New Entry Way Art

The white walls in our apartment are killing me.  My creative personality craves color or artwork or anything to fill the ugly white void.

Enter Pinterest and a wealth of affordable DIY ideas for making the apartment walls an interesting canvas for the imagination.

A few weeks ago I found some great chevron canvases on Pinterest.  It didn't look to difficult and I thought I could easily master painting those.

Canvas isn't cheap, so I read in another blog that the writer had used shoebox lids instead.  Meg will be the first to tell you that I have a horrible shoe collection, which means no shoe boxes.

I liked the idea though of recycling old boxes.  Plan B came into mind when I decided to reorganize our board games.  I hate the games just laying around under the bookcase or in the closet.

Yes, I am always working on multiple projects or at least thinking about them.  I decided to put all of the game pieces is large Ziploc baggies and organize them all in a fabric bin allowing plenty of boxes.

Now that I had my boxes I was all set.  First, I painted the boxes black.  I wanted to stick the simple color scheme in our living room.  Black with purple and blue accents.

Most of the boxes worked well but for some reason Scrabble would not cooperate.  I tried waiting and painting another coat but to no avail.  Finally, I sanded it and after a few coats it worked.

Then I used masking tape to make chevron stripes.  This was not easy.  I even tried measuring with the ruler but the chevron still was not perfect enough for my liking.

I dealt with it but just made other designs on the bigger boxes.  It all worked out I think.  I think seven boxes in chevron might have been too much.

Then I arranged them how I wanted them to hang.  They actually look pretty cool together and I tried to overlook the imperfections.

Right now, they are hanging on nails in the wall but I don't think they are going to stay well.  I might need to add some double-sided tape or something.

It added a little color to the room.  It's a start.  Plus I really like the idea that I did it myself.  It has a story then.  The chevron, which Dennis calls Charlie Brown, gives a nice pop too.

Here is the finished space.  I know its uneven.  They are sliding on the nails, so that's why I really need to figure out double-sided tape.

What a week!!!

My last post talked about my allergy and asthma interruptions with my marathon training.  I was frustrated last weekend and it didn't help that my cough hadn't subsided by the end of the weekend.  Marathon training wasn't going so well and apparently neither was my week.

The week started not only with disappointment about missing the majority of the inauguration but a bronchitis diagnosis.  I guess I shouldn't have let the cough get that bad but my doctor didn't say anything at my physical the previous Monday.  I was rendered contagious, given an excuse and told to rest.  Although I was completely uncomfortable because I couldn't stop coughing, I did get to watch part of the inauguration.  We all know I live for political events...Democrat or Republican.

By Tuesday, I was back at work.  It was an incredibly long day, which you would think would make me exhausted.  However, I was unable to sleep even with my codeine cough medicine.  So for the next two nights, I had sleepless nights and long days.

Yesterday brought some good news.  Good news does come to those who wait.  Everyone knows that for the last year, if not more, I have been incredibly frustrated at work for a variety of different reasons.  I love my job but I wasn't completely happy.  I received a promotion that will be an excellent stepping stone for future positions in the library field.  It is exactly what I had hoped to do in the library following graduate school.  A position that combines all of my passions and skill sets...  More details to follow later.

Finally, Friday arrived.  I worked today to help my coworker with a big program she was having.  Unfortunately, I have to work tomorrow as well but I will have Tuesday off.  The morning went off fine but then the snow came and my work week ended with a three hour commute in the crappy weather.

Friday is here and the week is FINALLY over!  

I am feeling much better.  I only one more round of my bronchitis steroid.  

Marathon training should be back on track soon.  

I have new job potential at work!

Bring on the weekend of work, rest and a bridal show!

Run. Cough. Run. Cough.

I think I am the only adult still suffering from childhood illnesses.  It has been the running joke at the library, that I'm going to be suffering through ear infections right alongside my children some day.

I recovered from the ear infection quickly with antibiotics.  The same antibiotics that numerous patrons at the library were also taking.  They were all under the age of 10.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to kick the cough that accompanied my ear infection during the holidays. At my recent physical, the doctor ordered blood work to test for allergies and prescribed an inhaler.  Then stated again, which I am so sick of hearing, you have the classic trio: eczema, asthma and allergies.

Classic trio for children!  Not for an adult!

I've been through the allergy testing and inhalers before.  Way back in the fourth grade!  I went through an afternoon of shots and was given my list of allergies.  Then I started weekly allergy shots and daily use of an inhaler.  Plus there was a lot I couldn't due now because of my allergies.

