Friday, April 24, 2009

What I've Been Up To

Besides packing, de-cluttering and preparing for my move in June and my trip to Michigan in May, I've been keeping busy with little things here and there.

Tonight, I repurposed one of the purses I kept and turned it into a knitting/crocheting bag. Using a Handbag as a Craft Bag

I've been walking more and completed my first 5k last weekend. AHA-Heart-Walk-aka-My-First-5k Tomorrow, my boyfriend and I will be walking in our third official charity walk. This one is only a 2-mile.

Tori Amos is touring this year and her new album comes out May 19, so I'm catching up on her previous albums.

Blogging, working, and just trying to enjoy each day. It's not much of a life, but I'm not complaining.

Monday, April 13, 2009

King Size Afghan

I finished my afghan last night. I started this three years ago and have been working on it sporadically. It was originally a present for my boyfriend and I was finally able to give it to him. It's obviously not perfect...there's a major seam issue and if one looks close, they can see I didn't actually make the ends meet. But because I'm not selling it, I'd like to think the imperfections give it character.


I'm actually really proud of finishing this. This is the only crochet pattern I know how to do right now, but I have plans to learn more, even if I have to self teach with some online sites. I spent alot of time working on it while watching movies to keep both my mind and hands busy. I used a 5.00 mm needle for this one. The one I'm working on now, another old project that's turning into a long term thing, uses a 3.75 mm needle, so it'll be interesting to see how different they turn out.
If anyone knows of any good crocheting and knitting sites, hook me up.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Kicking Off Sale Season

Yesterday after work I found an ad for a sale being held at Cico Park. We weren't going to go, but let's face it...I can't say "no" to an opportunity and I've been waiting patiently for garage sale season to start.
The bad part? Seeing all kinds of great furniture that I can't get at this time due to lack of storage space. There was an awesome coffee table and end table set for twenty dollars. I'm holding on to the hope that not being able to get it right now means that something better will come along after we're in our new apartment though.
We did find two pictures to hang in our new apartment though, so we grabbed them because they're much more storage friendly. The first one is small and I picked it out for $2.



I thought it was kind of contemporary and will go great in our bedroom, which the plan so far is to decorate kind of hodgepodge, kitchy, random. The second one Jon picked out for $5 and was pretty excited about finding it. Not suprising...he has a thing for Germany, but the pic is neat and will look good in the living room.
We also got (but didn't take a picture of) big blue bathroom rug that's in really good condition for a dollar. It's a dark blue, so now we get to find a matching toilet cover and rug. I have to say our first sale was successful and now I can't wait to hit a few more.

Friday, April 3, 2009

New Apartment Ideas

We’re under two months before we move into our new apartment, and my nesting instincts are raging. I keep coming up with things I want to try, décor ideas, even color schemes for the new place. I’m trying not to go overboard, but it’s so easy to plan things only to be disappointed when the things in my head don’t necessarily work out the way I want.

It’s hard for me to keep my ideas on hold. SpringPad is great for making lists, and Jon always seems open to a random email from me about the thoughts running through my head. Still, having to wait to do these things is driving me mad.

For instance, my newest thought is to nix the dresser idea all together and go with colorful storage totes for under garments and socks. I’m all about saving room, especially since we want to put at least two of our snakes in our room. I have to get Jon in on the idea of hanging up a good portion of his clothes. This might be easier since the bedroom in the new place actually has two closets, one for each of us. I’ll need more hangers.

I’m also batting around the idea of getting rid of our bedroom TV. Sleep experts basically say not to have one anyway, and even if we want to watch something, we both have laptops that will play a DVD. We would keep the one in the living room. This will leave us with an extra TV and an extra DVD player, both of which could be sold on Craigslist. I may take the extra DVD player to my parents though. I think they need one.

My planned color scheme has already changed for the living room and the kitchen since getting a rather large haul of apartment stuff off Craigslist. That’s cool though…I’m rolling with the punches and I think the new scheme will be a lot more warm and earthy than the original. At the moment I’m having a hard time holding off on answering ads for furniture, even though we already have enough things to get us started.

This weekend will involve a little more packing, possibly getting rid of one of our TV, and maybe moving out the borrowed dresser we’ve been using in order to make more room for packed boxes. The more I get done now, the easier June 1 will be.