Frequently, I will fall madly in love with a piece of furniture that leaves even my closest friends & allies scratching their heads in confusion. Such was the case with my new desk. When I first showed it to my husband, I could tell he was skeptical, but knew better than to say so...When the glimmer is in my eye, just back away.
It was love at first glance on Craigslist for me:
So I contacted the owner to arrange a viewing. We had several conversations over the course of a few days while attempting to fit our schedules together and I learned that the desk had belonged to his mother and he had the pity-able task of sorting out her belongings. I told him that I was a furniture maker and would take really good care of it...that I wasn't sure if I would refinish it, or leave it alone, but either way it would be loved. In a small way, I think these exchanges may have been a bit therapeutic for him, as I sensed he was perhaps a bit choked up on the other line.
I should mention, in addition to being incredibly kind, he was also extremely fair with the price ($45 for desk, chair, & mirror) and generously offered to deliver it to me for free.
So yesterday, when he showed up, it was an easy no brainer. I saw it on the truck, knew it was love, handed him the money, and brought it in the house. It was a little dirty from being in storage, but a little simple green & elbow grease was all it took to clean up nicely:
While pulling out one of the drawers, my husband discovered hidden treasures had fallen into the back of it. I couldn't believe it - a beautiful desk AND hidden treasure! I had hit the jackpot. The best things we found: an antique bottle opener, stolen from a San Francisco hotel called The Raphael; a porcelain lid to a tiny box (this must have made her CRAZY trying to find it); an old silver swiss army knife? or nail cutter?; and best of all - a tiny gold skeleton key with a #2 on it.
Doesn't that just peak your sense of wonder & adventure like crazy???!!!! WHAT on earth does that key open and HOW will I find it?
Well, those questions may have to go unanswered. I plan to call the man today and offer him what I found...but I'm REALLY hoping he doesn't want them back, because I love them so much! I would like to keep them with the desk, either displayed behind my computer or in a shadow box on the wall. Each item has so much history and so many secrets to tell...If I am allowed to keep them, I know they will provide endless inspiration and possibly good luck while spending long hours feverishly writing at this desk.
Departed from Bangkok and arrived in Krabi in about 1hr30min.
Worst landing of a plane ever!
We're staying at the Krabi Resort in Aonang, which has the same feel
as Phuket did way back in the day. Our bungalow is 5 meters from the
beach. We wake up to stunning views. The massages which are fantastic
cost 300 baht for an hour which is about R75!
Yesterday we took a long tail boat to Rei-Leh West beach to organise a
snorkelling day trip. The entire area looks like it does in the
post-cards. It almost doesn't look real it's so beautiful. Truly
paradise. Went swimming in a cove, blue, calm, warm water. Had dinner
twice at a great Indian restaurant across from the resort. We ate and
ate till our seams were bursting.
leaving on our snorkelling day trip in 10min
Later!
When I was a desk jockey in San Francisco, I frequently changed my desktop image to something happy and tropical because I was, well - unhappy & cold. Now that I'm back in Hawaii, I wanted to put some images out into the internets, in case anyone out there is searching for warm, flowery, happy, tropical, Hawaii wallpaper:
Never heard of it, actually, but Zip sent it to me (I don't even remember zipping it) and I really enjoyed it. Halle Berry is muted and kind of cold and hard throughout much of the film but strong, Benecio del Torro is fantastic as a heroin addict trying to get his life back on track. About loss, redemption, and recovery. The story chronicles a woman who loses her husband (David Duchovny) and tries to help her husband's best friend who she finds in a dumpy drug infested rathole in suburban Seattle.
