unflattering photos

So over the weekend we went to a Halloween party. It was really fun, the hosts we very nice, and the company was great. We were joking around and E's coworker took a photo of me. I had made a really crazy face, not realizing how zoomed in his camera was. This resulted in a really awful photo. Bright flash, close up, white makeup, fake eyelashes, I looked like a gap toothed drag queen. Makes me upset just thinking about it.

But whatever, right? We open ourselves to all kinds of unflattering photos just by appearing in public these days. Every move I make is documented on facebook. No big deal, I just untagged myself and moved on. Damage minimized.

But then this morning, I came to work to see not only my gap toothed drag queen photo reposted on facebook but with some caption added that said, "and then we had to take away the laffy taffy." Like I'm some fatty gap toothed drag queen who can't say no to candy. Fuck!

I was really mad. Untagging was my only weapon against this photo, and then I had nothing. So I commented in anger, demanding swift deletion from the poster.

Now, both the posted photo and the album version are gone and the coworker's status says "I am terrified of people who take themselves too seriously."

So here is my question, am I taking myself too seriously? E thinks I was mean for no reason. I have spent the last eight months working out, losing weight, and trying to present myself in a nicer light than the kids who totured me in high school ever did. I think I look damn good these days and yeah, maybe I am taking myself seriously. For the first time in a long time. Maybe if the poster had been a girl, she would understand and forgive my rash anger, or would have gotten the message when I untagged in the first place.

my new candelier

woohoo! I'm going to gloss over the accident I had yesterday and skip right to my new chandelier!

I would like to thank my dear husband and my coworker M for helping me get this thing up.

I found a dust covered wrought iron candleholder dealy at Goodwill for five dollars. I have been drooling over real chandeliers for a long time but I never thought my landlord would be too happy with electrical going in. So this my friends was my solution. I did purchase a stud finder and borrow the building ladder so eveything was as safe as possible.

Please - do not hang a heavy, flaming iron circle from your ceiling until you are sure you've found a safe way to put it up.

Here is a picture from before of our dining room before:

And here is after! Pardon my appearance.







*edited to add photos from my fall party tablescape! This party was the whole reason I had been wanting a chandelier.



After my (very) recent car accident, this tablescape was born from a financial problem of "use what you have."



I purchased a bouquet of red spray roses for the centerpiece - $3.99.



I wrapped two shot glasses (shhh) with copper colored tissue paper to showcase more roses.

I also used one of my brown bedroom curtains for a tablecloth. This, I am a bit embarrassed to admit, but when push comes to shove... you improvise. I also pulled out the red napkins I raided from a Pottery Barn after Christmas sale last year, which I had planned to save for this Christmas, but again... you improvise. The runner is my every day runner, and I added a hammered copper bowl with a tea towel for my husband's yummy pumpkin biscuits. My family didn't say anything about the table, which made me slightly dissapointed. But I think they are used to me having a fancy table and it's old hat to them. Oh well, we had a blast anyway. Happy two years of marriage E!

Copy cat vintage hair

I have been getting adventurous lately with my hair. No, not quite pin curls adventurous... but still. :)

I find photos that I really really like and try to recreate the hair. I will never be Dita Von Tesse or Bernie Dexter but I think I have come really far since my early days of three hour curling fights with my hair.

So now we can play which one is me? Yeah. Right.




Dita Von Tesse
me
side version of the happy pompadour












me
Bernie Dexter
I don't know what this hairstyle is called. Maybe attack of the bangs? I kinda loves it.







That's it for now all you cool cats.

fall weekend in the city

Hello. Slow news day around my office so I thought I would blog about nice things for a change. I had a great weekend. Saturday morning I rolled out of bed early and went rummage sale-ing! Yeee!

I've been doing some thinking lately, and how can I sell vintage online with nothing to sell? I keep selling out of the cute stuff and am left with a wholly empty shop. I always find great stuff at church rummage sales and I miss the huge sales in Macomb. So I looked at the local newspaper and at craigslist and found a few I wanted to visit. If you are going to do this, don't forget to look for the word clothing in the listing. I drove all the way to Downers Grove for a rummage sale that didn't have clothes. Whoops. Luckily I saw some signs pointing the way to a clothing exchange (whatever that means, I never gave them my clothes - tee hee) at an elementary school. The signs were useful advertising for someone like me who was just passing through. But the signs didn't mention that it was a gym full of kids clothes. Whoops. Strike two. But I did find a small section they called "Juniors" that had three cute items! A vintage red pencil skirt that looks practically brand new, a navy blue knit jacket, and a navy blue top embroidered with a sail boat. I'm keeping the boat top. :)

I also passed a garage sale that was right out of a movie set. Two cute women in their 70's on a tree lined street full of gorgeous old homes, with tables full of really nice stuff. They had antique kitchen utensils, cook books with 1950's house wives on the covers, a collection of vintage alarm clocks, and lots of other great odds and ends for a quarter. I ended up with one of those alarm clocks, some costume jewelry, and some silk flowers that I want to turn into either rockabilly hair flowers or belly dance hair clips. I came home triumphant having spent about $13 total.

