That will teach him...

While the husband was gone earlier in the week, I found a way to show him what happens when you leave me alone for a few days with cash and internet access.

The glory of Craigslist!

Yes, it is a table, with the legs removed and on its topside. But still a pretty table with fun details and legroom! Our current table has odd support beams underneath that end up giving 0 leg room, even for someone as short as me.

I've been trolling CL for a while, but my cheapness has kept me from buying anything. This little {large} baby was only $30 though, and the former owners were kind enough to deliver it for me since my poor wee car couldn't carry the table!

The legs are held in place by wood blocks and wing nuts, so are easy to remove (perfect!). I'm sure the table used to have leaves, but none came with it. However, if I went crazy and wanted to make some, the table opens underneath with this adorable crank mechanism- I love it!

At some point someone defaced the top with an ugly, plastic-y black top, but I think that can get stripped off and then I'll refinish in a dark stain. If not, I will end up just sanding and painting some lovely color. But I'm hoping for the stain- she'll look so pretty new!

Monday?

NNNNOOOOOO!!!!

Oh well, it can't be avoided. Have a good Monday and drink plenty of coffee to get through- I know I'll need it!

Oh how Pinteresting!!

This post is a shameless homage to a national {international?} obsession- Pinterest. I found it several months ago and, like many others, I have lost hours and hours of my life to browsing the endless realms of the Pinter-land. And. I. Want. More!! There is no theme here- just a random collection of images that inspire, delight and amuse me. Enjoy!

Source: dnkzone2.tumblr.com via Jill on Pinterest

                                                                             

Source: weheartit.com via Jill on Pinterest

   

Source: mainenmasonjars.tumblr.com via Jill on Pinterest

Source: theberry.com via Jill on Pinterest

Source: theloveliestday.com via Jill on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Jill on Pinterest

Source: babiekinsmag.com via Jill on Pinterest

The best part of waking up

is having someone else make you coffee. But if that isn't an option, then I still enjoy making some for myself. Last year my husband and I got an amazing deal on a super fancy espresso machine that I am just barely competent enough to use. I really enjoy having him make fancy coffee beverages for me anyway, so I make him be my personal barista as much as possible.

Then life happened. And our schedules don't line up as much as they used to. Now *gasp* I have to make my own coffee. Life. Isn't. Fair.

But I'm getting the hang of it. I still end up with steamed milk that is really just warm- it isn't the airy, whipped concoction that spectacular baristas pour into fanciful shapes at cafes. But it suffices.

I get coffee. The world is allowed to live. Win-win.

The world ended.

Well, I may be exaggerating. But for a period of time last night, Facebook wouldn't work for me. It said my account was unavailable due to a site issue? My first thought? "HOW DO I CONNECT WITH PEOPLE???" Then I remembered that I still have a phone. And email. And Twitter (though I'm still a bit lost on the land of small birdlets). The silver lining on this murky gray interwebz cloud is that I had a chance to go through Google Reader and clear out a couple hundred blog notifications {oops}! In that pile, I discovered:


an amazing collection of images about family, Sweden and just being awesome {here}

something reported to be the best lemon cake I (or you) will ever eat {here}

great ideas for improving the feel of your workspace {here}

the adorably quirky style and fabulous tattoos of a fellow cat-lover {here}

a glowing white farmhouse that I love to look at but am way to messy to live in {here}

romance in Holland {here}

a ground-shaking-ly fantabulous paper craft that should be completed by all humans {here}

What? I like gnomes!!

And since I hate posts without photos, here is a squirrel!

Catching up

As I said previously, it has been a while since I did a ton of photo-ish stuff. I started going through past images to find stuff to play with and realized that I have an entire folder of images from my trip to Chicago in May that I haven't even touched! I'm starting to rebuild a solid workflow in LR and PS, so this one took a while, but it was fun and I found a bunch of other images I want to tweak as well!

I spent a small amount of time removing a sign from the picture, and if I was feeling really ambitious I would have pulled out the  cars as well, but that would have taken a while since I'm SLOW with the clone tool. I think the train and the old-timey buildings are the interesting part of this image, so I may yet go in and remove the cars, but not today!

For reference, this is the original.

I'm getting back into the photographer swing, and the August challenge over at I Heart faces is perfect for me! The challenge is 'Pets' and I had three little hams running around the house begging for attention. Pickle was the most focused on giving me a charming smile though, so he wins!