Modern Kid's Gifts in Eugene

So we were on the prowl for toys for our nephew recently and found ourselves over at the 5th St. Public Market mostly because going to Toys-R-Made-Out-of-Plastic felt a bit too overwhelming and potentially hazardous for the kids in our lives who we love. Specifically we were hanging out in the Elephant's Trunk. We ended up with some fun items for our 7 year old nephew but as we were checking out I was pleasantly surprised to see some great items from Paul Frank and Sukie. I've seen Sukie stationary around over at Luxe (see the link in the sidebar) but didn't expect to see the calendar at the toy store. It's a cute little calendar that sits on your table or desk. You rotate the wheels at the back to change the date, day of week, and month. What a fun tool to teach your child about numbers, months, seasons, days of the week and all that good stuff! The truth is though that for a moment I thought about getting the calendar for myself for my office and I already know all about days and months - it's just such a pretty little item - like having art sitting right at your desk every day. My point though is that there are cool modern items for kids too - it doesn't have to all be in primary colors and it can be found right here in Eugene! You don't even have to drive to P-town or buy it on the internet. So thanks to Elephant's Trunk for carrying a a memory game that today's Auntie Mame would want to play with her modern day Patrick! Cheers.

I heart Mod Portland, Oregon

This past weekend we were up in Portland for a glamorous wedding at the Hotel deLuxe. The hotel used to be the Mallory Hotel and we have many fond memories of the bar (Driftwood Room History). Mr. Monkey and I were pleased to see that not much has changed in our favorite room. The walled mirrors, wooded ceilings and overall dark atmosphere continue to exude sexy whispered conversations of years past. The drinks were delish and the food was lip-smackin'. The rooms are small reflective of their 1912 construction date and smartly appointed. We loved our silver bar trolly complete with 3 kits - sewing kit, first aid kit, and the oh so important intimacy kit. Aveda products can be found in each bathroom as are menus for various types of pillows and spiritual readings. All staff were welcoming and made each guest feel special. Mr. Monkey and I were able to purchase vintage duds at Puttin' On the Ritz(350 East 11th Avenue, Eugene, OR 97401-3246; 541.686.9240). The ladies a POTR did a great job of helping us find the necessary high quality clothing. I've included a picture of me at the end of the evening - so my fresh luster was gone and my darling shoes with a retro feel from Miss Meers are cut off but you get the general idea. If you are headed to Portland and interested in a retro glam experience with a modern twist you'll be pleased as punch at Hotel deLuxe.

Gearing Up for Spring Cleaning: AT's The Cure

In the past I've mentioned Apartment Therapy's Book and how it has helped to give me steps for keeping our house clean and organized. Obviously this is a work in progress and we constantly need help and reminders. AT has been sponsoring these "Cures" throughout the last few years and I've signed up for "The Cure" twice now. They send you a weekly email reminder for what you're working on this week - you can focus on just one room in your house or you can focus on a larger whole-house scale. Last time I focused on our bedroom - which still needs alot of work  - but the room went from the ghastly pictures below to the tidy space above. You can go here if you want to sign up for "The Cure" this time around. I'm embarrassed to show you the pictures below but I'm happy to report that after The AT Cure it is much easier to sleep in the room. 

  When we first moved into the house Mr. Monkey went out and bought himself a chest of drawers - the one on the right to be exact. I had the on the left from college. Although the aesthetics for the drawers on the left may not be exactly ours I was happy that at least the drawers slid well. As for the dresser Mr. Monkey got, the drawers themselves did not work so well and they were too small for his clothes so the drawers were often left open and his clothes on top of the dresser. So through the 8 weeks of The AT Cure I set out to help both of us purge major piles of clothes and also find a functional set of drawers. The picture below is after we got rid of clothes and moved in the new-to-us 1960's bedroom set (Craigslist purchase). The 2 pictures up top are how it all looks now. I think I'd like to continue to focus on our bedroom but for now, for this 8 week cure I'm going to place all my attention on personal home office matters. So I'm announcing it here - (yes it's at the very bottom of this entry - hopefully most of you didn't make it down this far . . .) at the end of these 8 weeks I will have purged loads and loads of paper (recycled of course) and I will have a system for organizing our bills - paid and unpaid, and I will have a process for receiving bills, and for storing them when needed. Wish me and Mr. Monkey luck!

Backyard Shed: MHA Part 3

Mr. Monkey is here to file a report on the latest news from the backyard shed project - also known as the future margarita holding area (MHA). I caught up with him for a brief interview. This is what I uncovered. "In this picture unlike previous ones [filed here at this link - modern backyard shed] the roof is all framed out, the windows are double pained wood framed. I built wood frames for them so I could install hinges. The siding is up - it's the same wood that was used to form the board-form concrete. It's rough cut cedar. Okay I'm going back outside." That Mr. Monkey is tough to pin down! He is very focused on getting this backyard shed up and running so that we can enjoy the MHA by summer time. The other post on our modern backyard shed can be found by clicking on the link in this sentence. Scroll all the way down to see the batten in progress. For those of you less savvy about these small construction and architectural items the batten is used to cover the seams in between the boards. So you often hear the two words used together - "I'm going to install board-and-batten siding on the MHA".

In the picture below Mr. Monkey was working on installing the batten. The batten is usually the narrow strips of wood to cover the seams in the wider pieces of wood that make up the siding. I think it's looking pretty snazzy. Next up the roof gets installed . . .