The Aesthetic of Life

#FEBPHOTOADAY - Day 12

2012-02-12T23:08:00.000-08:00

12. inside your closet

This is inside the left half of our bedroom closet. In my mind, plastic drawers inside the closet is WAY BETTER than a dresser outside the closet!

Reality is, it's not. At all.

It's always a mess, and the drawers never go in all the way. This is my closet on the regular - no shame. I'm in the business of Keeping It Real.

Real Messy.

And then this is the right half of our GUEST room closet. Because apparently Brian and I can't decide on us occupying one closet each, so instead we share one half of both closets. This one I have hang-upables in, and my shoes. Which, this is probably 1/5 of what my shoe collection used to be. Except that I purchased a new pair from Target today (the box in the first picture). And another pair of hiking shoes on Friday. Don't judge me! I don't have a problem!

I REALLY hate trying to organize closets. It's such a hassle. We plan on setting up shelving units in the bedroom closet, but I don't like the look of the white wire systems, and we're too cheap for anything fancy. Curse having champagne dreams on a beer budget!

Mmmmm.....beeeer....

#FEBPHOTOADAY - Day 11

2012-02-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

11. makes you happy

That guy. Almost 8 years, and his stupid face still makes me happy.

Inspiration During The Super Bowl

2012-02-10T22:54:00.000-08:00

Sunday, I wasn't planning on going out anywhere to watch the Super Bowl. My good friend was moving, so I spent the morning helping her parents and other friends get things done (which, it only took about two hours - super impressed!). Plus, Western Washington was having an amazing streak of winter weather that I wanted to take advantage of.

But once I got home, I started going on this insane, panicky cleaning spree. Every area in the house was an overwhelming mess that would take so much time and energy to get tidied up. Every project I've been making a mental note of demanded attention at that very moment. I started getting moody and stressed and...

...all I wanted to do was munch on hot wings and chug down beer. I didn't care where, I didn't care what was going on, I was stressed and needed junk food. So, to a friend's house with my boyfriend I went for a Super Bowl party, and I ate and read between commercials. Regardless of how funny Shit Girls Say is, it's true, I watch it for the commercials.

There were a couple okay ones. Some that really annoy me (Coca-Cola, I beg you to stop the polar bear commercials. And Bud, enough with the clydesdales.)

But there was one that really caught my attention, and was incredibly effective in it's goal. The Chevy Sonic ads were intriguing, and gave only enough information to make you want to look more into it.

It included pretty much everything I really enjoy: giant skateboards, little cars, Rob Dyrdek, Buzz Lightyear's voice, and my new ~~obsessed with~~ favorite song "We Are Young" by Fun.

So, being the curious person we are, my boyfriend and I looked more into the clips included in the video - figuring there were full versions of each stunt. And that's when we came across this video, from another band that I ~~am obsessed with~~ really enjoy:

I LOVE OK GO. Since their crazy choreographed treadmill video, they just keep coming out with the smartest videos! It is such a cute song, and they are so freaking creative with their videos! I LOVE stuff like this - where people come up with such off-the-wall, consuming, creative ideas and make it look SO EASY! And fun! This video is bookmarked on my phone so I can watch it whenever I want.

It's stuff like these videos that get me super excited about what's possible, and inspires me to imagine outside of the box with my creative future, and have fun with it. If there's a passion in your art, the quality is remarkable.

Speaking of remarkable - if you watched the video of the song that was featured in the first video, this is Janelle Monae, who assisted with the vocals. And I am officially ~~in love~~ ~~obsessed~~ smitten with her! Her voice is soulful, her moves are flawless, she has impeccable style, and THAT SMILE (I have a mild fascination with straight teeth).

Doesn't hurt that Big Boi is in this video, too.

Enjoy!

#FEBPHOTOADAY - Day 10

2012-02-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

10. self portrait

Me, hiding in my puffy vest because 1. it's comfy and 2. I have such a ridiculously round face that I look like a cartoon in pictures. Positive to this photo - my eyebrow looks stunning!

If FedEx ever gets their crap together, this weekend I MIGHT have my new Canon Rebel XTi. MIGHT. So long as I receive it before the DSLR 101 class next Friday, I'll be fine. If not, I'll throw a little hissy fit and just whine about it.

Damn it feels good to be a spoiled gangsta.

#FEBPHOTOADAY - Days 6-9

2012-02-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

Seriously, I totally called it that I would forget to do the February Photo a Day Challenge - go figure!

So, to make up for lost time, I'm going to pack Days 6, 7, and 8 into today (Day 9):

6. Dinner

Tonight we are having turkey meat balls with veggies, pasta sauce, and raviolis. UGH - I L.O.V.E. ricotta filled carb pockets!!!

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7. button

Lately I've been wishing I could press this button and it magically take me away. I need an escape from life to gather myself.

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8. sun

Look, I live in the Pacific Northwest - Tacoma, WA to be exact. Although we were having some UH-MAY-ZING weather last week, this week was doodoo. So, "sun" > light > a giant, ugly, awesome lamp I purchased at Goodwill for $5. It's pinkish, and HUGE (note, it's next to a regular bottle of spray paint. No, I don't intend to paint it black....maybe). The color shows as a much richer pink in the photo, but IRL, it's a soft pink glaze. Honestly, I'm thinking white with a black drum shade?

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9. front door

My boyfriend purchased this house for us in October 2010, and it's been the best decision ever. It's not the fanciest, most unique house in the world - but it's ours. HOME SWEET HOME, the banner says! Man, just thinking about us being home owners makes me tear up a little - DAMN MY EMOTIONS!

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So there's that! Perhaps I'll get back to keeping the schedule - although I'm not all excited about tomorrow's "self portrait".

Last night I ALMOST forgot about attending an online presentation put on by AltSummit - Blogging 101. The amazing Liz from Say Yes to Hoboken discussed her thoughts and background with blogging, and how to get things started/maintained. It was incredibly amazing the women I connected with through the class, and I'm very excited to see where this all goes! AltSummit is offering online, interactive classes for those who were unable to attend the conference, or attended, but perhaps missed some of the guest speakers. So far, I've attended the Blogging 101, and have signed up for DSLR 101 and Content Is King. Tomorrow I'm hoping to sign up for the rest of the classes, because they were beneficial beyond my expectations.

Even if I don't get my life career goals in order, I for sure plan on attending AltSummit in 2013. Just need to get over this whole social anxiety thing...awkward much, Nichole? <3

#FEBPHOTOADAY - Day 5

2012-02-05T16:29:00.001-08:00

5. 10am

Love Washington on a beautiful day.

#FEBPHOTOADAY - Day 4

2012-02-04T22:44:00.001-08:00

4. A stranger
We used to be so close, spending hours together. Now, I feel like I don't know you at all. ILY HTML, can we be friends again?

#FEBPHOTOADAY - Day 3

2012-02-03T12:49:00.001-08:00

3. Hands

Glitter polish on the only nail I like, mom's ring on my pinky, holding the drink of all that is amazing - coffee! These hands can create so much, and I plan to use them.

#FEBPHOTOADAY - Day 2

2012-02-02T19:14:00.001-08:00

2. Words.

Forever learning and creating.

Learning The Art of Gradual Gratification

2012-02-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

image via

I hate waiting for what I want.

I'm a child of the technological age who has grown up having practically everything instantly. If I want a cheeseburger, I can drive down the street and get one in 5 minutes. If there's a TV show I want to watch, I can just pull it up on my TV right then and there. If it takes longer than 5 minutes to get my coffee - holy crap the world is ending (#FirstWorldProblems). My wants usually aren't delayed by time. Instant gratification - it's all I really know! And it's prepared me horribly for adulthood.

So, when I realized that I can no longer continue this existence of working for the sole purpose of bringing home a paycheck - that there's GOT to be more to this whole life thing - I'm finding myself frustrated CONSTANTLY. One moment I'll be ecstatic and filled with inspiration, feeling that the world is in my hands. Then I realize that, "Oh, I need to pay the power bill." and suddenly this lens I've been viewing my life with recently, in such a broad and colorful angle, is suddenly put into a very narrow and gray focus. The inspiration and motivation to find my passion and LIFE CAREER (which I'll maintain the use of this term for the rest of eternity) is brought to a halt as I'm pushed back into a harsh reality.

Bills need to be paid.

Debts need to be demolished.

Food needs to be put in the fridge.

And those damn cats need their wet food.

