Welcome to the family, Sloane

Matt and I were lucky enough to have received a full set of red and white wine glasses as wedding presents.  Awesome.

However, they spent the last 8 months living in Basement Purgatory because we didn't have any room in our kitchen to properly house them.  Not awesome.

So, for the last 5.9999 months, I'd been trolling Craigslist for a stylish wine rack...and come up with a whole lot of junk and one decent option that was horribly overpriced.  Bummer.

Thus, when we received a Crate & Barrel gift card for Christmas, I did a little happy dance, because I knew that we could finally justify buying Sloane.  Hooray for Christmas, gift cards, and more storage space.

What do you think?

 

A close up of the decorative elements:

And what's in the drawer?  Fresh napkins (why did no one tell me that cloth napkins need to be ironed?!) and Madame Julia herself.

Craigslist (Mis)adventures

Given the new arrivals, Matt and I are selling our old living room furniture on Craigslist.


In theory, this service is awesome, right? You have some--let's face it--junk that you want to get rid of, so you post it on the Internet and then someone will come to your house to take it away for you, and pay you for the opportunity. Awesome!


Now, much as with real-life, I feel a lot of pressure to say a lot of meaningful things when I post on Craigslist. But there really isn't much fodder for waxing poetic about books on floral arranging, a TV stand, or some red shoes that didn't fit.

So, I was quite pleased after crafting this literary stunner:

Gorgeous wood and glass coffee table with two matching side tables for sale.

Glamorous curved legs with inset detail.

Very sturdy. Large enough for a big room, but glass tops keep the set feeling light and airy.

Set is in good condition, but does have some minor scratches and one small chip in the glass. I can send additional pictures of these via email. Would be fine as is, or could be sanded/painted for a new look.

Side tables: 21" tall x 22" x 26"
Coffee table: 16" tall x 36" x 36"

$60 for all three.

However, as pleased as I was to have come up with all this stuff to say, I was equally and oppositely DISpleased to receive the following email 20 minutes later:

I would be interested in the coffee table and two side tables. Please E-Mail me with more info!

NO. I can't email you with more info...because THERE IS NO MORE INFO. What more info do you want???? To hear that the wood that comprises these tables was ethically sourced from the arboreal forests of Gabon by a village woman named Idena who has four children and enjoys swimming in the river when she's not busy mounting her one-woman deforestation campaign??? BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW.

All I'm saying is, you wouldn't email James Joyce being like, "Ulysses is a good novel and all, but could you give me a little more info?"

I imagine this is how the circus ships elephants...

...just in bigger crates.

BACKSTORY:  As previously hinted, we have recently decided on some new furniture for the living room.  Now, because we (okay, *I*...but I'm going to persist in saying "we" because it seems less marginalizing to the XY member of this family) do all of our furniture shopping online **because one can shop online while working as a doctor at one of the ten best hospitals in the country**, we have become very acquainted with shipping fees, handling charges, our Fedex guy (Ronnie), cardboard boxes, packing peanuts, bubble wrap, and styrofoam.

So, I didn't bat an eye at the possible packaging that this guy (actually, 'these guys', because we bought two) might come in.

That was, until they got here... in crates...

Like for elephants.

Getting them out required a crowbar.  At least the elephants probably walk out of their crates on command.

NOLA Trip

Matt and I just got back from a fantastic trip to New Orleans.

Now, we recognize that NOLA is generally known for gross excesses of drink and drug, widespread debauchery, and street crime...none of which we are particularly inclined to participate in. We're married; our days of debauchery are far behind us--and, let's be serious, my college debauchery mostly took place within the confines of the Science Library, which is to say, was minimal (...maybe non-existent).

These days, a wild Friday night at Casa Durham Salad Days typically consists of eating a salad on the couch, watching two episodes of The Office streaming on Netflix, and staying up until maybe midnight (*gasp*) looking at Completely Stupid Stuff on the Internet. Glamorous life we do lead.

But, if there was one thing we could get behind in New Orleans, it was the food. We were bound and determined to spend four days eating like we'd never eaten before, embarking on gluttony so magnificent that a new word would need to be created to fully encapsulate the popping-the-buttons-off-of-our-pants spree of gastronomy we were about to begin.

After our first meal (lunch at Elizabeths's -- Matt had chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and green beans, I had a catfish po' boy with sweet potato fries), I had the great idea that we should photo-document everything we eat.

At that point, Matt's plate was licked clean, but there were still some morsels on mine.


Somehow, despite this genius idea, we both immediately forgot about the rigors of journalism by dinnertime, at the Palace Cafe. As we were waiting on the bill, I finally remembered. (These are the remains of a white chocolate bread pudding and a Mississippi Mud pie...we were so disgustingly full, we couldn't even finish dessert.)


Now, after Day 1, we wholeheartedly and completely forgot about taking any pictures of any food...though we did eat a ton. However, I did manage to notice the following inscription on the sidewalk as we were ambling though the Faubourg-Marigny:


Indeed.

Freudian Slip

I was in the Emergency Department recently, and treated a young female patient who came in with discharge and odor...of a female nature.

When you come in with this problem, your doctor (in this case, me) is obligated to perform a pelvic exam.


Joy.

So, I'm doing my exam and the smell is, in fact, quite potent. Sometimes, Matt leaves old Tupperware containers in his car during the summer, with old food bits and juices inside, that bake and congeal for days...yeah, the smell was sort of similar to those.

Now, to make women more comfortable during the pelvic exam process, I always tell them what I'm going to do before I do it. "You're going to feel my hand on your thigh. Now I'm going to look on the outside. I'm going to insert the speculum," etc, etc.

I'm getting ready to do the bimanual portion of the exam, which I always preface by saying "Alright, now I'm going to press on your belly to examine your uterus and ovaries".

Except, this time, I said, "I'm going to press on your belly to examine your uterus and odor-ies".

Oops!

TV Stand Project

Matt and I would be better bloggers if we could commit to taking more 'before' pictures. However, we fail every time... Seems like, whenever we're about to start a project, we get so excited to jump into it, that we don't take the time to document the pre-improvement starting point...

Good thing I was able to scrape up this old photo of our TV stand before we painted it an added knobs.


And here are the afters...



(Paint is Benjamin Moore's Coventry Grey, color matched to Behr Premium semi-gloss finish)

All Kinds of New Wall Art

Recently went on an Etsy art purchasing spree.



Almost all of these have found homes on one bit of wall or another...and looking at them makes me so happy. Even Matt seems to approve. Mitchell remains the one hold-out, but he can't even see in color, so I discount his opinion.


**We also are in the midst of framing all of our various college/grad school diplomas. #1. Jeez, custom framing is EXPENSIVE. #2. Can't wait to hang them all up in the office.**.

(Click images for links to Etsy vendors)

Anthropologie - You Define Insanity

Recently encountered these darling...um...stackable giraffe bowls...which appear to serve absolutely no practical purpose whatsoever.


Here was my thought process:

#1. Jeez, these are the cutest things I've ever seen.
#2. Too bad they're *junk*
#3. Ummmm, they cost $128???!!?!?!?!!