Five things Friday, the frazzled edition.

This week has been a full-on mixed bag of really good (walking to work! I love it so much!) and really bad (coming home to find that my landlord had not only ENTERED MY APARTMENT without telling me, but left the front door wide open after he was done – yikes!). I’m a little frazzled by it all, but hey, it’s Friday and I’ve got a weekend to look forward to.  So I’m going to leave the bad stuff behind and talk about the good stuff instead.

Five things making me happy this week:

1. I’m getting my hair cut tomorrow. Finally. You have no idea how overdue I am for this. Really, until tomorrow I should not be allowed out in public, it’s that bad.
2. Crocheting. Starting it up again this weekend. I’m hoping to make it to the Fairview Knitters on Saturday, if my haircut doesn’t run too late. Then on Sunday, Crochet 101 at the Little Knittery. I’ve been crocheting since I was like five years old, but I’m really not very good at it. I want to get better, and I want to make little lacy things.
3. Exene Cervenka reading poetry at the Craft and Folk Art Museum on Sunday. Exene has been my hero since I was a teenage punkette, and many many years ago she used to do readings pretty often, but it’s been a very long time. I’m so excited that she’s doing this again.
4. I discovered the CD Lady Day and Prez this week, and it is so so great. Billie Holiday’s story is pretty well known, but I never knew much about Lester Young before other than that I liked him. Like Billie, he had a rather tragic life and death. So much great music came out of that time, but sometimes it’s hard to ignore the undercurrent of racism that was always there. So I guess this makes me both happy and sad at the same time, but regardless, it’s beautiful.
5. Charm magazine from the 1940s. I learned about it from Sarai’s blog and within days, snapped up three issues from eBay for a bargain price. This is so much fun to look at and so full of fashion inspiration that it makes me want to dust off my sewing machine and make dresses!

What about you – what is making you happy this week?

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Oh and – take a look at the pretty bracelet giveaway over at Grosgrain. Winning that would certainly make me happy!

 

Five Things Friday – the quickie version.

Many of you know that I moved this past week, to this little apartment in Santa Monica. At the moment it is in a state of chaos, but I could care less – I mean, I’m living in Santa Monica! And that’s enough to make me happy.

More specifically, though, here are five things that rule about my new place.

• Washing dishes in a kitchen sink. After a year of living in a kitchenless place, and having to wash my coffee cups and such in the bathroom sink, you have no idea how thrilling this is.
• Walking to work. 15 minutes, door to door.
• Getting chilly at night and having to put on a sweater.  In summer!!!
• Smelling the ocean during my evening walk home from work.
• Being walking distance to a branch library, and biking distance to a main library. It’s library heaven, except for the “closed Fridays” thing, because I had really hoped to stop by after work today. Ah well.

This weekend will include an Ikea trip (more stuff!!!) and a passive purge (less stuff!!!) that should resolve much of the aforementioned chaos. Once that’s under control, there will be photos. And a guided tour for any of you locals who care to drop by.

 

Five things Friday – new apartment edition.

Chez Shoes is moving! This time completely out of Los Angeles proper, to the much smaller city of Santa Monica, near the ocean. Santa Monica is where I had my first “real” apartment, after a summer of couch-surfing, when I arrived in SoCal many years ago – I shared it with a roommate and I think we each paid $115. Even though I’ll be paying nearly ten times that (!), I’m thrilled to be returning to Santa Monica, which just seems to be a better fit for me than big Los Angeles.. Except for that whole Third Street Promenade thing, which I choose to ignore, preferring instead to enjoy the pre-gentrification version in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Pretty in Pink.  Anyway.

