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fragile beauty. battling a headache..and this was quite restful to look upon.
Morning's Light
Glimpses of beauty and simplicity around the world.
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Spent Saturday making a big lunch for my brother, his family and Elena, then they all set about putting some IKEA items together for me and – dear to my heart because I'm mechanically-challenged – put the items on the walls for me.
Hudson (21 months) helps Papa put together an IKEA as-is department cabinet.
Elena works on homework and models how comfy the IKEA pillows + covers are.
Taking a well-deserved break to watch The Office and munch on Ghirardelli double-chocolate-walnut brownies made by Elena. Okay, Hudson didn't take a break. He stayed busy turning the lamp (ahem, IKEA lamp) off and on – repeatedly.
Will soon post more photos of all the items in place. (magnetic boards with photos on them, the cabinet, the pillows and the stretched-fabric-over-wooden-frames hung on the walls).
magazines: In the photo of Elena studying, see the pile of magazines behind her? It's got an identical stack next to it plus there's one more in the bedroom. They're Magazines I Need to Go Through and Rip Out Pages – (which will go into a box labeled "inspiration" – to be gone through later/never). I have pondered the idea of just tossing the whole lot into the recyling bin and figure the result would be such a feeling of relief. But I'm too chicken to do that yet. Intead, will continue feeling guilty when I see the piles of magazines still unread.
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Images: Not sure. Could be from an AT House Tour?
Here's a glimpse into the home of the photographers behind "The Image Is Found". After I sent the blog post to Sharona in London, she had the magnets from the container store shipped to her and she bought the same magnetic boards and created a similar display. She was so excited that I had to try it. At IKEA last weekend, I bought three of the magnetic boards and some of the same magnets at the container store. This weekend's goal is to get them UP on the walls and photos on the boards.
I have to say, seeing the pile of white boards at the store was not very inspiring. I wanted to leave my printed copy of the blog entry (from which the photos above are from) near the display so everyone could get an idea of how to use the magnetic boards!
It's Friday. Tonight is chick flick night. (Probably "He's Just Not That Into You".) Then tomorrow is another chick flick night – seeing the Shopaholic movie. I read both books but am fine with the movie not being just like the books. I love that there are at least three chick flicks out now that I could see..when there weren't any for the longest time! (months anyway).
Single..so not doing anything for Valentine's Day. There's always next year 😉
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a little beauty for your day!
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Saturday's trip to IKEA was an all-day affair….lingering on all levels of IKEA's store, enjoying lunch there, meandering over to the Container Store, stopping for dinner at the oasis above the freeway on the way home.
Above is one of the model rooms I liked. However, it's not as practical as these other rooms:
Tilt your head to the right to enjoy this kitchen Elena called "her" kitchen. I liked it too.
Combine the kitchen above with this living/dining area, and it would be one happy apartment. Wait, that doesn't make sense. Maybe cheerful in colors. Or the apartment dweller would be happy. That's probably it!
I do love this dining area. Wouldn't have thought of the yellow chairs but they're so pretty! Maybe I should have bought some.
Elena: WHY DO ALL THESE NAPKIN HOLDERS SAY "MEAT BALL WILL KEEP NAPKINS IN PLACE???"
Me: Oh, that actually says METAL ball.
$5 for the napkin holder. Shoulda bought that too!
Here's the room we couldn't get Mimo to leave behind. Look at that long work surface and all those cubbies! Could be used as a doll house or for play cooking or keeping house.
We found a lot to buy.
Mimo spent the trip home playing games on my iPod Touch and talking to Elena.
(Is this where I say "When I was four, there were no home computers or cordless phones or ipods or digital cameras."?? I believe the music of the day when I was four was played on eight track tapes or cassette tapes. Either way, it's pretty impressive how adept children are now at technology. Before Mimo's little brother Hudson was one, he'd reach after I took his photo to see what the picture looked like on the back of the digital camera.)
To see all the photos from the day, click here to see the facebook album. The album should be viewable even if you don't have a facebook account.
So the day was a happy one. We spent money, laughed a lot, and brought back items to cozy up our homes.
The End.
