one last post from our boston digs

we've been doing nothing but silly detail work, tying up loose ends, and boring our friends to death by talking about the difficulty in packing odd-shaped items. (we'll spare you, dear reader.)



in the end, we went with moving cubes - a recent innovation in moving technology according to our esteemed movers, steve and ersine. thank god we had those guys, too. otherwise, we wouldn't have fit in two cubes. (we order three just in case.)





once they were loaded, we said "so long" to our stuff. we'll all be reunited in st. louis several months from now. sigh...

next up, dallas for ashbloem's wedding. next week, we'll report from our temporary home in verrrrmont.

new hairs on my head

i have been patiently awaiting my mane to grow out after an unfortunate visit to my mom's hairstylist when i was in saint louis last. i don't know what i was thinking. what can i say? it was a free haircut.

instead of longer and longer, it got bigger and bigger as my hair tends to do. i have been complaining about it for weeks now.

and the moment came today... ta-dah!!!

new me:


is it too suri cruise?

mental note

surfing the web and came across a couple gift ideas for "the mrs."

this could not be more perfect. imagine my surprise, when i came across the book below:



description from website:

Take a peek inside the cruel and unforgiving world of St. Louis, Missouri's abandoned, abused and neglected chairs. Found in back alleys all over the city, these chairs live out their last days on mean streets, forsaken by their owners and forgotten by society. Until now.

something tells me that dabney will be out there rescuing such chairs from oblivion. perhaps a new hobby is born.

and while i am at it, i may as well add this print from 20x200.



she could tick each chair off as she procured them one by one from craigslist and ebay.

no more packets

whenever i get a hankering for a taste of home, my go-to ingredient is often mama sita's adobo sauce mix.



just add water and chicken; brown and stew. presto! chicken adobo that's not even close to my aunt's or my mom's but suits my craving nonetheless.

cleaning out the cupboards, i found a little stash of sauce packets and realized that i don't have much more use for them. it's hard to believe that in a few short months, i will be a short twenty-five minute drive to the real stuff (that is, at mom & dad's house).

i can come packing with my own tupperware if i want. this thought excites me.

self-portrait

my father has somehow mastered the art of taking a self-portrait with his iphone - something i have yet to figure out.



right now, he and my mother are on vacation in bangkok and manila. yet, i only receive pictures of them in their various hotel rooms.

our first sunrise over a flea market

there's not much in this world that would rouse dabney from a deep slumber at the ungodly hour of 4:30 AM (besides maybe an early international flight departure preferably to somewhere like thailand or japan).

trolling the internet last night, she came across this ad. (click to embiggen.)



surprisingly, she made the suggestion that we go and check it out before the design vultures zeroed in. that meant a very early departure of 4:30 am for the obscure north shore flea market. i don't know why, but i unwittingly agreed to be her accomplice.

so there we were at a little after five in search of "the biggest yellow penske truck we've ever seen." the thought of its insides filled with mid-century treasures and sugar plum fairies danced in our heads.

after a short scan of the field, no big yellow truck.

we patrolled the motley crew of dealers and their menagerie of antiques and curiosities.

there was the woman selling old trophies...


the old guy selling rusty tools and jars of nails...


and it was hard to miss the vendor selling the most random assortment of odds and ends, including two bags of egg noodles.


but absolutely no sign of herman miller chairs. no george nelson clocks. no isamu noguchi lamps. no charles eames - not even ray.

"oh perhaps he had a late start."
"maybe a flat tire?"

by six am, we knew we had been duped and were convinced that allen funt was going to show up, mic in hand, doing an exclusive for stuff white people like.

we're still unsure of what exactly happened - if it was a sincere mistake or stupid prank.

hooray for gay marriage in CA

go, california, go.

i always said that i'll go wherever it's legal and get hitched again. dabney and i might have to have another ceremony.

i thought the clip below was pretty sweet.

ann and dabney stay up past their bedtime.

not one, not two, but three opening bands kept the headlining act from hitting the stage until midnight - waaaaay past our normal bedtime. but the ny-based band, nightmare of you, was worth the wait, those extra cocktails, and the post T time cab home. not to mention, the late night outing was a welcome respite from packing.

packing madness

last night, we lost it.

instead of wrapping up more furniture, i decided to wrap up dabney.

filled to the brim

we should have been working on mogo stuff or packing for next week's big move, but it was just too beautiful of a spring day to stay inside doing the-things-we-oughta. instead, off we went to savor another new england tradition - the brimfield antique show.

brimfield is an antique lover's mecca. there are acres and acres of what we like to refer to as "fogey chic" to be had as far as the eye can see. there is some junk, some treasures, and a lot of eye candy - enough to make a weary person's head explode.

