Monday, January 19, 2009

New Year Resolution

For quite sometime now I've been wanting to build and develop my blog, so when the invitation from the purl bee came along to join their beehive I dove in.

The purl beehive is a collection of crafty blogs all hosted by squarespace and collected on a page together through the smart crafty people of Purl. You can read more about the beehive here and check out the other members by clicking the beehive on the right.

What this all boils down is a transfer of my blog posts here over to a new address: inspiredliving.squarespace.com. It looks a bit different over there and it's taken some getting used too. Squarespace has not been as easy to navigate as blogger, but in the long run I think I'll have a bit more creativity at my fingertips. Not to mention a bigger audience provided by the emmense popularity of the Purl Bee!

If you're a regular reader I hope you'll update your blog roll with the new address and follow me over there! I'm still arranging things to be how I want them, but I want to invite you anyway! Nothing's ever perfect, right? Might as well enjoy it how it is.

Once more, the new address is





Monday, December 29, 2008

We're not in NYC anymore Toto!!

I love going home to Maine because there are actually still deals at flea markets!!! Also, very cool things...

Like these paper & glitter houses... I totally want to make some next year!

This set of military flags... (not really a steal though, it was more than $100)
I love how this dealer set up a whole table of green...
Um, the photo is tipped, but cute kitties with rhinestone eyes are always welcome in my book!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

I dream of Donna

Watching It's a Wonderful Life last night reminded me of my childhood obsession with Donna Reed. I watched a lot of Nick at Night back in my earlier days, preferring The Donna Reed Show, I Love Lucy, My Three Sons, and the Dick Van Dyke Show over the typical kid themed entertainment of the times. Oh they were the best!!

Someone asked once what I wanted to be when I grew up once and I quickly answered, in all honesty, "Donna Reed." I wonder if that desire, albeit utterly unattainable, has ever gone away. It seems silly for a modern girl to idealize such an old fashioned, mom-in-the-kitchen role, doesn't it? But last night as I drooled over her frosty glow and perfectly flirty persona in It's a Wonderful Life... not to mention her characters boldness, quiet strength, loyalty, caring, creativity (the cute DIY honeymoon anyone!!) and extreme patience with her seemingly cuckoo hubby George Bailey... I began to remember why I wanted to be her in the first place.

When I was a single digit, I loved her perfectly puffed skirts, high heels, frilly aprons, the plates full of cookies and that she was funny. The fact that she was a total babe didn't hurt of course!




Nowadays, I still love those things! Ain't she beautiful??

I feel I could write a whole dissertation on: fifties era female stereotypes, how after all this hard work other women have done to free me from it, I still want to be one and how that might be messed up, but might also be great...but I won't. Not tonight. It's Christmas and I want to enjoy the presents.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Procastinating

Sometimes I wonder if procrastination is such a bad thing. Here are all the things I've done in the past two days, trying to avoid doing something else:
  1. Simmered a pot roast for four hours (yum)
  2. Knit two child sized harfs
  3. Took a leisurely walk in the rain to get coffee & croissant
  4. Expedition to deposit $$$ in the bank
  5. Purchased a small Christmas tree & lugged it home
  6. Decorated the apartment and tree for the season
  7. Cleaned the litter box.
  8. Flossed
  9. Made much belated birthday card
  10. Replied to emails from weeks ago.
  11. Wrote a handful of Christmas cards
  12. Emptied & loaded the dishwasher
  13. Brushed the cats
  14. Put a light bulb in the refrigerator which has been dark for months.
  15. Made Potato pancakes to go with the pot roast.
  16. Hung up the spice rack that has been waiting around for months.
  17. Played around & tested new make up options.
  18. Finished the first season of Mad Men
Phew. I'm tired of thinking of all the things!
Tomorrow is the day to get cracking though... right after I find the perfect holiday dress for the parties I must attend Saturday night!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Shrine

Thankfully my pal Clarrissa waited till after the election to test my 08ama necklace as a ladder. Can't blame a girl for learning to walk right? Now it honorably sits next to the champagne cork from the night Obama won. (!!)

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Inspired Wearing

Since the second grade I've approached dressing thematically. I would wake up and think "today I want to be pretty" and put on my twirliest dress, with a slip, tights, matching hair accoutrement and let's not forget the clicking shoes! (Did anyone else beg Mom for shoes that made the loudest click-clack?) Then the next day would be totally different, perhaps "funky." I would conjure my inner Punky Brewster and bust out the acid wash skit, blue shirt & yellow suspenders. I LOVE that my mom supplied me with such ensembles. I could always tell the 'new outfit' shaped boxes under the Christmas tree and ignored the groans and eye rolls of my family as I absconded to try on outfit number 4. What a lucky, lucky girl I was! Stretch pants, vests, feather hair clips, tights, hot pink spandex, jeans patched with leather... these clothes would make today's hipster swoon, I swear.