But I can't fulfill these adult needs and responsibilities without a steady income. And I'm in no position to quit my current, miserable office job now. Not without a foundation and focus of what I can create that is worth selling to the people. But I don't have the patience to figure that out - I'd have to try this and try that to see what my hands and mind and soul are collectively capable of, and that's just a lot of hard work that takes a LONG TIME! I want what I want, and I want it now!

There are so many questions floating through my head about my future:

Will I find my passion?

Will I find the patience and courage to work through my doubts and frustration?

Will I be successful?

Am I being some head-in-the-clouds asshole dreamer who needs to get back to reality, and just deal with the fact that life is meant to work in misery for those 80-hour paychecks to pay those 30-day bills?

If I am brought into my bosses office one more time and talked down to about a mistake I've made, will I be able to refrain from punching whatever is within arms reach?

These questions aren't being answered clearly enough, and my dreams aren't coming to fruition quickly enough for me to want to maintain any sense of optimism for my future as a professional creative, finding my life career. Anytime I'm brought back to reality, I take it was yet another sign that my dreams and goals are ridiculous - that I'm simply acting as a child who just can't put that damn crayon down when there are chores to do.

In order to help me stay focused on the bigger picture of my goals (work for only me, and my customers), I signed up for an email newsletter called "Crafting Your Independence with Tara Swiger". The introductory email included a recording of a phone Q&A session she held, where she talked a little about how she went from working office jobs, to owning her own yarn store (which she eventually closed, but still maintains an online business). There was one moment in her Q&A that REALLY, truly connected with me where she made a comment about why conventional work never fit well with her:

"I do not like to have to go to work by a certain time everyday. And no matter how I changed the yarn store hours, I hated having to show up at a job everyday for certain hours."

When she said this, I felt SO RELIEVED that I'm not as crazy as I think I am - that someone who was successful at following a path very similar to the one I'm hoping to pave, thinks the same as I do! THERE IS HOPE, YET! In my mind, in order for someone to feel like they are legitimately earning money and being a functioning member of society, they need an employer who dictates their hours and cuts them a check every 2 weeks. But that's just not the case - you can make a living and live fully with careful planning, and most importantly, PATIENCE, which I have zero of.

There is also a PDF she has called, "Questions to Ask Before You Do The Thing", which is prompting me to really evaluate and plan out my path to my life career. When it comes to looking inward and asking myself REAL questions, I'm terrible at it. Just writing a blog post that is cohesive from beginning to end is difficult enough. There's just too much swirling through my head, that I begin to lose my patience when trying to sort through it all.

Hopefully I can get my emotions, doubts, and thoughts in check before I give up on myself. I need to stop thinking in terms of, "I can't do this because..." and start thinking of everything in terms of, "I CAN do this because...". When my mind starts racing with doubts and thoughts with all of the reasons why I shouldn't follow my heart, I'll remind myself to "BREATH, NICHOLE! SHUT UP AND BREATH!"

Once I get my patience and planning in check, and stop doubting myself every 5 minutes, things will fall together, gradually.

#FEBPHOTOADAY - Day 1

2012-02-01T10:40:00.001-08:00

1. Your view today

My desk. So inspiring, right?

February Photo a Day Challenge - #FEBPHOTOADAY

2012-01-31T19:17:00.000-08:00

challenge and photo via

Just to be real here - don't ever ask me to do something every day that doesn't occur naturally. Sleeping, eating, peeing, breathing, I can do those everyday (for the most part). But anything outside of my body's natural control, I just flat out suck at remembering to do.

Daily multivitamins - sitting on top of the fridge with only one taken since last week.

Daily hormonal birth control - FORGOT TO TAKE IT LAST NIGHT (son of a b....!!!)

Daily workout goals - Didn't go yesterday like I'm supposed to, didn't go today either!

Brushing teeth/washing my face before bed - Ugh, it's such a CHORE!

Feeding the cats - why don't they have thumbs?

Clearly, being a responsible, healthy, clean adult is beyond me. So, of course, being the overzealous person who wants SO BAD to be that responsible, healthy, clean, AND CREATIVE adult, I see this photo-a-day challenge pop up on other blogs and I think, "Oh, that looks like fun!"

Since I have an Android phone, and Instagram hasn't gotten with the times, I'll be posting my photos on this bloggy blog of mine here, and I'll link it with the hashtag onto my Twitter. FUN!

Tomorrow I *might* do the first challenge...after I take my multivitamin.

P.S. Also, make sure to take a look at Fatmumslim's blog, because she's the cutest little Australian ever, is hosting a link party related to the photo a day challenge, and writes very insightful posts!

Embrace The Everything

2012-01-29T10:28:00.000-08:00

image via

A comment left by a friend of mine on my post about fear got me thinking - which hurts, because I lack brain power, but I thought anyway.

"I am so damn proud of you for your total honesty in putting youself and your feelings out there, especially in a time where we are conditioned to feel, based on the sugarcoated FB posts documenting everyones "perfect" lives that its somehow shameful to be struggling and going through some rough shit."

After letting her comment sink in for a while, and let it sink heavy, I realized how true it all is. I've found myself editing out and down anything I put on Facebook, in an attempt to make things appear as though it's all alright. Why? According to Facebook, these people who view my updates and pictures should be my "friends" who I want to keep in touch with regardless of where we are in the world and in life. They are even labeled as such - "Friends". Yet, I feel embarrassed to show the struggles I go through daily. That any inkling of turmoil posted onto my Wall would shatter some sort of facade I've unintentionally created about my life. Don't get me wrong, I find it equally as annoying when someone posts nothing but depressing updates about their life, like they're writing a song for Dashboard Confessional - but what is so wrong with representing your true life through Facebook? Or any other form of social media? Or in REAL LIFE, for that matter?

Why is it looked down on when people express and EMBRACE the "negative" emotions that run through everyday life?

Meeting up with friends for happy hour, I find myself not wanting to be open and honest about my life and where I am emotionally/mentally - because I've been molded to believe that expressing any unhappiness in your life automatically puts you in the "OH EM GEE she is crazy depressed and might kill herself" category. And no one likes people in that category - it's rough and sad and very, very dark. That's understandable.

But feelings of sadness, regret, anger, frustration - any "negative" emotion - is meant to be felt because they exist. If we weren't supposed to feel these feelings, then they wouldn't happen. We would always be happy - which isn't realistic for life, and neither is hiding "negative" emotions. EMBRACE them - it's an even bigger waste of energy to do otherwise! Learn how to constructively deal with these emotions - and then move on. It's not a sign of weakness to want support and gifts of guidance during a rough time - feeling these emotions creates upward movement in your soul so you can grow as a person!

My interest in this realization had me reflect on less-than happy postings I've made on Facebook or talks I've had with friends, and the types of reactions they'd conjure up. For example, after leaving my previous job, I started to realize that the new one was pretty crappy, as well. Apparently, a friend of mine didn't agree with my choice to leave the job I was in before (because they worked there, too), and made it passive-aggressively clear in the comments they'd make on my updates on Facebook.

To be completely honest, yes, I have my moments where I think that perhaps the change in jobs was a bad choice, I've EMBRACED that thought, and remember that the previous job wasn't any better on my psyche - I simply went from one depressing work situation right into another. But since these back-handed comments started popping up, and I started to recognize the feelings I'd have after reading them, my solution was to just stop posting the difficult truths of my life or talking about my thoughts on my current situation, because somehow I felt ashamed. I valued this persons friendship, and didn't want to stir the pot by confronting their words.

Now that I look at all of this from a different point of view, prompted by the blog comment above, I cannot understand why it is so bad for someone to go through a rough time in their life? Why is it taboo to confide in a friend or post something on Facebook, to perhaps gain a different perspective, or even get a little comment of encouragement just to feel loved? Perhaps even more upsetting is, what kind of people pose as friends, simply to feed off the unhappiness of those they claim to care for?

Life is a dirty bitch, bad choices are made, paths can be confusing, and the greatest thing we, as friends, as people, can do is support each other. To step back and help one another look at the bigger picture:

"Sure, there's a struggle right now, but this is simply a second in your life, and I am here for you. EMBRACE whatever it is you're feeling, for just this moment, and then let it go, because this is some crazy shit. EMBRACE that life is what it is, we feel these feelings because we were made to. I am your friend, I am not here to judge. I'm here to support you."

So, as I posted before, I'm no longer fearing people's reactions, I'm no longer fearing that I'm not always going to be right - instead I'm going to have courage to EMBRACE every aspect my life honestly, truly. And if someone finds my struggles to be laughable or entertaining, then perhaps they need to have courage to EMBRACE the realization that they are not a friend...honestly, truly.

