January Cure Updates -- Happy February!

Happy February! It is raining here today. Although that has put a damper on our plans to go for a hike, it is desperately needed and welcomed.

I suppose when I decided to do this project again, I underestimated how full my calendar already was last month. There were many days where I made others things a priority...like a 15-mile hike through San Francisco. (Blog post coming soon!).

Below is a list of the January Cure Assignments as well as my updated project list (with all of the completed items crossed off) . I know that I will have the opportunity to cross a lot more off during the remainder of 2014!

January Cure Project. DONE. Got these photos printed for less than $20.

Apartment Therapy's January Cure 2014 Assignments: 

• Jan 2: Make a Project List 
• Jan 3-5: Flowers, Floors, Green Cleaners
• Jan 6: Get a Fresh Perspective
• Jan 7: Set Up Outbox
• Jan 8: Select One Project from List
• Jan 9: Choose a Piece of Art to Frame
• Jan 10-12: Flowers, Kitchen Organization/Cleaning, Make Yourself a Meal
• Jan 13: Get Your Get-Together Together
• Jan 14: Create a Landing Strip
• Jan 15: Try a Media Fast
• Jan 16: Work on Your Goal Project
• Jan 17-19: Flowers, Bedroom Organization/Cleaning
• Jan 20: Get Papers & Files in Order
• Jan 21: Exercise a Little Cord Control
• Jan 22: Bathroom & Medicine Cabinets Cleanout
• Jan 23: Declutter Books/Media
• Jan 24-26: Flowers, Living Room, Lighting Refresh, Empty Outbox
• Jan 27: Catch Up Day
• Jan 28: Hang Artwork

Art hung in our entryway. DONE.

• Jan 29: Spruce Up & Surface Clean
• Jan 30: Show for Get Together
• Jan 31-Feb 2: Relax & Celebrate!

Our January Cure Get Together was a small dinner party at our house last night. We had three friends over, stuffed our faces with homemade Indian food and played a few rounds Cards Against Humanity. As for the Indian food, we made:

• Chickpea and Okra Coconut Curry (Vegan) -- I used this recipe as the base but subbed light coconut milk for the yogurt and added a bag of frozen okra slices.  
• Grilled Chicken Tikka -- We just made the chicken, not the tomato chutney, from this recipe. I chopped the chicken into bite-size pieces and marinated it in the yogurt mixture for a couple hours before my honey grilled it up. We served a mango chutney from Trader Joe's on the side. 
• Saag Paneer (Spinach with Indian Cheese; Vegetarian) -- I have made this recipe a couple times before. It is yummy and, although she provides instructions on making your own paneer and garam masala, I always pick those up at our local Indian market.
• Brown Rice and Naan -- I sliced big pieces of naan from our local Indian market in half and my honey warmed them up on the grill with the chicken.

Project List: 
Completed in 2013
Not Completed
Completed in 2014

Entry
Outbox
Clean out/reorganize hall closet
Paint front door
New door mat
Deep clean floors
Clean out/reorganize hall closet
Outbox

Living Room/Dining Room
Print Cuba photos for large frames in dining room
Order, frame and hang art print
Print, frame and hang photos in living room
New coffee table (glass top)
Fireplace insert
Entry table/cabinet/hooks/something?
Screen door
Deep clean floors (these are the same ones as the entry)
Deep clean living room
Put away holiday decorations
Reorganize china/booze cabinets
Hang mirror

Kitchen
Organize pantry cabinets -- containers for dry ingredients
Deep clean floors (see above)
Deep clean kitchen
Hang NOLA signs above stove
Hang paper towel holder
Purchase/hang light(s) above sink -- Hang second light.
Hang photo canvases

Family Room
Screen door
Clean out/re-organize DVDs/Blu-rays
Paint shelves -- Get second shelves for other side of couch or new side tables?

