Moment of Happy in home decor

My dissertation killed the happy in my apartment

In the wake of my PhD I published papers- or at least I tried to publish papers. While I did this and waited for my postdoc to start, I dwelled in burnout. The author of my favourite blog in the whole wide world would call this "dwelling in possibility". That chick, however, gets stuff done. She is setting up a school, building and organizing a house, raising a two kids etc.. I, by contrast, sat on my couch, working up the energy to get to the gym at 2 pm. It occurs to me that had I taken a trip after my dissertation was deposited - if I had even chilled in a organized way that week, I would have been more productive in the weeks that followed. I might even be more productive now. 

I did however, reclaim certain aspects of my life and household. This included 1) destuffing/decluttering 2) reorganizing and repairing and 3) completing some decor projects.

My PhD years were fun, but the last 3 years were stressful. I worked veeeery long hours, in a very aggressive and unsupportive environment. For 3 years, I just came home and collapsed into bed. As a result, we never really settled into our apartment. It was filled with half done projects. It was messy. It wasn't a refuge. It was just something else I have to do.

So in the weeks after my dissertation, I decided to re-introduce the happy. H and I are worked a special project to pull the living room together. Before I put that up here, I'm posting my easiest solution to bringing in the happy - pretty drawer pulls. All found on Etsy - all pretty and delightful and welcome to replace the sad Ace hardware burnished brass pulls that dragged down our home.

VintageSkyes is a delightful Etsy shop that produces handstamped "vintage inspired" drawer pulls. The shop contains dozens of designs, most in black and white. While some stamped designs have 19th century science plate illustration feeling to them, others are dead ringers for late 19th century advertising typographic symbols, or actual government stamps (i.e. U.S. Post Office). I'm in love with all of them. At the cost of $7 a knob, I could happily see these ushering in the pretty in my kitchen.

 I am particularly fond of this Matryoshka doll pull. I've never seen anything like it before.  

Photo credit: VintageSkye

Veritas Inspired  sells recovered drawer pulls, amongst other metal objects. The feel of the shop is very shabby chic, but the owner does find some interesting pulls and will paint and shab them up anyway you might like. 

Photo credit: VeritasInspired

I'm not sure how this happened, but I have a serious case of the cutes that my grad school self would have found very amusing. I suspect it took hold after the birth of our little one (oh yes, a lot has happened since I last posted). The upshot is, I like cartoon drawings of fuzzy animals. I really dig the drawer pulls at Ebonypaws . They are adorable without being cutesie, simple but not dull, sweet but not saccharin. I have a particular soft spot for this sleeping fox pull below

Photo credit: EbonyPaws

Happy deskware: Scout Creative's free pop up calendars

Scout Creative makes my desk a happier place to work

I have completely fallen in love with these papercraft monthly desktop calendars designed by Scout Creative. They are super fun, very cute and, best of all, utterly free :) You can collect your free calendar on their site on the first of every month, or you can subscribe to their email service and they will deliver it right to your inbox. Either way, you are supporting a nifty company and making your desk a more liveable place to work :) This month's calendar is a chicken coop :)

Scout Creative is a content marketing firm that specifically designs papercraft promotional items. They make all sorts of cut out and papercraft toy designs that are designed to promote, say, movies, printers, company entities..etc. They have even made little stand alone paper toy patterns for Disney. Very, very cool.

For the last year-ish, the company has designed a free paper craft monthly desktop calendar. My favorite in their archives is the July campfire scene, but the April record collection is pretty cool too. Browse their archive. The designs are clever, little color bursts that are a little tongue and cheek. They've already made my month...and I finished a PhD in the last 30 days.

Silly thing - it never occurred to me before finding these calendars that there are companies out there that produce papercraft promotional items. When I was a kid I loved, loved, loved cutting these sorts of patterns out of cereal boxes, folding and pasting. When I was doing my Masters, I even went so far as to buy a really complicated cuckoo clock pattern from a store, and assemble it. It took months, but it supposedly worked when assembled. I wouldn't know. I got the whole thing assembled, but couldn't afford the $20 of pennies that I would have had to put into the weights to get the clock started. The paper clock hung on the wall, and the weights sort of hung around my apartment. Still, that experience did not take away from my love of these little patterns. Can you imagine how much fun designing these crafts? If this science thing does not work out, maybe I'll do this for living :)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Rooftop bar

I heart art museums and rooftop bars, together at last

As you know, my cash and my time budgets are pretty limited these days. Occasionally, my bosses and the last heaves of my dissertation drive me so nuts, I actually leave my dissertation behind and enjoy a few hours out. I try to make those hours count, because, well they and my dollars are few and far between.

This past week I made those hours and bucks count by visiting the rooftop bar on the top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yup, the museum has a bar...on the roof. It has been there for many, many years and attracts a fair crowd. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find it was not crowded - just happily full.

As you might expect, the drinks are pricey ($8.50 a beer - hardly a bargain), if you aren't a member you need to donate some amount of the recommended donation to enter. I happen to be a member, but if I wasn't I think I could justify $1 towards entry. The Met, after all, holds huge galas and gets big pay cheques for them...so..I'd be okay with letting Hearst publications and the like pay my remaining $13 donation.

So the drinks are a little pricey, but the view is amazing - Park-wide, 5th avenue - and because the hours are 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm, beautiful sunset views to boot. The Met frequently features an outdoor sculpture exhibit on the roof as well.

Tasty drinks and views

I don't know why I expected the patrons to have attitude or be of the beer pong, blue shirt, black backpack, young trader ilk - but I was pleasantly surprised to find a really friendly and sweet mix of people. No shots, or giggling girls re-enacting Sex in the City, just groups of friends, all ages enjoying the sunset on their way to some other location. The bar had a really nice vibe.

Here how is how you get there. Pay your donation at the main entrance of the Met. Ask a security guard to guide you to the elevators to the bar (hang a left in the main lobby, walk behind the security desk and take an immediate left through two or three galleries and you will reach the elevator bank in about 2 minutes). The bar is open from about April to October, depending on the year - so the Summer offers the longest sunsets, and the Fall offers sparkly city views.

Be forewarned - it is a simple set up. The bar is set up like a backyard wedding bar. There is no food, and it's a $11.50 for a glass of basic red wine. My advice is to sip that wine slowly and wander the perimeter of the roof and wait for the sun to set.

In anycase, it's a lovely location for anyone craving a low key rooftop on which to spend a sunset. You get the same sunset as someone living on 5th avenue, for $1 + the price of a drink, if you are so inclined. It's a lovely way to grab a little piece of fancy schmancy NYC while on a budget.

Awwww shine on little sun. I'll see you tomorrow

Today's low cost distraction: Google's Search Page Pic

....is a television playing Lucille Ball clips - a few classics and few I haven't seen before. It is adorable. You can flip channels and turn the sound on and off. Click the channel dial enough times and the animation leads you to a page dedicated to events celebrating Lucy's 100th birthday.

It isn't a night out, but it's a super cute five minute break from Saturday morning chores. Drop by the Google page before midnight tomorrow to check it out.