Let Me Take You On A Tour

welcome to our home....since we are friends we have just come in through the back door...through the sun room (which you will see in a bit) into our small little kitchen...notice all the lovely wood, the other side is like that too....though no dishwasher, that is the only drawback.
There is also a door to the basement off the kitchen, but I did not take any photos of it.
This is our dining room...we opted to get a new sofa instead of a dining room table, so we had to dress up the card table with a cloth and some flowers. The room to the back is the sun room, which we have turned into a play room for the mean cheese, there is a french glass door that separates the two rooms but it is open in this shot.
here is the corner nook of the sun room, is is small and cozy for her and around the corner her puppet theater is set up (until she tears is down and demands we put it back up)
ok now we have left the dining room and are in the living room....if you were to walk in the front door you would walk into this view...the blue sofa is new and the room divider gives us the feel of two very different rooms

this is the real view form the front door near the steps that go upstairs....from here you can see into the dining room...that's my bookshelf there, all those yellow books are my 1960's and 1970's vintage Nancy Drew books.


ok those are all the pictures for now....I am leaving out the upstairs, because much like Graceland, that is our private place where we sleep...well, and I work because my studio is up there, but that is a mess and if you really want to see it you can stalk me at my flickr account.

So that is our home....I will take photos of the outside another time....then you can see the porch swing...

it's a wonderful space....it really is, especially after being cooped up in the tiny apartment for so long and a single hotel room at the "hooker hotel" before that.

well, that's all I have for today...catch you all tomorrow for Letters to Celebs...I am wondering if I should theme it up again this week...boob twins were so much fun last time.

maybe I will give you multiple choice....we'll see.

xoxoxoxo

Things that happened yesterday in list form

• woke up and had cake (yes, I know you all know this), noticed my bubs had gotten me a new/old Nancy Drew mystery about a stage coach
• did the whole bloggy computer thing, while consuming the "nectar of the gods", by nectar of the gods I mean...Frappio, at the moment it rules my whole existence
• sat on my porch for a few minutes where I saw a sleek white, beautiful little creature, at first I thought it was a bunny, but no....it was an albino squirrel, I hope I see it again today
• painted things and packaged things
• cried when I read the outpouring of birthday wishes on my blog
• cried when I read my friend Aaron's blog and his lil' birthday tribute
• watched a HUGE scary ass lighting storm, part of the sky was green, the other part was black.
• got a special delivery of a dozen roses sent to me from my friend (and self proclaimed "biggest fan" Diana
• ate more cake, after eating pizza and french fries (it's my birthday damn it, calories don;t count on your birthday
• talked to my mom on the phone, who though did not send me a birthday gift swears she is putting something in the mail for me....some sort of miracle dead sea salt face stuff that will help me be beautiful....she swears this to be true, the sending and the beautiful part, and like always, I believe her...

so that was my day, in a boring un birthday celebratory nutshell....now as I type this the air is cool and the skies are dark, it looks like night but it is 8:00am, and I want to go back to sleep, but the Frappio has my heart and head going, so instead of sleep, I type, and then I will paint and I will not emerge from my studio until I am done.

you see I'm swimming with ideas, my bubs gave me some bulletin boards and I have one hanging between my art tables and I am using one as my inspiration board....and you see, it's working, I am inspired and have sketched out another very large painting.

now, first I must finish the things I started yesterday, which incluse a couple small pieces and some ornaments.

Photos today are of one of the ornaments in my shop as well as a new small collage, oh and I did post the large 18x24 piece as well....

one last thing before I go.....I promised you faithful ones that I had something special up my sleeve for this weeks celeb letters, I am giving you all a heads up as this letter will be themed.

you see (sorry boys) Michelle sent me a wonderful link a while back to find out who your "Celebrity Boob Twin" is.....well, here's the challenge, find your boob twin and write to her.

Boy readers, you can make one up or just revel in the boob inspiration, your choice.

xoxoxo

A proper post...

well I am going to try for a proper post, you see my brain is still pretty mushy since the move, I guess I am getting old and set in my ways as a moving has really thrown me for a loop.

First, thank you to everyone for welcoming me back after my one day hiatus....I hatw being without the internet and what not it really does make me a little crazy.

So...we are still totally living out of boxes, in fact last night I could not find the can opener to save my life in fact my bubs (rather than let us eat just peanut butter and jelly) somehow managed to chisel into the can with a hammer and big knife.

