Archive for June 2010

i finally did it - i bought a netbook!
the samsung that i was looking at before was on sale, so i decided to just go for it. i had narrowed it down to the samsung and an asus. most of the netbooks are basically the same - just a few minor differences with design, color, etc. i did want one with a larger hard drive space and with windows 7, that cut a bunch out of the running. my other big requirement was that the keyboard was easy to use. since netbooks are smaller, i found that a lot of the netbooks were difficult to actually type on. so i went to best buy and practiced typing... the samsung was the clear winner.

plus i liked the color/design of it - the asus was only available in dark red and i didn't really want a dark red computer :-)

i'm excited to have a computer again, no more sitting up in the hot office every time i want to check my email at home!

other than that, the rest of the weekend was spent at the pool and/or studying. hope the rest of you had a slightly more exciting weekend!

it's been awhile since i've posted a wish list. my house wish list is an ever changing thing, but here is what i currently have my eye on:kulla light from ikea. we have a mysterious ceiling light plate cover in the den. but there is no switch on the wall. we need to do some investigating to see if there is actually power in the ceiling (and if you're been reading this blog for awhile, you know how well we do when we investigate electricity). if there is power, i'd like to install an overhead light. i love this light from ikea and the black color would go perfectly in the room.i also like these wire baskets from crate and barrel. i can imagine them on the shelves in the den, filled with misc. books and supplies. i am always in need of more storage.

once i have some time again, i'm still planning on working on the buffet. even though it's still a work in progress, that doesn't stop me from thinking about what i can use it for. besides extra storage, i'm also hoping to get some kind of lamp to put on top, as well as some artwork to hang above it. i'd also like a few of these decanters.

i have never bought furniture from urban outfitters, but i keep coming close to purchasing this small table:

for only $60, i think it would be a great addition in our house. problem is, i can't decide where i want to put it. right now i'm leaning towards the living room, but who knows where it would end up. i have several places that could use a small table.

lastly, i've been thinking for awhile now about switching out the green chair in the den with some kind of daybed.

i kind of like this daybed from west elm, but it's kind of expensive and i'm not sure that i love it. the other day i did some quick google image searches and came up with these options:

these are, of course, vintage daybeds that are way way pricey. but now i'm thinking that maybe we can make something. i think i would like it to have a solid back, but not upholstered. that way i can use pillows for a back rest when using it more like a couch, but take them off when i want it to be a bed. how complicated do you think it would be to build one...

this is an old picture, but the daybed would replace this green chair and ottoman, and go along this wall.

i only took the cds test about two weeks ago, but the results arrived in the mail today. i was not feeling good about the test at all after i took it and was very nervous when i saw the letter in the mailbox today.

i may or may not have started jumping around the living room when i saw "pass" at the top of the letter :-)

2 down, 5 more to go...

last week was... rough. work was overwhelmingly busy and i came home (late) very frustrated each night. due to the work load, i hadn't been able to study as much as i would have liked for my next exam. plus, i haven't had the time to run as much lately, which also annoys me.

on friday i left work with a pile of things to be done this weekend. after arriving home, i heard from mike that our car had failed city inspection because it needed new tires. i don't know how we didn't notice that it needed new tires, they were bad... so saturday morning and afternoon was spent tire shopping. after all of that, i decided that work was just going to have to wait. i have been letting work take over life, which may be fine for short periods of time, but it has been going on too long.


so on sunday i sat by the pool for most of the day. i was also studying, but hey, i was still by the pool :-)

per allison's suggestion, i looked to see what kind of cabinet hardware is available on ebay. i found these:
black glass -i saw something similar at anthroplogie but it was way out of my price range. i really like the idea of bringing some black into the cabinet... black glass knobs with medium gray paint???

i've spent some time looking for new knobs for the buffet. in conclusion - everything that i like is expensive. esp. when we need to by 13... i guess i could change the configuration of the knobs. i could make it so the two side doors only have one knob instead of two. or i guess i could do a handle on the doors instead. i could also just center one knob on the center of each drawer too. but i kind of like how it looks now. what do you think?
by the way, i'm leaning towards painting it a medium gray, if that helps. probably a paint with a high gloss finish. if i paint it, that leaves more options for reconfiguring the knobs because i can fill/patch holes.
because i do not want to spend a lot of $$ on the knobs, i've decided to limit myself with what i can buy at lowes. plus we have a gift card to lowes :-)

here are some options:

originally i thought i wanted some kind of clear glass knob. i like this one above, but now i'm worried that it might actually compete with the glass light fixture. plus i am not sure that it really works with the style of the buffet. it is more antique looking, and i am trying to bring some more modern style into this room since most of our furniture at this point is vintage craigslist finds.
i could go simple, something like this might be best if i keep all 13.
this square option could make it look more contemporary.
i actually saw something like this at another store and kind of liked it - i think the one i saw in the store was a little more simple though. this might be more traditional, and again, i'm not sure that it would look right with the style of the cabinet.
i just found this one today online - it might actually be my favorite just based on pictures. but i haven't seen it in person yet. it also comes in pewter (pictured above) which could look nice with the gray. but maybe it would be too much xs13.

