Today's Inspiration- Gordon Matta-Clark

Gordon Matta-Clark, Splitting 9, 1977- from http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/art349213

I am pretty sure Gordon Matta-Clark was not commenting on the horrors of home ownership with this Split piece. But in another way, clearly he was. A classic piece from Matta-Clark's ouevre, which I generally avoid, but you can't deny the charm of cutting a house in half.

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Ten Things We've Learned in our First Six Months of Homeownership

1. Find your Pizza place (or your sushi place, or a Chipotle)- Moving to a new place means that nothing feels like home. You might feel homesick for the weirdest things (I did), but order pizza from a new place every time until you find a good one. Or sushi. Or whatever you do when you just can't handle the thought of cooking or you realize the chicken smells funky. I feel convinced that we only have warmed to Seattle because we found good sushi and pizza. It is worth the time investment, especially because at some points, all you will really want is to get the heck out of your house for an hour.

2.Who you gonna call? No seriously, who?- Oh Roy or Hugo (after Roy ran off with his internet girlfriend). How I miss you. I would complain to you in a tone I tried to copy off your domineering mother, and somebody would show up to fix it the next day. I miss you so much. Now, every problem has a different set of conversations, estimates, and random dudes in my space involved. If you are renting, even to a goober, it kind of makes you want to hug your landlord. If you own where you live, nobody cares but you.

3. Be careful about making friends with Jehovah's Witnesses (because you are making friends for life)- The very first week two very sweet ladies showed up at our house to tell me about Jehovah. I didn't want to be rude, but I tried to make my affiliations clear. It apparently does not matter to them, as they come back to visit every couple of weeks and when they can't catch me during the day, they will show up on weekends. I honestly don't know what to do about it, because I don't even think they are trying to convert me anymore, they just want to hear about the baby. You have to hand it to them, Jehovah's Witnesses are persistent.

4.It's not that something will go wrong, it's that something else will go wrong the second this current wrong thing is mostly ok- I don't think we were so naive to think we would move into the house and everything would be perfect and easy and fun all the time. At the same time, no one warns you that just when you feel like your feet are under you, it must be time to get your butt kicked by a new challenge.

5. Kill the Spiders- Spiders make more spiders. In worst case scenarios, you end up with one really big spider under your bed in a way that should only be reserved for children's nightmares. The Boy is sometimes merciful, but Washington is wet and spidery, so I have quickly abandoned my mercy. I am not James. There is no peach. If you are a spider and you come in my house, I will kill you.

6. Donations, Plastic Bins, Shelving- The only way to keep things clean is for everything to have a place. The only way for everything to have a place is to maintain a healthy ratio between what you have and (real, the floor does not count) places to put them. You would think that most of the donating would happen in the "moving out" stage, but it is crazy how when you move things out of their context, they sometimes become so much less necessary. We gave up car loads of stuff already, and every time we give things away, I feel like a weight is lifted. You need less than you have, and somebody might need it. Plus those piles only make homes for spiders.

On a similar end, I think under bed plastic bins might be the key to a happy home. I love buying decorations and things to make our house warm and homey, but decor is like the skin of your house. For the whole thing to work, you need the organization muscle, all the stuff behind the scenes that keeps the machine working. Our old apartment was a lesson in organization, and we reorganized multiple times just to avoid a move. I think we will master the same art here, and we have started on the right foot for that.

7. You are never done, but you should take (1 day!) breaks- Six months in, our to do list remains epic. In fact, on the actual six monthiversary, we discovered a leak in our roof, so we have to call in someone for that. It is ok to decide you are overwhelmed and take a break. We had more than our share from hiding from the world weekends. But if we played Mario and watched TV all day on Saturday, you better believe we were back at it on Sunday. Momentum is half the battle (having a plan and flexibility when the plan fails is the other half). Just like with a good friendship or relationship, sometimes you can have basic maintenance phases, but a lot of the time you have to put genuine work in. So take your day, but have a plan for tomorrow.

