The Metaphorical Magpie

Oh, so provincial

I am not quite certain how it's happened over the years but I've acquired not one, but two French Provincial bedroom sets. Additionally, there is a French Provincial china closet and a dresser fashioned into a breakfront in our kitchen/dining room.  Half of the pieces I purchased second hand and the rest were handed over to me by those who knew I fancied the style.

The first bedroom set was purchased in the late 90's for $400 at a used furniture emporium run by a crazy old Hungarian guy. It's original mustard yellow finish made me wrinkle my nose but the promise of miles of roomy drawers set atop sexy curved legs led me to make the purchase. They stayed mustard in the first apartment I moved them into in Asbury Park. On arrival in the next place in Long Branch, My friend, Tiffany, and I set to painting them a light purple shade. The color I chose for the walls was a deep cobalt blue. They really popped in that room. When I moved next, there was no room for the set in the house so the set was relegated to the backyard shed. In 2001, I bought this house. When moving in, my stepfather told me I'd better not move again because this was the last time he was going to help me move this incredibly heavy bedroom furniture. I again painted the bedroom a rich blue and moved the furniture right on in. That worked for me for a while. I get the itch to shake things up every so often though. In December, I repainted the room a light fresh green using a low VOC paint. The room transformed into an intense space to a calming one. Unfortunately, the lilac furniture looks gross against the wall. Time for a major face lift.

We flirted with the idea of new furniture. Browsed catalogs and vowed to visit the best area thrift stores. (Yeah, you think I'm going to tell you which ones? Not a chance.) The pieces we own have perfectly good bone structure. They just need a fresh coat of paint. This bombe chest  and this mirrored chest, both from Crate and Barrel, got our creative juices flowing. They are both bold and sophisticated.

We started a story board for the room. Every story has a beginning. In this case, this one begins with a painting, as many of my interior decorating pursuits have in the past. I'm crazy about the Vincent Van Gogh painting, Almond Blossom. When I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, I came home with a greater appreciation for Van Gogh and a love for this painting in particular.  Blossoming branches are evocative of spring, hope, new beginnings, the natural world.I'd love to base a bedroom on this painting. Van Gogh made this painting in 1890 during his voluntary stay at an asylum in Saint-Remy in Provence. It was his way to honor his namesake nephew's birth. He intended for it to hang over the bed of his brother, Theo. Sweets gave me a print of the painting for Christmas and we've just had it custom framed.  We  intend to hang it over our bed, too.

The painting's color palette, vibrant blue, cool greens, cream, a touch of blush in the blossoms. After two weekends of serious deliberations, paint chips from three different lines and a false start, we've decided on a color to paint the furniture. We wanted something deep and luxurious looking to pop in front of the light walls. From the Martha Stewart Collection for Valspar paint, the shade is called Umbrella.  A deep blue, almost navy with a touch of green. With silver painted accents and hardware, our French Provincial set is going to look smashing in its new incarnation. The actual painting will most likely take several weeks to pull off but it will be worth it.

For some photos of what the set looked like in BEFORE mode: you can check out some photos I've Flickr'd in the past of the headboard (with Quentin lookin; cute), one of the nightstands and the tall  dresser.

As this project progresses there will be AFTER photos for your viewing pleasure.

Items #1 and #29: 101 Things in 1001 Days Update

It's been a few weeks since I posted my 101 Things in 1001 Days list and I've been itching to cross something off!

Updates:
Item #1 Grow plants from seed. Status: In progress.
On Saturday, we started a 72 cell tray of various seeds. Hopefully in a week or two, I'll start to see seedlings pop up of heirloom German Johnson tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, mammoth sunflowers, smaller sunflowers, spearmint, cilantro, basil, rosemary, parsley, an heirloom orange watermelon, and delphiniums. Today two little sunflower shoots appeared. Seventy more cells to go.

We've also picked up seed packets that we'll direct sow when it's a bit warmer of two varieties of lettuce, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, scallions, fennel and foxglove. Once you get started with seeds you want to try EVERYTHING. I'd like to have about six varieties of tomatoes this year.

I won't consider this item complete until I've actually produced flowers and veggies.

