Archive for December, 2007
Dude, Put Down That Domino
I can hardly keep track of all the home decor magazines that Sherry reads. Domino, Elle Decor, Cottage Living, Better Homes & Garden, House Beautiful, O at Home and a seemingly endless list of other titles with the word “house” or “home” wedged in there somewhere. Any attempts I’ve made to share this interest with her have left me feeling somewhat confused and emasculated.
Thank goodness the editors of Men’s Health came to my rescue and just introduced Men’s Health Living, the self-declared “world’s first home magazine for men.” I think this calls for a chest bump – who’s with me?
I snagged the premiere issue on our way out of town last weekend, which meant Sherry actually took the first peek at it while I was busy navigating our Nissan through the Appalachians (a very manly endeavor, I should point out).
She fell in love with it. Not because it was girly (phew), but because it was well written and had a great collection of articles and advice…many of which were read aloud to me, so I can attest to its quality. It also got the stamp of approval from Sherry’s BFF who once worked at one of those pubs with “home” on the cover.
Here are some of the things we learned:
- 5 warning signs that a contractor is trying to rip you off
- 137 ways a home can make you a better man
- Tips for picking a neighborhood that will help you exercise
- Easy ways to up your handy-man skills
- The 100 best and worst cities for men to live (Richmond was #36)
There’s plenty more in there, but I’m determined not to spoil it. I want you to go buy the issue – no matter your gender – because I need this new mag to be successful enough that it’ll start offering subscriptions. I can’t let it join the recently canceled Blueprint in that big magazine rack in the sky.
Better Late Than Never
Even though it’s only the 30th, we’ve noticed that almost every store in town has already taken down their festive Christmas decor in favor of Valentine’s Day paraphernalia. Holy hearts everywhere, Batman- it’s not even January yet.
So in an effort to buck the fast-forward trend, I thought I’d post this simple and amazingly creative Christmas tree idea (even if it’s 5 days late). It’s a fun way to “recycle” your books for the holiday, and there’s no pile of pine needles to vacuum when your holiday spirit runs out.
This is the work of IJM Studio via Crooked House
Kitchen, You Are Missed
This not having a functioning kitchen thing is getting old.
It may sound strange, but we were too lazy to go out to eat tonight. Instead, we mustered the energy to attempt cooking in our counterless and sinkless kitchen. Fortunately, the meal itself (chocolate chip pancakes) was relatively easy to make using a cabinet top as our work surface. We also confirmed that our stovetop still functions after almost 3 months of dormancy.
It’s the already annoying task of clean-up that reminds you how frustrating it is to not have a kitchen sink. Let’s just say doing dishes in the bathroom doesn’t exactly inspire me to play chef again anytime soon.
Friday “Flare” For Ya
And now for one of many posts about fun & fabulous holiday gifts. Here’s what we got at a local gift shop (Mongrel) for our cousin who loves to camp: a ceramic campfire that you can really set ablaze with a tea-light. Bring on the mini-marshmallows!
Ironically it was also for sale on Fred Flare, along with a bunch of other quirky gifts like these:
Who doesn’t want a throwback boombox with an updated twist (it blasts tunes from your iPod), some fabulous garland in 2-D (it’s tape with a sparkly tinsel pattern) and a make-any-bottle-a-menorah (it’s a cork with the candles attached). Brilliant. And you gotta love how affordable stuff on that website is. If you haven’t been yet, check out all the after Christmas sale stuff, like, right now.
But there’s also another item on this post that doesn’t hail from Fred Flare… a homemade starfish Santa. We actually made three for John’s parents’ new beach house after seeing a bunch at a few beach shops for something like $15 a pop. Making them yourself is a heckova lot cheaper, all ya need are some starfish (we got ours from Michael’s) and some acrylic paint. You can also turn ‘em into ornaments by gluing ribbon to the back. Ho- ho-holy moley that’s easy.
Blast From The Past: Part 3
We’ve returned from our Christmas in West Virginia just in time to grace you with the third and final part of our “Places We Used to Live” video series. This time it’s a new city (Richmond, VA) and a new arrangement (cohabitation). Ooh la la.
Our First Apartment Together in Richmond was a pretty cookie-cutter one-bedroom in a pretty cookie-cutter suburban apartment complex. That didn’t stop us from being over the moon about finally sharing a home together AND getting way more space for less than half of our combined rent in NYC.
Here are the goodies to watch for this time:
The giddiness in Sherry’s voice as she excitedly points out features we’d probably yawn about these days- Our rag-tag collection of free / donated furniture (give us a break – we moved from NYC in a minivan)
- The high ceilings (the reason we opted for the 3rd floor)
- A much more fully stocked kitchen than in Sherry’s NYC apartment
- More album cover artwork thanks to the band OK Go
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Our DIY version of these bird wall decals from blik (we cut birds out of blue manila folders and taped them to the wall).
Click HERE to enjoy the tour on YouTube
Ok, we now promise to return our attention to the present day. Some fun posts to look forward to: gifts we gave each other, booty we received from others, and stuff we scored during all those fabulous post-holiday sales.
