Category Archives: Personal
Challenging me.
Like a lot of people, I like to start the new year off with a clean slate. This includes a little detox of the diet, a little more emphasis on exercise and a deep clean of the house.
This year I decided to find a couple challenges to inspire me. Here’s the two I decided to run with.
1. Throw out fifty things
The first challenge I found was the Throw out fifty things started by Gail Blanke. I heard about this through Jess and thought this would be a great way to break through the clutter.
Gail has a nifty worksheet that walks you through how to purge your home room by room.
I’ve been working through my house during my winter break and here’s the fifty things I came up with.
1-9) Books 10) Microwave Candle Wax Kit 11) Index Card Holder 12-13) Notebooks 14-18) According Files and Organizers 19-20) Tea Cup Set and Teapot 21) Shower Caddy 22) Reindeer Ears 23-27) Metal Canisters and Cup 28) Cutting Board 29) Orchid Pot 30) Christmas Mr. Potato Head 31) A box of Glade candles 32) Ten Nail Polishes 33-34) Two candle holders 35) Booties 36) Purple cardigan 37) Sunglasses 38) Cat toy* 39) Bunch of Skin Care Items* 40) Bunch of Makeup* 41) Mouth Wash* 42) Hair Protector* 43) Expired Medication* 44) Old phone charger 45-48) Three board games 49) Rug* 50) Glass Bowl2. Project 10 Pan
Maybe you are like me and have a full cabinet of skincare and makeup products. I bought a lot of stuff to try before our Bath Crasher’s appearance and I don’t use them on a regular basis. So to work through “my stash” my second challenge is Project 10 Pan. It is a commitment to finish up 10 beauty products before buying anything else that is unnecessary.
I couldn’t find the exact origin of this challenge, but it is very popular in the online beauty community. To see more about the variations of the challenge, just google “project 10 pan.”
Looking through my products, I actually came up with twelve I want to use up.
Here’ my products:- Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in r.s.v.p.
- YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch
- Your Best Friend Automatic Eyebrow Pencil
- Revlon ColorStay Liquid Liner
- Hard Candy Fox in the Box Blush in Smooth Talker
- Bare Minerals Spf 30 Natural Sunscreen Powder in Medium
- Jason Tea Tree Scalp Normalizing Shampoo
- Dr. Hauschka Daily Revitalizing Eye Cream
- Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
- Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer in Nude
- Kiehl’s Superbly Efficient Anti-Perspirant & Deodorant Cream
- Make up for ever Mat Velvet+ Matifying Foundation
I’ll report back on how it goes.
*Not picture because already gave away or threw out
What a lovely holiday
It’s been a perfect two week holiday break for me (one of the perks of the new job). I was able to celebrate, relax and get a few things done around the house. What else could a girl ask for?
Memorable moments of December
I am a Christmas girl. I love the whole build up to the 25th. This year, it was really nice to have the time to enjoy all of it. Here’s my top five favorite things.
Decorations happened early
Once Thanksgiving is over, I am ready to start decorating for Christmas.
This year, I was able to have the perfect decorating schedule and get the tree up that first week of December.
At our house, the front room gets most of the focus. This year I added glittery stars to the mirrors along with the usual vintage ornaments in my glass lamp bases.
My coffee table got a backdrop of handmade Indian paper under the glass with a tray of some of my favorite ornaments and books on top.
Another vase of ornaments found it’s way onto the dining table. Most of my ornaments are vintage from my grandmothers but I have supplemented with ornaments mostly from Cost Plus World Market. I seem to gravitate there for Christmas stuff more than any other time of the year.
*****
Not one, but two dining tables
And speaking of dining tables, we moved the recently updated table into the back of the great room. The size of the table works really well here.
In it’s place, we moved my maternal grandmother’s table out of my office and into the dining nook.
It has a slimmer frame which works really well since the “dining nook” is really the passageway to the back of the house.
The table has a crazy marbled laminate on top and curvy chrome legs. We are still looking for proper chairs for it and probably switch out the rug.
It amazes me how much chrome we have in this house. Luckily I am now a chrome cleaning expert and got the legs nice and shiny.
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A gift of two amazing (cat) ornaments
One Saturday, my parents showed up with a present that couldn’t wait until Christmas. They gave us two ornaments. One for each of our cats. Pixel’s was very cute and playful…
… while Loki’s made me laugh for days. It’s strangely reminiscent of his personality… if he was a mariachi.
*****
My amaryllis bloomed on Christmas Eve
I picked up a amaryllis at IKEA this year.
I planted it in a white square pot from an old floral arrangement I had and watched the bloom daily.
I has my fingers crossed that it would open in time for our Christmas Eve dinner.
