Every time it rains, it rains...

As my version of the stuff-it-in-the-mattress savings plan, I've been saving all of my loose change for the better part of a year. I guess it started when the fabric wall of the change pocket of my wallet tore, and I started keeping any change I got during the course of the day in my pocket. From there, I would unload it into a glass jar every night. I wasn't attempting to not spend it during the day, just putting aside the remainders to feed my dreams of colored walls and warm rooms, and maybe even a linen closet.


I counted the coins at some point over the summer and had about $75. After my gigantic craft room re-organization, I found a bag full of pennies (why I had them, I'll never know), and added them to the growing number of jars on my bookshelf.

For some reason, this past weekend became the moment to do a big counting. I armed myself with coin rolls, settled myself in the glow of the Halloween tableau on my mantle (which the camera could not capture, you'll just have to come visit), and got to work.

The verdict: over $160, including enough pennies that I had to buy a second bag of assorted coin rolls to package them up.

And now comes the fun of pondering what to do with that cash... I fear it will go into something unromantic like columns to support the sagging kitchen walls, but what all of those pennies brought to mind is the image I posted way back in January...

http://festiveyettasteful.blogspot.com/2009/01/flooring-of-future.html

So, what do you think I should do with my change?

What she looked like during the day...

Please notice that the curls artfully hide the burn mark on my forehead from a curling iron mishap...

The dreaded short hair problem...

Well, the moment has almost arrived, the moment I've been growing my hair for for almost a year - the JASNA conference, at which I am teaching several dance workshops and leading the grand ball on Saturday night. Thanks to the skills of a certain Princess, I have a big, floofy purple ball gown and a Jane Austen-y day dress, re-fashioned out of one of my existing dresses. I have white tights. I have gloves. I have dance shoes. What I don't have is the appropriate hair for this event.

My hair is so medium at the moment. It's neither long nor short, blonde nor brown, straight nor curly. In short, impossible. But as it's easier to pretend to be JA with the current length than the usual length, onward I go.

Tomorrow morning, armed with hair clips, bobby pins, hair net, hair spray, and a curling iron, I will attempt to affect an artfully arranged mass of something that stays out of my face, yet looks at home to the masses of people attending the conference who are sure to know the difference.

Note to self: bring camera.

If the results are positive, you may even see them...

Tea time accoutremonts...

From one of today's Design*Sponge posts:





From the tea accessories collection by Bodo Sperlien for Yauatcha Atelier. I don't even want to know what they cost...

No, really, I do need this...

Think of the Jello Jigglers this would make...



From Sillycone Inc. via Kim Vallee.

A map of the best new way to get to camp:



From Transit Authority Figures. We just have to get them to publish the light rail map of camp...

Wooden lace...

Okay, I have to figure out how to work one of these into my home decor:



Apartment Therapy featured a post on Indian screens last week. I immediately thought of blackwork patterns in cross stitch and love the combination of openness and pivacy the screens afford.

Maybe I can incorporate this into my backyard folly somehow...

Treasured tines...

For some reason, probably having to do with my lifelong love of my mother's Spode dessert set, which we only dusted, but never used, I am attracted to tableware of all sorts, and especially tea accoutrements and interesting flatware. Several years ago now the Cooper Hewitt in New York ran a fabulous exhibit called, "Feeding Desire," which traced the history of eating utensils from 1500 to the present.



The exhibit was illuminating and reinforced my love of naturalistic silverware - Susie's twig utensils, and others like the piece pictured on the cover of the exhibit catalog, and the huge, Victorian sets where one place setting could possibly contain 50-100 pieces.

Then just last week Design*Sponge contained a post about forks! It reiterated much of what was in the Cooper Hewitt exhibit, but was a fun read.



The image above is from the post, a drawing by Julia Rothman that shows all of the forks you should have in your silver service.

I now have the urge to go to flea markets and antique stores and rummage for treasures in silver. And yes, in fact, I do want strawberry forks and bonbon spoons.