Top Five

I feel like I am living inside a John Cusack movie right now. As if all the dark and twisted happenings have this undertone of humor that everyone else gets but I never experience because all I do the entire hour and forty minutes is brood. Admittedly his earlier films, like Sixteen Candles, are a bit light and fluffy for my current mood, but his independent stuff after the 1980’s turned up collar era is pretty close to how I feel.

In High Fidelity, one of my very favorite of his performances, it was all about music, how that related to his whole life and what about it defined all his relationships. He made top five lists for everything in his life; the entire movie was based around that premise. So here are some of my own top five, in no particular order.

Top five things I do all the time

Wake up and immediately pour a cup of coffee the size of my head. This corresponds with the fact that I do not speak until at least half of that cup is ingested. Some days it is the entire cup. Believe me this is safer for everyone involved.

Say please and thank you. And mean it. Common politeness is so underrated in society today.

Look at southern California. When the weather report comes on and the meteorologist shows the picture of the entire country, my eyes immediately go right for SoCal. Most of the time I miss the temperature here in the north east because I end up lingering so long over on the other side of the country.

Over analyze. Both a blessing and a curse I guess. As a writer I tend to put this quality to good use most of the time when typing away but in other areas of life it can become a bit tedious. There are days when I really wish I could be one of those blissfully unaware types, a person who never questions anything because they have no idea that they should. It would be so cool to truly be able to live in the moment without my brain always wondering what it all means.

Start things that I never finish. School, countless novels, career paths, relationships, living my dreams. The list goes on an on and it makes me good at everything but great at nothing. This is not to say that I never finish anything however, it is just that my moods and interests wane; sometimes the big things I was so enthusiastic about at first bore me after a period of time and I need to move on.

Top five favorite finishes

Stripes. Tough to complete because there is so much prep involved but they are one of the most versatile, gorgeous finishes. They can be done in so many different ways (product, color, size, etc) to achieve the perfect effect. The boys nursery is done in nine inch wide, alternating, strie stripes. It gives a wallpaper effect.


Brick. Talk about prep time but very loft chic!

Stainless steel. I have not actually installed this anywhere yet but I am dying to do so! Want to hire me? I’ll put it on your backsplash, kitchen cabinets or anywhere that sleek look is desired. Go ahead and give me a call. Have brush will travel.

Stone with veining. Another fun finish for its versatility. It looks really hot in a bathroom as tiles under chair rail.

Crosshatch. This picture shows a chameleon beige base with a pearl glaze in very flowing crosshatch basket strokes. Everywhere in the room and at all different times of the day the finish presents entirely different. For example on the lower right wall it looks like a solid color but in late afternoon the skylight above shines off the pearl and it reflects beautifully.

Top five movie quotes

“You’ll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle.”
Lester Bangs, Almost Famous

“My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage.”
Aunt Frances, Practical Magic

“But I am an artist. I am an artist. Hey! I am an artist!”
Samantha James, Just Friends

“On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.”
Narrator, Fight Club

“What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”
Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

You Are Allowed To Pop Out Anytime Now

The nursery is complete. Furniture has been constructed. The shower is over. S is growing increasingly more uncomfortable by the day. Names have been chosen. Well, OK, in all fairness no real names have been chosen but for the last month the babies have been referred to as Hammer and Anvil by B and just the other day I heard S use the names too so I guess its official. Believe me, this is far better than Helmüt and Thor which were circulating for a while. Yeah, those never really caught on with S. I wonder why?

With the nursery walls complete they will need to accessorize. I am thinking of buying them this lino block print by beeczarcardsandgifts:


Guess Rock Band will be out for roughly the next year. I have no idea where we will store all those components but it looks like we are going to have to break down and buy it. I swore there would never be a gaming system in my house but as with so many other things in life it is important never to say never since most of the time that is exactly when it will happen.

The culmination of many projects came to a close this past week and the start of two more begin this week. Man I love being busy!

First are the two bags I was commissioned to design and create for my Mom’s friend. She is giving them to her sisters; one is in New Jersey and the other is in San Diego. I would be more than happy to drop off the latter in person so feel free to fly me on out there. Respectively, the bags are named City Girl and Casual Coast. There is one center section, six outside pockets and four inside pockets which include a cell phone and pen pocket to hold three pens. They take a while to construct but I really love how well these turned out. Perhaps I will make some to put in my Etsy shop once I have wrapped up the next two jobs.





Speaking of the next two jobs, here is the sample board for the strie next week. It is a blue over a yellow-orange so the glaze will show as teal. The base color is called Gingerbread Man and I just love it as a warm and cozy feeling hue. The board looks angelic because it was scanned in so pay no mind to the aura surrounding it. This job will begin Wednesday after I get my car back from the dealer to determine why my pesky check engine light came on a couple weeks ago. I choose to blame it on the rain.

The other sample board will be laid out a little later this morning so no photo yet but it is going to be two adjacent walls of faux brick. I convinced her not to put actual spackle on the walls since she has small children and one out of control matchbox car or toy box lid could be the end of that finish. Instead it will be a multi tone glaze application and some highlight and shading to give the feeling of real bricks.

