leak

a current view of my kitchen ceiling:

a week and a half ago a pipe in my neighbor’s kitchen upstairs (I live in a duplex) burst and I had the joyous experience of walking into my kitchen to find water pouring from multiple places in the ceiling. Luckily I know where the main is, and shut it off pretty quickly, so the damage to things other than the ceiling was minimal. Tip: if you ever get to choose which room a pipe bursts over, choose the kitchen – there is very little that is soft/water damageable in there. Tip #2: go figure out where your water main shut off is right now. Random fact: water filtered through layers of ceiling and insulation is dirty and doesn’t smell great.

A potential silver lining is that the landlord’s insurance may cover new paint for the entire kitchen. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

retro

I love this outfit from Anna Sui’s Gossip Girl inspired collection for Target

That vest = awesome. And will hopefully fit nicely into my fall budget.

nice to remember

that we all make mistakes:

from Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP newsletter that went out to what I’m assuming is tens of thousands of people this morning. Oops. (here’s to hoping that the intern responsible doesn’t get fired)

step two

peonies

One of my favorite times of year is when Trader Joe’s carries peonies.

step one

house plants

One of the best parts about taking so many photos of my house is that I can go back and check things like the growth of my house plants (and the history of my wall colors):

about two and a half years ago

today

also about 2.5 years ago

today (in the same pot!)

Since until a few years ago I was a notorious plant killer, looking at these is incredibly satisfying to me. The second one has come back from the brink of death several times, and the first one? Best plant ever. I think I once forgot to water it for two months, and it still thrived (although it’s definitely happier when it does get watered.)

purple and gold

Anh-Minh posted pictures of Emily Walker’s bungalow yesterday and I haven’t been able to get this color scheme out of my head. It was litterally the first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning (yeah, I’m weird.)

The walls in my bedroom are painted a really similar yellow, and right now the accents are orange/red/pink, but would be pretty easy and cheap to switch out for purple. Just a thought . . .

I also love how she carries one color scheme through the entire house. I’m too capricious to do this, but there’s something really appealing about the idea to me.

wood and metal

love this oak cheese grater from Lovisa Wattman

via More Ways to Waste Time

ugh

I have catterpillers eating my mint again:

any advice on how to get rid of them for good (and organically)?