MultiFunctional Furniture

saw these on apartment therapy. these are my faves. especially the first one. i would totally use that.

hook box from Lucanichetto

coffee table/laptop stand from CSN Stores / allcoffeetables.com

 

bike shelf from Knife & Saw

cohabitation woes*

*phrase coined by Michelle via twitter (though i'm sure someone else has said it before...)


Michelle had posted that her and her fiance just got their apartment and we tweeted a little back and forth about decorating, buying furniture and fiance's-not-letting-us-buy-new-furniture. Josh seems okay with the idea of me buying some new chairs for our dining area (he has some hand-me-downs thanks to awesome Missy, but i'd like 4 chairs, preferably matching). i'm planning an Ikea trip in May (with one cousin and visiting our Pittsburgh cousins, as i like to call them), and hoping to get some fun stuff for the apartment (while on a very very very strict-in-fact-negatively-non-existent budget). anyway, here's some chairs i'm looking at, in order of least to most expensive:

($9.99)

($14.99)

($19.99 - i really don't like this one, i'm not sure why i'm putting it as an option...)

($29.99 favorite, but technically over the amount Josh told me to work with. also, it stacks, love that. these are also kind of like knock-offs of Knoll's SPRITE chair, which i adore, but could never afford.)

($39.99 love it. but [probably] too much. but also stacks.)

so, thoughts? should i go with makeshift and un-matching pieces or should we look for a set? i really love the way dining areas look a little mismatched! our kitchen/dining area has wood cabinets with cream counter-top. flooring is cream and orange 70's tile. pretty standard for a townhouse, nothing fancy. i registered us for some red/orange/white/cream placements and table runner. plates we registered for are white and red.

here's another option: table & chairs for $79.99!

roomie time comes to an end

so, i haven't mentioned this on the blog yet, but if you know me or my roommate personally, you know she's officially bought a house, moving in probably mid-May. seeing that our lease is up August 31, we talking at several options for the next three months: 1) cancel lease, Amy move home, KC move to her new home 2) Amy stay, KC move to her new home, both continue to pay on lease 3) Amy stay, possible new roommate to pay lease 4) both leave, sub-let to somebody.

out of all of these options, we agreed on #1 being the best, and i was excited to move home, spend some time with my parents and save some money. unfortunately, we'd have to pay for 2 of the 3 months we'll be leaving, so we decided this was a stupid option and more hassle then help, so, we've decided on option #2.

seeing as my roomie is leaving me to fend for myself with no TV, no lamps in the living room, no table & chairs and no bookcase (at least i'll have couches...for a room i'll probably never use!!), we've decided we need to hurry up and do all those "fun roomie things" we had always talked about doing.

some of these things include:

1. swimming in the complex pool
2. grilling (probably using my stove-top griddle) and eating/get-together on the patio
3. watching Alias
4. watching Twilight and New Moon

and one we added to the list and succeeded in completing yesterday:
cooking breakfast for dinner (main goal: use 3-in-1 griddle [for waffles]) and watching The Little Mermaid.

i tell ya, there are a lot of weird things going on in that movie that you don't notice when you're younger...

anyway, i'm so excited for my roomie! it's been a fun couple years. i'm glad we got to spend it together!!

me (looking like a freak) and roomie KC :)

growing pains

i'm a typical girl. i don't like spiders. i don't like bugs. i don't like worms. i'm not a big fan of digging in the dirt on my hands and knees.

this is why i've never attempted gardening.

well, that and the fact that living with my parents proves hard to garden - they don't like to listen to anyone else's ideas about where things should go :)

kristen and i have a small enclosed patio at the back of our townhouse. it is mostly concrete but has some dirt and weeds lining around the fencing.

i was given a lot of plants for my birthday [including an herb garden from roomie] so we decided to put some of them outside. i planted hyacinths from my gramma [they are a littttle wilted] and a few other pretty plants. the herbs were planted in the pot they came with [curly parsley, cilantro, chives, sweet basil, thyme and marjoram] and several pretty flowers in a terracotta pot. Kristen planted some of her favorite flowers - Forget-Me-Not's - in another corner. they are her favorite because they are Penn State's favorite ;). we also planted some of my favorite wild flowers - sweet williams - on either side of the already-blooming ones i planted.

the "experience" wasn't too bad, other than the fact that i was sweaty and dirty when done and saw more worms in that dirt than ever in my life...and i felt awful since i decapitated about 50 worms in the process...

i'm excited to see the plants grow and especially to have fresh herbs! once they get growing, we will probably bring those inside.

