You light the fire, I'll place the flowers in the vase that we bought today

As most reader know by now, I am in a home-changing frenzy. Because of this, I pore over decorating magazines and check websites obsessively. Today I thought that I would post some of my favorite images. I am supposed to look at these and decide what my style is. Any ideas how to describe this? I am looking for repeating elements, colors, patterns and shapes

I am sure I would never have insomnia in this bedroom


Some of these outside my window would be just lovely

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With a room like this as an office/workroom...


This as a dining nook:


The outside looking a bit like this birdhouse, but with many, many, many more windows...and a porch. Ok, maybe just use this as a birdhouse!


Live here instead:

can't you just picture it. With some big curtains to be drawn back every morning? sigh.

On this street (but in Cali!). This picture reminds me of You've Got Mail. "If I knew who you are, I would buy you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils".


These growing outside on my patio, perhaps on the bistro table where I eat breakfast every morning


My T-shirts organized just so, as opposed to crammed in every closet, in my dresser, top of the closet, USPS bins...


Zebra print underfood, maybe in the living room?


And these little goats in the backyard...and in my bike basket. Maybe my obsession with local food and goat cheese has gotten a little out of hand...I have named one of them Pabst




Pictures come from Apartmenttherapy.com and I Suwanee.

Tales of a dissatisfied apartment dweller...and her semi-famous dinner

Check me out on Apartment Therapy.com! Look here to see my dinner fixins. (I am elisaruth under Good Links). I am participating in The Cure, an 8 week apartment overhaul and re-do. This weeks assignments were (are) long and laborious. They are: Clean kitchen top to bottom, cook one homemade meal (see pic), clean out pantry and fridge, buy fresh flowers, make an outboz and clear one horizontal space. Oh yeah, and run your hands over every wall in the house, moving the furniture and all. The author has very interesting ideas for why all of these things are important, and so far they are actually making a difference. You can check out the book on Amazon. It is different from most decorating/organizing books in that you focus on doable goals and only do what you can afford and want.

So far I have: cooked, cleaned out pantry and fridge and 1/2 of the kitchen. Tonight I am tackling the oven and plan to try out an all natural cleaner of baking soda and water. Week one had me buying fresh flowers, scrubbing the floors, and replacing with all natural cleaners. Lucky for me I went all natural a year ago.

This program is intended to kick start you into living in and loving your apartment. That is more difficult than it seems because they are often so temporary and big changes are impossible. You have to work with what you have. I am re-doing the bedroom, painting it next week and getting some more new (free!) furniture tomorrow.

As I have said, the part of my house I love the most is the kitchen that leads out to the back door. The breeze comes through and natural light shines right onto the island I pull out. Plus, my homegrown herbs and compost pile are a step away.

What is your favorite part of your home? Why?

Weeds sprout through, dark green enough to be blue

Random thoughts on a sleepy night.
I should be at The Spots show. I have been looking forward to it for a long time. Yet, here I am, in my PJs in front of my computer. Many reasons for this. I am exhausted (today was the first 'this is what your job is going to look like after the downsizing', and it is busy). I also attended a wedding today! My dear friend Wesley was married to Deanna today on St. Patricks day, which we lovingly refer to as "Wesley's Valentines Day". It was lovely. Only about 25 of us and Wes, in his green shirt and tie, smiling like a Cheshire cat and Deanna giggling and looking beautiful. It was not as hard as I imagined a wedding would be, but it wasn't easy. I kept thinking things like "Oh, that is what I was planning" and "I want this".
The Spots were the band that I was planning on having play at my wedding. I didn't realize how that affected my decision not to go until now, as I sit here with tears streaming down my face. Not necessarily bad tears, just tears of loss. They are much less frequent, but still there. sigh. I plan to make it to their next show, as they are my favorite live show. Fantastic and fun and intimate, no matter how many people are in the room. They create a great vibe. It was probably just the vibe I need tonight! ;)

On another note, check out this blog: Spitball Army. CJ introduced me to it after he wrote a post about Bicycling. I am hooked. It is funny and smart and intelligent (those are two different things) and very sharp. Also quite informative. You can tell that he is interested in a lot and appreciates many things. Not to mention that he is now (along with BTM and JN and CJ) one of the people I want standing next to me as I buy a new cd. His love and knowledge of music is contagious and oozes out of most everything he writes. Go there. Now. Don't even finish this post...it is just as rambly as the last 50!

I have noticed that I have visitors from all over the country looking at the blog. That is strange to me. Do I know you? How do you find this? I guess the same way that I find random blogs...it is different when it is just my little blog.

I am in the midst of an apartment overhaul. This is all an attempt to create a sense of home here. I realized last week that this is the only apartment that I have ever had that did not have a boy attached to it somehow. This one is all me. I like that. No one to consider when decorating, no memories attached to painting, or hanging drapes. Only the memories of my community coming together to get me settled in my new home when nothing else was settled. Truly. Anna organized the kitchen, David and John hung pictures, Chris hung my drapes, CJ helped me decide if the color organized bookshelves were a good idea, Carrie helped me throw away spoons that needed to be tossed (long story). Everyone helped me with trucks and muscles with all 3 of my moves (3!). Now it is me and I am really starting to like it. i love that my kitchen has a back door, so everyday I cook with the door open and a neighborhood cat, Rascal, comes and sits on the patio and lounges in the sun. 2 dogs come by every day to sniff what is cookin. I have a compost pile and 2 garden that are open canvases for my imagination. This is home and I like it. Despite the circumstances that brought me here, I like it. One day I really think I will love it.