Making Something Out Of Nothing: Tomato Tortellini Soup with Ground Turkey

2012-01-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

Not quite sure where I got this trait, but put me in a kitchen that hasn't been restocked in a couple weeks, and I will come out with a random, but crazy yummy, meal.

Last week was another example of this delicious trait of mine - I wasn't at work due to snowy conditions, and I wanted to make sure dinner was done when Brian got home from work. Looking through the cupboards and fridge, we didn't have much to work with. So, I got creative, and a soup was born.

Tomato Tortellini Soup with Ground Turkey

When putting together these meals, I don't measure - I add, then I taste; I look, and I add whatever I think is missing. So exact sizes of each ingredient will not be included, neither will technical terms. I keep it ghetto like that.

one giant can of diced tomatoes, including juice
one smaller can of diced tomatoes, including juice
a box of chicken broth
one package of ground turkey
one bag of frozen cheese tortellini
some whipping cream
some ricotta cheese
parmesan cheese
lots of garlic (if you think there's too much, add another spoonful)
random dried spices that have been in my cupboard for...forever. Probably expired (do dried spices expire???)

Directions:
Using a large stock pot, pour in canned tomatoes and broth - let simmer.
In a separate pan, cook and brown ground beef with garlic and spices. I used minced garlic from Costco - because I use A LOT of garlic. Vampires haaaate me.
Once the ground turkey is browned, pour out any grease from cooking, and put the cooked meat into the pit with the broth. Add more garlic. Seriously, my love for this stuff is ridonk.
Add some heavy cream, just enough to make it creamy looking. Like...eh...1/4 C maybe?
Allow meat and broth to simmer and cook down a little, so that it looks less like broth with tomatoes and ground turkey floating around, and more like...I dunno...something better than what you started with. I let it cook for 2 hours.
15 minutes before serving, add in the frozen cheese tortellini and bring to a boil.
Prior to serving, mix in riccota cheese and mix very well with the soup.
Pour that soupy love into a bowl, top with parmesan cheese, and go to town on it. I won't say that its the best soup ever made, but I WILL say this soup was bomb.com/delicious. Especially when there's Snowmageddon 2012 going on outside.

The Greatest Feeling

2012-01-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

There's no stronger feeling than fear. While it's said that love conquers all, fear inevitably conquers love. Fear overtakes pride. Fear can make the strongest person the weakest in the fleeting moment of a thought.

Within the past couple months, it feels that the theme in my life has been fear. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of change, fear of the constant - fear of life, really. Fear kept me in an unhappy job with a company I didn't trust, but something within me helped me to finally leave. Fear had me second guessing my 7 year relationship because of a potential move for his career, but I found something within me that looked at the brighter side of moving to a new town with new adventures.

Fear has kept me from putting my heart and soul into my passion for being creative. Anytime a handmade gift is given to someone, I do everything to not run away for fear of their reaction. Fear that they'll see every flaw in it that I see; fear that they will not understand the significance of the details. For a friend's birthday, I gave them a mixed media painting. There was an idea in my head: use it to not only motivate their current weight loss goals, but also their life goals. Add in some images that represent what they love and what they hope to accomplish in their future. Make it intentionally messy to show that nothing is perfect. Yet, fear kept me from starting that project for over a month.

One day, I got down to it, and I found something inside of me that finally put brush to canvas - and a week later it was "complete". I say "complete" because fear kept me from seeing it as such. Fear had me over analyzing my work, critiquing every brush stroke, the placement of the glued on images, the choice in paint color, the spacing of the letters I wrote with my own hand. Fear almost kept me from ever giving the artwork to my dear friend...

...but something within me made me put the painting into a bag with tissue paper, a sweet little card, and took it to my friend's birthday party.

Fear almost made me leave that party before my friend could open the gift I made for them. But, again, something within me kept me there. And my friend's reaction, along with everyone else's in the room, was nothing to fear. At all.

Today, while I sat at my desk in my windowless closet office, trying to rationalize with a coworker in an argument, I had a breakdown. I ended our phone conversation, turned off the lights in my office, and I cried.

Is my life meant to be lived in a windowless office in the basement of a hospital?

Am I destined to work administrative jobs where my daily work life is dictated by the whims of overly critical people?

Will I forever shove my creative soul deep into the pits of my existence, just to bring home a regular paycheck?

Once I calmed down, I searched my brain, heart, and soul to figure out how to live a creative life. But there's just one thing standing in the way of my dreams...

...fear.

When it comes to my creative abilities, fear dictates that nothing I do is unique/interesting/well-made enough to be worth anything, let alone worth making a living off of. Fear keeps me from realizing my niche in the creative world - could I be a master at knitting, painting, digital art, quilting, felting, scrapbooking, upholstery, interior design...?

Fear says that I am not very good at any of those things, and sadly, I believed the fear. But today, sitting at my desk, contemplating my future and how I can change it, I decided that fear is no longer a word in my vocabulary that I will use to describe my creative future. Sure, I may not be successful with every project I take on, but at least I stopped listening to the fear, and found something inside me to make that jump.

Fear will no longer trick me into thinking that an idea isn't unique enough, that the craft or art piece I just finished isn't polished enough, or that I'm not good enough to be the creative person I know I am.

Instead, I'm going to move forward with writing, painting, stitching, gluing, designing, TRYING, and I'll keep doing that until I find the happiness that I know I deserve and am worthy of. My future doesn't have me sitting around with images in my head of what I want to do and fear holding me back and telling me my ideas and skills are all wrong.

My future will be in the creative world, and I will make it my own, and I will make it my career...my life. Today, after my cry in a dark office in the basement of a hospital, I found that something within me...

...it's called courage.

My Top 5 Thrift Store Etiquette Rules

2012-01-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

The title of this post is laughable - how to be nice to others at a second hand store? Really?

YES, really. There are some common courtesies everyone should abide by to make the over-all experience much more enjoyable, and me want-to-kill-you-lessable.

1 - For the love of all that is glorious, leave your hyperactive, defiant children AT HOME.

I love kids - I can't wait to become a parent and have fun with my kids. Right now, I'm the godmother to three adorable little demons and I can't get enough of them. But, never in the 10+ years that I've been thrift store shopping have I ever seen a child behave at a thrift store - they're either running around pissing people off, or sitting in the cart crying their annoying little heads off.

The Goodwill stores in my area play a little reminder over the intercom every 15 minutes, "For the safety of yourself, your children, and other shoppers, children must be accompanied by an adult at all times." Yet NO ONE seems to listen. Their kids are speeding around on their tiny-people legs holding plastic baseball bats, chasing each other through the store and knocking items out of my hand basket. And then the parent comes around, with a sheepish smile, saying, "I'm so sorry - they just want to play all the time!" That doesn't make things alright. At all. In fact, it elicits a short of response in me that causes my hand to suddenly slap the parent's face so hard that their kids feel it. For reals.

Likewise, keeping them strapped in the shopping cart doesn't make matters any better. When kids are confined to a little shopping cart seat, they're limited on physical movements. They can't run, can't jump, can hit other shoppers with that damned plastic baseball bat. All they can do, really, is center their anger and energy into the one most effective method they can in that situation - screaming. When kids are pissed off, they cry. And when they cry, the parent yells at them to shut up. And when kids can smell the anger on their parent's breath, the child gets even more angry and LOUD. It's almost as though thrift store shoppers have no shame,

"YES, CRY, JIMMY! CRY! SHOW THE STORE HOW MUCH OF A BRAT YOU'RE BEING AND HOW I SIMPLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH YOUR TANTRUMS! RUIN THE EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYONE!"

Just take them home...just...take...them...home...

This all may seem to border on me trying to tell you how to raise your kids, but really I'm just trying to tell you how to raise your kids while you're in a thrift store. HUGE diff.

2 - Personal bubble, respect it.

Granted, the aisles in Goodwill may not be the largest, but with this knowledge, I ensure that I go to thrift stores on days with less traffic - weekdays right after work or VERY EARLY on weekends (when the store opens). That way, less people will need to mind the bubble.

One of my greatest peeves is I'll be about 2 feet away from the end of an aisle, almost done look at the section of women's large short sleeve cotton shirts, when someone comes up next to me, and starts looking through shirts, going in my direction, and then stops and stares at me to move. I get it, I don't own the damn aisle, but I don't want you close enough for me to feel your body heat, when I'm almost done looking! Don't just stand there staring at me with your stupid face, GO AROUND ME. Or, better yet, start at the other end, where I started, and go from there. Sounds petty, sure, whatever, but I don't go to Goodwill to get cozy with the other shoppers. Get out of my face and go to the other side of aisle. There have been a couple times when I'm going through the hangers of shirts, when a woman reaches across me to grab a shirt I just finished looking at. REALLY?

