3 Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge

I’ve been thrift store shopping since- well forever!! Hello nine-year-old-self walking around the block to my local goodwill buying gently used games and toys. The choice back then- 3D puzzles. I remember this one savvy find was an Eiffel tower puzzle with 10 pieces missing- must have been where my obsession with that structure came from.

Oh and who can forget the awful basement lighting shots in the Goodwill posting back in March of 2011?

0 Our Home, House tour: The Before Part 3

This series of home posts are events which occurred in the distant past, please bear with me until I catch up to the present.

Part 1, is the first floor.

Part 2, is the exterior.

Part 3, is the upstairs, you are here.

It’s time for Part 3 of the long awaited house tour posts, which will go over the second floor. I believe I saved the grimiest most gross part of the house for last. Again, it may be helpful to review the floor plan layout here.

When we purchased the house, the listing description stated we had three bedrooms. We couldn’t figure out which rooms they considered bedrooms as the listing stated two upstairs and one down. When in reality the upstairs had three ‘rooms’ and the downstairs had two 'rooms.' However, I wouldn’t have considered any of the rooms upstairs as something someone could actually consider a bedroom in their condition.

0 Our Home, House tour: The Before Part 2

This series of home posts are events which occurred in the distant past, please bear with me until I catch up to the present.

Part 1, is the first floor.

Part 2, is the exterior, you are here.

Part 3, is the upstairs.

It’s time for Part 2 of the long awaited house tour posts, which will go over the layout of the land. Again, it may be helpful to review the floor plan layout here.

Here is the charming (sarcasm much) exterior of the house:

Front

0 What I wore- Fantastic Fridays: Week 2

As I mentioned last week, there is this little reoccurring post I started to have a little fun and replicate some “what I wore” segments with a twist. The twist is finding something awkward, weird, embarrassing, ridiculous, or even painful from my closet (or maybe a tiny purchase someday) for the heck of it. Oh yeah and to see how long it takes until my boyfriend catches on, and capture his reactions.  I call it: What I wore- Fantastic Fridays and I whipped up this little ditty:

1 Our Home, House Tour: The Before Part 1

This series of home posts are events which occurred in the distant past, please bear with me until I catch up to the present.

Part 1, is the first floor, you are here.

Part 2, is the exterior.

Part 3, is the upstairs.

It’s time for the long awaited house tour post (procrastination much?). In all reality though, two videos and lots of pictures meant research, digging all over for photos, some overnighters, and here it is. Oh and it may be helpful to review the floor plan layout here.

Lastly, if you could take a few moments to submit your vote as to what room we should tackle first at the bottom of this post. This way you choose what ugly room you want to see transformed first.

Tri-pod steady version

If you get motion sickness there are two spots where it may get a little shaky from about 00:12- 00:33 seconds (the entry) and 1:13-1:54 (the bathroom). This video left out a view of the upstairs, hallway leading to bedroom 2, and the basement. And lastly, most of the video was shot vertically.

Walk through version

If you’re prone to seizures or car sickness, you may wish to pass on this version. This video shows the layout of the house. It also takes a tiny peak at the upstairs and the basement.

Update: For those on mobile try youtube here (Tri-pod steady version) and here (Walk through version).

0 Beat the Cancer Benefit: Recap

This is a short post today as I inch my way closer to the promised before shots/videos of our home. Heck, I’ll even include a free download for a silent auction bid, shall you ever need one.

First off, I’d like to thank all of you locals who came out to support the Beat the Cancer event and made it such a success. The donations went to help a wonderful woman/grandmother/mother though the financial struggles of this horrible disease.

Getting ready for this event, personally, was quite the challenge. It was really the first time putting myself out there as a ‘photographer’ and the goal was to incorporate small details and look as professional as possible.

That translates to a ‘booth’ of some sort, and some research on silent auctions as I’ve never really bid nor knew how one worked. P.S. I found this link to be the greatest help.

Long story short the ‘booth’ ended up looking similar to this:

4 "Baby, It's Cold Outside"

Christmas song yes? But fitting today, for sure!

It all started Saturday night with 60 MPH winds. It was one of my sisters birthday parties so we paid visit to her. When traveling to and from, we thought we were going to get blown into the ditch. When we got into the city, I think it was way worse and even saw a garbage can complete with all the garbage blow across four lanes of traffic. Good thing no one was hurt as it flew at the right moment when no one was in it's path.

On the way home three semi trailers were tipped on their sides and a high speed chase either directly ahead of us or somewhat behind us. We couldn’t believe someone had the audacity to go 100+ mph in an Explorer passed some of these one lane trailers just for the thrill or whatever they were trying to accomplish. The entire trip made for white knuckles for sure. 

