Mothering Energy

You know how nurses will say 'you'll feel a little pinch' right before they give you a shot, and it indeed feels like a pinch but knowing it's coming doesn't make it hurt any less?  I don't know that there's anything to the concept of bracing yourself, or that sitting down makes big news any less big.

All the grief sites I read told me that I would go through an anger phase.  Knowing that information didn't make the anger phase any less intense.  They also said that experiencing anxiety is pretty normal too - that didn't make it any easier to bear.

So when I was reading Monica's post about mothering energy, I vaguely wondered if that was on the menu for me as well.  Let me tell you, it totally is!  I don't know if reading about it created or reinforced these feelings, but whatever the case it is definitely real for me.

I didn't fully recognize it until yesterday.  Sunday when I went on my shopping spree what I was doing crossed my mind.  I can't have a kid, but I sure can have some LAMPS!  It hit me when out of the blue I found myself sending pictures of DOGS to Drew, saying how cute they were.  DOGS.  To Drew.  What is wrong with me?????  He asked me why I was sending him pictures, did I want another one?  HELL TO THE NO!!  What was I thinking?  I mean, in my defense they are super cute and if anyone can tell me what they are, I'd be so grateful.

I found myself daydreaming about carrying around one of these little guys before I stopped myself in amazement!  I can't believe I'm looking at pictures of DOGS and sending them to my husband who would just LOVE to have another dog in the house!  I'm flirting with disaster!

That was when I remembered the mothering energy that I'd read about.  Whoa.  Is that why I'm wanting to decorate the house all of a sudden?  I'm serious, when Drew bought those rugs it was like a gate had been opened and I couldn't stop!  So let me show you what I did last night!

Our front room has no overhead lights - it's the only room in the house without them and the only light sources are the lights in my tree, Junior (I name everything) and the lamp in the corner.  I moved the dinky lamp that was on the nightstand into the front room for more light, but it's not the greatest.  I didn't play with the light amount here to show you how dark the room really is. (And PS, I HATE the speakers underneath the tv.  They look like beetles.  I want to put them in the corners of the ceiling like the ones on the other wall.  That was big fight #386 with Drew because he wanted them near the tv to maximize sound quality.  Who cares about sound quality?  I don't want beetles over my fireplace!  Although it does sound awesome when watching X-Men: Wolverine so at least there's that.  Oh, and Maya had to be nosy and get in on my photoshoot.)

The lamp on the left is Drew's from Pottery Barn and I thought about getting another tripod lamp so they could sort of match.  I found one at target but it was waaaay too rich for my blood.  That's going to have to be a save-up and get-later item. 

I looked at Pottery Barn, West Elm, Crate and Barrel, other lamps at Target but hardly any of them had the drum shade that I really wanted.  Since my mothering energy was on full steam I couldn't possibly fathom getting a base somewhere and getting my drum shade from somewhere else.  I wanted a floor lamp with a drum shade at the right price NOW!

And I found it!  Z Gallerie had one and my hands were literally shaking when I dialed the number - it was like I was on furniture crack!  They had one in stock and I had them put it aside for me.  As soon as I got off work I made a beeline for Z Gallerie to get my lamp.

I moved Junior over to the far corner and set up my lamp where Junior used to be.  Turning on that lamp made me positively giddy!  I was clapping and jumping up and down and Maya just sat in the chair, totally dismissing me.

I had to play with the fill light because the lamplight blew out the photo and you couldn't see much else.  What can I say, I'm no photographer.  I do well to upload what I've got and that usually takes at least three tries.

I had every intention of just getting my lamp and leaving.  I intended to buy one thing and get out.  But like the furniture crack fiend that I am, I couldn't stop.  Everything in the store was 20% off!  C'mon!  That's just not fair.  Oh also, now that there's so much light in the front room, it highlights the ridiculously bare wall above the sofa.  This picture wall is what I want to do to it.

This picture is from Three Men and a Lady who I am totally in love with.  I love her house and you have to go to her blog and see the rest of it.  Crazy beautiful!!!

I realize now I should have done a close up but when you're high on furniture crack you don't think about these things.  Remember how I said I wanted the breakfast nook to be all ivory and mirrors and glass?  I got these two frames at Z Gallerie for our pictures that we got in Paris.  The one on the left is a shot of the Arc de Triomphe and we totally walked by the cafe where this shot was taken (which sounds kind of lame but it's so not!).  The one on the right is a shot of the Eiffel Tower through an apartment window and both are in sparkly frames - I love them so much!!  The book is called The French Room and our friend Andi contributed to it!  She's a brilliant designer and we went to her tres chic book signing and sipped champagne at the tres chic furniture showroom filled with tres chic stuff we'll never afford.  So much fun though, and she totally autographed our copy!

Now my question is, do I leave them where they are and hang a mirror between the cabinets or do I hang the pictures on the wall?  Should I get more stuff for the sideboard?  Glass serving trays or something??  Thoughts??

I also picked up a Buddha and he's temporarily living on the table.  Eventually, I want to put all kinds of glass jars and white ceramic things on top of the cabinets.  When Buddha gets more friends, he'll move to the top of the cabinets.  We got the coasters in Paris too - it was about the only souvenir we could afford!  Never mind my dinner in the corner there - I sure do love my noodles!

When I went back to Marshall's Monday night my bench was there!  Lesson learned:  if you love something and it's on sale, just get it.  You won't be sorry - as long as you love it.  I would have been heartbroken if I had come back and it was gone.  That's why I got the Buddha and the frames even though I only intended to get the lamp.  I loved them and eating breakfast this morning with Buddha and looking over my shoulder at our Paris pictures totally made me smile!

Now that I have the bench and I hung up the other blue curtain, of course I had to take more pictures!  I guess those other pictures were more during type pictures than they were after.  I put matching CFLs in the lamps so the light is better and I changed the sheets to see if the cream would make a difference with the cream bench.  What do you think?

Now, another question:  the bench is almost a tan color.  It's perfectly fine the way it is but I'm thinking of recovering it in a tan and blue stripe to pull out some color from the curtains.  BUT, the rug in the sitting room is pretty much black and tan.  So do I leave the bench as is and get a blue throw for the bed or do I recover?  Thoughts??

OOORRRR, do I recover the bench in the same fabric as the chair in the sitting room and get the blue throw for the bed?  Or is that too matchy-matchy?  I'm planning on getting an oatmeal slipcover for the loveseat in the sitting room and maybe some black-white-tan throw pillows to tie everything together.  Maya does well with the throw pillows in the front room so I'm feeling brave.

Do you see what furniture crack does to a person?  I did all of this in three days!  And I'm nowhere near done!  I want the kitchen to have lots of color and with a black and tan runner for the floor and black and tan curtains - I think.  I've started by putting the plates above the cabinets but I don't know if that's where they'll stay.  I also hung Drew's favorite picture and I'm really liking it!

You can't tell because once again I suck at taking pictures but the witch's lips are super red which brings out the tomatoes.  I was all, ooh look at her lips!  Look at the tomatoes!  Ooooohhh, where's my camera!  Crack, people.  It's a bad thing.  I took all these pictures between 9 and 10:30 last night and 8 this morning before I ran out of the house because I was too excited to sleep and too excited to care if I was late to work this morning. 

THEN, when I got outside to my car I noticed our roses!  I'm not sure if they're still supposed to be blooming but if that's the case no one told them!

Drew gets home tonight and I really hope he likes everything I've done.  It has done wonders for lifting my spirits and I'm so very thankful for that!  Peace and cookies y'all!