Pinning Simplicity

Oh my goodness, this one is the epitome of simple brilliance!

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Just insert a tension curtain rod (you can grab one @ Lowe's or Home Depot for less than $10) and put that unused airspace under your sinks to good organizational use! 

I love simple solutions for making life less cluttered and more efficient! 

Thanks going out to Jen Grant Morris for this super solution and to Linda Binggeli for "pinning" it!

Not your Average Housewife Field Trip

Last week, after the hectic school morning pace was behind me, I nabbed a jumbo DD hazelnut iced-java to sip on the ride into Boston for a very special Moms' field trip.

As it turns out, my mozzarella-making pal, Julie, had quite the art-filled life before taking on the momhood. An art history major, her pre-parenting career was spent in the Education Department of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

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Though Julie is now the mom of two adorable and inquisitive youngsters, her love of this truly unique museum and its collection, and her abundant enthusiasm for sharing its stories, are undiminished.

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I won't attempt to summarize the tale of Mrs. Jack (what many called Mrs. John Lowell Gardner, Jr.) & her museum, the museum's website does a fine job of that (that is if you aren't lucky enough to have a former tour guide for a friend), and  I would love to share a collection of photographs I took while wandering through, but the museum bans photo taking (what!?).

What I can share is my strong recommendation to take the time to visit the Gardner, whether you reside right here in Boston or are just here for a brief time. I assure you, it's unlike any museum you've ever experienced.

There are no bright lights (we arrived on a rainy, gloomy morning, and the spaces seemed almost dreary, but as the skies cleared the galleries transformed with the brightening light), or expanses of sterile, white walls (walls are covered with French silk, painted leather, and ancient wood paneling), or signs with the details and stories of each work or object of art (as Julie explained, "Mrs. Gardner didn't want signs distracting people, she believed the art should be experienced, felt".

The Venetian-style palace Mrs. Gardner built remains mostly unchanged since her death (per her will) and is bursting with her treasured collections - European tapestries, Asian prints, fireplace mantles from disassembled castles, hand-painted Mexican tiles, porcelain, books, and painting by names unknown and other of great renown (Titan, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Matisse and Sargent to name just a few).

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Mrs. Gardner's curiosity, interests and tastes were divergent, representing her many travels around this globe, and there is something intriguing to gaze upon tucked into every nook and cranny of her museum. Julie's ebullient narration included many fascinating tales and insights, and walking through Mrs. Gardner's palazzo & collections made you feel like you were getting a glimpse into her art-loving psyche.

The Gardner Museum has closed until January 2012, to complete renovations & an expansion, but once it reopens, I look forward to exploring its galleries again, because the Gardner is definitely one of those places you can revisit, again and again, and always discover something you haven't spotted before.

Thanks, Julie, for sharing your love and knowledge of the Gardner!

Julie (right) and her friend, Anna, outside the Gardner.

While doing a little post-field trip reading I discovered this fab Gardner quotes...

"Don't spoil a good story by telling the truth." 

I'm thinking I need to learn a bit more about this unique lady! 

Here are a few Gardner-related books I'm adding to my virtual "to read" stack.

Today's Fab & Fav Pin...

Here is today's fab & fav "pin"...a hallway shoe organizer from IKEA...

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Love the little drawer at the top - the perfect spot for keys, sunglasses, gloves, etc.

I just checked on IKEA.com & it comes in a black-brown finish, too!

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We SO need this in our front hallway!

There just might be a trip to IKEA added to this weekend's agenda.

Giving in to the addiction...

Found this one viathis evening...how to fix a shattered iPhone screen!

So maybe this new addiction isn't all bad.

Heck, just the other day my gal pal, Mrs. S, shattered the screen on her three-week-old iPhone 4!

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...what useful, fun, inspiring or funky stuff have you found while wondering the cyber aisles? 

Feel free to share a few of your favorite "pins" in a comment below.

Pinterest...is there a 12-step program?

Heaven help me! I'm am completely addicted to...

I discovered Pinterest a few months ago -- I think it was when I wanted to check out a photo someone had referenced on Facebook -- I registered, then didn't go back.