If it had been just me I would have just eaten cheese all night.

Other than quirks like that and a few other "oddities" to the house, it is going wonderfully. (I will post pics next wee once we are "fully" set up.

So Wednesday after a full day a moving, my bubs and I collapsed into bed at about midnight....I was woken up at 4:00am to banging, banging, and more banging...doors were opening and closing and the shade in the bathroom was flying all over the place....my first thoughts...

1- where the f#*k am I???
2- This place is haunted

By the time I got my wits about me I realized I had left the window in the bathroom open and we were having quite possibly the worst thunderstorm I have ever seen. I get up to close the window, then my bubs wakes up as he thinks we are being burgled...only to notice the storm...we watching from our upstairs widows as the street below filled with water and the trees were going crazy, thank god we are on a small hill.

that's when I turned to my bubs and in my best/worst Boston accent said to him "It would be...the Perfect Storm"...it's funny to us...like right now, I'm laughing and I know none of you care or think it's funny.

So in the moring I get to my studio and notice....shit, it's wet...then I look up and realize that the windows in that room were left open during the storm as well, but there are no shades so the water just came right in...all over the place, all over a ton of my ephemera...and all the cool images and paper I had taken out to work with during my first day at work in the studio...

well...of course things don't always go smoothly, right???

So I puttered and painted, actually made this piece that is shown here today...my first piece completed in my new house, part of me wanted to keep it, but more than anything I knew it would go to the write person....I feel like this is the beginning of a new chapter in my life and this is a wonderful bookend of sorts.

So I painted and leafed through the wet papers...until after 8:00am yesterday...this is when my OCD kicked in and I checked to see if the internet was hooked up....and surprise, it was!!!!

I check my email and notice I have a ton of messages, a TON...more than usual for a 1 day break...

many of them are etsy convos, so rather than read them in my email I head to etsy where I notice that one of my items is on the front page, explaining many of the convos...I start to read them and yes there were a lot of convos that started out with "congrats" but then while reading...one of them said "Congrats on being one of the poster winners" (in fact many of them said that...

the poster contest!!!! Some of you may remember me talking about and showing you my poster entry for the etsy contest, if not you can read about it here, well it turns out that my poster was chosen as one of the winners...can you believe it??? The front page and a winning poster, yesterday morning was a good day to be me.

so last night was more unpacking, and getting our new couch, it's funny how big the living room looked before, it is quickly getting filled up...becoming cozy.

ok, now I am off to do a little painting while the air is still cool in my studio, I will be cathcing up on all your blogs sometime today too.

until then, xoxoxo
jenn

T minus 24 hours

first....I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog and leaving comments and to all the people who have taken the time to e mail me regarding the move...

Thank you.

I got a lot of wonderful emails about the "room divider" situation of yesterday....and you will all be happy to know that I actually found one at Target.Com, that was well within my price range even with tax and shipping I will save $80 off the one I was going to buy.

The best part...the screen will be delivered Thursday or Friday, so I won't even have to wait a million years to get it, which satisfies my obsessive nature.

So last night we moved a ton more stuff to the house including our entertainment center which always seemed so big in our apartment, it now seems rather small.

So this is it....the final day and hours in the apartment. You may be wondering about my mindset at the moment....

well, I'm anxious, like Christmas Eve anxious mixed with a little bit of "back to school", so that's good.

I keep having the beginnings of panic attacks but they have so far staved off, I don't do well with chaos and it has been chaotic...also, I have not gone this long without creating anything in a long time, in fact the last time I help a paint brush was Thursday, I think that is what id leading to the anxiety...I have no release for it.

But....I keep focusing on the new place and the new studio which I will be able to set up tomorrow.

So I did get to list a new collage in the shop yesterday, which I think has a different feel than most of my pieces, it's called "Between Symbol and Myth"

ok darling ones....I'm off, due to the move there will be no celebrity letters tomorrow but fear not, next Wednesday Celeb letters will be the best as we are going to theme it up (you know how I love themes).

So, hopefully I will be back to blogging on Thursday...cross your fingers that the internet and phone get hooked up without a hitch.

***EDIT - just got off the phone with ATT and looks like my dsl order was "not placed" so I will be sans internet connection until late Thursday at the earliest.....pray for me in these dark days

xoxoxoxo
jenn

A Quick note to say...

