Pink Vignettes

Some pink things from my basement powder room (which I moved into the light to photograph). The tiny pottery vase was my first gift to David, who likes to hike and pick wild flowers. The photograph is one of my own, of flowers in a stream.

I often felt like a tomboy growing up, but yet I always loved clothes and decorating my bedroom. As I got older, I was a girly girl in denial, I think, probably because I was the smartest kid in my class and came to see girlishness as a weakness. It was better to be studious and serious and independent and capable (and well-dressed...luckily that was permitted) but not good to be too much of a girly girl because, well, girls acted dumb and gossiped and liked flaky things and didn't have much expected of them.

People took you seriously if you were serious and liked serious things...if you excelled in math and chemistry and the hard stuff, if you read books and didn't chase the boys (much) and weren't "easy". It was better to be independent and capable and good at important things, and well, sort of a tomboy.

It took me a long time to realize that it's okay to be a girl, to be a little bit of everything and everyone. Luckily times have changed and girls can change their tires and tile their bathrooms, and boys can be great cooks and have opinions about curtains. Thank heaven I realized that it is okay to be girly and like (stereotypical) girl things, to love clothes and obsess about decorating, to admire and lust over *pretty* things, to spend train rides home from the office dreaming about which colour blue really is the best...

There is always an internal conflict because I am an engineer - I have a serious job darn it, and I work entirely with men - serious men who talk about the stock market, the price of oil, strife in the Middle East, and where to get your transmission fixed. When I even broach the subject of my frivolous pastimes, I am greeted with consternation. We might have a discussion about paint, but it is never about colour, god forbid. Colours are for girls! Let's talk about cutting in, which width of tape is the best, where to get a good deal on rollers. You know - technical details!

It is hard to be "myself" in this environment, still, but if I've learned one thing in the past decade...it is to Be Yourself always...to try to be true in word and deed to your values, and to who you really are.

Most importantly, it helps to surround yourself with people who love and accept you for who you are, foibles and all, to find a community where you fit. Over a year ago, I started a headache blog - to find a community where I fit. No one around me, in my physical reality, understood my internal daily Hell. That blog transformed the way I looked at myself and my headaches. I wasn't alone. I wasn't some alien. With the purchase of our house, that blog changed to its current incarnation, as a decor blog.

I love this little blog world, where I can share all my often-silly, girlish whims, and where lovely, sweet, smart women write to encourage and inspire me. I have been blown away by these amazing women I keep discovering, the talented writers and artists and do-ers. These are the women I have been missing, the women I was afraid to be, who I realize are stronger and more amazing and more capable and funny and positively perfect than I ever imagined girls could be!


And on that note, some photos of pink things...I love pink and it is no longer a girly fault to say so! Say hello to pink...

An interesting painted vase (David asked me why they only painted half...he is such a boy), sitting atop a lovely hand-woven runner from Massachusetts (from a store in Victoria, BC called "New England Square"). Note the chintz curtains which came with the house - the previous owner had impeccable, but very traditional tastes!In the powder room, where these objects belong (but where the light is o-so-drab). The paint is Grey Wisp, from Benjamin Moore. The B&W photograph is by an accomplised professional photographer friend, Paul Stack.

My dining room. The traditional pink wool rug was purchased for a song from the previous owners. Our furniture is turn-of-the-century Canadian walnut, with serious pink and blue striped fabric (as bought)! The mirror is a Stickley (Mission). The lamp is reproduction Art Deco, one of my few prized possessions. The wacky hot pink wreath was $7 at a discount store. This whole room will be redecorated eventually...