Light and Airy

As a general rule, which many of you who read this blog know by now, if there is anything expensive to love, I find it. And while it's great to have expensive taste, there's nothing wrong with wanting good quality stuff, it doesn't fit within my budget 99% of the time. So I'm left with finding ways to improvise. I'm all for having one expensive piece, and a piece that I can compromise with that is a little more practical in the price area. Although, again as many of you know, I am anything but practical.

Case in point, I have a beautiful homemade desk my father- in- law built me in place of a desk I found at World Market for (I think it was $100). I don't know how much my desk cost to make, it doesn't matter. I love it, I can stand at it and still work perfectly. It has built in file drawers, and a book shelf on the other side. It's pretty perfect. The top is laminate so I can't ruin the desk if I write on a piece of paper. And on that desk is a $100 "Photographer's Task Table Lamp" I do have my priorities straight. A beautiful lamp that was purchased by my MIL and Josh's grandma for my birthday this year. Yes, I'm pretty much surrounded by the best gift givers in the world. Have I mentioned the World Market entry table we own in the living room given to us two Christmases ago by my mom? I'm loving the "piece of furniture every year for Christmas" thing. I'm hoping for a sofa or entertainment center this year.

Now that you've been told about my expensive taste, and my impracticality I can get to my point for the day. For our new bedroom, (the first time we've ever been able to paint might I add) I wanted to go for something light and airy. I am a huge fan of color in a room, thus the reason we are going for red on the walls in our living room. Forget having a cohesive look for the whole house, I like so many different styles, every room will have a different feel. Like I said, the bedroom I'm going for a light and airy look. As much as I like color, I also like non colors as well. My wardrobe is a testament to that. 90% of what I own is gray, black or white. A little navy blue is in there too. I'm a fan of classic looks, but I know I need to add a little color. Even the four items I bought two weeks ago while I a shopping trip were gray. Gray skinny jeans, which by the way are a size 2, just saying, 1 gunmetal gray top that has pockets in the front, and a gray leopard print blouse... and black booties. Sorry, I'm off topic again. As you can see, I like my gray. So what better color to paint the bedroom than gray? I believe that bedrooms are a sanctuary. I want our bedroom to be peaceful, a place to re energize and relax.

I've decided to go with a light gray, the color I chose, I think is a little too light, you can't tell that it's gray, but I think I have the perfect gray picked out now. I've picked out a really girly bedding, much to Josh's disappointment, so I'm going to offset the girliness with a few pops of a Kelly green type color. I don't know what I can use that's green, but I'm definitely on the hunt.I love the color green, its not too feminine, and I do have to remember sometimes that I have a husband. A husband who oddly cares about the interior look of the house. He cares about the weirdest stuff. He has fabulous taste. Case in point, our dining table, and the tuxes at our wedding. I told him what I liked, he was in agreement, walked into the shop all confident, said, "this shirt, this tie, this tux, and these shoes." We left 15 minutes later. We agreed on those two things, and have yet to agree on anything else :)

So because I am going to make him suffer with white bedding, with frilly gray detail, I'm going to use some green in there too, and the green is a go... At least it was the last time I talked to him. I'm also on the hunt for end tables for the bedroom. I was thinking white, but then I came across mirrored furniture, and fell in love. I'm doubting Josh will go for that, but I'm going to try to slip them in. They are a little modern, but I think they will work. Although, the ones I want are $400 dollars... A piece. So I will need to be on the look out for something reasonable.

To finish off the look I need a huge piece of art for behind the bed, to act as a headboard, and some sheer curtains. And if our room was big enough I would have two pretty little stools at the end of the bed.

Potterybarn mirrored bedside table

Perry Street Clock by Kate Spade


And this will go on my bedside table. Officially on my Christmas list

Ciao!

My Dream Sofa

Josh and I are currently on the look out for living room furniture. The horrendous mismatch of cream leather, and 1960's 70's ugly mustard chair mixed with a gloss white vanity, and dark wood dining table and entry table just isn't cutting it for me anymore. We are on an extreme budget, I'm hoping to use a little bit of the $8,000 tax credit we have coming our way to purchase a couple pieces of furniture. This is my dream couch. I don't care if you don't like it. It makes my heart skip a beat. Josh says it's not too bad, but doesn't look comfy. I really wouldn't care all that much about comfort if I got to look at this every day. We would probably have to pass on the whole having kids thing, because it's made of velvet too. Kids and velvet don't go hand and hand. No biggie. With a couch like this I wouldn't need kids;) I'm off to hunt down something more practical. Does anyone know where I can find a reasonably priced gray couch?

