.Balcony photos: Before & After.

About a month ago, I blogged about the balcony makeover contest at our apartment complex.  Whoever has the winning balcony will receive tickets to see the Dayton Dragons baseball team!  I (with the help of Scott) have been decorating and planting flowers on our balcony, and we have created a cozy outdoor oasis for our apartment.  Here is what we had to work with:

BEFORE

 

AFTER

      

{We used red, teal, and beige for our colors (inspired by Martha Stewart kitchen) - an adirondack chair is perfect for reading and we love our beige chairs when we want to go outside and eat.  The red/white cushions came from IKEA at $1.99 each (bargain!!) and the beige/white cushion came from Goodwill.  The clay pots were my mother's and the large red pots are from IKEA (they were actually waste baskets and Scott drilled holes in them so they could drain water...I think they really work as pots!)}

 

{The plants on the right are called "hens & chickens" and they are very tolerant in all types of weather and temperature.  Their oblong clay pot is another Goodwill find!}

 

{The small green birdhouses in the pots were handmade by my dad for my mom on Mother's Day when I was little! The plant on the left is called a "Shasta Daisy" or "Crazy Daisy" (I love the name!!) and will bloom later in Spring or early summer! The plant on the right is called a "Delphinium" and it will bloom beautiful purple flowers in the summer!}

 

{Lanterns were another part of our themed balcony, and I just love them!  They are left over from our wedding so they are a nice little reminder of our special day!  The small black ones are hung on our railing with pull-ties and tea lights can go inside them for lighting at night! This eccentric bronze lantern serves as a cute accent amongst the clay flower pots.  The small clay pots hold mixes of marigolds! I just love all the colors together.}

 

{I was so excited to see that our Delphinium is already blooming!! This orange plant was purchased about a month ago and I'm so excited about how vibrant it is!  I was worried for a while because it started looking sickly (it spent a few cold nights outside), but now it looks beautiful!}

 

{When I saw this cute birdhouse, I just had to get it to match our red accents! Scott and I think it looks like something from "Fraggel Rock" or "David the Gnome."  This plastic tub is another teal accent and holds our unused soil and other outside supplies}

Well I hope you have enjoyed looking at our balcony photos.  We are really enjoying a place to go outside and read, have dinner, or just sit and sip coffee & tea!  Sammie and Sophie, we are realizing, really enjoy the outdoors too! 

 

ukuleles and vacation plans

This week has been busy, busy so I've not been able to update.  We got back to Ohio from our weekend in Virginia on Monday night and then I worked at Gap pretty much everyday this week except for today.  Scott and I did manage to plant all the flowers I bought on Thursday evening.  We put our bare hands right down into the soil and filled all our pots with flowers.  It was a lot of fun, and our balcony is nearly complete! 


It's old news (but great news!!) that Scott will be teaching an introductory Theology course at his school, but I just recently found out that I will be teaching ENG 101 at my school in the fall! I am super excited and can't wait to get started.  I will be teaching MWF at 9:45!


In other news, in addition to my guitar lessons, I will also be teaching ukulele lessons beginning this week.  You heard it right, ukulele lessons! I don't know a whole lot about the tiny Hawaiian instrument, but a few minutes sitting down last night with a chord book had me well-acquainted and ready to give my first lesson.  

A fellow teacher at the music shop where I work approached me about giving the lessons to her daughter.  I told her straight-out that I didn't know a whole lot about it, and that I'd only played around with one when working on a Shakespearean play in college (not considering the time I was a "ukelele girl" in the Spring Variety Show in primary school).  Knowing that it wouldn't be too hard transitioning from guitar to ukulele, I agreed to take on the new task and new student.  I've already looked up several songs and I'm pretty excited about learning another instrument. 