MY BUBBLE - GET OUT OF IT!

3 - Wait your turn

There's a rule at the thrift stores I frequent, "No more than three items in the dressing room at a time". It sucks, because I'm the type of shopper who will go up to the dressing room with a cart full of clothes. In my mind, it would make more sense time-wise to have someone take all their items into the room, and try everything on in one swoop; instead of trying on three things, putting their clothes back on, walk out to their cart, pick out three more things, repeat process. But, I understand that it helps to deter shop lifters. So I suppose I'll let it stand.

A major downside of having this rule, besides from the time, is that you are required to leave your cart full of specially curated articles of clothing out by the go-back rack. Which means that anyone and everyone can go up to your cart while you're trying on some shirts, and just take out what they want. So all that time you spent picking out some really awesome gray blazers, hoping that one might be THE one, some a-hole took a couple because they thought the cart was full of go-backs (or because they're just a soulless bastard knowingly taking your potential purchases). While having not paid for those items, I don't have any right to officially claim them, but this all comes down to not being RUDE. It happens when you're just in the aisles, too. Would you pick out items out of someone's cart at the grocery store? Then why do it at a thrift store? Again - it's like thrift store shoppers have NO SHAME - STOP BEING RUDE.

Bottom line - if you see a cart full of stuff, just leave it alone. You don't know if it's someones. Clothes on a go-back rack or in a giant blue Goodwill bin - HAVE AT IT. My cart full of jeans that, while there's a 90% chance none of then will fit over my thunder thighs, I still want the chance to try them on - KEEP AWAY. I get vicious and I bite. You've been warned.

4 - The garments down below

I can't say I've ever eye-witnessed this happen, but I have heard in the changing room once that it did, but - WEAR UNDERWEAR. A couple weeks back I was trying on a couple dresses at the Goodwill on 72nd in Tacoma, when I overheard a girl and her friend talking about the pants they were trying on. One girl commented, "Ugh, I should have worn different underwear, all I see is panty lines." The other disgusting girl responds with, "Well, you can do like me and just not wear any."

None of the willpower in the universe that could have kept me from saying, "That's f*****g disgusting."

Seriously?! It's all well and good that the thrift stores usually (depending on the store) do a quick cleaning of all their clothes with a sterilizing detergent, but that's already happened, it's not happening again, so you're re-contaminating those jeans with your nasty ass and lady parts. And, who knows if the person before you did the same trashy move of going commando when trying on trousers? Maybe the thin layer of fabric separating me from the crotch of a pair of jeans is just inflated trust, but at least it's SOMETHING.

And, yes, the lady without panties and I got into a little argument. And by argument I mean her telling me 5 times, "You ain't nothin' but a dumb bitch" and me retorting with, "And you're disgusting, sir."

5 - If they don't want to, just leave em

In the past two years, it seems as though thrift store shopping has become somewhat of a trend. I see many more hipster looking kids in Goodwill than ever before. Which, is awesome! Please, jump on the bandwagon so you can be more eco-friendly/cost-saving/re-sale-doing, but, PLEASE, if you have friends who are just not into the idea of wearing clothes that were once on the backs of a stranger or are accustomed to getting a second mortgage for a new pair of jeans, DO NOT BRING THEM WITH. It's never fun to listen to someone across the rack of pants talk smack about wearing someone else's clothes, as though it's a behavior far below their standards. As though shopping re-sale is some level of peasantry that they've yet to experience.

Don't get me wrong, I've had a smack-talking-foot-in-mouth moment a time or two with my Goodwill buddy Denice - I'd hold up the worlds most hideous sweater and ask Denice, "You need this in your closet, don't you?" And we'd laugh it up, only to look over at a 70 year old woman wearing a sweater of the same hideousness. Whoops, sorry lady!

But to demean the act of thrift store shopping is just a form of arrogance that I can't stand. There are many reasons why the shoppers are there, majority of which can't afford to shop elsewhere. Personally, I shop at thrift stores because I love the hunt, and there's a thin line between "I want to save money" vs. "I kinda can't afford not to" - but there are so many people who are down on their luck, just trying to find a warm coat to put on their kid's backs. They don't deserve to be disrespected like that.

____________________________________________________________________

Whenever I visit a thrift store, I make sure to follow these rules. While it may fall blind to most people, I hope that at least my actions will encourage others to act like well-mannered adults, instead of crying-kid-corralling-personal-bubble-bursting-in-my-cart-digging-gross-not-any-underwearing-arrogant-friend-having jerks that I seem to run into often. And, really, I am a pleasant person who loves kids. Just not during my Goodwill shopping.<3

Thrift Store Fabulous: Thrift and Shout

2012-01-17T23:49:00.000-08:00

When my mom and I moved in with my step father waaay back in the day, one memory that sticks out in my mind the most is when we went to a thrift store in downtown Auburn to get me some new bedding. Apparently I picked out a blanket, if memory serves me right it had multiple shades of pastel colors made from a soft cotton. For the longest time, it was my favorite blanket, and I think my mom finally tossed it in the trash once I hit middle school (if not before that).

Later on in life, the thought of going to a thrift store was "sooo not cool", and I stuck up my snotty, self-righteous nose at the thought of wearing USED clothes.

Please, I have Old Navy and Abercrombie to shop at, mom!

It wasn't until high school that I really started getting back into the groove of finding kick ass used clothes for dirt cheap. Mostly because I was broke, and because it was kind of a middle finger to the high school culture (such a rebel, I am!).

Now, in my mid-20s (barf), I've really embraced the art of thrifting. It's become therapy for me - for example, today was a SUUUUPER annoying day at work, and with life, so after work I decided I didn't want to go home, but I didn't want to go to the mall. So, I went to the Goodwill on 72nd in Tacoma. It's an older Goodwill, which means a larger one (why are the newer ones soooo small???), which in turn means more stuff for me to look at, and further turns into meaning that I can have time to zone out, look through second-hand goods, and chillax before heading to the crib.

Luckily, I found a pair of Marc Ecko jeans ($7), a paisley shirt from Target ($5), and a mustard yellow Caslon (NWT from Nordstrom) brand cardigan ($3). Talk about RESALE therapy! Hardy har har har!

But I digress...

Thrifting has become a therapy, a way for me to save money, and also a way for me to think more critically and creatively. While something may not look the best on the hanger, or may be a size larger/smaller than you normally wear, there are so many brands available that you can never be too confident an odd piece may not be your next favorite article of clothing.

That's why I love Thrift and Shout so much - a blog about a woman named Lindsey in Ohio who does the most amazing job at creating outfits from her thrift store finds. She also has a segment on a local news show that is all about developing a thrift store wardrobe. Plus, she's the cutest little red-head you ever did see. I just wana squeeze her, she's so itty bitty and adorable.

That's not strange, right?

Yikes...anyway...

One of my favorite outfits from her blog:

via Thrift and Shout

She totally made those tacky 80's sequin grandma dressed modern and completely wearable! It's magic, I swear. Some sort of adorable, red-headed magic....

In the same vein (ewwww), I came across a website called today Smashion, where you can trade/sell your clothes without being charged a listing fee, or other fees like eBay or consignment shops have. So far, it's checking out pretty awesome. There's the occasional Anthropologie item that I am THISCLOSE to purchasing (I love me some dresses with bikes on them!), but I am finding a lot of really ratty looking Forever 21 and Wet Seal crap - ugh, just throw it AWAY.

Well, that's my super awesome post with fashion AND thrifting - SHYEAH BUDDY!

Goooooodnight. xoxoxo

New Years List

2011-12-28T20:10:00.001-08:00

Get rid of crap from the house that I really don't need anymore.
Brave the garage to sort through THAT CRAP, too
Organize the craft room/office
Inspire myself daily - WRITE ABOUT IT
One creative thing done daily - or I will lose what little mind I have
Maintain better eating - I've done WAY better this past year, hopefully 2012 will be fine tuning
JUST. GO. TO. THE. DAMN. GYM!!!
Run for your life. Seriously.
Let the little things stay little - there are bigger fish to fry.
Get new couches that DON'T have faint scents of cat urine, kthx.
Really focus on this blogging thing
Put on my big girl panties and start up my Etsy store
Start 2012 off with the best of the best clothes I have, and any purchase I make will require they be: thrifted; brand-new, high quality that I can use for a long time; or under $10.

