Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 10/31

Here are my Pickled Hutch picks this week:
In the spirit of Halloween, an adorable girl on a pumpkin. $25
Dear French bloggers, I love you, and this picture reminds me of you. Victorian wooden stool. $75. I think this would make a great plant stand on a table or, like you see here, a shell stand.
Pretty tissue holder. $12.
The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Tue. to Sun. 11 - 6:30. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa. To see more pictures of what you'll find at The Pickled Hutch, click here.

Earthquake!

Holy cow, did you feel it? If you live anywhere near San Francisco or south of the city you did. IT SCARED THE LIVING YOU KNOW WHAT OUT OF ME! It was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake near San Jose (about 50 miles south of here), but we could certainly feel it here. I don't think they scare a lot of people who have lived here a long time. I think most people are used to them. Little ones happen all the time here. But I'm certainly not used to them. It's a much different feeling than I would have imagined. Before we lived here I imagined it would feel like really, really strong thunder--the kind that can shake a house. But it's much more frightening than that. You can really feel the power of the earth moving in a way you can't with booming thunder. It made our apartment feel like a bowl of jell-o. Fragile to say the least. And it's clear that there's really no time to prepare at all. It starts and is happening before you know it. Andrew was just talking to his co-worker who lives in Palo Alto, which is closer to San Jose than us, and he said it sounded like a freight train in the back yard and that his kids are really scared. Me too, and it wasn't even that strong here. California does have its faults, and I'd rather not be here for the next big one.

Bad Kitty

I'm at my wits end with our cat, Sophie. She is a very, very bad kitty. This week she chewed into, and ruined, lap top power cord number three. As you can probably tell, it's not because we're not feeding her (her weight is another issue). Those power cords aren't cheap. $80 each at Apple. She also tears up the furniture, most of which lives under old sheets so she won't think about attacking it. (The sheets come off only when we have company.) She whines incessantly, she eats the plants, and often knocks them over when we're not home, she likes to sprawl out on my supposedly drying cards when I'm not looking, and the WORST for me is she keeps me up at night. She acts psycho throughout the night, running from one end of the apartment to the other, often running into things, she climbs on the furniture and rattles the pictures on the walls with her paws, and she meows like crazy.
I know cats are naturally nocturnal, and I do try to keep her up during the day so she'll sleep better at night, but I think she's mentally ill. And it doesn't help that she's an only child and that I'm a bad parent. I should have gotten another cat when I got her, but the vet says I shouldn't get another cat now. She'd freak out. Also, I should have disciplined her better when she was little. I have some friends whose cats are so well behaved--the don't jump on furniture, they don't scratch things (but their parents had the cats' claws removed, which I can't bear to do), and they seem to listen to their parents as if they were dogs. Sophie may be an only child, but she has toys, a scratching post (thanks to Caroline), and we've set up a bird feeder outside so she can watch the birds, and still she's bad. And I play with her, of course. She gets frisky at around 3, so we usually have play time then, which lasts about 5 minutes before she's worn out. The only disciplinary tool that I've read about that works on cats is squirting them with water when they misbehave, but Sophie doesn't seem to mind the water too much when I squirt her in the middle of the night to try to get her to be quiet. I think she just wants me to get up and give her attention even if it's negative. Bad kitty! I think we both need therapy. My experience with her has led me to believe I'm going to be a terrible mother when we have kids of the human sort. Any advice would be appreciated.

Home is in the Art 12

From Katrine's Kandi Shop: "While We Were Sleeping." I think that's a barn in the background, but like I said before, houses for animals count too! In addition to her prints, you'll find cute cards in her etsy shop. Her tea party cards are some of my favorites.
Image shown with permission.

