from the rushes: life taking shape, part I

Lawrence, Kansas, is about a 16 hour drive from Salt Lake City, Utah. Judd and I went to sleep really late the night before we left, after packing the car, bathing and showering, and talking late into the night. My sister had instructed my mom to push play on the CD player after the morning was pretty well under way, and She's Leaving Home by The Beatles blared. I was walking down the stairs to the car to throw in a bag right when the line "she goes downstairs..." was being sung... I may always remember that.

StrawBeary stayed pretty close to me the entire drive. She was a nice little pillow for my knee against the door, and we practiced passenger safety for a lot of the long drive:

She even got to sit up and watch the view-- usually, a whole lotta beautiful nothing. Cabin fever is a funny thing.

It took awhile to notice, and it's even now still easy to forget: this place is flat, and for a long time, in all directions:

We arrived at our new home at about 1 in the afternoon (after one night spent in Colby, Kansas). Judd carried me over the threshold, opened all of the boxes with his knife, and then set to work trying to blow up the air mattress. I was a bit of a tasmanian devil unpacking everything.

And when I walked into the bedroom, Judd had the bed made up beautifully.

Move-in day, in the sunshine, in our dining room:

Our pantry door, my apron collection, depression-era swan bowl with tomatoes and lemons.

Framed picture of Hallie braiding my hair, then me braiding Hallie's hair (found in a box of photos that were deemed to have not turned out well enough to frame or put in an album!); pewter bird s&p shakers from a flea market in paducah, kentucky; owl trivet from frosty darling in SLC.

Our stove... the paper towel reads "home sweet home."

We're settling in nicely here-- it has been about a month and a half-- and are getting to know our neighborhood, town, and routine pretty well. This is Hector, our neighbors' cat. He tries to come in to our place a lot, and loves to hop all over our stairs and banister, and the furniture (what little there's been) as we move it in:

One of our favorite things to do is go to the early morning Farmer's Market. It's usually in combination with cruising garage sales, which we also love, and need. As a result of the garage sale cruising, we've managed to find a few pieces of furniture here and there to put here or there.

Here's Judd exiting our lovely front door, Farmer's Market bag in tow:

The Market on Saturday mornings can get quite hoppin. On this particular Saturday we arrived about 30 minutes before closing. This left us finding some pretty great deals. I bet we got about a pound of bright and fresh cherry tomatoes for about $4.

And, of course, this bouquet. I'm not sure what kind of flowers these are, but up close they look like tiny velvet brains. I love them, and they were some of my favorite things: dirt cheap and beautiful:

Here they are in action, along with most of our tomatoes for the day (on our farmer's table coffee table):

Our formica table is beloved, durable, practical, and pretty. It does have an uneven leg. We will, eventually, make it down to Ace for a stopper, but for now, Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Strand is going to have to bear some of the burden.

... And the same goes for our farm table coffee table (pictured with the flowers and tomatoes). I have always wanted a farm table, and envisioned one for this house. This is an antique farm table cut down to coffee table size... by an amateur. I'm not sure how it's this off, but until we make it to Ace, Extreme Fiction is holding it up.

I bought this bag in Mexico. There, it's sort of a typical grocery bag. Here, it's our produce bag! It looks great with a baguette sticking out one end... and on this closet door.

This is the table where Judd's record player will eventually go...

... with old Bobby Dylan, and a bandana from Hallie's tour...

where do you keep your Q-tips? Just asking, because we keep them in this vintage creamer from San Francisco...

And I think even the back of our toilet is lovely. We have the little bun-bun cotton ball holder from Etsy, a bright-blue candle in white porcelain (with a perched bird) from Anthropologie, and potpourri made from the roses of the gardens of my grandma, her sister, and... her mother? I forgot the specifics...

My work space is in the dining room. Judd's will be in the living room... we're waiting for the perfect desk. This bookshelf is in the dining room, and on it are poetry books and my school books. On top of it: a music box from china town in San Fran, a little mini treasure chest, a photo/letter from Jonathan Safran Foer (I wrote to him pretty soon after the release of his first book), and a rocking horse bank (this used to belong to my best friend Greg, and I begged him to save it for me instead of getting rid of it-- their housekeeper got rid of it, and I came upon it in a second-hand store).

This is the bookshelf in the living room. On it: a photo of Judd's grandfather fishing, a photo of my maternal grandparents on their wedding day, and a photo of my maternal grandfather's mother with all of her quilts.

Someday we will own a couch. Or, at least, enough chairs to host a party. And someday our art will arrive from SLC...

And, the bedroom.

We bought this vanity at a garage sale, and the man was nice enough to deliver it to our house, AND carry it in. What a deal!

This part is mostly mine...

So.. mostly my jewelry... though Judd does put his necklaces and wallet on here...

These necklaces get a lot of wear: real butterfly encased in plastic, real leaf in gold, and a cloisonne necklace with a peacock....

And here, a bird pin I bought in Venice, and a bird pin my mother bought when she was about my age, and living in St. Louis.

Framed is a Christmas card Judd gave me last year. In front of it are two swans from my maternal grandmother's swan collection. Below the gold lotus candle holder are vintage hankies.

And my piggy bank! Mostly coins right now, and it hasn't been fed in awhile. Postcards from the used book store are accumulating on top of the dresser, especially as I fall more and more in love with.... the dresser is from a yard sale. We got two bookcases free with its purchase, and once we cleaned the bugs out, I thought it was quite beautiful...

Ah, the air mattress. We slept on it this entire time we've been here, up until a week ago. The seaming gradually began to pop out, making it impossible for our sheets to fit over it. It became more life-raft shaped than air mattress, and we eventually slept in the middle with the sheets piled there. It endured two holes and countless repairs. But it wasn't, actually, half bad. (note the moving-box side tables?)