Peter and I returned to Austin just before our blogiversary (the 19th) and have been doing nothing but playing catch up ever since. Each day I feel like I accomplish a million things, then I look down at my to do list and I see a million more. I guess this means I’m an adult. Hopefully, it just means I’m busy.
The drive home from Chicago is one that we’ve done before (Can you believe that we bought our car exactly a year ago and have since put more than 20,000 miles on it?!), but this time Peter and I were both swearing that we will never do it again. A late night flight from New York to Chicago the night before we left added a lot of exhaustion onto the trip. Then, on the second day of driving we got a a flat tire. It was a horrible experience, but we learned a lot from it.
We pulled past the Texas border, cheering because we knew we would be home soon–when all of a sudden our tire pressure light came on. After inflating the tires and then watching the light come back on, we suspected we had hit something. Sure enough a huge nail was lodged into our back tire. Peter wanted to drive the rest of the way of the way home, but I knew it would be a better idea for us to stop at the Honda dealership and get a replacement. Luckily, it was the middle of the day and we were sure we had all the time in the world. Only, when we got to the Honda Dealership the parts guys were telling us they didn’t have a tire that would fit our car. “Okay, no problem,” we thought, “we’ll just head over to the Discount Tire.” Before this trip I thought a tire was a tire and you could get them anywhere, but apparently our 2009 Honda Fit has a very rare sized tire and after spending hours searching for one, we were desperate and didn’t know what to do. We also learned that you’re only supposed to drive 60 miles on a spare, so Peter’s original idea to drive home was out of the picture. We were pulled over at a gas station using the GPS and my iphone to search for places that might have a replacement tire. Out of ideas, we went to Target and Peter bought a bottle of green goo called Slime that was supposed to fix our tire.
{via}
Right as he started getting out the original tire, it started pouring. The dogs and I stayed huddled in the car while Peter pulled out everything that was packed on top of the tire storage area. (I think he packed and unpacked the car 20 times that day.) The rain only added to his frustration and after a very long twenty minutes he knew the tire was destroyed beyond repair. We were out of options and somehow the afternoon had vanished and it was already 6:50 PM. We knew we weren’t going to make it home that day, so we called one of our fabulous friends and she and her boyfriend graciously let us stay at her house. In the next ten minutes we called every dealership in town and eventually located one that had a tire that could work.
The next day we arrived at the dealership, only to discover that the Slime had ruined the computer system in our car that measures the tire pressure, so it had to be replaced. A few hours later, we were finally on the road.
If and when we have to take another long journey, Peter and I will be buying another full tire before we go. Here are a few takeaways from our experience:
1.) Find out if you have a rare tire size before you go on a long car journey. If so, prepare accordingly.
2.) Don’t drive more than 60 miles on a spare.
3.) Slime destroyed the sensors in our car, use caution when using a product like this if you have pressure sensors in your tires. (It also voids the warranty on your tires, if you have one.)
4.) Good friends are hard to come by, but Peter and I are so lucky that we have some who will drop everything, go to dinner with us and drink wine and watch a movie, even on a work night. Thanks again, Caroline and Nick 
Hi guys! Just to let you know Peter and I will be in and out for the next couple weeks. We have a lot going on and don’t have much time to post–But we’re not gone forever and I predict that I will be posting more soon.
Anyway, after Peter and I hung our chalkboard in our house we realized that we had a perfectly good cut of mirror glass that we didn’t want to get rid of. At some point we may want to put the mirror back into the frame, so for now we want to keep it safe and accessible.
(Yes, we still need to repaint the walls downstairs. They’ve been like this since Peter moved in.)
My fiance, being the smart man that he is, said the best way to keep mirror glass safe is to lay it down flat. We instantly realized in would make a beautiful base for a centerpiece. A simple vintage tablecloth added to the simple elegance of the vase of peonies that Peter bought me today.
If you look carefully at the peonies you’ll see a tiny bit of blue floral tape painter’s tape helping to keep the arrangement together. Since Peonies are such heavy flowers it helps to add a grid structure to the top of the vase. True florist tape would have blended a million times better but because were not entertainng and I’m trying to use things we have, painter’s tape worked great. Masking tape would have worked as well. Now as our flowers continue to bloom, thy’ll have a little extra support!
I’ll have to admit that I’ve always wished I was better at arranging flowers. It just seems like such a wonderfully hostess-y thing to know how to do. Do you have any great tricks to pass on?
I made a goal for myself to learn how to paint my nails really well by the end of April. So far it’s coming along quite well. I think when I slow down and just do it my nails look a million times better.
I’ve found various tips and tricks across the internet, but I’d love to hear yours!! Please spill the details so that I can look as fabulously put together as all of you. On that note, I have a friend who swears that women are prettier with chipped nail polish. Thoughts? Does it capture the I don’t give a F*** look or is it just plain tacky?
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.
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?
