Embracing Ideals

Well, my apartment didn't end up exactly how I described in an earlier post, but that's mostly due to money restrictions.  On the other hand, I love how it has ended up.  I took a large amount of things to the local Goodwill last weekend, and have managed to make my entire apartment free of clutter.  Every item has it's place - finally.

My mother gave me a large cushy chair that perfectly matches a large cushy chair my friend Liz gave me.  I have a fireplace that I've yet to use (have to get a metal grate to hold the wood).

Since I have no washer & dryer right 

now, the laundry closet is currently being used as a costume closet.

I have a few other pictures, but they're nothing to write home about.  For Christmas my mother got me lots of cooking loot (a crock-pot, mini crockpot/fondue thing, microwave, coffee pot), and my boyfriend bought me a mini deep fryer.  I racked up pretty good!

So, that being said, one of my new years resolutions is to start cooking more.  Due to living situations and personal experiences I had forgotten how much I enjoy cooking over the last two or three years.

I started last Friday with a couple recipes from AllRecipes.com, my favorite recipe site.  I made rib-eye steak and roasted red potatoes.  The steak turned out absolutely phenomenal, the potatoes, not so much.  They never really seemed to cook all the way through.  I am assuming I did something wrong, as all of the reviews say they were delicious and perfect.  Oh well.  If nothing else, I learned how to mince garlic.  Right now I'm jonesing for a good knife set - all I have to work with is a block of four serrated knives from Ikea.

Next week (I'll always be cooking something awesome every two weeks, as payday allows me to go major grocery shopping) I'll be attempting Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon (although I may follow this highly rated recipe instead).  My ex and a friend of his made it about a year ago, and it was amazingly delicious.  I can't wait to learn and add it to my skillset. :-)

In an unconscious attempt to further my attempts at a more minimalist lifestyle (obviously I have issues letting go of costumes...) I have quit wearing makeup for a few days.  There is something liberating about it.  People don't cringe at the look of my face or shy away from me like I thought they would.  It doesn't seem to be a big deal at all.  That's not to say I will never wear make up again, but I may make it something for special occasions, and begin taking care to clean it off before I go to bed on the days/nights I do wear it.  More than anything it feels amazing to be able to rub my eyes after staring at a computer screen all day and not look like a raccoon, or feel as though my eyelashes are jammed together.  The skin on my face even seems to be more hydrated, smooth, and less shiny by the end of the day.

Time for new resolutions

Today I went to see The Social Network.  When I first saw the previews for it, several months ago, I thought there is no way in hell I will ever see this movie.  Well, then the reviews came out, and then I got bored, so... yeah.  Great film.  They didn't sugar coat the facebook king, or any of the other characters.  It was very well done.  I will actually go so far as to say it was inspiring.

Now, onto an update of my life.  Ups, downs, and current status.

Towards the end of September I ended a relationship that had lasted over a year and a half.  Not out of spite, or hate, or any amount of distrust - but out of a need for self discovery and self sufficiency.  The man I was with was, and is, a very good guy.  It was the single hardest thing I've ever gone through.

As luck would have it - a friend was subletting his apartment (as described in an earlier post).  So I had somewhere to move.  Fantastic.  I had thought my new Droid X's mobile hot spot had unlimited usage, so I had internet.  I was, however, mistaken.  Now I owe Verizon somewhere in the $800 range.  I tried to get a pardon, as their site displays data usage of that type very poorly, but no dice.  Luckily, it is Verizon, and they have great customer service, so I've worked out a reimbursement plan with them.

I've had moments of doubt, of sadness, feeling that perhaps I can't make it on my own.  That I would become another late twenty something living with their parents indefinitely.  And then I began looking around me.  Opening my eyes.  I am not alone.  I am not the only one in my age range going through this nightmare.  My mother actually acknowledged the fact that our generation has it harder than hers.  By a lot.  When my parents were young the future looked bright.  America was a superpower.  Sure, there were issues, and peace rallies, and poorly fought occupancies like Vietnam, but they still knew they would be able to find jobs, get married, raise a family, and retire at a reasonable age.

We can't do that... and we have to quit whining about that fact, and accept it.  No one, on either side of the aisle, is going to fix the economy before we're all too old for it to matter.  Accept that finding a job is hard.  I am thankful every day for the fact I have a job at all, especially a job I love.  Accept that we live in a society where your skills will expire.  If you work in any industry related to technology (which is most now), that technology will advance and change quickly, and you must advance and change as well.

In our parents generation if you didn't improve your skills, you simply stayed at the same job level.  In todays world, if you don't improve your skills, your job will eventually no longer be needed, as those with better skills will program you out of necessity.

Any person of my generation who believes that their career is exempt from this is a fool.  Everything is affected by newer tech - not just IT companies.  From farming to health care.

It's not longer keep up or get left behind, it's keep up or get in line for unemployment.


...this was not the blog entry I had intended to write at ALL.

Resolutions.
I wanted to share my resolutions for 2011.