it's definitely the best people-watching in new england. there are chic new yorkers in search of bargain impressionist paintings, grandpas buying antique gardening equipment, japanese tourists in search of vintage mickey mouse paraphernalia. sadly, i was too slow with my camera to catch the people wearing homemade t-shirts with sayings like "i buy harmonicas" or "i buy spectacles and eyeglasses."

being drawn to more modern pieces, actually made it a bit easier to wander the vastness of brimfield. for example, a set of white original herman miller eames chairs stick out amidst the miles of victorian chaises.



a pair of pint-sized bertoia wire chairs were easy to spot in among the edwardian wicker.



you get the idea.

for months now, i have been obsessed with vintage anatomy posters. this german version featuring the biology of a snail was a good twist on the subject matter and screaming my name. however, a $285 price tag made it far out of reach.



instead, we came home with this old advertisement, circa 1970, for the danish furniture manufacturers' association.


i am convinced a little tlc in the form of a new frame will give it new life.

dabney had her eye on this pricey print featuring a scandinavian acrobat act the "family larson." what great illustrations!



we also managed to snag these two tiny little vinyl ottomans. i think my parents might have had something similar when i was growing up. there were a steal at $15 and they'll provide a perfect pop of color in a future space.



oh, yes, there was another chair purchase. i am almost too embarrassed to feature yet another chair acquisition. but there it was - a mid-century rattan number that was oh-so-comfortable. how will we ever fit into our pods?

15 boxes and counting

took down the artwork...

packed up most of the mugs, the plates, the platters (kept the french press and rice maker out)...

closed the bank accounts, canceled the newspaper, cable, phone...

told the electrical and water company, we're outta here...

made our first drop off of work stuff in vermont...

woke up this morning to a bright, sunny, beautiful day, realized it's brimfield week...

returned five hours later with chair, ottoman, and print.

happy moms' day, moms

selling machines

all this listing/photographing/shipping makes us understand and respect how people can make a living through ebay, but i have to admit - it hasn't always been fun.

here's just a selection of the items that we've waved goodbye to over the last two months via ebay and craigslist. we're happy to report the the following possessions have found new homes where they are loved and cared for.

with a few more items still to go, our moving fund is over $1300 richer.

as i am writing this, imagine the walls shaking

as if we didn't have enough going on - we have a major facelift happening to the front of our house. though "facelift" is not the right word; it implies that it's for solely aesthetic reasons or that we had a choice in the matter. the fact is the front of our house was crumbling in bits due to long overdue roof work. if we ignored it any longer... well, let's just say brick on the head - not good.

for weeks now, we've been living beneath scaffolding cloaked in black mesh. it looks more like batman's coccoon or perhaps christo in mourning.



the scaffolding has been blocking what little light comes into this dungeon, so we have had to use some special lighting techniques as prospective tenants toured. basically, we turned EVERYTHING ON: overheads, lamps, task lights, nightlights, hell - even the oven light was illuminated.

the great thing is the front facade will look amazing when done. wouldn't you know it - just as we move away? of course, that's the way things work out sometimes. already, bright, new copper gutters have gone up along with a copper-covered soffit and fascia. (obviously, in the process of getting bids, my vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds as i learned new words for features i have previously referred to as "wood thingies.")



the top of the building is so shiny at the moment, its appearance might ruffle the feathers of our neighborhood historic commission. i am hoping the color will mellow to its deep amber soon enough to soothe the snooty beasts. i understand why they're there, but sometimes, ARGH.

i wonder how we'll move a couch through the maze of metal cross bars...

denial begins

it's taken weeks of prep to get the place in shape. we've been cleaning, selling, packing. and for the first time in years, the place can breathe again. we've even got that minimalist, yet lived-in look going on.

no sooner than we had posted our apartment on craigslist on thursday night, we had three interested parties touring the place on friday.

by the end of the weekend, we had show the place six times and accepted two applications.

i honestly thought that we'd be doing this for weeks. i even believed that we might not find someone until july, so we'd just have to stay another month in our very clean, newly-spacious apartment. but lo and behold, we found our perfect tenant. dammit. i mean, hooray!

now, the real packing begins. three weeks and we're out.

whoa.

no turning back now...

the apartment is officially listed.

talking shop

recycled glass...
craft fairs...
tent weights...
wholesale reps...

there nothing like talking shop with the girls.


tracy (& daughter) and tomoko run great businesses and make great products - not to mention - are the best lunchtime companions.

thanks, ladies. let's do it again soon!