Indie Decorating

A new room in a new house means new decoration. Unfortunately, my room is baby blue (it'll have to go), but until I get around to painting it, here are some of my decorating quirks:

1)These keys were found on a nail in my grandmother’s cellar, and I’ve kept them for about two years, finally developing a purpose for them, seen here strung together with black thread.


2) A small collection of safety pins, hanging on a nail.


3) A pufferfish, also inherited from grandmother, and a collection of bottles, each with a paintbush in them. I’ve had a fascination with pufferfish ever since fourth grade, when I learned how they were used in making voodoo zombies.


4) A corner of my bookshelf, seen with perfume from Anthropologie, a horse bookend, a bird statue got from a furniture store in Geneva, Illinois, a small bottle got from an antique store in Standwood, Washington, a Devil Rubber Ducky found in a container of Pirate Bandaids, a tiny snail shell (not exactly pictured, but it’s there), a small baby, a finger-puper, and a butterfly.


5) A gargoyle bookend (which I made myself), and some fabulous books, including two of the Post Secret collections: Lolita, Middlesex, The Bluest Eye, A Wrinkle in Time, Rant, The Bell Jar, Invisible Monsters, The Lovely Bones, Post Secret 1 and 2, and Emotionally Weird.


6) A Chou dog; a statue used in China to ward off evil, which I picked up for a mere $20 in a store in Geneva. I’m sorry I don’t have names for you!


7) My favorite plaque, bought from the art museum in Chicago, and a door-chime of sorts, made of keys again, in my bathroom.


8) A mushroom I picked up at an antique store here in Huntsville, which now lives with Fred the Fern (more on Fred later).


9) My cat, adorned with butterflies, which I also got at that same antique store. I’ve been really into butterflies lately, having been working on a book mostly about them.



10) My lovely Grindhouse poster, the purchasing of which led to me making a new friend and possible romance (seen backwards because of quirk of program).


11) My cat, peeking out of my hamper.


12) God's Hands, seen with pearls from both market in Hawaii and Clair's, and butterflies.

Move to Alabama

Dear, lovely people! The lack in posting I attribute to a MONTH-LONG move, as well as general lack of news to post.

After all, it’s not like I had a digital camera to record the TEN-HOUR drive from Illinois to Alabama. If I had, these are some of the moment I could have captured: Getting in my first car accident (I was rear-ended, and it wasn’t my fault), a mobile home with a tree through it, a store that sells only socks (30 pair for 10 bucks), a strip club next to a church, a life-sized replica of a spaceship, our house deal falling through, flooding in our next house, and finally moving in only to find half our stuff was left in Chicago. Oh no!

But then again, this blog is mostly about writing, and I’m not in a very outwardly productive stage right now. I have nearly completed my sixth book, entitled Go Look There, which is a magical-realism collection of childhood stories, interspersed with the letters of the local psychologist and the local custodian. Now, while all of that is very exciting for me personally, it doesn’t make for much to blog about.

And then… And then I finally got my graduation gift, a MacBook, and the world changed. I’m a PC gal myself (or so I thought), until I discovered the PhotoBooth feature.

After that, I was hooked. And now, having been gifted with a built-in camera (albeit one that is permanently attached to my laptop), I can share, with pictures, some of the things I’ve been up to...