditionally while he loves me on his terms (although I'm pretty sure he loves me all the time, he just has a different way of showing affection).  And a new floof-tastic dog that looks like an Ewok or that furry brown thing that floated around on the floor of Mork & Mindy's house. 

Any birthday plans you ask?  Yep, in my usual fashion I have pretty much an entire week blocked off for celebration.  I like to spread the joy out over many days.  Friday night I hooked up with my closest girlfriends from high school -- Gina and Paula.  We met up in Mill Creek for some Greek food and gelato.  Ugh, I'm still full from that night -- let's just say, if I still had a gall bladder, it would have burst after that evening.  We had dinner at Cafe Neo, then gelato at some place called Cow Tipping or something like that.  Don't remember the name, but I definitely remember the gelato, because it was crazy delicious.  I had salted caramel.  Check out the kick ass poster they got me for my bday -- I love it!!!

They also threw down some coinage to go towards the framing of said poster, I'm so excited to get my frame on and put it up.  I love all things Seattle / Washington related, and this poster fits the bill to a T!!!  Love. It.  Thanks for an awesome evening Gina and Paula!!!

Also on deck for my pre-birthday weekend?  Breakfast on Saturday with Brenda, and Sunday with Kym and her boyfriend Ben.  On Saturday I met up with Brenda at one of our favorite Ballard spots -- Senor Moose Cafe.  I've been there for breakfast a number of times and I always get the same thing, Sopes de Tinga.  It is the best combination of two masa cakes topped with shredded chicken, a dollup of cream, and a wee bit o' fresh salsa, with a side of black beans covered in a yummy light cheese.  Mmmmmm...... so freakin' good.  And of course it was awesome to see Brenda and catch up!!

Sunday's brunch was at Bastille in Ballard.  Kym and I had checked out Bastille for dinner a few months ago.  It was awesome, so when she suggested it for brunch I was pumped.  My favorite breakfast food indulgence is eggs benedict.  I would say I'm somewhat of a benedict connoisseur -- if it is on the menu somewhere, I've probably tried it.  My favorite benedict, up until Sunday, was at The Dish on Leary.  Now, my favorite benedict is located at Bastille.  It wasn't too heavy, which is exactly how a breakfast should be.  It's never good to start your day in a food coma.  If you like eggs benedict, definitely try out Bastille's, you won't be disappointed!

Saturday night some friends and I met up at Nic and Heather's for a little barbeque action.  Regardless of the stankburger of a weather situation we've been experiencing here in the good ol' PNW, we managed to have a good time out of doors for at least a portion of the evening.  It was a potluck style affair with most people bringing sausages as their main source of protein.  As Mike Mabie put it, it was a total sausage fest!

There was chips, salsa, & guacamole as an appetizer, cous cous, avocado salad, and a green salad as side dishes, and red velvet cake as dessert (see photo above).  The Foils were so generous to gift me a certificate to my favorite record store in Seattle.  Sonic Boom.

I can't wait to purchase the new Death Cab for Cutie album that is about to "drop" at the end of the month.  Woot woot!!  Gift certif is as good as gone!!  And something else that is as good as gone?!?  The Malibu Rum that The Lauers purchased in celebration of my advancing age.

 
I'm a total girl drink drunk, which is why Malibu is my liquor of choice for cocktail consumption.  Although lately I've been enjoying gin & tonics -- virtually no hangover associated with gin & tonics for me.  Granted, I haven't done any double blind placebo controlled trials to prove my association, but I'm fairly certain of two things: 1. red red wine does not make me feel so fine -- side splitting headache all of the time, and 2. those sugar packed cocktails give me a wicked freakin' hangover.  Ugh.....I can not drink like I used to!!  Which is probably a good thing.  After BBQing the weather turned to shite and we moved the party inside.  We manage to have fun rain or shine so it was no biggy.  Thanks again for hosting Nic & Heather!

Anywho -- pre-34th-birthday-weekend was a smash hit!!  Thanks to everyone that was able to celebrate with me!!  Big love to everyone! 

In closing, I would like to share two quotes with you.  As I have grown older, there are times when I look back on my life and think 'I should have done this, or I should have done that'......and I've come to realize that looking back on what I could have done differently is a big waste of fucking time.  I am happy with 99% of the decisions I have made in my life because they have brought me to where I am today, which I'm actually pretty damn content with.  So I'm going to try and not look back on any choices I've made with regret, and just work on having a fun, full, rich existence in the present and while planning for the future.  I love this Mary Oliver quote:

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

The second quote is from a man I have known for probably 13 years now.  He is wise and a generous man to pass this life lesson on to us -- he is the original Mr. Lauer:

"Never waste a hard-on, and never trust a fart."

So true.       

there's a new kid in town.......

.......and his name is Spuz (pronounced like "buzz").  Short for Spurzheim.  If you're wondering, it is a family name.

But considering his likeness to an Ewok, I probably should have named him Wickett.  He is a big floofball!!  He's about 7 months old, and he's a Shih Tzu.  And he is mellow like jell-ell-o.  I swear I didn't hear a peep out of him for the first 24 hours I had him.  So how did I come about acquiring Spuz?  Well, it has been 7 months since my sweet Milo passed away.  I knew I wanted to give myself time to heal -- I fell for Milo hard and fast, and admittedly his death really threw me into a wee bit of a tail-spin for awhile.  Nothing like the combination of months of shitty NW weather and losing your best canine friend to send you searching for the warm embrace of your feather bed.  I loved having a dog, and I knew that I wanted to get another dog sometime in 2011.  One of my requirements for the new dog was grass growing in the backyard.  The winter saw my backyard as more of a mudpit than a place for a dog to hang out and catch some rays.  Or just catch some daylight for that matter.  So when I saw this......

