Thursday, March 6, 2014

Craigslist has some good stuff right now!

I haven't been trolling Craigslist in a couple weeks - but today I found a few great nuggets. Check these out!
$65 each or 4 for $200
Great deal on these cool modern chairs.

Etagere- $295
Very cool!
Mid-century slipper chairs with a little bit of a Chinese feel.
$450 for the pair. I love these.

Yep, sucker for nesting tables, these are $45 bucks. Awesome.

Love this green velvet head/footboard set. I think I would recover it in another fabric,
but it's pretty cool as is at only $175.
And this is my favorite. I thought I finally found the cabinet for the dining area in the apartment - totally perfect
except that my wall to wall space is only 65", and this says it's 65" - which makes me worry that I would
have to totally WEDGE it into the nook and that might look bad. I'm remeasuring when I get home.
But it's a great cabinet and it's only $125.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Conde Nast Traveler finally found out what we've known for years!

Conde Nast Traveler featured this little article about the Autogrills today in their email daily! Yes, you are correct, it's the gas station! All across Italy along the Autostrada routes are Autogrills - where you can gas up your car for a small fortune and get the best Italian food, espresso, chocolates, whatever. It's awesome. And it aint no crappy 7 Eleven or speedy mart bs either, it's really really good. Next time you're soaking up the good life in Italy - check out the Autogrill for a panini! Woop woop.

BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES


Three Great International Chain Restaurants You'll Actually Want to Eat At

Chain restaurants often get a bad reputation—think McDonald's, Burger King, and Applebee's. But venture outside the United States, and you'll find a number of surprisingly good chain restaurants that, well, actually serve food. Good food. Here are our favorites:

Most chains don’t resemble a Restoration Hardware showroom—except forAUBAINE, which is found throughout London. But beyond the washed-oak tables, plank floors, and soft lighting is its solid French-inspired fare: fried duck egg, roast monkfish, moules marinière with a side of frites, bien sûr.

Sydneysiders—and our associate web editor Krisanne Fordham—swear by the Portuguese-inspired OPORTO and its marinated rotisserie chicken. Also worth it: the Otropo Burger, grilled chicken topped with pineapple, bacon, cheese, and Oporto’s special creamy mayo sauce (might not sound appetizing, but it'll blow your mind).



Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Oh, sigh.....



You know how sometimes you really want this:

Prada boots

but instead you get this:
Honda Rancher

That's how it went down around our house in the past few weeks! Not that I'm not thrilled to have this farm helper, it's just that I can't wear it with cute jeans or skirts and feel good about myself. Damn you Honda Rancher, damn you!

Oh, and before you start thinking that we got this thing for "fun" - it's really for work around the property. It will pull the huge field mower attachment:
Field mower attachment - also more expensive than the Prada boots!

And, it will also get up our access road and will haul logs and dirt and make it easier for us to get chores done. Which means that we will get to play more golf in the summer, and someday I will be asked to join the Womens Sr. Tour and get a bunch of money in endorsements and ultimately be able to afford the Prada boots. 

So I guess things will all work out. In the mean time, don't tell anyone we got a 4 wheeler - it's kind of embarrassing. 



Friday, February 28, 2014

Spa Critique



For Christmas, Kit got me a really nice spa membership to Gene Juarez downtown. It’s a three month “passport” to spa services – you get one a month for 3 months and you get to choose if you want a massage or a mani/pedi or whatever.

He thought it was a good way to check out the spa and decide if it’s a good downtown option for us on a regular basis. So far I’ve done 2 months and have one treatment to go – but I thought I would share my thoughts so far.

Gene Juarez means well, but I think they have gotten “tired”. They have turned into sort of the mass market spa/salon, and while they offer nice services and are well located, I think they are phoning it in on the customer service and maintenance of their facilities.