Look! It's even studded. There couldn't be a more wonderful couch. Sigh...

My Office

I've been asked a few times to show picture of our brand new house, but because it is still somewhat a disaster area, I won't be posting pictures until next week. The back room, is currently the room where Josh's random stuff resides. My office is also housing two boxes of DVD's, a box of picture frames, and Comcast equipment that needs to be returned before someone starts looking for their stuff. Oops. They should really come pick that kind of stuff up, rather than making you bring it in, Right? There are so many walls in this house, and we don't have anything to fill them with. I am so used to having a fireplace with a little mantle that I don't know what to do with all the stuff that went on it. I will have to get some little shelves to put on the huge empty wall we have in the living room.

Paint colors for the living room, and bedroom have been picked out, but painting has been put off by me due to the fact that I would rather pay the bills and eat than buy paint that isn't a necessity right now. This house poor thing is going to really cramp my style, I can already tell. I have a bachelorette party to go to this weekend for a very dear friend, and you know how that goes. Spending a small fortune on a gift, the hotel room, dinner and dancing. In fact, we might not get to eat for the next few weeks... Oh well, right? :)

I am finding that I love my office. Although it is pretty blah right now, it is mine. My desk is all set up. So I'm in business. I'm alot less distracted in my own seperate place. At the apartment, I was right next to the TV, which I know doesn't need to be turned on, but I can't help it. I have become that housewife that got hooked on Soaps, yes, I was pulled in. No I didn't just sit there all day and watch Soaps, I listened while I worked. Thank the Lord we have DVR now, so I can record these shows and watch them later on... Alot later on because they drive Josh crazy.

All I need are some Bon Bons. Thats what guys think housewives do right? Sit and watch cheesy Soap Operas and eat Bon Bons. I'm rarely just sitting in front of the TV. Except for that day where the thought of unpacking another box made me sick. I took a break and watched TV, and let me tell you, I was totally depressed that day. I hate just sitting. It puts me in a really bad mood.

Another plus about being in my own space is not being able to see everything else that needs to be done with the house. I cant see the dishes that need to be put away in the kitchen, and I cant see that load of laundry that needs to be done. I tend to do cleaning about three to four times a day. I love a clean house. My mom says this will not be something I can partake in when Josh and I have kids... It will be a complete disaster all the time. I'm already thinking of ways to keep things organized when we have kids. And in our little house, this will be crucial! Sorry kiddos, no toys for you! We just don't have the room.

I do have a picture of the lovely view from my office, our bedroom is in the room next to my office, so this is the view I get every morning when I look out our bedroom window too:)

I will have pictures up of our house soon. You have to promise, though, that you won't make fun of our hideous mismatched living room furniture. Truly and eyesore. One day we MIGHT have something that matches, and I won't have to continually apologize for the randomness. And if anyone wants to donate money to our Living Room furniture fund that contains a whopping $0 so far, feel free! We would be so grateful.

I snagged this idea from my friend Shauna. I love to read her little snippets of info.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Alyssa

I Could Scream

This is a bit of a rant, so if you get angry easily, you would be wise to stop reading now. :)


It is widely known that I have a temper. It runs in the family... I try to calm it as much as possible, but there are a few things that make me so mad I want to scream. 1. Not being able to find something I need. 2. People not doing their jobs, and 3. When things don't work right.

All three make me want to scream and throw things. I get mad, really mad. So mad, in fact, that it could probably ruin the rest of the day when one of these three things happens.

Today is one of those days...

When Josh and I moved to our house, we decided to try something new when it came to cable and internet. We were really unhappy with our service with Comcast at the apartment complex. Calls would cut out, and do that annoying disconnect sound at least 2 times everytime I was on the phone. I wanted to throw the phone every time. And then, I would be kicked of the internet, and lose a dial tone on my phone all together at other times. Needless to say, Josh and I wanted something different at our next place.

With that, Josh decided on Direct Tv because he had heard good things about it from friends at work. We had our Tv hooked up a few days after we moved in... We came to find out that, no we do not get ABC, NBC, CBS and other channels similar. Who would want 200+ channels if you didn't get these channels. Strike 1. I will go more into this later....

