Artist

Girl 2 is my little artist. As soon as she could grip a writing utensil she has loved to draw and no surface is safe from her scribbles. (No lie, that's why the permeant markers are out of reach)   

But drawing isn't her only medium. She dabbles in other art forms such as photography and created this riveting series aptly titled:

 Mommy's Stolen Phone of 2022:    

 

  

Which of course I posted to facebook because that's what modern parenting is. 

However, as prolific as girl 2's art is, there were a few images that did not make the social media post. Mostly along the lines of the images being

Repetitive

 

Questionable or didn't contribute to the series

 

or: unflattering

So she may be the artist, but I'm still the curator.

Color Scheme

My friends bought a thing, aka a new house, so they're selling their old one. To actually sell the old house they have to repaint the entire place gray because people would rather buy that than their meticulously-thought-out-color-schemed-by-actual-designers one. Because people like to think they are creative and original when 80% of people's favorite color is blue and they're just going to put in whatever's trendy (and ultimately dated) anyway. 

  

Whatever. While discussing this with my girlfriends I suggested the color "Monterrey Bisque" because: "it's beige as fuck." My mom painted the entire house that due to her lack of imagination (which she admits) and is afraid of color which I can prove because she told me the neutral tiles I suggested for the back splash had "too much color." 🙄 

Anyway. We came up with our own designer-educated-suburban-color-pallet. Including: 

"Beige as Fuck" 

"Fuckit. Just paint it white"

"Suburban Sunkiss" (pale yellow)  

"Just a bit of green for pizzazz"

Happy painting!

Barn Dance

Yesterday Mike and I went to a friend's wedding at the Alexander Homestead here in Charlotte. One of the biggest current trends in weddings (and almost everything) is rustic (and chevron. I fully blame pintrest), so a wedding at this place suits rustic but sill very pretty, look well.  

Anyway. Rustic is not my favorite look,* but whatever, to each their own. It was a lovely wedding and we wish them all the happiness in the world. But when dr soc and I were planning our wedding (ok, when I was planning our wedding, whatever), one of the first things we needed was the venue. We both didn't want to get married in a church, so we were going for a cool, different (inside**) venue. I ruled out a hotel ceremony, but the reception in a hotel ballroom wasn't out of question. But since we (ok, once again, me) was willing to spend a decent amount of money for a cool place, I wanted to spend as much time as possible there so it made sense to have the ceremony and reception at the same site.

So one of the venues on the docket was a vineyard. Wine is cool and vineyards are different! Yes! It was a little out of the way, which, given my husband's family's navigational skills this place already didn't bode well, but the pictures on the internets of the grounds were pretty, so it was at least worth a look. We're walking around on our own little self guided tour, and the inside space where events are held is a barn. You would think I would immediately say no way giving my rustic aversion, but since I had seen pictures of weddings there, with the right lights, flowers and  decorations, I could see it possibly working and was willing to think about it.

Dr Soc though, was not. While he agreed the vineyard was pretty and maybe one day we would check it out a little more, it was not going to be our wedding venue. When I asked him if there was any particular reason, he looked at me and said: "I don't want to get married in a barn. I'm not getting married next to a f*cking goat!"

Well ok then. No barn. The vineyard was officially ruled out, and we avoided rustic. Win win!  

*I mean seriously people, it's burlap. It's feed sack material, there's nothing f*cking fancy about it.
**Inside was a non-negotiable for me. I was not going to make a weather contingency plan or broil in the sun in late May and have sweat dripping down my cleavage. 

Take Out Part 2

Back in July we gave our kitchen a facelift by changing the counter top color and putting in a tile back splash. I posted pictures of my "new" kitchen here, but we knew we weren't done quite yet.
We painted. We put "art" up, on the walls and on top of the cabinets. I made curtains! (major craft points for me!) And though you can't see this part I put new shelf pins in most of the cabinets so I can easily change the shelves heights and use my cupboards much more efficiently. (expect the Tupperware cabinet, the bane of every organizers existence. I hate my Tupperware cabinet). All those changes were a pretty big task combined, so we figured we were done with the kitchen for the moment.

Except.

