Got my first taste of fall yesterday with a hike in Harriman State Park with Lauren, Frank, Caroline and Tara — the colors of the foliage gave me a little home decor inspiration.  The rest of the weekend involved an excellent dinner Friday night at foodie, and recovery and Italy-related errands on Saturday.  After returning from the hike, I attacked a few more closets in preparation for the Salvation Army pickup tomorrow — I’ve got three boxes of shoes and purses and five large garbage bags full of clothing to ship off.  Slow and steady . . .

I came home last night after a loooong day (training, meetings, no breakfast, conference call, two events) to find several packages waiting for me.  One was a promotional poster for Alice Waters’ new book, The Art of Simple Food (interesting timing, as Alice was mentioned quite a bit at last night’s Julia lecture).  Not only is the poster emblazoned with directives that speak to the way I try to eat and cook generally, like "shop at farmers’ markets," "Eal locally and sustainably," "Cook together," and, my favorite, "Eat together," but it matches my new decorating scheme.  Between that, a large sized print of a picture of the Little Red Lighthouse that I took, and a print of another picture of an old bicycle from the beach house, I seem to be amassing a collection of art that highlights the colors I’m looking for.

Sometimes I am SUCH a girl.  I came home last night and saw an enormous bug on the back edge of my couch.  I shrieked, ran for the Raid, and shoved the couch away from the wall.  I took off my shoe and swatted the thing onto the floor, shrieked yet again then chased it around the living room until I cornered it.  Then I Raid-ed the crap out of it until it stopped moving, at which point I grabbed a wad of paper towels and flushed it.  I then ran out of the apartment straight to the 24 hour drug store to get new roach baits.  This seems to happen about once a year or so.  I guess the bright side is that I always know when it’s time to get new roach baits — perhaps putting it on my calendar would be a better way to go.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m waaaay behind on the Apartment Therapy, but I did make some minor progress this weekend.  First and foremost I brought my old computer, monitor, keyboard and printer to an electronics recycling event on Saturday — considering I bought my new one close to two years ago, it’s about time I got rid of the old one.  Next, I went to the Container Store and got a plan and estimate for my new home office.  Finally, I picked up a new throw, a pillow, and a bowl at Crate and Barrel to add some more red to my living room.  Next weekend — more purging of the crap and a trip to the paint store are in order.

Since college, which was about a hundred years ago, I have always had a bottle opener on my keychain.   Now, in college and shortly thereafter, this made a great deal of sense.  As I’ve gotten older, I never really questioned having it there, although people often made fun of me.  "What are you – still in college?"  Oh, they may mock me, but they always like to use it.  I went to a picnic one day and, of course, people were looking for a bottle opener.  My keys were passed around until I had to leave.  Since some of my friends were staying, they asked if I could leave my bottle opener.  "Sure," I replied, "just remember to take it with you when you leave."  As you might guess, I never saw that bottle opener again.  I proceeded to bug them about it, and one of them offered to get me a replacement — a Kismet bottle opener from Fire Island.  But — summer came and went, and no bottle opener.  And then, last week, Frank produced this little gem, swiped from the boat that circles the Statue of Liberty on a recent booze cruise.  Last night, I was at a rooftop party, and once again, my bottle opener was quite a hit.  Thanks again, Frank!

Courtesy of Gaping Void

I am realizing very quickly that, given the amount of time I am dedicating to it, my eight-week Apartment Therapy project will end up taking more like 12-16 weeks. Sure, I’m clipping things for my style tray and have made some minor progress, but I am not slowing down my life enough to give it the time it deserves.  Sigh.  I’m supposed to be in week three, but I haven’t completed all of the tasks set out in weeks one and two.  I have been buying flowers and am having another Sunday night dinner, and am starting to think about colors for paint, which is freaking me out a bit.  Well — the "housewarming" I’m supposed to have at the end of the process may end up being a holiday party of some sort, which could be fun.  And speaking of not slowing down, tomorrow’s agenda includes: Team Joe run, brunch w/Erika, Stone Street Oysterfest, and the Vendy’s.  No, I’m not a judge this year.