Love: Mystery Nail Polish

I've been on a nail polish kick lately. Maybe that's my new hobby.  This one is called Mystery made by Wet n' Wild, part of their Fantasy Makers series.  I bought this over 2 years ago, I'm surprised it still applies so well. 

Love: CB Brew Mug

I was looking for a set of glass mugs because to complement our Ikea drinking glasses.  Luckily, Crate and Barrel had these on sale.

Here's the Ikea glasses we have for reference.

There was no rhyme or reason why we really needed them to match.  I've just been having imaginary dinner parties in my head. And I like the darn mugs.

R hates the itty bitty handle, so we still have a mismatched collection of mugs hanging from our mug tree.

Monday

I'm still getting use to having Mondays off.  Not going to lie, feels weird.

Since I started my new job, I've spent most (ok, maybe 2) of those Mondays in my PJs and messy hair.  I wake up late, watch Dr. Oz, drink coffee, watch Netflix movies, and clean the apartment.

Today's movie: Virgin Territory

It really does look that bad. I desperately need a hobby.

I forgot to mention our crazy post-Christmas haul from Cost Plus.  My husband is a soda snob and likes his glass bottled sodas.  So every once in a while, we pick some up from Cost Plus because their prices are pretty reasonable (read: cheap!) than most stores.

It's even cheaper when it's half off and combined with the $10 off $30 coupons Cost Plus sends out.  Anyway, being the awesome wife that I am, I bought my husband 6 boxes of these.

I also got one of these glass water bottles too. 

My kitchen needs some decluttering.

My mom likes my "cheap" scrapbook paper wall frames.  Hooray, I'm not a failure!  Though she did suggest I use red paper next time.  Tsk, doesn't she know that it doesn't go with my neutral color pallette (with the exception of the kitchen) that I have going on?

Anyway, I think we're nearing the final chapter of making this apartment "home."  It's taken me longer to "decorate" this apartment than it took to remodel it.  R says it "calms" me.  Obviously, he doesn't come around to this blog.  The "before" pics were labeled under renovations.

I just wanted an excuse to post some of the nicer pictures of the apartment.  Here goes nothing.

The husband's away!

He's off to snow adventures and I'm left to my own devices!  I feel eerily content.  Except for some errands, I've stayed home for much of it.  No weird single behavior here!

I've been in the kitchen in between Netflix movies to keep sane.  I made chicken stock from scratch and proceeded to made chicken noodle soup with the leftover chicken.  Then I made my own barbecue sauce from scratch for dinner tomorrow.  Ever have that feeling where things just taste better when you spend the time making it from scratch?  I'm having that toasty feeling now. 

I replaced my coarse salt box.  We've had the ugly blue Morton's box out in the open for the past year.  It was taking up too much counter space.  So I put some in one of OXO vacuum containers at first.

I knew it wouldn't last for long because I would find this at Ross.  It's a $2 sugar jar and looks way better than the OXO box container.  And if it weren't obvious before, I have a soft spot for cute ceramics/glassware.

  

Oh, I also tried a lemon glazed vegan donut yesterday. It was good, but expensive. 

Like 4x more expensive than a donut from 7-11.

When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change

I am currently experiencing many sleepless nights and am incredibly moody as a result.  I apologize for the lack of quality blogging. Excuse the stream of consciousness below.

Ok, let's backtrack a bit. This stress is really compounded by a lot of things. Buying a effing house is the majority of it.  Though I usually function well in stressful situations, I need lots of recoup time.  If I have one stressful day, I need about 2-3 days to recoup.  Our offer was accepted on December 17th.  I haven't had a decent night of sleep since. And I won't have any until after we close.

Anyway, R and I are coming up on our second "1st anniversary."  I've put some pretty mushy stuff here on this blog that I would never admit to anyone in person.  I intend to keep it that way.  So I've decided to make us write letters to each other reflecting on our year.  I haven't made any grand plans other than dinner yet, but here's a excerpt of what my letter looks like:

Dear R,

They say that the first year of marriage is hard.  Though we're technically past our first year, this "anniversary" marks the end of our newlywed period.  And "they" were right, our year was incredibly difficult.  But I honestly don't think I could have done it with anyone else. 

Thank you for your continued patience and support for all the crazy things I do.  Thank you for sitting through the many family dramas and almost-imploding aftershocks.  Thank you for all the hugs and reassurances when my professional life hit an all-time low.  Thank you for understanding my need to pursue new opportunities when our timing couldn't have been any worse.  Thank you for trusting me in handling our "first home" purchase.

I love being married to you and I would relive our really bad year again if I had to.  Only if it's with you.

I bought an awesome card too.  It has two penguins sharing a blanket.  We technically met in middle school and our middle school mascot was a penguin.  Get it?  Haha, I make my own fun.

In other news, my birthday is coming up. I don't have a wishlist, I usually refer people to my husband. I suck at making list and my husband sucks at keeping track of what I want. So there.  I think I just want someone else to cook for me.  And for the house to close before my birthday.

The Lunar New Year is a few days before my birthday too. Not that I'm eligible to get any money.

2011 Resolutions

I don't usually make resolutions, but I had a bunch of things in my mind that I had to list down. 

1. Yoga - I started to do yoga a couple of months ago.  I had no reason not to, the studio around the corner finally opened and I was battling tendinitis. And I need an excuse to let go when I'm not on my skinny-jeans diet.  
2. Crafts - I seem to really only craft out of necessity.  I haven't done much since the wedding, but with my new free time, I'm hoping I can squeeze something in there.
3. MPA - This is my last year. In the next 7 months, I have to crank out a thesis, take two more classes, attend an integrative seminar, and I'm done.  I just need to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
4. Style - This is rather vain, but I figure with a new job and all these other grown up things, why not?  I'm just trying out new things to soothe out the clothing envy that I have.  So people don't think I only own tshirts and jeans.  I also want to try thrifting a bit.  All those fashion bloggers out there seem to find new clothes for really cheap at Goodwill.
5. Finance - While my new job does pay more by the hour, it is still a part-time position which slightly lowers our overall income.  On top of that, buying a house has really stressed me out.  I'm hoping by learning and developing better spending habits, we will be better prepared for our next one.
6. Camera - R bought this 2 years ago and barely uses it. I'm determined to learn how to use it.  I need some nicer looking pics on this blog.