Strike 2, was when they told me they couldn't manage to figure out how to get the connection to make it to our house which comes from a box somewhere down the road. "We will have to come back tomorrow and have someone take a look at it." No problem, things like that happen. Two days later, STILL NO INTERNET. No one came to fix it. I know you get busy. There are probably 500 other people pissed off like I am that there connection isn't working, but you could call me and tell me, so I don't have to sit here all day when instead I could be running those 5,000 errands I have to run. And did I mention that my business revolves around the internet? Oh no hurry, I can live witout it.


Friday when I finally got the chance to call to say that we were missing channels like ABC, NBC, and CBS. What? Really? Like I said previously, Who wants the Choice +DVR package with 200 channels if I don't get the basics? Josh and I watch very few channels: ABC, The History Channel, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, and Food Network. I watch the new 3 times a day. No, I don't want to watch CNN, I could fall asleep watching that. If I have to watch Nancy Grace with her nails on a chalk board voice one more time, I might throw a plate through my tv...

So when I called did I get to talk to a person? NO. Yea right, God forbid I would get to talk to a human. It's so much better to talk to Judy the electronic woman who wants to tell me about the fight, and how to order it on pay per view. Then I was asked what my problem was. All I had to do was use a few key words like "My account, and I would be whisked away to a far off land where they answered all the important questions like, How much my current bill is, and what package I have. The first time I was asked what I needed help with by Judy, I sat there with my mouth open totally blank.

How in hell as she going to help me with my problem? I think I uttered some sort of squeak and Judy told me that she couldn't hear me. Of course you can't, I didn't say anything. She's bright that Judy. I bet she is the most popular electronic customer service lady at Direct TV. The next time I was asked, I rattled off something like Cable packages and apparently I wasnt specific enough. If I had said Account info, I would have been fine, but I'm out of luck because I need some other assistance. When I FINALLY got to talk to a human, after 15 minutes of arguing with monotone Judy, I talked to some girl with an attitude. Do you ever catch those people's names anyway? They always say it so fast, I have not a clue who I'm talking to.

I explained my problem to Tiffany, lets call her that, and she told me that I DO have local channels, but ABC, NBC and the like are not local channels, but National channels. Fine... 1. Then where are my local channels? She told me, and nope, I don't have them, I can't see them, but she never answered me how to get them back. Because YES, I do have them. I hate people with attitudes when they are in customer service.

I was informed that I need to go online (I didn't have internet yet) and fill some sort of form out asking if I can get these "national channels" hooked up at my house here high on the hill. Seriously? And with that she hung up on me. Yes, she did. Rage built up inside me, but I didn't have time to deal with it. STRIKE 3

And there's more. So when we finally got our internet hooked up, much to my surprise, or maybe not so much, with the way things were going, I fould out that that "pretty fast" internet that lady I talked to when I ordered DIRECT TV was in fast a crawling backward pace of a snail. This will not work. I run a business online. I have a website, emails I need to get to, blogs to get to, an ordering system that goes through the internet that I need to get to, and this is all after I wait 45 minutes for the internet to decide to work. This is going to triple my work flow time.

Strike 4.

So tomorrow I will be calling Direct TV to see if I can get this all panned out. Let's hope I can do all this without screaming at someone. I'm a friendly person, I just want people to do their jobs in helping me when they need to, and I want things that I need to work efficently, to actually work.

When I get this all figured out I will be back to running a business and blogging like a normal, non crazed person:) Have a wonderful week. I'm so glad Monday will be over soon!

Alyssa

It's Official! We Have A House!!!

We got the keys to our new house this evening. I can't wait to make it into our home. My internet will be out of comission until next Wednesday starting, I'm not sure when... Maybe tomorrow, maybe Wednesday? A week without internet doesn't sound like a good idea to me at all. Here are a couple pictures that warm my heart. I can't wait to start the process of decorating! My tastes have changed over the last year. I just have to remember that I can't have everything right away and I'm going to be stuck with alot of mismatched stuff for years. Hopefully, I will get a chance to post again before I'm without my lifeline for so long.

I found these photos via one of my favorite blogs: madebygirl

Enjoy!

I want everything about this space... The chair, the shelves. *sigh*

Josh and I bought a white leather couch for $75 dollars.. I would say it's Ivory. It's not the most practical, but $75 was nice. Any suggestions on decor to match?

