Mine took the better part of an afternoon, but I’m so pleased with the results. And pictures were requested, so I shall share!

I used to work at the dining room table (despite all the times I vowed, when we lived in a shoebox apartment in Santa Barbara, that I would never again work where I eat). Well the dining room table was an upgrade from the coffee table, I’ll grant you. But it still irked me to no end every time I’d have to clear my stuff away when we were ready to eat. And even when my writing resources were laid out in organized piles, it always simply looked a mess.

And all the while, we had guestrooms upstairs, just waiting to be used.

But I didn’t. Because they were guestrooms. And I didn’t want to invade their space while they’re here. We got a house with several bedrooms precisely so we could host people comfortably, knowing we would be having lots of guests. And so the guestrooms are for guests!

*facepalm* Oh, how our minds create little boxes for us. (Or is it just me? Could be just me.)

So when I remembered that this is in fact is my house, I pulled up an extra desk and moved it into the smaller guestroom. And still I had planned only to use a small portion of the room, until I remembered that I was still being crazy. I moved up my little library of important writing resources (which, thankfully, is super easy to carry despite being well over 100 books because they’re all on my kindle! – which, P.S. I just read that it takes 23 books on an e-reader to outweigh the environmental impact of the e-reader versus that of books) and favorite decor. I decided I need a desk with two sides: one for my laptop, and another for all the books and notepads and journals I constantly use for information, ideas, and inspiration. But I absolutely did not want to spend money on this. So I wrapped up an old dog crate with pretty sheets and use that as the second side to my desk. And since I was primed for dreaming, I converted the twin bed to a comfy couch (in my head) where I can retreat to read and sip my mint, lemongrass & ginger tea.

Are you ready to see?

Here’s my new work area:

This room has big windows on three different walls, so there’s lots of lovely natural light coming in. Perfect for sunny dispositions and pretty photos. And staring out into the garden.

The trees outside all have these sweet little white flowers.

And here’s my library on top of a dog crate. This is where I gather all my research and brainstorms.

But the part I love best are all the pretty little things I brought in to look at while I daydream and create. I don’t know if other writers do this, but with my first novel, I had totally had a soundtrack for the book running in my head as I wrote (Enya’s Watermark). With my current one, I have a very solid picture in mind (that I’d probably like to turn into the book cover) of this yellow suitcase standing upright on an emerald green background. But when I’m racking my brain for that perfect word, I like to rest my eyes on happy things.

(Look, there’s Harold! Hi, Harold!) Fresh flowers…these are called Curcuma Siam, or Siamese Tulips. They’re among my favorite flowers. I love how they just rise up out of the leaves like that, and that totally different little orchid-like flowers pop up out of the leaves, like so:

And this is Charlie. He was a gift from my mother, many, many years ago.

And Tuck keeps me company too.

And what writer would truly be a writer without her trusty companion?

I did tuck that doggie bed into a more appropriate corner (and out of the way of foot traffic), but when I went to sit at my desk Dot gave me a look of utter bewilderment, and came over next to me and whined. So I moved the little bed literally two feet closer (and totally in the way of foot traffic), and Dot promptly went over and fell asleep contentedly.

If we owned this house instead of just renting it, I would paint the walls a soft mint green and maybe find some pink or violet accents. Looking at this, it occurs to me the space I’ve created for myself is both childlike and feminine. I’m okay with that. I think I dream that way.

We found this guy at the market yesterday!

Hello little guy!

Except you’re not so little are ya? Man, go to get some oranges, and find yourself a baby elephant…(and die of the cute).

This weekend took it out of us. Both of us are just wiped out today. But that’s okay. I’m ready to take it easy for a couple of days. We did have a productive weekend.

On Saturday, we went and bought our first scooter. A Scoopy!

We call it Scoop-dawg.

That took most of Saturday. Plus we got stuck behind a fixie race.

Yes, folks. You heard that right. Fixies have come to Thailand. Fuggin’ hipsters.

Then Sunday, we acquired more stuff for the house. Pillows, and vases, tea servings and place mats.

It kind of doesn’t look like much, but when your sole transport is a scooter and you have to carry all that stuff slung in a duffel across your back, it does get tiring. Nevertheless, our house is slowly becoming a home. We still don’t have pots or pans, but we can entertain guests well enough to make it feel like a home. Yes, I prioritized decorative pillows over spatulas. Easy to do, when there’s so much yummy street food to eat! … And the European pastries….{drool}. The day European desserts met Asian fancies was a very auspicious day indeed.