8. Take the help- My in-laws were awesome about this in their move (also this year, just the worst!), because they had so many people come help them move their furniture. My mom says "it takes a village." If you are completely new to that village, this can prove a challenge, but we were surprised to get the help when we really needed it from the Boy's coworkers. Many hands really do make lighter work, so if someone offers to help with your project this weekend, let them and make them a really nice dinner.

9. Wait for sales, be stingy, know that whatever you are spending now is probably not the end of it- Wow, moving into a bigger place is expensive, and it often feels things wait to break until after you have just spent a bunch of money on something else. The bright side? Home Depot, furniture places, they all love holiday sales. You should never stand too far away from a sale, so if you can wait out a jank appliance or an air mattress until you can buy it on sale, crown it an adventure and go for it. Because something else with absolutely come up. On the other hand, don't try to wait out a problem, because things do not fix themselves by you ignoring it. EVER. You can have a slow game for a solution, but no solution is too dangerous a game.

10. It will be alright. This is the nicest thing I can tell you, as you pine away for your renting days. I am sure there are people out there who would say they are so glad they did it and it is so worth it, etc, etc, etc. Whatever. Owning things doesn't seem like all that impressive of an accomplishment to me, but I do feel genuinely proud that we haven't backed down, we keep working at it, and we still like each other most days. If you feel pride at owning stuff (which is cool, each to their own), owning a house will make you feel really good all on its own because it is a lot, but I notice that you can find a lot of joy in realizing you have figured out how to do something new (weeding! stripping the deck! buying a refrigerator!) because you have to. You learn all the time. Also, except for the money part, you can't mess it up as bad as it feels like you are messing it up all the time. The punishments for not having your shit together is mostly just having to deal with the shit until you figure it out, but you can live through that. Eventually (I am not sure we are there yet, but I have faith I am not lying here), you can look around and just feel fine about things. Plus, you get to do your laundry in your house, which is genuinely great.

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Bumpwatch- Week 28

Ack! I thought I posted this two days ago. Aunt Rene, I am sorry!

How Far Along: 28 Weeks, so hello third trimester! So far, the only differences I see are that Summer Sanders is much nicer on the work out video, and when I see myself in the mirror, I feel like a blimp of a woman (I don't know if it works this way for everyone, but I mentally think of myself as the same, then I see myself in a mirror or a picture, and I am still surprised). Also, Bumbo Baby all the sudden seems much bigger, not in a bad way, just in a "wow, you can really see him move from the outside" kind of way. According to the bump, this is because he is an eggplant.

Best Moment of the Week: The Baby Shower! My mom and cousin Shelly put on such a fun party for us with the planning of my Aunt Ann and decorating from my Aunt Rene. Everybody destroyed their jobs, so the food was awesome, the decorations were actually steampunk travel themed (who knew you could even really do such a thing!), and I felt like the games were genuinely fun. Also, The Boy's mom made a baby out of fruit. I was so touched that my family put so much time and effort into our party, and I was even more touched at how many people came to celebrate with us. Having a co-ed shower might seem like a stretch, but lots of our guy cousins and other gentlemen relatives came and enthusiastically played the games. Melissa traveled all the way from Colorado, and Shelly (and her angel friend Amber) drove up from Tennessee for this, and that means the world to me.

 I just felt really blessed, but even more, I felt excited that our baby has a lot of genuine love and enthusiasm around him. When you are going to raise kids so far from family, nothing feels better than seeing so many people who will put in the effort and who will show up for your family, and I hope that I am one of those people for your families as well (if not, kick my butt into gear!). Bumbo Baby Gort is going to have such a strange, hilarious, and wonderful collection of people around him, and that has to be one of the biggest, most beautiful revelations around the baby shower. I feel in a weird way like I know this very sassy dancing eggplant parasite living directly on top of my bladder, and I really can't wait for these caring people to meet him too. 

Most Interesting Prego Quirk:  Baby shower gift opening is cuter, but also more pressure. To be honest, this part feels like so much pressure, because you can't seem too excited for one gift and not excited for the next. I just freeze up, but the nicest thing was that the gifts themselves are entertaining in their adorable babiness, and The Boy was there, so at least all eyes weren't on me. I don't know how to sidestep this challenge of the shower, but at least for the first time, you can kind of lean on the impending cuteness of your child. The speculation becomes concrete in the forms of onesies and baby hats, so you don't have to talk about the name or the gender for a minute.

