August 2012
7 posts
2 tags
Homemade Basil Pesto
Yesterday, as a part of our endeavor to begin genuinely cooking more of our meals instead of heating them up, Josh and I made a trip to the Rochester Public Market (which is completely fantastic, by the way) to finish our grocery shopping for the week. One of my purchases was a ton of basil leaves, since I adore Caprese paninis, and because they pop up in a billion recipes. When I got home and...
7 tags
Today's Project: Decorative Bulletin Board
A few weeks ago, Josh and I found this print on Modcloth and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, because of the small size, we couldn’t find a place in our apartment where it would work. We needed a larger piece to work with our high ceilings.
Then, about two weeks ago, we purchased this bulletin board at TJ Maxx:
I’d been puzzling over how to use it, and then a brilliant...
4 tags
The Downside of Using Netflix for Workouts
Remember my post about how Netflix helped me lose 15 lbs? (If you don’t, here it is.) Turns out there’s a downside. Netflix got rid of all the 10-minute solutions workouts. Boo, Netflix. Luckily, I had one of them on DVD from about a jillion years ago, and I procured a couple others to keep on my hard drive before leaving on my honeymoon. All is not lost. But the big news is that my...
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2 tags
We got married!
On July 21, Josh and I finally tied the knot, and we couldn’t have had a more perfect day. The photographer hasn’t gotten us all the photos yet, but here’s a little sneak peek.
The Stats:
Who: Joshua and me (obviously), Megan (my cousin and MOH), Erika (my cousin and a bridesmaid), Meagan, Danielle H, and Danielle M (my best friends and bridesmaids), BT (Joshua’s brother...
July 2012
16 posts
Sad news for you, good news for me
Today I leave for the two week long extravaganza that is my wedding experience. I’ll probably update a couple times next week, but after that is my honeymoon, and of all the fun and exciting things I’ll be doing, holing up in my cube and writing about my apartment will not be among them. So, I bid you adieu for now and leave you with the promise of an enormous amount of wedding...
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Registering for Wedding Gifts
I thought this would be the most fun part of wedding planning, and I guess it has been good. But it’s really a pretty frustrating process. If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that you really can’t know what you need or what you want until you’re in the space in which you’re going to be. I must have updated my registry a trillion and one times. That...
6 tags
The fireplace: an update
So we finally picked up the fireplace, and I have to say that it’s looking a little sad in the cozy area all by itself.
So, last night I drafted an idea for cozy-ing up the space. So without further ado, here it is:
Most of this was already in the plan, but the real coup would be the addition of a sort of a mantle piece. I don’t think it should be too difficult to build, and I...
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Decal-icious
A few weeks ago, we bought this wall decal on Etsy at Joshua’s behest. He really liked the layout and typography, so whatever. When it finally came, we spent a half hour on the floor peeling off the backing, only to find that one letter was missing. We resolved to e-mail the seller to ask for a letter “I” and proceeded to get ready to stick it on the wall when the back got all stuck together and...
4 tags
Bedroom
This room was the hardest for me to think about before the move, because it was so under-decorated before we came. There’s still a long way to go, but I’m confident that it’s going to look fabulous when we’re done with it. Here’s what it was like before:
About the room:
The room is long, which I thought would make it difficult, but the high ceiling makes it...
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Bathroom
I wasn’t sold on the bathroom when we first got the apartment, but it’s one of my favorite things in the apartment now. The previous tenants just left it cream-colored, and it was pretty boring.
About the space:
I recently learned that this is called a “European-style bathroom,” but I’ve been to Europe and I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary...
5 tags
Josh's Loft
The loft above my cube is the perfect space for Josh’s office. The tenants before us used it as a second bedroom, but we won’t be needing one of those. He hasn’t had much interest in decorating it, so it mostly looks like his old apartment and will probably stay that way. Still, here’s a look.
About the space:
It has the same dimensions as my cube, so at the back...
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The Cube
This is the part of the apartment I was most excited about from the very beginning. I like small, confined spaces for reading and working, so this was perfect for me. Two tenants ago, it was built as a wine cellar, and the tenants before us used it as a dressing room for the girl who slept in the loft above. I’m using it as a reading room/office.
About the space:
The word...
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Wedding Planning
Though decorating the apartment has been a major part of my life for the last week, even more of it has gone into the wedding, which is approaching swiftly. So, here’s a little fact sheet:
We’re getting married on Lake Mazinaw in Ontario, Canada where my family has vacationed for more than 75 years. Here’s a photo of our ceremony site:
That cliff across the lake is about 300...
5 tags
Kitchen
Though it’s full of cupboards and drawers, we don’t have a very spacious kitchen. Still, we love the stainless appliances, garbage disposal, and new stove. Here’s what it looked like before:
About the space:
We have slightly over 19’ of counter, and the counters are all 17.5” deep. There’s only about 5’ x 4.5’ of floor space, but it’s...
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Recommended Reads: "Life's Too Short to Fold...
The whole idea of maintaining a home is kind of an intimidating one for a newlywed. Fortunately, Lisa Quinn wrote Life’s Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets, demonstrating once and for all that you can maintain a lovely home and still have a life. For perfectionists such as myself, there’s a whole section on learning to let go of unimportant things. My favorite chapter, “The...
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Dining Area
As you saw in the post about the cozy space, the former tenants used that as their dining area. They left empty the space where we decided to have the dining area, so there isn’t much to say about what it was like before we got here. So, without furthur ado…
About the space:
It’s still a part of the great room, but we’ve designated about 16’ x 8’ for dining.
...
8 tags
How Netflix, my computer, and my smartphone helped...
Part of getting ready for the wedding has been the quest to get into the best shape of my life. Since January, I’ve made a few lifestyle changes and have slimmed down 15 lbs. Here’s how!
1. MyFitnessPal
After you fill out a short questionnaire about your body and habits, MyFitnessPal calculates how many calories you should be consuming daily in order to meet your weight loss goals....
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Cozy Space
The previous tenants used this as their dining area, but we thought we’d rather eat by the window. So, we’re using this small space between the living area and the kitchen as a cozy space.
About the space:
It’s pretty small, at only 13’ x 7’. It’s right beside the kitchen, and you can see it from anywhere in the room.
What we’ve done so far:
...
3 tags
The Living Area
This is what it looked like when we first came to scout out the apartment. This is the decor of the tenants before us. Oh, and that lady is the property manager, Kathy. She’s super cool.
About the space:
The “great room” in our apartment is kind of oddly shaped, but at it’s longest (from the entrance to the staircase) it’s 37’ and at it’s widest...
6 tags
Introductions
This is us. We’re getting married on July 21st, just 16 days from now. We live in Rochester, NY where he owns a web design business and I search desperately for a teaching job. We just moved into a fairly spacious one-bedroom apartment with some amazing features. Though most of the decorating won’t happen until after our reception, where we’ll probably get a lot more decor and...