Anywho, it was grocery shopping day yesterday and this type of weather is just not nice. It may say 9°F but there was most likely a wind chill which we didn't capture.

 So what’s a girl to do? Dress for the elements:

Yes snow pants were in order.

0 What I wore- Fantastic Fridays: Week 1

There comes a time in everyone’s life when there’s an idea crazy enough that it may actually work. Yesterday, while procrastinating folding laundry, the idea hit me. This idea was to take an awesome day of the week, say Friday, and replicating some of the existing “what I wore” segments with a twist. Why, because now-a-days, there’s ALWAYS a twist.

Other fabulous posts:  Ms Mia Maree, Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy and her What I Wore Wednesday link party, or lastly Brassy Apple with her I spy refashion link up. And to all those lovely ladies, if you’re reading, this is no offense. You truly have remarkable style.

That twist? Well I call it: What I wore, Fantastic Fridays. Frankly I don’t care if the ensemble is embarrassing, ridiculous, or downright painful. It’s all in fun.

Graphic by: Trisha D.

0 Procrastination at its finest

Alright, confession time. I have been procrastinating on this whole photo/video house tour for quite some time. I think it had to do with a lot of past events. Discouraging events (robbery anyone? Yeah I know stop using that excuse already), mad dash on updating the house, moving in, another mad dash to complete projects before winter, leaving the job, then the holidays, followed by the benefit. Add that to the fact that the whole video process is very time consuming- the last video I ‘produced’ was for the ex when he was overseas- some rough memories.

Let’s lighten things up with this embarrassingly amazing video:

A few disclaimers -er- comments:

1. I do not claim to be gangster. I assure you I am the whitest white chick- you should fear your safety see this girl on the dance floor.

2. This was a competition that my previous employer held to come up with great ways to make the 'standards of excellence' program stick. We took it upon ourselves to stand out from the crowd.

3. Yes our lips are meant to be like Chinese Subtitles.

4. My car makes a cameo about 2:40.

5. We had to re-shoot the alley scene where we walk a few times because A (of ATM Mafia) wasn’t ‘gangster enough.’

6. I’m ridiculously proud of said alley scene because it was my idea.

7. We rapped some shout outs to various departments in the bank at about 2:47.

8. Admission: I’m super shy and A drowns out my voice during the rap. Let’s call it background mouse squeaks.

9. I had a little too much fun demolishing the speaker, as in I may have hogged it. Heck I had a little too much fun throughout the whole dang process.

10. There is a longer version on Facebook which contains graphic language and out-takes which are out of this world. However, it is set to private, so no further fun for you.

11. Just realized, there are too many comments about this video.

Oh and if you have some free time, here is another video we completed for the prior week's objective.

4 Our Home: Original Floor Plan

This series of home posts are events which occurred in the distant past, please bear with me until I catch up to the present.

“Let’s get READY to Rumblllleeee!” Michael Buffer. Random tidbit: back in High School Michael -a celebrity which is a BIG deal around here- came and announced the starting lineups at a basket ball game against our rivalry school. Too bad I was the geek in band waiting for the queue to begin the rest of the space jam theme song. It was an adrenaline rush and a memory to never forget.

Now that the Space Jam theme song is stuck in your head, how about we move onto the original layout of the house shall we?

All floor plans are drawn without any modifications, untouched, and are exactly how the layout was when we purchased the home. Let's begin on the main level:

4 Mailbox Post DIY

This series of home posts are events which occurred in the distant past, please bear with me until I catch up to the present.

Before we purchased the house, we scoured the property for a mailbox to no avail. The occupant (who oddly and occasionally viewed the property with us) previously mentioned he used a P.O. Box- needless to say it was next on the list. So on closing day, after picking up supplies at the store and changing the locks, we went to town on DIYing our first home improvement- the mailbox.

We contemplated buying a premade post similar to this one from Menards for $19.97, or this one made with plastic for $58.83, either option did not include the mailbox itself.  Add the cost of the mailbox, which is anywhere from $10-$200. After wandering around the store, we decided to take on the challenge to make our mailbox unique and try to beat the total cost of a premade. The lowest cost we could find was $33.97, $19.97 for the post and the mailbox we wanted was $14.

2 Installing New Locks

This series of home posts are events which occurred in the distant past, please bear with me until I catch up to the present.

Back in April on closing day, we planned ahead and both of us took a half day off work to sign the papers, to get our first set of supplies for the house, and possibly start our first DIY project. After signing away our first born child, we finally had the house keys- albeit 5 copies of each lock and it was time to get the house ready to live in. It was finally time to start one of the many lists.

As excited new homeowners, we immediately went to visit the casa to find the house still had an occupant. His father, the executor of the estate, was apologetic as he hired a crew to empty the house when we got there. Closing time was around 2pm and the occupant hadn’t started moving until 1pm.