I got it in my head that I wanted a new kitchen table. Well, ok, not exactly. I started pushing/really looking for a new kitchen table set is what really happened. See, for most of my adult life. I've wanted a real, vintage Formica kitchen table set. The kind that was built in the 1950's and made to last. But dr soc didn't see the need to get a new table set since we had a perfectly functional one already, he thought a retro table wouldn't really go with our old red kitchen, and he likes things new shiny (except his wife, that he has to like even old and busted), so vintage isn't his ideal look. But we were going for a somewhat retro look in the kitchen facelift, so now a retro table look wasn't a look out of left field for him. Plus, I knew we would have to change the counter top height table to a standard size table once we have kids.

Because a counter-top height table requires higher chairs, and if my kids are anything like me not only will they want to climb* things, they will also want to jump off said things and/or fall off said things. And that's long way for a little kid to fall, plus having to help them get in and out of a chair every. single. time they need to sit at the table is going to get really old, really fast.  And we can't use the higher chairs with any other table in our house.

So...it really was only natural that we get a new kitchen table set that we were totally planing on getting anyway at some point and one to match our pretty new kitchen! So I give you:

Our Christmas present to ourselves!

 

Also pictured**: the curtains I made and some of the aforementioned "art."

*Still do.  And squeal "and I go WEEEEE!!!!!" while leaping.
** not pictured: me giggling and clapping and squealing with absolute delight over how much I love this table.

40,000 Questions

Our house is less than 3 years old and it has no character. Which I guess if I hadn't sold my soul to design school and gone through hell I wouldn't really even know that, let alone care. But I did go to interior design school. So I do care that my house has no character.

So I have ideas. (Mainly fueled by pintrest. I need to stop looking at pintrest.) Nothing huge or a complete renovations. Just little things to make the house a little less...half-assed "designed" and a little more I actually live here.  Like putting hardware on the kitchen cabinets, framing the bathroom mirrors for a more done look, covering the concrete slab "patio," coat hooks were we have no coat closet, and hanging a lamp in a spot that desperately needs it. Stuff that takes some, but not a whole lot of planning, but is totally DIY.  

Except. Not everyone is a diy kind of person. So for every idea that I have, there are 40,000 questions accompanied by 40,000 hesitations. So diy becomes BFD to the point that it's just not worth it to me anymore. So all those ideas, even the little ones that flit by and make me happy at the possibility, become this disappointment the moment they become impossible tasks.  If I could just stop having ideas in the first place, I could just stop being so disheartened by them not happening. I wouldn't be reduced to tears over something as innocuous as plugging in a lamp. And I wouldn't be stuck with a pretty lamp shade I'll never get to use as a reminder either. 

But at least the whole house is painted now. Even though I get majorly annoyed over picking paint colors in general and picking a color is a bfd and I gave a rat's ass about the timeline, at least my characterless house has color. It's not really a consolation prize, but I'll try to take it as a win. 

Sometimes I really hate that I went to design school.

Painted Into a Corner

Home improvement, my train of thought/ideas: install wainscoting, add tile, frame something, put up shelves, rip out a pointless counter, move the shower fixtures, remove the stupid tiny shower and turn it into a closet, the possibilities are endless! Oh, and I guess pick a paint color. Ugh (I hate picking out paint colors).
Home improvement, husband's train of thought/ideas: paint.

Well, husband is practically chomping at the bit to paint the upstairs/loft/2nd family room since it's the last area of the house to be painted. And this is turning into a much harder process than it needs to be somehow.

One part is that I can't decide on a color/look feel in general. I get an idea then change it. Gray one day, yellow the next. Then I gravitate towards orange. Then I want gray and orange. Then I want dark blue instead of orange, but only if it's gray and dark blue. Dark purple and gray. Back to yellow, and I want yellow and gray. Or yellow and dark purple. So on and so forth, and when I look at the paint samples I can't find what I imagined/want. Granted, I can't decide what I want in the first place, but I know what I have in front of me isn't it.

Another part of that is the two of us like different color schemes in general. I'm continuously drawn to deep jewel tones, rich saturated colors that are warm and inviting, and red and yellow based colors in general. I love color and I'm not afraid to use it  So I'm at one end of the paint aisle pulling paint chips of yellow and rose based neutrals, warm soft grays, and bright pops of color. And husband is continuously drawn to the muted dusty blues greens and tans at the other end of the paint aisle.

