The Great Cherry Tree Massacre of 2013

So the lovely and overly-laden cherry tree in the backyard of our new place first suffered this indignity at the hands of recent storms...

   

And then we realized that some of the branches were pressing rather dangerously onto some power lines (probably thanks to their newfound cherry-weight.) We called the electric company to take care of it and... well... they certainly did.

 

 

The fact that they were using a cherry picker did not fail to amuse me.

   

That poor tree is right by an electric pole with wires going off in two different directions, so it basically got its ass kicked in a bid to avoid disaster. I'm glad it's safer now, but it does look a bit sad. And now we have a clear view of the pole. Yaayy..........?

   

I'm sure it'll cheer up and fluff out a little next year. From what I've read you're supposed to prune cherry trees pretty thoroughly anyway so that they produce better fruit, so... here's hoping this counts! Certainly means there'll be fewer cherries for me to clean up, I guess. I wish I'd gotten a picture of them shoveling all the cherries off the patio, haha. It looked like a cranberry harvest out there.

PS: this is what it looks like when a robot brontosaurus throws up:

   

I don't know why I thought that was so funny. Probably because I'm a child.

Must Paint... Everything Clean... Everything New... Paint....

In the depths of my paint-induced hysteria, I can't get this clip from Southpark out of my head. Meanwhile, my sister (who came to help today because she's either a saint or insanely bored, I'm not sure which) can't seem to stop pretending to be Bob Ross and mumbling "Happy Trees... Happy Walls...."

We all cope in our own ways.

   

After two days, we have one bedroom at about 97% and one at 70%, I'd say. Left to do is the hall (small), the living/dining room (not small), and the kitchen (small, but we still need to pick a color.) My right wrist is a limp noodle and I'm getting sort of a paint-brush-holding claw thing going on. This shit is way more tiring than I remember.

We're using Mythic paints, which are crazy overpriced but smell even less than acrylic craft paint, which pleases my sensitive little self very much (honestly we don't have much choice- I wouldn't be able to live in a place that was paint-fumey.) The cans lied to me, though- it said that each gallon would do 400 sq feet...it's becoming very apparent that is referring to a single coat, and you most definitely need more like 2 or 3. Which means another hundo or two needs to be plunked down on paint. Awesome. (And no, I'm not using primer, because we're painting over very pale colors, and because I'm not entirely convinced that there's actually a difference between primer and flat, white paint anyway.)

The other nice thing about Mythic is that it seems not to make you go blind immediately if you get it in your eye.

   

That'd be my sister's bespeckled contact lens. I can't tell if she was just lucky and ONLY hit the lens, or if she hit everywhere else too and it just dissolved. I told her to wear the goggles!

In other displeasing news, my laptop's power cord has decided to pretty much stop working, despite my many attempts to save it. A replacement has been ordered but for some reason the predicted shipping is like, 22 days (WHAT?)... hopefully it'll be much faster than that, but if my presence becomes spotty, you'll know why. (But probably only a little spotty. It's not like I have multiple other internet-enabled devices or anything.) I'll line up tomorrow's post but the rest of our fixin'-uppin' posts will probably go up well after the fact. Overdramatic Siiiighhhhh.

Home is Where the House is

I haven't said much about this publicly because just about anything can happen with real estate and I didn't want to make any premature announcements...but this morning, we closed on our first house!



 

We're not moving far, just a few towns over, but it's a bit bigger of a city and a bit more popular with our age bracket, so we're really looking forward to that. Not to mention the part where we have a house. I've been making Zoidberg cracks all day.

The woman who sold it (who we met this morning and who could not have been any sweeter) had lived there since the 80's and taken fantastic care of it. We're going to paint, swap out some fixtures, that kind of thing, but it really doesn't need much work. Nevertheless, I thought I'd do a little video tour to record what it looks like right now, so we can compare it to the "afters" somewhere down the line. 

It's... a little shaky. Sorry about that. I still haven't figured out how to film with my phone while walking without making it all queasy. If you'd rather just check out the photos, they're here. (Also, I promise my husband isn't quite such a twit in real life. Cameras really bring out the best in him.)

I am super excited to jump into the home-decor-n-fixin-uppin's (I ended up with memberships to two different hardware stores before I even made it home from the closing today.) Expect some DIY posts, starting with the table I magically turned purple...

Going to Camp!