Needless to say, we just wanted the house to ourselves and didn’t much care what was left behind or the mess left either. We ‘supervised’ to ensure no walls/framework were damaged during their quick move, and we also were the deciding factor on what items could stay or go. We ended up with some sweet finds:

From Left to Right: two refrigerators, Crown Royal bottle (could be antique?), nasty vacuum, wine bottle capper (could be antique?)

0 House Lists, Lists and More Lists

This series of home posts are events which occurred in the distant past, please bear with me until I catch up to the present.

Graphic by: Trisha D.

Somewhere between all the chaos and excitement we found the time to brainstorm some of the major things we wanted to tackle before we moved in. This may sound like we were jumping the gun, but we figured having a plan is better than none at all- plus its FREE!

Since the boyfriend was finishing up the apartment lease and had to give a 30 day notice, there was an overlap in residences for a little over a month. Although it may seem like two sets of bills, it really wasn't since the first full (and partial) month’s mortgage is calculated into the loan and the first payment is due the following full month.   Here’s a calendar view: 

2 2013 Resolutions

Graphic by: Trisha D.

To be honest, resolutions are not my favorite things to write. Maybe it was a previous employer which a painfully thorough goal writing process.  Either way, here are a few of my resolutions this year.

Personal

Graphic by: Trisha D.

Get Organized- documents

Yeah I know this is probably the most cliché/overused resolution, but seriously I haven’t filed/organized personal documents in probably 4-6 years, YIKES! They’re all in boxes and quite chaotic. This would help when I need to dig up that policy back from 2007 in a few minutes as opposed to a few hours. Another added benefit- handing over documents to the ex, to breathe a huge sigh of relief.  Spoil alert, this resolution actually started this past weekend since we were cleaning the house and I noticed I better get on this before it clutters and overtakes my workspace.

Extra credit: organize all documents on the ‘ol computer. Since moving to Cali and back, being robbed of the laptop back in April, and leaving my employer, all of which have files attached- let’s just say, it’s a whole lot of crazy mess over here. Backing up files would then become ridiculously easy.

Graphic by: Trisha D.

Be on Time/Early

Since moving away from the city, I feel as though I’ve used the excuse “I’m running late” to my advantage too often, since it takes seemingly forever to get anywhere from my house. This past weekend, during the benefit, was the last straw. It was the first time putting myself out there as a photographer and the perfectionist mentality took over. I was about an hour and a half late, good thing my boyfriend acted as assistant.

In the past I’ve set my clock ahead 10 minutes. Some adjustments may be to shoot for a half hour early for everything- if the deadline is 1pm, make it a point to have it done by 12:30 instead.

Graphic by: Trisha D.

Less Food Waste

Weekly Menu- I guess this could be considered part of organization, knowing the way I like lists, if it is separate, it will at least be attempted. Sadly our household seems to throw away a lot of food whether from expiration, sitting in the back of the fridge, or general laziness (which results in going out to eat).

I’ve read a lot of menu planning in the past, and hopefully we will come-up with something that works for us. Of course there has been some pinning for inspiration.

Professional

Graphic by: Trisha D.

300 readers per day

I would love to grow this little blog to about 300 readers per day by the end of 2013. Some rough ideas to accomplish this are by getting involved in link parties, actively participate in Pinterest Challenges, and genuinely network with the blog community.

Graphic by: Trisha D.

10 Photo Shoots completed

Since my intentions for the photography gig is to really be my ‘side job,’ 10 photo shoots would be a dream come true. The Beat the Cancer Benefit brought one shoot this year and one next (for senior pictures- yay!). I’m ridiculously excited.

Graphic by: Trisha D.

Educate

Finish the blog class. Read all Pinterest posts on Photography. Complete the the 31 days to a better photo challenge- which includes digging up and reading my camera manual. Read, live and breathe this photography site.

What are your resolutions?

0 Beat the Cancer: Benefit

My sister and her sister-in-law (weird sentence?) have been working their tushes off organizing a benefit for their mother/in-law who was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 Lung Cancer. She kindly asked me if I wanted to contribute a donation, item for auction, and/or help with any part of it. I am an avid supporter of anything for a good cause so it was a no-brainer. After going through some business plans, I decided on two photo session for silent auction:

0 Purchasing a Home Part 2

This series of home posts are events which occurred in the distant past, please bear with me until I catch up to the present.

Part 1, was our story.

Part 2, you are here.

Hope you’re ready for a wordy post, with some home-made graphics and an organization download. Oh and lots of tips if you’re ever in the home buying market. 

Alright, I may have just watched Zombieland for the 10^th time.