Temporary Hobo

I have been exiled.

I am not allowed in my apartment. At least not for now. And when I am allowed back in, I risk dying of paint fumes. 

Yep, my apartment is getting completely repainted. Every single square inch of it. Which means, I had to pack up all of my stuff, shove it in the closet and cupboard under the stairs, take down all my precious posters, photo frames, & their (expensive) command strips. It looks very boring & like no one actually lives there. And this is just the beginning. I'll have to stay like this for the foreseeable future because I'm also getting brand new carpet throughout the ENTIRE apartment & I refuse to put all of my stuff back where it belongs, only to pack it back up again for the carpet installers...

So I am a temporary hobo.

I pulled out my burlap sack and filled it with clothes, books, my computer, chargers, granola bars, & Monsters University gummy fruit chews. 

I turned my closet into a makeshift library.

And I practically turned myself into Harry Potter pre-Hogwarts by stuffing the rest of my stuff into the cupboard under the stairs. 

And then I was on my way.

I'm extremely grateful for free wi-fi and an abundance of electric plugs. I'm writing this blog post from the student union of the university I graduated from just 4 months ago...surrounded by terrified freshmen and their just-as-terrified parents. It's quite a sight.

************

7 hours later...

I almost did die of paint fumes. And I was only in the apartment for 5 minutes to grab a few things...& they're only half way done painting...

And they painted over my beautiful accent walls of purple and green, which may be the most depressing part! :( It's very blah now, which I find incredibly sad.

So I'll be a hobo for a few days longer...

My Man Rick

It's weird to mourn a fish, right? Too bad.

That little guy was a great friend to me....he was a great listener. 

He came to our apartment in November 2011, as a prize won at a Japanese festival. Our friends had won him & about 15 or so other goldfish and were giving them out for free to people in our apartment complex (Rick outlived every single one of those other fish by well over a year!). We got two of the fish and almost immediately, two of our roommates thought it would be fun to have pet goldfish who lived in the toilet...

But Jessi saved them before they took a swim down the pipes. 

We figured they wouldn't live long, so we just got them a plastic tupperware bowl to live in. Jessi googled care instructions & we boiled their water before changing it & got them top-of-the-line fish food from Big Lots. 

I wanted to name the little guys after my favorite TV show. One fish was bigger than the other so I just assume he'd be male and the other female, so my idea was to name them Kate & Rick. But Jessi wanted to name one, so she named the smaller one Ciel and the bigger fish became Rick.

Side note: its a good thing I didn't get to name the smaller one Kate, because it died a couple weeks later, seemingly of an infected eye (it was inflamed when we got her). And if you know anything about my show Castle, Kate pretty much died in the show soon before we got the fish. That would be too much for me to handle.

Anyway, Rick became our man of the apartment! He was a great conversation starter too!

We were scared for his life the summer before his first birthday, due to a psycho-roommate who over fed him & lied about the food "spilling" into his bowl. What was she doing feeding him anyway?!? And the food can was far too short in comparison to the bowl to "fall in." So yes, we had an obese fish for a bit, but we put him on a diet and all was well again.

We celebrated his first birthday, the miracle birthday, on November 10, 2012. We went all out. Katilyn baked and decorated a big cake for him in the shape of a goldfish, with little goldfish surrounding. There was Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream and Goldfish crackers as dessert & appetizers. We played Gold Fish & Pin-the-Fin-On-the-Goldfish. 

It was a birthday fit for a king. We really spoiled the little guy. And he probably didn't know the difference from the day-to-day.

Rick survived weeks alone while we went on vacation. He was there for the long nights studying at the kitchen table. He helped us celebrate Halloween & Christmas. 

Our little man would amuse us with his bubble making sounds & the little flips he did when he got new, clean water. Rick was always excited, always swimming around like mad. 

It may be a little strange to become so emotionally attached to a goldfish, but he was family. And I'll miss him lots. He passed away today, just after turning 21 months old.

Rest in peace, my fishy friend. 

My Little Home

I've lived in this new apartment of mine for just over 3 months & I'm still trying to make it my home, to make it feel like someone lives here, to make it feel warm, and inviting.

I wanted to give my apartment character but also do a few things that I found on Pinterest. I was also extremely amazed at the things left in my apartment from previous tenants! There were some great candles, pillows, and picture frames left behind. I also inherited three irons, an ironing board, a fake Christmas tree, an exercise bike, a curling iron, a flat iron, & a billion different cleaning supplies. I am amazed at the things people were willing to leave behind!

So, here is what I've done to my little apartment! I'm completely falling in love with it!

isn't it the cutest little place you've ever seen!?!?

i bought quite a few mason jars to do some random things with! this is just an old book's pages rolled into the jar, with a heart cut into the middle! 

i didn't see the point in hiding my athletic stuff, so the basketball & volleyball have found a home in my living room, in the entertainment center! 

added some color with my art stuff on one of the shelves in my living room

talk about character! yep, those are 40s flapper rubber ducks accompanying my dvd collection! 

this shower curtain was left behind by a previous tenant, and it just happened to perfectly match the towels and bath rugs i already owned! 

a little bit of history

i can't not have my elephants!

a home is not a home without some art and pictures!

cute little key-catcher left behind as well!

my sister in law's family gave me the adorable little jar on a candlestick and i filled it with animal crackers (it was originally filled with baby oreos, but those disappeared quickly!). and then i just added two mason jars with tea candles (found in my kitchen drawer along with a flame wand!) for my dining table! 

I've still got quite a few things I'd like to do & a bit more wall space to fill, but it's really starting to feel like home to me. Some people see apartments as extremely temporary & don't think they deserve the time to be made into a home, but I LOVE this apartment! And I think it can only get better!

So go hit Pinterest, and make your house into your home!

I've also had quite a fun time making hand drawn mugs! I've done a few for friends & then a few for myself of course! It's really great to have something personalized & to have pride in the fact that you made it yourself!

Castle & Beckett....with Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock in the background

Jared Padalecki & Misha Collins of Supernatural (Jensen Ackles on other side)

White Collar's Matt Bomer; Castle's Nathan Fillion & Stana Katic; Jared & Misha of Supernatural; Patrick Dempsey; Castle silhouettes