Happy Monday darling ones.

ok, so it is officially 2 days until we move, well until we "really move" meaning when the bed and the computer will be there, along with my hair care products.

We had the mean cheese this weekend so most moving was put to a halt, we did a couple trips yesterday so are still making progress...slow progress, but like the polar ice caps we are moving, you just can;t see the results with a naked eye.

I have found myself during trips around town with bubs, looking at all the houses in the "bad"part of town and just thinking look at all these poor people don't have porch swings, or even porches for that matter.

Can you tell I am becoming spoiled and I don;t even live there yet?

Last night after packing up the kitchen stuff and setting it up in the new place we actually sat on our new porch in the swing and enjoyed a cocktail, it was divine.

We also went looking for a few much needed pieces of furniture....I NEED a folding screen (or partition, or room divider...they are all the same), It will be mandatory to separate the dining room and the living room, we also have decided we need a new couch, as the whole "dorm furniture/college kids" thing we have right now will just look so trashy, we also need book cases and a dnew dining room table....eeek, that's a lot....and a lot more than we can afford right now as the house is so expensive...

so I think it will be a room divider and a new couch and book cases and the dining room table will have to wait.

also if anyone knows where I can find a wonderful divider that is less than $200 please let me know...and don't say ikea as they do not have them for delivery and I don't want wicker.

so....I am going to brace you all, My etsy shop will be sorely lacking in new original pieces this week...maybe a couple art cards and a left over collage...but that's it...I will be updating with my wonderful new mirrors, please feel free to buy them.

Tuesday will be my last day with computer access...well technically all should be "fine" in the new place by Wednesday....but I am not reassured, "fine" (their words not mine) seems awfully vague....so, if I go missing that is why....also I might be trapped under a mountain of comic boxes, books, and art supplies...OR I might be sitting drunk and happy on my new porch swing.

either way.

OK, I am off, to read a few more blogs then package up orders to be mailed out and then to pack more house stuff.

thanks for putting up with long and boring post that is all about me and has no pictures...


oh, if you are hankering for something...make sure you read petite heights which was posted yesterday

xoxo
j

ps- yesterday I went to check my po box and it was the official start of my favorite season, when all the fall fashion mags start coming in....this time it was Elle, the hillbilly sister to Vogue...it had Lindsay Lohan on the cover and I threw up in my mouth a little.

dreadful

And the rest of the weekend went somehting like this...

Thanks for all the great comments yesterday!!! It was almost as fun as going to the fair again...:)

So, on Sunday my bubs and I got......the key to the new house so we could go in and take measurements and what not. On our trip inside....I was once again in aw of the space...lots and lots of wood, and lots and lots of windows...

The kitchen is small but adorable and the new floors have this rustic old stone feel. The living and dining rooms are big and have hardwood floors, there is a French Glass door off the dining room which leads to the sun room, which is tiny and we will be using it as the play room for the mean cheese. The front porch is done and the porch swing is up...upstairs I have commandeered the large master bedroom as my studio, as most of my waking hours will be in it, and figured we could have one of the smaller back bedrooms for us...

Oh my new studio is divine with more than enough room for my computer, my art desk, a 4 foot table with the light box etc, my bubs' drawing table, a book case....and even my exercise bike. The closet in the studio is a huge walk in, so I have also claimed that closet as mine as well.

I felt like an old timey explorer, "finding" things and claiming them in the name of my country.

So we got measurements of the windows because there are so many of them...and then proceeded to go looking for 27" blinds....well let's just say that Target, Meijer, and Big Lots have all been wiped out of 27" blinds...and we still don't have enough.

We went back to the house and my dear bubs started to hand the blinds....well, blind...singular, as the windows are so tall and the ceilings are so high it was a near impossible task considering he and I am the two most un mechanical type people in the world, we are like the opposite of being handy.

So after a long time, and a lot of swearing and banging about...we decided to call it a night at the new place, our goal is to do one or two loads of stuff every day, we will work there most of tomorrow and then next Wednesday is the "official" move day....I say official because that will be the day I move my studio and work stuff, and that is the day that (cross your fingers) that the phone line and most importantly my DSL will be hooked up at the new Chateau Stiletto.

