The Paris Wife

Once upon a time I used to be a book reader, until one day I wasn't. When I first started to travel for a living the trips were long and I read at dinner every night. Middlesex. Running With Scissors. Devil in the White City. Interpreter of Maladies. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. And a bunch more I can't recall. As the trips shortened it got to be such a pain to lug books around so I became a magazine reader. Many many many magazines. A few weeks ago I finally broke down and bought an ipad. And then an e-book. I started reading The Paris Wife on my trip to New York on Sunday.

I didn't want to put it down. Couldn't wait to get back to it. Read it until late in the night, just like when I was young. It felt like yesterday I was 15 and reading at the cottage late into the night, all summer long...Gone With the Wind was my favorite. I trudged through Moby Dick.

I can't remember reading a book so fast. I read 75% of The Paris Wife on Sunday (my Kindle reader told me that and my engineer's brain was happy to know it). I finished the book the next night. And then it was over. For me, a really good book ends with a death of sorts. The story is over and I'll never see it again. It is such a loss and then I'm sad that I read it at all. Weird right? But as much as I might love a book, I never read one twice.

I think historical fiction has become my favorite. You get a good story and learn something about the world in the process. This one was the story of Hemingway's first wife and I found their relationship so compelling, full of passion and betrayal. I couldn't get enough really. You could see the train wreck coming. It made me want to grab my husband and hold tight. It was a reminder of how much work marriage is.

Next up? His side of the story....A Moveable Feast. I hope it lives up to my expectations. From Hadley's perspective, he was a real cad and I found myself hating him for it. I can't recall reading Hemingway before so I'm looking forward to it. Stay tuned...



Pantry Makeover

We have zero storage in this house so what little we do have gets out of hand fast. This is our "pantry." In our last house we had a walk in pantry with floor to ceiling shelves and now we have a single corner cupboard with two lazy susans. It's always a mess and things fall off if you spin it too fast. I took a little inspiration from Pinterest, some Ball jars, and some chalk board labels from Martha Stewart and Poof! It looks a little better. Let's see if it lasts.

my gallon jars don't have a smooth spot so the labels look a little wrinkled

Kitchen Gallery Wall

I'm not the biggest fan of gallery walls but our kitchen had this huge empty wall just asking for….something. This first photo is from February 2012 so I have been thinking about this damn project for over a year. I've consulted everyone I know. I've put tape on the wall. Taken it down. Put more tape back up. I don't move fast people. But it's finally done. At least I hope so.

February 2012

a year later…

I painted over that odd little door in the upper left thanks to a great suggestion by Katie

why didn't I think of that?

I had been loving on the ödby frames since our Ikea first opened. When I started this project last year I had decided to only hang 4 frames in the kitchen so that was how many I had. In the end I decided to hang 6 (although I really wanted 9 but thought it would be odd to look up for the top row). No big deal right? Because I can just zip on over to Ikea to buy a couple more. But then, in an unforeseen plot twist, Ikea tried its best to screw me.  I ordered the 8x10's, framed the first four, and painstakingly hung them on french cleats. A couple of days later I skipped on over to Ikea and strolled happily through the kitchen wares and lighting only to stand stunned at the empty shelves where my frames should be. I almost fell over when one of the yellow shirt guys told me they were discontinued. Do you know how long it took me to hang those 4 mutherf*@$ing frames????? (FYI - Three days, two levels, a tape measure, a drill, and a screw driver). I must have 2 more, anything less is not an option! 

…and here we sit

I went home and started working on my contingency plan, checking stock at every Ikea I would be near in the next two weeks and every Ikea within 50 miles of any friends. Luckily, Bernie's cousin Jen swooped in and saved the day. The next day she sped on over to the Ikea in Canton, Michigan and grabbed me up two more frames. Crisis adverted!!! As it so happens, Jen was coming to visit us in a few weeks and she was able to bring the frames. Yeah! 

voilà!

Even though I replaced the glass with anti-glare they still don't photograph well. Most of the pics were taken in Le Marais when Bernie and I went to Paris except for the photo of the wine and Croque Madame, that was taken when Shaboom and I went to Le Café Marly at the Louvre on my first trip to Paris. Best 12 hours in Paris ever!

So, is it finished? I think so. But Bernie said he wants 3 more frames on the top row. 3 more discontinued frames. 

le sigh. 

What do you think????

if you're interested, the wall color is BM's Bitter Chocolate 

Loveland

Bernie's cousins Jen and Nipper came to visit us

I got on skis for the first time in about 6 years

they went to Vail the day before, I slept in

it was a gorgeous day at Loveland

fun was had and no one died

cousins

apparently no one got a single picture of Nipper

I had to steal that one from one of his videos

Jenny looking glamorous on the ski lift

 skiing scheming, it's beer thirty

Clyfford Still Museum part deux

Clyfford Still Museum

some of the lesser known pieces

so different from his big works of color

part one

Clyfford Still Museum

We went to the Clyfford Still Museum today for the first time. It was incredible. 

they designed the museum specifically for Clyfford Still

the space is perfect for his works

mostly my camera did not do it justice

Clyfford Still

RED/YELLOW/BLUE (and Black and White)

Bernie's favorite piece below

my favorite piece below

Still not only has enough works to fill his own museum but

it will take a decade or two to cycle through them all

5280 Mag wrote a great article about Still

Chicago

Pics from a couple of my trips to Chicago.
I love that bean!

and as if Starbucks couldn't get any better…
I met Kathleen at an awesome one that serves wine!
Best. People. Watching. Ever.