Sold!

We braved 50 degree weather this morning.

It turned warm just when we started to pack up, of course.

The biggest stride of the day was selling our sofa and easy chair.

It made me sad, though, since this was the furniture we had when we started living together; the times they are a changing!
We schlepped the left overs to the Salvation Army and then went home to take a nap. It was glorious to walk into the apartment except there was no more couch!!
Did you get out and about this Saturday? I certainly hope so, it was such a nice day!
xoxo, natty ♥

Ready, Set, Garage Sale.

Today we started to get ready to move. Oh My Goodness it's really happening.
We're also still dog sitting.

Our little guy on the right is a little unsure of it all. He's actually quite morose from jealousy. 

Do you see the frustration and resentment lounging in his bed?

Hopefully once Oliver heads home Guinness will perk up.
As I mentioned, we packed and organized today. Tomorrow, we have a garage sale. We cleared out a fair amount of clothing and have a ton of other things ready to get rid of.

Ready to sell!

The couch and our easy chair are also part of the exodus. We'll live without them until the end of the month when our lease is up. We're traveling here and there {San Diego & Seattle/Puget Sound} the first two weeks of July and kind of couch hopping {Mom?} until we officially exit stage East around the 22nd or 23rd next month.
I totally can't believe this. In a good way. I'm sad, though. And excited. Sadcited?

If you're in the area and you know where we hang out then come check out our sale in the AM; there will be treats for sale but I can cut you a deal ;)
xoxo, natty ♥
P.S.
The weight of a many, many balloons was too much for my coak hanger-come-wreath hanger today.

Please ignore the awkward cement stain.

Sad!

Estate.

This morning my mom and I went to an estate sale. I've talked about this before so I'll not be too verbose. An estate sale is similar to a garage sale in that it's held in the home from which all items for sale originated but it's different in that usually everything is for sale because the owner{s} passed away or are majorly downsizing. 
This can be quite a huge undertaking for normal folks so many families hire a company to come in and carefully sort and price everything. These small companies will also facilitate the sale as well as the clean-up afterwards. I've always found sadness in these sales. I can be kind of emotional or maybe sentimental at times and it seems scary to have a life's possessions laid out for customers but what i try to keep in mind is that if there was anything truly of personal value to the owners and family, they probably took it with them. And that they most likely want these things to be taken care of. They are, after all, paying someone to take care of the whole situation.
So I kind of love estate sales. Once I get past my own weirdness there's much to be had. Unlike a garage sale these events often have some amazing vintage items. I have a penchant for old pyrex/pyrex-type kitchen and dish wares. I also enjoy some good pottery {platters and big bowls are my thing} as well as pretty linens. I've found great stationary items from the 50s and 60s and, oddly enough, there is ALWAYS a supply of holiday wrapping paper at these things. 
Garage sales are great too and their season {a.k.a. warmer weather} is rapidly approaching but estate sales offer slightly less "junk" than their counterparts.
This morning for $8.50 I walked away with a few magazines {kind of weird, I know, but for a quarter each, why not?}

, some interesting books {that little "Pleasant Sunday Afternoons" tome comes from 1907!}

, wrapping paper {ha!} and a couple of old beach towels.

Do you make the rounds Saturday mornings? Or are you the type that can't fathom the thought of even touching used things? I can totally relate to both; I do a major disinfecting before anything gets used.
Also on the agenda today: resting my knee {it's not good, more on that later this next week}, finishing taxes {that would be my husband, actually...thank you SOSOSO much Mike}, seeing a movie tonight {woot!} and maybe some dinner making.
Happy Saturday to you!!
xoxo, natty ♥

A find.

My aunt and I went to an estate sale the other day. These can be kind of difficult for me to go to since they are often the bookend of someone's life and a most intimate look at what was left behind; a home. I tend to assume the most melancholy scenario and it helps to remind myself that it's the life lived that matters and that I never know the actual story of this person or family; it probably isn't as sad as I'm imagining.
Anyway, aside from my personal conflicts, there are amazing things to find at estate sales. Like this

it's precisely what I needed when I was twelve!