Item #29 Meet a fellow blogger(s). Status completed.
On Sunday night, I had the great pleasure of meeting Kristen of Sticking to the Point and Nicole of Sometimes Everything Girl for dinner and The Raveonettes concert at Maxwells in Hoboken. Yeah!!! I've been trying to figure out a way to meet up with Kristen for almost a year now and it finally happened. I'd see that she'd been in my area, photo boothin' and shootin' and I'd say, "Crap, missed her again. I want to hang with her." In January she was planning to come to the Wish Tree ceremony but she got sick and couldn't make it. I'm really happy that we finally got to meet. Although, our visit was way too short. I hope we can get together again soon. She's even more rad in person than  on her blog. Way rad, I tell, ya. She has a great voice, too. The things you can't tell from reading a blog revealed!

Nicole and I both post Week Two favorites on Self Portrait Challenge. She posts on Wednesdays and I go on Fridays. We've got a nice little system going to make sure we don't have any overlap. We were so busy gabbing about her visit to New York City, upcoming trip to Berlin and lots lots more, we didn't even get to talking about SPC. Her visit was packed to the gills with fun stuff in the city. She's posted a Flickr set on NYC. Before she came out, she asked me where I'd suggest as must see stops. My top pick with the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She made it there and made an absolutely gorgeous photo of it that you must see.

Kristen posted about our meeting earlier this week. She noted we didn't all get a photo together. How does that happen? I was so nervous about the get together I totally spaced and didn't even bring a camera with me. Next time, I promise. Next time. Cause there will be a next time.

The status of #29 may be complete but I hope to continue to add to this item. Next month, if all goes well, I will meet up the lovely M. Heart of Secret Notebooks * Wild Pages. She planning some seriously cool activities for her stay in the city. I hope we can do some of them together.

And there are many more of you that I would love, love, love to meet. So don't be a stranger, you hear?

Come in, Spring, I've been waiting for you

These past few weeks, I've been impatiently pushing back the drapes to  peek out the window,squinting my eyes, looking for you to turn around the corner, my friend. You've finally arrived! A happy solstice to you. I hope you had a good vacation while the other seasons were hogging up the limelight. I wonder where spring goes when it leaves us? I imagine you lolling around the Pacific Northwest  peacefully rowing a boat, feasting on wild salmon, counting flowers on mountain tops, knitting a sweater of moonbeams. You don't have to tell me where you go, Spring. I understand a girl deserves some mystery surrounding her. I get that, I do. Just curious, that's all.

I'm so thrilled you're back here in my life, even if for a short while. Oh, the things we'll do together. Seek out ruby stalks of  rhubarb, inhale the intoxicating scent of lilacs heavy in the night air, take the garden to another level, picnic under a grove of blossoming cherry trees, stroll city streets wearing just a light jacket arm in arm laughing and telling secrets. Let's make the most of our time together. I love you, dear spring. You are the season that I can not resist. Like the Pied Piper, your seductive charms lure me from the coziness of being inside all winter out into the world to find myself drinking in every new experience, wanting to touch each bud on the tree outside my office's parking garage, greet each bird that alights on my feeder, smell each flower in bloom,  cook each tender stalk of asparagus.

The winter was harder than I expected it would be. A warm coat, pots of soup, kettles of tea and good company did not stop the drafts of sadness and confusion that crept in and chilled me. Just you being here makes me feel better.

Thank you for coming.

The time has come

Please accept my most heartfelt thanks for those of you who took the time to email and leave comments here in the last week or so. All of your attempts to console me or cheer me up did make a difference to me, even if it was sometimes fleeting.

Sweets, Cyndemouse and I visited with Aunt Dodi on Sunday afternoon. Cynde and I took turns telling her what was coming in our gardens with the spring weather.  We described Cynde's highly anticipated tiger lilies in great detail hoping Dodi would be able to conjure up an image of a gang of happy orange freckled faces lifting their heads to the sun. She was quite weak. Just last week she would tightly grasp my hand as I spoke to her. This time she could barely squeeze me. Burning with fever, we cooled her forehead with a cool cloth.

When it was time for us to leave I squeezed her hand and leaned in to tell  her "I'm going to tell you what you've always told me, Dodi. Goodbye for now. I love you." Then we all stood at the foot of her bed calling out "Goodbye, Dodi. Goodbye."

She passed on Monday evening. Which coincidentally was the two year anniversary of her sister, My Grams', funeral. I had a feeling that something like this would happen.

Yesterday, I spent the better part of the day waiting around for the phone to ring while making the necessary arrangements. Then a short time at a funeral home signing papers. Followed by a trip to the nursing home to collect her things to find they'd already boxed them up and had them stored away already. It wasn't until someone there gave me a hug that the tears began to come. I went down to her room. Every trace of her was gone. Her plants moved from the windowsill to the top of her roommate's television in the darkest corner of the room. I took her two little plants, clutched them to my chest and left. On the way to the car, I thought that now I fully understand Matilda in the film, The Professional, carrying around that plant with her. I'll take care of her plants the best I can.

