A close-up I took of Vincent van Gogh's Irises at the J. Paul Getty Museum

Hi!  I'm Coco.  My personal style is what I call kitschy chic.  I like used furniture that can be repurposed, bright colors, blue and white china, animal prints, and Vincent Van Gogh.  I'm not afraid to dumpster dive or search through thrift store bins.  I like to crochet but hate that it is so hard to make it look like knitting - which I can't be bothered to take up.  I love to sew and paint things, but they don't always turn out.  When they do, they are usually cool and people want them.  I have specific tastes in literature, tv, and movies, and have trouble finding other 50 something teachers who want to discuss which HP Lovecraft story they like best or why I threw away Anne Rice's ill-fated book about the life of Christ.  When I rave about Penny Dreadful I often get blank stares.  I'm your girl for bringing dessert to the dinner party, and you'd better have dessert!  I wish I could wear stilleto heels but my poor feet just can't take it.  I bought camo boots last year but didn't actually ever wear them.  I'm not afraid to sweat.  And since retiring from my first grade classroom after 30 years of teaching, I've come to understand why so many moms show up at school in yoga pants.  I appreciate Tiffany jewelry and heart-shaped diamonds.  I wonder at all the recent fuss about DIY - hasn't everybody always done that??  I adore NPR and will listen to it all day.  I'm a sentimentalist and I love to give and make gifts.  On my bucket list is being in a community musical before I'm too old to do it.  I don't like to lose and am a fierce advocate for my children and my dogs are now like my children - just a little more furry.  I want to be a lifelong learner, but sometimes past episodes of Revenge on Netflix call to me instead of those "other" more educational endeavors. I love being a blonde, if not a natural one.  I have a wonderful husband who loves me despite some of the outfits I wear, but I bug him about his "old man" shirts and we get along fine! 

That's me in a nutshell.  Well, that was more than a nutshell I guess.  I'm hoping to successfully participate in the "blog-o-sphere" and soon pair this blog with an online store.  If you are interested in anything you've read so far then I invite you to check in with me on a weekly or daily basis.  My plan is to post about kitschy  people, places, and food.  My online store will offer kitschy items for your home, specifically "vignettes" of themed kitsch and plate designs for your walls.  I don't claim to be an expert, but I'll share with you what I know and it just might inspire you to try something new!

A picture of me that one of my wonderful first grader parents created for the party game "Pin the lips on Mrs. G."

I recently moved - a big move to a new state.  We downsized, which was time consuming and painful.  You see, I am a first grade teacher from a long line of educators, and crafters, and seamstresses, and homemakers, and travelers, and musicians, and gardeners, and cooks, and God knows what else!  If you know any elementary teachers, you might have noticed that we tend to love a good yard sale or covet those fabric scraps that you were about to throw away!  Almost anything can be used in the classroom!  In my case, over 30 or so years I had amassed quite a collection - from several classroom bells (I particularly loved the little silver high-pitched one that looked like the Space Needle) to an exotic lime green upholstered "author's chair" from Goodwill that had once adorned my teenage daughter's bedroom.

My eclectic tastes both in the classroom and at home stem from two sources.  First, I have been the lucky recipient of much of the insides of 4 houses.  One, a mid-century west coast beach cabin, contained furniture and tchotchkes (yes, I just used that word!) that were precious to us because we would visit the place almost monthly growing up.  To this day I have a crazy old book that was on the shelf in the cabin entitled "Suds in Your Eye" by a woman named Mary Lasswell and has a 1942 copyright, as well as my Aunt Nieta's library plate inside the cover with her handwritten name on it.  The book, about two weird old lady's who drank a lot of beer, was one of the first things I retrieved when cleaning out the cabin.  I decided when we moved and I found the book in the myriad of boxes we had packed that I would begin reading a chapter a night to my husband before we went to sleep.  Mostly he just fell asleep, and I, like so many others before me, came to the conclusion that certain things that were interesting during your teens may not be as interesting at present.  Still, that silly book makes me think of my family in that cabin, and so I persist in believing that for me, it is important to keep it!