Before & Currently - Office (part 2)

While I was going on and on about magazine holders the other day, it dawned on me that I have not properly documented the current situation in the office area...here you go:

As, you can see I've eradicated all the orange, but don't worry, it's not done...there's nothing like a picture on the internet to point out all the things that drive you bat s*** crazy (ahem...cords). 

Magazine Holder Makeover!!!

Decorating ADD.  It's a real thing.  Serious.  I know because I think I have it.  I'll LOVE a color (or a pattern, or a style, or a texture, or whatever) and decide that I MUST makeover everything in that color (or pattern, or style, or texture, or whatever).  A few years ago, I LOVED bright green, then after about 10 minutes...I LOVED orange...it annoys my sweetie endlessly.  Now I'm into neutrals. Which means...I'm not so into my bright orange/black and white desk organizers (fine...organizers is a relative term):

So what's a girl to do?  The only thing she knows...grab something neutral and MAKE 'EM OVER:

I decided the magazine holders would be first up im my office change-a-roo. And Yes, I am aware that there are still orange items in the pictue.  I've pulled out my Lazy Girl's Guide to Blogging and used a picture I already posted instead of taking a current one...FOR SHAME.

Anyway, here's the how to on recovering your old magazine holders:

Visit New Jersey

The television keeps telling me to visit New Jersey.  I decided this was a great idea. 

Me:  We need to Visit New Jersey.
E:  We live in New Jersey.
Me:  I know but we haven't VISITED New Jersey.
E:  (just stares)

We had the day off yesterday and I declared that we would be Visiting New Jersey, so I gave my sweetie two choices--the Salt Box Museum down the street or the Shore.  I have a feeling he wanted to go to the Salt Box Museum (because it was free and because he knew I would tire of it fast and he could go golfing), but I charmed him into taking me to the Shore.  We decided on Pt. Pleasant Beach because I saw a commercial for it and it appeared to be the happiest place on earth.  So, we hopped on the Garden State Parkway and headed south.

Here's where we ended up:

The Boardwalk

And:

The Beach

Now...I may or may not have convinced myself that the Shore would be a MAGICAL place.  I mean, it's the fair (favorite place #1) and the beach (favorite place #2) all rolled into one...

Boardwalk Rides

Boardwalk Attractions

E Strolling Down the Boardwalk

Beach Houses Along the Boardwalk

More Boardwalk Beach Houses

Beach Alley Along the Boardwalk

It was...fine.  I didn't love it.  Didn't hate it.  I guess maybe I was biased by MY idea of a fair (Steele County Free Fair--the Shore ain't got nothin' on you) and the fact that the beach had a chain link fence around it.  I despise a chain link fence.  Also, I was a bit annoyed that we had to...

• pay tolls to drive on the roads that took us to the Shore
• pay to park for the day (even though we were only there for an hour or two)
• pay to go on the beach ($7.00--dirty crooks)
• pay to go on the rides and play the games (ok...that's expected, but still)
• pay to use the rest room (fine...I just made that up, but there WAS a tip jar for a phantom worker)
• wait until all the attractions opened up (nothing appeared to be open when we got there at 11am)

HOWEVER, it was fun to walk up and down the Boardwalk and look at all the little beach houses.  And to see people playing softball on the beach.  And to see signs for things like deep fried oreos and funnel cakes.  And to see the carnival games.  And to see all the kids having fun on the rides.  And it was fine.  

Plus I got to Visit New Jersey with this guy: 



Bless his heart.

Before & Not Quite After - Dining Area

You may have noticed from this post that we used to walk right into the Dining "Room" of Apt. 20-i.  No?  Well, we did.  When I hauled the treadmill all the way from over by the window to the entrance area, I displaced our dining area...which had been here:

And after I switched up the living area, there was some extra space on the wall the television used to occupy and the chaise couch now occupies.  I declared to my sweetie and Val Stel, that would be the new dining area.  So now it kinda, sorta looks like this:

I say kinda, sorta because there is a different light fixture (as seen here)but I don't have a full picture to show y'all...yet.  I'm working on it.  GOSH.

Wild Nights are Callin'

In recent days, I've put the air mattress on the floor in our living area.  Why, you ask?  For two reasons:  one--my back has been acting up and the air mattress seems to be better for it than the regular mattress from 1492...and two--the news tells me it's hot out and our lil' air conditioner can't keep the whole apt. cool enough for sleeping.

In other words, we've been camping out in the living area for about a week.  It looks a little bit like this:

Yeah, that's my sweetie and the dog watching the Dog Whisperer at our "campsite" on a Saturday night.  We're wild like that.

And because I was bored thought it would be AMAZING:

I built Valerie Stella her own "tent."  You can tell she's totally into it.

Before & After - Entrance

We used to walk into this:

Peaceful, right?  Just what you want to see when you walk in the door, right?  I feel like you're maybe thinking no, but are trying to be nice and saying, "Why yes!  Of course!"  I appreciate your kindness, but the answer is NO.

That is why the entrance now looks like this:

That's better.  Buuuuuuut, if it was up to me, the treadmill would have it's own special workout room...wait...it IS up to me.  I think I will fashion some sort of room divider to create a "workout closet."  Hmmmm...we shall see...stay tuned.

