sunday, sunday, sunday

i LOVE felt club and am volunteering for their xl summer craft fair this sunday (july 15) at the ukranian cultural center - 4315 MELROSE AVE, LA CA 90029. tons of amazing vendors will be selling their one-of-a-kind goods and there will be gift bags for the first 250 patrons - who doesn't love a free gift bag of cool shit?! plus, i will be handing out said gift bags from 11-3, so come see me (wait, do i even have l.a. readers?) and get inspired to make or buy some cool stuff! i'm hoping that by this time next year, i'm actually a vendor myself...

welcome!

tuesday night, when the brutal sun went down, i painted my front door one of my favorite colors: turquoise!

this is the old door color: UGLY.

this is the new door color: PRETTY!

this is what sara the cat did while i was trying to paint: get in my way.

this is what prudence did while i was trying to paint: attempt to figure out how to enjoy a large dog treat.

patio power

i've had the week off and have spent it getting my patio in entertainment area order! the first item i bought for it was this huge umbrella to try to give the space a little shade. it's not working so well, but it looks good (sometimes isn't that what it's all about?). maybe i need to get another one.

yesterday i bought this chair and table set down the street at my favorite antique store, kohlman quinn. i like it because when i was thinking about what i wanted to do with the space i was hoping for something a little 'french country' but not too feminine. the chairs are totally feminine but the cushions and table have a 70s vibe that goes with the 'architecture' of my place and doesn't make it too girly. more than one person has said 'you need to have me over so we can drink wine on your patio.' well this is where we're gonna do it!

look at this ingenious idea i came up with (tooting my own horn, i know)! i needed to get my water hose off the ground and while i was at home depot yesterday, about to purchase one of those ugly hose holders i remembered i had some unused shelf hooks. so today i pulled out the drill and attached them to the fence. it looks nice with the iron work piece i already had over there, doesn't it?

so i got some plants too. originally, i wanted citrus trees but chickened out in fear that i would kill them or i would pull something trying to drag them from the car to the patio. instead i got some gardenias and a basil plant. i was going to plant them in these silver pails but just as i was about to dive into the soil i saw this big warning: 'not for containers.' shit (i can say that because manure is an ingredient in the soil)!

cute! i still need to paint the fence white and grab some other items, but for now it's good enough for me. next on the list, that i have been putting off, is a trip to the dmv for a california driver's license...

yes this is a picture of my toilet! if you've ever visited me before, you know that when you flush the toilet you just might end up with the cheap handle in your hand. not any more friends! i went the extra mile, splurged on this new one ($12.00) at home depot and 'installed' it today!! flushing has never been so fun!

UPDATE: look it's me and my friend regina hanging out on my new and improved patio (she just bought a new and improved camera and documented our night)! she and cindy came over last night and tonight margaret and andrew joined me for a little vino outside. a patio may just be the best summer home accessory i've ever known...

it's official: i'm a home-o!!

ok, i 'borrowed' that phrase from my very funny friend margaret...


my new home's kitchen (i may have mentioned it...)
so here is the new kitchen (blurrier than i'd like), or one side of it (note my forehead's reflection in the microwave). the opposite side contains the sink, the dishwasher and more cabinets. i think i've done about 8 loads of dishes since i moved in on saturday. it is so nice to be able to unpack dishes, load them in the dishwasher and have them squeaky clean and ready to put away. i think i've done 2 loads of laundry a day since i moved in too! don't worry, i'm using all of this water at night, like a responsible homeowner!


this doesn't do the cuteness justice.
when you wander up the walkway to my front door this white picket fence and amazing green and purple foliage is to your left. doesn't it look like a pathway to a french country farmhouse? i keep waiting for a chicken or a duck to run past me every day when i get home. that is my old school, classic, white mailbox right there. wait a minute, what is that gross black thing on it??? gotta fix that tomorrow...


first project: redo this crap
my closets i think contained the original shelves and garment rods from the 70's. both closets looked so warped and brittle that i was afraid to really hang anything substantial in them. so my first big project was to run to home depot for new closet interiors. the ones i bought seemed like they were top of the line (but still reasonable) and appeared easy to install (even the guy in the checkout line with me said so). but i was in way over my head!! you can put these together by yourself but you really shouldn't. one of the shelves buckled on me and almost ripped the nails out, i had to redo each of the rods twice and i sprained my index finger!! i did a lot of screaming and cussing (sorry kids playing next door who could probably hear me). i have officially become a pro with my power drill though and my new favorite tool/toy is my mallet!! works twice as hard and is 1,000 times quieter than a hammer.


new closet!!!
can you tell that the closet has a shelved middle with three separate garment rods extending from it? i couldn't take a picture of the whole unit because the sliding doors were in the way. these images exhibit my 'talented' photoshop inset skills, a photo feature i put to use on a regular basis at work but am premiering on the blog tonight!! i strategically placed the oval over a pair of shoes i'm embarrassed i own.


view from the driveway.
i leave you with my view of downtown. again, this image doesn't do it justice. mostly because all of those wires (lots of wires) and that ugly apartment building are in the way. at night you can't see them. just lights. pretty, pretty lights.

diy gone awry #1: i'm one bad mother...

this here is my beloved cat sara, aka rah-rah, where the 'rah' comes from in the name of this blog. she was a furry, old beast (himalayan) until today when, in a fit of curiosity and cat-hair-everywhere frustration, i brought out a pair of electric clippers and decided to see if she would let me trim her (thus saving $60 at the groomer and constant fur clean up). i bought the clippers years ago when i first adopted my other cat prudence (where the 'prudie' comes from in the name of this blog), a white furry persian beast, and wanted to try to cut her hair to avoid the clean up, sneezing and pulling fine, white fur out of my eyes every morning when i woke up. she wouldn't let me anywhere near her with them so they lived on various shelves for 3 years until tonight.


one of my favorite pictures of the furry, old, beast! can you believe she's about 18 years old?


well, she wasn't happy about the clippers when i started but she wasn't terrified of them either. so little by little i started shaving the fur off...


the culprits...


it was hard holding her still though and after more than 1 & 1/2 hours of shaving, letting her run off for a second, baiting her back with catnip and trying again i decided to let the project officially end, even though it is totally uneven and silly looking.


a grocery bag full of sara the cat's hair!!!!!!


i'm always so surprised by how tiny she is without all of that gray fur and how much i giggle at her little, turkey-looking body. she has been my biggest fan and constant companion for years. i hope i didn't ruin our relationship. ok, i'm not going to lie, at one point i tried to shave the letter 'k' into her fur bc i thought it would be a funny tribute to me, her 'stylist' and caregiver. is that bad?


she will always be my sweet beast. as i type this she is curled up on me, seemingly staring at the monitor so i guess all is forgiven (even though she looks sooooo silly). the end