Um…so yeah, this is a rambling post. Can you tell I’m tired? I think I’m going to go grab some lunch and maybe do a Thai reading lesson…and otherwise take the day off. There’s still so much to do, but we both need a break.

Happy Monday!

How would you finish the phrase: “Sometimes I…”?

The Rules
I think there is real power in the human voice, as flawed as it may be. And when the voices speak together, when you have a multitude of voices speaking, patterns begin to emerge and there you can begin to understand truth. So in the spirit of the personal narrative, I am hosting a weekly challenge every Tuesday morning, where I will post a topic (ranging from the banal to the intimate) and ask readers to respond. I would love to see everyone’s answers and how similar and different they all are.

You can respond in any way you choose. You can give a fictional response or a true one. You can use words, sentences, and/or photographs. If you have a blog, you can link it with Mr. Linky below. Please be sure to include “Tell It To Me Tuesdays” in the title, and link back to this post. Feel free to use the “Tell It To Me Tuesday” button available to the right. If you don’t have a blog, but want to join in, you can just leave a comment. Please follow the rules. I don’t want to have to delete links. I like links! Don’t make me delete them.

Next week’s challenge: Complete this phrase: “I wish I could say…”

Really, it is truly a magical and wondrous thing: our ability to conceive life. That within our bodies, a separate and (all-too-soon) autonomous being can grow and develop. That we can give nourishment, lavish care, and truly devote our entire lives and beings to another. That we can even bear life so another might experience the joy of motherhood.

And that we, too, are connected to the moon and the oceans, waxing full, and then shedding and beginning again in lunar cycles. (Which, by the way, did you know? Up until a few decades ago, we were told the cramps associated with menarche were merely psychosomatic? It’s a wonder no woman ever punched the lights out of those making such claims. Thankfully for us, it has been scientifically proven it’s not just all in our heads.) And we are connected to each other, converging cycles with those close to us.

Of course, the pain and unpredictability of childbirth is terrifying. And I’m sure the terror and helplessness men feel as they watch their wives bear children is significant in its own right. But the raw power of such self-sacrifice in order to create a beautiful, new life is something only women can know.

The thing is, I’ve lived in southern California almost all of my life (not counting the first five years where I was born and lived in Mississippi). I’m simply used to having sunny weather, oh, 92% of the time. And not oh-my-god-I’m-roasting-in-an-oven-sunny. A nice temperate 70-degree sunny. I’ve traveled a lot and I know that I can handle super hot and humid weather. I can also handle some cold (down to about 30 degrees), though really I’m not a fan of supercold. I can deal with snow, as long as I don’t have to shovel it from my walk every day. But having lived with the sun for so long, I’m not sure how well I’d deal if it was gone for too long.

I’m also used to having a wide variety of really good ethnic food – ranging from excellent sushi to stunning Indian, Moroccan, Vietnamese, and amazing Mexican (because we, here, know what a good avocado is) – and Asian stores where I can buy coconut milk, curry paste, Asian vegetables I don’t know the English name of, and rice noodles, etc. But you know what does suck about California? Property prices. We are now paying $1,350 a month to rent a 1-bedroom apartment (a shoebox at that) which is pretty much more than a mortgage for a house just about anywhere else in the continental U.S. And I would LOVE to have a house with SPACE. And my husband would be happy anywhere he could go for long, scenic rides on his motorcycle.

As far as society and culture go, we’re in our late twenties now and we do like to go out to nice restaurants, watch movies, and grab a drink at the bar. But we’re also equally happy eating dinner at home and watching DVDs or reading books. We don’t need a fast-paced, high-society life (though we do enjoy it). However, we do need some diversity and things to do whenever we have been cooped up in the house too many days straight.

So these are our considerations when we think of moving somewhere. We’re ready for something new, and would love to live elsewhere for awhile. And for (my) career reasons (my husband works remotely), it’s pretty much a guarantee that we will have to move somewhere else this time next year. But not having lived anywhere else, I’m curious to know about the places other people live, what they think about where they live, and what they love and hate most about their location.

Where do you live or where have you lived? Give me the skinny on what your life as a native is like!
(I realize this is public space on the internet, so only go as specific as you feel comfortable. Responses like “southwest Nebraska” are totally fine!)

I sought to try out a new aesthetic: something along the lines of vintage Victorian; classy, with a little funk.

These were my tools.
This was the coffee I cracked myself out on.
This is what the kitchen used to look like.
This is what it looks like now.
Instead of the drab old gray, I introduced a sunny, minty green. With cute little accents like these.
And these.
Then I took our boring, white living room walls and painted them a lovely, dove gray, which complements so nicely the new kitchen green.
And looks so elegant with the white trim, and blends so well with our new bathroom decor.
I especially love little details like this pink orchid against the gray wall.
And the gorgeous new pillow covers I found on Etsy (from seller Clee27).
I’m still waiting for my new table runner to arrive in the mail, but once it does, my renovations will be complete.

