I Moved to a New Apartment

July 15, 2016July 13, 20166 Comments

Well everyone. It has been a wonderful two years at my last apartment, but on Monday I moved to a new place.

It was a hard decision, but when I thought I would be moving in with some friends and that fell through, I had to find something else that worked. So I looked at apartments to live by myself, but I didn’t think that I could afford it on how much I make a month.

So I turned to Craigslist where I found an ad for someone looking for another roommate. I would have my own room, but share a bathroom with one other roommate. And after meeting the girls and signing the lease, I moved all of my stuff in on Monday.

And here is what my new room looks like!

Okay, so that’s what my bed and wall looks like. I put my bed in the corner of the room because I wanted the most room to add my other furniture. My room is a lot smaller than my last room, so I had to really work to get everything to fit. One of those things, is all of the artwork that I have. So, mom told me that I needed to create a gallery wall.

Now, it’s not completely done, but here is what I have so far.

Yeah, so I still have a few things left to hang on my wall, like a chalkboard and two mirrors that fit in nicely with my other art. I might also buy a S to go with the L on the wall. Who knows?

On the other side of the room is where the rest of my furniture is. I have this dresser that is filled to the brim with stuff.

Doesn’t it look familiar? If not, I’ll leave a link at the end of the post for the original blog post about this dresser. But, I was finally able to use it and it fits all of the clothes. Hooray!

I also have my bookshelf that was brought over from the other apartment. And it is already filled with decor and books.

And yes, that is an unopened box of Cards Against Humanity on the bottom shelf. I just need to find some people who would want to play it with me… But yeah, I have I ever mentioned that I like Paris and the Eiffel Tower and pink? I think you can definitely tell just by looking at my room.

Finally for furniture, I have this TV stand that I had painted blue a few weeks ago when I still thought that I was moving in with my friends, not people on Craigslist. Well, mom surprised me by painting it black, adding pink and white knobs on the front, and decorative paper on the bottom of the drawer and inside the doors. Imagine my surprise when I saw that pull up to the new apartment instead of the blue one.

I also hung my bow board up behind my bedroom door because I am sharing a bathroom and there isn’t space in the bathroom to hang it. So, it is by my door so that way I can just grab a bow before I head out to work!

And finally the closet… Is it any bigger than the closet at my last apartment? The answer is yes. Not much, but yes it is bigger. I don’t have a walk in closet anymore, but I have a lot more hanging room and storage for my tee shirts and work clothes. So, I guess that I have a bigger closet?

So, yeah. That’s my new space. I really like it. It makes me really think before I buy something big because I have to think about where I am going to put it. Since I don’t have as large of a space like my last apartment, I have to be really careful. But, I like it a lot and I am very grateful for not having to climb so many stairs.

Check out some of my other blogs!

Lauren’s Apartment A New Dresser Teen to Adult TV Stand

Finds and Fashions-Pink Edition

July 13, 2016July 10, 20166 Comments

Happy Wednesday! I had to think about that a bit! Since I am not in school, I tend to lose track of my days! I thought I would go with a little pink today, just to lighten things up!

I have shown this Kimono before, with blue, but it looks good with so many different things! I bought it from GroopDealz.com and I just saw it again a few weeks ago. This time I added a pink/coral top underneath, which I paired with white jeans. I think I have shown white jeans almost every time too. They just look good with everything! I added a white, coral and gold necklace, white hoop earrings, a brown and gold tote and white sandals.

I just love how flowy this is. It sure is cooler on a hot day!

This next top is one of my favorites. It has a French Bulldog on the front in pink and silver! I paired it with a white knit skirt to give it a more casual feel. Silver sandals and earrings were also added. The pink tote I feel like I have had forever! I think I got it at a thrift store and I pull it out every summer. It’s great for taking down to the beach or lake too!

Here is a close up of the cute doggy!

Here’s the bag, sandals and earrings.

The last outfit is a basic white tee with a pink 3/4 sleeve sweater over the top. Now, we don’t need sweaters here too often in the summertime, but Haley and I went to see Finding Dory a couple of weeks ago, and I sure wish I had this sweater in the theater. It was freezing! I paired it with both a grey pair of jeans and a grey skirt, so it could be more casual or dressy. I also showed it with a couple of different pairs of shoes.

A pretty beaded pink necklace and the same pink tote finish it off.

I enjoy playing around with different combinations of outfits from my closet. It helps me to see what might work together and give me more of an idea what to grab if I am in a hurry. It can also help to see some of the basics you might need. There are always some new combinations to put together!

I hope you have a fantastic week and I will see you next time!

Rent a Toy with Pley, an Online Toy Library

July 11, 2016July 10, 20164 Comments

Hey everyone! I’m off today helping Lauren with the final moving stuff. Hopefully she will have most of it done, since she needs to be out by noon. She is moving into a really cute apartment complex. There are lots of large and shady trees, a couple of pools, volleyball courts and rec room. I hope all goes well with her roommates.

About a month ago, we received an email from a company called Pley, an online toy rental service out of Silicon Valley. With Pley, your kids get to play with the coolest toys and you can save money, reduce clutter and help the environment. For a monthly fee, members receive the toys they picked delivered directly to their door. Once they’ve finished playing with their toy, they can simply swap it out for a different toy. No more wasting money on toys that are left gathering dust on your shelves. Pley asked if I would like to try out a toy and possibly write a review about the toy and the service. (I did get to try out the toy at no charge and then sent the toy back). Well, of course, I was happy to do so. Now, I don’t have any small children at home, but I have my two great-nieces. Perfect!