....I decided it was time to start looking for another friend.  My mom has been looking at the classified ads online for months now, searching for dogs.  And recently Gina logged some hours looking at possible candidates on Petfinder.  A few days ago I found Spuz......within 30 minutes of meeting him we were jammin' to some tunes in my car, driving to the pet store to get him some supplies -- bed, treats, food, the essentials basically.  He's been adjusting well to life in Ballard.  He has been *really* cautious around Frank, which has been awesome.  Frank doesn't do well with any form of aggression, or chasing, so Spuz's calm demeanor has definitely helped in Frank's adjustment to having another animal in the house.

 
We are working on getting him house trained, which I didn't have to do with Milo, so that has been an ongoing learning experience on my part.  Luckily, Spuz is so small, when he has an accident in the house it is a small clean up.  When Milo had an accident in the house it was like a hazmat situation.  Granted, I'd clean up Milo's enormous shits a thousand times over to have him back, but that isn't going to happen, so I'll focus on the positives of a small dog's #1's and #2's.  So far Spuz doesn't know what a leash is, or how one operates.  He likes to stop and sit while on leash.  He's more of a wanderer I guess, a free-spirit.  We'll definitely be working on his leash skill set.  I think I'll enroll us in a training class to pick up some tips.  He has been absolutely wonderful so far, and I'm really excited for us to get more and more comfortable with eachother.

In other news, I have this coming week off.  It's birthday week folks!!  Yep, I'm turning 34.  I have the week off to relax and spend time with friends, family, and my animals.  And I'm soooo looking forward to it!!  Look out for some more blogposts.....I hope!!!         

Best. Screenshot. EVER!!!

Something happened to me this afternoon that I'll remember forever.  But in order for me to tell this story, I need to start first by telling another story........

Last summer I got my first iPhone.  Before this I didn't have a cell phone that had the ability to connect to wifi.  One afternoon in July, I was at a barbeque at a friend's house.  Most of the usual suspects were there, including The Foils, The Williams', The Lauers..... I think it was the 4th of July actually.  Not an integral part of the story by any means.  Just trying to set the scene.  So we're hanging out in the backyard, playing testicle toss or some other yard game, drinking some beverages, eating burgers and weenies, ya know, typical 4th of July activities.  I'm obsessed with my new super awesome iPhone, so of course I decide to check and see if I have any new emails.  So I bust out my badass phone and see what options are available for wifi connections.  If you have an iPhone you know what I'm talking about -- the list of possible networks that you can connect to that pops up if you're out and about.  I checked out the list and about lost my shit.  One of the connections listed was "Dr. Kenneth Noisewater" -- some of you may be wondering, who the f*ck is Dr. Kenneth Noisewater?  If you've seen Anchorman, then you probably know what I'm talking about.  There is a scene where Paul Rudd's character, Brian Fontana, is introducing himself to the movie watchers, it goes a little something like this.......

"People call me the Bri-man. I'm the stylish one of the group.  I know what you're asking yourself, and the answer is yes, I have a nickname for my penis.  It's called the Octagon.  But I also nicknamed my testes.  My left one is James Westfall, and my right one is Dr. Kenneth Noisewater.  You ladies play your cards right, you might get to meet the whole gang."

The 12 year old boy in me loves Anchorman, so of course, when I saw that someone else in the neighborhood also appreciated comedy I freaked out a little.  Well, a lot actually.  I think I started running around the yard trying to get my friend Foil's attention.  And when I finally told him what wifi network name awesomeness I had stumbled across, my friend Lauer (also the homeowner) just started laughing.  And that is when I realized that it was Lauer's network that was named Dr. Kenneth Noisewater.  I felt stupid for like 2 seconds, but recovered quickly because I was so excited about the thought of renaming my wifi network something totally absurd for the other people in my neighborhood to enjoy.  Why hadn't I thought of that before?  Sometimes I feel like I drop the ball on opportunities to show the world how juvenile and immature I really am outside of my professional life.  Ever since that day last summer I always take note of the network names that pop up on my phone.

This afternoon Casey, Kim, and I were checking out some stuff at the REI down on Eastlake.  While they were waiting in line to pay, I went outside to soak in some fresh air and check my email.  I felt like I found a random network name gold mine.  This is what I saw:

Glorious.  Whoever named this network knew EXACTLY what they were doing, and they are even more juvenile and immature than myself.  Comedic genius?  Probably not.  But definitely providing entertainment for the REI masses.

Seriously, I'm not joking.  This actually happened to me.  I can't make this stuff up.

SMASH IT!!!

I want one.

These boots were made for walkin'........

Just so you know, there really aren't any good quotes regarding "boots" out there -- believe me, I searched.  Look at these gems...... can't wait to slide them onto my welcoming feet.

 
Maybe I'll bust out a Riverdance to break them in.  Or Achy Breaky them in while line dancing.  Line dancing to me is like watching James Cameron's Titanic -- it is something that I will never participate in.  I've gone this long in life without doing either, and I intend to keep it that way.

I'm gonna wear the shit outta these boots!  Maybe my next impulse buy will be a stagecoach.  And I'll start dating a guy with an old timey prospector mustache.  I'm liking where this daydream is going.