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

 

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things…

I am back to share some of my favorite things with you. I surf the web quite often, and when I come across things that I like and want to purchase, I keep them in a folder on my laptop. Here are the items that I have chosen.

Etsy always has marvelous stuff. I am going to purchase these earrings from AFroDisiacs. These are HOT!

Saw this card on Etsy, and wanted it to be my Christmas card this year. I contacted the shop owner and asked if she could changed the man to a woman. No go. She stated that she is only making the one letterpress card this season. How cute would that have been?

When I move into a two bedroom apartment I plan to order some of these new address notices. I think they are so cute. You can find these and other custom cards at Jack and Ella Paper

I have been looking for some cute coasters. I think I will get some different letterpress coasters for different seasons. Like these from Moontreepress.

Although I don’t do it often, I do crochet. So, when I saw these I knew that I wanted to attempt to make some for my niece. I will start them on my winter break.

I am currently saving my wine corks, and asking friends to do the same so that I can make a few of these. They would be lovely during the winter when there is snow on the ground.  This picture was posted on Pinterest by my twitter friend FlyCoolChick. The tutorial can be found on the blog Two Twenty One.

I also have friends saving toilet paper rolls so that I can make this next piece of art. I never would have guess that is what made up this item. Found on Pinterest.

FlyCoolChick also posted these wine racks on her Pinterest page, and I plan to purchase two from Crate and Barrel to mount on my wall.

What are some of your favorite things?

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

 

Revisiting my bucket list

I started a bucket list a couple years ago, and I must say that I have not been working on clearing things off that list. So, when summer quarter is over I am going to sit down and revisit that list. I will scratch off what has been done, and add some new items.
I have been wanting to travel more lately, so you will definitely see a lot or travel related items on the list. One will be to see Tian Men Shan in China.

Have any of you made a bucket list? If so, what are some of your top priorities?

Peace and Blessings,
Michelle

 

Household changes…

My wife and I have been discussing making changes to our home. The first up on the list is to paint the living room. She has been wanting a yellow accent wall since she moved in.  So, that is project number one. We went to Lowe’s and picked out some samples. There is one color that I would like to get from Home Depot. I had the color swatch for it, but would want her to see it on the wall. So, out of the four we have up, let me know which one you like.

My wife picked yellow from a chair that we have in the living. The sofa is red, but the pillows on the sofa match the color of the chair.

Of course once I paint the accent wall, I am going to need to paint the rest of the room. I am thinking antique white, with crisp white trims. I will probably end up painting each room in the house. It’s time for a nice new coat.

Other projects will include tearing up the carpet in living room, tv room, and the guest bedroom. Hopefully the floor underneath is in good shape. If not, we will need to look into having the floors done. We plan to turn the guest bedroom into the baby’s room once we get closer to adopting. My own personal project is in the basement…turning one side into my craft room. I will post pictures of that as I start and work through the project.

Once we have picked a color, I will load pics of our progess.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Go Saints!

 

Oprah

My wife and I are huge Oprah fans…I think my wife is moreso. For the past few years we have been trying to get tickets to the show. A friend let my wife know that reservations were open for the show. So, myself, my wife, and our friend went online to submit our names for tickets. In addition to yourself, you can bring 3 other people.

I woke up at 5:30 am for work. I check my email every morning. I received an email stating that I had been granting tickets. In my excitement, I ran upstairs to wake my wife and let her know. She checked her email, and she received the “sorry” email, so had our friend. So, against I don’t know how many odds, my name was chosen. On Wednesday, January 13, 2010 we will sit in the audience of a woman we all admire.

I just started my 101 in 1001 list on the 1st of January, and on Wednesday I will be able to cross number 12 off my list. Yes!

We are all excited, and cannot wait. We plan to document the entire journey, so I will post pics when we come back.

Peace and blessings,

Michelle

 

Some of the things I’m feeling right now…

This is a collage of some of the things that I am feeling right now. I will go clockwise and end with the center photo.

1. iPhone I have been in love with the iPhone for a long time. Instead of getting the iPhone when I upgraded the last time, I tried to give Sprint a chance. I got screwed for having done this. My bill went from $70 to $104 because of a lie told to me by one of the “customer service” folk. I am not going to do the whole two years on this contract. I disregarded the signs, and now I am paying.

