2009 April | Whitney Kolb

On April 26, 2009 / Movies with Style / 2 Comments

I have a thing for historical dramas. While I’m watching them, I like to get on Wikipedia to see how accurately the stories are portrayed. I really can’t stand not knowing the truth of what actually happened, even though I don’t mind that the movies sometimes elaborate.
So tonight, I dug through the internet as I watched the new version Grey Gardens. I had not previously had the chance to meet the Beales, but can easily see how they chartered a cult following after the 1975 documentary. The story is poignant, sadly fairytale-ish, and oddly charming. Little Edie never marries, and she and her mother, Big Edie, create a narcissistic bubble of a life, while remaining what appears to be content, if not happy, in their squalor-filled mansion in East Hampton.
What is interesting is that since the story isn’t that old, in terms of historical dramas, there seem to still be a few stories untold behind it all. In all my internet “research”, I couldn’t uncover why it is that Little Edie wears a scarf around her head the entire time. The movie references her hair loss as a reaction to stress, but Wikipedia doesn’t say anything about it. Also still remaining to be told is how much money the 1975 documentary actually made. While the producers say it took over one million dollars to create, to this day they have not released the revenue figures, while they do admit that it has been one of their most popular films. It is documented that the Beales only received $10,000 for their participation in the film, but never the 20% of the profits that they were originally promised. If the movie has gone on to be profitable, it is sad that they both died penniless.
If you’re interested in knowing more, the movie is on HBO, and there is a wealth of information and links at Grey Gardens Online.

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On April 21, 2009 / Thinking / Leave a comment

I just reread my post from the other day, and had another thought. Not that I know a great deal about any of this, so forgive me for thinking it’s worth putting out there.
There is a difference between lessons and consequences. Consequences come from decisions we’ve made, and we can chose to learn lessons from them, or not. Lessons can be found wherever we look for them, with or without choices and the related consequences.
It is important to not confuse the two. Consequences without a lesson and life application are apt to be repeated. Those of us fearful enough will learn from the consequences of those around us, but that doesn’t mean that we can avoid the lessons that come as part of this package called life.
I had a mentor remind me once that He tells us that we will know Him by the fellowship of His sufferings. “It doesn’t say that we will know Him by the fellowship of his fun,” she pointed out.
He suffered for us. In our place. We have so much reason to be grateful for His sacrifice. And through pain similar to His, although I can’t even imagine how painful His experience was, we can cling to the promise that on the other side of it, we will know Him better.
We are so blessed to be His children. Lesson learned.

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On April 21, 2009 / Nursery / 1 Comment

So, yes, I have a lot of stuff going on. In the midst of it all, I’m afraid to admit I’m starting to enjoy this nursery thing. Since we’ve found out that we’re having a boy, the decisions have been coming easier. We need to paint the walls, but the decision is, firmly, that they will be aqua. Before finding out the sex, we had the crib narrowed down to two choices, but have decided on the Newport Olde World crib from Munire. Hubs brought home a pile of brochures and let me pick–the perfect way for me to make a decision: painless and not in a retail environment. Here is a picture of it, but we’re going to get it in white (despite the fact that hubs thinks boys = brown).

He tried to get me to select a glider rocker via the same route, but I think I’m going to have to subject myself to a retailer’s sales pitch to make that decision. I can see that glider becoming supremely important to my ability to get any sleep, so it has to be fabulously comfortable. If we can find something that glides, AND reclines, AND rocks, AND has an ottoman, I think we’ll be set. I’m particularly fond of this look from Serena and Lily: khaki with white piping. And who can resist that monogrammed pillow?

