Today I have almost nothing for you; I am busy continuing Operation Kill Fleas Immediately If Not Sooner, and that involves a lot of vacuuming and laundry and also bathing a dog who is really not all that jazzed about finding herself in the sink. AGAIN.
Also I am trying to spend some quality time with my children, which would be a lot easier if they would stop doing things like shoving garbage in their closets and then swearing that they’d cleaned their rooms (and then getting all offended when their jerkery is discovered). AHEM. (Jerkery is SO a word, by the way.) Anyway.
Two very cool things happened to me lately, though:
First, Gretchen Rubin—NYT best-selling author of The Happiness Project—linked to my site from her blog, which was very nice; but more than that, she sent me a lovely email, too. This was one of those things where first I did the total fangirl SQUEEEEEEE but then came back down to earth and had a few deeply satisfying moments of feeling like sometimes the universe just hands you a little something. In this case it was the knowledge that huge success doesn’t have to turn people into jerks. I mean, sure, you’d hope the person behind something called the HAPPINESS Project would be nice, but still. Gretchen is lovely inside and out—and her book is amazing—and I was very touched to hear from her. So that was cool.
Second, a while back I was contacted by some folks who wanted to know if I wanted a virtual kitchen makeover. “A what, now?” is pretty much how I responded, if I recall correctly. It turned out to be sort of a fantasy game—what would my ideal kitchen be like if money (or reality) was no object—and recently the results were unveiled. So you can now see my Fancy Imaginary Kitchen alongside a few others, as part of the Kitchens.com Iconic Inspirations segment. This was exciting for two reason: First, I will now forever be dreaming and scheming about how to GET that gorgeous kitchen that Cheryl designed for me, and second, one of the other inspirations featured is Ann Cooper, who is one of my personal heroes. Just seeing my face on the same page as hers caused another little squee, I swear. (Also: Check out that gray driftwood flooring. WANT.)
Maybe I should’ve just called this “things that make me go squee.”
I was taking some stuff out to our compost pile earlier this week and when I came back in I found fleas on my feet. It happened again this morning, and I realized they are from my neighbor’s 6 cats… I thought of you and thanked god it wasn’t 50 cats…
oh, and congrats on the Gretchen email. I love her blog too.
Delighted you agreed to participate, Miriam! “Your” kitchen has been a favorite with many of my friends. And you should have seen the laundry room/pantry (w/ extra oven & sink) and “Mom’s command center” with built-in desk and glass doors Cheryl wanted to give you as well.
[Ed. note: Hey Kim, as soon as you find a sponsor to actually BUILD me that kitchen, I promise to bake you cookies. In my new oven! Hee.]
Wow, that kitchen is so weird…but in a really cool way. It doesn’t look like a kitchen. There are lots of things I love about it, but since you forced me to pick one ;), I’m gonna go with the dining table/counter extended from the island. I’m actually going to recommend this to a friend whose kitchen isn’t very “eat-in” friendly. They squeezed in a dining table, but it’s in the way of a cupboard and the back door. I’m thinking they have plenty of room on the other side of their island to do this table.
Soooo, speaking of kitchens and appliances, whatever ended up happening with last year’s debacle? Did you just end up asking for your old appliances back? ;)
Wow, Mir…this is all pretty awesome… and OMG-the-kitchen-has-grey-driftwood-flooring. Why didn’t I think of that.
OK, so I know Americans are said to do everything bigger and better than us Europeans but seriously – do people (and, without wanting to cause offence, I mean people who are not film stars or multi-millionaires or what have you) really have kitchens that size in the US? I appreciate this is a “fantasy kitchen” thing, but that kitchen is probably bigger than my entire flat here in France… And wouldn’t it be EXHAUSTING trying to work in a kitchen that size? Mine is about 8 m² (no idea what that is in feet – when are you guys going to join the rest of the world in the metric system, it’s soooo much easier!) and has everything I need… I do like the floor, though – looks like a really practical colour.
My question too- did you get to expand the walls out or are those the dimensions of your current kitchen? Because my dream kitchen only requires four feet of exterior brick wall to be moved….
I love the flooring! I never would’ve thought of that but it’s so cool!
WANTthat kitchen. Also would want it to stay nice and pretty and clean like that! Thanks for mentioning fleas, I’ve been imagining I see them everywhere since I read about Licorice. The Mir powers of mystical imagination. Man, I am all itchy.
That is one beautimous kitchen.
I just ordered The Happiness Project. I can’t wait to read it and absorb all the happy-goodness.
I don’t really cook much, though I love the Food Network. I think it fuels a fantasy that one day a television chef might appear on my doorstep and make all those fancy meals for me. Oops, tangent.Sorry. Original point incoming: I would deign to cook in that virtual kitchen of yours. It is awesome.
I would really like that kitchen also.
If you don’t let Otto move those patio doors, you’ll NEVER be able to go for the full kitchen of your dreams. Just sayin’. ;-)
Wow Mir! I am glad the kitchen got some good comments:) I had fun planning it and wish I had more time to chat with you about your wants and needs etc but since I am also an “everything mom” I felt a pretty good kinship with you! It would have been fun to see the small office ” command central” space too off of the kitchen as well as the garden courtyard ( for your vegetarian girl!) but alas, Kim said I absolutely could NOT have the entire page! Drats! I am glad people like the flooring concept. Actually had in mind either an old planked floor I saw recently OR there is actually a tile, yes really, that looks just like the floor..sounds gross but it is really stunning and think of the great clean up! Just used it for a client whose dog is alpha dog and demanded a tile surface in the kitchen but his boss, my client, said she wanted the look of wood…so voila! we used this tile and it was great.
Oh and to Kirsty: Despite the fact that it was a “dream” kitchen and I like to dream big:) I do lots of small kitchens. I am from California originally and 1200 sq ft is a large house. But, I beg to differ about working in the space…it really is designed to be a two galley kitchen so might be easier than you think to manuever:)Check out my website for lots of small space ideas ! Thanks again Miriam for the chance to have some fun! Cheryl