Apartment Shots

A co-worker of mine came by Sunday to snap some shots of the apartment that I can use for my portfolio and to submit to some blog sites. We're going to have "round 2" in a few weeks since the lighting wasn't great in several of the shots, but here's at least a preview of some of what we're working on:

Futon Complete!

I finished the futon last night! Can you believe it only took me only 3 evenings?! The zippers aren't perfect, but they're in the back so that doesn't matter. ;) My poor sewing machine is probably burnt out from all of it's use this week! I can definitely tell that I'm getting better though.

Weekend Update

{Happy (belated) 4th of July!}

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately. I just haven't felt in the mood and there's not a ton to talk about. We had a great time in Memphis for the 4th with Eric's family. Of course it flew by pretty quickly though!

Eric and I spent most of this past Saturday golf club shopping. His big purchase for the summer is a new set, and he's been talking about it/planning on it for months now. We stopped by a few different shops and it turned out that Dick's Sporting Goods had the best deals. Plus, we hit the last day of a big sale on Nike! I ended up getting a full set, too. ;) Sunday we hit the driving range for a bit after the rain, and boy are my arms sore today!

{my full set - Eric's will be ready by Tuesday after they finish resizing them!}

We also picked up a little tabletop grill this weekend with some Target gift cards. Hamburgers were mmm mmm good Saturday night! Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Sunday was Anna-Marie (below) and my cousin Shannon's birthday! Happy (belated) birthday you two!

All four of Eric and I's grandfathers have served in the military in some form, so happy Memorial Day as well!

(My granddad, Ronnie - Air Force)

(My Paw-paw, Bob - Navy)

And of course we can't forget Grandpa Art (Army - correct me if I'm wrong) and Grandpa Jack (Navy)- I just didn't have pictures for you two on my computer! We love you!

Our weekend was spent getting our hands dirty in gardening! I have to admit, I've never really planted anything so it'll be interesting to see how this turns out! After a trip to Lowe's, we picked up a strawberry plant, some pots, and some packs of carrots, lettuce, broccoli, and green beans. I put the 4 veggies in the 2nd container and then moved the thing and now I don't know where each of the sets of seeds are. :) Hopefully they'll sprout soon so I can put some little labels in there!

The weather was actually really nice all weekend, too. So nice that we went to the park both Saturday and Monday. I rocked 3 miles in my Reebok EasyTones yesterday (yes, I got them before I reached my 1 mile running goal ;), and am going to attempt to get back on the Couch to 5K program this week. Kalyn is completely demolishing that program! :) Maybe I can become as cool as her!

And on another note, since I forgot to blog about this, I've been sprucing up some areas in the apartment lately. Task #1 was freshen up the bedding with a spring-y comforter! Surprisingly Target had one that already matched all our other decor!

And lastly, Eric is "officially official" at the hospital. I think he's excited that people the meets with will actually know he's an employee now, not just some random guy asking for info. :)

Weekend Wrap-up

I think I made the right decision on not going home last weekend considering this was the scene at our house...

13 inches - C-R-A-Z-Y!! Fayetteville has gotten more snow this year than Columbia, AND more snow than I can ever remember! I think I need to move back to stop these crazy weather patterns. It must all be because I moved away. ;)

I had a nice little weekend to myself while Eric was in Memphis. I battled some snow flurries and rain on Saturday to travel down to the Lake of the Ozarks to do some shopping. It ended quite quickly though after I fell in love with Marshall's/HomeGoods and had a whole cart full and more...so much for making some other stops at antique stores. ;)

These pictures aren't great (I just snapped them running out the door this morning), so please excuse the lack of fabulous photos. I think I'm going to have to have Aunt Cindy teach me more about using my camera at the wedding in a few months!

I picked up a couple of pillows for the couch (gold and blue shown)...

This awesome chair and table set (only $99 and exactly what I've been looking for!). It looks a little "blah", but trust me, I have big plans for our little porch! More photos on that soon.

A couple of framed flowers...

And this little cute sign for the kitchen.