Office
Clean out/reorganize closet
Hang diplomas
Hang guitars
Fix closet doors
Declutter and reorganize books/shelves
Declutter and reorganize paperwork

Guest Room
Guest bed and side table
Move elliptical
Small TV -- hang in front of elliptical
New light fixture
Hang Bosnia photos
Clean out/reorganize closet
Hang mirror

Bedroom
Hang Croatia photo
Jewelry organization
New light fixture
Wedding photo - printed and framed
Deep clean bedroom
Reorganize dresser
Print, frame, and hang photo(s)
Clothes and shoe repairs

Bathroom
Paint
Deep clean bathroom
Declutter and reorganize under sink cabinet
Purchase/hang new towel rack(s)
Purchase/hang wall cabinet -- shelf/counter?

January Cure 2014 Updates! Days 7-14

I may be a *teeny* bit behind...and/or doing things a little out of order. Oh well. Also, in working on this blog post, I accidentally deleted my "Days 3-6 Updates" post. *groan* I'm a little sad about its disappearance but I'm not going to try to rewrite it...

Moving on...

This post is going to cover a lot of days. So get ready. Pour a glass of wine, get comfortable...

Day 7: Friday, January 10 and the weekend of January 11 & 12
Assignment: Flowers, Kitchen Organizing and Cleaning
See full assignment here.

This was a particularly busy weekend, and our poinsettia from the holidays is still alive and well, so purchasing more fresh flowers didn't happen. Neither did a kitchen cleaning but much of that was taken care of later. Like cleaning out and reorganizing our "pantry" cabinets. I took care of that on my day off on Monday. Among many other things...

Day 8: Monday, January 13
Assignment: Plan a Get Together!
See full assignment here.

I contacted friends who we have been meaning to get together with for ages and set up a dinner date at our home on February 1. Now to figure out what we will be cooking. Indian food, perhaps?

Day 9: Tuesday, January 14
Assignment: Create a Landing Strip
See full assignment here.

We generally use the corner of our kitchen counter as our landing strip, which is near our garbage and recycling cans and with a paper shredder conveniently located nearby. I'm thinking about getting a little mail organizer thing where we can put paperwork that needs to be taken care of in some way. In the process of looking online for something that may work, I found this pantry organizer thingy on Amazon and I think it could add some storage space to our hall closet. Hmm...

Amazon.com

Day 10: Wednesday, January 15
Assignment: Media Fast
See full assignment here.

I like this one. I want to do this more often. It is nice, and good for me, to disconnect every once in a while.

Day 11: Thursday, January 16
Assignment: Project Progress
See full assignment here.

We have chosen the two photos that we plan to print and frame! One is of the most beautiful window I have ever seen.

Love.

Day 12: Friday, January 17 and the weekend of January 18-19
Assignment: Flowers and Bedroom Cleaning
See full assignment here.

Bedroom cleaning was successfully completed and flowers did happen this weekend! Make that two bouquets of pretty pink flowers that I turned into four...

Day 13: Monday, January 20
Assignment: Organize Paperwork and Files
See full assignment here.

A work in progress...

Day 14: Tuesday, January 21
Assignment: Clean Up Cord Clutter
See full assignment here.

This is one that we are fairly good at already. Whew.


To learn more about the January Cure, check out Apartment Therapy.

January Cure 2014! Days 1 & 2

Day 1: January 2, 2014
Assignment: Create a Project List
See full assignment and sign up for the January Cure at ApartmentTherapy.com. 

I started by copying my updated project list from the end of January 2013. Some additional things were completed last year so I went ahead and crossed those off, as well as add the potential projects for 2014. I know that this list will grow and change during the January Cure, as well as through the year!

Project List: 
Completed in 2013
Not completed in 2013
New for 2014

Entry
Outbox
Clean out/reorganize hall closet
Paint front door
New door mat
Deep clean floors
Clean out/reorganize hall closet
Outbox

Living Room/Dining Room
Print Cuba photos for large frames in dining room
Print, frame and hang photos in living room
New coffee table (glass top)
Fireplace insert
Entry table/cabinet/hooks/something?
Screen door
Deep clean floors (these are the same ones as the entry)
Deep clean living room
Put away holiday decorations
Reorganize china/booze cabinets
Hang mirror

Kitchen
Organize pantry cabinets -- containers for dry ingredients
Deep clean floors (see above)
Deep clean kitchen
Hang NOLA signs above stove
Hang paper towel holder
Purchase/hang light(s) above sink -- Hang second light.
Hang photo canvases

Family Room
Screen door
Clean out/re-organize DVDs/Blu-rays
Paint shelves -- Get second shelves for other side of couch or new side tables?

