Sunday, May 23, 2010

oh.my.goodness.

 photo by *Cinnamon

You guys. I don't know how many of you already have a stand mixer, but up until last Wednesday, I did not.   And as I'm sure you've guessed, now I do!  This is amazing.  I've joined the club!  No, I didn't buy it.  I didn't win it either.  My mom sent me her old one, because somehow she'd acquired two kitchenaid mixers.   Gift, gladly taken! 

I used to try to make recipes that called for a stand mixer, without a stand mixer.  My thought process went something like this, "My grandmother didn't have a stand mixer, and she made all sorts of amazing goodies! So there."  Maybe my arm isn't strong enough, maybe my whip isn't fast enough, but the recipes never turn out!  Never, ever.  So I began to pass on any recipes needing a mixer (which is a ton of recipes!).  But no longer!  Now, I'll be a mixer extraordinaire.  Just you watch! :)  Any suggestions for recipes I must try?

I've been working in the field a bunch lately, and am heading out again on Monday (have I told you I'm an archaeologist?  Well, I am.) so I won't have time to use it just yet, but soon.  Very soon.  And I'll surely show pictures. 

photo by yoshiart.com

P.S. June 5, Mario Kart Pub Crawl.  I'm going to be Yoshi.  I can't wait to show you my costume.

photo by netmen!

P.P.S. The Lost Series Finale is on tonight.  Goodbye friend.  You were a good one, and a super confusing one, too.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

big decisions.




I've been reconsidering most everything in my life lately.  Job, education, everything.  I feel stuck and tied down, and at the same time like all of my strings have been cut and I have nothing to lean on for support.  It's a conundrum, I tell you.  Do you ever feel like this?  How do you deal?

I have a counselor friend.  He tells me that in between the life phases of adolescence and adulthood, they've recently added "Odyssey".  Aptly named, and I think I'm right in the middle of it.  I'm wandering.  And searching.  And wandering some more.  When will I find what I'm looking for?  How will I know I've found it?  This life thing is hard.


(top two photos: unknown photo source. know the source? message me.)

Friday, May 14, 2010

the new place.


Lease terms for apartments in Laramie is a strange business.  Because it's a college town, all rental places try to secure leases for August (i.e. fall semester) by the end of May (i.e. the end of the current school year).  This means that you're out (among throngs of other rental searchers) looking for a place, putting down a deposit, and signing a lease for a place now, but you won't move in for three months.  When I lived in Arizona, you never had to fight the crowds for places.  People/complexes were always renting and there didn't seem to be any pressure when looking.  Not so much here.  Because everyone is looking, there's immense pressure to find a place, and claim it as your own.  And so, I did.

After looking at a few places that are run by the rental company I go through now, I decided to pop over to the old west hotel that is now an apartment building.  What I found were very inexpensive strange/charming apartments, in the heart of downtown, and with a laid back manager.  Awesome. 

The apartment itself is a normal one bedroom, one bathroom.  It has plenty of space, beautiful hardwood floors, and a great view overlooking the stained glass windows of the church next door.  There's only one thing that held me back from proclaiming it mine immediately, but I think i've worked out how to make it a good thing, rather than weird.  This so-called weird thing is regarding the kitchen.  It's split!  And by split, I mean, it's really split.  Half of the kitchen is in one place, and the other half, in another.  I'll fill you in on why.  Because the place is an old hotel, for my apartment they took two hotel rooms, and joined them together.  On the kitchen/living room side, what was a bathroom in the hotel room was turned into the kitchen.  When it first became a kitchen, all appliances, storage, and sink were in the little area.  In my particular apartment, when they replaced the refrigerator and stove they decided to get larger units so those pieces were moved into the living room, along with a free standing cabinet.  The sink remained in the old bathroom and they put in lots of cabinets.  Initially, I thought, "no way, going back and forth to the sink will not work for me".  So he showed me the unit directly above which still had all the appliances in the old bathroom.  It was so tiny!  I love to cook, and I wouldn't be able to get anything done in such a small space.  So I went with the split kitchen!  And now I'm planning to build a custom kitchen island to add more counter space and storage.  It'll be adorable.  Here is the floorplan, which is so far from scale, it's not funny.


Here is how I plan to layout furniture.  Keep in mind that I don't live there yet, and don't have exact dimensions, so my ideas might not actually work.  Let's just go with it.


For this to work, I'll need to build two pieces of furniture.  One is the kitchen island and one is the wooden cubby room divider.  Luckily, I stumbled onto Ana White's blog, Knock-Off Wood.  She breaks down expensive furniture pieces into plans that you or I could follow.  I can't wait to get started! 

I don't move in until August 1, but I can't stop coming up with ideas (which could be bad, considering I don't know the dimensions of ANYTHING).  Oh well.  :)

What do you think of my 2nd half of the kitchen plan?  Do you think the island will separate the room well enough?  Do you have a better idea?  And most importantly, how would you do with a split kitchen?

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

two weeks!

Photo via On a High Note.  This photo has nothing to do with this post,
but it's so adorable that I couldn't help putting it up!  Oh boy, I want a kitty!

So sorry!  I've been running around and have completely lost track of my blogging.  But I've missed you!  Here's a quick update on what I've been up to:
  • The boyfriend moved into a new apartment.  He let me (and helped, of course) build a fun headboard/shelf.  I'm a carpenter!
  • It's been snowing every few days here.  Last night we got a couple of inches, and surely, more has fallen during the day today.  It seems Winter will never end.
  • I signed a lease for a new apartment.  I don't move in till August, but I've already planned what I'll do to it to decorate it.  I can't wait to get started!
  • I've looked into other school options.  The most recent ones are radiography and sonography.  I won't be able to attend until Fall 2011 (assuming I get accepted) but I can start on my prerequisites!
  • I've started playing video games at the boyfriend's new place.  Oh my.  Crash Bandicoot (a silly and totally fun game) is my new addiction.
  • I've been working on a new tattoo design.  It's slowly coming together and as soon as it's done-ish, I'll post it on here!
  • And of course, I've been staying current on Lost (my favorite show).  It's getting crazy, and there are only a couple of episodes left!  I'll miss it when it's gone.
  • Ooh! And I recently picked up the latest Charlaine Harris book!  It's called Dead in the Family and is so good.  I love the whole series!  I think I like the books better than the show (True Blood), but the show is so fun to watch too!
What have you been up to?
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