This week’s Five Things will be solely focused on my new place, which I hope to take occupancy of on June 15. So without any further ado – here are five things that are making me happy this week, also known as five reasons why I’m willing to write a four-digit* rent check each month:

1. The new place has a kitchen. With beaucoup storage. Just look at all of those cabinets! It also has a sleeping loft, which I think is going to be kiind of fun, and climbing that ladder? Great upper body workout. Anyway, I’m looking forward to cooking my own meals for the first time in over a year.
2. I can walk to work. Not only does this mean extra $$ for me (we get a “green” bonus for not driving), but  it means exercise will be built-in to my day. I can also walk to a ton of other things, ranging from Whole Foods to Montana Avenue (Peets!) to the library, although the latter will be a bit of a stretch. I can definitely ride my bike there, and I can ride my bike to the beach.
3. Container garden space. I’ve got a little outdoor patio area and can do what I want with it. I think this will mean a little table and two chairs, and pots of succulents. And herbs! I can grow my own herbs!
4. No more noisy neighbors. I no longer have common walls. Yesssssssss.
5. Sewing. See up there under the sleeping loft? My Jay Desk is going there. Since I don’t have to worry about the noise disturbing anyone on the other side, I can easily swap out my laptop for my sewing machine when I feel like making something. First on the list: curtains!

Posting may be even more scarce than usual in these parts, because I’ve got a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in. But once things settle down, I’m hoping to get back to a regular posting schedule. There’s a lot to photograph in my new ‘hood, and I’m planning to start making things again, so there will be that too. Oh and – I can walk to the El Naturalista store.

*I realize that it’s something of a minor miracle that I’ve lived almost my whole life in a high real estate value area yet always managed to keep my rent in the triple-digits.

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ETA: If you have a recommendation for a primary care doctor, and a kitty vet, in the Santa Monica area, I’d love to hear them – thanks!

 

Five Things Friday – the grumpy edition.

You know – I wasn’t going to post at all today, because this week, not much of anything has been making me happy. Then I decided that maybe if I posted five things that are making me unhappy, I’d feel a little better from venting.

• The organization that provides me with a paycheck filed Chapter 11 this week. Supposedly this means business as usual, and that paycheck will continue. Fair enough, but the accompanying drama is doing me in. I don’t handle drama well. Either things are, or they aren’t - speculation and “what ifs” make me crazy.
• I have a new downstairs neighbor who thinks she’s Celine Dion, complete with piano and guitar. In a 300 square foot, one-room studio apartment. And I live in the identical apartment directly above her, and since it’s only one room, there’s no escaping the caterwauling! And she “rehearses” all day and night. Yes, I will be moving soon. Despite the fact that I have the cheapest rent in town. Because you know what? Sometimes you really do get what you pay for. And sometimes a bargain, isn’t.
• My mail-order copy of the new Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women CD has been stuck in my mailbox for three days. My new postal carrier seems to be spatially challenged, and doesn’t seem to recognize the difference between something that does and does not fit within a given space. I’ve called the post office, and they blamed the mailboxes for being “too old.” Your tax dollars at work, people!

• In the past couple weeks, I’ve been repeatedly excluded from social functions by my coworkers. I’m doing my best to channel my inner Groucho Marx. Even so, there’s a little kindergarten-age Chez Shoes living inside me who is getting her feelings hurt.
• And on top of all of that? I’m having a really bad hair week.

 

Five Things Friday.

Ha! Here it seemed like I’d abandoned my post-every-Friday attempts. Last Friday I was hiding out in the desert, trying to do something other than hang out on the Interwebs. What did I do? Get sunburned. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I’m officially ready for summer!

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Of the five things that are making me happy this week, two of them are new CDs. Yes, new CDs – I bought actual media. How retro!

Country Club by John Doe and the Sadies. My love of X is well-known, but truth be told, I’ve never been too crazy over Johny’s solo stuff. But ever since the first time I saw John sing with the Knitters at the late, great Cathay de Grande, I’ve longed for him to do a solo album of old country covers. And here it is! You can listen to the whole thing here. And if you really want to get all fangirl about it, you can listen to John talking with Terry Gross here. Wherein Ms. Gross herself gets a bit fangirl, if you ask me.

California Years by Jill Sobule. Palm Springs is probably the best song written about the California desert EVAR. And I love that the record was financed entirely by fans and is on the Pinko label!

