What I'm Wearing: Under my umbrella

Cardigan: Urban Outfitters

Tank: Old Navy

Skirt: I made it from a bedsheet

Shoes (hidden in forget-me-nots): Dansko

Necklace: Etsy

Umbrella: Modcloth

This skirt has a special place in my heart: it was the first piece of clothing I ever sewed. It's Simplicity 4236, your basic zip-up-the-back circle skirt, and I love it so. I made another skirt with the pattern, too-- maybe I'll wear that one next Wednesday. That one was not made from a bedsheet, however, and it must be said: there is something pretty stinkin' cool about making clothing from bedsheets. At least, I think so.

It's a bit of a blustery, drizzly day here-- good spinach weather, I like to say. It's been a schizophrenic springtime here in Binghamton. 80-degree days and 50-degree days interspersed willy-nilly, so there's no telling what to expect. Such is the nature of springtime, I guess.

Yesterday, I cut into my first new project in a long time, post-quilt, that is. It felt good. Good to get back to the realm of projects that take a day or a week, as opposed to a whole era of life.

Looking forward to sharing some things here soon.

Lamp revamp

I finished this project last week, before departing for North Carolina, but I wanted to share it with you before I forgot.

Like most things, the story of this lamp is really more of a saga.

I bought the lamp itself back in October, at Charlie Brown's Antiques. It was five bucks. Where now you see white, it was gold. It had no shade. I looked past those small imperfections, and was lured in by the amber glass.

I brought it home, taped off the glass, and painted it green. Mistake. I smacked myself on the forehead, rolled my eyes, and lugged the now-uglified lamp to the basement.

And there it sat, waiting in the wings, waiting for a brief clearing, a chance to be resurrected. Last week, I doggedly collected the necessary items: white spray paint, a lampshade from Salvation army, ribbon and fabric.

In between applying coats of spray paint, I worked on covering the lampshade. Something I'd never done before. I had a tutorial in hand. I had tailor's tape and hot glue and Gingher shears and a fair amount of Crafty Impunity. In the end, I decided to be satisfied with my first attempt, even though the fabric doesn't quite meet in back. Oh well, that's what the back is for, to be turned towards the wall so no one will see the my true lazy-lampshade-recovery colors.

Right?

Total cost:

Lamp: $5

Shade: $2

Spray paint: $3

Fabric: $3/yd, used less than half a yard

Ribbon: $1

I love that part. And I love my new lamp.

Our bedroom is well on its way to having some style, finally.

Hush puppies and minor calamities

It's Monday, and I'm back. It's good to be home, it always is.

The trip was good: three days of friends new and old, hot cars, milkshakes, and the kind of minor calamities that make really good stories after the fact. You know the kind: combine five people, two cars, one cantakerous GPS unit and an unfamiliar state, add a little Murphy's Law, and funny things happen. The all-night laundry. The smoking car. The dead battery. The indecent proposals.

We were, after all, there to see Alexis graduate. And graduate she did.

But mostly, we ate.

We ate hush puppies and biscuits and Krispy Kreme donuts, black-eyed peas and sweet tea. We sampled the local soft drink: Cheerwine, and drank many a milkshake. There was lunch at an Indian buffet, too, and the best authentic Chinese food of my life. There was the happy celebration of low state alcohol taxes in my wallet. Eating may not be the most important aspect of travel, but it's surely my favorite. There's always something different to experience.

That said, I am seriously jonesing for salad, salad, salad. And that's a good thing, because my lettuces are ready to start picking.

P.S. She loved the quilt!

Done! And on its way.

By the time you read this, the pictured quilt will have been pressed and stuffed very tightly into a carry-on compression bag. The cat will have been dethroned, too, and I will be in an airplane.

I am feeling strangely trepidatious for this trip. For one, it's been quite awhile since I've flown (2006), and even longer since I've flown alone (2000). I keep having this weird feeling that I've forgotten how to fly. Of course, that's ridiculous. Flying isn't something you forget how to do, any more than you could forget how to hear or see or breathe.

Also, this is longest I'll be away from Patrick since the crazy nearly-month-long trip to Greece I took the first year we were together. That was with my friend Alexis, the same Alexis who's now earning her grad degree. Best friends since Freshman year, Greece was something we'd always talked about doing together. In the fall of 2006, we both found ourselves between jobs, and it was Alexis who was making the extra push for it to happen: "Before you're married, Kristina, we need to go to Greece."

So we went. It was a month of empty beaches and wind-whipped hair, bright sparkling white marble and octopi strung on wires along the grotto. Fresh fish at nearly every meal, spanakopita for breakfast, and a mad romance with Fanta orangeade. But in between, on planes or ferries or buses or cabs, I'd look out at that wide selfless ocean, and I would miss Patrick with a crushing, lovesick intensity.

Of course, it was our first year together. Things were like that: crushing, and lovesick, and intense. (Soaring, too, a lot of that.) We weren't living together, though that changed as soon as I came home. In the time since, I've made myself so completely his wife, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do without him. Not in a hopeless sort of way, but in a, "My goodness, there's no one to cook dinner for!" sort of way. No one to turn to for a surefire laugh or tease or anecdote or hug, either, though Alexis is pretty good at all of those. I'm expecting it will give me something to think about: either I've changed a lot or I haven't. It can be so hard to tell.

Anyway, friends. Wish me happy hours of gazing out the airplane window, three days of celebrating and carrying on with my bestest, and lots of strappy sundress wearing. I'll be back here on Monday.

What I'm Wearing: Little flowers

Cardigan: L.L Bean (taken in by me)

Dress: Modcloth

Jeans: JC Penney

Shoes: Thrifted

Earrings: Etsy, Strands of Light

Necklace: Etsy, The Black Apple

The first time I wore this dress and earrings together, I received the sweetest of compliments: It looks like the flowers on your earrings leapt up off of your dress. I haven't worn them apart since.

I have this week off from my usual job, and I have some errands to run (and fabric to buy!) so I wanted a little something easy. A short dress over comfy jeans has to be the best pretty and easy outfit there is-- and this long-legged gal has plenty of short dresses to fit the bill.

I took these at my house (as opposed to at work, where I usually take them,) in front of our romantically decrepit garage. I never realized what a good photo backdrop it would make.

Going deep

This was a very exciting weekend for us.

All I can say here is, We are one step closer. It might be the right direction. It might not. It might not even be a direction at all, just a little side road, a tangent to the course our life is taking. It could be a dead end-- that possibility is out there, too. But, the only way to find out the answers to all those "could be"s is to get a little closer.

One little step at a time.

I have a hard time standing still. Life is going on, birthdays are encroaching. Dreams are out there, too, but where? Over the next hill, or the next one? Are we getting closer? It's been hard knowing the answers to those questions lately. It's been hard to stay satisfied with what can sometimes feel like stagnation.

Anyone else? The whole dreams vs. reality thing comes up in everyone's life, I would imagine.

The reconciling. The questions. Things are seldom what they seem.

For now, it feels so thrillingly unbelievably good to be moving, even if it's in the wrong direction. Even if this turns out to be a red herring, we may find ourselves closer anyway. Closer, maybe, then we thought.

Glimpses

A new Friday series: a few snatches of beauty from my week, and few words.

Happy Friday, everyone!