So, there's that. Suck it 2011, you were kinda annoying.

xoxoxo

Nichole

Hey Gurl Hey

2011-07-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Just a little update on the kitchen...

Oh yes...YESSSS. Bask in it's stainless steel glory! Ignore the dirty floors! Overlook the finger prints! It is the fancy, functioning dishwasher of my dreams and it's MIIIINE!

Wait...there's more?

Say whaaaat?! A brand new stainless steel faucet and soap dispenser?! It's gotten crazy all up in here.

Or, Brian was approved for a Home Depot card.

Regardless, I now don't have to wash dishes by hand, and no longer need to worry about the area beneath the sink flooding.

Life. Is. Good.

For REALZ?!

2011-03-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, we have yet to agree on a dishwasher. We also have yet to agree on a schedule to hand wash the dishes! It's been fun, and I'm tempted to just throw all the dishes away and just use paper plates. BUT, I am determined to be an adult, use real dishes and silverware. Maybe someday, we will finally have a machine that will wash our dishes for us.

About a month ago I started the She Art Workshop, and I can't explain how great the course was! Whenever I create art, I tend to keep things simple and clean. If the lines aren't clear or there's a smudge, I kinda freak out. The workshop enabled me to learn how to let go of my perfectionist ways with my art, and through that I was able to learn new techniques!

The things I learned in the class was applied to a gift I made for a good friend of mine - although I will say that I wasn't happy with the end result. Honestly, creating the piece stressed me out more than any other project I've ever done. He's been going through a lot in the past year, and while the art was meant to inspire him, there was also a level of intimacy behind it. Through the art I was putting myself out there to help him move through this stage in his life. Part of the art work required me to hand-write the message, and I absolutely could not see past the flaws in my writing. Since I saw those flaws, I would paint over the dark blue writing with WHITE paint, and in the end, while I did like my handwriting better, I could still see my previous attempts through the paint. In the end, I wanted to make something perfect and amazing and heartwarming, but I couldn't allow myself to relax and enjoy it.

There's also another piece I'm working on that I will be giving to a friend of mine before she moves to Germany, and it actually is a She Art Girl, as instructed through the workshop. So far I've only completed the background and the body of the girl, I still need to put on the details - but I love it already!

Outside of my obsession with crafting and art, I've picked back up on running and cross-training. Last year, about this time of the year, actually, I had started the Couch-to-5K program. I was doing it alone, which was fine, and running along a trail at Point Defiance that goes along the Puget Sound. The training went to the way-side once Brian and I started getting serious about house hunting, and then we moved, and Christmas came around, and it wasn't until a month or two ago that I started up again.

While I am excited to get back in gear, and KEEPING in the gear, it's been one of the most difficult things ever. Throughout my teenage and adult life, I've struggled with taking care of my body. Sports, while I participated because other friends were, was never important to me. My main focus in school, as well as in my adult life, is art and entertainment. If given the choice of painting or playing soft ball, I'd of course take the former. Now, I've come to a point in my life where my main focus is to find balance. Balancing work, maintaining a home (with two annoying but ADORABLE cats), making/keeping friends, health, and hobbies.

To keep my motivation up, I've joined a running group with some co-workers (although I've yet to attend a meetup! Yikes!) and I've been going to the gym with another co-worker two to three times a week. I've also been encouraging her to start running with me, through the C to 5K plan, and it's been great! She's a "down for whatever" type of person, and I like to try new things! And it's a nice time for her and I to talk and goof off, which is something I've been REALLY needing!

In line with my found-again running passion, I've signed up for two races this summer!

The first race is one that is held at different locations throughout the US - Warrior Dash! It's INSANE, and something that I've been wanting to do for a while. A couple of my co-workers and I signed up for the Sunday event, which is the day before my birthday! It's impossible to explain how excited and terrified I am to do this! Excited, because I can get dirty during and drink beer after the race, and terrified because it's HARD! But life is hard. And I feel like if I can get through the race, then I can get through just about anything!

The second race I signed up for, which is the month before the Warrior Dash, is the Sound to Narrows. I'm signing up for the 5K portion, most likely for the 8:31/mile or slower group because I've been steady at a 10:00 mile for a while now, and I don't see it getting better! But I'm fine with the slower group, because right now I want to focus on endurance, and just get out there! The route is at Point Defiance park, and it'll be gorgeous! Another co-worker of mine signed up for it as well, but she'll be pushing a stroller, so I might just hang out with her for a while, and break off with some other friends who are running with their family.

Also, the first week of May, Brian and I are going on a week-long roadtrip for his birthday! We'll leave WA and head to Las Vegas (probably stopping in Boise to see my parents, depening on when we leave WA), stay in Vegas for two nights, drive over to Santa Monica for a night, then shoot up to San Francisco for Cindo De Mayo, and finally get to Portland in time for the Midnight Movie at Bagdad Theater (where they are playing Brian's favorite movie - The Big Lebowski!). We'll stay in Portland for the weekend, doing a tour of the famous food carts, and head home on Sunday. At this point I'm more stressed than excited, because it'll be a lot of money and planning to make it all happen - but it's the last time we'll have a real vacation for a while, so it'll be totally worth it!

Now that I'm done icing my shins after tonights workout, time for me to hit the shower and go to bed! Till next time!

Being An Adult

2011-01-31T11:36:00.000-08:00

Brian and I have yet to buy a new dishwasher, but there's a model in mind ~~that I told Brian to buy~~ that we both agreed was our best option! We were going to purchase a dishwasher from Home Depot, but Brian knows a guy who owns a furniture/appliance store here in Tacoma, and he said he'd give us a "deal" if we buy a dishwasher...and a washer and dryer. More money up front, BUT, if it's a good enough deal - we'll be going to him!

So since we didn't get a dishwasher this weekend, our Sunday was uneventful. At 4 in the morning, after a 3-hour nap, I drove a friend to the airport so she could see her husband, I got home around 5:30AM, Brian woke me at 11 to go get breakfast, and I went back to bed till about 4. Lazy - yes. Delightful to not do anything but rest on a Sunday - absolutely!

This week I signed up for The She Art Workshop, which is an online course to learn new techniques in multimedia art. It starts Feb. 28th, and I'm super excited to get started!

It's important for me to have a creative outlet to serve as a therapy. The beginning of 2011 has been rough, with my best friend of 10 years having moved to Missouri (or Misery, depending on how you look at it), with our other very very close friend moving with her husband to Germany in March. These two women have served as my rocks for so much, and them not being with me physically will be amazingly difficult to heal from. By no fault of theirs, I've used the two of them as an excuse as to why I don't make more friends.

"I have D and R, I don't need anyone else..."

And now, here I am, without the two of them, and I'm...lost. Now my Friday nights and Saturday afternoons are void of anyone to really waste time with. If I want to get dressed up and go to an adult prom, I really won't have anyone to be down with that. Brian scoffs at the idea, and I'm not close enough with anyone else to feel comfortable being that level of dork with.

So, because of this huge void that their reloation has made, I felt that diving head first into a community of arts and crafts will be a brilliant idea! Not only will I be able to funnel my emotions into a creative outlet, but in the process meet and (my social anxiety permitting) make some new, like-minded friends!

I'm hoping in March to sign up for the Soul Restoration class offered on Brave Girls Club, as not only is it about creating art, but using art as a form of self-healing - which is EXACTLY what I'm looking to do! There's been so much good feedback from the class, and I am ITCHING to heal this lost soul of mine!

Brave Girls Club also offers a daily email containing a "Daily Truth" - here's a glimps into today's truth:

"Dear Unique Girl,

The very thing that may make you stand out, make you feel preculiar... and maybe even sometimes a little bit like an outcast...is probably the thing in your life that will have the most impact on others...as well as yourself."

It's truely inspirational and moving to read these truths everyday, and can connect with how TRUE it is! Usually I'll forward them to a couple girls at work, just as a little pick-me-up to get through the day!

Be brave!

Black Hole

2011-01-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

Since we've moved into the house, Brian and I have sort of lucked out when it came to appliance - the range, fridge and microwave were all brand new. The dishwasher was in working order, and even though the house didn't have the washer and dryer installed in the laundry room, at least there was a very used set in the garage, eagerly awaiting to wash and dry our garments!

