Catch up

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Ali

So I am at home sick today so maybe I’ll catch up on this blogging nonsense. I really am a terrible blogger, and the more I read other people’s blogs the less inspired I am to actually blog.

Well, we had our first ever houseguests this past weekend! Charissa and Autumn came to visit and we had a grand ol’ time.
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We went to the Farmer’s Market,

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Got all dressed up for church,

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And they helped me decorate the apartment some! Always good to have another set of eyes (or two!) helping out with decorating!

Etc, etc.

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Ali

This weekend we hit up the Farmers Market (quickly) but we got some fresh blueberries and mini-donuts for breakfast (shh, don’t tell) and then we headed down to the Lentil Fest!

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So Lentil Fest wasn’t all that exciting, but c’mon, there was a parade and everything. It was kind of fun, and I got to hang out with Paul all day so that was fun, too. Then we went and saw Julie and Julia, which we loved.

Meryl Streep was, of course, amazing. She really is quite a character.

In her honor, I fried up some onions in lots of butter tonight. A warning though, don’t go see the movie if you are hungry, lots of yummy food shots! Makes me want to learn how to cook French food!

The weather has calmed down to mid-80s lately, which is loads more pleasant than the extreme heat of earlier this August. I am missing my Tacoma people more than ever. Especially this little dude:

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But! We will be home in less than a month. Also, we will get to hit up the fair! Always the highlight of my year.

I am loving that I can walk to work, be within walking distance of pretty much anything that I need (except the grocery store, but who wants to carry all those groceries back anyhow?)

I’ve been looking up some stuff online for ways to keep our apartment a little more organized (We have a lot of stuff!) Anyway, I’ve come across some pretty fun stuff, and even though it wouldn’t really work in this apartment, I still think it’s kind of cool:

But my shoes would never stay so organized.

Well, that’s all I got for now!

Gardening

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Ali

Disclaimer: For all you serious gardeners out there, just an FYI I am not a gardener, or serious for that matter.

That being said; take a look at my new little garden!

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We’ve got tomatos, 2 different kinds of peppers, eggplant, basil, chives and some zinnia’s and some other kind of white flower that I don’t know what it is called that Paul got for me.

Sadly, though, all my dill up and died on me, so oh well for that. But that’s ok, since I’m not a huge dill fan anyhow. But it was kind of sad. I think the heatwave was just a bit too much for it. *

plants 003 Right next to our little park bench that is so nicely in the shade for cooler evenings reading outside.

*I think the heat wave was too much for me, too!

Domesticity.

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Ali

I had an incredibly domestic day yesterday and I just felt like bragging about it a little bit, since it was my first real burst of domesticity since the wedding. After I got home from work we took the laundry to the Laundromat, we started it in the washers, and went to grab some dinner, then we came back to switch it into the dryers. While they were drying we ran to the supermarket, picked up our miscellaneous things we needed. (We went in for 2 items. Came out $57 dollars poorer, but such is life) and got back to the Laundromat just as our dryers were done. (Side note: I love living in a town where everything is 2 minutes away from everything else.) Then we got home and actually folded our laundry right when we got home. (This usually does NOT happen. Ok, you got me. That NEVER happens.) Then I did all the dishes, (3 days worth. Don’t tell my mother) vacuumed the whole house (that’s not THAT huge of a feat, this place isn’t that big, but still), dusted, reorganized my kitchen cabinets (threw out lots of warped/old/gross/stained tupperware) made a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies (Janet Jack’s recipe. My NEW FAV, find it in the Church Cookbook under “Steve’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies”, I believe. Also, I got to use my awesome orange Kitchen-Aid for the first time, too. That was a treat), practiced my guitar and even had some time to hang out with my husband!

I call that a good day!

Apartment

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Ali

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Our house! We are the second story.

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The kitchen, which is tidier and more organized now.

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Living room shelves. Oh yes.

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The instrument windowseat.

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Part of the bedroom

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Teensy cute bathroom with a retarded shower
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My little window garden!

So that is the apartment. I took the pictures last week, so things have been a little bit more organized and put together. But we’re totally in love with this apartment, it’s even better than I remembered it being! And now with all of our stuff in it, it’s even better!

A Shoutout

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Ali

I would like to give a huge shout out to Bed, Bath & Beyond. They seriously went way above and beyond (heh) the call of duty for an engaged/newly married couple. So, we walk into the Bed, Bath & Beyond (hereafter mentioned as BB&B), and the lovely lady seats us, asks us if we need any refreshments, and proceeds to give us a quick tour of the store, and sends us out with our scanning guns. We return about an hour later and then she gets us all set to go, tada.

