It's Wednesday...already?

Okay, time is just flying by way too fast for me. I had envisioned this time off work as leisurely and lazy with looooong stretches of delicious uncommitted time laying itself at my feet in an endless, yummy ribbon. Instead, there just seems to be always something to do. Although I'll have to admit it is positively FABULOUS not to be the alarm clock's b!tch. And it is also true that my time is way more often than not filled with the projects of MY OWN choosing. Which is pretty huge.

The yard sale process, while certainly painful and, above all, embarassing, has had a huge impact on my ability to arrange my own personal space. My closets are so much more neogtiable than before. The treasures we were unable to part with, I am determined now to enjoy on a daily basis.

The S-Man could not let go of the vintage fan at the top of this post, so I retrieved it from its dusty storage space and, with my Dad's help, cleaned it up and gave it a proper home on the living room mantle. It still actually works, by the way. It probably looked way more like this when it was new, although the model we have is considerably larger than the 12" desk fan pictured there. Seeing that picture makes me want to completely restore our fan. I am surprised to learn there were electric fans as early as 1908. I can tell you that our fan is incredibly heavy. I can lift it, but just barely.

Also in the can't-let-go category for the S-Man was a vintage manual "noiseless" Underwood typewriter. This typwriter would have originally come with a groovy carrying case, but alas, we just have the machine itself, which is actually pretty cool. I'm old enough to have learned to type on a manual typewriter, but not one as ancient as this which comes to us from the 1930's pre-dating not only me, but my parents as well. The typewriter has officially found a new home in a display case at the top of our stairs where we now walk by regularly.

I have also found the time to rearrange my office space in the guest room giving me twice as much work surface (by adding another table) and way more file storage space (the cool rolling metal file holder with a handy shelf below to the far right was a gift from my friend, Christina) which should (should, mind you) make me tons more efficient and organized in the very near future. Right now, this space is my very own personal slice of heaven and continues to be a work in progress.

Lastly, I have also rescued this window, one of the many original windows that we removed from the house during the renovation process. I'm planning to clean and scrape the glass (leaving the paint as is) and then use it to frame some fabulous original calendar prints from various Lowertown artists that have been stored away and and oh-so-very-wrongly unenjoyed for several years. I'll post a photo of that project when it is complete.

And speaking of all things vintage, I have jumped on the Mad Men bandwagon. I read this post just a few days before having lunch with my friend Jill, who also urged me to tune in. If you aren't watching already, you guys have to see this show. Set in the early 1960's in NYC, the show gets its name from "Mad"ison Avenue, hub of the advertising world, and centers on a group of advertising execs. I can't get enough of this bawdy bunch constantly smoking and drinking their way through the fascinating era of my early childhood. From the fabulous folks at the AMC channel, you can view this show On Demand for free and catch up by Thursday night when new episodes air. See the sexy preview here.