I Would Really Like Some: Something other than the anniversary cake I made, which is no good. It feels like a shame when we have an excuse to eat sweets and they aren't even good. I mean, what kind of nonsense is that? I have been asking over and over again to go get seafood ravioli's (just like a lobster ravioli in a cream sauce, doesn't that sound good?) but thus far it has fallen on deaf ears both to the Boy and to the universe, because forbidden cheeses always get in the way. Curses!

 

Bizarro Thing No One Warned me About:  This is a small but remarkable thing, everyone buys you clothes for the first three months of the baby's life (let's face it, they are cutely small but not cutely cute at this age in most cases). You come out of a shower with a seemingly endless supply of 0-3 month clothes, and you are sure you can trade some of it in for your baby once he or she grows, but according to my mother, they need a lot of clothes. How this can be true is beyond me (I mean, can't you just wrap them in a blanket?) but I know I will learn. Janet says keep it all.

And The Boy?: I think he really enjoyed the shower, though he seems convinced the baby doesn't need much clothes. Please let my son be as cool as his dad about going to "girl stuff" and wearing a big ribbon the whole time. You have to love a man who is pumped to get his own gussed up business. He did not win the games, so he felt disappointed about that.

Looking Forward to: Leaving for our babymoon! This is the last big thing to look forward to before we are just stuck in the house, waiting to empty out this uterus. I am way excited to go to New Orleans (we have never been) and to eat lots and lots of delicious food. 

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3 Favorite Pieces at the Olympic Sculpture Park

On Labor Day, we finally made our first trip to the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, which is often mentioned as one of the best sculpture parks in the United States. It did not disappoint, as it boasts many of the big names in monumental sculpture (Richard Serra, Mark Di Suvero, etc) and a really thoughtful and fun design. The park is situated right between Seattle Center and the waterfront, and it smartly interacts with both.

1. Eagle- Alexander Calder- The sculpture looks is pretty great on its own, but its placement in the park and interaction with the space needle, the park space, and the visitors (who can sit all around it in matching chairs) seems totally sweet and fantastic. It feels like an iconic placement within the park, and the qualities of the sculpture came to good curatorial use.

1.5. Michael Heizer- Adjacent, Against, Upon- 1976- Apparently, we had ventured all the way into Myrtle Edwards Park, but I couldn't leave this off the list, because I was so excited to see a Heizer being cold and unruly in the flesh. Residents weren't pleased with this multiple behemoth sculpture when they first installed it, but I think it is one of the biggest gems not in the sculpture park.

2. Split- Roxy Paine- We walked past this on entering without realizing we were looking at a tree made of steel, and only on our way out did it catch our eye. Usually, you think of outdoor art as asserting itself more fully as not of the landscape, but this attempts to blend in.

3. Eye Benches I, II, III around the Father and Son Fountain- Louise Bourgeois- To be honest, I did not love this fountain, but I was excited to see some of her biomorphic benches sat around it. Perfect place to take a little break, and apparently they have been the closest to car-caused disaster of anything in the park. Oh Louise, you are such a risky badass.

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Introducing new DOROTHY, 1940s wedding dress in fine Chantilly lace.

Dear Reader,
Ah, September, and back to school for us all... I hope you enjoyed a delightful Summer. I've saved up something rather special to show you for the new season: My new 1940s-inspired lace wedding dress. Ta-dah, here she is..!

...As you may remember, I'm loving all things 1940s at the moment. (I'll be doing a little round-up later this week, just to remind you!) And so, I've updated my Dorothy wedding dress with some gorgeous 1940s-inspired details...

The original Dorothy is so so pretty, with its fitted bodice, A-line skirt and lace overlay. It's a very flattering and elongating combination, and always a popular style with my girls...

This classic, flattering silhouette lends itself very well to more sophisticated and glamorous 1940s styling. For the new dress, we've added long elegant sleeves and a chic V-neck - giving a very different feel... 

