the state of things

i'm trying to understand that 37-day-old refrigerators just break down suddenly. i'm trying to be patient and understand that even though it's only noontime friday a part cannot be ordered until monday. i'm trying to understand that we'll be without a refrigerator for several days. i'm trying, i'm really trying.

etsy finds

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what i've been up to

steve was in ohio this past weekend surprising his mother for her birthday. i worked on some projects around the house. of course.

i bought this picture at a garage sale for $1 before we left seattle. i bought it for the frame.
here's a sneak peek of what i'm doing with it. i found this super fun fabric in albuquerque nm on our road trip from seattle to dallas. it's the ghastlies by alexander henry. and i painted the frame hot pink. it'll be a quirky addition on a dining room wall.
i also spent a lot of time framing some of my favorite artwork and hanging a small gallery wall in our breakfast nook/desk area. you'll see more of this area when i recover and paint the chairs in here. fabric for those is on the way.
and, steve and i went to homegoods last night! my first trip ever. yes, ever. washington state doesn't have a homegoods. somebody needs to rectify that.

ummm, maybe we hit it on a bad night, but i was expecting a little bit more. we did buy a pair of these lamps for our master bedroom, but sadly they don't work in the bedroom like i thought. love the lamps, but i'll be returning them and maybe picking up another pair i saw.
and lastly, occupying my time this morning was a trip to the dentist. ugh. i hate dentists. nothing personal to all you dentists out there. steve and i literally had dental check ups on our last day living in seattle so we wouldn't have to deal with finding a dentist here in dallas right away. yesterday while eating my lunch, i forgot to take the fork out of my mouth before biting down and chipped my front tooth. yikes. small chip, but still, it needed attention. nothing like going to a new dentist and having him work on your oh-so-obvious front tooth. but he did a fantastic job. and i'm snaggletooth no longer.

pram parking

i learned something new this week. in denmark, mothers park their prams outside of shops and restaurants and then go shop or eat. where's the baby? ....outside in the pram.

***

joanna over at a cup of jo wrote about this.

would you do this? could you do this? i know i wouldn't. i wouldn't even let pixel tied outside of our small grocery store in our last small neighborhood.

head over here to read the comments and see what others had to say about this.

***image by jenny brandt for a cup of jo

maps in the bedroom

i have a roll up map similar to the one below but larger. i displayed it in my office in our house in seattle. it nestled nicely into a niche above my work table.
i'm not feelin' it in this house. i just don't think it belongs in my office. so steve had the brilliant idea the other day to move it to the bedroom, since we need large artwork above our bed and our predominant colors in the master bedroom are blue and orange. my sister thought it was a bad idea. "a map in a bedroom? i don't think so."

so i got on pinterest in search of inspiration. and came up with these.
i love these. granted, these are all neutral schemes. my map is a little more "educational" in appearance. doesn't hurt to try it...

rachel austin

i already own several prints by portland artist rachel austin. i just spotted this in her etsy shop. i love it!!
and according to her blog, it'll be available on canvas from sundance and llbean. congratulations rachel!

the pixelimpress 2012 calendar!

it's done. it's here. you can buy it here.
it's always a labor of love. i started it a month ago before we left seattle. one cross country move later, it's done.

i think july is my favorite month. i love mr. octopus.
although april's pretty cool too. also love a hot air ballon.or you decide. which month is your favorite?
and because i'm a nice person, if you buy 4 calendars you get a 15% discount. woohoo. go ahead, tell all your friends...

apparently

i'm not business savvy. otherwise i would have snatched up the remaining few of these yesterday at target for $12.99 each and then try to sell them on ebay for 9 times that. i didn't even think of it, even after the salesclerk told me that one woman purchased $1400 of missoni merchandise for most likely selling it on ebay.

(i blame my muddled thinking on the toddler who was allowed to blow his plastic horn over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over sounding throughout the entire store like a duck was being crucified in a back aisle with his mother only ever saying shhhhhhh over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over even while she was trying to have a cell phone conversation. i'm sure at dinner last night she was telling her husband about the petite brunette in the women's department who gave her the menacing look of "if you don't make him stop that noise now i'm going to rip that plastic horn from his little hands myself".)

but, back to the candle.... it's going in the upstairs guest bath. the colors are perfect for that room.

i made my impromptu trip to target after my post office run late afternoon. i was thinking maybe i'd go to target this weekend to view the missoni collection, never dreaming that people would be lined up outside the store before it opened yesterday morning (as the clerk told me). and never dreaming that this is the only missoni stock they have. it will not be restocked.

i did snatch up 3 of these bins. for $7.99 apiece. perfect for the ribbon storage in my office.
i really like the colorful pattern.
and i bought this cute little cosmetics bag.

did you get anything?

remember my pantone post

about the postcards? well, i would write on them with these. or perhaps just look at them. they're so pretty, all lined up. you can get a set of 36 markers.


24
12
72 (not shown). or go for the mackdaddy of all. 150.

found here on sale. i read about them here.

mommy's mean

mommy found her old grover in some boxes last night. he's seen better days. she introduced us. look how good i'm being. me and grover. sittin' on the sofa. snuggling. loving each other. life is good.
maybe grover wants to come upstairs with me and be my lunch. mommy won't know.
oops, how'd that happen.mean mommy. where's MY grover?
yeah right. like i'm not gonna sniff him out on the table. i'm a birddog for heaven's sake. sniffing is my life.thanks mommy. maybe you're not so mean.

we labored...

***

over labor day weekend. labored long and labored hard. and just because you only see pictures below of steve laboring, don't think i was sitting around watching the real housewives and eating bonbons........ the tennis u.s. open was also on.

we braved ikea first thing saturday morning. the swedish cattle pen as steve called it. it frustrates me also. it's so huge, i get overwhelmed with the selection. but then when i go to find something (like curtain rings for the rods we bought), we find out they don't sell them.

above is a pretty, styled version of the stolmen shelf system we got for my office. hopefully one day mine will be styled also and i can show you an "after" shot, but for now, here's the "during" shots of it.

my two printers will sit on these cabinets, like this. paper in the drawers. in the store, i was displeased with the off white color of the shelving. but once we got it home, i realized it was more white and blends nicely with the wall color. i like it.um, and here's the dining room. yep, we're still overwhelmed by boxes.
and look what i have in my office..... a tv! we got this free as a promo when we bought our king size bed last year. never hooked it up in the old house. now i can be entertained while i work.
speaking of work.... i'd better get to it. happy short week!


***image from here

back in business!

pixelimpress is back open for business! one would think that with 3 weeks off, i'd feel a little more rested. but there's no rest when you move cross-country. although my office here in dallas (i can't believe i just typed that my office is in dallas.... hasn't quite sunk in yet) is still in a somewhat shambles, it's time to make calling cards again. head over here to shop.

and here's a sneak peek of my 2012 desktop calendar that i drafted before i left seattle. i still need to put some finishing touches on it, but look for it in the shop next week.