2. Be Natural Tee As you all know, I am going natural. My wife bought this “Think outside the box” tee for me when I first decided that I wanted to start the journey. I love this tee, and the whole premise behind it.

 3. Natural Beauty This tee can be found on BNatural’s website also. It is linked above. I really like this one because of the definition on the shirt. It says, 1. One whose beauty radiates from the inside out. 2. One whose beauty does not rely on outside manipulation. 3. ME.

4. MacBook This has also been a long time love of mine. One day I will be able to go to the Apple Store and drop a thousand bones for it, but right now we’re trying to get our budget straight. But, just so you know, MAC is the best laptop out there.

5. Commitment My wife bought me a “Courage” print from this website. I searched the site and found the Commitment one. I work for the Board of Elections, and I know the importance of each vote. I know that my ancestors died for my right to vote, and I value that a lot. This will be the next print that I get.

6. ColorSplash App I don’t even have an iPhone yet, but I’ve searched the Apps on iTunes millions of times. The search for this one came about today. I am making Christmas cards for my co-worker Anna. She is a dog lover, and she plans to put her two dogs Odie and Pete on her cards. I plan to do the picture of them in black and white, and have their Santa outfits in Red and white. So, I did a search for a program that could do that, and ColorSplash was one of them.

7. Cable Cardigan I started knitting again, and was really excited about it. Then the holidays started approaching, and I began making cards to sell on my Etsy site. Now that I am pretty much done with that- except for making Anna’s cards, and the cards that my wife and I plan to send out – I can once again focus my attention on knitting. This sweater will be my first project. I am interested in seeing how long it will take me.

8. Celebrate Equality and Diversity in America If you read my blog, then you know that I am a lesbian. I am serious about diversity. It really pains me that we have not made more progress as far as diversity is concerned. I plan to get this tee shirt to wear to work on Casual Fridays.

9. Total Money Makeover This is where I am now. Working through Dave Ramsey’s money makeover plan. It is my goal to be debt free. No credit cards, nothing. I am so tired of being a slave to debt. It is so important to let this stuff go. We are planning a family, and when we do so, I don’t want any of the issues with debt to stand in our way.

10. African American Art Work I am so interested in African American art right now, especially when it has to do with women rockin’ natural hairstyles. This is a piece that I also want to get in our home. I think this would be a perfect addition. This decal can be purchased at Ten23Designs.

11. Golashes For some reason I have acquired this liking for Golashes. I am still looking for the perfect pair for me. I saw a cute pair in the DSW ad by Tommy Hilfiger. I have to go try them on to see how they fit. The last few times I tried some on they didn’t fit the way I wanted them to.

12. Nikon D90 Ok. This is another item that I have been wanting for a while. In case you all don’t know this about me, I will spend my last dime for others, but I am somewhat cheap when it comes to buying things for myself. This is on my “to buy” list.

13. Natural Hair I love anything to do with natural hair. I love to see photos of African American women rockin’ their natural hair styles. I love the way T’Keyah’s hair looks in this photo. This is my motivation. I am getting it cut tomorrow, and I will only have two inches of hair. This is what I have to look forward to.

 

A wonderful surprise…

Today is the 4 month anniversary of my marriage to my wife. It has been a wonderful 4 months, and I am so looking forward to forever with my sweetheart. Today I left a card in her purse so that she could find it when she got to work. It turns out she saw it before she got to work. I wanted to surprise her…instead of just given the card to her when we got up this morning.

When I got home from work, she was cooking dinner. It smelled wonderful in the house. It was a great treat for me, because I usually do the cooking. So, to come home and have her making a meal for me, it felt really good. She was making lasagna. She bought wine, garlic bread and salad. It was a wonderful dinner!

I am so looking forward to what is in store for the two of us. I often sit and think about how our lives will be when we have children. She loves children, and she is wonderful with them. So, I think of how we’ll raise our children, what our challenges will be as a lesbian couple raising children. I don’t know the answer to any of this, but what I do know is that I have a strong, loving woman by my side, and I am so thankful for it!!!

Happy Anniversary babe!!! I love you.