Only hours before dinner, it emerged. What a Christmas miracle. It’s still blooming weeks later.
*****
Two days of merriment with loved ones
There was a little of a Christmas shuffle this year, but it worked out nicely. Everyone was able to take a piece of the hosting duties and minimize that frazzled, stressed out holiday feeling you can get from too many expectations.
We hosted Christmas Eve dinner for both Nate and my family. I kept it simple with tri-tip salad, hot spiced shrimp and potatoes. I also served these awesome retro sodas with fun glasses and striped straws for the non-drinkers of the family.
Then, we drove over to my sister’s for Christmas morning for presents and brunch. One of my presents to Nate was a small pet carrier that he is wearing in the picture above. We haven’t tried it out yet, but I plan to video tape the maiden voyage. Could be a whole lot of crazy.
Then that afternoon, my parents hosted Christmas dinner for the extended family. It was really nice and lovely. Everything a Christmas Day should be.
Alright! Time for me to get moving on some projects. I have a whole list of to-do’s to accomplish before I go back to work next week.
Change is good.
Did you see these lovely flowers in the background of Feline Friday today? My lovely boyfriend gave them to me because I’ve been a little stressed lately.
I am lucky to have a lot of great people in my life to help me through times like this. In the end, it all worked out and I was given a great opportunity.
I accepted a new job!
It’s going to move my career in an exciting new direction, but it also means leaving my current job that I have had for over nine years. My co-workers are like family and I wish I could take them with me. Needless to say, this emotional transition has kind-of wiped me out.
The blog will be back in full force very soon.
Until then, I am going to enjoy some of this beautiful Autumn weather. I hope you do too.
Wow! We are blushing.
What a wonderful surprise! Our little blog has been selected as
Blog of the Month by HouseBlogging.com – a really cool community of Home Improvement/DIY/Decorating enthusiasts and bloggers.
I am so thrilled and absolutely flattered by their kind write up. If you have never visited HouseBlogging I urge you to do so. It’s a great resource to find some other kindred spirits in the DIY/home improvement blogosphere.
We currently are working through a backlog of posts of projects so stay tuned for more mayhem due to our roof woes, some kick-ass raised bed planters and of course many photos of the cats.
And if you are new to our blog, here’s some of our favorite posts for you to check out.
My retro surf dining table
From the Archive: Air Conditioning Cover
King of Fruits? Things I learned about the Avocado Tree.
Lessons Learned – Dinner for Thirty
Boo! Learning from our mistakes
The Hybrid
I’d rather be outside
Behind the scenes of Bath Crashers
Cheers,
Andrea & Nate
The hybrid
Doesn’t this look like the most romantic scene? Wish it was, but it wasn’t. It was the end of a very long, stressful day, This is a slightly embarrassing post, but every time I tell this story it gets a little easier and way more funny so here goes.
Friday Morning
5:00am
Nate gets up and prepared for his classes. He lets the cats outside and leaves our sliding door slightly open so they can come in and out as they please.
6:45am
Nate wakes me up and asks for a ride to school. I oblige and stumble out of bed into my flip-flops and get him to campus before his Zero Period class starts.
7:00am
I stumble back into the house and start to get ready for my morning workout. I walk passed my bike (we keep them inside) to the bathroom until I see two beady eyes, very odd nob-like ears, whiskers and a tail on the bike. I stop immobilized and freaking the $%&* out.
“OMG. What the *#$% it that thing? A mouse? A rat?”
I quickly retreat looking for something to catch it with. I grab a box, but don’t have any idea how it’s going to help me. This rat/mouse is on the frame of my bike, not the corner of a room. I open our french doors out wide and inch the bike towards the opening hoping to get the rat/mouse to run outside.
Loki, who has been watching the rat/mouse this whole time sits there, but doesn’t do anything. The rat/mouse slowly scurries down the bike, but instead of going outside runs across the opening and into Nate’s office.
Loki follows the rat/mouse trail as I try to locate it, but I can’t find it anywhere.
“Wholly &%#%,” I think. “What the &^#$ do I do now?”
8:00am
I email Nate and tell him the situation. I tell him I am freaking out a little. Then I get ready for work, but I can barely eat my breakfast nor shower because I am so freaked out.
I try to get Pixel into the house to help out Loki, but she runs off. I leave with trepidation. Some freakish rodent is in my house and I have no idea where it is.
9:00am
I sit at my desk going over the tasks of the day, but can’t get this uneasy feeling to leave. I literally have chills up and down my back and shutter when I think of the rat/mouse.
