the wonders of paint

One of the things on my summer to-do list, squeezed in between drafts 2 and 3 of Silksinger, was to fix up my writing room porch and realize some of its cuteness potential. Well, I haven't gotten far. Draft 3 sprung upon me when I had done no more than paint the little table and chairs. But, that is not nothing. Not quite nothing. Almost nothing, in the scheme of what needs to be done to our porches.

Still, I marvel once more at the power of a coat of paint to turn old furniture into new furniture (which I lauded over two years ago this post about how much I love nesting). See, look:

BEFORE
AFTER
Instant cute new table! I love the sky blue paint, and it's a good thing I love it, because I doltishly bought an entire gallon of it, and it's practically still full. So now the question is: what else can I paint sky blue? The car? (Sweetie, how about it?) Hm, maybe just the other old patio table which needs sprucing up.

Who else loves picking out colors from the paint store? As for the painting and sanding, it's a bit on the work side of things, but when you sit down for a living, as I do, it's not so bad to do something a little bit workish now and then.

Speaking of sitting down for a living, Maureen Johnson has a very funny post up right now about the ups and downs of majoring in creative writing, in which she gives her author bio as: "Maureen studied writing, and then she studied more writing, and now she is writing. She spends most of her time sitting down.” Check out the post to read her fantasy author bio; it's awesome.

Oh! Last night was "movie night" -- which means watching movies projected outside on our friends' porch, and the choice was one of my favorite movies: Strictly Ballroom. I hadn't seen it in maybe four or five years, and I have to say I love it more than ever. Love it. Here's the final dance scene:
I [heart] Youtube. Looking for the above led me to this charming montage of movie kisses:

Happy weekend, all!