Photo-a-Day - April 2012 - Day 22: The Last Thing You Bought

Photo-a-Day - April 2012 - Day 22: The Last Thing You Bought

My landlord just redid my main bathroom; white walls, white tile.  No one would ever think of me as one who likes white, minimalist, modern rooms.  In looking for ways to warm the room up, I rehung my jewel-tone shower curtain, and put pictures back on the walls.  I also realized the new vanity was smaller and I needed a bit of additional storage space.

The mirror is one I purchased shortly after moving to San Francisco.  It is an oak Victorian shaving mirror found at Mammy Pleasant's Parlour on Haight Street (no longer there).  The cabinet is just large enough to hold my hairbrush, toothpaste and ever-critical Tylenol. 

Once I put it up, I still felt as though something was needed.  Than the universe spoke as the power went out from a wind storm -- wall sconces...pewter wall sconces.  In spite of the fact that the last thing I should be doing is spending money, I found this pair (hence, the reason for the ensuring the reflection in the mirror) on eBay--free shipping.  So, other than food, these are the last thing I bought.

Oh, by the way, Mammy Pleasant was a real person.  From Wikipedia:  "Mary Ellen Pleasant (born 19 August ?1814-1817 - died 4 January 1904) was a 19th Century female entrepreneur of partial African descent widely known as Mammy Pleasant, who used her fortune to further the abolitionist movement. She worked on the Underground Railroad across many states and then helped bring it to California during the Gold Rush Era. She was a friend and financial supporter of John Brown and well known in abolitionist circles. After the Civil War she took her battles to the courts in the 1860s, and won several civil rights victories, one of which was cited and upheld in the 1980s and resulted in her being called “The Mother of Human Rights in California”."  Knowing this history somehow makes finding the mirror in a shop named after Ms. Pleasant makes it all the more special to me.