Touch Up

C touching up spots in our apartment...

He is a color matching fiend! The touch up paint we were left had long since dried up, with no label, and it took C 3 tries, but he finally got the paint color correct!

Apartment Changes

Here's the latest in our kitchen. All my original work now. I will continually be adding to it as I take more...unique shots, but I like the ..symmetry.. of it as it is right now.
We got this bookcase from my in laws last month or so. I have, of course, taken it over. It's barely more filled up since then. It's a great feeling to have a not full bookcase!
Bought an empty wreath last week. Filled in the empty spots with little fake things that were on sale. It's not done yet, as I'd like to get some more doodads, but I couldn't resist putting it out on our door! It's not like that many people see our door anyway!
This guy is a plastic bag holder. I got him from my work this summer and finally put him up today!
We got this painting from a local artist as a wedding gift. I have badgered C about putting it up for the past year and a half and I finally just did it myself!

I adore the colors in it so much!

Random painting I did my senior year of high school as an art project. No, we don't have a dog, but I needed something there! I'm not quite the painter as Sabrina is, but it was still fun. I finally attached a hook to it tonight and hung it on our bedroom wall.
Our lovely Kitchenaid mixer! Haven't used it yet, actually! I know, I know, what am I thinking?

Gradually, the walls are getting less and less bare here!

House Changes

I have begun adding framed shots of my work to our green kitchen wall. It's been slow coming. The bigger 8x10 shot is not by me, but it soon will be replaced with a shot that is.

"Our" wall is growing. I added our Hawaiian caricature and a couple of green frames.

We recently picked up a black bookcase. I wanted it for books, but C thought it would be good for our sparse kitchen space. It is now a mini pantry.

The latest plant. It's still getting used to our house, so we'll see if it grows.

Here starts our latest endeavor. Last night, we ate this junky Betty Crocker practically premade cake sample I received in the mail.

This is what our living room has looked like for about a year, give or take a few things.

Last night, we moved the third computer desk out, leaving a wide open space next to the window. We then moved both C and I's computer desks. It ended up being a bigger project than I was expecting!

Now I am next to the window.

Don't mind the clutter. We haven't put everything back together yet. This is how it all looks now. The couch is still in place to watch shows and DVDs from C's computer.
My lovely desk. Don't be fooled, it won't be this neat for long. But now I can look outside the window all day long while I do homework. It will be great! Although it's already been a bit distracting, and the sunshine leaves a big glare on the desktop when it's streaming in. But I think it's a small price to pay.

C and I now have more room to work. It's a weird and strange change, but it's been good already.

Twitter friends

I put up a several frames this week...here's my friend wall. It's free for expansion, but it looks nice at the moment, so I am content.

Fairly complete family wall...missing an extra photo of 2 of C's brothers, but I don't see that as a priority at this point. It's not perfect, but it's slightly symmetrical...I put a few notes on the picture to explain some things.

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When I joined Twitter, I was found by a foreign exchange student in town...it turned out that he is friends with one of my friend's brother. I exchanged a few words with him, but not much more. Today, I helped out with "Feed the Kids" again. This time, we served spaghetti. My friend's brother walked by and said hello. Quite a bit later, this kid walks up to me and says, "Hi M!" I looked at him, with no recollection of who he was, and he said something about Twitter (in an accent, of course) and it took me a minute to understand what he had said. And then it dawned on me that it was my Twitter friend. How strange! But it was cool to put a face to the name.

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In think that's it for now!

Apartment Tour #4: Living Room

And the final installment in the apartment tour! The living room!

I told you we would come back to this! The doorway is going to be covered in photos of our families. Mine on the left and C's on the right. I just have run out of photo frames to finish my project.

Looking to the right shows the dining room, to give some perspective. Along the wall on the right, I have these photos. This is becoming the friend wall. Yet again, I ran out of frames, so this is a work in progress.

Stepping into the living room a bit shows what is seen when walking into the front door. Now I have a big basket next to the couch with throw blankets in it. The shortest bookcase is probably going to be moved once C finishes the shelves he is building. I've been wanting to put up a painting in the space above it, but I've decided to wait. As you can see, I love books. I have my scrapbooks on one whole shelf to themselves. The coffee table is my scrapbooking work station.