Obviously, the outer shell has been a concern my entire life. On numerous occasions, my little eight or nine year old mind even considered making a chart to keep from wearing the same outfit more than once a month. I often wonder if this kind of vanity is a weakness and grapple with whether to admit that or not. It can often take me a really long time to get dressed. It's SO important and what if I just don't know what to wear that day!? I wish I could roll out of bed and put on the first shirt I touch... but I just can't. We're taught that it's the inner beauty that counts, which I get and am cool with, but that's not my problem. I can wear messy clothes with holes that are baggy, unflattering, mis-matching, what have you... I just have to decide to and make a "look" out of it. (I'm somewhat comforted by the fact that there are people, stylists, who do this as a career!) It's not like I'm some high fashion slave who needs the next BIG thing. I know my worth as a human being has nothing to do with what I decide to wear, I just need to feel like myself.

Some days this is easier said than done, depending on how much breakfast I've had ( I'm a terrible dresser when I'm hungry) and what my closet is filled with. If I haven't done laundry... it's gets harder. I start to pull out rarely worn items, and then feel weird all day.

One of my resolutions for this new year is to get rid of clothes that don't fit, don't feel right, or aren't unique enough. Life is too short to wear a boring collar, I think, for me at least. I'm so excited for this one, I can't even wait for 2009 to start! The other day I tossed some undies that were too small, then later, a pair that was too big . From now on, if some article of clothing bugs me... I'm getting rid of it or making it better somehow.

Inspired by my friend Cal's crochet tutorials and mission to wear something handmade everyday, I decided to do my first fix up job. Now, it's just and old JCrew 'normal' sweater I've had it since I moved to NY in 2003. Despite it's being super warm and functional, it's not really that cute. Yet, I still find myself wearing it again and again all winter and it never feels quite right.





The answer to your question is..... "Yes"
I did just cut some new "Lego Bangs."

As for your other question, Yes.
I am aware that my room is one doily away from a the "Granny Chachka Museum" award.
Thanks for noticing. It's been hard work.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Christmasy Stuff

Styrofoam cones covered in lace etc...


Sewing themed wrapping jobs...

The pattern for these knitted trees will be available soon!


Not quite finished version...


Wrapping kits!!!!! Available at the next Flea market!!!!!!!!






Sunday, November 30, 2008

I'm especially good at making messes

The scene at my house yesterday:


Can you find:
  1. Glue gun
  2. Box of crochet doilies
  3. Pinking shears
  4. Knit alphabet block with the letter "I" on it
  5. Angela Lansbury

Inspired decision?

So it's flea market day in Brooklyn and I'm sitting at home wrapped in a blanket instead. Why would I do this, especially after spending the entire day yesterday making new stuff for my table? Please see the drips at right:

It's 37 degrees and raining here and I just couldn't bring myself to go out there! I can handle cold no problem and I can certainly handle rain in the summer when having a stranger see your skivvies through a soaked summer frock is the worst that can happen. (Next to water damaged wares of course.) But cold November rain? No thanks.

The thought of my bare fingers, or worse, rain soaked gloved fingers, folding up icy table cloths into wet bags at the end of the day = ICK. The thought of dragging all the wet stuff home to hang dry in my apartment = DOUBLE ICK. The thought of standing in my tent all day, shivering, weakening my immune system for days afterward= TRIPLE ICK. The thought of paying $$ to do all this and most likely not make a sale = SILLY. So I'm thinking that my decision to stay home= SMART, despite the fact that I'm out my booth fee. After all, I still have to pay whether I show up or not.

Of course, there's always the chance that I could have made bank today. You never know with Flea Markets. There was one drippy day in September when I actually sold more than a bright summer day! Maybe I should have toughed it out. At least then there would have been a chance of making some money back. Whereas here, at home, in my blanket, I'm 100% unlikely to make a sale.

I've already made my decision though, so I just have to make the best of this day. It's a rare and unexpected opportunity to get ahead of the game! What should I do??
  1. Deal with my HUGE pile of Laundry?
  2. Make stuff so I'll have even more next week?
  3. Make up for my lack of November blog posts and blog all day?
  4. Bake cookies so the oven will heat up my apartment? (My heat is not working, another reason I'm too cold to go out there!!)
  5. Organize my computer files?
  6. Wash the floors?
  7. Trim my bangs?
  8. Drink tea and watch a movie? (knitting of course)
  9. Call my mom? (Check)
  10. Organize my receipts and get ready for taxes?

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Pumpkin ROund up

Check out these awesome pumpkins in Clinton Hill! They always get so into it over there. Makes me want a city yard, with lots of people walking by on Halloween!





Princess Leia was giving out the candy at this house. Hello storm trooper pumpkin! How rad!