A little paint will go a long way towards soothing one’s soul.

I recently visited a friend who lives with her husband in an apartment in San Francisco. It’s a two-bedroom, but they’ve decorated with nice furniture. Furnishing we call adult furniture. Not college furniture. Not the fossilized hand-me-downs from parents. Not the Back-To-School sale items from Linens N’ Things, and definitely not the lumpy old couch filled with beer stains, old farts, and that one sticky spot that nobody can quite identify (‘Cuz really, does anyone even remember what happened that one night?).

I bought a townhouse when the market was good and I had a well-paying job, and I remember being overwhelmed with how much it would cost to furnish the townhouse with nice things. It seemed practically empty. But when I made the decision to go to grad school (what was I thinking?), I had to rent that one out, turn it in for a shoebox room in a (crazy) house, shared with other (crazy) people. Enter boyfriend-now-husband, I’ve upgraded to shoebox apartment. And now I’m stuck in a tiny space, with furniture crammed in without an inch to spare.

But the nesting pains are hitting hard, with no end in sight for the foreseeable future. And when it does come time to buy a house, I don’t want to be quite so overwhelmed with all the stuff we’d have to get to fill it properly.

So I figure, in the meantime, it would be worthwhile to at least UPGRADE the stuff we do have. We can exchange the college things we have just because we have to have something to sit on/eat at/cook with, and turn them in for nice things in an aesthetic we actually enjoy (the wedding went a long way towards helping with this). We have nice dishes, stemware, and bedding we adore. We have a big ass flat screen TV (and pretty much everything Apple has come out with). I can’t control the fact that we live in a shoebox, but I can control what a lot of our stuff looks like. With a few low-cost touches, I think we can make our place much nicer, much more OUR OWN, spread out the financial pain of getting stuff to fill a real home, and also try out different aesthetics to get a feel for what we like and what we’ll tire of before committing whole-hog.

Step 1:
Upgrade the bathroom. Now, some of you might remember the fiasco that was our shower tile remodeling. For those who don’t, you really ought to read this post: Construction Madness.

There’s still not much I can do about the navy blue tile, but at least I can hide it behind a shower curtain. And not this one:

This curtain was a gift from Toby’s stepmom (and I’m pretty sure she purchased it with an inordinate amount of glee from Ikea). The little dancing stick animal figures are not entirely my aesthetic, but it was a gift, kind of cute, and it has served us well for several years now. That rug has definitely served its time, having come from my old college roommate, Katie, back in oh-naught. Somehow, move after move, it has ended up in my possession, and I am very ready to retire it.

I saw a gorgeous satin teal and brown shower curtain (honestly, the picture doesn’t do it justice) and had to snap it up immediately.

I got towels and mat to match, and am very pleased with the results. For a full two days afterward, I kept walking by the bathroom just to bask in the glow of excitement for pretty, new decor. (Yes, I am this domestic. Bite me.) I plan to add a couple more accents, but that is for a later post.

Step 2:
Renovate coffee table. We don’t have a dining room; all we have is this coffee table that serves simultaneously as a work station, TV viewing spot, and dining table. It is a hand-me-down from my parents. I’m pretty sure it’s approximately 20 years old, and given perhaps another 10 years, it might actually come back in style. But it is still a perfectly good table, and I think combined with our current living room furniture, would serve really well in a future office, den or game room. It’s worth holding on to, but after 20 years, it definitely collected some dust, grime, and gunk.

So last night I spent a couple of hours scrubbing and sanding it down. I really wish I had the forethought to take a Before picture. But even just cleaning it was a marked improvement. It looked quite pretty.

But this morning, we hauled it out onto the front lawn and I whipped out my trusty little brushes and stained it.


And now it’s all pretty. And shiny! Who knew it could shine? Not me. It just needs to dry a couple more hours, I’ll slip the glass back on and ba-da-bing! Brand new old table. I’ll cover it with this table runner, and our living room will have a much needed face lift.

Steps 3 & 4 will involve painting our living room walls and kitchen cabinets. True, our landlord would have a hissy fit if he found out, but we plan to paint it back when we move out. And I have officially decided I Say No to swiss coffee. I am so tired of that stupid wall paint. From henceforth, my walls shall have color! We have visitors coming this weekend, so next weekend I will continue the decorating extravaganza. So stay tuned! Same bat time. Same bat channel.