Pecorino Romano

I Love Scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch.

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 17:33:00 +0000

Hello all! It's random tangent day in Pecorino Romano blogland which means I'm going to share a story with you that happened 10 billion years ago and has nothing at all to do with anything!

Today's post is about Scotch. So if that doesn't interest you feel free to check back next week when I'm sure I'll have something much more exciting to talk about.

Remember that party I threw for my parents? The one where I had to convince my dad I was pregnant in order to get him to come? Yea. Well, at that party a dear friend of theirs gave them a gift. What you need to know is that this friend gets really into the whole gift giving thing. He always goes balls to the walls with some outrageous gift that you never would have thought of for yourself, but you totally love.

Apparently one time my mother mentioned to him that she liked to steal a bit of my father's Scotch from time to time. So he bought them some Scotch. No wait, not just some Scotch. A bucket filled with Scotch. A bucket filled so many bottles of Scotch that you needed a hand cart to carry it around. I wish I was joking. I also wish I had a picture of this bucket, but I don't. So you're just going to have to take my word for it.

Okay. So. Now we've got all of this Scotch that I doubt my parents could even put a dent in if they had a glass every night for the next 30 years. So my dad (the planner) got to scheming. And he schemed up this awesome idea of having a Scotch tasting (aka just an excuse to throw a big ass party and get drunk with his friends).

The second he mentioned it to me I was on board. But if we were going to do this, I wanted to do it right. I started doing some research and learned some really interesting things about Scotch. Do you wanna hear about it? Of course you do!

Scotch is whisky that is made in Scotland. Duh. I know. But a lot of people don't know this. If you are drinking something that you think is Scotch, but it wasn't made in Scotland, theeeeeen it's not Scotch. It's whisky. Could be Irish whisky or Bourbon whisky or even Rye whisky, but it's not Scotch.

This is Scotch. Directly from Scotland. Thanks Scotland!

Okay, glad we got that out of the way. Now to make it even more exciting there are six different regions where Scotch is distilled (or five; it's up for debate as the Scotch Whisky Association [yes, this is a real thing] considers the Island region and Highland region one big ass region). Riveting stuff, I know. OH! And there is single malt Scotch which is brewed at only one distillery and blended Scotch which is (you guessed it!) a blend of Scotch from two or more distilleries.

Because my father is just as ~~anal~~ Type-A as me, he insisted that we have at least one Scotch from each region. The problem is certain regions (I'm looking at you Campbeltown) only have like, three distilleries that are still in operation. Which means that Scotch from certain regions (*cough* Campbeltown *cough*) can be difficult to come across and very expensive.

But we are professionals here and there was absolutely no way we could host this party with an incomplete collection. Forget the fact that not one single person invited to this party gave two shits about any of this. Forget the fact that they were actually just looking for a really good reason to get really drunk. And forget the fact that we already had like 12 bottles at home. That is all irrelevant.

What is relevant is that my father enlisted his children to complete this mission and so a few days before the party we were all sent on a wild goose chase for one last bottle of Scotch. I eventually managed to snag a bottle at a random liquor store near Grand Central, but god damn it wasn't easy. The best part is, it was actually one of the most disgusting Scotches we tasted that day. Thanks a lot Campbeltown.

The bane of my existence.

Oh what's that food for you ask? Well, we knew just throwing out some bottles of Scotch on the table wouldn't make over well so I also researched foods that can be paired well with Scotch. Turns out this isn't an easy task either because apparently you're not suppose to serve Scotch with food. Scotch is an after-dinner drink that goes best with cigars.

But because I don't care about fancy schmancy drinking etiquette I kept hunting and found a few articles that sighed at me and said, "Well if you insist on serving food with your Scotch like some kind of freakin' barbarian, here are a few ideas." Done and done.

On the day of the party we set up a few stations around the house (you already caught a glimpse of one in the photo above). Station one was the most important one, where you could pick up your glass and read about the different regions/Scotches being offered.

The Blue Label was just for show. It was actually the gift I had given to my father on my wedding day and believe me - It has been empty for quite a while. ;-) We left some stickers out so people could label their glasses and used one of our family tartans as the table runner. Oh wait, sorry... I didn't mention that my family is Scottish? Yea, about that...

Sorry, I had to do some blurring of last names to protect privacy and all that, just imagine some very Scottish last names in all of those blank spots.

Each "station" represented a different region of Scotland. Because I apparently have too much free time on my hands (or I just enjoy reading/writing about Scotch) I printed up descriptions of each Scotch.

It started out as a very classy affair, with guests milling about discussing the qualities of the various Scotches provided, but as per our usual it quickly turned into an evening of debauchery. We spilled out into the yard where there were fireworks and a bonfire. And finally when things like this started happening...

We knew it was probably time to call it a night.

All in all it was a success. We rid ourselves of a few bottles of booze, I learned a lot about Scotch and the next morning when we were cleaning up I noticed a few bottles of vodka in my parents' liquor cabinet that seem to be collecting dust. I'm thinking a martini tasting next year...?

IT IS HERE.

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 16:35:00 +0000

And it is glorious!

That is all I have to say. I am going to go roll around on it for the next month or so.

See ya later.

February Project Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:45:00 +0000

So last month I put together a big ass list of things I would like to do around our apartment this year. I actually put a pretty good dent in this list so far so I figured I would keep myself accountable with monthly updates.

Here we go!

Entryway
- Get a nice year-round wreath for the door.
- Hang gallery wall.
- Get a nice basket for the husband to put his shoes in since he doesn't quite grasp the concept of a coat closet. (Note: I bought one, but the husband didn't like it. Trying to figure out a Plan B.)

Kitchen
- ~~Frame and hang art.~~
- ~~Reorganize cabinets because they are a disaster.~~
- For the love of God and all that is holy, get a new set of dishes.
- Save wine bottles and line them up on upper cabinets. (In progress.)

Living Room
- GET OUR GOD DAMN COUCH. (Still waiting.)
- Find a nice entertainment center for our TV.
- Settle on some sort of mantle decor.
- Buy some table lamps. There is nowhere near enough lighting in this room.
- Hang narcissistic wedding canvas above said couch, if it ever arrives. (The couch, not the canvas.)

Master Bedroom
- ~~Get curtains.~~
- Hang wall art.
- Do something with that damn circular window.
- Possibly buy a small nightstand.
- Table lamps. And throw pillows!!
- ~~Swap out bedding for the one in the guest room.~~

Master Bathroom
- Holy crap, this room is actually in okay shape. ~~This is really weird, but I would like a soap dispenser for this room.~~ Oh and a bath mat.

Guest Bedroom
- ~~Get a mattress for the lonely bed frame.~~
- Hang wall art.
- ~~Hang curtains.~~
- ~~Table lamps. Noticing a trend yet? Give me all the table lamps.~~

Guest Bathroom
- Gather some bathroom "amenities" like extra shampoo/soap, etc. Y'know, all of the things I usually forget to bring with me when I'm traveling.
- Decide if I want to hang wall art in this room. I keep going back and forth.

