Slippery Slope

Times are changing…

So I have had the same wallpaper since I was 12 years old. Now that I am double that plus some, it was time for a new look. (Although the whole house really needs a revamp IMHO). Thus when my father asked if I would like for my bedroom and my “study” (used to my brother’s old room and now its more like a junk room for me) to redone I said yes. What exactly does redone entail you ask? Well, I had the wallpaper ripped down and the baseboards replaced. **insert picture that I don’t have here** The walls are now this preppy green, very me, sorta of country, vintage, shabby chic green…if that makes any sense. And its complimented well with the large white baseboards and white crown moulding. The shutters that were falling apart, as in the strip to open and close them was gone from 1 almost 2 shutters, were replaced by white curtains **insert the type of curtains, if I remember to look it up here or better yet take a picture**. I sorta got a new start although my ugly hunter green carpet still remains. YUCK!

I am all into the philosophy that your outer world reflects your inner world. In other words, my bedroom is currently a wreck because I feel like a wreck inside. And my bedroom looks like it’s struggling to find its decor while I feel like I am struggling to find my purpose. Therefore, I have jumped in head first into the whole revamp

Once the walls were painted it felt fresh and clean (mainly because most of my items hadn’t been put back into my room yet). Eventually the novelty worn off and my interest turned towards pinterest. Oh how I love thee pinterest. (We call now refer pinterest as P). P got me into a new kinds of creativity. I have always loved interior design, but never had the money to do anything about it; or so I thought. With some new blogs and bunch of new pins I decided to take on a new hobby…furniture makeovers.

I started off on this round three tier piece of Ikea furniture that was in the garage from my apartment. I figured if I ruined it then it was no biggie because it wasn’t all that great to begin with. So I sanded, primed, painted, stenciled, distressed and all the other things in between to create a pretty nice piece of furniture. **refer to post of its makeover, that doesn’t exist here** 

I also discovered my love for Cost Plus World Market. I remember living in northern California and briefly walking in, but not seeing anything I liked. Did my decor change? Or did the store change? Perhaps my ability to see what the store could offer me has changed.

So while there a week ago I decided to splurge on a new side table that I had been eyeing for a couple of weeks. Next thing I know I am literally leaving the store and driving directly to Home Depot where I had them color match a sample size of paint from one of the drawers I brought it. Dang..the color match computer system is pretty amazing.

Anyhoo…I find myself then driving home and contemplating how I should incorporate the new color into my paint project. Should I paint the legs, just the top, all three levels, or just the middle? I couldn’t decide for a while so I let it be and I focused on my new nightstand. I was so happy to get rid of my old one which was only 16”x16”. Everything was constantly falling off because I never had enough space. I am the type that need large surface areas. 

With the shopping trip to World Market and all the trips to Home Depot for supplies that I am just learning what to do with, it has been a costly adventure. Oh yes, we can’t forget the one day where I walked into Target and almost screamed when I saw that their dollar spot was FULL of new containers. Better yet, their selection was perfect colors for my new bedroom. I literally filled my cart with so much of their stuff. I was so excited I started talking to strangers about my love for organization and boxes and filmed their selection and sent it to my SIL. Yup..I love boxes, organization, and Target that much!!

Other new items to my bedroom:

• New duvet cover (Target)
• My refurbished table as another nightstand. I’ve never had dual nightstands, but I read it’s good feng shui. Because you are letting room for love into your life, unlike those beds that are pushed up against the wall so if there is someone else there you have to crawl off the end or over them. Then there is also the issue that you don’t have any place to put your phone or water. Sorry for side tracking…
• New lamps for the nightstands (Lamps Plus)
• Decorated the back of bookcases, but just redecorated them tonight with another paper. I actually prefer it and got it for $1 at the Dollar Tree. (First time there was this weekend)
• Decoration items from Michaels Ashland line. I am in love with it. I especially like their Parisian Collection, but I know it’s seasonal so I am glad that I bought a bunch first. That’s my philosophy, if you can, buy more. You never know if they will run out and you’ll miss it and if it doesn’t work out, you can always return the items
• A handful of baskets & bins from the Dollar Spot at Target. 

I am not exactly sure how it is all going to go together just yet. I did make a huge leap forward today by bringing the refurbished table inside, moving the bookcase, redecorating the back of the bookcase, bringing in the new lamp, and setting a new baskets and bins around my room to see how I like them there. 

Perhaps to be written in the future:

• Bookcase Revamp
• Furniture Side Table Before & After
• Latest Find in the Dollar Spot
• Bathroom Decor Update

Until then…

My outlook on modern technology

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Hobby attempt - Scrapbooking

When you meet new people or have to fill out…let’s say an online dating (not that I’ve ever done that), you are often asked what are your hobbies?

I’ve often wondered exactly is it that I do in my leisure time? Im not athletic. I’m not into music playing an instrument or listening to it much. So I’ve tried to go down the crafty route.

I once made a scrapbook. The key word is ONCE. I spent a lot of time and effort into it. The fact it was a Christmas present so I had a deadline and it was my first scrapbook which meant I had no idea what I was doing nor did I own any of the supplies. So I had to go out and buy all these supplies and didn’t even have a clue of where to begin.

So I sat down and tried to make a list of several pages that would not only depict our relationship of three years (?) at the time, but also would be pages that were doable. So once I had my list of pages I wanted to create, I went out to get scrapbook paper and stickers that went along with the theme. I even attempt to look through my photos on my MacBook to select a few pictures to print.

It was very stressful and extremely time consuming. I didn’t know anything about brads, die cuts, different types of adhesive, eyelets, and so much more. Nevertheless, I LOVED the final product. I was super proud of it espcially the last few pages.

