New Blog!

I know, I know. I've let you down. I promised to blog once the move was complete, and here it is two months later and I still haven't updated. I've decided to start fresh with a new blog, and will no longer be updating this one. Click here to find the new blog!

-Lauren

Preparing for the move...

Sorry for the long absence again! Shocking, I know, that I haven't posted in a month. But really - I've been busy! There is so much to do when you're moving, especially when you decide you want to refinish multiple pieces of furniture before the moving truck arrives! That's what a lot of my spare time has been spent doing the past couple of weeks. I've been refinishing the dining room table, and painting a cedar chest that will be my new coffee table, and working on painting a smaller table that will act as a nightstand.  Here's a few pictures of the adventures I've had learning about working on furniture from my mom.

Using a handheld sander like this is WAY preferable to sanding by hand!

No, my hands aren't that white! I'm wearing gloves :)

Eek! Look at how beautiful it's turning out! I love it!

I would like to point out that my mother makes everything crafty sound like a piece of cake. "Oh yeah, we can do that. No problem. It'll be a real quick fix!" Granted, it's not the most complicated task I've ever taken on, but it does require a bit more work than she makes it sound like! I'm still not completely finished with the dining room table, due to the weather not cooperating 100% on my days off recently. It still needs a coat or two more of polyurethane, but I'll be sure to show the final product once it's done. I still can't believe how well it's turned out, especially considering that this is my first attempt at this sort of thing!

Two weeks from tonight, I'll be packing up all the last minute stuff and preparing to move into my new place! I'm so excited and I can't wait to see how everything looks in my new apartment with a fresh coat of paint and finish on it! Also, what should this blog be called once we move? 'Apartment Girl' kind of sounds boring and lonely. Any suggestions?

Change In Plans...

Ok. So I was super excited about buying a house. But then circumstances started changing and it became less practical to buy a house instead of continuing to rent. However, we'll still be moving at the end of April! We're both very excited about what the next several months holds for each of us, even though we won't be living together anymore after April. Kayla decided to move back in with her dad to save some money, and I've decided to get a one bedroom apartment that's actually even more awesome than this one! I'm so excited to move in and start decorating all over again! The new place is in an even better location for me (which I didn't think was possible) and the property itself is absolutely gorgeous! There's a stream running through the new property, which will be so much fun to watch and listen to in the summer! It's in pretty much my favorite area of town, closest to all of my favorite things about this area! I mean really, who wouldn't love this view?!?

While I'll really miss living with Kayla, we'll still see each other plenty, both at work and outside of work. I'm not really sure what will happen with this blog once the transition has been made, but until then at least, I'll try to keep updating as often as possible. In the mean time, I think I'll get a head start on packing things up!

Progress Can't Come Soon Enough

Ok, so I'm going to look at several houses tomorrow and officially begin my home search. This is exciting, right? Well yes, but it's also freaking me out more than anything! I suddenly feel very much under pressure to make a decision, and a good one at that, FAST. I got the letter from my apartment complex today asking me to make my intentions clear as far as lease renewal. Which made me look at a calendar and suddenly think "OH NO. OH MY GOSH. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??? WE ONLY HAVE 12 WEEKS UNTIL OUR LEASE IS UP!!"

Yeah. Twelve weeks until our rent goes up by $175 a month, if I don't find a house and close on it before then. I'm thinking we need a miracle here! Also, the thought of packing this whole place up and moving again in just 12 weeks (or hopefully not much longer than that!) is stressing me out. I know I'm jumping ahead of myself, but I can't help but think how much work it was to pack up everything that fit into the one little room I was living in before we moved here, and how much more work it will be to pack up all the things that can fit in almost 900 square feet! All I can say is, I'm really glad I'm not in school right now! It would be way more than I could handle while still keeping my sanity.

I'll try to keep updating and posting more often, but bear with me while I try to keep myself organized and make the largest purchasing decision I've ever made!

Family Time...

My Sundays are pretty much always spent at mom and dad's house. It's the only time we can all get our schedules cleared and they make all my favorite homemade meals :) I can cook for myself, but nothing ever tastes as good as mom and dad's cooking! We usually just relax and watch a movie (last week we watched Food, Inc., which was shocking and disturbing. I'm planning on buying a lot more organic food now, thanks to that movie!) or watch tv. We always call my sister and put her on speakerphone so we can all enjoy her hilarity. But last week mom and I decided that we didn't just want to watch a movie and lay around all day. Instead, we decided to make some cookies!

We made a yummy, shortbread-type cookie with raspberry jam centers and chocolate centers. They were more trouble than your average cookie, but they were extremely delicious! I would definitely make them again. For some of the cookies, we put jam between the top and bottom layer and filled in the middle with chocolate, and for other cookies we did the opposite. Chocolate + raspberry jam + cookies = DELICIOUS! I don't remember what these cookies were called or where mom found the recipe, but maybe she will post a link in the comments if she remembers where she found it.

I'm off to get my taxes done so I can use my refund to help buy myself a house! The hunt officially begins this week once my realtor gets back into town! I'll be sure to update you all on the exciting and somewhat terrifying process!!

We're Back!

This is where I'd love to be right now! This is actually part of a castle in England (photo courtesy of my boyfriend, who's currently stationed there), and it looks so much prettier than this Michigan winter that surrounds us right now! Sorry for the long absence, but this boring white winter just hasn't been inspiring me to do much writing (or much anything else for that matter!). What I have been inspired to do however, is to start looking for a house to buy! I'm still in the very early stages of the whole process, but it's one I'm excited about! I hope to be able to find something in my price range that's in a good neighborhood and close to work and family. I'm starting to get nervous about this whole process, but if this is what God wants for me, it will happen! Perhaps before I officially start my search I should consider taking down my Christmas decorations... :) I'm a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to that. I promise to try to blog more now and to keep ya'll updated on my home search, but right now I have to get ready for work!

Gettin' crafty with my momma...

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I spent the afternoon creating a small wreath. We had gotten the idea from another blog and decided to adapt it a little bit. The final result looked something like this...

We made the wreath using a small wooden dollar store picture frame, some pages from an old book, and some ribbons and pine cones. It took us a couple of hours, but it was a lot of fun to just hang out and create together. We cut circles out of the book pages and used the end of a pencil to crinkle and curl the pages up to get the effect you see above. We then used hot glue to attach the pieces of paper to the frame, and when we were all done, I took a walk down to the corner of our road with dad and picked up some pine cones to add the finishing touches. Mom just happened to have a small key hanging around and we thought it would be a nice addition to the pine cones. The wreath is currently hanging on our apartment door, safe from the elements. It'll be a nice wreath for the fall, until it's time to put up a Christmas wreath! I don't think it will be too long before that happens though, since I'm already starting to think about purchasing a Christmas tree. It's never too early to start decorating for Christmas as long as it's cold outside! :)