The medicine helped and by high school I had thankfully outgrown my asthma and had a better control of my allergies and eczema.

Until now.  

Now its putting a major dent in my sleep schedule and training routine for the half.  I got through my run yesterday but I really had to push.

So, I guess for the next few months my inhaler, nasal spray and allergy pill are my new best friends.  I feel like I'm 10 all over again.

DIY Wedding Planning: Save-the-Date

Wedding planning can be expensive and Dennis and I are determined to save money wherever we can during the planning.  We only want to make our wedding beautiful and cut costs by doing what we can on our own.  So the first project we tackled together...the save-the-date.

Save-the-dates can get pretty pricy depending on the how professional you want them to be plus the cost of engagement photos if you are doing a picture.  With Pinterest, there are so many ideas for save-the-dates that I knew I could find a design that I liked and try it out, which I did.

In my opinion, engagement photos are a waste of money.  I would rather save some money and use it later on for wedding photos, which will get more use.  Dennis got me a new Nikon camera for Christmas, so I set it up on a tri-pod and took the pictures at three different sites myself.

We never have off at the same time, so when we did this week we decided to utilize that time wisely and take the photos.  Since our wedding isn't until October, they don't need to be sent until March but I didn't want to wait and then not have time to do it.

Last night, I was bored and decided to play around in Publisher.  I created a save-the-date that we both like, which is key.  It wasn't hard either and I just inserted the photos that I edited from our DIY engagement session.  It still needs some edits but come March it will be ready to go.

No pictures of the save-the-date yet.  I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone.  You can have one picture tho.  I'll post the rest later.

Do you hear the people sing?

Last night, my dad and I finally got to see Les Miserables.  It was by far one of the best movies I had ever seen and the music, as expected was phenomenal!  From the beginning, I was literally drawn into the French Revolution and sat wide-eyed for the entire movie, never even touching my snack or drink because I was so connected to the film.

 

My love of Les Miserables started in eighth grade when I first read the classic by Victor Hugo.  For a 14-year-old the book should have been intimidating but I was fascinated by the characters and the plot lines and the music, which we heard in the special anniversary video that our teacher played for us to help us understand the book better.

 

From the moment I finished the book, I wanted to see the musical.  The next year it came to Pittsburgh and I used my hard-earned library paycheck to buy tickets.  I went with my friend Kristin and we sat up in peanut heaven but just to hear the music was amazing.  Unfortunately, I have never had the opportunity to see it again but some day.

 

Since then I have just been listening to the music a lot...especially when I had long drives.  When I found out their was going to be a movie last summer, I can honestly say I COUNT NOT wait wait until Christmas Day.  Just watching the commercials I got chills and very excited!  I knew my dad wanted to see it too, so I gave it to him as part of his Christmas gift and then I got to go to!

 

If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it.  I know its not for everyone but just to hear the music or see the story or say you saw an Oscar-worthy performance or to make fun of Russell Crowe singing.  Ha ha!  It's worth it!  Then go to the library and get the book and the musical CD!  Those are free and totally worth it as well!

 

(YouTube)



Goals for the New Year

I normally set New Year's resolutions that as predicted I never follow through with or I do but I'm not happy with the outcome.  This year I'm just focusing on five goals (I'm better with the goals) and I will work on smaller goals each week to accomplish these.  This year I am going to:

Plan a wedding and GET MARRIED.

So far, I've bought a dress and picked my bridesmaids dresses (now I just need to ask them) and we've almost secured a venue.

Run a half-marathon again and IMPROVE MY TIME.

If I could say I was in perfect health right now, I would already be out running; however, until I kick this ear infection for good I'm not officially starting to train until February 10.  Slow jogs for now...

Be a better person and PRACTICE MORE RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS.

This year, I want to strive to be more selfless.  To think less about myself and more about others.  To not complain as much.  To be happy and thankful for EVERYTHING in my life.  And to do nice things for others.

Organize the apartment and MAKE IT OUR OWN.

We love our new apartment but it lacks organization in particular areas (kitchen and office) and personal touches to really make it ours.  Pinterest should help with this one...

Make little changes in my lifestyle so that I'm HEALTHIER.

2012 was not a healthy year.  I had a stomach virus, a throat virus, one or two sinus infections, jaw problems and an ear infection.  I promise to not stress as much, sleep more, eat better and drink more water.  I'm sick of medical bills.

Well, that's my 2013 goals in a nutshell.  Here's to a healthier 2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!