Tag Archives: fantasy life

Fantasy Life Update: Homebrew

In my increasing effort not to eat anything I didn’t make myself, I’ve branched in to homebrewing. A couple weeks back, I started a double IPA and it is finally ready. This takes forever and is completely worth it in every way.

Brew Awful Double IPA.

Brew Awful Double IPA.

We bought all our supplies at My Old Kentucky Homebrew, and y’all, they couldn’t be nicer. Your start-up costs on homebrew supplies are going to set you back about the cost of a keg of Bud Light, but once you’re rolling, you have great, handcrafted beer for about 70 cents a bottle. Since I am fancy, we asked Portland-based designer Autumn Hutchins to make our labels for us, and I couldn’t be happier with her fast, prompt work. In the weeks to come, I’ll post some stuff on how to DIY some beer. Invite some friends over, promise to give them half your yield, and get started. I don’t know what I was waiting for.

Fantasy Life Update: Deadstock Raybans

Y’all, look what I found when we were cleaning out my grandfather’s closet.

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My mom let me borrow them when mine got stolen, and I just haven’t gotten around to giving them back. The man was an optician and a pack rat, and that just paid dividends for me.

Fantasy Life Update: Dog, Fireplace, Magazine (I have acquired just one)

I am house sitting for my mom this week while she’s at a conference at the Arizona Biltmore (no, I do not feel sorry for her. The Biltmore was full, so the poor dear had to stay at the Ritz). My mother is probably the most terrifyingly perfect person in the known world. All of her plates match, she has 20 kinds of vinegar, her nails are never chipped, and no one has ever seen her without mascara at any time after 1972. I can almost guarantee you none of her socks and underwear have holes.
Which is why staying at her house is fun! I get to pretend like I personally have 5 kinds of salt, several bottles of wine, a gigantic shower (amazing water pressure, by the way), and one of those nifty electric kettles, but I don’t actually have to um…go out and get them? The best part of her house though, is this:

It’s snowing outside and I never want to leave here.

There exists, in this house, a tiny dog named Ceili, and she is absurd. She hates everything that isn’t sleeping and/or lying disdainfully on pillows near a fire (aka the only things I want to do). There is also a fireplace. The only thing, actually, that I brought to this, was my new copy of Lucky Peach! Do you read this magazine? It is the best!

So, in an effort to getting my actual life to more fully align with my fantasy life, I spent a full hour talking to The Tiny Dog (no response; has not yet mastered English), reading John Jeremiah Sullivan‘s article about preserved fruit, and pretending I own this fireplace. I’m getting closer.

Fantasy Life Update: Terrariums

Once upon a time in Mississippi, there lived a woman with approximately ten terrariums scattered about her pretty adorable home.

This is her. Look at her, giggling about the terrariums back at her house.

This is her. Look at her, giggling about the terrariums back at her house.

Unfortunately, the terrariums did not survive the move to Kentucky, and her current living situation does not allow for further terrarium creation. Also, this woman is me, so I’m going to go ahead and give up this conceit right now.

The good news is that people heard me mention the lost, self-sustaining ecosystems I had fostered (or maybe heard me crying about them late at night [not that I did that]), and it has become the default present to give me in the last few months. Below are the the two non-me-made terrariums I have been gifted.

Surprisingly hard to take compelling photos of these compelling little worlds.

Surprisingly hard to take compelling photos of these compelling little worlds.

The one on the right is from The Terrarium Lady here in town. Unfortunately, the Terrarium Lady does not have a webpage, but if you’re ever in town, you can purchase one from her at the Flea Off Market. The other is from Twig Terrariums in Brooklyn, and yes, they ship!

The reason I love these so is that hey, I’m a busy lady, and I can’t be made to make a watering schedule in Excel and then hire a plant sitter and leave her with lots of instructions when I go to conferences or whatever. The other is that they make your house look really…lush? Verdant? These both seem like slightly slick words to employ, but a couple well-placed jars full of succulents (also a little slimy) make your home look alive and well for almost no effort.

Once I’m back in a larger space with a garage, I’ll make a how-to-make-your-own-terrarium tutorial. Would you like that? Learning how to make your own tiny world inside a cookie jar?

Fantasy Life Update: A Vase

One of my girlfriends got me this for Christmas:

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And trust me, I’ve tried. Poppies, peonies, plumeria. Nothing is as pretty as this vase. In my rich, rich fantasy life (in which I live in Erin’s house with my Great Pyrenees and have this hair), I eat any and all meals on Laura Zindel creations. For now, I guess my early-80s Pier One lotus bowls will be just fine, but a girl can dream, right?