PLUS - 5 new spring blouses! It was amazing - I may just have to make another trip soon. And very affordable, too!! If you have one near you, you're lucky! (Although I'm a little glad I don't have one too close because I'd spend way too much)

I've got a new recipe to share, too...I tested this out over the weekend and it didn't turn out as pretty as that picture, but it's really good. Just make sure to put it back in the freezer if you don't eat it all, otherwise it'll melt a bit. :)

Strawberry Whipped Sensation
4 cups fresh strawberries
1 - 14oz. can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 - 8oz. Cool Whip (thawed)
8 Oreo cookies
1 TBSP butter (melted)

Line a bread loaf pan with foil. In a large bowl mash 2 cups of the strawberries with a potato masher. Add the Eagle brand milk to the strawberries--stir. Add lemon juice--stir. Add 2 cups of the Cool Whip--stir. Pour the strawberry mixture into the foil lined bread loaf pan. Crush the Oreo cookies finely into a small bowl--add the melted butter--stir. Spread the cookie mixture evenly over the top of the strawberry mixture. Use the back of a spoon to lightly press the Oreo cookie mixture into the strawberry mixture. Cover the top of the loaf pan with foil. Freeze the entire thing overnight. The next day remove it from the freezer, remove the foil from the top, and invert it onto a plate--if any of the foil sticks to it, peel it off. Frost the loaf with the other 2 cups of Cool Whip. Slice the remaining 2 cups of strawberries and arrange them on top of the Cool Whip frosting. Slice like bread to serve.

P.S. - Eric has an internship interview tomorrow! Cross your fingers and say a prayer! :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Were you all as bummed about the 1 less hour to the weekend as I was? Monday definitely came too soon! :) I had to take Advil PM last night and go to bed early so that the time change wouldn't mess me up. Saturday night we didn't get home until after 11, and we ended up sleeping in until 10:30! I haven't slept that late in at least 6 months - I felt so lazy all day!

We had a pretty low-key weekend at home. We went out for pizza Friday night...a big mistake actually. Since CiCi's is near to Sam's and we needed to make a Sam's run, we stopped there for the $3.99 buffet thinking it would be a good deal. Definitely not! The place was PACKED with screaming kids and obnoxious high schoolers. And, the line was 20-people long! We got out of there as soon as we could. I've learned this weekend, too, that there are two types of people here in Columbia. Those that are EXTREMELY rude and have the worst stench of cigarette smoke, and those that are incredibly friendly (I've noticed more people being friendly here than in the South actually). Missouri is ranked #4 on the list of states with the most smokers (Arkansas is 12), and I definitely can see why. At Wal-Mart on Saturday, I experienced the extremely rude side of things. As I was walking over to get a bag of frozen veggies, I just about threw up from the smell of the guy next to me. And, to make matters worse, he stood with the veggie door open for 5 minutes (I'm not exaggerating) looking for whatever he needed, while his wife just stood with the cart next to him. Other people were standing around waiting on him to get his things and move, and Eric was trying to get into the compartment that the lady was blocking twice, and she wouldn't even acknowledge him and move her cart over a bit! She wasn't even looking for food - she was just standing there staring blankly. Really people? I was so frustrated by the lack of politeness and courtesy of other shoppers. Glad I got that off my chest. :)

It has been so gray here for the past week that we didn't have the chance to get out and enjoy the weather. We attempted to go to the park to walk for a bit yesterday, but we left after 15 minutes because the wind was too chilly. I got a couple little projects done around the house with the little energy I had. I picked up this frame last weekend and finally had the chance to spray-paint it this weekend. Eric and I frequently have the "5 o'clock stare" when we get home from work/school, so hopefully this board will serve as a reminder to what we originally planned and curb any temptations to go out!

I also finished these two little canvases for our bedroom:

And, Eric had the chance of watching me attempt to do this workout which was probably a little funny. I've completed 2 days so far, but the first was brutal! My arms were SO sore yesterday, but I managed to do it again last night! The moves are pretty basic, but it's the fact that you don't stop between exercises that can get you. I had to slack a bit, especially on the push-ups! :) I'm looking forward to seeing my endurance improve in the next few weeks. Emily is trying the P90X workout and I'm doing this, so it'll be interesting to see how we both do!

We also made it a priority to pick up more fresh veggies this week at the store. It was a lot cheaper, and it was actually kind of fun to chop it all up. You can see our fridge right now has several containers of carrots and broccoli! We're trying two new recipes this week - a chicken stir fry and a roast with veggies. I'll share the recipes and give a review soon! I've recently learned that I really like cooked carrots from the can (I hate them raw), so we picked up a huge bag of fresh ones for a couple of bucks. I cooked some on the stove last night for lunch today, but they still taste a little "raw". Hopefully they'll be better in the crock pot with a roast (by the way, did I mention I got a new GE crock pot? It's great - it has a timer so our food won't overcook anymore when we're gone all day!)

