My Apartment!

Wow - it's been a while, huh?

I really, really, really am going to start blogging more! ... or at least I'm going to try :)

I wanted to post an update on a couple of exciting changes in my life - some from a while back, some from just a few days ago!

We'll start this blog update with my new apartment. It still seems so new to me, and while I accidentally call it "home" every once in a while, it kind of only feels like a temporary housing spot. Don't get me wrong, I love the decorations and the ambiance of the place, but there’s something missing... maybe it’s just people. Without roomies and siblings, it’s just a couple rooms not a home, I guess.

Well, let’s see... these pics will take us all the way back to AUGUST 2011. Yeah, big oops on my part for taking 9 months to post these!

Well, here’s the little red truck packed and ready to go! If you were ever at Kelly and Ryan’s during their first couple years of marriage, you might recognize the tan couches that they gave to me when they were getting bigger, cushion-ier furniture! They’re perfect for me!

Then came the empty apartment. I was soooooo lucky that on the day I arrived, my two next-door neighbors were having a bar-be-que with some of their buddies who all work at the Soledad prison together. (Side note: Don’t get any ideas; they’re like 50+ years old. And let’s emphasize WORK at the prison, not ESCAPED FROM the prison – just to clarify.)

I was so lucky because they offered to carry up EVERYTHING for me. I mean, of course I helped, but I didn’t realize how heavy some of the bigger things were! The thing I’m using as the entertainment center especially... it’s made out of melamine and it’s ridiculously heavy. (This is the “entertainment center” all painted to match the room!)

So, everything got moved up and in – and then it needed to be UNPACKED. Let me say, that if you’re ever wanting to feel like you have a LOT of stuff, pack everything up, go to Africa for a year, and then come home and unpack it. It’s quite an experience! Clothes that I had forgotten about, dishes, movies, candles, picture frames, kitchen appliances - you name it! I was like a kid on Christmas morning with all my new discoveries!

Then came the putting-everything-away stage of the game... which took a while. Let me also explain, I moved up to my apartment on August 24th. In 8 days, I had to have my completely bare classroom ready for students. So, my apartment kind of got the shaft for the first two weeks while my classroom got about 12 hours of work every day (with Staff Development days thrown in there too!).

After about a month, getting settled in to teaching new subjects and new students at a new school, I finally started devoting some time to my apartment. I had a drawn a few sketches about what I wanted the living room and bedroom to look like, including my color scheme and all that! It is so much fun to play interior decorator! It almost seems as if those countless hours of “Trading Spaces” and “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” finally paid off!

Over the course of November through March, I’ve been acquiring bookcases and tables from Target.com (yay free shipping!) and some decorative lighting from IKEA (thanks Casey!) and knick-knacks here and there.

And now, about 9 months and a week later, I think my living room is pretty much done. Well, that’s not true. I’m still thinking of what to put above the TV – but other than THAT, it’s ALL DONE!

... now on to the bedroom and bathroom!!