So, as we were getting her ready for bed last night, I was, as usual, met with “I wanna do it by myself.” Over and over again. So I started singing back to her a rendition of Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself” circa 1975. (I swear I can hear it playing on my parents’ digital clock radio.) Except I sang it “All by myself. Don’t wanna be I wanna do it — all by myself.” She loved it (I’m sure minus my bad singing) and sang along.

So instead of reading the same books for the thousandth time at bedtime, I got a little unorthodox and did a little music appreciation lesson with some crazy (crazy awesome) choices. I showed her some videos in her bed and we talked about them. Dolly Parton: “I like her hair,” she said. “It’s on her shoulders.” Oh, boy.

Here’s what we watched. Am I the best mom, or what?!

Case in point: our street has a block party each Fall, complete with a bounce house, pony rides, and a talent show. Louella was pretty much talking about the event since June, with the most excitement reserved for the pony rides. In past run-ins with horses, however, she ended up being skittish, but one of the ponies they brought over from Kensington Stables was truly a pony, and the perfect size for her. She rode it over and over again.

Seriously, how happy does she look riding the horse with Willy alongside? Look at that face!

Equally awesome: they have drop-in pony rides at the stables for $3. You can just stop by. Definitely on the list of weekend activities!

Have you seen the MZW fall collection? Their bags just get more and more awesome. I’m loving the cool, 70′s vibe, but the bags are still SO practical.

Here’s what I’m eyeing…

Rust Leather Camille: I’d wear it to the concert I’m going to tonight.

The Chinchilla Mimi: This would be a great work bag to fit my sketchbook and camera.

And my perennial favorite day bag… The Perforated Leather JF Tote. Love the slick black.

When did I develop a $5/day coffee habit? Seriously. In my mind, there’s no disputing that it is indeed that much better than its $2 counterpart. But that’s quite a daily habit. Talking to some girlfriends yesterday morning, we joked that it perhaps coincided with the decline in our spending $ on drinks at the bar. After all, since I’m more rarely up till the wee hours partying and instead up AT the wee hours (definitely not partying), I need a beverage that’s socially acceptable to drink at said hour. Enter: coffee. I guess they don’t call it a coffee “bar” for nothing. My Brooklyn neighborhood favorite: Cafe Grumpy. I dare say the experience with the baristas is akin to that of a bartender.

Considering real estate prices here, it was imperative that we find a place that was livable without a whole lot of work initially. We did some work on the upstairs rental unit immediately and basically put up a coat of paint in our unit and moved in. That said, while our floor was fairly recently renovated, it was by no means our taste. And while we know we’ll end up doing a more significant amount of work down the line, we’ve been trying to get things looking better while spending neither a lot of money nor time.

Here’s pics of the Living Room before and “now”. Definitely not an “after.” It’s not by any stretch “done,” but it feels much lighter and brighter to me.

I’d like to add the moulding back around the windows down the line – who in the world knows why it was ever removed, but in the meantime, the windows are feeling kind of bare. Here are some options I’m considering for curtains. There are already some white wooden blinds which we’ll keep, because otherwise you can see right in from the street.

White roman shades with black trim: Too boring? Maybe. Probably. But easy to reuse later somewhere else, and window coverings are SO pricey.

Black & white stripe curtains: I’m pretty sure these are awesome, but will they arrive and be dizzying and clownish?

Citron yellow: A statement, but less busy. The adjoining dining room is an acid-y yellow, so they would tie in well.

Wanna weigh in?

Some obligatory first day of school pics. Between her scowl and the tape & plastic covering up our front doors that are mid-refinishing (thanks, Dad!), they’re pretty dour.

I’m excited about more time to work and a little head space that I’ve been itching for. The house is weirdly quiet…

from The Costume Cafe on Etsy

[via WhoWhatWear]

Working on the hallways in the new house.

They have wood wainscoting halfway up. I do love wainscoting, but this really isn’t the best quality. Kind of 70′s-looking, and all that wood makes the halls dark. So we’re preserving all the original wood on the stairs, bannister, entry doors & throughout the vestibule and painting the wainscoting white. Here you can see that they’re half-primed.

Going really classic and painting the wainscoting Super White and the walls a light gray. And the vestibule Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue, a favorite color that my mom also loves.

Halls colors will be sort of like this:

Also choosing light fixtures. We need one for the vestibule, one at the base of the stairs, and one at the top of the stairs.

Here is the one that Willy nixed. A simple, modern look from one of our favorite companies, Schoolhouse Electric:

He’s into this shade, but I’m not so into the Custard color against the cool white & gray:

So I found this one at Rejuvenation that’s similarly-colored, funky, and um… awesome!

Right?

And the yellow picks up on the wacky Sixty-One above the door.

Man would I LOVE to know who did that to the place! Forget gold leaf, let’s do yellow swoosh-y letters. Amazing.