On Sunday Elliott and I were anxious to get out on the motorcycle. Our house is pretty clean right now and it feels so homey, but we knew that a day like Sunday couldn't be wasted. We went to Lakeview (I think) and parked where we thought an Oktoberfest was supposed to be going on. We couldn't find it at first, going in and out of cute antique stores instead. We found the Oktoberfest entrance hidden behind a huge church and commenced gorging ourselves on beer, sausage, and sunshine. Then we went riding through the city some more, just thinking, damn. We live here! Well, that's what I was thinking anyway, I assume Elliott's mindset was more like, vroom vrooooom I love my motorcycle.

We got home in time to get groceries together before I had to go to belly dance, which can either be really fun or super annoying for one or the other. But mostly we had fun. Teasing each other and rolling around looking at food is fun. My diet/lifestyle change has made things a little uncomfortable, but mostly Elliott goes along when I pick up an item to scour the ingredients and the nutrition info. He even went for frozen yogurt instead of ice cream without any input from me. A little tip, eat before you go get groceries. Or go between meals. Saves a lot of fights and impulse buys. So my friends, my fabulous weekend made it hard to go to work this morning.


I miss my cozy clean house and my freaking awesome husband. I am looking forward to having my family and Kati over for dinner in a few weeks. I am planning the table decor in my head already.

love to you and yours, Eileen

It's been a year since we moved to the city. And exactly one year ago, I was preparing to say goodbye to this job. I was whipping up a new job description and never, ever pictured this commute being possible. Who the hell drives 50 miles one way to work? No one. As far as I knew. I was telling Elliott, maybe I could stay at my dad's in Downer's Grove a few nights a week. Until I got that shiny new city job. (Where is that job by the way?)

Cut to a year later. I am driving down the interstate, running about ten minutes late - as usual. People are flying by going what seems like 90 miles an hour, practically running me off the road. Some semi truck driver is honking and waving at me, weirding me out. And I flipped. Screams came out of me that sounded like they were coming from someone else. I was just gripping the steering wheel and joined the throng of people going 90. Randomly slamming my brakes and speeding up and making people angry. I screamed so hard I saw stars.

I think I've lost my shit for the final time. But what can I possibly do? Just quit my job? Maybe I should before I kill myself or someone else with that car..

My home life crisis

I want to talk about screens. Lately I have been feeling overwhelmed and helpless at home. Just writing this down makes my heart beat a little faster with stress and apprehension. But maybe that's the caffeinated coffee I've been sipping on.

Most weeknights I get home about 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. This is after I wake up at 6, work 8-5, visit my local Curves for a workout, maybe go to dance rehearsal, and spend another hour or two on the road.

It's late. I have about two hours to eat dinner, do something productive like laundry or dishes, and to visit with Elliott. But by the time I get home, he is completely entrenched in the giant glowing screen monster in our living room. He wants to show me the latest and greatest motorcycle he found online. He insists I come watch a funny video of a kitten wearing mittens falling off a table. He shouts from the other room if I am busy, and gets angry when I take longer than a few seconds to pull away from what I am doing (remember, two hours at home people) to come pay attention to the screen.

Now this is not a bitching about Elliott post. Please do not misunderstand. Elliott has been really great with having dinner ready for me more times than not and it is AWESOME.

I am complaining about the third wheel in our marriage. That freaking tv/computer monitor monster. I think I want to throw it out the window. I know for a fact that he turns it on first thing. He eats in front of it, surfs in front of it, and turns it on first thing when he gets home. Am I weird that I would like to just turn it off when I get home?

Last night, Elliott got into bed with me. This is rare because our schedules are so different and, well, he has a life online. But I was getting comfy, trying to fall asleep, and enjoying being so close with my husband. He asks, "How was your day?" I began to laugh. Uncontrollably.

The irony and unfairness just hit me. We had been home for about three hours together at that point and then, only then did he want quote unquote real conversation. In the dark, quiet, peacefulness without internet and without tv. So we talked. We caught up and connected and I struggled to stay awake.

This brings me to the subject of our date night. When we have date nights at home, guess who more often then not comes along for the date? Yep. The tv. If it were up to me, my home life would be maybe one or two weeknights of tv and Saturday morning HGTV. The rest filled with neighborhood walks, visits to the library, reading said books from the library, talking to neighbors, and cooking/cleaning with music or silence.

How in the world can I change and improve my home life without affecting and angering Elliott's choice of home life? We basically live in two rooms. One has a bed and the other has a tv.

help

I opened this up to rant but I think I'm still too upset to talk.

so why does my hubby put me in these situations? where I am supposed to be the cool, non-jealous wife who can't put any boundaries and can't say shit when he makes me feel uncomfortable?

sgkhghgkl