Broken Toe Dreams

Hey guys! So as you can see it's been a while since I've posted. I originally wanted this blog to be about decorating on a budget, but I've found I'm not all that passionate about that particular subject. I like to read alllllllll about it, but actually doing it and then blogging about it... not so much. So I'm turning this blog into a blog about me, my dreams and making them come true! :) Here is where the broken toe comes in. I know what you're thinking, how can a broken toe and my life dreams possibly be connected. Do I sit around dreaming of broken toes? Or dream of breaking a toe? No. I promise I'm not THAT crazy.

Exactly a week ago, I broke my toe. My first broken bone ever and I've been forced to sit and rest while it heals. I am on crutches and they slow me waaaaaaaay down. If you know me personally, you must know how very hard this is on me. I don't just sit. Maybe I'll take a break for a day every now and then, but not much longer than that. I'm very goal oriented. I always need to be striving towards something. With a broken toe, that has halted all my striving. It's hard to sit. I've had A LOT of time to sit... and think.

With all this thinking, I realized I needed to do something. I can't walk, so any physical activity is not really an option, but I can put my mind to good use. Right before all this happened, I started a dream book. My own little notebook where I write down my dreams and at least a start of a plan to get to them. Some of them I'm not quite ready to share with the world, but there is one in particular... writing. Oddly enough, writing was not one of the dreams I wrote in my Dream Book. But in my many thoughts over the past week, I started thinking about what I was passionate about, what I enjoyed doing, what was really important to me. Writing is one of those things. I haven't written much lately, so my skills are a little rusty, but when I was younger it was something I would do for fun. I wrote short stories, attempted long novels, and even dabbled in poetry. I have a folder tucked away somewhere with a collection of my writings. Someday I may pull it out and share some of it with you, but for now I want to focus on writing in my blog.

I have to admit, just this one entry is freeing. Even if no one reads this, it feels good to get my thoughts out. It feels real good. And to end on a totally random tangent... What is the big freaking deal about shark week? In the past I've never been able to watch it and was always jealous because people would go on and on about how awesome it was. With the broken toe I've been able to catch ALL of it and it gets old really fast. It's the same story, shark attacks human, human narrowly survives to tell the tale and the only difference from one show to the next is the type of shark and the name of the human. ARGH!!!! Sorry to all you out there that just lurve shark week, but I personally can't wait for it to be over. :)

We've Moved!

Hey guys! It's been a while, but I'm back! One of my New Year's resolutions is to be more active on my blog, so here I am! Since my last post A LOT has happened. The biggest thing is... we moved!!!! In fact it was just this last week! Crazy! I'm not sure if you're like me, but I like the thoughts of moving. It motivates me to clean, organize and get rid of a bunch of crap. However, when it comes to physically moving all the STUFF, I hate it! My husband and I did all the moving ourselves to save money. Yes, we saved a ton of money, but I'm pretty sure it cost us our sanity! Argh!

We have unpacked all of the absolutely necessary items, but there are still boxes upon boxes! It's all a bit overwhelming and I am really not motivated. So I'm going back to what I've been told many times... start small. I thought the best place to start small would be the front entry. It's a place we travel frequently and having all those boxes, bags, STUFF everywhere is a bit of a tripping hazard. Also, it's the first thing we see when we walk in the door and to see all of that STUFF is a real downer. It does not make me love my new home. It's all about love people!

Here is a picture from the front door looking in:

And here is a picture from the other side:

Those pictures make me think of those "how many objects can you find" games. How many can you find? Haha, I kid. Okay, time to stop playing games and get to work! I set my timer for 5 minutes and off I went! I had to reset the timer a few times, but I managed to get all the stuff put away AND take out the trash (it was sitting by the front door and I managed to leave it out of all the pictures - you're welcome! lol). Grand total time: 20 minutes! Not too shabby! I even put the stuff that was in boxes away. I didn't just move it to a different spot. :)


Here are the after pics:

Ahh! Doesn't that look so much better? And now you can see one of my favorite parts of our new home: the bookshelf/vignette! Eeeeek! So excited! I can't wait to decorate it and make it all purty, but we'll save that for another post. For now, my couch is calling my name!

I made it!!!!

Hello there! I made it to post #2!!!! It took a week, but I made it! :)

So I wanted to give you a little background about me and our home. My hubs and I just got married in December of last year. As many of you know, when you combine households you are combining two homes into one. To say the least, we are very cramped in our little home and we both hate it! But... it's affordable and to be honest it's a nice apartment, we just don't like the size.

The past month or so, we've started looking at other places... BIGGER places. Apartments that we absolutely love!!!! (One we found even lets you BBQ on the patio!!!! Eeeek!) But they don't fit our budget. So for now this may not be our dream home, but it is our home and I want to try and make the most of it.

Here are a few pictures of the kitchen/dining/living room areas. I will warn you now... it's not pretty, but I want to share because I know some of you out there are stuck like me and hopefully as I get out of my rut, I can pull you out with me! LOL. The dishes are usually done but everything else is pretty much the norm for this place. Don't hate! :)

Here is the kitchen:

This is looking from the entry door thru the kitchen and into the dining/living room area. The dining "room" is connected to the living room, but we use it primarily as an office area because we have no where to put the desk, bookshelf, etc.

Here is an overall view of the living room. The sectional is split in two pieces to make it more open. It works for now but isn't the most pretty.

And lastly a view from the far window in the living room looking back towards the kitchen/entry way.

I think my first order of business is to get something on the walls. In looking at the pictures I realize just how bare they really are! Sooo drab! I have a few ideas of what I want to put up there, just not sure if they will look right. So, we will see.

So do any of you live in smaller apartments/homes? How do you do it without going crazay??? :)