Another difficulty is he wants things to match, but at the same time he doesn't want everything to be the same either. Which, I'm not really sure what that is. I think it's more coordination and flow he's concerned over and not so much "matching." But I don't think my design concepts make sense to him so he continuously refers to that as matching. So my solution for things to "match" is a neutral overall with an accent wall (or walls). Yeah, that same accent that we can't agree on. And a neutral that he wants to match the neutral downstairs but is different enough from the existing builders' white but not too different so that it stands out either. Which...once again, I'm not really sure what that is.

How did picking a paint color become so complicated? Pretty much the only thing I'm sure of right now is that I still seriously hate picking out paint colors.

*Edited to add- May 11 2013 *
Yesterday we found a blue that was bright enough for me to like, and a light warm brown neutral that matches enough that he likes. We got some samples, liked what we saw on the wall and bought 4 gallons to finish up the house. Oh thank god! 

Proud

So. Like I said in my last post, I'm in grad school and I'm busy.  But the work isn't hard, it's just time consuming. I don't have tests, just lots of projects.  The most recent one I just turned in was 2 short videos of me talking and demonstrating how to use a database for one of my classes. My husband was asking about them, and as I started to explain them, I realized it would be easier to just show them to him. So without any hesitation I pulled them up and he watched my presentations.

And I realized after he viewed them that I would have never done that with my design work. I was never really that proud of my work in general, and certainly never proud enough of my work to show it to anyone, let alone to anyone I love.  And while these two five minute presentations aren't exactly the same thing as a quarter long project, there I was, perfectly comfortable showing my work to the one of the people that I love most in to world.

I'm proud of my work. I've found what I want to do. I'm really happy I'm there.

crazy cost vs just plain crazy

Not only are flower for a wedding my size silly expensive, no one really remembers them. Seriously, I don't remember the flowers/decorations from any of the weddings I've been to and/or in.  Nothing against them, but it's just not of of the aspects most people remember. So, after some hemming and hawing, I went to the internets and fell into the Martha Stewart tissue paper flowers page.  Then I got excited about spending $200 in supplies instead of $2000. And then I heard about donating the flowers to a hospital, and that they would last much longer than real flowers, and I get really excited about being able to do some greater good by way of my wedding.

I buy a glue gun. I buy some tissue paper. I prep the area like nobody's business. I am ready and I will attack this bubble of tulle project with gusto!
This was me yesterday:

MAKE ALL THE FLOWERS!!!!!

---and then, an hour later and 12 (of 2000) flowers made--

make ALL the flowers??

Damn you Martha Stewart! Damn you!
Also: thanks be to hyperbole and a half for the images and the hilarity. (and Jeanne for bringing them to my attention in the first place)

X-ref

The wedding spreadsheet is named "bubble of tulle" and it contains most thing bubble of tulle related. It's a biiiiig spreadsheet.  But I also have several other documents on the computer, of addresses and who's invited to what lists. To which I say, thank god for copy and paste.

But here and there, new things trickle in. A changed address, a noticed misspelling, an invite you don't want to send but know you have to*, ect... So, then I have to change something. But then once I change something on the master list, that means I have to find and change the other 14 places that I have the information on, so as not to be confused about anything.

Now, there's this handy thing in autocad called an x-ref. And basically, it's the master drawing and you change anything on it, it updates all the other drawings that are layered on top of it.  It's pretty awesome and frankly it spoiled me because I know such things are possible.

Because what I really really want, as I'm hunting for those 14 different places I've got the same info on, is an x-ref for wedding stuff.

*I also would like an "undesirable" table. Besides being banished from all the cool tables, they also must sit furthest from the head table and the bar.

Alternatives

We're the first couple to get married at our venue, so the place/staff pretty much has no idea what we can and cannot do. For example:  most places don't allow confetti, rice, bird seed, flower petals, ect, to be tossed at the couple because it is a pain in the ass to clean up.  However, at my venue, totally ok to do so (because they have no idea).
When I asked if we could have a unity candle in the ceremony (more on that in a second), they also said that was alright. As long as we have the fire martial present. Which, what? Three lit candles total, burning for a half hour in a room with 150 people to keep an eye on it, and I have to have a fire martial? But we can have those same 150 people each throw a handful of rice at us, create a big ol' mess and that's ok?

