thanks for the magic!!!

since my last post, i started doing a little something called the 29 day giving challenge, which is pretty simple: for 29 consecutive days, you give a gift. the rules are whatever you make them: the gifts might be something tangible, something you do for someone, or even something you give to yourself. i decided to do it because i read the book that started the movement, and the whole concept comports with my ideas about abundance. i recently described my philosophy of abundance like this: we are like an hourglass with no bottom and no top. to live fully, we need to let the universe just pour sand into us. the sand sits with us for a while, giving us a chance to enjoy it and and make whatever use of it we need to, before funneling through when we no longer need it. when we hold on to too many things, physical or spiritual, when we don't practice giving, it's as though our hourglass is placed on a surface and though the universe keeps pouring sand into the top, the hourglass fills up and no new sand can come in.

this is a pretty goofy metaphor, but i believe that if we hold on for too long to things, ideas, emotions, etc, rather than letting them be useful in their time, moving our souls along through this adventure that is life, and then letting them go, we get to the point where we can't attract the newness that will help us grow even further. we become full, and stuck, and resistant to change...

last week i got to the point where i felt overwhelmed with goodness and gratitude- the universe was pouring joyful sand into me even faster than usual, and it was to start giving and letting go at in a more conscious and committed way. so i started this 29 day challenge- if you'd like to read about my experiences with it, go here.

well... so far the only perceptible result is that i'm being showered with even more blessings than usual. last thursday, i got home from class and found a package addressed to me on my doorstep. i opened it... and inside was the patchwork purse i'd featured in my last post and mentioned loving. there was no return address other than the manufacturer, and no note saying who it was from.

it was so overwhelming- a little part of me felt undeserving, but a better part just reveled in the magic of receiving this amazing anonymous gift. this purse is so beautiful and fun and every time i look at it and carry it i feel this intense love and affection all over again. the best part is that i don't know who it's from, and so i'm wandering through my life suspecting EVERYONE i know of secretly loving and adoring me and wanting to shower me with gifts. (Rob Bresney has a wonderful book about precisely this feeling: it's called Pronoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.)

so, you angel you, whoever you are, on one hand i so want to know who you are so i can thank you personally and profusely, and on the other hand, i love not knowing. i have a few suspects in mind, people who are just the type to give and not tell, but i keep having "oh! but it could also be so and so" moments, and then i feel a new rush of gratitude and affection for that person...

one other little magical story. a month or so ago, my friend bettina posted some pictures of her beautiful studio (which i featured here). one of the shots included a beautiful mermaid stamp, and i commented on how much i loved it. one of bettina's friends, kathleen, the amazing artist behind localwisdomcards, had the same stamp, saw my comment, and promptly dropped it in the mail to bettina to forward on to me. bettina readdressed it to me, and wrote on the package, "from the creativity fairies..." thank you, fairies, so, so much...

patchwork life...

recently i was telling someone that one of the most apt ways i can think of to describe my life is "joyfully messy." i don't neatly compartmentalize my thoughts & feelings, my relationship is completely irreverent and unusual, i suck at drawing personal boundaries with any consistency, and yet everything is spilling over with love and laughter. you must know by now how much i cherish my home, and how important it is for me to have that personal space, and at the same time i am never happier than when our house is full of friends, which it is on a regular basis. we've had friends who, needing a break from the rest of the world, have found a sanctuary in our home for weeks at a time. we also have two giant fluffy untamed dogs- they are nothing if not a shedding, muddy, messy love fest.

how does this translate into design? i'm not sure it does, with any precision, but i'm slowly realizing how much i love patchwork and collage, both of which are intentionally messy, in a coloring-outside-the-lines sort of way. i'll focus on patchwork for now: to me, the whole concept behind it is that you adore so many fabrics and patterns that you can't choose just one. then the art is in arranging them and connecting them into a whole. when i was in india several years ago, the only thing that kept me from snatching up every patchwork tapestry i saw was the fact that everything i bought i would have to carry in my backpack for months to come. even so i came home with about five of them, and a very strong back.