Office
Clean out/reorganize closet
Hang diplomas
Hang guitars
Fix closet doors
Declutter and reorganize books/shelves
Declutter and reorganize paperwork

Guest Room
Guest bed and side table
Move elliptical 
Small TV -- hang in front of elliptical
New light fixture
Hang Bosnia photos
Clean out/reorganize closet
Hang mirror

Bedroom
Hang Croatia photo
Jewelry organization
New light fixture
Wedding photo - printed and framed
Deep clean bedroom
Reorganize dresser
Print, frame, and hang photo(s)
Clothes and shoe repairs

Bathroom
Paint
Deep clean bathroom
Declutter and reorganize under sink cabinet
Purchase/hang new towel rack(s)
Purchase/hang wall cabinet -- shelf/counter?


Day 2: January 3, 2014...and the Weekend of January 4 & 5
Assignment: Flowers and Floors
See full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com. 

I had already made a trip to the store on Thursday, and we still have a pretty poinsettia from the holidays so I am going to wait to pick up flowers when I go to the store this Saturday. Floor cleaning -- vacuum and mopping is on our to-do list for today!

Check out the links above to read more about the January Cure and/or to sign up! 

Style Cure -- Day 18 - 22 | Better Late Than Never

Oh my, my. I got a bit behind and then I got farther behind and (whoops) I'm still a little behind. Rather than wait until everything is all perfect, I figure I need to just post an update. So here we go! 

Day 18: Monday, August 26
Assignment: Lock In Your Furniture Layout
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

This assignment involved thinking about the placement of the furniture in the space chosen for the Style Cure. Some of recommendations were to consider symmetry and flow lines. This day was also just about furniture, not accessories. I took down the current art in our dining room so what remained was our table, chairs and tall bar cabinet.

Day 19: Tuesday, August 27
Assignment: Accessorize & Light Your Room
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

We picked up a giant teal floor vase that is now in our dining room. I also added this cool orange serving dish to the middle of our dining room table. It adds a nice pop of color on the white surface (see photo below). I am very happy with the lighting in our dining room (chandelier) and living room (dim-able can lighting and sparkly lamp on side table).

Day 20: Wednesday, August 28
Assignment: Hang Artwork 
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

I'm still behind on this one. We still need to choose and print the photos that we want to hang in our dining and living rooms. We do have all of the frames purchased and wall space cleared so once we have the photos printed they have a place to go.

Day 21: Thursday, August 29
Assignment: Take Your After Photos
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

I will post better after photos after I have caught up on everything but for now here are photos of our new dining room table and chairs:

I am very happy with how everything is coming together.

Day 22: Friday, August 30
Assignment: Relax and Celebrate!
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

Both my honey and I had this Friday off and it was the day our second table top was delivered (Day 17). We utilized that afternoon to take a trip to Ikea to pick up our new chairs, as well as the frames for our soon-to-be-printed photos.

This past Saturday, we hosted our dinner and game night (Day 11). Six of us get together every month or so and it our turn. Our new table worked perfectly for our relaxed evening filled with homemade Indian food*, dominoes, wonderful conversation and a lot of laughs.

*Our feast included the following, all of which I highly recommend:

• Chicken Tikka Masala w/ Charred Tomato Chutney & Warm Naan
• Vegetable Chickpea Curry
• Saag Paneer: Spinach w/ Indian Cheese
• Basmati Rice

Style Cure -- Day 17 | New Table!

Day 17: Friday, August 22 and the Weekend of August 23 and 24

Assignment: Paint!

Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

Painting is n/a for us but this weekend brought us our new dining room table! 

I was super excited to return home from my hair appointment to see it. Then, as I was leaving the hair salon, I got a text from my honey that read: "There's a problem with how they put it together."

Ugh. 

If you have been following my Style Cure posts, you may recall that this is the table we ordered:

See how the top of the tables fits all nice and snug against the base of the table? That's what we expected our table to look like. Instead, we got three corners that look like the catalogue table and one that looks like this:

Yeah, that's not supposed to look like that.