Omohide Poro Poro, kind of untranslatable into English but the American title is Only Yesterday. This may be my most favorite Studio Ghibli film; at least, it’s a close second to Mimi o Sumaseba. And Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko. Okay, I can’t pick just one. Omohide is about a young woman in the early 1980s reminiscing about her childhood in late-1960s Tokyo. Even if you don’t get all the Japanese pop culture references – and I certainly didn’t, because my Japanese pop culture knowledge starts about a decade later – it’s a beautiful little film.

Gentle Souls flats for $14.99 from this eBay seller. In red and brown. ”Nuff said. Just go buy a pair. Or two.

The first really flattering swimsuit I have ever owned, thanks to Lands End. Everything about it is retro except the price, but hey, at least it’s on sale right now. It’s definitely going to see some use this holiday weekend!

So there you go. Five things. On Friday. Happy long weekend!!!

 

Five Things Friday.

This week, I’ve been enjoying:

Shinzi Katoh. I bought some SK linen tape from Reform School a couple weekends ago and can’t stop looking at it. So cute! This led me to perusing the SK website and dreaming of all sorts of kawaii things that I can’t readily find, like this glasses case. Probably for the best, since I’m really working hard on owning less Stuff.

Little! Red! Chairs!

The Anti 9-to-5 Guide. Michelle Goodman had me at “I like to think that I’m not hardwired for office work and all the groveling, commuting, and Monday morning staff meetings that come with it.” All these years I’ve been thinking I’m somehow defective because I hate being in an office SO MUCH – I wonder if there’s something to this. Are some of us just not hardwired to sit all day pushing pixels? I like this possibility. Not that I have any idea what to do about it.

These jeans from Target. Of course, on me they are more Regular Pants than Cropped Pants, but still. They are lightweight, soft denim and perfect for summer, and five pairs of them cost less than one pair of most jeans. I realize this last bit is sort of in conflict with the “less Stuff” bit, but a girl’s gotta have enough clothes to get through the week. Especially when she doesn’t have her own washing machine.

Um, on me?? The bottom of the cuff? It comes to my ankle bone.

Sulfate-free L’Oreal Everpure products for dyed hair! Yes, I color my hair. So I was kind of excited to stumble upon these the other day. I’ve tried multiple “natural” shampoos with really lousy results, so I’ve got high hopes for these. So far I’ve tried the moisturizing shampoo and conditioner, and my only complaint is that the scent is a bit stronger than I prefer.

The late, great Manifesto Clothing company of San Francisco. Manifesto is long gone, which makes me sad. It was once my favorite place to shop. Then I lost my job, so I stopped shopping. Then I lost weight, so my lovely collection of Manifesto dresses and tops no longer fit. And I was still unemployed, so I sold it at Crossroads. No matter, I thought, when I get a job I’ll buy more. THEN THEY CLOSED. But last weekend I was gifted with a Manifesto blouse, two sizes smaller than I used to wear, and it fit perfectly. If you have time to browse the Wayback Machine, you can still see evidence of the goodness that was their website and designs. And fabric8 has a little more info. Anyway, I’m absolutely delighted to have my one, lonely, perfect-fitting Manifesto shirt!

 

Five Things Friday (Saturday edition).

So I’m a day late. So sue me! Really, my intentions were good – I’ve been encountering good stuff and thinking about things I’d like to share, but that never really translates into a full blog post. I had the idea that every Friday, I’d gather up five good things and post them here – only this has been a pretty craptastic week, so Friday morning found me rather distracted. But because we could all use more Good Things, here they are a day late.

1) This Lisa Hannigan video. Lisa Hannigan in general, but this video? I just want to live in it.

2) Tattoos by Sunny Buick. I highly doubt that I would ever let anybody else touch my skin.

3) Out the Back Door by Jesca Hoop. It is impossible to listen to this song and not feel happy.

4) My Gentle Souls Gabby flats. A big shout out to Solestruck for gifting me with a pair last year! After a long Southern California winter (!) of wearing boots, these feel so light and springy.

5) Maru the Cat. Not just a YouTube celebrity – he has a blog! I feel like I’m cheating on Mischa just a little bit by loving Maru so much.

So there you go. Good Things!! Let’s see if I can commit to doing this every Friday. Or, well, Saturday.