Anyway, rather than make a fuss about it, I just figure we can do something else in lui of the unity candle.  So I google* unity candle alternatives, and here are some alternatives:

• Sand. (Mike's brother did this at his wedding. It was nice) 
• Water (Colored water, white dress, my penchant for splashing....not so much)
• Knot tying (3 ropes: bride, groom, and god. Fine for some couples, but definitely not us.)
• Foot washing. (my uncle and his wife did this. It's as awkward and weird as that sounds)

But the one that just took the cake for us was:

• Painting.  Two canvases, side by side, and the moms place brushes up there. The bride and groom then each squiggle some abstract artistic line across the seam, spanning both canvases. So that, if separated, the abstract canvases look silly, but when joined together, create a unified, symbolic, and unique piece.  Uh huh.

Now, as I'm reading this idea to Mike, we are both just laughing groaning at the cheese factor and the clicheness of it all.  It's a unique** enough take on the idea, but it's campy as hell.***

Now with an influx if alternatives, I start thinking logistics. Because one of the elements that I really like in the unity candle ceremony is our moms lighting the two candles prior to us. So if we use something like sand, water, or even colored rocks to pour into a vase, how do we get our moms involved? Do they pour whatever we decide to use into something first? Do they carry it down the aisle?  So then I start cracking up at the thought of having our moms carry a bag of rocks down the aisle. (oh like you aren't laughing either. It's a bag of rocks!) Needless to say, the idea needs some more thought.  

*Does anyone else get slightly disappointed when they open google and it's the regular logo and not a google doodle?
**IE: stupid.**** 
***Plus, is it really all that unique if the other thousands of couples getting married this have to share the same 8 ideas? Just saying.
****Judging! Judging!

Crafty

So, get this. Flowers? Are expensive. And totally not worth the money in my opinion.  I know they matter to some people and to each their own, but me? Not so much.

I finally contacted some florist for the wedding and was told that for a wedding my size, flowers would cost somewhere between $2000 - $3000, which to me, seems ridiculous.  Like the flowers will be the detail everyone will talk about, let alone remember. (We're saving that for the grooms cake) I'm not trying to belittle anyone's work, even though that's what it sounds like.  Florist have a skill set that I don't have and I'm glad to hand over the reigns to them.  But I don't want to sink a ton of money into something that I doesn't matter to me.

I don't want to go all DIY on the wedding, but it was looking like I may have since budget was the main driving force on this part.  But with some sleuthing around on the internet and a sketch pad, I figured out what to do.  I'll still use a florist for the people flowers, but I can make the rest of the decorations.  I have the time, I have the skill set, and, most importantly, I have the internet and Martha Stewart* weddings has everything online.

*Oh she most definitely still terrifies me. But like a moth to a flame I flocked.  She's sorta like heroin, only more legal and less injecting-y.

Big person things

Mike and I are no longer in the market for a dining room set.  Cause we kinda sorta totally bought one on Friday.  After not having much luck with finding something we didn't hate at the traditional furniture stores (and dealing w/creepy sales guys), I poked around on Ikea's website to just to see if they had anything worth looking into further. There were 2 tables that each sat 6-10 who were contenders, but I know we need to see them in person before we even consider them further. Mike actually has to see something to get a feel for its' dimensions, and ikea furniture you really need to check it out since it runs on the small side since everything there is designed to fit in a 200 square foot apartment. Since I had the day off and Mike doesn't teach on Fridays, when we were out and about I asked if he was in the mood to go to the store and look. (yep, we live within less than an hour of an ikea. That could not be dangerous to our pocketbooks at all) So we did.

Turns out, one of the tables that I liked (and the cheaper one) was just too narrow for my taste. (I can't pronounce the line name since everything is Swedish. Mike solved this problem by just making up names as we walked along, and hilarity ensued) But as we're wandering around the dining room area, we see the larger version of the cheaper table. That seats 10 -14. Fourteen. For the same price as it's smaller counterpart. The design is the color we want. It's the size we need. It extends. (if the table didn't extend it wasn't even going to be considered).  The chairs are at a reasonable price...   
We look at each other, calculating things. We don't want to buy a table just to buy a table, but...  This is the first thing we've liked. At a price we like... And we do need it for this thanksgiving...  So with a few quick calls to our parents to ask if they wouldn't mind helping us out with the table for Christmas, we decided to go with it.  We arranged to have it delivered because there's no way we were going to fit anything in the car.