Now for the big guns: the nursery!

Before with gray rag faux treatment & damaged ceiling

Bye-bye gray!

Yes, measuring out little tick marks, lining up the laser level and taping took an entire day

Voila! Ceiling, trim and strie stripes complete! Just one last step to go…

A cozy nursery for Hammer and Anvil, my soon to be born “nephews”

Sorry S, I had to post the “illegal” picture.

Awesomeness

That’s right. Awesome is just too weak a word to describe all the fantastic things going on lately and the addition of the ness is completely warranted. I am physically beat but so energized and feeling creative again for the first time in a long time!

First and foremost I am working a few faux jobs again which I completely forgot how much I enjoy doing. There is frustration, sweat, dust and spackle in my eyes sometimes not to mention glaze on my bare knees and falling asleep on the sofa in front of the Red Sox game at nine o’clock, only to wake up at eleven asking Matt “Did we win?” but when it all comes together and I see the ridiculous look of excitement on the face of my clients it is all worth it in the end.

So I started the nursery for S&B this week. Wait, let me back up a little bit. S, as many of you know, is pregnant with twins and was sent home on bed rest a month ago after a quick but scary stay in the hospital. Her baby shower is this weekend but I have very superstitious beliefs about baby showers. I almost never go to them but if I do I will only get a gift for the parents and never anything baby related. For example when M was pregnant years ago I gave my Hospital Survival Kit gift including books she & J would enjoy and a few other time passing activity type items like a board game and some mad libs. The second those boys were born I was shopping for them but not a moment before. With all that in mind, and the fact that S is like another sister, their gift had to be really special. Once they started talking about moving B’s office out of that room I knew exactly what it would be.

We worked together on colors and a finish that would be elegant but still kid, good for boys but not baby blue and something I could get done quick just in case she popped really early. We finally settled on nine inch strie stripes in alternating milk chocolate brown and cornflower blue. Today I spent 5 hours measuring out, tick marking and running the tape lines on all the walls, tomorrow will be the brown stripe and Thursday the blue goes up. It is going to be so killer I wish I was still there painting right now.

Next week begins another strie job in conjunction with some repair work at a client I acquired through my Interior Designer contact I have worked with a few times now. Time to buy a radio as that job will be just me and the walls. Massachusetts is having their “tax free holiday” this weekend so score for saving five percent on everything!

Earlier this week I was humbled and honored to receive this:

Sandra Ree is one of my very favorite new blogs I now try to read every day because she is a sweetie and her photography is a-ma-zing. I could not believe she chose me as a recipient of this blog award and seriously I was touched. Thanks girl! The basic premise is I pay it forward and pass the award on to seven bloggers. I would like to pass this pretty prismatic crystal statue on to: Bridgete, Ginger, Judi, Jim, Kate and Trayce. You all rock bloglandia in your own special ways and I applaud all of you for it!

The dreaded tag occurred this week as well but instead of being bummed about it I welcome the challenge from David! If none of you have ever read his blog be warned that there is a lot of straight shooting and cursing from an amazingly talented writer. I love it. Hope you do too.

And now, seven random facts about me? Bring it on baby!

1. I reinvent myself just about every day. Seriously I have more than enough personalities on reserve for everyone to enjoy.

2. I started smoking again when my sister was in town. No judgment. Someday quitting will stick.

3. Red meat left my diet about 6 months ago and I barely miss it.

4. I love to feel the personal victory that comes with talking to a man about football and knowing more than he does. There was a commercial on for Direct TV a long time ago when the installer was talking about the channels a couple would get and the woman started asking about all the sports she could watch. At the end the man looked bewildered but the woman and the installer bumped fists. I like to think of myself as being that girl.

5. My favorite movie of all time is The Goonies.

6. I really miss having a dishwasher. Unless you count Matt.

7. I always struggle with the seventh random fact because I want it to be one of those heavy hitters that makes people laugh or cry. Yeah, I got nothin’.

So as is my rule I am not going to tag anyone back. If you feel like participating though by all means go for it because random facts are always a fun read.

My final bo-bickety happy dance moment happened last night when I opened my yahoo mail and discovered that a fairly prominent musician I had requested to interview for The Organic Mechanic not only said yes but sent back her responses. I am so excited to post this interview on Friday I could burst right out of this chair. I hope you all get a chance to stop by and read it because she is amazing and so sweet to take the time out of a very busy tour schedule to answer my questions. I hope it helps both her and our blog with a boost!

So that is about it. Time to go fall asleep on the sofa in front of the Sox game.

Stand in Awe

As inspired by taking part in some really fantastic comment discussions recently on subjects ranging from pastry to politics, how these things relate to superheroes and the fact that everything old is new again.