I mean really, what possible niche could this collection of virtual bulliten boards fill in my life. There is certainly no room in this B-U-S-Y 'burb life for ANOTHER social platform.

Then it happened -- I can't even recall the impetuous two weeks ago that took me back, but suddenly, inexplicably, I was H-O-O-K-E-D!

In just a couple of weeks I have created 21 "boards" and "pinned" 153 images and "liked" 30 more!

I've discovered crafty projects even a craft-challenged housewife might manage.

Found food fun to fix for my family & friends.

Started my travel bucket list.

And relished assembling my fantasy dinner party guest list!

I am definitely a "visual person", as evidenced by my love of photography & art, so I guess it's not surprising that I L-O-V-E scrolling through all those lovely images, images of anything and everything you can imagine, and some you might never have dreamed of, all arranged in a lovely collage format.

So these days, whenever I'm looking for a few mind-relaxing moments, more & more often I find myself skipping the Facebook & Twitter and clicking on Pinterest.

This could become a problem...all this inspiration could keep me from actually accomplishing anything I've been inspired to try.

Pinterest...it's inspiring, and it's fun to inspire. Come join the fun! 

Where do you turn for inspiration?

My Apple Orchard

As techie types, and we humble lovers of tech stuff that really works, absorb the passing of Mr. Jobs, I cannot help but look back on my own conversion from PC/Windows slave to Apple freedom.

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• Freedom to listen, watch & work wherever my hectic life leads me.
• Freedom to Wiki over cocktails and quell a contention debate of facts and/or fictions.
• Freedom to buy movie tickets from my minivan when rain suddenly pours down on the playground.
• Freedom to blog while watching my boys frolic at the beach.

President Obama (on the White House blog) eloquently expressed our collective perspective on this man & his impact --

"Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - 

brave enough to think differently, 

bold enough to believe he could change the world, 

and talented enough to do it."

I was relatively late climbing onto the Apple wagon, but it wasn't a long trip through the orchard before I had morphed from curious onlooker to what the Handsome Husband dubbed "a Mac advocate". Now days my bushel of Apples is full.

My personal Apple timeline...

June 2005 -

Purchased my first Apple product, an iPod Nano, and raced the gestation clock to load it with music before birthing my first.

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That humble turquoise iPod Nano turned out to be my gateway gadget.

January 2006 - 

Purchased a video iPod for upcoming trip to visit the Grands in CA. I loaded it with a few of my toddlers favorites and hoped it would help entertain on the long journey.

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I'll never forget the envious teens whining to their parents that even that "baby" had a new video iPod.

July 2006 -

After two days to setup struggles with a recently purchased Dell laptop (with the OS system debacle know as Windows Vista), I packed up the black beast, shipped it back to Dell and got myself to the Apple store.

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There have been a few glitches during our time together, but Apple has always been there for me, fixed her up right, and I am still happily tapping away on the very same key board.

Fall 2007

Original Nano's battery dies, bring home 5th Generation iPod, 'cause I'm tired of fighting with my 2 year old over who gets to use "his" iPod, losing battle and being sentenced to FM radio.

Summer 2008

Tossed my Nokia and Palm Pilot for a sleek iPhone 3G! My Mommy bag felt so much lighter!

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Since 2008 the Apple avalanche has continued & spread throughout Weeksworld. 

• A new iPod Shuffle for the Handsome Husband.
• MacBooks for my brother-in-law, mother-in-law, father, and numerous friends.
• Upgrade to the iPhone 4 for me, and decommissioned iPhone 3G passed down to eldest son.

Next on the Fortuitous Housewife's wish list...an iPad.

(I've got a November birthday, there's Christmas & our Valentine's Day anniversary.) 

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I'm tired of battling with the mini-men over who gets to use the MacBook, and an iPad seems like the perfect interim step before Mama upgrades to a MacBookPro and passes down this trusty MacBook.

So, thank you, Steve Jobs, for your passion for innovation & perfection.

Your vision changed the way we work & play, and left this world a better place.