bohemian hellhole

Just to have something to do

{via PBS} *

{via simply recipes}**

 It feels like fall is the perfect time to start cooking. So, it was timely to see the movie Julie and Julia, which just makes you want to cook. All the time. With lots of butter.

So, grab a cookbook, some pearls, some good butter {western family will not do}, some heavy french cookware, and enjoy the simple pleasure of making something out of nearly nothing.

* These hooks are fantastic! A hook for every pan, and a pan for everything!

**I am especially fond of Julie Powell's apartment transformation in the movie, so pay attention if you see it!

Waiting for the sun to come out, Alice

Voting Day

May all our patriotic decor be as classy as this. Actually, I just want these doors.

Since we finally have a flag, I should put it up today.

Ready to rock the vote, Alice

Happy Halloween

I totally prefer the day of the dead.

Lining my steps with yellow flowers, Alice

PARK{ing} Day

Everybody in Seattle is too angry to give up their parking space. At least on our street. 

www.parkingday.org

Photos of parking day on Flickr.

Feeling a bit behind the times, Alice

Steamroller Press

Look Here

For all of you who have thanked me for not mentioning letterpress, this post is my failure. At least it involves heavy machinery. Thanks to my co-conspirator for sending this my way. It reminds me of when my cousin used to buy moccasins in Enumclaw, and then have her boyfriend drive over them in his big ass truck to 'wear them in'.

Posting things for sale on craigslist, Alice

Architectural Rescue

The Gateway Redevelopment Group in Davenport Iowa is a not-for-profit organization formed by a group of neighbors with the desire to save the abandoned historic structures in Davenport's Hamburg District.   Visit the Architectural Rescue Shop.

I am so tired of old landmark houses and buildings being destroyed to make way for new cookie-cutter condos made with inferior construction materials. It hurts my feelings. I am all for urban infill, but does it have to mean  new construction? Enough soap-box for today.

Planning a trip to the Re-Store, Alice

Expensiver

Design Star started the contestants out with a white room, and furniture from LoveSac. I believe the room would have looked  better left alone.

I watch Design Star, I'll admit it. A poor substitute for Bravo's Top Design, but it is entertaining in an awful way.The contestants may surprise me, who knows, but so far the results have been amazing in their mediocrity. In all fairness, this week the challenge included a $500 shopping spree at a craft store, so it's no wonder that all the rooms looked extra crafty. But, no one was forced  to hot glue beads to the wall. Seriously. To view the room designs, click here.

A Word of advice: if you ever needed multiple examples of how not to design anything, watch this show.

Loving this picture, Alice

In Memory of Edith

Read more here.

I have driven by this house so many times, admiring it's tiny fist to the sky. With new construction towering around it, I often wondered what drove the owner to stay, even when their neighborhood went up in smoke, to make way for Trader Joe's. Since my first visit, numerous articles have been written about the owner, Edith, and her refusal to sell her home to property developers despite large monetary compensation.   I was sad to learn that she died on Sunday. She wanted to live, undisturbed by the world at large, in the house that was her home. Part of me is glad she got her way, and part of me wishes she could have lived out her days without steel girders and cement walls creeping up around her. The fate of the house is unknown, I really hope it is preserved, a testament to the importance of home vs. a pile of money. To Edith!

Admiring stubborn old ladies, Alice