When I was a very young girl I lived in a tiny town called Humarock. If you read me over the fall and winter last year no doubt you heard all about it. The beach and that town in particular, have been the inspiration for many of my endeavors. My business name, Chucka Stone Designs, is a direct derivative (Hum-a-Rock, Chuck-a-Stone). Since a couple family members owned houses there I spent nearly every waking moment on the beach as a kid and as many as I could spend each year after. See my profile picture of me at age three. I still like to be barefoot as much as possible. For a short time when we were kids we lived in my grandparent’s house and my favorite thing about it was the fireplace on cold nights. My sister and I would take our night time shower, wash the dishes from dinner and then toast marshmallows while our hair dried and we watched Wonder Woman. We would go to bed smelling like a campfire, without all the pesky bug bites, knowing that girls who owned invisible jets and deflector cuffs ruled.

As I moved into grammar school, the Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake and My Pretty Pony reminded me why I was much more partial to trucks and climbing trees so it was no surprise I was drawn to cartoons like Inspector Gadget instead of Muppet Babies. With so many movies being made from old television shows these days it is only a matter of time before someone turns that one into a blockbuster hit. Oh wait, I almost forgot, David Kellogg tried using Matthew Broderick as Gadget back in 1999. It is really hard to keep up.

The current new millennium blockbuster based on a truly one of a kind old time show starred the guy who actually voiced the character of Gadget. How sad that even in 80’s animation Don Adams was pigeon holed into the role of a bumbling idiot spy just like his character Max in Get Smart from twenty years prior.

Now Maxwell Smart was the coolest dork I had ever seen on late night syndication. I mean, seriously, he had a shoe phone for crêpe sake, how could he have not been superfly?

The real secret to both Gadget and Max of course is that they never really did anything right and the women in their lives, Penny and 99 respectively, were the real crime solvers and spy thwarters just like Diana Prince as Wonder Woman. These ladies were the quiet force to be reckoned with even though they were likely dubbed as total geeks; Diana could bench press a football team, Penny’s only friend was a dog and 99 was a multi-lingual violin player.

The moral lesson: Never underestimate the power of a woman. Even if she is a geek, one day she just might save your life or set you free with her lasso of truth.

Writers Flood

Recently a friend, one I wrote about a while ago in relation to pretzels and metaphors, came over for tea and we got to discussing her insane dating adventures as if they should maybe be written into a book or something. Since I am a writer that tiny “maybe” turned into a pen, notebook, outline and introduction of a -- life story, fiction, non fiction, autobiography, complete fabrication. So the story will go something like this: My friend is a completely fictional character, all the men are completely fictional characters, the situations they find themselves in and conversations they have are completely fictional; but it is all based on things that have actually happened in her life. I guess the movie credits will read “Based on a true story” or something to that effect. She wants that Gilmore Girls chic to play her in the movie and although I have no idea who that is, maybe the wheels can get rolling now on making that happen.

She and I have been friends for a very long time and all joking aside I am honored she would trust me enough to take all the painful, albeit hilarious, situations that come from dating as a single, divorced mom in one’s mid thirties and spin them into a fun story for the world to read. She is not putting any pressure on me to finish anytime soon because in her own words “there will be plenty of material for years to come I’m sure.” This got me thinking about where material for stories comes from and how I have been so inspired to write for the past year after such a long drought before that.

It occurred to me that I was trying to quiet the inner artist for a very long time, attempting to work at jobs where I was unsatisfied doing nothing more than bringing home a paycheck every month because I thought all I really needed was the money to pay my bills. That was so very wrong because I was miserable everyday even though my bank account was overflowing. It was truly the cliché double edge sword. Now that I have decided it is time to do what it is I was meant to do, there will be no stopping me.

Since age twelve I have wanted to be a writer, and have been journaling since, but now, twenty years later, I am finally pursuing that career path. I chalk it up to the need for life experience to draw from to express my true voice to the world. Even though furious typing is what I see myself doing on a daily basis to fulfill my life, it is not just writing these days that finds me flashing the creative bling.

I have become obsessed with creating many forms of art for fun from digital photography to mixed media collage to website creation to crafting and of course faux finishing.

I bought myself a cute little point and shoot digital that resides in my purse now everywhere I go because you never know where inspiration might appear. A couple weeks ago I came across this sign at a crosswalk, I thought it was cute.



Matt cringed when he saw a photo of himself that I took at a concert the other night but I turned it into something else and he loves it now. Is he cute as a cartoon or what?



My Designer contact in the world of faux asked me to create a sample board that would look exactly like the tile her client was insisting she have on her walls in a powder room. After arriving at the proper base color it was just a matter of applying the plaster like product in layers of various colors, stippling it, veining and spotting the board with glaze. Not too shabby (although the scanned copy looks more pink and does not show the luminous quality of the plaster layers as well as the sample board).



Even though these pursuits are fun I have come to the conclusion that they are really just vehicles to help me stay inspired to write more. Be it this blog, articles published online or the brand spanking new, self published Random Lunacy zine I am selling*, there is no way I will be experiencing a block as long as I keep my eye open for the creative nuances of inspiration the world has to offer.

* Shameless self promotional plug: You can buy my zine by clicking this link or the photo of it above & right. Currently it is only for sale through my online Etsy shop but that could change with Volume 2 due out first week of June 2008!