So now, we have a dining room table and chairs! We have big person furniture! To go in our big person house! To have big person holiday hosing duties!  And to continue our big person trend, we both kept peeking out our front windows to see if the delivery people had arrived, like little kids.  We're grown ups!

(When we opened one of the boxes, one of the table tops* was damaged.  So once that's replaced and we have everything assembled I'll*** post pictures)
* Another caveat of ikea furniture: assemble it yourself furniture and that you can't really inspect what's in the box** you're buying.
**though, only having 1 out of 12 boxes delivered having damaged merchandise is pretty good odds.
***That's probably a lie. I never take pictures in the first place, let alone post them.

Match

I love color.  Ergo, I love fiesta ware.  I was all set to pick out the colors I wanted and have a rainbow of dinnerware.  And Mike is pretty easy going and lets me roll with (most) kitchen stuff, since I'm the one who does most of the cooking.  He didn't really know what fiestaware was exactly, so he was cool with it. 

Until we stopped in a store and I showed it to him.  As I'm mentally selecting the pieces I want from the array of products and giddily adding them to the registry, Mike notices that there's a lot of colors to choose from.

mike: So, what color did you want to get?
me: Um, color? Just one? 'Cause I wanted to get the scarlet, tangerine, sunflower, cobalt, plum, shamrock, the black, and maybe the brown.
mike: All of those?
me: Yeah...
mike (slowly): So, they wouldn't match?
me (quickly): They match! They're all the same shape and brand.
mike: But, you would put, say, the yellow plate and a red bowl together? Or, we would have 4 different plate colors on the table?
me (excitedly): Yeah!
mike: But...
me: Ok, so they don't "match" exactly in color.  More coordinate.
mike: but they won't match.
me: Well, no....not that way.
--beat--
:sigh: I just lost you on the fiestaware didn't I?
mike: Yeah...
me: Boo!

Mean Something

I knocked something loose in my engagement ring at work the other day, so yesterday we stopped by the jewelers to get it fixed and look at wedding bands.  (It was something fun and happy to do after looking at care facilities for my dad. Another sad blog for another day.)  Since I have a marquise cut, a skilled/experienced jeweler has to work on my ring and not just some lay person (who works with diamonds!) in the back. So once again I had to once again hand over my beloved shiny and wait for it to come back.  This is what I get for wanting wear my ring all the time.

Well, anyway, since we were going to go to the jewelers, we decided to look for our wedding bands while we were there.  Which, squeee!  I'm sure it's no surprise that I'm excited about that, with the wedding practically planed and all, but still. It's the our rings part, that makes it meaningful. I knew it probably wouldn't be that hard to find something for me, since we have the engagement ring to start from. Sometimes engagement rings even come with a matching wedding band. Which it did, so it was really easy for me.  But for Mike's ring, we didn't really have a physical starting point.

It is Mike's wedding ring, so it really is his choice as to what he wants.  But that didn't stop me from putting in my own 2 (or 8, whatever) cents worth.  Fortunately, we have similar tastes and liked a lot of the same things.  After he tried on a few different band widths, metals, and slightly different subtle designs, we found one we liked.  The only question now was what metal to go with, white gold or palladium.

I for one, had no idea what the difference is.  So I asked, and turns out palladium is an element on the periodic table right next to platinum (it was not one of the 70 I was supposed have memorized for chem 107, so you bet your ass I didn't learn that). So it's almost chemically the same as platinum, won't change colors or need to be re-dipped in a few years, and it's super durable.  It just happens to be worthless.  So as the jeweler is in the back figuring our the price difference between gold and palladium, Mike and I are debating which metal he wants.  They look the same to us, but if palladium was significantly less money, then it would be more practical going the cheaper (but worthless) route.   
And even though Mike tends to be much more practical about money than I am, (see: I want a volvo and he keeps saying no) this was one case that he was leaning towards spending a little extra.  Because his wedding band symbolically means a lot, he wants the ring to have at least some worth.  (I know, awww!)  But turns out, for the ring Mike's getting, the prices are the same between metals.  So, white gold and meaningful it is!

Martha made me do it

So. I'm seriously thinking about making the flowers for my wedding.  Yes, even though I just said in the previous post how I didn't want to make anything for my wedding.  But I'm thinking about it because I really have no idea what I actually need from a florist, and how much one will cost me. 

