NEW: A Horrible Idea I'm Launching

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[Subscribe here]() for more [NEW: A Horrible Idea I'm Launching]( Subscribe if you like wallpaper & paint (no, I'm not joking) [Ash Ambirge](ashambirge) Sep 20 ashambirge   [READ IN APP](   Now that I have a h-o-u-s-e, I am doing something all travelers fear: I am buying—*looks around room*—books. Not Kindle books, of which I probably own a thousand, but real, physical, weighty, thick, musty, obnoxious, paper-filled, non-suit-case-appropriate BOOKS. You know how long it’s been since I could do this? I’m going to say the last time I bought hardcover books was when I was in college, when they still made you buy books for $200 a piece. Remember that? The internet tells me that kids nowadays spend only $33 on average per class, the lucky shits. I remember going to the college bookstore for the first time and thinking those books were the most expensive thing I had ever bought. And then I went to the college bar. ANYWAY, so here I am book-buying real physical hardcover books like an addict who’s completely off the wagon and revenge-reading EVERYTHING. Revenge reading is a thing, like when you haven’t been able to curl up with a book in your hands for twenty years and then suddenly you own a recliner. (I reluctantly bought a recliner the other day, too, because it didn’t look like a recliner. Then I brought it home, and the neighbor stopped by and said, "Oh - you bought a recliner.") So, here I am in my big, fat, weird, chair-that-shall-not-be-branded-a-recliner, and next to me is a pile of big, fat, weird books-that-are-not-at-all-conducive-to-traveling. And trust me, when I say weird, I mean that [I AM READING BOOKS ABOUT TULIPS](. YES, tulips! 🌷 And now that I just went to the website to find it, I now see there is also a book called [The English Gardener’s Garden]( which I am 100% buying. (I am also 100% changing the name of my book to The American Gardener’s Fucked Up Lawn, which is much more accurate.) (Case in point: I still haven’t planted the grass seed that I bought 4 weeks ago after I dug up the old tree stumps and made the entire lawn look like a war zone. They sit right next to the suitcase I’ve hardly unpacked from Iceland—which is also apparently a revenge thing. 🤷 ♀️) Other books that have made my sweet new hardcover collection include: - Everything Bill Bryson ever wrote (you know me!!!!!!!!!!) - Everything Caitlin Moran ever wrote - Everything A.A. Gill ever wrote (PLEASE do yourself a favor, esp if you like dry humor) - Seventeen decorating books from Farrow & Ball - Do you know how good the decorating books are from Farrow & Ball?!?! - The Tourist’s Guide to Pub Etiquette (obviously) - Stanley Tucci’s book (absolutely lickable) - Anthony Bourdain’s “World Travel,” which was not exactly written by Bourdain, but in tribute to, and an excellent read - Somebody Feed Phil: The Book (Apparently I like men who travel?!) - More proof: I also own Clanlands with Sam Heughan from Outlander and Graham McTavish - Salt: A World History (fascinating) - A book called What the World Eats (also fascinating) - A guide through the American Class System, by Paul Fussell - One of my all-time favorite books, Nickel & Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich - A bunch of amazing books by my awesome writer friends ([Jamie Varon]( [Laura Jane Williams]( [Laura Belgray]( [Susie Moore!]( [Matthew Kimberley!]( - And, of course, a book that was left here by the previous owners called ‘When The Killing’s Done’ - which sounds like a great book about the history of my house Mind you, I own most of these books on Kindle, and am now repurchasing them all like a psycho so I can have them in hardback, on my bookshelf, which may very well fall through the floor, because apparently the floor joists are rotting underneath here in THE GRAND OL’ FARMHOUSE. 