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The Best-Laid Plans for Paris Shopping
I had big plans on my girls Paris-Reykjavik trip in October. I had researched a bunch of housewares/antiques stores in Paris, and had plans to flit from shop to shop, buying a few things, and planning to put a few others on my Christmas wish list. Possible shopping included the Parisian flea/antiques market Les Puces
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Reality with My Rescue
Sorry, dear readers, I didn’t intend to have a break from the blog! Hope your holidays were fun, restful, and you’re ready for a new year. I know I am! Adopting this puppy on Nov 2 has definitely changed my life AND the state of my house! It’s a bit ironic that I got the
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Puppy Preparing!
Life moves fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. —Ferris Bueller October has been a blur, packed full of vacation, work, blogposts, and hanging with friends and family. And now, it’s official: I’m getting a puppy, from a dog rescue (Col. Potter Cairn Rescue Network) my
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Snowbound, with a Mouse
Getting ready for impending snow kept me busy a few times in winter 2022. I wasn’t so hyper that I needed MILKBREADMEATEGGS (like everyone else does when they panic before storms, as though they’re going to be snowed in for weeks in Alaska), but I usually needed to make sure I had enough half’n’half, cereal,
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Travel: My Design Inspiration!
Sorry this post was a bit late—I meant to do it on Tuesday morning, as usual, but life has been a whirlwind lately! I’ve been in Paris, then Reykjavik, with a girlfriend on a very-needed vacation. I love traveling—it feeds my soul in so many ways. My last big trip (Palm Springs and Joshua Tree
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Some Flair for My Home
Sometimes, I obsess about details until they look perfect. I want my earrings to match my outfit, or I break out the fancy dishes because a friend has brought over a fancy charcuterie platter. Maybe it’s a stereotypical Libra trait that I love to be surrounded by nice things and art, but sometimes fixing those
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The Dead Outlets
When I set up my home office in the cheery turquoise room, I had to plug my work laptop and other devices into extension cords from the living room. I knew the house needed some electrical repairs, as documented in the 50-page home inspection report I had. The home inspector had recommended I get an
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Blinded by the Light
In July 2021, I vacationed for two weeks in the mountains of West Virginia, near Cooper Rock State Park (east of Morgantown). It was idyllic, as the apartment I rented was a tiny studio, attached to a huge custom-built Craftsman-style house perched on one of the mountains. The apartment was very comfortable and well-decorated in
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Moving My Life 4 Miles
I started purging and packing my apartment up in September 2021, even before I went to any open house or was pre-approved for a mortgage. Truthfully, I should have started the purging/decluttering the first day in 2020 when we all became pandemic shut-ins, because that would have been a productive use of my time. It’s
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My First House Lesson
The day after the closing, I thought that being a homeowner would be smooth sailing. And it was, for just that day, because the locksmith was at the house on time to re-key all the locks. I had my coffee and my work computer so that I could work mostly offline. At the end of
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Hunting for a Unicorn-House
In July 2020, my pandemic project was painting my bedroom desk purple, and while I painted I started thinking that my desk would look better in a different space, maybe in a space I owned, maybe my own house. It scared me to take on all the responsibility as a single homeowner, yet I was
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Starting by Closing
It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving 2021, and the closing was finally scheduled, so I took off from work. I had survived house-hunting, mortgage application, home inspection, lawyer negotiations, and two weeks of appraisal delays. Movers were scheduled, and I was working on purging and packing up my belongings in my current apartment. My realtor,
Gal with the Gray Home
1st year of home owning, decorating
Gal with the Gray Home 