Mother-in-law was here last week and we were chatting about what we could do for crib bedding and window treatments. I’ve debated the fabric choice, but realized that I have umpteen bolts of a simple, white striae in the closet under the stairs–and when piped with a flat welt of khaki, would make a darling background for the nursery.
The sketch of the window treatment I made for her had ruffles. She suggested pleats, but for some reason, I just can’t resist the ruffles. All too soon we’ll have a toddler who wants a big boy room, so let me have the ruffles in the nursery.
There are a few other decision hurdles that will need to be made. The Senator’s Wife suggested leaving a daybed in the room, for when the baby is sick, or for middle of the night feedings. I thought this was an excellent suggestion. There is actually a daybed in the room that will be the nursery, but it is currently upholstered in pink. (Albeit a dusty pink.) And it’s brown, so it might require a coat of paint, since color scheme for nursery is evolving quickly to just aqua and white.
Hurdle number 2 is the carpet. If we’re going to accent in shades of khaki, it’s going to have to be just the RIGHT khaki, since the carpet we just put down a tiny hit of yellow in it–it’s not a true taupe.
Hurdle number 3 is going to be getting me to realize that no matter how cute this nursery is, we’re going to have to have a carseat in which to bring this kiddo home. Which will again require a retail experience, a thorough analysis of the daunting pros and cons of all carseats, and ultimately, what I fear is going to be classified as an “investment” due to the cost.
But we’ll get there.

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On April 18, 2009 / Remodeling / Leave a comment

Today, I feel like a wife.
The alarm went off at 7:30. I shot out of bed, confused. I thought it was supposed to be Saturday? There are no alarms on Saturdays? Hubs quickly assured me that it was Saturday, but he was off to the gun show with my dad and bro-in-law.
Awake, I pulled out my computer anyway. He headed to Starbucks, and returned with three mini vanilla bean scones. Scrumptious. I had half a cup of coffee and devoured them while he got ready to go.
Then he was off. I stayed in bed until he returned, working in circles. Designed until that was boring. Did a little SEO work. Checked google stats. Sent some emails. Analyzed a new website for launch to pick out the bugs. Before I knew it, he was home.
He threw some leftover pizza in the oven. I made some garlic butter, because hey, I’m pregnant, and I’ll probably never have scones and garlic butter together in one day after this baby is born.
While I lunched, he headed to the yard. Francie and I watched from the bedroom window as he mowed the lawn, cut down the overgrowth in the beds, trimmed the shrubs. The backyard has really gotten out of control since I bought the house, and it needed some attention. I continued to work, and every now and then I would look up to see the little improvements start to turn the yard from an overgrown disaster into a manicured lawn.
And then I got tired of working. Francie and I headed outside to see what was going on. I trimmed some bushes, albeit halfheartedly. Francie stood there and watched as hubs pulled and cut limbs, and started emptying the shed. Realizing I was not interested in getting that dirty, I offered to go make iced tea.
I watched from the window as he started the chain saw. The tea started to boil. It was blackberry flavored. And that’s when I started to feel really wife-ish. Betty Crocker or something. But it was ok.
Of all the emotions I’ve experienced lately, I’ll admit this is one I’d take over the others any day. Sometimes life is full of too much stress and drama.
So Francie and I are back inside now. Francie is still watching hubs from the window, running back and forth every five minutes, kind of like a little kid who doesn’t want to be outside, but doesn’t want to miss out on any of the action, either. Occasionally, she growls, as if she feels the need to express her concern over what is going on in her backyard. Like, “Overgrown was FINE. Why are you chopping down all my bushes?”
On another note entirely, allow me to change the subject. Last week, hub’s mom came to stay. I was having a pillow crisis, and a magazine has asked for pics of the house. She left at about 4:00 in the afternoon. Immediately after her departure, Francie planted herself on the top of the new, furry leopard pillow and didn’t move until almost 9:00 that evening.
Evidence:

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On April 17, 2009 / A Day In The Life, Baby / 1 Comment

Actually, I’ve already been up for a while. But you probably already guessed that.

On the agenda for today:

finalize stuff. big time. will take all day.
eat pizza tonight.
starbucks. since I’ve been up so long and everything.
with scone.

So, I’m off…

Oh, and it’s a boy!