Okay, so a guilty pleasure that I must admit to is that when I was in high school I loved all of Nicholas Sparks's books.  I loved their hopelessly romantic characters and corny lines. Although this pleasure no longer exists for me, I still hold a special place in my heart for, "The Notebook."  I guess I find myself relating to the forbidden love that ends happily despite the obstacles and mistakes Allie and Noah must go through and learn from.  Needless to say, I am ecstatic that Scott and I will be staying in a Bed & Breakfast that looks a lot like the house Noah builds for Allie in the movie made a few years ago with Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling.  

It got up to 87 degrees today so I am definitely ready for some lazy vacation days in South Carolina!

Diplomas, Road Trips, and Totes

This weekend Scott and I packed up and headed to Virginia so I could walk through my undergrad commencement ceremony.  Even though I've been in my Master's program for almost a full semester, I feel a bit more official.

It was definitely an action-packed family weekend complete with a trip to the movies to see Robin Hood (which I highly recommend), a graduation party with yummy Reese's ice cream cake, and a road trip to Pigeon Forge!  This morning Scott and I packed up once again (cats and all) and headed back to Ohio so I could attend my night class.  I'll be posting pictures of our balcony soon as I have acquired more clay pots from mom and will be going to purchase flowers sometime this week.


Last week, I wasted precious time blogging about my favorite tote sightings online.  As a graduation gift, my mother-in-law gave me this fabulous tote from Fossil! 

What's that in the mail??

Concert tickets to see James Taylor and Carole King in concert!!!  

This was my graduation present from Scott!!  We have some thanks to owe James because his music was one of the things that brought us together.  Now, I won't go into the details but our story goes back to a discussion of the music of James Taylor in a booth at Burger King almost seven years ago - it's what started it all.  So needless to say we're both excited to be making the trip to see him in concert with the lovely Carole King! 

*For our "first dance" song at our wedding, we danced to his song, "You Can Close Your Eyes:"

{I love this picture because it shows Scott singing it to me}

Well the sun is surely sinking down, 
but the moon is slowly rising. 
So this old world must still be spinning around, 
and I still love you. 

So close your eyes; 
you can close your eyes, it's all right. 
I don't know no love songs, 
and I can't sing the blues any more. 
But I can sing this song, 
and you can sing this song 
when I'm gone. 

It won't be long before another day. 
We're gonna have a good time. 
And no one's gonna take that time away. 
You can stay as long as you like. 


So close your eyes; 
you can close your eyes, it's all right. 
I don't know no love songs, 
and I can't sing the blues any more. 
But I can sing this song, 
and you can sing this song 
when I'm gone. 

fighting the urge to do something productive

I love reusable tote bags...


I carry my school books/notebooks, library books and movies, extra clothes, shoes, and just about everything else in them.  I usually have a few bags in the back of my car just in case I might need to carry something around or bring in light jackets that have accumulated in my car.


All of my totes have usually only cost me a couple of bucks (or euros if you count one of my favorites that I bought at the National Library of Ireland with my mom).  Another of my favorites is one Scott brought back from a New Hampshire bookstore that says: PEACE, LOVE, BOOKS.  And just the other day, I WON a reusable bag from the library at my school.  I rarely win anything, so I was very excited to leave with my new (free!) tote...


So in an effort to procrastinate and do anything other than work on my Dante paper, I have been browsing canvas bags.  Here are some of my favorites:

{From treehugger.com - I love the colors}

{Lush & Wild Tote from Anthropologie}

{From J.Crew and only $10.00 - I really like the two little cats...reminds me of Sammie and Sophie}

{Recycled burlap totes!}

{I love these owls - from nightowlpapergoods.com}

Fun-filled mishaps...

Living in a new place is full of learning experiences, both good and bad. Scott and I have found many new places to eat and lots of things to do, but sometimes our ventures become mishaps that I'm sure we'll laugh about years later (because we already do!).  


For example, our first excursion to a local Mexican restaurant was a disaster (thanks mostly to me!).  I had looked at the local newspaper for restaurant suggestions and decided we would try, what the city had voted, as the number one Mexican restaurant.