Balcony
- Get some patio furniture and possibly hang some sheer curtains.

Woohoo! So much progress! The kitchen and the guest room are looking pretty damn fine at this point, so I'm hoping February will be the month of the living room.

Come Visit Me!!

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 21:35:00 +0000

You guys! The mattress! It is here and undamaged! And it only took us four freakin' months, but I think our guest room is now finally in a state where I wouldn't be totally embarrassed to have overnight guests.

Like I said in my last post, the room is about 90% ready to roll, but since we started with this:

And this:

I'm pretty satisfied with 90%.

We bought the mattress from Macy's, which actually surprised me. The husband and I popped over there on a whim one day while we were in the neighborhood and ended up finding a Simmons Beautyrest that was reasonably priced and not terribly uncomfortable. I also had a few gift cards and some store credit that I had been hoarding so we ended up getting it for under $500. Oh, and I should also add that we have a platform bed frame for this room which negated the need for a box spring and therefore significantly reduced the cost as well.

We didn't want to spend too much money getting this room in order so I tried to make do with what we had. All of the furniture you see in this room was used in our bedroom until we upgraded to our king set last year. The duvet cover was also originally for our bedroom, but we didn't love it and ultimately decided to find a different one for our own room (more on that in another post).

What else, what else. The curtains, sheets and pillows are all from Anna's Linens, a place that I had never heard of until we moved to Charlotte. Holy crap, this place is amazeballs. The curtains aren't super high quality stuff, but they were $10 for each panel and for a guest room that won't be seeing a ton of traffic, it was perfect. And the sheets (a set of two cost us $15) are actually super soft and I am contemplating buying a set for our own bed as well.

The table lamps were from Walmart (I know, we are super classy folks over here) and everything else you see in the room we already had. This is the first time we've ever had enough room for a real guest room (pretty sure blowing up an air mattress and throwing it on the living room floor doesn't count) so I am probably more excited than I should be about this room.

We were originally going to have some visitors in mid-February, but unfortunately that fell through. Which actually is kinda good because we still have a few problems areas in this room. Mainly, this stack of unpacked boxes that the husband REFUSES to deal with:

Oh and I need to somehow bribe him into hanging up this wall art for me because I am too short to do anything useful around this place.

Yes, I will take the price sticker off before I hang it up. Maybe. I snagged this at TJ Maxx on super clearance for six bucks and am still so proud of myself that I'm just not ready to take the price off yet.

I'm also dying to complete this Pinterest project to hang above the bed:

But we'll see how motivated I'm feeling in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I'm just basking in the glory of having a real guest room for the first time in my adult life. Now don't make me regret putting all of this effort into it... Come visit me!!

Mattress Mayhem

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Sat, 18 Jan 2014 14:41:00 +0000

I am starting to wonder if I am cursed. No, that's not true. I don't wonder. I know that I am cursed. I've known it for a long time and I am trying to work on accepting this about myself, but it's really hard to admit that everything/anything you try to do will end in failure.

So. I had these big, exciting plans to share our guest bedroom updates with you today. I even have the post typed up and everything! The room is like 90% done which is probably as done as it's ever going to be so I figured it would be a good time to show it off. All I was waiting for was the new mattress. Which (unlike our couch) was not backordered. It actually arrived on time! And it was defective!

Oh wait. I shouldn't be excited about that last part. Right.

It's not awful, and I know that it's not incredibly noticeable in these photos, but the padding near the top half of the mattress is all bunched up and wrinkly. The bottom half of the mattress looks exactly like it is suppose to, be something is seriously wrong with the top half. If it was just cosmetic I would totally be willing to overlook this, but when you lay down on it it's lumpy and you can even feel it sinking in a bit on the right side.

Sooooo I called up Macy's customer service and it was actually one of the most pleasant conversations I've ever had with a customer service agent in quite a while! So thanks Macy's! They quickly set up a day to come pick up our bunchy, lumpy mattress and replace it with a new one, no questions asked.

New mattress should be here on Tuesday. Maybe I will have a happy update for ya next week?

Dude, Where's My Couch?

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 14:24:00 +0000

Oh guess what you guys! We still don't have a couch! Yay! I was actually really hoping that it would never come and we could sit on camp chairs for the rest of our lives. Looks like my dream may finally be coming true.

Okay, you know the story. We were told that the couch would arrive in 8 weeks and it's getting closer to 10 weeks with no word from anyone. So the husband decided to give the furniture company a quick call to remind them that we were still alive and wanted our couch and maybe they could deliver it to us soon?

Turns out our sales dude screwed up and forgot to inform us that our fabric was on backorder so we won't actually be receiving our couch until the end of January. Or maybe February. He wasn't really clear on the details and it was obvious that he didn't want to get into even more trouble by giving us an incorrect date.

He did take $100 off our bill though, so that helps, but since we've been couchless since the end of September I would gladly give him that $100 back if it meant that my butt would be enjoying a sweet, comfy couch this weekend. But alas, it is not meant to be.

At this point I'm just praying that we'll have something by President's Day weekend since there is a good chance we will be having some out-of-town visitors that weekend and it would be nice to offer them something to sit in other than a folding chair.

In other news... We've got art! On the walls!

And of course, I don't love it. I love the pieces individually, but I'm not sure if it's the frame colors or the layout, but something about it is irking me. I think the top two frames need to be higher up. Or maybe I need to put something in between the two small frames and the bottom one to break it up a little bit? Not sure. Bear with me on this one, it's a work in a progress.

Suggestions are always welcome, but in the meantime let's take a quick, close-up look at this poster cuz I loves it:

Ignore the glare. Maybe one day I will be a real grown-up blogger that takes pictures with an actual camera instead of my iPhone. In the meantime, many thanks to Karisa for cluing me in to Wine Folly. The second I saw this poster I knew it had to be mine.

Alrighty, that's all I had to share with you today. Time to go relax and sit on my not-couch!

Cabinet Chaos

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:09:00 +0000

One of the things I wanted to accomplish this year was to reorganize our kitchen cabinets a bit. I have a feeling this will happen a few times over the course of the year as we slowly test things out and figure out what works best for us and our kitchen layout, but this weekend I did a little experimenting.

When we originally moved in I placed all of our dishes and mugs in the cabinet directly above the dishwasher. In the cabinets to the right we're storing all of our drinking glasses/wine glasses/beer mugs, etc. In my head it made sense to have everything stored near the dishwasher and sink.

After a few months however, it became clear to me that this system was actually making my life more difficult because I am super short and can't put the dishes away while the dishwasher is open. I know, it's pathetic. Instead I have to stack everything on the counter, close the door and then put everything away. It's just really awkward and annoying. And on top of that this little nook somehow became a dumping ground for any extra snacks and food that wouldn't fit in the designated "food" cabinet.

And that's probably because I picked the tiniest cabinet in the kitchen to use for food storage. It's literally bursting to the seams and I can't fit anything else in there no matter how many times I reorganize it.