Have a wonderful week!

Alyssa

And Thus It Starts...

We haven't officially closed on the house yet, so I'm really hoping that this isn't just premature packing that won't come to fruition. Either way, we should be getting the keys on Tuesday and I want to say ADIOS to this apartment before we have to pay rent. We will probably end up having to pay for July 1st, due to the fact that we will still be in the process of moving. I really don't want to be paying for that day, so if I can get everything packed this week and Monday, then that will be a HUGE help in getting out of here ASAP. Apparently today I like all capitalized words...

Here is the start of the boxes. The nice thing about moving only a mile and a half or so away, is that we won't have to box everything up like it is going through the apocolypse. I really feel like just tossing all the junk into laundry baskets and transferring stuff that way. But then I wouldn't feel like I was making progress, so here I am packing things up that we won't need this week.

I'm pretty sure if we owned this apartment instead of renting, I would have piled everything in the middle of the living room floor and torched it all. Alas, we have a neighbor upstairs, who probably wouldn't appreciate it. And I'm guessing we wouldn't get our cleaning deposit back if this side of the building was burned down. So I will pack, and I will complain about it for the next week. :)

Here is the apartment with just a few things packed. My desk is the cleanest it has been since I got it.

One day we will have real furniture! Maybe by our 15th anniversary we will have money for an entertainment center and a small chair that isn't the color of mustard... (The chair is purposely missing from this photo).

I can't wait to get a new lamp for my desk,

this puts off absolutely no light,basically it's there for looks.

Wish me luck!

Alyssa

House Hunting

It's a truth universally acknowledged that men and women are completely different. Yes, yes, we are all humans, and all function pretty much the same way, but there are huge glaring differences. This is so true in just about everything Josh and I come across in our marriage. We have differing opinions on most things. The things that really matter we agree on, but some times I really do wonder what's up! Sometimes I swear we disagree on something just to disagree.

When I was little I always dreamed of living in an old house with coved ceilings, and hardwood floors. I wanted a huge colonial style house with long tree lined driveway (I should have grown up in the south). Dreams of an enormous house gave way to a more practical way of thinking: more space means more crap to fill the space, and like I've said before, while in Germany, I learned the value of streamlining. I've decided I don't need a house, just something that I love and is cozy.

So going with the statement made earlier, Josh and I disagree on what we want from a house. Ultimately we want the same thing. I'm pretty sure he's all for the colonial, old style house, he just doesn't want the house to be located near the lake like all the the older homes are.

Josh wants a yard, I want to be in the middle of everything, and with that comes limited space. Josh wants spread out, I'd like two stories. I want to live by the lake, Josh wants to live out further. I'm looking for character, built ins, and secret hiding spaces, and Josh is looking for practicality. And practical I am usually not.

So we after looking at some real doozies, with horrendous smelling carpets, and awful floor plans, one with countless rooms that had linoleum flooring, jungles for yards, and scary neighborhoods with homemade signs claiming there will be justice and punishment for crimes, we found two that we like, and hope to put an offer down on one within the next couple of days.

And they couldn't be more different... Of course...

Both houses are great. They even each other out well, what one house doesn't have the other does, it's just deciding what we can live without, and what we have to have. Mine has amazing curb appeal, it has my coved ceilings, hardwood floors, and its next to the lake.

Josh's pick has 4 bedrooms 2.5 baths, an a two car garage.

But mine would look so awesome with Christmas lights, and a little Christmas tree by the fireplace. And it would look WAY better with the whole decor idea I've got going. I'm really, really into aesthetics... I'm stressed to the max, slowly accepting the fact that I won't be getting the house that I prefer, and succumbing to the fact that we will choose practicality over attractiveness. One good thing about being completely two different personalities, we even each other out. Where Josh is laid back, I'm more passionate, and where I'm more stressed, he is the voice of confidence. And where I am idealistic, he brings in a little realism.

I've tried not to get too attached to the idea of a cute little house (not so little 4 bedrooms), but its just so exciting! I've picked out paint colors for the master bedroom, which could really go in any type of house, it would just look cuter (is that a word?) in my pick!

So what would you choose? Attractiveness both inside and out, downtown, or practicality with more bathrooms and a little more elbow room?

Oh the dilemma

have a great rest of the week!