Before & Still - Hallway

The hallway before:

The hallway still:

There is no after on this one.  It's been like that the WHOLE time.  Don't worry I have a plan in the works.  Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Before & Currently - Office

It's not really an office.  It's a desk with some shelves and cubbies.  And it NEVER looks like it should.  I can't decide what colors I want.  Or what kind of containers I want to use.  Or what I want on the shelves and cubbies.  Or this.  Or that.  And it's always junked up.  Always.  

So, here is the original mess (I know, the pictures have a weird color, I don't know why...let's blame Valerie Stella):

And here is what it looks like TODAY:

I try to ignore it.  The mess, the green (LOVED bright green/white 'bout 3 years ago), the orange (LOVED orange/white 'bout 2 years ago)...not my favorites.  I'm in the process of changing up the binders, storage boxes, and magazine holders (in the fourth picture you can see that I recovered the orange magazine holders from the first picture with burlap).  Also, the dog bed is falling to pieces...so there's that.  I should be done soon and will be able to show you my masterpiece...but don't hold your breath (I change my mind...A LOT).

Life Lessons 94 and 95

A couple of weeks ago, me and E both had a Tuesday off, so I got out my Clipboard of Fun and suggested that we go down to AC (that's Atlantic City for all you non NJ/NYers).  Well, it appears that when I say, "Let's go down to AC for the day," E hears, "Let's put on our gold shoes, sequined visors, fanny packs, and hit the slots," becuase I've suggested this MANY times and he wants NO part of it.  I gave up on AC and threw this option in the air, "How 'bout you go golfing and I'll go to the beach?"  That was deemed an acceptable option.  We pulled out the internet machine and discovered that Bethpage and Jones Beach were pretty close to us AND each other...so we hightailed it to Long Island.

I ended up here:



Jones Beach


While my sweetie was here:

Bethpage

I was a bit concerned about being left alone without a car on Long Island (there are some shady people round these parts), but I figured if someone wanted to murder me, at least it would be at the beach...right??  Turns out there was hardly a soul on the beach (where I was anyway), so it was a nice relaxing day.

EXCEPT, for when this lady decided to bring her 3-year old daughter to the beach and proceded to yell and swear at her child for two hours because she was...wait for it...COVERED IN SAND and GETTING SAND ALL OVER EVERYTHING.  I guess, maybe, this lady thought this would be a sand-free beach?  The woman would NOT shut up about the sand.  Now, I'm no Ph.D. but, I'm fairly certain that NO ONE escapes the beach without a s*** ton of sand all over everything.  That brings us to... 

Life Lesson Number 94:  If you don't like sand, avoid bringing your small child to the beach.  In fact...AVOID THE BEACH ALL TOGETHER.  IT IS MADE OF SAND.  Here is some photographic proof:

huge mound of sand

end of the day sand

And because I like to do things in numerical order, here is...

Life Lesson Number 95:  When your sweetie leaves you at the beach for 8 hours, apply sunscreen ALL OVER your face.  This includes the area above your lip and below your cheeks.  Failure to do so will result a strong resemblance to this guy:

Yosemite Sam

That's a CONSTRUCTION Light

Last Sunday me and E happened to have the day off together.  What did we do, you ask?  Well, I convinced E that we needed some laundry detergent and I wanted to get a great big box of it from Wal-Mart and I thought it would be smart to go in the morning before it got too busy.  He must have forgotten that Target and Home Depot were in the same shopping complex, because he agreed to venture out with me.  Long story short, I roped him into tagging along with me while I got a few things at Target and went to "look around" at the Home Depot.  E's not the best shopping partner.  He's not really into "looking around" at stores, but I promised I would find something AMAZING.  He just stared at me.

So, what did I find?  Tadaaaaaaaah:

An empty box A Clamp Light!  Are you just staring at me right now?  I feel like you are.  Perhaps, like E you could not see the HIDDEN POTENTIAL of this $10 gem.  This is what went down after I pulled my treasure off the shelf...

Me: See??  AMAZING.
E: That's a construction light.
Me: I KNOW!!!
E: What are you going to do with that?
Me: I will hang it over the table.
E: That's a CONSTRUCTION light.  We used that when we were insulating attics.
Me: Well, I'm going to hang it over the table.
E: Silence (just staring).

So, we returned to our lil' apartment and I got to work MacGyvering my CONSTRUCTION light into a Faux Industrial Light Fixture.  I wanted to get a REAL industrial light fixture, but could not-for the life of me-find one that was just a plug in.  And since we're in an apartment (with no actual hard wired fixture above the table), I thought it wise to NOT start up an electrical wiring project.  I feel like you agree.

793rd Way to MacGyver a Pallet

If you've been living under a rock, you may not know that you can MacGyver a pallet into anything...picture frames, shelves, furniture, a patio, a rocket ship...the possibilities are ENDLESS.  So, since the 4th of July was coming up and I was starting to feel patriotic, I decided to whip up a lil' pallet artwork:

I'm a LITTLE bit in in love with it.  I could stare at it All. Day. Long.  E is not so enamoured.  He was not a fan of the dirty old pallet when I brought it home in my trusty Sorento.  I told him about my plan to MacGyver it into something amazing and he just stared at me.  Then he went golfing (or to work, I forget which).

Happy Birthday America!