Interior Obsessions {Brick Wall}

What says downtown living more clearly than exposed brick interior walls? To me, the chipping patina of white on brick instantly adds a little drama and history to a space. And a great deal of shabby urban charm. Unfortunately, our little townhouse doesn't have any original brick walls of its own....but we're tinkering with the idea of adding one. After all, if we're going to live downtown....we may as well live it up, in full style, don't you think? 

Here are a few inspirational images. Which space is your favorite? 

All images found via Pinterest.

{Garden Fresh}

Today we harvested the first few leaves from the basil, the fast-growing star of my mini balcony-garden. Thank you to all those who responded to the basil-growing questions I tossed out somewhat helplessly into cyberspace. Your helpful responses on Instagram and Facebook are most appreciated!

Tonight on the menu: tomato-basil capellini pasta and balsamic-vinaigrette chicken. Yummy!

{Unexpected}

While digging through our storage closet (part of a clean-up-and-clear-out initiative I've undertaken), I ran across a few old photos. Among them, this one of my grandmother and two of her friends from Missouri. The smiles and sassy off-the-shoulders pose just made my day.

Keep on Keeping On

Today's quote was just the kick-in-the-butt I needed to plop back down at my desk and start scribbling (or at least typing) away. Being sick this past week gave me an excuse to laze about in my pajamas, wrapped in a blanket, sniffling the day away...and ultimately get nothing done in the way of writing-this-novel-I've-been-working-on-and-talking-about-for- at-least-five-years.

Enter today's quote.

And its back at it, boys!

Gratitude Lately

This weekend I was grateful for steamy walks by the canal 

and little white tents filled with talent. 

For rows of yummy food and even yummier smells. 

For the sudden shocks of beauty blooming all over our little city. 

For a good house-inspection report and the freedom to start pawing through paint chips. 

(Our soon-to-be house is in surprisingly good health for such an old girl.) 

And for little seedlings that will eventually make for some fine pasta and pizza cooking. 

Our weekend was generally filled with sunshine and smiles, exploring our little city. 

A friendly man sipping iced coffee informed us that

 Thursday is apparently a night for festive Irish reels at Boe's Strings.

The kind where if you have a guitar and can play a few chords, you're in.

If you have a mandolin or accordion and know your way around...even better.

And a lady selling beautiful canvases of sunflowers and hyacinths

 taught me how to properly pick and use a palette knife.

Goes to show you that you never know what you'll learn

or who you'll meet if you just take the time to strike up a conversation with a stranger.

How was your weekend? 

Back to Blogging

So, I didn't really mean for my blog to become a sporadically updated and sparsely posted desert within the greater landscape of the Web. But it seems that life occasionally gets in the way of posting. And here's one big life decision causing the blog hiatus: Mark and I are in the process of trying to buy a house. We've found the one we want, we've made the offer, the sellers have accepted the offer (after some hard ball haggling...flexes bicep...oh yes.) ....We've even had the inspection done. Now just begins the grueling and irksome task of lender and closing procedures. So... amidst the annoyance of chasing down every deposit slip and bank statement and cleared check and solemnly swearing that we are up to no good....blogging has fallen by the wayside.

But here's a little post to let you know we are still alive and well! And a photo to prove it, as well.

Happy Friday, folks!
I think I'm going to spend this weekend planting some herbs and picking out paint colors. How about you?

Currently 5.2.13

Making me happy: all of this sunshine! It's funny how the sky changes with every season-- I'm not talking types of weather, here. I mean the colors and textures of the sky itself. In winter, we go through months of grey, bleakness when the sky droops so low you'd think you could just stand on your tiptoes and touch it. And if you did, the brush of your fingertips would trigger the fall of those snowflakes you know are just waiting up there, waiting to fall down and blanket the ground again. But then, suddenly, the world takes that final turn and the clouds part for springtime. The sky sheds its grey cloud-shell and reveals the softest blue. That blue in turn triggers the rush of greens and pinks below, as life stretches and blooms once more. Next thing you know, the days are filled with birds chirping and blossoms floating on the gentlest breeze. And all I want to do on those days is sit on my balcony with a cup of sweet tea and write, write, write.

Listening to: Astronautalis. Recently, I signed onto my Itunes account to be greeted by that infernally perky little pop-up-- Itunes has an update! I grudgingly agreed...not realizing that doing so would completely revamp the program. Of course, nothing can ever stay the same. Things must be constantly updated, improved, tweaked. As my computer unveiled my new improved Itunes program, I was informed that I suddenly had access to some ephemeral Cloud. And I don't mean clouds like I was just talking about a moment ago. This Cloud apparently floats in cyberspace, containing all the songs I ever downloaded to Itunes and even Napster...years and years ago when Napster was the go-to music source. I sat there, staring at my monitor, wondering where all these songs had even gone... who knew they were being saved abovesomewhere, as computers and internet services changed below. It was the craziest sensation, scrolling through the music flailings of my 14 and 15 year old self, trying to find what style I liked. So much for as simple little software update! But I have to say, I'm somewhat happy this happened, this flood of old music. Because I rediscovered one of my favorite bands: Astronautalis. Nothing quite helps me tap into my creative roots like the upbeat rantings of Charles Andrew Bothwell as he rails about Persephone and that fated pomegranate, a philandering doctor, or a fated love on the high seas.

Watching: The Following. Mark and I just caught the final episode of this spine-tingling, nail-biting suspense. I'm pretty sure I just sat there on the couch, slack-jawed and staring. I mean, I don't even know what to say. Seriously: it was simultaneously the best and worst series I've ever seen.

Reading: Louse Erdrich's The Painted Drum. When I first started reading this novel, I wasn't too sure about it. It's written  (so far anyway) in three parts, from the perspective of three different Ojibwe Indians. The first two sections are in first person...while the third section is in third person. The first section, focusing on the character who rediscovers the painted drum and leads us into its story, was hard for me to get through. Somehow, Erdrich managed to get several chapters in without me knowing the person's gender, age, or name. I'm not a lazy reader...so I don't think this was due to skim-reading. I don't really like floating about in the narrative, wondering what's going on....wondering if I'll ever know what's going on. But I was determined to stick it out. Now, I have to say, I'm glad I did because the story has taken so many interesting and beautiful turns, somehow tight-roping the line between mythical legend and simple family story. I'm curious to see how it ends.

Writing: The antics of a fledgling assassin, a politically-ambitious vampire, and the lord of the Underworld himself. There may also be a pirate or two and, who knows, perhaps even a few damsels under some distress. Sound confusing? Yea, it is to me too.

Anticipating: My sister coming to see us! Her flight gets in tomorrow around 6:30. Looking forward to showing her around DC, doing some antique shopping in downtown Frederick, and eating at some of our favorite new restaurants. I'm still trying to figure out how to cram all the fun things I want to do into two and a half days.

image credit: via Pinterest.