Mission Indie Mart

Something fun to do on Sunday if you're in San Francisco:

Songs of Mass Destruction

As a big Annie Lennox fan, I was super excited to buy her new CD today, Songs of Mass Destruction. She's rock, she's roll, she's pop and soul, and I love all the albums I have of hers, especially Diva and now Songs of Mass Destruction. Today I'm particularly drawn to some of the darker songs on the album: "Dark Road," "Smithereens," and "Lost." With the exception of three songs I'm not terribly crazy about, I love the whole album. Actually, I can't tell you how much I love it. I've been listening to it over and over today and seem to like it more and more with each play. Check out a bit of it for yourself. Here's the video for "Dark Road" below, or go to her web site where you can hear the song there while looking at an adorable ivy covered house on the home page. (Sometimes I feel like watching a video distracts me from actually hearing the lyrics and also informs my thoughts on the lyrics before I've had time to make up my own mind about them. So if you feel like that too, listen to it on her web site instead of watching the video below.) Also, I liked listening to her thoughts on the album, which you can hear on YouTube. I can't believe I missed her in concert here on the 10th, but if you're in Atlanta and interested in seeing her in concert, she's playing on Monday. Tickets are still available.

And the Winner Is . . .

Domino has chosen the finalists for their decorating contest. Go vote now if you wish. I won't be voting, though, because none of the final picks strike my fancy. My top pick out of all the submissions didn't make the final cut, but she's a winner in my book. I love her portraits, as you can imagine. So here's to Jessica in NY! This is how I like vintage meets modern. I have to say, I'm more of a just vintage person, but to me this is a good example of how both styles look great together.

Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 10/24

Here are my Pickled Hutch picks this week:

Large, beautiful birdcage. $72.
Floral print. $33.
Votivo candles. I think these are the most fragrant, best smelling candles, and I'm glad Lisa carries them. She keeps one lit in the store and people are always saying, "wow, what is that wonderful smell?" $26.

The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Tues. to Sun. 11 - 6:30. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa. To see more pictures of what you'll find at The Pickled Hutch, click here.

Paper Quilt Project

I'm so excited! I've been asked to participate in the Paper Quilt Project in December! Each month artists are selected and sent a random paper pack to create a paper quilt, or small collage, representing a day in their life. Then those 12 quilts will be sewn to all the other months' collages, creating a larger paper quilt. Once the quilt is complete, it will be auctioned off or donated to a charitable cause. Check out the gallery section of the web site to look all of the beautiful collages created so far.

A Different Kind of Fall

No, those aren't fall leaves dotting the ground. Wishful thinking. This is actually a picture we took in the spring in Golden Gate Park. Orange, yellow and pink poppies and deep, dark purple tulips. I like this picture, though, because the colors look fall-like, and that's the best I can do for now--find a picture that's fall-like since there are so few signs of fall in San Francisco. I've been a little fussy lately because I love fall, but fall doesn't make much of an appearance here in San Francisco in the way that I'm used to in Georgia. Andrew says the leaves are just beginning to turn in Atlanta and that it's still pretty warm there, so I guess I'm not missing much, but when I read posts lately from Alicia's beautiful blog, I'm so envious! (Oh, and this blog, which I just found. The fall pictures under yesterday's post are so beautiful!) This weekend I planned to make soup, which I made, but it was hot here, and I felt strange making soup. I was hoping for a cool, fall-like weekend, but I guess I had enough of those in the summer anyway. Summer and fall are kind of flip-flopped here. Summer is cooler than fall. It's still bizarre to me, but the flowers don't seem to know the difference! They love it here year-round.

I really shouldn't complain at all. It is beautiful here, regardless of what temperature it is or what season it is, and regardless that it's not what I'm used to. Flowers are still in full bloom everywhere. My neighbors a few doors down have basketball sized hydrangea blooms that just won't quit, and their roses are as big as large grapefruits that continue to have new buds popping out all over. The neighbors behind us have a fig tree and an apple tree, both covered with fruit (and all their green leaves). The neighbors behind them have a lemon tree covered in lemons. Lemon trees are everywhere here. As you can imagine, it doesn't look like fall here. I think I'll take some pictures of what I'm talking about so you can see it for yourself. Today the high is 77--a hot day for San Francisco. I don't think I've seen it get above 80 in the year and a half that we've lived here. Having moved from a place where temperatures in the high 90's are normal in the summer, I know I shouldn't complain at all!