First, the big ones:

1. Beat Pre-diabetes.  If I lose weight in the process, great, but that's not what I'm going for.  Every time I go home I see my diabetic Grandma more and more disabled.   Less and less able to move her fingers, because they're so swollen from being so diabetic.  I don't want to become that.
2. Learn Java.  Big time.  I've gotten pretty adept with CSS over the last couple months, I'd like to add an OOP to my skill set.  Now that I'm about to have a more stable life (signing a 12 month lease on Tuesday) I think I will actually be able to focus enough to be successful at this.
3. Have my apartment decorated the exact way I want by the middle of the year.  Hopefully the money I save from cooking at home can go towards this.
4. Get some of my debt paid off.  Set up a payment plan with Credibility (formerly CCCS) in the first quarter of the year.

Now the smaller ones:

1. Learn to play the ukulele.
2. Get back into photography using models.  Like, the living breathing human type, not plastic air planes or something.
3. Move my dog, Edward, in with me.
4. Quit biting my nails (cuticles, fingers, etc).  Especially in public... >_<
5. Expand my cooking abilities

Well, I'm bored of writing now.

Till next time... :-P

New Apartment Ideas

I've had a lot of changes in my life as of late, one of which has been my living situation.  I recently began subletting a friends apartment.  The lease is up in December, so I have until then to completely plan out my new apartment (at which I will be for several foreseeable years), and save money to make it awesome.  For now the plan is a one bedroom apartment, all my decor plans are going on that track.

My current paint idea is to paint all the walls white.  When I was growing up, the color of the walls was constantly changing.  Not because we moved around a lot, but because my Mother is a lunatic and can't stand for the house to look the same for over two months at a time.  So a stable color like pure white seems appealing to me.  It's such a good surface to build off of by adding art and accents.

So, bearing that in mind, here are the rest of my plans so far:

• The Living Room - Inspiration: River 
• No sofa - going to decorate the living room with river rock pillows that I plan on making myself (with the assistance of my mother.  Ok, with the assistance of my mother's sewing machine).  I plan on potentially buying two adult sized bean bags and covering them with a rock like material, possibly in multiple colors and prints.  The rest of the "rocks" will be various shapes and sizes of my choosing.
• On the floor I'm going to have a rug that somehow represents water.  Maybe something like this.
• On the walls I'd like to mount either wall-fountains or mount small shelves to place wall fountains.  From what I've seen online there isn't much out there that fits exactly what I want, so if I find something I'll be sure to update this post with a link.
• Ideally I would like to have a TV stand from somewhere like Ikea, but I may buy one at Goodwill and refurbish it.  My only requirement is to be able to hide the TV somehow (sliding doors, cabinets, whatever).  This could, of course, be avoided if I can manage to afford a flat panel TV sometime in the near future (that, however, is extremely unlikely).
• Beneath the wall fountains I want two large fern or small tree-like plants that are easy to maintain.  I have a brown thumb and keeping plants alive has always been a problem for me.  I am considering getting very well made fakes.
• I am considering using a high gloss white to paint a large tree on a one wall (assuming I have a full wall other than the one the TV is in front of)
• The Bedroom - Inspiration: Purity & Comfort (I know what you're thinking, "You and purity in the same sentence?" but just hear me out).
• I want this bed frame, along with white net-like draperies hanging off the top frame, along with window curtains to match.
• All white, high thread count, bed linens. Obviously I would buy new giant fluffy pillows, as all of my current ones are flat and uncomfortable.
• Any furniture, aside from the bed frame, has to be natural wood grain, or painted white.  No fakes.
• I'd like to decorate my walls with large prints (possibly on canvas) of some of my nature photography.  Perhaps this series of photos.
• On the nightstands I'd like floating lotus blossoms in square glass vases.  
• Instead of table or floor lamps, I'd like wall mounted ones on either side of the bed.
• There will be NO TV in my bedroom.  
• I imagine I'll eventually have a chest of some type at the foot of the bed.  
• The Kitchen - Inspiration: TBA
• I can't really plan my kitchen until I know what the appliances will look like and what shape it will be.  This will be something I come up with once I have chosen my apartment and know exactly which unit I will be moving into.
• The dining room will most likely be a mix of the kitchen and the living room - as all of the apartments I've looked at have dining areas that flow into one or the other.
• The Bathroom - Inspiration: Gaudy Faux Royalty
• Everything will be deep blues and purples.  
• I will buy all new towels (ones that actually MATCH *gasp*).  This time around they will be luxurious and soft.  This is something I will drop a good amount of money on.  Can't DIY good towels.
• The shower curtain will have to be something dark and/or satin-like. 
• I'd also like to have a small bench (we used to have one when I lived with my family, it came in handy quite a bit).  Goodwill most likely has something I can refurbish.

Obviously, I have a lot of grand ideas that probably seem very costly.  90% of the items I have listed, however, I can DIY.  I will post tutorials on all my DIY projects here.  From rock pillows to lamps. :-)

The other plan I have is to get a small dog to match the walls.  Maybe a Maltese, American Eskimo Dog, or Westie.  I grew up with a Westie named Daisy.  She was the best dog in the world.  Of course, I'd like to move Edward in first cause she's my No. 1 baby.  I'd just like her to have a little friend to play with while I'm in class or at work.