About a month after moving in, the washer decided to die on us. Brian and his step dad looked into buying a new one, but with it being within days of paying our first mortgage payment, and still trying to pay off others things related to the move, we were sort of SOL! Luckily, a good friend of ours had a washer in his garage that he was looking to donate, so instead he brought it over to us! Granted, it makes a terrible screeching sound when the spin cycle ends, but it works!

Then, shortly after, the dishwasher decided that it didn't want to wash our dishes anymore. It would fill up with water, and do the drying, but that's about it. So, for the past couple of months, we've been using it as a drying rack for when we hand wash. I have no problem with hand washing the dishes - especially since I have an awesome window in front of the sink - but there was standing water inside the dishwasher, and I saw yesterday that it was starting to grow mold.

THAT, I have a problem with.

So Brian took out the dishwasher, and now we're left with this:

A beautiful iPhone picture of the beautiful garbage bag/painters tape hole that is where a dishwasher used to be! Mostly to keep the cats out - there is a capped, although still LIVE, wire hidden back there. And, I didn't want to look at what's left over from him tearing that sucker out!

So now we're on the hunt for a new dishwasher. This will be our first major purchase for the house, and it'll be a tough one! My car has been paid off just this past week, so now we have extra cash in the pool to go towards something that we want, not something that will simply just do.

Items to consider:

Is it worth going energy efficient? Apparently there's a tax break for those, but I've also read that the appliances being made now are just as efficient as the Energy Star ones, they just don't have the special sticker?

The brand new fridge and stove are both white, but I'd like to eventually go stainless steel. Should we get a white dishwasher, or get the stainless steel for when we eventually DO replace the other appliances - which could be 2-3 years later?

Is it worth going name brand, or are the lesser brands comparable? I'm thinking about going GE, simply because I feel like I can trust the name, and because there are certain features that I like.

We're thinking of going to Home Depot, is Sears Outlet a better option? Usually they don't offer all the same appliances as what's in other stores.

Brian doesn't really care what we get, so long as we can afford it. I'm trying to get the best dishwasher for our money! We're trying to be ADULTS here, people!!! :)

And, a friend just told me that we need to save receipts for tax write off next year! Everyday, ya learn something new!!

The Humble Abode

2011-01-22T12:47:00.001-08:00

This week has been full of sniffles, sneezes and a one-night event of a super high fever, resulting in an ice bath! No motivation to do much except sleep, and watch lots of Star Wars.

As promised, more pictures of the house! Since these are photos from the listing online, you can see what I mean that the pictures distort the rooms a bit - they really aren't as long as the pictures suggest!

Without further adieu -

The living room! Door to the right is the front door, with our wood-burning fireplace to the left! Brand new carpeting with brand new wood flooring in the entry, and a really nice light tan color paint throughout the house.

Another view of the living room from the front door. The entry to the left of the picture is the dinning room - go to the right in the dinning room and you'll go to the kitchen; go to the left and you'll enter the hallway that takes you back to the bedrooms and our 1 bathroom.

Kitchen! Appliances were added after the pictures were taken - a fridge consumes the empty part of the wall at the end of the cabinets (right side of the kitchen), with the stove under where you see the microwave (under the upper cabinets). The sliding glass door goes out to our patio/backyard.

The "Man Cave"! This used to be the garage, which explains the step into the room. The open door on the right goes into the living room. Behind where the picture was taken is another large picture window that faces the front of the house (sharing the same wall as the front door and living room picture window). The other entry in the middle of the picture is the small, but very useful, laundry room, which has another entry to the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. If you were to walk out the door from the laundry room into the hall way, you would turn right and face the dinning room/kitchen.

Our main bedroom! Small, but cozy. Brian and I don't require a gigantic room, since we don't need to make our room multi-use anymore! It can now be just the BEDROOM. The closet is to the left, the window faces our neighbor to the east (and their RV), and the wall shares the driveway to our garage.

The 2nd bedroom, about the same size as our main bedroom, but its the one closest to the Man Cave/laundry room/dinning room. The window shares the same wall as our bedroom window, which shares the same wall as the driveway to our garage. Out of sight, and on the right is the closet. The wall to the left shares the same wall as the entertainment center in the Man Cave, with the picture being taken from the bedroom door.

Probably my most favorite room in the entire house - the hobby room! The picture is being taken against the wall that the closet is on, which shares the same wall as the bathroom. The sliding glass door is on the south side of the house, with a view of the garage wall (fantastic, right?). There's a window on the right sharing a wall with the back patio, with a view of the backyard, the rest of the neighborhood (since we sit on a hill), tree tops when I'm sitting at the computer, amazing sunsets on a clear day and sometimes the air force base if we're lucky! The door on the left leads to the hallway, and you can see through to our main bedroom - both our master bed and hobby room are the two southernmost rooms in the house. I have my craft supplies, sewing machine, computer, and giant bookcase all set up in here right now. Brian wanted this to be a "shared" room, but he gets his giant man cave AND a huge garage - so I commandeered the "hobby room". I might paint it pink...

The laundry room - which has an entry from the hallway or the Man Cave. The door on the left goes into the hallway (you can see a glimpse of the entryway to the dinning room!) with the picture being taken from the entry from the Man Cave. To the right and out of sight is the water heater, with floor to ceiling cabinets! When we bought the house, the washer and dryer were in the garage for storage, so we thought, "Well, this is a pretty nice sized laundry room!" That is, until we actually isntalled the washer and dryer. When you open the dryer door, is reaches to the opposite wall with no room to stand in front. Brian wants to close off the entry from the Man Cave, but I told him that ain't gonna happen unless we do a major overhaul of this room! I need a stackable washer and dryer, or at least get a stacking kit for separate washer/dryer. Once we get that, and re-arrange the cabinets, we could even turn this into a half-bath! Just a toilet and sink, which is really all we need!

Speaking of the bathroom! Here it is! View from the door - what you see is what you get! The wall with the toilet and sink share the same wall as the dinning room, with the window in the shower facing the patio/backyard, and the wall on the left sharing with the hobby room! It was completely remodeled, and I love it! Granted, its a small size, but it's enough for us to get done what we need - we're rather practical people! Only issue is the use of the potty, since Brian is known to use a lot of time up in there, if you know what I mean! That's why it's so critical for us to get the laundry room re-done, so that we can work on getting plumbing done in there, and have it be a 2nd toilet and sink!

THE GARAGE! This is a monster of a garage, too! For sure a dream for Brian! The top photo is taken from the opposite corner as the bottom photo - top taken from the south east corner; bottom taken from the north west corner. As you can see, there is storage at the top, all around the garage. Right now we have all of our other boxes and Christmas decorations up there, which is ideal! And even though we have so much stuff up there, it really only takes up one side of the overhead storage in the garage! The rest he can use to store parts, or have a sectioned off area for his friend's kids to hang out when they come over with their dad (and I'm not home to watch them in the house). Any of the old cabinets used inside the house have been re-purposed for the garage, which I love! The garage is taller than the house, and just a couple square feet shy in size of the house, as well! The usable area in the garage is tall enough to lift a car, and from what we've found so far, the attic could be finished into additional space for protected storage. This thing is so massive that we currently have three cars in there, with room for another car and still have room to open all car doors, lift the cars if needed and work around them....it's....ridiculous. Seriously!

The patio/backyard, picture taken from the sliding glass door in the kitchen! The patio at this point is just a slab of cement, with the gravel RV parking on the west side, shed directly in front on the south side, and you have access to the garage to the left of the shed. The far corner, in the middle of the picture, is where we would like to put raised beds for a fruit/veggie garden, but the land slopes - so we'll have to figure out something else! The patio is really a great size, and I can see us having our friends with their kids over to hang out and BBQ during the summer, and maybe set up a bedsheet on the shed to project movies onto during a warm summer night! There's so much we can do, and it's all so exciting...and VERY overwhelming! :)

View of the backyard from the sloped south west corner of the property - shed to the right, entry to the garage right next to that, followed by the sliding glass door to the hobby room, window in the hobby room, window in the bathroom, sliding glass door to the kitchen and another view of the RV gravel parking. We plan on replacing all the dead grass, AND THE GRAVEL, with either new grass or grass seeds. Depends on when we can get that project started. The yard is a decent size, and will be even more usable once we replace the gravel. We MIGHT keep a patch of the gravel that connects to the patio for maybe a fire pit, but we'll see.
Another final view of the gravel RV parking. The gravel was freshly laid when the rest of the house was updated for selling, so I wonder if the original owner stored cars on that side of the house, and the ground was ruined? Regardless, Brian and I have no intentions of getting an RV anytime soon, and if we do, there is plenty of space on the other (east) side of the house to store an RV. There aren't pictures of the driveway to the garage, which is why Brian was at firs not interested. By the looks of the above picture, we thought that you would have to use the gravel drive way to move cars in and out of the garage, leaving NO area for grass or kids to play! But once we saw the house, there is a dedicated drive way for the garage, and we can use this space for lush grass and a garden! :)

For a slightly better idea of how the house is positioned, here is a super crappy MS Paint drawing of our house/property!

