Making Plans and Moving On…

I moved to Dayton in 2000, and since I have been here I have met some wonderful people and done a lot of things. I like the city and the things that it has to offer. But, I knew when I moved here that this would not be where I would lay my roots. Over the past year I have been talking with a friend about moving to Atlanta. I decided about 6 months ago that once I graduate and find a job down there that is what I will do.
Upon my arrival in Atlanta I will rent an apartment, but my goal is to purchase my first house. As you all know, I love decorating, and I am very excited about decorating my future first home. As a result, I have been scouring the net to find inspiration.
Here are some of the photos that I have found. (All photos are from the DwellingGawker app).
As you all know by now, I am an Ikea lover. I constantly read the Ikea Hacker blog. Here is an Ikea hack that I absolutely love.

I currently live in a one bedroom apartment, and I have art all over the apartment. Once I buy my home I plan to go to oversized art. There is something about it that I am really attracted to.

I love how these homeowners have put images of their kids above the sofa. I plan to do this with some of my family photos. I also love the white sofa. It allows you to put pops of color and still have that clean look.

These last photos are of looks that I like. I can see something in each room that I can pull out and add to my home. As you will be able to tell by the photos, I love decorating with white!!!

Where do you get your decorating inspiration?

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

 

Happy Birthday Bestie

Today is my bestie’s birthday, and I want to take the opportunity to wish her a happy birthday publicly! She and I have been friends since 1999 and I will go on record as saying that I know without a doubt that she will walk through the fire for me. There aren’t many people in my life who I feel have my back 100%, but I never had that concern with her, which is why she is my best friend.

As all friends do, we has disagreements, but this has never disrupted the harmony of our friendship! I know that if I called and needed her today she would do whatever she had to do to get to me. Because of this, I want to thank her for always standing by me, even when others walked away. Thanks for putting up with me when I was in a bad mood. Thanks for laughing with me, and crying with me. Thanks for all the times that you listened as I poured out my hurt, my fears and my concerns. You aren’t just a friend, you have become family to me. I am closer to you than I am to some of my blood relatives!

To all of you who have a best friend, make sure you remember to cherish them. They don’t come around too often! I am thankful for mine, and B.C. I want you to know that I love you with all my heart!

Peace and Blessings,
Michelle

 

Wrapped In Tender Loving Care

When my niece Christian was born in May I wanted to make a blanket for her…something that she would have for years. I thought she would be like Linus, carrying it wherever she goes.
I have yet to make the blanket, but when my nephew Jonathan was born I thought more about blankets. So, my goal is to make a blanket for both babies while I am on break from school.

If the rain stops by the time I get off work I plan to swing by Joann’s to get some Cotton Ease yarn for both blankets so that I can get started while I am motivated.

In thinking about the blankets I knew that I would need something fast and easy. So, I went to Ravelry and started looking for blankets. I came up with four choices and I have somewhat made my decision, but I would like to know what you would choose.

Basket Weave

Ripple

Bias Blanket

Broken Rib Blanket

 

Hats Off To You…

Before I begin this post, I would like to welcome my nephew into the world. He was born on November 17th, weighing 8 lbs 8 ounces.

Ok, so now for my post. I went to North Carolina on Saturday morning to pick up my two cousins. My cousin W.S. has been wanting to visit the gravesite of Aaliyah (she is a huge fan). Since Aaliyah is buried in NY, I figured we could make a trip of it and visit my Mom in Connecticut.

While in North Carolina (which is my birthplace) I went to Walmart to pick up a NC Tarheels fleece blanket to make a no-sew blanket. That’s a project for back home.

While waiting for the woman to cut 2 yards of this fleece, I decided to wander over to the aisle with the yarn, and I stumbled across this book. I am so excited about starting some of the projects. I am going to challenge myself to do a hat a month. Hopefully I can get them done.

Here are some of the hats that I would like to work on. Of course I want to do the hat that’s on the cover.

I can’t say how well this challenge will go, but I will give it my best shot. The clock will start once I make the yarn purchase for each hat. Who knows, one or two of them might end up on Freebie Friday, which I plan to bring back in December.

Peace and Blessings,

 

Time to Reconnect

I saw this picture on Pinterest and I immediately had an “aha moment”. A mom made up this basket with a sign that says, “Be with the friends who are here”. When her children’s friends come over they have to drop their cellphones in the basket.

I thought back to my family reunion, and at one point all the people from age 14 to my age group (39) had their cell phones out doing something. It didn’t hit me then because that is the norm now, but after seeing that picture yesterday, it really made me think about how disconnected we are. Instead of going to visit friends, we text them or we Facebook them. I spend a lot of time on my phone…not really on Facebook a lot anymore, or even texting, but I spend a lot of time looking at decorating sites and things of that nature. I felt my own disconnect when I saw this picture. Even when I am with friends or family I find myself checking my phone. So, I am making the pledge to reconnect.
I want a basket just like this in my entryway, so when friends and family come over, we can honestly be present in the moment, and not tweeting or checking our statuses on Facebook!

Have you found that you have become disconnected from what really matters?

Peace and Blessings!
Michelle

 

Another year that God has kept me…

I celebrated my 39th birthday on September 27th and I am so thankful to God for allowing me to see another year. I acknowledge the fact that every moment is fleeting, so I must make the best of every moment that I have. I look back and a line from the song Native New Yorker by Oddyssey comes to mind, “Where did all those yesterday’s go?”

