Well Crafted: the April issue
strawberry season! a surprise bathroom renovation! my new favorite song!
Have you ever been in a season of life where everything just goes horribly, horribly wrong? That’s been April for me. Our laundromat got robbed, all of the plumbing in our house broke (leaving us with zero working bathrooms for a couple days), and we’ve been living in a construction zone for 3 weeks while it’s fixed. On top of all of that, small things started to go wrong, like our coffee maker breaking. That was the last straw.
Last night, we packed up our car and drove to my father-in-law’s tiny beach house to get away. The beach house is a trailer he bought when he was 23, and has been fixing up over the years. It’s a few blocks from the beach in a sleepy town, and it’s the most restful place. Time slows down when we’re here: we bike to Dairy Queen, walk around the neighborhood, read, and I journal my heart out while Jon watches golf. We’ve been here for a day, and I already feel better.
Design Spotlight
The bright spot of having to demolish our bathrooms and dig up our driveway: I got to re-design our bathroom! I’ve had zellige tiles on every moodboard I’ve made for the last 5 years, but never used them before. I love the variation in their color and shape, giving them a handmade look. We’d finally gotten some for our other project site, the Pink House, but since this was an emergency, we took it all for our shower walls (and then promptly ordered more for Pink House).
Most zellige tile websites say that you need to hire a special zellige installer who has worked with the material before. We absolutely did not. We used our tile guy, Hector, who was extremely confused by the tile and thought they were full of mistakes because they were all different. Once we explained to him they’re supposed to look like that, he did an amazing job. The websites also say you need a wet saw, but we just soaked the tiles in water for 1-2 minutes first.
I absolutely love the finished look. Because this is our primary bathroom, I went with the neutral color—I wanted it to feel calming. But I’d love to do a fun color for a future project. There are so many good ones!
For the floors, I found this lovely travertine tile at Floor & Decor. It has the warmth and rustic qualities of brick, but it’s so much smoother. Perfect for a bathroom floor.
We’re so happy with the results, and it was worth all the hassle of the surprise renovation. We probably never would have done it otherwise.
Reasons to Gather
This month, go journal in nature with some creative friends!
My friend was invited on a sailboat ride by a clothing brand Jenni Kayne, and she got to bring a friend (me! yay!). It was an entirely women-run sailboat, from the captain to all the crew-members. There was a wellness professional who asked us to drop our phones into a basket as we boarded. I’ve never thrown my phone away so fast. It was a relief to be free of it.
There were about 20 of us, and the first few minutes tuned into the sounds of the ocean. Then, she gave us these three journal prompts to reflect on:
What do I crave more of in my life?
What things do I need to let go of to get that?
What am I currently grateful for?
It was so nice to take time to sit together and write in silence, and then talk together afterwards. The reflection time paved the way for authentic conversations.
Grab a few girlfriends, and go to a park, beach, dock, the mountains, etc. Take a couple hours to sit together. Reflect on these questions, or some of your own!
Happy Hour
The NA bevvie of the month: Ceebo, a non-alcoholic beer that’s been served at tons of restaurants here lately!
My aunt and uncle from Washington state just came to visit Charleston—we’d had their visit planned for months. In my head, they’d have a relaxing stay in our guest room, I’d cook dinner for us to eat in the backyard, and we’d have coffee on the porch. Then our house became a construction site and we had to move into the guest room! They were great sports and got a hotel nearby, and we tried lots of great restaurants. When I asked about non-alcoholic beer, everyone had Ceebo. It was delicious and refreshing, served in a fun glass. It’s a perfect spring sipper if you like beer.
Three Things My Friends Are Loving Right Now
Some friends and I get weekly morning coffee together, and we share our three favorite things right now. Here are this week’s results!
Kennedy
Greek yogurt with Seven Sundays granola on top
Reading memoirs (she just finished From Here to the Great Unknown)
Making dense bean salads! Her favorite is garbanzo beans, white beans, a fresh herb, bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, and Primal Kitchen Greek Vinaigrette
Piper
Dates with crunchy almond butter and Maldon sea salt on top
A weighted walking vest
A setting on the iPhone called “assistive access” that turns it into a dumb phone so she can be a present queen
Piper’s dumbphone
Kayleigh
Making iced tea—a favorite is blueberry hibiscus
Gardening from the seed! She just planted some zinnias
Me:
Popcorn. All of a sudden I am obsessed with popcorn. My favorite is Lesser Evil Himalayan Gold , but it’s kind of hard to find so lately I’ve been getting 12-pack boxes of microwave popcorn. Every day at 4pm I make a bag of popcorn. It’s therapy. It’s self-love. It’s been the best part of my day (as you know I’ve been going through it).
This Super Collagen face mask
The TV show on AppleTV called The Studio. It’s a beautifully shot, hilarious behind-the-scenes look at the film industry in Hollywood. It has a great cast and tons of fun cameos.
What’s in Season
We get local veggies and eggs delivered to our doorstep every week through CSG! Here’s what we got this week:
What’s in an April bag:
Broccoli, radishes, collards, purple asparagus, lemons, strawberries, spinach, leeks, crispy bread + eggs
How I’m cooking it:
Okkkk so I have not been cooking as much lately, but I’ll throw together a salad & protein, and quickly pan-roast the broccoli or asparagus with garlic and lemon. Fresh seasonal veggies always make you feel better! And I’m so happy it’s strawberry season—this first pint was incredible (and gone within hours).
Most importantly: Bon Iver’s album is out!
I have always been obsessed with Bon Iver, so I was counting the days until this album dropped. I have been listening to “From” on repeat probably a hundred times a day (did I mention, I am going through it???). It’s a gorgeous album.
Here is “From” so you can be obsessed too!
That’s all for April.
xoxo,
Erin
Everything about this brought me so much joy! Such a perfect read with my morning coffee (ps OBSESSED with the tiles)
NOT THE CLAWFOOT TUB.