A life led through magazines

I am a magazine junkie. Something about those glossy, fluffy throw away booklets conjures up joy and relaxation in my soul. So, naturally every time I visit the grocery store I allow myself a few minutes to browse thru the racks and make the perfect selection. The mags I gravitate to seem to reflect where I am in my life (hour, day, year, whatever) Today I was torn between Real Simple (organizational techniques for every personality!) and Sophisticated Hairstyles (looking for a new wifey/i got a 9-5 now coif). While I eventually caved and got a copy of OK!-there is no shame in that-I returned to a thought I've had many times over. A reflection on my life lived through magazines.

It all started with Highlights. Bright and cheery pictures, light stories in BIG print and a fabulous picture search game in every issue. I was growing and learning and Highlights was my perfect match, I can remember dreaming I would be a Highlights contributor one day. Ah, the simple life...

Next came a brief - but passionate - relationship with Teen Bop. If there were articles in that magazine I surely don't remember. I was all about glossy pull-out posters of Joey MacIntyre. My first crush. I put my Highlights editor-in-chief dreams aside to quietly pursue a relationship with a boy who wore topless top hats.

High School days came and I remember feeling very adult. Very grown up and craving womanly knowledge. I read Glamour and Cosmo by the pool everyday that summer. Also know as: The Tan Summer. My mags were well worn and stained with tanning oil. My best friend and I would read the horror stories aloud to one another and pass the magazines back and forth - vowing to apply the sex tips we had just learned...once we had a sex life. Looking back it was probably the only time a magazine became a social tool, a necessary accessory. Hmm...maybe THAT was the simple life...

After high school, i took myself much more seriously. I decided that Cosmo and other similar mags made women look like silly, boy crazy airheads more concerned with mastering the art of fellatio than become the first female president. I was at a loss..where would I go from here? I played around with newspapers for a while, but their complicated folds and smudgy print took all the fun out of it. An old roommate had a copy of a magazine I had long scoffed for being 98% advertisement. It was love at first read. My new accessory, new obsession. I had found VOGUE.

Now, VOGUE deserves to be in all caps. It's an institution, a planet, and state of mind. I kept every months magazine (and still have them) for 2 years straight because I was convinced they were historical property. And I imagined a great granddaughter of mine one day uncovering them and thanking me through the ages that I'd had enough sense to save them. The articles discusses art, culture and politics in a sophisticated way. Holding a copy was like holding a ticket into a flashy and elite world I longed to live in. While we aren't as close as we use to be...I will always keep a place in my heart for VOGUE magazine.

< enter college life here > this means I was primarily reading textbooks and could only occasionally sneak in a gossip magazine now and again.

When I became engaged- you guessed it - for about a year straight I read every wedding magazine put on the shelf. It was great at first. I was finally allowed to read them now that I was one of the engaged people. the blessed. ha! But after the honeymoon period (with the magazines-not my husband) ended I found I was ready to move on. They really all say the same things over and over. Plus, once I decided to forgo a "traditional" wedding, reading them just made me second guess myself and drove me a little craz(ier)y.

Thankfully we bought a new house around that time so I immersed myself in home design mags. Eh. It was more frustrating than anything. Can't somebody publish a glossy HD mag that doesn't require me to have unlimited funds?!

So now I a married woman. I still love VOGUE and OK! and People and yada yada but today I was looking at A LIFESTYLE magazine for the organization article. So as a part-time magazine anthropologist I'd have to declare - Im a little bit of a grown up. Whats next for me? TIME? Travel? The New Yorker? Fit Pregnancy?

I'll see you in the aisles....

Scratch me, dent me, just please don't pay full price

If you are paying full retail price for something you are either
1.) Rich enough you just don't care (mafia)
2.) Lazy
3.) Unaware of the big, beautiful world of discounted goods in the world!

I pretty much never pay full price for anything. I scour thrift stores and flea markets. I walk straight back to the sale aisles in every store and I am not too good for some good ole, darn the little guy Wal-mart speed shopping.