Part of the arranging of her affairs involves scattering her ashes off of Block Island, RI. I've never been there. Once it gets a bit warmer, probably during her birthday month of may, there will be a road trip to see her off in style. She'd prepaid for an airplane to scatter her off the Block Island shore. I'll be there to wave and cheer for her as she lands on her final destination.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

Hello my dears,
It seems I've been away for a bit longer than I expected here. And even before this break, I've  not felt up to par for several weeks. I don't think March is my month. The past few years, March seems to hold a concentrated dose of emotions. Two years ago, my grandmother was in hospice care and died. The anniversary of her death is tomorrow. Coincidentally, perhaps, her sister, my Aunt Dodi, began hospice care last week. Last year, I was such an emotional puddle as my Grams anniversary approached. This year missing her is compounded with watching Dodi slip away before my eyes.

Along with that sadness, I must admit I am angry as well. When Grams was sick, my sister, mother and I pitched in. Uncles, aunts and cousins came to visit. Some after years of not speaking. There was a sense of our family coming together and closing the door on old wounds. With Dodi, it's just me. It troubles me that a person can live such a full and admirable life as Dodi has and have it end with no fanfare or support.

I'm feeling very much alone in this grieving. The grief that  began two years ago when I lost my lifeline and that is there with me everyday as something occurs to me that I want to tell her or cook for her  or tease her about.  Now there is this added grief of losing hold of Dodi, too. Taking care of her has been a way of honoring my Grams. When that connection ends it is really breaking me off from Grams even farther.

These past few weeks, I can not get enough sleep. I go into bed early and stay there late. Just laying in the darkness, patting one of the dogs absentmindedly, wishing I never have to get out of that bed and face the world. Knowing I feel out of sorts, I went to visit my neighbor who is gives Jin Shin Jyutso treatments, which is an Eastern acupressure technique. She reminded me that we are mammals. It is in our nature to want to hibernate in winter. She suggested I don't fight the desire to sleep. So I've been snoozing away whenever I can.

I think though that there is more going on than a primal physical need for sleep. I think I'm sad and that is so hard for me to admit. When I look at my life, I have so much- Sweets, our home, good jobs, amazing beautiful friends, our families, our willingness to engage with the world. How can I admit that I am deeply sad right now?

How can you get over something if you can't admit it?

So my friends, I admit to myself and to you that March is not my month. And that's okay. I admit I am sad. That I am scared. That every day as I field phone calls from hospice nurses that I am waiting for the other shoe to drop and for that wave of sadness to crash over me. I think that part, at least for me it not okay. I dwell too much on what may happen before anything actually occurs. Today, I'm going to try to just take what the day offers. Tomorrow I'll allow myself to miss my Grams. And for the days that span ahead, I'll try to sleep a little bit less, live a little bit more and get by the best I can.

February 2008: Culture Shock Report

Film:
Dan in Real Life - This is the second time I saw this movie. I was happy to see it programmed on our flight home from California. When we saw Sondre Lerche perform last year, he told an anecdote about teaching Steve Carrell how to play the guitar right before Carrell had to shoot a scene where he plays the guitar and sings. That is the scene that makes me all snuffly. I tried very hard to be stoic and cry quietly as  I watched squeezed in so tight next to a stranger. For some reason, this film didn't catch much attention in the theater. I liked it a lot. I hope you'll find a place for it in your Netflix queue soon.I love the line "Love is an ability."

The Jane Austen Book Club  - Another in flight viewing. I really wanted to see this in the theater but missed it. This turned out not to be as great as I anticipated. Emily Blunt played my favorite character. She really shines no matter what she's in really.

King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters -  This doc takes you into the weird and sometimes cutthroat arena of professional video gaming as you follow regular Joe, Steve Wiebe, attempt to claim the world record for highest score in Donkey Kong. With a rival  reminiscent of Snidely Whiplash, it's a fun flick watching the battle over who is the best. Wiebe's got my vote.

Two Days in Paris -  Part of my February French Fest. I was hoping for a peek into how Parisians really live from this film. What really struck me was how their outlook on fidelity and sexuality differs from Americans.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer - This is evidently something of a 80's cult classic. Not for the faint of heart but no where near as off the hook as something sprouted from the mind of my boy Quentin Tarantino. This movie came out before Jeffrey Dahmer made America suck in it's breath in disgust. I found it to be an interesting little character study. Bear in mind, I loved No Country for Old Men, too.