So after as weekend filled, just filled to brim with stuff....my bubs and I decided to sit down and watch a movie...Capote, which he bought me as a special treat.

ok, now bear in mind that my bubs is not really a fan of 90% of "my" movies, the ones that are overly intellectualized and filled with long camera shots and tons of silence....where the characters are just torn to shreds emotionally in every scene...

SO anyway, we settle in with some (well deserved) ice cream and put in the dvd....now I will not spoil Capote for anyone who has not seen it, but I will describe the opening.....lots of black screens, coupled with long still shots of the Kansas landscape.....haunting music is playing...more darkness...more landscape, it is beautiful, serene and somewhat frightening....at this moment in time, I am already madly in love with the movie.

I look to my bubs who lets out an audible sigh of disgust, I give him "the look" and he settles down.

Scene change....New York, it's a party and (the brilliant) Phillip Seymore Hoffman is portraying TRuman Capote...in the most dead one version of him I could even imagine. Now please keep in mind that Capote had a very hight pitched voice, and a lisp, he seemed to me, always to be part of one of the eccentric characters he had created.

anyway.....he starts to talk, and my bubs has this look on his face...and I can tell he's not pleased, not at all.

bubs- I'm not sure about this...what is this about

me: Sigh....it's about Truman Capote and when he wrote In Cold Blood

bubs: Kaputznick...(he is making fun of the name Capote now), I thoughhe was Russian

Me: ssshhhhh!!

bubs- I don't think I want to watch it, it's not my type of movie

me - Oh My God!!! I watched a 3 1/2 hour movie about TEXAS with you...TEXAS (I have nothing against Texas, besides that our President is from there...oh and the movie I am referring to is "The Alamo" with John Wayne)

me- If I watched that you can watch a movie about a gay writer who goes to Kansas to write about a double murder, you can do that for me!!!

bubs- fine

2 hours later, we had finished the movie and my darling bubs liked it, a lot....I knew he would.

so, that was the rest of the weekend....

oh and before I forget and get sidetracked with other tasks, I NEED to thank two wonderful people...I received in the mail yesterday some wonderful things....I should have photographed them, but I did now...

anyway, a wonderful woman from Portugal named Adelia sent me, some antique postcards with beautiful handwriting , she also sent a long some of her origami....it was amazing, the type of treasures that when you open them the rest of the world seems to get very quiet and fuzzy.

THANK YOU Adelia....you are an amazing muse!!!

The second thank you goes out to TARA!!!!! I received two boxes from her yesterday, one was filled with clothes...um yeah....Tara is the best, who does not love getting clothes!!!! ad in the second box was a pair of shoes that she had never really worn because the heel was too high, and you know me and high heels....it was great.

So, Tara...thank you so much, it was like Christmas!!!

OK now I seriously must get some work done, the image today is of a new piece just listed in my shop last night it's called "You and Me Sipping Vodka and Soda"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sorry I have been such a lazy bones

really I am very sorry for the lazy factor yesterday...but you see, Wednesday night instead of going to the Treehouse for drinks, we instead went to a grease ball diner to have a prolonged and long overdue visit with our friend Nick....

well before we knew it, midnight was on us...and you see for us (my bubs and I) that is pretty late...we're old people you see. So of course after calling it a night I was home curled up in bed reading Nancy Drew The Mystery of the Hidden Staircase...and then I ended up being awake for quite some time.

So I was sleepy yesterday and had a lazy post.

So many of you are assuming probably that I have kept myself busy with preparing for the move and all, well that dear sweet friends is where you are wrong...I have not prepared, unless of course you count preparing as me day-dreaming about where I am going to put things in the new house....and thinking of my nice big new studio space on the second floor, the the room that overlooks the street with a view of the Starbucks, and several "bread" themed eateries.

So yeah...no actual packing, though I did send out my (again lazy) e mail news letter which I have not done since April, and did announce a special sale in my shop.

The sale is being had for 2 wonderful reasons...

one being, it will be less stuff for me to pack, and two being....um, well to be honest, money....moving is expensive.

So last night my bubs and I went ti the old shop so he could give his guitar lesson and I could chat it up with my friend Diana...after all was done we decided to take them to our new place...sure we don't have the keys but this way they could see it.

I was amazed, our new house is now being painted on the outside...the front porch and door area that seemed dingy and run down before, it now wonderful and new looking!!!!