Home is in the Art 11

I saw this cute box handbag on Ashley's blog. As you might already know, I love box handbags, and I love houses. This is actually a barn, but houses for animals count too! So cute. She bought it at the thrift store. Thanks Ashley for letting me show your great score. (Great little desk too!)

Four Happy Years

Today Andrew and I celebrate four happy years together (well, we'll do the actual celebrating when he gets back in town). We may not look especially happy in the stone face picture above, but we were happy then and still are! I can't believe it's been four years. These years have flown by. It feels like we're just playing house, and I love it. I love him and love being married to him. And I just really like him. The importance of liking someone wasn't something I thought too much about before I was with him. Easily my favorite part of my life is that he's in it with me.

Before Andrew and I were married my uncle asked me what I thought was one of the best things I could say about Andrew. I didn't even have to think about the answer because I had already thought about it. I could have said a number of good things, but I gave him an answer that was really more about me and what I learned from relationships in the past than it was about Andrew himself. I told him that Andrew was the most interesting, but least complicated person I ever liked. I thought only complicated guys with issues were really interesting before I met Andrew. You know, the kinds of guys with baggage, drama, inner emotional turmoil--I used to be drawn to them--thought they could use some loving rescuing. I officially gave up the rescue effort about 6 months before I met Andrew and could finally see how great and interesting an uncomplicated (pretty much issue-less) guy could be.

And so we were married. Here are some pictures from our wedding at Virginia's in Atlanta. Virginia's is no longer in business, which makes me a little sad. But hey, it was a restaurant, and we figured it wouldn't be there forever. It's now the swanky and delicious Rathbuns.

I love this first picture of us. We were just sitting there, waiting for the photographer to tell us he was ready, and he took a sort of test shot without prompting us to smile. It reminds me of old fashioned photos when it wasn't customary for people to smile. I call the picture, "stoic couple." Then the last picture is a favorite too. I call it our "glamour shot" because neither of us normally looks this good in pictures--somehow this one just turned out good of both of us. We framed it with a wide mat and had people sign the mat as a guest book instead of using a traditional guest book. Now we always see the good wishes, kind words, cute doodles and silly drawings our friends and family wrote to us.

Love to my sweetums. Happy anniversary! Thanks for being the best.

Cheap Thrills on Thrift Thursday

I won't be posting any thrift finds today for Thrift Thursday because I went to the Container Store instead to get storage bins for my card supplies and spent a lot more money there than I would have if I went to the thrift store, so I thought I'd show you two of my favorite flea market steals. One is from my mom's house and one is from my sister's house. My mom got this jeweled bottle for fifty cents (she actually got two of them for a dollar and gave one to my grandma), and my sister got this shell chandelier for two dollars. It was tangled and missing a few shell pieces, but for two dollars my sister was patient to spruce it up. Some people pay more than $1,000 for a shell chandelier like this! This kind of patience makes me think of Corey's chandelier (originally found at the bottom of a cardboard box) that she describes in the Chez Moi section of her blog.

Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 10/17

Small hand painted teapot. $12

Pair of cute mushroom candles. $10

Pair of flower and leaf sconces. $125

The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Tue. to Sun. 11 - 6:30. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa.