The day we moved in we knew we were missing some things. Some we wanted ASAP (like a dining room table), others could wait(like guest bedroom furniture). After hours of back n forth moving we headed over to Gardiner's Furniture to look for some must-halves. Now, Gardiner's is in no way a discount store. They have high end furniture and accessories with an occasional "Buy 7 things at once and we'll throw in a magazine rack" sale now and then.

We walked in. Said hello politely in our paint covered rags and headed straight to the basement. Past the cushy sectionals and the clearance aisle. We didn't even look around us until we were in the chilly warehouse by the loading dock. Scratch and dent.

It's where furniture comes to die. Something beautiful and expensive got hurt on the way in. Or wobbles a little, or their matching nightstand brother got sent to Laos by accident. It is a GREAT place to scour deals. I'm not saying it's smart to spend ANY amount of money on something that is busted...but if you can live with a little scratch...you can make out like a bandit. Plus, it takes the pressure off YOU being the first to tarnish it's beautiful and pricy exterior.


Our first and most exciting (for me) find was this coffee table. I was looking for a rectangular table with a glass top and shelf. I had found one at Ikea I liked but they had stopped making. Their new substitute was wrought iron, which I thought would be too cold feeling and outdoorsy. I laid eyes on this baby and immediately slapped it with a red "MINE" tag. Originally $650...marked down to $250...some haggle action with the manager and we paid....wait for it...$100!!! (what was wrong with it? it's matching side table was badly damaged. this baby was perfect!)

Next up was a dining room table. Our DR is a little small (about 10x9) so we needed something that could shrink and expand to accommodate our guest list.

This 2 tone chestnut/black wood oval piece fit the bill. It had a scratch on the surface (which Gardiner's buffed out for us) and a small piece of wood was missing from UNDER the table. Without chairs it was marked down from $875 to $300. We found SIX!!! well matching chairs (their matching table had gone missing during shipment) and negotiated a group sales price of $300. FREE STUFF!

Finally we needed a place to rest our little heads. We had a bed, but it was tight with the 2 or us and lumpy so we were looking for a reason to upgrade. We spotted a returned King mattress for $300. 2 box springs, one frame and some negotiating landed us the whole kitten caboodle for $300. And Damn. King sized beds are flippin' awesome. Just ask Lily. She hardly ever gets kicked out now.


So, get out there and hunt. Gardiner's gets new scratch n dent deliveries every Wednesday...I know we'll be back!

*nice long post for you Ms. LuAnn!

Parties, as in, I want to plan some

I am at work. A little bored because NO ONE comes in when a Ravens game is on. I never even know when they are playing until I see people in purple pajamas at the grocery store. I suck I know, but I'm an O's gal all the way.

So here is a list of fun parties I want to have at my house ASAP:
-small gathering of nbc-groupies for the new Office on 1/21. Spencer says its not worth it as the show isn't as funny anymore. I disagree. I laughed the whole way through "Murder" all 3 times I watched it. We can serve jello, small tuna salad sandwiches and Oscar's pate

-Mad Men open house. I'm not letting go of this one. Our house has/had such retro charm (and I love a theme party)so I want to see some skinny ties and serve some deviled eggs to anyone and everyone that wants to come see the new hiz.

-game night. I got "guesstures" and the new moon board game for christmas. Lets pop some popcorn and get silly!

-"slumber party" I have a cousin-in-law who is extremely pregnant and sells sex toys. I just think it would be really funny to see her talk about vibrators.

That's it. Nothing news breaking. Just sitting here thinking about nothing/everything/anything.

Do you like to host or attend parties?

Haven't we met before?

I love being cheap. It's one of my most favorite things to do, and I'm really good at it.

Having said that, it should be of no surprise that yesterday, while shopping at HD for Glidden's Celery Sticks green, I was overjoyed when I saw a gallon of green on the "opps" shelf ($5!) I studied it for a long time. It wasn't the exact shade I was searching for, but hey, it was close enough to save me 25 bones!

Something was familiar about it.

It is the EXACT shade of green as the tiles we just stupidly removed from the bathroom. exactly. like, I painted the toilet on a small corner and when it dried I couldn't find where I had painted. that exact.

