Barb Vila

So, I was about to write about how I was having the perfect summer meal tonight, but it felt a little strange, very familiar. This is why. What a difference a year makes. Tonight we're having grilled bratwurst and sweet corn, but no pasta salad. And dessert will be the strawberry-rhubarb pie I just made. I got some of the last rhubarb of the year at the farmers' market downtown this morning. Produce is always better bought out of the back of a truck.

The other thing that's making this post (and my life) like Groundhog Day is that I'm back home again for awhile, having long since passed the bar exam I was studying for last year. This time I'm home working for my parents. They're putting an addition on the house they moved to this February, and there was some work to do around there. But the big jobs have been the existing bathrooms. One night my mom and I got into a funny mood and started ripping the wallpaper down out of the existing bathroom. They had planned to redecorate in there eventually, but we just got a little anxious. Next thing I know, I'm steaming a second layer of wallpaper off, scrubbing the old glue away, and repainting the bathroom. I the process, I broke the light fixture in the shower, so I had to replace that as well. (Not my first foray into lighting, or electrical for that matter, by any means. I've hung a chandelier and two other fixtures this summer, installed new doorbells [twice], and switched from ugly beige to clean white outlets and light switches, too.)

But that's not all! The bathroom in the basement was UGLY! Lots of red and yellow and some really shoddy workmanship. My mom had told my sister she could do whatever she wanted with it, since her bedroom is downstairs when she's home from college. So I ended up as technical foreman on that project as well - little sister retaining the role of design director. That involved:

• Ripping out all of the trim, filling holes, and painting it. Removing more wallpaper and painting.
• Sanding the peeling paint out of the gross cement block shower, and repainting/sealing it.
• Ripping up the old carpet and laying new vinyl tiles.
• Painting EVERYTHING in the room - walls, countertop, door, remaining woodwork.

The final result is a lovely Irish themed bathroom. Green walls, white fixtures and flooring, and orange trim. My sister loves it, and I'm quite proud of myself. Now my brother and sister and I are trying to figure out a way to rig it up so the Irish soccer chant (Ole, ole, ole) plays every time you turn the light on...or flush the toilet, we haven't decided yet.

Project Runway Returns!

Tonight saw the premier of Season 3 of one of my favorite television shows ever, Project Runway. If you haven't caught on to this Bravo phenomenon, you must! I love, love, love it. I thought Season 2 was better than Season 1, and there appear to be some very talented designers for Season 3, so I'm hopeful. My impressions thus far...

First up, the "Road to the Runway" special, yawn. The only redeeming thing about this hour-long lead-in was the abundance of air time for Tim Gunn! He's just so wonderful, how can you not adore him? I guess it was also kind of interesting to see what some of the previous seasons' contestants are up to now. However, I had already read the profiles of the new contestants on Bravotv.com, so I really didn't care to much about seeing the audition footage. If anything, they should have shown us more of the truly awful people that had no business wasting their day standing in line for an audition. Haven't they learned anything from American Idol?

Now, on to the contestants...

• Robert - He's one of my early favorites. I loved his dress...nothing I would ever wear, but it was Fashion.
• Laura - I'm not sure what to make of her yet. The bad red dye job (no way am I believing that's real) and pretentious attitude aren't doing it for me. Yes, her dress was well made. Part of me wanted to like it, but that part was beat out by the part of me that could think of nothing but Cruella DeVil.
• Malan - This guy seems to have some design talent, but there's really only one word for him - CREEPY. Seriously, watch the show again and listen to that laugh. *shudder*
• Stacey - She definitely needed to go. If you can't use the industrial sewing machines, you won't last long. People should know by now, home sewers need not apply.
• Alison - She is just about the cutest thing ever! I can't wait to see more from her.
• Vincent - Basket case! Ok, sorry for the pun, given the monstrosity he tried to pass off as a hat tonight, but he really needs to get a grip.
• Jeffrey - I'm not sure if I can stand to look at him for too long this season. The tattoo across the front of his neck just gives me the willies. And he's friends with Season 2's infamous Santino, so that leaves me wondering as well.
• Michael - I really liked his coffee filter dress (tonight's challenge was to make something out of materials gathered from the apartments the designers had just moved into). That's all for now.
• Angela - I cannot possibly be the only person who found it odd that the hippie/crunchy/granola-girl who lives on a farm "off the grid" in Ohio made a leather skirt, right?
• Keith - Keith was the winner tonight, with a dress made from a bedsheet. He was a menswear designer and claimed this was the first dress he'd ever made. So that's cool and all, but it was just a dress. The material was not challenging, the design was not innovative, I would have given the win (and the accompanying immunity for next week) to someone else.
  
• Bradley, Bonnie, Katherine, Uli, and Kayne - These people were either not on camera enough or too nondescript to be noteworthy yet. If you must know more about anyone, read their bios.

Ok, I'm exhausted - total adrenaline crash after finally getting to see a new episode! Now I'll go lay in bed trying to figure out who did what to get kicked off the show in a future episode, as teased to death in the promos.

T-shirt Slogan of the Day

Seen on a t-shirt today:

"If Jimmy cracks corn and nobody cares, why is there a song about him?"

I'm not sure, but I think that may have been a Jeff Foxworthy joke at some point.