Finally, add in the fact that we have this super underutilized cabinet over here and it's clear that we were overdue for a much-needed cabinet overhaul.

The first thing I did was empty out the cabinet pictured above and replaced it with our dishes and coffee mugs. Some random appliances stayed (blender and waffle maker) and I threw our extra supply of coffee and tea in here as well.

It actually works out perfectly because right below this cabinet is where I have my little coffee bar setup.

Now when I'm jonesing for a coffee (which is like 10 times a day) I can just reach up and grab a mug. It probably seems like common sense to y'know like everyone else in the world, but for whatever reason I didn't think of it until this weekend. Fail.

Now the cabinet above the dishwasher that held those dishes and mugs was empty. I wanted to move all of our pantry foods over here since it's a much larger cabinet and it's right above where all of that extra food was accumulating.

Ahhh, that is so much better. Everything is a lot less cluttered and I even managed to fit most of the countertop food in here with room to move things around so I don't have to empty the entire god damn shelf when I need something that's shoved in the back.

Finally, I tackled the tiny cabinet where our food stuffs used to be. I decided to keep all of our baking supplies in this cabinet as well as paper products. Oh and our steak knives too? Mostly because I couldn't find a more suitable location for them. They will move at some point I'm sure.

Now I personally love the new layout (so far) but the husband - who hates any kind of change ever - hates it. I told him take a week or two to get used to it and then tell me how he feels, but he responded by putting things "back where they belong". Yesterday I found the peanut butter in with the baking supplies and a coffee mug mixed in with the tomato sauce.

So yea, fun experiment!

Did you get any projects done this weekend?

That Time I Convinced My Dad I was Pregnant. Or Maybe Getting a Divorce.

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 15:11:00 +0000

Okay, first of all, I am not pregnant. Just getting that out of the way. This story is actually like six months old and I never got around to writing it down. The content's a bit dated, but the story is fantastic and now feels like a good time to talk about it so I'm running with it.

I am a planner. I have accepted this about myself. If I am not actively planning something I go stir crazy. I can't help it, it's in my blood. When I showed my father the spreadsheets I had compiled for my trip to Disney last year (yes, I really did this) I think he was more proud of me than he had ever been before.

Being engaged was an awesome outlet for my crazy planning shenanigans. I got to plan things for TWO WHOLE YEARS PEOPLE. It was glorious. Then the wedding came and went and I was left without anything to plan. So sad. So boring. And when I get bored, I scheme. And this time, I schemed up something reallll good.

My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in May. And what better way to celebrate than by throwing them a surprise party?! Perfect. Done. Something new to plan! And so I started planning... I collaborated with my parents' friends and siblings, found a date that worked for everyone and sent out invitations. I even drove three hours upstate (twice!) to check out venues and confirm other such details. I also wanted to have some photos of them throughout the years so I even ~~broke into~~ conveniently dropped by their house when I knew they wouldn't be home. Both times I stayed the night with a friend of mine who lives in the area and my parents never found out until after the party.

In order to lure my parents to the restaurant I told them that the husband and I were coming upstate for the weekend to visit some friends. We wouldn't have time to stop by the house so would they like to meet us in Albany for dinner? They agreed and everything was going perfectly.

Too perfectly.

A few days before the party my dad sent me an email. He was so sorry, but he completely forgot that he had to march in a parade (he is a town board member and often has to attend various town events. Even ridiculous events, like a parade) at the exact time that I had made dinner reservations. Could we maybe push dinner a little later?

Hm. Okay. I start to panic. But just a little bit. I quickly type up a reply.

"No, that won't work for us. We need to meet friend at XYZ time and if we push our dinner any later we won't make it in time. Is the parade really that important? We would really like to see you guys!"

Yep, looks good. I mean, come on... It's just a stupid parade. At that moment I was feeling pretty confident. Until...

"I really can't miss this parade. I gave them my word that I would be there and you know that I hate to break promises like that. I'm really sorry we won't be able to see you guys this time, but you'll be up again soon, right?"

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Now I'm panicking. Like calling my husband from work in a frenzy kind of panicking. This whole thing is about to blow up in my face and there is only one thing I can do to stop it. I review the game plan with my husband and now rope my brother into it as well. I take a deep breath and type a response.

"Hm. I didn't want to have to tell you this over email, but it's really important that we talk to you in person this weekend. We even arranged for J [my brother] to take a train in from Philadelphia. We were going to pick him from the train station and go straight to the restaurant. Are you sure you absolutely cannot get out of this thing?"

You guys. I felt terrible about this. It was just vague enough that it didn't require me to create some elaborate lie, but just specific enough to freak him out. I had no idea what conclusions he would draw from that email, but I hoped it sounded believable enough that he would cancel his plans (and not see through my complete and utter bullshit).

Waiting for his response was the most excruciating hour of my life. I walked around my office in a state of distress, lamenting my sorry situation to anyone who would listen. And oh did people listen. They were soaking this shit up and thought it was one of the most entertaining things they had ever heard (seriously, these people need to get out more).

And then... The response.

"Ok. I'm sorry I had to pull it out of you this way. I will do what I have to do to get out of this thing and I won't say anything to your mother about this conversation. See you Saturday."

What. Just. Happened.

For five whole days I was inconsolable. I was going to Hell. I just knew it. What's that commandment? Honor your father and mother? Well, this certainly wasn't honorable. But what other choice did I have? After months of secretly sneaking behind their backs I was not going to let it all fall apart over a fucking PARADE.

Saturday came and well...

See for yourself.

My aunt was filming for me. Moments to note: 38 seconds in, where she says, "Your daughter's not pregnant!" and 2:05 where the godforsaken parade was mentioned.

Needless to say, they were surprised.

A good time was had by all.

But I definitely will NOT be hosting another surprise party any time soon. My morals and my blood pressure just can't handle it.

Have you ever hosted a surprise party?

Fucked Up Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 23:06:00 +0000

I have a real blog post coming soon, but until Blogger fixes their ish and lets me post a video, I'm leaving you all with this instead:

Last night the husband and I were having a particularly perverted conversation that had me laughing til I cried. When I finally caught my breath, I looked at him and said, "Wow, our kids are going to be really fucked up, aren't they?"

Without even missing a beat, he looked back at me with the most serious face in the world and said, "Oh, absolutely."

Please tell me we're not alone.

Have a Seat

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 13:00:00 +0000

No seriously. This is a really long ridiculous story, but the world needs to know it. You might want to be sitting down for this.

A million years ago the husband and I found ourselves in possession this couch:

Actually it was a couch AND a love seat combo. A practically brand new set that we snagged for $200 total. Honestly, it was a great deal. And it was a great couch. For a bunch of broke college kids. The husband and I had many great years with this couch. It moved a total of six times. Usually in the back of the husband's Jeep.

But after eight years with us, the couch had seen better days. The frame was broken, there were stains on the cushions and I can't even count the number of people who have slept/gotten sick/had sex on that couch (hey, we had some wild parties back in the day... what can I say?). So it was time to part with our party couch and get ourselves a real adult couch.