Since I was alone, and can't make a good desicion about hardly anything, I naturally called my mom for help. She drove over. I made her get in the car and sweat through traffic just to tell me what I already knew. I heart her.

So, I slapped the paint up on the small bedrooms walls (well, I cut-in and did one wall. It's hard to paint a room solo!) and decided to "go in a different direction" for the 3rd bedroom/bathroom. Spencer and I stopped by after our movie date and he didn't hate it like I thought. He was cool. I was relieved. I'm hoping he continues in his coolness and paints the rest himself while I'm at work tomorrow...

Tomorrow He also meets with the contractor to discuss our homes major repairs. This will have a big say in when we can officially trek our goods over and finally stay the night/forever. This wednesday would be the best...fingers crossed!

Here we are!

Here is my little family in our new home (don't mind the slightly exhausted looks on our faces-we're slightly exhausted) Me, Spence-didily-ence and sweet Lily. We borrowed some "furniture" from the ivy room to sit and admire our freshly painted digs.

Over the past weekend of endless cutting-in and double coats, I realized- we're a good team. Which is great news. Since we're getting married and all. When I wanted to tape, Spencer was up for some rolling. When his hand cramped, he passed the trim brush to me and I happily accepted. We even took turns using the cordless drill. Sure, there were times where we disagreed and my voice crept slowly to a pitch only dogs can hear, but at the end of it we truly compromised. Well, I'm still lobbying for a pretty framed mirror to sub as a bathroom vanity in lieu of the standard medicine cabinet (really, who needs cabinets in all three of their bathrooms?!) but besides that. compromise. teamwork. respect. These are the lessons we are learning in building not only a home, but a future together as husband and wife.

On one of my few and favorite blogs I read this today: "Choose a color and soul that you want to have linger for years, and then LIVE there" She was talking about wedding planning, but I'm adopting it as a house mantra. Cliff notes: Surround myself with what I really want in life. Soak in it occasionally. Let your heart live in your home and vice verse.

So instead of fretting over a color theme that makes the kitchen connect with the guest room, I'll focus more on filling our house and our lives with what I really want: love. compromise. teamwork. respect.

and sweet Lily...

House Tour 2

Finally a few more pics! It seems silly to post these now because I feel it looks so different already! But we will get to those changes later, first we must review the Home in its initial splendor...(please forgive the dates...I'll have to remove those since they are both ugly and incorrect)

Here is a good view from the corner of the living room into the dining and kitchen areas. You can spot that hip avocado oven, (I had thought it olive green, but my Mom corrected me) the love-it-or-hate-it-not-sure-yet fake brick wall and the stately and dark ceiling fan hanging in the dining "cubby"

We have since painted all of the walls and trim in these rooms.

Here are the swing doors we just didn't know what to do with. They now rest peacefully in our garage, along with that lamp pinned to the wall. Turns out it was a real safety hazard!


Now, take a peak at our color-themed bathrooms. One is avocado green, the other is naturally pink. A bathroom like ole greenie here really makes you wonder..."what were they thinking in 1964?" Could they possibly have thought this could be timeless? Really?




Ahh! Even though we accomplished a lot this weekend (with a little help from our friends...) There is still much to do before we move our things in. And it just keeps piling up. Now Spencer and I are seriously considering to attempt removing said avocado tiles from the bathroom. We had thought we would live with it for a while...but we have the urge to purge and we're on a roll!

watch out for my expose on closeted wallpaper and our pretty in beige after pics once all the trim is painted!

who needs rules anyway!?

Well, I this is my first 2010 post and I have to say, its not too exciting. It's difficult to work full-time, party on NYE, buy and paint a house and still find time to write about it...especially when no one's really listening at the moment ;)

Plus my technological handicap is starting to show. I admit it. I am maybe the worlds only college grad who has problems uploading photos from her camera. Forgive me?

With the help of my Mom and our wonderful friend KT, Spencer and I accomplished A LOT yesterday. It went pretty well, except for a dead hammer and a sadly patched hallway hole (we're working on it!) Here is what we managed to get done in just one day...