I have been watching in envy as all of these crafty and entrepreneurial summer camps cropped up all over the country- most of them are too far away and way out of my price range, but they look so fun! So imagine my absolute glee when I learned that Craft-A-Way Camp would be happening practically in my backyard! And it's only two days long, and very rustic, which lowered the cost into something I could actually feasibly handle. I set sail tomorrow and am SO excited (well, not for the uber-rustic toilets, but everything else.)

I don't know why the summer campy vibe is so trendy right now but I really can't complain, I kind of love it. It's a little bit retro and a little bit crafty and a lot nature-y, which pretty much ticks all my "I like it" boxes.

So... here's a little fantasy pre-camp shopping:

1. Jansport Right Pack in Aqua Dash- classic backpack, modern color (well actually it's kind of a retro color, but you know what I mean. Mint is in.)

2. The Perfect Everyday Shirt from Conversation Pieces in Summer Peach Stripes. That title really says it all.

3. You gotta make friendship bracelets! Purl Bee has a great tutorial. I have always failed miserably at friendship bracelets, but I should probably give it another whirl.

4. Tom's Chambray Trim Classics. I used to really not be into the look of Tom's, but the older I get the more I like them. I don't know what that says about me. I have a really cheapy faux pair that I'm test-driving this year to see if I want to commit to the real things (I'm tempted by the wrap boots but I know they'd be less practical. Sigh.)

5. Me & Arrow Key Ring. Uh, so much cuter than my battered old carabiner.

6. You can't have a Wet Hot American Summer without retro track shorts. American Apparel has a ton of them in different styles and colors, as long as you don't mind emphasizing the "hot" part...they're definitely in hot pants territory.

7. I can't explain why but I've been hankering after a classic style Stanley thermos. I want to carry my dainty herbal teas around in something that looks like a lumberjack would use it.


There were so many other things I wanted to put on this board- I might have to do a part 2 later. But for now, I have to go pack up my less-exciting-than-this stuff (though I did use this as an excuse to buy a backpack. And a sleeping bag, because Pog was kind enough to barf on the last one and throwing it away seemed less daunting than dragging a pukey sleeping bag to the giant-size washers at the laundromat. Luckily it was a cheap one.)

I'll be back with pictures of my crafty-camping spoils, and hopefully at least 90% of my blood left intact (damn you skeetos!) Happy Camping!

How to Style a Scarf.... in the 80's.

This is just too amazing. I'm tempted to try them out and see how many are actually wearable if done with a scarf that isn't completely hideous (and no shoulder pads.) I'm going to go ahead and say no to scarf clips, though. (Remember the slides?? Remember using them on oversized t-shirts to make a little...ponytail thing by your hip?? Those, or scrunchies. Dear God.)

Don't miss the hot accessory tips towards the end ;-)

Outfit: June 15th

 

Jeans: Grane 

Shirt: Flimsy Boyfriend Tee by Mezzanine from Conversation Pieces 

Shoes: Minnetonka Moccasin Boots 

I'm making a real habit of wearing the same thing for two posts in a row, huh? Oh well. I've never done the transparent-shirt-visible-bra thing much but we were going to a late night drag show and it seemed fitting enough. You can't really see it but I was so pleased with my make-up that night. I used the DIY luminizer (which Travis thinks I should make and market as Extra Fatal Lady Shimmer) instead of lipstick and really loved the effect. I used the original RMS stuff (because it's sparklier) on top of my eyeshadow which I also recommend (just don't fuck it up because it's sticky and not going anywhere.) 

We're planning to move soon and I can't wait to have a nice, non-dark-and-beige place to take these photos. Shooting in RAW hides a multitude of sins (you should see this unedited) but it can't do everything. Bleh.

7x7 Remix Challenge

Audrey at Putting Me Together posted about this 7x7 remix challenge the other day and I thought hey, why not. I actually did do this with actual clothes that I own, but we're in the process of getting ready to move right now and my photo taking capabilities and locales are pretty compromised, so I thought I'd just cheat and use Polyvore. That is the actual cardigan and mint knit tank; everything else is a close approximation (my skirt doesn't have buttons, but I wish it did.) 

This last one is the most formal, if you can even really call it that. I thought perhaps the cardigan would be weird over the knit tank but it actually works- just make sure to tuck in the little tail on the tank ;-) It's sort of like a twin set. 

I think 7 items is a little too restrictive for me- a lot of the outfits look very much the same, by necessity. Needs room for some accessories. I suppose I could've challenged myself more by using some prints, but I barely own any- I'm really a solids and stripes kinda gal. Not including shoes in the 7 would've left room for some more layers, too. But hey, if you were going a trip and really only wanted to pack 7 things, it totally works!