Although I spent my birthday working and attending Spanish class, I am thankful that I have a job to go to and that I have the ability to learn. After Spanish class T took me to Jeet India for dinner, which was very good! All in all I must say that I had a blessed birthday!

I received a few gifts this year, and I am thankful to each person who thought enough of me to spend their hard earned money on me. The woman who gave me life picked up the hint that I put on Facebook and bought me the Dooney & Bourke bag that I wanted. I am not a big designer purse person, but I fell in love with this bag!

My bestie had her gift sent to me 11 days early, so I had to go through the torture of not opening it. I did read the card though, and of course I cried. She also picked up what I was putting down on Facebook, and bought me the new ironing board cover that I wanted.

I live 5 blocks from my job, so I walk in to work. It was raining on Friday so I rolled up and jeans and walked to work with my golf umbrella. When I got to work I told my supervisor/2nd mom that I had to get some goulashes so that I don’t have to hike my pants up to walk in to work. So, she bought me a cute pair of DKNY goulashes! It is raining now so I am going to wear them to my Child Welfare class.

T asked me what I wanted for my birthday, so I gave her my Amazon wishlist. She got me a Groupon for a mani/pedi, a Groupon for the Indian restaurant, 3 of the books I wanted and some items from Bath and Body Works. I love it all!

Pledging to live more, learn more and love more this year!

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

 

It’s so nice to see all the folks you love together…

My family reunion took place this labor day weekend, so I wanted to do a posting of some pics from the event. We had a welcome home cookout Friday night, an all white banquet Saturday, church and cookout at Jones Lake on Sunday.

 

Time Just Keeps On Ticking…

I was reading Fresh Home magazine, and I came across a very interesting article.  As mentioned in my last post, I am going to help my sister-in-law decorate her new apartment next month. So, I have been keeping my eye out on different types of decor options.  When I saw the article on making large wall clocks I knew it was something that I would want to try.

I really like this one because she will be able to display her photos in this design.

I like this one because I talked about incorporating art into the decor by stretching fabric over a canvas. She has an island in the kitchen where she will be able to set up barstools. So, if I can find some nice fabric that she likes, then I can make the clock as well as give the barstools a new look.

They had this bookcase in the same magazine as well.  They had the instructions on how you could make it yourself. I wish I had the know-how and the tools to work with wood because I would definitely make this. But, I know that this can still be added to her space because they sell them. So, that will be added to the list.

I have to go to a local art store to pick up the stretch canvas wood pieces that I need to make the canvas art. I plan to pick up some cute fabric for the stretched canvas art, but I was also told that framed wallpaper, or wallpaper stretched over canvas would look nice as well. So, I guess I should start my search soon. She will be moving soon.

Can’t wait to post pictures of the final product.

Until then, Peace and Blessings!

 

Make my small space look bigger….

My sister-in-law will be moving into a studio apartment in October, and she has asked me to help her design her space. She is moving from a one bedroom to a studio, so she already has a lot of furniture. The task will be to pare down the furniture to the necessary pieces to ensure that the apartment doesn’t look too crowded. I will take pics once the plan is complete, but for now I plan to just show some things that I found online.

While searching online I found a DesignHole and they had information about how to decorate a studio apartment. So, here are the six things that they said to do:

Buy a few bold pieces instead of lots of little things.

Define “rooms” with translucent fabrics and/or area rugs.

A vibrant paint can define a separate space with-in-a-space.

Buy furniture that does double duty.

Light colors will make the space appear larger.

Finally, mirrors are an old stand-by for tricking the eye.

I am so excited about this project. I have been looking in the IKEA catalog for pieces that can perform double duty.  I will need something that can be a divider between the bedroom area and the living room area. I am also looking for nice rugs to separate the different zones.

As I was searching the web I found a cute project that I can do in her “study area”. She is a student, and she also loves photography. So, I plan to make a linen pin board for her to put photos and other items she wants to display. I found this idea over at b*spoke.  I think it would be nice to do a couple of these in different colors to match her decor.

I am going to take pictures of the space, and I will update the post after that. Once she moves in and the apartment is decorated, I will do a final blog post of the look.

Do you have any tips that you think would be helpful when decorating a studio apartment? Please feel free to share.

Peace and blessings,

 

So many days gone by…

I cannot believe that I have not done a blog post since April 8th. Oh my goodness, what is wrong with me? Well, I have been extremely busy with work, and trying to get my new shop open. I really love knitting and crocheting, and I will soon open my shop Maleia’s Closet. It was my plan to open the shop the end of May, but now it looks like it will be around the middle to the end of June. I have been making hats, market bags, and baskets, and have patterns for so many other items. Here is a picture of my friends daughter wearing one of the hats I made.

I have also been working on some new cards. Here are a couple. These and other cards can be found in my shop, Hers and Hers Greetings

While I was away my wife and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We decided to vacation in Asheville, NC, which is a lovely city. The people are really friendly, and the atmosphere is very gay friendly! We will definitely visit there again!

We went to a place called Fired Up! and painted our own pottery. We had to leave it there so that it could be fired. The package came today. I will post the results of my wife’s bank. My cup looks a hot mess. LOL

We had dinner here one night. The Sushi was excellent!!!

There was a street festival where different bands performed. The little girl in the ballerina get up was doing her thing! We got a few good laughs off of her.

In doing this post, I am realizing that we didn’t take a lot of pictures of ourselves.

I just wanted to stop by and update. My plan is to keep up with my blog. I will be back with more tomorrow.

Peace and blessings!

Michelle