Perhaps you've already noticed the gorgeous Chantilly lace we've used for the new dress? It's wonderful quality - very fine. And it has a beautiful border, which makes a stunning feature on the sleeves and the base of the skirt... 

The V-neckline is finished with a delicate French lace trim too. And the full-length skirt dips slightly at the back, giving just a whisper of a train.

For the lining, we've chosen a pale apricot/champagne silk. This colour gives the dress a warm and flattering glow, perfect for pale English Rose complexions. And it looks equally beautiful in the classical ivory silk option.

We're delighted with our new movie-star-glamorous dress. I hope you love her too. Dorothy is available now, priced £1595 with apricot silk lining, or £1495 with ivory silk. 

If you like Dorothy and would like to see more vintage-style wedding dresses, do check here. And I always have many fabulous original vintage 1940s and 1950s dresses here. 

And of course, I'd love to see you in person just contact me to discuss your needs!

Meanwhile, thanks for looking - and see you later this week.

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

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9 Things for the Weekend- Cotton, Shirley, Plastic Bins, and Primary Structures

1. Lemon Curd, but not lemon cake- I tried making lemon cake for our anniversary cake and I would describe it as not good. I mean, I know a cake is a failure if the Boy is in no hurry to eat it. The cake is thick and dry. Really, just not good at all. On the other hand, my first try at lemon curd turned out pretty well!

 Ceci n'est pas une Blague from ckcontemporary.com

Still Life with Judge, from artodyssey1.blogspot.com

2.Conor Walton- Favorite Genome for the day. At first, they look like pretty run of the mill still lives, but his paintings actually work like jokey Art History 001 Lessons. If I were still training to be faculty, he might be someone to put in my back pocket, though I have a sneaking suspicion he is an art history reject like myself. He does these strange allegorical paintings about all sorts of knowledge (particularly in the humanities), but the art historical ones are my favorite.

3. Cotton Anniversary Tent- I couldn't pull it together on my own, so the Boy helped when he got home from work. It was fun to build something together (I mean, after 11 years, acting like little kids can only be a good time and maturity has never been our strong suit). I made it with all things we had in our house (Command hooks don't work on our new walls! Problems waiting to happen), and we spent most of the weekend vegging out and watching Top Chef New Orleans to prep for our trip next weekend (we are eating at Commander's Palace! Crazypants!).
4. White lights- They make everything seem more special. We just keep pulling out these lights from our wedding supplies, and they up the effect every time. If you are planning a holiday/ anniversary/ just because surprise, throw some white lights up and it will step up your game big time.
5. Shirley- My favorite New Orleans Top Chef (seriously, this is all we did Friday and Saturday. I edited pictures and The Boy looked at computer parts. We can do a boring nesty weekend really well).
6. "Other Primary Structures" at the Jewish Museum- Just as I get to the point where I can't travel, they put on a show in New York City that I would give my left foot to see. So it goes. "Primary Structures" is one of my favorite historical exhibitions (I can list basically everything that was in it), and I am interested to see where contemporary minimalism is going, especially now with my current job. If you are anywhere near New York, let me know how it is!
7. Plastic bins- My current theory on adulthood is that no problem can't be solved by buying plastic bins. Our basement, the final frontier of horror, is finally in order, mostly thanks to a very big trip to Goodwill, another set of plastic bins, and 2 shelves. It doesn't scream beautiful, but it also is shaking off its fate as spider-covered catchall.

8. Painting- We are almost out of walls to paint, yet we still have a substantial collection of testers in our basement. I am plotting solutions to this problem, so no paint goes to waste. It may be time to paint the poles down there?
9. Curmudgucation on the Pretty Horrifying Anita Sarkessian harassment- You can read this here. I find the amount of harassment online totally mind-boggling and depressing, and hearing particular perspectives (like one adding this to the list of why women avoid STEM careers) can be helpful in trying to make sense of why ANYONE would be so angry and cowardly as to spend their time harassing women online. I am still trying to figure out why someone would put rape gifs on jezebel (and why gawker would allow it for so long). I also wonder a lot if there is something we can all be doing collectively to fight back harder on this? I know people don't want to make themselves targets, but I am happy to see it when another big online presence talks about how fucked up it is.

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