Light blue lines = windows
Brown lines = doors
Dark blue lines = sliding glass doors
Tan areas = carpet
Brown areas = wood floor

Gray solid = cement

Gray spotted = gravel

Green spotted = dead and/or dying grass

If we had even this crappy MS Paint map of the house, I think Brian would have been more accepting of viewing the house. Also, don't think that the bathroom is really that big - room's are grossly disproportioned in this drawing! :)

We have major goals of renovating the laundry room, and better organizing the hobby room. So future posts will hopefully hold amazingly boring pictures of "during" renovation, and concluded with awesome photos of "after"! We also want to get started soon on cleaning up the yard/gravel pit!

The house has it's flaws, but they are nothing that we can't work around or live with! We are so fortunate to have found this house, and living in it for the past couple months we just feel like we belong here! It flows well, we have our own space when we need it and theres so MUCH STORAGE!!!!

So, here's to the future!

Third Time's a Charm!

2011-01-18T23:10:00.000-08:00

How about we skip the excuses of why I haven't posted in just shy of a year, and move on with our relationship, 'kay? This'll be my 3rd time trying to write a blog, maybe it'll work out?

2010 proved to be somewhat uneventful - we had moved in fall of '09 into a split level house in Tacoma with two roommates, and that ended up to be the worst AND best choice we made. Bad - because the roommates ended up being irresponsible idiots who couldn't seem to pay rent; Good - it prompted Brian and I to really focus on buying ourselves a house.

It all started one very warm, bright and happy Sunday in July. Brian was in the drive way washing his car, I was sitting on a blanket in the yard next to him reading a magazine. Suddenly I wanted a coffee, so I drove yonder to the nearest coffee stand, purchased myself an ice latte, and drove a different way home - kinda of a backwards way, but I wanted to avoid turning left on a busy road! Taking that route might have been the catalyst of a 3 month hunt for our new home.

Around the block I noticed a very cute and modestly sized craftsman home for sale - craftsman homes being my ABSOLUTE WEAKNESS IN LIFE. The large inviting front porch that could be used as a 2nd living room during the summer, the charming built-ins, the cabled windows on the second floor, just EVERYTHING about a craftsman home makes my heart go pitter-patter.

When I got back home, I quickly used my new-fangled computer-phone to look up the listing. The house was a 4-bedroom, 2-bath craftsman built in the 1920's, with a very small yard, and a pathetic excuse for a garage. The listing admitted that the home itself was a bit neglected, but the bones were good. In my mind this all translated to, "ITS A PERFECT HOME FOR YOU TO PRACTICE YOUR HOME DECORATOR/DESIGNER SKILLS!!!!"; Brian's mind translated this into, "Lots of work after work, and you'll be w

orking during the day to pay for the extra work you'll be doing at home. No thanks."

Brian reluctantly checked the house out, and while we both ended up agreeing to pass on that venture, it did peak his interest in IF he could even get a loan to buy a house.

That curiosity lead him to a lender, who then approved him and lead him to a real estate agent, who then lead us to the most FANTASTIC and understanding home inspection officer. The lender, agent and inspector were probably the most amazing people we could ever ask for to assist in the very unnerving and incredibly e

motion process of first time home buying.

Our agent sat us down, and asked what it is we each would like in a home.

My major wants were:

Fire place
Front porch (substantial; NOT a stoop)
Flowing floor plan (preferably open-floor plan)
A large and functional kitchen
3 bedrooms
Decent sized back yard

Brian's major wants were:

Big garage
Big garage
Big garage
A room with a toilet

While I had some pretty specific qualifications for a home to make me smile, Brian was fairly easy to please. Although, he did lean towards ranch-style homes, where it's a single floor and the rooms are divided (i.e.: not open-floor plan).

Another element that made our home search a little....challenging...was the fact that we were going through a city program to assist us with the down payment. The stipulations were that the house be in certain pocket neighborhoods of Tacoma. Also, since the down payment assistance was an FHA loan, the house had to pass a certain inspection to ensure that it's move in ready (not having to replace the roof, the foundation is in prime condition, the siding doesn't have rot - basically all major elements of the home don't need to be replaced).

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The first home we looked at was a rambler/ranch-style home with a somewhat open floor plan. It was a couple blocks from Fred Meyer (local grocer), was fully fenced with three bedrooms, two baths, a fireplace, room out front to build a porch, a decent garage and a back yard that would be a clean slate for our green-thumbed dreams! The house was very VERY cute, needed some fixing up, but the one killer for me was the kitchen - it was a galley kitchen. Meaning, you have counters and cabinets to your left, counters and cabinets to your right, and no other space to really put much of anything.

Example of a galley kitchen:

While some people may prefer this layout for their kitchen, its one that I find difficult working in. I need my workspace to be continuous so I can see EVERYTHING when I take a step back and the flow just WORKS for me. It was a struggle to tell Brian, "No, I don't like it" because I tried all I could in my little head to figure out how to rework the kitchen either by extending it into the dinning room, and not have a formal dinning room, or extend it the other direction and get rid of the family room, and just live with having one living room. No matter how I tried planning out the kitchen I would want, in the end, it wouldn't have worked without an absolute overhaul of the south side of that house due to sliding glass doors, the door to the garage, windows, walls and just EVERYTHING.

We passed on that house, which was fine because it was literally the first house we looked at - in person or otherwise.

Move forward about a week later, and our agent wants us to see a house that fits my little wishlist.

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House 1: Craftsman style home with an ADORABLE front yard, mature landscaping, front porch, fireplace with built-in bookcases on either side, an old, but for sure remodel-able kitchen, 4-bedrooms, 1-bath, a super private back yard, and a very VERY dilapidated garage. The house was also just feet away from a quiet and well-kept city park with a running trail, playground and tennis court. When I saw the house, I fell in love instantly! Surprisingly, even considering the joke for a garage, Brian loved it too! It had character, it was cozy, the backyard and landscaping were a DREAM, and it was wellllll below our budget.

We decide to put in an offer at about 2 thousand above asking price, and scheduled an inspection. The inspection was scheduled for when I would be out of town visiting my mom, but luckily Brian and his mom were able to attend with our agent. That day, Brian called me with upsetting news that the house wouldn't pass for an FHA loan, which would mean that if we do decide to go with it, we would have to come up with all of our down payment, which wasn't an option at the time.

So we moved on.

Our agent sends us a couple houses to look at online, and none of them really fit the bill. We still had the first house stuck in our minds, and most of what she was sending us either didn't have a garage, or just looked like a boring box. Brian wants the function, I want the charm.

For a couple weeks we went back and forth with our agent, her sending us listings to consider, us sending her listings to get information on. In the span of a month we had PHYSICALLY looked at about 5-15 houses within 2 days every week. For a couple who decided to buy a house out of curiosity, we became VERY serious and committed to it.

We looked at homes that didn't even apply to EITHER of our wants - one home only had 2 bedrooms, no garage and a STOOP (I HATE STOOPS!). Another house was in northern Tacoma across the street from a hospital, literally had a bus stop in the front yard and the cement shower in the basement was straight out of Silence of the Lambs. The last half of our search in Tacoma was laughable at best, horrifying at worst.

After a month, we had pretty much exhausted our searching criteria, and were about to give up on our search, sit back and save some money for a full down payment, and approach the next search without the restrictions that come with FHA assistance.

Then, being the resourceful and committed agent she is, we were given the suggestion of looking into a down payment assistance program with the COUNTY, rather than the city. We would have the same strict guidelines for the condition of the home, but we could start looking at homes outside of the Tacoma and Lakewood city limits. While we wanted very much to stay in Tacoma (thanks to it being the epicenter of anything and everything we ever want to do on our time off from work), we decided to give it a try and see what we can find.

If you were to go towards Seattle, the area encompassing the city limits is your traditional suburban atmosphere - pockets of nice homes with a grocery store every couple blocks, maybe a couple nice shopping centers, nice restaurants and parks where you can let your yappy little dog shit everywhere while you sit in your SUV waiting for your child to get out of cheer leading practice.

