Where do I even
begin?! Too many things have been keeping us busy lately and the last time I
posted was 23192849347 days ago.
Well, I guess I’ll start with the apartment. Between having
little money and wanting to waste it on an apartment that we don’t actually
own, pretty much everything I’ve done in the apartment was made. Luckily,
pinterest doesn’t make this too difficult! For the most part, the apartment was
decorated, but I wanted it to be 100% complete, since my parents were going to
be coming to visit. I still had finishing touches to put into my bathroom, the
entire extra bedroom to decorate and organize, the kitchen to repaint (I didn’t
like the color I painted it before), and I wanted to add some sort of shelving
unit to the living room to add hide all the cords from the electronic
equipment.
In my bathroom, I wanted to put something on the back of the
toilet, so it didn’t look so boring. I found a rusty silver tray at Goodwill
for $0.25 and polished it with a recipe I got off pinterest and made a feau mercury
glass vase out of a vase. Lastly, I made a jewelry wall out of mismatched frames
from Goodwill that I added decorative knobs and scrapbook paper to. With that,
the bathroom was complete for just a few dollars! It always amazes me what I
can find at Goodwill!
The extra bedroom was the room I dreaded doing the most
because when we first moved in and were unpacking, everything we didn’t have a
place for, we just chunked into the extra bedroom. In a tiny room, we had crammed
both mine and Michael’s desks from college, 3 bookshelves, and a ton of misc stuff
like Michael’s beloved mini fridge (which he has not once even plugged in, and
yet truly believes he needs lol), and his guitars and amps. Although I wanted
an actual style in the room, I was definitely not about to add more painting to
the to-do list, so I decided to try to stick with a natural feel in the room,
and add some bold curtains.
I decided we needed to add a little storage in the room,
considering all 3 bookshelves were completely packed with books. Since we don’t
have much money to spend on décor that Michael couldn’t care less about, I got
plain and cheap plywood from home depot and aged it using a stain I found on
pinterest out of vinegar and steel wool. The wood came out looking very
naturally aged; I love it! After waiting a few days for Michael to find some
time between studying to put them up, I got tired of being patient and decided
to put the metal brackets on myself. I was so proud of myself for using Michael’s
power tools to accomplish something again! Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that
the brackets have to be attached to the wall before being attached to the shelves. Oops! Michael ended up having
to take them all off, and redo everything the right way.
Plywood before the stain
TA DA!
As far as the book shelves go, I went through all the books
and made Michael throw away every text book he no longer uses or will ever even
open again. This eliminated the need for all 3. I decided I wanted to keep one
tall and one short bookshelf. I painted the short one a navyish blue, threw the
other short one out, and since the tall one was pretty ugly, I painted it and
moved it into the living room, so I could buy a more natural looking tall
bookshelf that would better fit the feel I was going for. Next, I made some
curtains out of a gorgeous fabric I found that was 75% off! Thank goodness too,
because linen fabric is really pricey! The room is still slightly crowded, but
we both use our desks and we need the bookshelves, so this will just have to
do.
Not the best pic, but the background in the fabric is a dark blue
There's not too much on the shelves at this point, obviously. I'll have to see what treasures I can find on my next trip to Goodwill
The shelf I added also did a good job of covering up our
cords and when my parents came, they brought me the painting my best friend,
Lauren, painted me for my birthday. It fits into the room perfectly and makes
it feel more modern, which I love because I could only make it so contemporary,
when the flooring is brown shag carpet lol. I’ve also been maintaining my
little herb garden, which is seemingly doing well. It’s so nice to not have to
buy fresh herbs every week!
Our visit with my parents was a lot of fun and my Grandma
and little cousin, Kristyn, were also able to come! Over their visit, we stayed
at a condo in Minnesota and drove to Chicago a couple of the days. On the first
day in Chicago, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, which is the
largest museum in the US. It was pretty interesting…but museums aren’t really
my thing. I still had a good time just being around family, though, and
afterwards we went out for Chicago style Pizza! It was so delish! I really didn’t
think I would like it a lot, but I absolutely loved it!
Our second day in Chicago, I really wanted to go to the
aquarium, but we didn’t think we’d have time to go there and the Navy Pier, so we decided to go to the Blank Park Zoo
instead and then went to the pier. I really liked the zoo- especially the Polar
Bear! It was the first time I’ve seen one in person! The Navy Pier was pretty
neat too, and the water was super blue and gorgeous. I was really surprised!
There wasn’t too much to do there, though. We walked all the way around it,
stopped at a couple shops for souvenirs, and got some fried dough for a snack…OMG
SOOO GOOD!!! I was obviously not even attempting to stick to my healthy eating
plan for the entire week! Oh yah, did I mention we went to Flub A Dub Chubs, a
hole-in-the wall hotdog place. I figured while we were there, I might as well try
a real Chicago dog! Let’s just say it was well worth the long walk from our
parking spot a few blocks away!
Other than Chicago, we hung out at the condo, went swimming,
horseback riding, put-put golfing, and played enough games to get my fix for a
while! Kristyn and I also did quite a bit of cooking. Apparently she doesn’t do
too much of it at home hahahah, if you catch my drift ;). One night we decided
to make a recipe I found on pinterest called Apple Candy Pie to surprise
everyone. After a very long time of standing in the kitchen and a few cooking
lessons for Kristyn, our masterpiece was complete. Oh my gosh, it was worth all
the work- definitely one of the best desserts I have ever had!
Kristyn was working so hard ;)
After a fun week with the family, I was dreading the ending.
It’s easy to get used to being around family again. After everyone left, the
apartment felt so empty. Michael could tell I was a little down and gave me my
anniversary gift right away. Fishing poles and supplies!!! He knows me so well!
We ended up having a really fun fishing date, even if we didn’t actually catch
anything. Gizmo also has a blast running like a crazy dog up and down the bank,
through the wooded areas. I had to give him a bath the moment we got home, to
make sure he didn’t get into poison ivy or ticks!
After the weekend of relaxing, it was back to work for me,
while Michael stays home (he’s on summer break). I have to say, it is the most
amazing thing ever to come home every day to a spotless apartment and flowers
every now and then! As a wife who works, I can’t imagine anything I could
appreciate more than a man willing to do the dishes and keep the apartment tidy
so I can come home and relax in the evenings. I will certainly miss this when
he goes back to school lol!
We’ve also been on a big health kick since our Chicago trip.
We put away all chips, cookies, etc. and have been eating very healthy with
tons of fresh fruit and veggies. We’ve also been biking pretty often and
running every evening. Michael goes on super long bike rides every day while I’m
at work! I’m so proud of his hard work! Our goal is to be looking great by the
time we go on my work trip to the Ozarks and our cruise with the Moffett’s,
which are both in July.
As for work, everything has been great! My sales have been
good, and I qualified for the annual summer trip, and also
got a great opportunity to work with telemarketers to help set my appointments.
Only a few people at the office got this chance, so I was so psyched when I found out! It gives me a lot
of confidence in my growth so far. I know I still have lots to learn, but when
I look back on my past couple of months, I’m just amazed at how much I’ve
learned. I know I can make it in the
business; I just have to make it through the first year!
Well that’s pretty much all for now! I'm gonna be on blog overload since i've been slacking so bad and missed a lot of events. Sending love from Iowa!
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