-We painted! Coats went up on the bedroom, the living and dining rooms, the hallway and the kitchen.
-We removed the *gorgeous golden bath doors* and cleaned up the mess
-Spencer's Dad removed some random hall light fixture and we patched up the hole it left (ruining our new paint job in the process)
-We removed the fancy wooden coral swing doors that separated the hall from the rest of the house (this is where we lost our hammer head)

Removing the light and the doors from the hallway really updated the look of the space almost instantly! We had been on the fence about removing the doors just yet (they are tacky, but so funny!) Without them, the hall feels open and extra-large.

We had a tough time picking paint. One half of our brains said "go for it! get crazy and splash up some wild color on the wall!" while the other half reminded us to keep cool and neutral-and let the things we bring into the space make it interesting. Although it felt boring to repeat 2 sort of blah colors on most of the walls we were going for a cohesive look. We picked Valspar's "Swoosh" for the living room, hallway and half of our bedroom. "Whirlwind" went up in the kitchen, dining room and eventually the foyer (tall walls yikes!). We reused the old blue we had left from our current bedroom to paint 2 accent walls in our new bedroom. Score! It cost us ZERO dollars and we already know we like it!

I'll get into these projects more when I can post pictures.Valspar brand paint was a little pricey, but great because it includes a primer in the paint and cuts down on coats...plus we scored 2 gallons at the "oops!" paint price of $6! "Swoosh" is a sort of coffee and cream color (can't you tell that from the name?) and "Whirlwind" is a lovely warm lacy white. What a difference the right white makes! I forget the name of our room blue, but It's made by Behr and it reminds me of a stormy ocean blue...

We have loads to do today. Spencer, Erna and PattyMayo our on the case today while I'm at work. I left them a nice long list of projects to complete so they would stay on track. I'll return to help them after, when we'll discuss flooring options and paint for the bathroom and other bedrooms. I said I would wait to paint the spares until a later date, but that lavender just isn't working with our new low key color scheme...so who knows!

Here we go...

Nearly ready to leave for the final walk through...still undecided on the perfect "I'm buying a house today" outfit. Awfully windy though, so I'm sure a sweater will be involved.

My list of things to bring on this first day:
-plastic cups and plates for champagne and pizza
-a camera!
-paper towels, TP and hand soap (so we can live like civilized beings)
-my "list book"...for lists
-my lucky bamboo (thanks BRAD
-a favorite pic of Spencer and I...so the house can get familiar with us while we're still sleeping in our old diggs.
-Mommom's claddagh ring...i wear it for all "big things"

wish me luck bloggaverse!

It's like Christmas Eve for adults...

eeek! eee-gaaad! holy smokes!

It is the eve of our signing and I truly feel like a kid again...I just know I won't be getting much sleep tonight! It reminds me so much of how I felt as a youngster on Christmas Eve. Too excited to close my eyes, jittery, so very excited for the time to pass and morning to arrive!

Just writing about it has my heart racing. homeowner...me?! Only grown-ups own houses...does that mean...no it couldn't...but still, all the evidence says:

I AM A GROWN UP. (!?!?!?)

Spencer and I will sit down tomorrow at 3pm and start signing. I wonder if the house will feel the change in ownership. I imagine this lovely home sitting, sort of bored and a little sad that no one has been around in quite sometime. She'll be counting the faux bricks on her living room wall for the 100th time when all the sudden...a little twitch. Maybe her ears will burn. Will the air change then? Will she pounce like a little puppy when it spots their owners car pulling in the drive way? Will all the sudden, when the last line is signed at 3:54pm, she feels the rush of love come her way?

I think so. I hope she likes us. Maybe it will be strange at first- after all she's only known one family her whole life. The sight of two twenty-somethings rolling around her hardwoods laughing (because that's exactly the first thing we plan on doing) might startle at first and, but hopefully she has a sense of humor. Hopefully she knows just how much we love her already.

And I hope she likes the face lift we're ready to deliver! Tomorrow I will post a photo tour of our new nest (eeeek! i said that!) And then we can start to have some F-U-N!!!

Here's a little sneaky-peak to get the party started!