so that's the update on the buffet - still trying to commit to painting it gray, and trying to find inexpensive hardware.

today is actually my birthday so i decide no house work this weekend. instead we spent some time at the pool earlier, and are just relaxing around the house this afternoon. mike is making me a nice birthday dinner later. so far it's been a great day :-)

thanks for the comments on the netbook. i think we're going to go this weekend and take a look at them and then decide. i have a feeling it will come down to cost - if they really are half the price of laptops, that might be the deciding factor. i don't know that i want to spend a lot of money on a computer right now.

as for the rest of our lives - a lot has been going on! i'll give you the quick recap version...

- i took my second architecture exam yesterday morning. it was really difficult. i felt like i spent a lot of time studying, and most of what i studied wasn't even on the test. it seems that they have a very wide range of questions/information that they pull from for these tests, which makes it extremely difficult to know what to study. i should find out the results in about a month, so we'll see... i'm not feeling very good about it though, i've checked the answers to a couple of questions that i guessed on and so far i've discovered that i answered them incorrectly. i stopped looking up the questions after that! it was construction documents and services for those of you are interested. meanwhile, i went ahead and signed up for the next one. i'm taking programming, planning, and practice at the end of june. i've heard that the ppp test is even worse with the range of questions, so i guess i just have to hope for the best.

- we had a bad storm on tuesday and a giant branch from our tree fell onto our power line and pulled the line out of the house. we still had electricity somehow, but we had a live wire across our yard, over the fence, into the neighbors yard, and into the alley. the power company finally came last night and fixed the wire. but now our tree looks even more awkward.

- the pets have fleas. all 4 of them. they all just sit around a scratch, they seem pretty miserable. we've starting the process of flea baths, medicine, and super cleaning. hopefully we are able to get rid of them without too much trouble (the fleas, not the pets), i've heard horror stories from other people who have had pets with fleas. i think we caught it fairly early (they don't seem that bad) and we don't have a lot of carpet or soft surfaces in our house which i think will help.

- we spent the weekend in columbus for my brother-in-law's high school graduation. we had a great time and got to see a lot of family and friends. and because posts with pictures are more fun, here is my youngest brother-in-law, mike, me, and my other brother-in-law after the graduation.

one of these things is not like the others... :-) i was even wearing shoes with tall heels!

hope you all are having a great week!

i'm going to start of by saying that computers are something that i have a hard time spending money on. i don't know why, i use one every day, both at work and at home. i think i just have a hard time justifying the cost of them, esp. when it seems that no matter when you buy one, it will be outdated only a few months later.

i got my first computer as a gift when i went away to college. (sidenote - i almost put how long ago that was. but seeing the number of years in writing kind of freaked me out a little). it was a sony desktop and it lasted me all 4 years. right about the time i graduated it started to have some problems, and i ended up using an old computer of mikes for the next couple of years. it was free and it worked and those were my requirements at the time. when i decided to go back to grad school i decided it was time to get a laptop. mike had a laptop that was a couple of years old, but again, it was free (to me) and it worked. i used it all through grad school even though i cursed it on a daily basis because it was the slowest thing ever once i installed photoshop and autocad. plus it was always crashing. about a year ago it finally just died and i've been using the desktop (something mike built a few years ago) since. do you see a pattern? i use a computer until it dies and then just rely on whatever computer mike has at the time. we have not gotten a new computer since we have been married.

long story short - i miss having a laptop. but i don't want to spend the money on a new one. if money was not an issue, i would get a macbook. maybe someday...

lately i've been thinking about getting a netbook instead. they are a couple of hundred less than a laptop, and really, would do almost everything i would need. plus they are smaller and lighter which could be nice, esp. since i will probably end up mostly using it while sitting on the couch.
anyone out there have a netbook? if so, what kind? any recommendations? i was reading some reviews of the samsung pictured above, seems like it could be a good option.