Holiday Window!

Since I am alone this holiday season (boo hoo, i know... i already had a mini cry this morning thinking about it), I don't feel the need to put up and decorate a tree. Even though my opinionated friends (and my mother I'm sure) will say, "but you can do a mini tree!", .... no, thank you.

So I am going to decorate my window. I have a huge picture window in my living room that is begging for attention, and I will happily oblige it's thirst for it.

Oliver is ready to get to work and lend a helping hand!





Window before:





First I gathered my supplies:

Ornaments (bought these at Walmart a few years ago, never used them!)



Ribbon / Gold Rope





And I also got an extendable curtain rod. To be honest, I have no idea where it came from. I don't know if the movers grabbed it from the house and brought it with, if it was already here in the apartment when I got here, or if it really does belong to me. I have no idea! All i know is that its been sitting under my dining room table and is now getting its use. Anyway, I fitted the rod to the inside of the picture window:





It's hard to see on this picture, but the obvious rod that sticks out has my curtains on them, but it's underneath that rod that I put the extendable rod.

Oliver checked it out to make sure it's sturdy and right:





Then I started hanging the bulbs, eyeballing the different lengths. I tied the top in small knots so all I have to do to take them down is cut them with scissors. While I was up hanging a few, I got down and saw that Oliver wanted attention. He put all of his toys in my "work area"... Sorry buddy, ya gotta wait!





Here I am, half done:







And then I ran out of ribbon/rope. Damn it. I'm three-quarters done so I'll pick up some more ribbon during my lunch break tomorrow.









- Blogging to you from the lovely iPad2. Xo.

Weekender!

I can't believe the weekend is here again already! Besides closing up a few projects here at work today, I really hope the day goes by fast.

I don't have any real plans this weekend but to visit a friend on Saturday, probably hit the dog park and then do some more cleaning at home. Hardwood floors are no joke -- my feet are constantly filthy!!! Oliver has finally calmed down on the shedding so now it's just keeping these floors clean...or at least trying. The hardwood floors are not treated which makes it difficult to use my adored swiffer (with the wet pads), so I mainly find myself using the dusting cloths and that's it.

I must admit that I do like having a small apartment. It makes me less likely to acquire lots of "shit" and to keep organized... although I do feel certain that I will only live in this unit this year and when my lease is up I will move. Part of me wants to stay in the city and the other part wants to move to local suburbia like Brookfield owr Oak Park. We'll see how I'm feeling in a year. I've also been exploring the idea of moving in with a friend, so that's another option.

Anyway, the next order of business is to get Internet at home. I know, I've totally been delaying! I'll get to it though... soon enough.

Getting Settled

Ive spent most of the afternoon relaxing after a busy morning. I had intended on going to ikea to buy this cart:



This cart costs $99.99 at Ikea, not including the 30-45 min drive to get there, and then the same amount of time to get home, and also assemble it. By chance, I looked on craigslist for this cart and wouldnt you know it -- a guy was selling the same cart and he lives right across the street from the dog park! So we arranged to meet this morning for the swap and it only cost me $60 and less than a 2 mile roundtrip car ride. I think the best part is that I didnt have to assemble it either!





I ventured out to CBA (Chicago Bagel Authority) for lunch today, as people I work with rave about their food. Their menu is overwhelming, but the overall feel of the place is very new-world hippy both in music and store signage (signs along the line of “if you’re mean, please leave”). Their menu items are most complex with their sandwiches being filled with all sorts of things, I swear I couldn’t find anything less than 4 ingredients! I tried the Toby-Q, I believe it was called. The sandwich was good but honestly, the price is somewhat disappointing at $8. I think that will be my first and last time there.

Random Tidbit: I brought my sandwich home and when I finished, I laid on the couch looking up at the ceiling fan. You know what ceiling fans remind me of? When I was younger, at our Chicago house, I remember turning on the kitchen fan and grabbing a bouncy ball and throwing It up in the fan and ducking for cover. We found it hysterical when the fan whipped it back at us and we hoped surreptitiously that nothing would break… that is, before my mom yelled at us to stop before we broke the fan.

In the meantime...

So ive lived here at my new apartment rather comfortably for the past three weeks getting by on some canned/boxed food, a 19 inch tv and a DVD player. For heaven’s sake I cant even watch the local news because of the digital conversion thing.




Ive been fortunate enough to have been able to locate my box of DVDs so ive been watching my favorites: Love Actually, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Pride & Prejudice and a few pretty embarrassing reality show DVDs that were given to me as gifts (but provide an excellent source of entertainment): The Simple Life & Nick and Jessica: Newlyweds!

I spent most of the day a few days ago bouncing around cable companies to see who I could finagle the best deal out of. Sadly, it was Comcast and it only took talking to three different people to get what I wanted, imagine that! (dripping with sarcasm). So they are coming out on the 6th of August and now I need to get a TV. I left my old one at my old apartment in Bridgeport because it was really old and heavy anyway, and the TV at the house was not really mine anyway.

I’m just feeling really cheap these days and not really wanting to buy anything. The idea of buying a new TV feels more cumbersome than an exciting-adrenaline pumping purchase. I dread it because I like having money in my pocket and let’s face it, electronics are never cheap. Anyway, that is this weekend’s intention -- buy a new tv.

I also need to buy a few other items for the apartment, small things like an entry way carpet, a collapsible clothes dryer (to hang my work clothes that don’t go in the dryer), a small shoe rack to put near the entryway, etc. In time!

i heart furniture

I really love furniture shopping! Take me to an ikea or room store any day of the week and I can figure out a space for every piece of furniture in the store. Since the apartment is smaller than the place I currently live, its going to be a challenge to condense my stuff to make it fit but also make it look clean, organized and uncluttered.

Random tangent: Speaking of uncluttered, I watched some of that "hoarding" show yesterday on TV and I just cant fathom how people are so connected to "stuff". This woman couldnt get rid of trophies that a friend gave her because she had some kind of weird attachment to it. A trophy? That she didnt even earn for something? Weirdo! I, in turn, love getting rid of things that I don't want or need anymore. There is something very liberating about de-cluttering my life.

There is no storage in the bathroom, besides a two stand shelf above the toilet so I have been looking for a long-tall storage unit with a door and I found a perfect one that will fit nicely in the alotted space in the bathroom --



Next thing i'll need is an extra space to serve as a "counter" space in the kitchen. There are only two places of counter space on both sides of the sink. So here is what I found that I might buy to give another small, extra space to work on but also provide storage --



and then randomly, I found this which I liked too --



And this is just some, of the many many items I found that I just love. This is going to be fun! I can't wait to move! T-11 days :)