Easier said than done.

The husband decided he wanted a sectional. I was not on board with this idea. I didn't think that we could find one that fit in our current living room and I also knew that this wasn't a permanent place for us. We're looking to buy a home in the next two years and sectionals are such finicky pieces of furniture. What if it wouldn't flow in our future home?

We went back and forth on what to do, visiting furniture stores to get some ideas. We started at Ashley Furniture and La-Z-Boy, where we found nothing we liked. We went to Ethan Allen, where we found nothing we could afford. We went to a local furniture store called Tyndall's where again we found nothing we liked.

Then we went to Bassett Furniture and fell for the HGTV Home Design Studio custom furniture couches and sectionals. But we were easily looking at a $4,000 purchase. We realized that whether we decided to go with a couch or a sectional, this was going to cost us a lot more than we had bargained for.

We regrouped. Maybe it was a better idea to buy something cheap for this apartment and then upgrade to something better when we were settled in an actual home? So we went to a furniture outlet and we went to Value City Furniture where we found a small sectional for around $800. It wasn't sturdy and it wasn't super comfortable, but it would get us through the next few years. And if we were lucky we could sell it to some broke college kids for a couple hundred bucks.

And just as we were about to pull the trigger, the husband changed everything. He suggested we try one more store - Tyndall's larger showroom in South Carolina. I was skeptical, but went along for the ride. And that's when we found it. A decently priced sectional that checked all of the boxes off of our list.

And so we started the process. We did a little bargaining to try and lower the price, we looked into financing, we started picking out fabric, we made sure that it would actually fit in our living room... Oh, wait. While I was happily flipping through patterns and solids, microfibers and cottons, the husband stopped me.

"I don't think it's going to fit."

"...What?"

"What were the dimensions in our living room again?"

He was right. It wasn't going to fit. By mere inches. I actually almost started crying right there in the showroom. After weeks of traipsing through furniture stores, sitting on every god damn couch in existence, arguing over whether a couch/loveseat combo or sectional would be better, deciding how much to spend (or not spend), and looking at fabrics and cushion firmness and rolled arms, I was done. I couldn't do it anymore.

We explained the problem to our couch sales dude and at that very moment, the furniture gods took pity on us. The glorious part of a sectional is that it comes in sections. Brilliant, right?! I know, and I went to college and everything! Our problem was the corner piece. The sectional we ordered had one of those oversized corner pieces, which was actually why I fell in love with it in the first place.

With a regular sectional you get this dumb corner piece that no one can actually sit on because there's no room for your legs/feet. It's wasted space that makes me irrationally angry.

Image via Viesso

With an oversized corner piece, there's room (okay, not a lot of room, but still room) for a normal human to sit.

Image via Bassett

So! When our furniture sales dude guy told us we could swap the oversized piece for a smaller corner piece, I think the husband actually wanted to bend over and kiss his feet. And even though I didn't want that dumb corner piece, I couldn't crush that kind of excitement so I agreed to the swap. And that's the story. It's not perfect, but I told the husband that when we move to a house that has a normal sized living room we are replacing that corner piece. We'll keep it of course. It will just be a lone, weird-ass chair that the husband will have to sit in at all times as a reminder of the pain and suffering he caused me by wanting a sectional and not a god damn couch/love seat combo.

PS. I would love to show you pictures of our new, awesome couch, but it is literally the only sectional that Tyndall's does not show on their website (of course) and it's not here yet. They told us it would arrive in eight weeks, but it's been eight weeks and three days (yes, I'm counting) and no word from the furniture store. If we don't hear from them by Friday we will be staging a protest outside their showroom until they give us what we want.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 20:34:00 +0000

Happy New Year everyone! Yea I'm a few days late and yea, I took an unintentional hiatus last month, but I promise I have a really good explanation for that. Except I'm not going to talk about that right now. That's a post for another day that I may or may not write. I mean, come on... You've seen my track record on this blog. Don't hold your breath.

Anyways, I last left off with a not so great apartment tour and now it's time to chat about what needs to happen in order to make this place not look like some college kid's first apartment. So let's do the room by room thing and we can make a game out of how many things I will completely give up by the end of the year!

Entryway
- Get a nice year-round wreath for the door. The Christmas one is dying a slow, sad death and needs to go.
- Hang gallery wall.
- Get a nice basket for the husband to put his shoes in since he doesn't quite grasp the concept of a coat closet.

Kitchen
- Frame and hang art.
- Reorganize cabinets because they are a disaster.
- For the love of God and all that is holy, get a new set of dishes.
- Save wine bottles and line them up on upper cabinets. So cliche. I know. And I don't care.

Living Room
- GET OUR GOD DAMN COUCH. We were told it would take 6-8 weeks to come in. It's been 8 weeks and 1 day. Yes, I am counting.
- Find a nice entertainment center for our TV.
- Settle on some sort of mantle decor.
- Buy some table lamps. There is nowhere near enough lighting in this room.
- Hang narcissistic wedding canvas above said couch, if it ever arrives. (The couch, not the canvas.)

Master Bedroom
- Get curtains.
- Hang wall art.
- Do something with that damn circular window.
- Possibly buy a small nightstand.
- Table lamps. And throw pillows!!
- Swap out bedding for the one in the guest room.

Master Bathroom
- Holy crap, this room is actually in okay shape. This is really weird, but I would like a soap dispenser for this room. Oh and a bath mat.

Guest Bedroom
- Get a mattress for the lonely bed frame.
- Hang wall art.
- Hang curtains.
- Table lamps. Noticing a trend yet? Give me all the table lamps.

Guest Bathroom
- Gather some bathroom "amenities" like extra shampoo/soap, etc. Y'know, all of the things I usually forget to bring with me when I'm traveling.
- Decide if I want to hang wall art in this room. I keep going back and forth.

Balcony
- Get some patio furniture and possibly hang some sheer curtains to try and ward off the god damn spiders that have made this balcony their home. Bastards.

Whoosh. It seems like a lot, but a lot of it is already underway and 90% of it is hanging up wall art that I already have, but have been too lazy to deal with. Everything else probably just won't get done.

Oh and since this is not a picture heavy post, here is a photo of world's saddest living room:

Yes, we are using camp chairs as a couch and yes, we are using an end table as an entertainment center. Here's hoping 2014 brings me a grown-up apartment!

It's Apartment Tour Time!!

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 15:51:00 +0000

Hi hi hi hi! I just came back from spending 10 days up north with my family for Thanksgiving. I had all of these grand plans for posting while I was away, but instead I just sat around eating turkey and spending time with loved ones. I'm pretty sure I gained about 500 pounds. Worth it.

Anyways, I'm back now and it's time to show off this kickass apartment we rented. The husband and I still haven't quite adjusted to how much cheaper it is to live here compared to New York. Sometimes I just look around and wonder how the hell we are affording this place. Then I remember that we're paying less than what we were paying in New York for three times the space and my head explodes.

Ok. So. Pictures! Yay!