Fast forward an hour and my honey got a call setting up a delivery day for a new table top. Crate & Barrel was worried that the top got damaged and so they are sending an entire new one. It should arrive on Friday. 

I should mention that the table looks fabulous in our home. Fabulous. I will post photos once we have a non-broken one and some chairs. Oh, and in the meantime, we plan to do chair shopping this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Good thing our dinner and game night party is still a couple weeks away. 

Style Cure -- Days 13 - 16 | Playing Catch Up

I should preface with an apology for what I consider to be a fairly boring post. The next post will hopefully include a photo of our new dining room table and some Cuba photos and should be much more engaging. *fingers crossed*

Day 13: Monday, August 19
Assignment: Make some progress on your projects
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

Honestly, I haven't done much related to the Style Cure since purchasing our new dining room table. You know what? I'm okay with that. This week has been nutty and work and working out take up most of my time. The things still on my Style Cure to-do list are:

• Purchase at least six new dining room chairs
• Choose, print, frame and hang Cuba photos

I'm not too worried. It'll happen.

Day 14: Tuesday, August 20
Assignment: Go with the flow
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

Improving the energy floor of our home is something I think about quite a bit and I sort of have a plan for various improvements...to both our dining room and beyond.


Day 15: Wednesday, August 21
Assignment: Free day! Totally up to you
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

Free day? Don't mind if I do.


Day 16: Thursday, August 22
Assignment: Get your room cleared out and ready to paint
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

We aren't painting so this one isn't a big deal. However, I did receive a confirmation call that our new dining room table should be delivered Saturday afternoon! We will be moving our current table and chairs to our garage...and hope to donate them to our church's "Extended Family" program. Our church partners with a local shelter to provide furniture, household furnishing, etc. to families transitioning out of homelessness and helps them move. The program and the people are incredible. INCREDIBLE.

Style Cure -- Days 11 - 12 | Party Planning

Day 11: Thursday, August 15
Assignment: Plan a Get-Together and Send Invites
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

This one was already completed. Woot. We just so happen to get together with two other couples every month or so for a dinner and game night. We alternate homes and the next evening was ours to host. Soooo, our friends will be coming over on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, we will be cooking up a feast of Indian food, and we will most likely play dominoes and Cards Against Humanity.

If you aren't familiar with Cards Against Humanity you should know that it is available for FREE (or already made at Amazon) and is a highly offensive version of Apples to Apples. I recommend that you don't play it with your small, southern mother. Here is an extremely mild sample of what you may encounter:

PS: Our friends are awesome and I look forward to another fabulous evening with them, eating and playing in our re-styled dining room.


Day 12: Friday, August
Assignment: Shop 'til You Drop!
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

Well, you don't have to tell me twice! New dining room table purchased. (Check out this previous post for a photo.) Eeeee! (That's my super excited noise.) We got to pick our delivery date and *fingers crossed* our new table will be delivered this upcoming Saturday!

Please keep in mind that I have owned a hand-me-down (1970s?) kitchen table and chairs, given to me by my parents, since college. Don't get me wrong, the table and chairs are in fantastic shape and have served us well but it is time to move on...and up. We wanted to purchase something that is a better fit for our style and now we can donate our old set to a family in need.

Next up...exploring some local stores for dining room chairs. If all else fails, we can also order those online. However, I hope to find some unique, inexpensive options in person. Our new table will seat eight so our plan is still to get four white chairs (that match) and then two sets of two chairs that are different colors. Our goal is to have at least six chairs by the time our friends arrive for our dinner and game night.

Style Cure -- Days 8 - 10 | Planning

Day 8: Monday, August 12

Assignment: Choose Your Paint Color & Think About Your Decor "Pairing"

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com 

Day 9: Tuesday, August 13

Assignment: Research Your Decor Pairing Project or Pairing

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com

Day 10: Wednesday, August 14

Assignment: Make a Shopping List and Set Your Budget

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com

These three days/assignments all work well together so I am going to summarize...

There are a couple things that I want to work on for this project. We aren't going to do any wall painting but the decor pairing will be two-fold. First, we are planning to invest in a new dining room table and chairs. The table and at least four chairs will be white, with a few colored chairs for contrast and as the decor pairing. Second, I want to print photos from our trip to Cuba to decorate a wall in our dining room and one in our living room. We captured some beautiful and colorful moments. 

