the whole of it

Is it lame to talk about your blog name's origin story in your first post? Does anybody even care? What is "meta"?

You've probably heard the phrase "the whole kit and caboodle," but that blog name was taken and we all know alliterative names are a cheap trick anyway. Plus, I'm all about idiosyncrasy and "kit and boodle," without any of this cutesie "ca" nonsense, is actually a perfectly acceptable version of the idiom. It's a slightly later variation, but pretty much means the same thing: the whole shebang, a big ol' bundle, everything! A kit (a set of objects) + a boodle (a large quantity).

The phrase is entirely the brainchild of 19th century America, but derives from the Middle Dutch kitte meaning "wooden vessel made of hooped staves" and the Dutch boedel meaning "property" or "moveable estate". So this blog is going to be about wooden vessels, hooped staves, and moveable estates. My three great loves.

No joke. (With the exception of a hooped stave because I have no idea what that is and Google isn't telling me efficiently enough.) A wooden vessel and a piece of moveable property will both definitely make their way into a post at some point. Which is to say that I want this to be a spot for everything I love, all the objects I consider beautiful, all the places I think are inspiring and magical, all the ideas that pique my interest, and everything that is awesome and joyful and weird and just really, really cool—the whole kit and boodle if you will.

It's a totally self-indulgent place for me to "express my creativity", collect aesthetically interesting things, and share a little bit about what I find meaningful and exciting. 

And a final note in the interest of full disclosure: Back in the day boodle also meant, more slangily, "phoney money" and especially "graft money". So take that as you will.

wooden bowl + vintage airstream