We were super lucky and scored a 2 bedroom corner unit on the top floor.

This is our little entryway. Even though there is a nice coat closet as soon as you walk in the husband still insists on leaving his shoes in the middle of the floor. He's awesome.

Woo, kitchen with a bar?! I'm in love! I don't have photos right now, but behind that door is a kickass laundry room. I've already done a bit of work in that room so I figured I'd save it all for another post.

View from the kitchen of our dining area with built-in shelves and desk.

If you stay in the kitchen and rotate to the left a bit you've got a view of our living room. But all I can focus on is the fireplace. I mean, they are actually giving us permission to set things on fire?! This place is unbelievable!

Master bedroom with a weird porthole that I have no idea how to cover and that makes me feel like I'm on a boat. Also a door! To the outside!

Master bathroom that for some reason has both a full-size garden tub and a shower stall. I mean, I'm not really complaining, but it just seems unnecessary!

Super awesome master bedroom walk-in closet.

Nondescript 2nd bedroom and bathroom.

And finally, the crowning jewel of our apartment... The ginormous balcony! A friend of mine dared me to do a cartwheel on it. I guess the photo doesn't do our balcony justice because she is doesn't believe me when I tell her it's ginormous. Also, I think we are all just jaded from living in New York too long and just can't believe that balconies like this actually exist in real life. So I haven't tried it yet, but it's definitely possible so.... Challenge accepted!

Our stunning view of more apartment buildings. Whatever. I'm not complaining, I'm just happy that we even have a balcony large enough for me to do cartwheels on!

So that's that. We are totally heads over heels in love with this place. The photos aren't the greatest, but now that we've finally settled in and I'm starting to decorate I can't wait to share more detailed posts and photos. Woohoo!

The Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 23:30:00 +0000

I promise this will be my last post on boring moving shenanigans. I am dying to share our new apartment with you and get back to what I do best... Pretending I know how to decorate and organize my shit.

Moving day was kind of the worst (isn't it always?!). It was actually more like moving weekend because the movers arrived on Friday and we didn't actually start the drive until Sunday. So the movers came and went, leaving us with nothing but an air mattress and dust bunnies. On Saturday we literally scrubbed our apartment clean from top to bottom because there was no way I was going to lose our security deposit.

I always go way overboard on the apartment move-out cleaning, mostly because we were screwed out of a large chunk of our security deposit in our very first apartment and I swore that I would never let happen again. That's my money dammit! When we moved out of our first apartment we left it in the same exact condition as it was when we moved in (aka dirty) and the company who owned the building claimed we were the ones who dirtied/destroyed it (even though it was already grimy and disgusting when we moved in). Yea, I might still be a bit bitter over that and will never let it happen again.

Anyways. Back to Saturday. After we cleaned all day we had a kickass goodbye party at a local bar. There were lots of beers and lots of hugs, which is really all that I ever ask for at any party.

Oh man, I miss these awesome people.

On Sunday we had these great plans of packing the car up in the morning and starting the drive in the early afternoon. Ah, how young and stupid we were. What really happened was we left the apartment for 20 minutes to return our extra U-Haul boxes and THAT was when our landlord decided he wanted to do the walkthrough of the apartment with us.

We told him we hadn't emptied the apartment yet, we weren't even home and could he could back in an hour? Turns out he was leaving for a family function and he needed to do it AT THAT EXACT MOMENT IN TIME. (Hey buddy, you knew when we were moving for over a month, you couldn't bother to tell us that you needed to do the inspection in the morning because you had somewhere to be that day?!)

So he did the inspection without us and then called us to tell us that there was still stuff in the apartment and it needed to be out before we left. Uh. Yea. We know. That's our stuff and we want to take it with us. Oh and we already told you on the phone that we haven't packed our car up yet. Did you really think we were going to leave our snake and cat in the apartment for you to take care of?

Whatever. Joke's on him because it turned out we couldn't fit everything in the car so we stood outside for two hours with random shit scattered across the driveway try to decide what we would throw away and what we were going to cram in the car. The cat didn't make the cut. Just kidding. Maybe.

Then we drove. A lot. It's a 10 hour drive from start to finish, but we decided to stop for the night since a) we left way later than we intended to and b) (spoiler alert!) we did manage to fit the cat in the car, but had never done this kind of long distance drive with her before and we were kind of concerned about her mental state at this point. Turns out we probably traumatized her even more by staying in a hotel instead of driving straight through because she spent the next 8 hours wedged under a couch. Fun times.

Day two was thankfully uneventful. We left at a decent time and before we knew it we were entering our home state!

My parents were super awesome and had dinner delivered to us on our first night. So while the cat shoved herself in between the fridge and the wall...

We ate dinner and celebrated in style.

Welcome home.

It Is Your Birthday.

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 13:44:00 +0000

I'm taking a break from our regularly scheduled moving shenanigans to bring you this:

Well, no. Actually it is my birthday. I mean, maybe it's yours too, I don't really know. And if it is you should tell me, because yay! Birthday twins!

Anyways I thought today would be a good time to check out my 30 before 30 list, which I have severely neglected and probably not made any progress on at all, but I am all about keeping it real so we're going to look at it anyways.

Okie dokes. Here it is.

1. Buy a house. (Okay, absolutely no progress has been made on this one, but at least we're living somewhere where we can actually afford to buy a house one day, so I'm calling it a step in the right direction.)

2. Volunteer at an animal shelter. (In the works! I signed up to volunteer at a local shelter about two weeks ago. I only attended one day so I feel like I shouldn't cross it off the list just yet. But soon!)

3. Run a half-marathon. (Ha. No.)

4. See an opera at the Met. (Sadly, I have not done this yet, but I still have hope!)

5. ~~Take a vacation to Disney.~~ (Completed: 2/9/2013)

6. Visit Florence and Venice. (Possible 2014 trip in the works. Excitement!)

7. Pay it forward. (Yep, still need to do this.)

8. Make 30 new recipes. (Ooooh, I'm getting close to this one. I will have to tally 'em up and see where I stand.)

9. Host a dinner party OR holiday dinner. (Completed: 11/22/2013)

10. Brush up on my Italian. (Nope. Hasn't happened.)

11. Go on a wine tour. (Also hasn't happened.)

12. Read everything on this list. (I am pretty sure I've only read one of these books so far. Time to get reading!)

13. Plant a vegetable garden. (This might actually happen next year because we have a kickass balcony that could totally fit a few small plants. Hmmm...)

14. Hike a mountain. (Totally forgot about this one. I hope to cross it off the list soon!)

15. Take a Photoshop course. (I really need to do this. I have been using Photoshop SO MUCH lately and yet I feel like I am barely scratching the surface.)

16. Actually finish a 30 day photo project. (Okay, I am going to buckle down on this one. December 1. Let's do this.)

17. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge. (Have not done this yet. I will though. I swear to you I will!)

18. ~~Get rid of 30 things I don't need.~~ (Well, I donated TEN boxes to Goodwill when we moved so I'm calling it. There was a ton of shit in those boxes that I definitely did not need.)