Then, I saw this on Pinterest:

one crafty foxx on etsy.com

I immediately showed my honey and he said, "you want to make those, don't you." YES. Looks like we may be adding a kitchen art project to the Style Cure list. 

Here is our tentative dining room furniture shopping list, although we haven't quite figured out the chairs yet...

Parsons Dining Table w/ White Top & Dark Steel Base. Crate&Barrel.

Slim White Chair. CB2.

Felix Red Side Chair. Crate&Barrel.

Vienna Apple Side Chair. Crate&Barrel.

I was going back and forth a bit on if now is the time to spend the money on new dining room furniture. However, I keep coming back to the fact that we really enjoy having friends and family over and so this is a great investment for more fun at home. Also, cooking at home is much cheaper AND healthier. Decision made. 

Style Cure -- Days 4 - 7 | Preparations

Alright, so I'm a little behind in posting updates...

Day 4: Tuesday, August 6

Assignment: Set up a One-Room Outbox

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com

I love the outbox idea and continue to use this one that I set up during the January Cure.

Day 5: Wednesday, August 7

Assignment: Create a Floor Plan

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com

Okay, I didn't do this one. It sounded tedious, as I know it is. Also, our dining room is pretty much already set up the way we like it. We will probably just make some small changes later.

Day 6: Thursday, August 8

Assignment: Learn About Color

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com

I married an artist and one of the perks to that is that I have an in-house color consultant. The previous owners of our house did a decent job with keeping things neutral but not just "renter off-white." We have added color through furniture, fabrics, accessories, etc. but may actually do some painting someday. 

Day 7: Friday, August 9...and the weekend of August 10 & 11

Assignment: Clean Your Room 

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com

I did some major house cleaning, beyond just our dining room, and laundry this weekend. It turns out we got a jump start on our dining room on Wednesday night when our orange cat named Stella decided to contribute to the project...

I mean, I didn't really care for the mirror but that certainly wasn't how I planned on getting rid of it. 

Good thing she's cute. 

Style Cure -- Days 2 & 3 | Style Treasure Hunt & Choose Your Room

Day 2: Friday, August 2...and the Weekend of August 3 & 4
Assignment: Get out and about to take some inspiration photos
Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com 

Sooooo the getting out and about to take some inspiration photos definitely didn't happen this weekend. I got back from a business trip on Friday night and we had an event to attend on Saturday and come Sunday, after a long morning run/walk, all I wanted to do was stay home and do laundry. Thrilling, I know.

However, my honey and I did take some time to flip through our Crate & Barrel and CB2 catalogues and I earmarked some of my favorite dining room shots...since I am 99% sure that I want to focus on our dining room and/or living room for this project.

Classy and clean.

Love pops of color...

Mismatched chairs.

Day 3: Monday, August 5
Assignment: Choose Your Room, Sit for 10 Minutes & Take Before Photos
Full post at ApartmentTherapy.com

When I found out about the Style Cure, I already knew the room I wanted to focus on, our dining room. (and maybe a bit of our living room since they flow into each other...)

There are some things that I really love about our dining room, including our lighting fixture, teal tablecloth and Crate & Barrel wine cabinet thingy, but this is also a room that could benefit from a quick style update.

Depending on how much time (and money) I end up being able to dedicate to the Style Cure, I also hope to freshen up our living room. One of the things we loved about our home when we first walked in was how open and light the living room, dining room and kitchen are. These are also the spaces where we most often entertain.

Before photo. From the kitchen.

Before photo. From the sliding glass door.

Before photo. From the living room.