Now I should say that I have never experienced this gut reaction to an animal before. Growing up I had pet mice, iguanas and even Madagascar cockroaches. I am usually the one that saves the spider from harm or rescues the drowning bee. I am conflicted. I am terrified of this rodent, but I am also feeling really concerned for the rat/mouse. I hope we can find it alive and release it away from our house regardless of how uneasy it makes me feel.
4:00pm
Nate calls. He got my frantic emails and went home right after school. He has found the rat/mouse wedged behind the bamboo plywood that leaning behind the door to his office. He captured it in his recycling container.
He tells me he can’t kill it. He asked two construction workers working at a house down the street what they would do with it. One understood Nate’s position about not killing it, but the other -almost too quickly- said he’d take care of it for us. Nate politely declined telling me later he just didn’t trust someone who was that interested in killing a living thing.
We decide we will release it near the river once I get home from work.
6:30pm
I arrive home. The rat/mouse sits in the recycling container with a heavy banker’s box resting on top of it in our carport. I shiver as I passed it.
We decide to drive to the river access spot near our house. Nate sits in the back seat with the recycling container as I drive.
Nate asks if I want to take a photo. I am terrified, but nod my head. I want to have record this rodent had crazy ears. I like to have proof of these things.
After the photo is taken we walk down the path to the river trail. Nate walks off the trail and takes the banker’s box off the container. The rat/mouse scurries away.
I breathe a large sigh of relief and then look at my photo. Yes, it has some crazy ears.
There is still a mystery of how the rat/mouse got into the house, but we are pretty sure Loki was involved. We decide the cats no longer get in-and-out privileges especially in the early AM. The open door policy at our home has been terminated. That way we have a little more control over what comes in the house.
I am so relieved Nate found it. I don’t know what would have happened if we didn’t.
Anyone else have slightly embarrassing story about rodents or other animals in their house? I would love to hear them. Maybe we can commiserate through our stories and slowly get through this trauma.
Are you brave? Want to see a photo of the rat/mouse? See below.
Weekend on the coast
We spent the weekend up in Mendocino County with some good friends.
It was a perfect weekend away.
Six of us rented a house right on an ocean bluff overlooking the Pacific ocean.
The rental had a modern look and was probably built in the 70′s (we found a fondue pot in one of the cabinets).
I enjoyed it’s spaceship kitchen counter top.
I also liked the high drop cross beam ceiling.
But most of all, I liked the spa on the balcony.
It was a beautiful.
We spent time at the beach…
playing in the waves.
But most of our weekend was spent on the balcony.
Enjoying the incredible view…
through a whole lot of laughter.
Happy Monday all! Hope you also had a great weekend relaxing.
Where to find music
It’s no secret that Nate and I love music. We have it on all day long. We play it in the car, at school, work and of course at home. I think it makes our home project go faster!
And as any music geek will tell you, there is no greater thrill than finding new music that you adore. Ok, maybe seeing a favorite band live … but that’s about it. 
Summer is the prime time to enjoy all kinds of music. You can blast it during the BBQs, road trips, fireworks shows and of course experience it at the outdoor venues.
My favorite summer outing is to a music festival where you can enjoy music all day and watch multiple bands play. You may go to see one of the bigger headlining groups, but make sure to check out all the small bands too. You never know what you may like.
And yes, that’s me and my sister in 2002 at the Coachella Music Festival down in Indio, CA. That was the prime of my festival going and I had the time of my life during those two long days in the desert sun.
I hope you have a chance to see some live music this summer, but if you can’t here’s some other ways I find and enjoy new music that may help you too.
*****
BBC Radio 1
I have been listening to BBC Radio 1 ever since I traveled across the Atlantic to visit my sister studying in England. Something about the UK’s music scene won me over. When I got home from my travels, I realized I could listen to their radio station on the internet. Their DJs have introduced me to some of my favorite bands over the years. I try and check out a show every couple weeks to keep fresh.
*****
Shazam
Even the music geek comes across holes in their music knowledge. There are times when I am watching TV, in the car or even in a restaurant and I hear a song I can’t place and it drives me crazy! In these times of need, I use my Shazam app on my phone. 8-10 times the app can tell me the name and artist. To me, it’s a lifesaver. I also like that it keeps a record of what music I have searched so later I can go back and refer to it.
*****
Spotify
My newest music obsession is Spotify. A music service that has recently come to America after a long run in Europe and elsewhere. It let’s you merge your digital music with their extensive online library. So when you are plugged in you can access over 15 million tracks in their collection and treat them as songs you would have in your own personal library. Add them to playlists, share them with other Spotify users through facebook, listen to other members playlists. They offer free and premium plans so you should check it out!
*****
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Where to you get your music? Do you like to see concerts during the summer?