19. Create and order our wedding album. (I have actually been working on this and it should be done soon. Woohoo!)

20. Learn the constellations. (No progress made here. Boo.)

21. Attend a NY Giants game. (Funny story. I actually had tickets in my hand to a November game. But then they started their season out 0-6. And then we moved. And then I felt like it would be a really dumb idea to spend hundreds of dollars on my flight just to watch them lose. So I sold the tickets. And guess what? THEY WON THE GAME. Jerks. But to answer your question, no. No I haven't attended a Giants game. Blergh.)

22. Learn how to jar and/or can something. (Actually I am working on this and will have an upcoming post about it soon.)

23. Visit five new breweries. (One down! Four to go!)

24. Take a weekend trip to Concord, MA. (Oh, I want to do this so badly. But since we moved south I don't think it will happen. I might switch out Concord, MA for Charleston, SC.)

25. Buy (and ride!) a bicycle. (Ha. No. Hasn't happened.)

26. Experience a sunrise. (I also want to do this so badly.)

27. ~~Visit a new state and/or country.~~ (You guys I did this one! I promise to write a post on it.)

28. Attend the cherry blossom festival in DC. (Crap. I forgot about this one. May or may not happen before I turn 30.)

29. ~~Open a retirement fund.~~ (I also did this one! I am an adult! I probably won't write a post about it though because it's super boring.)

30. Have a drink at the Campbell Apartment. (Haven't done this yet either. My dream day in NYC would be to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, take in an opera at the Met and finish the night off with a drink at Campbell.)

Wow, okay. So it looks like I have a lot of work to do, but a lot of these things will actually be crossed off soon, so I'm feeling pretty good. One year down, two to go! Eep. I'm feeling old now.

Pack It Up, Pack It In

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 20:43:00 +0000

Let me begin...

To start talking about packing. Ugh. Packing.

Isn't packing the best?! I feel like the hardest part is getting started. What room do I start with? How many boxes will I need? Why am I even doing this?!

There's a few ways to go about packing. You could take a bunch of empty garbage bags and starting throwing random shit into them (tempting, oh so tempting). Then you can just throw those garbage bags filled with your random shit into a landfill and start over again in your new apartment (also temping, but expensive and probably impractical). Or you could be incredibly anal and excessively label every box multiple times. This is what I did.

First, a ridiculously large number of boxes were ordered from U-Haul because shipping is free if you spend over a certain amount and unused boxes can be returned for the same price that they were purchased. Win and win.

Once the boxes arrived I went one room at a time, starting with our spare bedroom because I knew it would be the easiest room to pack. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) this room had turned into some kind of dumping ground for anything and everything that entered our home. See exhibit A:

This was actually taken after I started cleaning up in here. What a disaster. Thankfully most of the things in this room went into the garbage or donation pile making it a fairly easy room to empty out. Then I tackled the closets, the living room (which was mostly decor and furniture), the bedroom and finally, the kitchen.

Each box was given a room designation for the new apartment and a number. I carried around a notebook with me like it was my freakin' bible. Every time I packed a new box I would write the box number down in the notebook with a list of every.single.item in that box. Excessive? Probably. But when we started unpacking our 40-something boxes (yes, we own a lot of shit) and we needed to know where the spatula was I was on it.

The notebook also listed every piece of furniture that was being moved because I am paranoid and was afraid that something would get lost or stolen or broken. Spoiler alert: Nothing was lost or stolen or broken in this move. Except maybe my sanity. That doesn't really make any sense. Just roll with it.

Sure, the husband thought I was a crazy person, especially as I ran around the apartment waving a little notebook around and screaming, "Where is my pen? GOD DAMMIT WHY DO I ALWAYS LOSE MY PEN?!" But when the movers showed up in North Carolina you can bet your ass he was grateful for his psychotic wife because he took my sacred little notebook and checked off each box and piece of furniture as the movers brought it in to make sure we weren't missing anything. Boom. I win again.

Anyways, those are my not-so-helpful packing tips. Get your boxes from U-Haul. Number your boxes and write down everything that goes in them. Don't lose your pen. Oh, and super insulate everything. Especially your fine china. Because when the movers pry that box of stupidly expensive dishes from your death grip on moving day you will thank yourself that you wrapped everything in 5,000 layers of bubble wrap. I know I did.

I Like to Move It, Move It

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 17:03:00 +0000

Every time we move I swear up and down that we are never doing this again. If we choose to stay in Charlotte permanently our next (and last) move will be into a real, live single-family house. No more apartment bullshit for this lady. Honestly, I am just tired of being a nomad. In our eight years together the husband and I have moved at least ten times. That's just insane. Not only have we hauled our stuff in and out of two different dorms and six apartments (including our current one), there were also a few summers when we were in between apartments and we each temporarily moved back in with our parents. Oof.

The idea of moving is almost always fun and exciting. A new chapter, a new adventure... There's so much potential, and so much to look forward to! In reality, moving is just a frustrating and exhausting time where the husband and I are at each other's throats.

Ah, the stories I could tell you about our moves. Throughout the years, we've learned one thing: Just embrace the fact that something insanely ridiculous is most definitely going to happen to you and you will be okay.

Because sometimes moving means taking a four hour car ride in a torrential downpour and opening the doors of your U-Haul trailer to find that it is not waterproof. Sometimes it means trying to return a rental van to find that your own car has been locked behind gates and there is not one employee in the entire borough of Queens who will come unlock it for you. Sometimes it means driving through the streets of Westchester with a couch and two of your best friends hanging out the back of your Jeep.

(Yes, this is real. It's also the smaller of two couches that we moved. Oh and for the love of God and all that is holy, do not try this at home. It's super dangerous and probably not legal.)

Sometimes it means just giving up and paying someone else thousands of dollars to do it for you. So that's exactly what we did. We scoped out a few companies and went with the one that had the best reviews and we felt most comfortable with. We packed everything up, the movers carried everything up and down the stairs from our old place to our new place while we sat back, relaxed and sipped Mai Tais on the beach.

Wait, no. Sorry. That's not what happened at all. What happened was we couldn't figure out what should go with the movers versus what we should bring down ourselves so we ended up with way too much stuff leftover that wouldn't fit in the car. After two incredibly cramped days of driving with a cat in the back seat and a snake by my feet, we arrived at our empty apartment with nothing other than an air mattress, some folding chairs, a suitcase of clothes/sheets/towels, and a box of cleaning supplies because I am an obsessive compulsive germaphobe.

And did you know that if you are making a long distance move and don't have enough stuff to fill an entire truck, the moving company will make other stops along the way? It took about a week for the truck to make its way to our apartment. And it sucked. I don't really consider myself a materialistic person, but living in a completely empty apartment for an extended period of time is a really strange feeling and not one that I'd particularly like to relive.