🥳 Oh, isn’t it funny how things change? One minute I am worrying about how my tummy pooch looks in a pair of high-waisted pants in Paris, and the next minute I am worrying about how my tummy pooch looks while ripping out a toilet. I am learning so much about homeownership. In fact, I might be a little obsessed with it. Who knew I’d love owning something so permanent? So needy? I will always identify as a traveler and nomad, by which I mean ‘40-year-old woman who flies coach,’ but now I am also a homebody and interiors nerd. Maybe this is where my motherly instincts have rerouted themselves: to tending to the bones of a place, rather than a person. (Do not make a joke about tending to the bones of a person.) It makes sense, though: growing up in a trailer in rural America, I didn’t have a lot of pride in that. But one of the sources of pride I did have was the way my mother was able to decorate it. She took something old, something tattered, something unloved by society, and turned it into a cozy, warm, aesthetically appealing space full of joy. That was how she loved. Every room was splashed in blue, every wall had handmade wreaths with dried flowers, every shelf had old pewter pitchers and vases, every floor had tiny little throw rugs that acted like a warm hug. The exterior was even more stunning: roses climbing trellises, tomatoes climbing sticks, vines climbing the tin siding, flowers lining every walkway—and flower pots, flower pots, flower pots. I suppose her book would be titled The American Gardener’s Un-Fucked Up Lawn. The ability to take something undesirable, and turn it into something wonderful, is a skill that seems to be in my DNA. Or at least, it wants to be in my DNA. And so, I think it’s time that I come out of the closet: I, Ash Ambirge, have been working on a new secret project. 🤫 I’m sorry if this comes as a shock to some - but if you’ve been paying attention to my threads, my blog, my linkedin page, my pinterest page, my twitter page, my youtube page, my vimeo page, my hulu page, my facebook page, my spotify page, my Bumble AND my Hinge profile (all of which I don’t have) - you’d know that since June 24th, 1984, I was destined to create mediocre content in the home interiors space. Or, as I am rather hoping: destined to bring a fresh, irreverent twist to the industry. 🧨 🔪 💀 🏡 And, as such, I have a question for you: Would you like to come with me over to the dark side??? I can’t give you all the details juuuuust yet (!!!), but if you have an irreverent sense of humor AND you’re obsessed with home interiors, eclectic European design, real estate investing, design-forward Airbnbs, and how the hell the hot water tank actually works—then pls come be my new weird internet friend. We’ll be a new kind of weird internet friends, where instead of creative careers & business trends, we’ll be talking about creative spaces and wallpaper trends. COME OVER TO THE DARK SIDE WITH ME. 👇 [Enter your email to join my]( newsletter & get notified when this launches!]( only if you’re one of us freaks 😉): I hope that in continuing to model self-reinvention as a lifestyle, you, too, will have permission to do the same—and keep on evolving into whoever you want to be, in a world that is entirely yours to be it. I also hope your floor joists aren’t rotting. WELCOME TO ASH’S WORLD Featuring: + Sweary outbursts + Unpopular opinions about crustaceans + New ideas about ways to earn a living that don't require you to be a sucker + How to actually enjoy your life while working less and visiting Ireland more + A real zest for extreme pearl wearing + Favoritism for bars with scary-ass mafia pool rules + Zero ambition to be a good girl who bakes casseroles & smiles politely + BUT ALSO: a creepy affection for small-town Main Streets & freshly-mowed lawns + Currently searching for the most livable places in the world + Obsessed with British architecture & gardens + Deep fear of waking up and not having any water on the nightstand + Entirely unbalanced accounts of everything, including my morals + At least three Freudian slips around my true feelings about bracelets (They make your arms look like baby wiener sausages at an Italian wedding) P.S. Have you read [my book on living & working differently]( yet? It's a real blast to have on the coffee table when the in-laws come over. P.P.S. You’re currently a free subscriber to The Middle Finger Project, where you get access to the coolest new creative job ideas for 2024, and plenty of bold inspiration to start your second act. 🌈 To unlock my (new!) Advanced Middle Finger Career Plans (deep-dive analysis on earning potential for each career + tons of ideas for making it work), Middle Finger Career Advice (how to work for yourself without walking into the ocean), plus full access to the archives, upgrade your subscription to VIP for extra middle finger joy. 🪄 [Upgrade to paid](   [Like]( [Comment]( [Restack](   © 2024 Ash Ambirge 177 Huntington Ave Ste 1703, PMB 64502 Boston, Massachusetts 02115 [Unsubscribe]() [Get the app]( writing]()