This is my new favorite mug. I just took up drinking tea, and the way all of the different flavors are displayed in a 1970's navy font up against a tan backdrop makes me want to try all of them over breakfast! Notice the bling diamonds in the background? Those are bejeweled on a tape dispenser Nana got me for Christmas! 
Ryan bought me the coolest peppermint scented "Denture Soap Set" this year from LoveLeeSoaps. I'm keeping the soap at my desk until I have the guts to wash my hands with it... it's just too cool to destroy! Also at my desk I have this little telling pebble that will hopefully help me maintain my #1 New Years Resolution: write everyday for at least 30 minutes. One day I want to write my own book as cool as those "Sweet Potato Queen" bestsellers that Cassie always buys me for Christmas!
The final part of my mood board is a charm that my mom bought me while I was working at Journey from Junk. "She makes pretty things" also has got me writing again, and keeping up with my resolution even before 2011 begins. I've starting penning a short essay devoted to my little charm and all of the stationery kits I used to be obsessed with making. The "Shabby Chic" background is from Rachel Ashwell's book of this same title, which was also a Christmas book gift from Cassie.
Last night after a long day at work, I went to Mariel's house excited to pick her up, grab some food, and take her to the Lemon to pack up her clothes that didn't sell. I also wanted her to take all the hangers that were taking up precious space in our laundry room. This was the plan, but life doesn't always go according to plan (like electric teapots, sometimes they break.) Instead of a lovely evening of Lemon clean-up, quesadillas from El Nayer, and free movie passes (from that wild and crazy girl Chelsea) I had a stressed out, cold toes shaking in my boots, wire hanger break in. I locked my keys in my car. Dammit. Mariel kept her cool and I cursed like a sailer, but refused to call a locksmith. "My uncle has helped me with this before, we need a wire hanger." Twisted into many configurations, sometimes with the aid of a rubber-band, a wire hanger can usually grip the lock and pull it up, or jab at the automatic unlock button. For me, without any patience, this is easier said then done. Not to mention how irritable cold toes can make a girl who can't get into her car. Eventually Mariel's parents came home from a fancy party (where someone else locked themselves out of their car) and tried to help. Her dad patiently stayed with us for a half an hour in the cold trying to pry the damn thing open with grace, but without any luck. After he struck out I gave the old girl a few more pops myself and said, "The hell with this Mariel, I'm going inside to call some company that's going to overcharge me for their help." "OK... but can I stay out here and try a few more times? I haven't tried yet." Mariel looked hopeful, but I felt hopeless. I told her to knock herself out but figured, what's the use? Why the heck would she even try anymore? Come inside and get warm, you're not a miracle worker. On the Internet I saw ads for a "$15 locksmith in 15 minutes (depending on traffic)" but didn't trust their conning fine print. Mariel's mom told me that a lady at work (who ALSO got locked out on the same day) had to pay 59 bucks and to not believe in any fifteen dollar hooey. But before I could pick up the phone to pay for my misery, Mariel came rushing into the house, minutes after I abandoned her, screaming "I got it! I got it!" Oh we cheered and her parents beamed, "That's our Mariel Braid, she's always had a steady hand, I swear to God!"
So after all that! We missed the dinner and the Lemon clean-out but made it just in time to see Black Swan and to pick up the comp tickets from Chelsea. I put my head on Mariel's shoulder just outside the concession stand and thanked her again. "You know what? I'm getting a $5 soda and some hot dogs! Let's celebrate!"
A few weeks ago on a very rainy, lemony afternoon I got an incoming phone call for "Lemon Thrift". It was a student from UMBC wondering if we still had records 2 for $1.oo on sale. I told the young voice on the phone that of course we did and to come on by and pick some out! A half an hour later and dripping wet, a young girl knocked on the door and thumbed through our orange crate of records. "We don't really have the best selection in there, all the good stuff's in my room. But for less than a buck a record you can't really go wrong..." She agreed but told me that the records weren't really for listening. "I'm doing a project at school and I actually have to make an entire outfit out of music."
I've been getting cozy with some witty ladies lately. Erma Bombeck and Jean Kerr get me to sleep at night after fits of laughter, curled up with one of their books. It's kind of funny for a twenty-two year old girl, unmarried, and without children to get such a kick out of these two famous mothers, but so be it. I like what I like.