Style Cure -- Day 1 | Interview

Day 1: Thursday, August 1
Assignment: Complete the Style Cure Interview

Style Cure Interview

1. List your favorites in each category:

• Actor: Morgan Freeman. Tim Curry.
• Actress: Maggie Smith. Meryl Streep... "She could play Batman and be the right choice." - Cameron, Modern Family.
• Artist: Rothko, Monet...and my honey.
• Writer: J.K. Rowling, Alice Sebold, Jenny Lawson...just to name a few.
• Music: Singer/Songwriter. Ragtime. Lady Gaga. (My honey says my iTunes has one of the broadest ranges of styles he's ever seen. I would never argue with that.)
• Restaurant: I prefer to cook and eat at home. Or go out for sushi. Or to a brew pub. Or to Cracker Barrel whenever we travel to a place that has one.
• Automobile: Ours? 
• Movie or Television Show: For TV it is currently Boardwalk Empire. For movie, it is Harry Potter. All of them.  
• Clothing (pieces, designers or stores): Does jewelry count? If so, the jewelry my honey bought me -- engagement ring, antique garnet ring and gold triangles necklace. 
• Furniture (pieces, designers or stores): Grey couch from Ikea. Yellow flowered (hellooooo, 1970s) chairs from my parents. Crate & Barrel wine cabinet thingy. 

2. Choose three words to describe your personal style: Casual. Classy. Clean. 

3. Think back over all the homes you've lived in, both as a child and an adult. Which rooms would you choose as your favorites and how would you describe them?

• Favorite room from a childhood home and description: My bedroom. This was my favorite because it was truly my space. I decorated with things I liked and cared about and rearranged the furniture whenever I needed a change of pace. 
• Favorite room from an adult home and description: Our current family room. This is where I spend some of my favorite time relaxing with my loves -- my honey and our orange cat named Stella. 

4. Whom do you consider a role model? What three adjectives describe the qualities you admire in this person? My parents -- inclusive, generous, hard working.  

5. Every home has areas that are "just right." Which three spots or things in your home do you feel are beautiful and feel proud of, right now, as is: Kitchen. Dining/Living Room -- Ikea shelves with cookbooks & favorite lamp & friend's art. Divider shelf thing between kitchen and living room. 

6. A month from now, at the end of the Style Cure, how would you like your friends to describe your home? Comfortable. Interesting. Fun. 

Step two, analyze your responses...

• Questions 1 and 2 help form a picture of your style...
• Questions 3 and 5 are different ways of connecting with what you find pleasing, comfortable and beautiful...
• Questions 4 and 6 can help form a direction and your goals...

For more information and/or sign up for the Style Cure click here. 

Project: Apartment Therapy -- The Style Cure

I received an e-mail from Apartment Therapy this morning that made me super duper excited.

The Style Cure is Coming! Check it out and sign up for the daily e-mails here.

I am all in on this one and will post blog updates, just like I did for the January Cure. Sooooo...stay tuned!



PS: Is it really almost August?!? Woah.

January Cure -- Day 20 | Hang Artwork

Day 20: Tuesday, January 29
Assignment: Hang your artwork you chose and had framed earlier this month

This was part dos of the assignment from way back on Day 6.

I had one of our favorite photos from our honeymoon enlarged and put it in a frame from one of my favorite specialty shops...Target. I then put it on top of my dresser and leaned it against the wall. My honey and I quickly decided that we liked the look as is and if we hung the photo it would be too high on the wall. It would definitely break the 57" rule.

So there you go, I completed this assignment by leaning, instead of hanging, my framed art. Those are little tea candle holders lined up in front. They were from Crate & Barrel but I don't think they are sold anymore. They are tall and similar to these and these.

Dresser side note: My college roommate and I shared this dresser and it was a fabulous find by our mothers at a church rummage sale. It is from the early 1900s and has drawers and cubbies and is awesome. It was moved across the country by a now elderly woman who later realized that she was missing some paperwork and a gun (yes. a gun.) and thought they may be hidden in the dresser. 

I still haven't found her lost things.

January Cure -- Day 17 | Lighting

Day 17: Thursday, January 24
Assignment: Assess your lighting in your living room and plan improvements

This is an easy assignment because it truly is an assessment one, not project-based. The main three questions are:

1. Do you rely only on an overhead fixture?
2. If you have multiple lamps already, do you have the ability to dim them? 
3. What is the quality of light?
   

Our current living room lighting is overhead can lights, with a dim switch, and a small sparkly table lamp. We don't have a lot of "surfaces" in our living room, so table lamps aren't really an option.

