I did the math the other day and discovered that for the past three years (roughly adds up to 1,432 posts), you have allowed me to ramble on about home décor from every angle imaginable, ranging from obvious topics like color combinations and room makeovers to the ridiculous, like comparing rooms to French desserts. And for that--Thank You. I'm sad to say that my time here at Apartment Therapy comes to an end today, so I hope you'll indulge me one last time as I settle into my exit interview...

AT: You've got a decent archive here at Apartment Therapy--three years? Not a bad run.

GH: No, not too bad. Leaving is bittersweet though--the LA team is really a fun group. Even though we don't work in an office together, we send each other emails and texts quite often. Lately, we've resorted to drinking together--luckily, Gregory is our Designated Driver since he's allergic to alcohol.

You guys talk about home decor stuff? Share blog ideas?

Um, right now, we're in a deep and important discussion as to when the last time Nicolas Cage looked good. I'm being generous by saying '94-'95, you know around the Leaving Las Vegas era. Beth is crazy thinking he was hot in Gone in Sixty Seconds. We're also conducting a very scientific poll that compares the merits of teen girl movie franchises--Bring It On vs. Step Up vs. Cutting Edge. For the record, Bring It On is still winning; although Gregory is vehemently for Step Up, and I can't believe the Pamchenko is losing out to a bunch of cheerleaders.

Riiight. OK, so, uh, moving on. Any posts you're particularly fond of?

One of my favorite posts was Abby's: The Story Behind Your Stuff because it was a nice reminder of placing sentimental value in the home. There was a great comment awhile ago--I think it was for Julia Child's home--that was about how homes in the '70s used to have "intellectual quality and cultural curiousity" as opposed to just...stuff. It's nice to see house tours that are bringing that back, just full of character and history. In fact, Laure did a cool one recently from Silver Lake--Genevieve & Maxwell's Poorgeoisie Bungalow. Beth is fantastic at coming up with practical DIY ideas--I've sent her kitchen islands post to quite a few people.

I meant, posts that you did.

Ohhh…well. I wouldn't say that I have favorite individual posts per se, but I gradually ended up creating my own categories out of last minute "oh-hell-what-do-i-write-about-now" panic. Like, On The Set features or Musical Playlist posts. Or the Redecorating on a Budget week. Or even the Guess Which Celebrity ones. Coincidentally, those took the most amount of time and effort; but in retrospect, I think they were the most fun.

Do you have favorites in any of those made-up categories?

No…wait, YES! Yes, I do. My favorite On the Set feature was Penelope--that one completely broke my obsession with mid-century modern and opened this whole world of this strange modern Victorian Gothic style that I still am amazed by.

After working on that post, I started looking for other inspiration that didn't include an Eames rocker shell chair that I could post about. As for the Musical Playlists…

Yes, how did that come about?

Well, I listen to a lot of music as part of my job--everything from really bad pop to mathematical covers of Cure songs performed on a classic Nintendo. And one night, I was trying to be efficient and do two jobs at once: write an AT post and listen to a bunch of songs for an indie music promotion. The next thing I knew, I was hunting around for photos of bathrooms and rediscovering my iTunes library. But my favorite Musical Playlist post is probably a tie between the living rooms one--that one had a lot of newer music than the others--and the Michael Jackson tribute.

Speaking of, you seem to veer off the home decorating topic more than others. How did Gregory feel about it?

Gregory's always been great about letting each of us write how we wanted--even though he's told me repeatedly that I give him the most headaches--and only one near-heart attack when i put his credenza as a Tuesday Giveaway and didn't tell him. But he's been really supportive, even if I'm babbling about Lady Gaga's wardrobe, or wishing Abby a happy birthday by comparing her apartment to wedding cakes.

Gregory is one of the main reasons why I got to stick around for three years. I thought for sure that I would get canned after the whole Kanye coyote hammock debacle. That reminds me, have you seen this cross stitch piece from Cleolinda?

I may have to persuade Laure to take a brief interlude from her crocheting down to make a version of this.

Any regrets or gripes?

I'm sure I have many regrets in my posts (see Kanye Coyote Hammock above), but one I can think of right off the bat is this Musical Playlist post that I started and never finished. It was an era-themed one--you know, a 60's mid-century modern home and pairing it up with a song from that period. I had a really great photo of an 80's beach house set in Miami--that one was my favorite because I could use "My Boo" by Ghost Town DJs. And there was a bachelor's pad from the 90s that I was going to finally, FINALLY be able to use with Wu-Tang's "Shimmy Shimmy Ya."

As for gripes, hmm….well. I guess I avoided using the editorial "we" as much as I could get away with. But most of the time it was because it just felt wrong to lump the rest of the team in my boat, especially when it came to embarrassing stuff, like reading the Jennifer Love Hewitt dating book or researching what a Justin Bieber is.

What are some popular questions do you get from readers?

The question I get asked the most is why I hate Twilight so much. Even Maxwell asked me that the first time I met him. The second time I met him, he asked me if I wrote my posts drunk. For the record, I don't technically hate Twilight, I'm just really entertained by the intense fandom that has spawned all sort of craziness from Edward body pillows to shower curtains. As for the second question: Yes, yes, and definitely yes.

Duly noted. Well, let's wrap it up shall we?

What, you're not going to ask me what my favorite swear word is?

Um, maybe off the record. Think you'll pop in once in awhile?

I may do a few guest posts here and there for Unplggd…but that's only if Gregory still isn't holding a grudge about the MacWorld Keynote recap I wrote years ago. And if I ever get around to finishing that Music Playlist post, maybe I'll slip it to Abby to sneak in sometime.

OK, last words before you get auf'd?

Well, let me just say thank you to Maxwell for this amazing experience; to Gregory and Jonathan Lo for putting up with me; to the other AT:LA bloggers for being not only so great to work with, but also fun to hang out with--I really don't know many people who would be willing to go see Hot Tub Time Machine with me on their lunch break on a Tuesday. And finally, to the AT community: Thanks again. Blogging can be such a strange thing: it's pretty much exclusively online, it's fairly anonymous, and sharing the place where you live is such a personal thing. But you all have made it very worthwhile, and I'm thankful for the opportunity.

Cheers!

(Image: Jim Henson Studios)