My mom and I went to Monticello Antiques this afternoon for coffee and browsing. I had a delightful pecan truffle, it was so, so good, and small, and chewy. I was sad to see that they sold all of their miniature 18th century paintings. I bought one the last time I went and intended to buy more… hopefully they’ll restock.
My favorite place in Monticello is the garden room. I spend most of my time in there, because it reminds me of Le Petite Trianon. My parents purchased my ceiling to floor bookshelf here- originally intended to hold flowers and gardening tools. Above all things- I would like to purchase their Sweet Garden Cottage. It has been there since last year, when I first started going to Monticello, or that they have replaced it. The last one I saw was a pistachio with rose trim and the one I saw today was white. It could very well have been from the same supplier because its built the same way- almost identical- but in another color.
I found some very cool things today. They had miniature books (a stack of them) for four-fifty, each. The three I was most interested in was The Arabian Nights: Volume II (with the story of Sinbad), The Holy Grail, and The Happy Prince. They also had gorgeous gardening dresses (one shown below), jewelry, and snuff boxes, paintings, chandlers, love seats, and waterfalls, marble pillars, at over nine feet tall, sculptures, and feather plumes. I even found a miniature sketching of Georgiana Cavendish of Devonshire, and a mirror framed with what I’m almost certain was this Mary Robinson painting, by Gainsborough. I sort of felt like Rose Byrne’s portrayal of Duchesse de Polignac while I was in there, in her same drunken and playful voice- “It’s heaven here!”

Cosmetic powder puff with sculpted handle.

Twin portraits.

Pocket cameo jewelry box.

Dressing robe.

Garden dress.

Netted branch lighting fixture.

Fountain of colossal proportions.

Beautiful chair. Cups your back into it, its so comfy.

Jewelry or decorative box. Amazzzinng detail- wonderful carvings. Only seventeen dollars! I may go back and get this, haha.

Entry to the Sweet Garden Cottage. Could easily fit a bed and surrounding bookshelves/a bed side table. Though it would get incredibly hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

The price tag for my dream bedroom.

Speaking of dream bedrooms, I found a wonderful low impact woodland home on the internet. I would love to try building one of these, I would feel very accomplished when I finished and my new house that would, it goes without saying, surpass any one else’s. They were able to move into it within four months for a very decent price- what I think is roughly four thousand four hundred American dollars. I have to try it! Meanwhile, in my seventeen-year-old, penniless state, I went over to Austin’s. When he was picked up by Young’s dad I went home, for a walk, and took some pictures of the garden- the real garden- with no gorgeous glass green house in it. No plans for tonight yet. My parents went to Wine Down, on 28th, and I am babysitting Olivia.

Here is a picture illustrating the loss of my virginity. The quote at the bottom is from an American Football album (Austin played a mix tape called “A Little Bit of Aloha and A LOT of American Football” while we had painful, painful, but somewhat promising sex).

Full view

Quote detail: “We’re two human beings, individually, with inherent interest in each other and how we relate.” – American Football, I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional


Head detail

And various other close ups of the drawing

I didn’t draw the candles but they were there, haha. So hokey, I like him so much.

Head cutout. Detail: “Austin Gann. August 2008.”

Here are some photos I took of my dog today. I didn’t get to see Austin, which is always a bummer, but they say absence makes the heart grow stronger. I got plenty of reading done and ate some delicious pizza. Tomorrow my mom and I are going to the vintage store on Stark to get coffee and miniature paintings. L’agitation coule par ces veines! I’m so excited!

What a wonderful, wonderful day! I woke up and showered while Austin fixed his bike. He finally got the seat on without striping the nut. Then we rode for a very long time to Laurelhurst park where we set up a little blanket to roll around on and catch our breath. When that became boring we went to the Love’s house to pick up Austin’s hat he’d left there the other night, staying a while to chat. Everyone suffered a melancholy mood so we headed back to my house to watch Obama’s acceptance speech and create a resume for Austin. It was nice, nice, nice.
There was a lot of biking to endure- I didn’t want to travel the main street while my bike was acting up, so Austin led me towards Burnside (a different main street) and around the place, under the sun- it was incredibly tiring. Before Austin came over, I started knitting my first scarf! I talked about it a couple of weeks ago, but hadn’t gotten around to it till today. Even so, I only got the first and second row done before Austin came to meet me. So crafty and adorable. I have to finish it soon that I’ll be able to finish Austin’s Christmas presents in time.

I love this. It reminds me of the ugly duckling story and how the duck becomes a handsome swan. You can see the grace in this duckling- I just wish it was more focused!

The Love’s house and all of our bikes.

I uploaded these videos from my phone, but the sound is messed up. I don’t know how to go about fixing it, either… I recommend turning the audio off when watching them- they have a loud, crackling sound- its sort of imposing. I’ll try and explain whats going on in the videos, haha.

Gann camera hate

Belly farts gann.

Austin and I went to the community cycling center today to pick it up a screw for his seat and some tape for his handle bars. I probably should have brought my bike to the center too but I didn’t feel like spending money on it. It needs a lot of repairs.
There is an adorable pie/coffee shop about three blocks from the center that I’m going to apply to; conveniently close to Austin’s home. I could bike to his house in less then a minute and walk in three.
Even though it is out of the way, it would give me a good excuse to see him once the school year starts, and I could work through Fridays.

The shop reminds me a little of Twin Peaks. If I don’t get the job there I’m going to apply to the theaters again, a bowling alley (I got the idea from Abigail), and the T Bell by my house.