shabby chic meets country living.

Okay, the truth is, I'm having a crap week. I've had this sort of grinding headache for days and I've been depressed. On Tuesday, I had a hard time making myself leave the apartment. I don't usually talk about this kind of thing. I feel like I'm exaggerating or complaining or showing some form of weekness. Or maybe I'm just worried it will annoy someone.

At any rate, the projects I've been working on have been slow lately. You see, it's like this: I bought a sewing machine. I'm making a quilt.

For those of you that don't know, that's similar to buying running shoes and then deciding to do a marathon.

Not that it isn't fun. It is fun. And the fabrics are gorgeous. I'm doing it in my (current) favorite color combination: brown and pink. I thought it'd be a good idea to do a side project simultaneously so that when my head started to feel all fuzzy from the rocket science that is sewing together varying lengths of various prints of fabric, I could do something else and still be working on the overall goal, which is to turn our bed into a pouffy, pretty tuft of handmade cozyness. The problem is, the side project was more fun than the quilt and I finished it already. It's a matching throw pillow that doesn't match anything because our bed still has a lime green comforter and neon striped sheets.

This week though, I've been way more interested in being in bed all hours than trying to make it look better. I took a two-hour nap on Monday afternoon. I did some sewing tonight though, since I've been feeling a little better today. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better still.

dogs in the valley need exercise.

At my old job, people frequently came in the front door with plastic sacks full of books they wanted us to buy from them. Because we sold used books and had to get them from somewhere.

At this job, people come in with stuff they've made and want us to buy and resell. So far, about half of these items are actually nice. Lavender sachets, purse hangers, etc. Before Easter, though, a woman came in with mirrors that had bunny ears. I have no idea where she was going with that idea. Then, today, this girl was telling us about these pet carriers that she knits...yes, knits. Pet carriers made of yarn. This woman had her dog--not a small dog, either, like a chihuahua or something, but like, a regular dog--in this weird knitted purse thing with holes for his legs. It was the strangest thing I've ever seen. His little legs were just dangling there, useless. And she had the bag's strap crossed across her chest to the shoulder opposite the dog...so that the weight of the dog, not to be gross, would have to dig into your boobs if you were to wear one of these pet purse things. I keep thinking about that poor dog, with its weird dangly legs. Disturbing. Can you imagine putting a cat in something like that?

I should mention, I'm not a huge fan of dogs. And I like cats okay, but I still don't have one. I haven't had a pet with fur in at least four years. Perhaps if I was part of the "people with pets" culture I would've found this lady's knitted carrier more cute than scary, but I'm not and I tend to think people in LA are weird about their animals. I don't think I ever knew anyone before moving here that would take their dog to a bookstore, but I see that all the time now.

What I want to know is, why didn't she just knit a leash and let the poor dog walk?