It's perpetually 4:25.

This house was a beautiful example of what I love about 1960s ranch style homes {again with my predilections towards burn sienna and shag}.

The wagon wheel chandelier is an eye-catcher, for sure.

This guy was on this truck{?!} across the street for reasons unbeknown to me.
I'm still on a phone-camera jag so the pictures aren't that fabulous. Actually, who am I kidding? I'm not a great photographer so they probably wouldn't be that fabulous anyway. I wish I were, though, since there was so much about this house and the decorating style that I appreciate.
Have a great Saturday!
xoxo, natty ♥

I suppose I should be grateful...

for longer days...but (that's a big 'but'), it's so dang un-spring-like here! It's been in the 50s and low 60s and windy, rainy and cloudy; boo! However, it is still getting lighter and lighter every night, which I adore, and those skies are just gorgeous, if you ask me. 

Pretty skies!

Wisteria and gray sky...

Front yard sycamore trees from the back yard.

We grilled a bit tonight, veggies and sausage. My new best friend is this:

Mr. Mikey got it for his birthday from his parents (thanks!) and this is some quality lemon pepper, not just the stuff from Safeway. I've been putting it on everything, but it's best on grilled asparagus that's been covered in some olive oil...delish! 

I've been enjoying this glass that I bought a few months ago. 

I ♥ garage sales/Goodwill/Salvation Army/etc. and, thanks to the eyes of my aunts and grandmother, I can always find something (that I think is) good. As mentioned, I've been loving on this hilarious glass. It speaks to the part of me who wishes she were alive in the 70s and could have a paneled romper room or den with shag carpet (& a rake for it). Alas, I live my dreams through thrifting. It's not all vicarious past living, though, it's surprising how much Banana Republic and better stuff I can find, though it's more often the funky home decor...
In that same vein, the next post will showcase a few things (mind you, showcase is a bit too fancy a word for this type of thing, but oh well) that I picked up last week. Most of that haul is, as of now, meant to go towards wedding decorations, but one never knows where life takes us. 
I will leave you with one picture of a rummage sale find. I often pick up a stuffie (stuffed animal) that doesn't look too cute or quality, one that is maybe a bit tired and costs no more than $1; it will go to the dog since he just loves ripping them up. I try to pick ones that don't make me feel too bad about letting them be destroyed and this one spoke to me. It was some promotional gig for a nasal spray company.

Don't mind Mike playing soccer with the dog...or the recycling can...

It is was a nose.
xoxo, natty ♥

Monday, Monday

Well all of that grading didn’t happen as I had planned, but plenty of other things did. I had a lovely time doing some cleaning and reorganizing in our room. The big thing that had been niggling me was my jewelry; it has always kind of languished here and there, in boxes, in piles, in boxes, and so not pretty and organized. I had been meaning to do something about it all and had kind of thought I would go the jewelry hanger option, where you buy something specifically made to hang my jewelry on, but I didn’t particularly love that idea. Instead, I went with the corkboard route. I used one that had been housing just a few random pictures and cards. I sifted through my various boxes and put pieces I don’t wear into my goodwill bag and arranged the rest on the board. Earrings I just pushed in and everything else is hanging on a pin. I love it! This way I can see everything I have and instead of wearing just the two or three things that I always do, I can rotate through things; yay!

On Saturday night we went to that polenta feed that I had mentioned. The food was yummy and my cousin Gretchen brought luck- she won two club level tickets to the SF Giants! On Sunday I did that cleaning/organizing and some laundry and lounged around, then ran 3 miles in the reinstatement of my fitness. I was going quite well from early February but kind of fell off the wagon with the crummy weather that arrived almost two weeks ago and yesterday was a good start. I followed up with 5 more today and though I wanted to go to yoga, still felt really good after the run.

I gave into these cookies from a coworker’s daughters and they arrived in my cubicle this morning to tease me! I left them at work for the night since I had planned on making sugar cookie-Nutella sandwiches and those plus Samoas, Thin Mints, Do-Si-Dos…oh my…would be just too much sweetness in one night; though is that possible?! I already made the dough and will probably just whip them up ASAP, so stay tuned for pictures of only the finished product.