Here are close ups of the short shelf. This is basically the wedding/us shelf. My bouquet, our unity candle is on here. I also used to collect rocks and sea shells back in the day, so I have several bowls of them on this shelf. The kiss shaped thing is what C used to propose to me with. :)

I love these little puzzle type box shelf things. Not sure what to call them. The green thing on the top is a candle holder that can have things on the outside. So I put the flat pieces of green and white sea glass in it that C and I find. The flat plate next to it is a tray that my grandma had that I received when she passed away. It's from my town and features a popular attraction in the Bay. Down below, the little pyramid is from Mexico when C and I went. The white bowl is from my coworker. She purchased it for me from her last trip to the Netherlands. The next box over has a vial of gold, and a few rocks. Back to the bottom again, my clover box. A friend gave it to me when she didn't want it any longer. I wanted it, because my birthday is St. Patrick's Day. And lastly, the teacup was my step grandma's.

The tallest bookcase we have currently has my CD collection on top. And on top is our bamboo plant that we received for our wedding! It is thriving and has grown a lot :)

My windowsill with goodies! I've always wanted a windowsill to put things in. The two big wood pieces are made by my grandpa in Cali. Next to the kitty is a jar of sea glass. Then a mini cactus that my sister brought from Arizona :). In the last picture, is a vase with white rocks that we have collected from the beach.

And lastly, here is where we spend the most of our time! Yes, we have 3 computers. The one on the right does not work all the time, so it is just backup. The green and white rugs aren't there at the moment. They have a new home in the closet.

So that's our place! Thanks for enduring my myriad of photos!

Apartment Tour
The Kitchen
Dining Room and Bathroom
Bedroom

Apartment Tour #3: Bedroom

On to the apartment tour part 3! This post will cover just the bedroom. From the bathroom, straight ahead is our bedroom.

There is no door frame, and thus there cannot be a door. Many people have said there are solutions to that, but our land lord is in charge and we came up with a simple solution: a curtain rod and a shower curtain. We don't have people spending the night often, and it's just us anyway. We don't need a door. It stays warmer anyway!

To the right of the doorway, is my dresser. Filled with all kinds of stuff, and then stuffed animals everywhere!

Our bedroom is tiny. So we have a bed, and 2 night stands and that is all that fit in there. But it works just fine for us.

Apartment Tour
The Kitchen
Dining Room and Bathroom

Apartment Tour #2: Dining and Bath

On to the Apartment Tour part 2! This time we will cover our "Dining Room" and the Bathroom.

Directly after the kitchen is the tiny almost non existent dining room. I haven't gotten great photos of this area, because it is constantly cluttered with dishes and as a catchall.

This is the wall close to the fridge. It has become the wall of our photos. As you can see, there are only the 4 frames up so far. I'd love to add more. The second photo is our table. Mainly focus on the tablecloth! There is little room here for the table, so it is up against the wall, making it awkward to have a dinner party. It works for what we need, though and I think that is what matters.

These are 2 of the 4 chairs C put back together. They were from the thrift store, and had a green upholstery that was kinda junky, and they were a brown wood that needed help. Plus they were very rickety. C's coworker, who used to work in a furniture store, helped him reupholster the cushions, and tighten and rework the wood. He also spray painted them a sleek black. We have 2 white and 2 red ones. I'm very proud of C and the chairs. I think they look fantastic.

This is the doorway leading to the bedroom on the left and bathroom to the right. I'll talk about the photos in the next(?) post. And as you can see, the closet is right there for all to see.

I am pretty proud of this part. Just behind the doorway is a little nook. We have some chimes hanging from the ceiling that we received as a wedding present. The corner shelf below is a favorite of mine. I purchased it at a garage sale. It's filled a bunch of beach decor. I have always wanted a bathroom with a beach theme, and I sort of have it, but not really.

Coming into the bathroom, we have our washer and dryer, cupboards, and beyond the wall, the shower. Nothing too terribly exciting. Just past the shower is the clock, and matching 3 photo hanging frame. I filled it with scenes from the beach I have taken through the years. Don't mind the glamorous breaker box. The top of the toilet just has a fish dish that has no real purpose!

Next to the toilet to hold magazines is a box that holds magazines. Moving onto the sink, which is right to the toilet, there is a soap dish in the shape of a sea shell. The little cow frame is a tiny nic nac C bought for me in Mexico when we first started dating. I think it's very cute. And lastly, the floor has an odd assortment of rugs. There's a sort of beach theme, but they all kind of clash. Ah well!

Stay tuned next for the bedroom, and possibly the living room!

Apartment Tour #1: Kitchen