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On April 5, 2009 / Faith & Family / 1 Comment

This middle of the night thing has got to stop. I’m not sure if it’s all the prep for our upcoming trade show, stress about the house still not being fully unpacked from moving hubs in, pregnancy, or just plain old worrying about everyone at work being happy, but something is keeping me up at night.
I manage to fall asleep by ten o’clock every night. For those of you who have known me for a while, this should be weird enough, in and of itself. Back in 2002, when I was getting the biz started, my working hours were noon 4:00 am. I slept from 4 to 10, and then got up and started it all over. I think this trend carried over until we moved the office into my house, which sort of forced me to get out of bed when my two employees showed up.
So I’m not sure if it is marriage or my thirties kicking in, but for the past year, I’ve steadily maintained a 10:00 or earlier bedtime, for the most part. Hubs is very much a 10:00 bedtime guy, and has no trouble sleeping or falling asleep. For the most part, I’ve followed his example, with this exception: I can anticipate to wake up sometime after the hour of 2:00 am, and not fall back asleep until 6:00. If I wake up at 4:00, I rarely fall back asleep at all, and end up having to fight through the morning on coffee and carbs. (I have gotten back on the coffee wagon, albeit ever so slightly, during the second trimester.)
So I’m awake. It’s the weekend, and I don’t feel like working. Besides, I did that this morning between 4:00 and 10:00, when I answered a slew of emails in my attempt to empty the inbox. The house is a disaster, but I’m not sure where to start straightening stuff. I’m so over facebook, a little bit over twitter, and not about to get re-sucked in to myspace. I tried to read, but two pages into it, my brain started hopping around again. I don’t want to draw, because the house is a mess, and for some reason, I can’t draw unless the house is clean.
So, I’ll blog.
We cleaned out the garage today, in hopes of having a garage sale next weekend. Between emptying the hubs’ house, and consolidating his stuff with mine, it’s safe to say we have extra stuff. After the move, this stuff ended up in one half of our garage. The other half of the garage was the Crap Convention (as my dear friend Donna used to call her piles of stuff). It felt so good to empty one half of the garage and start setting up tables, sweeping the floor, organizing all the junk into “departments” for the garage sale. Housewares is aisle 1, stationery is aisle 2, linens is aisle 3, and sporting goods is in the driveway.
Somehow, in cleaning the garage, things that had previously been stored in the garage have suddenly appeared back in the house. Boxes of my baby clothes (why do I feel so obligated to keep them ALL?), doll trunks (four: is that a surplus?), bar stools (we are supposed to paint and use for trade show).
I’m trying to establish today’s goals. There are two car loads of stuff to take to the office, and car loads of stuff at the office to bring back for the sale. Church is also an option, but given that I’ve been awake since 1:30, I’m probably not going to make it through a sermon. Cabinets need to be cleaned out, but there is a professional organizer coming on Monday to help with that. There are a couple of chandeliers to be hung, but hubs wants a “down day”, bless his heart. And designs need to be done, but the house needs to be cleaned before that can/will happen.
No wonder I can’t sleep at night.

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On April 1, 2009 / Biz / Leave a comment

So, this morning I was doing my usual morning thing: sitting in bed, answering emails, finalizing some artwork. An email came in from one of the girls at work, asking how to get on the server, which I thought was odd, considering that the server had just disconnected me. Something must be going on, I thought, but it’s probably just that the server is down. I sent the asked for info, and got a frantic reply. I responded again, but then the phone rang.
“We think some files accidentally got deleted off the server.” OK, no biggie. “It was the design files.” OK, I can still be cool. Which design files? “The ones from yesterday.”
PANIC ENSUES.
Immediately, I get in the car, and while flying to the office, try to get a grasp of what was actually lost. Close to THREE THOUSAND FILES.
Pulling into the parking lot, it crosses my mind to call the server guy. Can he recover them? No. Can he prevent this from happening again? No. But then, he asks me: “What about the backup?”
My heart sank. The backup that was supposed to prevent stuff like this from causing disaster? And keep us from losing hours of labor? The backup that I’m supposed to check every day to make sure it’s doing its backup-job? The backup that I haven’t checked since November?
I started praying. There was a chance the backup had worked, but again, I hadn’t checked it in a while, and I was supposed to check it regularly. I prayed all the way up the stairs. I prayed as I clicked on the button. I was grateful to see that it was backing up each hour, but I kept praying. What if it wouldn’t restore our files? That was a lot of files to restore.
But wonder of wonders, it appears that the back up has worked. Three thousand files salvaged. We can’t open each one of them, but so far, they don’t appear to be corrupted. I am so grateful. Thank you, Lord. Rebuilding that would have been one ugly job, in the middle of a month already carved out to be pretty ugly on its own.
That’s my excitement for the day. Just thought I’d share.

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