Scott's cheese steak was GREY!! It looked, and tasted, like it had been cooked in the microwave (which we're pretty sure is what happened).  It was disappointing, but we ended our night at a local ice cream shop and it was great!! - waffle cones and custard ice cream!


So yesterday was another "learning experience" as we ventured out to "Trader's World."  We drive by it every time we come from Cincinnati or head back from visiting in VA and we've always said we should go there.  From the outside, it is very campy and festive with a jungle theme of giraffes, hippos, and palm trees adorning the entrance and exterior.  In my mind at least, I was looking forward to browsing antiques, retro clothing, hopefully finding some cheap eccentric pot to put on our balcony.  Instead, we found more than 11 buildings of stuff you would find in a store, but that's been used, or maybe even stolen (I mean, they were selling the new Iron Man movie on DVD...come on...).  I will say one thing, there was plenty of stuff to look at - in Scott's words, "It looks like they just took anything they could find, and threw it up on the walls."  To give you an idea:

{The grand entrance to Trader's World}

{I didn't get a picture of the giant hippo...they had actually placed it in an above-ground pool - Scott and I guessed it was so that it wouldn't dry out :p }

{Inside one of the buildings...notice the Elvis painting}

 One positive to our trip was that they did have several vendors with old collectors' items like Star Wars figurines and Colts memorabilia for Scott to enjoy. I enjoyed going around and making funny faces at all the interesting smells and the 40s music playing over the speakers (that didn't fit in with the atmosphere at all!!!).  There was also a bong vendor, and I couldn't help but laugh at the children saying, "Mommy, look this one is really pretty!"


It was definitely an experience, and one we'll always remember.  To finish off our day of browsing, we headed over to the outlet malls to get  "a good fill of capitalism" (Scott again) to wash away the contamination of the flea market (ok, I'm exaggerating a bit here, but we did feel the need to use my hand sanitizer several times during the course of our visit).  


Even though this trip proved to be a disappointment, we were glad we went.  And now when we drive by we can look over and remember our day at Trader's World...    : )

little things

I just recently started working at Gap and they've been scheduling me a lot in Baby.  I didn't know if I would like working in that department, but I have to say, I have fallen in love with the little clothes and seeing all the adorable babies.  So I thought I would devote a post to my favorite little things from BabyGap.

{Yes, those are little bulldogs!}

{Guitars!! - too cute!}

 

{This darling dress comes from a collection called "Hamptons"}

funny stuff

So last night Scott and I were watching "Parks & Recreation" on Hulu.  A commercial came on for Nesquik chocolate milk in conveniently-sized bottles.  Along with promising mothers that somehow kids can get nutrients and vitamins from this rabbit-endorsed drink, the bottles are supposed to be "the perfect size for lunch boxes!"  To which Scott replied, "Eww! It would get warm in a lunch box!"  That gave us a good laugh.

And while I was sitting here writing this, I looked over to find Scott on the couch taking one of our pillows and wiping up something from the table.  I stopped and looked up at him and he says, "It's just a condensation ring..."  

...Never a dull moment...   : )

Alley Cat Chic...an antique shop discovery

On my way home from school the other day, I stopped in this cute antique shop down the street from our apartment.  I can't believe I've went four months without going in (to be fair, I rarely drive directly by it).  The name was what drew me in: Alley Cat Chic.  Who wouldn't want to check out a place like that?  I was planning on just popping in for a few, but instead spent almost an hour there just browsing the displays and trying to figure out what I wanted to buy.  I didn't end up buying anything because, well, I wanted all of it and I just had to come back home and think about it.  Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what I'm talking about..

{This view greets you when you walk through the doors...yes, you are in antique heaven..}

{I love this vintage kitchen collection!!}

{Inspiration for the balcony! - they've even used the turquoise color!}

{I love this green cabinet!}

pictures provided by Alley Cat Chic's Facebook page