I google search paper wedding flowers, and the queen of all things homemade, Martha Stewart, is the first link in the queue.  I am terrified of Martha Stewart.  Even more terrified of her than I am of the knot.  But you cannot deny how lovely she makes things!  So I keep clicking through the slide show, and I see this great pink bridal bouquet that I want.  Martha claims that these bouquets are very easy and take an afternoon to make, but I am dubious that anything Martha claims is easy is actually easy for those of us non-Martha types.

But, I really like that bouquet....  So I click on the learn how to link, and she provides templates, instructions, and a list of materials.  And, while I may not have great craft, I at least have craft.  I built models all the time when in design school, so I feel as though those skills could transfer somewhat.  And I really like that bouquet.... 

So, I start to price materials out.  But I also have the distinct feeling that I really have no idea how big an undertaking this actually may be.  It's one thing to say I can make my bouquet.  But that bouquet has 30 flowers.  And each of those 30 flowers has 6 plus individually cut petals, and a handmade stamen.  And then, I've got to wrap the thing all pretty.  It's suddenly not so simple.  But that's what makes it a Martha!  That it looks so deceptively simple and elegant, when it's actually so ridiculously intricate that you end up super gluing your fingers to the wall.  Pure Martha! 

Instead of running away screaming, I become more and more intrigued.  But I don't want to buy a bunch of materials and then not end up doing this.  So if I am going to do this, I am not turning back.  However, I have feeling that one day Mike will come home from work, see me elbow deep in crepe paper with flower wire sticking out of my hair, and look to me for an explanation.  And the only thing I'll be able to say is: Martha made me do this.

Newer Model

Dr soc and I would rather eat our weight in glue than go antiquing.

But I don't hate all antiques though (like jewelry. As of late I can't stop looking and oohing and ahhing over antique looking settings and have I mentioned how much I really really love these halo w/pave diamonds setting? (size 5 honey. You're welcome)). I hate crap that's old and busted, but tries to pass itself off as an antique. Vintage furniture or a retro style I can get behind. The 1/2 degree from uc exposed and allowed me to appreciate different aesthetics and older time periods.

However, dr soc is usually of the school of thought that newer/shinier version is the better version. (though he doesn't care for Ikea style too much, and if we're being honest, the furniture's not my favorite either. It's too low. Though we both like Crate and Barrel). And while I agree with him on that for certain things like technology, I don't apply that philosophy to everything.

Like trading me in for a newer model one day. There's still the unfair standard that men get better with age like a fine wine, whereas for women aging is a cardinal sin. It wouldn't be hard for my sexy as hell phd boyfriend to get a younger shinier model if he so desired. Fortunately though, I look young enough as is, will probably continue to age gracefully thanks to my asian half, and by the time that I do start to look old and busted, dr soc's eyesight is already terrible and he probably won't be able to tell. Oh, and yeah, he's also a really great guy and who loves me for many other reasons besides the superficial, and appreciates my maturity, (though maybe not my penchant for squealing over sparkly things) and wouldn't dare go for a newer model.

That and he knows if he does go the mid-life crisis by way of newer model route, I won't pussyfoot around and will take everything, including his dog. So we're good.

Flashback

I needed to bring in a few copies of my resume and reference contact sheet to an interview I had this morning. First: interview, yay! And it went well I think, so phew. But that's not the point of this post. Let's go back to the "needed to bring in a few copies of my resume" part.

My resume is a saved word document file I can email and/or print when I need. Since moving to Charlotte, I've only uploaded and attached it as I've been applying for jobs. Printing a physical copy is a perfunctory thing, so I figured I would do that before I went to bed last night and then get a good night's rest so I could be on my A-game.

I haven't had to use my new (to me) printer yet, so it stayed in it's box until last night. As I'm starting to set it up, I discover there are no cables of any sort in there. A few extra ink cartridges, all color and no black ink, but no cables, not even a power one. So for the moment I have an expensive paper weight. Normally in a situation like this, I would just save the file to a flash drive and print it on dr soc's printer, but his is out of ink. Which we knew because that was why I was setting up my printer in the first place. And my extra ink cartridges won't work in his printer either.

