Kate Flaim (Girl Reporter)

We have a beautiful dining table, a 1790 antique drop-leaf made of New England maple, but it seats four and we can’t patch together that and the kitchen table as easily in this apartment as we could in Hanover. Meanwhile, the table we’re using behind the couch (first thing you see when you walk in) [...]

Ok, we’re just missing cabinet pulls, lighting, art…The fun stuff! I ordered cabinet pulls but something mysterious has happened to the order so I think I need to try again. I also need to do some more treatments of the counter to make sure it has a good thick finish on it. But at least [...]

Today is Blog Action Day and thousands of bloggers are talking about how to make a positive impact on the environment… I’m sorry to say that we aren’t single-handedly saving the world–our recycling habits, especially, need help. But we both commute on public transportation, our building doesn’t have an elevator (heh), I try to buy [...]

Well, we’re nearly there! To recap, as of Saturday morning the kitchen looked like this: At eight p.m. last night it looked like this (the bearded fellow is my brother Tom, who is overqualified for Ikea assembly): This morning it looked like this (we like to clean up at night!): After a very busy afternoon [...]

The lightening kitchen reno is underway. We picked the cabinets, appliances and counters a week and a half ago, and the plumber and electrician came yesterday, swapped around radiators, took out the huge sink, and roughed in the outlets! The fridge and cabinets/counters come tomorrow, as does my talented brother, who will be helping us [...]

While we were in NYC I spent two lovely weeks working at a magazine downtown. It was a great return to my old life, and I had a fantastic time with the staff there. The second week, my editor came in on Monday or Tuesday looking very pleased with himself, and revealed that he had [...]

Weird. I typed an entry, already titled the same, hit Publish, and it vanished. Several minutes before I tried to comment on a friend’s blog, hit publish, my comment vanished, I tried again, same thing. Either I should shut up because the universe wants me quiet, or there will be lots of duplicate posts appearing [...]

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately–I have barely been cooking and have been working full-time while we’re in NYC. Ben requested spaghetti and meatballs for his birthday, which he shares with Harry Potter and my late grandmother at the end of July. (Mine is the 1st of August, so we always end up with [...]

I’m in NYC for a while, and hopefully will be able to cook soon–our accommodations do have a kitchen and internet access! Meanwhile here are some before and not-quite-after pictures of the apartment. I haven’t even started to hang art, really arrange the furniture, etc. I’m struggling with how to balance out all of Ben’s [...]

This article in the NYTimes Style section today made me very sad for my beloved Brooklyn Neighborhood, which was rapidly gentrifying when I left last August. Apparently the ball really got rolling, though, and there’s now a Starbucks on Smith Street and Lucky Jeans where one of my favorite bars used to be. RIP, Vegas, [...]