when i was in college, i took a giant piece of canvas, tacked it up so that it covered most of one wall of my dorm room, and invited all of my friends over to paint a mural on it. we drank wine and painted like mad. the end result (which i still have) has, on the whole, no artistic integrity- there are waves, flowers, a rendering of picasso's don quixote, and some... shall we say, abstract bits... i remember that not everyone who came to the party particularly liked each other- if they had, i imagine there might have been a little more cohesion and working together on a single theme. instead, it's a giant colorful mess and such a happy thing- i treasure it in a way that's hard to describe.

anyway, in this ongoing effort to really listen to my inner voice and figure out what i really like, as opposed to what i think might impress, i'm finding myself so drawn to patchwork pieces. i'm in love with this purse- fossil has a whole jumble of beautiful patchwork pieces right now. i recently bought these pillows; i don't even like pillows (in my opinion they just take up valuable butt space), but i found these so pretty i couldn't resist.

a part of me keeps resisting, saying "don't you want to be streamlined & sexy & elegant? patchwork is so not elegant..." but let's be honest- neither am i. i'm messy & covered with golden retriever hair & oh so happy...

my own irreverent sanctuary...

yesterday i finally got around to wandering around my house with a camera and taking some pictures of my own little sanctuary. on one hand i'm proud to show it off because i love it, and on the other hand i'm slightly self conscious because i've been posting pictures of interiors that are so brilliantly and creatively done, and now mine will be juxtaposed with those. oh well. visit the full tour of my home, complete with captions, here.

my house, like my life, is always a little joyfully messy- i know i'm never going to have one of those houses with every surface bare and gleaming. on the other hand, i try not to own too many things that i have to put in storage- either it's beautiful and meaningful and out on display, or i try to let it go.

the first picture is of my desk & workspace, which i adore. i brought the tapestry home from india in 2005, and for several years i kept it carefully in storage, not wanting to use it because it's handmade and delicate. consciously working to get out of that mindset, i brought it out and put a crude frame behind it, and now i use it as a rotating display of favorite cards, pictures and ephemera.

the second two shots are of my living room; each piece of furniture has a story behind it, & as time goes by i'll try to share each of them.

this is the view over the room divider in my bedroom. it's one of those rooms that i don't feel done with, and am not sure that i ever really will. i like the elements- i was going for a light, airy, calm feel, like sleeping in a cloud. unfortunately i think it feels more bare than cloud-like, and i'm not sure yet exactly how to better it. it's also the hardest space to keep reasonably clean. lesson learned from this room: never put the laundry hamper in the furthest corner from the door- put it as close to where clothes are removed as possible, so as to increase the chances of clothes actually ending up inside, instead of on the floor.

i do have some successes, however, and my jewelry tree is one of them. when my jewelry lived in a box, i either didn't wear it or i wore the same earrings or necklace for weeks at a time. now, i actually wear something different every day.


i took this last picture while sitting in the overstuffed chair where i do almost all of my work, study, & online play. if you're wondering, i don't pose hampton- he just sneaks his way into all these shots. *sigh*... i love it here...

behind the scenes...

last night, i was channel surfing and landed on mtv's real world. i remember finding this show a rather guilty pleasure when i was much younger. today, the show itself seems pretty silly, but whoever decorated the DC house they're living in gets a medal from me. all i request is that you try to ignore the intended subjects of these pictures and focus on the fabulousness that is behind them... my favorite thing in the whole house is this yellow wallpaper above dark lilac wainscoting with white trim. here's a closeup of same.

also love this wall (and here) that's somehow both jammed with frames but restrained at the same time.

since the house is in washington d.c., there are some rooms that are pretty over the top fourth of july themed, but this coin mosaic seems to me patriotic yet tasteful.

this living room & fireplace just made my day. (see it from other perspectives here and here). i am going through an intense lilac/periwinkle/french lavender phase, and this room just seems to exemplify a style i'm trying to learn: elegant yet playful, light and open yet cozy. i read something today about how the modernists' motto was "less is more," and the post modernists' motto was "less is a bore." love it.

in the episode i watched, there was a lot of drama about various people using the phone too much, tying up the line, etc etc. if i had a little phone nook that looked like this, there would be no drama- there would be nothing but peace and harmony and joy, even during conversations with tech support people. (yes, that's scenic wallpaper- see it more clearly here and here)

finally, i'm thinking that this greek alphabet wallpaper would be cheeky and perfect in a nursery...

