Our DRANKIN'! Table

Since moving into our Holyoke Home, we've used this as our dining room table:

It is not *technically* a dining room table. *Technically* it is a DRANKIN'! and GAMBLIN'! table. The base is cast iron and weighs 27 bazillion pounds. See that little ledge above the base? It's a drink ledge, where you'd put your drink so it didn't spill on your royal flush.

Mr. Man bought the table at Brimfield many moons ago. The dealer claimed - without knowing Mr. Man was from Holyoke - that the table came from the fabled Holyoke Hotel Jess (the bit about the Jess starts at 2:08. WAIT FOR IT!) Here are pictures of the Hotel Jess in the days of yore (the building on the far right), and now.

To add to our new mid-century modern hutch in the dining room, we brought up from the basement an Ikea table we had in storage. Not digging the mish-mash of chairs, but at least I can feed more than four people at a time now.

AND - now we have a DRANKIN'! table in the media room. On which I can style shit.

Mid-Century Modern Find!

I want to talk about blog jealousy and lay it out for all to see because - as they say - we are only as sick as our secrets.

I'm pretty sick.

BLOG JEALOUSY TEST
Question #1: Name three blogs you love to read and hate to read. You would never delete them from your RSS feed because their content is magically delicious, but gawd do they agitate the little green monster.
TEST RESULTS
If you answered the question, you have blog jealousy. Maybe they have an amazing skill? Or you want their couch so badly it makes you want to kick yourself in the golden palace? Or maybe their hunting instinct is so sharp they could find a mid-century modern treasure in Duluth for $2.......or a mid-century modern china cupboard/bar for $100 in western Massachusetts.

Dear gentle reader. Don't hate. Be a little jealous, yes, but don't hate.

Instant Perspective

Do you ever wake up feeling a totally unjustified kind of mini-despair that you can't put your sad little  finger on? You resent the day already and you haven't even shuffled downstairs yet to see if there's any coffee leftover from yesterday (you HATE making coffee in the morning.)

I've purchased the antidote and hung it in my dining room.

This perfect piece of artwork is by Holyoke based artist Banner Queen. I love it. It is amaze-balls. In case you can't make it out, it reads: SEE THE BIG PICTURE with INNOCENCE AND WONDER. In a completely brilliant move, the artist - the über talented Amy Johnquest - re-purposed a vintage flower-y table cloth, painting over it in places, and leaving its delicious 1950s charm visible in other places.

 

Life is yours to tame. Take the reigns.

BOOM. BANG. There it is, right on the wall: Life is a limited engagement. So shake it off and get ready for the day.