now all we need are some fancy [and cheap] adorondack chairs, a table, lights, a hammock, an umbrella, a grill...

apartment happenings

a few weeks ago, roomie's dad came over and helped us finish putting together our living room.

the shelf above the tv and mirror have been sitting in the apartment ready to be put on the wall for over 4 months. finally up and looks awesome!! i love where the mirror is.




finally found four matching frames [big lots sweet deal $6 each!]. the pictures are from our cruise to mexico and our stop in New Orleans. the teal artwork above the lamp was done by kt and given to kristen for Christmas. it fits perfectly and looks great! i love it.

i want to post pictures of my room, but it's pretty much a mess all the time because i can't figure out how to organize my crap well enough. hopefully soon...

breakfast

roomie & i's breakfast - french toast w/ strawberries

holy guacamole!

yes, i used that as my title. so sue me. no, don't sue me. that's the opposite of the point that i'm trying to make...
[5 points to the person who gets the quote reference!]

yesterday kristen and i [mostly kristen] made homemade guacamole. we based our recipe on Rachael Ray's "holy guacamole" recipe, but mostly just did our own thing.

we used [kc can correct me if i'm wrong...she made it, i just took pictures and gave input if asked for it]:

• 3 Avacados
• 3 Small Cloves of Garlic Minced - equivilent of 1 reg. size clove
• 2 tbsp of finely chopped onion
  
• 1 Fresh Jalapeno with seeds and veins removed
• 1 Canned Jalapeno including seeds and veins
• Juice from half a lemon
• 2 tbsp of medium salsa
• Salt and Pepper

**recipe edited thanks to Kristen**


sidenote #1: today is CRAZY windy!!
sidenote #2: i'm getting my hair done tonight! yippee!

decorations

kristen and i decorated our tree Monday night. it looks so great! it's so bright, we don't need any other lights on in the house...hahah.

friday we are decorating here at work...so we are planning on decorations, lunchie and hot chocolate for the middle part of the day. i'm excited. it will be funnnn!

tomorrow my sister is coming to the office to get pictures of the staff for the website...yay! photo shoooooot.

we are counting down the days till the cruise. i have so much to do this weekend it's ridiculous. laundry, shopping, singing, decorating, packing...eeeek! i'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a random bunch

i love the fall. i think this is because it is like another holiday for me...so we have fall, thanksgiving, christmas and then new years...all times of family fun, good food, awesome outside colors and smells, giving and receiving gifts, fun decorations and just plain awesomeness. i also have started loving the cooking aspect of the holidays much more. the girls and i are throwing around the idea of doing our own "Friendsgiving" [idea from Danielle & Dave after i was invited to their own last year :)] and i'm excited to try some pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese [and some with vanilla] frosting for Thanksgiving desserts :)


i went to josh's yesterday - his grandma had started putting the tree up already...i can't believe it's already that time of year! seriously, this year has flown by...


i found this post from on my other blog, while i was looking to see what i had posted last year around this time of year. please go look. it's funny. :)


nothing too exciting planned for this weekend - which is WELCOMED. tonight i have some powerpoint to finish for church and there's META CAFE. tomorrow probably some cleaning [i'm itching to clean the bathroom and kitchen floors...yeah, it's true...and to finally get that last moving box out of my room] and visiting of friends!! sunday is church [up early] and more relaxing. the last few weeks have been ESPECIALLY exhausting...so i'm excited to just lounge around the house and not do much.

have great weekends everyone and happy friday!


oh! and i forgot about this! kc and i made enchiladas wednesday. here's a pic. meatballs tonight!

Historic Zuckville Place

last year my boss purchased the property that our office is located on. we are in the back half of a renovated barn, another business is in part of the other half [a custom millwork/cabinetry shop]. the purchase also included a garage and large house in the front. the land was owned by the Zucks who raised turkeys here. my boss has been in the process of renovating some rooms in the back of the house up front for their friend's business [advertising group]. the business moved in Wednesday night, so i got some shots of the place before their crap came in :).

also, less than 50 days till our CRUISE! and tonight, kc and i are heading down to ikea to exchange a bookcase and get some more things, then going to kt's and it's WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING tomorrow with the SKANK's!!!!!!!!!!! so excited :)

oh, and we got new windows put in the apt. yesterday and we are getting an exterminator for the buggies and getting the latch on our front door fixed [gets stuck...kc came home yesterday and it wasn't latched at all, so it just pushed open. who knows how many hours our door could have possible swung right open.]