So my mom and I went to register again at the one in Tacoma, since they have alot more stuff than the one in Moscow does, again we had a very pleasant experience. (While Target on the other hand was all kinds of ridiculous, having to “reset” my password everytime I wanted to do anything, huge hassles trying to return anything without being able to access my account, because my password wouldn’t work, AGAIN.) Anyhow, I digress.

So, out of the amazing generosity of everyone that came to the wedding we got TONS of BB&B gift cards! (Awesome) but we had gotten almost everything that we wanted off our registry, except our sheets and bedding. So, yesterday Paul and I took a quick trip to the BB&B, looked at our bedding and they didn’t have it in Queen size. Bummer. So we grabbed a King (since we don’t have a bed skirt it looks better that way anyhow, so you can’t see the ugly bottom of the mattress and bed frame) and we grabbed some sheets, a cool ottoman and a pillow. Now, BB&B had called me the day before to wish me congratulations and to tell me that I should be getting a coupon in the mail to get an extra 20% off anything that was on our registry that we hadn’t recieved for the wedding!

So we get up to the register, and actually the only thing that was on our registry that we were picking up was the ottoman, but I asked the guy at the register if we could have the extra 20% off the bedding, since we had registered for the Queen size, but since they were out (also to mention that this was now on clearance, so there were only a few left) and he said “Oh, no problem, we will just take 20% off the whole order.” So we saved like $50 on the stuff that wasn’t even on our registry to begin with! Not to mention that they have emailed me coupons like 3 times a week since we registered there!

We are just completely blown away with all of the generosity of everyone! I am kind of overwhelmed at the amount of thank you notes that I have to write, but hey, if that’s the worst of my problems, then that’s pretty great!

Today marks two weeks of married life! 4th day of my new job, (which I completely love) and the weather is really nice, and maybe tomorrow I will post some pictures of the house. We’re mostly put away right now, but with both of us working the dishes and laundry haven’t been done in a few days, so as soon as I catch up on that I will definitly post some pictures. Also of the outside of the house because it’s a completely awesome old house, with lots and lots of character. So, this post is extremely uncharacteristic of me, posting about random things that aren’t arts and crafts! But oh well, I thought you guys all needed a well-deserved update! I will try to post more about other things, not just crafts and pictures, because I don’t get to see you guys every Sunday anymore!!! Sad.

Ok, well, have a happy weekend everyone! Paul and I are getting up early to go garage saling to look for more artwork for our white walls! I hope everyone else has a fabulous weekend too! (Have fun moving, Krika! I wish I were there to help. Eh, not really, I hate moving! Heh. Or at least entertain you while other people moved boxes!)

Unemployment

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Ali

So being unemployed hasn’t been too bad so far. I already have a job lined up in Moscow, but in the meantime I’ve been trying to keep myself busy. Leaving lots of time for taking care of everything before the wedding.

I love old maps. I made a book for Autumn before she moved to London, made on a map of Washington. I should really get some pictures of that thing. I found this website of cartography maps.

How cool would that look framed on the wall?

So I am hoping that the apartment we’re moving into has cool cupboards.

You all know how much I love mismatched dishes! That’s why I didn’t register for any dishes, because I couldn’t decide on any that I liked enough to get lots of them.

Ok, off to run some errands, orthodontist appointment, getting my hair done and picking up some last minute things for the wedding!

Happy Birthday to Heidi, too! 15!
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Have a wonderful Monday, everybody!

What to do on a lovely evening?

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Ali

Strip and stain a table, of course!
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So I got this table from Tina, who knows how many owners it has had. She loved it well, as did I. Little ghost man and all!
crafty 003 Creepy, isn’t he?

Then we stripped it down;
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Found some stain in the garage (really not sure how old this stuff is…)
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And got back down to work;
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Isn’t she a beaut? And now it looks better with my chairs.

Spring Plants

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Ali

So, even though we won’t have a real garden, I want to at least have some window plants, so last week I got some free packets of seeds from work… I planted some dill. It’s still cute little baby dill.

swine-flu-2-001 But hopefully soon it will turn into…
dill-turning-yellow But I don’t even like pickles… dill-pickles so I don’t know what I’ll do with a bunch of dill. (Leave my cucumbers alone, thanks) But I kind of like the look of dill… so maybe I’ll just keep it around the apartment.

I also planted some Zinnias, which are more exciting than dill!
swine-flu-2-002 They’re still babies too, oh awful picture quality, sorry about that, but hopefully soon they’ll be beautiful like these..
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We’ve been cautioned at work about the dangers of swine flu, especially in a healthcare facility.* You know what I think about that?
swine-flu-002 Ok, so maybe we had too much fun today while we were at work… but c’mon, it was my birthday.