After taking Samantha to work this morning in the rain, I lusted over the trailer parks on Telegraph Road. This might sound strange, but Ryan and I seriously talked about buying a trailer once... I think it must have been after we watched John Water's Pink Flamingos. At the time it seemed like it would be the ideal, cheap life for us and perfect for hoarding all of my vintage yard sale crap. So on the way home from dropping Samantha off, in the middle of Odenton Maryland, I daydreamed about a gypsy trailer decorated with wind chimes and beaded curtains. In my car my Elvis cassette tape whirled music in rhythm to the windshield wipers smacking my dashboard and I think that only enhanced my trailer park visions. However, now that I am home in my cozy room I think I've returned back to my senses. YAHOO ANSWERS says: "Invest your money, dont put it in the deteriation fund. Trailers are like cars. Once they get old, they are junk and of no value!"
Last night Ryan and I ate Pizza Hut and talked about the things we love. He named off Ninja Turtles and Universal Monsters and I gave my heart to teeth, miniature silverware, and Jell-O pamphlets. In the midst of all this listing he logged on to Etsy and found this pictured pendant printed with dentures and the phrase "Why'd you buy those false teeth at a garage sale?" How perfect is that? I am so excited for this charm to dangle from a chain and grace my neck. I was lucky because Ryan said he was "in the mood to buy me something" and this is something I certainly can't live without!
Whatever would a gal don an apron for, if not for a tropical tuna salad, congealed in the shape of a pineapple? It would be unthinkable to serve a crab or lobster mousse in anything but a crustacean form. Yes, Virginia, there were days of yesteryear when salads were made out of layers and layers of spun marshmallow, shaped into shimmering swirls, and dyed pink to match your dress. Marshmallows with mayonnaise, no less." -Lorette C. Luzajic ("The Joy of Community Cooking")
I keep having visions of wobbly jell-o desserts in the arms of a beehived woman. This should be my next play! I guess these visions all started when yellowed booklets about the "Joys of Jell-O" kept getting tossed at Objects Found, and I kept diving in the trash after them. Most of the time I cut-up my favorite gelatin images for fruit salad inspired stationery or card sets. But these days I can't bear to part with them! I'm growing quite the collection, but I would never dare try any of these strange recipes piling up in my file cabinet. And if I won't eat it... I'll write it!
I have chubby fingers, it's a fact. But today was a good day... and I give it TWO THUMBS UP! First I woke up without delay at exactly 6:08AM. Just in time to get ready with ease, instead of scrambling around like a breakfast egg. Tuesdays are my days with Callie, the little girl I babysit. I make it to her house by 7:20 so her mom can get to work before the traffic hits. Callie and I usually start the morning with bubbly cartoons about talking dogs and pet store animals. Before long it's time for me to toast her some raisin bread with "extra butter sauce". This morning I made her breakfast so deliciously that she ate all of it except the crust! We also had hot cocoa with mini marshmallows. At Callie's bus stop all the girls thought I was cool because their fifth grader friend had a shirt similar to mine, except with a crying orange. Lemons of course are way cooler. I wore my "Mom? Lemon Shirt" today because I was setting up for CCBC'S "Fair Trade Bazaar" to represent our little Lemon Meringue Thrift & Gift (check out our shop blog at www.lemonthrift.com). In the midst of YouTube videos about unfair child labor and the importance of fair trade coffee, clothes, etc. I had a mini yard sale and fluffed up the Lemon's secondhand/save the world policy as sweetly as the meringue on top of a pie. Even though my style was a bit different, the people at the bazaar made me feel like I really did deserve to be amongst their exotic goods crafted by starving women in third world countries. That was nice of them to make me feel so welcome EVEN THOUGH I STUCK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB!
This morning I woke up kind of grouchy. I had a bad dream, slept in too late, and felt overwhelmed in my own bedroom. Still in the process of organizing, there are colorful boxes and crates everywhere filled with stuff that I can't figure out where to put. I had a wonderful time with Julie at the flea market yesterday (too busy with customers to get much footage) but I ended up spending all of the money I made on more stuff! I didn't go too overboard but now I'm a little stressed because I need to get everything straightened out. I had finally made room with all the junk I brought to the market... only to bring more home! 
Here is the desk (donated to Lemon Meringue Thrift & Gift for FREE) and the shabby green vintage cabinet (for a BARGAIN from Objects Found, consignment shop) that has inspired me to blog! I rearranged my whole room so I could have an office up against this wall, and my bunk bedroom on the other side. I feel like a new woman.