Here is a photo I took the day we hung up the curtains. It was obviously a sunny day and one of things we love about our house is all of the natural light. You can also sort of see the sparkly lamp between the sliding glass door and the window. 

I think I can also count our dining room light fixture, which I love and is also on a dim switch, as living room lighting because our living and dining rooms flow into each other. Here is a photo: 

Overall, I like our living room lighting although I do think that a floor lamp may be a nice addition. We will someday move in my honey's piano, which is still living at his parents' house, and will definitely work some lighting around that. I am adding the piano move and accompanying lighting to my project list.

January Cure -- Day 11 | Media Fast

Day 11: Wednesday, January 16
Assignment: Do a Media Fast this evening

This one was surprisingly easy. I planned ahead and decided to go media free, except for one of my favorite music apps, while I cooked and while we ate dinner. This included not doing my daily blog post. So I will be posting the day after each assignment from now on, which will actually work out quite well, I think.

I ended up spending over three hours screen-free. I did take a quick, few minute break to call my mom. Because she is my mom.

Additional successes yesterday included finishing my goal project. Yay! I had already hung our diplomas in our office and gathered up all the materials I would need but yesterday I actually hunkered down and got it done. Below is photo proof. (I will post a tutorial later.)

After that I was feeling all accomplished and confident and stuff and so I hung these signs above our stove. They were much easier to hang than the framed photos.

Back to the media fast. It was really nice to listen to music and cook and I even pulled out a cookbook for the french onion soup I was making, as opposed to using the Paprika app on our iPad.

Just for the record, I totally didn't miss anything by being screen-free for a few hours and I highly recommend it. I hear people talk about multi-tasking all the time, as if it is a good thing, but what it really means to me is that I'm dividing my attention so nothing gets my full focus. Now, there are things that don't necessarily need 100% of my attention but I think it is a good practice to intentionally slow down and focus on one thing at a time and do that thing really well.*

Oh, and the music! I recently discovered a new music app called Songza. It is free and fantastic. Seriously. My cooking soundtrack last night was "The New Orleans Sound" playlist. I thought it was appropriate since I had just hung up those signs above our stove.

*Disclaimer: Part of this post was written with the show Castle on in the background. Still working on the one-screen-at-a-time thing.

I'm a work in progress.

January Cure -- Day 10 | Work on Your Goal Project

Day 10: Tuesday, January 15
Assignment: Put some time and effort into your goal project

Here is a link to the introduction of my goal project: January Cure -- Day 5. I did make a bit of progress on hanging the three framed photos in our guest room today.

When I got home from work I gathered all the materials I will need to hang the frames...

If you can't tell, the materials are: nails, a hammer, a level, a sharpie pen, a tape measure, and parchment paper. (Tape is not pictured but will be needed.)

Then I moved our diplomas (which were hanging where the framed photos will go) into our office. I didn't just put them on the desk either. I actually hung them on the wall. Our framed diplomas only require one nail each so they are much easier to hang than the framed photos...but I still managed to put an extra hole in the wall. (Don't ask.) At first I wanted to take a photo from above, looking down at the frames, but Stella Kitty wouldn't stop photo bombing. She apparently loves sitting on glass frames.

Side note: You may be wondering what she is wearing around her neck. She had surgery about a week and a half ago and was supposed to wear a cone for two weeks. She made it very clear that that wasn't happening. Luckily my brother-in-law told us about inflatable collars. So now she is sporting a stylish, puffy collar until Thursday when she gets her stitches out. 

Back to the framed photos. Here is a better picture of them:

That is the extent of my update for now. I will post more information and photos when they are up on the walls. 

January Cure -- Day 6 | Choose a Piece of Artwork to Frame

Day 6: Wednesday, January 9
Assignment: Choose a piece of artwork to frame & get the process started for framing it

I feel like I have this one covered with yesterday's assignment. 

However, my honey and I were just talking last night about (finally) printing one of our favorite honeymoon (it has been almost three years) photos to frame and hang in our bedroom. I see today's assignment as a sign that we should get a move on with this and I have since ordered a 20x24 print. (For less than $10 and ready for pick up in an hour!) We will explore framing options while running errands this weekend.

