{back in the saddle}

yippee kiy-a, i'm back in the saddle! i've launched the new decor8 and have all of my editorial assignments (for now anyway) wrapped up, so i can once again focus on my german apartment. i'm relaxed now, really! i feel great again and back to my holly self. seems the new website launch was getting to me as i was stressed about moving everything from blogger to wordpress glitch-free. with the exception of now having to move everything to a new server (my admin told me last night that it already exceeded my monthly bandwidth allowance after 2 days), i have to upgrade to some crazy sized GB service which is a 3x what i pay now. but you know, it's fine. i justify the expense of running decor8 based on my happiness of having a nice blog that i'm proud of and the fact that i don't have to pay for train passes and expensive clothes to go into a 'regular' job. i wear jeans and a blouse from old navy most days and write from home. i can't complain about the small amount of money i have to pay to maintain decor8. well not small amount, but compared to what the average small business owner pays to maintain a successful company i can't moan. point is, i'm glad that most of my major tasks are behind me so now i can move forward. i leave for germany in exactly one week. one week! i can't wait to live in europe for the rest of the year. i'm already planning our return for 09. :) sadly our connecting flight in germany may get canceled though, seems lufthansa is on strike! but our flight from boston to germany is all set. i told thorsten that if we can at least get over the ocean i can parachute out. i mean there are options once you are in europe. it's just that big body of water that's the problem. if our flight is canceled it may actually be fun. this means we'll hang out in munich for the weekend and either take another flight or hop on a bright and shiny slick german train. i have no problem with that at all. onto shopping. i just decided to order the curtains i've had my eye on over at west elm. after this purchase i may boycott west elm though after a few stories i heard recently from those i respect within the design community about how they pretty much copy designers and reproduce their work under their own name. i kind of expect this from mainstream stores, sadly, but it still really bothers me to hear first hand experiences from people i know who work their butts off to create product from their small studios. but for now, i purchased the lovely pure white west elm linen panels. they may seem boring to you, but i can embellish them if i want to. i wanted them for the fabric, their size (108" long) and their snowy white shade. once i get them i can add trim or take out the pocket rods and add a top ruffle or perhaps some interesting patterned trim or maybe i can even hand stamp them in a very muted pale gray... along the bottoms, an organic leaf or floral pattern. very subtle yet there. and nothing that looks too crafty because these curtains aren't cheap enough for me to potentially ruin. so i want to keep them simple but add something. the 'what to add' part is to be continued... i usually cannot find pure linen drapes in white, esp. in germany (at least for a reasonable price). i'm not exactly sure how 108" will fall, i want a slight puddle but nothing crazy. i can hem them. and i'm not sure how the width will work per window since i don't have the measurements on my windows, so i may just do a wall of white curtains in my bedroom and use all 4 panels, or i can split them up and do 2 panels in the living room and 2 in the bedroom. for the kitchen i plan to make a roman shade, i like things very simple in the kitchen. the bathroom window is so slim and small that i can sew a mini roman shade for that in a day. i wanted curtains now because i don't want to hang sheets when i get there. i don't have sheets to hang! and i don't want to rush around trying to find the perfect linen curtains when i'm all jet-lagged. i'd rather bring the essentials in my luggage so i can set up shop relatively fast and then move on to plan b. i'll write more here over the next few days... i've been shopping a little for presents to bring over but mostly my life has been work and of course last weekend was lovely -- i spent time with our close friends and met their newborn son and then we had dinner at a lovely french bistro called gaslight in boston's south end with our other friends in the city. i also had the pleasure of visiting the studio of simplemente blanco before dinner, and i think i may be custom ordering this light for my bedroom in germany from them. it's quite beautiful illuminated. this is what it looks like below. oh and guess what? i'm a redhead! well sorta. my hair is now this caramelish/reddish mix with blonde streaks. it's good. kinda trendy. i look cooler than i actually am now. ;)