In Pierce County, the areas surrounding the city are considered more rural than suburban. The homes are older (maybe, 60s/70s ramblers), the properties larger and more spread out, you only have your shopping on one major road, and it takes a little longer to get to where you want to go. The options for dinner out or date night is limited to going "back into the city", even though the city limits is just two miles down the road from you.

Since the area is structured in that way, we were a bit hesitant to start looking for homes around the county. We were either going to find much older, rambler style homes, or brand new homes that don't require you to even leave the house to borrow sugar - you could just reach out your kitchen window and into your neighbor's. Neither of those options were at all appealing to me.

Our agent sent us a couple homes, most of them appealing to Brian's needs and not so much my wants. Which, in all honesty, is acceptable because he was the one with the loan, but I would be the Suzie Homemaker!

After Brian and I debated on which homes were acceptable to either of us, we agreed to meet our agent at a home in Parkland, just south of Pacific Lutheran University.

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House 2: A home that was originally a rambler, with a finished attic, 2-bedrooms, 2-bath, an awesome laundry room, walk in closet in the main bath/bedroom, confusing living room/kitchen situation, a PERFECT back deck (no yard) for entertaining, and a garage that would make Tim "The Toolman" Taylor moan like a gorilla. It had three bays that were tall enough to fit a camper inside, with a 4th smaller bay that had a friggin BATHROOM IN IT. There'd be no reason for Brian to leave that damn garage!!! It...was....beautiful.

The inside, though, had the most confusing layout. The upstairs, while finished, wasn't very usable because the previous owner kept the slope of the roof same - meaning that I'd be the only one able to walk upright in that room. The living room, we think, was an addition because it was a square area that was separated from the rest of the house with french doors. The french doors opened into this...I suppose..."hallway" and kitchen. The kitchen was the biggest area of the house, and probably the largest galley kitchen I've seen. In short - I wasn't much enthused about the layout of the house, but the rest of the property and the garage were what sold us.

We put in an offer, with the house being in the middle of our price range, and we scheduled inspection NUMBA 2!

The inspector and our agent scheduled for just after I got off work and just after Brian would get back in town after he was off work. So, I headed over to the house, and was there before Brian and his parents did. When I walked up to our agent, she had a very sad look on her face, and I knew this was another no-go. The foundation was GARBAGE. The inspector was actually shocked to see that a large hole in the foundation was covered up with a piece of plywood painted with cement - trying to camouflage the issue? Our agent was so SOOOO nervous to tell Brian the bad news when he showed up, because she knew just how much he wanted this house. After all the homes we looked at, already going through one bad inspection, this was going to break him.

So Brian shows up JUST after his mom gets there, and luckily she told him with our agent that the house wouldn't pass. The siding was also bad, and there were spots on the roof where the "addition" was made that was leaking. His dream garage, and my nightmare of a floor plan, is now off the plan.

Brian and I debated for a couple days on if we even wanted to continue with the search. We kept saying, "Third time is a charm! THIRD TIME IS A CHARRRRRMMMM!!!!!", but inspections cost money each time we have one done, and while we were SO fortunate to have an inspector who discounted the cost for us, we didn't want to run our luck out with him.

We told our agent that we wanted to take a break from looking, but if she found anything that she felt would be WELL worth looking at, to give us a call.

A week later, not wanting to give up completely, I found another house in Parkland, this time just north of Pacific Luthern University, that I was very interested in seeing in-person. The pictures were taken with a slight fish-eye, so I couldn't fully comprehend the general size of the rooms, or even the layout for that matter. But, the one thing that I kept pointing out to Brian was that the garage was detached and looked VERY spacious. So much room for activities!

Brian's thing was that the pictures didn't look worth-it, and the asking price was slightly over our price-cap. BUT, being the nag I am, I kept pointing out the garage, and that we should at least take a look.

We send the listing to our inspector, she does her magic and within a couple days we're inside looking at the house. It had only been on the market for a couple months, and only had 3 viewings. My theory is that most people were put off by the listing pictures - they SERIOUSLY did not do this house justice.

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House 3: Rambler style home, a 3+ car detached garage, 3-bedrooms, 1-bath, wood burning fireplace in the main living room, the attached garage converted into a family room/man cave, remodeled kitchen, brand new carpet throughout, remodeled bathroom, and a fully fenced property just shy of .25 acres.

This house seriously had EVERYTHING we both were looking for (except for the obvious Craftsman style - but I kinda got over that desire about 10 houses into our search). The rooms ended up being larger than what the pictures suggested, there was a laundry room (which most of the houses we looked at didn't have) and the garage, while not as amazing as the one on House 2, was clearly a garage built for a car fanatic. The amount of power being pumped into the garage alone could support an entire 2nd household, and I think THAT was the ultimate selling point for Brian. For me it was the kitchen, the 3rd bedroom that would work PERFECT for a craft room/office, and the fact that the way the property sits, we have a lot of privacy in the back yard. It was also only a couple blocks away from the air force base, so Brian and I had visions of sititng on the roof in July to watch the airshow.

Unlike the other homes, we decided AT THE HOUSE to make an offer. We went lower than asking to see if the seller would bite, and we ended up getting into a slight bidding war with another potential buyer. The time it took to get an answer from the seller on if they chose us to work with was probably one of the most stressful weeks in our lives. The other two homes we made offers on were very nice homes, but the 1st one had everything I wanted, and lacked what Brian wanted. The 2nd home had everything that Brian wanted, but lacked what I wanted. THIS home, however, was a perfect combination of all the things Brian and I found to be important to us when buying a home, and just VIEWING the house, we felt like we NEEDED to be there.

We wait longer, and we get a call from our agent - the buyer wants to work with US!!!! BUT, they didn't accept our offer. We ended up getting back up towards the asking price, which was a bit over our budget, but the interest rate Brian would be getting for the loan would be so low that it wouldn't kill us. Plus, with the house being remodeled, the money we would be "saving" on a less expensive house would be spent on remolding it, anyway. So regardless of the price, we'd be spending about the same.

While the whole bidding debates were going on, we had our inspection scheduled. This time around, we wanted it to just be US at the inspection - no family, no friends.

During the inspection, Brian walked around the house with our agent, a little nervous because this will be the 3rd house we've made an offer on and have had an inspection done to - it's not just money riding on this working out, it's all of our hopes and dreams. The inspector dealt with me following him around asking questions, being a 5'5'' sack of stress and emotions. He viewed the roof, it was good. He checked out the siding, no rot. He inspected the attic, all good. Finally he gets to the foundation and the crawl space, which was the ONE thing on the other two houses that were the killers of the deal. He looks around the house at the foundation, the vents, the crawl space, makes sure there aren't any dead bodies hiding under there, and after what felt like an eternity he comes back out, with his little clip board in hand and space suit on and says, "Well......................looks like we have a winner here, kids!"

IT PASSED INSPECTION.

Almost flawlessly! There were very VERY minor things of getting the entry to the crawl space covered, steps installed for the back sliding glass door, and a couple other things, but all that we cared about was that IT PASSED.

Some time passes, Brian gets everything finalized with the lender in getting his ridiculous low interest rate of 3.something% and we are looking at moving into OUR new house. JUST US. NO ONE ELSE.

We moved in October, and have been here for about 4 months now, and I don't think that's it has completely settled in yet that, WE OWN THIS HOUSE. If we want to paint or tear down a wall, ITS OK! If we want to put a pool in the backyard, LANDLORD CAN'T STOP US. And, the most important part of all, NO ROOM MATES (well, other than the cats). It's euphoric to think about, and even more so when we talk about the future we have in this house. We are going to get married while living here, and hopefully bring our first born child into this home. It's beautiful, and no amount of works for exclimation points can fully express my gratitude for the way the planets aligned during this process where, honestly, THIRD TIME WAS A CHARM. If the other two homes had passed inspection, we would be living in a home that either one of us didn't really like, and we'd be dealing with remodeling the place before we could actually LIVE in it. But, because fate did it's work, we were matched up with the house that was perfect for us - functional, stylish, modest, and with enough of a blank slate to allow us to customize in the future (I REALLLLLLLY want to remodel the laundry room SOOOOOOOOOO BAD!)

Tonight (or, this morning...whatever...schematics), I leave you with just one picture of the front of The House That Was Meant-To-Be:

BASK IN ITS GLORY!!!!!!!!

Just You Shut Yo Mouf...

2010-02-09T11:02:00.001-08:00

Ann Taylor Loft

The new J. Crew?

This picture, right here, is love...