Words

Taking this quiz was difficult with all my coworkers talking around me. But on the other hand, I suppose I should have been working.

Merriam-Webster Vocabulary Quiz

So Close

I'm sitting in the little computer corner in our new apartment. It's cozy but not claustrophobic. Joe's beer stuff is over here too and I anticipate that most of his other stuff will end up in this corner as well. I'm not being cruel! Besides, he gets his own personal corner. Just kidding guys, I'm not that kind of girlfriend.

Our place is slowly coming together. There still a few boxes here and there but they're mostly filled with books and desk stuff so those items haven't quite made it to their respective homes. We took advantage of our larger kitchen and actually put pantry things and cookware into cupboards! Can you imagine!? Cupboards aren't something I thought I would take for granted, but after living in Dorset House with only enough cabinet space for dishes and glasses, I appreciate a good sized kitchen.

The living room space is a bit smaller than our last place but I think it works. We've got our couch about 5 ft from the TV which is perfect gaming space in my opinion. We've even got the trunk sitting between the two to act as a coffee table and footrest. Cheers to multipurpose furniture!

The bedroom is usually large in my opinion. They really could have used some of that space for the living room but what do I know. We have our desks and small TV in here along with the bed of course. There are also a couple of shelves that we used to use for the kitchen stuff but what with all those cupboards we have now, who needs them! The bathroom is also bigger than I feel any bathroom should be. Who is spending all their time in the bedroom or bathroom to the point that they need to have the space in order to function?? But I digress. The bathroom does include our washer and dryer so I suppose that's where part of the extra space comes in.

Then we've got the patio that overlooks the pretty little courtyard. I'm glad we decided to push for the "large" patio. It is really nice to be able to sit outside your apartment for some fresh air without actually having to leave. Cat enjoys the patio as well, until the dogs that occasionally frequent the courtyard come out.

I like it. This has been a good change.

Tooting my own horn

Hehe.. toot.

I just had a bunch of work dumped on me that I kind of anticipated but the workload far exceeded what I was really expecting. But, like the good worker bee that I am, I took it in stride. Once I realized my attitude towards the situation I sat back and thought, "I really am the shit." This company is lucky to have me because I don't crumble under the pressure of more work and just smile and nod when they tell me what I need to do. It's not that I always enjoy the work that's handed off to me but I understand it needs to be done and apparently I'm the best bet that it'll get done without a complaint. I don't shit bricks over it like I know some people would. They're perfectly capable of the task at hand but they still have to bitch about it while they do it.

And I'm alright.

Pumped

Right now I am listening to the illustrious Ke$ha. I joke with my friends that I think she's "sticky" but damned if her music isn't super catchy.

This kind of music gets me pumped and I really need a big push right now. There are plenty of things around me that I need to accomplish but for some reason I either can't get off my ass to get it done or I half ass my efforts. My biggest hesitation is applying to school. Every time I look at that application is seems so daunting even though I'm aching to get back into school and learn some shit. I'll collect my transcripts and see if today is the day I finally get that shit together.

Another hurdle I keep tripping over is with tracking my food consumption and exercise. At the beginning of each week I'm pretty gung-ho about tracking my calories and running around Cheeseman Park as often as my legs (and bitchy knee) will let me. But then random things get in the way and I sit around long enough to change my mind. It's not even anything productive that gets in the way. It's frustrating.

I can't believe it's already August. I feel like I've already wasted half the year.

Reestablish

As I wandered around Target the other day looking for baby things for my friend's baby shower, I was ultimately drawn towards the office supplies section. They had so many pretty little journals and notebooks. I flipped through each one that interested me, judging how flexible the binding was so you could open it wide enough to write in it but it wouldn't destroy what held it together. I've tried spiral notebooks or journals but they've always felt too school-like. I obsessively held each one when I realized I've already got one at home that isn't even half way written through!

That's when I sat back and thought about how I should go about journaling and blogging in order to consistently use all the resources I've tapped into. I have a physical journal that sits under my bed side table that I want to use for more personal reflections of the going-ons in my life. RoosterTeeth is my go to for video game related thoughts. And I have decided to use this space to post more along the lines of opinions, movie reviews, and random craft project-like things I work on. It will be a more generalized approach that will exclude sob stories and the more deep, insightful, thoughts that cross my mind. I think that is what this blog has always been but I wanted to sort this all out in my head.

Shoe Upgrade

We had a good run brown Oxford flats. You were comfy, easy to slip on and went with almost everything. I knew we had to part when I stepped into a shallow puddle and the bottom of my foot got wet. 

Culprit - the hole

So cute. I will miss thee

 These were hands down my favorite shoes to wear. They weren't particularly comfortable for long walks around a museum but they were dependable. Just so damn adorable. One of reason I held onto these shoes for so long was that I wanted to find a new pair that was almost exactly like them. I wanted to replace them in the strictest sense. So voila! Below are pretty much the same exact shoes but in black with some fun laces.

I was afraid black would be too harsh of a color to have since I had been so accustomed to brown but these shoes really make my fun colored socks really pop (I also bought new socks at the Gap; orange/pink/white. They're awesome.) So mission accomplished! I finally bought new shoes that are exactly like the old ones! Thank you Not Rated for making the same exact shoes you had last year! :)

Pintrest - DIY pencil organizer

As much as I loved our little plastic pencil cup, it was starting to get a little crowded. I found a DIY "marker caddy" on Pintrest that I found to be very easy! My version is a little different but the idea is basically the same.

I took an empty puzzle box (the puzzle I finished a few weeks ago and glued it together), some paper towel and toilet paper rolls, cut them up, and stuck them inside the box. Initially, I didn't have enough cardboard rolls to fill up the whole box and the pencils and pens couldn't hold themselves up. Until I found one more paper towel roll hidden in another shoe box my temporary solution was to paper clip all the rolls together and to the box. Voila!

Pintrest - Organizing a t-shirt drawer

I've seen various blogs depicting Pintrest Fails but none that showed people trying all these DIY projects with normal to great success.

I found a pin that helped with organizing your t-shirt drawer. The lady who posted this idea describes reorganizing her son's t-shirt drawer. She listed very simple and clear instructions and although she was dealing with shirts that were probably bigger than mine and slightly different in shape, I thought I'd try it out anyway.

Before: shirts barely fit. Hard to find the one I wanted to wear

After: I fit more shirts in the drawer than were originally in there. Huzzah!

The project was mostly a success. I was able to fit a few more shirts than were in the drawer before but since my dresser is kind of small the shirts stuck UP a little too much and got stuck in the dresser when I tried to pull out the drawer again. I just squished down what I could to make it fit and hopefully not get stuck. Another remedy I could try would be to double fold those shirts that stick up but then I'd end up taking up more room in the drawer. The ultimate answer would just to get a bigger dresser.

Stan "helping"