freecycle party...

two halloweens ago, we threw what in my humble opinion was the most fabulous party of all time. (i'll let you be the judge of whether i get out much...) in the backyard was a low-key halloween party: we bought loads of pumpkins, borrowed sharp knives from neighbors, and, fueled by a little keg of pumpkin beer, held a very competitive pumpkin carving contest. i don't remember all the entries, but there was a great sarah-palin-o'lantern, an impressive carving of the l.a. dodgers logo, and a hilariously disgusting sick-o'lantern, with x's for eyes and a mouth spewing pumpkin innards.

meanwhile, a secondary party was going on in the garage: a freecycle party! we asked everyone we invited to go through their belongings and box up and bring those items they didn't want, need, or use anymore. for example, in my case, i often have things that i don't use anymore, or that i even actively want to give away, but i'm not yet ready to drop them into that dark anonymous hole that is the thrift store drop off. when i still have a connection to something, or it has some sentimental value, i want to first try to find a home for it with someone i know. perhaps this is a disguised unwillingness to really let go, but i don't really care- if i can ease the process of downsizing for myself, i'll do it.

so, in preparation for the party, we arranged blankets and tapestries on the garage floor, and as people arrived, they unloaded the bags & boxes they'd brought onto the floor. people brought a great array of fun stuff to give away: dishware, pots & pans, frames, games, clothes, a working tv, books, appliances, etc. by the time everyone arrived, the garage looked like a thrift store, and throughout the course of the evening people would go rummage through and take things they wanted- basically it was like shopping for free. i ended up finding a fabulous stovetop cappucino maker that i use to this day, and so many of my things were able to find happy new homes.

after everyone left, there was still a ton of stuff in the garage, so we boxed everything up, put it out on the driveway, and called salvation army the next day to come pick it up. it was every bit the success i'd hoped, and i wanted to share the idea with all of you. it's a fun way to shed stuff before a move or after a big spring cleaning, and i'll take any excuse to throw a party...

dream decor...

a few years after we graduated from college together, my friend lalena called me out of the blue and said, "emily, i had the coolest dream about you last night. you had a giant closet, the size of a room, and your clothes & shoes & everything were just perfectly organized & beautifully hung around the walls, like a boutique. the best part was that you had a bunch of mannequins placed around the room, and whenever you were in a creative, stylish mood you would assemble amazing outfits on them, & then in the mornings you would have fully fabulous outfits all prepared without having to think about it..."

well, let's just say that her dream became mine; someday i'm determined to have a boudoir just like she described, a room that just reeks with femininity and indulges every vanity i have. i'm thinking pure white flokati all over the floor, and a clawfoot bathtub filled with gorgeous silky pillows next to a silver table stacked with design and fashion magazines. i'm envisioning an entire section of wall dotted with funky knobs and hooks for jewelry, belts, hats, & scarves. oh, and i'd like it to be a round room, at the top of a little turret, with stairs leading up to a private rooftop patio...

a girl can dream, right? another friend of mine ended up buying a secretary desk because she saw it in a dream, fitting perfectly in her kitchen. i'd love to hear more stories about people being similarly inspired or solving design dilemmas through dreams; if you have one, please share!

house crush: anahata katkin, ashland, oregon

last may i was with my family up in ashland, oregon- we go every year for the oregon shakespeare festival. the town has the most fun and unusual little boutiques you've ever seen, and it was in one of them that i came across my first anahata katkin piece. anahata is the creative force behind the increasingly popular (and deservedly so) company papayaart, which sells cards, magnets, wall hangings, etc...

i bought the piece in the boutique without a moment's hesitation, and ever since have been just in love with the wild exuberance that characterizes her art. in addition to coveting each and every item papayaart sells, i follow anahata's endlessly inspiring blog, and when she posted these pictures of her new home in ashland i fell in love with her creative vision all over again. the question she poses after describing her home resonates with me on such a deep level: "How does your inner perspective and love of Earthly goods translate in your home?" that is eloquently and precisely the question i'm hoping to explore through this blog...