Also there is a little walkway running from the back yard to the front.

It is even more wonderful than I imagined....and because I am a snoop....I climbed and peaked over our fence into one of the neighbors yards...and it was wonderful, it had a gazebo, little chairs, two little fountains, lots of lush greenery and wind chimes and a wall of all different birdhouses!!!

So much different than our neighbors house now, which is filled with naked barbie dolls, dog poo, cigarette butts, and empty beer cans...

how tragic....it's like I live next to Brittany Spears.

So, we went to the house and of course I did not have my camera as it was a spur of the moment thing.

Le sigh...(totally stole that from you Karen Beth)

So, maybe sometime this week I will go back with the camera.

ok...so I briefly mentioned that I sent out a mailing, and for those of you not on my mailing list this is what it said....

Now through August 20th (my birthday) I am hving a special sale...that is 20% off all items in my shop, and 30% off the items in my sale section, this is just for people on my mailing list and my blog readers....because you know, I love to play favorites.

So all you have to do is write SUMMER07 in the message to buyer and wait for a new invoice.

SO did any of you watch the Posh Spice special, they aired it again last night.

I was in the other room working on stuff when my bubs sort of burst in like a wild man and said "your Posh is on the tv, I was trying to watch The Office and there she was, she's weird looking"

me: (all excited) she is not weird looking...and she's on the tv, right now???

then I sort of bumbled out of the room, plopped myself in front of the tv and watched the whole thing again....I hope they release it on dvd sometime, with extras....I love it that much (yes, it's dad an pathetic, I know).

The pieces I am showing today are new ones in my shop, the blue one is called "Her Ghost Lingered Still", and the other is "The Crows"


ok, one last thing and then I'm off....this Sunday (please start drum roll) my very first online web comic will be posted, it will be posted right here on my blog (note this might end up just on my blogger blog, unless I can figure out how to post it on myspace and have it not stretch out the page to a ridiculous amount.)

So...be in the look out on Sunday...

ciao for now loves

xoxoxo

Lots and Lots

Happy Monday Morning Campers!!

so, how was your weekend, mine felt like it was about 2542363 weekends rolled into one.

To start we had the mean cheese, who for some reason was wound very tight this weekend, one moment laughing and the next screaming and crying, and repeatedly signing "more" and then right after that she would sign "all done"

??????????

huh? what mean cheese???

So needless to say we were sleepy, oh and she would not go to bed until 11:00 every night.

So then Saturday my bubs had to work in the morning and then that night a dear friend was having a surprise 40th birthday party....so we were going to do that...in between moring and night we had a visit from our landlord as he was planning on getting us new windows and a new door...I regaled him with stories of the "flailing cock" incident and he also was telling me things as well.

Then my bubs came home, and our landlord asked if we ever though of getting a place with more space, and that he had a house for rent a couple miles away...in a better neighborhood.

He said we could stop by and look at it, it has a huge yard...blah, blah, blah....now when he said the price...well it was and is a lot more than what we are paying now but we figured we would go and look.

when we get there we notice that it seems awfully big from the outside....and a little run down as well, but we look anyway....once inside we realize that it's amazing....

it's over 90 years old, it has an adorable kitchen, a sun porch facing the backyard, a porch in the front yard, hard wood floors in the dining room and living room, 3 bedrooms and 1 1/5 baths...

and just like that, we were in love....

So, on the weekend that marked the 2 week incident of the "flailing cock" we celebrated by renting a house some place else...

You heard it right, a house....the best thing....it is just a block away from a Starbucks and a used bookstore, there are places to eat every where, and it's just several blocks from a wonderful bar...plus, we will be living out of the ghetto an into the town that they based the movie "Heathers" on....

perfection.

Now, we will be moving sometime after August 1st, probably in about 3 weeks to a month, and it will be the longest month in history.

So, I am warning you now....if I am not blogging quite as much or commenting on your blogs quite as much, well that is why, I have a house to move into...

I hate moving, but I do love decorating and I do love this cool new house...I will have to go back with a camera!!!

So, that being the case.....I am having a sale on my clearance items in my shop...so you will have to check it out!!!

Ok, with that I will have to cut it short as I do have a few commissions to work on today...as well as things to package but I think I will wait for tonight so I can do that during the Posh Spice Comes To America special.

Can't wait!!!!!


xoxoxo
j