Dear People with Kitchens Rugs:
Who are you? What do you do? Do you have animals? Do you actually cook? Are you just insanely neat cooks who never spill anything on the floor? Do you wash your rug? Does it fit inside your washing machine? Please explain the logistics of this! Let me say that I don’t mean this post in a mean way. Truthfully I want to be you, so please help me. I would love a sweet little rug in our kitchen to liven up the area. I just have a feeling that with our habits the rug would go from sweet to nasty after the course of one meal.
{Young House Love}
{Bower Power}
I’ve read that natural fiber rugs work well in the kitchen, but I can’t help myself from thinking that various drippings would inevitably stain it and cause it to smell. Does anyone want to give us any advice? Has anyone tried this and had a bad experience? Please fill us in.
Dog food is one of the many things that we buy in bulk. We always have a steady supply of food on hand for our little dogs and we save a lot of money buying it in such large quantities. But, as I’m sure many of you have realized, a huge bag of dog food is never a good design choice.
So here’s our quick fix.
We keep a steady supply of dog food out on the counter in a cute glass jar and we hide the rest of it in plastic bags under the counter. We reuse the plastic bags every time we buy new dog food, but you could always use other canisters for a more eco-friendly option. It’s not genius but it definitely makes a world of differnce.
Where do you store your pet’s food? Do you repackage it like we do or do you just leave the bag?
I’m not sure if this is a nationwide phenomenon or if it’s just Austin’s eco-conscious mindset, but it seems like every time I turn around clothing swaps are popping up on social calendars. I’d never heard of a clothing swap until recently when a friend told me that it was a recessionistas answer to the economic downturn. Basically everyone brings things they don’t want, everyone exchanges clothes and you donate the leftovers. Hmm, so I meet up with all my friends and we trade clothes? That just sounded preposterous. I mean, we all have different body types and if we want to get rid of it, wouldn’t our like minded friends want to get rid of it as well?
I remained skeptical until I heard of a clothing swap with free cupcakes and wine. I’m not a girl who turns down a free cupcake, so my friend and I grabbed some old clothes and drove to the event. When we got there we saw racks of clothes divided into categories of t-shirts, tank tops, tops, skirts, purses, jewelry, jeans, shoes, etc. It was heavenly. The girl who was hosting the party gave a quick thanks and we all raided the clothes. She had a dressing room set up but everyone inevitably ended up changing and traded clothes in the bathroom, hallway, and bedroom–basically anywhere that wasn’t in front of the giant wall sized window in the living room.
There was no fighting over who got what, instead all the girls were so supportive. Someone would turn around and say, “Oh I don’t know if this fits,” and everyone would counter saying, “No you look awesome!” Girls would see each other trying on something they’d brought and without even a hint of jealousy exclaim, “OMG that looks so much better on you than it ever did on me!!” It was such an amazing event and I met so many great women and tried on some beautiful things. Free Seven Jeans-uh, yes please. I returned home with number of diferent goodies and a smile on my face.
For those of you who need photos, here is one of my favorite tops that I brought home.
I got a few more, a couple dresses, and a scarf. It was like Christmas all over again.
This weekend Austin hosted its 2nd Annual Women’s Clothing Swap. There were free haircuts, an alteration center, and lots and lots of free clothes. It sounded too good to be true. I went with the same friend that accompanied me to the last event and I have to be honest: we were really disappointed. I really want to say we loved it, but the clothes were more outcasts from Goodwill than great finds from Buffalo Exchange. In addition, the girls in attendance were nowhere near as communal. People were territorial and giving everyone mean looks. It was terrible. I grabbed a few things like an ugly suit that may have a salvageable skirt and another skirt that is literally four sizes too big. I figure its cheaper to learn to sew using free clothes as fabric than it is buying some from the store.
So, what’s the take away from this post? I think clothing swaps are a good idea, but in the future I will probably opt for the small-medium sized ones where I know the girls and people are actually interacting with one another. There’s a lot of fun to be had at these things, I just think it was lost in the masses for the event this weekend.
And just for fun, here are some recommendations on what to wear if you opt to go to one yourself.
- Think of it like being in 7th grade gym class all over again. Save your sexy underwear for another time. You’re going to be changing a lot. I wore tights and a sports bra, but then again I’m pretty shy and modest.
- Wear shoes that you can slip on and off easily. You don’t want to be tying and untying your shoes but you don’t want to abandon them either. People tend to think items that are left alone are free for the taking.
- Choose things that you can layer clothes over and still get an idea of what an outfit looks like. This helps minimizes changing time.
- Don’t wear a dress. Skirts are good, but dresses leave you searching for a top to pair with the bottoms that you’re trying on, which means that you lose valuable time.
- Bring a huge bag to stash your new finds.
If you’re not as modest as I am then a lot of the advice above may not apply. And because I’m an absolute dork, Peter took ridiculous pictures of me wearing a good ”Clothing Swap Outfit.” I wouldn’t usually recommend a cardigan because its just one more thing to keep track of, but I get cold all the time so I usually don’t leave the house without one.
Okay, yeah I’m officially the biggest dork ever (and no, I don’t follow the no pairing black and navy fashion rule). Anyway, have any of you been to a clothing swap? What was your experience like? Did any other Austinites make it the one this weekend and have a completely different experience?
Friends,
I am tired, cranky, and I think I’m getting sick. I know when to say when, so I’m going to finish up my work and go to bed early. While I’m resting I will point you in the direction of something fabulous, something that makes me smile just about everyday. Meet {this is glamorous}. Here you will find some beautiful home inspirations like this.
{this is glamorous}
And you will find other things that are just pretty, like this.
{this is glamorous}
Whatever you find, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re not already following this blog, take a second to subscribe. Your inner girl will thank you.
Have a good weekend!
We’re taking a break from the bathroom to work on our taxes tonight. This is the first year that I have to file on my own. Luckily, I have my dad to help, but seriously why didn’t anyone ever tell me that you’re supposed to save all of these receipts? I thought I was being responsible by shredding them! This is not common knowledge amongst those of us who have been claimed our whole lives!! Now, I’m searching through old credit card archives and tearing the house apart looking for anything and everything that I might have forgotten to shred.
With this newfound realization that I’m supposed to keep this paperwork, Peter and I decided to buy a filing cabinet and a new shredder. Apparently all of that great shredding that I did all year killed ours. (Can you sense the bitterness?) After visiting store after store only to learn that filing cabinets and shredders are both *really* expensive, we headed over to our neighborhood Goodwill. And lo and behold, we found both of these things for a total of $24.
We actually saw the guy wheeling this filing cabinet out onto the floor and chased him down. I think we terrified him.
(The sticker on the filing cabinet was there when we bought it. It was not an accessory that I chose.)
I was skeptical about buying a used shredder. I reasoned that someone probably donated it because it didn’t work, but Peter found one that someone had jammed paper into and didn’t feel like fixing. He patiently removed the jam and found an outlet to test it out. All the while I was shifting back and forth impatiently like an angry teen out shopping with her mother. He’s pretty great for putting up with me–and for other reasons as well!
I like our filing cabinet but I think I want to jazz it up a little bit. The boxes below are my inspiration, but I’m generally a neutral kinda gal who likes smaller pops of color.
{Little Green Notebook}
What do you guys think? I brought home a few swatches to get an idea of the shade of blue that I want to paint them, but so far I’m not loving any of them.
So, should I paint it blue, paint it grey (because that is always an option), leave it as is, or find a new idea all together? I know this one is already thinking long and hard to figure out a solution.
A little P.S.–If next year will be your first year filing taxes on your own, I am warning you save everything!