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After a visit to IKEA to find the best storage containers for the supply cupboard at work, here are the results. (Pardon the photo quality. The cupboard is in an inner room that has no natural light.)
BEFORE:
AFTER:
The person who handled this space before would load up on office supplies and put it all out there – resulting in a jumbled mess. My goal was to make it easy for employees to grab what they need. When supplies run low, I'll replenish from the remainder of the supplies I tucked away in the lower cupboard.
The fun little stacking containers (pink/white/yellow) are from the children's section at IKEA. I bought another set for home, but wish I'd bought quite a few sets. They stack nicely on top of each other and were a mere $2.49 for the three containers. I also bought a set of the tin containers for home – to store medicines, vitamins, etc. in. The tin containers above contain tape + staples in one and sticky notes + phone message pads + fax memo sticky pads in the other.
I'll post photos tomorrow of the IKEA trip, but we were able to compare prices between IKEA and the Container Store. Elena picked up four long magnetic strips for 99 cents each and we saw shorter magnetic strips at the Container Store for $4.99 each.
PS: Am not done but wanted to show you the progress.
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It's Friday! Such good news. Thanks for your words of wisdom for me about the junior high girls. I'll keep it all in mind.
So excited – as if it were Christmas! I'm going to IKEA tomorrow (two hours away) with my sister in law Maya, niece Mimo and with Elena. [Whenever the name Mimo comes up in conversation, Elena gets a faraway look in her eyes, sighs and says softly, "I LOVE Mimo!!!". Tomorrow Elena and Mimo can have a long conversation all the way to IKEA.]
I'm going for some colorful items for my apartment but also am on a mission to organize the supply cupboards in the office. Here are some photos. What do you think would organize these cupboards? (I'm transferring the photos to my new iPod Touch (thanks www.theprintedblog.com)..so that I can refer to them while at IKEA.) In the photos below, the bowls and the basket are my two attempts to bring order out of chaos. The guys in the office love it and have raved about it. They'd probably faint if the entire cabinet was in order.
Here's where everyone can scoop up the amount of binder clips they need and can be on their merry way. The bowls are from our kitchen, so I'm going to buy something in a similar size to replace them here.
From Day One on the job four years ago, I craved organizing these supplies. I wasn't handed the assignment until 2009. Consider this the official series of BEFORE photos.
Bottom row: rubber bands, pens, pencils, CDs, CD envelopes, white out, pencil lead. Middle row: binder clips, paper clips, batteries in the basket, post its and staples. Top row: Lots and lots of printer ink.
Bottom cupboard holds sheet protectors, legal pads, more binder clips, yellow pads of various sizes, notebooks, and expanding folders.
H E L P. What would YOU do with this big lump of untidiness??
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FreakyBlair is one of my youth group, card playing, IKEA-shopping, mimo fans.
ME: Want to go to IKEA this Saturday morning with Maya, Mimo and me?
FB: OMG OMG OMG OMG! MIMO!!!! mimo mimo mimo mimo mimo!!! I WANT TO GO!!!!!! hold on a sec….let me check with the rents. BUT IWANT TO SEE MIMO!!! and see if they have anything cool… BUT TO SEE MIMO!!!
ME: Not quite getting if you're interested. Clarify please?
Let's take a look, shall we, at the influence of FreakyBlair on my productivity at work (spoken in the voice of that one guy who seemed to have narrated every old-school-film we saw in school – the one who must be related to the movie-preview-narrator guy who starts every preview with that deep voice saying "In a land where…")
COWORKER TO HIS PRINTER: "What? Unexpected paper size????"
MY FIRST THOUGHT: "YOU'RE an unexpected paper size!!"
*shaking my head. thanks a LOT, freaky blair!*
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Y'all know I have a new favorite blog, Pretty Good. She posted the prettiest photo of ribbon today!
It's Thursday, which means youth group small groups were last night. A new junior high leader, Jennie, was there to help the discussion. She was amazed at the lack of respect by a particularly disruptive group of four girls. I agree. They're disruptive, and I'm at a loss as to how to get a group of 9-15 seventh and eighth graders to sit still, listen and participate in a discussion for roughly 30 minutes.
Words of advice totally welcome.
Morning's Light 