Thankfully, everything arrived safely and once our boxes arrived I started tearing into them like a madwoman. And by that, I mean I carefully unpacked one room at a time using a slightly anal packing/unpacking method that I will happily share with all of you whether you like it or not. Seriously, this is some riveting stuff right here. Don't miss it.

So We're Really Doing This?!

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 16:47:00 +0000

The husband and I spent the entire month of August stalking our soon-to-be new apartment complex in Charlotte and going back and forth on if we were actually going to do this crazy move. And if we were, when we would actually leave?

We originally thought a move in October or November would be best for us, that is until an apartment with a super sexy floor plan opened up at the end of August and dropped by like $200 a month in price. We went back and forth for about a week, wondering when someone else was going to snatch it up and make the decision for us. Nobody did.

After yet another long night of discussion we decided that if we did not the take the apartment, someone else would and we soon find ourselves in a "what if?" situation. I mean, what in the hell were we really waiting for anyways?!? Sure, we told ourselves a move later in the year would be better for us, but at the end of the day the timeline was completely arbitrary. There was nothing keeping us in New York. So we took the apartment. And I am not one to believe in fate, but the the very next day the rent went back up to its original price.

Of course, this meant that things were moving way faster than we initially expected and it caught many people (including us) off guard. We had hinted to friends and family that we would most likely be moving, but suddenly we were in possession of an apartment in Charlotte (and still paying rent on our place in New York) so it was time to get moving. Literally.

We contacted the landlord, hired movers, stared packing up our shit, told our friends and family what was going on and I gave notice at work ASAP. The first week of September was a complete whirlwind of boxes, phone calls and raw emotion.

In a way it was better to just quickly rip that band aid off. Sure it would have been great to have more time to pack, or to give my company more notice that I was leaving, but doing everything in such a short period of time meant that there wasn't much time to question our decision.

Instead, we were too busy focusing on how to get two humans, a cat, a snake and the rest of our belongings 700 miles away in less than a month.

Exploring a New City

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 16:08:00 +0000

Sometimes I take a look around me and wonder what the hell we're doing here. I mean, we only took two short trips to Charlotte before making a final decision. We tried to plan these trips out as best we could, but after our visits we realized that the only way to really get a feel for a new city is to just take the plunge and move.

The trips we took were great, and I'm glad we didn't make the move sight unseen, but to be honest we didn't really know what we were doing. I made a ton of detailed itineraries (because I am a crazy person) but there were a few times when we just threw them out the window and drove wherever we felt like.

Sometimes we looked at apartments;

sometimes we looked at houses;

sometimes we drove through the downtown area (which, in Charlotte, is actually called Uptown, but please don't ask why because I still haven't figured it out);

and sometimes we just got really, really lost.

When we returned from our first visit in May we were feeling a bit unsure about whether Charlotte was the right place for us. The city is beautiful, the people are friendly, the costs are insanely affordable. But there were cons. The city is growing rapidly which means traffic can be a nightmare and the neighborhoods we were researching weren't really walkable which would be a HUGE adjustment from our lifestyle in New York.

We decided to take a second trip in July to really make a final decision. We visited so many apartment complexes during our first visit, but nothing really wowed us. This time, we ended up finding a place that was just perfect for us. We could actually see ourselves living there. Seeing that apartment really sealed the deal for us and when we returned we started seriously discussions the logistics of moving to Charlotte.

As I've said before, the process took many months. From research to execution it was about six months. Six months of planning, traveling, more planning, packing, moving and finally... Arriving.

Making the Move to Move

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 12:24:00 +0000

Deciding to make a long distance move is not something we took lightly - especially when there was no job transfer on the table. There were years of light discussion. Wouldn't it be great to live in...? And then months of extensive research. Could we see ourselves living in...?

Most people end up where they are due to a job opportunity, proximity to family members, etc. Not us. We are just two kids looking to make a better life for ourselves.

Here are the facts:

The husband works from home, meaning that he keeps his job (and more importantly, his salary) as long as he has a decent internet connection.

Although I had a fairly good job, it was nothing I was ever passionate about and the commute was becoming increasingly stressful for me with each day that passed (over an hour each way).

We want to buy a house. Housing in our area is incredibly expensive and basically impossible for us unless we compromised on size or neighborhood. Really compromised. If HGTV taught me anything, it's that good real estate isn't that hard to find, as long as you don't live near NYC.

Less important, but still noteworthy -- We hate the cold. In fact, the husband likes to pretend that winter doesn't exist by refusing to dress appropriately. The man doesn't even own a decent winter coat, just some crappy fleece jacket. Logic, he has it. And well, with my cold urticaria I could do without the brutal New York winters.

With that in mind, we began city hunting. We narrowed our list down to a few geographical locations which pretty much consisted of anything along the east coast and Texas. The husband was (and still is) fascinated by Texas, but having never lived more than a 3-4 hour drive away from my family, I was worried about making such a huge move.

There are a few cities in Texas that are still on the table if Charlotte doesn't work out for us, but for the meantime, I needed something a little closer to home. We did extensive research into various parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Every city offered its own unique set of pros and cons, but at the end of the day, Charlotte checked off a lot of the things on our wish list. Warmer climate, a lower cost of living and an abundance of nonstop flights back to New York.

We weren't ready to make a decision sight unseen and so earlier this year, we hopped on a plane and headed down to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Don't Call It a Comeback...

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 21:34:00 +0000

Oh hey there. Sooooo I may have let this poor little blog fall by the wayside for uh, what's it been? 8 months? Ouch.

What can I say? Life got in the way. And by got in the way I mean I just quit my job and moved 650 miles away from home. Yea, I was busy. But now that the move is over and I'm unemployed I've got some free time on my hands. And that means it is once again time to flood the Interwebs with my useless drivel on things like unpacking, decorating and living in the south.

Oh and job hunting. That's kind of a big deal. Have I mentioned that I haven't been unemployed since like 1999? My husband is already placing bets on how many days it will take me before I go stir crazy so if you're up to watching this train wreck unfold we'd both love to have you along for the ride.

Nice Rack!

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:31:00 +0000

So the husband and I have been experimenting with a few different layouts in our kitchen and I think we are finally honing in on the perfect setup. First of all, I am loving the extra counter space and designated area for my espresso machine and Keurig. The problem is, with the two machines, the coffee, sugar, cups, etc. I'm not left with much elbow room to maneuver around and show off my mad coffee making skillz. This became incredibly apparent when I attempted to use both machines at the same time and almost dropped an entire bag of espresso on the floor. (Note: almost.)

There is way too much going on here.

The original plan was to purchase a nice pot rack with a shelf. Theoretically, the rack part would hold all of the shiny new pots my in-laws gave us for Christmas (but are still chilling unopened next to my bed because I had nowhere to store them [yes, this is all a true story]) and the shelf part would hold extra coffee, sugar, cups, etc. Boom. Problem solved.

Well, hello there brand spankin' new pots and pans that have been sitting in my bedroom for two months. I can't wait to meet you!

Except my life is not that easy and it wasn't until the pot rack was delivered that we realized the rack needed two studs that were 32 inches apart. The wall where we wanted to place the rack only has two studs that are 16 inches apart. Fail.