First of all, the entrance to the salon on Pine is pretty less than average. There is a little retail storefront for product and usually a salesperson there that leads you to the elevator in the back that takes you up to floor 4 where the salon and spa services are. All fine except it just looks a little bit dirty and shabby. The gal or guy working there is nice, but sometimes a little “insincere”. Last time I was there, a not so well groomed tranny was working the storefront. She/he was perfectly nice, but looked as if she/he were well past a few grooming appointments herself. Hair and make-up ok, but the lowcut top with ½ inch chest hair grow-up was a little unsightly. Don’t get me wrong – I really enjoy the beautifully well groomed tranny’s around town, working the MAC counters at Nordstrom, doing their thing. They are spectacular and their make-up is AWESOME – but c’mon, you can’t show up for work looking like you’ve been up for 2 nights straight with your “look” all messed up.

Next – 4th floor check in people –AWESOME! Super nice, so really pleased at how well the front line is taking care of customers –

Nail treatment – my first Mani/Pedi was really good. It was really the best manicure I’ve even gotten. It lasted through 2 airports, 4 rounds of golf and a week at the beach in Maui without a single chip. Really good, and so was the pedi. I would definitely go back for that. Great job from Julie – but she may have told me TMI about her entire life….. just a little. Sigh…Still, good job.

Massage- Here’s where we get back to the less that great treatment. Get in the spa area, they warn me that the normal “foot bath” attendant wasn’t there today, so I would get my foot bath from my massage lady. That’s fine. I was led into the changing room, given a locker and told to change and go back out to the cozy little waiting room area. I could barely fit my coat, bag, shoes into the super little tiny locker, so that was irritating. Then, I pull out the robe, and the lining is sort of tattered and torn which is also irritating. Doesn’t someone do quality control and cull out the older damaged robes after they come back from the laundry? In my case, apparently not. I was kind of discouraged by that. Also, I think my robe was a small, so I felt like a medium would have been better and was worried it was going to fly open during my little foot bath. So, also a bit uncomfortable when it should have been nothing but cozy. Then, my massage gal – she was really nice, but why do they make you fill out the form and go over with you what kind of massage and pressure you prefer – and then THEY DON’T DO IT. It was one of the weakest massages ever. I don’t know if this lady was just tired or it was the best she could do, but it was so light. I had told her I liked FIRM pressure, ha. She didn’t talk to that was nice, and the room was nice and warm and all that, but I won’t go to her again.

I have one more treatment in March – I think I’ll arrange another massage just to try another person and see if I get a better robe, etc. But, if it’s not good – I think I’m done with Gene Juarez.

There is another spa downtown called Ummelina that I used to go to – but over the years it had gotten a little run down too. I heard recently that it’s improved again, so I think I’ll try it too.
In the end, I only have a few rules:
1. Walking distance from our apartment.
2. A robe with no holes in it.
3. A tranny greeter with nice make-up and no chest-hair grow-out.

Is that too much to ask, people?

Yes
no

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Final final on the pillow

Remember the curtains I finished last week. Well, the last thing I was going to do, but didn't have time to finish and show you was the final final on the pillow. I sewed Kit's childhood summer camp pennant to the front of it. I have a bunch of these pennants from his boarding school and summer camp days and they have been sitting around in boxes for years. I thought they would be really cute and homey on pillows at the farm.

I kind of LOVE how this turned out. More to come!


Monday, February 24, 2014

Don't take it Personally!

You know how when people are being dicks and they say DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY after they shit all over you? I hate that expression. Somewhere, sometime in the last 20 or 30 years or so it has become socially acceptable to say whatever mean thing you want, and as long as you follow up with ...Don't take it personally..., then somehow the dickish comment made is perfectly ok and you have no recourse..... because ohhhhhh nooooo.. you'd be "taking it personally". 

I checked out Urban Dictionary, here's their second definition of DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. I knew I was right. Next time, I'm throwing punches!

A phrase people use as a disclaimer to make an excuse to say or do something rude or mean to you to prevent you from having a poor self-image or so there won't be repercussions and make you feel they still like you even though they probably don't.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Wow- this made my day

Yesterday kind of sucked - nothing major, just the usual work crap that makes you feel like you are trapped and that you are wasting your life and that there is no way out.

Then I saw this - someone had posted it on Facebook - and I say RIGHT ON W. GIBSON, WHOEVER YOU ARE.....Isn't it just the BEST thing to see when you are feeling all prickly about your value and self esteem at work. I sort of felt like it was a message from above. 

Enjoy!

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes. ~ W. Gibson