"success consits of going from failure to failure, without loss of enthusiasm."

w. churchill

"failure is my new best friend, security my foe."

w. lopez-swiatek


Thursday, August 7, 2008

garbage picker lottery/ curb enthusiasm


the other day while looking out my kids' bedroom window, i saw my neighbor carry out a hotshit bookshelf to the curb.
it looked like it was from pottery barn or crate and barrel or west elm.
all i knew was that i wanted that thing. ( i know, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's goods..but it doesn't say anything about covetting thy neighbor's trash).
before i could even make a beeline for it, some lucky son of a b pulled up, opened the back of his SUV, and picked up MY shelf.
dang.
a few hours later i was talking with a pal of mine that had stopped by about how i wanted to feng shui the heck out of my living room.
when i walked her out to her car, we spied a tan micro suede chair and matching ottoman on the curb.
"let's go" she said. "we're getting it".
"are you sure this doesn't break some law of garbage picking etiquette?" i asked.
"we're getting it !" this girl was fired up.
we went over and i stretched out on the thing. Nice. Real nice.
minutes later the chair was mine.
next the neighbors brought out two more bookshelves.
"i don't know..."..i looked at my galpal.
"we're getting them too!".
we dragged both shelves onto my lawn.
jackpot!
my living room got an instant make over just like they do on those decorating shows on cable..or at least i've been told since i don't actually have cable.
the only thing i'm going to be watching now is the curb..like a hawk..
who knows what other goodies may be headed my way.
i'm hoping that they'll upgrade their tv soon, so i can snatch it up and watch the Home and Garden Network from the comfort of my newly feng shuied living room.
my across the street neighbor has been leaving me updated voice mail messages about anything new that appears on the curb since she has a better vantage point. gotta love that.
p.s. the stuff looks much better in real life than in the photos..i can barely pull myself out of that room now.