New decorations

I previously had some mirrored butterflies in my square frames and before that Winnie the Pooh.  I decided that I needed a little change of pace.

These were the decorations from before.

New decorations!  I used scrapbooking paper.

Pot storage

Dining room curtain

Putting up decorations

Now that most of my stuff is in the condo (I keep finding more and more things at my parents house that still needs to be moved) I'm starting to put up decorations and put things in their designated areas.

I saw the mirror in an Ikea catalog and HAD to have it.

The guest room is almost done. I still need to anchor the book shelves.

These are in my vanity area.

I finally have somewhere to put my stand mixer!  That means a lot more
baking for me!

Lucky Girl

Before we went over to my parents house to make tons of food for their family anniversary bbq, Nick came over early and made me breakfast in bed! (He has a key.)  I popped open one grumpy eyeball and saw him walking in with a plate full of food.  He made me a turkey and spam omelet with fajita veggies.  I never am able to make omelets because they turn into scrambles.  I'm a lucky girl!

Snuggling/dying from heat

Pictures on the wall

A while back I posted some pictures of cool frames I got from Aaron Brothers during their penny sale.  They look like Polaroids!  I really should start using my regular camera for pictures, but it's just so easy to whip out my phone.

This was on our first date.

I also put pictures in some coasters that I had gotten for Christmas a few
years back.

Empty room

Now that my room at home is empty and Christopher took my bookshelf, my books look so sad on the floor.  His reasoning for putting them spine-in was because he didn't want the pages to get crushed against the wall.  It just makes the dead tree flakes (paper), as a grad school friend of mine so fondly called it, look old and yellow.  Don't worry books!  You have two brand new shelves to go in at the condo!  Once we get the baseboards put back on in the condo I'm going to start bringing books over a bagful at a time.

Makeup for Glasses

I honestly can't remember the last time I wore glasses out just to wear glasses.  Lately my eyes have been ultra tired and dry.  I wasn't sure if it is just a higher level of eye strain or because I sit under the air conditioner.  Maybe it's a combination of both.  Whatever the case, my eyes are usually killing me by the time I leave the office.  I decided to try my glasses today.  I don't think these "new" frames have seen the light of day.  This is why I had my old frames for six years before it was time for a style change.  Plus, the new frames look pretty similar to the old frames.

I discovered that it's not the makeup look that's difficult, it's the application.  I never realized how much I depended on my hard lenses to shield the surface of my eyeball.  As most of you know, my vision is terrible.  I poked myself in the eye at least three times just trying to tightline my lids, which I do everyday.  I guess I used my contacts as a barrier/guide for application and didn't even realize it.  Needless to say, I only applied mascara and eyeliner today.  I didn't even want to attempt eye shadow application practically blind.

Quick Pic Post

I don't have much time before work, but I wanted to get these pictures up since I didn't have time last week.  So far the move is going pretty well.  Lots of work as expected.  This just reaffirms my hatred for moving, but it will all be worth it.

Daytime lighting:

Nighttime lighting:

You can see the Emmy prints!

Furniture:

Everything is looking pretty neutral right now.  I am still contemplating accent colors, but I'm leaning toward navy blue. 

Accent Nail

I've been seeing accent nails on Youtube a lot lately and decided to try it out since I haven't used my Konad stamper in a while.  Plus, since I did my nails on Monday night after working in the condo all I had to do is stamp and I was done!  My cuticles are shot, but what can I say?  I've been renovating.  My mom asked why I even bothered painting my nails since they're going to get messed up anyway, but it had been such a long time since I did them that I needed to in order to relax.

Breakfast of Champions

Since I pretty much conned my dad into buying new floor tiles for the kitchen and bathroom, I made him this breakfast before we went to go install them.

Three Sunny-side-up eggs over muenster cheese, ham, turkey, and ketchup
on top of toasted focaccia bread.

Thorn in her paw

My mom noticed that Emmy was limping on Monday night after running around the backyard barking at the Boxers next door.  No wonder!  Uncle Christopher pulled this mondo thorn out of her paw and she barely flinched!  I would have been crying like a baby.

Santa Cruz

Besides doing loads of work at the condo, we went down to Santa Cruz with a bunch of friends.  We had originally gone down to go see the Mystery Spot, but since we never finalize who was and was not going we didn't get tickets ahead of time.  By the time we got there they were no longer taking walk-ins.  Instead, we all (four couples) decided to have a leisurely lunch at 99 Bottles with a friend who lives down there and then head to the Boardwalk.  I'm not a huge fan of the Boardwalk because it's always so packed, but we still had a great time.  It was a relaxing trip with some great sites and great friends.

Nick's Fish n' Chips

Yes, the first half of my burger had already been consumed before I remembered
to take a picture.  

DIY Flooring

Now that I've gotten over the disappointment of not getting laminant floors put in, we've moved on to the next step.  My dad and I spent a couple of hours trying to decide what kind of flooring I wanted for my kitchen and bathroom.  It seems like nothing with this floor is going as planned!  I originally had a piece of linoleum picked out, but they were three feet short of the kind we needed so we went for some tile flooring.  It's actually better quality than the linoleum, but it was a lot more work to put in.  The box says that they are tiles, but they could be the same as linoleum material?  I'm not really sure what they're made of since they aren't ceramic.  (We can't put in regular tiles because of the same reason of the laminant.)  The box says that there is a 25-year warranty, which is a lot better than the linoleum!  We still have to do the bathroom, but this is what we have done so far.

Original floors

We had to go piece by piece.  All I have to say is, thank goodness my
Dad knows what he is doing. 

At first we weren't sure if we wanted to stagger the tiles or not.
I think it would have looked good, but since my kitchen, is as my
Mom calls a "galley", I thought that the straight lines might make
it look bigger.  Seriously, a food truck has a bigger kitchen than this.

New floors!

I'm so sore from the whole process.  I'm not exactly sure if it was the squatting, moving the fridge and stove, cutting the tiles, or laying the moulding, but I can barely move today.  

I also changed most of the cabinet pulls.  The cabinets are still dated, but the new pulls help a lot.  I haven't finished putting them in yet, but hopefully will this week. 

Old vs. New

I painted the brass colored light fixture to white.  It seems to help make the
place not look like it's from the 70's.  

New outdoor chairs from Pier 1.  They were on sale for $25.00
each and the cushions were only $19.00 each on sale.  The whole
set would have cost $250.00 if I got them full price.  Score!

New sconces my dad put up.  It's not actually crooked, I
checked.  I think it's the just the angle I was standing at.

This is where the Papasan chair I've been wanting will go.  The cushion is
at home, but I figured I can have the frame here when the carpet installation
guys come.  We can just move it to the balcony until they are finished. 

I also painted that little round light white to match the cabinets.  It looks a lot
better.