Scarf it up

Now that my hair is short again, it's super easy to get incredibly bored with it.

Sometimes I watch pin curl or braiding tutorials just so I can sit there and feel sorry for my Justin Bieber-tressed self.

But really, I do love having short hair. It's easy, it looks the same every day. It's possible to dye it lots of damaging colors without having to worry about years of hard hair-growing work going down the drain.

Even better is that I've now discovered Scarving! Tutorials!

This means a) I have a new thrift/vintage shopping obsession b) My hair isn't cramping my head's flamboyant style anymore and c) I can wear EVEN MORE of my grandma's stuff.

I'm sporting this look right now with a vintage Hermes key scarf (this is hands-down the fanciest thing I've ever written about myself):

It's super easy and I didn't swear once when trying to do it.

Also, this Hermes scarf tutorial is the business. I mean, a purse? Seriously so great. I'm off to hunt for silk and scarf rings.

Oh, and also also. I'll pay anyone to try that JLo dress-scarf getup and send me a picture. That one is pretty intense, even as a bathing suit cover up.

I'm giving you a longer look

Ahh! I love these extraordinary posters for everyday events. Mine right now would be on the subject sitting in the sunbeam in my living room drinking tea and wearing some crazy old pajama pants and thinking about how I really should start washing my face before I go to sleep.



EDPED: Every Day Posters Every Day



These are just a few of my faves.



Did you know you can submit one of your own?



What would yours be?

Craigslist: My sordid past

The light was a little better last night, so I stook some more pictures of Craiglist finds from around my house. Also exciting is the Flickr group of CL finds I discovered today (sometimes I’m a little late on the uptake).

I just added it all up, and all of the furniture pictured below is from Craigslist, and combined, it set me back less than $1,000. It’s taken some time and some serious hunting, but we all know that’s at least half the fun.

Let’s start with the cheapest:
I guess that’s a tie between this terrazzo table and the old metal hospital cabinet below. The table is part of a pair. The other one holds my orchid (not a metaphor for something naughty…get your mind out of the gutter). Marc and I each bought one from a girl in Chinatown and now they’re reunited—and it feels so good…
I used to have this cabinet in my bathroom, which had no storage at all. It was great. Now, it’s a super-handy catchall in the office. The best thing? It’s magnetic! Since the fridge isn’t, it’s nice to have a place to tack up pictures and stuff. Maybe the best $25 I’ve spent.
These guys are new. This is the fourth(!) marble table I’ve acquired in my short Chicago years. Might have a problem. We just picked these up from a nice lady downtown so we’d have a place to sit on the back porch. So far, we’ve had one dinner there, and it was lovely. It’s the perfect size for two people, and I love the wrought iron base.

Also in the $50 range is this mid-century dresser: Originally, it came in a great bedroom set, but the headboard, highboy and night stand went to live with Shan and Matt, where they look gorgeous in her blue bedroom. Torn apart—and it feels so good…

We bought the set from an older woman who was moving into assisted living. She was so nice and tried to give us the entire bed, an old answering machine, sheets, you name it! We saved the wallpaper she used to line the drawers. She told us all about the store in Chicago where she picked it out. It’s nice to that stuff, I think. I hope when I pass it on, I’ll have some more good stories to share.
This chair actually has a mate, you just can’t see him. I bought these from a young mom in Old Irving Park who was making room in her home for her new baby. She was a real furniture lover and had some gorgeous stuff. I love these chairs so much. At first, Marc wasn’t sold on the teal, but now we both love it with the reddish brown wood floors. These were $80 and need a smidge of work—still useable, though.

You know what? I’m going to save the really big ticket item for tomorrow. Stay tuned to see what caused me to immediately jump in a cab and head to the Viagra Triangle and break off a bulk of my furniture fund. See also: the thing so heavy it almost killed my boyfriend and his dad.

Grandma-palooza

Oh, golly....about a month ago, I took a little trip to my grandma's house to help her clear out her office, which was absolutely stuffed with greeting cards and prescriptions that dated back to the early 1970s. The lady lends new meaning to the term PACK. RAT.

Some of the more awesome things in her office include this portrait of my mom (yet another contender in the Feist lookalike contest) done by my uncle Larry: What up, girl?

You think roosters are cool?

Then how cool are roosters made entirely from BEANS and MACARONI?

In keeping with the poultry theme, Marc fell in love with a duck:



...while this sad hound dog looked on from the desk:


Don't even think I didn't slip this painted-cat-on-a-slab-of-wood into my purse. Otis needs some art by his food dish.
Don't worry, though. I made sure to leave the Relax sign behind. I'm not naming names, but anyone who's retired and still needs to hold onto the carbon copy of a letter she sent to the electric company in 1984 requesting they correct her middle initial clearly needs it more than I do. Same goes for that "Polka Time" songbook below.

We love you Grandma!

I hope you like your spiffy new office. I don't even care that you got mad at me when I asked if I could have one of your many portable typwriters and some clipboards. And the sandals I scored are pretty cool.

P.S. Tomorrow (or, you know, in September), look for the follow up to this peice, in which I regale you with spellbinding tales from the rest of the weekend. From Lebowski Fest to Marc's grandma's 90th birthday, it's a post not to be missed!

P.P.S. Grandma's sandals make a special guest appearance!