To wrap up this super-long post, I've got a meeting tonight to go over a new project I'm getting to freelance on. Hopefully this is the end of my "design job bad luck"! I don't know if I can give a lot of details yet, plus I don't want to jinx it since the contract isn't signed yet, but it's looking good and my networking here is paying off. :)

Apartment-ness

So last night I FINALLY picked up the curtains I've been eyeing at Target for a few months now. And I say "finally" because I've been so sick of looking at ugly white vertical blinds for the past 7 months. ;) (They're still there since we don't have storage space, but at least they're hidden!) You'll have to ignore the poor iphone picture quality - my camera is currently on it's way here because I left it at home in Arkansas last weekend. I'll be sure to post better pictures soon!

I noticed the other day that I couldn't find the curtains on Target.com anymore so I rushed to the store to get the last 2 packs! Eric was patient and kind enough to hang up the rod last night, too! AND, they're thermal! So hopefully that'll keep some of the cold air OUT!

 

I'm still working on some little projects and my "wish list" of decor items to finish up the apartment. Obviously, it's been a pretty slow process. :) I've also been eyeing a rug from Target for under the coffee table (again, below is another poor quality picture) - I just noticed that's not on Target.com anymore either! Sheesh! I guess we'll be making another Target run this weekend, Eric! ;)

  

Any thoughts? (Anyone can comment below - it's open to everyone! Hint hint!) I'm not seeing anything else on Target that I really like, but I need to shop around elsewhere, too. Of course the colors are a little off above - it should match much better in person.

And last week I came across this photo on a design blog. I kid you not, I'm seriously considering doing something like this for our front door because it's not completely sealed (you can see light from outside around all the sides at night if that tells you anything) and cold air is always getting in. From what I've Googled so far, this seems like a popular trend/solution in Europe:

Would that just be too over-the-top though? :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Another weekend come and gone - I'm jealous of everyone in Arkansas that got either a 3 or 4-day weekend! Thankfully the ice storm wasn't near as bad there as it was last year. I don't think it can get much worse than this:

{Ice Storm 2009}

Let's hope not at least.

Friday night we expanded our Columbia cuisine by trying a local Chinese restaurant that was delicious! I think our count of local restaurants that we've tried is up to about 4 or 5. Pathetic considering we've been here 7 months and go out to eat at least once a week. :) We just can't get away from the Ruby Tuesday coupons, McAlisters, and Panera.

Despite the temperatures in the upper 20's, we went out to the park Saturday afternoon for the first time in months. Thankfully the sun was out so it wasn't too unbearable. I downloaded the "Couch to 5K" iPhone app a few weeks ago so we gave it a try. It's a 3 times a week, 9 week program that trains you up to run a full 5K. (It's been YEARS since I've done that, so I'm definitely out of shape!) Our workout Saturday was a 5 minute warmup, and then 20 minutes of alternating 60 second runs with 90 second walks, followed by a 5 minute cooldown. I was able to do it, but I couldn't walk hardly at all yesterday my legs were so sore! Time to hit the gym again tomorrow I guess!

Eric and Clayton picked up the infamous chair on Friday, so I started to rip it apart on Saturday. Eric jumped in immediately and basically took over the whole project. :) After him giving me such a hard time about the thing, he was actually super excited about it.

It took us 3.5 hours with 2 tool sets to rip apart most of the upholstery.

And the smell wasn't too great once we got to the stuffing. Good thing I just got my new vacuum filters in.

Sunday we set out to town to get fabric and a staple gun. With the two of us going we were able to use double coupons so we saved about $25. It took us forever to find the upholstery fabric section at Joann, and then another 10 minutes for me just to pick something out, but I ended up going with a print of slate blues with a hint of gold. Thankfully, they had some weekly ads at the front of the store that we were able to snatch two 40% off coupons from. Then we took off to Michael's to use their weekly coupons (and Hobby Lobby will be hit tonight!).

We got the back and the sides stapled on last night, and as we were flipping the chair around, out flew 3 pens, a guitar pick, a used bandaid (eww!), and 31 cents. Who knows what else we'll find in there this week. A $100 bill would be nice. :)

I painted the legs a mustard yellow, and I'm going back to get some gray fabric to do the other parts of the chair. I need to find some trim or tubing at some point, too. But here's the progress (hopefully it'll be done next weekend!)

And as if that's not enough going on, I've got 7 canvases to do this week, too! I got a huge order over the weekend thanks to Etsy, so I'll have plenty to keep me busy for the next week and a half. Eric also got my chalkboard and antique frame hung over the weekend in our office, too!

And, as if this entry isn't long enough, I found out on Friday that I've been accepted to join the ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) blogging team on Healthcare Design Magazine's website. So, beginning in March, I'll have an entry every 4-6 weeks on this website! I'm super excited!

Have a great Monday!