Thursday, November 19, 2009

Keep Calm


When people ask, I always find it difficult to explain how I know Erika.

I've never personally met Erika.

Her sister used attend church with my brother and his family in California. I think we might have met once.

Erika found my blog through a link on her sister's blog to my sister-in-law's blog. (Are you still with me?) From there she made a comment on one of my posts and asked me the golden question; the one question which I love to answer, on which I could, and have, written volumes.

"How do you like Oregon?"

Ever since finding out that Oregon was on Erika's radar as a possible future home, we've been communicating mostly via blog, but sometimes e-mail too.

We're friends on Goodreads and have common taste in books.

We both enjoy home canning and gardening. (Tomato jam? That was Erika!)

We both love being mothers and seeing our children grow and develop.

I think she has fabulous taste in home decor and when I saw this poster on her blog a while back, knew I had to have one.

"Stay Calm and Carry On" was a propaganda slogan and poster made for the British people, but never widely distributed, as World War II loomed on the horizon.

I'm not sure that this is where my "Stay Calm" poster will live forever. (See picture above.) This area of my house is currently under construction and I'm waiting further direction from another good friend on how to proceed. But I still wanted to show my great poster (a simple message that is quite profound) and establish its provenance (The British Government's Ministry of Information, Erika, Me), and most of all, I wanted to procrastinate a bit on writing my novel.

Too bad my book isn't about a 40 year old mom who blogs to avoid writing a novel.

10 comments:

Emily said...

Ummmm...Love Erika and never even met her either. By the way, I love the wall and I see the book pages wreath...you did a good job Afton...and I mean it!

Afton said...

I wish I would have gotten the poster in the original red. That area is becoming far too monochromatic. I need something to pop. I need something in the hanging vase.

Afton said...

Oh, and Emily...Thank you!

Erika said...

Wow, I feel so special! Thank you for the kind words Afton. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and Emily--the two Oregon girls I've never even met! I feel honored to have a post about me-this totally made my day!

I am a little envious of your Keep Calm poster. It looks way better than mine. I like your color better and yours fits your frame perfectly, unlike my cropped version. You must have gotten a smaller size than I did? What size is your frame? This makes me want to buy a new one and re-do! I don't think it's monochromatic, I think it looks classy. You could always get something else with color and add it to your wall if you wanted. But personally I think your whole wall looks good. Way to go.

Erika said...

Oh, and Afton, don't think I'm psycho or anything, but you're practically part of the family. I often mention some of the funny things you post to my husband so you're name is mentioned here and there. And Emily, you're known as "farm girl" since that's what drew me to your blog in the first place. We know too many Emily's (I have a sister named Emily) so I had to give you another name. Just thought I'd share that little tidbit with you. I love your blogs guys--you're good with words, enlightening, wise, witty, driven, and honest. Oh, and good luck with your novel writing!

Afton said...

The poster size is 12x18. As for the frame, I got it from Kohl's a few years back and it has 2 8x10 openings. It has our family picture and the proclamation on the Family on either side. I'm in the process of hanging new pictures and I wasn't sure if that frame was going back into the lineup and it was just laying against the wall. I walked by it tonight and thought it might work for the poster and decided to give it a shot. It worked well and I literally taped the poster right over the top of the mat with our picture and the proclamation in it. I don't know if that makes sense. Anyway, I feel very guilty for covering up the proclamation, but I love how it looks.

I-Shüan said...

I LOVE that poster! Did you have that before or did you just get it? I haven't seen it before. If you want to fix up the colors you can just scan it and fix it and then have it printed somewhere for cheap.

Kristi said...

I love the poster Afton. Where did you get it? Please let me know!!!

Afton said...

The poster is available on-line. I found this one for a good price through e-bay. When the poster came a few weeks ago, the return address said Cedar Hills Blvd! I don't know if they have a retail location, but the company is called "By Order of the Crown." http://www.etsy.com/shop/byorderofthecrown

Kristen W. said...

Thanks Afton! I love this saying...think I need this in my house too. I've been trying to learn the "calm" part through yoga lately. Who woulda thought that things like "relaxation", "peace", "serenity" and "calmness" are things that I have to add to my list of things to "work on"! At this point, I will take any and all reminders I can get...so thanks!! :)