Thursday, September 18, 2014

Wacky Wall Lighting - Need Ideas!

My studio apartment has some amazing natural light - during the day, anyway! But it lacks overhead lights of any kind in the main room. I currently have three lamps that do a good job of keeping most of the apartment well-lit. But as we are getting closer to darkness descending at 5 pm and not 7 or 8 pm, I need to find a solution to having very little light in this section of the apartment:
See - no lamps in sight!
I don't want the bulk of a floor lamp, nor do I want a huge wall sconce. So I'm thinking outside the box on this one and exploring some wacky wall lighting! Here are a few of my ideas:
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Have you come across any lighting techniques that might solve my problem? Space-saving is key, of course!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

The Project to End All Projects

Call me crazy, but I want matching hangers. But I don't want to go out and buy them. Instead, I want to make them. Why would anyone in their right mind do that? Well, sometimes I'm not in my right mind. Ha ha!

Or....I just want a brainless project that won't take a lot of skill, but it will take a lot of time. Why? Because it involves making crocheted covers for all of my wire hangers! Let's just visualize this. I'm going to turn this:


Into something resembling this:
You can buy these on Etsy.

And almost 70 times!

But what else am I going to do at 9 pm on a dark and cold winter weeknight? Nothing, except watch an episode of some TV show on Netflix. Might as well be semi-productive as I wind down for the night.

I call this the "project to end all projects" because it will finally take this mess and make it pretty:

For the record, I'll be using all wire hangers and navy blue yarn. This matches the color scheme I've got going on in the closet quite nicely.

I'll get back to you all in several months when the hangers are done!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

2014 Goals Update

A few weeks ago I gave you all an update on my 2014 financial goals, but not on the other goals I've set for myself this year.

Let's refresh our memory:

Health Goals

1. Swim twice a week. Swimming is my new love. I've been good about swimming once a week, but would really like to get to the pool twice a week. 

2. Do yoga twice a week. At least once a week at a yoga studio. I know, I know…I've touted the "you don't need to pay to do yoga" thing a lot on this blog. But I really have missed yoga classes with an instructor. Now that I'm out of debt, I've decided it is worth it to me to put some money into going to actual classes.

3. Learn to cook more veggie-based meals. I ate so much meat over the holidays that all I can think about is eating veggies for the rest of time! But seriously, I need to learn how to make more soups and veggie-based dishes. My rice-plus-veggie staple is getting a bit old.

How am I doing with these? Not too shabby, but not as good as I wanted.

Swimming. I've stopped swimming in favor of outdoor activities like biking, walking, and running. I'll go back to swimming when it gets colder. That sounds strange, I'm sure, but since I swim at an indoor pool I'd rather spend the warm months exercising outdoors and the cold months exercising indoors.

Yoga. Doing well here, but only going to class once a week, on average.

Veggie Meals. I've been trying lots of new recipes, thank you Pinterest! My favorite veggie right now is eggplant. Some great varieties at the farmer's market these days.

Random Goals

1. Improve my guitar skills. Putting this on the list again for 2014 because I just really love playing the guitar!

2. Solve my closet problem. My closet isn't a mess, but it just looks so "ugh." Especially since you have to walk through it to get to the bathroom. Time to tackle this one.

3. Can or preserve seasonal fruits or vegetables once a month. I recently got a canner and food processor. I'm ready to start making jams, salsa, and maybe even sauerkraut!

Guitar. Getting better slowly but surely. I've learned a few new songs since December, and my latest goal is to learn some finger-picking styles so I can play more songs.

Closet. Again, slowly but surely getting there. I've used some wallpaper to make my craft drawer look better and I've added in matching baskets on the top shelf to keep me more organized and hide random items. Next up: solve the hanger issue!

Can/Preserve. I haven't done this every month, but I have canned or frozen beets, jam, and tomato sauce. One item a month was probably way too ambitious to begin with.


There it is - progress!