Take the Lead - Yes, this hits almost every cliche from other films about a teacher in a tough urban school.  And there are heavy handed references to Romeo and Juliet. But I couldn't resist the dancing. Sweets groaned and retreated to the bedroom to do a crossword puzzle while I happily watched the fancy footwork.

Paris, Je T'aime - Part of my February French Fest. This film reminds me of being at a party with passed appetizers. By the time you fill up on the samples of amuse bouche you are no longer hungry for an entree. It struck me that these vignettes all shot in the city of love more often than not featured people that were lacking in the love department.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Part of my February French Fest. Wow. I wasn't sure what to expect here. Especially when I realized it was a musical. It was awesome, really. See it just for the wallpaper alone! And the clothes. And the bicycles. Ooh, and the umbrellas and the gas station attendant jumpsuits. Oh, and that score that won't leave your head for days and days. Made over 40 years ago, it still feels fresh and remarkably topical with Guy being shipped off to fight a war in Algiers. Out of all my French Fest films, I think this one gave me the best sense of how the French live.

The Triplets of Belleville - Part of my February French Fest. Perfect fare for the afternoon I stayed home sick from work. Virtually subtitle-less, which was good for my feverish state. If you've already seen Ratatouille and want to see more of France in an animated film, give this one a try. I think little boys would especially enjoy it.

TV:

Project Runway - Duh. Is there anything else to watch? Now that the strike is over there will be but until then I am happy to crow over all of Christian's accomplishments. I do admit that I was impressed with Jillian's collection when she showed it to Tim. But I'm still on team Fer-osh, just so y'all know. Didn't you think Chris human hair as trim was sickly fantastic? Well, I did.

Jamie at Home - I'm beginning to find the turning pages of the notebook a wit bit annoying. But I'm not mad, Jamie. Sweets has started to want to watch episodes with me.  I think he's getting better knife skills after watching a few episodes. I've been lazy and haven't figured out the conversions for the measurements he uses like kilos and grams vs pounds and cups here in the U.S. Must do that pronto! We went on a special shopping trip in search for rhubarb after watching one episode devoted to it. It's a little early here in the season for it here so we'll have to pick it up when it becomes available.

Both of the Democratic presidential candidate debates this month.

Real Time with Bill Maher - I was laughing so hard while watching the last episode, I was afraid I was going to be sick. Now that his writers are back the show is absolutely rollicking.

Listening:
Vampire Weekend self titled record. Um, yes, now that the cd is in my hands, I am really upset we missed those shows in San Francisco. Luckily, they are local so we'll see them soon enough, I'd wager. This record is really flippin' good. That elusive every song is good kind of good. I have a big crush on the tracks "Campus" and "Oxford Comma" (which I nerdily had to look up and I work in a newsroom. We don't use em in our paper.) Give a listen on their music page or their Myspace.

Growing Pains by Mary J. Blige- Sweets picked this up for me as a Valentine's Day present. I am car dancing to it on the way to work. I love me some, Mary! The first three tracks are great and then it tapers off to more mellow fare. 

The Reminder by Feist- I liked her Grammy performance so I took the record out of the library. I'm feeling the tracks "Brandy Alexander" and "1234" This record is growing on me more day by day.
 

Reading: All French related selections for the February French Fest

Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee - I greedily gobbled up this book over the course of three days. Tasty recipes are paired with her tastefully told story which certainly could have been a tawdry tell all in the hands of a less accomplished writer. For some reason, some of the commentary I've seen about her book isn't positive. I couldn't disagree more. She tells her story honestly without shielding the reader from knowing her own faults and demons.

Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen by Clotilde Dusoulier  - I've had knowledge of her blog for a few years but for some dumb reason I've never visited. Clothilde's writing style is absolutely charming. I've not had a chance to try any of the recipes yet but I will. Right now it's hanging out on my nightstand in case I need a virtual midnight snack.

All You Need to be Impossibly French by Helena Frith Powell -  A quick and breezy  fun read by a Brit transplanted in France trying to navigate the strange new world of French women in their natural habitat. Half way through, I found myself modifying my own beauty routine to incorporate some of her tips. Alas, I have a far way to go before I get fashionable enough to be mistaken for a French girl.

Magazines- New York, NJ Monthly, Us Weekly ( something compelled me to pick up the Heath Ledger funeral issue off the mag rack at work I know, I'm disgusting but I'm not so gross I'd pay for US Weekly)