birds and jars - together!

my new glass bird jar - from Pottery Barn. 

detail of the silly bird on top.

Those of you who know me - either personally or through reading this fluff bucket of a blog - are aware that I have an odd obsession with glass jars and strange birds. I even have small glass birds that I keep in large glass jars. It drives my husband crazy.  But I guess he loves me because for our 6 year dating anniversary (April Fool's Day) he gave me the ultimate glass jar - a bird jar! That's right - it is a glass jar with a bird on top. Boo-ya!!
I'm not sure what I am going to put in it yet - I just know that I love it and I love him.

Happy Spring.

B.L.E.

p.s. - I gave him tickets to see David Sedaris on Easter Sunday. We always listen to his books on tape when we go on long car rides so it will be quite a treat to see him in person. I really really hope he tells more stories about his time in France....

more birds.

As a few of you may know already from some previous posts - I love odd birds. Well - not real birds. Anyone who has seen a seagull eating vomit on the sidewalk could never love actual birds - they are disgusting.

Lucky for me - Potterybarn is on a HUGE bird kick right now. Everything they sell is now available in bird form - rugs and wall hangings, throw pillows and serving platters, sheets and towels and on and on - even weird big-footed bird sculptures. All these things are delightful - we even purchased the place mats and napkins for our new table. We did however pass on the bird candles - they looked too real. From less than a foot away it would appear that you were lighting a baby bird on fire.

By far the best thing available in bird form was the glass and porcelain scent diffuser (now out of stock online). I love the concept of a scent diffuser but am so done with the sticks and the reeds and blah blah. To me - it just screams "look over here - this corner of the house smells." I don't love obvious and do appreciate elegant (don't even get me started on those Glade Plug-In stink bombs). Nobody enjoys a stinky house and with the addition of dear Biscuit to our household (an 11 pound french gas machine) outside reinforcements were becoming necessary.

The bird is so delicate and pretty and lets off that great Potterybarn signature paperwhite scent. We now own two of them - one for the living room and one for the bathroom. I would like to think that paperwhite is now becoming the Elasticsandwich signature scent as well.

Chirping with delight.

B.L.E.

THREAD - the first of a flock

There are multiple patterns out there for birds and even better - bird mobiles - and I do love a good ride on a bandwagon - especially one as cute as this - bird mobile.

I have been completely tied up with my quilt (which should be finished and posted very very soon) and my upcoming run (tomorrow - wish me luck) once that is complete I will be all about some birds. I do love me some birds.

Look for the full flock soon.

Oh - and Adam thinks this bird looks like a space whale which completely baffles and slightly offends me.

Cheers!

B.L.E.

LOVE - strange birds & glass jars

There are many things I am randomly a fan and/or collector and obsessive of - here are two current favorites.


1. random strange birds
I counted - there are more than 20 birds in our apartment in various species, sizes and mediums. Above are two of the most unique.

The one on the left is ceramic and supposedly a dove - to me - it looks like an albino pigeon. At work it was on a lamp between a few desks - everyone would move it around so it would not be overlooking them directly (its beady eyes are a little disconcerting).

When I first took it home I put it on a shelf in the bathroom but Adam made me move it - he said the bird was watching him shower. Then I tucked it onto the radiator in the living room right in front of the window so it looked like it flew into the apartment. This is where it currently lives although nobody has yet to think it is real - alas! I'll admit it is a bit creepy but there is something endearing about it and I do love that it is ceramic.

The bird on the right is metal and heavy and is a nutcracker. Like a good bird it cracks nuts in its bird beak. You cannot beat form and function right? I love the heft and the simplicity of it. The nutcracker birds lives - perfectly content - on the butcher block table under a large ficus tree in the kitchen.

2. glass jars of various sizes
For as many birds as there are in the apartment there are just as many - very possibly more - glass jars. Itty bitty to two feet tall - there are jars everywhere and I love them. They are pretty and useful and unexpected.

The jar collection started with good intentions - I gathered a few at a sample sale to put holiday treats in - for $1 apiece they were a gorgeous environmentally friendly very Martha Stewart way to present cookies and biscotti and other holiday deliciousness. But then I gathered more (they were free!!) and soon people at work would find more jars as the office was closing and started to bring them to me - then I got a few more for my birthday. It was a death spiral of jars.

Now they almost all serve a purpose - to display fancy soap and matches in the bathroom as in the photo above - to hold knitting needles, thread and ribbon in my crafting bookshelf - filled with leftover ornaments at Christmas for decoration (stole that from a Martha cover a few years ago) - and on and on. There is a simple functional beauty to them especially since they are scattered around the apartment.

I guess it is the simple - slightly odd - things make me happy and truly make our apartment more personal.

B.L.E.


P.S. - I even have one glass jar filled with small glass bird figurines. My passions collide!!