Santa Cruz, California
Halter | Skirt | Hat | Sunglasses
My friend Elise is one of those people who will invite you and your kids over for an afternoon of flower-wreath-making for no particular reason, just because she happens to have everything you need to make a flower wreath on hand. She knows how to draw those pretty cursive chalkboard stencils that you see outside restaurants and at kids' birthday parties. She has drawers full of crafting supplies, and she actually uses them.
This pose is called "Hide The Terrible Horrible Pedicure." I'm basically an expert at it.
So I had this rug in my kitchen, because Pinterest made me do it. And then I realized that having a rug in the kitchen isn't necessarily the best idea, because kitchens are where things like pancake batter happen, and moved my kitchen rug to a more rug-friendly place: my office. And then I realized that I still really like rugs in kitchens, and whatever, that's what soap and water is for (and have I MENTIONED eight or a thousand times that I am a wizard at stain-removal? This is true).
Except I had already gotten used to the way our erstwhile kitchen rug looked in my office.
Here is my attitude towards crafting: I am thrilled to do it, but only if it’s easy. Massively involved, multi-step crafts involving expensive and/or specialized supplies are just not my jam. My kids have just started to get really into art (although my 1 1/2 –year-old is mostly interested in applying things like paint and glitter to herself), so I’ve been trying to come up with fun (and easy) little projects for us to do in the afternoons, during that terrible, horrible interlude between 4PM and dinnertime when things can go real bad, real quick.
The key to navigating the Witching Hour (which is actually two hours): keep those tiny hands busy, and away from things like full boxes of cereal, dog food, permanent markers in shades that look really pretty when applied to white walls, and your favorite jacket.
I don't make this salad very often. And that's not because I don't like it all that much...it's because I like it so much that I cannot stop eating it, even when it's 3 o'clock in the morning and I just stirred from my slumber ever-so-slightly when all of a sudden the words "COLD PASTA SALAD" propelled me towards the kitchen, where I later discovered myself standing in front of my refrigerator holding an empty Tupperware.
It's not a pretty sight. (It is, however, rather fun.)
But occasionally - like for my friend Elise's daughter's beach birthday party - I can be persuaded to whip up a batch.
Note un-sweaty hair and relative non-dishevelment. (This is the “before” photo.)
Our bathroom – the one off of the master bedroom – is easily the most unattractive spot in our house. It is tiny-tiny-tiny (you can barely open the door if you’re standing inside), and is accessorized with nothing more than a dark-brown, 2-inch-deep cupboard that holds literally nothing – even miniature medicine bottles come tumbling out when the door opens. My least-favorite part of the bathroom, though, has to be the color: a vaguely nauseating combo of olive green and beige. Not “forest green” and “ecru”…olive green and beige.
Olive green and beige are not my happy colors.