Boo hoo

Here I am. Crying. Boo hoo. Boo hoo. Andrew left today to go out of town for work. I normally feel a tad bit excited about him going out of town if he only goes for a day or two because it means I can take up the whole bed, I don't have to wake up at 6:30 (that's when he usually gets up for work lately), I can rent cheesy girl movies that I know he'd rather not see, and I have total control of the remote (not that he's really a remote hogger, but still, I just watch what I want). A few days of complete selfishness is fun, but after just a few days I miss our normal routine, and I miss him. Even if he's gone for just a day or two, I miss him. This trip he'll be gone for almost two weeks. Good thing we have video chat. Here are a few pictures of how we talk to each other when he's out of town. (He appears in the big box, while I appear in the little box in the bottom left corner and we can hear each other over our computers). He still makes me laugh even when he's not here. See those funny hats and eyes he has there? Those are just fun graphics from a software program that he "puts on" just for fun when we chat. I miss you bunny rabbit!

Home is in the Art 10

Welcome by etsy seller Ashleyg.

Party Time

I've been busy making party hats for the Beehive and the Pickled Hutch. I love making them. How could you not have a good time making something as fun as party hats? When I went to Laku to take pictures of the store, I was talking to Yaeko, telling her how much I loved the stuffed animals she makes. I was picking them up, saying how cute they were, and she giggled and said, "oh, they are so cute!" as if she were seeing them for the first time and almost as if she were looking at something someone else had made. It was interesting to me to see her have that kind of reaction to something she made herself because I feel the same way sometimes. When I step back, and when I get the chance to watch someone else looking at something I made, my perspective sometimes shifts, and I see what I've made in a fresh way.

Delayed Pickled Hutch Pick

Here's my third Pickled Hutch pick that I'm a few days behind in posting. I started to describe it as a clip board, but obviously it's not a "clip" board. I need to ask Lisa how she describes it. A ring board? Not sure. In any case, I like it. It's $22.

Home is in the Art 9

I thought we'd move indoors today for Home is in the Art. That is, after all, where we live. Besides, it's raining here in San Francisco (which is so nice, as it hardly ever rains between spring and fall here). I originally saw this painting on Under a Blue Moon's blog. It's by Laurits Anderson Ring, 1854-1933. Beautiful isn't it? I think I'll move indoors more often.

Thrift Thursday

Recently I read about Thrift Thursdays on Carrie's blog, and I love the idea--share your thrift picks with everyone on your blog and the Thrift Thursday flickr pool. As if I needed another reason to go to the thrift store! I love thrift shopping. I can always, always find something. And I love the thrill of the hunt. So here are my thrift scores from a week ago that I bought at the Salvation Army on Valencia: A bookcase for $30, which was an icky brown color that I painted black, a dark red, round vase for $3, a green pottery stand of some sort for $2.50, which I'll use to hold all my cute buttons, a small silver cup for $1.00, and a silver vase for $6, which I think is silver plated. The vase was completely tarnished but polished up beautifully. For what it was, I thought the bookcase was a little pricey, but it's the perfect size for the spot in our bedroom that I had in mind, so I got it.

Pickled Hutch Picks of the Week - 10/10

I know I'm a little bit late today with my picks, but here are two of them. I'll add the third pick later tomorrow, after I head over there and take the picture!
Floral oil painting. $48

Antique fireplace screen. $125
The Pickled Hutch is an antique store in San Francisco that I love. Every Wednesday I pick three items to post on my blog that I especially like. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA. Open Wed. to Sun. 11 - 6. PH 415-641-8875. Ask for Lisa. To see more pictures of what you'll find at The Pickled Hutch, click here.

Home is in the Art 8

Works in Paper by etsy seller nickolya. He describes them better than I could: "To reduce a city to almost nothing, to render the landscape in two dimensions, to see the world in a sheet of paper . . . is to see the humanity in everything."

New York

London
Images shown with permission.

Espresso at Home

Our latest kitchen toy: A Gaggia espresso machine (bought on ebay). We got rid of our coffee maker and are going full espresso. Andrew has become quite the barista! Espresso, latte, cappuccino, macchiato--whatever your pleasure, he'll happily make it. Here's a round of espressos in the tiny Bodum glasses. I love these glasses. You can use them for hot and cold drinks, but the best part to me is how the interior glass cradles the drink. I think drinks always taste better when they're served in a beautiful glass!