Perfect Blue Buildings: What I Wore

Ever feel like you are living in a movie?

Sometimes that can be a good thing. Sometimes, not so much. Unfortunately, right now for me, it's the latter.

It's a good movie though: in fact, one of my favorites. The Money Pit, starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. I love this movie so much that I desperately wanted to include music from it at our wedding. At the very end of the movie, an orchestra plays the opening of Beethoven's Ode to Joy and is soon joined by an electric guitar and rock band. I thought it would be the perfect song to walk out of the meeting hall after the ceremony, but unfortunately couldn't figure out how to edit out all the talking from the movie. ARG! In the end, we hired a string trio to play All You Need Is Love, stolen from another one of my favorite movies, Love Actually, so it all worked out.

Why do I feel like I'm living in The Money Pit?

This is a famous scene from the movie:

Walter Fielding (Hanks) comes home from a day's work to find that a construction crew (hired to do some rewiring and plumbing work) has totally demolished his house.

This photograph was taken from my boss's office yesterday afternoon:

But the similarities don't end there. In the movie, Fielding and his girlfriend Anna (Long) buy a house that turns out to be a "money pit". They get a great deal, but immediately realize something is amiss: the kitchen explodes, the stairs are "out", and taking a bath involves heating water on the stove and carrying it to the bathtub. It turns out that the previous owners have fixed the home up just enough to appear nice, but in reality, there are some major problems that must be repaired.

A new owner has recently bought our building. He's a small little man who wears entirely too much cologne. After he walks down the hall, it reeks for a good twenty minutes in his wake.  He's owned the building for a few months now and so far as we can tell, he's pulling a "money pit" by fixing it up just enough, and intending to flip it. He fired the cleaning crew and seems ill concerned with the fact that two of his biggest tenants (us) are moving out at the end of the summer.

What has he done?

He installed synthetic hardwood floors in the elevators and in the lobbies of each floor...over the carpet. He created a seating area in the entrance to the building complete with a flat screen TV bolted to the wall and permanently on CNBC. He brought in potted plants (fake and real). He hung up mirrors and "hotel" art all around the building.

The changes are nice, but they are totally cosmetic.

Here's a great example: the latest project was the restrooms. His handyman spent two days painting both the restrooms (and not leaving when ladies entered the restroom, forcing us all to walk down two floors several times a day!) When he was finished, we were all shocked. Here are some photos:

A huge hole in the wall wasn't patched and repaired, just painted over. Peeling wallpaper wasn't removed, just painted over. And the ceramic tile baseboard was also just painted over. There are drips of paint everywhere. The few times I walked by, he was not using any sort of drop cloths.

I just hope that our successfully move offices before the elevator short circuits because the nail holding up the cheap hotel art is splitting a crucial wire!

Cami, Ann Taylor Loft

Field of Fancy Blouse, Anthropologie

Skirt, Ann Taylor

Sofft Fiorella Pumps (available here)

Necklace, Honora for QVC

Mathilde Drops, Anthropologie

Bracelet, Pandora

I realized that you can't see the earrings and they aren't available online so when I was in the bathroom taking construction photos, I snapped one of my earrings. These were $9.95 and part of my most recent Anthro order. My shopping motto is: If it's on sale for less than $20 and it doesn't catch on fire when it touches my skin, I get to keep it. These earrings made the cut. And my ear isn't really deformed like that - I'm not sure why I tucked my ear back when I tucked my hair back for the photo. Very weird.

Tomorrow we have a group picnic. There are seven offices like ours in my agency and we try to get together a few times a year. Usually that ends up being once a year because of everyone's schedules. It's going to be hot and since we're outside, I get to dress super casual. I'm very excited about one extra non-dressy day this week and seeing everyone should be fun too!

Happy Thursday!