The photo is one of the first that we took after arriving in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Our driver from the airport, who also happens to be the owner of the place where we stayed, pulled the car over at one point and insisted that we get out of the car with our camera. I'm so glad he did because we captured this: 

Photography is one of my favorite art forms, which is probably obvious based on yesterday and today's posts. My honey and I also had a nice conversation today about bringing more non-photography art into our home, including some pieces created by my incredibly talented artist honey himself. 

January Cure -- Day 5 | Select One Project from Your List

Day 5: Tuesday, January 8

Assignment: Select a good project from your list to complete this month and take a few "Before" photos.

I took a look at my list from Day 1 and decided to choose one that I have been putting off but is also on the "smaller" end, as far as projects go. I have a feeling that completing this project may very well lead to crossing one or two other things off the list.

The project I have chosen is: Hang framed Bosnia photos. Here is the before photo of one corner of our guest room. 

Caution: It is a fairly boring room/photo.  

Guest Room -- Before

Now, you may notice some framed photos on the floor. See them there between the cat scratching thingy and the cabinet? Those are three photos that I framed but that I haven't yet hung up on the wall. One reason is that I need to move the diplomas, currently hanging on the wall behind the TV, to our office. The reason our diplomas are hanging in our guest room is not because we want all of our overnight guests to become familiar with our educational accomplishments -- it is because when we originally moved into our house, we had the guest room and office swapped. Although we switched the furniture months and months ago, we haven't yet moved the wall stuff. 

These three photos, taken in Bosnia, are very important to me. I have been to Bosnia three times, twice to Sarajevo, and it remains one of my favorite places. The first time I travelled to Sarajevo, in 1998, I was part of a group that volunteered at a "youth house." (A youth house is basically what an after school program/youth center is here.) In 1998 the youth house was in the basement of a partially bombed out building. By my second trip in 2002, enough money had been raised to build an actual building just for the youth house. These photos were taken by young people who attended the youth house and were sold to raise some of the funds needed. The story behind them is cool and the photos are amazing. I will take close up photos of the prints when I do my project "After" photos. 

The other reason that I haven't hung the photos is because the frames are a more complicated variety -- with multiple little metal hooks on the back. By the way, those little metal hooks are not all attached evenly on the backs. Luckily, there are online tutorials to help with hanging frames onto a wall -- like this one. The materials I will need for this project are: nails, hammer, tape measure, parchment paper, pencil/pen, tape, and a level, all of which we do actually have on hand. I'm going to consolidate the ideas I have found online and will post a tutorial, once those Bosnia photos are (successfully) up on the walls. 

Project 365: 151 | Tree | 11.18.12

Project 365: 151 | Tree | 11.18.12

On Sunday, we drove with my parents from New Orleans to my cousin's house in Arkansas. He goes above and beyond with Christmas decorations and luckily he had most everything up by our visit. This was the Christmas tree in our room -- one of the eight in his house.

Camera: iPhone

How: Candy Cane Place Card Holders

Candy Cane Place Card Holder

Christmas is my favorite holiday.  For lots of reasons.  One reason is that my parents host a framily* get together and it is always a wonderful time.  For the last few years, I have prepared a few of the appetizers.  Last year I made little signs to label the apps.  This year I decided to step it up a notch and make these candy cane place card holders to fancy up the app labels. These took me maybe 15 minutes from start to finish.  Super easy and also awfully cute, if I do say so myself.

Start with two candy canes.

Glue the two candy canes together to create the label holder.

Glue on a third candy cane so the holder can stand on its own.

Add labels or place cards and ta-da!
(Yes, these are the apps I'm making for Christmas dinner.)

What You'll Need:
Small candy canes, three for each place card holder, unwrapped
Glue gun
Index cards or other heavy paper for the labels
Pens
Ribbon, optional

Directions: 
1. Place a dot or small stripe of glue along the side of one candy cane and press the second candy cane against the first.  Hold for a few seconds until the glue has cooled.
2. Glue the third candy cane to the back of the first two so that the holders can stand on their own.
3. If using ribbon, now is the time to add a little bow around the three candy canes.
4. Make place cards or food labels out of small tags cut from index cards, or other heavy paper, and pens.
5. Place finished cards in the candy cane place card holders.

* Framily = friends who are family