We don't live in the middle of nowhere, and I could easily do a google search and find the nearest 24 copy/print place, or run to a 24 hour big-box store and get the right cables or ink for dr soc's printer. But those things take a little time, and it's just past 11 o'clock by this point. By the time I would have gone out, shopped, returned home and printed a few copies, it would be after midnight and I then I would still have to get ready for bed. So I start having nightmare flashbacks to my daap days. The staying up all night, racing against the clock to get drawings done, have them ready in time to take to the printers the second they open, running out of ink halfway through a print job, and everyone else's printer in use and/or in the same situation as yours. Just bad, stressful flashbacks.

I'm sitting at my desk rubbing my temples because I know that this is a remediable situation, but I'm crippled behind my flashbacks. But dr soc saved the day/night. Seeing my frustration, he said he would run out and get the ink for his printer in the morning as I got ready. Which he did and then printed the copies I needed this morning while I did my makeup. I got to go to bed at a reasonable hour, I had enough resumes and reference lists in the morning, I didn't have to rush and made it to the interview with time to spare, on my A-game. I know printer ink may seem somewhat trivial to some, but to me he was my knight in shining armor. God I love that man!

Home Improvements

I own a home.* Unlike apartment living, if you don't like something, you can change it. And since I went to interior design school for 6 years,** I have the knowledge and wherewithal of what and how to change things. (the brute strength not so much. But that's why designers hire people to do the manual labor)

Well, anyway, our home is a new home and has builder white walls, so literally, a blank pallet. (see also: boring) So, we bought paint. Burgundy for our bedroom, blue for 2 bathrooms, green and orange for 2 different guest rooms and purple for the guest bathroom. Yes, I live in a fun house and I love it. (his mom I don't think cares too much for all of the paint colors, but dr soc and I love it and it's our (his) house.) Picking paint colors was one of my least favorite tasks of design school, and it still is to this day. But it went fairly well with dr soc. When we found a color we both liked and thought would work, we stopped looking and went for it.

We have an open plan for the living room/kitchen, and I wanted to keep the public spaces neutral, with an accent wall to give it some personality. So we bought more paint. We get the dogs crated and the drop cloths down, and start to paint the majority of the downstairs...

And it's pretty much the exact same color as what's already on the walls. So, so, SO glad we have 3 gallons of non returnable paint and 775 square feet to cover with it. We can't change it (well, we can, we're just not going to) so we're a little (lot) pissed off. We decide to do another accent wall and wait until the next morning*** to tackle them. Fortunately, the accent walls help and created the contrast in the room we (I) were going for. And once we got everything back in the room and the cover plates back on, we can see the contrast more and the room is warmer. It's subtle, but it's what we wanted. And we like it.

But god, we were really pissed off with that neutral!

*not really. Dr soc owns our home and I just live here.
**I'm claiming a 1/2 degree from uc. Six years, I get to claim something other than ptsd and an unhealthy dose of bitterness.
*** we woke up hoping the paint elves had finished the room and changed the color to something more noticeable. No such luck.

RSVP

I'm partying it up at a my APX chapter's birthday bash right now. We're 10 baby! (Well, I'm trying to enjoy myself at least, I'm still in a constant state of worry)

Anyway, being the big shindig that it is, the chapter sent out invites and rsvp cards as well. And me, knowing a few things about etiquette, filled out my rsvp, wrote a check, put them both in the pre-addressed envelope included in the invite, and put it in the mail. I did this all in a timely manner.

I also mailed it without a return address or any postage. Yep.

Once I realized I had done so, I emailed the brother in charge and asked him to keep an eye out for it, just in case it got there. He (rightly so) laughed at me, but fortunately, the chapter got it anyway. Hence, the partying it up now with my brothers. I just owe one of them a stamp!

Urban Planning

Lexington did a mad dash to improve the downtown street scape before the World Equestrian Games. So they repaved (thus making me fight the urge to throw up bile every time I left work) and prettied up the sidewalks doing I don't know what.

However, someone in the (urban) planning office did some miscalculations...
Behold.

The traffic lanes before:

The lanes lined up and there were no lines in the intersections because the lanes lined up.

And even though they didn't move any of the buildings' facades (you don't have to be a designer to understand why you can't simply move an entire building), or give us any additional lanes or take any traffic lanes away...

The traffic lanes after:

The lanes clearly don't line up, and they had to put guide lines through the intersections because of it.

Planner fail. (Perhaps they are an Itt tech grad?)