I went online to the Pley website and picked out which toy I wanted to try out. They have so much to choose from! You can choose an age group, boy or girl, and then pick toys ranging from Star Wars, Marvel, Fisher Price, Disney Jr., Lego, American Girl, Barbie, Leap Frog, Hot Wheels, and K’nex. After I picked the toy I wanted, I placed the order and waited for my toy to arrive. It came after just a few days.

My 3 year old niece happened to be visiting at my Mom’s house, so I went over for a visit and to bring the toy. I had picked out a Preschool Store Set which included people, animals, a store set-up, food and many other pieces. My niece and I played with it for quite awhile, setting up the store and helping the people to shop.

She especially liked loading thing into the little car. She’s a little shopper already!

I really like the idea of playing with a toy for awhile and then trading it in for something else. We know how kids get tired of the same thing and this way you don’t have to go out and spend a lot of money on toys, plus find a place to store them. If my kids were still small, it would definitely be something I would consider! I think this is a great service for all parents!

Would this be something you would try out? I would love to hear other opinions about this kind of service! Let me know in the comments!

ps. I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to my daughter Haley!!!

Corner News-Yard Sale Tips and Tricks-July 9, 2016

July 9, 2016July 8, 20169 Comments

Happy Saturday! I can’t believe another week of summer has passed! It is going by too fast!! We haven’t even had a chance to go anywhere yet! Hopefully we will get up to the lake and to the beach very soon!

This past week my mom and I held our annual yard sale. How do we get so much stuff in a year?! It’s so crazy! Of course, we do get some things from other people too, but I know most if it was from my house. I have going through stuff like crazy and just getting rid of it. Anyways, we spent Tuesday and Wednesday unpacking and setting everything up. Thursday I had an appt. and we opened up on Friday at 7:00 am. Bright and early with customers waiting! These pictures just show a little bit. We had 8 tables (!) plus stuff out on the lawn.

Here are a few tips for holding a yard sale.

It gets very hot here, so we start early. People like to come early and then get on with the rest of their day.
Try to price as much as you can. We use masking tape because we never find that the stickers stick very well in our hot weather.
Price to sell! I know things cost a lot in the store, but this is a yard sale. Many things can also be purchased at the dollar stores. We just want to sell it and get a little bit of cash. If I go to yard sales and I hear high prices, I usually walk away.

Use tape, rubber-bands, boxes or safety pins to keep groups together.
We hold our sale for two days, so the first day we are usually a little higher. The second day, anything goes! Make us a deal!
We advertise on Craigslist and put out signs on the corners. We aren’t allowed to attach signs to the telephone poles, so we take an empty box, attach signs and put a brick in the box so it doesn’t blow out into the road.

Try to have as much up on tables or hanging as possible. I don’t like it when I have to bend or squat down to go through clothes, so we use lots of table and a hanging rack. We do have larger items on the lawn, but not stuff you have to spend a lot of time looking through.
We use fanny packs and purses to keep our money in. This way we can wander around helping customers or cleaning up tables and take money at the same time.

Even though setting up for the yard sale is a lot of work, I enjoy the time I get to spend with my mom and dad and my girls. We have lots of good memories from these days. I hope these tips help you out at your next yard sale!! It can be a great way to clean out your home and make a little extra money!!

Homemade Disney Subway Sign

July 8, 2016July 7, 20169 Comments

Good morning everyone. I am bring back and old blog post for a Flashback Friday. This was one of my favorite posts to write and one of my favorite projects to work on. Even though it is about a year old, I still enjoy reading the post to see what I did.

So, here you go!

I wanted to make something for my coworker Kelli, who is a major Disney fanatic. Without her, I wouldn’t be in the position that I am in and I wouldn’t enjoy going to work as much as I do. So because of this, I wanted to make something for her as a thank you.

Do you remember the pillow that mom bought from Disneyland? If you don’t, you can click here to see the post. Well, I like the design of it, so I decided to put it on a sign for Kelli.

The first thing that I did was I found some scrap wood that dad had left over from building some cat huts for our friends shelter. They were all about the same length, so I placed 8 pieces next to each other for the width of the sign. I then took a 9th piece and cut it to fit on the back of the sign. I then took the two pieces for the back and nailed all the pieces together.

Next came the fun part, painting! Yeah!

I knew that I wanted the sign to be white and have black writing on it. So, I painted the wood white…and of course the spray paint just soaked in. Urgh! So, I had to spray a few coats on the sign and then it was ready to be drawn on.

Once the paint had dried, I brought the sign inside and was ready to start the fun part. I found a picture of the pillow online and with some maneuvering in Microsoft word, I was able to take the picture and make it fit on my sign. I covered the back of the paper with pencil so that I could draw on the front to have my design come out on the wood.

This was harder than I thought it would be for a few reasons. 1: I had to put the pencil on really thick so that I could see it on the wood. 2: some pieces of the wood was rough and I could hardly see the pencil marks. 3: some of the pieces of wood were so rough that I had to free hand that part.

But with all of this bad, I was able to get a design that I absolutely fell in love with on the sign. I used a sharpie to draw on the sign and used a fine point sharpie to add detail. The final things to add were varnish and picture hangers. I added two on the back because I wasn’t sure how heavy it would be.

And here it is! The finished product is beautiful!

I love how it turned out and it didn’t take that long to make. I hope that Kelli loves it as much as I do. And hopefully, I can make more because they turned out amazing!

Final note: Kelli absolutely loved the sign and it currently hangs in her office at work. So, I get to see it everyday when I go into work. Plus, it helped me to make a little extra cash because then my coworkers wanted signs!

Check out some of the other wooden signs I have made!