Also, my dad and I ventured down the block to an estate sale where I picked up a lovely addition to my apron and vintage cookbook collections, pictures to follow soon. I’ve never been a person to have collections, but just as I write this I realize that these are two things that I’ve been collecting here and there in the past few years…those and old pyrex! Well, maybe I am more of a “coleccionsta” than I had thought!

Anyway, we’re gonna have a late dinner and I need to finish those cookies (the dough is chilling in the fridge) so bon nuit!

 

PS

Did y’all watch the academies last night? I am so not a fan of Anne Hathaway, which I’m sure is some sin or something, but oh well, I stand firm, but James Franco was dreamy! I’m so glad that “The King’s Speech” won Best Picture; it as such an uplifting and warm film and Colin Firth is cute-as-a-button. Happy Monday Night again!

ok, I'm back

Despite knowing better, it's 11:37 PM and I'm taking advantage of my current teacher-in-the-middle-of-summer-status by watching CSI (the original, woot woot!) and folding laundry and updating my phone with one of those automatic computer update thingies. I decided to get started on catching up from last week and I just KNOW that I'll regret this all tomorrow when I'm tired but staying up late just feels oh-so-good sometimes.

I'm starting with last weekend and our garage sale extraveganza. We woke early and put up signs. It soon occurred to us that we needed more so I whipped some up and M went around putting them up while I got started with the early birds, of which the numbers were not entirely modest!

We had our "refreshments" available for sale, I made the cookies that morning and my cousin made her own batch. The sweets along with the cold water, juice and soda solds suprisignly well!

A shot of some of our earnings and our little "salesman", though he mostly just barked at people. My young cousin B and his pal (both in grade school), however, were both out all morning pitching their wares (old toys) which was super cute and they made some cash too!

After the tiring afternoon we cashed in our earnings for our very first grill =) It's a two burner little gas job and the Home Depot gave it to us for a good deal. I was pretty pooped when we were at the store so thankfully I was able to swing a nap before getting in our run (7) and heading over to the Japantown (San Jose has one, don't ya know?! It's actually one of the oldest areas of the city and holds quite a bit of rich history...click here for some info, yo) for the annual Obon festival. You can read about the festival here and the J-town Buddhist Church here, but I will share with you that we ate some DELICIOUS food.We got there pretty late so we were able to see some dancers on our way to gorge ourselves but not much else. Here are some shots of our mode of transportation ( =) ), the lights and the dancers.

Unfortunately I was too hungry to take shots of the food but we enjoyed some pot stickers, beef teriyaki, Sapporo beer, yummy-yummy udon and the famous strawberry shortcake. Fun was had and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Sunday morning we roused ourselves too early and headed to the cool bay coast along the Embarcadero in San Francisco to get in our long run (14 miles whoa!). The run felt good, the weather was cool and all of the good people and place watching made the time go quickly.

We planned to run early so that we could meet up with a friend who recently moved to SF (as in the week before) for work and watch the World Cup Final with him. We visited his very empty but cute apartment and then headed over to a bar in the Russian Hill area of the city. Every place was PACKED, for good reason, so we stood for the ENTIRE game; running 14 miles and then standing for two hours isn't the best idea ever, but it was worth it. At half time we migrated across the street and enjoyed some yummies at Nick's Crispy Tacos (where we also went today after our long run). The place seemed a bit popular and almost full of itself, personality-wise, but the tacos were delish. They are made with traditional smallish corn tortillas and there are two of them, but the inner one is fried/made crispy/fattified and there is guacamole and other goodness piled on top = heaven in my mouth!!! I had a carne asada and a fried fish taco as well as a beer. The boys enjoyed burritos and we headed home after the game. We lounged the rest of the afternoon and then headed to my dad's house to have a birthday dinner for him...happy birthday dad!!! You're an awesome dad and I'm SO lucky to have you for mine!

The weekend was great and tiring in a good way, just the way I like them. The week was to be full of running and errands and cleaning for me...more to come!