Sometimes the old-fashioned way is for the birds

This was me, the entire past year we have lived in this house:

Doing dishes by hand is one of my least favorite chores. Do you have any idea how many cups, bowls, spoons, etc, etc two little girls can go through in ONE DAY?!
I'm ashamed to admit I was doing a little happy dance, complete with song, this morning when our dishwasher was finally restored to working order by an angel from heaven (Sears repairman).
Of course, as I type this, there is still a sink full of dirty dishes, but one must be true to one's priorities!
I remain, as always...

Images via the brilliant Anne Taintor
making smart people smile since 1985

Fantasy Look

This is the haircut I would love to get!

Victoria Von Hagen - New York 1952
via parisglobe's photostream on Flickr

Well.....if I looked like this divine beauty.
I haven't been able to find much about Victoria Von Hagen...anyone know more? She was certainly stunning.
Such a glamorous image, even if I don't go for smoking OR fur. Her makeup and jewelry are perfect. And I used to be able to see my collarbone like that, too...sigh.

Luau Time with Tikimama

I cohosted a monthly Supper Club with a good friend on Saturday; we decided to do a Hawaiian-themed barbeque. Everyone came dressed in their best island wear, and I decorated a bit with some of my odds and ends of Hawaiiana. I looked to some of my vintage Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks for inspiration for the vegetable shish kebabs and fruit platters that were my food contribution. You have to keep in mind that for me, this is very fancy!

Veggie kebabs, before grilling. They were yummy!

One of my table decorations. I filled some of my monkeypod wooden bowls with snacks, and others with shells. It was simple and beachy-feeling and very easy.

I made sure to have Daddy-O take a pic of me with my new glasses:

I hit 40 last year and like clockwork needed bifocals! These are the modern version, where you don't get that pesky line in the middle, and I drove the people at the eye doctor's office crazy because I didn't like any but these vintage-look frames. They had to custom sketch and cut the lenses to accomodate my prescription! But, I wear my glasses all day, every day, so I have to like them!
On another note, my hair is at that stage where it's grown out to just blah. I've already trimmed my bangs, and I'll need to recolor, but what I want everyone's opinion on is a good style for me that I could make look a bit more retro. I have very little time to spend on myself with two little girls to take care of, so it has to be simple. I'll probably end up with the chin-length flip if no one gives me any better ideas!

Lushpad Giveaway!

Lushpad: "The Buy and Sell Marketplace for Modern Collectors"
Or, for people like me, a great website to drool over furniture and home decor that I can't as yet afford, and a wonderful resource to get educated in all things mid-century modern.

Right now they are having a giveaway of a set of back issues AND a 2-year subscription to Modernism magazine. I guess I just lessened my chances of winning by sharing this info with all of you! I think you sign up to be a member of their site if you aren't already, subscribe to their monthly newsletter, and you get notified of their monthly giveaways. They've given away very cool, very expensive furniture pieces in the past, too.

Modernism magazine's current issue has an article on this dreamy Brazilian tropical modern house:


The house belonged to the featured Brazilian mosaic artist, Paolo Wernick. An example of his work, featured on the Modernism magazine site:


Lushpad's site offers articles as well as ad listings. This month they have a great article with helpful tips on how to restore your vintage furniture finds when they have scratches, dents, watermarks, worn leather and the like. You can find the article here.

They also highlight Mid-Century Modern Mosaic in their Trends section. I have always loved mosaic work. Check out this mural by artist B C Binning

Via chilco's Flickr photostream. You can view this photo large here. She has a website called Good Things in Vancouver, which looks interesting.

Thanks for joining me on the Blonga Line today!!

Designing Our House's Exterior (in my dreams)

This is what I do when we have absolutely no budget, but I am desperate to work on improving the house. I used to have to do this all in my head, or with magazine clippings, or my very poor sketches. Now I have the wonder of the internet and my own little blog to work things out! If I could just find the time to learn a bit of Photoshop or Google Sketch, I'd really go to town!
This is my recent doodling on Crestview Door's website. If you compare it to the earlier one I did last winter, you may notice that I sized the door better and did a lot of whacking back of the front shrubbery. In fact, the juniper bush on the right is no more; just trying to open up the porch a bit more. I also started taking off some of the badly peeling paint on the chimney in a fit of energy one day when the guys had a ladder going up to the roof. Anyone have a sandblaster and would like to finish it for me??

One of the first things I'd like to do to the front is add a sort of shutter. I know we can do this ourselves, because we did it before, and I don't think it would cost much. Later, a new paint scheme, restoring the brick chimney and possibly reworking the approach to the front door (which is now from the right side, via the driveway). Here are some ideas I've collected, and I need your opinions! I think fresh eyes will definitely help me. As you can see, I'm leaning toward having a door with diamond lites someday.
The first "shutter" idea that I saw that I thought would be good for our house was this:

Or a version like this privacy screen:

We really need new gate on each side, and I love these:


So, should the shutters carry on the diamond motif, or is this just getting to the point of overload? Should I think of mixing shapes (door, window detail, gates)?


Go ahead, jump right in with your opinion and tell me what to do! It's all fantasy at this point anyway!

Remembering Marilyn

When I was a teenager, I became really interested in old movies, fashion, costume, movie stars. This led me to books on the subjects, which is where I always went when some new idea grabbed my fancy (before the days of the internet, for all you young'uns). When I read the biography of Marilyn Monroe, I was hooked. There was something about her life, persona, personality that just got to me. Maybe someday I'll try to put together a more eloquent post about my interest in Marilyn.
For today, I just wanted to remember her on this anniversary of her sad death.

Every year, the Marilyn Remembered club does a memorial at her gravesite, and I've even been a couple of times in the past (remember that, Anthony?). Believe it or not, it's not the circus you might think it would be. These people actually care about honoring her memory, and it's pretty low-key and touching.

Tiki Finds

I've decided that I need to stop worrying about creating, long, involved, time-consuming posts, and just post on whatever suits my fancy on a particular day. Hence, short, fun, simple posts, hopefully at a more regular rate! I take tons of photos, and I need to just post them and write a short something-or-other and not stress so much about lack of perfection!

So, in that spirit, the last post on my Tiki Bar sign and today's highlights of a few thrift store finds.
Found this big mug at my local thrift. I've seen bunches of these from all different places, but this is the first one from Hawaii. Does anyone know if these are beer steins that you are supposed to collect on your travels?


Closeup of hut and sad-looking tiki :(

Another mug I found same place, same day. I'm a pretty casual collector, so I don't worry about how old or rare something might be, I just buy it if I like it and the price is right. That said, anyone who knows anything more about any of my acquisitions is very welcome to enlighten me!!

Artsy Craftsy Tiki

Found this little Tiki Bar sign at my local craft shop on clearance for 99 cents, so I couldn't resist. Kinda hated the parrot, though, so my plan was to improve upon it. I'm pleased with the results and hope that you think it's a bit more worthy of a real tiki bar now.
Before:


During:

After, the final produtct:

Closeup of my tiki:

I even bought a few more, so I can try out some other ideas.