Such a gorgeous pot rack, but unfortunately it was too good to be true.

Image via Wayfair.

We rolled around a few ideas like purchasing some wood planks from Home Depot, drilling the planks into the studs and then mounting the pot rack on that, but it all seemed a little precarious and way too complicated; not to mention really time consuming and probably expensive. Fuck. That.

Then we thought we could just rotate our kitchen counter thing-a-bobber so that it was parallel with the fridge. The pot rack would fit perfectly in that space since the studs are spaced further apart on that side of the wall. Of course, the counter looked really stupid and ridiculous facing that direction so we gave up on that option too.

Finally I just said SCREW THIS, returned the damn thing like I should have done weeks ago and ordered some cheapo shelves from the good ol' BB&B. It's not perfect, but it does the trick and it's actually kind of growing on me.

Yay shelves!

Yay shelves with things on them!

I also snagged two placemats that were like a million percent off in the BB&B clearance section. They fit perfectly across the counter top so I can protect the wood from inevitable spills and other unforeseen coffee related disasters.

As for the pots? I did some more shuffling and made room for them in one of the cabinets:

Huzzah! New pots!

Now I just need to figure out where to put the god damn lids. More on that later...

Finding Nemo

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 03:15:00 +0000

Let me set a little scene for you.

It's just another Thursday morning, you finally finished up a major presentation that took up most of your time at work that week and the weekend is finally in sight. You're more excited than usual because your long-awaited trip to Disney World is just two days away. And because you were a travel agent in a past life, everything has been perfectly planned. You made flight arrangements, booked a hotel, bought park tickets, rented a car in Orlando so you can bop around town while you're there... Heck, you even set up a day-by-day itinerary because you're the best goddamn ~~travel agent~~ control freak ever. You're looking forward to warm weather, some fun rides and a couple of days away from the office with friends.

So close, yet so far.

You've been hearing whispers all week about some snow coming your way, but you're not concerned. You'll be on a plane and in 80 degree weather before any of this becomes an issue... Right?

Suddenly, the weather reports are changing from a few innocent flakes to full-out blizzard conditions. Airlines in the tri-state area are canceling flights left and right and you know that, even though it's two days away, it's highly likely that your Saturday morning flight will not be cleared for take-off. You spend hours on hold with your airline trying to change your flight, but everything is booked. All flights in the next 48 hours leaving from Philly, Boston, New York, Baltimore, even DC and going into any airport in Florida; Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville (you get the point, right?!) are booked solid. Nothing is available.

As the day winds down your blood pressure starts to rise. All the planning. All the coordinating of hotels, flights, car rentals, park tickets are down the drain due to a fucking snowstorm. Your options at this point seem bleak. As you start your commute home you receive notification that your Saturday morning flight has officially been canceled by your airline.

It seems that no matter what you try to do, your vacation is slowly slipping away. And to rub even more salt in the wound, meteorologists have appropriately named the incoming blizzard, "Winter Storm Nemo." Assholes. This is the last straw. You will not let them take your vacation away from you and mock you mercilessly by naming the storm after an adorable Disney character. Oh, the injustice.

In an act of complete depravity you send the following message to your would-be travel companions:

"I know I am being deranged and completely desperate right now, but let's just rent a car, leave tonight and drive to Orlando."

You word it carefully so when your companions completely freak out at this suggestion you can laugh it off as a joke. You realize that your traveling buddies are just as desperate as you are when one of them writes back:

"I am not 100% against that."

And so, it is done. You rush home to start packing and at 10 PM you start the drive to pick up your three co-pilots.

1 car. 4 people. 1,100 miles. What could possibly go wrong?

Mission: Accomplished!

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:05:00 +0000

Well, it took sheer determination and just a pinch of insanity to pull it off, but it's time to cross another item off of my 30 before 30 list. I just returned from five glorious days in Walt Disney World and even though I am exhausted beyond belief, I am filled with the wonder, joy and fun-filled memories that come with any trip to Disney.

I'm currently in the process of uploading eleventy billion photos so I can provide you with one of the most ridiculous recaps in the history of Romano traveling adventures, but in the meantime here's some shitty cell phone pic proof for ya:

Ah, I miss it already!

Salute.

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:30:00 +0000

You know what sucks?

What sucks is getting a call at work on a Wednesday morning that your grandfather is dying so you rush home to your husband and then you both rush to Connecticut, but it's already too late. So you spend some time with your family and then rush back home and work for two days -- if you can even call it that because you just lost a loved one and you are so numb and tired and confused that you're pretty much on autopilot. Then you go back to Connecticut for a wake and a funeral and three days of immense sadness and pain. Then the day after the funeral you are ready to get back to your routine, but your husband, who has decided that your life is not chaotic enough, comes down with the flu and you spend the next five days taking care of him all while working nine hour days with a two hour commute. Meanwhile, friends are calling to check in on you which you know is really sweet and amazing, but all you really want is just one quiet fucking second to yourself to process everything that has just happened to you.

And that, my friends, is what my life has been like for the past two weeks.

My grandfather was sick for quite some time and although it is never easy to lose a loved one, it gives me peace to know that he lived a long, happy, beautiful life and is no longer suffering. Today would have been his 90th birthday and I can only hope to live a life as fulfilling as his.

So here's to you Nonno. Here's to a man who sacrificed everything for his family. A man who came to this country with a wife, two children and one on the way. A man who started with next to nothing, but worked harder than anyone I know and built himself an amazing life in this country. A man who loved to dance, laugh, drink wine, play cards, walk along the beach and spend time with family. A man who will be loved, missed, cherished, remembered and celebrated for many, many years to come.

Buon Compleanno, Nonno.

Thanks a Latte!

noreply@blogger.com (Cristina) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:07:00 +0000

Yes, horrible, horrible pun. I know. I just couldn't help it. You see, last night I came home to find a little bit of this happening in my living room:

A few weeks ago I had ordered a kitchen cart to make my coffee bar dreams came true. It's actually been sitting around the apartment for a while because when I first went to assemble it the wood top looked like this:

I had ordered it from Wayfair and even though I was disappointed with our damaged goods, I just have to say, they are totally on the ball when it comes to replacements and/or returns. They immediately placed an order for a replacement piece and as soon as it came in the mister got to work. I had planned on assembling it myself and documenting it all for you, but I guess Jason was too excited to wait. By the time I came home from work it was almost completely assembled! He said that it was very time consuming, but the directions were fairly straight forward and he didn't run into too many issues.

As soon as it was finished I rolled that bad boy into the kitchen:

Perfect fit! I spent the rest of the evening moving things around and reorganizing our counters and cabinets. I absolutely love all of the storage space it has:

Woo hoo! I've still got a bit of reorganizing to do and I can't wait to add some shelving just above the cart, but in the meantime check out all this extra counter space.

Before:

After:

I am so excited to have a designated spot to indulge my caffeine addiction and will definitely be testing the new layout this weekend!