got five minutes?

I just had to share with you a very good thing I just did (and should have done a long time ago)...

The Internet was down in my office--boo bad weather and wireless connex--so I decided to be productive and call all the toll-free numbers printed on the unwanted catalogs I receive, and asked each one to kindly remove my contact information.  Every rep I spoke with was just delightful, and acquiesced my request without hesitation.  Every one of these catalog companies bought my info from another source, as I have never requested to receive a single one of them.  I'm not upset, but I also don't feel I need to be a part of that paper-wasting industry, when I can easily shop on their websites.

My mission was simple, and was completed in record time.  Bonus!  When I called West Elm Customer Service, the rep asked if I would like to be taken off all their mailings, which include--unbeknownst to me--West Elm, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Seasonal, Pottery Barn Teen, Pottery Barn Baby, and Williams-Sonoma.  Who knew?? It was like I killed two birds with one stone, or rather, "saved six trees with one call."  ?

The others I unsubscribed to include: Crate and Barrel, CB2, Chia'sso (?), and Urban Outfitters.  I'm an anthro gal, and I know UO owns anthro, but c'mon, completely different aesthetic here, people!

Not to gross you out or anything, but...

...there are times when this will suffice. 

The thing I worry most about when I hear we're going to entertain visitors last minute around my house is:  dog hair.  We have two children dogs, one who sheds all year long, and the other only seasonally.  I say this worries me more than anything else because fewer people can relate to having dog hair on almost every surface, while most can respect a less-than-gleaming bathroom sink or stove-top.  However, when there's no time to vacuum or dust away the dog hair, I just have to deal (read: suffer in silence and stealthily kick some fur balls behind a door or into a closet). 

Of course I worry about not having enough food or drinks to go around, and whether or not there are clean hand-towels hanging in the bathrooms, but when I only have a few minutes before last-minute visitors arrive, I always clean the mirrors of the bathrooms.  I bypass the dishes in the sink, the untidy coat rack, my husband's socks and sweater on the bar counter, and head straight for the mirrors with glass cleaner and paper towels.  I remember my mother telling me, when I was younger and had a giant floor-to-ceiling mirror in my bedroom (I was a dancer and cheerleader, but that's another post, or maybe not) that if I at least cleaned the mirror, the room would look clean.  Somehow I've morphed this into convincing myself if I at least clean the mirrors in my bathrooms, guests won't notice the grimy base of my pedestal sink or the dust settled atop my make-up cabinet, which, for my younger [but much taller] brother, is right at eye level.

I would love to hear [really, I would, so, just click the 'comments' link below] what you do when you learn you only have a few minutes before guests arrive at your home.  You won't gross me out, so be as detailed as you like, and hey, maybe we can learn from one another!

"What's the worst thing to do around lunch time while sitting at your desk," you ask?

The answer:  Discovering this.

My new favorite thing is to click the "Surprise Me!" link, which takes you to a random recipe.  I jumped from braised artichokes to snickerdoodles with two clicks.  yum.  double-yum.  I was also pleased to see how many vegetarian recipes are featured on the site. 

My advice:  DON'T LOOK DOWN!  You looked down didn't you?  That always happens.  Which is why I know for certain you will visit the site.  Don't say I didn't warn you.  It's like heading to the grocery store on an empty stomach on the first day of your monthly cycle in the winter wearing very forgiving clothing.
 
Okay okay, since Virgos are indulgent creatures who love Mother Earth's generous gifts, I will share one food photo from the site, if you haven't already ditched my blog for the other...
Feast your eyes on a caramel walnut upside down banana cake...

 

photo source: smittenkitchen

You're welcome and I'm sorry.

Pro∙cras∙tin∙a∙tion

Virgos will appreciate this.  It looks something like what I imagine the inside of my brain looks like...

Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.



video source: Apartment Therapy
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/look/about-putting-things-offand-getting-over-the-hump-109467

Committing to a paint color...

...was not as difficult as I feared it would be.  My husband and I were looking forward to Valentine's Day weekend, because we decided to make some home improvements.  We agreed on a huge undertaking:  priming & painting our great room.  Now, unless you've seen this room, you are probably rolling your eyes and convinced I'm just being dramatic.  This room is a 600 ft² addition with a natural rock wall, pitched ceilings, and several exposed wood beams (read: a sh!t ton of trim work).  We agreed on priming the walls first, because it is possible that this room was last painted somewhere in the 70's.  Also, we considered painting the room white (Benjamin Moore's 'White Dove' to be exact) and thought we would get a good idea of what white walls would look like once they were primered with KILZ white.  No go.  It looked too VFW hall...

So, color!  We looked at an oil on canvas painting we love (that I picked up at a yard sale for $2 last year--that's how I roll) for inspiration, then consulted my beloved color fan deck my dad snagged for me from his job.

Round 1:  Dunn-Edwards "Sweet Garden" in flat.  Honey made his first (of several) trips to The Home Depot for a sample container, then returned to paint a swatch next to the wood beams.  After it dried, it looked like a color that would only sanely belong in a teenager's room.  It was quickly covered with primer.

Round 2:  'We need something with more green; more serene but not a yawn, and definitely not sage green; nothing too dentist's office...'  Looking around the room for an example, our eyes rested (read: ogled) on the obvious choice... :::drumroll:::  my Domino Book of Decorating!  We have both always loved the cover of my bible, so it only made too much sense to paint the room the beautiful and perfect green-blue of the de Gournay wallpaper that wraps the book. 

Round 3:  I grabbed a Behr color inspiration brochure I snagged over a year ago from HD.  Inside I found what looked to be the exact color of the book:  "Indian Ocean."  Honey headed back to HD, got a sample made, but (thanks to his trained eye and sometimes-awesome memory) thought the paint looked a bit too dark to match the book cover perfectly, so he had a sample made of another color he saw on a swatch card at the store.  We painted areas near one another on the wall that the natural daylight was still hitting, and also near the rock wall and wood beams to see how they responded to the colors.  I was too impatient to sit through the drying time, so I plugged in my hair dryer and sped up the process.

Round 4:  SCORE!  Since I am generous, I will share with you the exact color match to the Domino book.  For Behr, it is called "Garden View," or "470D-4."  We tried, we loved, we bought two gallons of premium plus ultra flat and covered the walls in its perfection.  Of course, that meant sending honey back to HD to purchase the two gallons, but he never complained. 

We chose a flat/matte finish to help hide the imperfections on our oddly-textured walls.  It works!  And the light bounces off beautifully, which in a room that doesn't receive a flood of natural light, is a big plus.  Sorry to tease, but I don't currently have any photos of the room to post-- 50% because I didn't bring my camera to upload the photos off of, and 50% because it isn't decorated.  Check back soon and I will share some work-in-progress evidence--some of which is still annoyingly stuck to my skin.  Yes, I showered.