Third to last page was a handwritten note to my boyfriend at the time telling him how much I appreciated all that he did. We had many obstacles placed before us ( trust me when i say way more than people our age ) and we conquered them all because I knew that our love was that strong.

The next page was in honor of him moving 400 miles to be with me. I had been having some difficulty living alone and if it continued I might have to drop out of graduate school. Boy was my boyfriend a trooper. We had survived a long distance relationship for 2.5 years at this point and now we were moving towards cohabitation. I even made an envelope out of vellum with the copy of our apartment key.

Note - when you send your boyfriend up there to drop off his belongings having him bring the key you just made (if you had already checked to see it worked) OR have him bring your key that you know works. Whatever you do, don’t just send him, his father and brother 400 miles with a key that doesn’t work. Yup, that’s right. The damn thing didn’t work. But that’s another story of how that got solved.

The final page was a picture of him and together with the caption reading, “to be continued…”. Cute, right? Wrong! Men aren’t sentimental creatures like us females. In Januray 2009, when we moved in together I was able to see that scrapbook sitting on the bookshelf. No one ever looked through it (we didn’t have any friends up there) so it sat there. But at least each time I glanced over at it, I smiled knowing how proud I was of my accomplishment and my new hobby.

New hobby? Yeah I didn’t do another one for months despite having since then going out and buying all these cute supplies. So when Christmas 2009 came around my boyfriend thought it would be a great idea to continue on the scrapbook idea. Hmm so perhaps that scrapbook did mean something to him. He bought me this simple green (not my style, and not the shade of green I like, but it’s the thought that counts) scrapbook. Inside was one sheet of paper and these light green flower embellishment stickers. He says that he tried to create a page, but it turned out so badly that he threw it away. So I kept the scrapbook as my back up. I had already bought another one that was goregeous with colorful circles. Because the one I made for him was boring more manly with a black leather cover and back.

Well 4 months later after he gave me my empty green scrapbook, he broke up with me. And now the memories of us haven’t been thrown away (I should be thankful for that), but sit in his room on the top shelf of his closet collecting dust. I know I’m the only person who has looked at it since. Sometimes I’m strolling down memory lane. Sometimes I’m looking at the gorgeous product that I had made. I do not know if he is just a guy and doesn’t know it’s there or is too lazy to do anything about it or if he too sometimes looks up at the top shelf of his closet and smiles too.?

But that ended my chapter on scrap booking. I’ve had several wonderful events to scrap about since then like my graduation for my masters a few months later, birth of a nephew & niece, marriage of my brother, but it just never felt right. I guess I like to scrapbook my love history and since there isn’t one there is nothing to scrap.

Hobby - 1 
Me - o

Latest Obsessions

I go through phases where I have an obsession about something. It will either be a color, object, a place, or really anything that catches my eye.  I’m not a trendy person and I don’t follow what’s in fashion or what’s the newest style because that’s not me. I don’t care what others are in love with. I care with what I am in love with. So here is a list of things that are still on my obsession list:  

• Vintage Keys - I have had an obsession with vintage keys for a while. I had this necklace, I wanted these keys from a popular store, and soon I find they are everywhere.
• Calligraphy - I saw this pair of sheet that had French calligraphy on them. I HAD to had them and was waiting for Christmas to come so I could receive them. Silly me they were out of stock by that time with a note saying “this product is unavailable at this time.” and continued to say most likely it won’t be coming back. I randomly would check time to time and one day I saw it. IMMEDIATELY I grabbed my CC and bought them. I didn’t want to lose them for a second time.
• Items with writing on it especially if they are in cursive and double points if it’s in French. (Just like the sheets, perhaps this is just an extension of the item above).
• Green. I love the color green especially if its more a chartreuse than a blue green. I do love olive though. I just painted my walls a more chartreuse color and although at times I wonder if it was really a wise choice, I know that I love it.
• Baskets/Containers. If I get an item and it comes in a beautiful, well made box I end up keeping it. Hey if it’s not your color you can always paint it or decoupage it. I love containers from everything large to little tiny items. I recently was going to go to Ikea to get another container, but I did an item check first. To my horror I had like 15 containers. Most of them were in use, however there were a few that were just storing junk, maybe that was their purpose. Any hoo, I really didn’t need to go out to buy more container in my attempt to declutter.
• Ikea. I know the furniture is not the best quality especially if you are a competitive shopper, however I love their designs and going to the store and walking in their little 400sq ft apartments.

As I have gotten older, I have grown into loving new things and items. For instance, I had an obsession with owls. Not the realistic creepy sort of ones, but much more of a cartoon type. In fact, for my last birthday I had a retro theme that included owls in bright hippies colors. I even bought myself an orange owl pinata to break open.  With less that two months to my next birthday I still have, Henry, my owl pinata. Funny thing is right after I start my love affair with owls they became popular.

So right now my new obsessions are with a several things. If going by the pattern they will too become extremely popular:

• Mercury Glass - I love silver and always have, but mercury glass adds that world old touch to it that I love. 
• Lace - This obsession I have actually had for a while. But it was very hard to find clothes that had anything on it or products. I personally can’t sew, yet alone a delicate material like lace.
• Ruffles - I am talking about the good taste of ruffles that add a vintage and feminine charm to the item, not the gross overly done ruffles
• Now I realize the last two items aren’t dog friendly, so therefore I haven’t been able to have the cute ruffled charming bedding that makes me happy.
• Birds (owls included). I started to notice a purse a bought two years ago had this white bird on it, then i slowly started to notice that they were on all kinds of products. A pillow that I had bought a year ago in Yosemite Valley has a bird on it. 

So what does any of this have to do with anything? It truly doesn’t, but at the very least it means that my anhedonia hasn’t completely taken over my life and there is a glimpse of hope for myself. As long as I can still say that I like something, I am not as bad as I seem.