 

Grilled Cheese at MAC

Early this year some time I bought some pressed powder from MAC. A few weeks ago I received an invitation to a private event that MAC was going to have. They were launching a new make-up line called MAC paint, and they wanted people to come out and tryit, and of course buy it. So, the Mrs. and I went to the event, and had a nice time. The store is small, so of course it was crowded, but everyone was friendly…and calm.

You had to sign in when you got there, and show your ID. The ID had to be shown because they were serving wine. So, we get inside and they have red and white wine.  After a few minutes inside, they started bringing out appetizers. The first appetizer was some sort of cookie. It was tasty, but a little too sweet. Next they brought out what I thought were just plain grilled cheese sandwiches. Well, I tasted it, and my taste buds exploded!!! It was grilled cheese with a fruit spread. They also brought out some Prosciutto on some sort of bagel crisp. This was very good also.

I was intrigued by the grilled cheese sandwich cuts. Never would have thought to put fruit spread on grilled cheese. So, I looked up the recipe, and it shows the different breads, cheeses and spreads that you can use. I think I want to try the Havarti Cheese with Apricot spread. I will let you know how it comes out.

They had guys doing caricature drawings at the event

 

Of Interest…

My supervisor gets subscriptions to dwell magazine. She never reads them. She knows that I love magazines and decorating, so she brings them in to me. She brought in 3 of them yesterday. I was particular drawn to the september issue The City Life: Apartments We Love. I immediately fell in love with the title, and the cover. I know the american dream is to have a home of your own, but there has always been something about apartments that I love. Not just your every day apartment, but apartments with style and lots of features.

In this magazine I found two articles of interest. One is an article on The School of Life. Here is a caption from their website which tells what they’re about.

The School of Life is a new social enterprise offering good ideas for everyday living.

We are based in a small shop in Central London where we offer a variety of programmes and services concerned with how to live wisely and well.

Have you had one of those mornings lately in which you got up and wondered why you were doing a job that exhausted you or that you didn’t really enjoy? Or found yourself spending the day running against the clock, too stressed to eat properly but not actually creatively challenged?  Do you waste time brooding over unresolved arguments or feeling guilty for not being kinder to those in need?  Do you notice your mind flitting unsatisfactorily from what the government should be doing about the world’s financial situation to what you are going to do with your weekend?

The School of Life is a place to step back and think intelligently about these and other common concerns. You will not be cornered by any dogma, but directed towards a variety of ideas – from philosophy to literature, psychology to the visual arts – that tickle, exercise and expand your mind. You’ll meet other curious, sociable and open-minded people in an atmosphere of exploration and enjoyment.

I skimmed through the blogs and other areas on the site, and found it to be very interesting.

The next article that I read and enjoyed was on an organization called Afar Foundation. There is a section in the magazine promoting Afar’s new magazine. I signed up for a free trial issue. I love magazines. When I got up this morning I decided to check out their website and see what they’re about. Here is their mission statement.

AFAR Media is a new multi-media company developing a series of complementary media, products, and services for people interested in experiential travel.

Our mission is to inspire and guide those who travel the world seeking to connect with its people, experience their culture, and understand their perspectives.

The company will pursue this mission by seeking to capture the true essence of experiential travel: connection between the traveler, a place, and its people.

VALUES
AFAR Media will adhere to the following values of experiential travel:

• Explore from the inside looking out
• Provide a sense of cultural immersion
• Offer the unexpected
• Touch on a range of emotions
• Be genuine, real, authentic
• Promote connection
• Feed the Curious
• Respect the earth and its people
• Celebrate global diversity

I wish I would have had the opportunity to travel the world when I was younger. I know it would have been a wonderful opportunity to explore different cultures. I can remember wanting to do the Semester at Sea program offered through the University of Pittsburgh, but the expense of the semester was too high, so I could not do it. I am glad their are programs out that help under-privileged youth see more of the world.

I have been looking around trying to find some new and interesting thing to do with my blog. I came across speckyboy‘s website. Once my Astronomy class is over, I plan to implement some new things. So, please stay tuned.

Well,  we are going to a housewarming for a friend this afternoon, so I need to get up and find something to wear. I made a wonderful Olive Dip for the occasion. Of course I had to make a pan for the house. I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday

peace and blessings,

Michelle