a double-wide and a shipping container. home sweet home.

i love homes.  i love the beauty of an old house and the minimalism of a modern one.  i love tree houses and barns and airstreams.  i had a friend who once lived in a caboose which was converted into a home with a small kitchen and bathroom.  oh, how i envied him!  every time i stepped inside, that caboose took me back to a favorite childhood book, "the boxcar children." 

i grew up with two big brothers who also happen to be architects and some of this love certainly comes from them.  they taught me that not all houses are homes and that one could take a shipping container or two and turn them into an awesome home.

so with that, i'd love to share a couple finds from small house style which is about small houses, but also innovative design.  i found two lovelies from texas tonight including this double-wide which was converted into a pre-fabricated sustainable cabin built by urs peter flueckiger with his students at texas tech university.

courtesy of small house style

and the second is a converted shipping container (with a rooftop garden!) designed by jim poteet.

courtesy of chris cooper for dwell

how to care for introverts

i found these nice care instructions via dorothy joy while scavenging about on pinterest. very applicable to kids and adults!  i am introverted and always interested in where others fall on the introvert-extravert continuum.  my husband is so extraverted!  he can talk to anyone about anything, which just amazes me. i like people, but need some alone time to recharge and get back to myself.
  
i am wondering if blog readers are an introverted lot...

i hope you enjoy a leisurely sunday, whether alone or surrounded by loved ones!

(beautiful violet bella photo for sale on etsy and pinned by christina)

oh anthropologie

courtesy of anthropologie.com

the newest anthropologie catalog is beautiful, as usual.  i find rooms that i could only dream of within its pages and try to halfway mimic via my country flea market haunts.  i ran across an open letter by anna mantzaris to anthropologie yesterday via mcsweeney's and, well, it just sums it all up.

"Your little catalogue comes careening into our home every three weeks and suddenly I am dissatisfied with my life. Happiness flies out the window (sans Persian Velvet Curtains). You make me angry with my loving, live-in boyfriend, unhappy with our adorable dogs, and dissatisfied with our sprawling, albeit ramshackle, flat...

So after months of longing and lamenting, I took action. I knew I shouldn't have done it, but I made a pilgrimage. I braved the train, the crowds, the drizzly weather. I entered your doors and I stood directly in front of your Cooled Lava Dress (Oh, how very cool it was). I visited your Bay-of-Smoke Jacket. (You knew I always wanted to go to the Bay of Smoke!). Standing on your faux-sanded wooden farmhouse floors, amongst your clusters of light bulbs turned avant-garde chandeliers, I realized I've done it all wrong—the liberal arts degree, the MFA, the low-paying publishing jobs, the erratic freelancing and adjunct teaching..."  read the full letter here.

displaying kid art

i am working on my daughter's corner of the living room where i would like to create a gallery wall of her art over her desk.  i have found so many beautiful walls in my online travels and i certainly favor the look of frames although they may be a bit more confining for a rotating gallery.
aren't these walls engaging?

via Staci on Pinterest

there is the option of the wire curtain rod (which we have used) but it is not always pleasing as the art tends to sag pretty quickly and ends up looking messy like our refrigerator.  however, ohdeedoh does give nifty directions on a diy ikea wire curtain rod which is tempting.

courtesy of ohdeedoh

removable gallery corners from petit collage could pin down art but also make it easy to rotate at only $18 for a sheet of corner decals.

courtesy of petit collage

martha stewart provides diy instructions for a "wonder wall" which are made with magnet boards and foldout canvas walls.

courtesy of martha stewart

another idea that i ran across via opal never shouts is a graphic poster made from several scanned images of your child's art.  pretty clever and it could also make a great gift for grandparents.

courtesy of opal never shouts

make a wall mural with diy instructions via readymade magazine.  definitely not for a rotating gallery, but still pretty awesome.

courtesy of readymade magazine

a love story...

my husband and i are coming up on our one year wedding anniversary, and today i was thinking back on our engagement trip, which was sort of a honeymoon part 1. we flew to portland, oregon for a friend's wedding and spent the next few days driving down the pacific coast highway, ending in san francisco.

at the end of the first day of our drive, jay pulled off at a cozy northern california beach town called trinidad.  i had wanted to stop at every sign that advertised a scenic lookout, while jay was trying to hurry to get to this town by sunset!  we walked a little on the beach and sat on a rock (i was so nervous - by this time i knew what was coming) and jay pulled a ring out of his pocket.  he had successfully hidden it all weekend, carrying his little messenger bag everywhere and never letting me near it!  we managed to snap a few photos of the spot before our camera and phone batteries died!

it was the most exciting thing that ever happened to us.

the view from our rock

a view of the beach from a nearby hill.  our camera died literally right after this!

the next day we drove through the redwood forest and managed to get this decent photo of the two of us.  i think jay spent about an hour trying to get the camera perched just right on top of the car, press the button, run over, and pose just in time before the camera clicked.  normally, i would be impatient with this sort of nonsense, but i remember sitting in the haunting, spiritual silence of those giant trees and feeling totally relaxed while he fiddled with the camera.

we were like giddy little children on that trip, and i hope that never goes away.

we spent the end of our trip in san francisco, traipsing all over the city, usually ending up in north beach for coffee, food, and late night beverages.

we got married april 17, 2010, after which we continued our journey down the pacific coast highway from san francisco to los angeles...part 2.

i will reserve wedding photos for another post, but i should say that is how i met fellow slow life blogger, juli, our wedding photographer!  juli and her buddy tim snapped some unbelievable photos, and now she is my treasured friend.  here is a preview...

great southern documentaries on tour

courtesy of self-reliant film

the documentary, "for memories’ sake," caught my eye today because it speaks to the act of recording and appreciating your life...every single day.  a simple, yet amazing act of examining oneself.
the film looks at the life and work of angela singer, a southern homemaker who has taken an average of a dozen photos a day for the last 35 years, compiling an interesting archive of over 150,000 photographs of her daily life.  check out her "photos of the day" on flickr. 





the filmmakers, paul harrill and ashley maynor of self-reliant film, are on an 11-city screening tour this month as part of the southern circuit tour of independent filmmakers with a collection of short films entitled, "southern stories," that includes three films: the sundance award-winning short film, "gina, an actress, age 29" the itvs co-production, "quick feet, soft hands," and "for memories’ sake."  the films draw upon the filmmakers' tennessee roots and demonstrate their commitment to regional filmmaking.

if you live in the south and would like to catch the tour, there are still several dates this month.

the beatles complete on...ukulele?

music producer roger greenawalt is recording all 185 beatles songs on ukulele and releasing them via his website and itunes.  for real?  yes.  check out this version of "something" featuring casey shea on vocals.  it was recorded outside via ipad!

anybody going to south by southwest this year?  beatles complete on ukulele is one of the featured acts at south by san jose, a hip unofficial (and free!) sxsw event.

poster courtesy hotel san jose

south by san jose is hosted by austin's hotel san jose, an unpretentiously cool rock n' roll hotel and one of my favorite places in the world.  i love their minimal, laid-back style and i want my own home to have this feel.  if you are ever in austin, stay there!  or at least stop by for a drink on their patio.

photos courtesy hotel san jose